Crypto Insights
Jameson Lopp: Any Timestamp Data Added to a Transaction is Not Trustworthy
Jameson Lopp posted concerns about the reliability of timestamp data in Bitcoin transactions, particularly pointing out a vulnerability in the nLockTime feature that could be manipulated by adversaries to gain unfair prioritization. He emphasized that this flaw could lead to a "race to the bottom," undermining the effectiveness of new priority rules. This issue highlights the need for further discussions on how to safeguard the integrity of transaction timestamps.
Goldinals: Trust-Minimized Fungible Token Standard on Bitcoin
The Goldinals standard, introduced by Domo, creator of BRC20, and implemented by the Nubit team, aims to bring trust-minimized asset management and programmability to the Bitcoin ecosystem. It seeks to address the lack of interoperability between existing Bitcoin asset protocols (like BRC-20, Runes, and Ordinals), which has led to fragmented liquidity and security risks.
Core APIs of Goldinals include: deploy, mint, transfer, and burn. As a complete ERC-20-like standard for Bitcoin, Goldinals is compatible with current Bitcoin asset protocols (such as BRC-20, Ordinals, Runes, and CAT) while supporting future Bitcoin asset and application development.
Whitepaper: Goldinals: A Trust-Minimized Fungible Token Standard on Bitcoin
OPR: Fast, Scalable Off-Chain Payment Resolution Protocol for the Lightning Network
The Off-chain Payment Resolution (OPR) protocol is a new approach to solving Lightning Network payments, allowing settlements without putting any transactions related to the payment on-chain, even in the worst case. This resolves two critical issues:
Fast resolution of all Lightning payments in seconds
Resolution of all Lightning payments without increasing blockchain data volume, enhancing scalability
Additionally, OPR improves usability by enabling transactions between casual users without reliance on watchtowers (or high availability).
Fundamental Weakness of Lightning Network Privacy: Inability to Counter Global Passive Adversaries
Global Passive Adversaries are actors who can passively monitor the internet connections between all participants in a network, such as the NSA. In systems like Lightning Network or Tor, these adversaries can observe the flow of messages between nodes on the network, even if the specific message details remain hidden. The source and destination of the message are visible, which can lead to the de-anonymization of payment systems like the Lightning Network, as the critical issue is determining who is paying whom.
This is a vulnerability of the Lightning Network, and all onion-routing systems face this challenge. While privacy protection technologies like BOLT 12 and Blinded Paths Invoices exist, the author believes that even with these technologies, message flow and node visibility remain completely transparent to powerful global passive adversaries.
Which Bitcoin Companies or Sectors Offer the Most Jobs?
The Bitcoin-focused institution Bitvocation presented Bitcoin Job Market Update for the entire year of 2024 in its December report, including:
Work environment: 47% on-site + hybrid, 53% remote
The top companies offering the most jobs are BitGo, Bitfinex, and Swan Bitcoin, operating in digital asset management, trading platform, and Bitcoin purchasing and financial services
In mid-sized companies with 21-100 employees, SatoshiLabs, Unchained, and Lightspark offered the most jobs, operating in hardware wallet, Bitcoin cold storage and asset management, and open internet payments
In small companies with 21 or fewer employees, Umbrel, Jan3, and The Bitcoin Way offered the most jobs, focusing on home server cloud and OS, global financial freedom services, and Bitcoin self-custody services
Combining Asteroids Arcade Game and Bitcoin Mining in a Shooter Game
Hashteroids combines the concept of the Asteroids arcade game with Bitcoin mining. Players take on the role of a pilot from a mining farm, protecting hashing power by destroying incoming asteroids while dealing with hash pirates attempting to hijack the network and forklings trying to damage the network. Players defend Bitcoin’s stability in this harsh environment by collecting power-ups, salvaging spare parts, and retrieving seed plates as keys to the lost wallets.
Top Reads on Blockchain and Beyond
Privacy in Public: As a Personal Right and a Public Good
The Bitcoin Policy Institute launched a series on "Privacy in Public," emphasizing that privacy is not only a personal right but also a public good. The discussion touches on how Bitcoin's anonymity promotes freedom, allowing individuals to engage in financial and social activities without fear of surveillance or coercion, and why protecting privacy is a crucial foundation for a free and open society. This series is adapted from the book Resistance Money: A Philosophical Case for Bitcoin. The series includes three parts:
Interview With Amir Taaki: Catalan Integral Cooperativa, Syrian War, and Bitcoin Governance
BitMEX recently interviewed Bitcoin legend Amir Taaki, covering topics such as the Catalan Integral Cooperativa project in Barcelona in 2014 (which included early Ethereum founders), his participation in the Syrian Civil War, and the state of Bitcoin governance.
