Ready for Merge

Christine D. Kim
  • 5.0 (1)
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

A podcast about what’s ready for merge in Ethereum and Bitcoin Core— the world’s most valuable open-source protocols. christinedkim.substack.com

  1. 6D AGO

    Ready for Merge Ep. 17 👾

    Summary: In this episode of Ready for Merge, Christine D. Kim sits down with Ethereum Foundation researcher Jihoon Song and Miga Labs founder Leonardo Bautista-Gomez to debate the two consensus-layer headliner proposals competing for inclusion in the Hegota upgrade: FOCIL and 2D PeerDAS. Jihoon makes the case for FOCIL. Leo argues for 2D PeerDAS. Each lays out the technical vision, trade-offs, and urgency behind their proposal—and why they believe it deserves priority in Ethereum’s roadmap. Beyond the upgrade itself, the conversation extends to broader questions about Ethereum governance, coordination, and the emerging role of AI in shaping the protocol’s future. This interview was recorded on February 17, 2026. Timestamps: (1:21) 2D PeerDAS overview (4:03) FOCIL overview (8:47) The urgency of 2D PeerDAS (10:41) The urgency of FOCIL (18:49) Hegota CL headliner predictions (22:18) Glamsterdam timeline predictions (29:35) Improvements to the headliner selection process (33:27) AI’s role in Ethereum governance (36:18) The vision behind Ethereum development Links:  Jihoon’s X profile (https://x.com/jih2nn)  Leo’s website (https://leobago.me/)    Ethereum Foundation Protocol Prototyping website (https://prototyping.ethereum.foundation/)  Miga Labs website (https://www.migalabs.io/)  EIP-7805: Fork-choice enforced Inclusion Lists (https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-7805)  Hegota Headliner: Partial Reconstruction and 2D PeerDAS (https://ethereum-magicians.org/t/hegota-headliner-partial-reconstruction-and-2d-peerdas/27652)  Cell-Level Deltas for Data Column Broadcast (https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/pull/11176/files)  ACD After Hours: AI and the future of Ethereum governance (https://christinedkim.substack.com/p/acdt-70)  Song Credits: Special thanks to Calios for the music featured in this episode. You can listen to the full track, “Our Lives,” and other songs by Calios on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6qs62M8pLHGZuttTwgP6JK. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christinedkim.substack.com/subscribe

    39 min
  2. Ready for Merge Ep. 16 👾

    FEB 12

    Ready for Merge Ep. 16 👾

    Meet “Floppy”, a full-time Bitcoin developer working on a decentralized privacy solution for Bitcoin called Joinstr.  To unlock greater usability and resilience for Joinstr and other Bitcoin privacy solutions, Floppy has been championing Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) 119, OP_CTV.  OP_CTV is a proposed opcode that would enable more expressive spending conditions on bitcoin. Though Floppy is not the original author of BIP 119, he has been spearheading ongoing discussions in the Bitcoin community about the proposal and next steps for its activation.  In my interview with Floppy, we discussed how he first learned about Bitcoin in 2015, his passion for on-chain privacy, and his hopes for OP_CTV activation in 2027.  This interview was recorded on January 16, 2026. Timestamps: (1:24) Joinstr overview (4:44) Joinstr development milestones in 2026 (5:50) How Floppy first learned about Bitcoin (8:26) Why Floppy contributes to Bitcoin (9:27) Why Floppy started the OP_CTV workshops (11:14) OP_CTV overview (17:22) Alternative proposals to OP_CTV (21:42) Paths forward for OP_CTV activation (29:18) The main arguments against OP_CTV (36:33) Rapid-fire questions Links:  - Floppy’s X profile (https://x.com/1440000bytes) - Joinstr donations page (https://donate.joinstr.xyz/)  - BIP-119, OP_CTV (https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0119.mediawiki)  - Discussion on OP_TEMPLATEHASH (https://groups.google.com/g/bitcoindev/c/5wLThgegha4)  - BTC Before Light Issue #00 (https://christinedkim.substack.com/p/issue-00)  - BTC Before Light Issue #05 (https://christinedkim.substack.com/p/issue-05)  - BIP-348, OP_CSFS (https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0348.md) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christinedkim.substack.com/subscribe

    46 min

  3. FEB 5

    Ready for Merge Ep. 15 👾

    Christine D. Kim gives another bi-weekly brief on the important updates in Bitcoin and Ethereum development. On the Bitcoin side, she covers two new pull requests merged into Bitcoin Core over the past week that will support ongoing benchmarking efforts for the protocol. On the Ethereum side, she gives an overview of the four proposals being discussed for inclusion in Ethereum’s Hegota upgrade.  This episode was recorded on February 4, 2026.  Timestamps:  (1:25) Bitcoin development updates (5:18) PR #34207 overview (6:43) PR #34253 overview (10:00) Ethereum development updates (12:46) EIP 8105, Universal Enshrined Encrypted Mempool (EEM) (14:50) EIP-8141, Frame Transaction (18:01) EIP-7807, SSZ execution blocks (20:30) EIP-7805, Fork choice enforced inclusion lists (FOCIL) (31:50) Next week’s show Links:  Bitcoin PR #34207 (https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/34253) Bitcoin PR #34253 (https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/34207) Ethereum Magicians Hegota Topic (https://ethereum-magicians.org/tag/hegota) BTC Before Light Issue #26 (https://christinedkim.substack.com/p/btc-before-light-issue-26) ACD After Hours ACDE #229 (https://christinedkim.substack.com/p/acde-229) Titan Builder at 50% marketshare (https://x.com/nero_eth/status/2018989296141701605?s=20) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christinedkim.substack.com/subscribe

    34 min

  4. JAN 29

    Ready for Merge Ep. 14 👾

    Meet Murch, a full-time Bitcoin protocol developer who co-founded his own Bitcoin development company called LocalHost Research. As part of his day job, Murch is one of six editors who oversee the Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) process. He recently championed long-overdue changes to the BIP process.  In my interview with Murch, we discussed his journey as a Bitcoin developer and his most recent work updating the BIP process through BIP-3.  This interview was recorded on January 16, 2026. Timestamps: (2:38) Murch's contributions to Bitcoin (6:08) Murch's journey as a Bitcoin developer  (14:18) The vision behind Local Host Research (17:33) What it takes to become a Bitcoin developer (21:02) What it takes to become a BIP editor (25:19) A summary of BIP-3 changes (30:46) The BIP process vs Bitcoin governance process (40:02) Ongoing BIP process challenges (54:03) How BIP-3 was activated (1:01:10) Rapid-fire questions Links:  Murch's X profile (https://x.com/murchandamus) Bitcoin Optech (https://bitcoinops.org/) Local Host Research (https://lclhost.org/) BIP-3 (https://bips.dev/3/) Blockspace article about BIP-3 (https://x.com/blockspace/status/2011821673184375239) BTC Before Light issue about BIP-3 (https://christinedkim.substack.com/p/issue-17) Chaincode BOSS program (https://bosschallenge.xyz/) BIP-110 (https://bip110.org/) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christinedkim.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 6m

  5. JAN 22

    BWB: Glamsterdam Gas Repricing EIPs & X Account Hacks

    In this bi-weekly brief, Christine D. Kim provides updates on the scoping process for the Glamsterdam upgrade. She also highlights updates to the Bitcoin Core and Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) Github repositories. Timestamps: (0:00) Intro (3:23) Ethereum updates (15:06) Bitcoin updates (27:17) Outro Links: - Calvin Kim Ready for Merge Interview (https://christinedkim.substack.com/p/podcast-ep-12) - EIP 8037 (https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-8037) - Glamsterdam EIPs List (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ifXjsiFFzQW8s1gl4Gz3kVDKE2pvTMkPslHuE3U7Nqk/edit?usp=sharing) - The Charlatan Bio (https://thecharlatan.ch/about/) Song Credits: Special thanks to Calios for the music featured in this episode. You can listen to the full track, “Our Lives,” and other songs by Calios on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6qs62M8pLHGZuttTwgP6JK. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christinedkim.substack.com/subscribe

    28 min
  6. MTD: Calvin Kim (Utreexo)

    JAN 15

    MTD: Calvin Kim (Utreexo)

    Meet Calvin, a Bitcoin protocol developer sponsored by OpenSats, who is working on the Utreexo project. Utreexo is a hash-based accumulator for the Bitcoin UTXO set. In non-technical terms, it's a way to store and retrieve necessary data about chain state to validate Bitcoin blocks and transactions. Calvin has been working on Utreexo since 2019. In this interview, Calvin shares how he came to work on Utreexo full-time and the exciting development milestones he anticipates reaching this year. This interview was recorded on January 7, 2026. Timestamps: (2:45) Utreexo explained in Ethereum terms (10:26) Utreexo in the Bitcoin governance process (14:02) How Calvin joined the Utreexo team (20:29) How the Utreexo project is funded (25:25) The sustainability of funding for Bitcoin development work (28:05) What Calvin might do next after Utreexo (38:01) Utreexo development goals in 2026 (44:22) Rapid-fire questions Links: - Utreexo BIPs (https://github.com/utreexo/biptreexo) - BTC Before Light newsletter on Utreexo (https://christinedkim.substack.com/p/issue-03) - Floresta (https://github.com/getfloresta/Floresta) - Summer of Bitcoin (https://www.summerofbitcoin.org/) - Vinteum (https://x.com/Vinteum_org) - OpenSats (https://opensats.org/) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christinedkim.substack.com/subscribe

    48 min

  7. JAN 8

    BWB: The Final Act of the Fusaka Upgrade & Why Everyone Wants to Fork Bitcoin Right Now

    In this bi-weekly brief on Bitcoin and Ethereum protocol development, Christine discusses: 1. The activation of the second Blob Parameter Only (BPO) hard fork on Ethereum 2. Three Bitcoin Improvement Proposals (BIPs) requiring soft fork activation that the Bitcoin community is divided over right now Timestamps: (5:05) Ethereum Updates (22:52) Bitcoin Updates Links: Mempirate's analysis on the impacts of Fusaka on Ethereum (https://ethresear.ch/t/block-blob-propagation-with-peerdas/23801) An explanation of Ethereum's EIP-1559 code change (https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/ethereum-eip-1559-upgrade-100-days-later) ACDE #227: Call Minutes + Insights (https://christinedkim.substack.com/p/acde-227) BTC Before Light newsletter issue on the three Bitcoin code changes requiring soft fork activation that were mentioned in this episode (https://christinedkim.substack.com/p/issue-22) Song Credits: Special thanks to Calios for the music featured in this episode. You can listen to the full track, “Our Lives,” and other songs by Calios on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6qs62M8pLHGZuttTwgP6JK. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christinedkim.substack.com/subscribe

    36 min

  8. 12/17/2025

    BWB: The Most Influential Bitcoin & Ethereum Code Merges of 2025

    Summary: In this episode of the Ready for Merge show, Christine D. Kim reviews the most significant code changes in Bitcoin and Ethereum protocol development for the year 2025. She highlights Ethereum's major upgrades, Pectra and Fusaka, which led to substantial Layer-1 and Layer-2 scaling improvements. On the Bitcoin side, the uncapping of the data carrier size sparked controversy within the community. The episode concludes with reflections on the future of both protocols and the challenges they face in 2026. Timestamps: 06:48 The Most Influential Ethereum Code Merges of 2025 25:45 The Most Influential Bitcoin Code Merges of 2025 Links: - Nethermind blog post on block gas limit testing improvements in 2025 (https://www.nethermind.io/blog/getting-ethereum-ready-for-gigagas)  - R4M episode on the controversy of Bitcoin Core v30 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFg-hU9KXxA)  - R4M episode on the C-header API (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNLh-flmUdg)  - R4M episode on the cluster mempool PR (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp8sdOW4Xlk) - BTC Before Light newsletter post on the nTime overflow problem (https://christinedkim.substack.com/p/issue-21) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit christinedkim.substack.com/subscribe

    42 min
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About

A podcast about what’s ready for merge in Ethereum and Bitcoin Core— the world’s most valuable open-source protocols. christinedkim.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Christine D. Kim
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    17
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Christine D. Kim
  • Show Website
    Ready for Merge