CD198: JUSTIN - FEDIMINT UPDATE

April 7
53 mins

Episode Description

Justin, a prolific contributor to the Fedimint open source project, returns for a six month update. Fedimint is an open protocol providing easy to use, private, programmable, and offline bitcoin payments using bitcoin powered federated chaumian ecash.

Justin on Nostr: https://primal.net/p/nprofile1qqspg8fq209jj56663d2n6r9ehkyjffy7rkqqejfdwvtwzva426avkqxtxxuv
Fedimint Website:
https://fedimint.org/
Fedimint on X:
https://x.com/fedimint
The Ecash App: https://ecash.love/
Fedimint Observer: https://observer.fedimint.org/
Bitcoin Mints: https://bitcoinmints.com/
Iroh: https://www.iroh.computer/

EPISODE: 198
BLOCK: 944073
PRICE: 1466 sats per dollar

(02:06) Justin on Fedimint updates since last visit

(03:20) Ecash App vision as a Fedimint reference client

(04:18) Wallet features: on-chain, lightning, ecash, and nostr integrations

(06:01) Fedimint 101: federations, guardians, and multisig trust model

(07:55) Uptime vs. rug risk and Byzantine fault tolerance in practice

(09:18) Making guardianship easier and raising operational reliability

(10:14) Ecash App status, platforms, backups via nostr, and seed UX

(13:16) Mint/federation selection challenges and web-of-trust ideas

(15:39) Observability tools and on-chain vs. Lightning differences

(16:20) Running a Guardian on Start9: setup and backups

(19:39) Networking with Iroh: DNS removal, privacy, and Tor/VPN plans

(23:14) Lightning gateways: roles, trust, liquidity, and multi-federation ops

(27:59) Gateway UX: multiple gateways, auto-switching, and agents help

(29:01) Gateway pairing and funding flows for Start9 deployments

(32:24) Guardians on Android phones: why, how, and trade-offs

(37:30) Blockchain backends: Bitcoin Core vs. Esplora defaults

(39:30) Mobile data, heat, and practical considerations

(39:34) Agentic payments and why eCash fits well for agents

(43:40) Local communities, AI models, and community services vision

(46:06) Real-world adoption, roadmap, modules, and BOLT12 plans

(48:50) BOLT12 receive-side challenges and trust model nuances

(50:26) Pragmatic trust, permissioned gateways, and next steps

(50:37) How listeners can help and contact info

(51:18) Start9 v0.4.0 update chatter and flashing war stories

(53:01) Closing thoughts, progress praise, and sign-off



more info on the show: https://citadeldispatch.com
learn more about me: https://odell.xyz
monitor the situation: https://citadelwire.com
See all episodes