Support the show, consider donating: 1F1SQTL7zqagxsgjnmoFXx6R9w4tuakFDD (http://bit.ly/1QpeoZv) For Zooko Wilcox-O’Hearn, part of the cypherpunk movement since the early 1990s, the vision of a decentralized financial system that has both openness and privacy has existed since long before Bitcoin. After many failed attempts, Bitcoin proved that that vision could be achievable. But Bitcoin also failed to deliver on the privacy features as blockchain analysis allows tracing movements and deanonymizing many users. Zooko joined us to discuss his project Zcash, a fully anonymous cryptocurrency that is scheduled to launch in July. Through Zcash’s use of ground-breaking Zero Knowledge Proofs (or zkSNARKs) the blockchain will leak no information about sender, recipients nor amounts. It was a fascinating discussion of the most anticipated launch of a cryptocurrency since Ethereum. Topics covered included: - Zooko's long cypherpunk history - How overconfidence derailed many cypherpunk projects - Why Bitcoin's privacy is broken and how Zcash provides true privacy - The too-good-to-be-true Zcash team - Why Zcash is based on a fork of Bitcoin - How the initial parameter generation creates a potential security weakness - Why Zcash believes in an evolutionary approach to designing cryptocurrency protocols Links mentioned in this episode: - Zcash website: http://bit.ly/1p1NZuD - Why Zcash - Project Announcement http://bit.ly/1RwhoUC - Zerocash: Decentralized Anonymous Payments from Bitcoin [PDF] http://bit.ly/1M2uc3o - EB116 - Eli Ben-Sasson: Zero Knowledge Proofs http://bit.ly/1TDUtx1 Sponsors: - GTEC: Apply now to enter the GTEC Blockchain Contest and win prizes worth €50k epicenterbitcoin.com/gtec - Ledger Nano: Smart card security for your Bitcoins - Get 10% off your first order when you use the code EPICENTER at http://ledgerwallet.com Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/122 SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/epicenterbitcoin/eb-122 Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sébastien Couture & Meher Roy. - Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com - Subscribe to our newsletter: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/newsletter - Twitter: http://twitter.com/epicenterbtc

This episode is part of our coverage of the Bitcoin 2014 Conference which took place in Amsterdam from May 15 to 17, 2014. These interviews were conducted by Siân Jones and focus on the area of regulation. In this series of interviews, we talked to: - Bryan Skarlatos, Partner at Kostelanetz & Fink - Estaban van Goor, Indirect Tax Lawyer at PwC - Jerry Brito, research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University - Luis Cuende, hacker and European Commission advisor Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sébastien Couture and is available on iTunes, SoundCloud, Mixcloud, Stitcher and other podcast aggregators. Website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com Subscribe: http://feed.epicenterbitcoin.com Subscribe to our Friday newsletter: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/newsletter Twitter: http://twitter.com/epicenterbtc Tip the show: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/tips

Edmund Edgar is the founder of Reality Keys. His startup won the Startup Challenge award at the Bitcoin 2014 Conference in Amsterdam. They are providing cryptographic data feeds on real-life events. This can then be used to base derivatives, contracts or insurances on. There is no question that services like Reality Keys will play a key role in crypto currency's future. Previously he was Director of Information Technology at Princeton Review Japan and he is also a graduate of Oxford University. Links: - Reality Keys: http://realitykeys.com - By My Coins: http://bymycoins.com - Edmund Edgar on Twitter: http://twitter.com/edmundedgar Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/eb-033 Running time: 1:09:29 Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sébastien Couture and is available on iTunes, SoundCloud, Mixcloud, Stitcher and other podcast aggregators. Website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com Subscribe: http://feed.epicenterbitcoin.com Subscribe to our Friday newsletter: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/newsletter Twitter: http://twitter.com/epicenterbtc Tip the show: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/tips

Support the show, consider donating: 3FMdbKo5sSECh1FANkCi1tr8hQgpVuhBYC (http://bit.ly/1E5PoTC) Powering an estimated 5-10% of all Bitcoin transactions, Electrum is one of the leaders of the Bitcoin wallet space. The open-source walled was started in 2011 and played a key role in the development of the light-weight SPV wallets. Developer Thomas Voegtlin joined us for a discussion of Electrum, their recent 2.0 release and the rapidly evolving Bitcoin wallet space in general. Topics covered included: - The evolution of Bitcoin wallets and what motivated him to start Electrum - Electrum 2.0 and its new features such as Multi-sig and hardware wallet support - The security tradeoffs between using an SPV wallet versus a full node client - How Bitcoin aliases could do away with Bitcoin addresses Links mentioned in this episode: - Electrum: http://electrum.org - Electrum Github Repo: https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum - On the Privacy Provisions of Bloom Filters in Lightweight Bitcoin Clients: http://eprint.iacr.org/2014/763.pdf - BIP 39: https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0039.mediawiki - BIP 37: https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0037.mediawiki - Versum MIT paper: http://people.csail.mit.edu/nickolai/papers/vandenhooff-versum.pdf Sponsors: - Shapeshift: http://shapeshift.io Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/069 Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Sébastien Couture. - Visit our website: http://epicenterbitcoin.com - Subscribe to our newsletter: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/newsletter - Twitter: http://twitter.com/epicenterbtc