Two And A Half Coins

This series focuses on teaching you about cryptocurrencies from the very start! We'll start with databases, banks, distributed systems, and we will then go further with Bitcoin, Ethereum, Mina, and other cryptocurrencies that are making the world advance today. About: David Wong is an engineer at O(1) Labs working on the Mina cryptocurrency. Prior to that, he was the security lead for the Diem (also known as Libra) cryptocurrency at Novi, Facebook. And before that a security consultant at the Cryptography Services practice of NCC Group. David is also the author of Real-World Cryptography.

Last refreshed: July 1st, 2025 at 2:41 PM ⓘ

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Episodes

#9 - Tradfi, Central Banks, SWIFT, Libra, CBDCs, with Xavier Lavayssière and Clément Berthou

The hosts discuss the life cycle of a transaction, including the payment and settlement processes. They explain that payments can vary depending on the type of transaction, such as retail, remittances, or e-commerce. Settlements can be done through ACH or RTGS systems, with the latter involving real-time gross settlement in central bank money. The hosts also touch on the trust issues between banks and the potential risks of bankruptcy. They clarify that money doesn't disappear when a bank goes b...

Jul 29, 2024•2 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 9

#8 - Consensus protocols, Bitcoin, Fastpay, and Linera with Mathieu Baudet

Bitcoin was the first decentralized consensus protocol, but it was different from traditional Byzantine fault-tolerant (BFT) protocols. Bitcoin prioritized decentralization and liveness over safety, allowing for forks and probabilistic finality. BFT protocols, on the other hand, prioritize safety and typically stop producing blocks in the event of a network split. Bitcoin's consensus is achieved through mining and the longest chain rule. Safety in consensus means that participants agree on a cha...

Jul 25, 2024•1 hr 33 min•Season 1Ep. 18

#7 - It's time to talk about Ethereum

In this episode, David Wong introduces Ethereum and explains its account-based model and the concept of smart contracts. He compares Ethereum to Bitcoin and highlights the advantages of Ethereum's more expressive programming capabilities. He also discusses the execution of transactions and the role of the Ethereum network in maintaining the state of smart contracts. keywords: Ethereum, smart contracts, account-based model, transactions, Ethereum network Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Ethereum an...

Jul 08, 2024•32 min•Season 1Ep. 7

#6 - Exploring Layer 2 Solutions on Bitcoin

In this episode, David Wong interviews Kevin Hurley and Alex Akselrod to discuss layer 2 solutions on Bitcoin. They explain that layer 2 (L2) is a scalability solution that sits on top of the Bitcoin blockchain and adds additional functionality and programmability. They discuss the history of L2s, mentioning Namecoin and colored coins as early examples. They also explore the distinction between L2s and sidechains, with L2s typically allowing for unilateral exits and sidechains relying on federat...

Jun 27, 2024•51 min•Season 1Ep. 6

#5 - Bitcoin transactions: The Bitcoin script and UTXOs with Arik Sosman

In the 5th episode of this series I interview Arik Sosman (our very first guest!) in order to learn more about Bitcoin transactions. Specifically, how the Bitcoin scripting language works, and what UTXOs are! You can find out more about Arik by following him on twitter: https://twitter.com/arikaleph?lang=en

May 22, 2023•45 min•Season 1Ep. 8

#4 - 51% attacks on proof-of-work chains and Merkle trees!

In this fourth episode I stick with Bitcoin to talk about 51% attacks and double spending in more details. In the second part of the podcast I explain what type of data structure merkle trees are, and why they are used in pretty much all cryptocurrencies.

Sep 07, 2022•20 min•Season 1Ep. 2

#3 - More on Bitcoin: How does mining work? What are hash functions? And what is Proof of Work?

In this third episode we'll dig more into the tech of Bitcoin. But for that, we'll need to talk briefly about cryptographic hash functions and how they work. Once done, we'll talk about mining, proof of work, chains of blocks, and mining pools!

Aug 31, 2022•20 min•Season 1Ep. 3

#2 - Bitcoin from scratch: The Bitcoin client, public keys and signatures, and the miners

In the previous episode we briefly talked about what cryptocurrencies fundamentally are, and what problems they attempt to solve. In this episode we'll dig int our very first cryptocurrency: Bitcoin. This will be a high-level overview that will cover what the software looks like, what cryptographic signatures are, and who are these miners who process transactions.

Aug 31, 2022•17 min•Season 1Ep. 2

#1 - Cryptocurrencies from scratch: databases, the banking world, and distributed systems

This is the first episode of a series on cryptocurrencies. In this series I will tell you about cryptocurrencies from scratch. This first episode is quite non-technical and should be easy to understand for most folks. I will explain what databases are, how banks around the world move money around, and what cryptocurrencies fundamentally offer. In the next episode I will dig more into the first ever cryptocurrency: Bitcoin.

Aug 31, 2022•23 min•Season 3Ep. 1

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