Bitcoin Rails | Isabel Foxen Duke

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

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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
    ...more
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    Bitcoin Rails | Isabel Foxen DukeBy Isabel Foxen Duke