Amid the storm of price action and U.S. politics, it’s easy to forget that the Bitcoin tech scene had its own explosion earlier this year. Now that the dust has settled over the summer, next week’s open source phase at Bitcoin Nashville It is a good opportunity to review the progress of the industry.
look at this agendaThis year’s crowded lineup should be able to offer some clues amid the election chatter, and to prepare ourselves for what promises to be an absolute marathon event, I’ve highlighted a number of topics and conversations to watch out for.
Technical innovation
Bitcoin creators will look to capitalize on the momentum generated by the “Bitcoin Season 2” in Nashville as the focus remains on efforts to unleash Bitcoin’s programmable potential.
I’ve previously discussed the arms race around all things BitVM and other so-called Layer 2. The excitement around the Bitcoin script has never been higher. The advances enabled by previous soft forks like Taproot and SegWit have led to various experiments, most of them driven by the Ordinals frenzy. Naturally, talk has begun to circulate about what comes next.
Unleash your expression with OP_CAT
Friday, July 26th at 9:30 AM
Base58 founder and everyone’s favorite Bitcoin guru Niftynei (Lisa) will aim to set the tone on Friday morning by chairing a panel on the popular soft fork proposal OP_CAT. The buzz around the script improvement proposal has not died down and Bitcoin developers have been increasingly vocal about their affinity for CAT and its superpowers.
I expect panelists Andrew Poelstra, Director of Research at Blockstream, and developers Rjindel and Brandon Black, to make a strong case for improving the multi-use script.
BitVM: Driving Innovation Without a Soft Fork
Friday, July 26th at 10:00 AM
It’s hard to overstate the sheer brainpower that went into this talk. There’s a reason BitVM has been the talk of the town since developer Robin Linus took it to the stage last year. The proposal has managed to attract an impressive crowd of developers and thinkers interested in the potential of providing a means of fraud resistance for Bitcoin.
With no practical implementation yet, it also feels like a critical time for many of the promoters who have been hyping up its potential. The star-studded developer group should be able to update us on the progress here and maybe drown out the hype a bit.
Privacy at stake
Bitcoin’s Legal Battle for Privacy: Freeing the Samurai
Friday, July 26th at 2:00 PM
The arrests of developers Keyon Rodriguez and William Hill in April sent shockwaves through the Bitcoin industry. Both had been community supporters for nearly a decade, and were staunch advocates for Bitcoin users’ privacy rights. Now that the dust has settled, questions remain about what the case will mean for open source developers around the world.
Veteran attorney Tor Ekeland, who represented Roman Sterlingoff in the high-profile “Bitcoin Fog” mixing case, will join other panelists to discuss the “DoJ Act.”Abusive Cryptocurrency Lawsuits and Blockchain Surveillance Status.“
Make Bitcoin More Private with CISA
Friday, July 26 at 1:30 PM
This may be a bit obscure but may be worthy of attention for more technically minded people. Collect signatures via inputsor CISA, is a proposal that has been floating around in Bitcoin circles for many years already and was once envisioned as part of the Taproot upgrade.
The general idea is to allow transactions to combine signatures from multiple inputs into a single signature, effectively reducing their overall weight and therefore their cost. This idea resurfaced in public discourse a few months ago in the context of discussions about much-needed privacy improvements to the Bitcoin protocol. Some have suggested that lowering the cost of multi-input collaborative transactions like coinjoin could spur more use of privacy tools.
Originally founded by Blockstream SearchThe developer was Fabian Jahr. Recently awarded Grant from Human Rights Foundation To further explore the topic. He will be joined on stage by renowned wallet developers Craig Rau of Sparrow Wallet and Jameson Lopp of Casa.
Bitcoin development
Bitcoin Core Development Status
Saturday, July 27th at 11:00 AM
Bitcoin benchmark software implementation is the quiet giant of the industry. The diverse and hard-working team of developers has historically preferred to stay out of the spotlight. Now that the tech space is hot and the stakes are as high as ever, how are its contributors handling the increased attention?
Bitcoin Magazine’s Aaron Van Werdum will attempt to shed light on the inner workings of this tight-knit group and allow contributors like Ava Chow and Murch to share their thoughts on the project.
Free banking with bitcoin
The E-Money Debate: What Are the Trade-Offs?
Saturday, July 27 at 3:15 PM
I can’t end this article without promoting at least one of the sessions I’ll be attending. Is it an alternative to centralized custodians? Is it a solution to scalability? No one seems to agree on the role of cryptocurrency in the Bitcoin ecosystem, but if anything, it can no longer be ignored.
The rapid progress of projects like Fedi and the open-source implementation of Cashu has gained a lot of attention over the past year. Proponents celebrate its versatility and privacy gains, while critics claim it is no different from the banking system on which Bitcoin was built.
Both sides will be represented on the panel, which is expected to be an exciting conversation about the future of the Bitcoin financial system.
There’s a lot of excitement around the potential for Bitcoin to enter the big leagues, but it’s hard to know whether the ecosystem is ready to absorb this new influx of interest. Now that we’ve crossed the political divide, it’s crucial to continue supporting the open source culture that got us here. Fortunately, the industry has never been more prepared to take on this challenge. The diversity of initiatives on display at the conference is a testament to the mature technical environment that open source developers have enabled.
