Is Bitcoin Compromised? - Luke de Wolf | Ep. 156

* This episode was recorded in May 2026, before the BIP110 activation

Luke de Wolf, industrial cybersecurity expert and author of “Defending Bitcoin”, applies critical infrastructure security frameworks to Bitcoin itself. We dig into the network's real risks and vulnerabilities: arbitrary data, Bitcoin Core's governance structure, and the Core vs. Knots split. Luke’s argument: Bitcoin has weathered this so far, but complacency is the one risk it can't afford.

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– LINKS –

Luke’s new book & website: https://defendingbitcoin.com/ 

Luke on X: https://x.com/lukedewolf Luke on Nostr: https://primal.net/luke 

Luke’s previous episode on my pod: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCE1uPqn0P8 

Efrat’s X: https://twitter.com/efenigson

Efrat’s Channels: https://linktr.ee/efenigson

Watch on all platforms: https://linktr.ee/yourethevoice

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– CHAPTERS – 

00:00 - Coming Up...

01:14 - Introduction: Luke de Wolf

06:23 - Critical Infrastructure & Payment Infrastructure

10:29 - Ad-Break: Expat Money & Ledn

12:51 - Cybersecurity as a Framework for Digital Risk

15:51 - The Structure of Luke's Book "Defending Bitcoin"

17:18 - How Do We Keep Bitcoin Secure?

18:48 - Threats to the Network: Nodes, Miners, Developers

19:51 - Mining Centralization Risk & Examples

25:05 - The Case For Remote and Solo Mining and Hashing

27:41 - The ASIC Supply Chain and Security Risks

31:18 - Devs: Bitcoin Core Governance Structure & Risks

33:06 - Arbitrary Data - Context & History

36:28 - Spam, Proof of Work and Bitcoin's Availability

39:18 - Taproot's Vulnerabilities Making Bitcoin Less Usable As Money

46:40 - Core v30, OP_RETURN and Migration to Knots

47:58 - Rough Consensus and the Five Maintainers

50:24 - Ad-Break: Trezor & Abundant Mines

52:16 - The Brink Pipeline and Nominating Your Own Successor

54:46 - Participation in the Protocol and Why Adoption Matters

01:00:18 - Why Luke Wrote This Book