Scaling Bitcoin Privacy with Calle
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Calle is a Bitcoin and Lightning developer contributing to LNBits and the Cashu ecash system. In this interview, we discuss Cashu’s mission and development, undertake a live demonstration of it in action, the importance of privacy, removing ideology from Bitcoin, and the future of AI and robots.
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“By providing a high degree of privacy in payments, cash helps to slow the growing information asymmetry between consumers and companies… between citizens and public authorities… privacy is crucial for individuals to safeguard their position when dealing with organisations which are more powerful than a single person.” Not the words of an anarcho-capitalist, but a prominent Deutsche Bank economist from 2019.
It is a truism that privacy is the bedrock of democracy. The problem is we’re sleepwalking into a cashless society where digital payments are tracked, recorded and stored. You can learn everything about someone through their transactions. Privacy in other areas means nothing in this environment. The issue has been how to replicate the utility of cash in the digital world.
David Chaum solved this problem in 1982: his dissertation “Computer Systems Established, Maintained and Trusted By Mutually Suspicious Groups” was the original blueprint for blockchains (excluding the proof of work consensus mechanism). His company Digicash launched ecash in 1995, predicated on Chaum’s blind signature innovation. For various reasons, ecash did not take root. Until now.
Amongst a small number of initiatives aiming to revive ecash under the Bitcoin umbrella, is Cashu, which allows for private ecash payments over the Lightning Network. It is essentially digital cash, backed by Bitcoin. It requires no accounts or personal information, and everyone involved in the system is blind to other users' transactions.
There are tradeoffs: it’s a custodial system where sats are deposited in ‘mints’ to create ecash. The creator Calle, a respected Bitcoin and Lightning Network developer, is working on technical solutions to overcome concerns. Even so, given how well the test version of Cashu is working, Cashu could be the go-to digital cash feature we’re all using very soon, and the feature that enables the next cycle of adoption.
00:01:38: Introductions
00:04:48: David Chaum and Digicash
00:11:54: Custodial wallets, and eCash via Cashu
00:16:46: Live eCash demo, and blind signatures explained
00:33:05: Differences between Cashu and Fedimint
00:36:46: Criticism of Cashu, and Cashu mints
00:43:14: Building a CBDC on Cash
00:45:36: Bitcoin privacy
00:51:23: Separating ideology from Bitcoin
00:54:49: The power and danger of AI
01:08:34: AGI and robots
01:26:54: Final comments
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Mentioned in the interview:
Free Open-Source Lightning Accounts System with Extensions - LNBits
How David Chaum Went From Inventing Digital Cash to Pioneering Digital Privacy - DeCrypt, Apr 2022
Apple Hides The Bitcoin Whitepaper On Every MacBook, Why? - Bitcoinist, Apr 6th 2023
Top Bitcoin Lightning Wallets In Slow Internet - Bitcoin Magazine, Feb 21st 2023
Bitcoin’s Future Hinges on Donations, and That’s Got People Worried - CoinDesk, Feb 23rd 2023
ChatGPT: Everything you need to know about the AI-powered chatbot - TechCrunch, Apr 17th 2023
Elon Musk and top AI researchers call for pause on ‘giant AI experiments’ - The Verge, Mar 29th 2023
Sam Altman didn't take any equity in OpenAI, report says - CNBC, Mar 24th 2023
What Is High-Frequency Trading (HFT)? How It Works and Example - Investopedia, Aug 2021
Some Glimpse AGI in ChatGPT. Others Call It a Mirage - Wired, Apr 18th 2023
Most Advanced Killer Robots - Xplained, YouTube, Jan 7th 2023
I made a KANYE SONG with AI - Music is FOREVER changed - Youtube, Mar 26th 2023
Follow The Money #2: Inflation, The Hidden Tax - What Bitcoin Did, YouTube, Dec 2022
Other Relevant WBD Podcasts:
WBD645: The Failure of Central Banking with Matthew Mežinskis
WBD560: Bitcoin Privacy Through Statechains with Nicholas Gregory
WBD551: Fedimint & the Future of Bitcoin Custody with Obi Nwosu
WBD549: Why Bitcoin is the Best Monetary Network with Lyn Alden
WBD518: Bitcoin Privacy with Matt Odell
WBD490: Freedom Technologies & Civil Disobedience with Austin Hill