I'm joined by guests Harry Sudock, Aaron van Wirdum and Adam Gibson to discuss the power dynamics in Bitcoin.

Discussion Topics:

• 00:02:41 The Mexican stand off conceptualisation of the power dynamics within Bitcoin
• 00:04:19 Are developers part of the game theory?
• 00:21:57 The power dynamics involved in changing Bitcoin
• 00:33:39 The role of prediction markets in determining consensus
• 00:43:01 Can Bitcoin development be corrupted?
• 00:46:26 Corruption factors invovled in chain forks
• 00:53:39 Bitcoin's resistance to change
• 00:57:12 Bitcoin vs gold and considerations surrounding resistance to human interference
• 01:03:19 Perspectives on changing Bitcoin
• 01:04:41 Controversial changes (Tapscript)
• 01:07:16 What properties of Bitcoin are changeable?
• 01:15:18 How do you defin the "true" Bitcoin?
• 01:23:53 Forking as means of achieving market consensus
• 01:27:14 Politcs and getting buy-in for controversial changes
• 01:32:40 Why change Bitcoin?
• 01:34:55 Historic examples of contentious changes
• 01:38:11 Contextualising developer influence on Bitcoin
• 01:41:05 Contentious non-consensus changes (RBF)
• 01:45:12 Game theory involved in conflicts between users and miners
• 01:55:53 Mitigating against short term incentives with long term risks
• 01:59:39 Bitcoin: There is no alternative
• 02:01:55 Off-chain considerations

Links & Contacts:

• Website: https://bitcoin.review/Podcast
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/bitcoinreviewhq
• NVK Twitter: https://twitter.com/nvk
• Telegram: https://t.me/BitcoinReviewPod
• Email: producer@coinkite.com
• Nostr & LN:⚡nvk@nvk.org (not an email!)

Full show notes: https://bitcoin.review/podcast/episode-21/