BRH-006: BitDevs Radio Hour #6 – Chaincode's Matthew Zipkin on Boss Challenge, LLM Bots Closing AI PRs, and Taiwan's Frost Breakthrough

Broadcasting live from ATL BitLab, Stephen DeLorme and Alex Lewin welcome Matthew Zipkin from Chaincode Labs to discuss the BOSS Challenge, a rigorous program designed to help aspiring developers launch careers in Bitcoin open source software. The conversation explores what it takes to become a Bitcoin protocol developer, the appropriate use of AI in learning and development, and how the program identifies serious contributors through a three-month gauntlet.

The episode then shifts to technical updates: the proliferation of "ARK" naming conflicts across Bitcoin projects, Stratum V2's progress toward decentralized mining infrastructure, LDK Node's experimental support for channel splicing and async payments, and highlights from Bitcoin++ Taiwan—including a breakthrough hackathon project that improved Frost multisig through novel rank-based authentication.

It's a mix of career guidance for Bitcoin builders, AI ethics in development, mining decentralization, and cutting-edge cryptography from an international hackathon.

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Episode Summary

Stephen and Alex open with housekeeping notes about the holiday season slow-down before welcoming Matthew Zipkin to explain the BOSS Challenge. Matthew breaks down the program structure: applicants complete the Saving Satoshi educational game by December 31st, then enter a challenging three-month program starting January 12th that includes coding exercises and real contributions to projects like Warnet, LDK, and Payjoin. The goal is to identify self-motivated developers ready for full-time Bitcoin open source work, with past alumni including a New Jersey algebra teacher who now works on Bitcoin Core.

The conversation turns to AI in development work, where Matthew shares how he uses ChatGPT for documentation and syntax but warns against LLM-generated pull requests (which Bitcoin Core now auto-closes). Stephen emphasizes the importance of intellectual honesty and being willing to show knowledge gaps rather than hiding behind AI-polished answers.

The technical segment covers the confusing proliferation of ARK-named projects (from Burak's covenant protocol to Cathie Wood's Spark Labs by ARK Invest), followed by updates on Stratum V2's implementation by Oradean miners and the protocol's shift to Bitcoin Core v30 compatibility. Alex highlights LDK Node 0.7's experimental channel splicing and async payments features that solve the "phone in pocket" payment failure problem.

Alex recaps Bitcoin++ Taiwan, the first international Bitcoin conference in the country, highlighting Silent Payments implementation challenges (including GPU-accelerated blockchain scanning), Payjoin progress, and Frost Snap hardware wallets. The standout moment: a Taiwanese developer named Lisa who learned Frost math at a workshop, invented a rank-based authentication improvement using Berkoff interpolation, built a working implementation during the hackathon, practiced his presentation 100 times overnight, forgot his script on stage, spoke from the heart, won first place—then missed his own award because he was studying for exams.

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Topics Covered

🎓 BOSS Challenge 2025: Launching Bitcoin Open Source Careers

• Chaincode Labs' third-year program to create full-time Bitcoin contributors
• Three-phase structure: Saving Satoshi game → coding challenges → real project contributions
• Applications open through December 31st, program starts January 12th
• Supports multiple projects: Bitcoin Core, LND, CLN, Eclair, Rust Bitcoin, LDK, Payjoin, Silent Payments
• Track record: thousands apply globally, ~20 receive OpenSats grants
• What matters: curiosity and enthusiasm (80%), self-motivation (remaining percentage), basic coding (10%)
• Example alumni: former New Jersey algebra teacher now full-time Bitcoin Core developer at Localhost

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🤖 AI in Bitcoin Development: Documentation vs Protocol Work

• Appropriate uses: syntax help, documentation lookup, basic function generation
• Red flags: fully LLM-generated pull requests (now auto-closed by Bitcoin Core bot)
• The "smell test": excessive em-dashes and green check emojis reveal LLM output
• Best learning practices: ask how things work, check your thinking, embrace knowledge gaps publicly
• Non-English speakers using AI for grammar polishing is acceptable
• Protocol-level implementation should never be delegated to AI
• Intellectual honesty beats appearing knowledgeable through AI assistance

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📛 The Great ARK Naming Collision

• ARK (covenant protocol): original by Burak, maintained by Arkade Labs and Second Labs
• ARCC (Auto-Reconciling Contracts): Block Spaces' Lightning project predating the ARK protocol
• Spark Labs by ARK Invest: Cathie Wood's St. Petersburg innovation center featuring Block Spaces
• ARC (venture fund): new crypto fund announced same week
• Spark (protocol): LightSpark's separate Lightning initiative
• Noah (ARK wallet): not to be confused with the company Noah
• Takeaway: Bitcoin needs better naming conventions (or better use of AI for brand generation)

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⛏️ Stratum V2: Decentralizing Mining Infrastructure

• V1 problems: plaintext transmission vulnerable to Wireshark theft, centralized block template assembly at pool level
• Oradean miner manufacturer implements Stratum V2
• Major protocol update: library/apps split separating Rust crates from binary applications
• Bitcoin Core v30 interface support (no longer requires Sjorza's fork)
• Decentralization goal: individual miners assemble block templates instead of pools controlling transaction selection

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⚡ LDK Node 0.7: Experimental Splicing and Async Payments

• LDK Node positioned as "easy mode" for Lightning Dev Kit development
• Channel splicing: adjust channel capacity without closing/reopening (previously Phoenix Wallet exclusive)
• Async payments: trustless payment holding when recipient offline, solving "phone in pocket" failures
• Use case guidance: LDK Node for proofs-of-concept, raw LDK for specialized implementations (browser extensions, secure enclaves)
• Comparison: LDK is car parts, LDK Node is a pre-built car with sensible defaults

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🇹🇼 Bitcoin++ Taiwan: First International Conference and Record Hackathon

• First international Bitcoin conference in Taiwan, sovereignty and privacy themes
• 10-15 BOSS Challenge alumni presented projects
• 30 hackathon projects submitted (record for in-person Bitcoin++ events)
• Strong local developer turnout energized global Bitcoin community engagement

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🔒 Silent Payments: Privacy Through Computational Complexity

• Problem: traditional address reuse reveals transaction history and balances
• Solution: generate unique addresses from single identifier without obvious linkage
• Implementation challenge: must scan entire blockchain (similar to Monero), too expensive for mobile devices
• Workarounds: Electrum server hints (similar to Bloom filters) plus GPU-accelerated scanning (CUDA)
• Sparrow Wallet merged Silent Payments support December 2024
• Privacy tradeoff: trusting server for scanning still better than public address reuse
• Open questions: server scalability, cost per user, incentive models for infrastructure

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🤝 Payjoin Progress and Frost Snap Hardware

• Payjoin developers presenting progress, stable release approaching
• Frost Snap: daisy-chained multisig hardware using threshold Schnorr signatures
• Frost advantage over Shamir Secret Sharing: no coordinator ever holds full secret
• Interactive signing rounds handled through physical device daisy-chaining
• Now available for purchase at frostsnap.com

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🏆 Hackathon Winner: Rank-Based Frost Authentication

• Developer Lisa: Taiwanese builder, recent Bitcoin contributor, formerly worked on Ethereum DAO tooling
• Innovation: rank-based authentication using Berkoff interpolation instead of Lagrange interpolation
• Feature: enables tiered key priority (CEO key with more authority than standard keys)
• Built full implementation (front and back end) during hackathon after learning Frost math at workshop
• Presentation: practiced 100 times overnight, forgot script on stage, spoke from heart, won first place in Best Use of Cryptography
• Missed award announcement because studying for exams
• Impact: first application of Berkoff interpolation to Bitcoin multisig, Frost experts confirmed novel improvement

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Links Mentioned

• BOSS Challenge: bosschallenge.xyz
• Chaincode Labs

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Closing Notes

Stephen wraps with reminders about the likely holiday break (no stream December 26th), returning in early January 2026. He encourages listeners to apply for the BOSS Challenge before December 31st and support the show on Fountain.fm by searching "ATL BitLab."