Bitcoin Rails | Isabel Foxen Duke

Isabel Foxen Duke

Deep dives into Bitcoin-native technologies, protocol development, cryptography and more. FYI: I’m sending out new pods and Bitcoin technical updates via email going forward — sign up to get on the list: isabelfoxenduke.com

  1. Aug 7

    Expecting Hardforks | PAUL SZTORC

    Paul Sztorc founder and CEO of LayerTwo Labs and author of Bitcoin Improvement Proposals 300 and 301 (Drivechains), has been one of Bitcoin's most persistent—and controversial—thinkers, advocating for merge-mined sidechains as a way to dramatically expand Bitcoin's functionality while preserving the security of the base layer. Following our previous episode introducing his proposed Bitcoin hard fork, eCash, we discuss how the project has evolved in recent months, what to expect when the fork launches on mainnet, and Paul's perspectives on today's Layer 2 landscape and the soon-to-activate BIP 110 soft fork. An entertaining, popcorn-style conversation with one of Bitcoin's most unconventional thinkers, this episode offers diverse—and at times irreverent—commentary on some of the most important technical debates shaping Bitcoin's future. This episode of Bitcoin Rails is brought to you by: LayerTwo Labs — developing research, software, and technologies for scaling Bitcoin via the integration of Drivechains (BIP 300/301) Hashi on Sui Network — a primitive for executing Bitcoin DeFi transactions, without having to trust a federated bridge or other centralized entity BitBox — an open-source Bitcoin-only hardware wallet, with smooth UX and no compromises on security. Check out Bitbox [dot] swiss and use code BITCOINRAILS to get a discount

  2. Jul 28

    The Future of Bitcoin Banking | ALEX LEISHMAN

    I first came across River during the 2020 bull market. At the time, it felt like one of the quieter players in the space—not as visible as Coinbase or Kraken, and less talked about than its Bitcoin-only competitor, Swan, which was dominating Bitcoin Twitter and investing heavily in KOL marketing at the time. My impression was that River had made a different bet: prioritizing product and security over rapid customer acquisition. In hindsight, that strategy paid off. As exchange and custody failures shook the industry during the 2022 bear market, River emerged as one of the most trusted names in Bitcoin. River CEO Alex Leishman joins me to discuss the technical, operational, and commercial decisions that have differentiated the company—and why many of those decisions have influenced the way the industry thinks about Bitcoin custody today. In more detail, we discuss: Why River chose to remain Bitcoin-only despite the short-term revenue tradeoffs The philosophical differences between Bitcoin banks and trader-driven crypto exchanges Why River manages its own custody stack—and what actually matters when choosing a Bitcoin custodian A recap of the industry's biggest custody failures: what went wrong and how to avoid repeating those mistakes How Bitcoin custody has evolved over the past decade—and how it may need to evolve again in a post-quantum world This episode of Bitcoin Rails is brought to you by: LayerTwo Labs — developing research, software, and technologies for scaling Bitcoin via the integration of Drivechains (BIP 300/301) Hashi on Sui Network — a primitive for executing Bitcoin DeFi transactions, without having to trust a federated bridge or other centralized entity BitBox — an open-source Bitcoin-only hardware wallet, with smooth UX and no compromises on security. Check out Bitbox [dot] swiss and use code BITCOINRAILS to get a discount

  3. Jul 14

    Zero-Knowledge Proofs For Post-Quantum Bitcoin | BENEDIKT BÜNZ

    While many Bitcoiners remain hopeful the network will embrace zero-knowledge proofs for protocol-level use cases, practical adoption has remained limited outside of BitVM and a handful of experimental proposals. Most of the world’s ZKP research has circled around Ethereum and other ecosystems, where significant resources have been dedicated to advancing these systems, particularly for scaling and privacy applications. One of the most notable contributors to this research is Benedikt Bünz — professor of cryptography at NYU and collaborator of Dan Boneh, who together inarguably form one of the strongest blockchain-applied cryptography teams in the world. The pair recently announced they’ll be leading the new post-quantum cryptography unit localhost research — the first dedicated PQ research effort within a major Bitcoin development organization. With Benedikt leading the charge on the use of zero-knowledge proofs for post-quantum mitigation, the question emerges: will the post-quantum transition be the catalyst to finally bring zero-knowledge proofs to Bitcoin's core protocol? In more details, Benedikt and I discuss: Why ZKPs haven’t been widely adopted by the Bitcoin technical community — and why the threat of quantum computers may change that posture going forward How ZKPs could be used for signature batching to address larger post-quantum signatures in Bitcoin’s post-quantum era Why Bitcoiners will likely prioritize hash-based signatures as an initial post-quantum scheme — rather than more efficient but less proven alternatives (e.g. lattice-based) How ZKPs have evolved over the last decade and may finally be ready for Bitcoin’s strict requirements around trust assumptions Why Benedikt and Dan are teaming up with localhost research to create the first post-quantum cryptography unit within a major Bitcoin development organization + what they hope to accomplish This episode of Bitcoin Rails is brought to you by: LayerTwo Labs — developing research, software, and technologies for scaling Bitcoin via the integration of Drivechains (BIP 300/301) Hashi on Sui Network — a primitive for executing Bitcoin DeFi transactions, without having to trust a federated bridge or other centralized entity BitBox — an open-source Bitcoin-only hardware wallet, with smooth UX and no compromises on security. Check out Bitbox [dot] swiss and use code BITCOINRAILS to get a discount

  4. Jul 7

    The Birth of Flare Gas Mining | STEPHEN BARBOUR

    The first public player to deploy Bitcoin miners at oil and gas production sites, Stephen Barbour is broadly credited for popularizing the idea that stranded natural gas could be used to power Bitcoin mining. By converting methane that would otherwise be vented or flared into productive economic value, this approach became a prominent counterargument to claims that Bitcoin mining is inherently harmful to the environment—challenging one of the most pervasive anti-Bitcoin narratives of the 2020 bull run. More broadly, bringing miners directly to the source of energy helped redefine Bitcoin mining as a flexible energy consumer—positioning miners as load-balancing tools and creating new economic opportunities for one of the most essential industries in the world: Oil & Gas. This episode of Bitcoin Rails is brought to you by: LayerTwo Labs — developing research, software, and technologies for scaling Bitcoin via the integration of Drivechains (BIP 300/301) Hashi on Sui Network — a primitive for executing Bitcoin DeFi transactions, without having to trust a federated bridge or other centralized entity BitBox — an open-source Bitcoin-only hardware wallet, with smooth UX and no compromises on security. Check out Bitbox [dot] swiss and use code BITCOINRAILS to get a discount

  5. Jul 1

    The Politics of Post-Quantum Bitcoin | NIC CARTER

    Less than nine months ago, investor and researcher Nic Carter sparked one of the most heated debates in Bitcoin's recent history — when he published a series of essays arguing that the network should prepare for its post-quantum transition sooner rather than later. While the essays broadly persuaded investors and institutions, many of Bitcoin's technical leaders dismissed them as alarmist — that is, until Google's quantum resource estimates were updated just a few months later. Crediting Google's paper with "shifting the Overton Window" on quantum and strengthening the case for post-quantum preparation, Nic shares his thoughts on the delicate politics surrounding this transition — and how he believes a quantum attack, and response, could potentially play out in practice. In more detail, this special episode of Bitcoin Rails X MARA Foundation TV covers: •⁠ ⁠How a quantum attack against Bitcoin, and Bitcoin's response, could unfold in practice •⁠ ⁠Whether a state actor could facilitate "benevolent" quantum recovery without requiring a contentious fork •⁠ ⁠The constitutional tradeoffs posed by abandoned quantum-vulnerable coins, including Satoshi's Coins •⁠ ⁠How Bitcoin's post-quantum transition could permanently reshape the network's governance culture

  6. Jun 23

    Not Your Keys, Not Your AI | ERIK CASON & JESSE POSNER

    As language models evolve into extensions of memory, judgment, and decision-making—questions of ownership, privacy, and autonomy become increasingly difficult to ignore. In this interview, Vora founders Erik Cason and Jesse Posner share why the future of AI will look very different depending on our ability to do one thing: maintain self-custody of our personal data—with private keys, just like Bitcoin. A conversation about who controls the systems shaping human cognition, and how we can protect ourselves with the same ethos we protect our Bitcoin—this interview covers: Why AI is the most intimate technology ever created + the specific risks of centralized AI systems controlling sensitive personal information How Bitcoin's self-custody model provides a framework for thinking about data ownership in the AI age (Not Your Keys, Not Your Mind) Why data sovereignty may become one of the defining technological and political questions of the coming decades How you can protect yourself and your personal information from centralized AI risks—including data leaks, political manipulation and more. This episode of Bitcoin Rails is brought to you by my sponsors: LayerTwo Labs — developing research, software, and technologies for scaling Bitcoin via the integration of Drivechains (BIP 300/301) Hashi on Sui Network — a primitive for executing Bitcoin DeFi transactions, without having to trust a federated bridge or other centralized entity BitBox — an open-source Bitcoin-only hardware wallet, with smooth UX and no compromises on security. Check out Bitbox [dot] swiss and use code BITCOINRAILS to get a discount

  7. Jun 16

    BIP 110 & The Future of Soft Forks | SUPER TESTNET

    One of Bitcoin's most prolific experimental developers, Super Testnet is known for building software at the frontier of Bitcoin research — including notable contributions to BitVM, Drivechains, Lightning, and numerous prototypes that have pushed the boundaries of Bitcoin's design space. More recently, he's become a prominent participant in discussions surrounding BIP 110, a proposed soft fork intended to restrict transaction patterns associated with Ordinal inscriptions. While Super broadly agrees with the proposal's underlying goals, he argues its current restrictions are overly broad and could impact "legitimate" monetary uses of Bitcoin. These concerns led him to share a User-Rejected Soft Fork proposal last week, creating a rare case study in how Bitcoin's consensus rules evolve in practice. In more detail, Super Testnet & I discuss: BIP 110, and why developers disagree over transaction filtering Soft fork activation through a historical lens Miner-Activated and User-Activated Soft Forks + the hybrid strategy proposed by BIP 110 advocates Super's User-Rejected Soft Fork proposal and its game theoretical implications for BIP 110 activation Novel signaling mechanisms for BIP 110 + their implications for the future of hashrate markets This episode of Bitcoin Rails is brought to you by my sponsors: LayerTwo Labs — developing research, software, and technologies for scaling Bitcoin via the integration of Drivechains (BIP 300/301) Hashi on Sui Network — a primitive for executing Bitcoin Defi transactions, without having to trust a federated bridge or other centralized entity BitBox — an open-source Bitcoin-only hardware wallet, with smooth UX and no compromises on security. Check out Bitbox [dot] swiss and use code BITCOINRAILS to get a discount

  8. Jun 4

    Bitcoin's threshold for trust-minimization—without a soft fork | SAM BLACKSHEAR

    Some of the most impressive technical and commercial leaders in digital assets emerged from what insiders call the "Libra Mafia" — the team assembled by Meta to build Libra (later Diem). Though the project ultimately succumbed to regulatory pressure, it produced a generation of founders and engineers who went on to shape the industry, including Sam Blackshear, a leading expert in blockchain programming languages and CTO of Mysten Labs. In this episode of Bitcoin Rails, Sam joins me to discuss: why Mysten Labs has turned its focus toward Bitcoin + why Sam leans conservative on soft-fork changes to Bitcoin script what makes a strong crypto programming language + why EVM is missing the mark\ why trust minimization remains the critical technical challenge standing between Bitcoin and broader DeFi adoption Why Mysten Lab's new Hashi architecture may be the most trust-minimized architecture for Bitcoin "bridging" without a soft fork This episode of Bitcoin Rails is brought to you by: LayerTwo Labs — developing research, software, and technologies for scaling Bitcoin via the integration of Drivechains (BIP 300/301) Hashi on Sui Network — a primitive for executing Bitcoin Defi transactions, without having to trust a federated bridge or other centralized entity BitBox — an open-source Bitcoin-only hardware wallet, with smooth UX and no compromises on security. Check out Bitbox [dot] swiss and use code BITCOINRAILS to get a discount

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Deep dives into Bitcoin-native technologies, protocol development, cryptography and more. FYI: I’m sending out new pods and Bitcoin technical updates via email going forward — sign up to get on the list: isabelfoxenduke.com

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