Guest Matthew Mezinskis dials in from Latvia where he’s lived for the last 10 years working in banking, finance, and payments./) an audio blog that focuses on Bitcoin, the blockchain, cryptocurrency, digital ledger technology, and broader FinTech, including all of the benefits and challenges that come with these breakthrough technologies.Matthew Mezinskis and Mike Townsend have a passionate conversation about the decisions facing Bitcoin that will make or break the currency.Specifically, the 1MB block limit that says Miners can mine blocks up to the 1MB fixed limit, but any block larger than 1MB is invalid.Whatever happens, this will have huge implications on Bitcoin.The second major topic touched on was the idea of monopolies and how they affect the surrounding economy.We discussed government controlled monopolies and whether or not there is any role for a monopoly in cryptocurrency.Matthew has an inspirational story and a unique perspective living in Latvia.Book mentioned by Matthew: A History of Money and Banking in the United States Co-Hosts: /Brian-Roemmele /Mike-Townsend We are available on… /us/podcast/around-the-coin/id805021615 /podcast/around-the-coin /user/aroundthecoin / /aroundthecoin /around-the-coin /aroundthecoin /aroundthecoin/

Much of the hysteria around Litecoin’s activation of Segregated Witness (SegWit) this week has focused around the altcoin’s rising exchange rate, but the implementation of this change on one of the oldest alternative cryptocurrencies in existence could also have implications for Bitcoin.In addition to turning Litecoin into a proving ground for SegWit, the change will also allow developers to test out systems currently being built on top of the SegWit base.One of these new systems that has Litecoin creator and Coinbase Director of Engineering Charlie Lee excited is Confidential Transactions, which is a method of improving privacy by masking the amounts involved in transactions.Lee recently discussed the topic of SegWit on Litecoin on The Bitcoin Podcast with co-hosts Corey Petty and Marcello Milteer.Blockstream CTO and Bitcoin Core contributor Greg Maxwell, who has worked heavily on the Confidential Transactions proposal, also recently shared some of his own thoughts related to SegWit on Litecoin during a presentation at the Coinbase headquarters in San Francisco.

While many have viewed SegWit as mainly a scaling solution, Lee told The Bitcoin Podcast that the improvement is about much more than that.“In reality, SegWit allows us to do lightning networks [and] to do a lot of other things with soft forks like Confidential Transactions, MAST, and a few other things,” said Lee.According to Maxwell during his presentation at Coinbase, many Bitcoin developers are now going to work on Litecoin because “no one really doing a lot of protocol development in Bitcoin wants to work on script enhancements and things like that without SegWit” because the improvement makes that sort of development much easier.bitcoin disadvantages“The idea of doing some kind of script enhancement without [SegWit] is just not interesting,” Maxwell added.litecoin jumpDuring his appearance on The Bitcoin Podcast, Lee claimed that many developers have already reached out to the Litecoin team to port over some of their SegWit-related work that is intended for eventual deployment on Bitcoin.dogecoin transactions

“They all appreciate what SegWit brings to Litecoin and Bitcoin, and they want to help make it happen,” he added.From Lee’s view, the Bitcoin and Litecoin codebases are very similar, so porting development progress from Litecoin back to Bitcoin would be “a very simple change” once the improvement is available on Bitcoin.bitcoin ceskyLee added that SegWit proving itself as a valuable addition for Litecoin will increase the chances of seeing the improvement activate on Bitcoin.litecoin botnet minerWhile a Lightning Network for Litecoin is the first priority for Lee, he told The Bitcoin Podcast that he’s also excited about Confidential Transactions.bitcoin inr live chart“With SegWit, Confidential Transactions can be done as a soft fork, and that’s exciting,” said Lee.

“The only major thing missing from Bitcoin and Litecoin in terms of like being good money is fungibility . . . and Confidential Transactions is kind of halfway towards like a perfectly fungible currency.” Confidential Transactions is referred to half of the equation because it only obscures the amounts involved in transactions.In other words, information related to the sender and recipient in a transaction is still available on the blockchain without the use of something like CoinJoin, which can already be used on Bitcoin.In terms of seeing Confidential Transactions implemented in Litecoin, Maxwell stated in his presentation at Coinbase, “I’m happy to help other people experiment on it . . . I think it’s even premature to do [Confidential Transactions] in Litecoin today, but I’d like to see it get more use.That’s how the technology matures.” In terms of why privacy is useful for Bitcoin and Litecoin, Lee told The Bitcoin Podcast that it was not about being able to buy drugs on various darknet markets.

“It’s more about when you’re using money, you don’t want to have to decide which of your coins you should spend due to it having some history,” he clarified.Learn how To Invest In Cryptocurrency Learn why you should invest in cryptocurrency and how you can get started.Enter your email address to get started!​Blockchain technology is about to transform every trust-based interaction of our lives, from financial services to identity, from health care to our Internet of Things devices.In this podcast, host Laura Shin talks with industry pioneers across tech, financial services, health care, government and other sectors about how the blockchain and cryptocurrency will open up new opportunities for incumbents, startups and everyday people to interact more efficiently, directly and globally.Why Digital Currency Group's Meltem Demirors Is Concerned About The ICO Craze Comment(s)The DCG director of development talks about why she thinks identity will be the first tangible application of blockchain technology that consumers experience, why DCG supports Ethereum Classic as an investment vehicle and yet still supports Ethereum as a protocol, and how bitcoin itself as a global currency hasn't taken... Read More'Bitcoin Oracle' Vinny Lingham On Why Bitcoin Is Overpriced Comment(s)The Civic CEO and cofounder explains how his upbringing in South Africa and his experience at former company Gyft led him to launch a startup focused on identity.

It was also at Gyft that he realized how enthusiastic the bitcoin and cryptocurrency crowd is and how a business could harness that enthusiasm to grow its... Read MoreICOs: Why People Are Investing In This $380 Million Phenomenon Comment(s)Don't forget to take the /r/unchained Developers of new cryptocurrencies are raising gobs of money with little more than a white paper.Though real advances are likely to emerge from the trend, the bubble could get worse before it gets better.William Mougayar,... Read MoreIBM's Jerry Cuomo On Everything From Blockchain Security To Hyperledger To The Internet Of Things Comment(s)Thanks to all the listeners who've let me know what you want to hear more of, what you like about the show, and who you want to see as guests.If you haven't yet, have a say in the direction of the show -- tell me what you like, what the podcast could do better, and who you are: /r/unchained Read MoreThis VC Is Sure Venture Capital Is About To Be Disrupted Comment(s)Don't forget to take the Unchained Podcast survey!