Stephan Livera Podcast Stephan Livera

Why are some bitcoin blocks empty? Orange Surf from the mempool.space team joins me to explain his recent research report on this topic. We discuss:


Why do empty blocks happen? 


Comparing empty block rates across mining pools


Firmware and config differences



Timestamps:

(00:00) - Intro

(00:44) - Orange Surf’s research report on empty blocks

(02:02) - Block interval data sets 

(06:25) - What is an empty block?

(08:09) - What causes an empty block to occur?

(11:35) - Nuances of a working of a miner; switching from empty to full block templates

(14:05) - Differences in the empty block performance

(19:01) - Antpool’s internal miner firmware  

(21:30) - Sponsors

(25:00) - Effective management of block templates by mining pools

(34:54) - Ocean's empty blocks

(36:08) - Mining decentralisation and proxy pools

(41:07) - Sponsors

(42:14) - Mining templates & pool payouts

(44:57) - Upcoming mempool features

(49:06) - Outro

Links:


Empty Block Report: https://research.mempool.space/empty-block-report/ 


Pool Reserve: https://orange.surf/pool-reserves/


Enterprise: mempool.space/enterprise


Community Sponsors: mempool.space/sponsor 



Sponsors:


Swan.com (code LIVERA)


CoinKite.com (code LIVERA)


Mempool.space



Stephan Livera links:


Follow me on X: @stephanlivera


Subscribe to the podcast


Subscribe to Substack

Art Finch is a South African-American Entrepreneur. Art has experience across South Asia and is interested in setting up Free Private Cities or Charter Cities. In this episode he shares his experiences in Bhutan and shares his theories on how Bitcoin and Free Private Cities can work together. 

Timestamps:

(00:00) - Intro

(01:28) - Art’s background & his interest in building a Free Private City (FPC)

(10:50) - The need for a Free Private City

(13:11) - A look at Shenzhen as an SEZ

(16:20) - Education in an FPC context

(20:08) - Sponsors

(22:22) - Education in an FPC context (contd.)

(26:11) - Setting up an FPC in Bhutan

(33:56) - Bhutan’s leadership views on the FPC 

(41:41) - Sponsors

(44:00) - Art’s insights on Bhutan & Bitcoin mining

(46:08) - Potential FPCs in the future

X clips:

07:18 - biggest risk to FPC

08:47 - 10:01 - Bhutan FPC in a nutshell

10:57 - 12:40 - need for FPC

18:08 - 20:08 -  learning/self education, role of schools, start with one node and grow from there - similar to bitcoin

44:08 - 45:59 - Bitcoin progress in Bhutan - mining ops,  

Links:


Article mentioned: https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahemerson/2023/12/15/bhutan-futuristic-city-dragon-king/


Site: https://yungdrung.city/


Free Citadels profile: https://freecitadels.com/profile/art-finch/ 



Sponsors:


Swan.com (code LIVERA)


CoinKite.com (code LIVERA)


Mempool.space


Nomadcapitalist.com/apply



Stephan Livera links:


Follow me on X: @stephanlivera


Subscribe to the podcast


Subscribe to Substack

While many debate the pros and cons of Bitcoin ETFs, joining us for this episode is Jeff Yew, CEO of Monochrome, doing a directly held Bitcoin ETF in Australia. We chat about the fees, the custody, the ethos, being able to contribute bitcoin or redeem bitcoin, institutional adoption and Bitcoin in Australia. 

Timestamps:

(00:00) - Intro

(00:53) - Monochrome’s role in bringing Bitcoin ETFs to Australia

(02:48) - Timeline of different Bitcoin ETFs in Australia

(03:58) - Influence of US Spot Bitcoin ETFs on the Australian Bitcoin ETFs

(06:15) - Different types of Australian Bitcoin ETFs and implications for investors

(13:32) - Fee structure of Monochrome (IBTC) Bitcoin ETF 

(19:00) - In-kind vs. Cash-create 

(24:55) - Loans against Bitcoin ETFs in the future?

(29:05) - Buying Bitcoin on an exchange vs buying Bitcoin ETFs

(31:48) - How does Monochrome store its Bitcoin?

(33:37) - Sponsors

(36:49) - Are institutions good for Bitcoin?

(43:07) - Safety in numbers

(46:53) - Bitcoin adoption in Australia compared to USA

Links:


https://x.com/jeffyew_ 


https://x.com/Monochromeasset 



Sponsors:


Swan.com (code LIVERA)


CoinKite.com (code LIVERA)


Mempool.space



Stephan Livera links:


Follow me on X: @stephanlivera


Subscribe to the podcast


Subscribe to Substack

You might have seen my earlier episode with Erick Brimen, CEO of Prospera, here’s the CFO of Prospera discussing the ability to use Bitcoin as a unit of account. We discuss: 


Life on Roatan


Setting up a business


Choose your own regulatory environment


ZEDE law situation


Bitcoin as unit of account


Leaving Canada



Timestamps:

Links:


https://prospera.hn/


https://stephanlivera.com/episode/464/ 



Sponsors:


Swan.com (code LIVERA)


CoinKite.com (code LIVERA)


Mempool.space



Stephan Livera links:


Follow me on X: @stephanlivera


Subscribe to the podcast


Subscribe to Substack

Tiero of Ark Labs joins me on the show to discuss the latest with Ark. We get into: 


How Ark has changed since initial proposal


clARK - covenant-less ARK


Trade offs to make clARK happen


Which covenants would help vs what is ideal for Ark


Ark on Liquid 


Capital requirements and costs


Fiatcoins


Nostr



Timestamps:

(00:00) - Intro

(01:37) - What is Ark? ELI5 version

(05:42) - Tradeoffs of scaling payments

(07:41) - Interchangeably using LN & Ark under the hood

(10:52) - Updates on Ark 

(13:57) - What are out-of-round payments?

(17:48) - Trade Offs of out-of-round payments

(19:45) - The fee structure in Ark

(21:39) - Sponsors

(24:15) - Who runs the ASPs?

(28:55) - ‘Congestion control’ with Ark

(33:06) - The role of covenants with Ark

(39:44) - Ark on Liquid

(41:20) - Sponsors

(43:49) - The ideal covenant & its impact on Ark

(48:00) - Thoughts on extreme conservatism on Bitcoin

(52:55) - Way forward with Ark Labs

(56:18) - Opportunities & threats of stablecoins on Ark?

(1:02:39) - NIP46 & building Nostr Connect

(1:06:40) - Summary & closing thoughts 

Links:


https://twitter.com/tierotiero


https://arklabs.to/



Sponsors:


Swan.com (code LIVERA)


CoinKite.com (code LIVERA)


Mempool.space


Nomadcapitalist.com/apply



Stephan Livera links:


Follow me on X: @stephanlivera


Subscribe to the podcast


Subscribe to Substack

The bitcoin ‘ossification’ debate continues with a discussion on the key considerations. What makes Bitcoin special? What improvements are necessary to retain sufficient decentralisation, if any? 

Vijay Boyapati and Brandon Black (aka reardencode) rejoin me for a special episode to discuss: 


What makes Bitcoin special? 


Defining ‘ossification’


How many users is ‘enough’? 


Unknown unknowns


Addressing centralising MEV concerns


Soft forks and hard forks


Economic nodes and who holds the power


Where to from here



Timestamps:

(00:00) - Intro

(01:54) - What makes Bitcoin Special? ft. Vijay

(09:37) - Verifiability & decentralisation of Bitcoin ft. Brandon

(14:31) - When do we stop ‘changing’ bitcoin?

(15:17) - Revisiting the blocksize wars & importance of self sovereignty

(20:45) - Libertarian principles of Bitcoin

(23:48) - ‘Sufficiently decentralised’ Bitcoin

(26:42) - Defining ‘Ossification’ of Bitcoin

(30:56) - Sponsors

(34:11) - Economic interests in upgrading Bitcoin nodes

(43:40) - Bitcoin is a Trojan horse

(47:15) - Can we rule out ‘Unknown unknowns'?

(50:49) - Concerns over centralising MEV

(1:00:17) - Whose chain is it anyway?

(1:05:14) - Resisting soft forks and hard forks

(1:16:49) - Closing Thoughts

Links:


X: @real_vijay


Bullish Case for Bitcoin: Swan.com/bullish


X: @reardencode



Prior episodes:


Rusty - Great Script Restoration


Brandon Black - Are Covenants necessary for Bitcoin


TXHASH Steven Roose


Matt Corallo and Steve Lee Great Consensus Cleanup



Sponsors:


Swan.com (code LIVERA)


CoinKite.com (code LIVERA)


Mempool.space



Stephan Livera links:


Follow me on X: @stephanlivera


Subscribe to the podcast


Subscribe to Substack