Jameson Lopp: Bitcoin Covenants, OP_VAULT, Upgrade vs. Ossification & Casa Changes

Jameson Lopp is a technologist who has been involved in the bitcoin space for over 10 years. He has worked at bitcoin companies, created and contributed to several educational resources, and co-founded Casa, a service which helps customers self-custody their bitcoin.

Jameson recently hit me up, asking if I'd be interested in a discussion about 'bitcoin covenants'. While I tend to focus more on the 'personal', 'cultural', or 'philosophical' aspects and implications of bitcoin, I am still quite interested in what's happening in the technical department, and even more so about how different people think about the appropriate approach or process to making upgrades to bitcoin.

It seemed to be like Jameson would be a great person to have this discussion with, and I was interested in hearing more about his background generally, so we set it up.

Enjoy!

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More from Jameson:
TWITTER: @lopp
WEBSITE: lopp.net

More from me:
TWITTER: http://bit.ly/2P7PUjA
YOUTUBE: https://bit.ly/3aBbZxg
MEDIUM: http://bit.ly/2Zk0Dex
SUBSTACK: Money Messiah
VIDA: https://vida.page/johnkvallis

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Once you buy bitcoin, taking custody of it is extremely important, if you want to maximize the benefit of this unique asset. The Coldcard hardware wallet is one of the most popular and trusted devices for doing just that. Buy one, and learn more about the great features of this wallet, as well as all their other awesome products, at coinkite.com

The Bitcoin 2023 Conference is going down May 18-20 in Miami. Use the promo code 'VALLIS' for 10% off the biggest bitcoin conference in history!

See you there!

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Timeline:

00:00 - Intro
06:18 - BitGo & The Blocksize Wars
20:00 - ‘Discovering’ How Bitcoin Works
25:28 - Lopp’s ‘Rabbit-Hole’ Story
32:11 - Ideological Alignment w/ Bitcoin
37:17 - Will Bitcoin Shrink Governments + Jurisdictional Arbitrage
41:40 - Bitcoin Covenants
49:20 - OP_VAULT Proposal
53:40 - How Much Does It Stop The ‘Bad Guys’?
1:01:02 - When and Why to ‘Upgrade’ Bitcoin
1:07:47 - Ossification vs Upgrade
1:12:18 - The Impact of Broad Bitcoin Adoption on Protocol Upgrades
1:16:37 - The Danger of ‘Defering to the Experts’
1:25:35 - Is Corporate Developer Funding a Risk?
1:28:55 - What Are the Risks of Upgrades to Bitcoin?
1:53:45 - Does Jameson Think OP_VAULT Has a Chance + Activation Process
2:03:19 - Sidechains
2:05:34 - Casa Supporting ETH
2:20:23 - Closing