Epicenter - Learn about Crypto, Blockchain, Ethereum, Bitcoin and Distributed Technologies

Close to two years after the initial whitepaper, the revolutionary Ethereum network has finally launched. The decentralized smart contract platform is, without a doubt, the most exciting cryptocurrency project since Bitcoin. The versatile platform with its turing-complete scripting language aspires to power the distributed applications of the future. Ethereum Founder Vitalik Buterin joined us for the second time to discuss the Frontier Launch, future plans for scalability, governance and the road ahead for the organization and the protocol. Topics covered in this episode: Ethereum’s frontier launch and the upcoming development stages The plans for how to create a scalable blockchain architecture The thinking around transitioning to proof-of-stake The state and new board of the Ethereum Foundation How Ethereum’s development will be funded in the longer term His thoughts on the governance of Ethereum and Bitcoin When private blockchains make sense and if Ethereum What mistakes were made during the development of Ethereum This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/091

Bitcoin mining and the intricate game theory that surround it is a topic that we’ve visited many times. Difficult to grasp in its complexity, it is these dynamics that determine the security of Bitcoin in the short and in the longer term. This time we were joined by none other than Dave Hudson. He is the author of the leading mining blog hashingit.com, VP of Software at PeerNova and had a long career in chip manufacturing including at Qualcomm. We talked about dynamics in the mining market, security issues with Bitcoin’s design and his data-informed views on the blocksize debate. Topics covered in this episode: How he became interested in mining and what metrics he finds most interesting How miners would be affected by a blocksize increase The flaws in Satoshi’s design of the reward scheme Why transaction fees will not make up for the block reward decrease in 2016 and why that will lessen the security of Bitcoin The long-term role of Bitcoin as a settlement network The problem with accepting 0-conf transactions The future of mining and why 21 Inc’s plans seem nonsensical Episode links: Dave's Personal Blog Waiting for blocks The Myth of the Megabyte Bitcoin Block The Future of Transactions Fees Bitcoin SF Devs Seminar: A deep dive into understanding Bitcoin mining hashrates Dave's company PeerNova This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/090

Amidst all the discussion of alternative uses of blockchains, it is often forgotten that the very first fork of Bitcoin, Namecoin, pursued a daring vision for a decentralized, censorship-resistant internet. Greg Slepak, co-founder of the okTurtles Foundation joined us for an interesting discussion of DNS, Namecoin and how blockchains can be used to decentralize the internet. Topics covered in this episode: What DNS is and the role it plays in the architecture of the internet What man-in-the-middle attacks are and why certificate authorities offer poor protection How certificate authorities, SSL, IP routing and VPNs work Why the current model is broken from a privacy and security perspective How Namecoin and the blockchain could enable a decentralized and more secure internet The security risks when online identity is tied to a private key and how they could be mitigated What DNSChain is and what projects okTurtles is working on Episode links: okTurtles Foundation Namecoin Primer Namecoin Website Airplane Wifi is not safe DNSChain demo This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/089

In this episode, we revisited the perennial topic of digital currency regulation with Siân Jones, our regulatory correspondent and founder of the regulation-focused virtual currency consultancy COINSULT. With the final version of the BitLicense, what may turn out to be the most influential document for digital currency regulation, is now out. Besides diving into many different aspects of the onerous BitLicense, we talked about California’s coming rules, how Bitcoin startups will be affected and the implications of Ripple’s fine. NOTE: Since the episode was recorded the advocate general at the EU Court of Justice recommended that Bitcoin be exempt from VAT. Topics covered in this episode: A brief primer on BitLicense and the process by which it emerged What the key aspects of BitLicense are and how they changed through the revisions Why BitLicense will stifle innovation by dramatically increasing the cost and bureaucratic burden of running a digital currency startups How different companies are responding to the rules Why California’s virtual currency draft bill got a lot of things right What Ripple got fined for and why FinCEN could go after most cryptocurrency startups for the same reasons The status of the European Court of Justice case on VAT Episode links: NY BitLicense rules and regulations California's virtual currency draft bill FinCEN fines Ripple Labs Inc. What Ripple's FinCEN fine means for the digital currency industry Canada Senate digital currency report ECJ official proposes Bitcoin VAT exemption Siân's company COINSULT This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/088

Solving the pain points of online payments was the applications that garnered the most attention in Bitcoin’s early days. In recent times, as consumer adoption of Bitcoin payments has been underwhelming much of that attention has shifted elsewhere. Nevertheless, companies keep working hard on making the vision of a universal, global payment system a reality. Among those companies, one stands out as the top contender to compete with existing payment systems: Bitnet. Funded with a heavy warchest and the company is ran by veterans of Visa and Cybersource, a company started in 1994 to help merchants accept credit cards online that was sold to Visa in 2007 for $2bn. They have been working behind the scenes to get Bitcoin to break through with merchants. CEO John McDonnell joined us for an important discussion of how online payments work today, why they are broken and how Bitcoin will revolutionize the industry. Topics covered in this episode: The story of Cybersource and payments in the early day of the internet The pain points with online payments for merchants and consumers today The role of the different actors such as payment processors, card networks, merchants and issuing banks The niches where Bitcoin payments could break through first Why coming from inside the payment industry provides Bitnet with a huge advantage Why they are focusing on Payment Service Providers instead of acquiring merchants directly His view on BitLicense and how it will affect Bitcoin payment processors Episode links: Bitnet Richard Gendal Brown: Why the payment card system works the way it does Richard Gendal Brown: Simple explanation of fees in the payment card industry Wikipedia e-commerce credit card payment systems This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/087

Peter Thiel argued in his book ‘Zero to One’ that the way to build a great and highly profitable company is to build a monopoly. But with decentralized technologies, there is a real question whether these monopolies can be built or whether the monopolies will end up being publicly owned goods (like Bitcoin) that can’t be monetized directly. William Mougayar, who is an experienced tech executive and angel investor, has been writing extensively about these issues and was one of the investors in OB1, the venture-backed company launched by the founders of the decentralized market place Open Bazaar. He joined us for a discussion of the cryptocurrency space, Ethereum, Open Bazaar and monetizing decentralized technologies. Topics covered in this episode: Bitcoin as the new, thin cloud His long-term predictions about where the space is going What kind of business models are the most promising Why he chose to invest in OB1, the company behind Open Bazaar What the state of Venture Capital in the cryptocurrency space is Episode links: Predictions in Cryptography, Blockchains and Consensus Protocols The Old Cloud is Dead, Welcome the New Cloud The Business Imperative Behind the Ethereum Vision An Operational Framework for DAOs Union Square Ventures: Introducing OB1 Peter Thiel: Competition is for Losers This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/086

Revolutionary progress doesn’t happen without lots of work and in the case of Bitcoin that requires many different startups building technology. Few have contributed to this as much as Silicon Valley based startup accelerator Boost VC, which has been focusing on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency startups since 2013. Focusing exclusively on Bitcoin for an extended time, they’ve invested in companies such as Blockcypher, Coinprism, Coinjar, Mirror, Snapcard, Zapchain and many others. Boost VC Founder Adam Draper joined us to discuss running an accelerator, their investment thesis and why they’ve chosen to add Virtual / Augmented Reality startups to the program. NOTE: Applications to join the next tribe of Boost startups can be submitted until Wednesday July 1. If you’re interested in applying go here: Topics covered in this episode: The qualities they look for in companies (8:50) What the overarching Boost VC investement thesis is (14:40) His view on the BitLicense rules and how they affect cryptocurrency startups (38:14) How regulatory concerns have risen among their startups (41:40) Why they chose to add Virtual / Augmented Reality to the program (47:50) Episode links: Boost VC Adam Draper: New York's BitLicense Will Hurt Startup Incubators William H. Draper III: The Startup Game But with bitcoins... AB 129 California Cryptocurrency Law This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/085

One topic that is guaranteed to cause heated discussion among cryptocurrency enthusiasts is the idea that blockchains can be controlled by known validators and function without an underlying cryptocurrency. Some think this is a non-sensical idea fabricated by those spineless enough to want to appease regulators and but clueless enough to miss the whole point of cryptocurrencies. But others believe that Bitcoin is unsuited for a lof of ‘Bitcoin 2.0’ applications and that permissioned ledgers have wide-reaching potential to increase efficiency and transparency. Tim Swanson joined us for an important discussion of permissioned ledgers. He’s among their best-known proponents and has recently published a whitepaper discussing how they work and looking at different startups in the space. Topics covered in this episode: Why the ‘blockchains without bitcoin’ idea is so controversial Why it is strange that KYC is done widely on Bitcoin users but not on the validators Why even semi-decentralized blockchains can provide big efficiency gains Why the 51% attack possibility is an obstacle for the use of the Bitcoin as a settlement network Why financial institutions don’t care about censorship resistance but do care about irreversibility Episode links: Tim Swanson: Permissioned Distributed Ledgers Whitepaper Tim Swanson: Needing a Token to Operate a Distributed Ledger is a Red Herring Robert Sams: No, Bitcoin is not the future of securities settlement JP Koning: Why bitcoin has failed to achieve liftoff as a medium of exchange This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/084

Many people think of Bitcoin as the ultimate contender against the power of central banks, most importantly the Federal Reserve System. But that is certainly not the only way that cryptocurrencies and the blockchain can be used and one particularly interesting idea is that central banks could issue their own cryptocurrencies. To discuss how this could be done and what the consequences could be we were joined by David Andolfatto, a Vice President of Research at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and a professor of Economics at Simon Fraser University. The views and opinions expressed by ou guest are his own and should in no way be attributed to his employer. Topics covered in this episode: What makes good money? How does Bitcoin fare in comparison? What is Fedcoin and how could it work? Why the tension between a governments desire for control and the desires for ‘permissionless innovation’ could make this difficult to implement Whether Fedcoin would threaten fractional reserve banking Why competition between currencies, both governmental and non-governmental, could be a good thing Episode links: David Andolfatto: Why Gold and Bitcoin Make Lousy Money David Andolfatto: On the Desirability of a Government Cryptocurrency Business Insider Interview with David Andolfatto Robert Sams: Seignorage Shares This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/083

Whether the block size should be increased to 20MB has created more controversy than any other question in Bitcoin’s recent history. For some, it is an urgent and necessary step in Bitcoin’s evolution. Their view is that leaving the block size at 1MB would be irresponsible inaction with potentially catastrophic consequences. Others see increasing the block size as unnecessary and a dangerous first step down a slippery slope towards a more centralized Bitcoin. We were joined by Mike Hearn, along with Gavin Andresen the most outspoken supporter of a block size increase. He is also the creator of Bitcoin XT, a modified fork of Bitcoin Core, that may become the vehicle for the push for bigger blocks if no agreement is reached regarding Bitcoin Core. Don’t miss this crucial conversation! Topics covered in this episode: What would happen if blocks started being consistently full Whether bigger blocks create a centralization risk Why Bitcoin core development has become pervaded with toxic division What Bitcoin XT is and how it differs from Bitcoin Core The roadmap ahead and how a transition to BitcoinXT would occur Update on Lighthouse Episode links: The Capacity Cliff Crash Landing Let's Talk Bitcoin! #217 The Bitcoin Block Size Discussion Gavin Andresen Moves Ahead with Push for Bigger Blocks Bitcoin Dev Mailing List Lighthouse This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/082