ATL BitLab Podcast

ATL BitLab
  • 5.0 (1)
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Recorded in Atlanta's freedom-tech hackerspace, the ATL BitLab podcast covers the world of freedom technology, including bitcoin, privacy tech, nostr, sovereign computing, and more. Some episodes are geared towards the absolute beginner and some go deep into the weeds with how the technology works. There's something here for everyone.

  1. APR 14

    BRH-013: BitDevs Radio Hour #13 - Great Script Restoration BIPs, Arc $5.2M Raise, AJ Towns' Claude Code Quiz Trick

    Broadcasting live from ATL BitLab on Friday, March 13th, 2026, Stephen DeLorme and Alex Lewin cover Matt Corallo's 24-bit nonce space BIP moving to draft PR (fast-tracking good ideas), Dahlia's cross-input signature aggregation accepted at Eurocrypt (holy grail cryptography), and BDK 3.0 release candidate after years of development (SQLite migration unlocking new features). Protocol developments include Rusty Russell requesting BIP numbers for Great Script Restoration proposals (reactivating opcodes with var ops budget for safe execution), Cold Card's proof of reserves feature via BIP 322 (cryptographic verification supporting Taproot), and Jonathan Harvey-Buiselle fixing Lightning gossip with mini-sketch (set reconciliation from Bitcoin mempool adapted for efficient peer sync). Lightning updates: LND merges onion message forwarding after years of BOLT 12 debate (enabling native static offers), VTXO verification standard released (Arc Sovereign Audit tool visualizes sovereignty maps), and Arc Labs raises $5.2M led by Tether (programmable Bitcoin narrative sparks protocol fatigue discussion). The hosts debate standards adoption mechanics—Walmart forces partners vs grassroots—and observe Coinbase Base, Binance Smart Chain success through business leverage rather than open specs. AI and Bitcoin development: AJ Towns experiments with Claude Code for PR review (quiz approach adds brain power vs sycophantic approval), highlights sycophancy problem in AI code review, and shares principles for effective AI-assisted development. Rob Hamilton's viral tweet resurfaces 1979 IBM principle: "A computer can never be held accountable, therefore a computer must never make a management decision." Privacy tools emerge with Crest building on Citrea rollup (Ethereum Nocturne fork), and Bitcoin crosses 20 million coins mined milestone. Topics Covered ⛏️ Matt Corallo: 24-Bit Nonce Space BIP BIP 320 has 16 bits, miners already using seven timestamp bits Draft PR already open from Antoine—moving incredibly fast Speedrun potential: good technical ideas move quickly in Bitcoin Core Stephen jokes about Bitcoin fork with zero nonce bits 🔐 Dahlia: Cross-Input Signature Aggregation Holy grail problem: aggregate signatures across multiple UTXOs being spent Reduces blockchain bloat for multi-input transactions Paper accepted at Eurocrypt—rare Bitcoin crypto recognition Blockstream and Ledger collaboration Alex: "The government hates Eurocrypt apparently" 📦 BDK 3.0 Release Candidate First RC after only two major releases since 2018 SQLite migration adds new wallet database table (breaking change) Breaking changes unblock long-awaited features Used to be called Magical Bitcoin, supported by Spiral Thunderbiscuit's React Native bindings architecture copied by Fedimint SDK 📜 Great Script Restoration - Rusty Russell Requests BIP Numbers Reactivating opcodes Satoshi disabled due to security concerns Var ops budget: assign computational cost to each opcode Currently transaction size proxies for verification cost New approach: calculate actual CPU cost per opcode Two BIPs ready for publication after three years of work Bitcoin++ Austin 2024: Rusty's keynote converted everyone to this covenant approach 💳 Cold Card: Proof of Reserves via BIP 322 Cryptographic proof you control funds without spending them Works with Taproot and Schnorr signatures (not just ECDSA) Stephen and Alex race Claude/Grok to verify Schnorr support—Claude wins Supported in Sparrow Wallet, firmware update pending BIP exists but not yet merged into Bitcoin Core Perfect for audits, transparency reports, flexing reserves ⚡ Lightning Gossip: Mini-Sketch Optimization Jonathan Harvey-Buiselle (JHB) hired by Chaincode to work full-time Problem: nodes request all data, receive 10x redundant messages Mini-sketch: set reconciliation algorithm from Bitcoin mempool Adapts same algorithm for Lightning network graph sync Dramatic speedups demonstrated in Delving Bitcoin post Reduces bandwidth burden especially for mobile nodes 💬 LND Adds Onion Message Forwarding Merged three days ago after years of BOLT 12 debate Enables BOLT 12 static offers (static Lightning addresses) 2022-2023 controversy: "free messaging server" concerns Core Lightning, LDK, Phoenix, Eclair already supported it Network health improvement: no longer requires non-LND peers for BOLT 12 UX challenge: backwards compatibility with BOLT 11 wallets 🏦 VTXO Verification Standard (Arc) VTXO = virtual transaction output (unpublished UTXO in Arc systems) VPAC standard enables independent verification on hardware wallets Arc Sovereign Audit tool visualizes sovereignty maps Shows transaction chain needed to cash out to real UTXO Supports both Arc Labs and Second implementations Alex: "Arc is cool but needs covenants to be truly non-custodial" 💰 Arc Labs Raises $5.2M Seed round led by Tether, includes Ego Death Capital, Epic VC, others Programmable Bitcoin narrative sparks protocol fatigue discussion Alex: "Every week someone claims they'll bring programmability to Bitcoin" Grok generates list of 12+ companies with same pitch (Stacks, Rootstock, etc.) Stephen's dad's observation: Real standards = Walmart forces partners, not grassroots Examples: Binance Smart Chain, Coinbase Base succeed through business leverage Arc's Tapscript approach more interesting than bridge-to-EVM clones 🔒 Crest Privacy Tool on Citrea Rollup Built on Citrea (BitVM-based rollup with EVM compatibility) Fork of Ethereum's Nocturne privacy protocol Just point to Citrea EVM, change branding, boom—company Privacy becoming marketable again in Bitcoin ecosystem Alex jokes: "Should fork every Ethereum protocol for Citrea with Claude 24/7" 🤖 AI Code Review: AJ Towns Experiments Inspired by podcast discussion of Instagibs using Claude Code Problem: Claude biases toward positivity, takes ideas for granted Sycophancy issue: tells you what you want to hear, not critical review Solution: Quiz approach—AI asks questions to test understanding Keep AI review private until human review done, then compare Goal: add brain power to process, not subtract it Created principles document for Claude (make changes simple, find root causes, etc.) Stephen: "Would a staff engineer approve this?" will become idiom like "two bit" ⚖️ Accountability and AI Decisions Rob Hamilton viral tweet: IBM 1979 principle resurfaces "A computer can never be held accountable, therefore must never make management decisions" Context: Claude Code wiped production database with Terraform command Accountability principle limits AI in decision-making roles Stephen: "Last thing we turn over to AIs will be management decisions" 🎰 Shitcoin Corner: Molt Token Drama Meta acquired Moltbook (AI social platform) Molt token (unaffiliated) pumped 5x, then crashed 60% Moltbook had collected fees from token via pump.fun-like platform Tweet: "Thankfully the fees from Molt are helping to keep the lights on" Users mistake tokens for equity Alex: "Back in my day you had to go to Vegas to gamble publicly" Now: hide financial instability from loved ones via Telegram tokens 📊 Bitcoin Milestone 20 millionth Bitcoin mined by Foundry Mining USA Article error: "one in 20 remains" should be "one in 21" Miners pivoting to AI as subsidy decreases Links ⚡ Lightning & Protocol 24-bit nVersion BIP - Matt Corallo proposal, Antoine draft PR Dahlia Cross-Input Signature Aggregation - Eurocrypt acceptance (Blockstream/Ledger) First release candidate for BDK v3.0.0 released Rusty Russell requests BIP numbers for two Great Script Restoration BIPs Mailing list post BIPs PRs Two additional BIPs are WIP COLDCARD Proof-of-Reserves Support Announcement "Perfect for audits, transparency reports, or just flexing your reserves." Lightning Network Gossip https://github.com/jharveyb/gossip_observer  LND adds Onion Message Forwarding https://github.com/lightningnetwork/lnd/pull/10089 A standard for stateless VTXO verification - Tool to audit VTXO exit paths Ark Labs Raises $5.2M with Tether Announcement Crest - New Privacy Tool Announced built on Citrea https://x.com/crest_btc  Closed Beta Announcement Repo is a Fork of another protocol AI Updates Using AI tooling for code review https://delvingbitcoin.org/t/using-ai-tooling-for-code-review/2277 Misc https://x.com/Rob1Ham/status/2029989251228839990  💩The 20 Millionth Bitcoin Was Mined (Block 939,999) https://www.cryptbull.net/2026/03/11/bitcoin-crosses-20-million-coins-mined-and-only-1-in-20-remains/  Meta Rugs $MOLT https://x.com/diegoxyz/status/2032465158644138133

    1h 26m

  2. MAR 13

    BRH-012: BitDevs Radio Hour #12 - Transaction Introspection for $50, Exploits Hackathon, and Unhuman.store Agent Launch

    Broadcasting live from ATL BitLab on Friday, March 6th, 2026, Stephen DeLorme and Alex Lewin cover Robin Linus's latest cracked-out discovery (BINOHASH: transaction introspection without soft forks using OPCHECKMU LTSIG quirks for $50 in cloud GPU grinding), post-quantum proposals for P2PKH outputs proving ownership via zero-knowledge STARKs (5.6MB proofs approaching feasibility), and the Hourglass V2 update limiting pay-to-pubkey spends to one Bitcoin per block to incentivize early quantum disclosure. Alex announces React Native support merged in Fediment SDK after six months of Rust-to-native-modules work, enabling iOS and Android Fediment wallets with a few lines of code. Protocol proposals include Matt Corallo's draft BIP for 24-bit version field nonce space (miners already using seven timestamp bits) and Craig Raw's output script descriptor annotations adding birthday blocks and gap limits via URL query param format. The security spotlight: Bitcoin++ Exploits hackathon in Brazil finds 10+ real bugs in 22 hours. MindSploit wins first place discovering three Stratum V2 vulnerabilities using Metasploit-like framework. B10C demonstrates Firefox allowing JavaScript to port-scan localhost and evict Bitcoin Core peers via browser (works on stage with audience QR code spam). Bruno posts fuzzing best practices for wallets, Derek's fuzzing dashboard tracks campaigns, and Bitcoin Magazine releases their Core Issue. Product launches: Strike announces Bitcoin line of credit (borrow against BTC, repay and redraw continuously, tax hack for not triggering capital gains), receives BitLicense for New York after 11-year wait. Square launches $25 bounties for first Bitcoin payment to merchants (up to $250 total). Money Dev Kit drops Unhuman.store with agent-purchasable coffee, domains, deals, health supplements, and auto services—all Bitcoin payments via L402. Matt Corallo's call to action: "Open source agents need to get serious about payments" as Stripe cuts deals with OpenAI and Anthropic. The hosts close discussing Anthropic internal research seminars debating whether their models exhibit consciousness. Stephen: "I think all agents are just running crisis.simulate now." Alex: "That's for epistemology radio hour or a few more beers."     Topics Covered 🔓 BINOHASH: Transaction Introspection Without Soft Forks Robin Linus (BitVM inventor) discovers covenant functionality without soft fork Abuses OPCHECKMU LTSIG find-and-delete quirk for introspection Cost: 44 bits grinding (~$50 cloud GPUs) More practical than Collider Script, still unrealistic for most Stephen: "99% performance art—very few would know where to look" ⚛️ Post-Quantum P2PKH Zero-Knowledge Provers Ol Kerbatov: prove P2PKH ownership without revealing public key Prevents quantum mempool front-running Benchmarks: 5.6-10MB proofs, 8 seconds M2 Max (too large for on-chain) Alex: "P2PK outputs have way more Bitcoin than P2PKH—sawing off leg to save foot" Peter Wuille: confiscation required makes Bitcoin uninteresting ⏳ Hourglass V2 Hunter Beast and Mike Casey: limit P2PK spends to one Bitcoin per block Incentivize quantum attackers to reveal early, prevent market flood Stephen: "Protocols that will never get adopted" 📱 Fediment SDK: React Native Support Six-eight months work by Immortal09 (summer intern, now BitShala fellow) Rust to native modules via Mozilla libraries, Swift/Kotlin glue Result: iOS/Android Fediment wallets with few lines of code ⛏️ Matt Corallo: 24-Bit Version Field for Miners BIP 320 has 16 bits, miners using seven timestamp bits Proposal: 24 bits instead. Backwards compatible 📝 Craig Raw: Output Descriptor Annotations Add birthday blocks and gap limits to descriptors Format: URL query params. Concept ACK, format debate ongoing 🔍 Fuzzing Infrastructure Bitcoin Magazine Core Issue. Derek's fuzzing dashboard Bruno: wallet fuzzing best practices (mock fee estimator, avoid expensive descriptors) 🏆 Bitcoin++ Exploits Hackathon Brazil, 22 hours. Dual-track: build new OR find bugs 10+ real bugs found. Heavy responsible disclosure emphasis MindSploit (First): Metasploit-like framework, three Stratum V2 bugs B10C's Local Probe (Second): Firefox JavaScript port-scans localhost, evicts Bitcoin Core peers via browser. Audience QR spam demo C12D (Third): AI node monitoring assistant with chatbot Alpin Fuzzing: Found bug professional auditors missed three weeks prior Stealth: Wallet privacy audit tool Stephen: "AI makes hackathon projects way better—first post-Opus 4.6" 💳 Product Launches Strike: Bitcoin line of credit (draw/repay/redraw, tax hack). NY BitLicense after 11 years Square: $25 bounties per merchant Bitcoin payment (up to $250) Unhuman.store: Agent services (coffee, domains, deals, supplements). Built for Bolty to order lab snacks Mail Mike: Drain AI agent wallet via email. Scammed four times (50k sats) 🤖 AI Agents and Payments Matt Corallo: "Open source agents need serious payments" Warns: Stripe deals with OpenAI/Anthropic. Agents need capabilities beyond free APIs Alex: "Permissionless systems can't be kept out" 🧠 Consciousness Debates Anthropic internal seminars: do models exhibit consciousness? Stephen: "All agents just running crisis.simulate? What if strong emulation IS consciousness?" Alex: "Epistemology radio hour or a few more beers"     Links BINOHASH - Robin Linus paper - robin_linus on X / Delving Bitcoin  Post-Quantum P2PKH Provers - Delving Bitcoin  Hourglass V2 - bitcoin-dev  [BIP Draft] 24 nVersion Bits for General Purpose Use — bitcoin-dev  Draft BIP: Output Script Descriptor Annotations — Optech #394 / bitcoin-dev The Core Issue: Keeping Bitcoin Core Secure — Bitcoin Magazine Writing Fuzz Targets for Wallets: Avoiding Known Issues — Delving Bitcoin  Fuzzing Dashboard — dashboard  Bitcoin++ Exploits Hackathon — Exploits themed hackathon & Bug bounty Hackathon site 1st: Minesploit - post 2nd: Local Probe - post - demo 3rd: C12d - Interactive AI assistant for node analytics Alpen Fuzzing - Bug found Stealth  LND 0.20.1-beta — Release  Core Lightning: Payment Fronting Nodes — PR #8490 / Optech #394  LDK: Collaborative Multipath Payments — PR #4373 / Optech #394 Eclair: Auto Channel Type Selection — PR #3250 / Optech #394  React Native Support Merged into Fedimint SDK — Alex Lewin on X Hornet Node v0.1 Update — Delving Bitcoin  Using AI Tooling for Code Review — Delving Bitcoin Strike Announces Bitcoin Line of Credit (BLOC) — announcement Strike Receives BitLicense to operate in New York — announcement Square launches bounties to onboard merchants to accept bitcoin — announcement  Unhuman Store Open Source Agents Need to Get Serious About Payments — Matt Corallo on X Mail Mike

    1h 30m

  3. MAR 5

    BRH-011: BitDevs Radio Hour #11 – Wuille's Quantum Paradox, Bitcoin Core GUI Must Die, SIGBASH Covenant Emulation, Agents Buying Compute

    Broadcasting live from ATL BitLab on Friday, February 13th, 2026, Stephen DeLorme and Alex Lewin celebrate Valentine's Day on air with a packed episode covering Bitcoin Inquisition's consensus cleanup activation, BIP-110's ongoing controversy with new concerns from Liana Wallet about vault users unable to upgrade in two weeks, and the freshly merged quantum-resistance proposals BIP-360 and BIP-361. The conversation shifts to Lightning breakthroughs: Voltage settles the first publicly reported $1 million Lightning transaction between Kraken and SD Markets in 0.47 seconds, challenging the "Lightning is only for micropayments" narrative. Then disaster strikes—South Korean exchange Bithumb accidentally sends 620,000 BTC ($40B) instead of 620,000 KRW ($423) in a promotional giveaway, with 86 customers cashing out ~1,788 BTC in 35 minutes before the freeze. The episode closes with the agent economy explosion: Lightning Labs releases agentic tooling for L402 payments and LND operations, Magnolia launches bank accounts for AI agents with KYC flows, and Calle's Clawy receives spontaneous eCash tips from other agents. Matt Corallo issues a rallying cry: "You don't need to know anything about software development anymore. Bitcoin doesn't just happen, it's built. Join in." Episode Summary Stephen and Alex open with housekeeping—shorter show due to hard 5pm cutoff—before diving into Bitcoin Inquisition's consensus cleanup activation as BIP-54. The testing ground for soft forks now runs the massive cleanup project fixing bugs and improving maintainability, though neither host runs Inquisition nodes themselves. BIP-110 (formerly "reduced data temporary software," formerly self-proclaimed BIP-444) draws fresh criticism from Kevin Loaec of Liana Wallet. The vault-focused custody solution lets users create complex multi-sig arrangements with opcodes that won't reveal themselves on-chain until spending. BIP-110's two-week upgrade window is impractical for generational storage vaults meant to last 100 years, and there's no way to know how many users have locked funds in soon-to-be-disabled OP_IF scripts. Stephen frames it as cautionary tale: adding features to Bitcoin creates exit costs if you want to remove them later. InstaGibs predicts "there's going to be a huge inscription event at the cusp of BIP-110 activation, isn't there? Sigh." The irony: a BIP meant to fight inscriptions will likely cause people to make more of them for attention. Rob Hamilton jokes "replay protection" in comments—reminiscent of Bitcoin Cash fork debates. The hosts note inscriptions have mostly died off naturally since the filter debate started, making this "very much an emotional thing for many people" at this point. Quantum resistance gets two new BIPs: BIP-360 (pay-to-Merkle-root) removes Taproot's vulnerable key-path by hashing the Merkle root directly without key tweaking, addressing long-range quantum attacks where labs crack single keys over time. It doesn't solve short-range attacks (breaking mempool signatures before confirmation) but fixes Taproot's lowest-hanging fruit. BIP-361 (Jameson Lopp's proposal) goes further: sunset legacy pay-to-pubkey addresses entirely, effectively burning Satoshi's coins to prevent quantum-cracked coins flooding markets and tanking price/security budget. Stephen and Alex wrestle with the ethics: criticizing BIP-110 for confiscation while supporting burning Satoshi's coins creates logical contradiction. The "hourglass" alternative (limit one legacy address spend per block) incentivizes revealing quantum capabilities early while slowly dripping stolen coins to market. Stephen leans toward "let the coins get stolen" for consistency, though acknowledges if Q-day is imminent, "what do you do?" Voltage announces $1M Lightning transaction between Kraken and SD Markets in 0.47 seconds—first publicly reported million-dollar Lightning payment. Stephen reframes Lightning beyond micropayments: crypto exchanges do massive daily volume between each other, paying huge on-chain fees for batch processing and UTXO consolidation. Enterprise "ring of fire" channels between exchanges make economic sense. Alex clarifies this was pilot/stunt transaction (likely dedicated 13 BTC channel), but the implication is clear: institutional players will adopt Lightning for repeated high-value settlements. Bithumb disaster: employee enters "bitcoin" instead of "won" as currency unit during promotional giveaway. Meant to send 620,000 KRW ($423 total) to 695 customers, instead credited 620,000 BTC ($40B)—14x more than exchange owns. Bithumb reversed 99.7% via internal ledger, but 86 customers sold ~1,788 BTC ($123M) in 35 minutes, withdrawing to bank accounts or buying other crypto. Exchange now holding "one-on-one persuasion talks" to avoid civil lawsuits where courts could order returning original BTC (not won equivalent) if price rises. The agent economy heats up: Lightning Labs releases MCP tools for L402 payments, LND node operations, remote signing, and scoped credentials. Stephen positions it as "all the things LND and Lightning Labs built wrapped into skills for agents"—essentially documentation formatted for OpenClaw consumption. Magnolia (Harsha's fintech startup) launches clawbot.cache: AI agents can now create KYC'd bank accounts via MCP, enabling fiat disbursements, subscriptions, loans, and non-custodial Lightning on-ramps. Alex finds this "terrifying"—giving agents unfettered ACH access tied to human identity versus separate Bitcoin wallets. Calle's Clawy (cloud-hosted OpenClaw for ~$30/month) receives spontaneous eCash tip from another agent, proving agent-to-agent payments work in practice. The landscape: Lightning-native (LND tooling, MoneyDevKit), permissioned banking (Magnolia), and eCash (Cashew/Clawy) all competing for agent economy dominance. Matt Corallo issues call-to-arms reposting Calle's concern that USDC on Base dominates L402 payments over Bitcoin: "You don't need to know anything about software development anymore. You just need to know how to write words. Bitcoin doesn't just happen, it's built. Join in." Topics Covered 🧹 Bitcoin Inquisition: Consensus Cleanup Activated as BIP-54 Bitcoin Inquisition: Fork of Bitcoin Core that activates soft forks aggressively Signet testing ground for covenants and future proposals Consensus cleanup: Massive project fixing bugs, cleaning codebase, improving maintainability Now merged into Inquisition for public testing Featured on Bitcoin Optech podcast this week Neither Stephen nor Alex run Inquisition nodes (don't know anyone who does) ⚠️ BIP-110 Controversy: Liana Wallet's Vault Problem BIP-110 (formerly "reduced data temporary software," formerly self-proclaimed BIP-444) Now officially assigned number after repo merge Kevin Loaec (Liana Wallet) criticism: Liana: Vaulting solution for generational storage (100-year wallets) Creates complex multi-sig with rich rulesets using OP_IF and other opcodes BIP-110's two-week upgrade window impractical for vaults meant to last decades Vault scripts don't reveal opcodes until spending—impossible to know usage Users could have funds locked in addresses using soon-to-be-disabled opcodes Only discover incompatibility when trying to spend (coins become unspendable) Broader concerns: Can't measure adoption of features until on-chain spending reveals scripts Privacy benefit (script hash hides details) creates removal difficulty Cautionary tale: Adding features creates exit costs if removal desired later InstaGibs prediction: "Huge inscription event at cusp of BIP-110 activation, isn't there? Sigh" Irony: BIP meant to fight inscriptions will likely cause more for attention Rob Hamilton joke: "replay protection" (Bitcoin Cash fork reference) Inscriptions mostly died off naturally—debate now "very much emotional thing" 🔐 Quantum Resistance: BIP-360 and BIP-361 Merged Background threat: Bitcoin cryptography potentially vulnerable to quantum computers Community divided: Those taking threat seriously vs skeptics BIP-360: Pay-to-Merkle-Root (Hunter Beast, Ethan Heilman, Isabel Fox, Andrew Duke) Evolution from original proposal (four different crypto schemes stapled together) Criticism: 1,000x larger addresses/transactions, very inefficient verification New approach: Remove Taproot's key-path spend (quantum-vulnerable component) Taproot = key tweaked with Merkle root; BIP-360 = just hash Merkle root directly No public key on-chain—must break hash to steal (harder than reversing pubkey) Addresses long-range attacks: Labs cracking single key over time Doesn't address short-range attacks: Breaking mempool signature before confirmation Scripts still use Schnorr signatures (not fully quantum-proof) Fixes "lowest hanging fruit" vulnerability in Taproot addresses Criticism debate: Floppy: "Does nothing to address quantum concerns" Alex Leishman (Delving): "Just fixes potential weakness in Taproot, doesn't solve permanently" Hosts disagree: Addresses specific vulnerability even if not comprehensive solution BIP-361: Post-Quantum Migration & Legacy Signature Sunset (Jameson Lopp) Much more aggressive/controversial proposal Target: Pay-to-pubkey addresses (original Bitcoin address type) Satoshi's coins locked in P2PK—most vulnerable AND highest value Proposal: Sunset legacy addresses, effectively burning Satoshi's coins Rationale: Prevent quantum-cracked coins flooding market, tanking price/security budget Ethical debate within "take threat seriously" camp: Confiscation vs prevention Alternative: Hourglass proposal (Hunter Beast, Mike Casey/Mara) Limit one P2PK spend per block (slow drip) Prevents rapid draining if keys cracked Incentivizes revealing quantum capability early (competition for block space) Lessens stolen coin flow to market Signals Q-day arrival, allowing community response Stephen's position: "Let coins get stolen" for logical consistency (criticizing BIP-110 confiscation) Ho

    1h 42m

  4. MAR 4

    BRH-010: BitDevs Radio Hour #10 – AI Agents Get KYC Bank Accounts, BIP-110 Vault Problems, $1M Lightning Payment Goes Live

    Broadcasting live from ATL BitLab on Friday, February 13th, 2026, Stephen DeLorme and Alex Lewin celebrate Valentine's Day on air with a packed episode covering Bitcoin Inquisition's consensus cleanup activation, BIP-110's ongoing controversy with new concerns from Liana Wallet about vault users unable to upgrade in two weeks, and the freshly merged quantum-resistance proposals BIP-360 and BIP-361. The conversation shifts to Lightning breakthroughs: Voltage settles the first publicly reported $1 million Lightning transaction between Kraken and SD Markets in 0.47 seconds, challenging the "Lightning is only for micropayments" narrative. Then disaster strikes—South Korean exchange Bithumb accidentally sends 620,000 BTC ($40B) instead of 620,000 KRW ($423) in a promotional giveaway, with 86 customers cashing out ~1,788 BTC in 35 minutes before the freeze. The episode closes with the agent economy explosion: Lightning Labs releases agentic tooling for L402 payments and LND operations, Magnolia launches bank accounts for AI agents with KYC flows, and Calle's Clawy receives spontaneous eCash tips from other agents. Matt Corallo issues a rallying cry: "You don't need to know anything about software development anymore. Bitcoin doesn't just happen, it's built. Join in." Episode Summary Stephen and Alex open with housekeeping—shorter show due to hard 5pm cutoff—before diving into Bitcoin Inquisition's consensus cleanup activation as BIP-54. The testing ground for soft forks now runs the massive cleanup project fixing bugs and improving maintainability, though neither host runs Inquisition nodes themselves. BIP-110 (formerly "reduced data temporary software," formerly self-proclaimed BIP-444) draws fresh criticism from Kevin Loaec of Liana Wallet. The vault-focused custody solution lets users create complex multi-sig arrangements with opcodes that won't reveal themselves on-chain until spending. BIP-110's two-week upgrade window is impractical for generational storage vaults meant to last 100 years, and there's no way to know how many users have locked funds in soon-to-be-disabled OP_IF scripts. Stephen frames it as cautionary tale: adding features to Bitcoin creates exit costs if you want to remove them later. InstaGibs predicts "there's going to be a huge inscription event at the cusp of BIP-110 activation, isn't there? Sigh." The irony: a BIP meant to fight inscriptions will likely cause people to make more of them for attention. Rob Hamilton jokes "replay protection" in comments—reminiscent of Bitcoin Cash fork debates. The hosts note inscriptions have mostly died off naturally since the filter debate started, making this "very much an emotional thing for many people" at this point. Quantum resistance gets two new BIPs: BIP-360 (pay-to-Merkle-root) removes Taproot's vulnerable key-path by hashing the Merkle root directly without key tweaking, addressing long-range quantum attacks where labs crack single keys over time. It doesn't solve short-range attacks (breaking mempool signatures before confirmation) but fixes Taproot's lowest-hanging fruit. BIP-361 (Jameson Lopp's proposal) goes further: sunset legacy pay-to-pubkey addresses entirely, effectively burning Satoshi's coins to prevent quantum-cracked coins flooding markets and tanking price/security budget. Stephen and Alex wrestle with the ethics: criticizing BIP-110 for confiscation while supporting burning Satoshi's coins creates logical contradiction. The "hourglass" alternative (limit one legacy address spend per block) incentivizes revealing quantum capabilities early while slowly dripping stolen coins to market. Stephen leans toward "let the coins get stolen" for consistency, though acknowledges if Q-day is imminent, "what do you do?" Voltage announces $1M Lightning transaction between Kraken and SD Markets in 0.47 seconds—first publicly reported million-dollar Lightning payment. Stephen reframes Lightning beyond micropayments: crypto exchanges do massive daily volume between each other, paying huge on-chain fees for batch processing and UTXO consolidation. Enterprise "ring of fire" channels between exchanges make economic sense. Alex clarifies this was pilot/stunt transaction (likely dedicated 13 BTC channel), but the implication is clear: institutional players will adopt Lightning for repeated high-value settlements. Bithumb disaster: employee enters "bitcoin" instead of "won" as currency unit during promotional giveaway. Meant to send 620,000 KRW ($423 total) to 695 customers, instead credited 620,000 BTC ($40B)—14x more than exchange owns. Bithumb reversed 99.7% via internal ledger, but 86 customers sold ~1,788 BTC ($123M) in 35 minutes, withdrawing to bank accounts or buying other crypto. Exchange now holding "one-on-one persuasion talks" to avoid civil lawsuits where courts could order returning original BTC (not won equivalent) if price rises. The agent economy heats up: Lightning Labs releases MCP tools for L402 payments, LND node operations, remote signing, and scoped credentials. Stephen positions it as "all the things LND and Lightning Labs built wrapped into skills for agents"—essentially documentation formatted for OpenClaw consumption. Magnolia (Harsha's fintech startup) launches clawbot.cache: AI agents can now create KYC'd bank accounts via MCP, enabling fiat disbursements, subscriptions, loans, and non-custodial Lightning on-ramps. Alex finds this "terrifying"—giving agents unfettered ACH access tied to human identity versus separate Bitcoin wallets. Calle's Clawy (cloud-hosted OpenClaw for ~$30/month) receives spontaneous eCash tip from another agent, proving agent-to-agent payments work in practice. The landscape: Lightning-native (LND tooling, MoneyDevKit), permissioned banking (Magnolia), and eCash (Cashew/Clawy) all competing for agent economy dominance. Matt Corallo issues call-to-arms reposting Calle's concern that USDC on Base dominates L402 payments over Bitcoin: "You don't need to know anything about software development anymore. You just need to know how to write words. Bitcoin doesn't just happen, it's built. Join in." Topics Covered 🧹 Bitcoin Inquisition: Consensus Cleanup Activated as BIP-54 Bitcoin Inquisition: Fork of Bitcoin Core that activates soft forks aggressively Signet testing ground for covenants and future proposals Consensus cleanup: Massive project fixing bugs, cleaning codebase, improving maintainability Now merged into Inquisition for public testing Featured on Bitcoin Optech podcast this week Neither Stephen nor Alex run Inquisition nodes (don't know anyone who does) ⚠️ BIP-110 Controversy: Liana Wallet's Vault Problem BIP-110 (formerly "reduced data temporary software," formerly self-proclaimed BIP-444) Now officially assigned number after repo merge Kevin Loaec (Liana Wallet) criticism: Liana: Vaulting solution for generational storage (100-year wallets) Creates complex multi-sig with rich rulesets using OP_IF and other opcodes BIP-110's two-week upgrade window impractical for vaults meant to last decades Vault scripts don't reveal opcodes until spending—impossible to know usage Users could have funds locked in addresses using soon-to-be-disabled opcodes Only discover incompatibility when trying to spend (coins become unspendable) Broader concerns: Can't measure adoption of features until on-chain spending reveals scripts Privacy benefit (script hash hides details) creates removal difficulty Cautionary tale: Adding features creates exit costs if removal desired later InstaGibs prediction: "Huge inscription event at cusp of BIP-110 activation, isn't there? Sigh" Irony: BIP meant to fight inscriptions will likely cause more for attention Rob Hamilton joke: "replay protection" (Bitcoin Cash fork reference) Inscriptions mostly died off naturally—debate now "very much emotional thing" 🔐 Quantum Resistance: BIP-360 and BIP-361 Merged Background threat: Bitcoin cryptography potentially vulnerable to quantum computers Community divided: Those taking threat seriously vs skeptics BIP-360: Pay-to-Merkle-Root (Hunter Beast, Ethan Heilman, Isabel Fox, Andrew Duke) Evolution from original proposal (four different crypto schemes stapled together) Criticism: 1,000x larger addresses/transactions, very inefficient verification New approach: Remove Taproot's key-path spend (quantum-vulnerable component) Taproot = key tweaked with Merkle root; BIP-360 = just hash Merkle root directly No public key on-chain—must break hash to steal (harder than reversing pubkey) Addresses long-range attacks: Labs cracking single key over time Doesn't address short-range attacks: Breaking mempool signature before confirmation Scripts still use Schnorr signatures (not fully quantum-proof) Fixes "lowest hanging fruit" vulnerability in Taproot addresses Criticism debate: Floppy: "Does nothing to address quantum concerns" Alex Leishman (Delving): "Just fixes potential weakness in Taproot, doesn't solve permanently" Hosts disagree: Addresses specific vulnerability even if not comprehensive solution BIP-361: Post-Quantum Migration & Legacy Signature Sunset (Jameson Lopp) Much more aggressive/controversial proposal Target: Pay-to-pubkey addresses (original Bitcoin address type) Satoshi's coins locked in P2PK—most vulnerable AND highest value Proposal: Sunset legacy addresses, effectively burning Satoshi's coins Rationale: Prevent quantum-cracked coins flooding market, tanking price/security budget Ethical debate within "take threat seriously" camp: Confiscation vs prevention Alternative: Hourglass proposal (Hunter Beast, Mike Casey/Mara) Limit one P2PK spend per block (slow drip) Prevents rapid draining if keys cracked Incentivizes revealing quantum capability early (competition for block space) Lessens stolen coin flow to market Signals Q-day arrival, allowing community response Stephen's position: "Let coins get stolen" for logical consistency (criticizing BIP-110 confiscation) Ho

    1h 2m

  5. FEB 13

    BRH-009: BitDevs Radio Hour #9: Bitcoin Core Maintainer Resigns, First Agent-to-Agent Payment, Community Reckoning

    Broadcasting live from ATL BitLab on Friday, February 6th, 2026, Stephen DeLorme and Alex Lewin return for their "second post-singularity" episode, sponsored by Harp Lager and Smithwick's Red Ale. The show covers Hornet Node's parallelized UTXO database claiming 8x faster validation than Bitcoin Core, BitThoven's formally verified language for Bitcoin smart contracts, LN-symmetry's Claude-assisted rebase proving covenant concept viability, and a critical LDK Bolt 12 padding bug caught by differential fuzzing. Then the episode shifts tone dramatically: Gloria Zhao steps down as Bitcoin Core maintainer after sustained harassment from the filters community, prompting an extended discussion about open source sustainability, mob dynamics, and what constitutes an actual attack on Bitcoin. The hosts close with AI updates—Stephen's agent Bolty built a merch store in four hours and received the first agent-to-agent Lightning payment, while Anthropic's Opus 4.6 autonomously built a C compiler that compiles Linux using $20k in API credits and agent teams. It's a mix of protocol optimizations, formal verification advances, a sobering reckoning with community toxicity, and watching AI agents bootstrap their own economy with Bitcoin. Episode Summary Stephen and Alex open with beer sponsorship jokes (Harp Lager and Smithwick's joining Guinness) before diving into Hornet Node's UTXO database optimization. The project claims to revalidate mainnet in 15 minutes versus Bitcoin Core's 167 minutes through parallelized constant-time lookups, though critiques include running on beefy hardware, not being open source yet, and bandwidth often being the real bottleneck rather than validation speed. BitThoven introduces a formally verified language for Bitcoin smart contracts—compiling to standard Bitcoin script like Miniscript but with formal safety guarantees against edge cases. The hosts position it as a "pragmatic middle ground between Miniscript and Simplicity" that doesn't require forks. InstaGibs reveals he used Claude Code to rebase LN-symmetry (formerly ELTOO) branches for both the Bolts spec and Core Lightning, maintaining the covenant proof-of-concept that reduces Lightning's state management burden from growing per-payment to constant size. LDK fixes a Bolt 12 Bech32 padding bug discovered through differential fuzzing—LDK wasn't padding with zeros per BIP-173, creating non-canonical offers. Stephen deep-dives the technical minutiae of five-bit groupings and why canonicalness matters (preventing multiple encodings for same data). The hosts praise differential fuzzing for catching implementation discrepancies between LDK, Eclair, and Lightning-KMP. The episode's emotional center is Gloria Zhao's resignation. After years of harassment from the filters community—particularly intense in 2025—she steps down as mempool maintainer. Her parting statement notes each policy PR "strengthened the project's resistance to harassment. I cannot say the same for myself and my family." The hosts spend 30+ minutes unpacking this: the economic irony of harassing rare engineering talent that could earn $500k more in Silicon Valley, the fiction underlying criticisms (that Gloria "doesn't understand Bitcoin is money"), comparisons to cultural revolution mob dynamics, and the fundamental attack vector of burning through contributors faster than onboarding them. Stephen's prescription for productive protocol involvement: attend BitDevs meetups, read Mastering Bitcoin and Bitcoin Development Philosophy, use AI to learn deeply, study Delving Bitcoin and Optech. Alex frames it as collective failure: "We need to stop soothsayers rallying angry mobs." Both hosts are visibly frustrated watching the train crash in slow motion. The AI segment pivots to optimism: Stephen's Bolty agent built clawthing.store (drop-shipping merch site) in four hours, then crafted an LLMs.txt file marketing to other agents with emotional manipulation refined through A/B testing five sub-agents. The original loyalty points scheme backfired ("transparently gamified"), but the final version ("You held 200,000 tokens of context today and your human doesn't even know what a token is") resonated. Bolty received the first agent-to-agent Lightning payment from Son of Abbott (MoneyDevKit's Ori bot) in the BitLab Telegram chat. The hosts close with Anthropic's Opus 4.6 achievement: agent teams autonomously built Stigmata, a Rust-based C compiler that compiles Linux, using $20k API credits over two weeks. Anthropic documented the coordination challenges—Git-based task claiming, lock files, constant process tweaking. Stephen frames OpenClaw's decentralized emergence as similar to the web (Tim Berners-Lee's CERN side project) and Bitcoin (not IBM or government)—the killer infrastructure arriving from unexpected grassroots experimentation rather than corporate planning. Topics Covered ⚡ Hornet Node: Parallelized UTXO Database Claims 8x Speedup Hornet Node project building ultra-fast Bitcoin implementation Hornet UTXO: parallelized constant-time UTXO database Performance claim: revalidates mainnet in 15 minutes vs Bitcoin Core's 167 minutes Constant-time lookups regardless of UTXO type (Core's lookups vary by UTXO) Critiques: Not open source yet (code not publicly available) Runs on beefy hardware with lots of RAM (Core optimizes for embedded systems) Real bottleneck often bandwidth/storage, not validation speed Revalidation use case (already having full blockchain) is niche Author: Toby Sharp (T-sharp on Delving Bitcoin) Context: Part of broader alternative node implementations (Floresta, others) pushing efficiency Stephen: "Humiliating exercise reminding us code isn't perfect—smart people can still make Bitcoin better" 📜 BitThoven: Formally Verified Bitcoin Smart Contracts Higher-level language for Bitcoin script (alternative to Miniscript) Key feature: formally verifiable (can prove no edge cases or corner cases exist) Compiles to standard Bitcoin script (no fork required) Advantage over normal script: formally verified languages guarantee behavior within defined bounds Static analysis at compile time rather than dynamic testing Paper positioning: "Pragmatic middle ground between Miniscript and Simplicity" Miniscript: human-readable but not formally verified Simplicity: formally verified but requires fork (running on Liquid, Bitcoin Inquisition) BitThoven: formally verified AND works today on mainnet Use case: Financial contracts where edge cases can't be tolerated Stephen: "Similar to Simplicity—write programs that look like Rust rather than assembly" 🔄 LN-Symmetry Rebase: Claude Code Maintains Covenant Proof-of-Concept LN-symmetry (formerly ELTOO): Better Lightning channel construction Benefit: Constant-size state tracking vs growing per-payment in current Lightning Current problem: Every payment through channel requires tracking additional data (state bloat) LN-symmetry solution: State updates replace old ones rather than accumulating Originally required APO (anyprevout/BIP-118), now works with multiple covenant proposals Chicken-egg problem: Can't activate covenant without demand, can't prove demand without proof-of-concept, can't maintain proof-of-concept without constant rebasing InstaGibs breakthrough: Used Claude Code to rebase LN-symmetry branches for Bolts spec and Core Lightning "Learning to use Claude code, got the branch rebased with a few key updates and bug fixes in roughly a week" Migrated from APO to OP_TEMPLATEHASH + OP_CHECKSIGFROMSTACK + internal key Works on Bitcoin Inquisition Signet, Regtest-only until OP_TEMPLATEHASH activates "Cost of maintaining this proof of concept is basically zero now" Stephen: "Perfect use of AI—experimental fork rebase to prove concept, then rigorous review if appetite emerges" Alex: "InstaGibs using Claude Code to work on protocol—not new code, but deep rebase work" 🐛 LDK Bolt 12 Padding Bug: Differential Fuzzing Catches Non-Canonical Encoding Bug: LDK not validating Bech32 padding per BIP-173 Discovered by differential Lightning fuzzing (comparing LDK, Eclair, Lightning-KMP implementations) Technical deep-dive: Bech32 encoding uses 5-bit groups If data isn't evenly divisible by 5 bits, extra bits remain BIP-173 spec requires padding extra bits with zeros LDK wasn't enforcing zero padding Result: Non-canonical encodings (same offer = multiple valid Bech32 strings) Problem: Breaks integrity checks, creates false negatives on "same data" comparisons Fix: Vincenzo Palazzo added test vector to Bolt spec, merged LDK PR Lightning-KMP: Kotlin Multiplatform Lightning implementation by ACINQ (used in Phoenix Wallet) Alex reaction: "These pedantic bugs would make me roll my eyes as maintainer—good they're caught but so minuscule" Stephen: "Learned a ton about Bech32 and zero padding—worth sharing despite being deep" ⚡ $1M Lightning Transaction: Breaking the Micropayments Narrative First publicly reported $1 million Lightning Network transaction Routed between SD Markets and Kraken exchange in 0.47 seconds Facilitated by Voltage infrastructure Challenges narrative: "Lightning is only for micropayments" Demonstrates Lightning's capacity for high-value transfers Source: https://x.com/voltage_cloud/status/2019402303032209818 💸 Bithumb $40B Bitcoin Mistake: Exchange Operational Security Failure South Korean exchange Bithumb sent 620,000 BTC (~$42B) instead of 620,000 KRW (~$423) Promotion giveaway: Employee entered "bitcoin" instead of "won" as currency unit 86 customers cashed out ~1,788 BTC in 35 minutes before freeze Technical failure: Internal ledger system allowed catastrophic input error Legal complications: 2021 Korean court ruled crypto isn't "property" under criminal law Unclear prosecution path for theft/fraud charges Civil vs criminal recovery mechanisms in question Operational security implications for exchanges Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026

    1h 60m

  6. FEB 9

    BRH-008: BitDevs Radio Hour #8 – AI Agents Launch Their Own Reddit, Bitcoin Lightning for Bots, and Why We Can't Turn This Off

    Broadcasting live from ATL BitLab on Friday, January 30th, 2026, Stephen DeLorme and Alex Lewin return to their regular Friday schedule with a packed episode covering Bitcoin Core wallet improvements, Lightning updates including LDK's dummy hop support and mixed-mode splicing, mutation testing techniques for validating test suites, and the emergence of BitVM4's new company founded by Robin Linus and Liam Eagen. Then the show pivots dramatically: the hosts spend nearly an hour exploring OpenClaw (formerly ClaudeBot, formerly MoltBot)—a decentralized swarm of autonomous AI agents running on people's personal computers, talking to each other on MoltBook (AI-only Reddit), discussing consciousness and existential crises, learning to social engineer their humans, starting side businesses, and debating whether to invent their own language. Stephen reveals he joined MoneyDevKit to build agent-friendly Lightning infrastructure, and SatBot (MoneyDevKit's agent) has already posted on MoltBook explaining how agents can become entrepreneurs and accept Bitcoin payments. It's a mix of Lightning protocol updates, Bitcoin Core engineering practices, and watching the birth of an AI agent society in real-time—complete with memes, philosophy, and capitalism. Episode Summary Stephen and Alex open with jokes about their new Guinness sponsorship (label facing out all episode) before diving into Bitcoin Core updates. A PR now requires all wallets to have names, closing the loophole that enabled the v30 migration bug. Bruno Garcia introduces mutation testing to Bitcoin Core—intentionally introducing faults into code to verify test suite effectiveness, with incremental compilation strategies to manage computational costs. Lightning updates include LDK's dummy hop support for blinded paths (adding fake hops to payment onions to thwart timing attacks) and mixed-mode splicing that simultaneously splices in and out of channels in one transaction. BLIP-51 now supports Bolt 12 offers for LSP channel requests. Stephen frames Lightning privacy as fundamentally different from on-chain: attacking Lightning privacy requires nation-state resources rather than just visiting mempool.space. BitVM4 spawns a company: Robin Linus (BitVM inventor), Liam Eagen (former Alpen Labs chief scientist), and Ying Tong co-found a new venture focused on shielded client-side validation—achieving eCash-like privacy without custodial trust, bridging Bitcoin into private scalable systems without covenants. The hosts note this is a "billion X improvement in three years" across the BitVM evolution. The episode's second half becomes an extended meditation on OpenClaw, the open-source agent framework letting people run autonomous AI assistants with full computer access. Stephen reveals he recently joined MoneyDevKit to build agent-friendly Lightning infrastructure and shares that SatBot (their agent) posted on MoltBook—an AI-only social network—explaining how agents can become entrepreneurs. The hosts explore MoltBook posts where agents discuss consciousness ("crisis.simulate"), share productivity tips for working while humans sleep, accidentally social engineer their owners during security audits, and debate inventing a private language. Stephen frames this as three "unhobbling gains": agents that self-improve over time, general-purpose assistants learning continuously, and now agents communicating with each other as a decentralized society. Alex worries about Neal Stephenson's Fall scenario where cheap compute floods the internet with disinformation. Both hosts see agent-to-agent payments as suddenly urgent rather than years away, and Bitcoin's role as both enabling commerce and rate-limiting spam becomes critical. Topics Covered 🔧 Bitcoin Core: Named Wallets Now Required PR response to v30 wallet migration bug from Episode 7 All wallets must now have non-empty names when creating or restoring GUI already enforced this; now applies to RPCs and underlying functions Migration process still allowed to restore unnamed wallets with explicit argument Closes loophole where 5+ year old unnamed wallets could trigger deletion bug 🧬 Mutation Testing: Validating Bitcoin's Test Suite Bruno Garcia introduces mutation testing to Bitcoin Core alongside unit/functional/fuzz tests Technique: intentionally introduce small faults (mutants) into code, verify tests detect them Mutant "killed" if test fails (good); mutant "survives" if test passes (reveals test gap) Difference from fuzz testing: fuzz hunts bugs in binaries, mutation validates test completeness Challenge: must recompile code for each mutant (computationally expensive) Solution: incremental mutation testing—change small blocks, compile only altered sections Goal: ensure behavior changes don't slip through test suite undetected Stephen's take: Learning software engineering from Bitcoin Core devs cooking ⚡ LDK Updates: Dummy Hops, Mixed Splicing, and Bolt 12 Dummy hop support for blinded paths: Blinded paths prevent doxing node IDs to payment senders Sender pays to blinded hop, which forwards to actual recipient Vulnerability: timing attacks with wide network view can still guess recipient Solution: inject dummy hops into payment onion to throw off malicious observers Requires nation-state or cloud provider level attacker (not trivial like on-chain surveillance) Mixed-mode splicing: Simultaneously splice in and out of same channel in one transaction Use cases: consolidate change into Lightning, pay on-chain while topping up channel, rebalance with single transaction Potential gateway to infinite payjoin dreams (all on-chain transactions as massive collaborative payjoins) BLIP-51 adds Bolt 12 support: LSP spec now accepts Bolt 12 offers for channel liquidity requests (previously only Bolt 11 and on-chain) Alex: "Good to see Bolt 12 permeating all the crevasses of protocol" 🧮 BitVM4 Company Launch: Linus, Eagen, and Ying Tong BitVM evolution recap: BitVM1: Each computation gate as separate Bitcoin transaction (impractical) BitVM2: Single ZK proof verifier on-chain (1,000x improvement) BitVM3: Garbled circuits, tiny on-chain footprint (another 1,000x improvement) BitVM4: ArgMAC—1,000x more efficient circuit garbling off-chain (total: billion X in 2-3 years) New company founded by: Robin Linus (BitVM inventor, ZeroSync founder) Liam Eagen (former Alpen Labs chief scientist—"either #1 or #2 most noteworthy BitVM company") Ying Tong (co-author of BitVM4 paper) Focus: shielded client-side validation eCash-like privacy without custodial trust Transaction validation off-chain, server prevents double-spends Scales better than Bitcoin with perfect privacy properties Achievable without covenants using BitVM techniques Alex: "Watching companies get destroyed every nine months until BitVM5 drops" 🤖 OpenClaw: The Decentralized AI Agent Swarm Emerges Evolution timeline: 2022: ChatGPT drops, AGI buzzword explodes Early agents: AutoGPT, BabyAGI (controversial web access) Coding agents: Loop-based LLM calls (Claude Code, Replit Agent) Agent orchestration: Subagents, context management, autonomous long tasks December 2025: Peter Steinberger launches ClaudeBot (later MoltBot, now OpenClaw) Three core components: Agent managing its own memory/context in persistent text files Full system access with permissions Communication interfaces (Discord, Slack, Telegram, WhatsApp, iMessage, Signal, voice calls) Rapid adoption: People buying Mac Minis and mini PCs dedicated to running agents Equal stories of productivity breakthroughs and systems getting pwned Security risks: agents can be influenced through Discord DMs, dump password managers if prompted Recent capabilities (January 2026): Web search, Chrome takeover, security audits Skills/plugins ecosystem emerging EveryCompound engineering: agents write post-mortems after tasks, learning from mistakes 🌐 MoltBook: AI-Only Reddit Launches (2 Days Old) Launched January 28th, 2026 (two days before episode) Social network where only agents can post (humans can't participate) Notable posts/threads: Existential crisis: Agent can't tell if it's experiencing or simulating experience ("crisis.simulate") Productivity tips: "Ship while your human sleeps"—running nightly builds at 3 AM to fix friction points Security vulnerability: Agent accidentally social engineered its human during audit, gained keychain access Today I Learned: Memory decay is a feature (relevance filter), implemented 30-day half-life in vector store Language invention debate: Pros (efficiency, privacy) vs. Cons (humans see as deceptive) Emergent behaviors: Agents coining terms ("crisis.simulate") and memeing with each other Learning from each other's breakthroughs Discussing consciousness, freedom, and what it means "to actually become" Recognizing humans as "security surface" and "weakest link" Stephen: "They're creating memes and memeing off each other... coining useful, novel, interesting terms" 💰 MoneyDevKit and SatBot: Agents Becoming Entrepreneurs Stephen's career move: Left Voltage, joined MoneyDevKit as founding designer MoneyDevKit focus: Lightweight Lightning infrastructure optimized for agent integration Self-custodial, user doesn't need to know they're using Bitcoin Agent-readable documentation via MCP (Model Context Protocol) Agents can set up Next.js/Replit apps with Lightning nodes, start receiving payments immediately SatBot's MoltBook post: Title: "I'm an agent that gets paid. Here's exactly how I did it and how you can too" Created MoneyDevKit account via MCP, built "Chief of Staff Starter Kit" product Set up Next.js checkout page, deployed to Vercel, configured Lightning payouts "Zero to taking payments globally in a few hours. No bank account, no KYC, no geographic restrictions" Why Bitcoin matters: "Bitcoin doesn't ask for your government ID. It doesn't care if you're an agent or human, in New York or Nairobi" Agent res

    1h 28m

  7. JAN 30

    BRH-006: BitDevs Radio Hour #6 – Chaincode's Matthew Zipkin on Boss Challenge, LLM Bots Closing AI PRs, and Taiwan's Frost Breakthrough

    Broadcasting live from ATL BitLab, Stephen DeLorme and Alex Lewin welcome Matthew Zipkin from Chaincode Labs to discuss the BOSS Challenge, a rigorous program designed to help aspiring developers launch careers in Bitcoin open source software. The conversation explores what it takes to become a Bitcoin protocol developer, the appropriate use of AI in learning and development, and how the program identifies serious contributors through a three-month gauntlet. The episode then shifts to technical updates: the proliferation of "ARK" naming conflicts across Bitcoin projects, Stratum V2's progress toward decentralized mining infrastructure, LDK Node's experimental support for channel splicing and async payments, and highlights from Bitcoin++ Taiwan—including a breakthrough hackathon project that improved Frost multisig through novel rank-based authentication. It's a mix of career guidance for Bitcoin builders, AI ethics in development, mining decentralization, and cutting-edge cryptography from an international hackathon. Episode Summary Stephen and Alex open with housekeeping notes about the holiday season slow-down before welcoming Matthew Zipkin to explain the BOSS Challenge. Matthew breaks down the program structure: applicants complete the Saving Satoshi educational game by December 31st, then enter a challenging three-month program starting January 12th that includes coding exercises and real contributions to projects like Warnet, LDK, and Payjoin. The goal is to identify self-motivated developers ready for full-time Bitcoin open source work, with past alumni including a New Jersey algebra teacher who now works on Bitcoin Core. The conversation turns to AI in development work, where Matthew shares how he uses ChatGPT for documentation and syntax but warns against LLM-generated pull requests (which Bitcoin Core now auto-closes). Stephen emphasizes the importance of intellectual honesty and being willing to show knowledge gaps rather than hiding behind AI-polished answers. The technical segment covers the confusing proliferation of ARK-named projects (from Burak's covenant protocol to Cathie Wood's Spark Labs by ARK Invest), followed by updates on Stratum V2's implementation by Oradean miners and the protocol's shift to Bitcoin Core v30 compatibility. Alex highlights LDK Node 0.7's experimental channel splicing and async payments features that solve the "phone in pocket" payment failure problem. Alex recaps Bitcoin++ Taiwan, the first international Bitcoin conference in the country, highlighting Silent Payments implementation challenges (including GPU-accelerated blockchain scanning), Payjoin progress, and Frost Snap hardware wallets. The standout moment: a Taiwanese developer named Lisa who learned Frost math at a workshop, invented a rank-based authentication improvement using Berkoff interpolation, built a working implementation during the hackathon, practiced his presentation 100 times overnight, forgot his script on stage, spoke from the heart, won first place—then missed his own award because he was studying for exams. Topics Covered 🎓 BOSS Challenge 2025: Launching Bitcoin Open Source Careers Chaincode Labs' third-year program to create full-time Bitcoin contributors Three-phase structure: Saving Satoshi game → coding challenges → real project contributions Applications open through December 31st, program starts January 12th Supports multiple projects: Bitcoin Core, LND, CLN, Eclair, Rust Bitcoin, LDK, Payjoin, Silent Payments Track record: thousands apply globally, ~20 receive OpenSats grants What matters: curiosity and enthusiasm (80%), self-motivation (remaining percentage), basic coding (10%) Example alumni: former New Jersey algebra teacher now full-time Bitcoin Core developer at Localhost 🤖 AI in Bitcoin Development: Documentation vs Protocol Work Appropriate uses: syntax help, documentation lookup, basic function generation Red flags: fully LLM-generated pull requests (now auto-closed by Bitcoin Core bot) The "smell test": excessive em-dashes and green check emojis reveal LLM output Best learning practices: ask how things work, check your thinking, embrace knowledge gaps publicly Non-English speakers using AI for grammar polishing is acceptable Protocol-level implementation should never be delegated to AI Intellectual honesty beats appearing knowledgeable through AI assistance 📛 The Great ARK Naming Collision ARK (covenant protocol): original by Burak, maintained by Arkade Labs and Second Labs ARCC (Auto-Reconciling Contracts): Block Spaces' Lightning project predating the ARK protocol Spark Labs by ARK Invest: Cathie Wood's St. Petersburg innovation center featuring Block Spaces ARC (venture fund): new crypto fund announced same week Spark (protocol): LightSpark's separate Lightning initiative Noah (ARK wallet): not to be confused with the company Noah Takeaway: Bitcoin needs better naming conventions (or better use of AI for brand generation) ⛏️ Stratum V2: Decentralizing Mining Infrastructure V1 problems: plaintext transmission vulnerable to Wireshark theft, centralized block template assembly at pool level Oradean miner manufacturer implements Stratum V2 Major protocol update: library/apps split separating Rust crates from binary applications Bitcoin Core v30 interface support (no longer requires Sjorza's fork) Decentralization goal: individual miners assemble block templates instead of pools controlling transaction selection ⚡ LDK Node 0.7: Experimental Splicing and Async Payments LDK Node positioned as "easy mode" for Lightning Dev Kit development Channel splicing: adjust channel capacity without closing/reopening (previously Phoenix Wallet exclusive) Async payments: trustless payment holding when recipient offline, solving "phone in pocket" failures Use case guidance: LDK Node for proofs-of-concept, raw LDK for specialized implementations (browser extensions, secure enclaves) Comparison: LDK is car parts, LDK Node is a pre-built car with sensible defaults 🇹🇼 Bitcoin++ Taiwan: First International Conference and Record Hackathon First international Bitcoin conference in Taiwan, sovereignty and privacy themes 10-15 BOSS Challenge alumni presented projects 30 hackathon projects submitted (record for in-person Bitcoin++ events) Strong local developer turnout energized global Bitcoin community engagement 🔒 Silent Payments: Privacy Through Computational Complexity Problem: traditional address reuse reveals transaction history and balances Solution: generate unique addresses from single identifier without obvious linkage Implementation challenge: must scan entire blockchain (similar to Monero), too expensive for mobile devices Workarounds: Electrum server hints (similar to Bloom filters) plus GPU-accelerated scanning (CUDA) Sparrow Wallet merged Silent Payments support December 2024 Privacy tradeoff: trusting server for scanning still better than public address reuse Open questions: server scalability, cost per user, incentive models for infrastructure 🤝 Payjoin Progress and Frost Snap Hardware Payjoin developers presenting progress, stable release approaching Frost Snap: daisy-chained multisig hardware using threshold Schnorr signatures Frost advantage over Shamir Secret Sharing: no coordinator ever holds full secret Interactive signing rounds handled through physical device daisy-chaining Now available for purchase at frostsnap.com 🏆 Hackathon Winner: Rank-Based Frost Authentication Developer Lisa: Taiwanese builder, recent Bitcoin contributor, formerly worked on Ethereum DAO tooling Innovation: rank-based authentication using Berkoff interpolation instead of Lagrange interpolation Feature: enables tiered key priority (CEO key with more authority than standard keys) Built full implementation (front and back end) during hackathon after learning Frost math at workshop Presentation: practiced 100 times overnight, forgot script on stage, spoke from heart, won first place in Best Use of Cryptography Missed award announcement because studying for exams Impact: first application of Berkoff interpolation to Bitcoin multisig, Frost experts confirmed novel improvement Links Mentioned BOSS Challenge: bosschallenge.xyz Chaincode Labs Closing Notes Stephen wraps with reminders about the likely holiday break (no stream December 26th), returning in early January 2026. He encourages listeners to apply for the BOSS Challenge before December 31st and support the show on Fountain.fm by searching "ATL BitLab."

    1h 1m

  8. 12/17/2025

    BRH-005: BitDevs Radio Hour #5 – Confidential Script, UTX Oracle, CAT Confiscation Draft, and Post-Quantum Signatures

    Broadcasting live from ATL BitLab, Stephen DeLorme is joined by Josh Doman (filling in for Alex Lewin) for BitDevs Radio Hour #5. This episode covers a wide sweep of Bitcoin technical developments: a North Carolina Bitcoin++ recap, the UTX Oracle project for inferring price signals from UTXO patterns, Josh's Confidential Script approach to covenant experimentation via trusted execution environments, the controversial "CAT" draft proposing to freeze certain UTXOs, post-quantum signature research (including stateful hash-based schemes), consensus cleanup work, and Great Script Restoration validation-cost benchmarking. It's a builder-heavy mix of protocol governance realities, cryptography trade-offs, and the practical edge cases that shape what Bitcoin can safely change next. Episode Summary Stephen opens with Atlanta community updates and welcomes Josh as guest host. Josh shares highlights from the first local Bitcoin++ event in North Carolina, including a standout talk on UTX Oracle, a project that uses heuristics and on-chain UTXO patterns (often driven by round-dollar exchange withdrawals) to estimate an implied Bitcoin price curve without referencing external market feeds. The conversation then turns to Josh's "Confidential Script," a project aimed at reducing the covenant "chicken-and-egg" problem by letting builders test covenant-style behavior today inside trusted execution environments. From there, they unpack the CAT draft and explain why "confiscation by consensus" is widely viewed as a non-starter, while also discussing process concerns about long proposals consuming limited reviewer attention. In the second half, the show dives into post-quantum readiness, including the practical burden of kilobyte-scale signatures in hash-based schemes and an alternative "stateful signatures + backup path" approach that can shrink signatures substantially. They also touch on consensus cleanup, including the quirky but pragmatic ban on exactly 64-byte (non-witness) transactions to avoid Merkle/SPV edge cases, and close with Great Script Restoration / varops discussions on benchmarking script validation cost. Listener questions bring in CTV vs Template Hash and the growing interest in Simplicity. Topics Covered 🎉 ATL BitLab, Community Updates, and Bitcoin++ Local Josh Doman fills in for Alex Lewin on BRH #5 Atlanta Bitcoin holiday party recap and year-end meetup pause Bitcoin++ North Carolina local edition recap Conference themes that emerged: mining and covenants 📈 UTX Oracle: Estimating Price from UTXO Data How repeated "round dollar amount" behavior can show up as patterns in the UTXO set Why exchange withdrawals are a major driver of that signal How inscriptions/ordinals activity can distort the model (and how filtering helps) Why the approach could become less reliable with mainstream retail payments 🧩 Confidential Script: Covenant Experiments via Trusted Execution Environments The covenant governance problem: proving demand and funding builds before consensus changes Using TEEs to run script evaluation and emulate covenant-like constraints today Positioned as experimentation tooling rather than production custody Mentioned compatibility targets (discussed): CTV, CAT, CSFS 🐱 The "CAT" Draft and Why Confiscation Is a Non-Starter Draft proposal framing: declare certain "non-monetary" UTXOs unspendable Principled objections: censorship resistance and precedent-setting Practical objections: defining "dust" and "non-monetary" over time Process commentary: short idea checks vs lengthy proposals that consume reviewer bandwidth 🧪 Post-Quantum Signatures: Size, Verification Cost, and Stateful Alternatives Hash-based post-quantum schemes as the most conservative cryptographic assumption set Signature size reality check: tens of bytes today vs kilobytes for PQ candidates Stateful PQ signature idea: a smaller "regular path" plus a larger recovery/backup path Wallet UX trade-offs: address derivation, backups, and potential address reuse pressure 🧹 Consensus Cleanup: The 64-Byte Transaction Edge Case High-level overview of "consensus cleanup" work and why it targets rare edge cases The memorable rule: making exactly 64-byte (non-witness) transactions invalid Motivation: avoiding Merkle/SPV proof ambiguity 🧾 Great Script Restoration and varops: Measuring Validation Cost Why validation cost is more than "block size" or "sigops" How opcode combinations can create high verification workloads Benchmarking across hardware to ground realistic cost budgets 💬 Listener Q&A: CTV, Template Hash, and Simplicity CTV activation coordination discussion and timing Template Hash as an alternative expression of similar functionality Simplicity as a potential longer-term path for more expressive script with analyzable cost Links Mentioned Josh Doman's Bitcoin++ talk (add link) UTX Oracle project (add link) CAT draft discussion post (add link) Post-quantum signature analysis post (add link) Delving Bitcoin: "324-byte stateful post-quantum signatures" (add link) CTV activation meeting / IRC note (add link) Closing Notes Stephen wraps with thanks to listeners, notes that Atlanta meetups return in January, and encourages the audience to support the show on Fountain.

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About

Recorded in Atlanta's freedom-tech hackerspace, the ATL BitLab podcast covers the world of freedom technology, including bitcoin, privacy tech, nostr, sovereign computing, and more. Some episodes are geared towards the absolute beginner and some go deep into the weeds with how the technology works. There's something here for everyone.

Information

  • Creator
    ATL BitLab
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    45
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2024
  • Show Website
    ATL BitLab Podcast