Bitcoin Socratic Seminar #53
It's almost time for Bitcoin Socratic Seminar #53!
What is a Socratic Seminar?
Inspired by other BitDevs meetups around the US, our Socratic Seminar events are formatted to foster debate, information sharing and lively discussion.
- Discussion topics are provided ahead of the event
- The event moderator(s) leads the audience through the topics
- Raise your hand to grab the mic and participate in the conversation
- We go to a bar afterwards
We follow the Chatham House Rule at this event: you are free to use the information you receive, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.
Logistics
On Wednesday, August 19, we'll be meeting at ATL BitLab. Join our telegram channel in case you need to ask for help finding us the night of the event.
Address
684 John Wesley Dobbs Ave NE, Suite A1 Atlanta, GA 30312
Parking
Please follow the parking instructions here: Parking Information
Chatham House Rule
We follow the Chatham House Rule at this event. You're welcome to share what you learn, but not who said it.
To help everyone speak freely, please do not take videos, pictures, or audio recordings during the seminar.
Topics
We'll add more topics as the event gets closer. For now, here's the first one:
Wallet Security & Entropy
- Predictable RNG Fallback and 32-Bit Reseed in COLDCARD Firmware - Block Engineering explains how a disabled hardware-RNG path and a 32-bit reseed can constrain entropy in affected COLDCARD firmware and weaken generated secrets.
- When random.bytes() runs but doesn't work - Dusty Daemon digs into what a commit message reveals about the recent COLDCARD bug and how code can appear to generate entropy while still failing as a secure randomness source.
Lightning Swap Infrastructure
- Boltz stays disabled while keeping refund paths open - Boltz says the service will remain disabled until further notice, though cooperative and unilateral refunds should still work and support remains available.
- ZEUS follows suit for its Boltz-backed instance - ZEUS says its instance is following Boltz offline, while noting other ZEUS services like channels, the LSP, Lightning addresses, and normal send/receive flows remain online.
Trust, Custody & State Abuse
- FBI agent accused of stealing nearly $1 million in cryptocurrency - Court records say an FBI agent diverted more than $900,000 from monitored crypto accounts, a sharp reminder that custody, chain surveillance, and state handling of seized funds create their own trust failures.