BR006 - BestBuy stocks HW, Podcasting 2.0, COLDCARD, ETH Merge, ATEC608A, Mullvad VPN hardware & MORE ft. Odell, Bitstein & Pierre Rochard
Hello and welcome to the Bitcoin Review podcast. The podcast where we fail at boringly reading the latest release notes and discuss project updates. The list is back this week for Episode 6, and I’m joined by guests Michael Goldtein, Pierre Rochard and Matt Odell to go through all the boring updates in Bitcoin. To send Bitcoin related questions, just go to bitcoin.review and click submit story at the top right.
Software Releases & Project Updates
00:01:41 COLDCARD Mk4 5.0.7 - Sep 9, 2022
Enhancement: In older versions, multisig NFC import not offered if a MicroSD card was inserted, now this option provided Settings > Multisig Wallets > Import via NFC. NFC has to be enabled for this option to be visible in the menu.
Enhancement: New menu wraparound settings which allow you to scroll past top and bottom of any menu (Settings > Menu Wrapping).
Enhancement: Allow import of new descriptor type which specify both internal/external in single string (ie.
../<0;1>/..). We still export in older format.Enhancement: Ignore HSM command over USB, by default. To enable and use HSM features, go to Advanced/Tools > Enable HSM > Enable
Enhancement: Dynamic HSM Whitelisting. Foreign outputs can be attested-to by signing them with private key corresponding to the address specified in HSM policy. Attestation signature MUST be provided in PSBT in a new proprietary field. Thanks to @straylight-orbit for this powerful new feature.
Bugfix: Correct parsing of unknown fields in PSBT: they are now passed through.
Bugfix: Share single address over NFC from address explorer menu.
Bugfix: Using lots of trick pins (7+), could lead to a case where the Coldcard would not accept the main pin, but trick pins continued to work. This release adds a workaround to avoid getting into that situation, and new units from the factory will ship with an updated bootrom (version 3.1.5).
00:05:56 Core Lightning v0.12.0 Web-8 init - Aug 24, 2022
bookkeeper - Keeping track of where your satoshis go in real time on Lightning has historically been a bit of a challenge. This version of Core Lightning ships with a plugin that will give you better than ever data about where your funds are, where they’re moving, your on-chain costs, and routing income. It’ll even print out CSVs that import directly to a few popular accounting software projects, such as Koinly and CoinTracker.
commando – Rusty Russell’s (@rusty_twit) direct-to-node plugin has been re-written in C and now ships natively with CLN. This plugin will let you set runes to create fine-grained access controls to your node’s RPC , and provides access to those same RPCs via Lightning-native network connections. Want to hear more? Scroll down to our in-depth section and check out our video of William Casarin (@jb55) walking through how to create runes and connect to a Lightning node via lnsocket.
emergencyrecover – A long-requested feature originally pioneered by the LND team under the name ‘SCBs’ or Static Channel Backups, v0.12.0 of CLN includes a recovery plugin that keeps track of which channels you’ve opened and provides an RPC for emergency recovering your funds from this channel (by asking the channel peer to close the channel).
Added zeroconf and zeroreserve
Added M1 architecture support for developers
00:12:43 Blockclock 1.2.0 - Sep 15, 2022
Major release to support the MICRO hardware in the same firmware image.
Very limited changes when used on MINI hardware, upgrade is optional.
00:13:34 Spectre desktop v1.12.0 - Aug 26 2022
Feature: add faucet and exfund extensions #1820 (Stepan Snigirev)
Feature: Dev tools - Adding full python access via javascript for developers #1842 (relativisticelectron)
00:16:28 Joinmarket v0.9.7 - Aug 28, 2022
Tumbler algorithm: fix, and cycling - This is a notable reworking of the tumbler algorithm, mostly motivated by finding an error which was causing failures for people that tried to use more than the default number of mixdepths (0-4). The tumbler is now able to work with the standard 5 mixdepths, even if you want to tumble through more mixdepths than that. Also “restarting” is now the same as starting; it will operate based on whatever mixdepths are funded, there is no “starting mixdepth”. For details see the substantially updated tumbler guide which now has algorithm examples, and the explanation of the fix and change in the PR.
Disallowing utxos with unconfirmed spends - should remove a common issue of makers sending spent utxos to takers as candidates for coinjoins, which affected some users
New script to calculate fidelity bond values - This new script is intended to help users make more informed choices about fidelity bonds. It gives data on the value of the bond dependent on locktime and amount, and optionally can compare with existing bonds in the orderbook (using a json export of the latter).
New display of ‘available’ balance - This new feature in the UI (both CLI and Qt) displays tags ‘FROZEN’, ‘PENDING’, ‘LOCKED’ to indicate the status of different utxos (with ‘PENDING’ meaning unconfirmed). Available balance is distinguished from total balance with parentheses.
RPC-API updates - addition of schedule status to the /session endpoin
Tor updates
Qt changes Now allows access to the xpub information in the Qt interface (previously it was not displayed in the GUI).
Installation - The installation now will automatically check release GPG signatures for libsodium and Tor; this can be switched off with –no-gpg-validation.
00:17:50 NPM package (typescript) for SeedXOR
00:27:19 Ledger adding miniscript soon
Miniscript will enable wallet software developers to take advantage of the full power enabled by Bitcoin Script.
This brings the promise of unleashing a zoo of flexible solutions for self-custody that can make it easier and safer to hold your own keys
00:29:16 Trezor and Wasabi Join Forces To Make Bitcoin More Private (https://bit.ly/3BXXJOV)
The two projects said they would bring CoinJoin to hardware wallets next year.
00:30:03 Fulcrum added to bitcoinbinary (https://bit.ly/3DK4xBc)
00:37:51 btcd v0.23.1-beta Latest, Aug 31 2022 (https://bit.ly/3Urjwpv)
00:38:04 Zeus v0.6.6, Aug 26 2022
New Feature: Reproducible builds #1055 (https://bit.ly/3Ly7PcA)
00:39:24 Nunchuk, Aug 31 2022 - Implemented bip21 (https://bit.ly/3BZWG14)
00:39:57 BISQ v1.9.5, Aug 22 2022
This summer release introduces a new P2P status indicator, adds Bitcoin Core v23 compatibility, and (as always) makes many bug fixes and minor improvements across the board.
00:41:01 Fountain Podcasts v0.4.8
Hot on Fountain: Discover the most supported shows and episodes, as well as the biggest boosts.
New Lightning Podcasts: Discover shows that have recently been added to the Lightning Network.
Faster boosts.
Faster timestamp clipping.
Tweaked the way that referrals work on Fountain so that when your friends redeem your code, they can also earn more.
01:33:44 ATEC608A NRND
01:39:26 The Ethereum merge
01:51:21 Spiral - Private information retrieval block explorer
Look up any BTC address balance, without revealing the address to anyone
01:56:03 US Treasury OFAC Releases Clarifications on Tornado Cash Sanctions (https://bit.ly/3S1PEyl)
01:57:05 BIP Proposal: Wallet Labels Export Format by Craig Raw (https://bit.ly/3Sj5c17)
02:00:51 Zero knowledge bitcoin blockchain state prover (https://bit.ly/3C0oT8b)
STARK-proven Stateful Bitcoin client enabling hyper fast trustless sync and checkpoints.
02:03:09 Mullvad VPN hardware device (https://bit.ly/3f9LV3p)
Company announces its upcoming product, the Tillitis Key, first available at the Open Source Firmware Conference.
The Tillitis Key can be used for purposes such as logging in to computers and websites or to make digital signatures.
Software and hardware are open source.
The USB is free to be programmed by end users whilst still being secure.
Noteworthy
00:53:47 BIPBounty: Tax Deductible Bug Bounties for Bitcoin
Incentivize the research, development, and vetting of Bitcoin Improvement Proposals by implementing a system for crowdsourcing tax-deductible bug bounties
00:59:34 Fedimint grant season
New grantee. Josh Kitman is our first grantee working on @Fedimint, a project that hat and mustache enthusiast @ODELL has called the most bullish in bitcoin. Josh’s goal is to get the Fedimint minimum viable product (MVP) deployed and running on bitcoin within a year.
The MVP will allow users to make private and low-cost payments through a federated blinded mint that issues e-cash backed by bitcoin. In addition, it will support deposits and withdrawals both on-chain and over Lightning. (
https://twitter.com/spiralbtc/status/1562474336006524929?s=20)
01:00:00 Tether Holds Firm on Decision Not To Freeze Tornado Cash Addresses, Awaits Law Enforcement Instruction (https://bit.ly/3UwFgAg)
01:01:04 New York Digital Investment Group Announces Lightning Accelerator Project “in Wolf’s Clothing, Aug 26 2022 (https://bit.ly/3xHo1Ti)
The Lightning accelerator, Wolf, will be based in Manhattan, New York and is exclusively non-remote.
It will include mentorship, funding and work space.
Ross Stevens, CEO of Stone Ridge Holdings Group and executive director of the New York Digital Investments Group (NYDIG) subsidiary, made an impromptu appearance at BitBlockBoom in Austin, Texas, for the special announcement
01:01:49 Tadge Dryja joins Lightspark (https://bit.ly/3SoAZNG)
01:11:26 @Nobullshitbitcoin (shoutout)
01:12:22 LN Explorer (https://bit.ly/3xIYF7k)
01:16:34 Ledger wallets now available at Best Buy
Bitcoin Optech Newsletter
01:24:13 Bitcoin Core #23202 extends the psbtbumpfee RPC with the ability to create a PSBT that fee bumps a transaction even if some or all of the inputs to the transaction don’t belong to the wallet. The PSBT can then be shared with the wallets that can sign it.
01:25:08 Eclair
Eclair #2275 adds support for fee bumping a dual funded LN setup transaction. The PR notes that, with this PR, “dual funding is fully supported by Eclair!” Though it also notes that dual funding is disabled by default and that tests for cross compatibility with Core Lightning will be added in the future.
Eclair #2387 adds support for signet.
01:25:27 LDK #1652 updates support for onion messages with the ability to send reply paths, and to decode them when received. The onion message protocol doesn’t require a node which relays an onion message to track any information about that message after relay, so it can’t automatically send a reply back along the path the original message took. That means a node which wants a reply to its onion message needs to provide hints to the receiver about what path to use for sending a reply.
01:25:36 HWI #627 adds support for P2TR keypath spends using the BitBox02 hardware signing device.
01:33:22 BDK (https://bit.ly/3S2YNa3)
#718 begins verifying both ECDSA and schnorr signatures immediately after the wallet creates them. This is a recommendation of BIP340 (see Newsletter #87), was discussed in Newsletter #83, and was previously implemented in Bitcoin Core (see Newsletter #175). (https://bit.ly/3DEZSR3)
#705 and #722 give software using the BDK library the ability to access additional server-side methods available from Electrum and Esplora services. (https://bit.ly/3Sq9B1w)
Events
SPECIAL MENTION OsloPlebs
Monthly gatherings in Norway
The software company Agens is having the meet-up in their workspace, and pays for the beverage and snacks.
Thank Tobster for reaching out (Tobster’s Message: “I just want to mention that I love Bitcoin.Review and sees your show as the most important show I listen to. As it improves my security setup and make me choose Bitcoin-products and services more wisely.”
BitBlockBoom [Aug 24-27 2023]
Baltic Honeybadger [Sept 3 - 4, RIGA]
BTCAzores Unconference [Sept 23 - 24]
Bitcoin Conference Amsterdam [Oct 12-14]
The Bitcoin Collective [Oct 21 - 22 ]
The Atlanta Bitcoin Conference [Oct 14 - 15]
Adopting Bitcoin [15 - 17 Nov]
Africa Bitcoin Conference [Dec 5 -7]
Unconfiscatable [Dec 6-7 2023]
Episode submission ideas
We’re looking for ideas for interesting panel conversations. To send Bitcoin related questions, just go to bitcoin.review and follow the contact links at the bottom of the page.
Get in touch with the pod
Nostr & LN ⚡nvk@nvk.org (not an email!)