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Joe Kelly
Joe Kelly

236 Followers

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On Bitcoin’s Fee-Based Security Model — Part 1: Beware The Turkey Fallacy

10,000 and 1 days in the life of a proof-of-work cryptocurrency — Is Bitcoin the most secure and durable money ever? They say it is. They say it has operated securely for 12 years now — an immutable and uncheatable ledger¹ has been chunking forwards without a hitch for more than a decade — and from this we know it will continue…

Bitcoin

3 min read

On Bitcoin’s Fee-Based Security Model — Part 1: Beware The Turkey Fallacy
On Bitcoin’s Fee-Based Security Model — Part 1: Beware The Turkey Fallacy
Bitcoin

3 min read


Nov 21, 2021

On Bitcoin’s Fee-Based Security Model — Part 3: Bitcoin vs. The State

Is proof-of-work mining a good security strategy vs. adversarial nation-state actors? — ← Part 2: Security vs. What? Double-spending is the “easy” problem of Bitcoin security. State/military attacks are the hard problem. I’ll try to keep this relatively brief because I’ve written about it before but proof-of-work mining is not a good security strategy vs. the state. There are two kinds of…

Bitcoin

13 min read

On Bitcoin’s Fee-Based Security Model — Part 3: Bitcoin vs. The State
On Bitcoin’s Fee-Based Security Model — Part 3: Bitcoin vs. The State
Bitcoin

13 min read


Nov 12, 2021

On Bitcoin’s Fee-Based Security Model — Part 2: Security vs. What?

Why does Bitcoin need a high hash rate? What actually goes wrong within the network if it’s not high enough? — ← Part 1: Beware The Turkey Fallacy You can’t talk about security — fee-based or otherwise — and how much security is enough without first defining what is being secured against. So what is the actual attack that’s being prevented by all that resource-intensive mining distributed around the world?

Bitcoin

26 min read

On Bitcoin’s Fee-Based Security Model — Part 2: Security vs. What?
On Bitcoin’s Fee-Based Security Model — Part 2: Security vs. What?
Bitcoin

26 min read


May 29, 2021

How To Kill Bitcoin (Part 3): No Can Defend

And The General Theory of Destroyment of Interest in Money — “But Joe, surely you don’t think Bitcoiners would just sit there and allow the attack described in Part 2 to unfold, do you? They will do something, they will innovate, the swarm of cyberhornets will defend their hive!” Yes, agreed, true believers in the cause won’t go down without a…

Bitcoin

30 min read

How To Kill Bitcoin (Part 3): No Can Defend
How To Kill Bitcoin (Part 3): No Can Defend
Bitcoin

30 min read


Jul 8, 2020

How To Kill Bitcoin (Part 2): No Can Spend

In part 1 we looked at the myth of ‘unstoppable code’. ← How To Kill Bitcoin (Part 1): Is Bitcoin ‘Unstoppable Code’? Recap: We don’t need to stop the code. We’re going to exploit the Bitcoin protocol exactly as it is, break its guarantees, and render it useless instead. Fire In The Hole… You’re…

Bitcoin

17 min read

How To Kill Bitcoin (Part 2): No Can Spend
How To Kill Bitcoin (Part 2): No Can Spend
Bitcoin

17 min read


Jul 8, 2020

How To Kill Bitcoin (Part 1): Is Bitcoin ‘Unstoppable Code’?

They say Bitcoin can’t be stopped. Just like there’s no way you can stop two people sending encrypted messages to each other, so — they say — there’s no way you can stop the Bitcoin network. There’s no CEO to put on trial, no central server to seize, and no…

Bitcoin

6 min read

How To Kill Bitcoin (Part 1): Is Bitcoin ‘Unstoppable Code’?
How To Kill Bitcoin (Part 1): Is Bitcoin ‘Unstoppable Code’?
Bitcoin

6 min read


Jun 7, 2020

COVID-19: Two Threats, One Path, No Good Solutions

“When you know your enemy, and know yourself, you need not fear the result of 100 battles.” — Sun Tzu, The Art of War This is a war. The coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has invaded our way of life and forced us into a brutal double bind where we have to navigate…

Coronavirus

22 min read

COVID-19: Two Threats, One Path, No Good Solutions
COVID-19: Two Threats, One Path, No Good Solutions
Coronavirus

22 min read


Oct 8, 2019

Wide And Shallow Double-Spend Attacks On Bitcoin (+ Why Hardware Cost Is Not A Reliable Deterrent)

This is a follow-up to my last post which was about understanding how double-spend attacks work in practice and why they matter. tl;dr — 1) Nakamoto consensus via proof-of-work doesn’t provide meaningful assurances around double-spends. The proof-of-work your full node sees guarantees almost nothing about the finality of transactions. …

Bitcoin

11 min read

Wide And Shallow Double-Spend Attacks On Bitcoin
Wide And Shallow Double-Spend Attacks On Bitcoin
Bitcoin

11 min read


Sep 22, 2019

Why Bitcoin Hasn’t Solved The Double-Spending Problem

How double-spending works in practice and what must be done to prevent it — Trust minimisation is the idea. That’s what Bitcoin is all about — being able to hold and use money without relying on custodians, intermediaries, or central planners. You, by yourself, have everything you need to validate every single bitcoin and transaction that impacts your life, and the total money supply…

Bitcoin

23 min read

Why Bitcoin Hasn’t Solved The Double-Spending Problem
Why Bitcoin Hasn’t Solved The Double-Spending Problem
Bitcoin

23 min read


Jul 25, 2019

Bitcoin: It’s Not A Pyramid — It’s A Cone

Why do people say Bitcoin is a pyramid scheme? Answer: Because people who own bitcoin (or PWOBs) are so often found trying to convince other people who don’t own bitcoin that they should. And because it’s easy to see there’s a self-serving incentive in play which might explain why —…

Bitcoin

12 min read

Bitcoin: It’s Not A Pyramid — It’s A Cone
Bitcoin: It’s Not A Pyramid — It’s A Cone
Bitcoin

12 min read

Joe Kelly

Joe Kelly

236 Followers

The map is not the territory • bookoftheway.com • joekel.ly

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