The Most Important Project in Bitcoin (You probably haven't heard of)

What is the most important project in Bitcoin? It isn't BIP 110 or some shiny new payment protocol. We actually have a massive security vulnerability sitting at the base layer: Bitcoin mining isn't really mining anymore.

Right now, we have millions of hashers but barely a handful of real miners deciding what transactions make it into a block. And that means a few centralized pool operators could easily censor the network.

In this Take, I explain why the critical distinction between a hasher and a miner matters. But more importantly, I outline how newer protocols are finally fixing a decade-long mistake.

Chapters

(00:00:00) - The most important project

(00:00:29) - Hashers vs miners

(00:01:35) - Pools choose transactions

(00:03:06) - The few pools who can censor

(00:04:21) - Nodes and block templates

(00:06:15) - Holding your own keys

(00:06:55) - Datum and Stratum V2

(00:08:50) - The single giant pool risk

(00:11:31) - Spam, Slipstream, BIP110

(00:13:22) - Ocean, DMND, and what's next

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Host Links

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References from the episode

Bitcoin StackExchange #1: https://tinyurl.com/279wnyjg

D-CentralTech: https://tinyurl.com/284e3gdh

Stratum v2: https://tinyurl.com/26wn5kps

Pavlenex's X post: https://tinyurl.com/23w828ac

LNhance: https://tinyurl.com/2c9k4ogm

DMND: https://tinyurl.com/2yfurts9

BitcoinTalk: https://tinyurl.com/234qlqgb

Bitcoin StackExchange #2: https://tinyurl.com/279wnyjg

Mempool.space: https://tinyurl.com/245ahvdq

Minoa.com: https://tinyurl.com/24qmfn4d

The Defiant: https://tinyurl.com/28vsgv7z