The bitcoin ‘ossification’ debate continues with a discussion on the key considerations. What makes Bitcoin special? What improvements are necessary to retain sufficient decentralisation, if any?  Vijay Boyapati and Brandon Black (aka reardencode) rejoin me for a special episode to discuss:  What makes Bitcoin special?  Defining ‘ossification’ How many users is ‘enough’?  Unknown unknowns Addressing centralising MEV concerns Soft forks and hard forks Economic nodes and who holds the power Where to from here Timestamps: (00:00) - Intro (01:54) - What makes Bitcoin Special? ft. Vijay (09:37) - Verifiability & decentralisation of Bitcoin ft. Brandon (14:31) - When do we stop ‘changing’ bitcoin? (15:17) - Revisiting the blocksize wars & importance of self sovereignty (20:45) - Libertarian principles of Bitcoin (23:48) - ‘Sufficiently decentralised’ Bitcoin (26:42) - Defining ‘Ossification’ of Bitcoin (30:56) - Sponsors (34:11) - Economic interests in upgrading Bitcoin nodes (43:40) - Bitcoin is a Trojan horse (47:15) - Can we rule out ‘Unknown unknowns'? (50:49) - Concerns over centralising MEV (1:00:17) - Whose chain is it anyway? (1:05:14) - Resisting soft forks and hard forks (1:16:49) - Closing Thoughts Links: X: @real_vijay Bullish Case for Bitcoin: Swan.com/bullish X: @reardencode Prior episodes: Rusty - Great Script Restoration Brandon Black - Are Covenants necessary for Bitcoin TXHASH Steven Roose Matt Corallo and Steve Lee Great Consensus Cleanup Sponsors: Swan.com (code LIVERA) CoinKite.com (code LIVERA) Mempool.space Stephan Livera links: Follow me on X: @stephanlivera Subscribe to the podcast Subscribe to Substack