Nicholas Gregory (CommerceBlock) on statechains for scalability and privacy (EP.211)

Nicholas Gregory, CEO of CommerceBlock, joins the show to talk about their new statechain implementation, Mercury. In this episode:  Origins of CommerceBlock Nicholas' prior career in martial arts Nicholas' underground MMA club in NY Did Roger Ver take the most expensive BJJ lesson ever? The purpose of CommerceBlock's Mainstay system The difference between OpenTimestamps and Mainstay How sidechains evolved from the original vision and where they are today What can Bitcoin learn from Ethereum? Nic's rundown of privacy-enhancing technologies Centralized mixers versus coinjoin versus statechains for privacy How statechains allows you to send a UTXO without an on-chain transaction Trust drawbacks and caveats in using statechains CommerceBlock's Mercury statechain implementation Statechains as virtual opendimes Synergies between statechains and Lightning Nicholas' thoughts on Bitcoin scalability Statechain timelines Sponsor notes: Copper is transforming how institutional investors engage with digital assets by developing award-winning custody and next-gen trading infrastructure. Headquartered in London, the firm is scaling rapidly across Asia and North America to bring its suite of products to a wider pool of institutional investors. To learn more visit copper.co or reach out on Twitter, @CopperHQ Aave is a decentralized, open source, and non-custodial protocol where users can deposits and borrow digital assets, and earn interest on those assets. Head over to aave.com to experience and learn more about DeFi.