In this episode, Paul Sztorc discusses his vision for drivechains, a concept he believes could advance Bitcoin by allowing for permissionless innovation and competition among developers, leading to a diverse array of L2 applications that work in tandem with Bitcoin's L1. Drivechains would enable large-scale blockchain solutions, enhanced privacy features akin to Zcash, and innovative applications such as decentralised Namecoin and prediction markets without changing the core of Bitcoin. Sztorc emphasises the importance of competition and suggests that drive chains could align miners' incentives with users' desires through transaction fees. He acknowledges there are cultural and political barriers within the Bitcoin community that affect the adoption of new ideas like drivechains, citing the reluctance to implement soft forks and the influence of a "Bitcoin is perfect" mentality as hindrances to innovation. Despite these challenges, Sztorc continues to promote drivechains, advocating for a solution that would allow Bitcoin to scale while maintaining its decentralised and secure foundation.

Paul Sztorc | Drivechains: Scaling Bitcoin Without Compromise

Corey, D, and Jessie sit down with Robin Linus of ZeroSync — the team spearheading the development of proof systems for Bitcoin for scalability, interoperability, and privacy. Robin discusses everything from the recently published BitVM white paper, challenges and tradeoffs of validation proofs on Bitcoin, ZK coins, and his birthday cake from Gisele Bündchen.

Robin Linus of ZeroSync and BITVM.org | Pioneering Proof Systems, Adoption in Bitcoin 

The Hashing it Out team speaks with Ameen Soleimani, co-author of the Privacy Pools paper - Blockchain Privacy and Regulatory Compliance: Towards a Practical Equilibrium. Ameen, along with Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum Foundation), Jacob Illum (Chainalysis), Matthias Nadler (University of Basel), and Fabian Schär (Center for Innovative Finance, University of Basel; University of Basel - Economics Department) describe a novel smart contract-based privacy-enhancing protocol. Corey, D, and Jesse chat with Ameen about the motivations behind Privacy Pools, historical references including Tornado Cash and Z Cash, as well as the mechanics and tradeoffs associated with the approach. 

Ameen Soleimani of Privacy Pools | Unpacking Privacy Pools – Motivations, Mechanics, and Tradeoffs

This is a special episode of Hashing in Out in which Corey, D, and Jesse, meet with "Edgard" about the impending relaunch of Status – the super app for decentralised communities, and the recent launch of the new website (https://status.app/). Corey, former Chief Security Officer of Status and now involved in program management of Logos, is deeply familiar with Status and the challenges associated with building decentralised infrastructure. Edgard breaks down the last two years of developing Status, staying true to core principles, and some very exciting new features to come.

Edgard of Status | Status Super App Reborn – Decentralised Infrastructure and Autonomous Communities

The Hashing It Out team sits down with Jordi Baylina to discuss everything from his involvement in the Catalan independence movement, Dappnode, and Giveth to technical details associated with bringing privacy and compression to ZK proofs via recursion. This is a special episode with someone who has been involved in the Ethereum ecosystem for many years. Jordi, a white hat hacker, has been building public goods infrastructure and protecting people on the Internet for many years.

Jordi Baylina of Polygon zkEVM | Zero Knowledge, Privacy, Scalability, and Building Useful Technology

We sit down with Lefteris Karapetsas of Rotki — the portfolio tracker that protects your privacy. We discuss the challenges of building a privacy-centric portfolio management tool and the tradeoffs required compared to highly centralised alternatives. We dive deep into local-first software and take a look at how Lefteris has made this a pillar of Rotki.

Lefteris Karapetsas of Rotki | Insights On Private Portfolio Management and Local-First Software

The team is joined by Shane Mac, co-founder of XMTP — the secure messaging network for web3 — to discuss their goal of allowing any wallet addresses to message with one another. Shane walked us through his long history in the world of messaging and working with web2 giants, including Facebook bots, eBay, and email clients, in his journey to make connecting with each other more human. Shane is an experienced start-up founder with a refreshing vision and outlook on how to bring web3 to the next billion users. 

Shane Mac of XMTP | The Power of Web3 Messaging

In this Hashing It Out Personals episode, Dee talks to Stephen Pair, co-founder, president, and CEO of BitPay.com. Dee and Stephen discuss the history of Bitcoin from the early days to the Lightning Network, and to its role in modern economies. Stephen sheds light on his introduction to crypto and how he still manages to have fun in the industry. 

Hashing it Out Personals | Stephen Pair — A Journey Through Bitcoin

<p>Hashing It Out is a highly-technical bi-weekly show that brings you the pioneering developers driving the Cypherpunk movement. In each show we take a deep dive through privacy, sovereignty, and network state technology with some of web3's most influential innovators.</p><section class="footnotes-container">&nbsp;</section>

Hashing It Out is a highly-technical bi-weekly show that brings you the pioneering developers driving the Cypherpunk movement. In each show we take a deep dive through privacy, sovereignty, and network state technology with some of web3's most influential innovators.

Hashing It Out

Latest episodes

Paul Sztorc | Drivechains: Scaling Bitcoin Without Compromise

Paul Sztorc | Drivechains: Scaling Bitcoin Without Compromise

Robin Linus of ZeroSync and BITVM.org | Pioneering Proof Systems, Adoption in Bitcoin

Ameen Soleimani of Privacy Pools | Unpacking Privacy Pools – Motivations, Mechanics, and Tradeoffs

Edgard of Status | Status Super App Reborn – Decentralised Infrastructure and Autonomous Communities

Jordi Baylina of Polygon zkEVM | Zero Knowledge, Privacy, Scalability, and Building Useful Technology

Lefteris Karapetsas of Rotki | Insights On Private Portfolio Management and Local-First Software

Shane Mac of XMTP | The Power of Web3 Messaging

Hashing it Out Personals | Stephen Pair — A Journey Through Bitcoin