Bitcoin Explained - The Technical Side of Bitcoin
173 episodes - English - Latest episode: 19 days ago - ★★★★★ - 15 ratingsBitcoin Magazine's Technical editor Aaron van Wirdum teams up with Bitcoin core contributor Sjors Provoost to explain Bitcoin one episode at a time.
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Episodes
Episode 92: Bitcoin Core 27.0
April 10, 2024 07:34 - 35 minutes - 32.6 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors explain what new features are included in the upcoming Bitcoin Core 27.0 release. https://github.com/bitcoin-core/bitcoin-devwiki/wiki/27.0-Release-Candidate-Testing-Guide === This episode’s sponsor: CoinKite, maker of the ColdCard Aaron's Twitter: @AaronvanW Aaron’s Nostr: npub1art8cs66ffvnqns5zs5qa9fwlctmusj5lj38j94lv0ulw0j54wjqhpm0w5 Sjors’ Twitter: @provoost Sjors’ Nostr: npub1s6z7hmmx2vud66f3utxd70qem8...
Episode 91: Splicing
March 31, 2024 18:05 - 42 minutes - 39.1 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors are once more joined by Breez developer Jesse de Wit, this time to explain splicing. Splicing allows users of the Lightning Network to effectively add or remove funds from an active channel, allowing for continuous payment and routing activity. Aaron, Sjors and Jesse discuss what challenges this entails, and how these challenges are overcome. At the beginning of the episode, Sjors also gives a brief update on the ongoing TornadoCash tri...
Episode 90: Asynchronous Lightning Payments
February 23, 2024 13:01 - 36 minutes - 34.2 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors are joined by Breez developer Jesse de Wit to discuss asynchronous lightning payments. They explain why such payments would be useful, how they would work, and what building blocks are required to realize it. In the process, Aaron, Sjors and Jesse also cover the basics of PTLCs and Trampoline Payments. === This episode’s sponsor: CoinKite, maker of the ColdCard Jesse’s Twitter: @WitDeJesse Jesse's Nostr: npub18hwpk5qep3ptnmzatq22...
Episode 89: B-money and RPOW
January 22, 2024 10:11 - 37 minutes - 34.5 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors discuss two more electronic cash projects that predate Bitcoin: Wei Dai’s b-money and Hal Finney’s RPOW. As detailed in Aaron’s new book, The Genesis Book, these systems introduced design elements that were later utilized by Satoshi Nakamoto. Aaron and Sjors explain what these elements are, and how the inspired Bitcoin’s design. To buy Aaron’s new book, visit www.thegenesisbook.com. Mentioned: B-money (archive link): https://web.archi...
Episode 88: Hashcash and Bit Gold
January 03, 2024 15:55 - 45 minutes - 41.6 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors discuss two electronic cash projects that predate Bitcoin: Adam Back’s Hashcash and Nick Szabo’s Bit Gold. As detailed in Aaron’s new book, The Genesis Book, these systems introduced design element that were later utilized by Satoshi Nakamoto. Aaron and Sjors explain what these elements are, and how they inspired Bitcoin’s design. To buy Aaron’s new book, visit www.thegenesisbook.com. Mentioned: * 1992 Dwork & Naor: Pricing via Pro...
Episode 87: The Block 1,983,702 Problem
December 21, 2023 07:59 - 39 minutes - 35.9 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors discuss the so-called “block 1,983,702 problem”. They explain how a bug in early Bitcoin implementations could in rare cases cause a loss of funds, or in a worst-case scenario even lead to consensus failures, while they also explain how BIP 30 and BIP 34 solved this problem. As it turns out, however, BIP 34 introduced a new problem, that could become an issue about twenty years from now… === This episode’s sponsor: CoinKite, maker of ...
Episode 86: Ocean Tides
December 06, 2023 08:15 - 36 minutes - 33.3 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors explain what features are offered by Ocean, the relaunched and rebranded Eligius mining pool. They discuss how payouts from this pool are (partially) non-custodial, how the block template creation is fully transparent, and how payout distribution is determined. Aaron and Sjors also briefly touch on the "spam" filtering employed by Ocean, and how that potentially affects profitability of the pool. Our new sponsor: https://coinkite.com/
Episode 85: Bitcoin Core 26.0 (And F2Pool’s OFAC Compliant Mining Policy)
November 23, 2023 09:22 - 37 minutes - 85.4 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors explain what new features are included in the upcoming Bitcoin Core 0.26 release. They also briefly discuss recent developments concerning the transaction inclusion policy of mining pool F2Pool, which appears to have been compliant with the OFAC sanctions list. Link to testing guide: https://github.com/bitcoin-core/bitcoin-devwiki/wiki/26.0-Release-Candidate-Testing-Guide
Episode 84: Marathon Pool’s Invalid Block (And Some Updates About the Show)
October 05, 2023 11:56 - 22 minutes - 50.9 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors discuss an invalid block mined by Marathon Pool. They explain why the block was invalid, what caused it (and what didn’t), and why that didn’t affect the Bitcoin network. Aaron and Sjors also provide some updates about the show, and what that means moving forward. Finally, Sjors briefly mentions some notable Bitcoin Core updates that were recently merged. For more information on the invalid block, also see: https://b10c.me/obs...
Episode 83: The Milk Sad Vulnerability
August 17, 2023 19:00 - 46 minutes - 42.8 MBIn this episode, Aaron (@AaronvanW) and Sjors (@provoost) discuss a vulnerability in Libbitcoin dubbed “Milk Sad”, which allowed people to generate private key seeds with such weak entropy that their private keys could be brute forced and their coins stolen. Aaron and Sjors examine how this vulnerability (could have) ended up in Libbitcoin as well as in Andreas Antonopoulos’ book Mastering Bitcoin, to what extent it should be considered a bug, and more. For more information on Milk Sad, see:...
Episode 82: Scaling to Billions of Users
July 11, 2023 03:09 - 30 minutes - 28.2 MBIn this episode, Aaron (@AaronvanW) and Sjors (@provoost) discuss a recent blog post by Bitcoin Core developer Anthony Towns (@ajtowns), “Putting the B in BTC”, in which he outlines a vision for scaling Bitcoin to facilitate billions of users. As Aaron and Sjors walk through the article, they explain what some of Towns’ proposed solutions are, and which tradeoffs they entail. Link to the blog post: https://www.erisian.com.au/wordpress/2023/06/21/putting-the-b-in-btc Sjors New Book: https://...
Episode 81: Bitcoin Core 25.0
June 26, 2023 17:16 - 39 minutes - 36.1 MBIn this episode, Aaron (@AaronvanW) and Sjors (@provoost) discuss Bitcoin Core 25.0, the latest major release of the Bitcoin Core software. They highlight four of the most notable changes: performance improvements concerning huge transaction loads, further Miniscript integration, a faster wallet re-scan, and the decreased 65-byte transaction limit policy rule. For further reading on the reasoning behind 65-byte policy rule, also see: https://bitslog.com/2018/06/09/leaf-node-weakness-in-bitc...
Episode 80: Stratum V2
June 13, 2023 13:43 - 50 minutes - 46.3 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron (@AaronvanW) and Sjors (@provoost) are joined by Braiins co-founder Jan Čapek (@janbraiins), who has been leading the initiative to upgrade pooled mining to the Stratum V2 protocol. Aaron, Sjors and Jan discuss what pooled mining is, how the Stratum protocol helps with that, and in what ways Stratum V2 is an improvement over Stratum V1. Episode Sponsor: https://voltage.cloud/ Sjors New Book: https://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Technical-innovations-S...
Episode 79: The Witness Discount
May 23, 2023 15:51 - 49 minutes - 45.8 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron (@AaronvanW) and Sjors (@provoost) explain why the witness discount was included in the Segregated Witness protocol upgrade from 2017, why this discount is 75%, and why this discount still makes sense in today’s world where Inscriptions benefit from it. Episode Sponsor: https://voltage.cloud/ Sjors New Book: https://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Technical-innovations-Sjors-Provoost/dp/9090360425 Lower your time preference and lock-in your BITCOIN 2024...
Bitcoin, Explained 79: The Witness Discount
May 23, 2023 15:51 - 49 minutes - 45.8 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron (@AaronvanW) and Sjors (@provoost) explain why the witness discount was included in the Segregated Witness protocol upgrade from 2017, why this discount is 75%, and why this discount still makes sense in today’s world where Inscriptions benefit from it. Episode Sponsor: https://voltage.cloud/ Sjors New Book: https://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Technical-innovations-Sjors-Provoost/dp/9090360425 Lower your time preference and lock-in your BITCOIN 2024...
Episode 78: Partially Signed Bitcoin Transactions (PSBTs) (And Dutch Auctions)
May 08, 2023 23:48 - 32 minutes - 30.5 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron (@AaronvanW) and Sjors (@provoost) explain Partially Signed Bitcoin Transactions (PSBTs), discussing what problems they solve, how they work, and some of the ways they are used. In the last part of the episode, the hosts zoom in on one particular PSBT use case called Dutch Auctions, which Bitcoin Magazine recently used to sell ordinals. Episode Sponsor: https://voltage.cloud/ Sjors New Book: https://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Technical-innovations-S...
Episode 77: Peer-to-peer Encryption
April 24, 2023 19:06 - 36 minutes - 34.1 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors discuss BIP 324, the proposal by Dhruv, Pieter Wuille and Tim Ruffing to add peer-to-peer (P2P) encryption to the Bitcoin protocol. They explain why this is needed, how it would work, and which problems it would, and wouldn’t solve. Episode Sponsor: https://voltage.cloud/ Sjors New Book: https://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Technical-innovations-Sjors-Provoost/dp/9090360425 Don't miss out on the biggest Bitcoin event of the year! B23 in Mia...
Bitcoin, Explained 76: Stamps (And the Invalid Block Caused by It)
April 15, 2023 16:10 - 50 minutes - 47.1 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors explain Stamps, a new(?) protocol to upload images onto the Bitcoin blockchain, which end up in the UTXO set. To learn more about some of the concepts mentioned in this episode, also check out episode 15 (Utreexo), episode 61 (OP_RETURN), episode 72 (Inscriptions) and episode 75 (Multisig). Episode Sponsor: https://voltage.cloud/ Sjors New Book: https://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Technical-innovations-Sjors-Provoost/dp/9090360425 Don't m...
Episode 76: Stamps (And the Invalid Block Caused by It)
April 15, 2023 16:10 - 50 minutes - 47.1 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors explain Stamps, a new(?) protocol to upload images onto the Bitcoin blockchain, which end up in the UTXO set. To learn more about some of the concepts mentioned in this episode, also check out episode 15 (Utreexo), episode 61 (OP_RETURN), episode 72 (Inscriptions) and episode 75 (Multisig). Episode Sponsor: https://voltage.cloud/ Sjors New Book: https://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Technical-innovations-Sjors-Provoost/dp/9090360425 Don't m...
Episode 75: Multisig (And Musig)
March 31, 2023 12:00 - 52 minutes - 48.6 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors discuss multi-signature (multisig), and the various ways that Bitcoin enables multisig; from bare multisig, to P2SH, SegWit, Taproot, and finally Musig, as well as some potential future solutions. Episode Sponsor: https://voltage.cloud/ Sjors New Book: https://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Technical-innovations-Sjors-Provoost/dp/9090360425 Don't miss out on the biggest Bitcoin event of the year! B23 in Miami is coming up fast, get your ticke...
Bitcoin, Explained 75: Multisig (And Musig)
March 31, 2023 12:00 - 52 minutes - 48.6 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors discuss multi-signature (multisig), and the various ways that Bitcoin enables multisig; from bare multisig, to P2SH, SegWit, Taproot, and finally Musig, as well as some potential future solutions. Episode Sponsor: https://voltage.cloud/ Sjors New Book: https://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Technical-innovations-Sjors-Provoost/dp/9090360425 Don't miss out on the biggest Bitcoin event of the year! B23 in Miami is coming up fast, get your ticke...
Episode 74: Pay-to-Script-Hash (P2SH)
March 17, 2023 15:29 - 43 minutes - 40.2 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors explain pay-to-script-hash (P2SH), which allows bitcoin to be sent to and from the hash of a script. Besides (the current implementation of) P2SH itself, Aaron and Sjors also discuss some alternatives that were proposed around the time that P2SH was adopted in 2012. For further reading on the history of P2SH, also see "The Battle for P2SH: The Untold History of Bitcoin’s First War" Episode Sponsor: https://voltage.cloud/ Sjors New Boo...
Bitcoin, Explained 74: P2SH
March 17, 2023 15:29 - 43 minutes - 40.2 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors explain pay-to-script-hash (P2SH), which allows bitcoin to be sent to and from the hash of a script. Besides (the current implementation of) P2SH itself, Aaron and Sjors also discuss some alternatives that were proposed around the time that P2SH was adopted in 2012. For further reading on the history of P2SH, also see "The Battle for P2SH: The Untold History of Bitcoin’s First War" Episode Sponsor: https://voltage.cloud/ Sjors New Boo...
Episode 73: OP_VAULT
February 24, 2023 16:26 - 40 minutes - 37.7 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors explain OP_VAULT, a proposed op code that would enable an elegant type of vaults through Bitcoin’s scripting language. For more information, also see: https://jameso.be/vaults.pdf https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/c589490f98ba1b0c606d0e2030463f1fde54b786/bip-vaults.mediawiki === Episode Sponsor: https://voltage.cloud/ Sjors New Book: https://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Technical-innovations-Sjors-Provoost/dp/9090360425 Don't miss ou...
Bitcoin, Explained 73: OP_VAULT
February 24, 2023 16:26 - 40 minutes - 37.7 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors explain OP_VAULT, a proposed op code that would enable an elegant type of vaults through Bitcoin’s scripting language. For more information, also see: https://jameso.be/vaults.pdf https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/c589490f98ba1b0c606d0e2030463f1fde54b786/bip-vaults.mediawiki === Episode Sponsor: https://voltage.cloud/ Sjors New Book: https://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Technical-innovations-Sjors-Provoost/dp/9090360425 Don't miss ou...
Episode 72: Inscriptions
February 09, 2023 15:03 - 40 minutes - 37.5 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors explain Inscriptions, a new method to upload arbitrary data onto the Bitcoin blockchain. Episode Sponsor: https://voltage.cloud/ Sjors New Book: https://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Technical-innovations-Sjors-Provoost/dp/9090360425 Don't miss out on the biggest Bitcoin event of the year! B23 in Miami is coming up fast, get your tickets now! Lower your time preference and lock-in your BITCOIN 2023 conference tickets today! Use the code BML...
Bitcoin, Explained 72: Inscriptions
February 09, 2023 15:03 - 40 minutes - 37.5 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors explain Inscriptions, a new method to upload arbitrary data onto the Bitcoin blockchain. Episode Sponsor: https://voltage.cloud/ Sjors New Book: https://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Technical-innovations-Sjors-Provoost/dp/9090360425 Don't miss out on the biggest Bitcoin event of the year! B23 in Miami is coming up fast, get your tickets now! Lower your time preference and lock-in your BITCOIN 2023 conference tickets today! Use the code BML...
Bitcoin, Explained 71: Timelocks
January 20, 2023 19:43 - 32 minutes - 30.5 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors discuss the different types of timelocks available on Bitcoin (and what can go wrong when used incorrectly). Episode Sponsor: https://voltage.cloud/ Sjors New Book: https://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Technical-innovations-Sjors-Provoost/dp/9090360425 Lower your time preference and lock-in your Bitcoin 2023 conference tickets today!!! Use promo code BMLIVE to save 10% off your conference tickets today!!! https://b.tc/conference/bitcoin202...
Episode 71: Timelocks
January 20, 2023 19:43 - 32 minutes - 30.5 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, Aaron and Sjors discuss the different types of timelocks available on Bitcoin (and what can go wrong when used incorrectly). Episode Sponsor: https://voltage.cloud/ Sjors New Book: https://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Technical-innovations-Sjors-Provoost/dp/9090360425 Lower your time preference and lock-in your Bitcoin 2023 conference tickets today!!! Use promo code BMLIVE to save 10% off your conference tickets today!!! https://b.tc/conference/bitcoin202...
Episode 70: The Bitcoin Core 24.0 Bug (Or Why There Is a Bitcoin Core 24.0.1 Release)
December 30, 2022 11:45 - 23 minutes - 21.4 MBAaron and Sjors explain how a wallet bug crept into the Bitcoin Core 24.0 release, and why there is now a Bitcoin Core version 24.0.1 available. Episode Sponsor: https://voltage.cloud/ Sjors New Book: https://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Technical-innovations-Sjors-Provoost/dp/9090360425 Lower your time preference and lock-in your Bitcoin 2023 conference tickets today!!! Use promo code BMLIVE to save 10% off your conference tickets today!!! https://b.tc/conference/bitcoin2023 Follow us o...
Bitcoin Explained 70: Bitcoin Core v24 Bug
December 30, 2022 11:45 - 23 minutes - 21.4 MBAaron and Sjors explain how a wallet bug crept into the Bitcoin Core 24.0 release, and why there is now a Bitcoin Core version 24.0.1 available. Episode Sponsor: https://voltage.cloud/ Sjors New Book: https://www.amazon.com/Bitcoin-Technical-innovations-Sjors-Provoost/dp/9090360425 Lower your time preference and lock-in your Bitcoin 2023 conference tickets today!!! Use promo code BMLIVE to save 10% off your conference tickets today!!! https://b.tc/conference/bitcoin2023 Follow us o...
Episode 69: The Tornado Cash Trial
December 02, 2022 12:55 - 39 minutes - 36.6 MBAaron and Sjors explain what happened in the pro forma hearing concerning the trial against Alexy Pertsev, one of the developers behind the Ethereum-based Tornado Cash mixer. While this means that this episode dives more into the domain of Ethereum smart contracts and Dutch law, Aaron and Sjors do discuss the ongoing case from a Bitcoin perspective. THIS EPISODE’S SPONSORS: Voltage - https://voltage.cloud/ Bitcoin 2023 Miami - https://b.tc/conference/ Bitcoin Magazine - https://store.bit...
Bitcoin, Explained 69: The Tornado Cash Trial
December 02, 2022 12:55 - 39 minutes - 36.6 MBAaron and Sjors explain what happened in the pro forma hearing concerning the trial against Alexy Pertsev, one of the developers behind the Ethereum-based Tornado Cash mixer. While this means that this episode dives more into the domain of Ethereum smart contracts and Dutch law, Aaron and Sjors do discuss the ongoing case from a Bitcoin perspective. THIS EPISODE’S SPONSORS: Voltage - https://voltage.cloud/ Bitcoin 2023 Miami - https://b.tc/conference/ Bitcoin Magazine - https://store.bit...
Bitcoin, Explained 68: RBF In Bitcoin Core 24.0
November 18, 2022 14:34 - 42 minutes - 58.9 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, hosts Aaron van Wirdum and Sjors Provoost revisit replace-by-fee (RBF). As they mentioned in Bitcoin, Explained episode 65, the upcoming Bitcoin Core release — Bitcoin Core 24.0 — includes the option to switch on “full RBF”, but this has caused some commotion in the Bitcoin community since the recording of that episode. Aaron and Sjors explain what this commotion has been about, and they highlight some of the new arguments for and against (full) RBF. ...
Episode 68: Full Replace-By-Fee (RBF) in Bitcoin Core 24.0
November 18, 2022 14:34 - 42 minutes - 58.9 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, hosts Aaron van Wirdum and Sjors Provoost revisit replace-by-fee (RBF). As they mentioned in Bitcoin, Explained episode 65, the upcoming Bitcoin Core release — Bitcoin Core 24.0 — includes the option to switch on “full RBF”, but this has caused some commotion in the Bitcoin community since the recording of that episode. Aaron and Sjors explain what this commotion has been about, and they highlight some of the new arguments for and against (full) RBF. ...
Bitcoin, Explained 67: Insights From the 4th Largest Lightning Network Node
November 07, 2022 17:27 - 50 minutes - 69.7 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, hosts Aaron van Wirdum and Sjors Provoost speak with Sam Wouters, a research analyst at River Financial. River operates the fourth largest node on the Lightning network, and Sam recently published a report detailing unique insights from this Lightning node. At the start of the episode, Sjors first gives a brief update on the bug that brought down LND nodes, discussed in episode 66. He confirms that his assessment of the cause was correct, and explain...
Episode 67: Insights From the Fourth Largest Lightning Network Node
November 07, 2022 17:27 - 50 minutes - 69.7 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, hosts Aaron van Wirdum and Sjors Provoost speak with Sam Wouters, a research analyst at River Financial. River operates the fourth largest node on the Lightning network, and Sam recently published a report detailing unique insights from this Lightning node. At the start of the episode, Sjors first gives a brief update on the bug that brought down LND nodes, discussed in episode 66. He confirms that his assessment of the cause was correct, and explain...
Bitcoin, Explained 66: The BTCD Bug That Brought Down LND Nodes
October 21, 2022 20:45 - 33 minutes - 46.1 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, hosts Aaron van Wirdum and Sjors Provoost discuss a recent bug in the btcd Bitcoin implementation that affected a large part of the Lightning network, as it disconnected lnd Lightning nodes from the Bitcoin blockchain. In the episode, Aaron and Sjors explain that a developer going by the name Burak on Twitter created a 998-of-999 multisig transaction by leveraging Taproot. Although this was a valid transaction, btcd and lnd nodes rejected it, and ...
Episode 66: The BTCD Bug That Brought Down LND Nodes
October 21, 2022 20:45 - 33 minutes - 46.1 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, hosts Aaron van Wirdum and Sjors Provoost discuss a recent bug in the btcd Bitcoin implementation that affected a large part of the Lightning network, as it disconnected lnd Lightning nodes from the Bitcoin blockchain. In the episode, Aaron and Sjors explain that a developer going by the name Burak on Twitter created a 998-of-999 multisig transaction by leveraging Taproot. Although this was a valid transaction, btcd and lnd nodes rejected it, and ...
Bitcoin, Explained 65: Bitcoin Core 24.0
October 07, 2022 19:30 - 41 minutes - 57.1 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, hosts Aaron van Wirdum and Sjors Provoost discuss the upcoming Bitcoin Core major release, Bitcoin Core 24.0. The Bitcoin Core project produces a new major release of its software roughly every six months. The 24th major release is currently in its release candidate phase, which means that it is being tested and could technically be released any day now (though this phase will probably last a few more weeks). In the episode, Aaron and Sjors discuss s...
Episode 65: Bitcoin Core 24.0
October 07, 2022 19:30 - 41 minutes - 57.1 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, hosts Aaron van Wirdum and Sjors Provoost discuss the upcoming Bitcoin Core major release, Bitcoin Core 24.0. The Bitcoin Core project produces a new major release of its software roughly every six months. The 24th major release is currently in its release candidate phase, which means that it is being tested and could technically be released any day now (though this phase will probably last a few more weeks). In the episode, Aaron and Sjors discuss s...
Episode 64: HD Wallets, Mnemonic Codes and SeedQR
September 19, 2022 15:10 - 29 minutes - 52.2 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, hosts Aaron van Wirdum and Sjors Provoost discuss Hierarchical Deterministic (HD) Wallets, mnemonic codes, and — especially — the new SeedQR format which allows users to store their mnemonic codes as QR codes. Aaron and Sjors start the episode by recapping what HD Wallets (also known as private key seeds) are, and why they are preferred over regular private key backups. Next, they briefly explain why mnemonic codes (also known as seed phrases) are a p...
Bitcoin, Explained 64: HD Wallets, Mnemonic codes and SeedQR
September 19, 2022 15:10 - 29 minutes - 52.2 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, hosts Aaron van Wirdum and Sjors Provoost discuss Hierarchical Deterministic (HD) Wallets, mnemonic codes, and — especially — the new SeedQR format which allows users to store their mnemonic codes as QR codes. Aaron and Sjors start the episode by recapping what HD Wallets (also known as private key seeds) are, and why they are preferred over regular private key backups. Next, they briefly explain why mnemonic codes (also known as seed phrases) are a p...
Episode 63: The Bitcoin Core Development Process
September 02, 2022 12:30 - 39 minutes - 54.8 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, hosts Aaron van Wirdum and Sjors Provoost discuss the Bitcoin Core development process, and more specifically, the different roles that are involved in this process. At the start of the episode, Aaron and Sjors explain what Bitcoin Core is, both in a practical sense as well as in a more definitional sense, and they touch on some slightly different ideas about this as well. Aaron and Sjors then go on to explain the roles of three distinct types of Bi...
Bitcoin, Explained 63: The Bitcoin Core development process
September 02, 2022 12:30 - 39 minutes - 54.8 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, hosts Aaron van Wirdum and Sjors Provoost discuss the Bitcoin Core development process, and more specifically, the different roles that are involved in this process. At the start of the episode, Aaron and Sjors explain what Bitcoin Core is, both in a practical sense as well as in a more definitional sense, and they touch on some slightly different ideas about this as well. Aaron and Sjors then go on to explain the roles of three distinct types of Bi...
Bitcoin, Explained 62: Hash functions
August 12, 2022 13:30 - 35 minutes - 49.2 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, hosts Aaron van Wirdum and Sjors Provoost go back to basics. They explain one of the most fundamental building blocks in all of Bitcoin: hash functions. To start the episode off, Aaron and Sjors explain that hash functions are a type of mathematical one-way functions. That means that they can easily convert one piece of data into another piece of data, a hash, but anyone who knows only this hash can not convert it back to the original data. Additional...
Episode 62: Hash Functions
August 12, 2022 13:30 - 35 minutes - 49.2 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, hosts Aaron van Wirdum and Sjors Provoost go back to basics. They explain one of the most fundamental building blocks in all of Bitcoin: hash functions. To start the episode off, Aaron and Sjors explain that hash functions are a type of mathematical one-way functions. That means that they can easily convert one piece of data into another piece of data, a hash, but anyone who knows only this hash can not convert it back to the original data. Additional...
Episode 61: OP_RETURN (And the ‘OP_RETURN Wars’)
July 15, 2022 18:30 - 26 minutes - 36.1 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, hosts Aaron van Wirdum and Sjors Provoost discuss OP_RETURN and what some have called the “OP_RETURN wars”. More specifically, they discuss a blog post by BitMEX research titled: “The OP_Return Wars of 2014 – Dapps Vs Bitcoin Transactions”. Aaron and Sjors start off by explaining that OP_RETURN is an op code (a piece of code for Bitcoin transactions) that will render invalid any transaction that includes it in an input. This means that outputs that in...
OP_RETURN Wars : Episode 61
July 15, 2022 18:30 - 26 minutes - 46.8 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, hosts Aaron van Wirdum and Sjors Provoost discuss OP_RETURN and what some have called the “OP_RETURN wars”. More specifically, they discuss a blog post by BitMEX research titled: “The OP_Return Wars of 2014 – Dapps Vs Bitcoin Transactions”. Aaron and Sjors start off by explaining that OP_RETURN is an op code (a piece of code for Bitcoin transactions) that will render invalid any transaction that includes it in an input. This means that outputs that in...
OP RETURN Wars - Episode 61
July 15, 2022 18:30 - 26 minutes - 36.1 MBIn this episode of Bitcoin, Explained, hosts Aaron van Wirdum and Sjors Provoost discuss OP_RETURN and what some have called the “OP_RETURN wars”. More specifically, they discuss a blog post by BitMEX research titled: “The OP_Return Wars of 2014 – Dapps Vs Bitcoin Transactions”. Aaron and Sjors start off by explaining that OP_RETURN is an op code (a piece of code for Bitcoin transactions) that will render invalid any transaction that includes it in an input. This means that outputs that in...