I’m joined by guests Sjors Provoost, Mike Schmidt, Evan Kaloudis & Justin Moon to go through the list.

Listen on your favorite podcast app:

Housekeeping

  • 00:08:04 Understanding The Coldcard Mk4 Security Model and Secure Element Use by Coinkite
  • 00:08:29 Breez SATSCARD Integration Bounty
    • The main two interactions are initializing the card and unsealing the card slots for sweeping WIFs.
    • From a product standpoint, when tapping the card on the device, Breez should show a dialog displaying the card balance and offer a sweep action to a Breez address.
    • For anyone interested in the work and testing, the Coinkite team are happy to send test cards.
    • Payout: 5M sats (donated by the Coinkite team) for a complete iOS and Android implementations.
  • 00:08:38 BDK [opened 2 issues*]1 2 about integrating SATSCARD & TAPSIGNER
  • 00:08:47 Check out the hugely popular Nostr episode ft. Jack Dorsey, Fiatjaf & William Casarin

Software Releases & Project Updates

  • 00:09:18 Nunchuk Introduces the Honey Badger Wallet: The Solution to Safe Self-Custody and Inheritance Planning
    • The Honey Badger wallet is a 2-of-4 multisig wallet.
    • The platform holds one key (the “platform key”), while you hold three keys, including a designated inheritance key. This means you are always in control of your wallet and can recover it elsewhere using other tools.
    • The inheritance key is time-locked [*] so that it can only be used to claim your bitcoins on a future date chosen by you. Your beneficiary can use the inheritance key in combination with the platform key to withdraw the inherited bitcoins.
    • 3 Plans
    • FREE: The cypherpunk’s dream. Take custody into your own hands.
    • IRON HAND: The starter pack. Secure your bitcoin with multisig, one-tap signing and cloud backups.
    • HONEY BADGER: The gold standard. Best-in-class multisig wallet with a built-in inheritance plan.
  • 00:15:44 Electrum 4.3.3 (Jan 3, 2023)
    • Lightning:
    • fix handling failed HTLCs in gossip-based routing
    • fix LN cooperative-chan-close to witness v1 addr
    • PSBTs:
    • never put ypub/zpub in psbts, only plain xpubs
    • for witness v0 txins, put both UTXO and WIT_UTXO in psbt
    • Hardware wallets:
    • Trezor: optimize signing speed by not serializing tx
    • Ledger:
    • modify plugin to support new bitcoin app v2.1.0
    • added a deprecation warning when using Ledger HW.1 devices.
    • Binaries:
    • tighten build system to only use source pkgs in more places
  • 00:24:41 HWI 2.2.0
    • Taproot Keypath display and spending with BitBox02
    • Ledger Bitcoin App 2.1.0 support
    • Allow Trezors with passphrase enabled to work without passphrase specified, defaults to empty string passphrase
    • Accept –expert and –chain arguments for enumerate
    • Several GUI layout improvements
  • 00:30:24 Mercury Wallet 0.8.6
    • Create and Recover wallet with Tor & I2P
    • Network adapter automatic restart
  • 00:35:51 HEXA v2.1.1
    • SATSCARD is now integrated within Hexa Wallet.
    • Testnet account for newcoiners
    • Gifts to onboard them
    • Seedphrase based backup to always safeguard bitcoin within the wallet.
    • LN support for super fast sats transfer.
  • 00:37:37 libwally-swift v0.0.8
    • Bump libwally-core to 0.8.7
    • Bump libsecp256k1 to v0.2.0 (matching Bitcoin Core since bitcoin/bitcoin#26691)
  • 00:39:28 LNbits 0.9.5.1: Fusion44
    • Core
    • Introducing AdminUI: a web UI for managing LNbits Core settings (#553)
    • New funding source: LightningTipBot via LN.tips (#921)
    • Extensions
    • New: Cashu - Chaumian ecash and web wallet (#1143)
    • Extensions use Websockets (#1167, #1150, #1174)
  • 00:48:32 Fountain 0.6
    • New activity feed on the Discover page
    • Integration with MoonPay allows you to fund your Fountain wallet using your debit or credit card
    • UI Upgrades
  • 00:51:07 ZEBEDEE Revamped
    • ZEBEDEE revamp in a nutshell
    • New update to the ZEBEDEE app to amplify rewarded gaming
    • Create your own fully-customizable 3D Avatar, usable across the Internet
    • Boost your Bitcoin balance with a simple credit or debit card Top Up
    • Use your earnings to shop gift cards from 5000+ vendors inside ZEBEDEE
  • 00:52:18 BDK 0.26.0
    • Improves Fulcrum electrum server compatibility and fixes public descriptor template key origin paths
    • Small enhancements to configure the electrum client to validate the domain using SSL and sort TransactionDetails by block height and timestamp
  • 00:58:12 Stacker News
    • Donate to rewards: Lets you contribute the daily rewards pot by directly putting sats into it. 100% of any donation gets distributed in rewards
    • Turbo tipping: Every bolt click raises your total tip to the next 10x of your default tip
    • Tip dialog shortcuts: The custom tip dialog available when a bolt is pressed and held now has autofill buttons
    • Comments sorting: All things being equal, comments with more sats rank higher
    • User analytics: The user analytics page now has visualizations of how many users are spending/stacking via certain actions
  • 00:58:58 Cashu
  • 01:08:11 Zeus v0.7.1
    • Allow users to enter either a fixed sat limit OR a percentage of the payment
    • LNURL: LUD-17 support
    • Unified QR scanner on Node Configuration and Intro pages for quicker set-up
    • New display settings
    • Ability to display node nickname on balance and keypad views
    • Ability to select default home view
    • New themes: Mighty, Green
  • 01:15:39 Muun 2.7.1
    • You can now set your wallet to prioritize Lightning for incoming transactions or show a unified QR code for BTC and LN.
    • Unified QR codes improve the payment experience and are being adopted fast, though they’re still experimental.
  • 01:22:32 LDK v0.0.113
    • API Updates, Bug Fixes & Backwards Compatibility improvements
  • 01:29:49 Alby
    • Alby v1.23.0: Tails of Comet ZTF
    • Improvements to run the Alby extension on mobile browsers (e.g. Kiwi Browser).
    • WebLN apps and Nostr web clients can now be used on mobile devices.
    • And a support for EUR/USD denominated accounts has been added along with support to connect Kollider accounts (BTC/USD/EUR).
    • Direct Alby account top-up with MoonPay
    • New JavaScript API for lightning web apps and Nostr integration
    • The Alby Extension now allows developers to perform calls to the user’s connected node backend through a simple JavaScript interface. This makes it possible to build rich lightning applications with web technologies and as full client-side applications.
    • Easy access to all lightning node APIs via a JavaScript interface (node info, channel infos, balances, fee reports, etc.) for web apps.
    • It’s now possible to build the next node management app as a client-side JavaScript application.
  • 01:35:40 Fedimint
  • 01:44:04 Damus (Highlights)
    • 0.1.8-6
    • Lightning wallet selector
    • Link Previews
    • Added paste and delete buttons to add relay field
    • 0.1.8-9
    • Relay list on user profiles
    • Show recommended relays in config. Currently just a fixed set
    • Ensure contact relay list is kept in sync with internal relay pool
    • 1.0.0
    • Switch like from ❤️ to 🤙
    • 1.0.0-2
    • Updated profile page look and feel
    • Filter replies from global feed
    • Add swipe gesture to switch between tabs
    • 1.0.0-4
    • Added NIP05 Verification
    • 1.0.0-5
    • Added share button to profile
    • Added universal link sharing of notes
    • 1.0.0-6
    • Profile banner images
    • Added Reactions View
  • 01:46:10 BRB.io
    • Unified search
    • New improved UI
    • Further improvements on performance
    • New exploring home with some stats
    • New user profile home with contacts and recent notes
  • Eclair v0.8.0
    • Adds official support for two important lightning features: zero-conf channels and channel aliases.
    • Adds experimental support for dual-funding and a lot of preparatory work for Bolt 12 offers.

Project spotlight

Boosts

  • 01:51:36 Thanks to everyone who streamed sats, and shoutout to our top boosters:
    • @apemithrandir (7,777 sats X3) “very useful episode but i intend to boost all my stack away on podcasting 2.0!”
    • @geneeverett (10,000 sats) “merry christmas”
    • @hightraverse (50,000 sats)
    • @erik99 (50,000 sats X2) “stay humble, stack sats”
    • @petar (55,555 sats) “the podcast where good intentioned smart people don’t always agree, i like the vibe nvk”
    • @georgeorwell (10,000 sats)
    • @deusdenton (13,370 sats) “thanks NVK and guests!!!”
    • @maxawebster (10,000 sats) “Incredible pod! A value4value web is the most important project in the word right now imo”
    • @merryoscar (10,000 sats) “@nvk gotta add @jack to the episode splits!”
    • @Orchid Cow (250,000 sats - Record booster! 🥇)

Bitcoin Optech Newsletter

  • 232
    • 01:53:03 Bitcoin Knots signing key compromised
    • The maintainer of Bitcoin Knots full node implementation announced the compromise of the PGP key they use to sign releases of Knots. They say, “do not download Bitcoin Knots and trust it until this is resolved. If you already did in the last few months, consider shutting that system down for now.” Other full node implementations are unaffected.
    • 02:03:05 Software forks of Bitcoin Core: last month saw the release of two patchsets on top of Bitcoin Core:
    • Bitcoin Inquisition: A software fork of Bitcoin Core designed to be used on the default signet for testing proposed soft forks and other significant protocol changes. This version contains support for the SIGHASH_ANYPREVOUT and OP_CHECKTEMPLATEVERIFY proposals.
    • Full-RBF peering node: A patch on top of Bitcoin Core 24.0.1 that sets a full-RBF service bit when it advertises its network address to other nodes, although only if the node is configured with mempoolfullrbf enabled. Nodes running the patch also connect to up to four additional peers which had advertised that they support full-RBF. The patch is based on Bitcoin Core PR #25600.
  • 233
    • 02:08:37 Non-interactive LN channel open commitments:
    • Developers ZmnSCPxj and Jesse Posner posted to the Lightning-Dev mailing list a proposal for a new technique for opening LN channels, which they call swap-in-potentiam.
    • Alice chooses a counterparty (Bob) in advance whose node she expects will always be available (e.g. a Lightning Service Provider, LSP). Alice and Bob cooperate to create an onchain address for a script which allows spending with a signature from Alice plus either a signature from Bob or the expiration of a multi-week timelock (e.g. 6,000 blocks).
    • Would allow offline wallets to receive funds for LN, and might combine well with async payments to allow LSPs to prepare channel rebalance operations in advance for when an offline client comes back online, allowing those rebalance operations to occur without any delay from the user’s perspective.

News & Noteworthy

  • 02:14:06 Microstrategy
    • Adds 2,500 Bitcoin To Holdings Despite Tax-loss Harvesting (Dec 28, 2022)
    • Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy bought 2,395 BTC for $42.8 million in cash between Nov. 1 and Dec. 21, 2022.
    • It then sold 704 BTC at a loss on Dec. 22 to offset previous capital gains.
    • MicroStrategy then bought 810 BTC on Dec. 24.
    • To Launch Bitcoin Lightning Solutions In 2023 (Dec 28, 2022)
    • MicroStrategy will release software applications and solutions powered by the Bitcoin Lightning Network in 2023.
    • MicroStrategy executive chairman Michael Saylor spoke about his company’s plans in a Twitter Spaces room on Wednesday
  • 02:14:33 Fiji’s New Pro-bitcoin Prime Minister Ponders Legal Tender Bill (Dec 29, 2022)
    • Newly elected Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka is pro-Bitcoin and is reportedly considering pushing a bill to adopt BTC as legal tender in the country.
  • 02:14:40 LQwD Fintech Releases Version 2 of its Bitcoin Lightning Network Platform
    • LQwD’s Lightning Network platform makes it easier for institutions, businesses, and users, to integrate and use the Lightning Network
    • The updated version of lqwd.tech has a new look and includes updated features, which enables users to:
    • Easily create and manage Lightning Network nodes.
    • Transact securely, privately, and near-instantaneously on the Lightning Network.
    • Create Lightning Network channels with effective routing.
    • Request and manage liquidity more efficiently.
  • 02:14:53 Orange Pill App added lightning payments to its web app
  • 02:15:11 PlebLab launched PlebDev a course about building a lightning app using HTML, CSS, Javascript, LNbits, React & more.
  • 02:16:28 Major Ukrainian Pharmacy Chain Enables Bitcoin Payments (Jan 3, 2023)
    • One of the largest pharmacy chains in Ukraine, ANC Pharmacy, has partnered with Binance to enable bitcoin and cryptocurrency payments at all of their locations. With over 1,000 stores across the country, it is one of the largest implementations of bitcoin payments in Europe.
  • 02:16:33 Coinbase reaches $100 million settlement with New York regulator after New York after they found “significant failures” to comply with the state’s anti-money-laundering laws
    • The settlement includes a $50 million penalty Coinbase must pay to the New York Department of Financial Services and a pledge to spend $50 million to strengthen the company’t compliance program over the next two years.
    • The regulator said it had installed an independent monitor to investigate, and that monitor will remain in place for at least another year as needed.
  • 02:17:07 Hashrate Index 2022 Bitcoin Mining Year in Review
    • Even with last year’s market carnage, Bitcoin’s hashrate grew 41% in 2022 (compared to 2021’s 18% growth) as if to spite the year’s market carnage
    • With Bitcoin’s price impaired, miners made significantly less on a USD-basis compared to 2021. Still, the $9.55 billion in revenue is still nearly double the rewards miners reaped each year in 2020, 2019, and 2018
    • The USD hashprice high for 2022 of $246.86/PH/day came on January 1, and it was only downhill from there. The average USD hashprice was $123.88/PH/day, and the $55.94/PH/day low for the year was also an all-time low for Bitcoin’s hashprice. Rises in power costs put additional pressure on mining margins.
    • In 2021, New-gen (S19, M30 series) and mid-gen rigs (S17, M20 series) hit all-time high values amid the market mania. In 2022, the bear market drove these rig tiers to all-time lows. New-gen rigs fell 85% from $101.04/TH to $14.88/TH, mid-gen rigs fell 87% from $76.10/TH to $9.92/TH, and old-gen rigs fell 82% from $26.53/TH to $4.72/TH.
    • Most pure-play bitcoin mining stocks fell by 90% or more in 2022
    • Public miners started the year producing 14% of Bitcoin’s hashrate, and ended the year at 19%. The public miners increased their cumulative hashrate by 59% in 2022, compared to the private miners’ 19% hashrate growth.
  • 02:17:55 Several Canadian provinces target bitcoin miners and suspend any new grid connections while “environmental assessments” are initiated (Jan 4, 2023)
    • In late 2022, Hydro-Quebec announced its proposal for the province to stop selling cheap power to cryptocurrency miners
    • Manitoba announced its plans to halt any new electric grid connections for cryptocurrency mining operations
    • Just before Christmas, British Columbia made headlines for its efforts to stop mining growth to assess the environmental impacts of cryptocurrency mining operations
  • 02:19:54 91% Of Cryptos From 2014 Have Died, While Bitcoin Continues To Thrive (Jan 5, 2023)
    • According to a recent report by CoinKickoff, 91% of the coins that were present for the 2014 cryptocurrency market crash are now entirely abandoned
  • 02:21:20 El Salvador’s Legislature Approves Landmark Digital Securities Bill Paving Way For Bitcoin Bonds (Jan 11, 2023)
    • El Salvador has voted to pass a bill which paves the way for the issuing of President Nayib Bukele’s bitcoin bonds.
    • The plan, which was announced in November 2021, would entail El Salvador issuing $1 billion in bonds on Blockstream’s Liquid Network, a federated Bitcoin sidechain.
    • The goal of the bond issuance would be to invest half of the money into bitcoin, and the other half into infrastructure necessary to build out the bitcoin industry in the Central American country.
    • The bonds, according to the statement at the time, would yield 6.5% and enable a fast-track for investors to acquire citizenship in the country.
  • 02:21:38 Samsung Bitcoin ETF Launches in Hong Kong
    • The newly listed ETF focuses on front-month Bitcoin Futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Learn more.
  • 02:22:12 One Of America’s Largest Hemp Processors Makes Entry Into Sustainable Bitcoin Mining (Jan 12, 2023)
    • Generation Hemp Inc., the largest mid-stream hemp processing entity in the U.S., has renamed itself Evergreen Sustainable Enterprises, Inc., citing a new directional focus on sustainable energy projects, with their first project involving a bitcoin mining operation in Costa Rica.
    • The company has purchased 80% of Toro EnergĂ­a Sociedad Anonima (“Toro”), a Costa Rican corporation with ownership of a hydroelectric dam in the country that will be used to power new bitcoin mining machines
  • 02:22:29 Bitcoin Mining Is Proving To Be A Lifeline For Africa’s Oldest National Park (Jan 13, 2023)
    • A report in the MIT Technology Review describes how park director Emmanuel de Merode has turned to bitcoin mining to monetize the park’s abundant natural resources that are otherwise stranded in order to preserve the park’s existence.
    • Gouspillou aided de Merode in setting up the first portions of the operation in 2020, which began mining in September of that year. The site then hired nine full-time workers to staff the facility, who work in rotating shifts within the jungle to operate the miners.
    • It is powered by three hydro plants within the park, a sustainable source of electricity that was already being used to power nearby towns.
    • “Today there are 10 containers powered directly by the plant’s four-meter turbines. Each container holds 250 to 500 rigs,” describes the report.

Events

  • 02:23:22 For the full list of events, visit bitcoinevents.org.

Episode submission ideas

  • We’re looking for ideas for interesting panel conversations. To send Bitcoin related questions, just go to bitcoin.review and follow the contact links at the bottom of the page.

Get in touch with the pod

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