Socratic Seminar 13
December 14, 2022
We will start with introductions, some basic ground rules, and jump into technical discussions. We will cover aspects of the bitcoin protocol, new research developments, recent news, and software developments.
Please note the meeting location at 4801 Glenwood Ave suite 200 in Raleigh. It's the huge Fifth Third Bank building.
Announcements
- no pictures or recordings
- chatham house rules
- don't be a dick
- Hack Day - biweekly unstructured meetup for bitcoin builders
- Rust Meetup - stay tuned
- thank you to our sponsor Lolli
- introductions
Bitcoin Core
BIP 351
BIP351 is a stealth address protocol that makes it possible for two parties to transact using addresses that only they can calculate. It's an improvement over BIP47 because it takes measures to conceal the initial notification transaction. However, it still suffers from some of the same drawbacks: the sender must exercise coin control and it requires an on-chain transaction before any payments can be made.
Miniscript
Miniscript is a tool to analyze bitcoin script code. It will help wallet devs more easily support a wider variety of script templates. Rob will demo a miniscript project he's been working on with BDK.
Lightning
Releases
- CLN v22.11 "Alameda Yield Generator" - new plugin manager, autoclean improvements, new filter API, new versioning scheme
- eclair-v0.8.0 - 0-conf support, channel aliases, experimental dual-funding, bolt12 prep
- LND v0.15.5-beta - minor release with bug fixes
Privacy
- ln-vortex - Coinjoin lightning channel opens - first mainnet coinjoin.
- Lightning Privacy Research
DLCs
- Crypto Garage has created the first mainnet lightning channel DLC
Miscellaneous
- Onion Messages Demystified - onion messages, offers, blinded routes, and async payments
- BOLT proposal: Reputation Credentials - solve channel jamming with reputation tokens
- CLN vs. LND, what's the diff? - nice blog post that answers a very common question
Chaumian Ecash
- Anonsats - ecash system built on bitcoin, lightning, and cashu.
- Cashu LNBits extension - Cashu is now available as a LNBits extension. It also now supports sending ecash via URL. Noice!
Privacy
Scaling
- coinpool.dev - new site to track R&D progress
Miscellaneous
- Clark Moody Bitcoin Dashboard
- Block Hardware Wallet Security Model
- [bitcoin-dev] BIP Proposal: Wallet Labels Export Format
- Border Wallets - quickly and easily memorize Bitcoin seed phrases
- Bitcoin Treasuries - aggregated list of companies, funds, and countries that hold bitcoin.
- Binary Watch - monitor checksums of various bitcoin binary releases
- Legends of Lightning winners announced
Podcasts
Coin Stories
Why Bitcoin is Better Money - Knut Svanholm has an engaging conversation with Natalie Brunell talking about the most important discovery of our time. Big picture thinking on Bitcoin. ∞ / 21mil
Bitcoin Explained
What is Miniscript - Aaron and Sjors describe what Miniscript is and how it simplifies the process of programming bitcoin compared to Script, in certain situations.
The Tornado Cash Trial - A good introduction to tornado cash and the arrest of Alexy Pertsev. Aaron and Sjors provide a high-level description of what was going on, it’s relevance to bitcoin, and even mention Wasabi Wallet at one point. A key point is that it is still unclear exactly which angle the prosecution is going to argue. They postponed the trial for another three months, at which time the prosecutor will have to provide a more detailed description of the charges.