Uploaded June 2021 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago

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Learn more about Taproot, UTXO's, Multipath Payments and more in this Q&A from June 2021.

Looking for an entertaining, trustworthy, unbiased opinion on bitcoin and open blockchains? This is it. In the June livestream, aantonop answered questions about taproot, privacy on bitcoin, he explained submarine swaps, routing payments on the lightning network, and much much more. Andreas never talks investment but if you want to learn about the technology then watch (listen) to this livestream event.

Chapters
0:00 Introduction
1:35 Taproot is in the bag! And it had overwhelming support from both users and miners. But hypothetically, if miners refused to signal for the upgrade; would users push it through anyway? If so why 'coin toss'? Where does control lie in BTC?
8:28 Now that taproot is locked-in, what is the next step towards a high-privacy Bitcoin?
12:18 Snowden said in an interview that Taproot actually makes privacy worse. What was he referring to?
16:13 What are submarine swaps? Is it possible to pay an on-chain address from Lightning?
20:31 I've got my Lightning node running and now I'd like to route payments. What advice do you have for the next steps? What capacity/number of channels do I need to be a useful Lightning node?
23:53 You said that Lightning is kinda like Proof of Stake for Bitcoin. Could you elaborate on that?
27:53 New workshop
29:56 A miner with 51% or more of the hash power, can they only eliminate or censor their own transactions or can they also censor the transactions of others?
31:39 As we arrive at the end of mining, is it easier to execute an attack?
33:16 Blocks with 6 or more confirmations, can they be attacked?
36:05 How do you know how many UTXOs you have? Is there an easy way to get this information?
40:10 My patrons are out of this world. Thank you!
45:11 Why do we see, when mempools are full, 1.5MB blocks then 1.1MB blocks? Why do we see blocks with zero transactions? Isn't it in the interest of miners to make blocks as full as possible in order to earn as much fees as possible?
49:43 I thought that Bitcoin block size limit is 1MB but when I look at the BTC explorer, the block size is usually 1.2-1.4MB. Can you explain this?
54:31 Could/did ransomware exist before cryptocurrencies? How frequent do you think bitcoin ransomware payments are that are not divulged to the public?
58:14 What is the balance between consolidating UTXOs and privacy?
1:01:17 Based on your understanding of the Lightning Network, what makes more sense, opening two channels with one peer with the same amount e.g 1MIL each or one channel balanced by the two peers?
1:04:19 Please explain Multi Path Payments and how they will impact node configuration for operators in the future. Also when do you think they will be implemented on the Lightning Network?
1:09:22 Can a multi-hop Lightning Network transaction, used to disconnect my identity from TXOs? Is it as effective as CoinJoin (and doesn't require you to keep UTXOs separate forever)?
1:13:06 New workshop
1:14:50 How can the Lightning Network scale the bitcoin transaction if it requires at least two on-chain transactions for opening and closing channels, is there an alternative solution where it doesn't require an on-chain transaction?
1:22:13 Have you done a Speaking of Bitcoin podcast episode on El Salvador?
1:24:10 On-chain 'whale address' metrics seems a hot-topic of late. Wouldn't whales accumulate bitcoin across many addresses avoiding re-use? Can an Xpub's behavior be identified collectively or is analysis limited to individual address behavior?
1:33:18 If I have zero balance on my end in a lightning channel, why not try to cheat and hope I gain?
1:35:19 Upcoming events

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You can also learn from one of aantonop's many books. Andreas has written three technical books for developers about blockchain technology, Mastering Bitcoin, Mastering Ethereum, and Mastering the Lightning Network (2021) published by O’Reilly Media. He’s also written The Internet of Money Series books, which explain why bitcoin, ethereum, and open blockchains matter. Learn more at aantonop.com