I'm a programmer working with the bitcoin github code and haven't seen anything that could compromise security or allow it to be co-opted by the banks. Now the most serious issue would be that maybe Blockstream is sabotaging the scaling debate deliberately to destroy bitcoin. All I can say is that as a programmer 8 MB is a short term solution to a larger problem. I agree with you that larger block size isn't really much of an issue as long as SHA256 gets it's difficulty adjustment for the nonce.
The real issue is that there really is a better way to do encrypted anonymous transactions using bitcoin. Whether they can deliver or not is up to the market to decide. I recently debunked a different conspiracy that bitcoin is a deep state psy-op by Catherine Austin Fitts. These conspiracies will start flying fast and furious over the next couple of years. The best way to know is to dive into the code which is open source.
Here's an excellent video that explains the issues. Can we suspect that Andreas Antonopoulos to be a deep state operative or is he really explaining the technical issues?
I think the video explaining the Lightning Network above should be put to Andreas Antonopoulos point blank. I'd like to see what he has to say.
Yeah really, we only accept 10,000% profit or higher... anything less is just err... 'coffee beans'
I've heard it was a deep state psyop also, and ran by the NSA. Boy do these people come up with some ridiculous ideas, such as the one where it's building AI to take over the world!
You know about this one?
https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@poias/bitcoins-s-strange-block-7438-and-the-185-billion-possible-payoff-steemit-investigative-report-pt-1
Thanks for sharing Andreas' video.
Definitely worth watching for anyone who wants to get a better understanding of the difficult and vital decisions being made to keep bitcoin safe.
Andreas shows
Good $h-stuff @zoidsoft. When people with a huge following head down the conspiracy theory trail, it’s good to have a Bitcoin programmer here to let em know it’s the wrong trail.
An interesting thing to observe in conspiracies : they are always full of drama and fear.
Why ? Because they focus incredibly on single details. And life is not about single details, life is about global energy.
The coopting by the institutons wont be found in the code.
If so, then they can't control it because the code is in complete control of the transactions and mathematics replaces centralized authority. The exchanges such as Coinbase have KYC and AML. But the first video has a major flaw in stating the lightning hubs will be operated by the banks. The problem with this is the fact that if you bought your bitcoin from another user and then sent it to an unused address in your hardware wallet, then it has no KYC and AML. You can make assumptions that this is either a new user or a user sending it to another location in their same wallet.
So if these hubs are going to operate as "banks", then when you send a transaction from your hardware wallet whose address has never been used before, they will have to insert a form in between each transaction to collect your social security number, your name, address, etc. Will you fill this form out? Of course not. This puts them back into using imperfect chain analysis tools that can make educated guesses but don't have certainty.
My understanding of hubs so far is a bit different. They aren't supposed to be operated by anybody but represent a pool of assets from many different sources that search for routes to settle direct P2P in the event that one party doesn't have enough bitcoin to settle a transaction between two parties.
It's kind of like this situation. Suppose someone in front of you in line at a convenience store has a 100 dollar bill and you're behind them and they are talking to the merchant who doesn't have enough change for a 100 dollar bill. You overhear the conversation and instead of trading with the merchant directly, what I've done is given 5 twenty's to the customer in front of me in exchange for that 100 dollar bill (plus a 10 cent fee). Then the customer can complete the transaction with the merchant for one of his 20 dollar bills instead. In this situation I operated as a hub. I didn't ask for his name, social security number, phone number, etc.
So the simple solution is this. If you've never provided KYC info on yourself and a node pops up asking for KYC, just say no. There will be other hubs willing to do this for you without it.