**"Keeping Bitcoin running is the primary concern here. Making sure that Bitcoin is available to be used as money by everyday people, any actor who wants to come onto Bitcoin and send one UTXO from one to another. That's the most important piece for me when thinking about defending Bitcoin.

~ Luke de Wolf

I sat down with Luke de Wolf to talk about the real security risks facing Bitcoin today. Luke has spent his career protecting critical industrial control systems like oil pipelines and electrical grids. Now, he is taking that hardcore cybersecurity mindset and applying it to the Bitcoin network in his brand new book, *Defending Bitcoin*. And trust me, it is a conversation you need to hear.

We spent a lot of time debating the heated topic of arbitrary data and the drama surrounding BIP 110. Should we enforce strict rules to keep the blockchain pure, or is trying to force a chain split a bigger threat to Bitcoin's integrity as money? Luke actually changed his mind on this recently, and he lays out exactly why the stakes could be too high to play games with consensus. His perspective really cuts through the noise and challenges the tribal thinking happening on both sides.

But we didn't just stop there. We also get into mining centralization, selfish mining attacks, and why we need to view Bitcoin as high-stakes critical infrastructure. The decisions we make now could determine if this network survives long-term.

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