An Interview with John Newbery & Adam Jonas from Chaincode Labs ~ Breaking Bitcoin

## Chaincode Labs Interview: Breaking Bitcoin - A Summary

This podcast interview with John Newbery and Adam Jonas from Chaincode Labs dives deep into the current state of Bitcoin development, the importance of community collaboration, and the future of Bitcoin scaling solutions. The conversation, sparked by the Breaking Bitcoin Conference in Amsterdam, highlights the need for continuous improvement and education within the Bitcoin ecosystem. The interviewers emphasize that while Bitcoin is already a revolutionary technology, there's still significant "low-hanging fruit" to address, particularly regarding efficiency and usability. A key focus is Chaincode Labs' residency program, a structured initiative designed to foster innovation, collaboration, and open-source contributions to the Bitcoin community.

Main Topics Discussed:

• Breaking Bitcoin Conference: A conference dedicated to identifying and addressing weaknesses within the Bitcoin protocol to improve its resilience and functionality.
• Core Depth Meetup: A recurring event for Bitcoin Core developers to connect, share ideas, and collaborate, prioritizing communication over coding.
• Bitcoin Efficiency & Scaling: Discussions centered around improving Bitcoin's efficiency through techniques like batching withdrawals, utilizing SegWit, intelligent coin selection, and fee estimation.
• Lightning Network: Recognized as a critical component for achieving significant increases in Bitcoin's efficiency and utility, offering lower fees, faster transaction speeds, and a better user experience.
• Softworks: A concept aimed at improving Bitcoin's functionality and communication between businesses, preventing future contentious situations.
• Chaincode Labs Residency Program: A three-month program providing resources and structure for individuals to work on Bitcoin development, fostering innovation and open-source contributions.
• Optek Newsletter: A newsletter promoting constructive scaling solutions and encouraging Bitcoin adoption within businesses, born from disagreements within the Bitcoin community.
• Education & Open Source: A strong commitment to sharing knowledge and open-sourcing study materials to benefit the wider Bitcoin community.

Key Quotes:

• John Newbery: "I wanted to do something that was more constructive in terms of helping Bitcoin scale rather than having people shout at each other."
• Adam Jonas: "Instant is infinitely faster" (referring to Lightning Network transaction speeds).
• John Newbery: "There's still a lot of low hanging fruit, a lot of exchanges still in batch withdrawals, a lot of exchanges at the time didn't use Segwit, and some still don't use Segwit."
• John Newbery: "Giving back to the Bitcoin community is sort of what this is all about."

People Mentioned:

• Pierce: Podcast Host
• John Newbery: From Chaincode Labs, involved in Optek, Bitcoin education, and residency program organization.
• Adam Jonas: From Chaincode Labs, manages the residency program logistics and resident selection.
• Cardon: Gave a talk on reproducible bootstrapable builds.
• James O'Baren: Working on Assuming UTXO.
• Calle: Working on a signed testnet.
• Sipa: Bitcoin Core developer.
• Dave Harding: Primary writer of the Optek Newsletter.
• Steve Lee: Involved in Optek and presented information on softworks.
• Matt Corallo: Started the first Chaincode Labs residency.
• Sergei Kotliar: Shared experience using Lightning.
• John Feffer: Provided funding for Optek.
• Wentzis: Provided funding for Optek.

Bitcoin Price: No specific Bitcoin prices were mentioned throughout the interview.