Wasabi Research Club #12 - Why I'm not an Entropist with Harry Halpin

About this episode

Severson's paper argues entropy metrics fail for real networks: Tor has poor entropy but strong practical security against realistic local adversaries, while Mix networks and DC-nets score high on entropy but lack adoption. Halpin discusses implications for Bitcoin privacy, coin joins via Wasabi, Electrum surveillance risks, and how geographic diversity matters more than mathematical perfection. Conclusion: threat models must match actual adversary capabilities, not theoretical ideals.