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BRH-007: BitDevs Radio Hour #7 – BIP-3 Deployed, René Pickhardt's Payment Channel Math, Buck Token Drama, and BitChat Saves Uganda

ATL BitLab Podcast

Release Date: 01/30/2026

Broadcasting live from ATL BitLab on Thursday, January 15th, 2026, Stephen DeLorme and Alex Lewin return from holiday break to cover Bitcoin technical developments. The episode opens with BIP-3's deployment—a major overhaul to the Bitcoin Improvement Proposal editorial process after two years of debate. The hosts then dive deep into René Pickhardt's new mathematical theory of payment channels, exploring how geometric modeling reveals fundamental limits on Lightning Network feasibility and why channel factories become necessary for scaling.

The conversation shifts to speculative financial engineering: MicroStrategy's STRFY preferred stock spawns BUCK, a Cayman Islands DAO token promising 7% yields wrapped in layers of counterparty risk. Technical updates include BitVM4's 1,000x efficiency improvement over BitVM3, a Bitcoin Core v30 wallet migration bug that could delete files (but required very specific conditions), and the episode closes with BitChat becoming Uganda's #1 app during a government internet shutdown—freedom tech working exactly as intended.

It's a mix of formal mathematical proofs, Lightning infrastructure reality checks, questionable yield-chasing schemes, and real-world censorship resistance in action.

Episode Summary

Stephen and Alex open with housekeeping—returning after holiday break, apologizing for being 30 minutes late due to Riverside platform issues, and joking about switching to Restream. They announce BIP-3 has been deployed just hours earlier, marking the end of a two-year process to formalize Bitcoin's improvement proposal editorial workflow. The deployment represents consensus-building success even if it's "just" process documentation rather than protocol changes.

The technical centerpiece is René Pickhardt's new paper: A Mathematical Theory of Payment Channels. Alex walks through the geometric framework where Lightning Network states exist as points within n-dimensional polytopes (where n = number of channels). Payments are vectors that move points within valid polytope boundaries—anything outside is mathematically infeasible regardless of pathfinding or liquidity management. René proves that ~50% of desirable network states are impossible with current two-party channel architecture, and fee incentives naturally deplete channels until on-chain activity becomes necessary. The only solutions: symmetric fees (unpopular), convex tiered fees (complex), coordinated replenishment (unrealistic), or better channel constructions like channel factories and multi-party channels.

Stephen pushes back on urgency—Lightning isn't hitting limits yet, and many "infeasible" payments may not be ones people actually want to make. Alex agrees the problems are future-facing but emphasizes the mathematical proof matters for long-term planning. René's companion post on Delving Bitcoin proposes using ARK as channel factory infrastructure: Lightning channels become VTXOs (virtual transaction outputs) inside ARK service providers rather than on-chain UTXOs. This reframes ARK from end-user payment protocol to infrastructure layer for more efficient Lightning channel management.

The BUCK segment reveals a new Cayman Islands DAO token created by Bird scooter founder Travis VanderZanden. BUCK wraps MicroStrategy's STRFY preferred stock (targeting 11% yield) in an ERC-20 token targeting 7% yield, charging 30% fees in the process and adding multiple layers of counterparty risk. The hosts are baffled that Bitcoiners are excited about this obvious yield-farming scheme, though they note it does solve one problem: non-US investors can't buy STRFY directly.

Technical updates include BitVM4's efficiency gains (now "1,000x better than BitVM3, which was 1,000x better than BitVM2"), making setup feasible with megabytes instead of terabytes of data while maintaining the same one-of-n honest verifier assumption. The Bitcoin Core v30 wallet bug could delete unrelated wallet files during migration failures, but only affected unnamed wallets created 5+ years ago without backups—patched quickly in v30.2.

The episode closes on an inspiring note: BitChat (Jack Dorsey's Bluetooth mesh messaging app) became Uganda's #1 downloaded app during a government internet shutdown, surpassing even the Bible. The hosts see this as the most visceral example of freedom tech working at scale, comparing it to Twitter's role in the Arab Spring but noting BitChat is an open protocol rather than a company.

Topics Covered

📋 BIP-3 Deployed: New Editorial Process After Two Years

  • Major overhaul to Bitcoin Improvement Proposal editorial workflow
  • Not a consensus change—purely human process documentation
  • Two years of debate over every line, pulling things in and out
  • Deployment proves Bitcoin community can still reach consensus and "do hard things"
  • Merged just hours before the show aired

📐 René Pickhardt's Mathematical Theory of Payment Channels

  • Seven years in Lightning research, two years with OpenSATS, first solo-author paper
  • Introduces geometric theory: Lightning network state as a point in n-dimensional polytope (n = number of channels)
  • One channel = line segment, two channels = polygon, three channels = cube, n channels = hyperdimensional space
  • Valid network states exist inside the polytope; anything outside is mathematically infeasible
  • Payments are vectors moving the point within valid boundaries
  • Key finding: ~50% of desirable network states are impossible with current two-party channel architecture
  • Fee incentives naturally deplete channels, requiring on-chain intervention regardless of pathfinding quality
  • Off-chain throughput = on-chain throughput ÷ probability of needing on-chain payment
  • Three mitigation strategies:
    • Symmetric fees (inbound must match outbound—unpopular)
    • Convex tiered fees (complex routing)
    • Coordinated replenishment (unrealistic hive-mind cooperation)
  • Conclusion: Visa-level scaling requires on-chain intervention and better channel constructions (factories, multi-party channels, coin pools)
  • Stephen's pushback: Lightning isn't hitting limits yet; many "infeasible" payments may not be realistic use cases
  • Alex's response: Problems are future-facing, but mathematical proof matters for long-term infrastructure planning

🏗️ ARK as Channel Factory Infrastructure

  • René's Delving Bitcoin post reframes ARK from end-user protocol to infrastructure layer
  • Proposal: Lightning channels become VTXOs (virtual transaction outputs) inside ARK service providers
  • More efficient than on-chain UTXOs for representing channels
  • Users still route payments over Lightning Network, just with VTXO-based channels
  • Requires periodic engagement with ASP for on-chain operations (splicing, closing, opening channels)
  • Off-chain routing works without ASP involvement
  • Failure assumptions shift from continuous supervision to periodic engagement
  • Stephen's concern: ARK's interactivity requirements (coming online every round, coordinated signing) exceed Lightning's supervision model
  • Current ARK without covenants: unsustainable at scale, requires either federation delegation or Bitcoin covenant changes
  • Stephen's question: If federating signing, why not just use Fedimint?
  • Alex's covenant timeline: 30 years (pessimistic but honest)

💰 BUCK: MicroStrategy Yield Wrapped in DAO Layers

  • Created by Travis VanderZanden (Bird scooter company founder)
  • MicroStrategy background: STRFY preferred stock targeting 11% annual dividends (not guaranteed)
  • STRFY problem: US-only availability
  • BUCK solution: Cayman Islands DAO that bought STRFY, issued ERC-20 governance tokens
  • BUCK targets 7% yield from STRFY's 11%, charging 30% fee (4% of 11%)
  • Marketed as "savings coin" and "Bitcoin dollar"
  • Not available to US persons (unregistered security issues)
  • Counterparty risk layers:
    • Bitcoin price must go up
    • MicroStrategy equity must stay liquid and well-managed
    • STRFY preferred stock market must stay liquid
    • Cayman Islands DAO must manage treasury properly
    • ERC-20 token must remain redeemable
  • No guaranteed payouts—targets only
  • Stephen's take: Any crypto token advertising yield sets off alarm bells; higher yield = more suspicious
  • Alex's observation: Shocked to see Bitcoiners in announcement tweet replies treating this as legitimate Bitcoin extension
  • Both hosts: Classic 2019-2021 DAO scheme with tokenomics, surprising to see resurrected in 2026

🖥️ BitVM4: 1,000x Efficiency (Again)

  • BitVM evolution recap:
    • BitVM1: Every computation gate as Bitcoin transaction
    • BitVM2: Single proof verification on-chain, rest off-chain
    • BitVM3: Garbled circuits—no on-chain computation, secret leaking for slashing (1,000x more efficient than BitVM2)
    • BitVM4: Same as BitVM3 but 1,000x more efficient (total: 1,000,000x better than BitVM2)
  • No functional changes from BitVM3—same operator/verifier architecture with one-of-n honest assumption
  • Efficiency gain: Setup now requires megabytes instead of terabytes of data
  • Can be spun up by anyone, no longer prohibitively expensive
  • Liam Eagen instrumental in all BitVM iterations
  • Alex's take: Impressive engineering, waiting to see what projects emerge

🐛 Bitcoin Core v30 Wallet Migration Bug

  • Bug: Wallet migration failure could delete unrelated wallet files in v30.0 and v30.1
  • Conditions required to trigger:
    • Using Bitcoin Core's built-in wallet (most use external wallets)
    • Wallet must be unnamed (default wallet.dat)
    • Wallet must be 5+ years old (created before 2021)
    • No backup of wallet.dat file in 5 years
    • No seed phrase written down
  • Patched within days in v30.2
  • Stephen's take: Need backups for any wallet regardless—hard drive failures, power outages, disk write errors all possible
  • Alex's question: Why does Bitcoin Core still have a wallet?
  • Historical answer: Satoshi's original client combined node + wallet + mining
  • Current reality: Some businesses apparently still use it, though unclear how many
  • Deprecation discussion: Could announce 5-year migration period, then remove
  • Community proposals: Move wallet to separate repo, remove GUI from Core (make it CLI-only)

📱 BitChat: Freedom Tech Working at Scale

  • Bluetooth mesh messaging app by Jack Dorsey and Kálais
  • No internet required—creates peer-to-peer mesh network for message routing
  • Use cases: Crowded stadiums with poor reception, government internet shutdowns
  • Uganda story: Government ordered nationwide internet shutdown, BitChat became #1 downloaded app (surpassing the Bible)
  • Also deployed in Iran during government crackdowns
  • Technical progress since October 2025 launch: Fixed overheating, slowdowns, spam vulnerabilities; implemented sophisticated routing
  • Stephen's comparison: Similar to Twitter's role in Arab Spring (2011), but BitChat is open protocol not company
  • Alex's take: "Most visceral example of freedom tech working"—actually solving crisis problems at scale
  • Jack Dorsey's hit rate on crisis-era world-changing products: unmatched
  • Website: bitchat.free (simple ASCII text page explaining the protocol)
  • Name note: Despite "Bit" prefix, has nothing to do with Bitcoin (but still freedom tech)

Links Mentioned

  • BIP-3 deployment
  • René Pickhardt paper: A Mathematical Theory of Payment Channels (arXiv.org)
  • René's Delving Bitcoin post: "ARK as a Channel Factory"
  • BUCK token: (Cayman Islands DAO)
  • MicroStrategy STRFY preferred stock
  • BitVM4 announcement
  • Bitcoin Core v30.2 patch notes
  • BitChat: bitchat.free

Closing Notes

Stephen and Alex wrap with thanks to listeners for a boost from December 18th and 21st during their holiday break. They encourage more boosts on Fountain.fm with topic suggestions and feedback. The show usually airs Fridays but moved to Thursday this week due to scheduling. Next episode returns to regular Friday timing.