50:41

Ep. 99 Nov 6, 2025

Episode 99: Bitcoin Core 30

Aaron and Sjors discuss what’s new in Bitcoin Core 30. Chapters 00:00:00 Release Overview and Controversy 00:04:58 OP_RETURN Policy Changes 00:12:32 Lower Minimum Relay Fees 00:23:06 Sigops Limits and Consensus Cleanup 00:31:42 Package Relay and Orphanage 00:37:04 The New bitcoin Command 00:38:48 Mining IPC and Stratum V2 00:44:55 Automatic Port Forwarding This episode’s sponsor: CoinKite, maker of the COLDCARD. Aaron’s Nostr: ⁠npub1art8cs66ffvnqns5zs5qa9fwlctmusj5lj38j94lv0ulw0j54wjqhpm0w5⁠ Sjors’ Nostr: npub1v25jqj332n630klwtqeqxgyrjl4alw4phmluhu2x6lcxzwy9m03suqexw3

1:13:36

Ep. 98 May 8, 2025

Episode 98: Return of the OP_RETURN

Aaron and Sjors discuss the proposal to remove the OP_RETURN limit from Bitcoin Core. Chapters 00:00:00 Opening and COLDCARD sponsor 00:03:57 The OP_RETURN debate and how the opcode works 00:13:35 Fake public keys and UTXO set pollution 00:19:37 Relay policy, consensus and the 80-byte limit 00:28:50 New metaprotocols, inscriptions and data costs 00:38:07 Citrea and the case for lifting the limit 00:42:59 Can relay filters stop blockchain spam? 00:52:45 Mining centralization, fee estimates and compact blocks 00:59:52 Fighting spam with consensus changes 01:04:28 Configurable limits and the harm reduction debate This episode’s sponsor: CoinKite, maker of the COLDCARD. Aaron’s Nostr: ⁠npub1art8cs66ffvnqns5zs5qa9fwlctmusj5lj38j94lv0ulw0j54wjqhpm0w5⁠ Sjors’ Nostr: npub1v25jqj332n630klwtqeqxgyrjl4alw4phmluhu2x6lcxzwy9m03suqexw3

47:27

Ep. 97 Apr 20, 2025

Episode 97: Bitcoin Core 29

Aaron and Sjors discuss what’s new in Bitcoin Core 29. Chapters 00:00:00 Bitcoin Core 29: introduction 00:01:39 Sponsor: Coinkite and COLDCARD Q 00:02:52 Replacing UPnP with PCP for inbound connections 00:12:16 Ephemeral dust and Lightning channel fees 00:22:43 Block reserved weight for mining templates 00:27:31 Time warp protection and mining timestamps 00:42:09 Full RBF becomes the only policy 00:43:50 Building Bitcoin Core with CMake 00:45:22 Exporting the UTXO set to SQLite === This episode’s sponsor: CoinKite, maker of the COLDCARD. Aaron’s Nostr: ⁠npub1art8cs66ffvnqns5zs5qa9fwlctmusj5lj38j94lv0ulw0j54wjqhpm0w5⁠ Sjors’ Nostr: npub1v25jqj332n630klwtqeqxgyrjl4alw4phmluhu2x6lcxzwy9m03suqexw3

47:10

Ep. 96 Feb 5, 2025

Episode 96: Mining Decentralization Update

In Bitcoin, Explained 96, Aaron and Sjors discuss some recent innovations in mining, and in particular mining decentralization. Specifically, they discuss the Stratum V2 and DATUM mining protocols to decentralize transaction selection in mining pools, the open source hardware Bitaxe miner, and some recent proposals to make decentralized mining pools like P2Pool more viable. Chapters 00:00:00 Introduction and mining decentralization 00:06:48 Why mining centralization threatens censorship resistance 00:11:10 Stratum V2: miners choose transactions 00:14:18 DATUM and the limits of pool decentralization 00:20:14 Why predictable payouts favor large pools 00:23:26 Bitaxe: open source hobby mining 00:30:46 P2Pool: mining without a central operator 00:35:14 Reviving P2Pool: latency and payout challenges 00:39:13 Lightning swaps and ecash for mining payouts === This episode’s sponsor: CoinKite, maker of the COLDCARD. Aaron’s Nostr: ⁠npub1art8cs66ffvnqns5zs5qa9fwlctmusj5lj38j94lv0ulw0j54wjqhpm0w5⁠ Sjors’ Nostr: npub1v25jqj332n630klwtqeqxgyrjl4alw4phmluhu2x6lcxzwy9m03suqexw3