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The Biggest Threat to Bitcoin | Jimmy Song

By Walker America

Aired Feb 6, 2026 · 1h 36m · Last boosted Feb 19, 2026

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Show Notes

What's the biggest threat to Bitcoin? Is it Quantum? Developers? BIP110? Governments? Or something else entirely… In this episode, I sit down with Bitcoin OG Jimmy Song for a nuanced conversation about the state of Bitcoin development and governance. We dive into his 2011 origin story, unpack the store of value vs medium of exchange debate, and explore why he believes ossification is actually better for Bitcoin than constant protocol changes. Jimmy pulls no punches on Taproot's broken promises, explaining why the UX realities never materialized despite developer optimism. We dig deep into the BIP 110 soft fo...

Nostr Boost Stats

sats
2.1k
boosts
4
boosters
4

Nostr Community

Everyone who has boosted The Biggest Threat to Bitcoin | Jimmy Song on Nostr, ranked by sats sent, all time.

  1. Mischa 1k sats
  2. DecBytes 500 sats
  3. ndeet 420 sats
  4. Paul Sernine 210 sats
Other Episodes This Community Boosts Other shows' episodes boosted by people who boosted this episode
Nostr Boosts:6.3k
ndeetNov 28, 2025
420
ndeetNov 27, 2025
420
👏
ndeetNov 27, 2025
420
MischaNov 26, 2025
5k
A great podcast. If you want to understand the Core vs. Knots topic, this is a must-listen.
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Nostr Boosts:30k
ndeetJan 12, 2026
420
MischaJan 11, 2026
30k
Strong interview with very interesting points.The fact that financial service providers must always chase higher returns just to keep capital, otherwise it moves to competitors, makes you question whether this system has any real winners. In the end, it feels like there are only two options: no money at all, or money based on debt and controlled through debt. Bitcoin finally offers a way out of this. Thank you, Peter. It’s clear that you truly want to make things better and that you are actively working toward change.
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Nostr Boosts:1.3k
ndeetJan 19, 2026
420
Great content from @npub1klkk3vrzm…, thanks for reading. 🤙
ndeetJan 19, 2026
420
lupinJan 17, 2026
500
Thank you for the reading of these very pertinent & timely articles!
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Sep 19, 2025
Nostr Boosts:1.3k
ndeetOct 2, 2025
420
There is a big difference if you signal shitcoins are welcome or you focus on money and discourage non-monetary use cases. There are plenty of shitcoins they can play on. Nodes and users are important otherwise it deceases to be Bitcoin and becomes captured and centralized.
ndeetOct 2, 2025
420
What bs are you talking abou Rizzo, lol.
ndeetOct 2, 2025
420
I have never heard that knots supporters argue that they don't believe that a fee market establishes in the future. Hmm, why you think Luke is for 300kb blocks 🤔
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Nostr Boosts:1.3k
ndeetMar 9, 2025
420
Andere Kritikpunkte stimme ich zu.
ndeetMar 9, 2025
420
Super Argument Dennis. Tom blendet Kernproblematik aufgrund von Indizien-DoS ab und kommt zu falschen Rückschlüssen. Ganz ohne technisches Verständnis kann man halt leider keine Rückschlüsse auf Validität der Indizien und Schutz vor Zentralisierung ziehen, sorry Tom.
ndeetMar 9, 2025
420
Genau andersrum, Ver und Co waren die großen Player (Exchanges, Miner, ..) die ihre Geschäftsmodelle schützen wollten und via Blockgröße einfachste Lösung durchdrücken wollten (Zentralisierung). Mining Pools würden mit Bigblocks noch mehr zentralisiert sein weil schwerer Nodes zu betreiben. Pools ist ein Problem, Lösung Stratum v2, Ocean/Datum um Blocktemplates zu dezentralisieren. Ver/Bigblocks hätte nichts daran geändert bzw. verschlimmert. Blocksizewar als neutralere Quelle lesen.
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Nostr Boosts:1.3k
ndeetFeb 18, 2025
420
ndeetFeb 18, 2025
420
ndeetFeb 18, 2025
420
💯
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Sep 27, 2025
Nostr Boosts:920
MischaSep 28, 2025
500
Great interview. Samson Mow has gained a lot of integrity in my eyes. He is one of the few developers who fairly and accurately weighs the arguments of those opposing Core.
ndeetSep 28, 2025
420
Very good discussion of the whole situation. 👏
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Nostr Boosts:840
ndeetJul 19, 2026
420
ndeetJul 18, 2026
420
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Nostr Boosts:840
ndeetMay 14, 2026
420
ndeetMay 14, 2026
420
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Nostr Boosts:840
ndeetMar 26, 2026
420
Whic pr?
ndeetMar 24, 2026
420
Thanks for the insights. 👏
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Nostr Boosts:840
ndeetJan 31, 2026
420
👏
ndeetJan 31, 2026
420
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Nostr Boosts:840
ndeetDec 29, 2025
420
ndeetDec 28, 2025
420
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Nostr Boosts:840
ndeetNov 1, 2025
420
Thats also an issue with core devs, they get paid a lot and maybe feel the urge to do something instead of nothing
ndeetNov 1, 2025
420
👏
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Nostr Boosts:840
ndeetJun 15, 2025
420
Sehr interessante Blickwinkel, Danke.
ndeetJun 15, 2025
420
See all boosts
Nostr Boosts:840
ndeetMay 29, 2025
420
ndeetMay 29, 2025
420
See all boosts
Nostr Boosts:840
ndeetMay 25, 2025
420
👏
ndeetMay 25, 2025
420
Bitcoin is a monetary network and we can't give an inch to make it become a garbage storage. It would make Bitcoin indistinguishable from any random shitcoin.
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Nostr Boosts:840
ndeetMay 24, 2025
420
BTCPay und Wasabi Wallet nutzen nbxplorer und der hatte ein problem mit dem blockheader des besagten blocks, daher beide projekte betroffen.
ndeetMay 23, 2025
420
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Nostr Boosts:840
ndeetMay 6, 2025
420
Puh, wenig Insights in die Problematik. Die op_return filter datacarrier und datacarriersize sollen auch entfernt werden, also nicht mehr konfigurierbar. op_return kostet 4x fees daher wird weiter über witness gespamt werden, und noch paar andere Punkte die das Ganze kontrovers machen.
ndeetMay 6, 2025
420
See all boosts
Nostr Boosts:840
ndeetApr 19, 2025
420
🧡
ndeetApr 19, 2025
420
Sehr interessante Gedankengänge.
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Nostr Boosts:840
ndeetMar 29, 2025
420
Super insider infos. Bestätigt dass Jiurnalismus quasi Tot ist, jedenfalls in Massenmedien. Es wird nur noch das vorgegebene Narrativ propagiert.
ndeetMar 29, 2025
420
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Mar 13, 2025
Nostr Boosts:840
ndeetMar 16, 2025
420
LFG!
ndeetMar 16, 2025
420
See all boosts
Nostr Boosts:30k
MischaJan 11, 2026
30k
Strong interview with very interesting points.The fact that financial service providers must always chase higher returns just to keep capital, otherwise it moves to competitors, makes you question whether this system has any real winners. In the end, it feels like there are only two options: no money at all, or money based on debt and controlled through debt. Bitcoin finally offers a way out of this. Thank you, Peter. It’s clear that you truly want to make things better and that you are actively working toward change.
See all boosts
Nostr Boosts:20k
MischaDec 26, 2025
20k
Excellent episode. Very informative and well spent two hours. Thank you.
See all boosts
Dec 12, 2024
Nostr Boosts:5k
MischaDec 15, 2024
5k
After watching that episode, I couldn’t stop thinking about it all day. Our entire perspective on the economy is built on a flawed premise. Our unit of measurement isn’t constant. Bitcoin will change this forever. Thank you, it was truly fascinating!
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May 26, 2026
Nostr Boosts:1k
MischaMay 27, 2026
1k
Okay, this is a very interesting point. We still do not fully know how Bitcoin ultimately behaves in upgrades involving consensus, because these dynamics only become fully visible during real conflict situations. However, the Blocksize Wars already gave us important insight into how Bitcoin behaves under pressure. It is often said that changing Bitcoin consensus rules is extremely difficult. In theory, that is true. In practice, however, the dynamics could look very different. If users attempt to activate new rules through a User Activated Soft Fork (UASF) and enough nodes begin signaling support for those rules, miners come under pressure. Miners have a strong incentive to avoid producing blocks that could later be rejected by the relevant part of the network. Because of this miners may tend to adopt the new rules, or at least produce blocks that remain compatible with the change, even when the initial active support is relatively small. That would mean Bitcoin may, in practice, be more changeable than we assumed. The key question would then no longer be how changes are activated, but how they are prevented. Because stopping a UASF would not simply happen through passive inaction. It would require an active counterfork with opposing rules that is consciously supported by nodes, users, and miners. And this is where it becomes especially interesting: Not all existing nodes determine the outcome, only the active participants do. Nodes and miners must proactively support, or oppose a proposed direction. Those who do not participate are effectively treated as neutral. Many people do not want to engage with every technical debate. Some do not have the time, others may not fully understand the arguments, or simply consider both outcomes acceptable. In this model, passive participants are not automatically interpreted as opposition. As a result, changes would primarily be decided by those willing to actively take responsibility and participate. At the same ti…
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Nostr Boosts:1k
MischaMay 26, 2026
1k
Very interesting podcast, I’ve never looked at it that way before. Bitcoin will likely stay open to everyone, but fast guaranteed inclusion could become a premium service mainly used by professional actors like exchanges, banks, large businesses, or critical infrastructure. Normal users can still use Bitcoin, but may wait longer in busy situations, pay higher fees compared to the average, or rely more on Layer 2 solutions. For miners, subscription or contract-based blockspace could also create more stable and predictable income than relying only on volatile fee spikes. There are benefits and disadvantages to this model, but overall I agree and see it as a necessary evolution for Bitcoin. It may be one of the only ways to enable larger companies and countries to fully build large-scale financial infrastructure on Bitcoin.
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Nostr Boosts:1k
lupinMay 14, 2026
1k
Haven‘t been listening much recently due to travels but trying to catch up now. Good to hear you‘re going strong in spite of market conditions & keeping the torch burning. High time to boost you again ;-)
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Nostr Boosts:1k
lupinJun 8, 2025
1k
Thank you to @npub14mcddvsjs… for another excellent interview! As a longtime anglophile I‘m listening to almost every one of your episodes and this one stands out in particular because it lays out some clear tactical steps to be taken in British politics to get the UK back on track to once again become a great & prosperous country. Not all‘s gold in Switzerland, btw., but I do strongly believe (as apparently does Phil, too) that the Swiss political model has many advantages in its favour and few downsides. And I would even go as far as rephrasing Sir Winston‘s quotation that „the Swiss political system is the worst on the planet with the exception of all others that have already been tried.“ Keep up the good work & consider running for public office in your town to be able to implement changes yourself. Small steps matter & everyone with good ideas should contribute to the change needed! That‘s also one of the basics in the Swiss political system 😉
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Jan 28, 2025
Thank God for NostrUTXO
Nostr Stats:1 booster1 boost
Nostr Boosts:1k
lupinFeb 6, 2025
1k
Thank you to @npub1jlrs53pkd… for this insightful interview with @utxo_the_webmaster_🧑‍💻 @npub1utx00neqg… ! Gave me a nice overview of the many challenges regarding relays, algorithms, and clients as well as an outlook on things to come. Looking forward to the further development of your ideas & thank you for your continued work. Greatly appreciated 🙏🏼
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Jan 24, 2025
Nostr Boosts:1k
lupinJan 25, 2025
1k
Thank you sir! CAF is unworthy of civilized society. Any thoughts on whether this is constitutional at all?
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Episode Boosts

Every boost sent to this episode, as published to Nostr, newest first.

  • 210 via Fountain
    Thank you to @npub1cj8znuztf… for this great interview of @npub102hlt959h… ! Love the nuance & deep knowledge Jimmy brought to the topics discussed. Kudos to both of you for your dedicated work! Highly recommended episode for anyone interested in #bitcoin and its past & current developments.
  • 500 via Fountain
    Agree that people are way to certain about what will happen in the future. Some humility would be in order. "Life is uncertain, the future unknown. This is neither good nor bad. It just is, like gravity. Yet the task remains: how to master our own fate, even so." — Jim Collins & Mortin Hanson
  • 1,000 via Fountain
    Thanks for the interview. I largely agree with Jimmy on almost all points, which is precisely why his final conclusion is hard to reconcile. He clearly understands the reasons for pursuing a fork and even acknowledges the upside of what is often framed as the strongest criticism of the BIP: that it makes future changes to Bitcoin harder. A stricter consensus reduces the risk of frequent or careless modifications and helps protect Bitcoin’s long-term stability. The only serious counterargument he raises is the risk of a network split. But Bitcoin is a long-term project, not a political compromise. If we believe something strengthens Bitcoin over the long run, short-term risks should not automatically prevent action. Doing nothing is also a choice. Clear signaling matters: the more people openly signal their position instead of waiting on the sidelines, the clearer the real consensus becomes and the stronger Bitcoin will be in the future.
  • 420 via Fountain
    Very good perspectives. Especially about finding out about minority fork, makes me still a bit uneasy thinking about that 😄 Seems Walker also came around from unconditionally following Core opinion. Biggest take: there is often nuance and seldomly just black and white.