Adam Back: Why Bitcoin Needs a Measured Approach to Scaling

As the debate about forks, the blocksize and decision making in Bitcoin continues, we are joined by Adam Back. Adam is best known for his invention hash-cash which became one of the fundamental building blocks of Bitcoin. He is also the inventor of the sidechains concept and founder and president of Blockstream, the single biggest employer of Bitcoin core developers.

With Adam we talked about the different blocksize proposals and how a decentralized cryptocurrency should be governed in general. He is an influential conservative voice in the current debate and has been warning that a rapid increase of the blocksize could undermine the decentralization of Bitcoin.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Adam’s concerns with Bitcoin XT and the approach by Gavin Andresen and Mike Hearn
• Why Adam favors a slower blocksize increase to preserve decentralization
• How Bitcoin will function as a settlement network in the medium-term with the bulk of transactions going through the Lightning Network or sidechains
• Why forks are in Bitcoin are different from forks in other open source projects
• The upcoming Scaling Bitcoin workshop in Montreal

Episode links:

• Scaling Bitcoin Montreal Event
• Blockstream
• Gavin Andresen's BIP 101
• Jeff Garzik's BIP 100
• Adam Back's blocksize proposal
• List of different blocksize proposals

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/095