#292: Diving into tbDEX with Mike Brock
12/29/2021 · 87 min · transcript via mlx
Tags
Key topics
— Mike Brock's eight-year journey at Block (formerly Square), from early Cash App work through integrating Bitcoin in 2017 to leading TBD, the company's newest business unit focused on decentralized financial infrastructure.
— The philosophy behind TBDex: a messaging protocol designed to create decentralized on-ramps and off-ramps between fiat currency and Bitcoin, addressing the "fatal conceit" that most users still must transact in traditional financial systems.
— TBDex's use of decentralized identity (DIDs) and verifiable credentials to establish trust networks between users and participating financial institutions (PFIs) without requiring centralized custody or data aggregation.
— The rejection of pure trustlessness in fiat-to-crypto exchange due to the irreversibility and regulation inherent in traditional payment systems; instead, TBDex enables distributed social trust similar to how certificate authorities work on the web.
— KYC/AML compliance reimagined through zero-knowledge proofs and self-sovereign identity, reducing data exposure while still meeting regulatory obligations.
— Mike's thesis that anonymity and pseudonymity are distinct from privacy; financial transactions require some degree of social trust to function, and TBDex optimizes for privacy while allowing parties to set their own trust standards.
Market & price signals
— None discussed.
Actionable insights
— TBDex represents a long-term vision for friction-free Bitcoin adoption; even if you're skeptical of regulatory compliance, the protocol's architecture maximizes individual choice and optionality by allowing both buyers and sellers to set their own trust requirements.
— If you want to follow TBDex development and contribute, the project is open-source on GitHub and Twitter under the handle @TBD54566975; early engagement with the protocol design may shape how on-ramps evolve.
Episode sponsorships
Paid placements mentioned in this episode. BTC Pods is not sponsored by or affiliated with these advertisers. Links are included so you can find offers mentioned on the show.
— Cash App helps you stack sats and stonks with fractional shares as little as $1, instant withdrawal to personal wallets, and an auto-buy feature for hands-free DCA. Use promo code stackingsats (one word) when you download the app to receive $10, and $10 will be contributed to OWLS Lacrosse; terms apply. Bitcoin services by Block, Inc.—see https://cash.app/legal/podcast for Bitcoin disclosures.
— Unchained Capital eliminates single points of failure in custody through their Vault product, a two-of-three collaborative custody multisig wallet where you control two keys and Unchained holds one, ensuring you can always move your sats without intermediaries. Their white-glove concierge package takes you from zero to a thousand "cuck bucks" worth of sats secured in a multisig vault, includes hardware wallets, video calls, and derivation path backup; use code TFTC for $50 off at Unchained.com.
— Braiins (B-R-A-I-I-N-S, with two I's) is a leader in the mining industry running Slush Pool (oldest mining pool since 2010) and creating free and open-source firmware (Braiins OS+) to give miners more control over ASICs and help them stack more sats. They are leading Stratum V2 to help decentralize the mining pool protocol and are hiring Rust developers, system admins, and hardware engineers. Visit https://braiins.com/ and https://insights.braiins.com/profitability-calculator for firmware downloads and mining analytics.
— Compass Mining democratizes Bitcoin's hashrate by providing easy bundles for buying and hosting miners, handling energy costs and miner acquisition so you can mine Bitcoin profitably; visit https://compassmining.io to get started.
— Hodl Hodl's Lend is a new non-custodial Bitcoin-backed lending platform allowing peer-to-peer lending and borrowing between users globally, anonymously, and on your own terms with no KYC or AML for US users. You create a multi-sig escrow and retain one key throughout; your collateral always remains locked in escrow. You can also provide liquidity on stablecoins for yield. Create your offers and set your own terms at https://lend.hodlhodl.com.