Epicenter – Podcast on Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Distributed Technologies

Support the show, consider donating: 192nDuBdNgyUbUn7CAUvHahXXrGXCzpsst (http://bit.ly/1IbzI1w) Christian Decker is a PhD student at ETH Zurich, where he is currently finishing up the world's first PhD thesis entirely about Bitcoin. The computer scientist has been part of the Bitcoin community since 2009 and just recently turned off his last miner after 6.5 years! We talked about the current scalability debate and what his research indicated what blocksize could reasonably be handled today. We also discussed his proposal for Duplex Micropayment Channels. Like the Lightning Network, Duplex Channels use a network of payment channels to enable cheap, instant and trustless offchain transactions. The proposal, which he is currently implementing, is one of the most promising approaches to scaling Bitcoin. Topics covered included: - How losing 9000 btc got him on the front page of the New York Times - The scaling Bitcoin debate and what blocksize could be handled today - How payment channels work and could be used for off-chain transactions - The advantages Duplex Micropayment Channels have with regards to privacy - The differences between Duplex and the Lightning Network - Whether off-chain transactions could work on Ethereum as well Links mentioned in this episode: - Christian Decker's ETH homepage http://bit.ly/1XlB6Wr - A Fast and Scalable Payment Network with Bitcoin Duplex Micropayment Channels [PDF] http://bit.ly/1N4co7k - Bitcoin Meets Strong Consistency [PDF] http://bit.ly/1N4cgVe - Information Propagation in the Bitcoin Network [PDF] http://bit.ly/1YpurwR - Epicenter Bitcoin Lightning Network Episode http://bit.ly/1MxUYCP Sponsors: - Shapeshift: Buy and sell alt coins instantly at http://ShapeShift.io Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/106 YouTube: https://youtu.be/QAZYkycLwmI Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sébastien Couture & Meher Roy - Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com - Subscribe to our newsletter: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/newsletter - Twitter: http://twitter.com/epicenterbtc

With Proof-of-Stake (PoS) a blockchain is secured not by spending an external resource such as electricity but by using value internal to the chain itself. The promise of higher security at a lower cost is what also drives Ethereum to plan a move away from Proof-of-Work to PoS in the future. Ethereum researcher Vlad Zamfir, … Continued

Support the show, consider donating: 1FNPtiqcHnNW2Bxx27T3UTNiJNVAmRkvPv (http://bit.ly/1N6TbI9) With Proof-of-Stake (PoS) a blockchain is secured not by spending an external resource such as electricity but by using value internal to the chain itself. The promise of higher security at a lower cost is what also drives Ethereum to plan a move away from Proof-of-Work to PoS in the future. Ethereum researcher Vlad Zamfir, who leads their effort in the complex search for the optimal PoS consensus system joined us for an in-depth discussion of the challenges of PoS, the approach Casper is taking and what consensus in Ethereum land could look like in the future. Topics covered included: - How he became interested in consensus and Proof-of-Stake (PoS) - Why Ethereum plans to switch to the PoS systems Casper in the future - What the Long-Range Attack and Nothing-at-Stake problems are and how Casper addresses them - How a betting mechanism is used to get validators to reach consensus - What centralization pressures exist for validators and what operating a validator will look like - The role of security deposits in Casper - The difference between Tendermint and Casper - Whether forks create big UI/UX issues for Casper - Why Casper is very light client friendly Links mentioned in this episode: - Introducing Casper - Ethereum Blog http://bit.ly/1ONermJ - Review of Casper, Ethereum’s proposed Proof of Stake Algorithm http://bit.ly/1YcWG1G - Casper Protocol Specification http://bit.ly/1Nzi8GI - Slasher, Ghost and Other Developments in Proof-of-Stake http://bit.ly/1NziInC - Epicenter Bitcoin Episode 58 with Vitalik Buterin on Proof-of-Stake http://bit.ly/1PKdHNK Sponsors: - Hide.me: Protect your privacy and personal data with a free VPN account at Hide.me/epicenter Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/105 Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sébastien Couture. - Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com - Subscribe to our newsletter: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/newsletter - Twitter: http://twitter.com/epicenterbtc

Businesses with the alleged potential to become the next Google are plentiful in Bitcoin-land, but finding actual commercial success is a lot harder. The best example of a commercial success is gift card company Gyft that became known as the first place to give access to a wide range of merchants for bitcoin holders and … Continued

Support the show, consider donating: 1BuVozeVxo6BcBRKvHp1f4M7yYapPLx8uC (http://bit.ly/1HrpXkN) Businesses with the alleged potential to become the next Google are plentiful in Bitcoin-land, but finding actual commercial success is a lot harder. The best example of a commercial success is gift card company Gyft that became known as the first place to give access to a wide range of merchants for bitcoin holders and later achieved the largest exit so far in the crypto space in an acquisition by payments company First Data. Gyft CTO Giyom Lebleu joined us to talk about how he got involved in FinTech, what makes gift cards so interesting and how recently Gyft has been trying to reinvent gift cards by using the power of the blockchain. Topics covered included: - Giyom's early involvement in FinTech in the early 2000s - His previous projects Bernal Bucks and Credibles that explored gift cards and alternative currencies - Why gift cards are a great place for financial innovation - The mechanics of gift cards today and why their security is broken - How Gyft Block can improve the security of gift cards using the blockchain - Why Gyft moved their gift cards off the Bitcoin blockchain onto private blockchains - Giyom's view on the utility of Bitcoin and private blockchains Links mentioned in this episode: - Giyom's blog: http://bit.ly/1LQfI8u - Gyft’s Giyom Lebleu: Following Linux ‘The Most Likely Path for Bitcoin’ [CoinJournal]: http://bit.ly/1LQfEp7 - Future of Money Interview. Part I. On Credibles and owning digital currencies issued by brands you love: http://bit.ly/1Op2tQ3 - Gyft: http://bit.ly/1cp7DcP - Payments giant First Data acquires Gyft in an effort to bring digital gift cards to the masses [Pando]: http://bit.ly/1WwxOEP - Gift Block: http://bit.ly/1MIo5GC - Bernal Bucks: http://bit.ly/1HrzNht - Credibles: http://bit.ly/1Ea975M Sponsors: - Shapeshift: Buy and sell alt coins instantly at http://ShapeShift.io - Hide.me: Protect your privacy and personal data with a free VPN account at Hide.me/epicenter Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/104 YouTube: https://youtu.be/xg1OBq6-EsA Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sébastien Couture & Meher Roy. - Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com - Subscribe to our newsletter: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/newsletter - Twitter: http://twitter.com/epicenterbtc

One of the concerns confronting the Bitcoin community is that of scaling the transaction throughput rate: How do we go from the current rate of approx. 5 transactions per second to a thousand times that? In this episode, we talk to Emin Gun Sirer and Ittay Eyal from Cornell University regarding Bitcoin NG; a next … Continued

Support the show, consider donating: 18wPYDA78Erbhjfskq1bAH87T5oiWejmha (http://bit.ly/1kmAhQv) One of the concerns confronting the Bitcoin community is that of scaling the transaction throughput rate: How do we go from the current rate of approx. 5 transactions per second to a thousand times that? In this episode, we talk to Emin Gun Sirer and Ittay Eyal from Cornell University regarding Bitcoin NG; a next generation Bitcoin blockchain design that addresses some protocol based limitations preventing Bitcoin from increasing transaction throughput. Their proposal also enables fast (initial) transaction confirmations on the order of 10-20 seconds. Topics covered include: - Metrics to measure the security and fairness properties of Nakamoto consensus as implemented in Bitcoin. - A network emulation of Bitcoin designed by their team to study properties of Bitcoin network. - Technical design of Bitcoin NG - Concerns with Bitcoin NG - Impact of Bitcoin NG on various stakeholders if it is adopted in the main Bitcoin network. Links mentioned in this episode: - Bitcoin-NG White Paper: http://arxiv.org/pdf/1510.02037v1.pdf - Bitcoin-NG: A Secure, Faster, Better Blockchain: http://hackingdistributed.com/2015/10/14/bitcoin-ng/ - Bitcoin-NG and the Blockchain Test bed (Scaling Bitcoin Workshop Slides) https://scalingbitcoin.org/montreal2015/presentations/Day1/8-Ittay-eyal-testbed-for-bitcoin-scaling.pdf Sponsors: - Ledger Nano: Smart card security for your Bitcoins - Get 10% off your first order when you use the code EB09 at http://ledgerwallet.com (valid until 09/30/15) - Hide.me: Protect your privacy and personal data with a free VPN account at Hide.me/epicenter Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/103 SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/epicenterbitcoin/eb-103 Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sébastien Couture and Meher Roy. - Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com - Subscribe to our newsletter: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/newsletter - Twitter: http://twitter.com/epicenterbtc

Among the dividing themes in the Bitcoin space is the idea of public versus private blockchains. While some argue that private and permissioned blockchains can offer better scalability and lower latency for enterprises, others insist the Bitcoin blockchain will offer the best level of security and robustness longterm. Recently, projects have emerged that propose the … Continued

Support the show, consider donating: 1GQWvzN8pDZFugnryQnnanAVBgtpUmbCXu (http://bit.ly/1We4Nbg) Among the dividing themes in the Bitcoin space is the idea of public versus private blockchains. While some argue that private and permissioned blockchains can offer better scalability and lower latency for enterprises, others insist the Bitcoin blockchain will offer the best level of security and robustness longterm. Recently, projects have emerged that propose the best of both worlds by leveraging both off-chain and on-chain transactions. This is the idea behind Openchain, an “open source distributed ledger technology, suited for organizations wishing to issue and manage digital assets in a robust, secure and scalable way.” Openchain uses a client-server model where there is only one authoritative validating node. Read-only observer nodes keep the central node honest by auditing transactions in real time. About every 10 minutes, a copy of the Ledger, and its transactions, is hashed and inserted into a Bitcoin transaction so that it can be fossilised in the blockchain. We’re joined by Flavien Charlon, the one-man operation behind Predictious, Coinprism, the Open Transactions Protocol and now Openchain. We talk about this fascinating new software, which aims to offer enterprises a digital ledger protocol that is highly scalable while enjoying the benefits of the Bitcoin blockchain for immutability. Topics discussed in this episode: - Flavien gives an update on Coinprism and his other projects - The Openchain protocol and what it’s trying to achieve - The technical architecture of Openchain and the client-server model it implements - How Openchain uses the Bitcoin blockchain to “anchor” transactions into every block - Openchain’s consensus model - The ability for Openchain to interoperate with other ledgers and blockchains - Flavien’s thoughts on what the ecosystem might look like in 10 years Links mentioned in this episode: - Openchain: http://openchain.org - Openchain Docs: http://docs.openchain.org Sponsors: - Shapeshift: Buy and sell alt coins instantly at http://ShapeShift.io - Ledger Nano: Smart card security for your Bitcoins - Get 10% off your first order when you use the code EB09 at http://ledgerwallet.com (valid until 09/30/15) - Hide.me: Protect your privacy and personal data with a free VPN account at Hide.me/epicenter Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/102 YouTube: https://youtu.be/47UTlRUAMU0 Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sébastien Couture. - Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com - Subscribe to our newsletter: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/newsletter - Twitter: http://twitter.com/epicenterbtc

A brilliant fact about crypto-economic blockchains is that they enable the construction of naming systems that transcend limits imposed by Zooko’s triangle. Traditional naming systems such as human names, Domain Name System (DNS) and Facebook profile names are subject to Zooko’s triangle and cannot be secure, human memorable and decentralised at once. For instance human … Continued

Support the show, consider donating: 165Zg9wiJh8ibr5QDL1jVJdavamYeckcRz (http://bit.ly/1TyUopg) A brilliant fact about crypto-economic blockchains is that they enable the construction of naming systems that transcend limits imposed by Zooko's triangle. Traditional naming systems such as human names, Domain Name System (DNS) and Facebook profile names are subject to Zooko's triangle and cannot be secure, human memorable and decentralised at once. For instance human names such as Meher Roy are human-memorable and decentralised but not secure (nothing prevents hundreds of people being called Meher Roy). Domain Names like https://epicenterbitcoin.com are secure and human-memorable but require a central authority to hand out names. OneName leverages Bitcoin to build a Global Identification system called blockchain ID. Blockchain IDs for users can be associated with real world identity data such as social media profiles, government issued papers etc. In this episode we converse with Ryan Shea and Muneeb Ali, co-founders and leaders of OneName, Blockstore and BlockStack. They explain the rationale and vision behind their push for a Global Decentralised Identification and Verification system. Topics covered include: - Zooko's triangle and how Bitcoin breaks the triangle - The general idea behind blockchain ID, how it works and its component transactions - Why OneName migrated their blockchain ID system from the Namecoin to the Bitcoin blockchain - Technical design of Blockstore and how it enables decentralised storage and association of large datasets to blockchain IDs - Vision and use cases for Decentralised Identity, authentication and identity verification. - The notion of Probabilistic Identity Links mentioned in this episode: - Intentional Naming System: http://bit.ly/1MxxtXP - Zooko's triangle: http://bit.ly/1khi2wg - Why Onename is Migrating to the Bitcoin Blockchain: http://bit.ly/1Lw8Zy5 - Blockchain ID: http://bit.ly/1Nj9OgC - Organization of Schemas: http://bit.ly/1y6szdQ - Blockstack: http://bit.ly/1LiRfsf - BlockStore: http://bit.ly/1Mxxx9V Sponsors: - Ledger Nano: Smart card security for your Bitcoins - Get 10% off your first order when you use the code EB09 at http://ledgerwallet.com (valid until 09/30/15) - Hide.me: Protect your privacy and personal data with a free VPN account at Hide.me/epicenter Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/101 YouTube: https://youtu.be/pKIlRMEJyc4 Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sébastien Couture. - Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com - Subscribe to our newsletter: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/newsletter - Twitter: http://twitter.com/epicenterbtc

We’ve made it to episode 100! Our guest for our celebratory episode is Juan Benet, inventor of the Inter-Planetary File System and founder of Protocol Labs. IPFS is a distributed file system that seeks to connect all computing devices with the same system of files. The possibilities for IPFS could range from distributed cloud hosting … Continued

Support the show, consider donating: 32jqCMhGeoQYVekPHFSJ9pk9BVPuyHtGho (http://bit.ly/1zdQp6Z) We've made it to episode 100! Our guest for our celebratory episode is Juan Benet, inventor of the Inter-Planetary File System and founder of Protocol Labs. IPFS is a distributed file system that seeks to connect all computing devices with the same system of files. The possibilities for IPFS could range from distributed cloud hosting to websites without central servers to even replacing HTTP. It's a project as audacious as any we've had on the podcast and Juan did an outstanding job explaining the technology and vision. Topics covered included: - Why HTTP is broken and how IPFS could complement and ultimately replace it - The different technologies IPFS is based on including DHT, Git, Bittorrent and SFS - How IPFS could enable the 'permanent web' by distributing file storage - Content-addressing and how hosting works on IPFS - Mutable content and the Interplanetary Naming System (IPNS) - Filecoin and incentivizing hosting on IPFS - Why IPFS is a great fit for smart contracts - How he wants to build and monetize core internet protocols with his company Protocol Labs Links mentioned in this episode: - IPFS website http://bit.ly/1VNcLIg - IPFS whitepaper (PDF) http://bit.ly/1N7UdAr - Replication on IPFS http://bit.ly/1GDJfhb - Neocities blog post http://bit.ly/1LfB0tC - Filecoin http://bit.ly/1LfB2lq - Protocol Labs http://bit.ly/1GDJ7OQ Sponsors: - Shapeshift: Buy and sell alt coins instantly at http://ShapeShift.io - Hide.me: Protect your privacy and personal data with a free VPN account at Hide.me/epicenter Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/100 YouTube: https://youtu.be/erB7i6Uc4DM Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sébastien Couture. - Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com - Subscribe to our newsletter: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/newsletter - Twitter: http://twitter.com/epicenterbtc

One of the key innovations of Bitcoin is the ability to easily implement payment channels. A number of use cases have been discussed or demonstrated, among which is the idea of pay-per-use. This is particularly useful when charging for things like WiFi or streaming video by the second. With this in mind, one could imagine … Continued

Support the show, consider donating: 34WFsqVwmKPteP7GkRk8bRTBPUp7qLWSGa (http://bit.ly/1GoHnZA) One of the key innovations of Bitcoin is the ability to easily implement payment channels. A number of use cases have been discussed or demonstrated, among which is the idea of pay-per-use. This is particularly useful when charging for things like WiFi or streaming video by the second. With this in mind, one could imagine a line of communication between two peers, where data flows in one direction and payments flow in the other. This is the idea behind Streamium, a free and open-source service which allows content creators to stream live video directly to viewers, and get paid instantly. We’re joined by Manuel Aráoz and Esteban Ordano, the two brilliant software engineers from Argentina who created Streamium. They have worked together on numerous Bitcoin projects these past few years, including ProofOfExistence.com, Faradam, Decentraland, RelayStore, and actively contributed to the BitCore javascript library. Topics covered include: - The current state of Bitcoin in Argentina - The general idea behind Streamium, how it works and its technical components - How payment channels are implemented in Streamium and its various use cases - The Faradam project - The prospect of alternative content funding models made possible by Bitcoin micropayments - Proof-of-existence and what innovations blockchain technologies brings to data notarization - The Decentraland project and the vision for a blockchain-based virtual reality Links mentioned in this episode: - Streamium: https://streamium.io/ - Faradam: https://faradam.com/ - Decentraland: https://decentraland.org/ - Proof of Existence: https://proofofexistence.com/ - The Mental Accounting Barrier to Micropayments by Nick Szabo: http://bit.ly/1WIBQq1 - Manuel Aráoz's About.me profile: https://about.me/maraoz - Esteban Ordano's personal website: https://eordano.com/ Sponsors: - Hide.me: Protect your privacy and personal data with a free VPN account at http://Hide.me/epicenter - Vaultoro: Trade gold to Bitcoin instantly and securely starting at just 1mg at http://vaultoro.com Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/099 YouTube: https://youtu.be/LCA-I0o_gvY Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sébastien Couture. - Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com - Subscribe to our newsletter: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/newsletter - Twitter: http://twitter.com/epicenterbtc