# S17 E26: Steve Thurmond, Calin Culianu & The Phenomenal Big Blockers

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/bitcoin-takeover-podcast-724392/s17-e26-steve-thurmond-calin-culianu-the-phenomenal-big-blockers
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/bitcoin-takeover-podcast-724392/s17-e26-steve-thurmond-calin-culianu-the-phenomenal-big-blockers.md
Podcast: [Bitcoin Takeover Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/bitcoin-takeover-podcast-724392)
Published: 2026-05-27T14:37:00+00:00
Episode link: https://bitcoin-takeover.com/audio/?name=2026-05-27_s17_e26_steve_thurmond_calin_culianu_the_phenomenal_big_blockers_master.mp3
Audio file: https://bitcoin-takeover.com/audio/media/2026-05-27_s17_e26_steve_thurmond_calin_culianu_the_phenomenal_big_blockers_master.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/bitcoin-takeover-podcast-724392/episodes/s17-e26-steve-thurmond-calin-culianu-the-phenomenal-big-blockers
Duration seconds: 29684

## Resource

Almost 9 years since the big split of the Bitcoin community, it's time to learn more about how the Bitcoin Cash chain developed. Calin Culianu is the creator of Fulcrum, an efficient privacy-preserving SPV client. Steve Thurmond is the most ardent advocate for Cash Stamps: a convenient paper wallet system that's used for gifting. Throughout the episode, more BCH community members will join to have the conversation that you will never hear on any other Bitcoin podcast. Time stamps: 00:01:09 Introducing Calin Culianu & Steve Thurmond 00:02:37 The Evolution of Bitcoin Cash 00:03:59 Who is Behind Bitcoin Cash Now? 00:06:34 Narratives and Misconceptions 00:07:53 Vlad's Perspective on the Fork 00:09:44 Bitcoin's Capture and Speculative Nature 00:11:48 Vlad's Journey with Lightning Network 00:16:07 Blockstream and the "Banker" Conspiracy 00:18:33 The Security Budget Debate 00:22:12 The Problem with IOU Systems like Lightning 00:24:02 Vlad's Disappointment with Onboarding 00:24:58 Ethereum's Rise Amidst Bitcoin's Infighting 00:27:52 The Bankers Won, But Crypto Still Exists 00:32:16 The Future of Bitcoin and Firing Core Devs 00:33:08 The Wall of Consensus in BTC 00:39:19 The Multi-Coin Future 00:42:48 Bitcoin Cash's Development Philosophy 00:49:08 Craig Wright's Controversial Involvement 00:55:16 The Impact of Contentious Forks 00:58:55 The Resilience of Bitcoin Cash 01:02:32 The Value of Open Source Competition 01:08:51 Greg Maxwell's Influence 01:12:00 The Ecash fork 01:25:02 Introducing New BCH Community Members 01:26:38 Building Smart Contracts on Bitcoin Cash 01:34:06 Why UTXO is Better than EVM 01:40:07 Can You Run a BCH Node? 01:41:07 The Flawed "Run a Node" Narrative 01:53:27 The Dangers of RBF and the Importance of 0-Conf 02:05:07 One-Minute Blocks Proposal 02:08:02 Fi…

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/bitcoin-takeover-podcast-724392/episodes/s17-e26-steve-thurmond-calin-culianu-the-phenomenal-big-blockers/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/bitcoin-takeover-podcast-724392/s17-e26-steve-thurmond-calin-culianu-the-phenomenal-big-blockers.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.