Selected Praise

Some nice things people have said about my work. Listed below in reverse chronological order.

New vaults thread successfully manifested thanks to @hrdng

—Ryan Gentry,
Head of Business Development at Lightning Labs,
2024-02-06 (source)

The third edition would not have happened without @hrdng thanks to him for his excellent work.

—Andreas Antonopoulos,
Author of Mastering Bitcoin,
2024-01-29 (source)

We look forward to supporting the initiatives of Brink’s grants committee, including @bitschmidty, @glozow, @hrdng, @Snyke

—Van Eck Associates Corporation,
$76.4 billion assets under management,
2024-01-12 (source)

@harding Thanks for giving this a thorough read!

—Suhas Daftuar,
Co-founder of Chaincode Labs,
2024-01-12 (source)

Excellent summary @hrdng 💯

—Abubakar Sadiq Ismail,
Bitcoin Core developer funded by Btrust Builders,
2024-01-11 (source)

There should be an annual @hrdng appreciation day. This guy has done, and continues to do, so much for Bitcoin.

—James O’Beirne,
Bitcoin Developer funded by OpenSats,
2024-01-05 (source)

Dave Harding is such an under-appreciated talent. The breadth and consistent quality of his technical writing sets the bar for the rest of us. We are incredibly lucky to have him. Thank you @hrdng

—Adam Jonas,
Special Projects, Chaincode Labs,
2023-12-20 (source)

@hrdng is one of my all-time favorite bitcoiners.

—Michael Goldstein,
Founder and president of SNI,
2023-12-20 (source)

[…] david harding, one of the quietest and most level-headed bitcoin contributors out there

—Udi Wertheimer,
Co-founder of Taproot Wizards,
2023-12-10 (source)

The summary by Dave on the Optech newsletter is really, really great. It really explains all the details and subtlties with some examples. It’s really good to read at your own pace if you want to full understand this.

—Bastian Teinturier,
Chief Technology Officer, ACINQ,
2023-10-27 (source)

Thank you very much for looking deep inside the code actually on the writeup that you’ve done, I think it’s great. You were able to explain things in more simple words than I was able to.

—Maxim Orlovsky,
Chief Engineering Officer, LNP/BP Standards Association,
2023-04-21 (source)

David is simply the best technical writer in bitcoin hands down. Future readers of this essential book will be well served.

—Steve Lee,
Team Lead at Spiral BTC,
2023-02-24 (source)

This is really excellent. @hrdng is imho one of the greatest additions to this project that I could think of! He has been writing @bitcoinoptech for many years and his technical depth and communication is spot on! I think this is really an improvement for the space!

—Rene Pickhardt,
Co-Author of Mastering the Lightning Network,
2023-02-23 (source)

@hrdng is the primary author of the @bitcoinoptech newsletter and if you haven’t heard him talk #bitcoin, you’re in for a real treat tomorrow!

—Mike Schmidt,
Executive Director at Brink.dev,
2022-12-21 (source)

David, thanks for the excellent suggestion, that makes the protocol much more elegant and actually increases my optimism about its practicality.

—Ruben Somsen,
Spacechains & Silent Payments Dev,
2022-10-03 (source)

harding: […] thanks so much for writing these things. It’s really incredible what you do in this newsletter, I don’t know how you keep track of so many things. Sometimes you catch stuff in rust-bitcoin that I even missed.

—Andrew Poelstra,
Director of Research at Blockstream,
2021-08-04 (source)

[I]n the middle of these heated debates, David Harding presented a proposal for a “speedy trial” which lasts only 3 months […] This seemed like the ideal way to proceed […] And that’s exactly what happened on June 12th 2021.

—Vlad Costea,
Host of The Bitcoin Takeover Podcast,
2021-06-15 (source)

The newsletters are the work of many contributors. Foremost amongst them is Dave Harding, who writes the majority of our content. To say that Dave is prolific is an understatement – week after week, he produces concise, clear summaries of the enormously varied research and development happening across the Bitcoin ecosystem. We’re lucky to have someone of his breadth of knowledge, dedication and humility documenting Bitcoin. The extensive body of work that he’s produced for Optech and other projects is a huge asset for all present and future Bitcoiners.

—John Newbery,
Director for Bitcoin Optech,
2021-05-26 (source)

The [coin] flip is a really awesome moment in bitcoin history, regardless of if it succeeds or fails.

@hrdng @benthecarman @roasbeef @jonatack etc all putting aside personal preferences among contended good options is an excellent show of putting the project over ego.

—Jeremy Rubin,
Bitcoin developer at Judica,
2021-04-06 (source)

Many thanks to @bitcoinbrink , their founders, sponsors, team and board (@jfnewbery, @bitschmidty, @antoniehodge, @actuallyCarlaKC, @hrdng , @jerrybrito) for supporting my work!

—Hennadii Stepanov,
Bitcoin Core GUI Maintainer,
2021-03-31 (source)

I’m very thankful to people like @pwuille, @murchandamus, @hrdng, who have spent countless hours online making complex topics more digestible.

They’ve consistently shown a deep care about transferring knowledge, and that’s nothing but humbling. It’s what I love about Bitcoin.

—Lucas Nuzzi,
Network Data at CoinMetrics,
2021-01-23 (source)

[…] prolific Bitcoin technical writer Dave Harding […]

—Alyssa Hertig,
Writer for Coindesk,
2020-11-24 (source)

@jfnewbery and @hrdng have the best reputations in the space. For years they’ve gone above and beyond producing educational materials for new users and experienced developers.

—Matthew Zipkin,
Bitcoin developer,
2020-11-24 (source)

Dave Harding [and] Russell O’Connor both offered helpful comments that assisted significantly with early drafting.

—Anthony Towns,
Bitcoin Protocol developer,
2020-10-26 (source)

I think @hrdng is one of the most important people in educating people about Bitcoin’s tech. Back in the day when no one else outside a few devs understood it, he was already writing API and protocol documentation. Now he’s writing for optech

—Wladimir van der Laan,
Bitcoin Core Lead Developer,
2020-09-07 (source)

Congratulations to all contributors at @bitcoinoptech for curating the most invaluable knowledge about cutting edge #Bitcoin research in now 100 newsletters.

@adamcjonas, @carl_dong, @jfnewbery, @jonatack, @bitschmidty, @moneyball, and especially @hrdng.

Y’all are heroes! 🔥🚀

—Max Hillebrand,
Free software entrepeneur,
2020-06-06 (source)

If you wonder who writes @bitcoinoptech, it’s @hrdng with frequent contributions from @jfnewbery, @adamcjonas, @carl_dong, @bitschmidty, and @moneyball 🚀

—Jon Atack,
Bitcoin open source and protocol engineer,
2020-04-08 (source)

The Bitcoin Optech newsletter is the second big project under the Bitcoin Optech umbrella. Produced by technical writer David Harding and counting 84 editions at the time of writing, the newsletter continues to accumulate a wealth of information, containing high-quality technical documentation and offering an ongoing overview of developments across Bitcoin and Lightning implementations.

Among the more notable efforts carried out through the newsletter, Harding wrote a 24(!)-part series on bech32 sending support, encouraging wallet providers and companies to implement the option to send funds to bech32 addresses

—Aaron van Wirdum,
Writer for Bitcoin Magazine,
2020-02-18 (source)

The Bitcoin Optech weekly newsletter is *the best* way to learn about the technical developments in the ecosystem. Dave Harding is a word wizard that makes it accessible to stay up to date. I highly recommend subscribing.

—Amiti Uttarwar,
Bitcoin Engineer, Xapo,
2020-02-07 (source)

Thank you @hrdng for this and the 50 other newsletters this year. You are one of a kind.

—Adam Jonas,
Special Projects, Chaincode Labs,
2019-12-29 (source)

This newsletter marks the end of a TWENTY FOUR WEEK run at providing educational and motivational content for bech32 native segwit adoption. Incredible work by @hrdng. See all 24 weeks at a glance here: https://bitcoinops.org/en/bech32-sending-support/

—Steve Lee,
Product Manager, Square Crypto,
2019-08-28 (source)

Being a bit detached from IRC and loosely on the bitcoin github those days those newsletter are actually my main source of info concerning what core devs are working on. Thanks @hrdng

—Nicolas Dorier,
Official BTCPay Server emperor,
2019-06-12 (source)

Once again I enjoyed @bitcoinoptech newsletter by @hrdng. This is the most informative and best resource and overview for developers and educators. I think @hrdng gets paid for doing this newsletter but every week it feels like it’s coming directly from David’s heart! Thank you!

—Rene Pickhardt,
Data Scientist,
2019-04-23 (source)

I’m super happy that David Harding wrote the foreword of Grokking Bitcoin! Thank you @hrdng for writing it and for everything you do to enlighten people.

—Kalle Rosenbaum,
Author of Grokking Bitcoin,
2019-04-16 (source)

David Harding was exceptional in his technical review of this book. He reviewed the text three times, with a lot of great comments. He’d better write a book about Bitcoin at some point, because he has an encyclopedic knowledge of nearly everything that’s happened in Bitcoin’s history.

—Jimmy Song,
Author of Programming Bitcoin,
2019-03-02 (source)

This is a must-read year-in-review. I’ve never encountered a year-in-review that not only summarizes the year, but simplifies explanations of complex topics, furthering understanding. Phenomenal year of writing contributions by @hrdng and thorough reviews by @jfnewbery!

—Steve Lee,
Product Manager, Square Crypto,
2018-12-28 (source)

And @hrdng? He just gives his time and expertise away for free, as he has been doing for years, because he’s a treasure and one of the most important and generous contributors in Bitcoin.

—John Newbery,
Director for Bitcoin Optech,
2018-11-03 (source)

Dave Harding […] is one of the most knowledgable, humble, and eloquent OG Bitcoiners out there.

—Pierre Rochard,
Founder, Bitcoin Advisory and co-host of the Noded Podcast,
2018-06-28 (source)

This manuscript benefited immensely from the help, guidance, and technical expertise of Bitcoin [contributor] David Harding, who has an admirable gift for communicating complex technical topics effectively.

—Saifedean Ammous,
Author of The Bitcoin Standard,
2018-04-24 (source)

David is one of the BEST

—Miles Suter,
Developer, Cash App,
2018-03-26 (source)

David Harding (@hrdng) visualized the benefits in the graphic below which comes from his phenomenal post here that I highly recommend: http://bit.ly/2AAxGyB

—Spencer Bogart,
General Partner at Blockchain Capital.,
2018-03-04 (source)

Tweeting out this article from @hrdng on the Bitcoin wiki about techniques to reduce #bitcoin transaction fees again because you should read it https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Techniques_to_reduce_transaction_fees

—Kyle Torpey,
Writer for Bitcoin Magazine and other publications,
2018-01-30 (source)

Best overview so far of proposed MAST upgrade to Bitcoin by @hrdng. It allows for smaller, more sophisticated smart contracts & greater privacy thus more fungibility.

—Christopher Allen,
Co-author of the TLS Security Standard,
2018-01-10 (source)

If you’ve been wondering what Lightning Network Channel Factories might be, @hrdng graced us with a kickass overview here

—Mark (Murch) Erhardt,
Community-elected moderator for the Bitcoin StackExchange,
2018-01-01 (source)

In case you missed it, like @brian_armstrong and @coinbase did, @hrdng wrote a fantastic article on saving money through Bitcoin payment batching back in August. Highly recommended read!

—Michael Goldstein,
President, SNI,
2017-12-26 (source)

@hrdng has published an excellent article showing how exchanges could save up to 80% of fees and 75% of space by just batching their withdrawals.

—Laurent MT,
Creator of the OXT block chain explorer,
2017-12-22 (source)

David Harding is one of the most concise thinkers I’ve encountered in this space and his knowledge is invaluable. If you want to take a deep dive into some of the technical aspects of Bitcoin and Ethereum, join our friends Pierre Rochard and Michael Goldstein as they sit down with David to talk shop for ~45 minutes.

—Marty,
Author of Marty’s Bent (newsletter) and host of Tales From The Crypt (podcast),
2017-11-16 (source)

A LOT of information here. Thank you for the articulate explanations, David!

—Janey Gak,
2017-11-15 (source)

Great explanation from @hrdng on what happens once #SegWit is activated. All facts are presented in a simple & straightforward manner.

—Samson Mow,
Chief Strategy Officer, Blockstream,
2017-03-17 (source)

The author is grateful for […], and David A. Harding for his outstanding contributions to Bitcoin.Stackexchange.com and the Bitcoin Developer Guide.

—Mark (Murch) Erhardt,
Community-elected moderator for the Bitcoin StackExchange,
2016-11-01 (source)

This is great work David, thanks!

—Tuur Demeester,
Founding Partner at Adamant Capital,
2016-05-30 (source)

Nice article by @hrdng explaining by analogy “why contentious hard forks are to be avoided” https://bitcointalk.org/dec/p1.html

—Adam Back,
Inventor of Hashcash and President of Blockstream,
2016-01-29 (source)

@harding: Thank you for all of the amazing work you have done!

—Andreas M. Antonopoulos,
Author of Mastering Bitcoin,
2015-11-16 (source)

IMO you did a better job describing the [BIP65] changes then I did in git master

—Peter Todd,
Author of BIP65,
2015-11-08 (source)

David Harding is a little known but important contributor to Bitcoin. He’s done fantastic work on the developer guide.

—Mike Hearn,
Original author of the BitcoinJ library,
2015-06-16 (source)

@harding That is a huge change, thank you so much for your work on this!

—Saïvann Carignan,
Bitcoin.org Site Maintainer,
2015-04-09 (source)

Just now I found out that David Harding wrote an excellent guide on setting up and running a #bitcoin full node: https://bitcoin.org/en/full-node!

—Wladimir van der Laan,
Bitcoin Core Lead Developer,
2015-03-25 (source)

@harding thank you! good catch!

—Lawrence Nahum,
GreenAddress Wallet Lead Developer,
2015-02-06 (source)

Nice work!

—Jonas Schnelli,
Bitcoin Core GUI Developer,
2015-01-26 (source)

Wow; great work.

—Jameson Lopp,
Statoshi Lead Developer,
2015-01-19 (source)

Awesome, thanks for writing this down!

—Andreas Schildbach,
Bitcoin Wallet for Android Lead Developer,
2015-01-15 (source)