The Most Important Project in Bitcoin (You probably haven't heard of)

What is the most important project in Bitcoin? It isn't BIP 110 or some shiny new payment protocol. We actually have a massive security vulnerability sitting at the base layer: Bitcoin mining isn't really mining anymore. Right now, we have millions of hashers but barely a handful of real miners deciding what transactions make it into a block. And that means a few centralized pool operators could easily censor the network. In this Take, I explain why the critical distinction between a hasher and a miner matters. But more importantly, I outline how newer protocols are finally fixing a decade-long mistake. Chapters (00:00:00) - The most important project (00:00:29) - Hashers vs miners (00:01:35) - Pools choose transactions (00:03:06) - The few pools who can censor (00:04:21) - Nodes and block templates (00:06:15) - Holding your own keys (00:06:55) - Datum and Stratum V2 (00:08:50) - The single giant pool risk (00:11:31) - Spam, Slipstream, BIP110 (00:13:22) - Ocean, DMND, and what's next Affiliate Links Become sovereign, hold your keys, be censorship resistant with the Bitbox hardware wallet. Get 5% off everything in the store with code GUY (Link: https://bitbox.swiss/guy/) Get 10% off the best Bitcoin board game in the world, HODLUP! Or any of the other great games from The Free Market Kids! Use code GUY10 at checkout for 10% off your cart! (Link: https://www.freemarketkids.com/collections/games-1) Host Links ⁠Guy on Nostr ⁠(Link: http://tinyurl.com/2xc96ney) ⁠Guy on X ⁠(Link: https://twitter.com/theguyswann) Guy on Instagram (Link: https://www.instagram.com/theguyswann) Guy on TikTok (Link: https://www.tiktok.com/@theguyswann) Guy's Takes on YouTube (Link: https://www.youtube.com/@GuysTake) Guy Swann on YouTube (Link: https://www.youtube.com/@theguyswann) ⁠Bitcoin Audible on X⁠ (Link: https://twitter.com/BitcoinAudible) The Guy Swann Network Broadcast Room on Keet (Link: https://tinyurl.com/3na6v839) References from the episode Bitcoin StackExchange #1: https://tinyurl.com/279wnyjg D-CentralTech: https://tinyurl.com/284e3gdh Stratum v2: https://tinyurl.com/26wn5kps Pavlenex's X post: https://tinyurl.com/23w828ac LNhance: https://tinyurl.com/2c9k4ogm DMND: https://tinyurl.com/2yfurts9 BitcoinTalk: https://tinyurl.com/234qlqgb Bitcoin StackExchange #2: https://tinyurl.com/279wnyjg Mempool.space: https://tinyurl.com/245ahvdq Minoa.com: https://tinyurl.com/24qmfn4d The Defiant: https://tinyurl.com/28vsgv7z