Part 7/14:
The Complexity of Bitcoin’s Peer-to-Peer Network
A core part of her discussion centers on the functioning of Bitcoin's peer-to-peer network. Each node maintains its own "mempool"—a pool of unconfirmed transactions. Gloria explains how nodes discover peers via DNS seeds, diversify connections to ensure network resilience, and implement various strategies to prevent censorship or manipulation.
She emphasizes the delicate balance between network security and decentralization: “You can't connect to every node, but you aim for diverse, honest peers.”