Bitcoin Tech #6 - The Threat of Internet Centralisation with Shinobi & Dhruv Mehta

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance…’how prevalent is an attack’ is not really an important question, ‘how possible is an attack’ is the important question. When the value is 10x of today or 20x of today what people are willing to spend to attack it also goes up.”— Dhruv MehtaLocation: RemotelyDate: Wednesday 21st JulyProject: Block Digest & Bitcoin CoreRole: Host & DeveloperA core fundamental feature of Bitcoin is decentralisation. Being a distributed and decentralised network, Bitcoin allows anyone to transfer money to anyone else without relying on a third party or intermediary to authorise or facilitate the transaction.For years bitcoiners have fought to keep Bitcoin as decentralised as possible. A segment of the Bitcoin community wanted to increase the block size to allow for more transactions in each block. However, the tradeoff of this proposed change would increase the size of blocks and thus the size of the blockchain, making it harder to run a node on standard hardware.While the debates around decentralisation are generally around the protocol rules, Bitcoin also relies on the Internet, something outside of bitcoiners’ control. Some aspects of the Internet are highly centralised and could potentially be used to attack Bitcoin.So, how significant is this threat? And, what can be done to stop it?In this interview, I talk to Shinobi, the host of Block Digest, and Bitcoin Core Developer Dhruv. We discuss the importance of decentralisation, the protocols that power the internet and how a centralised internet threatens Bitcoin.This episode’s sponsors:Gemini - Buy Bitcoin instantlyBlockFi - The future of Bitcoin financial servicesSportsbet.io - Online sportsbook & casino that accepts BitcoinCasa - The leading provider of Bitcoin multisig key security.Exodus - The world's leading Desktop, Mobile and Hardware crypto wallets.Ledger - State of the art Bitcoin hardware walletRevolut - A better way to handle your money-----WBD376 - Show Notes-----If you enjoy The What Bitcoin Did Podcast you can help support the show by doing the following:Become a Patron and get access to shows early or help contributeMake a tip:Bitcoin: 3FiC6w7eb3dkcaNHMAnj39ANTAkv8Ufi2SQR Codes: BitcoinIf you do send a tip then please email me so that I can say thank youSubscribe on iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | Deezer | TuneIn | RSS FeedLeave a review on iTunesShare the show and episodes with your friends and familySubscribe to the newsletter on my websiteFollow me on Twitter Personal | Twitter Podcast | Instagram | Medium | YouTubeIf you are interested in sponsoring the show, you can read more about that here or please feel free to drop me an email to discuss options.