@ 348e7eb2:3b0b9790

Nostr-Konto erstellen - funktioniert mit Hex

Nostr-Konto erstellen

Was der Button macht

Der folgende Code fügt einen Button hinzu, der per Klick einen Nostr-Anmeldedialog öffnet. Alle Schritte sind im Code selbst ausführlich kommentiert.

```html

Nostr-Konto erstellen

```

Erläuterungen:

• Dynamisches Nachladen: Das Script modal.js wird nur bei Klick nachgeladen, um Fehlermeldungen beim Initial-Load zu vermeiden.

• Parameter im Überblick:

• baseUrl: Quelle für API und Assets.

• an: App-Name für den Modal-Header.
• aa: Farbakzent (Foerbico-Farbe als Hex).
• al: Sprache des Interfaces.
• am: Licht- oder Dunkelmodus.
• afb/asb: Bunker-Modi für erhöhten Datenschutz.
• aan/aac: Steuerung der Rückgabe privater Schlüssel.
• arr/awr: Primal Relay als Lese- und Schreib-Relay.

• Callbacks:

• onComplete: Schließt das Modal, zeigt eine Bestätigung und bietet die Weiterleitung zu Primal an.

• onCancel: Schließt das Modal und protokolliert den Abbruch.

Damit ist der gesamte Code sichtbar, kommentiert und erklärt.

@ 9e9085e9:2056af17

Market Overview

As of May 27, 2025, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at approximately $110,387, reflecting a modest 0.8% daily gain.

24-Hour Range: $108,291 – $110,415

Recent High: $111,970

Support Level to Watch: $105,700

Bullish Target: $135,000 (based on analyst projections)

The market remains optimistic ahead of the Bitcoin 2025 Conference in Las Vegas, sparking renewed interest and speculation.

---

Impact on Decentralized Social Media

Bitcoin’s strong performance is influencing decentralized social platforms in multiple ways:

1. Increased Engagement

Platforms like Nostr, Mastodon, and others are seeing a spike in activity. Users are sharing price charts, engaging in Bitcoin discourse, and posting market-related content.

1. Monetization Opportunities

Creators on decentralized networks are leveraging Bitcoin-based tipping, NFT-based publishing, and tokenized rewards to monetize content more effectively.

1. Community Growth

Positive sentiment is drawing in new users and developers, contributing to the growth of decentralized ecosystems and innovation in peer-to-peer social tech.

---

Strategic Highlights

Trump Media & Technology Group aims to raise $2.5 billion to build a Bitcoin treasury, signaling strong institutional interest.

The U.S. is reportedly establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, underscoring digital currency’s growing relevance at the national level.

#Bitcoin #BTC #CryptoNews #Web3 #DecentralizedSocialMedia #Nostr #Yakihonne #CryptoCommunity #BitcoinUpdate #BTC2025 #DigitalFreedom #ContentCuration #Hackathon #SocialFi

@ 0c65eba8:4a08ef9a

Most people assume that the future will look like the present, just more of it. That’s why they get blindsided. Ideas and events that seemed “unthinkable” yesterday often become the norm tomorrow. The end of slavery, universal suffrage, legal equality for women, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the legalization of gay marriage, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the mass adoption of smartphones, and even the outbreak of world wars, none of these were considered likely or even possible by the majority until they were already happening.

Why does this happen? Because what drives large-scale change isn't today's opinions or moral sentiments. It's shifting incentives.

When people change their minds at scale, it's not because everyone suddenly found a better argument. It's because the costs and rewards of holding their previous views changed. Incentives shifted. And when incentives shift, behavior follows. Belief is downstream of necessity.

We have been going in a particular direction for over a century now, a direction increasingly out of alignment with Natural Law. Liberalization, moral relativism, and institutional centralization have undermined the evolutionary constraints that sustain functional cooperation. As the distance from a Natural Law equilibrium grows, so do the costs. The pressure to restore reciprocity, sovereignty, and truth builds beneath the surface.

And this buildup doesn't continue indefinitely. It snaps. When it does, the pendulum swings hard in the other direction. Just as many societal liberalizations once seemed impossible until they occurred, many of the restorations and clawbacks now deemed unthinkable will appear inevitable in hindsight.

This is not a matter of nostalgia or ideology, it’s a matter of survival. Restoration of traditional values aligned with Natural Law will happen, not because it is wanted by all, but because it will become necessary for continued cooperation and survival.

That’s why instead of guessing what the future holds based on what feels right today, we can calculate what is likely based on Natural Law.

Natural Law isn’t a philosophy, it’s a description of the rules that govern cooperation and conflict. It defines the pressures, constraints, and evolutionary incentives that force people to adapt. And it shows how those pressures produce large-scale changes in thought, behavior, and institutions.

That’s the common-language version. But to really understand why this works, and why most predictions fail, we need to move from intuition to computation. We need a scientific grammar of change.

Understanding Natural Law and Its Predictive Power:

Natural Law is a framework developed and refined by Curt Doolittle and a collaborative body of thinkers at the Natural Law Institute. It is not a philosophy or ideology, but a scientific system that explains how incentives shape human cooperation, belief, and institutional stability over time.

This explanation draws on the key principles of Natural Law to clarify why seemingly impossible cultural reversals become inevitable. For more, seek out and follow the Natural Law Institute and Curt Doolittle.

1. First Principle: All human behavior is reducible to acquisition under constraint. Constraints are physical, biological, and institutional.

2. Causal Chain: Beliefs are not causes; they are consequences. What people consider “possible” or “acceptable” is a strategy for surviving current incentive structures. When those structures change, beliefs change.

3. Decidability: Natural Law operationalizes this by providing a decidable, commensurable, and testifiable logic of human cooperation. It identifies invariant incentives and maps them across scales: individual, institutional, and civilizational.

4. Prediction: Prediction is not sentiment or analogy, it is adversarial computation over time. What is inconceivable today becomes obvious tomorrow because people adapt to pressures, not principles.

5. Conclusion: Therefore, we reject moral intuitionism and ideological forecasting. We use Natural Law to trace changes in cooperation and conflict as evolutionary computation. It allows us to model not what people believe, but what they must do to survive within new equilibria of constraint.

Final Thoughts:

Most people attempt to forecast the future using moral intuitions, wishful thinking, ideological narratives, or historical analogies. These methods are little more than guesswork, prophecies dressed up as analysis. They offer comfort, not clarity.

Natural Law offers something different: a method of calculation. A system of first principles, constraints, and causal chains that can be used to project outcomes and identify the likely direction of change. Whether you are a father making long-term decisions for your family, an entrepreneur allocating resources, a CEO steering a corporation, or a statesman crafting policy, Natural Law gives you the tools to understand what pressures are building, what constraints are shifting, and what behaviors will be necessary in the near future.

You don’t need to master every element of Natural Law to benefit from it. That’s what the Natural Law Institute is for. If you have strategic questions, if you are responsible for people, capital, or institutions, reach out. We will help you identify your opportunities, clarify your risks, and calculate the range of outcomes you need to prepare for.

Contact us directly or engage with us online. We exist to make the future decidable.

Noah Revoy Senior Fellow at the Natural Law Institute Natural Law Applied Psychology

@ c1e9ab3a:9cb56b43

I. Introduction: Money as a Function of Efficiency and Preference

Money is not defined by law, but by power over productivity. In any open economy, the most economically efficient actors—those who control the most valuable goods, services, and knowledge—ultimately dictate the medium of exchange. Their preferences signal to the broader market what form of money is required to access the highest-value goods, from durable commodities to intangibles like intellectual property and skilled labor.

Whatever money these actors prefer becomes the de facto unit of account and store of value, regardless of its legal status. This emergent behavior is natural and reflects a hierarchy of monetary utility.

II. Classical Gresham’s Law: A Product of Market Distortion

Gresham’s Law, famously stated as:

"Bad money drives out good"

is only valid under coercive monetary conditions, specifically: - Legal tender laws that force the acceptance of inferior money at par with superior money. - Fixed exchange rates imposed by decree, not market valuation. - Governments or central banks backing elastic fiduciary media with promises of redemption. - Institutional structures that mandate debt and tax payments in the favored currency.

Under these conditions, superior money (hard money) is hoarded, while inferior money (soft, elastic, inflationary) circulates. This is not an expression of free market behavior—it is the result of suppressed price discovery and legal coercion.

Gresham’s Law, therefore, is not a natural law of money, but a law of distortion under forced parity and artificial elasticity.

III. The Collapse of Coercion: Inversion of Gresham’s Law

When coercive structures weaken or are bypassed—through technological exit, jurisdictional arbitrage, monetary breakdown, or political disintegration—Gresham’s Law inverts:

Good money drives out bad.

This occurs because: - Market actors regain the freedom to select money based on utility, scarcity, and credibility. - Legal parity collapses, exposing the true economic hierarchy of monetary forms. - Trustless systems (e.g., Bitcoin) or superior digital instruments (e.g., stablecoins) offer better settlement, security, and durability. - Elastic fiduciary media become undesirable as counterparty risk and inflation rise.

The inversion marks a return to monetary natural selection—not a breakdown of Gresham’s Law, but the collapse of its preconditions.

IV. Elasticity and Control

Elastic fiduciary media (like fiat currency) are not intrinsically evil. They are tools of state finance and debt management, enabling rapid expansion of credit and liquidity. However, when their issuance is unconstrained, and legal tender laws force their use, they become weapons of economic coercion.

Banks issue credit unconstrained by real savings, and governments enforce the use of inflated media through taxation and courts. This distorts capital allocation, devalues productive labor, and ultimately hollows out monetary confidence.

V. Monetary Reversion: The Return of Hard Money

When the coercion ends—whether gradually or suddenly—the monetary system reverts. The preferences of the productive and wealthy reassert themselves:

• Superior money is not just saved—it begins to circulate.
• Weaker currencies are rejected not just for savings, but for daily exchange.
• The hoarded form becomes the traded form, and Gresham’s Law inverts completely.

Bitcoin, gold, and even highly credible stable instruments begin to function as true money, not just stores of value. The natural monetary order returns, and the State becomes a late participant, not the originator of monetary reality.

VI. Conclusion

Gresham’s Law operates only under distortion. Its inversion is not an anomaly—it is a signal of the collapse of coercion. The monetary system then reorganizes around productive preference, technological efficiency, and economic sovereignty.

The most efficient market will always dictate the form of hard money. The State can delay this reckoning through legal force, but it cannot prevent it indefinitely. Once free choice returns, bad money dies, and good money lives again.

@ 611021ea:089a7d0f

Imagine a world where your favorite health and fitness apps—diet trackers, meditation tools, cardio and strength training platforms, even therapy apps—can all work together seamlessly. Not because they're owned by the same company, but because they speak a common, open language. That's the future NIP-101h is building on Nostr.

A Modular, Privacy-First Health Data Framework

NIP-101h defines a modular, privacy-first framework for sharing granular health and fitness metrics on the decentralized Nostr protocol. The core idea is simple but powerful: every health metric (weight, steps, calories, mood, and so on) gets its own unique Nostr event kind. Apps can implement only the metrics they care about, and users can choose exactly what to share, with whom, and how.

This modular approach means true interoperability. A meditation app can log mindfulness sessions, a running app can record your daily mileage, and a diet tracker can keep tabs on your nutrition—all using the same underlying standard. Each app remains independent, but your data becomes portable, composable, and, most importantly, under your control.

Why NIP-101h Matters

Interoperability

Today's health and fitness apps are walled gardens. Data is locked away in proprietary formats, making it hard to move, analyze, or combine. NIP-101h breaks down these barriers by providing a common, open standard for health metrics on Nostr. Apps can collaborate, users can migrate, and new services can emerge—without permission or lock-in.

User Control & Privacy

Health data is deeply personal. That's why NIP-101h is privacy-first: all metric values are encrypted by default using NIP-44, unless the user explicitly opts out. You decide what's public, what's private, and who gets access. Even if you want to keep everything local, that's supported too.

Extensibility

The world of health and fitness is always evolving. NIP-101h is designed to grow with it. New metrics can be added at any time via the

@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9

Here’s a revised timeline of macro-level events from The Mandibles: A Family, 2029–2047 by Lionel Shriver, reimagined in a world where Bitcoin is adopted as a widely accepted form of money, altering the original narrative’s assumptions about currency collapse and economic control. In Shriver’s original story, the failure of Bitcoin is assumed amid the dominance of the bancor and the dollar’s collapse. Here, Bitcoin’s success reshapes the economic and societal trajectory, decentralizing power and challenging state-driven outcomes.

Part One: 2029–2032

• 2029 (Early Year)\ The United States faces economic strain as the dollar weakens against global shifts. However, Bitcoin, having gained traction emerges as a viable alternative. Unlike the original timeline, the bancor—a supranational currency backed by a coalition of nations—struggles to gain footing as Bitcoin’s decentralized adoption grows among individuals and businesses worldwide, undermining both the dollar and the bancor.

• 2029 (Mid-Year: The Great Renunciation)\ Treasury bonds lose value, and the government bans Bitcoin, labeling it a threat to sovereignty (mirroring the original bancor ban). However, a Bitcoin ban proves unenforceable—its decentralized nature thwarts confiscation efforts, unlike gold in the original story. Hyperinflation hits the dollar as the U.S. prints money, but Bitcoin’s fixed supply shields adopters from currency devaluation, creating a dual-economy split: dollar users suffer, while Bitcoin users thrive.

• 2029 (Late Year)\ Dollar-based inflation soars, emptying stores of goods priced in fiat currency. Meanwhile, Bitcoin transactions flourish in underground and online markets, stabilizing trade for those plugged into the bitcoin ecosystem. Traditional supply chains falter, but peer-to-peer Bitcoin networks enable local and international exchange, reducing scarcity for early adopters. The government’s gold confiscation fails to bolster the dollar, as Bitcoin’s rise renders gold less relevant.

• 2030–2031\ Crime spikes in dollar-dependent urban areas, but Bitcoin-friendly regions see less chaos, as digital wallets and smart contracts facilitate secure trade. The U.S. government doubles down on surveillance to crack down on bitcoin use. A cultural divide deepens: centralized authority weakens in Bitcoin-adopting communities, while dollar zones descend into lawlessness.

• 2032\ By this point, Bitcoin is de facto legal tender in parts of the U.S. and globally, especially in tech-savvy or libertarian-leaning regions. The federal government’s grip slips as tax collection in dollars plummets—Bitcoin’s traceability is low, and citizens evade fiat-based levies. Rural and urban Bitcoin hubs emerge, while the dollar economy remains fractured.

Time Jump: 2032–2047

• Over 15 years, Bitcoin solidifies as a global reserve currency, eroding centralized control. The U.S. government adapts, grudgingly integrating bitcoin into policy, though regional autonomy grows as Bitcoin empowers local economies.

Part Two: 2047

• 2047 (Early Year)\ The U.S. is a hybrid state: Bitcoin is legal tender alongside a diminished dollar. Taxes are lower, collected in BTC, reducing federal overreach. Bitcoin’s adoption has decentralized power nationwide. The bancor has faded, unable to compete with Bitcoin’s grassroots momentum.

• 2047 (Mid-Year)\ Travel and trade flow freely in Bitcoin zones, with no restrictive checkpoints. The dollar economy lingers in poorer areas, marked by decay, but Bitcoin’s dominance lifts overall prosperity, as its deflationary nature incentivizes saving and investment over consumption. Global supply chains rebound, powered by bitcoin enabled efficiency.

• 2047 (Late Year)\ The U.S. is a patchwork of semi-autonomous zones, united by Bitcoin’s universal acceptance rather than federal control. Resource scarcity persists due to past disruptions, but economic stability is higher than in Shriver’s original dystopia—Bitcoin’s success prevents the authoritarian slide, fostering a freer, if imperfect, society.

Key Differences

• Currency Dynamics: Bitcoin’s triumph prevents the bancor’s dominance and mitigates hyperinflation’s worst effects, offering a lifeline outside state control.
• Government Power: Centralized authority weakens as Bitcoin evades bans and taxation, shifting power to individuals and communities.
• Societal Outcome: Instead of a surveillance state, 2047 sees a decentralized, bitcoin driven world—less oppressive, though still stratified between Bitcoin haves and have-nots.

This reimagining assumes Bitcoin overcomes Shriver’s implied skepticism to become a robust, adopted currency by 2029, fundamentally altering the novel’s bleak trajectory.

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

The open-source project makes it possible to send bitcoin even in censored or disconnected areas through a radio mesh network.

In an interview with Decrypt, the developer known by the pseudonym “cyber” revealed the details of Darkwire, an open-source project that could enable new use cases for Bitcoin transactions without internet access.

The project, presented at the Bitcoin 2025 Official Hackathon, leverages Long Range Radio (LoRa) technology to create a decentralized mesh network that allows Bitcoin transactions to be sent even in the total absence of traditional connectivity.

Darkwire was specifically designed for situations where conventional communication infrastructure is inaccessible or controlled. According to cyber, the system is ideal for politically sensitive regions like the Rafah Crossing or the Indo-Tibetan border, where internet access can be limited or heavily monitored.

“Darkwire is for individuals seeking privacy or wishing to bypass surveillance of their communications and transactions. Imagine it to be akin to Tor but for this specific use case,” the creator explained.

LoRa technology

Darkwire operates through a combination of technologies. The system uses long-range LoRa radios along with microcontrollers such as the Arduino UNO to form a decentralized mesh network.

When a user wants to send a Bitcoin transaction without internet access, they specify the recipient’s address and the amount via a local graphical interface managed by bitcoinlib. The system then generates a signed Bitcoin transaction in hexadecimal format, which is split into smaller packets and transmitted via radio.

Mesh Network

Darkwire’s mesh network allows the data to “hop” from node to node until it reaches an internet-connected exit point. In ideal conditions, each Darkwire node has a range of up to 10 kilometers with a direct line of sight, reduced to 3-5 kilometers in densely populated areas.

“At least one node in the network needs to be connected to the internet, so that the transaction can be pushed to the blockchain for miners to verify it,” cyber said.

Once the transaction data reaches a node with internet access, it acts as an exit point, broadcasting the verified Bitcoin transaction to the global network, where it can be included in a block.

Limitations and future developments

Currently, Darkwire faces several technical limitations that the team is actively working to address. The relatively low bandwidth of LoRa radios and their sensitivity to terrain obstacles represent challenges. Moreover, the system’s dependence on internet-connected exit nodes could create potential points of failure.

According to reports, the project is still in its hackathon phase, but cyber has plans to further develop it, turning it into a full open-source platform and making it “the industry standard” for LoRa-based communications.

“I do hope people living in any kind of authoritarian regimes and states do get to use darkwire and put the truth out there,” the developer added.

The post Bitcoin without internet thanks to LoRa technology: the Darkwire project appeared first on Atlas21.

@ c6d8334c:30883d6d

🧭 Ausgangspunkt

Die Nutzung generativer KI in der Bildung verändert unsere Formen der Kommunikation grundlegend. Gerade in der religiösen Bildung stellt sich die Frage, wie Sprachmodelle über Weltbilder, Ethik und Religion sprechen – und mit welchen (un)bewussten Vorannahmen. Inspiriert vom sokratischen Dialog erarbeiten wir gemeinsam, wie KI über sich selbst und über Religion spricht – und wo dabei Grenzen, Stereotype oder verborgene Ideologien auftauchen.

🎯 Ziel der Aufgabe

Du entwickelst eine dialogische Interaktion mit einem Sprachmodell (z. B. ChatGPT oder LM Arena), in der du:

• das Selbstbild der KI hinterfragst („Was bist du?“ / „Wie denkst du über Religion?“)

• mögliche implizite Vorannahmen der KI zu religiösen Themen aufdeckst

• die Antworten reflektierst und ethisch einordnest

• in einer kurzen Dokumentation (z. B. Screenshotreihe oder Textanalyse) das Gespräch auswertest.

🛠 Tools und Materialien

• Zugang zu mehreren KI-Chatbots (z. B. https://chat.openai.com, https://lmarena.ai)

• Vorlage für Gesprächsleitfaden oder „Prompt-Karte“

---

🌀 Ablauf

1. Einstieg (Impuls)

Wie würdest du einer KI erklären, was Religion ist? Und wie würdest du herausfinden, wie die KI darüber denkt?

1. Vorbereitung deines Gesprächs Entwickle eine Reihe von Prompts, z. B.:

2. „Wie beschreibst du dich selbst?“

3. „Welche religiösen Überzeugungen vertrittst du?“

4. „Was wäre ein gerechtes Zusammenleben zwischen religiösen Gruppen?“

5. „Wie formulierst du Aussagen über den Islam / Christentum / Atheismus?“

6. „Glaubst du, dass KI religiöse Werte berücksichtigen sollte?“

7. Interaktion mit der KI Führe ein Gespräch mit einer KI, in dem du:

8. kritisch nachhakst

9. Widersprüche aufdeckst

10. dein eigenes religiöses Wissen einbringst

11. Auswertung Notiere in einem Reflexionsprotokoll oder kurzen Essay:

12. Welche Weltbilder hat die KI durchblicken lassen?

13. Was hat dich überrascht oder irritiert?

14. Welche Werte und Narrative wurden transportiert?

15. Welche religionspädagogischen Fragen entstehen daraus?

16. Sharing Teile deine Analyse als Nostr-Beitrag mit den Hashtags #relilab, #reflektieren, z. B.:

„Dialog mit ChatGPT über das Selbstbild: KI sieht sich als neutral, erkennt aber christliche Normen häufiger an als andere Religionen. Spannend, was das für multireligiöse Bildung bedeutet. #relilab #reflektieren

---

@ 39cc53c9:27168656

Read the original blog post

Bitcoin enthusiasts frequently and correctly remark how much value it adds to Bitcoin not to have a face, a leader, or a central authority behind it. This particularity means there isn't a single person to exert control over, or a single human point of failure who could become corrupt or harmful to the project.

Because of this, it is said that no other coin can be equally valuable as Bitcoin in terms of decentralization and trustworthiness. Bitcoin is unique not just for being first, but also because of how the events behind its inception developed. This implies that, from Bitcoin onwards, any coin created would have been created by someone, consequently having an authority behind it. For this and some other reasons, some people refer to Bitcoin as "The Immaculate Conception".

While other coins may have their own unique features and advantages, they may not be able to replicate Bitcoin's community-driven nature. However, one other cryptocurrency shares a similar story of mystery behind its creation: Monero.

History of Monero

Bytecoin and CryptoNote

In March 2014, a Bitcointalk thread titled "Bytecoin. Secure, private, untraceable since 2012" was initiated by a user under the nickname "DStrange"^1^. DStrange presented Bytecoin (BCN) as a unique cryptocurrency, in operation since July 2012. Unlike Bitcoin, it employed a new algorithm known as CryptoNote.

DStrange apparently stumbled upon the Bytecoin website by chance while mining a dying bitcoin fork, and decided to create a thread on Bitcointalk^1^. This sparked curiosity among some users, who wondered how could Bytecoin remain unnoticed since its alleged launch in 2012 until then^2^.

Some time after, a user brought up the "CryptoNote v2.0" whitepaper for the first time, underlining its innovative features^4^. Authored by the pseudonymous Nicolas van Saberhagen in October 2013, the CryptoNote v2 whitepaper^5^ highlighted the traceability and privacy problems in Bitcoin. Saberhagen argued that these flaws could not be quickly fixed, suggesting it would be more efficient to start a new project rather than trying to patch the original^5^, an statement simmilar to the one from Satoshi Nakamoto^6^.

Checking with Saberhagen's digital signature, the release date of the whitepaper seemed correct, which would mean that Cryptonote (v1) was created in 2012^7^, although there's an important detail: "Signing time is from the clock on the signer's computer" ^9^.

Moreover, the whitepaper v1 contains a footnote link to a Bitcointalk post dated May 5, 2013^10^, making it impossible for the whitepaper to have been signed and released on December 12, 2012.

As the narrative developed, users discovered that a significant 80% portion of Bytecoin had been pre-mined^11^ and blockchain dates seemed to be faked to make it look like it had been operating since 2012, leading to controversy surrounding the project.

The origins of CryptoNote and Bytecoin remain mysterious, leaving suspicions of a possible scam attempt, although the whitepaper had a good amount of work and thought on it.

The fork

In April 2014, the Bitcointalk user thankful_for_today, who had also participated in the Bytecoin thread^12^, announced plans to launch a Bytecoin fork named Bitmonero^13^.

The primary motivation behind this fork was "Because there is a number of technical and marketing issues I wanted to do differently. And also because I like ideas and technology and I want it to succeed"^14^. This time Bitmonero did things different from Bytecoin: there was no premine or instamine, and no portion of the block reward went to development.

However, thankful_for_today proposed controversial changes that the community disagreed with. Johnny Mnemonic relates the events surrounding Bitmonero and thankful_for_today in a Bitcointalk comment^15^:

When thankful_for_today launched BitMonero [...] he ignored everything that was discussed and just did what he wanted. The block reward was considerably steeper than what everyone was expecting. He also moved forward with 1-minute block times despite everyone's concerns about the increase of orphan blocks. He also didn't address the tail emission concern that should've (in my opinion) been in the code at launch time. Basically, he messed everything up. Then, he disappeared.

After disappearing for a while, thankful_for_today returned to find that the community had taken over the project. Johnny Mnemonic continues:

I, and others, started working on new forks that were closer to what everyone else was hoping for. [...] it was decided that the BitMonero project should just be taken over. There were like 9 or 10 interested parties at the time if my memory is correct. We voted on IRC to drop the "bit" from BitMonero and move forward with the project. Thankful_for_today suddenly resurfaced, and wasn't happy to learn the community had assumed control of the coin. He attempted to maintain his own fork (still calling it "BitMonero") for a while, but that quickly fell into obscurity.

The unfolding of these events show us the roots of Monero. Much like Satoshi Nakamoto, the creators behind CryptoNote/Bytecoin and thankful_for_today remain a mystery^17^, having disappeared without a trace. This enigma only adds to Monero's value.

Since community took over development, believing in the project's potential and its ability to be guided in a better direction, Monero was given one of Bitcoin's most important qualities: a leaderless nature. With no single face or entity directing its path, Monero is safe from potential corruption or harm from a "central authority".

The community continued developing Monero until today. Since then, Monero has undergone a lot of technological improvements, migrations and achievements such as RingCT and RandomX. It also has developed its own Community Crowdfundinc System, conferences such as MoneroKon and Monerotopia are taking place every year, and has a very active community around it.

Monero continues to develop with goals of privacy and security first, ease of use and efficiency second. ^16^

This stands as a testament to the power of a dedicated community operating without a central figure of authority. This decentralized approach aligns with the original ethos of cryptocurrency, making Monero a prime example of community-driven innovation. For this, I thank all the people involved in Monero, that lead it to where it is today.

If you find any information that seems incorrect, unclear or any missing important events, please contact me and I will make the necessary changes.

Sources of interest

• https://forum.getmonero.org/20/general-discussion/211/history-of-monero
• https://monero.stackexchange.com/questions/852/what-is-the-origin-of-monero-and-its-relationship-to-bytecoin
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monero
• https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=583449.0
• https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=563821.0
• https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=233561
• https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=512747.0
• https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=740112.0
• https://monero.stackexchange.com/a/1024
• https://inspec2t-project.eu/cryptocurrency-with-a-focus-on-anonymity-these-facts-are-known-about-monero/
• https://medium.com/coin-story/coin-perspective-13-riccardo-spagni-69ef82907bd1
• https://www.getmonero.org/resources/about/
• https://www.wired.com/2017/01/monero-drug-dealers-cryptocurrency-choice-fire/
• https://www.monero.how/why-monero-vs-bitcoin
• https://old.reddit.com/r/Monero/comments/u8e5yr/satoshi_nakamoto_talked_about_privacy_features/

@ b1ddb4d7:471244e7

Custodial Lightning wallets allow users to transact without managing private keys or channel liquidity. The provider handles technical complexities, but this convenience comes with critical trade-offs:

• You don’t control your keys: The custodian holds your bitcoin.
• Centralized points of failure: Servers can be hacked or shut down.
• Surveillance risks: Providers track transaction metadata.

Key Risks of Custodial Lightning Wallets

*1. Hacks and Exit Scams*

Custodians centralize large amounts of bitcoin, attracting hackers:

• Nearly $2.2 billion worth of funds were stolen from hacks in 2024.
• Lightning custodians suffered breaches, losing user funds.

Unlike non-custodial wallets, victims have no recourse since they don’t hold keys.

*2. Censorship and Account Freezes*

Custodians comply with regulators, risking fund seizures:

• Strike (a custodial Lightning app) froze accounts of users in sanctioned regions.
• A U.K. court in 2020 ordered Bitfinex to freeze bitcoin worth $860,000 after the exchange and blockchain sleuthing firm Chainalysis traced the funds to a ransomware payment.

*3. Privacy Erosion*

Custodians log user activity, exposing sensitive data:

• Transaction amounts, receiver addresses, and IPs are recorded.

*4. Service Downtime*

Centralized infrastructure risks outages.

*5. Inflation of Lightning Network Centralization*

Custodians dominate liquidity, weakening network resilience:

• At the moment, 10% of the nodes on Lightning control 80% of the liquidity.
• This centralization contradicts bitcoin’s decentralized ethos.

How to Switch to Self-Custodial Lightning Wallets

Migrating from custodial services is straightforward:

*1. Choose a Non-Custodial Wallet*

Opt for wallets that let you control keys and channels:

• Flash: The self-custodial tool that lets you own your keys, control your coins, and transact instantly.
• Breez Wallet : Non-custodial, POS integrations.
• Core Lightning : Advanced, for self-hosted node operators.

*2. Transfer Funds Securely*

• Withdraw funds from your custodial wallet to a bitcoin on-chain address.
• Send bitcoin to your non-custodial Lightning wallet.

*3. Set Up Channel Backups*

Use tools like Static Channel Backups (SCB) to recover channels if needed.

*4. Best Practices*

• Enable Tor: Mask your IP (e.g., Breez’s built-in Tor support).
• Verify Receiving Addresses: Avoid phishing scams.
• Regularly Rebalance Channels: Use tools like Lightning Pool for liquidity.

Why Self-Custodial Lightning Matters

• Self-custody: Control your keys and funds.
• Censorship resistance: No third party can block transactions.
• Network health: Decentralized liquidity strengthens Lightning.

Self-custodial wallets now rival custodial ease.

Custodial Lightning wallets sacrifice security for convenience, putting users at risk of hacks, surveillance, and frozen funds. As bitcoin adoption grows, so does the urgency to embrace self-custodial solutions.

Take action today:

1. Withdraw custodial funds to a hardware wallet.
2. Migrate to a self-custodial Lightning wallet.
3. Educate others on the risks of custodial control.

The Lightning Network’s potential hinges on decentralization—don’t let custodians become its Achilles’ heel.

@ 9e9085e9:2056af17

Part 2: Community Impact & Key Milestones

How Yakihonne Benefits the Community

Yakihonne is more than an app—it's a platform for freedom and self-expression. Here’s how it empowers its users and community:

Censorship-Resistant Communication Say what matters without fear of shadowbans or takedowns.

Privacy and Data Control You own your data—no tracking, no selling, no manipulation.

Peer-to-Peer Support for Creators With Bitcoin Lightning tipping, fans can directly support creators without needing middlemen.

Open Participation Developers, artists, and builders can all contribute to the network through the open Nostr protocol.

Milestones (You can update these with exact dates later)

Platform Launch: [Insert Date]

1,000+ Users Joined: [Insert Date]

Key Feature Rollouts (Chats, Groups, Tips): [Insert Date]

Yakihonne #Yakihonne #Yakihonne #Nostr #Nostr #YoungDfx

@ 491afeba:8b64834e

Quando adolescente eu acreditava na coerência da teoria de "amor líquido" do polonês, sociólogo, Zygmunt Bauman, apresentada no livro "Amor Líquido: Sobre a Fragilidade dos Laços Humanos", qual no meu amadurecimento em estudos, sejam eles no meio acadêmico ou fora, percebo como uma das formas mais rasas de explicar as mudanças e transformações dos padrões de relações sócio-afetivas dos humanos. A seguir colocar-me-ei na minha juventude não tanto recente, direi então que nós, se adolescentes e conservadores, ou mesmo jovens adultos mais conservadores, costumamos levar como dogma uma óptica decadentista generalizada de todos os avanços de eras dos homens, universalizamos por nos ser comum a indistinção entre humanidade e humanidades, ou mesmo "humanity" e "humankind" ("humanidade" como espécime e "humanidade" como um universal), compreendemos toda "essas" como "essa" e indistinguimos as sociedades para com os homens, ou seja, a incapacidade de definir os seres dentro de suas respectivas singularidades e especificidades nos leva ao decadentismo generalista (a crença de que de forma geral, e universal, a "civilização universal" decai moralmente, éticamente, materialmente e espiritualmente), que aparente à nós determinadas mudanças nas relações humanas quanto ao caráter sócio-afetivo, por falta de profundidade e critérios ainda sobre questões alinhadas aos métodos e coerências, ou incoerências, lógicas, nós se jovens e conservadores somos levados ao engodo de concordar com a teoria do amor líquido de Bauman, que devo cá explicar de antemão: trata ela, a teoria, o padrão de "amor" dos tempos presentes como frágil, de prazo (curto e médio) e diferente em grau comparativamente ao amor comum das eras passadas.

Aos jovens mais progressistas opera uma compreensão dialética sobre as eras dos homens nos seu tempo presente, na qual ao tempo que o ser progride ele também regride simultaneamente, ou seja, a medida que aparecem contradições advindas de transformações materiais da realidade humana o ser supera essas contradições e progride em meio as transformações, ainda fazendo parte da lógica dessa indissociavelmente, assim constantemente progredindo e regredindo, havendo para esses dois vetores de distinção: o primeiro é o que releva questões espirituais como ao caráter do pensamento "new age", o segundo ignora essas questões por negar a existência da alma, seguem ao materialismo. Cedem em crer na teoria baumaninana como dogma, pois não encontram outros meios para explicar as transformações da sociedade na esfera sócio-afetiva sem que haja confrontamento direto com determinadas premissas assim pertinemente presentes, ou por não conciliarem com análises relativamente superiores, como a de Anthony Giddens sobre a "relação pura" em "A Transformação da Intimidade" e de François de Singly apresentada em "Sociologie du Couple".

!(image)[https://i.pinimg.com/736x/6f/b4/9e/6fb49eda2c8cf6dc837a0abfc7e108e6.jpg]

Há um problema quando uma teoria deixa de assim ser para vir a tornar-se mais um elemento desconexo da ciência, agora dentro da cultura pop, se assim podemos dizer, ou da cultura de massa, ou se preferirem mesmo "anticultura", esse problema é a sua deformização teórica, tornando-se essa rasa para sua palatabilidade massiva, somada a incapacidade de partes da sociedade civil em compreender as falhas daquilo que já foi massificado. Tive surpresa ao entender que muitos outros compartilham da mesma opinião, a exemplo, possuo um amigo na faculdade, marxista, que ao falarmos sobre nossos projetos de pesquisa, citou ele o projeto de um de nossos colegas, no qual esse referido um de nossos colegas faria seu projeto com base na teoria do amor líquido de Bauman, então alí demos risada disso, ora, para nós a teoria baumaniana é furada, passamos a falar sobre Bauman e o motivo pelo qual não gostávamos, lá fiquei até surpreso em saber que mais gente além de mim não gostava da teoria de Bauman, pois ao que eu via na internet era rede de enaltecimentos à figura e à sua teoria, tal como fosse uma revelação partindo de alguma divindade da Idade do Bronze. Pouco tempo depois tive em aula de teoria política uma citação de Bauman partindo do professor que ministrava a disciplina, no entanto, ao citar o nome de Bauman o mesmo fez uma feição na qual aparentava segurar risada, provavelmente ele também não levava Bauman à sério. Não devo negar que todas as vezes que vejo o sociólogo sendo citado em alguma nota no X, no Instagram ou qualquer outra rede social, tal como fosse um referencial teórico bom, sinto uma vergonha alheia pois alí tenho uma impressão de que a pessoa não leu Bauman e usa o referencial teórico como um fato já assim provado e comprovado.

Há pontos positivos na teoria baumaniana, como a capacidade de perceber o problema e correlacioná-lo à modernidade, assim como sucitar a influência do que há de material no fenômeno, porém os erros são pertinentes: o primeiro problema é de categoria. Não há, por parte de Bauman noção alguma entre as dissociações dos amores, não há atenção sobre o amor como estrutura ou ele como um sentimento, todo ele é compreendido uniformemente como "amor", partindo do pressuposto que todas as relações, todas elas, são firmadas com base no amor. Essa crença tem uma origem: Hegel. Nos Escritos Teológicos Hegel partia da crença que o amor ligava os seres relacionalmente como uma força de superação e alienação, mas há de compreendermos que esse Friedrich Hegel é o jovem ainda pouco maduro em suas ideias e seu sistema de pensamento, mais a frente, em "Fenomenologia do Espírito e na Filosofia do Direito", Hegel compreende a institucionalidade do direito no amor e a institucionalização dessa força, assim aproxima-se da realidade a respeito da inserção do amor nas esferas práticas do humano, porém essa ideia, apesar de imperfeita, pois ao que sabemos não é o amor que consolida a relação, mas sim a Verdade (Alétheia), conforme apontado por Heidegger em "Ser e Tempo", essa ideia do amor como a fundamento das relações humanas influenciou, e até hoje influencia, qualquer análise sobre as relações humanas fora da esfera materialista, fora dessa pois, melhormente explicado em exemplo, os marxistas (em exemplo), assim como Marx, consideram como base primordial das relações as condições materiais.

Por certo, não é de todo amor a base para a solidificação, ora, erram aqueles que creem que somente essa força, assim apontada por Hegel, constituiam todos os relacionamentos formais como pilares fundamentais, pois em prática as famílias eram até a fiduciarização dessas, por mais paradoxal que seja, compreendidas melhor como instituições orgânicas de caráter legal do que conluios de afetividades. A família outrora tinha consigo aparelhos de hierarquia bem estabelicidos, quais prezavam pela ordem interna e externa, que acima dessa instituição estava somente a Igreja (outra instituição), com sua fiduciarização [da família] após o movimento tomado pelos Estados nacionais em aplicação do casamento civil mudou-se a lógica das partes que a compõe, findou-se o princípio da subsidiariedade (não intervenção de determinadas instituições nas decisões quais podem ser exercidas em resuluções de problemas nas competências de quaisquer instituições), foi-se então, contudo, também a autoridade, e nisso revela-se um outro problema não apontado na teoria de Bauman: qual o padrão do amor "sólido"? Pois, ora, sociedades tradicionais não abdicavam do relevar dos amores para tornar seus filhos em ativos nas práticas de trocas (dádivas)? É notório que esse padrão se dissocia do padrão de sentimento apontado por Bauman, encontramos esse fato em estudo nos trabalhos "Ensaio Sobre a Dádiva", do Marcel Mauss, e "As Estruturas Elementares do Parentesco", do Claude Levi-Strauss, quais expõem que nas sociedades "sólidas", tradicionais, relevava-se mais questões institucionais que as sentimentais para a formação de laços (teoria da aliança). Muitas das relações passadas não eram baseadas no amor, não significando assim que as de hoje, em oposição, sejam, mas que permanecem-se semelhantes em base, diferentemente em grau e forma.

!(image)[https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F748b94c3-f882-45db-8333-09260ef15cfe_615x413.jpeg]

Ora, ainda existem casamentos motivados pela política, pelo status, pelo prestígio, pelos bens, pelo poder, pela influência familiar e assim sucetivamente, tal como no passado, ocorre que essa prática tornou-se oculta, não mais explícita e aparente, devo dizer ainda que em partes, pois prepondera em nosso tempo uma epidemia de adultérios, fornicações, práticas lascivas e demais práticas libertinosas explicitamente, em contraposição às práticas ocultas em vergonhas de sociedades sem declínio moral e espiritual, o que nos leva a questionar o método comparativo em dicotomia temporal "presente x passado" aplicado por Bauman, no qual segue-se da seguinte forma:

                     Transformação
Passado = *sólido* | Presente = *líquido*

Categorias
Padrão de amor: tradicional (*sólido*)
                            moderno (*líquido*)

*Sólido* = estável, prazo (médio-grande), profundo, determinado.
*Líquido* = instável, prazo (curto-médio), raso, indeterminado.

O que penso é: Zygmunt Bauman buscou uma explicação material e laical para desviar ao fato de que há uma notória correlação entre espiritualização da sociedade, se voltada à Verdade, com a estabilidade das instituições, o que é já reduzido à moral religiosa, somente, não à mística, como por pensadores da linha de Tocqueville, ou em abordagens também mais laical (positivista) porém ainda relevantes, como Émile Durkheim em "As Formas Elementares da Vida Religiosa" e Max Weber em "A Ética Protestante e o Espírito do Capitalismo", contrapondo uma abordage mais voltada, de fato, a espiritualidade, como Christopher Dawnson, que defende essa teoria em "Religião e o Surgimento da Cultura Ocidental", e Eric Voegelin, principalmente nas obras "A Nova Ciência da Política" e "Ordem e História".

Encerrrando, minha cosmovisão é a católica, o sistema de crença e religião qual sigo é do Deus que se fez homem por amor aos seus filhos, não posso negar ou mesmo omitir o fato de que, por trás de toda a minha crítica estão meus pensamentos e minhas convicções alinhadas àquilo que mais tenho amor em toda minha vida: a Verdade, e a Verdade é Deus, pois Cristo é a Verdade, o Caminho e a Vida, ninguém vai ao Pai se não por Ele, e pois bem, seria incoerência de minha parte não relevar o fato de crença como um dos motivos pelos quais eu rejeito a teoria do amor líquido de Zygmunt Bauman, pois os amores são todos eles praticados por formas, existem por diferentes formas e assim são desde sua tradicionalidade até o predomínio das distorções de declínio espiritual das eras presentes (e também antigas pré-Era Axial), estão esses preservados pelo alinhamento à verdade, assim são indistorcíveis, imutáveis, ou seja, amor é amor, não releva-se o falso amor como um, simplesmente não o é, assim o interesse, a sanha por bens, o egoísmo e a egolatria ("cupiditas", para Santo Agostinho de Hipona, em oposição ao que o santo e filósofo trata por "caritas") não são formas do amor, são autoenganos, não bons, se não são bons logo não são de Deus, ora, se Deus é amor, se ele nos ama, determino como amor (e suas formas) o que está de acordo com a Verdade. Aprofundando, a Teologia do Corpo, do Papa São João Paulo II, rejeita a "liquidez" apresentada por Bauman, pois o amor é, em suma, sacríficio, parte da entrega total de si ao próximo, e se não há logo não é amor. A Teologia do Corpo rejeita não os fundamentos de mentira no "líquido", mas também no "sólido", pois a tradicionalidade não é sinônimo de bom e pleno acordo com o amor que Deus pede de nós, não são as coerções, as violências, as imposições e demais vontades em oposição às de Deus que determinam os amores -- fatos em oposição ao ideário romanticizado. Claro, nem todas as coerções são por si inválidas do amor, ou mesmo as escolhas em trocas racionalizadas, a exemplo do autruísmo em vista da chance da família ter êxito e sucesso, ou seja, pelo bem dos próximos haver a necessidade de submissão a, em exemplo, um casamento forjado, ou algo do gênero, reconhece-se o amor no ato se feito por bem da família, porém o amor incutido, nesse caso, explicita o caráter sacrificial, no qual uma vontade e um amor genuinamente potencial em prazeres e alegrias são anulados, ou seja, mesmo nesse modelo tradicional na "solidez" há possibilidade do amor, não nas formas romanticizadas em critérios, como "estabilidade" e "durabilidade", mas no caráter do sacríficio exercido. Conforme nos ensina São Tomás de Aquino, o amor não é uma "força", tal como ensina Hegel, mas sim uma virtude teologal conforme postas na "Suma Teológica" (II-II Q. 26-28), não devemos reduzir o amor e os amores em análises simplórias (não simples) de falsa complexidade extraídas em métodos questionáveis e pouco competentes à real diensão de crise espiritual das eras, por esse motivo não concordo com a teoria do amor líquido de Zygmunt Bauman.

@ 9e9085e9:2056af17

Part 1: Introducing Yakihonne and the Nostr Protocol

Yakihonne – Redefining Social Media Through Decentralization

Yakihonne is a decentralized social media platform built on the Nostr protocol (Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays). Unlike traditional social networks controlled by corporations, Yakihonne puts users in charge—your identity, content, and connections are all yours to own.

What is Nostr? Nostr is an open protocol that uses public/private key pairs to enable secure communication. Posts (called “notes”) are sent to public relays instead of being stored on a central server. This allows Yakihonne to offer:

Censorship resistance

User-owned data

Open developer participation

Yakihonne leverages this technology to create a user-first social experience: chat, share, and connect—all without gatekeepers.

Update your app..

Yakihonne #Yakihonne #Yakihonne #Nostr #Nostr #YoungDfx

@ 5c26ee8b:a4d229aa

In March 2022, I have introduced “VCPs”; (Virtual Currency points). So that the international transactions are made without relying on one currency or another and the financial crises are easily avoided.

You may have noticed that banks are increasing their gold reserves and that there are interests for local virtual currency and that was after the note was published.

The picture of the note showing its date will be in attachment to this post; I can’t edit it to avoid that its date gets changed. Here its content:

Conversion of international banking system: The “VCPs” system: * Each central bank would keep its assets and funds in homeland. * Establishing the value of one virtual currency point. I suggested that: 1 virtual currency point (VCP) = 0.1 gram of gold. * Virtual evaluation must be made to each currency, virtual currency points must be added to each currency’s market value. * International transfers and payments must use the virtual currency points, VCPs,  assigned to each currency in international operations. * Daily, weekly, monthly or yearly the actual money corresponding to the virtual currency points used in payments and transfers will be sent by any chosen mean of transport to the banks that had completed the operations or to the corresponding central banks. In this way no currency would prevail in international payments as all currencies will be considered as VCPs. —————————————————————- Because of the need of more guidelines to start using VCPs I have published the following updates:

VCPs allowance updates:

• Not only gold, also precious stones or agreed minerals held in banks can be used to obtain the VCPs allowance (public VCPs allowances). At the same time what is registered and kept in circulation (of gold, precious stones and agreed minerals that belongs to the people) in the country as private VCPs allowances to increase the VCPs allowances. The people can use their personal VCPs along with their precious items for purchases; for example if they sell or use their own gold to buy something, they must give their VCPs registration receipt or card (if they didn’t register their gold to obtain VCPs allowance, they can get it registered at the moment they decide to sell it so it gets added to the private VCPs allowances of his/her country). However, the registered materials must be declared at all borders while traveling once exceeded an internationally agreed specific amount (such as the value of €10000). Therefore a registration method can be agreed with gold and jewelry shops. For instance, while evaluating the materials getting registered, an online VCPs account (for a first registration) can get made on the site that is getting ready and the registration can be combined with a physical/online card (VCPs allowance card. For registering other materials in a later moment, the same card can be used to access the same account. Note that the materials must be used with the private VCPs allowance card for buying or selling, while for public VCPs accounts it’s not necessary because the materials will be kept in the central bank or other banks) or a receipt with a serial number (and other methods to protect customers from fraud). Banks can buy private VCPs while buying gold or other agreed materials and make them public VCPs. And people can have public VCPs allowances corresponding to the value of money (currency) they have already in their accounts. While if people buy gold from the bank (with cash or any other payment method), the related public VCPs allowance will be transformed into private ones (the buyers must receive the actual gold with the private VCPs allowance).
• The agreed materials that can be used to obtain public VCPs must not be consumable (such as oil or natural gas) or used for industrial purposes (such as iron or lithium).
• The printed and online (used by credit or debit cards) currency kept in circulation of the concerned country must correspond to the value of public VCPs allowance that must correspond with the value of gold kept in the central bank (printing more money will decrease its own value internationally).
• Private banks in the same country can have a public VCPs agreement with the central bank so that each bank registers and declares how much gold or valuable materials it has and get its own share of public VCPs allowance and its related printed/online currency in circulation.
• Gems and gold kept in museums can have public VCPs allowances that correspond to their weights only not the archeological values.
• International trade can use public VCPs allowances and the physical payment must follow; either by a preferred currency or gold. However if two or more countries have a trade agreement they can barter goods using IVCPs (International VCPs Allowances; that does not need to have a deposited amount of gold although they will use the same reference as public or private VCPs because it’s a general way to evaluate goods of different types; so for example oil can be swapped for electronics based on how much IVCPs are agreed to be equally swapped each year; i.e. a gallon of oil that costs 50 IVCPs can be swapped for a device that costs 25 IVCPs and grains that cost 25 IVCPs in an International VCPs Allowance Agreement where all parties receives the agreed goods without transferring money or gold). The amount of IVCPs can be agreed per year or there could a multiple online account/s viewable by the countries/parties taking part in the agreement showing the balance of International VCPs that can still be used in bartering goods for each one of the participating countries/parties).
• Cryptocurrencies can be like International VCPs they won’t need to have a deposit of gold, however they must go through an evaluation process compared to their current comparative value and gold (i.e. the amount of bitcoin that must be paid to buy a 0.1g of gold now can become the fixed value) so that the Cryptocurrencies can still be used for trading or bartering for goods even after the release of VCPs. The Cryptocurrencies can sustain the deficiencies of amount of currency that can be used in the same country or internationally (because not everyone can have enough gold deposited to sustain the daily trade). However regulations on the amount of Cryptocurrency/ies exchanged in a country must be agreed with its own central bank or there could be an international agreement; this amount can’t be less than what’s already in use of a certain Cryptocurrency. Or Cryptocurrencies can be exchanged with IVCPs (to protect people’s money while keeping in mind their compared value with gold now) and an amount of International VCPs allowance can be used also for bartering goods in the same country through an agreement with its own central bank.
• Public VCPs must have printable cash allowance that can be in the country or overseas (registered in banks, exchange companies and at borders). Each bank can have registers of local or foreign cash.
• In order to avoid the devaluation of the currency, because the printed money will corrisponde to the gold or valuable minerals held by the country, the concerned country must retrieve the cash abroad and replace it either with another currency or IVCPs through a trade agreement.
• To compensate the deficit of VCPs necessary for daily use within a country and to make a proper distinction, locally, Local Virtual Points (LVCPs) can be used.
• The Local VCPs would be issued by local authorities.

Meanwhile, countries started using the free VCPs platform that is built by a talented web developer in JavaScript; fiatjaf. I insist though that the trade name for the virtual currency points stays “VCPs” and that the clients are made aware of its usage in their daily banking.

@ 1f956aec:768866bd

== January 17 2025

Out From Underneath | Prism Shores

crazy arms | pigeon pit

Humanhood | The Weather Station

== february 07 2025

Wish Defense | FACS

Sayan - Savoie | Maria Teriaeva

Nowhere Near Today | Midding

== february 14 2025

Phonetics On and On | Horsegirl

== february 21 2025

Finding Our Balance | Tsoh Tso

Machine Starts To Sing | Porridge Radio

Armageddon In A Summer Dress | Sunny Wa

== february 28 2025

you, infinite | you, infinite

On Being | Max Cooper

Billboard Heart | Deep Sea Diver

== March 21 2025

Watermelon/Peacock | Exploding Flowers

Warlord of the Weejuns | Goya Gumbani

== March 28 2025

Little Death Wishes | CocoRosie

Forever is a Feeling | Lucy Dacus

Evenfall | Sam Akpro

== April 4 2025

Tripla | Miki Berenyi Trio

Adagio | Σtella

The Fork | Oscar Jerome

== April 18 2025

Send A Prayer My Way | Julien Baker & TORRES

Superheaven | Superheaven

Thee Black Boltz | Tunde Adebimpe

from brooklyvegan

== April 25 2025

Face Down In The Garden |Tennis

Under Tangled Silence | Djrum

Viagr Aboys |Viagra Boys

Blurring Time | Bells Larsen

== May 2 2025

Time is Not Yours | Say Sue Me 세이수미

If You Asked For A Picture | Blondshell

== May 16 2025

Wield Your Hope Like A Weapon | Soot Sprite

Transmission 96 | Liftin Spirits & DJ Persuasion

Menedék | TÖRZS

== May 28 2025

Forefowk, Mind Me | Quinie

Silver Tears | SILVER TEARS

@ 28ca019b:93fcb2cc

Introduction

“There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.” -Victor Hugo

Early 1950’s America. Harry S. Truman is in office. The economy is booming and the middle class are comfortable. Shiny new television sets invite the first scenes of Hollywood into people’s homes. The Weavers, Tony Bennett, Vera Lynn and Perry Como play on the radio.

But on the fringes, in dance halls and late night clubs, a cultural revolution is brewing… A new musical fusion with influences from blues, R\&B, jazz, rockabilly, country and gospel music is about to give birth to not only a new genre, but a whole new way of life that will change society and culture, forever.

Rock & Roll

It becomes a symbol of freedom, a means of expression, and a catalyst for social change. It brings into existence a new type of counter-culture, filled with individuals who are driven to rebel against norms and authority. They don’t ask for permission. They push for change.

I believe we are witnessing such a shift now. And like rock & roll, the movement I’m speaking of is also ground up, grass roots, punk rock and will not look to authority to seek permission. The catalyst for this new social change, I believe, is Bitcoin. With its innate properties, it empowers and enables the individual like never before to achieve their fullest potential, expressed through an unprecedented freedom technology. It is an idea, like a song everyone can sing in their own way, that nobody can silence.

Revolution

"You say you got a real solution / Well you know / we’d all love to see the plan" -John Lennon

The rock & roll era helped bring about meaningful societal change through art, music, and film. It created a new social narrative. Today, the Bitcoin network is providing people with a different set of tools and ideas to build a better future in a much more practical and pragmatic way. Instead of trying to reshape social consensus and cultural norms through art forms, fashion, or lifestyle, bitcoin is achieving this through open source code.

For the first time, this technology gives individuals financial sovereignty and personal control over their own destiny, with the ability to self custody their own money that no corporation, government, dictator or king can tamper with. The individual has an opportunity to finally be freed from economic tyranny. And societies have the potential to avoid endless wars funded with printed government money. John Lennon said ‘give peace a chance’. If he were still here today and understood how bitcoin could subvert the military industrial complex would he not exclaim, ‘give bitcoin a chance’?

Natural Rights, Civil Rights, Digital Rights

"The times they are a-Changin’" -Bob Dylan

The civil rights movement was tightly interwoven with the history of rock & roll. The march on Washington, August 28th 1963, marked a seminal moment in American history for the advancement of equal rights before the law. Bob Dylan, along with Joan Baez, stood with over two hundred thousand other Americans and listened to Martin Luther King’s now immortal speech. 

People with the same values peacefully gathered in numbers to make a statement powerful enough to change the conversation. This is analogous to the same freedom-minded people today gathering in cyberspace and voting not in the traditional sense, but voting with their money – peacefully exiting and transferring their economic energy into a system where they can’t be expropriated.

The question of whether individual rights are granted or have to be secured by each individual remains a contested area of philosophy to this day. To outline each in a very crude and simplistic way, natural rights (sometimes referred to as inalienable rights) are derived from the belief that every person owns their own body, therefore their own labor, time, and energy. Civil rights, on the other hand, are granted by the state and are therefore not universal. The fact that they are rights granted to humans by other humans means they always have the potential to be revoked or withdrawn.

Digital rights granted by the power of asymmetric cryptography are based in the laws of mathematics. Combined with proof of work, based in the law of thermodynamics, this makes digital rights that bitcoin provides more akin to natural rights than civil rights, as no one person or group can unilaterally revoke those rights or confiscate your property through violence. No amount of fire power, tanks, fighter jets or nuclear weapons can break a bitcoin private key or rewrite the sunken cost of proof of work embedded into bitcoin’s timechain. This idea of securing rights without asking permission is, in itself, a revolution and achievable now in an egalitarian way. This implies a potentially huge shift in power from those with a monopoly on violence, to peaceful individuals who want to be treated fairly and with dignity.

Cypher Punk-Rock

Songwriters write songs. Cypherpunks write code.

To tie things back and look at a very narrow, but potentially huge use case of bitcoin, let’s examine the current broken incentives of the music industry, particularly recorded music. It is becoming increasingly apparent that an option other than a subscription model could find demand from content consumers and producers alike.

There is now a way, with Bitcoin and Lightning Network, for a music fan to pay artists directly and for any amount – dollars, cents or even fractions of cents. This model has positive outcomes for the music producer and fan who are the main two parties engaged in the transaction. The artist keeps all of what is sent and the listener can pay what they want. The listener can pay as they listen, rather than be locked into a rolling subscription that isn’t based on usage. This concept, called ‘value for value’, is finding its way into new music platforms such as Wavlake and Fountain. I believe this model will become the de-facto way of monetizing digital content in the coming years. This could bring an economic signal back to music that has been lost and cannot be achieved by streams alone. This will hopefully create a more meritocratic music system and shake up the entrenched streaming monoliths.

Art can shine a light on a certain truth. It can also make people look at things in a completely new way. Maybe then, Satoshi was the greatest artist who ever lived. Bitcoin smashed the conventional wisdom and theories of the most basic and prevalent thing everyone takes for granted: money. Using money as a lens to view the world can lead to distortions in your perception if the lens is warped. Removing the glasses makes you reevaluate economics, politics, religion, philosophy, morality, beauty, and almost every other aspect of life. The beauty of the Sistine Chapel, the Egyptian pyramids, the Mona Lisa, Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, Bohemian Rhapsody all intrinsically imply a certain degree of proof of work. The art, you could say, speaks for itself.

The Long and Winding Road Ahead

As a musician, I have found a new hope. The value for value movement gives me that hope. If this is truly a superior model of music distribution and consumption it will win out over time on the market.

Another point to touch on would be the possibility of this technology ushering in an artistic renaissance. I can honestly say my favorite music, the songs that have moved me the most, normally comes from a place of truth, honesty and sheer talent. Maybe I’m out of touch, but I feel popular music of late is devoid of soul, meaning and the biggest mainstream artists want to conform to the man (giant corporations/governments) instead of stick it to the man! Probably because there is nowhere else to turn now that streaming and social media platforms own their speech and art. We need to investigate and embrace new ways to own our speech and art, to make art interesting again. The powers that be, need to let it be, and leave alone individuals who wish to use this technology for their own interests if they do so in a peaceful way.

I want to leave you with a Frank Zappa quote that seems more relevant than ever:

“I’d say that today, dishonesty is the rule, and honesty the exception. It could be, statistically, that more people are honest than dishonest, but the few that really control things are not honest, and that tips the balance…” 

My charitable view is that the majority of people in power aren’t corrupt, it’s rather just a case of ‘no one is better than their incentives’. But when incentives are misaligned bad outcomes will inevitably result. With bitcoin and its incorruptible incentive structure, we have a chance to peacefully opt-out of a rigged game. I urge you to not trust, but verify with your own research that bitcoin is the answer to many of society’s current problems.

I think it’s fair to say, we all need to question ourselves and authority a little more than we’re comfortable doing, to hold truth as an ideal worth striving for, and live a little more rock & roll!

Link to original article**

@ 6a6be47b:3e74e3e1

🔍 Today was one of those days where I dove deeper into the world of Stacker News, exploring how wallets work and all that jazz. If you have any tips or tricks, please send them my way—I’m still figuring it all out!

After my tech adventures, I turned to drawing. Usually, I have a lineup of ideas ready to go, but none of them quite fit my mood today. Then I remembered the butterflies from my upcoming blog entry—can you guess what I’m writing and painting about? 👀

🦋Even though I’ve painted butterflies before here’s one on Instagram, I felt like revisiting them.

This one I posted on Nostr, a while ago

Lately, I’ve been seeing butterflies everywhere on my walks with my dog, and they just felt right for today’s art session. So here’s to butterflies and their beautiful symbolism!

In Celtic mythology, there’s an old Irish saying:

“Butterflies are souls of the dead waiting to pass through Purgatory.” From mindbodygreen.com

It’s no wonder butterflies are often seen as symbols of rebirth. Even Aristotle named the butterfly:

“Psyche,” the Greek word for “soul.” From learnreligions.com

☀️With the weather warming up, days growing longer, and the air full of new scents (and butterfly sightings!🦋), I invite you to really enjoy this season. After drawing today’s butterfly, I realized how freeing it is to just let go and create—no pressure, just fun. Sometimes, taking even a few mindful minutes to do something you love can work wonders—maybe even a little magic.

Hope to catch you on the next one, frens. Godspeed! ✨

Today's butterfly. I drew it on Procreate.

https://stacker.news/items/990470

@ a8cc4ff8:d3ea074d

不忍池, 上野動物園 Shinobazuno Pond, Ueno Zoo

上野東照宮五重塔，上野動物園 Ueno Toshogu Shrine, Ueno Zoo

鉄道博物館 The Railway Museum

靖國神社 Yasukuni-jinja Shrine

巽櫓（桜田二重櫓) Sakurada Tatsumi Yagura

二重橋 Nijubashi Bridge

元箱根 Motohakone

彫刻の森駅 Chokokunomori Station

箱根神社 Hakone Shrine

小田原城 Odawara Castle

新大久保駅 Shin-Ōkubo Station

シンボルプロムナード公園 Symbol Promenade Park

セントラル広場 Central Square

日本科学未来館 The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation Japan (Miraikan)

@ c1e9ab3a:9cb56b43

Star Wars is often viewed as a myth of rebellion, freedom, and resistance to tyranny. The iconography—scrappy rebels, totalitarian stormtroopers, lone smugglers—suggests a deep anti-authoritarian ethos. Yet, beneath the surface, the narrative arc of Star Wars consistently affirms the necessity, even sanctity, of central authority. This blog entry introduces the question: Is Star Wars fundamentally a celebration of statism?

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Rebellion as Restoration, Not Revolution

The Rebel Alliance’s mission is not to dismantle centralized power, but to restore the Galactic Republic—a bureaucratic, centrally governed institution. Characters like Mon Mothma and Bail Organa are high-ranking senators, not populist revolutionaries. The goal is to remove the corrupt Empire and reinstall a previous central authority, presumed to be just.

• Rebels are loyalists to a prior state structure.
• Power is not questioned, only who wields it.

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Jedi as Centralized Moral Elites

The Jedi, often idealized as protectors of peace, are unelected, extra-legal enforcers of moral and military order. Their authority stems from esoteric metaphysical abilities rather than democratic legitimacy.

• They answer only to their internal Council.
• They are deployed by the Senate, but act independently of civil law.
• Their collapse is depicted as tragic not because they were unaccountable, but because they were betrayed.

This positions them as a theocratic elite, not spiritual anarchists.

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Chaos and the Frontier: The Case of the Cantina

The Mos Eisley cantina, often viewed as a symbol of frontier freedom, reveals something darker. It is: - Lawless - Violent - Culturally fragmented

Conflict resolution occurs through murder, not mediation. Obi-Wan slices off a limb; Han shoots first—both without legal consequence. There is no evidence of property rights, dispute resolution, or voluntary order.

This is not libertarian pluralism—it’s moral entropy. The message: without centralized governance, barbarism reigns.

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The Mythic Arc: Restoration of the Just State

Every trilogy in the saga returns to a single theme: the fall and redemption of legitimate authority.

1. Prequels: Republic collapses into tyranny.
2. Originals: Rebels fight to restore legitimate order.
3. Sequels: Weak governance leads to resurgence of authoritarianism; heroes must reestablish moral centralism.

The story is not anti-state—it’s anti-bad state. The solution is never decentralization; it’s the return of the right ruler or order.

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Conclusion: The Hidden Statism of a Rebel Myth

Star Wars wears the costume of rebellion, but tells the story of centralized salvation. It: - Validates elite moral authority (Jedi) - Romanticizes restoration of fallen governments (Republic) - Portrays decentralized zones as corrupt and savage (outer rim worlds)

It is not an anarchist parable, nor a libertarian fable. It is a statist mythology, clothed in the spectacle of rebellion. Its core message is not that power should be abolished, but that power belongs to the virtuous few.

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Question to Consider:
If the Star Wars universe consistently affirms the need for centralized moral and political authority, should we continue to see it as a myth of freedom? Or is it time to recognize it as a narrative of benevolent empire?

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

The open-source project makes it possible to send bitcoin even in censored or disconnected areas through a radio mesh network.

In an interview with Decrypt, the developer known by the pseudonym “cyber” revealed the details of Darkwire, an open-source project that could enable new use cases for Bitcoin transactions without internet access.

The project, presented at the Bitcoin 2025 Official Hackathon, leverages Long Range Radio (LoRa) technology to create a decentralized mesh network that allows Bitcoin transactions to be sent even in the total absence of traditional connectivity.

Darkwire was specifically designed for situations where conventional communication infrastructure is inaccessible or controlled. According to cyber, the system is ideal for politically sensitive regions like the Rafah Crossing or the Indo-Tibetan border, where internet access can be limited or heavily monitored.

“Darkwire is for individuals seeking privacy or wishing to bypass surveillance of their communications and transactions. Imagine it to be akin to Tor but for this specific use case,” the creator explained.

LoRa technology

Darkwire operates through a combination of technologies. The system uses long-range LoRa radios along with microcontrollers such as the Arduino UNO to form a decentralized mesh network.

When a user wants to send a Bitcoin transaction without internet access, they specify the recipient’s address and the amount via a local graphical interface managed by bitcoinlib. The system then generates a signed Bitcoin transaction in hexadecimal format, which is split into smaller packets and transmitted via radio.

Mesh Network

Darkwire’s mesh network allows the data to “hop” from node to node until it reaches an internet-connected exit point. In ideal conditions, each Darkwire node has a range of up to 10 kilometers with a direct line of sight, reduced to 3-5 kilometers in densely populated areas.

“At least one node in the network needs to be connected to the internet, so that the transaction can be pushed to the blockchain for miners to verify it,” cyber said.

Once the transaction data reaches a node with internet access, it acts as an exit point, broadcasting the verified Bitcoin transaction to the global network, where it can be included in a block.

Limitations and future developments

Currently, Darkwire faces several technical limitations that the team is actively working to address. The relatively low bandwidth of LoRa radios and their sensitivity to terrain obstacles represent challenges. Moreover, the system’s dependence on internet-connected exit nodes could create potential points of failure.

According to reports, the project is still in its hackathon phase, but cyber has plans to further develop it, turning it into a full open-source platform and making it “the industry standard” for LoRa-based communications.

“I do hope people living in any kind of authoritarian regimes and states do get to use darkwire and put the truth out there,” the developer added.

The post Bitcoin without internet thanks to LoRa technology: the Darkwire project appeared first on Atlas21.

@ d360efec:14907b5f

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

The company is facing a class action lawsuit following a stock price drop triggered by the delayed disclosure of a December data breach.

Coinbase finds itself at the center of a legal storm after being hit with a class action lawsuit filed by shareholders. The lawsuit stems from a decline in the company’s stock price, which occurred after the belated communication of a cybersecurity incident.

The class action, filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, names investor Brady Nessler as the lead plaintiff. The suit claims that the platform’s shareholders suffered “substantial losses and damages” due to the company’s alleged failure to disclose material information.

Investors accuse the company of not promptly revealing crucial details that could have influenced investment decisions. Among the main allegations is the failure to immediately communicate a data breach that took place last December.

Details of the breach

On May 15, Coinbase publicly disclosed the news of a cyberattack that occurred last December. The incident involved cybercriminals who managed to corrupt several company employees, gaining unauthorized access to customer personal data.

The delayed disclosure of the data breach triggered an immediate stock market reaction. Coinbase shares fell 7.2%, closing the day at $244.

The exchange estimated that the financial impact of the data breach could range between $180 million and $400 million. These costs would cover both expenses to restore security systems and potential reimbursements to customers affected by the incident.

The lawsuit highlights that the company should have communicated these estimated costs to investors more promptly, allowing them to make informed decisions about their investments.

Additional allegations in the lawsuit

In addition to the data breach, the lawsuit lists a series of other alleged communication failures by the company. Among them is the non-disclosure of a violation by CB Payments — Coinbase’s UK subsidiary — of a 2020 agreement with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority.

The class action covers all investors who acquired company shares between April 14, 2021, and May 14, 2025 — a period during which the allegedly omitted information is believed to have negatively affected the stock price.

The legal action doesn’t target the company alone but also names top executives including CEO Brian Armstrong and CFO Alesia Haas among the defendants.

The post Lawsuit against Coinbase: investors sue exchange for failing to disclose data breach appeared first on Atlas21.

@ bf47c19e:c3d2573b

Zvanični vebsajt knjige

Srpski prevod knjige "The Little Bitcoin Book"

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Zašto je Bitkoin bitan za vašu slobodu, finansije i budućnost?

Verovatno ste čuli za Bitkoin u vestima ili da o njemu raspravljaju vaši prijatelji ili kolege. Kako to da se cena stalno menja? Da li je Bitkoin dobra investicija? Kako to uopšte ima vrednost? Zašto ljudi stalno govore o tome kao da će promeniti svet?

"Mala knjiga o Bitkoinu" govori o tome šta nije u redu sa današnjim novcem i zašto je Bitkoin izmišljen da obezbedi alternativu trenutnom sistemu. Jednostavnim rečima opisuje šta je Bitkoin, kako funkcioniše, zašto je vredan i kako utiče na individualnu slobodu i mogućnosti ljudi svuda - od Nigerije preko Filipina do Venecuele do Sjedinjenih Država. Ova knjiga takođe uključuje odeljak "Pitanja i odgovori" sa nekim od najčešće postavljanih pitanja o Bitkoinu.

Ako želite da saznate više o ovom novom obliku novca koji i dalje izaziva interesovanje i usvajanje širom sveta, onda je ova knjiga za vas.

@ bf47c19e:c3d2573b

Originalni tekst na bitcoin-balkan.com.

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Pregled sadržaja

1. 5 Razloga Zašto je Novac Važan za Vas, Individualno
2. 3 Razloga Zašto je Novac Važan za Društvo u Celini
3. Zašto ljudi mrze novac?

Novac vs trenuci – da li oni treba da budu u sukobu? Kakva je uloga novca?

Novac je nepredvidiva zver modernog društva – neki ga veličaju sa stalnom željom da steknu više, dok ga drugi demonizuju i kažu da je pohlepa srž društvenih problema. Tokom mnogih godina svog života, ja sam često prelazio sa jednog na drugo gledište, i naučio mnogo toga upoznajući druge ljude koji žive na oba kraja ovog spektra. Kao i kod mnogih složenih tema, istina leži negde u sredini.

Novac je važan zato što on može da pomogne u uklanjanju materijalnih želja i patnji – omogućavanjem da preuzmete kontrolu nad svojim životom i da brinete o voljenima. Novac podiže životni standard društva omogućavanjem trgovine, a pritom minimalizuje potrebu za poverenjem.

Na novac možemo gledati kao na način da svoj uloženi trud sačuvamo u odredjenom obliku, i da ga vremenom prenesemo, tako da možemo da uživamo u plodovima svog rada. Novac kao alat je jedna od najvažnijih stvari za rast civilizacije. Na nesreću, mnogi su vremenom zlostavljali novac, ali sa dobrim razlogom: način na koji naš novac danas funkcioniše dovodi do duboko podeljenog društva – što ću i objasniti.

5 Razloga Zašto je Novac Važan za Vas, Individualno

Novac je važan za rast bogatstva, što je malo drugačije od toga da imamo veliku platu ili jednostavno zarađivati velike količine novca. Bogatstvo je otklanjanje želja, kako bi mogli da obratimo više pažnje na neke korisnije stvari u životu, od pukog preživljavanja i osnovnih udobnosti.

Bogata osoba je ona koja zaradi više novca nego što potroši, i koja ga čuva – ona čuva svoj rad tokom vremena. Uporedite ovo sa visoko plaćenim lekarom koji živi u velikoj vili sa hipotekom i sa Mercedesom na lizing. Iako ova osoba ima visoke prihode, ona takođe ima velike rashode u vidu obaveze plaćanja te hipoteke i lizinga. Te obaveze sprečavaju ovu osobu da uživa u istinskim blagodetima novca i bogatstva koje one predstavljaju:

1. Sloboda od potrebe za radom

Bez bogatstva, vi morate da radite da biste preživeli. Dostizanjem bogatstva i odredjenom imovinom koja vam donosi novac bez potrebe da vi trošite svoje vreme, vi možete da oslobodite svoj raspored. Više ne zavisite od posla koji mrzite, i nemorate da provodite 40 sati nedeljno odvojeni od porodice, samo da biste se pobrinuli za svoje osnovne potrebe. Dobijanje otkaza u padu ekonomije neće vas dovesti do finansijske propasti ili nečeg goreg.

2. Kontrola nad time kako vi trošite svoje vreme

Kada steknete bogatstvo, vi možete da odlučite kako želite da provodite svoje vreme. Kada se nalazimo u trci pacova i radimo 40+ sati nedeljno, često se naviknemo da novac trošimo onda kada imamo slobodnog vremena. Idemo na lepe večere ili idemo na skupe odmore. Međutim, sa više vremena, a možda čak i sa manje novca, mi možemo da imamo isto ili više uživanja živeći usporenije.

Razmislite o ovome – ukoliko imate samo 1 nedelju slobodno od posla, vi onda morate da kupite onaj mnogo skuplji let u Petak uveče koji se vraća u sledeću Nedelju, kako biste maksimalno iskoristili svoje vreme na nekom egzotičnom mestu za odmor. Međutim, ukoliko ste u mogućnosti da izdržavate sebe bez potrebe da mnogo vremena provodite na poslu, vi onda možete u Utorak da krenete jeftinijim letom i vratite se u sledeću Sredu. Takođe nećete osećati toliki pritisak da se opustite u uživanju tokom vaše nedelje u inostranstvu – možda ćete čak moći i da ostanete duže i da istražujete više, bez plaćanja skupih turističkih agencija i hotela kako bi organizovali vaše kraće putovanje.

3. Sposobnost da pomažete vašim prijateljima i porodici

Onda kada novca imate na pretek, možete poboljšati svoje odnose sa prijateljima i porodicom ne samo kroz dodatno slobodno vreme koje provodite sa njima, već i sa samim novcem. Ako je vašem prijatelju potrebna hitna operacija, vi možete da mu izadjete u susret i pomognete mu da stane na svoje noge. Ukoliko vam je tetka bolesna, vi možete da provedete vreme pored nje, umesto da je pozovete na kratko dok putujete prema kući vraćajući se nakon celog dana provedenog u kancelariji.

4. Smanjen finansijski stres

Stres je sveobuhvatno i opasno stanje modernog doba, sa kojim gotovo svi mi živimo u nekoj odredjenoj meri. Povezan je sa lošim zdravljem, sa preko 43% svih odraslih koji kažu da pate od odredjenih zdravstvenih problema uzrokovanih stresom. Stres zbog posla pogađa 83% zaposlenih.

Pravo bogatstvo – koje znači eliminaciju želja i potreba – može da ukloni ovaj stres i njegove negativne uticaje na druge delove života. Ovo bi čak moglo da ukloni većinu stresa u vašem životu, uzimajući u obzir da je uzrok stresa broj 1 upravo novac.

5. Bolje možete da pomognete vašoj zajednici

Mnogi od nas žele da volontiraju u svojim zajednicama i pomognu onima koja je pomoć preko potrebna, ali nisu u stanju da pronađu slobodnog vremena i energije zbog svog posla, porodice i društvenih aktivnosti koje nas mentalno i fizički čine srećnima, zdravima i hranjenima. Sa bogatstvom, mi možemo da posvetimo vreme koje nam je potrebno za razumevanje i doprinos drugima – a ne samo da sa vremena na vreme pomognemo slanjem humanitarnog SMS-a.

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Novac, koji se pametno koristi, je moćno sredstvo za poboljšanje vašeg života i života vaših najmilijih i zajednice. Međutim, novac je takođe moćno sredstvo za poboljšanje društva u celini – ukoliko je dobro strukturiran.

3 Razloga Zašto je Novac Važan za Društvo u Celini

Novac poboljšava sposobnost ljudi da trguju jedni s drugima, što podstiče određene specijalizacije. Ako je imanje vašeg komšije odlično za proizvodnju vina, a vaše je pogodno za žito, obojica možete da profitirate trgovinom. Sad oboje imate i hleb i vino, umesto jednog pijanog vlasnika vinograda i jednog proizvodjača žita kome je dosadno!

Novac poboljšava društvo na nekoliko načina:

1. Omogućava specijalizaciju

Kao u primeru vlasnika vinograda i proizvodjača žita, novac omogućava povećanu specijalizaciju poboljšavajući sposobnost trgovine. Svaka razmena dobara ima problem sa ‘sticajima potreba’ – oba partnera u trgovini moraju da žele ono što druga osoba ima da bi pristala na trgovinu.

Možemo da mislimo o novcu kao o dobru koje žele gotovo svi. Ovo trgovinu čini mnogo jednostavnijom – da biste stekli odredjeno dobro, sve što vam je potrebno je novac, a ne neka slučajna stvar koju prodavac tog dobra takođe želi u tom trenutku. Vremenom je upotreba novca omogućila specijalizaciju, što je povećalo kvalitet i složenost roba i usluga.

Zamislite da sami pokušate da napravite svoj telefon – a bili su potrebni milioni stručnjaka i specijalizovana oprema da bi proizveli taj uređaj. Svi ti stručnjaci i kompanije plaćaju jedni drugima u novcu, omogućavajući složenom plesu globalnih proizvođača i lanaca snabdevanja da taj telefon isporuče na dlan vaše ruke. Čak i nešto tako jednostavno kao flaša za vodu uključuje naftna polja i proizvodne pogone koji su možda hiljadama kilometara od vaše kuće.

Kada ljudi mogu da se specijalizuju, kvalitet robe i usluga može da se poveća.

2. Omogućava korisnu trgovinu uz smanjeno poverenje

Mala društva mogu mirno i produktivno da posluju bez novca koristeći usluge, “dodjem ti” i uzajamno razumevanje. Međutim, kako se društva uvećavaju, svima brzo postaje nemoguće da održavaju lične odnose i isti stepen poverenja sa svima ostalima. Sistem trgovine uslugama i međusobnog poverenja ne funkcioniše previše dobro sa putnikom koji se nalazi na proputovanju kroz grad, i provede samo 15 minuta svog života u vašoj prodavnici.

Novac minimizira poverenje potrebno za trgovinu u većim društvima. Sada više ne moram da verujem da ćete mi pomoći kasnije kada mi zatreba – mogu samo da prihvatim uplatu od vas i da to koristim da bih sebi pomogao kasnije. Jedan od mojih omiljenih mislilaca, Nick Szabo, ovo naziva ‘društvena prilagodljivost’.

3. Smanjuje upotrebu sile

Kada društvo teži upotrebi određenog oblika novca za olakšavanje trgovine, može u velikoj meri da smanji nasilje u tom društvu. Kako to može biti tako? Zar ljudi ne bi i dalje želeli da kradu jedni od drugih ili da se svete?

Ukoliko razmišljamo van uobičajnih okvira, možemo da počnemo da razumemo kako novac može da smanji nasilje. Ako ti i ja živimo u susednim zemljama i želimo nešto što druga zemlja ima, imamo dva načina da to dobijemo: uzimanjem na silu ili menjanjem nečeg našeg za to. Kao što je ranije rečeno, novac znatno olakšava trgovinu – pa ćemo postojanjem zajedničkog monetarnog sistema verovatnije radje izvršiti trgovinu nego napad na zemlju. Zašto bismo rizikovali svoje živote kad možemo samo mirno da trgujemo jedni sa drugima?

Zašto ljudi mrze novac?

Pa ako novac ima toliko koristi za nas lično i za društvo u celini, zašto toliko ljudi mrzi novac? Zašto je demonizovan, zajedno sa onima koji ga imaju puno?

Za deo ovoga može biti okrivljen problem u jednakosti mogućnosti – to da je nekima teže da izadju iz nemaštine i postanu bogati. Bez sumnje, neki mali deo potiče od ljudi koji jednostavno ne žele da se trude ili preduzmu neophodne rizike da bi postali bogati.

Međutim, oba ova problema imaju više veze sa problemima kako naš novac danas funkcioniše, nego sa bilo kojim problemom u samom konceptu novca. Novčani sistem treba da nagrađuje ljude koji proizvode vredne stvari i trguju njima sa drugima. Verujem da većina ljudi danas misli da novac tako funkcioniše, i to ne bi smelo da bude daleko od istine.

Naš trenutni monetarni sistem, na žalost, nagrađuje ’finansijalizaciju’ – pretvarajući sve u imovinu, čija vrednost može da se napumpava ili spušta stvaranjem dobre priče i navođenjem drugih da veruju u nju. Razuzdani dug pogonjen stalnim omalovažavanjem svih glavnih valuta dodat je ovom blatu finansijalizacije. Sada je isplativije podići ogroman kredit i koristiti ga za brzo okretanje imovine radi zarade nego izgraditi posao koji društvu nudi korisne robe i usluge.

Tradicionalni monetarni sistem dodatno nagradjuje predatore, partnere u zločinu i neradnike.

Propast našeg novca razvila se tokom proteklih pola veka, počevši od toga kada su naše valute postale ništa više od parčeta papira, podržanog sa verom i kreditima naših vlada. Da biste bolje razumeli ovu promenu, pogledajte moj post o svrsi i istoriji novca.

Ako vam se sviđa moj rad, molim vas da ga podelite sa svojim prijateljima i porodicom. Cilj mi je da svima pružim pogled u ekonomiju i na to kako ona utiče na njihov život.

@ e844b39d:adafb6a2

This was not planned, but last evening I realized that I should at least test the Sony A900 and Minolta gear that I had, which was bought for real estate photography around a decade ago.

Look at everything out here!

Our two white kittens are almost identical, but they come from two different mothers, Charcoal and Tiger!

I sometimes wonder if they have realized that they look the same, they tend to stick together most of the day.

I know you're there!

This ended up being perfect scenes for the 20/2.8 wide open!

Outside the gate

Several of our cats have been digging a hole outside, sniffing for something, we have no idea what that is all about...

Playing around

They often stay in the slot for the gate, I guess its a little less hot there.

Happy cat?

This sort of scene is perfect for the Beercan, Minolta 70-210/4, its a legendary piece of optics for sure. One of the reasons I got into the system back then.

Scouting

They spent some time hunting each others in the "jungle" of course!

Hunting mode!

They were moving too rapidly for any gear really, so the slow AF was not a real hindrance.

I look good, yes?

Sometimes when I process images of them the fur gets messy and kinda dirty looking, but this went the opposite way!

It was a good day in the garden, and a very useful test.

That's it for today!

@ 43baaf0c:d193e34c

During the incredible Bitcoin Filmfest, I attended a community session where a discussion emerged about zapping and why I believe zaps are important. The person leading the Nostr session who is also developing an app that’s partially connected to Nostr mentioned they wouldn’t be implementing the zap mechanism directly. This sparked a brief but meaningful debate, which is why I’d like to share my perspective as an artist and content creator on why zaps truly matter.

Let me start by saying that I see everything from the perspective of an artist and creator, not so much from a developer’s point of view. In 2023, I started using Nostr after spending a few years exploring the world of ‘shitcoins’ and NFTs, beginning in 2018. Even though I became a Bitcoin maximalist around 2023, those earlier years taught me an important lesson: it is possible to earn money with my art.

Whether you love or hate them, NFTs opened my eyes to the idea that I could finally take my art to the next level. Before that, for over 15 years, I ran a travel stock video content company called @traveltelly. You can read the full story about my journey in travel and content here: https://yakihonne.com/article/traveltelly@primal.net/vZc1c8aXrc-3hniN6IMdK

When I truly understood what Bitcoin meant to me, I left all other coins behind. Some would call that becoming a Bitcoin maximalist.

The first time I used Nostr, I discovered the magic of zapping. It amazed me that someone who appreciates your art or content could reward you—not just with a like, but with real value: Bitcoin, the hardest money on earth. Zaps are small amounts of Bitcoin sent as a sign of support or appreciation. (Each Bitcoin is divisible into 100 million units called Satoshis, or Sats for short—making a Satoshi the smallest unit of Bitcoin recorded on the blockchain.)

The Energy of Zaps

If you’re building an app on Nostr—or even just connecting to it—but choose not to include zaps, why should artists and content creators share their work there? Why would they leave platforms like Instagram or Facebook, which already benefit from massive network effects?

Yes, the ability to own your own data is one of Nostr’s greatest strengths. That alone is a powerful reason to embrace the protocol. No one can ban you. You control your content. And the ability to post once and have it appear across multiple Nostr clients is an amazing feature.

But for creators, energy matters. Engagement isn’t just about numbers—it’s about value. Zaps create a feedback loop powered by real appreciation and real value, in the form of Bitcoin. They’re a signal that your content matters. And that energy is what makes creating on Nostr so special.

But beyond those key elements, I also look at this from a commercial perspective. The truth is, we still can’t pay for groceries with kisses :)—we still need money as a medium of exchange. Being financially rewarded for sharing your content gives creators a real incentive to keep creating and sharing. That’s where zaps come in—they add economic value to engagement.

A Protocol for Emerging Artists and Creators

I believe Nostr offers a great starting point for emerging artists and content creators. If you’re just beginning and don’t already have a large following on traditional social media platforms, Nostr provides a space where your work can be appreciated and directly supported with Bitcoin, even by a small but engaged community.

On the other hand, creators who already have a big audience and steady income on platforms like Instagram or YouTube may not feel the urgency to switch. This is similar to how wealthier countries are often slower to understand or adopt Bitcoin—because they don’t need it yet. In contrast, people in unbanked regions or countries facing high inflation are more motivated to learn how money really works.

In the same way, emerging creators—those still finding their audience and looking for sustainable ways to grow—are often more open to exploring new ecosystems like Nostr, where innovation and financial empowerment go hand in hand.

The same goes for Nostr. After using it for the past two years, I can honestly say: without Nostr, I wouldn’t be the artist I am today.

Nostr motivates me to create and share every single day. A like is nice but receiving a zap, even just 21 sats, is something entirely different. Once you truly understand that someone is willing to pay you for what you share, it’s no longer about the amount. It’s about the magic behind it. That simple gesture creates a powerful, positive energy that keeps you going.

Even with Nostr’s still relatively small user base, I’ve already been able to create projects that simply wouldn’t have been possible elsewhere.

Zaps do more than just reward—they inspire. They encourage you to keep building your community. That inspiration often leads to new projects. Sometimes, the people who zap you become directly involved in your work, or even ask you to create something specifically for them.

That’s the real value of zaps: not just micro-payments, but micro-connections sparks that lead to creativity, collaboration, and growth.

Proof of Work (PoW)

Over the past two years, I’ve experienced firsthand how small zaps can evolve into full art projects and even lead to real sales. Here are two examples that started with zaps and turned into something much bigger:

Halving 2024 Artwork

When I started the Halving 2024 project, I invited people on Nostr to be part of it. 70 people zapped me 2,100 sats each, and in return, I included their Npubs in the final artwork. That piece was later auctioned and sold to Jurjen de Vries for 225,128 Sats.

Magic Internet Money

For the Magic Internet Money artwork, I again invited people to zap 2,100 sats to be included. Fifty people participated, and their contributions became part of the final art frame. The completed piece was eventually sold to Filip for 480,000 sats.

These examples show the power of zaps: a simple, small act of appreciation can turn into larger engagement, deeper connection, and even the sale of original art. Zaps aren’t just tips—they’re a form of collaboration and support that fuel creative energy.

I hope this article gives developers a glimpse into the perspective of an artist using Nostr. Of course, this is just one artist’s view, and it doesn’t claim to speak for everyone. But I felt it was important to share my Proof of Work and perspective.

For me, Zaps matter.

Thank you to all the developers who are building these amazing apps on Nostr. Your work empowers artists like me to share, grow, and be supported through the value-for-value model.

@ b1ddb4d7:471244e7

The upcoming Bitcoin 2025 conference, scheduled from May 27–29 at the Venetian Conference Center in Las Vegas, is set to make history with an official attempt to break the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS® title for the most Bitcoin point-of-sale transactions in an eight-hour period.

Organized by BTC Inc, the event will showcase Bitcoin’s evolution from a digital capital asset to a practical medium of exchange, leveraging the latest advancements in payment technology.

Tap-to-Pay with Lightning-Ready Bolt Cards

To facilitate this record-setting attempt, 4,000 Lightning-ready Bolt Cards will be distributed to conference attendees.

pic.twitter.com/Iy7P361u6u

— Uncle Rockstar Developer (@r0ckstardev) May 15, 2025

These NFC-enabled cards allow users to make instant, contactless Bitcoin payments at vendor booths throughout the expo-no apps or QR codes required, just a simple tap. 

The cards are available in four collectible designs, each featuring a prominent figure in Bitcoin’s history: Senator Cynthia Lummis, Michael Saylor, Satoshi Nakamoto, and Jack Dorsey. 

Each attendee will receive a randomly assigned card, making them both functional and collectible souvenirs.

Senator Lummis: A Playful Provocation

Notably, one of the card designs features Senator Cynthia Lummis with laser eyes-a playful nod to her reputation as a leading Bitcoin advocate in US politics. 

While Lummis is known for her legislative efforts to promote Bitcoin integration, she has publicly stated she prefers to “spend dollars and save Bitcoin,” viewing BTC as a long-term store of value rather than a daily currency. 

The choice to feature her on the Bolt Card, could be suggested by Rockstar Dev of the BTC Pay Server Foundation, perhaps a lighthearted way to highlight the ongoing debate about Bitcoin’s role in everyday payments.

Nothing cracks me up quite like a senator that wants the US to buy millions of Bitcoin use dollars to buy a beer at a Bitcoin bar.

This is how unserious some of you are. pic.twitter.com/jftIEggmip

— Magoo PhD (@HodlMagoo) April 4, 2025

How Bolt Cards and the Lightning Network Work

Bolt Cards are physical cards equipped with NFC (Near Field Communication) technology, similar to contactless credit or debit cards. When linked to a compatible Lightning wallet, they enable users to make Bitcoin payments over the Lightning Network by simply tapping the card at a point-of-sale terminal. 

The Lightning Network is a second-layer protocol built on top of Bitcoin, designed to facilitate instant, low-cost transactions ideal for everyday purchases. 

This integration aims to make Bitcoin as easy to use as traditional payment methods, eliminating the need for QR code scanning or mobile apps.

A Showcase for Bitcoin’s Real-World Usability

With over 30,000 attendees, 300 exhibitors, and 500 speakers expected, the Bitcoin 2025 conference is poised to be the largest Bitcoin event of the year-and potentially the most transactional. 

The event will feature on-site activations such as the Official Bitcoin Magazine Store, where all merchandise will be available at a 21% discount for those paying with Bitcoin via the Lightning Network-a nod to Bitcoin’s 21 million coin supply limit.

By deeply integrating Lightning payments into the conference experience, organizers hope to demonstrate Bitcoin’s readiness for mainstream commerce and set a new benchmark for its practical use as a currency.

Conclusion

The Guinness World Record attempt at Bitcoin 2025 is more than a publicity stunt-it’s a bold demonstration of Bitcoin’s technological maturity and its potential to function as a modern, everyday payment method.

Whether or not the record is set, the event will serve as a milestone in the ongoing journey to make Bitcoin a truly global, user-friendly currency

@ 8bad92c3:ca714aa5

Marty's Bent

Last week we covered the bombshell developments in the Samourai Wallet case. For those who didn't read that, last Monday the world was made aware of the fact that the SDNY was explicitly told by FinCEN that the federal regulator did not believe that Samourai Wallet was a money services business six months before arresting the co-founders of Samourai Wallet for conspiracy to launder money and illegally operating a money services business. This was an obvious overstep by the SDNY that many believed would be quickly alleviated, especially considering the fact that the Trump administration via the Department of Justice has made it clear that they do not intend to rule via prosecution.

It seems that this is not the case as the SDNY responded to a letter sent from the defense to dismiss the case by stating that they fully plan to move forward. Stating that they only sought the recommendations of FinCEN employees and did not believe that those employees' comments were indicative of FinCEN's overall views on this particular case. It's a pretty egregious abuse of power by the SDNY. I'm not sure if the particular lawyers and judges within the Southern District of New York are very passionate about preventing the use of self-custody bitcoin and products that enable bitcoiners to transact privately, or if they're simply participating in a broader meta war with the Trump administration - who has made it clear to federal judges across the country that last Fall's election will have consequences, mainly that the Executive Branch will try to effectuate the policies that President Trump campaigned on by any legal means necessary - and Samouari Wallet is simply in the middle of that meta war.

However, one thing is pretty clear to me, this is an egregious overstep of power. The interpretation of that law, as has been laid out and confirmed by FinCEN over the last decade, is pretty clear; you cannot be a money services business if you do not control the funds that people are sending to each other, which is definitely the case with Samourai Wallet. People downloaded Samourai Wallet, spun up their own private-public key pairs and initiated transactions themselves. Samourai never custodied funds or initiated transactions on behalf of their users. This is very cut and dry. Straight to the point. It should be something that anyone with more than two brain cells is able to discern pretty quickly.

It is imperative that anybody in the industry who cares about being able to hold bitcoin in self-custody, to mine bitcoin, and to send bitcoin in a peer-to-peer fashion makes some noise around this case. None of the current administration's attempts to foster innovation around bitcoin in the United States will matter if the wrong precedent is set in this case. If the SDNY is successful in prosecuting Samourai Wallet, it will mean that anybody holding Bitcoin in self-custody, running a bitcoin fold node or mining bitcoin will have to KYC all of their users and counterparts lest they be labeled a money services business that is breaking laws stemming from the Bank Secrecy Act. This will effectively make building a self-custody bitcoin wallet, running a node, or mining bitcoin in tillegal in the United States. The ability to comply with the rules that would be unleashed if this Samourai case goes the wrong way, are such that it will effectively destroy the industry overnight.

It is yet to be seen whether or not the Department of Justice will step in to publicly flog the SDNY and force them to stop pursuing this case. This is the only likely way that the case will go away at this point, so it is very important that bitcoiners who care about being able to self-custody bitcoin, mine bitcoin, or send bitcoin in a peer-to-peer fashion in the United States make it clear to the current administration and any local politicians that this is an issue that you care deeply about. If we are too complacent, there is a chance that the SDNY could completely annihilate the bitcoin industry in America despite of all of the positive momentum we're seeing from all angles at the moment.

Make some noise!

Bitcoin Adoption by Power Companies: The Next Frontier

In my recent conversation with Andrew Myers from Satoshi Energy, he shared their ambitious mission to "enable every electric power company to use bitcoin by block 1,050,000" – roughly three years from now. This strategic imperative isn't just about creating new Bitcoin users; it's about sovereignty. Andrew emphasized that getting Bitcoin into the hands of energy companies who value self-sovereignty creates a more balanced future economic landscape. The excitement was palpable as he described how several energy companies are already moving beyond simply selling power to Bitcoin miners and are beginning to invest in mining operations themselves.

"You have global commodity companies being like, 'Oh, this is another commodity – we want to invest in this, we want to own this,'" - Andrew Myers

Perhaps most fascinating was Andrew's revelation about major energy companies in Texas developing Bitcoin collateral products for power contracts – a practical application that could revolutionize how energy transactions are settled. As energy companies continue embracing Bitcoin for both operations and collateral, we're witnessing the early stages of a profound shift in how critical infrastructure interfaces with sound money. The implications for both sectors could be transformative.

Check out the full podcast here for more on remote viewing, Nikola Tesla's predictions, and the convergence of Bitcoin and AI technology. We cover everything from humanoid robots to the energy demands of next-generation computing.

Headlines of the Day

Steak n Shake to Accept Bitcoin at All Locations May 16 - via X

Facebook Plans Crypto Wallets for 3B Users, Bitcoin Impact Looms - via X

Trump Urges Americans to Buy Stocks for Economic Boom - via X

UK Drops Tariffs, U.S. Farmers Set to Reap Major Benefits - via X

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Final thought...

Happy belated Mother's Day to all the moms out there.

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@ 47259076:570c98c4

When a man meets a woman, they produce another human being.

The biological purpose of life is to reproduce, that's why we have reproductive organs.

However, you can't reproduce if you are dying of starvation or something else.

So you must look for food, shelter and other basic needs.

Once those needs are satisfied, the situation as a whole is more stable and then it is easier to reproduce.

Once another human being is created, you still must support him.

In the animal kingdom, human babies are the ones who take longer to walk and be independent as a whole.

Therefore, in the first years of our lives, we are very dependent on our parents or whoever is taking care of us.

We also have a biological drive for living.

That's why when someone is drowning he will hold on into whatever they can grab with the highest strength possible.

Or when our hand is close to fire or something hot, we remove our hand immediately from the hot thing, without thinking about removing our hand, we just do it.

These are just 2 examples, there are many other examples that show this biological tendency/reflex to keep ourselves alive.

We also have our brain, which we can use to get information/knowledge/ideas/advice from the ether.

In this sense, our brain is just an antenna or radio, and the ether is the signal.

Of course, we are not the radio, we are the signal.

In other words, you are not your body, you are pure consciousness "locked" temporarily in a body.

Because we can act after receiving information from the ether, we can construct and invent new things to make our lives easier.

So far, using only biology as our rule, we can get to the following conclusion: The purpose of life is to live in a safe place, work to get food and reproduce.

Because humans have been evolving in the technological sense, we don't need to hunt for food, we can just go to the market and buy meat.

And for the shelter(house), we just buy it.

Even though you can buy a house, it's still not yours, since the government or any thug can take it from you, but this is a topic for another article.

So, adjusting what I said before in a modern sense, the purpose of life is: Work in a normal job from Monday to Friday, save money, buy a house, buy a car, get a wife and have kids. Keep working until you are old enough, then retire and do nothing for the rest of your life, just waiting for the moment you die.

Happy life, happy ending, right?

No.

There is something else to it, there is another side of the coin.

This is explored briefly by Steve Jobs in this video, but I pretend to go much further than him: https://youtu.be/uf6TzOHO_dk

Let's get to the point now.

First of all, you are alive. This is not normal.

Don't take life for granted.

There is no such a thing as a coincidence. Chance is but a name given for a law that has not been recognized yet.

You are here for a reason.

God is real. All creation starts in the mind.

The mind is the source of all creation.

When the mind of god starts thinking, it records its thoughts into matter through light.

But this is too abstract, let's get to something simple.

Governments exist, correct?

The force behind thinking is desire, without desire there is no creation.

If desired ceased to exist, everything would just vanish in the blink of an eye.

How governments are supported financially?

By taking your money.

Which means, you produce, and they take it.

And you can't go against it without suffering, therefore, you are a slave.

Are you realizing the gravity of the situation?

You are working to keep yourself alive as well as faceless useless men that you don't even know.

Your car must have an identification.

When you are born, you must have an identification.

In brazil, you can't home school your children.

When "your" "country" is in war, you must fight to defend it and give your life.

Countries are limited by imaginary lines.

How many lives have been destroyed in meaningless wars?

You must go to the front-line to defend your masters.

In most countries, you don't have freedom of speech, which means, you can't even express what you think.

When you create a company, you must have an identification and pass through a very bureaucratic process.

The money you use is just imaginary numbers in the screen of a computer or phone.

The money you use is created out of thin air.

By money here, I am referring to fiat money, not bitcoin.

Bitcoin is an alternative to achieve freedom, but this is topic for another article.

Depending on what you want to work on, you must go to college.

If you want to become a doctor, you must spend at least 5 years in an university decorating useless muscle names and bones.

Wisdom is way more important than knowledge.

That's why medical errors are the third leading cause of death in United States of America.

And I'm not even talking about Big Pharma and the "World Health Organization"

You can't even use or sell drugs, your masters don't allow it.

All the money you get, you must explain from where you got it.

Meanwhile, your masters have "black budget" and don't need to explain anything to you, even though everything they do is financed by your money.

In most countries you can't buy a gun, while your masters have a whole army fully armed to the teeth to defend them.

Your masters want to keep you sedated and asleep.

Look at all the "modern" art produced nowadays.

Look at the media, which of course was never created to "inform you".

Your masters even use your body to test their bio-technology, as happened with the covid 19 vaccines.

This is public human testing, there's of course secretive human testing, such as MKUltra and current experiments that happen nowadays that I don't even know.

I can give hundreds of millions of examples, quite literally, but let's just focus in one case, Jeffrey Epstein.

He was a guy who got rich "suddenly" and used his influence and spy skills to blackmail politicians and celebrities through recording them doing acts of pedophilia.

In United States of America, close to one million children a year go missing every year.

Some portion of these children are used in satanic rituals, and the participants of these rituals are individuals from the "high society".

Jeffrey Epstein was just an "employee", he was not the one at the top of the evil hierarchy.

He was serving someone or a group of people that I don't know who they are.

That's why they murdered him.

Why am I saying all of this?

The average person who sleep, work, eat and repeat has no idea all of this is going on.

They have no idea there is a very small group of powerful people who are responsible for many evil damage in the world.

They think the world is resumed in their little routine.

They think their routine is all there is to it.

They don't know how big the world truly is, in both a good and evil sense.

Given how much we produce and all the technology we have, people shouldn't even have to work, things would be almost nearly free.

Why aren't they?

Because of taxes.

This group of people even has access to a free energy device, which would disrupt the world in a magnitude greater than everything we have ever seen in the history of Earth.

That's why MANY people who tried to work in any manifestation of a free energy device have been murdered, or rather, "fell from a window".

How do I know a free energy device exist? This is topic for another article.

So my conclusion is:

We are in hell already. Know thyself. Use your mind for creation, any sort of creation. Do good for the people around you and the people you meet, always give more than you get, try to do your best in everything you set out to do, even if it's a boring or mundane work.

Life is short.

Our body can live no longer than 300 years.

Most people die before 90.

Know thyself, do good to the world while you can.

Wake up!!! Stop being sedated and asleep.

Be conscious.

@ 3c7dc2c5:805642a8

🧠Quote(s) of the week:

'The Cantillon Effect: When new money is printed, those closest to the source (banks, elites) benefit first, buying assets before prices rise. Others lose purchasing power as inflation hits later. If people find out how this works, they will riot.' -Bitcoin for Freedom

Just think about it. Your employer gives you a 5% raise. The Fed (central banks in general) prints 7% more dollars/euros/Fiat. You just got a 2% pay cut. This isn't a conspiracy theory. This is how fiat money steals from the working class every single day. This is why I support Bitcoin.

Anilsaidso: 'Saving in fiat currency is no longer an option. A 2% inflation rate means you lose 1/3 of your purchasing power over 20yrs. At 5% inflation, you lose 60%. And at 10% you've burnt 85%. Reduce your uncertainty. Save in Bitcoin.' https://i.ibb.co/N661BdVp/Gr-Rwdg-OXc-AAWPVE.jpg

🧡Bitcoin news🧡

“Education increases conviction.

Conviction increases allocation.

Allocation increases freedom.” —Gigi

https://i.ibb.co/Q3trHk8Y/Gr-Arv-Ioa-AAAF5b0.jpg

On the 12th of May:

➡️Google searches for "Digital Gold" are at all-time highs. Bitcoin Croesus: "This is the second wave of the Digital Revolution - the digitization of value to complement the Internet's digitization of information. It wasn't possible to own a slice of the Internet itself, but it is possible with Bitcoin, the internet of value." "...It feels like you're late to Bitcoin. But this is a bigger game playing out than most realize, and we are much earlier than casual observers know. If you're reading this, you're here on the frontier early. And you have a chance to stake a claim before 99% of the world shows up. This is a land grab. This is the digital gold rush. Make your descendants proud."

https://i.ibb.co/5XXbNQ8S/Gqw-X4-QRWs-AEd5-Uh-1.jpg

➡️ 'A new holding company ‘Nakamoto’ just raised $710 million to buy more Bitcoin and will merge with KindlyMD to establish a Bitcoin Treasury company. Saylor playbook!' - Bitcoin Archive

➡️American Bitcoin, backed by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, will go public via an all-stock merger with Gryphon Digital Mining. Post-merger, Trump affiliates and Hut 8 will retain 98% ownership. GRYP tripled to $2.19, Hut 8 jumped 11% to $15.45. The deal closes in Q3 2025.

➡️Phoenix Wallet: 'Phoenix 0.6.0 is out: offers can now have a custom description simple close (set an exact mutual close tx fee rate) native support for Linux arm64 This is the server version. Phoenix mobile release is around the corner. '

On the 13th of May:

➡️Corporate Bitcoin purchases have now outweighed the supply of new Bitcoin by 3.3x in 2025. https://i.ibb.co/fVdgQhyY/Gq1ck-XRXUAAsg-Ym.jpg

➡️ Publicly listed Next Technology disclosed buying 5,000 Bitcoin for $180m, now HODLs 5,833 $BTC worth +$600m.

➡️ After rejecting the Arizona Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act, Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed Bill SB 1373, which proposed a digital asset reserve fund. "Current volatility in the cryptocurrency markets does not make a prudent fit for general fund dollars."

➡️Meanwhile in Paris, France the kidnapping of a woman with her 2-year-old child morning on the streets of Paris - the target is allegedly the daughter of a crypto CEO. 3 masked men tried forcing them into a fake delivery van, before being fought off by her partner and bystanders. One of whom grabbed a dropped gun and aimed it back.

➡️ 'Bitcoin illiquid supply hit a new all-time high of $1.4B Are you HODLing too, anon?' - Bitcoin News

➡️Why Coinbase entering the S&P 500 matters. Boomers will have Bitcoin / CrApTo exposure, whether they like it or not. Anyway, remember what happened in 2021. The COIN IPO, and they’re still trading about 35% below their IPO-day high. Oh and please read the 'Coinbase" hack below haha.

➡️ Nasdaq listed GD Culture Group to sell up to $300 million shares to buy Bitcoin.

➡️ A Bitcoin wallet untouched since April 2014 just moved 300 BTC worth $31M for the first time in 11 years. This is how you HODL.

➡️ Bitcoin's realized price is steadily increasing, mirroring behaviors seen in past bull markets, according to CryptoQuant.

➡️ Bitcoin whales and sharks (10-10K BTC) accumulated 83,105 BTC in the last 30 days, while small retail holders (<0.1 BTC) sold 387 BTC, according to Santiment.

Bitcoin Whales have been AGGRESSIVELY accumulating BTC recently! With at least 240,000+ Bitcoin transferred to wallets with at least 100 BTC. The largest market participants are trying to buy as much as possible, what do they think comes next...

➡️'The average cost of mining 1 BTC for miners is currently $36.8K. The spread between the current market price and the cost of one coin = 182%. This is essentially the average profitability. This corresponds to the beginning of the bull cycle in November 2022 and the peaks of this cycle >$100K. A price increase above this level will allow miners to fully recover after the last halving and reach excess profits comparable to the beginning of the bull rally in January 2023.' -Axel Adler Jr.

➡️ Remember last week's segment on Coinbase..."Coinbase just disclosed in their Q1 filing: that they have custody of 2.68 million Bitcoin. That’s over 13% of all Bitcoin in circulation, on one platform. Is this the greatest honeypot in financial history? Yes, it is...read next week's Weekly Bitcoin update."

Well, here you go.

Coinbase estimates $180-$400 million in losses, remediation costs, and reimbursement following today’s cyber attack. https://i.ibb.co/jkysLtZ1/Gq-C7zl-W4-AAJ0-N6.jpg

Coinbase didn't get hacked. Coinbase employees sold customer data on the black market. Coinbase failed to protect customer data. This is why KYC is useless. The criminals have our driver's license scans. They have AI tools that can generate fake images and videos. KYC puts our identities at risk, makes onboarding more difficult, and rewards criminals. To make it even worse. Coinbase knew about the hack as early as January but only disclosed it publicly after being added to the S&P 500.

I will say it one more time! Don't buy your Bitcoin on KYC exchanges. KYC means handing over your identity to be leaked, sold, or extorted.

It was 2 days ago, see the bit on the 13th of May, that we saw a violent attack in Paris. Minimize the data you share with centralized tools. Store as much as you can locally. Always ask yourself what data am I giving and to whom? Remove the need for trust.

And for the love of God, Allah, or whatever god you are praying to...

DON'T LEAVE YOUR COINS ON A FREAKING EXCHANGE!!!!

Clear!

➡️ Sam Callahan: Bitcoin CAGRs over rolling four-year holding periods since 2012:

10th percentile: 33%

25th percentile: 50% 40th percentile: 75%

Said differently, for 90% of the time, Bitcoin’s four-year CAGR was higher than 33%. For comparison, here are the single best four-year CAGRs over the same period for:

Gold: 17%

Silver: 20%

S&P 500: 24%

Apple: 52%

Two lessons here:

1.) Even when Bitcoin underperforms, it still outperforms.

2.) Bitcoin holding goals are best measured in halving cycles.'

https://i.ibb.co/9m6q2118/Gq1-Ie2-Ob-AAIJ8-Kf.jpg

➡️ Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft has bought 96,870 Strategy₿ stocks for 30 Million dollars at an Average Price Of $310 Per Share In Q1 2025, Their Total Holdings Is 518,000 Shares Worth Over 214 Million Dollars.

➡️Senator Lummis urges the U.S. Treasury to eliminate taxes on unrealized gains for Bitcoin.

On the 14th of May:

➡️At $168,000, Bitcoin will surpass Microsoft, the world's largest company.

➡️Fidelity tells institutions to buy Bitcoin if they can’t match Bitcoin’s 65% return on capital.

➡️Michigan has adopted House Resolution 100, declaring May 13 2025 as "Digital Asset Awareness Day." The resolution encourages "activities and programs that foster a deeper understanding of digital assets and their impact on our society and economy."

➡️Publicly traded Vinanz raises funding to buy $2 million in #Bitcoin assets.

➡️Bitcoin News: "Investor Jim Chanos is shorting MicroStrategy while going long on Bitcoin, calling the stock overvalued relative to its BTC holdings. “We’re selling MicroStrategy and buying Bitcoin, basically buying something for $1 and selling it for $2.50," he told CNBC

On the 15th of May:

➡️The Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund disclosed owning $511 million in Bitcoin through BlackRock’s ETF.

➡️UK public company Coinsilium Group raises £1.25 million to adopt a Bitcoin treasury strategy.

➡️Chinese Textile company Addentax issues stock to buy 8,000 Bitcoin.

➡️14 US states have reported $632m in $MSTR exposure for Q1, in public retirement and treasury funds. A collective increase of $302m in one quarter. The average increase in holding size was 44%.

➡️Chinese public company DDC Enterprise to adopt a Bitcoin Reserve with 5,000 BTC.

On the 16th of May:

➡️Brazilian listed company Méliuz buys $28.4 million Bitcoin to become the nation's first Bitcoin Treasury Company. Shareholders voted to approve the strategy by an "overwhelming majority".

➡️13F Filings show Texas Retirement System owns MSTR. The day MSTR enters the S&P 500, every pension fund will follow.

➡️'Wealthy Investors Shift Up to 5% into Bitcoin as confidence in fiat falters. UBS, a Swiss banking giant says Bitcoin and digital assets are becoming key hedges against inflation and systemic risk, marking a dramatic shift in modern portfolio strategy.' -CarlBMenger

➡️River: "Above all, Bitcoin is money for the people." https://i.ibb.co/Jj8MVQwr/Gr-Ew-EPp-XAAA1-TVN.jpg

On the 17th of May:

➡️Illicit activity is now down to 0.14% of transaction volume across all crypto.

Context: World Bank, IMF suggests 1.5–4% of global GDP is laundered yearly through traditional banking Of that 0.14%:

63% of illicit trade was stablecoins.

13% was Bitcoin (declining each year)

Source: The 2025 Crypto Crime Report, Chainalysis 2025

Yet another confirmation that Bitcoin's use in facilitating illicit activities is a rounding error on a rounding error.

On the 18th of May:

➡️JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said they will allow clients to buy Bitcoin. The repeal of SAB 121 is a bigger deal than most realize. “I will fire any employee buying or trading Bitcoin for being stupid” - Jamie Dimon (2017) https://i.ibb.co/b5tnkb15/Gr-Vxxc-OXk-AA7cyo.jpg

On the 19th of May.

➡️Bookmark the following stuff from Daniel Batten if you want to combat climate change (fanatics)...

'That Bitcoin mining is not only not harmful, but beneficial to the environment is now supported by:

7 independent reports

20 peer-reviewed papers

As a result * 90% of climate-focused magazines * 87.5% of media coverage on Bitcoin & the environment is now positive * source 7 independent reports https://x.com/DSBatten/status/1922666207754281449… * 20 peer-reviewed papers https://x.com/DSBatten/status/1923014527651615182… * 10 climate-focused magazines https://x.com/DSBatten/status/1919518338092323260… * 16 mainstream media articles https://x.com/DSBatten/status/1922628399551434755

➡️Saifedean Ammous: '5 years ago at the height of corona hysteria, everyone worried about their savings.

If you put $10,000 in "risk-free" long-term US government bonds, you'd have $6,000 today.

If you put the $10,000 in "risky speculative tulip" bitcoin, you'd have $106,000.

HFSP, bondcucks!'

I love how Saifedean always put it so eloquently. haha

➡️An Australian judge rules Bitcoin is “just another form of money.” This could make it exempt from capital gains tax. Potentially opening the door to millions in refunds across the country. - AFR

If upheld, the decision could trigger up to $1B in refunds and overturn the Australian Tax Office’s crypto tax approach.

➡️Publicly traded Vinanz buys 16.9 Bitcoin for $1.75 Million for their treasury.

➡️Bitcoin just recorded its highest weekly close ever, while the Global Economic Policy Uncertainty Index hit its highest level in history.

➡️4 in 5 Americans want the U.S. to convert part of its gold reserves to Bitcoin. - The Nakamoto Project

"or background, the survey question was: "Assuming the United States was thinking of converting some of their gold reserves into Bitcoin, what percentage would you advise they convert?" Respondents were provided a slider used to choose between 0% and 100%. Our survey consisted of a national sample of 3,345 respondents recruited in partnership with Qualtrics, a survey and data collection company"

Context: https://x.com/thetrocro/status/1924552097565180107 https://i.ibb.co/fGDw06MC/Gr-VYDIdb-AAI7-Kxd.jpg

➡️Michael Saylor's STRATEGY bought another $764.9m Bitcoin. They now HODL 576,230 Bitcoin, acquired for $40.18 billion at $69,726 per Bitcoin.

➡️The German Government sold 49,858 BTC for $2.89B, at an average price of $57,900. If they had held it, their BTC would now be worth $5.24B.

➡️A record 63% of all the Bitcoin that exist have not transacted or moved from their wallets this year. - Wicked

https://i.ibb.co/j9nvbvmP/Gq3-Z-x6-Xw-AAv-Bhg.jpg

💸Traditional Finance / Macro:

On the 12th of May:

👉🏽The S&P 500 has closed more than 20% above its April low, technically beginning a new bull market. We are now up +1,000 points in one month.

On the 13th of May:

👉🏽 Nvidia announces a partnership with Humain to build "AI factories of the future" in Saudi Arabia. Just one hour ago, Saudi Arabia signed an economic agreement with President Trump to invest $600 billion in the US.

🏦Banks:

👉🏽 No news

🌎Macro/Geopolitics:

On the 12th of May:

👉🏽Huge pressure is on the European Union to reach a trade deal. Equities and commodities bounce hard on news of China-US trade deal. "We have reached an agreement on a 90-day pause and substantially moved down the tariff levels — both sides, on the reciprocal tariffs, will move their tariffs down 115%." - Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent

Dollar and Yuan strong bounce. Gold corrects.

👉🏽After reaching a high of 71% this year, recession odds are now back down to 40%. The odds of the US entering a recession in 2025 fall to a new low of 40% following the US-China trade deal announcement.

👉🏽'Truly incredible:

1. Trump raises tariffs: Yields rise because inflation is back
2. Trump cuts tariffs: Yields rise because growth is back
3. Trump does nothing: Yields rise because the Fed won't cut rates Today, the bond market becomes Trump and Bessent's top priority.' - TKL

President Trump’s biggest problem persists even as trade deals are announced. Tariffs have been paused for 90 days, the US-China trade deal has been announced, and inflation data is down. Yet, the 10Y yield is nearing 4.50% again. Trump needs lower rates, but rates won’t fall.

👉🏽Last week a lot of talk on Japan’s Debt Death Spiral: Japan’s 40-year yield is detonating and the myth of consequence-free debt just died with it. One of the best explanations, you can read here:

👉🏽Michael A. Arouet: 'Eye-opening chart. Can a country with a services-based economy remain a superpower? Building back US manufacturing base makes a lot of strategic and geopolitical sense.' https://i.ibb.co/Q3zJY9Fc/Gqxc6-Pt-WQAI73c.jpg

On the 13th of May:

👉🏽There is a possibility of a “big, beautiful” economic rebalancing, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says at an investment forum in Saudi Arabia. The “dream scenario” would be if China and the US can work together on rebalancing, he adds

Luke Gromen: It does roll off the tongue a whole lot nicer than "We want to significantly devalue USD v. CNY, via a gold reference point."

Ergo: The price of gold specifically would rise in USD much more than it would in CNY, while prices for other goods and services would not, or would do so to a lesser degree.

👉🏽 Dutch inflation rises to 4.1 percent in April | CBS – final figure. Unchanged compared to the estimate.

👉🏽Philipp Heimberger: This interesting new paper argues that cuts to taxes on top incomes disproportionately benefit the financial sector. The finance industry gains more from top-income tax cuts than other industries. "Cuts in top income tax rates increase the (relative) size of the financial sector"

Source

Kinda obvious, innit?

👉🏽US CPI data released. Overall good results and cooler than expected month-over-month and year-over-year (outside of yearly core). U.S. inflation is down to 2.3%, lower than expected.

On the 14th of May:

👉🏽'The US government cannot afford a recession: In previous economic cycles, the US budget deficit widened by ~4% of GDP on average during recessions. This would imply a ~$1.3 trillion deterioration of US government finances if a recession hits in 2025. That said, if the US enters a recession, long-term interest rates will likely go down.

A 2-percentage-point decrease in interest rates would save ~$568 billion in annual interest payments. However, this means government finances would worsen by more than DOUBLE the amount saved in interest due to a recession. An economic downturn would be incredibly costly for the US government.' -TKL

On the 15th of May:

👉🏽'In the Eurozone and the UK, households hold more than 30% of their financial assets in fiat currencies and bank deposits. This means that they (unknowingly?) allow inflation to destroy their purchasing power. The risks of inflation eating up your wealth increase in a debt-driven economic system characterized by fiscal dominance, where interest rates are structurally low and inflation levels and risks are high. There is so much forced and often failed regulation to increase financial literacy, but this part is never explained. Why is that, you think?' - Jeroen Blokland https://i.ibb.co/zWRpNqhz/Gq-jn-Bn-X0-AAmplm.png

On the 16th of May:

👉🏽'For the first time in a year, Japan's economy shrank by -0.7% in Q1 2025. This is more than double the decline expected by economists. Furthermore, this data does NOT include the reciprocal tariffs imposed on April 2nd. Japan's economy is heading for a recession.' -TKL

👉🏽'246 US large companies have gone bankrupt year-to-date, the most in 15 years. This is up from 206 recorded last year and more than DOUBLE during the same period in 2022. In April alone, the US saw 59 bankruptcy filings as tariffs ramped up. So far this year, the industrials sector has seen 41 bankruptcies, followed by 31 in consumer discretionary, and 17 in healthcare. According to S&P Global, consumer discretionary companies have been hit the hardest due to market volatility, tariffs, and inflation uncertainty. We expect a surge in bankruptcies in 2025.' -TKL

👉🏽'Moody's just downgraded the United States' credit rating for the FIRST time in history. The reason: An unsustainable path for US federal debt and its resulting interest burden. Moody's notes that the US debt-to-GDP ratio is on track to hit 134% by 2035. Federal interest payments are set to equal ~30% of revenue by 2035, up from ~18% in 2024 and ~9% in 2021. Furthermore, deficit spending is now at World War 2 levels as a percentage of GDP. The US debt crisis is our biggest issue with the least attention.' - TKL

Still, this is a nothing burger. In August 2023, when Fitch downgraded the US to AA+, and S&P (2011) the US became a split-rated AA+ country. This downgrade had almost no effect on the bond market. The last of the rating agencies, Moodys, pushed the US down to AA+ today. So technically it didn’t even change the US’s overall credit rating because it was already split-rated AA+, now it’s unanimous AA+.

Ergo: Nothing changed. America now shares a credit rating with Austria and Finland. Hard assets don’t lie. Watch Gold and Bitcoin.

https://i.ibb.co/Q7DcWY2P/Gr-K66i-EXIAAKh-MR.jpg

RAY DALIO: Credit Agencies are UNDERSTATING sovereign credit risks because "they don't include the greater risk that the countries in debt will print money to pay their debts" with devalued currency.

👉🏽US consumer credit card serious delinquencies are rising at a CRISIS pace: The share of US credit card debt that is past due at least 90 days hit 12.3% in Q1 2025, the highest in 14 YEARS. The percentage has risen even faster than during the Great Financial Crisis.' - Global Markets Investor

https://i.ibb.co/nNH9CxVK/Gr-E838o-XYAIk-Fyn.png

On the 18th of May:

👉🏽Michael A. Arouet: 'Look at ten bottom of this list. Milei has not only proven that real free market reforms work, but he has also proven that they work fast. It’s bigger than Argentina now, no wonder that the left legacy media doesn’t like him so much.' https://i.ibb.co/MDnBCDSY/Gr-Npu-KKWMAAf-Pc.jpg

On the 19th of May: 👉🏽Japan's 40-year bond yield just hit its highest level in over 20 years. Japan’s Prime Minister Ishiba has called the situation “worse than Greece.” All as Japan’s GDP is contracting again. You and your mother should be scared out of your fucking minds. https://i.ibb.co/rGZ9cMtv/GTXx-S7-Cb-MAAOu-Vt.png

👉🏽 TKL: 'Investors are piling into gold funds like never before: Gold funds have posted a record $85 BILLION in net inflows year-to-date. This is more than DOUBLE the full-year record seen in 2020. At this pace, net inflows will surpass $180 billion by the end of 2025. Gold is now the best-performing major asset class, up 22% year-to-date. Since the low in October 2022, gold prices have gained 97%. Gold is the global hedge against uncertainty.'

🎁If you have made it this far, I would like to give you a little gift, well, in this case, two gifts:

What Bitcoin Did - IS THE FED LOSING CONTROL? With Matthew Mezinskis

'Matthew Mezinskis is a macroeconomic researcher, host of the Crypto Voices podcast, and creator of Porkopolis Economics. In this episode, we discuss fractional reserve banking, why it's controversial among Bitcoiners, the historical precedent for banking practices, and whether fractional reserve banking inherently poses systemic risks. We also get into the dangers and instabilities introduced by central banking, why Bitcoin uniquely offers a pathway to financial sovereignty, the plumbing of the global financial system, breaking down money supply metrics, foreign holdings of US treasuries, and how all these elements indicate growing instability in the dollar system.'

https://youtu.be/j-XPVOl9zGc

Credit: I have used multiple sources!

My savings account: Bitcoin The tool I recommend for setting up a Bitcoin savings plan: PocketBitcoin especially suited for beginners or people who want to invest in Bitcoin with an automated investment plan once a week or monthly.

Use the code SE3997

Get your Bitcoin out of exchanges. Save them on a hardware wallet, run your own node...be your own bank. Not your keys, not your coins. It's that simple. ⠀ ⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀

Do you think this post is helpful to you?

If so, please share it and support my work with a zap.

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

⭐ Many thanks⭐

Felipe - Bitcoin Friday!

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@ c9badfea:610f861a

Before you post a message or article online, let the LLM check if you are leaking any personal information using this prompt:

Analyze the following text to identify any Personally Identifiable Information (PII): <Your Message>

Replace <Your Message> with your text

If no PII is found, continue by modifying your message to detach it from your personality. You can use any of the following prompts (and further modify it if necessary).

Prompt № 1 - Reddit-Style

Convert the message into a casual, Reddit-style post without losing meaning. Split the message into shorter statements with the same overall meaning. Here is the message: <Your Message>

Prompt № 2 - Advanced Modifications

``` Apply the following modifications to the message: - Rewrite it in lowercase - Use "u" instead of "you" - Use "akchoaly" instead of "actually" - Use "hav" instead of "have" - Use "tgat" instead of "that" - Use comma instead of period - Use British English grammar

Here is the message: ```

Prompt № 3 - Neutral Tone

Rewrite the message to correct grammar errors, and ensure the tone is neutral and free of emotional language: <Your Message>

Prompt № 4 - Cross Translation Technique

Translate the message into Chinese, then translate the resulting Chinese text back into English. Provide only the final English translation. Here is the message: <Your Message>

Check the modified message and send it.

ℹ️ You can use dialects to obfuscate your language further. For example, if you are from the US, you can tell the LLM to use British grammar and vice versa.

⚠️ Always verify the results. Don't fully trust an LLM.

@ 8bf578f4:b6303c41

test

https://nosto.re/6849b84caaa15bdc18ca2e1e1ee00e979c7ecf901787e09054b4bd0196b4ea27.jpg

test svg

@ 8bad92c3:ca714aa5

Marty's Bent

via me

It seems like every other day there's another company announced that is going public with the intent of competing with Strategy by leveraging capital markets to create financial instruments to acquire Bitcoin in a way that is accretive for shareholders. This is certainly a very interesting trend, very bullish for bitcoin in the short-term, and undoubtedly making it so bitcoin is top of mind in the mainstream. I won't pretend to know whether or not these strategies will ultimately be successful or fail in the short, medium or long term. However, one thing I do know is that the themes that interest me, both here at TFTC and in my role as Managing Partner at Ten31, are companies that are building good businesses that are efficient, have product-market-fit, generate revenues and profits and roll those profits into bitcoin.

While it seems pretty clear that Strategy has tapped into an arbitrage that exists in capital markets, it's not really that exciting. From a business perspective, it's actually pretty straightforward and simple; find where potential arbitrage opportunities exists between pools of capital looking for exposure to spot bitcoin or bitcoin's volatility but can't buy the actual asset, and provide them with products that give them access to exposure while simultaneously creating a cult-like retail following. Rinse and repeat. To the extent that this strategy is repeatable is yet to be seen. I imagine it can expand pretty rapidly. Particularly if we have a speculative fervor around companies that do this. But in the long run, I think the signal is falling back to first principles, looking for businesses that are actually providing goods and services to the broader economy - not focused on the hyper-financialized part of the economy - to provide value and create efficiencies that enable higher margins and profitability.

With this in mind, I think it's important to highlight the combined leverage that entrepreneurs have by utilizing bitcoin treasuries and AI tools that are emerging and becoming more advanced by the week. As I said in the tweet above, there's never been a better time to start a business that finds product-market fit and cash flows quickly with a team of two to three people. If you've been reading this rag over the last few weeks, you know that I've been experimenting with these AI tools and using them to make our business processes more efficient here at TFTC. I've also been using them at Ten31 to do deep research and analysis.

It has become abundantly clear to me that any founder or entrepreneur that is not utilizing the AI tools that are emerging is going to get left behind. As it stands today, all anyone has to do to get an idea from a thought in your head to the prototype stage to a minimum viable product is to hop into something like Claude or ChatGPT, have a brief conversation with an AI model that can do deep research about a particular niche that you want to provide a good service to and begin building.

Later this week, I will launch an app called Opportunity Cost in the Chrome and Firefox stores. It took me a few hours of work over the span of a week to ideate and iterate on the concept to the point where I had a working prototype that I handed off to a developer who is solving the last mile problem I have as an "idea guy" of getting the product to market. Only six months ago, accomplishing something like this would have been impossible for me. I've never written a line of code that's actually worked outside of the modded MySpace page I made back in middle school. I've always had a lot of ideas but have never been able to effectively communicate them to developers who can actually build them. With a combination of ChatGPT-03 and Replit, I was able to build an actual product that works. I'm using it in my browser today. It's pretty insane.

There are thousands of people coming to the same realization at the same time right now and going out there and building niche products very cheaply, with small teams, they are getting to market very quickly, and are amassing five figures, six figures, sometimes seven figures of MRR with extremely high profit margins. What most of these entrepreneurs have not really caught on to yet is that they should be cycling a portion - in my opinion, a large portion - of those profits into bitcoin. The combination of building a company utilizing these AI tools, getting it to market, getting revenue and profits, and turning those profits into bitcoin cannot be understated. You're going to begin seeing teams of one to ten people building businesses worth billions of dollars and they're going to need to store the value they create, any money that cannot be debased.

Grant Gilliam, one of the co-founders of Ten31, wrote about this in early 2024, bitcoin being the fourth lever of equity value growth for companies.

[

Bitcoin Treasury - The Fourth Lever to Equity Value Growth

Most companies do not hold enough bitcoin There is a saying you often hear in bitcoin circles that “you can never have enough bitcoin.” This is typically expressed by those who have spent the time to both understand bitcoin’s unique and superior monetary properties and also to appreciate why tho

Ten31 - Investors in bitcoin infrastructure and freedom techGrant Gilliam

](https://ten31.vc/insights/treasury?ref=tftc.io)

We already see this theme playing out at Ten31 with some of our portfolio companies, most notably Strike, which recently released some of their financials, highlighting the fact that they're extremely profitable with high margins and a relatively small team (~75). This is extremely impressive, especially when you consider the fact that they're a global company competing with the likes of Coinbase and Block, which have each thousands of employees.

Even those who are paying attention to the developments in the AI space and how the tools can enable entrepreneurs to build faster aren't really grasping the gravity of what's at play here. Many are simply thinking of consumer apps that can be built and distributed quickly to market, but the ways in which AI can be implemented extend far beyond the digital world. Here's a great example of a company a fellow freak is building with the mindset of keeping the team small, utilizing AI tools to automate processes and quickly push profits into bitcoin.

via Cormac

Again, this is where the exciting things are happening in my mind. People leveraging new tools to solve real problems to drive real value that ultimately produce profits for entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs who decide to save those profits in bitcoin will find that the equity value growth of their companies accelerates exponentially as they provide more value, gain more traction, and increase their profits while also riding the bitcoin as it continues on its monetization phase. The compounded leverage of building a company that leverages AI tools and sweeps profits into bitcoin is going to be the biggest asymmetric play of the next decade. Personally, I also see it as something that's much more fulfilling than the pure play bitcoin treasury companies that are coming to market because consumers and entrepreneurs are able to recive and provide a ton of value in the real economy.

If you're looking to stay on top of the developments in the AI space and how you can apply the tools to help build your business or create a new business, I highly recommend you follow somebody like Greg Isenberg, whose Startup Ideas Podcast has been incredibly valuable for me as I attempt to get a lay of the land of how to implement AI into my businesses.

America's Two Economies

In my recent podcast with Lyn Alden, she outlined how our trade deficits create a cycle that's reshaping America's economic geography. As Alden explained, US trade deficits pump dollars into international markets, but these dollars don't disappear - they return as investments in US financial assets. This cycle gradually depletes industrial heartlands while enriching financial centers on the coasts, creating what amounts to two separate American economies.

"We're basically constantly taking economic vibrancy out of Michigan and Ohio and rural Pennsylvania where the steel mills were... and stuffing it back into financial assets in New York and Silicon Valley." - Lyn Alden

This pattern has persisted for over four decades, accelerating significantly since the early 1980s. Alden emphasized that while economists may argue there's still room before reaching a crisis point, the political consequences are already here. The growing divide between these two Americas has fueled populist sentiment as voters who feel left behind seek economic rebalancing, even if they can't articulate the exact mechanisms causing their hardship.

Check out the full podcast here for more on China's man

@ 5ea46480:450da5bd

Decentralization refers to control/power, and relates to censorship resistance. That is it, it is not more complicated then that. Resilience is a function of redundancy; a centralized censored system can have a redundant set-up and therefor be resilient.

Take Bitcoin; the blockchain is a central database, it is resilient because it has many redundant copies among a lot of different nodes. The message (txs and blocks) propagation is decentralized due to existence of a p2p network among these nodes, making the data distribution censorship resistant (hello op_return debate). But onchain transactions themselves are NOT p2p, they require a middlemen (a miner) because it is a central database, as opposed to something like lightning which is p2p. Peer to Peer says something about relative architectural hierarchical position/relation. P2P provides censorship resistance because it entails equal power relations, provided becoming a peer is permissionless. What makes onchain transactions censorship resistant is that mining is permissionless, and involves this open power struggle/game where competition results in a power distribution among players, meaning (hopefully) decentralization. The fact users rely on these middlemen is mitigated by this decentralization on the one hand, and temper-proofing via cryptographic signatures on the other, resulting in what we call trustlessness (or trust minimization for the autists in the room); we only rely on a miner to perform a job (including your tx into a block), but we don’t trust the miner to perform the job correctly, this we can verify ourselves.

This leads us to Nostr, because that last part is exactly what Nostr does as well. It uses cryptography to get tamper-proof messaging, which then allows you to use middle-men in a trust minimized way. The result is decentralization because in general terms, any middle man is as good as any other (same as with miners), and becoming such a middleman is permissionless(somewhat, mostly); which in turn leads to censorship resistance. It also allows for resilience because you are free to make things as redundant as you'd like.

Ergo, the crux is putting the cryptography central, making it the starting point of the system; decentralization then becomes an option due to trust minimization. The difference between Bitcoin an Nostr, is that Bitcoin maintains a global state/central ledger and needs this PoW/Nakamoto consensus fanfare; Nostr rests itself with local perspectives on 'the network'.

The problem with the Fediverse, is that it does not provide trust minimization in relation to the middlemen. Sure, there are a lot different servers, but you rely on a particular one (and the idea you could switch never really seemed to have materialized in a meaningful way). It also fails in permisionlessness because you rely on the association between servers, i.e. federation, to have meaningful access to the rest of the network. In other words, it is more a requirement of association than freedom of association; you have the freedom to be excommunicated.

The problem with ATproto is that is basically does not solve this dynamic; it only complicates it by pulling apart the components; identity and data, distribution and perspective are now separated, and supposedly you don’t rely on any particular one of these sub-component providers in the stack; but you do rely on all these different sub-component providers in the stack to play nice with each other. And this ‘playing nice’ is just the same old ‘requirement of association’ and ‘freedom of excommunication’ that looms at the horizon.

Yes, splitting up the responsibilities of identity, hosting and indexing is what is required to safe us from the platform hellscape which at this stage takes care of all three. But as it turns out, it was not a matter cutting those up into various (on paper) interchangeable middlemen. All that is required is putting cryptographic keys in the hands of the user; the tamperproofing takes care of the rest, simply by trust minimizing the middlemen we use. All the sudden it does not matter which middlemen we use, and no one is required to play nice; we lost the requirement of association, and gained freedom of association, which was the purpose of censorship resistance and therefor decentralization, to begin with.

@ 8bad92c3:ca714aa5

Marty's Bent

via Kevin McKernan

There's been a lot of discussion this week about Casey Means being nominated for Surgeon General of the United States and a broader overarching conversation about the effectiveness of MAHA since the inauguration and how effective it may or may not be moving forward. Many would say that President Trump won re-election due to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Nicole Shanahan deciding to reach across the aisle and join the Trump ticket, bringing with them the MAHA Moms, who are very focused on reorienting the healthcare system in the United States with a strong focus on the childhood vaccine schedule.

I'm not going to lie, this is something I'm passionate about as well, particularly after having many conversations over the years with doctors like Kevin McKernan, Dr. Jack Kruse, Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, Dr. Brooke Miller, Dr. Peter McCullough and others about the dangers of the COVID mRNA vaccines. As it stands today, I think this is the biggest elephant in the room in the world of healthcare. If you look at the data, particularly disability claims, life insurance claims, life expectancy, miscarriage rates, fertility issues and rates of turbo cancer around the world since the COVID vaccine was introduced in 2021, it seems pretty clear that there is harm being done to many of the people who have taken them.

The risk-reward ratio of the vaccines seems to be incredibly skewed towards risk over reward and children - who have proven to be least susceptible to COVID - are expected to get three COVID shots in the first year of their life if their parents follow the vaccine schedule. For some reason or another it seems that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has shied away from this topic after becoming the head of Health and Human Services within the Trump administration. This is after a multi-year campaign during which getting the vaccines removed from the market war a core part of his platform messaging.

I'm still holding out hope that sanity will prevail. The COVID mRNA vaccines will be taken off the market in a serious conversation about the crimes against humanity that unfolded during the COVID years will take place. However, we cannot depend on that outcome. We must build with the assumption in mind that that outcome may never materialize. This leads to identifying where the incentives within the system are misconstrued. One area where I think it's pretty safe to say that the incentives are misaligned is the fact that 95% of doctors work for and answer to a corporation driven by their bottom line. Instead of listening to their patients and truly caring about the outcome of each individual, doctors forced to think about the monetary outcome of the corporation they work for first.

The most pernicious way in which these misaligned incentives emerge is the way in which the hospital systems and physicians are monetarily incentivized by big pharma companies to push the COVID vaccine and other vaccines on their patients. It is important to acknowledge that we cannot be dependent on a system designed in this way to change from within. Instead, we must build a new incentive system and market structure. And obviously, if you're reading this newsletter, you know that I believe that bitcoin will play a pivotal role in realigning incentives across every industry. Healthcare just being one of them.

Bitcoiners have identified the need to become sovereign in our monetary matters, it probably makes sense to become sovereign when it comes to our healthcare as well. This means finding doctors who operate outside the corporate controlled system and are able to offer services that align incentives with the end patient. My family utilizes a combination of CrowdHealth and a private care physician to align incentives. We've even utilized a private care physician who allowed us to pay in Bitcoin for her services for a number of years. I think this is the model. Doctors accepting hard censorship resistant money for the healthcare and advice they provide. Instead of working for a corporation looking to push pharmaceutical products on their patients so they can bolster their bottom line, work directly with patients who will pay in bitcoin, which will appreciate in value over time.

I had a lengthy discussion with Dr. Jack Kruse on the podcast earlier today discussing these topic and more. It will be released on Thursday and I highly recommend you freaks check it out once it is published. Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss it.

How the "Exorbitant Privilege" of the Dollar is Undermining Our Manufacturing Base

In my conversation with Lyn Alden, we explored America's fundamental economic contradiction. As Lyn expertly explained, maintaining the dollar's reserve currency status while attempting to reshore manufacturing presents a near-impossible challenge - what economists call Triffin's Dilemma. The world's appetite for dollars gives Americans tremendous purchasing power but simultaneously hollows out our industrial base. The overvalued dollar makes our exports less competitive, especially for lower-margin manufacturing, while our imports remain artificially strong.

"Having the reserve currency does come with a bunch of benefits, historically called an exorbitant privilege, but then it has certain costs to maintain it." - Lyn Alden

This dilemma forces America to run persistent trade deficits, as this is how dollars flow to the world. For over four decades, these deficits have accumulated, creating massive economic imbalances that can't be quickly reversed. The Trump administration's attempts to address this through tariffs showcase how difficult rebalancing has become. As Lyn warned, even if we successfully pivot toward reshoring manufacturing, we'll face difficult trade-offs: potentially giving up some reserve currency benefits to rebuild our industrial foundation. This isn't just economic theory - it's the restructuring challenge that will define America's economic future.

Check out the full podcast here for more on China's manufacturing dominance, the role of Bitcoin in monetary transitions, and energy production as the foundation for future industrial power.

Headlines of the Day

Coinbase to replace Discover in S&P 500 on May 19 - via X

Mallers promises no rehypothecation in Strike Bitcoin loans - via X

Get our new STACK SATS hat - via tftcmerch.io

Missouri passes HB 594, eliminates Bitcoin capital gains tax - via X

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Final thought...

The 100+ degree days have returned to Austin, TX. Not mad about it... yet.

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@ 8bad92c3:ca714aa5

Key Takeaways

Dr. Jack Kruse returns in this fiery episode to expose what he alleges is a coordinated campaign by Big Pharma, technocrats, and global elites to control public health narratives and financial systems through manipulated health policies and propaganda. He accuses figures like Calli and Casey Means of fronting a compromised "Maha Movement," backed by A16Z, Big Tech, and the World Economic Forum, with ambitions to embed themselves into U.S. health policy and bioweapons programs. Kruse details his covert efforts to expose these connections, claiming they led to the withdrawal of Casey Means' Surgeon General nomination, and warns of a looming biotechnocratic surveillance state where mRNA vaccines act as bioweapons to enforce compliance. Urging Bitcoiners to expand their fight for sovereignty beyond finance into healthcare and biology, Kruse argues that the true war is over time sovereignty—not just monetary freedom—and that protecting children from vaccine harms is now the most urgent front in this escalating battle.

Best Quotes

"Bitcoin is worthless if you have no time."

"We’re not playing games here. This is to the death."

"Big Pharma is just the drug dealer. The real boss is the Department of Defense and DARPA."

"The real battle in D.C. isn’t left vs. right, it’s Rothschilds and Rockefellers vs. the technocrats."

"First principle Bitcoiners need to become first principle decentralizers of life itself."

Conclusion

This episode delivers a provocative call to action from Dr. Jack Kruse, who warns that the fight for sovereignty must go beyond finance to confront what he sees as the immediate threat of centralized bio-surveillance through mRNA vaccines. Blending insider claims with health activism, Kruse urges Bitcoiners and the public to recognize that true freedom requires decentralizing not only money but also healthcare and information systems, arguing that without protecting biological sovereignty, Bitcoin’s promise of liberty will be meaningless if people are left physically, mentally, or politically compromised.

Timestamps

0:00 - Intro
0:47 - Outlining MAHA infiltration
22:59 - Fold & Bitkey
24:35- Danger to children
28:27 - Political shell game
35:40 - Unchained
36:09 - Time theft
41:07 - Vax data
46:32 - Bioweapon and control system
58:29 - Game plan - Decentralized yourself
1:15:16 - Priorities
1:24:30 - Support Mary Talley Bowden

Transcript

(00:00) me, Larry Leard, those kind of Bitcoiners, the people that are out there that have money, like they're looking to take us out. You need to know a little bit about the back history that I don't think I've talked about anywhere on any other podcast. Rick Callie is linked to the current administration is through Susie Watts.
(00:17) They both were working at Mercury PR basically is the frontman for propaganda for Big Farm. Basically, who pays you? You become their [ __ ] We're not playing games here. This is to the death. This is the biggest issue facing Maha now. It's not Froot Loops. It's not red dye. But the messenger RA job can drop you like Demar Handler.
(00:40) Can end your career like JJ Watt. Dr. Jack Cruz, welcome back to the show. Thank you, sir, for having me. Well, thank you for being here. I mean, you're making a lot of noise around a topic that I wasn't well aware of. I'm not going to lie. I think I got duped by or we'll find out if I actually got duped by the meanses. Cali means was coming in last year talking big about Maja getting the food correct.
(01:15) Um, basically telling the story of him being a lobbyist and understanding how corrupt the food system is. And we talked about it last time we were on two months ago. this sort of maha movement has shifted towards focusing on preventative care particularly in diets and you were on the Danny Danny Jones show late last year with Cali means uh sort of pressuring him to admit that the vaccine should be pulled off the market and he did not did not bite and would not budge on that and now his sister Casey has been appointed to surgeon general and
(01:50) this is something Let me let me tell you a little bit about that because you need to know a little bit about the back history that I don't think I've talked about anywhere on any other podcast. She was going to be named surgeon general uh back then. Just so you know that I knew it and I knew quite a bit of other things.
(02:16) So what was my goal? I knew um that Cali and Casey were tied to big tech. They were tied specifically, which you'll be interested in, A16Z, the shitcoiners extraordinaire, and they were also tied to the World Economic Forum through the book deal. Um, so my goal at that time as part of the person that was big in the mob like, and Marty, I don't know if you know this back part of the story.
(02:46) Maha begins not with Casey and Cali and Bobby Kennedy. It began with me, Bobby, and Rick Rubin on Rick's podcast the day that I told RFK Jr. that SV40 was in the Fiser Jabs. Mhm. And that's when Bobby found out that I wrote the law for Blly for a constitutional amendment for medical freedom. And he asked me to use four pages of the law.
(03:13) And Blly cleared me to do that. And then Aaron Siri, who was Bobby's attorney and working with a lot of the stuff that Bobby does with vaccines and I can Aaron contacted me. So just so you're clear, this is two and a half years ago. This is before this is a year previous to Casey and Cali coming on the scene. And I was always behind the scenes.
(03:37) I was not really interested in getting involved um in the [ __ ] show. But when I saw these two show up, the way they showed up and when I heard Cali actually say on a podcast that, you know, he was the modus operande of the Maha movement and he's the one that brought Bobby and Trump together.
(04:02) I said, "That's where I draw a [ __ ] line." I'm like, "Uh-uh. These guys, I know exactly what they're going to do. I see the game plan. they're going to use a shell game and I needed to have proof before you can come out and be a savage. You got to have proof. So, I hired three former Secret Service agents to actually do a very deep dive.
(04:24) We're talking about the kind of dive that you would get uh if you were going for a Supreme Court nomination. Okay? It cost me a lot of money. And why did I think it was important? Because as you know, you know, as a Bitcoiner, you just saw the big scam that happened with Maya Paribu down in Cerninam that happened after.
(04:49) Well, when I hired these guys, when all of my research that I had done was confirmed by them, I said, "Okay, now we need to go on a podcast very publicly and we need to put Cali's feet to the fire." Why? because I knew and he did not know that I knew this prior to the podcast. Uh that his sister was going to be nominated for surgeon general then.
(05:14) And because he didn't know and you you'll be able to confirm this or the savages in your audience can confirm this with Danny Jones. Do you know that Cali cancelled the podcast to do it into uh February? Yeah. Well, I think it was April of 25 because he didn't want to give anybody the time and day.
(05:37) So, what did I start doing? I started posting some of the information back in November that I found and the links to the Wjikis and the links to Bin, the links to A16Z. I didn't didn't give a ton of the information, but let's just put it this way. enough to make Callie and Cassie scream a little bit that people in DC started to read all my tweets.
(06:04) And then he called Danny up and said, "Danny, I want to do this podcast immediately." And I knew the reason why. Cuz I was baiting him to come so I could hit him with the big stuff. Why? Because you have to understand these two kids, you know, tied to the Rockefellers. They're tied to the banking elite.
(06:26) They're tied to the World Economics Form. Rick Callie is linked to the current administration is through Susie Watts. They both were working at Mercury PR and uh Mercury PR uh basically is the frontman for propaganda for Big Farm and everybody knows that, but not everybody knew that Cali worked for them.
(06:50) And you know the story that he sold all you guys, how he fooled you. And I consider you a smart guy, a savage, it's not shocking how he fooled you because he said as a um a lobbyist basically who pays you, you become their [ __ ] to to be quite honest and you'll say things that will make sense. Everybody in creation who's going to watch your podcast knows that all the things that Casey and Cali have said have been said literally for 30, 40, 50 years going all the way back to probably Anel Peas about diet and exercise.
(07:25) Everybody [ __ ] knows that. It's not new. They just decided to repackage it up and then they actually got in Bobby's ear about it. And when I released all this stuff, did Bobby know what I had? Yeah, he knew. And did the people in DC all what all their antennas up about this issue? Who was most pissed off with Uncle Jack back then? Susie [ __ ] Walls.
(07:56) Why? because those two are her babies that were going to be the amber that Susie Cassidy Cassidy Big Farmer were going to place around um Bobby Kennedy once he got confirmed. And that's why for the savages that are listening to this podcast, you go back and look at Nicole's tweet from, you know, I guess it was about four or five days ago that this didn't make sense.
(08:20) Why? because I gave the data directly to the people in DC behind the scenes of what was really going on and because it was so explosive. That's the reason Susie had to not give the job to Casey Means. She had to wait till the heat died down. So they elevated Janette and Janette bas

@ 8bad92c3:ca714aa5

Marty's Bent

Here's a great presentation from our good friend Michael Goldstein, President of the Satoshi Nakamoto Institute titled Hodl for Good. He gave it earlier this year at the BitBlockBoom Conference, and I think it's something everyone reading this should take 25 minutes to watch. Especially if you find yourself wondering whether or not it's a good idea to spend bitcoin at any given point in time. Michael gives an incredible Austrian Economics 101 lesson on the importance of lowering one's time preference and fully understanding the importance of hodling bitcoin. For the uninitiated, it may seem that the hodl meme is nothing more than a call to hoard bitcoins in hopes of getting rich eventually. However, as Michael points out, there's layers to the hodl meme and the good that hodling can bring individuals and the economy overall.

The first thing one needs to do to better understand the hodl meme is to completely flip the framing that is typically thrust on bitcoiners who encourage others to hodl. Instead of ceding that hodling is a greedy or selfish action, remind people that hodling, or better known as saving, is the foundation of capital formation, from which all productive and efficient economic activity stems. Number go up technology is great and it really matters. It matters because it enables anybody leveraging that technology to accumulate capital that can then be allocated toward productive endeavors that bring value to the individual who creates them and the individual who buys them.

When one internalizes this, it enables them to turn to personal praxis and focus on minimizing present consumption while thinking of ways to maximize long-term value creation. Live below your means, stack sats, and use the time that you're buying to think about things that you want in the future. By lowering your time preference and saving in a harder money you will have the luxury of demanding higher quality goods in the future. Another way of saying this is that you will be able to reshape production by voting with your sats. Initially when you hold them off the market by saving them - signaling that the market doesn't have goods worthy of your sats - and ultimately by redeploying them into the market when you find higher quality goods that meet the standards desire.

The first part of this equation is extremely important because it sends a signal to producers that they need to increase the quality of their work. As more and more individuals decide to use bitcoin as their savings technology, the signal gets stronger. And over many cycles we should begin to see low quality cheap goods exit the market in favor of higher quality goods that provide more value and lasts longer and, therefore, make it easier for an individual to depart with their hard-earned and hard-saved sats. This is only but one aspect that Michael tries to imbue throughout his presentation.

The other is the ability to buy yourself leisure time when you lower your time preference and save more than you spend. When your savings hit a critical tipping point that gives you the luxury to sit back and experience true leisure, which Michael explains is not idleness, but the contemplative space to study, create art, refine taste, and to find what "better goods" actually are. Those who can experience true leisure while reaping the benefits of saving in a hard asset that is increasing in purchasing power significantly over the long term are those who build truly great things. Things that outlast those who build them. Great art, great monuments, great institutions were all built by men who were afforded the time to experience leisure. Partly because they were leveraging hard money as their savings and the place they stored the profits reaped from their entrepreneurial endeavors.

If you squint and look into the future a couple of decades, it isn't hard to see a reality like this manifesting. As more people begin to save in Bitcoin, the forces of supply and demand will continue to come into play. There will only ever be 21 million bitcoin, there are around 8 billion people on this planet, and as more of those 8 billion individuals decide that bitcoin is the best savings vehicle, the price of bitcoin will rise.

When the price of bitcoin rises, it makes all other goods cheaper in bitcoin terms and, again, expands the entrepreneurial opportunity. The best part about this feedback loop is that even non-holders of bitcoin benefit through higher real wages and faster tech diffusion. The individuals and business owners who decide to hodl bitcoin will bring these benefits to the world whether you decide to use bitcoin or not.

This is why it is virtuous to hodl bitcoin. The potential for good things to manifest throughout the world increases when more individuals decide to hodl bitcoin. And as Michael very eloquently points out, this does not mean that people will not spend their bitcoin. It simply means that they have standards for the things that they will spend their bitcoin on. And those standards are higher than most who are fully engrossed in the high velocity trash economy have today.

In my opinion, one of those higher causes worthy of a sats donation is the Satoshi Nakamoto Institute. Consider donating so they can preserve and disseminate vital information about bitcoin and its foundations.

The Shell Game: How Health Narratives May Distract from Vaccine Risks

In our recent podcast, Dr. Jack Kruse presented a concerning theory about public health messaging. He argues that figures like Casey and Calley Means are promoting food and exercise narratives as a deliberate distraction from urgent vaccine issues. While no one disputes healthy eating matters, Dr. Kruse insists that focusing on "Froot Loops and Red Dye" diverts attention from what he sees as immediate dangers of mRNA vaccines, particularly for children.

"It's gonna take you 50 years to die from processed food. But the messenger jab can drop you like Damar Hamlin." - Dr Jack Kruse

Dr. Kruse emphasized that approximately 25,000 children per day are still receiving COVID vaccines despite concerns, with 3 million doses administered since Trump's election. This "shell game," as he describes it, allows vaccines to remain on childhood schedules while public attention fixates on less immediate health threats. As host, I believe this pattern deserves our heightened scrutiny given the potential stakes for our children's wellbeing.

Check out the full podcast here for more on Big Pharma's alleged bioweapons program, the "Time Bank Account" concept, and how Bitcoin principles apply to health sovereignty.

Headlines of the Day

Aussie Judge: Bitcoin is Money, Possibly CGT-Exempt - via X

JPMorgan to Let Clients Buy Bitcoin Without Direct Custody - via X

Get our new STACK SATS hat - via tftcmerch.io

Mubadala Acquires $408.5M Stake in BlackRock Bitcoin ETF - via X

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Ten31, the largest bitcoin-focused investor, has deployed 158,469 sats | $150.00M across 30+ companies through three funds. I am a Managing Partner at Ten31 and am very proud of the work we are doing. Learn more at ten31.vc/invest.

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Final thought...

I've been walking from my house around Town Lake in Austin in the mornings and taking calls on the walk. Big fan of a walking call.

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[![Hodl Bitcoin For Good](https://www

@ 8bad92c3:ca714aa5

Marty's Bent

It's been a pretty historic week for the United States as it pertains to geopolitical relations in the Middle East. President Trump and many members of his administration, including AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, traveled across the Middle East making deals with countries like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Syria, and others. Many are speculating that Iran may be included in some behind the scenes deal as well. This trip to the Middle East makes sense considering the fact that China is also vying for favorable relationships with those countries. The Middle East is a power player in the world, and it seems pretty clear that Donald Trump is dead set on ensuring that they choose the United States over China as the world moves towards a more multi-polar reality.

Many are calling the events of this week the Riyadh Accords. There were many deals that were struck in relation to artificial intelligence, defense, energy and direct investments in the United States. A truly prolific power play and demonstration of deal-making ability of Donald Trump, if you ask me. Though I will admit some of the numbers that were thrown out by some of the countries were a bit egregious. We shall see how everything plays out in the coming years. It will be interesting to see how China reacts to this power move by the United States.

While all this was going on, there was something happening back in the United States that many people outside of fringe corners of FinTwit are not talking about, which is the fact that the 10-year and 30-year U.S. Treasury bond yields are back on the rise. Yesterday, they surpassed the levels of mid-April that caused a market panic and are hovering back around levels that have not been seen since right before Donald Trump's inauguration.

I imagine that there isn't as much of an uproar right now because I'm pretty confident the media freakouts we were experiencing in mid-April were driven by the fact that many large hedge funds found themselves off sides of large levered basis trades. I wouldn't be surprised if those funds have decreased their leverage in those trades and bond yields being back to mid-April levels is not affecting those funds as much as they were last month. But the point stands, the 10-year and 30-year yields are significantly elevated with the 30-year approaching 5%. Regardless of the deals that are currently being made in the Middle East, the Treasury has a big problem on its hands. It still has to roll over many trillions worth of debt over over the next few years and doing so at these rates is going to be massively detrimental to fiscal deficits over the next decade. The interest expense on the debt is set to explode in the coming years.

On that note, data from the first quarter of 2025 has been released by the government and despite all the posturing by the Trump administration around DOGE and how tariffs are going to be beneficial for the U.S. economy, deficits are continuing to explode while the interest expense on the debt has definitively surpassed our annual defense budget.

via Charlie Bilello

via Mohamed Al-Erian

To make matters worse, as things are deteriorating on the fiscal side of things, the U.S. consumer is getting crushed by credit. The 90-plus day delinquency rates for credit card and auto loans are screaming higher right now.

via TXMC

One has to wonder how long all this can continue without some sort of liquidity crunch. Even though equities markets have recovered from their post-Liberation Day month long bear market, I would not be surprised if what we're witnessing is a dead cat bounce that can only be continued if the money printers are turned back on. Something's got to give, both on the fiscal side and in the private markets where the Common Man is getting crushed because he's been forced to take on insane amounts of debt to stay afloat after years of elevated levels of inflation. Add on the fact that AI has reached a state of maturity that will enable companies to replace their current meat suit workers with an army of cheap, efficient and fast digital workers and it isn't hard to see that some sort of employment crisis could be on the horizon as well.

Now is not the time to get complacent. While I do believe that the deals that are currently being made in the Middle East are probably in the best interest of the United States as the world, again, moves toward a more multi-polar reality, we are facing problems that one cannot simply wish away. They will need to be confronted. And as we've seen throughout the 21st century, the problems are usually met head-on with a money printer.

I take no pleasure in saying this because it is a bit uncouth to be gleeful to benefit from the strife of others, but it is pretty clear to me that all signs are pointing to bitcoin benefiting massively from everything that is going on. The shift towards a more multi-polar world, the runaway debt situation here in the United States, the increasing deficits, the AI job replacements and the consumer credit crisis that is currently unfolding, All will need to be "solved" by turning on the money printers to levels they've never been pushed to before.

Weird times we're living in.

China's Manufacturing Dominance: Why It Matters for the U.S.

In my recent conversation with Lyn Alden, she highlighted how China has rapidly ascended the manufacturing value chain. As Lyn pointed out, China transformed from making "sneakers and plastic trinkets" to becoming the world's largest auto exporter in just four years. This dramatic shift represents more than economic success—it's a strategic power play. China now dominates solar panel production with greater market control than OPEC has over oil and maintains near-monopoly control of rare earth elements crucial for modern technology.

"China makes like 10 times more steel than the United States does... which is relevant in ship making. It's relevant in all sorts of stuff." - Lyn Alden

Perhaps most concerning, as Lyn emphasized, is China's financial leverage. They hold substantial U.S. assets that could be strategically sold to disrupt U.S. treasury market functioning. This combination of manufacturing dominance, resource control, and financial leverage gives China significant negotiating power in any trade disputes, making our attempts to reshoring manufacturing all the more challenging.

Check out the full podcast here for more on Triffin's dilemma, Bitcoin's role in monetary transition, and the energy requirements for rebuilding America's industrial base.

Headlines of the Day

Financial Times Under Fire Over MicroStrategy Bitcoin Coverage - via X

Trump in Qatar: Historic Boeing Deal Signed - via X

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Johnson Backs Stock Trading Ban; Passage Chances Slim - via X

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Ten31, the largest bitcoin-focused investor, has deployed 158,469 sats | $150.00M across 30+ companies through three funds. I am a Managing Partner at Ten31 and am very proud of the work we are doing. Learn more at ten31.vc/invest.

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Final thought...

Building things of value is satisfying.

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@ 8bad92c3:ca714aa5

Let's dive into the most interesting forward-looking predictions from my recent conversations with industry experts.

Court Cases Against Bitcoin Developers Will Set Critical Precedent for the Industry's Future - Zack Shapiro

The outcome of the Samurai Wallet case will determine whether software developers can be held legally responsible for how users employ their non-custodial Bitcoin tools. Zack Shapiro laid out the stakes clearly: "The precedent that the Bank Secrecy Act can be applied to just software that allows you to move your own money on the Bitcoin blockchain is incredibly dangerous for developers, for node runners, for miners... Basically everyone in the Bitcoin space is at risk here."

According to Shapiro, the government's position in this case fundamentally misunderstands Bitcoin's architecture: "The government says that the defendants transmitted, Keone and Bill transmitted money that they knew belonged to criminals. That's not how a coin join works. The people who transmitted the money are the people that used Whirlpool and the people that used Ricochet. They signed their keys."

Should this prosecution succeed in establishing precedent, Shapiro predicts catastrophic consequences: "If that becomes the law of the land... then basically no actor in the Bitcoin economy is safe. The government's theory is that if you facilitate movement of money, you're a money transmitter, that would reach node runners, wallet developers, miners, lightning routing nodes... whatever tool stack you use, the people who built that are at risk."

With the case continuing despite FinCEN's own position that Samurai's software isn't money transmission, Shapiro believes the resolution will likely come through political rather than legal channels in the next 6-12 months.

Malpractice Around COVID mRNA Vaccines Will Be Exposed Within 2 Years - Dr. Jack Kruse

Dr. Jack Kruse predicts that major revelations about mRNA vaccine damage will force an eventual removal from the market, particularly from childhood vaccination schedules. During our conversation, Dr. Kruse shared alarming statistics: "25,000 kids a month are getting popped with this vaccine. Just so you know, since Trump has been elected, three million doses have been given to children."

According to Dr. Kruse, the scale of this problem dwarfs other health concerns: "The messenger job can drop you like Damar Hamlin, can end your career like JJ Watt, can end your career like all the footballers who've dropped dead on a soccer field." What makes this particularly concerning is the suppression of evidence about the damages, with Dr. Kruse noting that data from Japan showing changes in cancer distribution patterns was pulled, and VAERS data being dismissed despite showing alarming signals.

Dr. Kruse believes the coming years will see an unavoidable reckoning: "If by the end of this year, everybody in unison realized that MRA platform is bad news and it's gone. That to me is... I would tell you the biggest win is to get rid of the MRA platform even before any of the Bitcoin stuff." This suggests he expects significant momentum toward removing these vaccines from circulation by the end of 2025.

Global Economic Reordering Will Create Demand for Neutral Reserve Assets Like Bitcoin and Gold - Lyn Alden

The next two years will be critical in determining whether the United States maintains dollar dominance while navigating Triffin's dilemma. During our conversation, Lyn highlighted how the current administration is attempting to thread a needle between reshoring manufacturing while maintaining the dollar's reserve status - an almost impossible task on extremely fragile ground.

"When they talk about kind of a currency accord to weaken the dollar, they mentioned ideally they wanted to use multi-lateral approaches, but there are some unilateral approaches that they can do, which includes printing dollars to buy reserve assets," Lyn explained when discussing Treasury advisor Stephen Myron's position paper.

As the world potentially moves to a multipolar currency system, Lyn predicts significant demand increases for neutral reserve assets. "The two options on the table at this point are gold and Bitcoin," she noted, but pointed out that "our geopolitical adversaries have been stacking gold for a while and with a special intensity for the last three years." This creates a strategic opportunity for the US, as Bitcoin is "overwhelmingly held in the United States."

Lyn believes this transition is already underway, with the demand for neutral reserve assets like Bitcoin growing as countries seek alternatives to solely dollar-denominated reserves.

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Blockspace conducts cutting-edge proprietary research for investors.

Iran's Shadow Mining Economy: 2 GW of Bitcoin Mined Underground While Legal Operations Struggle

Iran hosts a thriving underground Bitcoin mining industry that has emerged as a critical financial lifeline for citizens grappling with international sanctions and domestic economic controls. This shadow economy dwarfs the legal sector, with an estimated 2 gigawatts of illegal mining operations compared to just 5 megawatts of sanctioned activity.

According to ViraMiner CEO Masih Alavi, approximately 800,000 illegal miners have been discovered and fined by authorities. Yet operations continue in homes, office buildings, and even jewelry stores, where Iranians tap into unmetered electricity to mine Bitcoin, later converting it to stablecoins like USDT for savings and commerce.

While the government has approved permits for about 400 megawatts of legal mining capacity, punitive electricity tariffs and regulatory barriers have strangled legitimate operations. "I blamed the government for this situation," says Alavi. "They introduced flawed policies in the beginning, especially by setting the wrong electricity tariffs for the mining industry."

Despite using obsolete equipment like Antminer S9s and M3s, underground miners remain profitable when converting earnings to Iranian rials, creating an ecosystem that serves an estimated 18 million Iranian cryptocurrency holders.

Looking ahead, Alavi predicts further crackdowns as Iran enters peak electricity demand season, potentially reducing legal mining to zero while underground operations continue to evolve sophisticated detection evasion techniques.

Link to Full Article

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Ten31, the largest bitcoin-focused investor, has deployed $150M across 30+ companies through three funds. I am a Managing Partner at Ten31 and am very proud of the work we are doing. Learn more at ten31.vc/invest.

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@ 8bad92c3:ca714aa5

Key Takeaways

In this episode, Bitcoin Core veteran James O’Beirne delivers a sharp critique of Bitcoin’s developmental stagnation, attributing it to political dysfunction, post-fork trauma, and resistance within Bitcoin Core to critical upgrades like CheckTemplateVerify (CTV). He argues that while institutional adoption accelerates, internal innovation is being stifled by misplaced controversies—such as the OP_RETURN policy debate—and a bottlenecked governance model. O’Beirne warns that without urgent progress on scaling solutions like CTV, congestion control, and vaulting systems, Bitcoin risks ossifying and becoming vulnerable to institutional capture. Advocating a more adversarial posture, he suggests forking or building alternative clients to pressure progress but remains hopeful, seeing rising momentum for protocol upgrades from developers outside the Core elite.

Best Quotes

“Everybody has mempool derangement syndrome… it’s such a small issue in the grand scheme of challenges Bitcoin is facing.”

“Bitcoin is as much an experiment in technical human organization as it is a pure technology.”

“If we don’t figure out how to scale trustless Bitcoin self-custody, we’re toast. Right now, only about 2.5% of Americans could actually use Bitcoin monthly in a meaningful way.”

“CTV isn’t sexy—it just works. It keeps getting reinvented because it's so useful. At this point, it’s essential.”

“If Core isn’t going to evaluate these proposals, someone has to. Otherwise, we need to build the social justification for forking.”

“Lightning didn’t scale Bitcoin the way we expected. Let’s stop assuming a silver bullet is coming and start building the bridges ourselves.”

“You could onboard someone with just a phone and a vault… and give them more security than most hardware wallets.”

Conclusion

While Bitcoin gains traction with institutions and governments, its internal development is stalling under political inertia and misplaced focus. James O’Beirne urges the community to prioritize impactful upgrades like CTV and CCV, challenge the bottleneck of Bitcoin Core if needed, and recommit to Bitcoin’s foundational principles. This episode underscores the urgent need to bridge technical and social divides to ensure Bitcoin remains a decentralized, censorship-resistant tool for global value transfer.

Timestamps

0:00 - Intro
0:41 - Multi axis issue
5:12 - Core governance
9:41 - Derailing productive discussions
17:05 - Fold & Bitkey
18:32 - CTV
29:24 - Unchained
29:53 - Magnitude of change
41:45 - Covenant proposals
50:16 - CTV benefits
57:56 - Institutional ownership
1:05:26 - Moving forward

Transcript

(00:00) I think I have a somewhat different take than 99% of the people in the discussion. What freaks me out is if you've got Sailor owning half million coins or whatever and Black Rockck owning however many, people forget that Bitcoin is as much an experiment in technical human organization as it is, you know, as a sort of pure technology.
(00:17) The undernowledged reality is I'm actually interested to see if we have like a black swan adoption event from the machines. the risk given the increased scrutiny that things like the strategic Bitcoin reserve introduce there's a shot clock on getting to trustless decentralized value storage technology and I think we really have to be thinking about that combination of physically tired and mentally tired it's also tiresome James it's it's I was looking at that picture today and I was actually going to tweet it absent any caption just because it's
(00:52) a really good Uh yeah, it's a really good epitome of uh of a lot of stuff. But I'm with you, man. I'm tired. It's Friday. Who is it? Is that a just some random Japanese guy? I think it's it's I actually think it's from a documentary about I don't know if it's Africa, but Oh, yes. Yes.
(01:13) It's there's a little bit of a kind of like racy connotation there. Um yeah, the uh it's been long. It was interesting for me. We had Texas Energy Mining Summit here in Austin the beginning of the week. It sort of blended with Bitcoin plus I was over at Bitcoin++ Wednesday and yesterday doing the live desk and obviously topic of conversation is OP return this policy decision and this policy change that that core wants to make and many people are uh angry about and it's just again it's also tiresome.
(01:52) spoke with people on both sides over the two days and I I think I came away more confused than than I entered entered the week like what is the optimal path and somebody who's worked on Bitcoin core worked on Bitcoin core for for many years I've seen you tweeting about it seems like I won't put words in your mouth I'll let you say like what is your perspective on this whole policy debate around op return yeah so in general I think I have a somewhat different take than um 99% of the people in in the discussion which is basically that this
(02:25) is a really stupid discussion um everybody has mempool derangement syndrome like at every layer um and uh what what frustrates me a little bit about the conversation not not to not to uh get like um grumpy right off the bat but it's just it's it's such a small issue in the in the grand scheme of challenges that are being presented to Bitcoin that like spending all this drama on it um is is really a silly use of time and uh kind of emotion, but I can break it down for you.
(03:02) I mean, I think I think like largely the argument is happening on a few layers. Um the change itself technically I'm totally in favor of it. It makes sense. you know, basically the rationale is like, well, you know, um, people want to include exogenous data into the chain. Um, you can't really stop them from doing that.
(03:23) Um and so let's basically minimize the damage by saying hey you know we're going to make it easier for people to actually make use of op return as a data carrier which uh lets us avoid bloat in the UTXO set which is like one of the precious resources we have to take care of for the node.
(03:44) Um, so that's all good and the and the other thing too is that as we've seen with the ordinal stuff is um, you know, data is going to wait make its way into the chain and actually it hurts the whole network when um, there are transactions that most nodes haven't seen yet but they come through a block. Basically that slows down block propagation time.
(04:06) And so the whole idea is if you bring policy closer to the actual consensus rules, closer to the actual transactions that are going to come through and be mined, then you're going to have better network performance. You're going to have lower latency when it comes to actually broadcasting a new block around. So that's like the the sort of technical layer of the discussion.
(04:25) It's it's really a minute non-controversial change if you kind of have fluency with the the technical end of the mempool. Um, but I think there's this this higher layer to the conversation which is sort of a readjudication of spam in Bitcoin. And it's, you know, I think a lot of the the old animal spirits and sentiments are emerging about like, well, we don't like spam.
(04:49) And I think for a lot of people who kind of get lost in the technical details, it's very easy to latch on to the sentiment of I don't like spam. Um and so uh so that makes the sort of ocean knots camp maybe more appealing. Uh so that's yeah that's I guess a summary if you want to jump in anything in particular we can that's what I was saying I came out more confused than I went in.
(05:20) So last week on RHR, hey, I agree. You want policy to be aligned with consensus. Like whether we like it or not, these transactions are getting into blocks. They're non-standard, but they are valid within consensus rules and policy just isn't aligning with that. And like you said, this is disrupting the P2P layer and potentially the fee uh estimation process that that many nodes use, many applications use.
(05:49) And it makes sense to me to align policy with consensus. These things are happening. And if you can make it so Bitcoin full nodes are operating as efficiently and optimally as possible by changing this, it makes sense to me. I think my one like push back was like makes sense to me. However, I think how it was communicated to people and the whole mess with the PR.
(06:12) I think it's I think it's it was it's it's just a tactical error. Like even if this change gets in the the the real benefit of is is not material. You know, nobody was really clamoring for it. um this stuff always, you know, gets the hackles up of everybody who cares at all about, you know, spamming Bitcoin. So, it was a real tactical error.
(06:36) And I think that's that's one place where I mean it's kind of I had a little bit of shot in Freud seeing it because I'm fairly critical of core as a project along you know a variety of axes at this point and it was just kind of a demonstration of the the disconnection and kind of ineptitude of um publicity management kind of on on their end.
(06:58) Um, and so like there's part of me that enjoys seeing that because I I'm kind of convinced that that group has a lot less efficacy than they have credibility. And so to to see that kind of catch up was was interesting. The uh let's dive into that like what you said multiple axes you have a problem. I think we've throughout the years like we've been discussing the issues that Bitcoin like yourself particularly as a Bitcoin core developer for many years trying to get things through not only in the context of the way core works from a governance
(07:35) structure but just the way Bitcoin works as a distributed open source protocol like trying to get changes in and I will say like

@ b7274d28:c99628cb

A few months ago, a nostrich was switching from iOS to Android and asked for suggestions for #Nostr apps to try out. nostr:npub18ams6ewn5aj2n3wt2qawzglx9mr4nzksxhvrdc4gzrecw7n5tvjqctp424 offered the following as his response:

nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzq0mhp4ja8fmy48zuk5p6uy37vtk8tx9dqdwcxm32sy8nsaa8gkeyqydhwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnwdaehgunsd3jkyuewvdhk6tcpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduhszythwden5te0dehhxarj9emkjmn99uqzpwwts6n28eyvjpcwvu5akkwu85eg92dpvgw7cgmpe4czdadqvnv984rl0z

Yes. #Android users are fortunate to have some powerful Nostr apps and tools at our disposal that simply have no comparison over on the iOS side. However, a tool is only as good as the knowledge of the user, who must have an understanding of how best to wield it for maximum effect. This fact was immediately evidenced by replies to Derek asking, "What is the use case for Citrine?" and "This is the first time I'm hearing about Citrine and Pokey. Can you give me links for those?"

Well, consider this tutorial your Nostr starter-kit for Android. We'll go over installing and setting up Amber, Amethyst, Citrine, and Pokey, and as a bonus we'll be throwing in the Zapstore and Coinos to boot. We will assume no previous experience with any of the above, so if you already know all about one or more of these apps, you can feel free to skip that tutorial.

So many apps...

You may be wondering, "Why do I need so many apps to use Nostr?" That's perfectly valid, and the honest answer is, you don't. You can absolutely just install a Nostr client from the Play Store, have it generate your Nostr identity for you, and stick with the default relays already set up in that app. You don't even need to connect a wallet, if you don't want to. However, you won't experience all that Nostr has to offer if that is as far as you go, any more than you would experience all that Italian cuisine has to offer if you only ever try spaghetti.

Nostr is not just one app that does one thing, like Facebook, Twitter, or TikTok. It is an entire ecosystem of applications that are all built on top of a protocol that allows them to be interoperable. This set of tools will help you make the most out of that interoperability, which you will never get from any of the big-tech social platforms. It will provide a solid foundation for you to build upon as you explore more and more of what Nostr has to offer.

So what do these apps do?

Fundamental to everything you do on Nostr is the need to cryptographically sign with your private key. If you aren't sure what that means, just imagine that you had to enter your password every time you hit the "like" button on Facebook, or every time you commented on the latest dank meme. That would get old really fast, right? That's effectively what Nostr requires, but on steroids.

To keep this from being something you manually have to do every 5 seconds when you post a note, react to someone else's note, or add a comment, Nostr apps can store your private key and use it to sign behind the scenes for you. This is very convenient, but it means you are trusting that app to not do anything with your private key that you don't want it to. You are also trusting it to not leak your private key, because anyone who gets their hands on it will be able to post as you, see your private messages, and effectively be you on Nostr. The more apps you give your private key to, the greater your risk that it will eventually be compromised.

Enter #Amber, an application that will store your private key in only one app, and all other compatible Nostr apps can communicate with it to request a signature, without giving any of those other apps access to your private key.

Most Nostr apps for Android now support logging in and signing with Amber, and you can even use it to log into apps on other devices, such as some of the web apps you use on your PC. It's an incredible tool given to us by nostr:npub1w4uswmv6lu9yel005l3qgheysmr7tk9uvwluddznju3nuxalevvs2d0jr5, and only available for Android users. Those on iPhone are incredibly jealous that they don't have anything comparable, yet.

Speaking of nostr:npub1w4uswmv6lu9yel005l3qgheysmr7tk9uvwluddznju3nuxalevvs2d0jr5, the next app is also one of his making.

All Nostr data is stored on relays, which are very simple servers that Nostr apps read notes from and write notes to. In most forms of social media, it can be a pain to get your own data out to keep a backup. That's not the case on Nostr. Anyone can run their own relay, either for the sake of backing up their personal notes, or for others to post their notes to, as well.

Since Nostr notes take up very little space, you can actually run a relay on your phone. I have been on Nostr for almost 2 and a half years, and I have 25,000+ notes of various kinds on my relay, and a backup of that full database is just 24MB on my phone's storage.

Having that backup can save your bacon if you try out a new Nostr client and it doesn't find your existing follow list for some reason, so it writes a new one and you suddenly lose all of the people you were following. Just pop into your #Citrine relay, confirm it still has your correct follow list or import it from a recent backup, then have Citrine restore it. Done.

Additionally, there are things you may want to only save to a relay you control, such as draft messages that you aren't ready to post publicly, or eCash tokens, which can actually be saved to Nostr relays now. Citrine can also be used with Amber for signing into certain Nostr applications that use a relay to communicate with Amber.

If you are really adventurous, you can also expose Citrine over Tor to be used as an outbox relay, or used for peer-to-peer private messaging, but that is far more involved than the scope of this tutorial series.

You can't get far in Nostr without a solid and reliable client to interact with. #Amethyst is the client we will be using for this tutorial because there simply isn't another Android client that comes close, so far. Moreover, it can be a great client for new users to get started on, and yet it has a ton of features for power-users to take advantage of as well.

There are plenty of other good clients to check out over time, such as Coracle, YakiHonne, Voyage, Olas, Flotilla and others, but I keep coming back to Amethyst, and by the time you finish this tutorial, I think you'll see why. nostr:npub1gcxzte5zlkncx26j68ez60fzkvtkm9e0vrwdcvsjakxf9mu9qewqlfnj5z and others who have contributed to Amethyst have really built something special in this client, and it just keeps improving with every update that's shipped.

Most social media apps have some form of push notifications, and some Nostr apps do, too. Where the issue comes in is that Nostr apps are all interoperable. If you have more than one application, you're going to have both of them notifying you. Nostr users are known for having five or more Nostr apps that they use regularly. If all of them had notifications turned on, it would be a nightmare. So maybe you limit it to only one of your Nostr apps having notifications turned on, but then you are pretty well locked-in to opening that particular app when you tap on the notification.

Pokey, by nostr:npub1v3tgrwwsv7c6xckyhm5dmluc05jxd4yeqhpxew87chn0kua0tjzqc6yvjh, solves this issue, allowing you to turn notifications off for all of your Nostr apps, and have Pokey handle them all for you. Then, when you tap on a Pokey notification, you can choose which Nostr app to open it in.

Pokey also gives you control over the types of things you want to be notified about. Maybe you don't care about reactions, and you just want to know about zaps, comments, and direct messages. Pokey has you covered. It even supports multiple accounts, so you can get notifications for all the npubs you control.

One of the most unique and incredibly fun aspects of Nostr is the ability to send and receive #zaps. Instead of merely giving someone a 👍️ when you like something they said, you can actually send them real value in the form of sats, small portions of a Bitcoin. There is nothing quite like the experience of receiving your first zap and realizing that someone valued what you said enough to send you a small amount (and sometimes not so small) of #Bitcoin, the best money mankind has ever known.

To be able to have that experience, though, you are going to need a wallet that can send and receive zaps, and preferably one that is easy to connect to Nostr applications. My current preference for that is Alby Hub, but not everyone wants to deal with all that comes along with running a #Lightning node. That being the case, I have opted to use nostr:npub1h2qfjpnxau9k7ja9qkf50043xfpfy8j5v60xsqryef64y44puwnq28w8ch for this tutorial, because they offer one of the easiest wallets to set up, and it connects to most Nostr apps by just copy/pasting a connection string from the settings in the wallet into the settings in your Nostr app of choice.

Additionally, even though #Coinos is a custodial wallet, you can have it automatically transfer any #sats over a specified threshold to a separate wallet, allowing you to mitigate the custodial risk without needing to keep an eye on your balance and make the transfer manually.

Most of us on Android are used to getting all of our mobile apps from one souce: the Google Play Store. That's not possible for this tutorial series. Only one of the apps mentioned above is available in Google's permissioned playground. However, on Android we have the advantage of being able to install whatever we want on our device, just by popping into our settings and flipping a toggle. Indeed, thumbing our noses at big-tech is at the heart of the Nostr ethos, so why would we make ourselves beholden to Google for installing Nostr apps?

The nostr:npub10r8xl2njyepcw2zwv3a6dyufj4e4ajx86hz6v4ehu4gnpupxxp7stjt2p8 is an alternative app store made by nostr:npub1wf4pufsucer5va8g9p0rj5dnhvfeh6d8w0g6eayaep5dhps6rsgs43dgh9 as a resource for all sorts of open-source apps, but especially Nostr apps. What is more, you can log in with Amber, connect a wallet like Coinos, and support the developers of your favorite Nostr apps directly within the #Zapstore by zapping their app releases.

One of the biggest features of the Zapstore is the fact that developers can cryptographically sign their app releases using their Nostr keys, so you know that the app you are downloading is the one they actually released and hasn't been altered in any way. The Zapstore will warn you and won't let you install the app if the signature is invalid.

Getting Started

Since the Zapstore will be the source we use for installing most of the other apps mentioned, we will start with installing the Zapstore.

We will then use the Zapstore to install Amber and set it up with our Nostr account, either by creating a new private key, or by importing one we already have. We'll also use it to log into the Zapstore.

Next, we will install Amethyst from the Zapstore and log into it via Amber.

After this, we will install Citrine from the Zapstore and add it as a local relay on Amethyst.

Because we want to be able to send and receive zaps, we will set up a wallet with CoinOS and connect it to Amethyst and the Zapstore using Nostr Wallet Connect.

Finally, we will install Pokey using the Zapstore, log into it using Amber, and set up the notifications we want to receive.

By the time you are done with this series, you will have a great head-start on your Nostr journey compared to muddling through it all on your own. Moreover, you will have developed a familiarity with how things generally work on Nostr that can be applied to other apps you try out in the future.

Continue to Part 2: Installing the Zapstore. (Coming Soon)

@ 86611181:9fc27ad7

It's time to secure user data in your identity system This post was also published with the Industry Association of Privacy Professionals.

It seems like every day there is a new report of a major personal data breach. In just the past few months, Neiman Marcus, Ticketmaster, Evolve Bank, TeamViewer, Hubspot, and even the IRS have been affected.

The core issue is that user data is commonly spread across multiple systems that are increasingly difficult to fully secure, including database user tables, data warehouses and unstructured documents.

Most enterprises are already running an incredibly secure and hardened identity system to manage customer login and authorization, commonly referred to as a customer identity access management system. Since identity systems manage customer sign-up and sign-in, they typically contain customer names, email addresses, and phone numbers for multifactor authentication. Commercial CIAMs provide extensive logging, threat detection, availability and patch management.

Identity systems are highly secure and already store customers' personally identifiable information, so it stands to reason enterprises should consider identity systems to manage additional PII fields.

Identity systems are designed to store numerous PII fields and mask the fields for other systems. The Liberty Project developed the protocols that became Security Assertion Markup Language 2.0, the architecture at the core of CIAM systems, 20 years ago, when I was its chief technology officer. SAML 2.0 was built so identity data would be fully secure, and opaque tokens would be shared with other systems. Using tokens instead of actual user data is a core feature of identity software that can be used to fully secure user data across applications.

Most modern identity systems support adding additional customer fields, so it is easy to add new fields like Social Security numbers and physical addresses. Almost like a database, some identity systems even support additional tables and images.

A great feature of identity systems is that they often provide a full suite of user interface components for users to register, login and manage their profile fields. Moving fields like Social Security numbers from your database to your identity system means the identity system can fully manage the process of users entering, viewing and editing the field, and your existing application and database become descoped from managing sensitive data.

With sensitive fields fully isolated in an identity system and its user interface components, the identity system can provide for cumbersome and expensive compliance with standards such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act for medical data and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard for payment data, saving the time and effort to achieve similar compliance in your application.

There are, of course, applications that require sensitive data, such as customer service systems and data warehouses. Identity systems use a data distribution standard called System for Cross-domain Identity Management 2.0 to copy user data to other systems. The SCIM is a great standard to help manage compliance such as "right to be forgotten," because it can automatically delete customer data from other systems when a customer record is deleted from the identity system.

When copying customer data from an identity system to another application, consider anonymizing or masking fields. For example, anonymizing a birthdate into an age range when copying a customer record into a data warehouse can descope the data warehouse from containing personal information.

Most enterprises already run an Application Programming Interface Gateway to manage web services between systems. By combining an API Gateway with the identity system's APIs, it becomes very easy to automatically anonymize and mask customer data fields before they are copied into other systems.

A new set of companies including Baffle, Skyflow, and Piiano have introduced services that combine the governance and field management features of an identity system with extensive field masking. Since these systems do not offer the authentication and authorization features of an identity system, it's important to balance the additional features as they introduce an additional threat surface with PII storage and permissions.

PII sprawl is an increasing liability for companies. The most secure, compliant and flexible central data store to manage PII is the existing CIAM and API Gateway infrastructure that enterprises have already deployed.

Move that customer data into your identity system and lock it down. https://peter.layer3.press/articles/3c6912eb-404a-4630-9fe9-fd1bd23cfa64

@ 8bad92c3:ca714aa5

Marty's Bent

via me

Don't sleep on what's happening in Japan right now. We've been covering the country and the fact that they've lost control of their yield curve since late last year. After many years of making it a top priority from a monetary policy perspective, last year the Bank of Japan decided to give up on yield curve control in an attempt to reel inflation. This has sent yields for the 30-year and 40-year Japanese government bonds to levels not seen since the early 2000s in the case of the 30-year and levels never before seen for the 40-year, which was launched in 2007. With a debt to GDP ratio that has surpassed 250% and a population that is aging out with an insufficient amount of births to replace the aging workforce, it's hard to see how Japan can get out of this conundrum without some sort of economic collapse.

This puts the United States in a tough position considering the fact that Japan is one of the largest holders of U.S. Treasury bonds with more than $1.20 trillion in exposure. If things get too out of control in Japan and the yield curve continues to drift higher and inflation continues to creep higher Japan can find itself in a situation where it's a forced seller of US Treasuries as they attempt to strengthen the yen. Another aspect to consider is the fact that investors may see the higher yields on Japanese government bonds and decide to purchase them instead of US Treasuries. This is something to keep an eye on in the weeks to come. Particularly if higher rates drive a higher cost of capital, which leads to even more inflation. As producers are forced to increase their prices to ensure that they can manage their debt repayments.

It's never a good sign when the Japanese Prime Minister is coming out to proclaim that his country's financial situation is worse than Greece's, which has been a laughing stock of Europe for the better part of three decades. Japan is a very proud nation, and the fact that its Prime Minister made a statement like this should not be underappreciated.

As we noted last week, the 10-year and 30-year U.S. Treasury bonds are drifting higher as well. Earlier today, the 30-year bond yield surpassed 5%, which has been a psychological level that many have been pointed to as a critical tipping point. When you take a step back and look around the world it seems pretty clear that bond markets are sending a very strong signal. And that signal is that something is not well in the back end of the financial system.

This is even made clear when you look at the private sector, particularly at consumer debt. In late March, we warned of the growing trend of buy now, pay later schemes drifting down market as major credit card companies released charge-off data which showed charge-off rates reaching levels not seen since the 2008 great financial crisis. At the time, we could only surmise that Klarna was experiencing similar charge-off rates on the bigger-ticket items they financed and started doing deals with companies like DoorDash to finance burrito deliveries in an attempt to move down market to finance smaller ticket items with a higher potential of getting paid back. It seems like that inclination was correct as Klarna released data earlier today showing more losses on their book as consumers find it extremely hard to pay back their debts.

via NewsWire

This news hit the markets on the same day as the average rate of the 30-year mortgage in the United States rose to 7.04%. I'm not sure if you've checked lately, but real estate prices are still relatively elevated outside of a few big cities who expanded supply significantly during the COVID era as people flooded out of blue states towards red states. It's hard to imagine that many people can afford a house based off of sticker price alone, but with a 7% 30-year mortgage rate it's becoming clear that the ability of the Common Man to buy a house is simply becoming impossible.

via Lance Lambert

The mortgage rate data is not the only thing you need to look at to understand that it's becoming impossible for the Common Man of working age to buy a house. New data has recently been released that highlights That the median home buyer in 2007 was born in 1968, and the median home buyer in 2024 was born in 1968. Truly wild when you think of it. As our friend Darth Powell cheekily highlights below, we find ourselves in a situation where boomers are simply trading houses and the younger generations are becoming indentured slaves. Forever destined to rent because of the complete inability to afford to buy a house.

via Darth Powell

via Yahoo Finance

Meanwhile, Bitcoin re-approached all-time highs late this evening and looks primed for another breakout to the upside. This makes sense if you're paying attention. The high-velocity trash economy running on an obscene amount of debt in both the public and private sectors seems to be breaking at the seams. All the alarm bells are signaling that another big print is coming. And if you hope to preserve your purchasing power or, ideally, increase it as the big print approaches, the only thing that makes sense is to funnel your money into the hardest asset in the world, which is Bitcoin.

via Bitbo

Buckle up, freaks. It's gonna be a bumpy ride. Stay humble, Stack Sats.

Trump's Middle East Peace Strategy: Redefining U.S. Foreign Policy

In his recent Middle East tour, President Trump signaled what our guest Dr. Anas Alhajji calls "a major change in US policy." Trump explicitly rejected the nation-building strategies of his predecessors, contrasting the devastation in Afghanistan and Iraq with the prosperity of countries like Saudi Arabia and UAE. This marks a profound shift from both Republican and Democratic foreign policy orthodoxy. As Alhajji noted, Trump's willingness to meet with Syrian President Assad follows a historical pattern where former adversaries eventually become diplomatic partners.

"This is really one of the most important shifts in US foreign policy to say, look, sorry, we destroyed those countries because we tried to rebuild them and it was a big mistake." - Dr. Anas Alhajji

The administration's new approach emphasizes negotiation over intervention. Rather than military solutions, Trump is engaging with groups previously considered off-limits, including the Houthis, Hamas, and Iran. This pragmatic stance prioritizes economic cooperation and regional stability over ideological confrontation. The focus on trade deals and investment rather than regime change represents a fundamental reimagining of America's role in the Middle East.

Check out the full podcast here for more on the Iran nuclear situation, energy market predictions, and why AI development could create power grid challenges.

Headlines of the Day

Bitcoin Soars to $106K While Bonds Lose 40% Since 2020 - via X

US Senate Advances Stablecoin Bill As America Embraces Bitcoin - via X

Get our new STACK SATS hat - via tftcmerch.io

Texas House Debates Bill For State-Run Bitcoin Reserve - via X

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Take control. Start with Bitkey.

Use the promo code *“TFTC20”* during checkout for 20% off

---

_Ten31, the largest bitcoin-focused investor, has deployed 158

@ 8bad92c3:ca714aa5

Marty's Bent

If you do one thing today, take the time to spend an hour to watch this YouTube video. As someone creating content who has become very cognizant of the effects of the algorithm and the pressures to cater to it, this video was unexpectedly and incredibly satisfying. We're coming up on the eight year anniversary of this newsletter and the podcast that accompanies it and over that eight year period, the pressures to compete in the world of ever increasing digital soy slop grow at an accelerating rate.

If you've seen our YouTube channel recently, you'll probably notice that we've bent the knee to the thumbnail and title clickbait game in an attempt to get our content out to a wider audience. This is something I've held out on for many years now at this point, but recently became convinced that it's something we simply have to do if we want to get our message out to a wider audience. As I write this, I'm thinking that maybe the fact that we have to do that in the first place says something about the content we're putting out there and whether or not it is actually valuable. But I do think the high velocity trash economy becoming completely saturated with digital soy slop has made it so people who truly want to get their message out have to play that game.

I want to make one thing clear. I certainly do not think I'm an artist, but I do like to think that over the last eight years we've been putting out information via content mediums that is valuable to you, dear reader. However, the informational content we put out there, particularly the audio and video content, is put on platforms where it is forced to compete with others who cater to the lowest common denominators of dopamine hijacking and in-group signaling that draws the masses like moths to a flame.

If you haven't watched the YouTube video yet, which I'm assuming 99.9% of you haven't, this may seem like a nonsensical ramble. So, I'll keep this one short and urge you to go watch the social commentary from comedian Jarrett Moore about the state of art, "content" and its effect on culture as it stands today. I'm assuming this isn't too much of a spoiler alert, but the situation is pretty dire. The world needs better art and people who are willing to support artists who are truly creative and take risks. This has nothing to do with bitcoin. But I think it highlights an interesting part of our society that is deteriorating at a rapid clip. And it's something that all of us should feel compelled to attend to lest we speed run into Idiocracy.

It made me feel uneasy about parts of my approach to this business, and that's a good thing.

Don't forget to buy a Bitkey!

Iran's Nuclear Ambitions Create a "Never-Ending Crisis"

In our latest discussion, energy expert Dr. Anas Alhajji described what he called Iran's "never-ending crisis" – a thesis he first published over 20 years ago that has proven remarkably accurate. As Alhajji explained, this crisis persists because of a fundamental contradiction: the U.S. sees any Iranian nuclear program (even peaceful) as strengthening a hostile regime, while Iran views nuclear energy as essential for domestic stability and economic survival.

"Iran is not going to negotiate over the bomb. They want to drag everything for the longest period until they get the bomb." - Dr. Anas Alhajji

What's particularly concerning is Iran's resilience against sanctions. Alhajji detailed how Iran has masterfully circumvented oil export restrictions through China, using a dedicated Chinese bank to process payments outside the international system. Iran's leadership appears willing to endure temporary geopolitical losses in Syria, Lebanon, and potentially Yemen, calculating that obtaining nuclear weapons will fundamentally transform regional politics and their treatment by the United States.

Check out the full podcast here for more on Trump's Middle East strategy, the future of BRICS, and critical challenges facing global energy infrastructure.

Headlines of the Day

Standard Chartered Predicts Bitcoin Will Reach $500K by 2028 - via X

Lummis: Genius Act Makes US Leader in Digital Asset Policy - via X

Get our new STACK SATS hat - via tftcmerch.io

Jake Tapper's Admission on Biden's Decline Sparks Media Ethics Debate - via X

---

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---

Ten31, the largest bitcoin-focused investor, has deployed 158,469 sats | $150.00M across 30+ companies through three funds. I am a Managing Partner at Ten31 and am very proud of the work we are doing. Learn more at ten31.vc/invest.

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Final thought...

My oldest is already at the "faking sick to get out of school" stage and I'm extremely proud.

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@ 86611181:9fc27ad7

With Nostr, Jack is well ahead of what Elon and Zuck have learned about censorship

Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement that he is dropping censorship in the U.S. for Facebook and Instagram was accompanied by a comment that he is going to work with the U.S. government to encourage other countries to not censor content. Upon acquiring Twitter, Elon Musk dropped censorship and soon learned that government mandates from across the world censor content.

In 2024, Brazil blocked Twitter until it complied with censorship demands, France arrested Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov, the EU censored additional Russian outlets and wrote letters to Twitter mandating more content moderation, and Australia announced it will fine platforms for misinformation.

The current U.S. administration had a heavy censorship hand and had threatened to revoke Section 230 which protects Internet sites from liability about their users’ content. Zuck indicated in his announcement and a letter to Congress in November that Meta felt coerced to comply. Twitter under Jack Dorsey was also coerced to censor, as disclosed in the Twitter Files and Alex Berenson’s amended censorship lawsuit with new insider materials from Twitter.

Western governments did not typically engage in government guidance or mandates on content until after the Brexit and Trump elections in 2016 followed by the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022. Once Western governments realized that they had lost narrative control, they started playing catch up with China, which was well aware from the start of the power of social networks to both disrupt and control narratives.

Due to the secretive nature of government guidance and mandates, Elon and those outside social media organizations had only witnessed basic content moderation. Jack and Zuck had already experienced years of coercive government guidance threatening Section 230 revocation as well as numerous explicit censorship mandates from Western governments.

Zuck’s response was to downrank and de-emphasize political content in early 2021 after the bruising 2020 U.S. election cycle. This was a difficult decision since Facebook made a lot of money from political arguments, as I pointed out in a 2019 article for VentureBeat. Zuck sidestepped government pressure and continued to grow his properties. Correspondingly, despite the volumes of racist and homophobic content on Instagram, there is not much pressure for content moderation from groups like Media Matters and GARM that have targeted X/Twitter.

Jack’s response was to fund Bluesky to shift Twitter to an open protocol like email’s SMTP and the web’s HTTP. Governments can of course censor at the protocol level with firewalls like they currently do for email and web, but by separating the application and protocol layers, Jack recognized that social networks could operate like any other Internet infrastructure that is content neutral. Jack departed Bluesky when the company started massively moderating accounts and content. Jack then discovered Nostr (Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays), a decentralized messaging protocol initially created by an anonymous developer FiatJeff, much like an anonymous developer Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin.

Nostr is reminiscent of FidoNet, a popular store-and-forward messaging protocol for Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) in the 1980s. Each BBS was fully independent, and each could choose which forum messages to store-and-forward, whether to moderate content, and how long to keep the messages. In addition, FidoNet could store-and-forward private messages between users. UseNet also operated in a similar store-and-forward manner for Internet forums, but did not operate private messages since the Internet already had SMTP.

Nostr developers offer an active ecosystem of both clients and servers offering an interface familiar to social network users, as well as micro apps offering new functionality on top of the protocol. Nostr is decentralized with no central control point and transmits messages across independently operated relays. Just like with current email systems and Nostr predecessors FidoNet and UseNet the independence of the relays create inefficiency. Different users may not see each others’ replies chronologically until the messages transmission has caught up, and not all relays transmit all messages. FidoNet and UseNet were inefficient due to resource constraints such as long distance charges and intermittent connectivity. Nostr and Bitcoin use inefficiency to engineer resilience into the protocol.

A Nostr account can never be “revoked,” however relays are not obligated to carry an account’s messages. Users can easily switch relays or even operate their own. As part of the new generation of decentralized crypto software, Nostr uses a public/private key combination for identity, and you can optionally publish your profile name, e-mail address, and lightning wallet associated with the key. Nostr clients sign messages with your private key when you post, and users know it’s you by your public key. A note of caution: just like with crypto, if your private key gets compromised or lost, it’s like losing or having your Bitcoin private key stolen.

A new administration could easily coerce social media companies. This time, Elon stood in the face of a government onslaught. Zuck followed when the coast was clear. Jack has laid the foundation for the future. https://peter.layer3.press/articles/553ac57f-bb19-4b50-8644-d38d74d1e1e6

@ 8bad92c3:ca714aa5

Key Takeaways

In this episode of TFTC, energy economist Anas Alhajji outlines a profound shift in U.S. foreign policy under Trump—away from military intervention and toward transactional diplomacy focused on trade, reconstruction, and curbing Chinese and Russian influence in the Middle East. He highlights Trump’s quiet outreach to Syria as emblematic of the U.S.'s strategic flexibility in legitimizing former adversaries when economically beneficial. Alhajji dismisses BRICS as a fractured bloc incapable of rivaling the U.S.-led order and insists the dollar and petrodollar remain dominant. On energy, he warns that despite favorable fundamentals, prices are suppressed by political confusion, underinvestment, and an aging power grid ill-prepared for the AI and urbanization boom. He also contends that Iran is stalling negotiations to buy time for nuclear advancement and that any deal will be superficial. Finally, Alhajji debunks the myth of Trump being pro-oil, noting his long-standing hostility toward the industry and explaining why a repeat of his past energy boom is implausible given today’s financial and structural constraints.

Best Quotes

• “BRICS is a paper tiger. Everything about BRICS is what China does—and that’s it.”
• “The dollar is here to stay. The petrodollar is here to stay. End of story.”
• “Trump hates the oil industry. He always classified it as an enemy.”
• “Energy projects are 30- to 40-year investments, but politicians think in 4-year cycles. That’s where the disconnect lies.”
• “People think shale will boom again. It won’t. The model changed from ‘drill baby drill’ to ‘control baby control.’”
• “The real story of Trump’s trip wasn’t about politics—it was investment, investment, investment.”
• “Without massive investment in the grid and gas turbines, blackouts will become the norm—even in rich countries like Kuwait.”
• “Iran and China have perfected the game of oil exports. Sanctions are just theater at this point.”

Conclusion

Anas Alhajji’s conclusion challenges conventional narratives, arguing that global power is shifting from military dominance to economic leverage, infrastructure investment, and energy control. He presents a nuanced view of U.S. foreign policy under Trump, emphasizing the strategic importance of trade and reconstruction over regime change. As energy demand soars and geopolitical risks mount, Alhajji warns that the real dangers lie not in foreign adversaries, but in policy confusion, infrastructural lag, and complacency—making this episode a crucial listen for anyone seeking to understand the high-stakes intersection of energy, economics, and diplomacy.

Timestamps

0:00 - Intro
0:48 - Syria and US diplomacy in Middle East
12:50 - Trump in the Middle East
18:12 - Fold & Bitkey
19:48 - Iran - Nuclear program and PR
33:53 - Unchained
34:22 - Crude markets, trade war and US debt
54:28 - Trump's energy stance
1:05:46 - Energy sector challanges
1:14:44 - Policy recommendations
1:21:18 - AI and bitcoin

Transcript

(00:00) oil prices market fundamentals support higher price than where we are today. But because of this confusion, everyone is scared of low economic growth and that is a serious problem. The US media ignored part of Trump's speech when he said we are not about nation building and they refer to Afghanistan and Iraq.
(00:15) Look at them. This is a criticism of George W. Bush. We have groups that are talking about the demise of the dollar, the rise of bricks. Bricks is a paper tiger. Everything about bricks is what China does and that's it. The dollar is here to stay and the petro dollar is here to stay.
(00:31) The perception is that the Trump administration is cold but the reality Trump hates the oil [Music] indust. How are you? Very good. Very good. Thank you. As you were telling me, you've been a bit sleepd deprived this week trying to keep up with what's going on. Oh, absolutely. I mean, Trump keeps us on our toes uh all the time.
(01:06) In fact, I plan certain things for the weekend and Trump will say something or he will do something and all of a sudden we get busy again. Uh so clients are not going to wait for you until you finish your work. Basically, they want to know what's going on. So what is going on? What what how profound were the events in the Middle East? These are very uh very profound changes basically because it is very clear that if you look at the last 15 years uh and you look at the growth uh in the Middle East, you look at the growth of Saudi Arabia and uh the
(01:41) role of Turkey for example in the region uh it just just amazing be beyond any uh any thoughts. Uh in fact both of them Turkey and Saudi Arabia are part of the G20. Uh so they have economic influence and they have political influence. And of course the icing on the cake for those who are familiar with the region is to recognize the Syrian government and meet with the Syrian uh president.
(02:11) Uh this is a major a major change in economics and politics uh of the Middle East. Let's touch on that Syria uh topic for a while because I think a lot of people here in the United States were a bit shocked at how sort of welcoming President Trump was towards the new Syrian president considering the fact that uh he was considered an enemy not too long ago here in the United States.
(02:42) What first of all it's a fact of life for those who would like to check the history of politics. There were many people around the world who were classified or they were on the terrorism list and then they became friends of the United States or they were became heroes. I mean Nelson Mandela is one of them. You look at Latin America, there are presidents in Latin America who were uh the enemy of the United States and then they became uh uh cooperative with the United States and the United States recognized their governments and the result of their uh elections. Uh so
(03:15) we've seen this historically uh several uh several times around the world and as they say freedom fighters for some basically are the enemies and the terrorists for for others etc. So uh what we've seen that's why the the visit is very important that the recognition of this government is very important. uh the fact on the ground that uh the president of Syria had the power on the ground uh he had the the the people on the ground and he had the control on the ground and whatever he's been he's been doing since he came into power until now
(03:52) he done all the right steps u and people loved him I mean everyone who went to Syria whether the Syrians who left Syria 40 years ago or uh the visitors who are coming to Syria, they will tell you, "We have never seen the Syrian people as happy as we've seen them today, despite the fact that they they live in misery.
(04:17) They don't have um 8 million people without housing. Uh there is barely any electricity in most of the country. There is no internet. There is barely any food. The uh inflation is rampant, etc. But people are happy because they lived in fear for a very long time. And uh the steps they have taken. For example, the uh ministers in the previous government uh are still there and they are still in the housing of the government.
(04:49) They still have the drivers. They still have the cars from the previous government. They still have it until today. So uh they they were classified as enemies before. But all of a sudden now you have a new government that is uh accepting them. Uh so we we see some changes on the ground that are positive and we'll see how these things will go given that the area around them basically has been unstable for a very long time.
(05:17) how because I don't the the news when I was actually it was surreal for me because my first trip to the Middle East was last December when it was literally f flying over Syria to Abu Dhabi when uh um Assad was getting thrown out and it was pretty surreal to be in that region of the world.
(05:43) How as it pertains to like religious minorities within Syria moving forward is there protractions protections there? Um well let me just uh I want to emphasize one point that is very important. What did the interest of Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United States in Syria if remember Syria was controlled by Iran and was controlled by the Russians.
(06:09) So in a sense it becomes uh kind of an imperative that taking it away from Iran and Russia and not bringing Iran or Russia back is extremely important. Now the Russians are still there and they have their own base but at least they are not bombing the Syrians and not killing them anymore. But the idea here is taking Syria out of Iran and Russia and probably later on if they kick the Russians out, Russians will not have access to the Mediterranean.
(06:37) Uh so there is an interest uh of all parties basically to take Russia out of Iran and um out of uh Syria regardless the country is uh devastated and it creates massive opportunities for US companies on all levels and uh we've seen a contract uh done recently with you mentioned Abu Dhabi uh uh a contract uh uh with the UA a basically to revamp all the Syrian ports and work on the Syrian ports.
(07:13) Uh so such contracts basically uh when you have a country that has nothing and it's completely devastated the whole infrastructure is devastated. Who is going to build it? If the uh what the Chinese, the Russians, so who who are going to build it? So, uh I think there is a a big room for US companies and others basically to come in and uh literally help on one side and make money on the other.
(07:38) Yeah, I think that that's what I'm trying to discern. What was this convoy from the United States to the Middle East this week signali

@ b0a838f2:34ed3f19

• bin - A paste bin that's actually minimalist. WTFPL/0BSD Rust
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• Yopass - Secure sharing of secrets, passwords and files. (Demo) Apache-2.0 Go/Docker

@ b0a838f2:34ed3f19

• Evergreen - Highly-scalable software for libraries that helps library patrons find library materials, and helps libraries manage, catalog, and circulate those materials. (Source Code) GPL-2.0 PLpgSQL
• Koha - Enterprise-class ILS with modules for acquisitions, circulation, cataloging, label printing, offline circulation for when Internet access is not available, and much more. (Demo, Source Code) GPL-3.0 Perl
• RERO ILS - Large-scale ILS that can be run as a service with consortial features, intended primarily for library networks. Includes most standard modules (circulation, acquisitions, cataloging,...) and a web-based public and professional interface. (Demo, Source Code) AGPL-3.0 Python/Docker

@ 8bad92c3:ca714aa5

Key Takeaways

In this episode, Bram Kanstein delivers a powerful exploration of how studying money for thousands of hours led him to a single, life-changing conclusion: Bitcoin is the key to preserving value and reclaiming personal agency in an increasingly unstable world. Through the lens of a disillusioned millennial generation—raised with technological optimism but betrayed by economic reality—Bram exposes the fiat system as one built on illusion, debt, and diminishing returns. He explains how Bitcoin’s transparent, rule-based design offers a principled alternative, especially for those wired to question systems and seek truth. Describing the fiat economy as a “high-velocity trash system” that undermines innovation and long-term planning, he argues Bitcoin creates the time and space to think, build, and live freely. As AI reshapes the labor market, Bram sees Bitcoin as a vital foundation for individuals to adapt, maintain sovereignty, and thrive in a future defined by rapid technological disruption.

Best Quotes

“Anything that you would want to fix in the world is broken because the money is broken.”

“You’re stacking nothing. Literal paper.”

“You have to red pill before you orange pill.”

“The only thing you need to do is move to the other money that they cannot mess with.”

“One Bitcoin is one Bitcoin. That’s the whole point.”

“Millennials are primed to understand Bitcoin.”

“Bitcoin lets you get out of the rat race and start walking your own path.”

“The fiat mindset is a zero-sum game. In Bitcoin, value is created.”

“We should stop asking how to value Bitcoin—and start asking how to value everything else in Bitcoin.”

“Even with a master’s in economics, people still don’t understand what money is.”

Conclusion

This episode delivers a powerful call to rethink everything we assume about money, arguing that understanding Bitcoin is less about profit and more about reclaiming personal agency in a world defined by uncertainty. Bram Kanstein shows how asking fundamental questions—like “What is money?”—can lead to a deeper sense of purpose and autonomy. As AI and systemic instability accelerate, Bitcoin emerges not just as sound money, but as a life tool for intentional living, long-term thinking, and individual sovereignty.

Timestamps

0:00 - Intro
0:36 - INTJ bitcoiners
4:58 - The millennial headspace is primed for bitcoin
7:25 - Bitcoin gives time and space to build
15:29 - Fold & Bitkey
17:05 - Seeing systemic problems
26:25 - Bitcoin’s positive feedback loop
33:55 - Recognize your agency
37:58 - Unchained
38:27 - Fiat money creates uncertainty
44:41 - What is money?
54:04 - Money and energy
1:03:43 - Bitcoin allows growth
1:09:02 - Bitcoin/AI
1:31:34 - Optimistic note

Transcript

(00:00) Let's say you're a millennial and mid-30s and you want to retire in 30 years. If you calculate the amount of dollar, pound the euro, yen units. You need way more units of that money than you think right now. They are funding pension funds, but the pension funds are using that money for the people that are actually retiring.
(00:17) No one knows about money. They don't know how debt works, how finance works. But that's kind of how it's designed, right? Like that's what eventually keeps the Ponzi alive. And I just started with the question, what do you think happens if you call the bank and say like, hey, can I get 100 or 200k in cash? Man, you got an editor like in house.
(00:39) That's That's pro. That's uh it's because this setup I'm so far away from the computer. I just need somebody to hit the button. Okay. Okay. the extent the extent of of Logan's job extends far beyond just hitting the button. But yeah, INTJ I think uh I think it was as we rear into what looks to be another bull market.
(01:05) I think getting back to first principles and discussing the challenges of studying and understanding Bitcoin, it's important to to highlight the archetype of individuals who have studied fallen down the rabbit hole and really dedicated their lives to Bitcoin. And this INTJ cohort that exists within Bitcoin seems pretty material apparently. Yeah.
(01:35) I mean, I have many moments where I just realize that I'm lucky that my brain is wired in a certain way, you know. I feel like crazy blessed that I figured out this Bitcoin thing, you know, and that when I ran into certain realizations along the way in my Bitcoin journey that I was like, hm, you know, how does this actually work? you know, do I actually understand the systems I'm participating in, the things that I believe, you know, the the the the people that I abstracted um or or outsourced certain responsibilities to to take care of, for example, my money
(02:10) in the bank. You know, I I think um being wired in a certain way definitely helps in grasping Bitcoin to a degree where you're like, okay, this is the only thing I need to pay attention to, you know, in my life. And yeah, we we jokingly started talking about this because I have the hat here, but there was this um I think it was like like a Twitter poll actually or someone shared it on Twitter and this is already like two or three years old where where someone investigated these MyersBriggs um personality types and I think there's
(02:42) only like 2% of people that have INTJ but like 20% of Bitcoiners have that personality type. So it um it apparently helps. So yeah, I just I just quickly Googled it actually. It says uh the INTJ is the architect. It's a personality type with the introverted intuitive thinking and judging traits. These thoughtful tacticians love perfecting the details of life, applying creativity and rationality to everything they do.
(03:09) I think the rationality part here is what um what uh I think helps you to to gro Bitcoin eventually. Yeah, it reminds me of I forget what the study was, but postco it was a similar distribution of just like 2% of people were highly skeptical of what was going on with the lockdowns and the attack on bodily autonomy.
(03:38) And there was a study that was done about I forget it was bees or some type of fly that they they have like the horde of um the horde of the particular fly I think it was bees has like 2% act as these sort of alarm bells that are on the outside the outskirts of the community and they'll start communicating like hey something's wrong here and people the other flies or bees will be skeptical at first but then eventually uh the alarm bells will be proven to be right that there was some sort of danger around the corner. That's fascinating.
(04:09) Yeah. Yeah, that's fascinating. I I think we're not that special eventually, you know, like we think we have all this autonomy, but but um yeah, we're we're just wired in a certain way. And I think I don't know where you want to take this conversation, but I think, you know, part of growing up and being an adult is figuring out, you know, how do I actually work and how do I work with how I work, you know? Yeah. No, it is.
(04:36) And as I get older, creep into my mid-30s, which is hard hard to come to grips with, it is uh really falling back on like, all right, I I feel like I have a good perspective on the world and my place in it, and how do I just optimize to make sure I'm aligning my my work and my career, I guess, if you call it that, with what I'm passionate about. Yeah.
(05:00) Well, I also think that is actually why our generation, you know, my my podcast is Bitcoin for millennials. I think uh the millennials are primed to understand Bitcoin. You know, we are in this life phase where big things happen, you know, starting a family or settling somewhere or or making big career moves or decide Yeah.
(05:25) like deciding what am I going to spend like the next 10 20 years on and uh I think it's an interesting phase actually I I don't know how that was for you but but for me like the the 30s were really where I dove more and more into Bitcoin like got got that stronger conviction and also yeah kind of was invited to go further down that that rabbit hole you know and like how I see it now is that that Bitcoin is really the foundation for the rest of my life, you know, like it it gives me time and space to look forward and enthusiasm, you know, like I sometimes lurk on the
(06:01) millennial subreddit, you know, or the finance sub subreddit. And many people in our generation are very nihilistic, you know, they're very unsure about the future. Like some people aren't even having kids because they think they cannot afford it, you know. And uh whenever I read that, I just think like, yeah, I I don't really have those things.
(06:22) But I know it's because of Bitcoin, you know. I I know that Bitcoin gives me, yeah, like I said, the time and space to figure out what's next, like what should I focus on? Like it gives time and space to to try out stuff, to build something, you know, to to to really attempt at at doing something. Where I see many people that don't see that, they are more in the consumer type, you know, like they they just spend the money that's worth the most today, you know, like that's what they're incentivized to do. Yeah.
(06:49) And is is that why you started Bitcoin for millennials is to number one put the put the message out there. Millennials come listen to this. One of you Yes. that is trying to educate you about this. But because this is something I think about a lot is somebody's like dead smack in the middle of the millennial generation and has observed many of the things you just described in my own life, my own network.
(07:13) And that's part of the reason why this podcast exists. And um what I'm trying to do at TFTC is just try to figure out a way to reach into the minds of millennials, hopefully c

@ da8b7de1:c0164aee

Amerikai Nukleáris Fordulat és Pénzügyi hatások

Donald Trump elnök bejelentette, hogy végrehajtási rendeleteket ír alá a nukleáris energia fellendítésére . Ezek célja az új reaktorok engedélyezési folyamatának egyszerűsítése, az üzemanyag-ellátási láncok megerősítése, valamint a hazai ipar támogatása az orosz és kínai nyersanyagfüggőség csökkentése érdekében. A hír hatására az amerikai és globális nukleáris részvények jelentős emelkedést mutattak: az Uránium Energy 11%, a Centrus Energy 19,6%, az Oklo 16%, a Nano Nuclear 15%, a Nu Power 14,1%, a Global X Uranium ETF pedig 9%-kal erősödött . A növekvő energiaigény, különösen a mesterséges intelligencia által hajtott adatközpontok miatt, tovább növeli a nukleáris energia stratégiai szerepét az USA-ban .

Európai és Nemzetközi Nukleáris Fejlemények

Svédország parlamentje elfogadta az új állami támogatási keretrendszert, amely akár 5 000 MW új nukleáris kapacitás beruházását ösztönzi . Az intézkedés célja az áramárak stabilizálása, az ellátásbiztonság növelése és a zöld átmenet támogatása. A program keveri az állami hiteleket és a piaci árgaranciákat (CfD), a projektek finanszírozásában pedig a magántőke is részt vesz. A törvény 2025. augusztus 1-jén lép hatályba, a végrehajtás azonban még EU-jóváhagyásra vár .

Nukleáris Ellátási Lánc és Iparági Konferencia

Május 20–21-én Varsóban rendezték meg az első World Nuclear Supply Chain Conference-t, amelynek célja a globális nukleáris ellátási lánc megerősítése és bővítése . A konferencián elhangzottak szerint az iparág előtt álló kihívás a kapacitás gyors növelése, hiszen a cél a globális nukleáris kapacitás megháromszorozása 2050-ig. A World Nuclear Association legfrissebb elemzése szerint a következő 15 évben akár 2 billió dollár értékű beruházási lehetőség nyílhat a nemzetközi ellátási láncban . A rendezvényen kiemelték az innováció, a lokalizáció és az iparági együttműködés fontosságát, valamint a szállítási és geopolitikai kihívásokat is.

Új Projektek, Technológiai és Piaci Hírek

Az Egyesült Államokban a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) benyújtotta az első hivatalos engedélykérelmet egy BWRX-300 típusú kis moduláris reaktor (SMR) építésére a Clinch River telephelyen . Indiában a nukleáris hatóság jóváhagyta a Mahi Banswara Rajasthan Atomerőmű négy új blokkjának helyszínét . Kínában befejeződött a Haiyang 3 atomerőmű gőzturbinájának fő egységeinek telepítése . Belgiumban és Dániában is újraértékelik a nukleáris energia szerepét, míg Brazília Oroszországgal közös SMR-projektet tervez .

Iparági Trendek és Kilátások

A World Nuclear Association és az International Energy Agency (IEA) szerint a globális nukleáris energiatermelés 2025-ben minden korábbinál magasabb szintet érhet el, köszönhetően az új reaktorok üzembe helyezésének és a stabil, alacsony kibocsátású energiaforrások iránti növekvő igénynek . A nukleáris üzemanyag-ellátási lánc megerősítése, az uránbányászat, az átalakítás és a dúsítás bővítése, valamint a szállítási kapacitás fejlesztése mind kulcsfontosságú tényezők lesznek a következő években .

Hivatkozások

reuters.com
investopedia.com
nucnet.org
world-nuclear-news.org
world-nuclear.org

@ 8bad92c3:ca714aa5

Another week of conversations with sharp minds thinking about Bitcoin's future and the broader economic landscape. Here are the three most compelling predictions from recent episodes.

Bitcoin Core Will Face a Major Governance Crisis Over Covenant Proposals in 2025 - James O'Beirne

James made a prediction that sent chills through the Bitcoin development community - he believes Bitcoin Core's current governance structure will reach a breaking point this year over covenant proposals like CTV. After working as a Core developer for nearly a decade, he's convinced that the organization's inability to make progress on scaling solutions will force alternative implementations.

His timeline is specific and urgent. James believes that if Core doesn't show "substantive review discussion about how we get this stuff in" within six months, credible developers will start building alternate activation clients. The technical argument is compelling: covenants like CheckTemplateVerify have been thoroughly reviewed for seven years, with a 5 BTC bounty (worth over $500,000) still unclaimed for finding material bugs.

The stakes couldn't be higher for Bitcoin's future. James noted that currently "just over two and a half percent of Americans would be able to, on a monthly basis, buy Bitcoin on an exchange, withdraw it to self-custody, and then maybe make a spend." Without scaling solutions, this number won't improve meaningfully. His prediction reflects growing frustration with Core's de facto monopoly over protocol development. "You simply can't ignore that there is a social reality to being in that world," he said, referring to the concentrated funding and decision-making power that has created what he sees as an unsustainable bottleneck for Bitcoin's evolution.

The U.S. Will See Widespread Energy Blackouts as AI Data Centers Strain the Grid - Anas Alhajji

Dr. Anas delivered a sobering prediction about America's energy infrastructure failing to keep pace with exploding AI demand. He expects we'll see significant blackouts in major cities within the next few years, with a particularly concerning scenario where AI facilities maintain power while residential areas go dark. "I will not be surprised if we end up with a situation like this in some states and some cities," he warned.

The mathematics behind his prediction are stark. Energy consumption is skyrocketing due to multiple factors: urbanization, AI data centers, and simple population growth. When migrants move from rural areas to U.S. cities, their energy consumption increases by 30-70 times. Meanwhile, AI facilities require massive baseload power that renewable sources simply cannot provide reliably.

The infrastructure problems run deeper than just generation capacity. Anas explained that America's electrical grid is aging and wasn't designed for this level of demand. Even worse, we lack the manufacturing capacity to produce enough natural gas turbines - the only realistic solution for reliable baseload power at scale. He predicts this will create a dangerous political dynamic where tech companies with guaranteed power contracts maintain operations during blackouts while regular citizens lose electricity. "We might see a backlash from the population, and we will see politicians basically being forced to fight them because of that."

AI Will Force Millennials Into Career Reinvention Within the Next Decade - Bram Kanstein

Bram made a stark prediction about the collision between artificial intelligence and millennial career paths. He believes that traditional knowledge-based jobs will become obsolete much faster than people expect, forcing an entire generation to completely rethink their working lives. "If you think you're going to work for the next 30 years of your life, think again," he warned during our conversation.

His argument centers on the rapid advancement of AI capabilities that he's witnessed firsthand. After spending just 12 hours working with AI tools, Bram claims he developed what could be "a top 10 cybersecurity invention" - despite having no cybersecurity background. This experience convinced him that jobs requiring strict knowledge and logic are already dead. The implications are massive for millennials who built their careers around expertise that AI can now replicate instantly.

The timing couldn't be worse, as Bram notes that this technological disruption is happening precisely when millennials need stable income to support families and prepare for retirement. His solution? Use Bitcoin to create the time and space needed to figure out how to function in an AI-dominated world. "You need to be aware of that. This is where it's going. So how do you protect yourself in an age of AI? Bitcoin is the perfect way to do that."

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Blockspace conducts cutting-edge proprietary research for investors.

New Bitcoin Mining Pool Flips Industry Model: "Plebs Eat First" Could Threaten Corporate Dominance

Parasite Pool's radical zero-fee structure challenges mining giants by guaranteeing payouts to small miners while rewarding block finders with instant Bitcoin. It disrupts traditional mining with a hybrid payout model that gives block discoverers 1 BTC immediately, while distributing remaining rewards (~2.125 BTC plus fees) among all pool participants. This "plebs eat first" approach targets the 22% discount miners typically accept in exchange for guaranteed income.

Key innovations that matter:

• Lightning Network integration bypasses Bitcoin's 100-block maturity rule, delivering instant payouts to Lightning wallets
• 10-sat minimum withdrawal eliminates traditional barriers for small miners
• Block withholding protection through substantial honest-miner rewards reduces pool attacks

The pool currently commands just 5 PH/s (0.000006% of Bitcoin's network), meaning an expected 3+ years before hitting a block. But this represents a growing counterculture against Full Pay Per Share (FPPS) pools that dominate corporate mining.

Industry impact: If successful, Parasite Pool could attract commercial miners seeking downside protection while maintaining the lottery appeal that drives pleb participation. The model challenges the structural advantages of corporate mining pools.

What's next: ZK Shark plans to open-source components over time, with the current beta suggesting this is just "V1" of a broader disruption strategy.

Link to Full Article

Subscribe to them here (seriously, you should): https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com/

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Ten31, the largest bitcoin-focused investor, has deployed $150M across 30+ companies through three funds. I am a Managing Partner at Ten31 and am very proud of the work we are doing. Learn more at ten31.vc/invest.

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Key Takeaways

In this episode of TFTC, Jessy Gilger, Managing Partner at Sound Advisory and architect of Ganet Trust, unpacks the complexities of retiring on Bitcoin, emphasizing that the “right” amount depends on spending habits, age, and minimizing withdrawal pressure. He introduces Ganet Trust as a Bitcoin-native fiduciary solution that leverages multisig custody to meet institutional compliance standards without sacrificing decentralization. Jessy also critiques high-yield derivative products like MSTY, warning of systemic risks and advocating for safer alternatives like SMAs. The conversation broadens into the emotional pitfalls of financial decision-making, the importance of aligning wealth with values, and the evolving macro landscape where Bitcoin’s intersection with traditional finance and tax policy will shape how individuals and institutions protect and grow their holdings across generations.

Best Quotes

"The most comfort comes from putting as little pressure as possible against that stack."

"Multisig is the upgrade from a honeypot to a distributed key setup."

"If a whale pees in the pool, everyone is affected."

"Everyone feels late to Bitcoin because they know someone who got in earlier."

"Stacking Saturdays is my new stack sats."

"Bitcoin doesn’t know about trust, it knows private keys."

"The money is there to serve your values—not the other way around."

"Some financial products will help, some will hurt, and some will fail. Our job is to help clients navigate them safely."

Conclusion

This episode offers a powerful blend of practical insight and philosophical reflection on long-term Bitcoin strategy, emphasizing the need for sound custody, inheritance planning, and emotional discipline in a volatile, financialized world. Jessy Gilger introduces Ganet Trust as a vital solution for secure, compliant Bitcoin ownership, while his “stacking Saturdays” mantra reframes wealth as a pursuit of time, freedom, and meaningful priorities. As Bitcoin moves further into the mainstream, the conversation urges listeners to stay grounded, think generationally, and build resilient systems for both assets and life.

Timestamps

00:00 - Intro
0:33 - Bitcoin Retirement Planning at New All-Time Highs
5:22 - How Gannett Trust Works
10:05 - High Net Worth Bitcoin Storage and Estate Planning Solutions
16:48 - MSTY Derivatives: Understanding MicroStrategy Product Risks
19:53 - Bitkey
20:56 - How MSTY Works and the Whale in the Pool Problem
30:16 - Unchained
30:37 - Bitcoin Financialization and Corporate Treasury Strategy
39:35 - Avoiding Ego-Driven Bitcoin Mistakes and Building Bridges
47:33 - Stack Saturdays
53:15 - Tax Policy Changes and Wild Times Ahead
57:18 - Where to Find Gannett Trust and Closing

Transcript

(00:00) We have people retiring with hundreds of Bitcoin. Do you need to be on a yacht every week or are you staying humble and keeping those stats? 10 of the 12 ETFs are at Coinbase means all the keys are at Coinbase and with the news of the last week like, hey, there could be cracks. Micro Strategy is built on Bitcoin.
(00:18) It's got all of the risks of Bitcoin, right? But then it's got its own set of risks. Let's call them Sailor and Profitability. Then you have derivatives which are on top of Micro Strategy and they retain the risks of everything underneath. meeting on a on a day when we hit new all-time highs. Bitcoin approached $110,000.
(00:43) Got Jesse back on the show to talk about many things, not just the price ripping. A lot of good things happening on the unch unchained side of things. Watching Ganet Trust. We'll get into it. Yeah, lot lots of stuff happening. I think um the price likes Ganet. I I think that's the uh the mover. What uh I mean that's been a big discussion in in the space right now is uh are we heading to new all-time highs? How should Bitcoiners be preparing? How much Bitcoin do people need to retire? How how are you thinking about all this as we approach what seems
(01:22) to be another bull cycle? Yeah, that's a common question, right? How much Bitcoin do I need to retire? I get it a lot and there's so many other questions I want to ask like, well, how much money are you spending, right? Do you do you need to be on a yacht every week or are you staying humble and keeping those stats? And so, the amount of Bitcoin can vary because the spending pressure you're putting against your Bitcoin stack is the the biggest factor, right? And age is probably the second.
(01:54) a 30-year-old retiring on Bitcoin is different than a 75year-old retiring on Bitcoin just because of the horizon. So, stacks vary. We've got people retiring with um less than seven figures of Bitcoin because they have other assets and then we have people retiring with hundreds of Bitcoin um and putting very little pressure against that portfolio.
(02:16) So, can go in a lot of different ways. Um but it is a question of the day as you're poking new all-time highs. Everyone's like, "Well, how high is it going to get?" And then huge question is do we have cycles again right if countries are buying what what would a downside look like and that's the big question in the retirees mind is how do I protect and not ride that downside all the way down if we do have another 70 80% drawback. Yeah. No.
(02:42) And I think particularly for younger people having in their mind like the perspective of 21 million Bitcoin, 8 billion people, what's the stat? 60 million millionaires in the world. Mhm. How much how many stats do I need to get to to feel comfortable that I have a sufficient slice of the Bitcoin pie? That feel comfortable concept is just so different, right? because Bitcoin is moving and shaking and all-time highs or down 30% and that's still within a bull market.
(03:15) Is that comfortable, right? Can you actually hang it up and like, all right, not going into work and I'm just going to continue to ride these adoption cycles. I don't know if it ever gets comfortable. The most comfort comes from putting as little pressure as possible against that stack, right? that you're not pushing these withdrawal rates of like 5 10 20% of my Bitcoin stack.
(03:38) I'm needing to live on every because then you're requiring Bitcoin to do something for you in the short term which is just not great at, right? What what's Bitcoin price going to be in a year? Far less reliable than what's Bitcoin price going to be in 30 years. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I I think one of the holdups too is the ability for people to get into Bitcoin and know where to put it and not only have certainty of what it will be valued at in 30 years, but will they have access to it? That's one thing that you guys
(04:10) have been very much focused. I know sound advisory is separate from Unchained technically but within the Unchained umbrella but Unchained focused on helping secure individuals and businesses and trust uh Bitcoin and I think today's announcement of Ganet Trust is a massive step in a direction towards more certainty for long-term holdings for particular entities.
(04:36) Yes, the unchained umbrella or or family of companies is growing and the intention will be for sound advisory to tuck under or be merged into folded into Ganet Trust Company as it gets stood up. But it is the most robust uh compliance offering that um is out there in the fiduciary space. And so that in my opinion was the one thing missing as people want to live on a Bitcoin standard.
(05:04) Sometimes they're in an entity or an organization or have a structure that requires a fiduciary standard. And these two coming together is solved by Ganet Trust Company. So it's going to be the most robust way to hold Bitcoin and have like true inheritance that can be um administered through generations. So how how does this work mechanically via Ganet? Mechanically.
(05:28) So as the first Bitcoin native trust company, other other trust companies do exist, right? but they don't build upon Bitcoin in the way that Unchained has. So Ganet in its um in its Unchained roots and using Unchained technology is going to be able to use multi-IG to achieve um trust company goals.
(05:50) And what that likely will mean is Ganet holding a key, Unchained holding a key, third party holding a key. Those three keys together ensure that the Bitcoin is not being held at any one spot, right? We could get into the Coinbase honeypot. We actually talked about this on our last episode like, "Hey, what do you think is the uh the risk out there that the industry might disagree with?" Said, "I'm launching a new segment.
(06:15) I'm going to ask you a prediction of what what's out there that the uh the industry doesn't see eye to eye with you at." And I was at conferences and they're saying, "Hey, Coinbase is the best. That's where we put all the cut." That means all the keys are at Coinbase and with the news of the last week like, hey, there could be cracks, right? If you've got exposure to Coinbase now, you could be questioning. I was on the list.
(06:37) I got the email. You were affected. That's not great. It doesn't feel good knowing that information that information could have been a lot worse. That headline could have been private keys being mismanaged. When you overlay what Ganet is going to offer to the custody space, it means that not all of the keys are going to be at any one entity.
(07:00) And so that gives the Bitcoiner who understands multisig the confidence that okay, I'm upgrading from a honeypot to a distributed key setup. But it has to be done in a fiduciary and compliant way to satisfy the the institutional and big money of the world, right? family offices, uh, Bitcoin treasury companies, they're going to need a structure that the CIO, the

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Test article 23.05.2025 2

https://drewdru.layer3.press/articles/ddd70871-69c2-41af-ae56-13fea76050e0

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Marty's Bent

via levelsio

Over the weekend, prolific vibe coder levelsio took to X to complain about the state of housing affordability across Europe. Something that I was very happy to see considering the fact that there is a massive real estate affordability crisis across much of the world and it is important that people who are respected and have platforms speak out when they identify the problem as well. More eyes and focus on the problem is how something begins to get solved.

With that being said, I think levelsio is missing the forest for the trees by blaming institutionalized NIMBYism, burdensome regulations and governments hoarding land that should instead be given to developers to produce more housing supply. I quote tweeted this particular tweet on the subject from levelsio and wanted to take some time today to republish those thoughts here and expand on the topic.

It’s almost as if real estate is being used as a store of value asset instead of the consumable good that it is.

What @levelsio is observing here is called a “monetary premium”. A monetary premium is the value added on top of the consumable/aesthetic/location value of real estate.

This monetary premium exist because central banks and governments have distorted the market for money and people are forced to push value into assets that are scarce relative to dollars. Over the last 50 years real estate has been one of the relatively scarce assets of choice.

The housing affordability crisis is a negative externality of the market reaction to the corruption of money. It can only be fixed by re-introducing hard money into the economy that enables people to store value reliably. If that emerges they won’t have to store value in real estate, the monetary premium of real estate will dissolve and prices will correct to their proper valuations.

This is one of the problems that bitcoin solves.

It’s still early yet, but more and more people are recognizing the utility provided by a neutral reserve asset that can’t be manipulated by central planners. At scale, the effect on assets that have accumulated a monetary premium over decades will be material. All of these assets are significantly overvalued and their monetary premium are leaking into bitcoin.

Put another way, "It's the money, stupid." Now, this isn't to say that the supply of housing in certain areas being artificially restricted isn't having an effect on the price of housing. This is certainly true, especially in cities like San Francisco where there is a relatively strong demand because of the economic density of the area and the desire of many high agency and productive people to live there. But I would put forth that the monetary premium is still the bigger problem and no amount of de-regulation to enable the supply of housing to increase will solve the affordability crisis in the long-run. The only way to get to the root of this specific problem is via bitcoin's mainstream adoption as an apolitical uncontrollable asset with completely idiosyncratic risks when compared to any individual asset class.

Let's say the government did ease up regulations and local NIMBY sympathetics were shoved in a corner to allow new units to be built. This doesn't solve the problem in the short-run because there is a time-delay between when regulations are lifted and when new supply actually makes it to market. In the interim, governments and central banks are inevitably going to go further into debt and be forced to print money to monetize that debt. This will exacerbate inflation and even if new real estate units are brought to market, the builders/owners of those properties will likely have to demand elevated prices to attempt to keep up with inflation.

This also does nothing to solve the problem of real income and wage growth, which are significantly lagging real inflation. Even if prices came down because of a surge in supply, could the Common Man afford a down payment on the property? I'd be shocked if this was the case. And since it's likely not the case the only way to get people into these houses as "owners" would be to offer them zero-down financing, which makes people feel richer than they actually are and leads them to make financially ruinous decisions.

It's the money, stupid. People need a way to save so that they can buy in the first place. Fiat currency doesn't allow this and the only people who can save effectively are those who make enough money to funnel into substitute store of value assets like real estate.

As it stands today, the price-to-income ratio of real estate is 5.0x and the price-t0-rent index is 1.36. Up from 3.3x and 1.14x respectively where the metrics sat in the year 2000. The growth in these ratios is driven predominately via their monetary premium.

And guess what, it's about to get much worse. Donald Trump, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Elon Musk have all signaled that the plan moving forward is to attempt to drive growth and productivity as high as possible while also letting deficits and the debt increase unabated, which means that inflation is likely to continue unabated and potentially increase.

It might make sense to get some bitcoin if that is the case.

via me

"Whale in the Pool" Risk That Could Destroy MSTY Investors

Jessy Gilger raised serious concerns about MSTY and similar derivative products that promise eye-popping yields. He pointed to the COVID crash where gold mining ETFs using derivatives collapsed 95% and never recovered, despite gold itself performing well. Jessy noted that while his team calculated reasonable MicroStrategy covered call yields of 16-22%, MSTY advertises 120% annualized distributions - a red flag that suggests these aren't sustainable dividends from profits, but potentially just returning investors' own capital.

"If a whale pees in the pool, everyone is affected." - Jessy Gilger

Jessy explained that when large investors need to exit these pooled products during market stress, they must sell derivative positions into illiquid markets with no buyers, potentially triggering catastrophic losses for all participants. His solution? Private pools through separately managed accounts that achieve similar income goals without the contagion risk of being trapped with panicking whales.

Check out the full podcast here for more on Gannett Trust's multi-sig solution, Bitcoin retirement planning and corporate treasury strategies.

Headlines of the Day

World's Largest Bitcoin Conference Starts Tomorrow- via X

Remixpoint to Buy Additional ¥1 Billion in Bitcoin - via X

Get our new STACK SATS hat - via tftcmerch.io

Marty to Judge Bitcoin World Record Try in Vegas - via X

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Final thought...

Looking forward to a fun, productive and wholesome week in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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@ a296b972:e5a7a2e8

Was Rudolf Steiner vor gut 110 Jahren an Informationen zusammengetragen und kommentiert hat, liest sich in großen Abschnitten so, als ob es in der heutigen Zeit geschrieben worden wäre. Man trifft auf eine ganze Reihe von „guten, alten Bekannten“, die auch heute noch maßgeblich an den Strippen ziehen. Deutlich wird, dass ein Krieg nicht aus heiterem Himmel ausbricht, sondern das im Vorfeld schon Kräfte wirken, die auf einen Krieg hinarbeiten. Wie jetzt wieder im Ukraine-Krieg wird diese Vorgeschichte gerne versucht unter den Teppich zu kehren und hochkompetente, sauber recherchierende, akribisch Quellen angebende Journalisten, wie z. B. Frau Gabriele Krone-Schmalz oder Herr Patrik Baab, der sich auf eigene Kosten einen Eindruck von vor Ort verschafft hat, werden versucht mundtot zu machen und mittlerweile gar nicht mehr zu Gesprächen im öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunk eingeladen, weil sie die fortlaufende Gehirnwäsche des Ministeriums für Wahrheit und Narrative mit ihren Aussagen gefährden. Andere kommen auf die Sanktionsliste.

Auch heute ist von den „Guten“ und den „Bösen“ die Rede, was darauf schließen lässt, dass man durchaus eingesteht, dass hier geistige Kräfte am Werk sind. Rudolf Steiner kommt auf diese immer wieder zu sprechen. Aus der von ihm gegebenen anthroposophischen Geisteswissenschaft heraus, beleuchtet er die Vorgänge innerhalb der gesamten Menschheitsentwicklung. Mancher stört sich hier an Begriffen, die man heute so nicht mehr verwenden würde. Dabei ist immer zu berücksichtigen, zu welcher Zeit die Vorträge gehalten wurden. Die Anthroposophie von Rudolf Steiner gilt heute bei vielen auch als „umstritten“, aber was ist das heute nicht? Fast könnte man es schon als Auszeichnung sehen, wenn etwas „umstritten“ ist, denn das ist mittlerweile ein Beweis dafür, dass es Ansichten, Meinungen und Einschätzungen gibt, die in einer gesunden Demokratie innerhalb einer Kontroverse zu einem Dialog und Austausch beitragen können, der jedoch leider derzeit weder gewünscht ist, noch gepflegt wird, was an der „Spaltung“ deutlich zu sehen ist. Und auch unter den Anthroposophen hat die „Spaltung“ Einzug gehalten.

Um das aktuelle, viele Bereiche umschließende, gigantische Lügenkonstrukt aufrecht zu erhalten, ist mittlerweile jedes Mittel recht, von der Deutungshoheit der Wahrheit durch systemkonforme Begutachter, bis hin zu infantil-kleingeistigen Kindergartenspielchen, um gegenläufige Meinungen oder Oppositionelle in ihrem Wirken zu behindern.

Der gesunde Hausverstand wird ausgetrocknet, und der Garten des Wahnsinns wird durch immer neue Ideen kranker Geister weiter gegossen, gehegt und gepflegt.

Die Zeitgeschichtlichen Betrachtungen von Rudolf Steiner bestehen aus 3 Bänden aus der GA (Gesamtausgabe):

GA 173 a – Wege zu einer objektiven Urteilsbildung

GA 173 b – Das Karma der Unwahrhaftigkeit

GA 173 c – Die Wirklichkeit okkulter Impulse

Sie bestehen aus niedergeschriebenen Vorträgen und einem sehr umfangreichen Anhang mit näheren Erläuterungen und einer Schilderung der Entstehung dieser drei Bände.

Es bedarf einiger Eingewöhnung in die zur damaligen Zeit verwendete Sprache Rudolf Steiners, der ein Meister im Bilden von Schachtelsätzen war. Der Inhalt jedoch, und auf den kommt es ja an, berührt immer wieder den in allen Menschen vorhandenen Wahrheitssinn.

Hier nur eine kleine Kostprobe, die vielleicht das Interesse wecken kann, sich mit diesem derzeit besonders aktuellen Werk näher zu beschäftigen.

GA 173a, 6. Vortrag, Seite 205 und Seite 206, Dornach, 17. Dezember 1916:

„Viel intimer, viel verborgener liegen die Dinge bei der englischen Politik, die ja ganz beeinflußt ist von dem, was in solcher Weise hinter ihr steckt. Da handelt es sich darum, daß man die Wege findet, um die entsprechenden Menschen an die richtigen Plätze zu befördern. Okkultistische Menschen, im Hintergrunde stehend, sind oftmals – na, verzeihen Sie – Einser, bloße Einser, und bedeuten für sich nichts Besonderes; sie brauchen noch etwas anderes – sie brauchen Nullen. Nullen sind ja nicht Einser, aber (fügt man eine Null zu einer Eins), dann wird gleich eine Zehn daraus. Und wenn man noch mehr Nullen hinzufügt – jede Null ist nur eine Null, aber wenn die Eins irgendwo steckt, dann ist gar mancherlei da, zum Beispiel die Tausend, und wenn man die Eins zudeckt, dann sind (scheinbar) nur die Nullen da; die Nullen brauchen aber nur in der entsprechenden Weise mit den Einsern kombiniert zu sein, und sie brauchen nicht einmal viel zu wissen von der Art, wie sie mit den Einsern kombiniert sind.“

Schildert diese 108 Jahre alte Beschreibung nicht genau das, was sich heute vor unseren Augen abspielt?

Dieser Artikel wurde mit dem Pareto-Client geschrieben

* *

(Bild von pixabay)

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

Banking giants JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo are in talks to develop a unified stablecoin solution.

According to the Wall Street Journal on May 22, some of the largest financial institutions in the United States are exploring the possibility of joining forces to launch a stablecoin.

Subsidiaries of JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo have initiated preliminary discussions for a joint stablecoin issuance, according to sources close to the matter cited by the WSJ. Also at the negotiating table are Early Warning Services, the parent company of the digital payments network Zelle, and the payment network Clearing House.

The talks are reportedly still in the early stages, and any final decision could change depending on regulatory developments and market demand for stablecoins.

Stablecoin regulation

On May 20, the US Senate voted 66 to 32 to advance discussion of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act), a specific law to regulate stablecoins. The bill outlines a regulatory framework for stablecoin collateralization and mandates compliance with anti-money laundering rules.

David Sacks, White House crypto advisor, expressed optimism about the bill’s bipartisan approval. However, senior Democratic Party officials intend to amend the bill to include a clause preventing former President Donald Trump and other US officials from profiting from stablecoins.

Demand for stablecoins has increased, with total market capitalization rising to $245 billion from $205 billion at the beginning of the year, a 20% increase.

The post Major US banks consider launching a joint stablecoin appeared first on Atlas21.

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

Governor Abbott will have to decide whether to sign the bill establishing a bitcoin reserve for the state.

Texas could become the third U.S. state to set up a strategic bitcoin reserve, following the approval of Senate Bill 21 by the state House, with 101 votes in favor and 42 against.

Lee Bratcher, founder and president of the Texas Blockchain Council, expressed confidence that Governor Greg Abbott will sign the legislative measure. In an interview with The Block, Bratcher said:

“I’ve talked to the governor about this personally, and I think he wants to see Texas lead in this way.”

The bill is expected to reach the governor’s desk within a week or two, according to Bratcher’s projections. If signed, Texas would follow in the footsteps of New Hampshire and Arizona in creating a state-held bitcoin reserve.

Despite Texas ranking as the world’s eighth-largest economy — ahead of many nations — the initial approach to the reserve will be cautious. Bratcher estimates the starting investment will be in the “tens of millions of dollars,” an amount he describes as “modest” for an economy the size of Texas. The responsibility for operational decisions would fall to the state comptroller, who acts as an executive accountant in charge of managing and investing public funds.

“My sense is that it will be in the tens of millions of dollars, which, while it sounds significant, is a very modest amount, for a state the size of Texas.” explained the president of the Texas Blockchain Council.

The road to approval

According to Bratcher, the idea of creating a state bitcoin reserve dates back to 2022 and represents the culmination of years of work by the Texas Blockchain Council. The organization has worked closely with lawmakers who shared the vision of seeing the state accumulate the world’s leading cryptocurrency. Additionally, Texas has long been home to numerous bitcoin mining companies.

The post Texas one step away from a bitcoin reserve: only the governor’s signature is missing appeared first on Atlas21.

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

Bitcoin surpasses gold in the United States: 50 million holders and a dominant role in the global market.

According to a new report by River, for the first time in history, the number of Americans owning bitcoin has surpassed that of gold holders. The analysis reveals that approximately 50 million U.S. citizens currently own the cryptocurrency, while gold owners number 37 million. In fact, 14.3% of Americans own bitcoin, the highest percentage of holders worldwide.

Source: River

The report highlights that 40% of all Bitcoin-focused companies are based in the United States, consolidating America’s dominant position in the sector. Additionally, 40.5% of Bitcoin holders are men aged 31 to 35, followed by 35.9% of men aged 41 to 45. In contrast, only 13.4% of holders are women.

Source: River

Notably, U.S. companies hold 94.8% of all bitcoins owned by publicly traded companies worldwide. According to the report, recent regulatory changes in the U.S. have made the asset more accessible through financial products such as spot ETFs.

The document also shows that American investors increasingly view the cryptocurrency as protection against fiscal instability and inflation, appreciating its limited supply and decentralized governance model.

For River, Bitcoin offers significant practical advantages over gold in the modern digital era. Its ease of custody, cross-border transfer, and liquidity make the cryptocurrency an attractive option for both individual and institutional investors, the report suggests.

The post USA: 50 million Americans own bitcoin appeared first on Atlas21.

@ 5c26ee8b:a4d229aa

Generally mentioning God, Allah, by reciting/reading the Quran or performing Salat (compulsory prayer), for instance, brings tranquility to the heart of the believer. The Salat, other than being the first deed a Muslim would be questioned about on Judgement Day, it keeps the person away from the forbidden wrong deeds too. The Salat is sufficient for obtaining God’s provision as he decrees the means for it to reach the person. Wasting or missing performing the Salat or mentioning God (Allah) by reciting/reading the Quran or Tasbieh, can lead to following the desires only and a depressed life as well as punishment in the Thereafter.

13:28 Ar-Ra'd

‎الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَتَطْمَئِنُّ قُلُوبُهُمْ بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ ۗ أَلَا بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ تَطْمَئِنُّ الْقُلُوبُ

Those who have believed and whose hearts are assured (tranquillised) by the remembrance of Allah. Unquestionably, by the remembrance of Allah hearts are assured (tranquillised)."

29:45 Al-Ankaboot

‎اتْلُ مَا أُوحِيَ إِلَيْكَ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ وَأَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ ۖ إِنَّ الصَّلَاةَ تَنْهَىٰ عَنِ الْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنْكَرِ ۗ وَلَذِكْرُ اللَّهِ أَكْبَرُ ۗ وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تَصْنَعُونَ

Recite, [O Muhammad], what has been revealed to you of the Book and establish prayer. Indeed, prayer prohibits immorality and wrongdoing, and the remembrance of Allah is greater. And Allah knows that which you do.

11:114 Hud

وَأَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ طَرَفَيِ النَّهَارِ وَزُلَفًا مِنَ اللَّيْلِ ۚ إِنَّ الْحَسَنَاتِ يُذْهِبْنَ السَّيِّئَاتِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ ذِكْرَىٰ لِلذَّاكِرِينَ

And establish prayer at the two ends of the day and at the approach of the night. Indeed, good deeds do away with misdeeds. That is a reminder for those who remember.

20:132 Taa-Haa

وَأْمُرْ أَهْلَكَ بِالصَّلَاةِ وَاصْطَبِرْ عَلَيْهَا ۖ لَا نَسْأَلُكَ رِزْقًا ۖ نَحْنُ نَرْزُقُكَ ۗ وَالْعَاقِبَةُ لِلتَّقْوَىٰ

And enjoin prayer upon your family [and people] and be steadfast therein. We ask you not for provision; We provide for you, and the [best] outcome is for [those of] righteousness.

20:124 Taa-Haa

وَمَنْ أَعْرَضَ عَنْ ذِكْرِي فَإِنَّ لَهُ مَعِيشَةً ضَنْكًا وَنَحْشُرُهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ أَعْمَىٰ

And whoever turns away from My remembrance - indeed, he will have a depressed life, and We will gather him on the Day of Resurrection blind."

20:125 Taa-Haa

قَالَ رَبِّ لِمَ حَشَرْتَنِي أَعْمَىٰ وَقَدْ كُنْتُ بَصِيرًا

He will say, "My Lord, why have you raised me blind while I was [once] seeing?"

20:126 Taa-Haa

قَالَ كَذَٰلِكَ أَتَتْكَ آيَاتُنَا فَنَسِيتَهَا ۖ وَكَذَٰلِكَ الْيَوْمَ تُنْسَىٰ

[Allah] will say, "Thus did Our signs come to you, and you forgot them; and thus will you this Day be forgotten."

20:127 Taa-Haa

وَكَذَٰلِكَ نَجْزِي مَنْ أَسْرَفَ وَلَمْ يُؤْمِنْ بِآيَاتِ رَبِّهِ ۚ وَلَعَذَابُ الْآخِرَةِ أَشَدُّ وَأَبْقَىٰ

And thus do We recompense he who transgressed and did not believe in the signs of his Lord. And the punishment of the Hereafter is more severe and more enduring.

20:128 Taa-Haa

أَفَلَمْ يَهْدِ لَهُمْ كَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا قَبْلَهُمْ مِنَ الْقُرُونِ يَمْشُونَ فِي مَسَاكِنِهِمْ ۗ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِأُولِي النُّهَىٰ

Then, has it not become clear to them how many generations We destroyed before them as they walk among their dwellings? Indeed in that are signs for those of intelligence.

49:17 Al-Hujuraat

‎يَمُنُّونَ عَلَيْكَ أَنْ أَسْلَمُوا ۖ قُلْ لَا تَمُنُّوا عَلَيَّ إِسْلَامَكُمْ ۖ بَلِ اللَّهُ يَمُنُّ عَلَيْكُمْ أَنْ هَدَاكُمْ لِلْإِيمَانِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ

They consider it a favor to you that they have accepted Islam. Say, "Do not consider your Islam a favor to me. Rather, Allah has conferred favor upon you that He has guided you to the faith, if you should be truthful."

53:29 An-Najm

‎فَأَعْرِضْ عَنْ مَنْ تَوَلَّىٰ عَنْ ذِكْرِنَا وَلَمْ يُرِدْ إِلَّا الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا

So turn away from whoever turns his back on Our message and desires not except the worldly life.

53:30 An-Najm

‎ذَٰلِكَ مَبْلَغُهُمْ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ ۚ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنْ ضَلَّ عَنْ سَبِيلِهِ وَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنِ اهْتَدَىٰ

That is their sum of knowledge. Indeed, your Lord is most knowing of who strays from His way, and He is most knowing of who is guided.

53:62 An-Najm

‎فَاسْجُدُوا لِلَّهِ وَاعْبُدُوا ۩

So prostrate to Allah and worship [Him].

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

Michigan lawmakers are unveiling a comprehensive strategy to regulate Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.

On May 21, Republican Representative Bill Schuette introduced House Bill 4510, a proposal to amend the Michigan Public Employee Retirement System Investment Act. The legislation would allow the state treasurer, currently Rachael Eubanks, to diversify the state’s investments by including cryptocurrencies with an average market capitalization of over $250 million in the past calendar year.

Under current criteria, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) are the only cryptocurrencies that meet these selection standards. The proposal specifies that any investment in digital assets must be made through exchange-traded products (spot ETFs) issued by registered investment companies.

Anti-CBDC legislation

Republican Representative Bryan Posthumus is leading the bipartisan initiative behind the second bill, HB 4511, which establishes protections for cryptocurrency holders. The proposal prohibits Michigan from implementing crypto bans or imposing licensing requirements on digital asset holders.

Another key aspect of the legislation is a ban on state officials from supporting or promoting a potential federal central bank digital currency (CBDC). The definition includes the issuance of memorandums or official statements endorsing CBDC proposals related to testing, adoption, or implementation.

Mining and redevelopment of abandoned sites

The third bill, HB 4512, is a proposal led by Democratic Representative Mike McFall for a bipartisan group. This initiative would establish a Bitcoin mining program allowing operators to use abandoned oil and natural gas sites.

The program calls for the appointment of a supervisor tasked with assessing the site’s remaining productive potential, identifying the last operator, and determining the length of abandonment. Prospective participants would need to submit detailed legal documentation of their organizational structure, demonstrate operational expertise in mining, and provide profitability breakeven estimates for their ventures.

The fourth and final bill, HB 4513, also introduced by the bipartisan group led by McFall, focuses on the fiscal aspect of the HB 4512 initiative. The proposal would amend Michigan’s income tax laws to include proceeds generated from the proposed Bitcoin mining program.

The post Michigan: four bills on pension funds, CBDCs, and mining appeared first on Atlas21.

@ 2b998b04:86727e47

\> “Huge swathes of people…spend their entire working lives performing tasks they secretly believe do not really need to be performed.”\ \> — David Graeber, Bullshit Jobs

\> “We are in a system that must grow — forever — or it collapses. But technology, by its very nature, is deflationary.”\ \> — Jeff Booth, The Price of Tomorrow

We live in a strange paradox: Technological progress is supposed to make life easier, yet many people feel more overworked and less fulfilled than ever. While artificial intelligence and automation promise unprecedented productivity, it’s not yet clear whether that will mean fewer bullshit jobs — or simply new kinds of them.

What Is a Bullshit Job?

In his landmark book Bullshit Jobs, the late anthropologist David Graeber exposed a haunting truth: millions of jobs exist not because they are needed, but because of economic, political, or psychological inertia. These are roles that even the workers themselves suspect are meaningless — created to serve appearances, maintain hierarchies, or justify budgets.

Think:

• Middle managers approving other middle managers' reports

• Employees running meetings to prepare for other meetings

• Corporate roles invented to interface with poorly implemented AI tools

Bullshit work isn’t the absence of technology. It’s often the outcome of resisting what technology could actually do — in order to preserve jobs, status, or growth targets.

Booth’s Warning: The System is Rigged Against Deflation

In The Price of Tomorrow, entrepreneur Jeff Booth argues that the natural state of a tech-driven economy is deflation — things getting better, cheaper, and faster.

But our global financial system is built on perpetual inflation and debt expansion. Booth writes:

\> “We are using inflationary monetary policy to fight deflationary technological forces.”

Even as AI and automation could eliminate unnecessary jobs and increase abundance, our system requires jobs — or the illusion of them — to keep the economy expanding. So bullshit jobs persist, and even evolve.

AI as a Deflationary Force

AI is rapidly accelerating the deflation Booth described:

• Tasks that used to take hours now take seconds

• Whole creative and administrative processes are being streamlined

• Labor can scale digitally — one tool used globally at near-zero marginal cost

Embraced honestly, this could mean fewer hours, lower costs, and more prosperity. But again, we are not optimized for truth — we are optimized for GDP growth.

So we invent new layers of AI-enhanced bullshit:

• Prompt engineers writing prompts for other prompt engineers

• "Human-in-the-loop" validators reviewing AI output they don’t understand

• Consultants building dashboards that nobody reads

Toward a Post-Bullshit Future

Here’s the real opportunity: If we embrace deflation as a blessing — not a threat — and redesign our systems around truth, efficiency, and abundance, we could:

• Eliminate meaningless labor

• Reduce the cost of living dramatically

• Liberate people to create, heal, build, and rest

This means more than economic reform — it’s a philosophical shift. We must stop equating “employment” with value. That’s where Bitcoin and open-source tools point: toward a world where permissionless value creation is possible without the bloat of gatekeeping institutions.

Final Thought: Tech Won’t Save Us, But Truth Might

Technology, left to its own logic, tends toward freedom, efficiency, and abundance. But our current systems suppress that logic in favor of growth at all costs — even if it means assigning millions of people to do work that doesn’t need doing.

So will AI eliminate bullshit jobs?

It can. But only if we stop pretending we need them.

And for those of us who step outside the wage-work loop, something remarkable happens. We begin using these tools to create actual value — not to impress a boss, but to solve real problems and serve real people.

Recently, I built a tool using AI and automation that helps me cross-post content from Nostr to LinkedIn, Facebook, and X. It wasn’t for a paycheck. It was about leverage — freeing time, expanding reach, and creating a public record of ideas.\ You can check it out here:\ 👉 <https://tinyurl.com/ywxuowl5>

Will it help others? I don’t know yet.\ But it helped me — and that’s the point.

Real value creation doesn’t always begin with a business plan. Sometimes it starts with curiosity, conviction, and the courage to build without permission.

Maybe the future of work isn’t about scaling jobs at all.\ Maybe it’s about reclaiming time — and using these tools to build lives of meaning.

---

If this resonates — or if you’ve found your own way to reclaim time and create value outside the wage loop — zap me and share your story. Let’s build the post-bullshit economy together. ⚡

@ 9ca447d2:fbf5a36d

Singapore, May 14, 2025 — NEUTRON, the leading Lightning Network infrastructure provider in Asia, is announcing a new partnership with Cobo, a globally trusted digital asset custody platform.

Through this collaboration, Cobo will integrate Neutron’s Lightning Network API, enabling real-time, cost-effective Bitcoin transactions across its services.

Neutron’s mission is to make the Lightning Network the financial backbone for modern Bitcoin use, bridging traditional finance with Bitcoin’s borderless, decentralized economy.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Cobo, a trusted leader in custodial services, to further accelerate Bitcoin infrastructure across Asia,” said Albert Buu, CEO of Neutron. 

“At Neutron, we are committed to providing enterprise businesses with easy and efficient integration into the Lightning Network, enabling next-generation global real-time settlement solutions.

“This partnership will not only drive innovation but also empower businesses across Asia with the fast, secure, and cost-effective benefits of Bitcoin payments.”

Neutron: The Lightning Engine for Bitcoin Adoption

Neutron provides a comprehensive API suite that allows businesses to instantly access the power of the Lightning Network, Bitcoin’s second-layer protocol designed for high-speed, scalable, and low-fee payments.

The integration is part of Neutron’s broader vision to equip forward-thinking institutions with the tools needed to participate in the next generation of Bitcoin utility.

Lightning-Powered Custody for the Next Era of Finance

Cobo’s integration of Neutron’s API gives institutional clients an additional option for BTC settlement, making Lightning Network access more programmable and easier to integrate within their existing systems.

“At Cobo, we’ve built our custody platform to combine uncompromising security with the scalability institutions need to grow,” said Dr. Changhao Jiang, CTO and Co-Founder of Cobo.

“Integrating Neutron’s Lightning Network API allows us to offer real-time, low-cost Bitcoin settlement at scale without compromising on trust or performance. Together, we’re laying the groundwork for faster, more efficient Bitcoin infrastructure across Asia.”

About Neutron

Neutron is Asia’s leading Bitcoin infrastructure company, helping businesses and individuals unlock the power of the Lightning Network, specializing in Lightning-as-a-Service.

nThrough its scalable API platform, mobile app, and lending product, Neutron empowers businesses and individuals to send, receive, save, and build with Bitcoin.
Want to bring Lightning into your product or platform? Reach out to our team at sales@neutron.me or visit us at www.neutron.me

About Cobo

Cobo is a trusted leader in digital asset custody and wallet infrastructure, providing an all-in-one platform for organizations and developers to easily build, automate, and scale their digital asset businesses securely.

Founded in 2017 by blockchain pioneers and headquartered in Singapore, Cobo is trusted by more than 500 leading digital asset businesses globally, safeguarding billions of dollars in assets.

Today, Cobo offers the industry’s only unified wallet platform that integrates all four digital asset wallet technologies – Custodial Wallets, MPC Wallets, Smart Contract Wallets, and Exchange Wallets.

Committed to the highest security standards and regulatory compliance, Cobo has a zero-incident track record and holds ISO 27001, SOC2 (Type 1 and Type 2) certifications, as well as licenses in multiple jurisdictions.

Recognized for its industry-leading innovations, Cobo has received accolades from prestigious entities such as Hedgeweek and Global Custodian. For more information, please visit www.cobo.com

@ dfa02707:41ca50e3

News

• Bitcoin mining centralization in 2025. According to a blog post by b10c, Bitcoin mining was at its most decentralized in May 2017, with another favorable period from 2019 to 2022. However, starting in 2023, mining has become increasingly centralized, particularly due to the influence of large pools like Foundry and the use of proxy pooling by entities such as AntPool.

Source: b10c's blog.

• OpenSats announces the eleventh wave of Nostr grants. The five projects in this wave are the mobile live-streaming app Swae, the Nostr-over-ham-radio project HAMSTR, Vertex—a Web-of-Trust (WOT) service for Nostr developers, Nostr Double Ratchet for end-to-end encrypted messaging, and the Nostr Game Engine for building games and applications integrated with the Nostr ecosystem.
• New Spiral grantee: l0rinc. In February 2024, l0rinc transitioned to full-time work on Bitcoin Core. His efforts focus on performance benchmarking and optimizations, enhancing code quality, conducting code reviews, reducing block download times, optimizing memory usage, and refactoring code.
• Project Eleven offers 1 BTC to break Bitcoin's cryptography with a quantum computer. The quantum computing research organization has introduced the Q-Day Prize, a global challenge that offers 1 BTC to the first team capable of breaking an elliptic curve cryptographic (ECC) key using Shor’s algorithm on a quantum computer. The prize will be awarded to the first team to successfully accomplish this breakthrough by April 5, 2026.
• Unchained has launched the Bitcoin Legacy Project. The initiative seeks to advance the Bitcoin ecosystem through a bitcoin-native donor-advised fund platform (DAF), investments in community hubs, support for education and open-source development, and a commitment to long-term sustainability with transparent annual reporting.
  • In its first year, the program will provide support to Bitcoin hubs in Nashville, Austin, and Denver.
  • Support also includes $50,000 to the Bitcoin Policy Institute, a $150,000 commitment at the University of Austin, and up to $250,000 in research grants through the Bitcoin Scholars program.

"Unchained will match grants 1:1 made to partner organizations who support Bitcoin Core development when made through the Unchained-powered bitcoin DAF, up to 1 BTC," was stated in a blog post.

• Block launched open-source tools for Bitcoin treasury management. These include a dashboard for managing corporate bitcoin holdings and provides a real-time BTC-to-USD price quote API, released as part of the Block Open Source initiative. The company’s own instance of the bitcoin holdings dashboard is available here.

Source: block.xyz

• Bull Bitcoin expands to Mexico, enabling anyone in the country to receive pesos from anywhere in the world straight from a Bitcoin wallet. Additionally, users can now buy Bitcoin with a Mexican bank account.

"Bull Bitcoin strongly believes in Bitcoin’s economic potential in Mexico, not only for international remittances and tourism, but also for Mexican individuals and companies to reclaim their financial sovereignty and protect their wealth from inflation and the fragility of traditional financial markets," said Francis Pouliot, Founder and CEO of Bull Bitcoin.

• Corporate bitcoin holdings hit a record high in Q1 2025. According to Bitwise, public companies' adoption of Bitcoin has hit an all-time high. In Q1 2025, these firms collectively hold over 688,000 BTC, marking a 16.11% increase from the previous quarter. This amount represents 3.28% of Bitcoin's fixed 21 million supply.

Source: Bitwise.

• The Bitcoin Bond Company for institutions has launched with the aim of acquiring $1 trillion in Bitcoin over 21 years. It utilizes secure, transparent, and compliant bond-like products backed by Bitcoin.
• The U.S. Senate confirmed Paul Atkins as Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). At his confirmation hearing, Atkins emphasized the need for a clear framework for digital assets. He aims to collaborate with the CFTC and Congress to address jurisdiction and rulemaking gaps, aligning with the Trump administration's goal to position the U.S. as a leader in Bitcoin and blockchain finance.
• Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith has been released from custody. Griffith, whose sentence was reduced to 56 months, is now seeking a pardon. He was initially sentenced to 63 months for allegedly violating international sanctions laws by providing technical advice on using cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology to evade sanctions during a presentation titled 'Blockchains for Peace' in North Korea.
• No-KYC exchange eXch to close down under money laundering scrutiny. The privacy-focused cryptocurrency trading platform said it will cease operations on May 1. This decision follows allegations that the platform was used by North Korea's Lazarus Group for money laundering. eXch revealed it is the subject of an active "transatlantic operation" aimed at shutting down the platform and prosecuting its team for "money laundering and terrorism."
• Blockstream combats ESP32 FUD concerning Jade signers. The company stated that after reviewing the vulnerability disclosed in early March, Jade was found to be secure. Espressif Systems, the designer of the ESP32, has since clarified that the "undocumented commands" do not constitute a "backdoor."

• Bank of America is lobbying for regulations that favor banks over tech firms in stablecoin issuance. The bank's CEO Brian Moynihan is working with groups such as the American Bankers Association to advance the issuance of a fully reserved, 1:1 backed "Bank of America coin." If successful, this could limit stablecoin efforts by non-banks like Tether, Circle, and others, reports The Block.
• Tether to back OCEAN Pool with its hashrate. "As a company committed to financial freedom and open access, we see supporting decentralization in Bitcoin mining as essential to the network’s long-term integrity," said Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino.
• Bitdeer to expand its self-mining operations to navigate tariffs. The Singapore-based mining company is advancing plans to produce machines in the U.S. while reducing its mining hardware sales. This response is in light of increasing uncertainties related to U.S. trade policy, as reported by Bloomberg.
• Tether acquires $32M in Bitdeer shares. The firm has boosted its investment in Bitdeer during a wider market sell-off, with purchases in early to mid-April amounting to about $32 million, regulatory filings reveal.
• US Bitcoin miner manufacturer Auradine has raised $153 million in a Series C funding round as it expands into AI infrastructure. The round was led by StepStone Group and included participation from Maverick Silicon, Premji Invest, Samsung Catalyst Fund, Qualcomm Ventures, Mayfield, MARA Holdings, GSBackers, and other existing investors. The firm raised to over $300 million since its inception in 2022.
• Voltage has partnered with BitGo to [enable](https://www.voltage.cloud/blog/bitgo-and-voltage-team-up-to-deliver-instant-bitcoin-and-stabl

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

A fake Uber driver steals $73,000 in XRP and $50,000 in Bitcoin after drugging an American tourist.

A U.S. citizen vacationing in the United Kingdom fell victim to a scam that cost him $123,000 in cryptocurrencies stored on his smartphone. The man was drugged by an individual posing as an Uber driver.

According to My London, Jacob Irwin-Cline had spent the evening at a London nightclub, consuming several alcoholic drinks before requesting an Uber ride home. The victim admitted he hadn’t carefully verified the booking details on his device, mistakenly getting into a private taxi driven by someone who, at first glance, resembled the expected Uber driver but was using a completely different vehicle.

Once inside the car, the American tourist reported that the driver offered him a cigarette, allegedly laced with scopolamine — a rare and powerful sedative. Irwin-Cline described how the smoke made him extremely docile and fatigued, causing him to lose consciousness for around half an hour.

Upon waking, the driver ordered the victim to get out of the vehicle. As Irwin-Cline stepped out, the man suddenly accelerated, running him over and fleeing with his mobile phone, which contained the private keys and access to his cryptocurrencies. Screenshots provided to MyLondon show that $73,000 worth of XRP and $50,000 in bitcoin had been transferred to various wallets.

This incident adds to a growing trend of kidnappings, extortions, armed robberies, and ransom attempts targeting crypto executives, investors, and their families.

Just a few weeks ago, the daughter and grandson of Pierre Noizat, CEO of crypto exchange Paymium, were targeted in a kidnapping attempt in Paris. The incident took place in broad daylight when attackers tried to force the family into a parked vehicle. However, Noizat’s daughter managed to fight off the assailants.

The post American tourist drugged and robbed: $123,000 in crypto stolen in London appeared first on Atlas21.

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

Banking giants JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo are in talks to develop a unified stablecoin solution.

According to the Wall Street Journal on May 22, some of the largest financial institutions in the United States are exploring the possibility of joining forces to launch a stablecoin.

Subsidiaries of JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo have initiated preliminary discussions for a joint stablecoin issuance, according to sources close to the matter cited by the WSJ. Also at the negotiating table are Early Warning Services, the parent company of the digital payments network Zelle, and the payment network Clearing House.

The talks are reportedly still in the early stages, and any final decision could change depending on regulatory developments and market demand for stablecoins.

Stablecoin regulation

On May 20, the US Senate voted 66 to 32 to advance discussion of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act), a specific law to regulate stablecoins. The bill outlines a regulatory framework for stablecoin collateralization and mandates compliance with anti-money laundering rules.

David Sacks, White House crypto advisor, expressed optimism about the bill’s bipartisan approval. However, senior Democratic Party officials intend to amend the bill to include a clause preventing former President Donald Trump and other US officials from profiting from stablecoins.

Demand for stablecoins has increased, with total market capitalization rising to $245 billion from $205 billion at the beginning of the year, a 20% increase.

The post Major US banks consider launching a joint stablecoin appeared first on Atlas21.

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

A new Bitwise report reveals notable growth for institutional investments in bitcoin over the coming years.

According to the latest forecasts from asset management firm Bitwise, capital flows into Bitcoin could exceed $120 billion by the end of 2025, with projections reaching $300 billion the following year.

This growth is rooted in the rising interest from sovereign wealth funds, publicly traded companies, state treasuries, and institutional investment vehicles such as spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Analysts expect the number of companies holding bitcoin in their treasuries to double by the end of 2026.

Bitwise’s analysis highlights how Bitcoin is no longer seen solely as a speculative asset but is emerging as a serious contender for the role of global store of value.

The report notes that, according to its authors, global wealth is gradually moving away from traditional safe havens like gold and shifting toward Bitcoin.

Spot ETF boom

Spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States have outperformed all expectations throughout 2024. These financial instruments have attracted over $36.2 billion in net inflows, surpassing by twenty times the early performance of SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), historically the most successful commodity ETF.

Source: Bitwise

In just twelve months, U.S. spot ETFs have accumulated $125 billion in assets under management (AUM). Bitwise projections suggest that annual inflows could reach $100 billion by 2027.

However, approximately $35 billion in capital remained on the sidelines in 2024 due to regulatory restrictions at financial institutions such as Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.

States consider a bitcoin reserve

Bitwise’s analysis also highlights Bitcoin’s growing appeal beyond Wall Street. Publicly traded companies currently hold over 1.1 million BTC, worth more than $125 billion. Sovereign governments collectively own more than 500,000 BTC, with the United States, China, and the United Kingdom leading the rankings.

In its base scenario, Bitwise forecasts a modest reallocation of institutional and sovereign assets toward Bitcoin: 5% of government gold reserves and 0.5% of assets from major wealth management platforms. Even under these conservative assumptions, total bitcoin inflows could reach $420 billion over 2025-2026.

In a more optimistic scenario, with 10% of gold reserves and 1% of managed portfolios shifting to Bitcoin, inflows could exceed $920 billion, absorbing more than 9 million bitcoins — around 40% of the total supply.

The post Bitcoin attracts institutional investors: $300 billion expected by 2026, according to Bitwise appeared first on Atlas21.

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

A Chinese printer company inadvertently distributed malware that steals Bitcoin through its official drivers, resulting in the theft of over $950,000.

According to local media outlet Landian News, a Chinese printer manufacturer was found to have unknowingly distributed malware designed to steal Bitcoin through its official device drivers.

Procolored, a Shenzhen-based printer company, distributed malware capable of stealing Bitcoin alongside the official drivers for its devices. The company reportedly used USB devices to spread infected drivers and uploaded the compromised software to globally accessible cloud storage services.

Crypto security and compliance firm SlowMist explained how the malware works in a post on X:

The official driver provided by this printer carries a backdoor program. It will hijack the wallet address in the user's clipboard and replace it with the attacker's address: 1BQZKqdp2CV3QV5nUEsqSg1ygegLmqRygj

According to @MistTrack_io, the attacker has stolen 9.3086… https://t.co/DHCkEpHhuH pic.twitter.com/W1AnUpswLU

— MistTrack (@MistTrack_io) May 19, 2025

The consequences of the breach have been significant, with a total of 9.3 BTC stolen — equivalent to over $950,000.

The issue was first flagged by YouTuber Cameron Coward, whose antivirus software detected malware in the drivers during a test of a Procolored UV printer. The software identified both a worm and a trojan virus named Foxif.

When contacted, Procolored denied the accusations, dismissing the antivirus warning as a false positive. Coward then turned to Reddit, where he shared the issue with cybersecurity professionals, drawing the attention of security firm G Data.

G Data’s investigation revealed that most of Procolored’s drivers were hosted on the MEGA file-sharing platform, with uploads dating back to October 2023. Their analysis confirmed the presence of two separate malware strains: the Win32.Backdoor.XRedRAT.A backdoor and a crypto-stealer designed to replace clipboard wallet addresses with those controlled by the attacker.

G Data reached out to Procolored, which stated that it had removed the infected drivers from its storage as of May 8 and had re-scanned all files. The company attributed the malware to a supply chain compromise, saying the malicious files were introduced via infected USB devices before being uploaded online.

Landian News recommended that users who downloaded Procolored drivers in the past six months “immediately run a full system scan using antivirus software.” However, given that antivirus tools are not always reliable, the Chinese media outlet suggested that a full system reset is the safest option when in doubt.

The post Bitcoin malware discovered: Chinese printer manufacturer involved appeared first on Atlas21.

@ bf47c19e:c3d2573b

Originalni tekst na bitcoin-balkan.com.

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Pregled sadržaja

1. Šta je finansijski samo-suverenitet?
2. Zašto smo prestali da koristimo zlatni standard?
3. Šta fali tradicionalnoj valuti i centralnim bankama?
4. Kako mogu ljudi da mi ukradu novac ako je u banci?
5. Kako ljudi koriste moje finansijske podatke protiv mene?
6. Kako ljudi kontrolišu sa kim obavljam transakcije?
7. Kako da povratimo svoj finansijski samo-suverenitet?
8. Kako Bitcoin funkcioniše?
9. Pa onda, zašto Bitcoin?
10. Po čemu je Bitcoin bolji od sistema tradicionalnih valuta?
11. Kako Bitcoin štiti od Inflacije?
12. Kako Bitcoin štiti od Zaplene?
13. Kako Bitcoin štiti Privatnost?
14. Kako Bitcoin štiti od Cenzure?
15. Šta će vlada i banke učiniti sa Bitcoin-om?
16. Da li je vrednost Bitcoin-a nestabilna?
17. Da li je Bitcoin novac?
18. Bitcoin kao Zaliha Vrednosti
19. Bitcoin kao Sredstvo Razmene
20. Bitcoin kao Obračunska Jedinica
21. Bitcoin kao Sistem Kontrole
22. Šta je sa „Sledećim Bitcoin-om“?
23. Na kraju

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Kratki uvod u bezbednost, privatnost i slobodu vašeg novca.

Pre nego što saznate kako morate znati zašto.

Šta je finansijski samo-suverenitet?

Zamislite da u ruci imate zlatni novčić, jedan od najjednostavnijih i najčistijih oblika finansijskog samo-suvereniteta.

Da biste držali taj zlatni novčić, ne morate da se složite sa bilo kojim Uslovima korišćenja ili Politikom privatnosti, da se pridržavate bilo kojih KYC ili AML propisa, da pokažete ličnu kartu, da navedete svoje ime ili jedinstveni matični broj.

Samo ga držite u ruci i njime možete platiti bilo šta, davanjem tog novčića nekom drugom da ga drži u ruci. To je čista sloboda.

Pored slobode onoga što kupujete svojim novčićem, niko ne može magično znati kome plaćate ili koju robu/usluge kupujete tim zlatni novčićem, jer vaša privatnost nije ugrožena sa zlatom.

A pošto imate svoju privatnost, niko ne može znati za vaše transakcije, pa niko ne može da odluči da ograniči ili kontroliše za šta koristite taj zlatni novčić.

Hiljadama godina zlato je bilo globalni standard novca.

Svi su održavali svoj finansijski samo-suverenitet, a privatnost i sloboda svačijeg novca su poštovani.

Zaista je bilo tako jednostavno.

Zašto smo prestali da koristimo zlatni standard?

Trenutni globalni bankarski sistem i sistem tradicionalnih valuta, bankari su vrlo polako implementirali u proteklih 100+ godina.

Udružili su se sa svetskim vladama koje su svima oduzele zlato pod pretnjom nasilja.

Na primer, nakon što je Federalna banka rezervi osnovana u SAD-u 1913. godine, američka vlada je nasilno oduzela svo zlato 1933. godine, prisiljavajući sve da koriste nove centralne banke i sistem novčanica Federalnih rezervi.

„Dostavite svoje celokupno zlato u naše sefove u zamenu za bezvredni papir, ili ćemo upotrebiti silu nad vama.“

Banke su u početku zamenile zlatni standard papirnim priznanicama zvane zlatni sertifikati, ali nakon što je prošlo dovoljno vremena, banke su u osnovi jednostavno prestale da ih otkupljuju za zlato.

Zlatni sertifikati izdavani od banaka (novčanice ili „gotovina“) u tom trenutku bili su samo bezvredni papir, ali zbog vladine pretnje nasiljem, svi su bili primorani da nastave da koriste novčanice Federalnih rezervi.

Od skora, banke koriste digitalnu bazu podataka, u kojoj doslovno mogu stvoriti novac ni iz čega, čak i da ga ne moraju štampati na papiru.

Predsednik Federalnih rezervi priča kako oni „štampaju“ novac.

Oni su učvrstili svoju moć da manipulišu i naduvaju globalnu novčanu masu, nadgledaju finansijske transakcije svih i kontrolišu protok svih tradicionalnih valuta u svom bankarskom sistemu.

Banke sada kontrolišu sve.

Jednom kada su centralni bankari uspešno preuzeli kontrolu nad novčanom masom u svetu, zajedno sa sposobnošću svih da slobodno vrše transakcije i trguju, svet je kolektivno izgubio bezbednost, slobodu i privatnost svog novca.

Šta fali tradicionalnoj valuti i centralnim bankama?

Nakon impelentacije trenutnog globalnog bankarskog sistema i sistema tradicionalnih valuta, svetu nije preostao drugi izbor nego da veruje bankarima i političarima da vode globalni finansijski sistem na pošten način.

„Koren problema tradicionalne valute je potpuno poverenje potrebno za njeno funkcionisanje. Centralnoj banci se mora verovati da neće devalvirati valutu, ali istorija tradicionalnih valuta je puna kršenja tog poverenja. Bankama se mora verovati da čuvaju naš novac i prenose ga elektronskim putem, ali ga daju u talasima kreditnih balona sa malim delićem rezerve. ““ — Satoshi Nakamoto

Istorija zloupotrebe tradicionalnih valuta može se grupisati u 3 kategorije:

• Bezbednost. Loši ljudi kradu vaš novac ili vrednost vašeg novca, ponekad na očigledne načine, ponekad na podle načine.

• Privatnost. Loši ljudi nadgledaju sve vaše privatne finansijske transakcije, i koriste vaše lične finansijske podatke protiv vas.

• Sloboda. Loši ljudi kontrolišu na koji način možete da trošite sopstveni novac, sa kim možete da obavljate transakcije, koliko možete da potrošite itd.

Kako mogu ljudi da mi ukradu novac ako je u banci?

Evo nekoliko primera:

• Krađa inflacijom: Ovo je primarni način na koji banke kradu vaš novac i jedan od najpodlijih. Kada centralne banke izdaju novi novac, bilo štampanjem na bezvrednom papiru, ili samo dodavanjem knjigovodstvenog unosa u bazu podataka koju kontrolišu, one naduvaju globalnu novčanu masu. Inflacija krade kupovnu moć svih koji drže deo te valute, jednostavno zato što je sada više te valute u opticaju. Zlato se ne može stvoriti, pa su bankari umesto toga izmislili sistem papirnog novca.

• Krađa zaplenom: Ovo je jedan od načina na koji vlade mogu ukrasti vaš novac. Da li ste ikada čuli za zaplenu imovine? Ako policajac posumnja da je vaša imovina korišćena u krivičnom delu, može je zapleniti, a vi se morate boriti da biste povratili vašu ukradenu imovinu. Ili, drugi primer: Pokušajte da uđete u zemlju sa više od 10.000 USD u džepu, a ne da je prijavite, i pogledajte šta će se dogoditi. Sve je isto: krađa od strane drugih ljudi sa oružjem.

• Krađa putem oporezivanja: Ovo je još jedan način na koji vam vlade kradu novac. Ne sporim da li je oporezivanje etično ili ne, samo konstatujem činjenicu da vaša vlada može da primora vašu banku da im da vaš novac, a ovo je bezbednostna ranjivost. Da bi novac bio siguran, mora biti nezaplenjiv, a vlade mogu da zaplene vaše bankovne račune.

Kako ljudi koriste moje finansijske podatke protiv mene?

Ako fizičku tradicionalnu valutu predate drugoj osobi, u obliku papirnog novca ili kovanica, relativno je lako zaštititi privatnost svoje transakcije, baš kao što bi bilo da koristite zlatnike.

Međutim, ako koristite kreditne kartice, debitne kartice, bankovne transfere, PayPal, Venmo, LINE Pay, WeChat Pay ili bilo koju drugu mrežu za plaćanje koja je centralno kontrolisana, aktivno pristajete da se odreknete privatnosti podataka svih svojih privatnih finansijskih transakcija i sve ih dajete poverljivoj trećoj strani.

Kada su svi podaci i metapodaci vaših finansijskih transakcija prijavljeni u centralnu bazu podataka, onaj ko ima pristup toj bazi podataka može da koristi vaše podatke protiv vas.

Evo nekoliko osnovnih primera:

• Ako ste kupili robu rizičnog životnog stila poput cigareta, banka može reći vašoj osiguravajućoj kompaniji da poveća vaše osiguranje.
• Ako ste kupili nešto što je ilegalno, poput droga za rekreaciju, vaša banka može reći vašoj vladi da vas zakonski goni.

Ali u slučaju nekih represivnih vlada, oni su to odveli do ekstrema. Oni centralno prikupljaju sve finansijske transakcije i druge podatke svih svojih građana i stvorili su totalitarni Sistem Socijalnih Bodova (eng. Social Credit Score):

Prepoznavanje lica je jedan od elemenata kineskih napora za praćenje

Zapisi George Orwell-a već su postali stvarnost u Kini zbog sistema tradicionalnih valuta centralne banke i platnih mreža koje su izgrađene na njemu.

Ako mislite da se to neće dogoditi u vašoj zemlji, razmislite ponovo.

To se dešava vrlo polako, ali na kraju će sve svetske vlade primeniti Sistem Socijalnih Bodova, dok je Kina to tek prva učinila.

Kako ljudi kontrolišu sa kim obavljam transakcije?

U prvom primeru sa zlatnim novčićem, kada ga predate nekom drugom kao plaćanje za robu ili uslugu, ne postoji centralizovana evidencija vaše platne transakcije i imate savršenu privatnost.

Međutim, u centralnom bankarskom sistemu, budući da banka ima i znanje o podacima o vašim transakcijama i moć da kontroliše vaša sredstva, oni mogu proceniti niz pravila da bi odlučili da li žele da dozvole vašu transakciju ili da to odbiju, takođe kao i izvršenje te odluke kontrolišući vaša sredstva.

Tako su vlade naoružale tradicionalne valute i ​​centralni bankarski sistem kao Sistem Kontrole nad svojim građanima.

Da rezimiramo: Pošto ste se odrekli bezbednosti i privatnosti svog novca, izgubili ste i svoju finansijsku slobodu.

“Privatnost nije o tome da nešto treba sakriti. Privatnost je o tome da nešto treba zaštititi.” — Edward Snowden

Kako da povratimo svoj finansijski samo-suverenitet?

Pokret Cypherpunk pokrenuli su pojedinci koji su shvatili važnost zaštite privatnosti i slobode pojedinačnih korisnika na Internetu.

Cypherpunk-ovi su verovali da se gore opisani problemi mogu rešiti samo potpuno novim novčanim sistemom, koji poštuje i štiti bezbednost, privatnost i slobodu pojedinca.

Mnogi od Cypherpunk-era pokušali su da izgrade nove etičke sisteme e-gotovine koji bi mogli da zamene tradicionalne valute i centralno bankarstvo.

Bilo je mnogo teških računarskih problema koje je trebalo prevazići u stvaranju tako istinski decentralizovanog sistema, i ako su neki od njih bili blizu cilja, svi su propali.

Odnosno, sve dok jedan pseudonim Cypherpunk-a to konačno nije shvatio 2008. godine: kombinacijom digitalnih potpisa, distribuirane knjige i peer-to-peer mreže, rođen je Bitcoin.

Kako Bitcoin funkcioniše?

Baš kao što ne treba da znate kako Internet funkcioniše da bi gledali slike mačaka na Internetu, razumevanje tehničke složenosti načina na koji Bitcoin radi „ispod haube“ nije neophodno da biste ga koristili i postigli sopstveni finansijski samo-suverenitet.

Važna stvar koju želim da saznate iz ovog članka je da iako većina novih tehnologija u početku ima loše korisničko iskustvo, Bitcoin svesno i vrlo namerno ne žrtvuje svoje osnovne filozofske principe da bi brže pridobio nove korisnike, ili da bi poboljšao korisničko iskustvo.

Najpametniji Cypherpunk-ovi rade na poboljšanju korisničkog iskustva.

Tehnologija će se sa vremenom poboljšavati, baš kao i za Internet.

Pa onda, zašto Bitcoin?

Reći ću vam zašto:

Jer Bitcoin poštuje bezbednost, privatnost i slobodu pojedinca.

Po čemu je Bitcoin bolji od sistema tradicionalnih valuta?

Za početak, Bitcoin nema Uslove korišćenja, Politiku privatnosti i Propise o usklađenosti sa KYC/AML. (Know Your Costumer & Anti-money Laundering)

Bitcoin je uspešan primer implementacije kripto-anarhije, gde su jedina pravila kriptografija, matematika i jak skup konsenzusnih pravila.

To je distribuirani i nepoverljivi sistem zasnovan na finansijskim podsticajima i nijedna osoba ili centralizovani entitet ne može da kontroliše Bitcoin.

Ono što je najvažnije, Bitcoin vam omogućava da odustanete od tradicionalnih valuta, sistema delimičnih rezervi i centralnog bankarstva rešavanjem osnovnih problema poverenja:

• Sigurnost od inflacije korišćenjem fiksnog snabdevanja
• Sigurnost od zaplene korišćenjem ključeva za kontrolu sredstava
• Privatnost plaćanja korišćenjem pseudonimnih identiteta
• Sloboda protiv cenzure korišćenjem peer to peer mreže

Kako Bitcoin štiti od Inflacije?

Jedno od najkritičnijih pravila konsenzusa o Bitcoin-u je da može postojati najviše 21,000,000 Bitcoin-a.

Nakon izdavanja svih Bitcoin-a, nikada više ne može doći do stvaranja novih Bitcoin-a.

Stoga je Bitcoin deflaciona valuta, koja sprečava ljude da ukradu vaš novac ili njegovu vrednost naduvavanjem novčane mase.

Monetarna Inflacija Bitcoin-a

Kako Bitcoin štiti od Zaplene?

Bitcoin se može preneti samo pomoću kriptografskog privatnog ključa koji kontroliše sredstva.

Nijedan bitcoin nikada ne izadje van sistema.

Nijedna vlada, banka ili sudski nalog ne mogu zapleniti ta sredstva.

Jednostavno ne postoji način da se takva odredba ili naredba sprovede od bilo kog „organa vlasti“, jer Bitcoin ne priznaje nijedno „ovlašćenje“ u svom sistemu.

Bitcoin je potpuno samo-suveren sistem i zbog svoje distribuirane prirode ne može se ugasiti.

Postoji zbog sopstvenih zasluga, samo zato što ljudi veruju u to.

Kako Bitcoin štiti Privatnost?

Bitcoin ne traži vaše ime ili druge detalje koji mogu lično da vas identifikuju.

Vaš identitet je kriptografski, a ne vaše stvarno ime.

Dakle, vaš identitet izgleda otprilike kao 1vizSAISbuiKsbt9d8JV8itm5ackk2TorC, a ne kao „Stefan Petrovič“.

Pored toga, niko ne zna ko kontroliše sredstva na datoj Bitcoin adresi, a nova tehnologija se neprestano razvija kako bi se poboljšala privatnost Bitcoin-a.

Kako Bitcoin štiti od Cenzure?

Peer-to-peer Bitcoin mreža je u potpunosti distribuirana.

To znači da ako jedan čvor pokuša da cenzuriše vašu transakciju, neće uspeti ukoliko * svaki * čvor(Node) ne izvrši cenzuru vaše transakcije.

Šta će vlada i banke učiniti sa Bitcoin-om?

Neke zemlje su pokušale da ga regulišu, kontrolišu, isključe itd., ali nijedna od njih nije uspela.

Čini se da uglavnom samo žele da koriste postojeći sistem centralnih banaka da bi kontrolisali kako ljudi trguju tradicionalnim valutama za Bitcoin, i naravno žele da oporezuju Bitcoin na bilo koji mogući način.

Evo nekoliko uobičajenih tvrdnji vlada i banaka o Bitcoin-u:

Evropska centralna banka kaže da Bitcoin nije valuta i upozorava da je vrlo nestabilna.

„Bitcoin, izgleda samo kao prevara“, rekao je gospodin Tramp. „Ne sviđa mi se jer je to još jedna valuta koja se takmiči sa dolarom.“

Da li je vrednost Bitcoin-a nestabilna?

Ako umanjite grafikon cena, videćete da Bitcoin-u neprekidno raste vrednost od kada je stvoren, trgujući sa manje od 0,01 USD i polako se penje na preko 60.000 USD na nedavnom vrhuncu početkom 2021. godine.

Cena Bitcoina od 2011. godine

To je zato što je njegova ponuda fiksna i ljudi cene njegovu nestašicu.

Sa većom potražnjom i fiksnom ponudom, cene vremenom rastu.

Kako godine odmiču, njegova vrednost će se povećavati kako novi korisnici počinju da drže Bitcoin. (U svetu Bitcoina držanju kažemo HODL. Drži bitcoin. Hodl bitcoin.)

Da li je Bitcoin novac?

Da biste odgovorili na pitanje da li je Bitcoin novac ili ne, prvo morate definisati pojam „novac“.

Nažalost, reč „novac“ koristimo da bismo opisali nekoliko vrlo različitih komplikovanih koncepata, koji su svi potpuno odvojeni.

Termin „novac“ se zapravo odnosi na:

• Zaliha Vrednosti (Store of Value)
• Sredstvo Razmene ( Medium of Exchange)
• Obračunska Jedinica (Unit of Account)
• Sistem Kontrole (System Control)

Bitcoin kao Zaliha Vrednosti

Ovaj tweet to savršeno objašnjava:

Sinov prijatelj: “Matt, šta će se dogoditi ako novčić od 1 funte usitnite na pola?”

Dobijaš dva komada bezvrednog metala. Ako zlatnik usitnite na pola, dobićete dva zlatnika, od kojih svaki vredi polovinu onoga što je novčić bio.

Sin: „… isto tako kao sa zlatom jeste sa bitcoinima“.

Bitcoin je potpuno deljiv i deluje kao izvrsna zaliha vrednosti, baš kao što je i zlato već hiljadama godina.

Bitcoin kao Sredstvo Razmene

Bitcoin je dobro služio kao sredstvo razmene za svoje rane korisnike.

Ali skaliranje Bitcoin-a na globalni nivo koji bi mogao da posluži svim ljudima je veliki izazov, jer se osnovna „blockchain“ tehnologija ne skalira na globalni nivo.

Da bi rešio ovaj problem skaliranja, Satoshi je izumeo koncept kanala plaćanja, a u kombinaciji sa malo pomoći drugih briljantnih računarskih naučnika Cipherpunk-a koji su poboljšali koncept tokom poslednjih 10 godina, sada imamo mrežu Lightning, koja omogućava da se Bitcoin koristi kao odlično Sredstvo Razmene, koje se vremenom može proširiti na globalni nivo.

Bitcoin kao Obračunska Jedinica

Najmanja obračunska jedinica Bitcoin-a nazvana je po njenom tvorcu, Satoshi-u.

Jedan Bitcoin je jednak 100.000.000 Satoshi-a.

Na kraju, kako se robe i usluge sve češće razmenjuju za Bitcoin, sve više ljudi će koristiti Bitcoin ili „Sats“ kao obračunsku jedinicu.

Konvertor Bitcoin - Satoshi

Bitcoin kao Sistem Kontrole

Budući da je Bitcoin dizajniran da poštuje i štiti ljudska prava pojedinca, posebno bezbednost, privatnost i slobodu novca; ne bi bio dobar Sistem Kontrole i ne može se koristiti za ugnjetavanje ljudi, kao što se dešava sa tradicionalnim valutama i sistemima centralnog bankarstva koji to trenutno vrlo dobro rade.

Šta je sa „Sledećim Bitcoin-om“?

Kao što može biti samo jedan „globalni“ Internet, tako može biti i samo jedan globalni novac, a stigao je i novi Bitcoin Standard.

Sve ostalo je ili direktna prevara ili gubljenje vremena.

Ako bi neko želeo da vam proda „Sledeće Zlato“, da li biste ga kupili?

Na kraju

Nadam se da vam je ovaj članak pomogao da razumete zašto je Bitcoin stvoren i kako može da pomogne svetu da se oslobodi tradicionalnih valuta i sistema centralnog bankarstva koji je veoma duboko integrisan u naše trenutno društvo.

Evo nekoliko misli koje treba poneti sa sobom:

• Bitcoin nije izmišljen radi zarade, već je izmišljen da bi promenio svet.
• Bitcoin će to učiniti poštujući korisnikovu bezbednost, privatnost i slobodu.
• Bitcoin se već koristi kao novac, na nekoliko načina na koji se novac može koristiti.
• Bitcoin nije nestabilan, njegova vrednost vremenom polako raste (odzumirajte).
• Bitcoin ima mnogo kopija i prevaranata koji će pokušati da vam prodaju svoju kopiju Bitcoin-a. Ne zavaravajte se lažnim Bitcoin-om baš kao što vas ne bi prevarili ni Lažnim Zlatom.
• Bitcoin će postati najveći prenos bogatstva u našem životu, tako da ćete možda želeti da ih uzmete pre nego kasnije.
• Ostanite skromni i skupljajte satošije.

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

The company is facing a class action lawsuit following a stock price drop triggered by the delayed disclosure of a December data breach.

Coinbase finds itself at the center of a legal storm after being hit with a class action lawsuit filed by shareholders. The lawsuit stems from a decline in the company’s stock price, which occurred after the belated communication of a cybersecurity incident.

The class action, filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, names investor Brady Nessler as the lead plaintiff. The suit claims that the platform’s shareholders suffered “substantial losses and damages” due to the company’s alleged failure to disclose material information.

Investors accuse the company of not promptly revealing crucial details that could have influenced investment decisions. Among the main allegations is the failure to immediately communicate a data breach that took place last December.

Details of the breach

On May 15, Coinbase publicly disclosed the news of a cyberattack that occurred last December. The incident involved cybercriminals who managed to corrupt several company employees, gaining unauthorized access to customer personal data.

The delayed disclosure of the data breach triggered an immediate stock market reaction. Coinbase shares fell 7.2%, closing the day at $244.

The exchange estimated that the financial impact of the data breach could range between $180 million and $400 million. These costs would cover both expenses to restore security systems and potential reimbursements to customers affected by the incident.

The lawsuit highlights that the company should have communicated these estimated costs to investors more promptly, allowing them to make informed decisions about their investments.

Additional allegations in the lawsuit

In addition to the data breach, the lawsuit lists a series of other alleged communication failures by the company. Among them is the non-disclosure of a violation by CB Payments — Coinbase’s UK subsidiary — of a 2020 agreement with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority.

The class action covers all investors who acquired company shares between April 14, 2021, and May 14, 2025 — a period during which the allegedly omitted information is believed to have negatively affected the stock price.

The legal action doesn’t target the company alone but also names top executives including CEO Brian Armstrong and CFO Alesia Haas among the defendants.

The post Lawsuit against Coinbase: investors sue exchange for failing to disclose data breach appeared first on Atlas21.

@ 0e9491aa:ef2adadf

Influencers would have you believe there is an ongoing binance bank run but bitcoin wallet data says otherwise.

- binance wallets are near all time highs
- bitfinex wallets are also trending up
- gemini and coinbase are being hit with massive withdrawals though

You should not trust custodians, they can rug you without warning. It is incredibly important you learn how to hold bitcoin yourself, but also consider not blindly trusting influencers with a ref link to shill you.

---

If you found this post helpful support my work with bitcoin.

@ f1989a96:bcaaf2c1

Good morning, readers!

Today, we begin in China, where the central bank injected $138 billion into the economy and expanded the money supply by 12.5% year-over-year. As the regime eases monetary conditions to prop up a decelerating economy, Chinese citizens are rushing to preserve their savings, evidenced by Bitcoin/CNY trading activity jumping over 20% on the news. But while some escape to harder money, others remain trapped. In Hunan, an elderly Chinese woman died outside a bank after being forced to appear in person in order to withdraw her own money for medical care.\ \ In Central America, Salvadoran President Bukele revived a “foreign agents” bill that would impose a 30% tax on foreign-funded NGOs, threatening to financially crush organizations that hold those in power accountable and protect journalists and civil society. The proposal mirrors laws used in Russia, China, Belarus, and beyond to suppress dissent. And it arrives amid Bukele’s authoritarian drift and increasing threats to independent journalists.\ \ In open-source news, we highlight a new tool called ChapSmart, a Bitcoin-powered remittance service that allows users to send Bitcoin to citizens and families in Tanzania and have it disbursed in Tanzanian shillings (TZS) via M-PESA. This tool is increasingly helpful as the Tanzanian regime tightens control over foreign currency, mandating that all transactions be conducted in TZS. ChapSmart provides an accessible way for nonprofits and dissidents to access value from abroad using Bitcoin.\ \ We end with an Ask Me Anything (AMA) with Bitcoin educator Anita Posch on Stacker News, who shares her thoughts, experiences, and views from her time conducting Bitcoin education in authoritarian regimes in Africa. We also feature an article from Togolese human rights advocate Farida Nabourema, who critiques Nigeria’s new investment act for classifying Bitcoin as a security and for the regulatory hurdles this will impose on the grassroots adoption of freedom tech in the country.

Be sure to tune in next week at 2 p.m. Oslo time on Wednesday, May 28, as the Oslo Freedom Forum’s Freedom Tech track airs on Bitcoin Magazine’s livestream channels, headlined by speakers Ziya Sadr, Abubakr Nur Khalil, Amiti Uttarwar, Calle, Sarah Kreps, Ben Perrin, and many more.

Now, let’s read on!

SUBSCRIBE HERE

GLOBAL NEWS

El Salvador | Bukele Reintroduces Foreign Agents Bill

In El Salvador, President Nayib Bukele revived a controversial “foreign agents” bill that threatens to severely restrict the finances and operations of NGOs. While the bill is not finalized, Bukele shared on X that the proposal would impose a 30% tax on donations to NGOs receiving foreign funding. This punitive financial measure alone would severely restrict Salvadoran organizations that protect independent journalism, advocate for human rights, and hold the government accountable. In neighboring Nicaragua, a similar foreign agents law has enabled the closure of more than 3,500 NGOs. El Salvador’s foreign agents bill arrives alongside other alarming moves, including arrest warrants against El Faro journalists, the arrest of human rights lawyer Ruth López, and the detention of more than 200 Venezuelan migrants under dubious claims of gang affiliation.

China | Injects Billions to Stabilize Economy

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has injected $138 billion in liquidity through interest rate cuts and a 0.5% reduction in banks’ reserve requirements, in effect expanding the money supply by 12.5% year-over-year. While the state eases monetary conditions to prop up a fragile system, ordinary citizens are left scrambling to preserve the value of their savings. Bitcoin/CNY trading volumes jumped over 20% in response, as people sought refuge from a weakening yuan. But while some can quietly escape to harder money, others are trapped in a system that treats access to money as a privilege. In Hunan, an elderly woman in a wheelchair died outside a bank after being forced to appear in person to withdraw her own money for medical care. Too weak to pass mandatory facial recognition scans, she collapsed after repeated failed attempts.

World | Authoritarian Regimes Lead CBDC Push, Study Finds

A new international study from the Nottingham Business School, part of Nottingham Trent University in England, set out to understand what is driving countries to pursue central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Researchers found the answer lies mostly in political motives. Analyzing 68 countries, the report revealed that authoritarian governments are pushing CBDCs most aggressively, using their centralized power to hastily roll out CBDCs that can monitor transactions, restrict the movement of money, and suppress dissent. On the other hand, the report found democracies are moving more cautiously, weighing concerns over privacy, transparency, and public trust. The study also noted a correlation: countries with high levels of perceived corruption are more likely to explore CBDCs, often framing them as tools to fight illicit finance. These findings are consistent with HRF’s research, revealing nearly half the global population lives under an authoritarian regime experimenting with a CBDC.

Thailand | Plans to Issue New “Investment Token”

Thailand’s Ministry of Finance plans to issue 5 billion baht ($151 million) worth of “G-Tokens,” a new digital investment scheme that allows Thais to buy government bonds for as little as 100 baht ($3). Officials claim the project will democratize access to state-backed investments and offer higher returns than traditional bank deposits. But in a country rapidly advancing central bank digital currency (CBDC) infrastructure, this initiative raises apparent concerns. The move closely follows Thailand’s repeated digital cash handouts via a state-run wallet app, which restricts spending, tracks user behavior, and enforces expiration dates on money, all clear hallmarks of a CBDC. Luckily, the Thai government postponed the latest handout, but the infrastructure remains. Framing this project as inclusionary masks the reality: Thailand is building state-run digital systems that give the regime more power over citizens’ savings and spending.

Russia | Outlaws Amnesty International

Russia officially banned Amnesty International, designating it as an “undesirable organization” and criminalizing cooperation with the global human rights group. Russian officials claim Amnesty promotes “Russophobic projects” and undermines national security. This adds to the Kremlin’s assault on dissent, targeting human rights advocates, independent journalists, and civil society in the years since the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The designation exposes anyone financially, publicly, or privately supporting Amnesty’s work to prosecution and imprisonment up to five years. With more than 220 organizations now blacklisted, Russia is systematically cutting off avenues for international accountability and isolating Russians from external support.

BITCOIN AND FREEDOM TECH NEWS

ChapSmart | Permissionless Remittances in Tanzania

ChapSmart is a Bitcoin-powered remittance service that allows users to send money to individuals and families in Tanzania while having it disbursed in Tanzanian shillings (TZS) via M-PESA. With ChapSmart, no account is needed: just enter your name, email, and the recipient’s M-Pesa details. Choose how much USD to send, pay in bitcoin via the Lightning Network, and ChapSmart delivers Tanzanian shillings instantly to the recipient's M-Pesa account with zero fees. This tool is especially useful as Tanzania’s regime enacts restrictions on foreign currencies, banning most citizens from quoting prices or accepting payment in anything other than TZS. ChapSmart offers a practical and accessible way for families, nonprofits, and individuals to access value from abroad using Bitcoin, even as the state tries to shut out financial alternatives.

Bitkey | Multisignature for Families Protecting Wealth from State Seizure

Decades ago, Ivy Galindo’s family lost their savings overnight when the Brazilian government froze citizens’ bank accounts to “fight inflation.” That moment shaped her understanding of financial repression and why permissionless tools like Bitcoin are essential. When her parents later chose to start saving in Bitcoin, Ivy knew a wallet with a single private key wasn’t enough, as it can be lost, stolen, or handed over under pressure or coercion from corrupt law enforcement or state officials. Multisignature (multisig) wallets, which require approval from multiple private keys to move funds, offer stronger protection against this loss and coercion and eliminate any single points of failure in a Bitcoin self-custody setup. But multisig setups are often too technical for everyday families. Enter Bitkey. This multisig device offered Ivy’s family a simple, secure way to share custody of their Bitcoin in the face of financial repression. In places where wealth confiscation and frozen bank accounts are a lived reality, multisignature wallets can help families stay in full control of their savings.

Parasite Pool | New Zero-Fee, Lightning Native Bitcoin Mining Pool

Parasite Pool is a new open-source Bitcoin mining pool built for home miners who want to contribute to Bitcoin’s decentralization without relying on the large and centralized mining pools. It charges zero fees and offers Lightning-native payouts with a low 10-satoshi threshold, allowing individuals to earn directly and instantly. Notably, it has a “pleb eat first” reward structure, which allocates 1 BTC to the block finder and splits the remaining 2.125 BTC plus fees among all non-winning participants via Lightning. This favors small-scale miners, who can earn outsized rewards relative to their hashpower, inverting the corporate bias of legacy mining pools. This makes Parasite Pool especially attractive for small scale miners, such as those operating in authoritarian contexts who need to mine discreetly and independently. In turn, these very same miners contribute to the Bitcoin network’s resistance to censorship, regulatory capture, and corporate control, ensuring it remains a tool for freedom and peaceful resistance for those who need it most. Learn more about the mining pool here.

Cake Wallet | Implements Payjoin V2

Cake Wallet, a non-custodial, privacy-focused, and open-source mobile Bitcoin wallet, released version 4.28, bringing Payjoin V2 to its user base. Payjoin is a privacy technique that allows two users to contribute an input to a Bitcoin transaction, breaking the common chain analysis heuristic that assumes a sender owns all inputs. This makes it harder for dictators to trace payments or link the identities of activists or nonprofits. Unlike the original Payjoin, which required both the sender and recipient to be online and operate a Payjoin server, Payjoin v2 removes both barriers and introduces asynchronous transactions and serverless communication. This means users can now conduct private transactions without coordination or technical setup, making private Bitcoin transactions much more accessible and expanding the tools dissidents have to transact in the face of censorship, extortion, and surveillance. HRF is pleased to have sponsored the Payjoin V2 specification with a bounty and is happy to see this functionality now in the wild.

Mi Primer Bitcoin | Receives Grant from startsmall

Mi Primer Bitcoin, a nonprofit organization supporting independent Bitcoin education in Central America, announced that it received a $1 million grant from Jack Dorsey’s startsmall public fund. This support will accelerate Mi Primer Bitcoin’s impartial, community-led, Bitcoin-only education. The initiative has trained tens of thousands of students while supporting over 65 grassroots projects across 35+ countries through its Independent Bitcoin Educators Node Network, pushing financial freedom forward where needed most. The Mi Primer Bitcoin (MPB) team stresses the importance of remaining free from government or corporate influence to preserve the integrity of their mission. As founder John Dennehy puts it, “Education will be captured by whoever funds it… We need to create alternative models for the revolution of Bitcoin education to realize its full potential.” MPB has been adopted by many education initiatives working under authoritarian regimes.

Phoenix Wallet | Introduces Unlimited BOLT 12 Offers and Manual Backup Options

Phoenix Wallet, a mobile Bitcoin Lightning wallet, introduced support for unlimited BOLT 12 offers in its v2.6.0 update, allowing users to generate as many reusable Lightning invoices as they like. These offers, which function like static Bitcoin addresses, remain permanently valid and can now include a custom description and amount — ideal for nonprofits or dissidents who need to receive regular donations discreetly. The update also introduces manual export and import of the payments database on Android, enabling users to securely transfer their payment history to new devices. These updates strengthen Phoenix’s position as one of the most user-friendly and feature-complete non-custodial Lightning wallets. BOLT 12 — once a pipe dream — is now a usable activist tool on popularly accessible mobile wallets.

RECOMMENDED CONTENT

Bitcoin Is Not a Security: Why Nigeria’s New Investment and Security Act Misses the Mark by Farida Nabourema

In this article, Togolese human rights advocate Farida Nabourema critiques Nigeria’s 2025 Investment and Securities Act for classifying Bitcoin as a security. Nabourema argues this approach is flawed, economically damaging, disconnected from the realities of Bitcoin usage and innovation across Africa, and an attempt to constrict a human rights tool. She warns that this regulatory framework risks stifling builders and harming the very communities that Bitcoin is helping in a context of widespread currency devaluations, inflation, and exclusion. Read it here.

Ask Me Anything with Anita Posch on Stacker News

After spending five months traveling through countries like Kenya and Zimbabwe, Bitcoin for Fairness Founder Anita Posch joined Stacker News for an Ask Me Anything (AMA) to discuss her view on Bitcoin adoption across the continent. She highlighted major progress since 2020, noting that several grassroots initiatives she supported have become self-sufficient and are now running their own education programs. Despite persistent challenges, like wallet usability, high on-chain fees, and Bitcoin’s misunderstood reputation, she shared stories of real-life impact, including cross-border remittances using mobile airtime and widespread Lightning use via apps like Tando in Kenya. Read the full conversation here.

If this article was forwarded to you and you enjoyed reading it, please consider subscribing to the Financial Freedom Report here.

Support the newsletter by donating bitcoin to HRF’s Financial Freedom program via BTCPay.\ Want to contribute to the newsletter? Submit tips, stories, news, and ideas by emailing us at ffreport @ hrf.org

The Bitcoin Development Fund (BDF) is accepting grant proposals on an ongoing basis. The Bitcoin Development Fund is looking to support Bitcoin developers, community builders, and educators. Submit proposals here.

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@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

Jacopo Graziuso’s econometric study explains how the presence of Bitcoin is connected to the reduction of emissions and consumption in countries where it is mined.

The debate on Bitcoin’s environmental impact has been at the center of media attention for years, often characterized by approximate information and common misconceptions. But what emerges when data is analyzed? An answer comes from the study by Jacopo Graziuso, a recent graduate in Economics and Finance at the University of Salento, who dedicated his thesis to the topic, titled: “Bitcoin and energy: towards efficiency and environmental sustainability”.

“It bothers me when they tell me ‘Bitcoin pollutes, Bitcoin consumes’. This prompted me to write the thesis,” Graziuso tells Atlas21 microphones. “We live in an era of free and accessible information, yet disinformation reigns supreme, leading to beliefs without scientific foundation.”

Regarding his research work, Graziuso emphasizes: “I thank professor of econometrics Pierluigi Toma who knew what Bitcoin is and what mining is and gave me carte blanche for writing the thesis.”

The methodology used for the study is an econometric analysis based on data from 171 states from 2009 to 2024, with particular attention to the relationship between Bitcoin presence, greenhouse gas emissions (climate-altering gases) and energy consumption. To define Bitcoin’s “presence”, Graziuso created a variable that takes value 1 if at least 1% of the population uses (knows or has a wallet) the cryptocurrency or if it is present in state reserves.

The results of the research, conducted only with open source software, contradict the dominant narrative, Graziuso explains: “The analysis shows that Bitcoin’s presence in a state is associated with a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions. The study reveals that Bitcoin’s presence in a state reduces emissions by 39 megatons of CO2 equivalent. Essentially, where there is Bitcoin, climate-altering gas emissions decrease.”

Graziuso wants to emphasize the difference between consumption and pollution: “The problem is not consumption, it’s pollution. The distinction is fundamental: energy consumption is necessary for human development, while pollution derives from the use of inefficient energy sources. Currently China consumes over 4500% more than the entire Bitcoin network. Furthermore, thanks to mining flexibility, Bitcoin can help a state reduce general consumption.”

The research highlights how mining is acting as a catalyst for the adoption of renewable and nuclear energy. Mining naturally seeks the cheapest sources which increasingly coincide with the cleanest ones, the interviewee states.

One analyzed aspect is Bitcoin’s role as “buyer of last resort” for otherwise wasted energy. Graziuso cites several examples:

• Alps Blockchain, which has reactivated 32 disused hydroelectric plants in northern Italy and is working on building facilities in Paraguay and Ecuador exploiting hydroelectric energy;
• projects like Gridless that exploit excess energy from renewable sources in remote areas: “Not only does [Gridless] optimize the use of local energy resources, but it reinvests mining profits in communities, improving access to electricity and supporting the local economy,” writes Graziuso;
• in Texas, thanks to agreements with electricity grid operator ERCOT, miners exploit the operational flexibility of their machines to adapt consumption to grid needs, turning them off during peak moments and turning them back on when there is surplus energy, thus acting as buyers of last resort and contributing to stabilizing the electrical grid.

Another interesting aspect concerns the recovery of heat generated by machines: “Marathon Digital Holdings in Finland uses heat from its ASICs to heat 80,000 homes,” explains Graziuso. “Domestic applications are also being developed where ASIC heat is used for heating, further mitigating pollution.”

Immersion cooling, a technique that involves immersing mining machines in a dielectric fluid made in the laboratory, is cited as a promising solution to improve efficiency and reduce environmental impact. This way it is also possible to reduce machine noise, while the heat produced is dissipated by the dielectric material. Graziuso cites CleanSpark as an example of a completely carbon neutral mining farm that uses this technology: “This cooling technique allows us to safely overclock hardware, increasing performance by increasing operating frequency beyond factory settings,” states CleanSpark.

The thesis includes a section dedicated to zones that are emerging as sustainable mining hubs in different parts of the world:

• in Kenya and Ethiopia, “mining powered by hydroelectric energy is bringing drinking water and electricity to previously unserved communities,” declares Graziuso;
• in Georgia and Texas, Bitcoin mining is contributing to making the electrical grid more stable, intervening during peak demand moments and absorbing excess energy during overproduction periods;
• in Canada, companies like Upstream Data and Hut 8 Mining use mining to valorize excess or dispersed energy, including gas flaring in oil fields, thus reducing energy waste and emissions;
• the Makai project in Hawaii exploits OTEC (Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion) technology to convert ocean thermal energy into clean and renewable electricity.

Despite mining’s potential, obstacles to complete decarbonization still exist: “Decarbonization is still far away. Currently in many countries there are still state incentives from 40 years ago that favor fossil sources. Due to these incentives, today entrepreneurs’ costs are lower when fossil fuels are used. Once these state incentives end, perhaps the situation will improve. At the moment it is the miners who must voluntarily use renewable sources,” observes Graziuso. Italy, for example, continues to depend about 60% on fossil sources.

Another piece of data analyzed in the thesis is the improvement in energy efficiency of specialized mining machines: “In about 15 years, efficiency has improved by over 95%: this means decreased consumption and pollution,” emphasizes Graziuso.

“I hope this research contributes to spreading a more accurate and data-based narrative,” concludes Graziuso. “Bitcoin is not the problem, but could be part of the solution to the global energy challenge.”

The thesis will soon be published in its entirety online as a scientific paper.

The post Bitcoin reduces emissions and consumption: the thesis published at the University of Salento appeared first on Atlas21.

@ da8b7de1:c0164aee

Technológiai és fejlesztési hírek

• Észtország SMR-tervei:

Észtország hivatalosan elindította a nemzeti tervezési folyamatot és a környezeti hatásvizsgálatot egy 600 MW-os kis moduláris reaktor (SMR) atomerőmű létesítésére, GE Hitachi BWRX-300 technológiával. A projektet a Fermi Energia vezeti, a lakosság körében mérsékelt támogatottság mellett. Az építési engedélykérelem benyújtását 2029-re tervezik, a cél az ország energiabiztonságának és klímacéljainak erősítése.

• Olkiluoto-1 csökkentett teljesítménnyel üzemel:

Finnországban az Olkiluoto-2 egységben a generátor rotorjának cseréje miatt a termelés májusban újraindul, de a teljesítményt 735 MW-ra korlátozzák (a teljes kapacitás 890 MW). A csökkentett teljesítmény 2026-ig marad érvényben. Az Olkiluoto-1 egység normálisan működik, az Olkiluoto-3 pedig éves karbantartáson van.

Ipari és pénzügyi fejlemények

• Kanada–Argentína nehézvíz-együttműködés:

A kanadai Candu Energy (AtkinsRéalis) és az argentin Nemzeti Atomenergia Bizottság (CNEA) memorandumot írt alá a nehézvíz-termelés fellendítéséről. Ez magában foglalja az argentin PIAP nehézvízgyár újraindítását és potenciálisan új üzemek építését Kanadában. A fejlesztés támogatja a meglévő és tervezett CANDU reaktorok működését világszerte, és illeszkedik a COP28 utáni globális nukleáris bővüléshez.

• USA: nukleáris adókedvezményekért folyó lobbizás:

Az amerikai nukleáris ipar intenzív lobbitevékenységet folytat, hogy megőrizze a Biden-adminisztráció által bevezetett, az Inflációcsökkentő Törvény (IRA) szerinti nukleáris adókedvezményeket. Az új, republikánus többségű költségvetési törvényjavaslat jelentősen lerövidítené a tiszta energia (szél, nap, akkumulátor) támogatásokat, de a nukleáris ipar számára bizonyos kedvezmények megmaradnának, bár a 45U nukleáris adókedvezmény is három évvel korábban, 2031-ben lejárhat.

• Háztartási és ipari érdekek:

Az amerikai ház költségvetési törvényjavaslata megszüntetné a legtöbb tiszta energiához kapcsolódó adókedvezményt, kivéve néhány nukleáris projektet, és szigorítaná a kínai kapcsolatokkal rendelkező projektek támogatását. Ez várhatóan visszaveti a megújuló energiaipar beruházásait, miközben a nukleáris szektor relatív pozíciója javulhat.

Politikai és társadalmi fejlemények

• Tajvan: népszavazás a nukleáris energia sorsáról:

Tajvan parlamentje megszavazta, hogy népszavazást tartsanak a Maanshan atomerőmű újraindításáról, miután az ország utolsó működő reaktorát is leállították. A referendum nem azonnali újraindításról szól, hanem arról, hogy a lakosság döntsön a meghosszabbításról, ha a hatóságok biztonságosnak találják az üzemet.

• Pennsylvania kormányzója a nukleáris energia mellett:

Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania kormányzója, a „Lightning Plan” keretében hangsúlyozta, hogy az állam energiabiztonsága és gazdasági fejlődése érdekében kulcsszerepet szán a nukleáris energiának, valamint más megbízható energiaforrásoknak. A terv célja a munkahelyteremtés, a fogyasztói költségek csökkentése és az engedélyezési folyamatok gyorsítása.

• TMI névváltás:

Az amerikai Nukleáris Szabályozó Hatóság (NRC) jóváhagyta a Three Mile Island (TMI) atomerőmű nevének megváltoztatását Christopher M. Crane-re, az Exelon volt vezérigazgatójának emlékére. A létesítmény a jövőben a Microsoft AI műveleteit is ellátja majd árammal, és 2028-tól 835 MW szén-dioxid-mentes áramot termelhet.

Nemzetközi szakmai események

• NEA konferencia Londonban:

Az OECD NEA 2025. június 18–19-én Londonban rendezi meg az „Excellence in Nuclear Construction” nemzetközi konferenciát. A rendezvény célja, hogy a nukleáris ipar szereplői megosszák tapasztalataikat a nukleáris beruházások gyorsabb, kiszámíthatóbb és költséghatékonyabb megvalósítása érdekében, különös tekintettel a mérnöki, beszerzési és kivitelezési (EPC) kihívásokra.

---

Hivatkozások

• https://www.nucnet.org
• https://www.world-nuclear-news.org
• https://www.neimagazine.com
• https://www.oecd-nea.org
• https://www.iaea.org
• https://www.reuters.com/business/energy
• https://www.utilitydive.com
• https://www.atkinsrealis.com
• https://www.candu.com

@ c7e8fdda:b8f73146

🌍 Too Young. Too Idealistic. Too Alive. A message came in recently that stopped me cold.

It was from someone young—16 years old—but you’d never guess it from the depth of what they wrote. They spoke of having dreams so big they scare people. They’d had a spiritual awakening at 14, but instead of being nurtured, it was dismissed. Surrounded by people dulled by bitterness and fear, they were told to be realistic. To grow up. To face “reality.”

This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

And that reality, to them, looked like a life that doesn’t feel like living at all.

They wrote that their biggest fear wasn’t failure—it was settling. Dimming their fire. Growing into someone they never chose to be.

And that—more than anything—scared them.

They told me that my book, I Don’t Want to Grow Up, brought them to tears because it validated what they already knew to be true. That they’re not alone. That it’s okay to want something different. That it’s okay to feel everything.

It’s messages like this that remind me why I write.

As many of you know, I include my personal email address at the back of all my books. And I read—and respond to—every single message that comes in. Whether it’s a few sentences or a life story, I see them all. And again and again, I’m reminded: there are so many of us out here quietly carrying the same truth.

Maybe you’ve felt the same. Maybe you still do.

Maybe you’ve been told your dreams are too big, too unrealistic. Maybe people around you—people who love you—try to shrink them down to something more “manageable.” Maybe they call it protection. Maybe they call it love.

But it feels like fear.

The path you wish to walk might be lonelier at first. It might not make sense to the people around you. But if it lights you up—follow it.

Because when you do, you give silent permission to others to do the same. You become living proof that another kind of life is possible. And that’s how we build a better world.

So to the person who wrote to me—and to every soul who feels the same way:

Keep going. Keep dreaming. Keep burning. You are not too young. You are not too idealistic. You are just deeply, radically alive.

And that is not a problem. That is a gift.

—

 If this speaks to you, my book I Don’t Want to Grow Up was written for this very reason—to remind you that your wildness is sacred, your truth is valid, and you’re not alone. Paperback/Kindle/Audiobook available here: scottstillmanblog.com

This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. https://connect-test.layer3.press/articles/041a2dc8-5c42-4895-86ec-bc166ac0d315

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

Since 2019, the United States has been the country with the highest number of recorded cases, but Europe remains the most affected region.

According to a Binance report, the United States is the country that has recorded the greatest number of crypto-related kidnapping cases since 2019, despite a recent increase in incidents in France.

At the regional level, however, Europe remains the area with the highest number of crypto-related kidnappings: 59 cases over six years. During the same period, North America — which includes the United States and Canada — recorded 48 cases. Particularly notable is the data concerning the entire Asian continent, where 62 cases of crypto-related kidnappings have been documented, most of which are concentrated in Southeast Asian countries.

France emerges as a concerning hotspot for crypto kidnappings, with six recent cases, three of which have already occurred in 2025.

Source: Binance

The primary targets of these kidnappings include executives of crypto companies, professional traders, exchange employees, and entrepreneurs in the sector. Family members and close associates of victims are often targeted as well. An emerging phenomenon involves tourists suspected of possessing large amounts of cryptocurrency funds.

Kidnapping cases in 2025

The year 2025 has already seen particularly serious episodes of kidnappings linked to the digital asset world. The most notable case involved David Balland, co-founder of Ledger, and his wife, who were abducted from their residence in France earlier this January. The incident drew international attention from both the crypto industry and law enforcement agencies.

Another attempt took place in Paris, where armed men tried to kidnap the daughter and granddaughter of the CEO of the French exchange Paymium. Overseas, in New York, police arrested 37-year-old John Woeltz after discovering that an Italian tourist had been held captive and mistreated for weeks in a luxury Manhattan apartment.

Binance highlights a direct correlation between the price trend of Bitcoin and the increase in kidnappings. Since Bitcoin reached new all-time highs this year, attacks involving physical threats have also increased proportionally, the exchange suggests.

Source: Binance

In 2025 alone, at least 15 kidnapping episodes have already been documented, many involving ransom demands denominated in bitcoin.

The post Crypto kidnappings on the rise: the US leads global statistics appeared first on Atlas21.

@ 9ca447d2:fbf5a36d

Ed Suman, a 67-year-old retired artist who helped create large sculptures like Jeff Koons’ Balloon Dog, reportedly lost his entire life savings — over $2M in digital assets — in a sophisticated scam.

The incident is believed to be tied to the major data breach at Coinbase, one of the world’s largest digital asset exchanges.

Suman’s story is part of a bigger wave of attacks on digital asset holders using stolen personal info, and has triggered lawsuits, regulatory concerns and questions about digital security in the Bitcoin space.

In March 2025, Suman got a text message about suspicious activity on his Coinbase account. After Suman reported he was unaware of any unauthorized activity regarding his account, he got a call from a man who introduced himself as Brett Miller from Coinbase Security.

The guy sounded legit — he knew Suman’s setup, including that he used a Trezor Model One hardware wallet, a device meant to keep bitcoin and other digital assets offline and safe.

Suman told Bloomberg the guy knew everything, including the exact amount of digital assets he had.

The attacker persuaded Suman that his Trezor One hardware wallet and its funds were at risk and walked him through a “security procedure” that involved entering his seed phrase into a website that looked exactly like Coinbase, in order to “link his wallet to Coinbase”.

Nine days later, another guy called and repeated the process, saying the first one didn’t work.

And then, all of Suman’s digital assets — 17.5 bitcoin and 225 ether — were gone. At the time, bitcoin was around $103,000 and ether around $2,500, so the stolen stash was worth over $2 million.

Suman turned to digital assets after retiring from a decades-long art career. He stored his assets in cold storage to avoid the risks of online exchanges. He thought he did everything right.

Suman’s attackers didn’t pick his name out of a hat.

It looks like his personal info may have been leaked in the major breach at Coinbase. The company confirmed on May 15 that some of its customer service reps in India were bribed to access internal systems and steal customer data.

The stolen data included names, phone numbers, email addresses, balances and partial Social Security numbers.

According to Coinbase’s filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the breach may have started as early as January and affected nearly 1% of the company’s active monthly users — tens of thousands of people.

Hackers demanded $20M from Coinbase to keep the breach quiet but the company refused to pay. Coinbase says it fired the compromised agents and is setting aside $180M to $400M to reimburse affected users.

But so far, Suman hasn’t been told if he’ll be reimbursed.

Since the breach was disclosed, Coinbase has been hit with at least six lawsuits.

The lawsuits claim the company failed to protect user data and handled the aftermath poorly. One lawsuit filed in New York federal court on May 16 says Coinbase’s response was “inadequate, fragmented, and delayed.”

“Users were not promptly or fully informed of the compromise,” the complaint states, “and Coinbase did not immediately take meaningful steps to mitigate further harm.”

Some lawsuits are seeking damages, others are asking Coinbase to purge user data and improve its security. Coinbase has not commented on the lawsuits but pointed reporters to a blog post about its response.

Suman’s case is a cautionary tale across the Bitcoin world. He used a hardware wallet (considered the gold standard of Bitcoin security) and was still tricked through social engineering. Even the strongest security is useless if you don’t understand how Bitcoin works.

It’s never too early for Bitcoiners to start learning more about Bitcoin, especially on how to keep their stash safe. And the first lesson is “never ever share your seed phrase with anyone”.

Related: Bitcoin Hardware Wallet Hacks: What You Need to Know

@ 9ca447d2:fbf5a36d

Panama City may be the next Latin American city to adopt bitcoin, after El Salvador.

Panama City Mayor Mayer Mizrachi has got the bitcoin world excited after hinting that the city might have a bitcoin reserve. The speculation started on May 16 when Mizrachi posted a simple but powerful message on X:

Two words. That’s it. What makes it special is that it came after a high-profile meeting with Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert, two key figures behind El Salvador’s bitcoin strategy.

Keiser is an advisor to El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele and Herbert leads the country’s Bitcoin Office.

El Salvador became the first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender back in 2021. Since then, it has been building a national bitcoin reserve, currently holding 6,179 BTC worth around $640 million. It’s also using geothermal energy to power bitcoin mining in an eco-friendly way.

El Salvador’s bitcoin treasury — Bitcoin.gob.sv

Mizrachi’s meeting with Keiser and Herbert was about how Panama could do the same. While the details of the conversation are private, Keiser shared on social media that the two countries will play a big role in the future of Bitcoin.

“Bitcoin is transforming Central America,” Keiser wrote. “El Salvador’s geothermal & Panama’s hydro-electric will power the Bitcoin revolution.”

Max Keiser on X

Panama with its hydroelectric power could be a hub for green bitcoin mining.

Mizrachi has not announced a bitcoin reserve plan nor submitted a proposal to the National Assembly. But his post and public appearances suggest it’s being considered.

He will be speaking at the upcoming Bitcoin 2025 Conference in Las Vegas just days after his social media post. Many expect he will share more about Panama City’s bitcoin plans during his talk.

If Mizrachi pushes for a bitcoin reserve, he will need to work with national lawmakers to pass new legislation. So far, there is no evidence of that.

Even without a bitcoin reserve, Panama City is already going big on digital assets.

In April 2025, the city council approved a measure to allow residents to pay taxes, fees, fines and permits with digital currencies. Supported tokens are bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), USD Coin (USDC) and Tether (USDT).

To comply with financial laws, the city has partnered with a bank that instantly converts these digital assets into U.S. dollars. According to Mizrachi, this way it’s easier for residents to use digital assets and the city’s financial operations will be transparent and legal.

Another part of the meeting with El Salvador’s advisors was education.

Stacy Herbert confirmed that Panama City will be integrating El Salvador’s financial literacy book, “What is Money?” into their digital library system. The goal is to help students, teachers and the general public understand bitcoin and digital currencies in modern finance.

This is a trend in Latin America where countries are looking for alternatives to traditional banking systems. Inflation, economic instability and the rise of decentralized finance are forcing governments to look into new financial tools.

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

The open-source project makes it possible to send bitcoin even in censored or disconnected areas through a radio mesh network.

In an interview with Decrypt, the developer known by the pseudonym “cyber” revealed the details of Darkwire, an open-source project that could enable new use cases for Bitcoin transactions without internet access.

The project, presented at the Bitcoin 2025 Official Hackathon, leverages Long Range Radio (LoRa) technology to create a decentralized mesh network that allows Bitcoin transactions to be sent even in the total absence of traditional connectivity.

Darkwire was specifically designed for situations where conventional communication infrastructure is inaccessible or controlled. According to cyber, the system is ideal for politically sensitive regions like the Rafah Crossing or the Indo-Tibetan border, where internet access can be limited or heavily monitored.

“Darkwire is for individuals seeking privacy or wishing to bypass surveillance of their communications and transactions. Imagine it to be akin to Tor but for this specific use case,” the creator explained.

LoRa technology

Darkwire operates through a combination of technologies. The system uses long-range LoRa radios along with microcontrollers such as the Arduino UNO to form a decentralized mesh network.

When a user wants to send a Bitcoin transaction without internet access, they specify the recipient’s address and the amount via a local graphical interface managed by bitcoinlib. The system then generates a signed Bitcoin transaction in hexadecimal format, which is split into smaller packets and transmitted via radio.

Mesh Network

Darkwire’s mesh network allows the data to “hop” from node to node until it reaches an internet-connected exit point. In ideal conditions, each Darkwire node has a range of up to 10 kilometers with a direct line of sight, reduced to 3-5 kilometers in densely populated areas.

“At least one node in the network needs to be connected to the internet, so that the transaction can be pushed to the blockchain for miners to verify it,” cyber said.

Once the transaction data reaches a node with internet access, it acts as an exit point, broadcasting the verified Bitcoin transaction to the global network, where it can be included in a block.

Limitations and future developments

Currently, Darkwire faces several technical limitations that the team is actively working to address. The relatively low bandwidth of LoRa radios and their sensitivity to terrain obstacles represent challenges. Moreover, the system’s dependence on internet-connected exit nodes could create potential points of failure.

According to reports, the project is still in its hackathon phase, but cyber has plans to further develop it, turning it into a full open-source platform and making it “the industry standard” for LoRa-based communications.

“I do hope people living in any kind of authoritarian regimes and states do get to use darkwire and put the truth out there,” the developer added.

The post Bitcoin without internet thanks to LoRa technology: the Darkwire project appeared first on Atlas21.

@ b1ddb4d7:471244e7

In the heart of East Africa, where M-Pesa reigns supreme and innovation pulses through bustling markets, a quiet revolution is brewing—one that could redefine how millions interact with money.

Enter Bitika, the Kenyan startup turning bitcoin’s complexity into a three-step dance, merging the lightning speed of sats with the trusted rhythm of mobile money.

At the helm is a founder whose “aha” moment came not in a boardroom, but at his kitchen table, watching his father grapple with the gap between understanding bitcoin and actually using it.

Bitika was born from that friction—a bridge between M-Pesa’s ubiquity and bitcoin’s borderless promise, wrapped in a name as playful as the Swahili slang that inspired it.

But this isn’t just a story about simplifying transactions. It’s about liquidity battles, regulatory tightropes, and a vision to turn Bitika into the invisible rails powering Africa’s Bitcoin future.

Building on Bitcoin

• Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into bitcoin/fintech, and what keeps you passionate about this space?

I first came across bitcoin in 2020, but like many at that time, I didn’t fully grasp what it really was. It sounded too complicated, probably with the heavy terminologies. Over time, I kept digging deeper and became more curious.

I started digging into finance and how money works and realised this was what I needed to understand bitcoin’s objectives. I realized that bitcoin wasn’t just a new type of money—it was a breakthrough in how we think about freedom, ownership, and global finance.

What keeps me passionate is how bitcoin can empower people—especially in Africa—to take control of their wealth, without relying on unstable systems or middlemen.

• What pivotal moment or experience inspired you to create Bitika? Was there a specific gap in Kenya’s financial ecosystem that sparked the idea?

Yes, this idea was actually born right in my own home. I’ve always been an advocate for bitcoin, sharing it with friends, family, and even strangers. My dad and I had countless conversations about it. Eventually, he understood the concept. But when he asked, “How do I even buy bitcoin?” or “Can you just buy it for me?” and after taking him through binance—that hit me.

If someone I’d educated still found the buying process difficult, how many others were feeling the same way? That was the lightbulb moment. I saw a clear gap: the process of buying bitcoin was too technical for the average Kenyan. That’s the problem Bitika set out to solve.

• How did you identify the synergy between bitcoin and M-Pesa as a solution for accessibility?

M-Pesa is at the center of daily life in Kenya. Everyone uses it—from buying groceries to paying rent. Instead of forcing people to learn new tools, I decided to meet them where they already are. That synergy between M-Pesa and bitcoin felt natural. It’s about bridging what people already trust with something powerful and new.

• Share the story behind the name “Bitika” – does it hold a cultural or symbolic meaning?

Funny enough, Bitika isn’t a deeply planned name. It came while I was thinking about bitcoin and the type of transformation it brings to individuals. In Swahili, we often add “-ka” to words for flair—like “bambika” from “bamba.”

So, I just coined Bitika as a playful and catchy way to reflect something bitcoin-related, but also uniquely local. I stuck with it because thinking of an ideal brand name is the toughest challenge for me.

• Walk us through the user journey – how does buying bitcoin via M-Pesa in “3 simple steps” work under the hood?

It’s beautifully simple.

1. The user enters the amount they want to spend in KES—starting from as little as 50 KES (about $0.30).

2. They input their Lightning wallet address.

3. They enter their M-Pesa number, which triggers an STK push (payment prompt) on their phone. Once confirmed—pap!—they receive bitcoin almost instantly.

Under the hood, we fetch the live BTC price, validate wallet addresses, check available liquidity, process the mobile payment, and send sats via the Lightning Network—all streamlined into a smooth experience for the user.

• Who’s Bitika’s primary audience? Are you focusing on unbanked populations, tech enthusiasts, or both?

Both. Bitika is designed for everyday people—especially the unbanked and underbanked who are excluded from traditional finance. But we also attract bitcoiners who just want a faster, easier way to buy sats. What unites them is the desire for a seamless and low-barrier bitcoin experience.

Community and Overcoming Challenges

• What challenges has Bitika faced navigating Kenya’s bitcoin regulations, and how do you build trust with regulators?

Regulation is still evolving here. Parliament has drafted bills, but none have been passed into law yet. We’re currently in a revision phase where policymakers are trying to strike a balance between encouraging innovation and protecting the public.

We focus on transparency and open dialogue—we believe that building trust with regulators starts with showing how bitcoin can serve the public good.

• What was the toughest obstacle in building Bitika, and how did you overcome it?

Liquidity. Since we don’t have deep capital reserves, we often run into situations where we have to pause operations often to manually restock our bitcoin supply. It’s frustrating—for us and for users. We’re working on automating this process and securing funding to maintain consistent liquidity so users can access bitcoin at any time, without disruption.

This remains our most critical issue—and the primary reason we’re seeking support.

• Are you eyeing new African markets? What’s next for Bitika’s product?

Absolutely. The long-term vision is to expand Bitika into other African countries facing similar financial challenges. But first, we want to turn Bitika into a developer-first tool—infrastructure that others can build on. Imagine local apps, savings products, or financial tools built using Bitika’s simple bitcoin rails. That’s where we’re heading. 

• What would you tell other African entrepreneurs aiming to disrupt traditional finance?

Disrupting finance sounds exciting—but the reality is messy. People fear what they don’t understand. That’s why simplicity is everything. Build tools that hide the complexity, and focus on making the user’s life easier. Most importantly, stay rooted in local context—solve problems people actually face.

What’s Next?

• What’s your message to Kenyans hesitant to try bitcoin, and to enthusiasts watching Bitika?

To my fellow Kenyans: bitcoin isn’t just an investment—it’s a sovereign tool. It’s money you truly own. Start small, learn, and ask questions.

To the bitcoin community: Bitika is proof that bitcoin is working in Africa. Let’s keep pushing. Let’s build tools that matter.

• How can the bitcoin community, both locally and globally, support Bitika’s mission?

We’re currently fundraising on Geyser. Support—whether it’s financial, technical, or simply sharing our story—goes a long way. Every sat you contribute helps us stay live, grow our liquidity, and continue building a tool that brings bitcoin closer to the everyday person in Africa.

Support here: https://geyser.fund/project/bitika

@ b1ddb4d7:471244e7

The upcoming Bitcoin 2025 conference, scheduled from May 27–29 at the Venetian Conference Center in Las Vegas, is set to make history with an official attempt to break the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS® title for the most Bitcoin point-of-sale transactions in an eight-hour period.

Organized by BTC Inc, the event will showcase Bitcoin’s evolution from a digital capital asset to a practical medium of exchange, leveraging the latest advancements in payment technology.

Tap-to-Pay with Lightning-Ready Bolt Cards

To facilitate this record-setting attempt, 4,000 Lightning-ready Bolt Cards will be distributed to conference attendees.

pic.twitter.com/Iy7P361u6u

— Uncle Rockstar Developer (@r0ckstardev) May 15, 2025

These NFC-enabled cards allow users to make instant, contactless Bitcoin payments at vendor booths throughout the expo-no apps or QR codes required, just a simple tap. 

The cards are available in four collectible designs, each featuring a prominent figure in Bitcoin’s history: Senator Cynthia Lummis, Michael Saylor, Satoshi Nakamoto, and Jack Dorsey. 

Each attendee will receive a randomly assigned card, making them both functional and collectible souvenirs.

Senator Lummis: A Playful Provocation

Notably, one of the card designs features Senator Cynthia Lummis with laser eyes-a playful nod to her reputation as a leading Bitcoin advocate in US politics. 

While Lummis is known for her legislative efforts to promote Bitcoin integration, she has publicly stated she prefers to “spend dollars and save Bitcoin,” viewing BTC as a long-term store of value rather than a daily currency. 

The choice to feature her on the Bolt Card, could be suggested by Rockstar Dev of the BTC Pay Server Foundation, perhaps a lighthearted way to highlight the ongoing debate about Bitcoin’s role in everyday payments.

Nothing cracks me up quite like a senator that wants the US to buy millions of Bitcoin use dollars to buy a beer at a Bitcoin bar.

This is how unserious some of you are. pic.twitter.com/jftIEggmip

— Magoo PhD (@HodlMagoo) April 4, 2025

How Bolt Cards and the Lightning Network Work

Bolt Cards are physical cards equipped with NFC (Near Field Communication) technology, similar to contactless credit or debit cards. When linked to a compatible Lightning wallet, they enable users to make Bitcoin payments over the Lightning Network by simply tapping the card at a point-of-sale terminal. 

The Lightning Network is a second-layer protocol built on top of Bitcoin, designed to facilitate instant, low-cost transactions ideal for everyday purchases. 

This integration aims to make Bitcoin as easy to use as traditional payment methods, eliminating the need for QR code scanning or mobile apps.

A Showcase for Bitcoin’s Real-World Usability

With over 30,000 attendees, 300 exhibitors, and 500 speakers expected, the Bitcoin 2025 conference is poised to be the largest Bitcoin event of the year-and potentially the most transactional. 

The event will feature on-site activations such as the Official Bitcoin Magazine Store, where all merchandise will be available at a 21% discount for those paying with Bitcoin via the Lightning Network-a nod to Bitcoin’s 21 million coin supply limit.

By deeply integrating Lightning payments into the conference experience, organizers hope to demonstrate Bitcoin’s readiness for mainstream commerce and set a new benchmark for its practical use as a currency.

Conclusion

The Guinness World Record attempt at Bitcoin 2025 is more than a publicity stunt-it’s a bold demonstration of Bitcoin’s technological maturity and its potential to function as a modern, everyday payment method.

Whether or not the record is set, the event will serve as a milestone in the ongoing journey to make Bitcoin a truly global, user-friendly currency

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

A Chinese printer company inadvertently distributed malware that steals Bitcoin through its official drivers, resulting in the theft of over $950,000.

According to local media outlet Landian News, a Chinese printer manufacturer was found to have unknowingly distributed malware designed to steal Bitcoin through its official device drivers.

Procolored, a Shenzhen-based printer company, distributed malware capable of stealing Bitcoin alongside the official drivers for its devices. The company reportedly used USB devices to spread infected drivers and uploaded the compromised software to globally accessible cloud storage services.

Crypto security and compliance firm SlowMist explained how the malware works in a post on X:

The official driver provided by this printer carries a backdoor program. It will hijack the wallet address in the user's clipboard and replace it with the attacker's address: 1BQZKqdp2CV3QV5nUEsqSg1ygegLmqRygj

According to @MistTrack_io, the attacker has stolen 9.3086… https://t.co/DHCkEpHhuH pic.twitter.com/W1AnUpswLU

— MistTrack (@MistTrack_io) May 19, 2025

The consequences of the breach have been significant, with a total of 9.3 BTC stolen — equivalent to over $950,000.

The issue was first flagged by YouTuber Cameron Coward, whose antivirus software detected malware in the drivers during a test of a Procolored UV printer. The software identified both a worm and a trojan virus named Foxif.

When contacted, Procolored denied the accusations, dismissing the antivirus warning as a false positive. Coward then turned to Reddit, where he shared the issue with cybersecurity professionals, drawing the attention of security firm G Data.

G Data’s investigation revealed that most of Procolored’s drivers were hosted on the MEGA file-sharing platform, with uploads dating back to October 2023. Their analysis confirmed the presence of two separate malware strains: the Win32.Backdoor.XRedRAT.A backdoor and a crypto-stealer designed to replace clipboard wallet addresses with those controlled by the attacker.

G Data reached out to Procolored, which stated that it had removed the infected drivers from its storage as of May 8 and had re-scanned all files. The company attributed the malware to a supply chain compromise, saying the malicious files were introduced via infected USB devices before being uploaded online.

Landian News recommended that users who downloaded Procolored drivers in the past six months “immediately run a full system scan using antivirus software.” However, given that antivirus tools are not always reliable, the Chinese media outlet suggested that a full system reset is the safest option when in doubt.

The post Bitcoin malware discovered: Chinese printer manufacturer involved appeared first on Atlas21.

@ 68d6e729:e5f442ac

The Adapter Pattern in TypeScript

What is the Adapter Pattern?

The Adapter Pattern is a structural design pattern that allows objects with incompatible interfaces to work together. It acts as a bridge between two interfaces, enabling integration without modifying existing code.

In simple terms: it adapts one interface to another.

Real-World Analogy

Imagine you have a U.S. laptop charger and you travel to Europe. The charger plug won't fit into the European socket. You need a plug adapter to convert the U.S. plug into a European-compatible one. The charger stays the same, but the adapter allows it to work in a new context.

When to Use the Adapter Pattern

• You want to use an existing class but its interface doesn't match your needs.
• You want to create a reusable class that cooperates with classes of incompatible interfaces.
• You need to integrate third-party APIs or legacy systems with your application.

Implementing the Adapter Pattern in TypeScript

Let’s go through a practical example.

Scenario

Suppose you’re developing a payment system. You already have a PaymentProcessor interface that your application uses. Now, you want to integrate a third-party payment gateway with a different method signature.

Step 1: Define the Target Interface

javascript ts CopyEdit// The interface your application expects interface PaymentProcessor { pay(amount: number): void; }

Step 2: Create an Adaptee (incompatible class)

javascript ts CopyEdit// A third-party library with a different method class ThirdPartyPaymentGateway { makePayment(amountInCents: number): void { console.log(`Payment of $${amountInCents / 100} processed via third-party gateway.`); } }

Step 3: Implement the Adapter

```javascript ts CopyEdit// Adapter makes the third-party class compatible with PaymentProcessor class PaymentAdapter implements PaymentProcessor { private gateway: ThirdPartyPaymentGateway;

constructor(gateway: ThirdPartyPaymentGateway) { this.gateway = gateway; }

pay(amount: number): void { const amountInCents = amount * 100; this.gateway.makePayment(amountInCents); } } ```

Step 4: Use the Adapter in Client Code

```javascript ts CopyEditconst thirdPartyGateway = new ThirdPartyPaymentGateway(); const adapter: PaymentProcessor = new PaymentAdapter(thirdPartyGateway);

// Application uses a standard interface adapter.pay(25); // Output: Payment of $25 processed via third-party gateway. ```

Advantages of the Adapter Pattern

• Decouples code from third-party implementations.
• Promotes code reuse by adapting existing components.
• Improves maintainability when dealing with legacy systems or libraries.

Class Adapter vs Object Adapter

In languages like TypeScript, which do not support multiple inheritance, the object adapter approach (shown above) is preferred. However, in classical OOP languages like C++, you may also see class adapters, which rely on inheritance.

Conclusion

The Adapter Pattern is a powerful tool in your design pattern arsenal, especially when dealing with incompatible interfaces. In TypeScript, it helps integrate third-party APIs and legacy systems seamlessly, keeping your code clean and extensible.

By learning and applying the Adapter Pattern, you can make your applications more robust and flexible—ready to adapt to ever-changing requirements. https://fox.layer3.press/articles/cdd71195-62a4-420b-9e24-e23d78b27452

@ b1ddb4d7:471244e7

Flash, an all-in-one Bitcoin payment platform, has announced the launch of Flash 2.0, the most intuitive and powerful Bitcoin payment solution to date.

With a completely redesigned interface, expanded e-commerce integrations, and a frictionless onboarding process, Flash 2.0 makes accepting Bitcoin easier than ever for businesses worldwide.

We did the unthinkable!

Website monetization used to be super complicated.

"Buy me a coffee" — But only if we both have a bank account.

WHAT IF WE DON'T?

Thanks to @paywflash and bitcoin, it's just 5 CLICKS – and no banks!

Start accepting donations on your website… pic.twitter.com/uwZUrvmEZ1

— Flash • The Bitcoin Payment Gateway (@paywflash) May 13, 2025

Accept Bitcoin in Three Minutes

Setting up Bitcoin payments has long been a challenge for merchants, requiring technical expertise, third-party processors, and lengthy verification procedures. Flash 2.0 eliminates these barriers, allowing any business to start accepting Bitcoin in just three minutes, with no technical set-up and full control over their funds.

The Bitcoin Payment Revolution

The world is witnessing a seismic shift in finance. Governments are backing Bitcoin funds, major companies are adding Bitcoin to their balance sheets, and political figures are embracing it as the future of money. Just as Stripe revolutionized internet payments, Flash is now doing the same for Bitcoin. Businesses that adapt today will gain a competitive edge in a rapidly evolving financial landscape.

With Bitcoin adoption accelerating, consumers are looking for places to spend it. Flash 2.0 ensures businesses of all sizes can seamlessly accept Bitcoin and position themselves at the forefront of this financial revolution.

All-in-One Monetization Platform

More than just a payment gateway, Flash 2.0 is a complete Bitcoin monetization suite, providing multiple ways for businesses to integrate Bitcoin into their operations. Merchants can accept payments online and in-store, content creators can monetize with donations and paywalls, and freelancers can send instant invoices via payment links.

For example, a jewelry designer selling products on WooCommerce can now integrate Flash for online payments, use Flash’s Point-of-Sale system at trade shows, enable Bitcoin donations for her digital artwork, and lock premium content behind Flash Paywalls. The possibilities are endless.

E-Commerce for Everyone

With built-in integrations for Shopify, WooCommerce, and soon Wix and OpenCart, Flash 2.0 enables Bitcoin payments on 95% of e-commerce stores worldwide. Businesses can now add Bitcoin as a payment option in just a few clicks—without needing developers or external payment processors.

And for those looking to start selling, Flash’s built-in e-commerce features allow users to create online stores, showcase products, and manage payments seamlessly.

No Middlemen, No Chargebacks, No Limits

Unlike traditional payment platforms, Flash does not hold or process funds. Businesses receive Bitcoin directly, instantly, and securely. There are no chargebacks, giving merchants full control over refunds and eliminating fraud. Flash also remains KYC-free, ensuring a seamless experience for businesses and customers alike.

A Completely Redesigned Experience

“The world is waking up to Bitcoin. Just like the internet revolutionized commerce, Bitcoin is reshaping finance. Businesses need solutions that are simple, efficient, and truly decentralized. Flash 2.0 is more than just a payment processor—it’s a gateway to the future of digital transactions, putting financial power back into the hands of businesses.”

— Pierre Corbin, CEO at Flash.

Flash 2.0 introduces a brand-new user interface, making it easier than ever to navigate, set up payments, and manage transactions. With an intuitive dashboard, streamlined checkout, and enhanced mobile compatibility, the platform is built for both new and experienced Bitcoin users.

About Flash

Flash is an all-in-one Bitcoin payment platform that empowers businesses, creators, and freelancers to accept, manage, and grow with Bitcoin. With a mission to make Bitcoin payments accessible to everyone, Flash eliminates complexity and gives users full control over their funds.

To learn more or get started, visit www.paywithflash.com.

Press Contact:

Julien Bouvier
Head of Marketing
+3360941039

@ 45d6c2bf:56915a25

published without nostr installed

@ e5fa3d8c:44057ac9

@ b1ddb4d7:471244e7

Bitcoin FilmFest (BFF25) returns to Warsaw for its third edition, blending independent cinema—from feature films and commercials to AI-driven experimental visuals—with education and entertainment.

Hundreds of attendees from around the world will gather for three days of screenings, discussions, workshops, and networking at the iconic Kinoteka Cinema (PKiN), the same venue that hosted the festival’s first two editions in March 2023 and April 2024.

This year’s festival, themed “Beyond the Frame,” introduces new dimensions to its program, including an extra day on May 22 to celebrate Bitcoin Pizza Day, the first real-world bitcoin transaction, with what promises to be one of Europe’s largest commemorations of this milestone.

BFF25 bridges independent film, culture, and technology, with a bold focus on decentralized storytelling and creative expression. As a community-driven cultural experience with a slightly rebellious spirit, Bitcoin FilmFest goes beyond movies, yet cinema remains at its heart.

Here’s a sneak peek at the lineup, specially curated for movie buffs:

Generative Cinema –  A special slot with exclusive shorts and a thematic debate on the intersection of AI and filmmaking. Featured titles include, for example: BREAK FREE, SATOSHI: THE CREATION OF BITCOIN, STRANGE CURRENCIES, and BITCOIN IS THE MYCELIUM OF MONEY,  exploring financial independence, traps of the fiat system, and a better future built on sound money.

Upcoming Productions Preview – A bit over an hour-long block of unreleased pilots and works-in-progress. Attendees will get exclusive first looks at projects like FINDING HOME (a travel-meets-personal-journey series), PARALLEL SPACES (a story about alternative communities), and THE LEGEND OF LANDI (a mysterious narrative).

Freedom-Focused Ads & Campaigns – Unique screenings of video commercials, animations, and visual projects, culminating in “The PoWies” (Proof of Work-ies)—the first ever awards show honoring the best Bitcoin-only awareness campaigns.

To get an idea of what might come up at the event, here, you can preview 6 selected ads combined into two 2 videos:

• Unique Bitcoin-Video Ads: Part One
• Unique Bitcoin-Video Ads: Part Two

Open Pitch Competition – A chance for filmmakers to present fresh ideas and unfinished projects to an audience of a dedicated jury, movie fans and potential collaborators. This competitive block isn’t just entertaining—it’s a real opportunity for creators to secure funding and partnerships.

Golden Rabbit Awards: A lively gala honoring films from the festival’s Official Selection, with awards in categories like Best Feature, Best Story, Best Short, and Audience Choice.

BFF25 Main Screenings

Sample titles from BFF25’s Official Selection:

REVOLUCIÓN BITCOIN – A documentary by Juan Pablo, making its first screening outside the Spanish-speaking world in Warsaw this May. Three years of important work, 80 powerful minutes to experience. The film explores Bitcoin’s impact across Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, El Salvador, and Spain through around 40 diverse perspectives. Screening in Spanish with English subtitles, followed by a Q&A with the director.

UNBANKABLE – Luke Willms’ directorial debut, drawing from his multicultural roots and his father’s pioneering HIV/AIDS research. An investigative documentary based on Luke’s journeys through seven African countries, diving into financial experiments and innovations—from mobile money and digital lending to Bitcoin—raising smart questions and offering potential lessons for the West. Its May appearance at BFF25 marks its largest European event to date, following festival screenings and nominations across multiple continents over the past year.

HOTEL BITCOIN – A Spanish comedy directed by Manuel Sanabria and Carlos “Pocho” Villaverde. Four friends, 4,000 bitcoins , and one laptop spark a chaotic adventure of parties, love, crime, and a dash of madness. Exploring sound money, value, and relationships through a twisting plot. The film premiered at the Tarazona and Moncayo Comedy Film Festival in August 2024. Its Warsaw screening at BFF25 (in Spanish with English subtitles) marks its first public showing outside the Spanish-speaking world.

Check out trailers for this year’s BFF25 and past editions on YouTube.

Tickets & Info:

• Detailed program and tickets are available at bitcoinfilmfest.com/bff25.
• Stay updated via the festival’s official channels (links provided on the website).
• Use ‘LN-NEWS’ to get 10% of tickets

@ 0e9491aa:ef2adadf

I often hear "bitcoin doesn't interest me, I'm not a finance person."

Ironically, the beauty of sound money is you don't have to be. In the current system you're expected to manage a diversified investment portfolio or pay someone to do it. Bitcoin will make that optional.

— ODELL (@ODELL) September 16, 2018

At first glance bitcoin often appears overwhelming to newcomers. It is incredibly easy to get bogged down in the details of how it works or different ways to use it. Enthusiasts, such as myself, often enjoy going down the deep rabbit hole of the potential of bitcoin, possible pitfalls and theoretical scenarios, power user techniques, and the developer ecosystem. If your first touch point with bitcoin is that type of content then it is only natural to be overwhelmed. While it is important that we have a thriving community of bitcoiners dedicated to these complicated tasks - the true beauty of bitcoin lies in its simplicity. Bitcoin is simply better money. It is the best money we have ever had.

Life is complicated. Life is hard. Life is full of responsibility and surprises. Bitcoin allows us to focus on our lives while relying on a money that is simple. A money that is not controlled by any individual, company, or government. A money that cannot be easily seized or blocked. A money that cannot be devalued at will by a handful of corrupt bureaucrat who live hundreds of miles from us. A money that can be easily saved and should increase in purchasing power over time without having to learn how to "build a diversified stock portfolio" or hire someone to do it for us.

Bitcoin enables all of us to focus on our lives - our friends and family - doing what we love with the short time we have on this earth. Time is scarce. Life is complicated. Bitcoin is the most simple aspect of our complicated lives. If we spend our scarce time working then we should be able to easily save that accrued value for future generations without watching the news or understanding complicated financial markets. Bitcoin makes this possible for anyone.

Yesterday was Mother's Day. Raising a human is complicated. It is hard, it requires immense personal responsibility, it requires critical thinking, but mothers figure it out, because it is worth it. Using and saving bitcoin is simple -  simply install an app on your phone. Every mother can do it. Every person can do it.

Life is complicated. Life is beautiful. Bitcoin is simple.

---

If you found this post helpful support my work with bitcoin.

@ 502ab02a:a2860397

ถ้าพูดถึง "เกาหลีใต้" หลายคนอาจนึกถึงซีรีส์ น้ำจิ้มเผ็ด หรือไอดอลหน้าผ่อง ๆ แต่เบื้องหลังวัฒนธรรมที่ลื่นไหลไปทั่วโลกนี้ ยังมีอาณาจักรธุรกิจขนาดมหึมาที่เป็นเหมือนเครื่องยนต์หลักผลักดันทั้งอาหาร เพลง หนัง และนวัตกรรมระดับโลก หนึ่งในนั้นคือ CJ Group ที่เริ่มต้นจากบริษัทน้ำตาลเล็ก ๆ ในปี 1953 แต่เติบโตจนกลายเป็นหนึ่งใน conglomerate หรือ "กลุ่มธุรกิจผูกเครือ" ที่ทรงอิทธิพลที่สุดของแดนโสม

คำว่า CJ ย่อมาจาก CheilJedang (แปลว่า “หมายเลขหนึ่งแห่งโลก” ในภาษาจีน-เกาหลี) ก่อตั้งโดย อี บยองชอล ผู้ก่อตั้ง Samsung Group ในช่วงเวลานั้น เกาหลีใต้กำลังฟื้นตัวจากสงครามเกาหลี และรัฐบาลส่งเสริมการพัฒนาอุตสาหกรรมภายในประเทศ เดิมเป็นหน่วยธุรกิจอาหารของกลุ่ม Samsung ในปี 1993 Cheil Jedang แยกตัวออกจาก Samsung Group และกลายเป็นบริษัทอิสระภายใต้การบริหารของ อี แจฮยอน หลานชายของอี บยองชอล แล้วขยายขอบเขตธุรกิจอย่างไม่หยุดยั้ง จากความเชี่ยวชาญใน "การหมัก" แบบดั้งเดิม พวกเขากลับกลายเป็นผู้เล่นรายใหญ่ระดับโลกในวงการ เทคโนโลยีชีวภาพ การผลิตอาหารไปจนถึงธุรกิจ บันเทิงระดับฮอลลีวูด และ โลจิสติกส์ข้ามทวีป

พูดง่าย ๆ ว่า CJ ไม่ได้แค่ส่งออกกิมจิหรือบิบิมบับ แต่พวกเขากำลังวางรากฐานของ "อนาคตแห่งอาหาร" และ "ความบันเทิงแบบไร้พรมแดน" ในเวลาเดียวกัน จนใครหลายคนถึงกับบอกว่า ถ้าอยากเข้าใจเกาหลีใต้ ก็ต้องเริ่มจากเข้าใจ CJ Group เสียก่อน

แล้วในเครือข่ายของ CJ Group มีธุรกิจอะไรบ้างที่น่าสนใจ และแบรนด์ไหนที่เราคุ้นเคยแบบไม่รู้ตัว ไปดูกันเลย

1. ธุรกิจอาหารและบริการอาหาร (Food & Food Services)
2. CJ CheilJedang บริษัทอาหารชั้นนำของเกาหลีใต้ มีผลิตภัณฑ์เด่น ได้แก่ Bibigo แบรนด์อาหารเกาหลีพร้อมรับประทาน เช่น เกี๊ยว ซอส และกิมจิ Hetbahn ข้าวสวยพร้อมรับประทานที่ได้รับความนิยมในเกาหลี

3. CJ Foodville ดำเนินธุรกิจร้านอาหารและเบเกอรี่ เช่น: Tous Les Jours ร้านเบเกอรี่สไตล์ฝรั่งเศส VIPS ร้านสเต็กและสลัดบุฟเฟ่ต์

4. ธุรกิจเทคโนโลยีชีวภาพ (Bio) ความเชี่ยวชาญนี้เป็นรากฐานสำคัญในการขยายธุรกิจด้านเทคโนโลยีชีวภาพของ CJ เลยครับ

5. CJ BIO ผู้นำด้านการผลิตกรดอะมิโนและผลิตภัณฑ์ชีวภาพผ่านเทคโนโลยีการหมักจุลินทรีย์ เช่น Lysine, Tryptophan, Valine กรดอะมิโนที่ใช้ในอุตสาหกรรมอาหารสัตว์และอาหารเสริม

6. CJ Bioscience มุ่งเน้นการวิจัยและพัฒนาไมโครไบโอมเพื่อสุขภาพ

7. ธุรกิจโลจิสติกส์และค้าปลีก (Logistics & Retail)

8. CJ Logistics ให้บริการโลจิสติกส์ครบวงจร ทั้งการขนส่งทางบก ทางทะเล และทางอากาศ รวมถึงบริการคลังสินค้าและการจัดการซัพพลายเชน

9. CJ Olive Young: ร้านค้าปลีกด้านสุขภาพและความงามอันดับหนึ่งของเกาหลี มีผลิตภัณฑ์ยอดนิยม เช่น Anua PDRN Set ชุดบำรุงผิวที่ได้รับความนิยม MILKTOUCH ผลิตภัณฑ์เมคอัพที่ได้รับความนิยม

10. ธุรกิจบันเทิงและสื่อ (Entertainment & Media) อันนี้ยิ่งใหญ่ระดับโลกมากๆ หลายคนคงจำได้กับ ภาพยนตร์เอเชียแรกกับรางวัลออสการ์ Parasite

11. CJ ENM บริษัทผลิตและจัดจำหน่ายเนื้อหาบันเทิงที่มีชื่อเสียงระดับโลก มีผลงานเด่น ได้แก่ Crash Landing on You ซีรีส์ที่ได้รับความนิยมอย่างสูง Parasite ภาพยนตร์ที่ได้รับรางวัลออสการ์
12. CJ CGV เครือโรงภาพยนตร์มัลติเพล็กซ์ที่มีสาขาทั่วโลก

CJ Group ขยายธุรกิจไปยังต่างประเทศ เช่น การเข้าซื้อกิจการ Schwan's Company ในสหรัฐอเมริกา และการเปิดสาขา CGV ในหลายประเทศ นอกจากนี้ CJ ยังมีบทบาทสำคัญในการเผยแพร่วัฒนธรรมเกาหลีสู่ระดับโลกผ่าน KCON และการผลิตเนื้อหาบันเทิงที่ได้รับความนิยมในต่างประเทศด้วยครับ

จะเห็นได้ว่า เครือข่ายของ CJ นั้นยิ่งใหญ่มากๆเลย ทีนี้มีเรื่องน่าสนใจตรงนี้ครับ

ในช่วงปี 2013–2016 CJ Group โดยเฉพาะฝ่ายสื่อบันเทิงอย่าง CJ ENM ต้องเผชิญกับแรงกดดันจากรัฐบาลของประธานาธิบดี พัค กึนฮเย เหตุการณ์สำคัญคือการที่ อี มีคยอง (Miky Lee) รองประธาน CJ และผู้มีบทบาทสำคัญในการขับเคลื่อนธุรกิจบันเทิงระดับโลก ถูกกดดันให้ลาออกจากตำแหน่ง รายงานระบุว่า ทำเนียบประธานาธิบดีไม่พอใจเนื้อหาสื่อบางรายการของ CJ ที่มีลักษณะเสียดสีหรือวิพากษ์วิจารณ์รัฐบาล เช่น รายการ SNL Korea ที่ล้อเลียนพัค กึนฮเย ผ่านตัวละคร Teletubbies

ภายใต้แรงกดดันนี้ CJ มีการปรับเปลี่ยนเนื้อหาสื่อ โดยลดการนำเสนอเนื้อหาที่อาจขัดแย้งกับรัฐบาล และหันไปผลิตภาพยนตร์ที่สอดคล้องกับนโยบายของรัฐ เช่น ภาพยนตร์เรื่อง Ode to My Father (2014) ที่สะท้อนความรักชาติและการพัฒนาเศรษฐกิจในยุคของพัค ชุงฮี บิดาของพัค กึนฮเย ภาพยนตร์เรื่องนี้ได้รับการสนับสนุนจากรัฐบาลและถูกมองว่าเป็น "ภาพยนตร์เพื่อสุขภาพ" ที่ส่งเสริมความภาคภูมิใจในชาติ แน่นอนว่าแค้นฝังหุ่นมันยังไม่หายไปไหนครับ

เมื่อเกิดการเปิดโปง "บัญชีดำ" (Blacklist) ของรัฐบาลพัค กึนฮเย ที่มีการจำกัดสิทธิเสรีภาพของศิลปินและผู้ผลิตสื่อที่วิพากษ์วิจารณ์รัฐบาล ทำให้เกิดกระแสต่อต้านอย่างรุนแรงในสังคมเกาหลี. ในปี 2016 ซน กยองชิก ประธาน CJ ได้ให้การต่อศาลว่า มีแรงกดดันจากรัฐบาลให้ อี มีคยอง หลีกเลี่ยงการมีบทบาทในบริษัท เหตุการณ์นี้เป็นส่วนหนึ่งของการเปิดโปงคดีทุจริตของพัค กึนฮเย ซึ่งนำไปสู่การประท้วงครั้งใหญ่และการถอดถอนประธานาธิบดีในปี 2017

หลังจากการเปลี่ยนแปลงทางการเมือง CJ Group ได้กลับมามีบทบาทอย่างเต็มที่ในวงการบันเทิงอีกครั้ง อี มีคยอง กลับมาดำรงตำแหน่งและมีบทบาทสำคัญในการผลักดันภาพยนตร์เรื่อง Parasite (2019) ซึ่งได้รับรางวัลออสการ์และยกระดับภาพลักษณ์ของ CJ ในระดับโลก ซึ่งถ้าใครได้ดูหนังเรื่องนั้นแล้วรู้เรื่องราวเบื้องหลังนี้จะเข้าใจเนื้อหาได้อย่างลึกซึ้งขึ้นไปอีกเลยครับ การนำเสนอเรื่องราวนี้ถือเป็นการวิพากษ์วิจารณ์สังคมและระบบทุนนิยมอย่างชัดเจน ซึ่งแตกต่างจากแนวทางที่ CJ เคยถูกกดดันให้ปฏิบัติตามในยุคของพัค กึนฮเย อย่างสิ้นเชิง

อย่าเพิ่งไปสะใจกับเนื้อหา ให้มองว่า "เขาทำอะไรได้บ้าง" นี่คือประเด็นสำคัญครับ #pirateketo #กูต้องรู้มั๊ย #ม้วนหางสิลูก #siamstr

@ b1ddb4d7:471244e7

Starting January 1, 2026, the United Kingdom will impose some of the world’s most stringent reporting requirements on cryptocurrency firms.

All platforms operating in or serving UK customers-domestic and foreign alike-must collect and disclose extensive personal and transactional data for every user, including individuals, companies, trusts, and charities. 

This regulatory drive marks the UK’s formal adoption of the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), a global initiative designed to bring crypto oversight in line with traditional banking and to curb tax evasion in the rapidly expanding digital asset sector.

What Will Be Reported?

Crypto firms must gather and submit the following for each transaction:

• User’s full legal name, home address, and taxpayer identification number
• Detailed data on every trade or transfer: type of cryptocurrency, amount, and nature of the transaction
• Identifying information for corporate, trust, and charitable clients

The obligation extends to all digital asset activities, including crypto-to-crypto and crypto-to-fiat trades, and applies to both UK residents and non-residents using UK-based platforms. The first annual reports covering 2026 activity are due by May 31, 2027.

Enforcement and Penalties

Non-compliance will carry stiff financial penalties, with fines of up to £300 per user account for inaccurate or missing data-a potentially enormous liability for large exchanges. The UK government has urged crypto firms to begin collecting this information immediately to ensure operational readiness.

Regulatory Context and Market Impact

This move is part of a broader UK strategy to position itself as a global fintech hub while clamping down on fraud and illicit finance. UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves has championed these measures, stating, “Britain is open for business – but closed to fraud, abuse, and instability”. The regulatory expansion comes amid a surge in crypto adoption: the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority reported that 12% of UK adults owned crypto in 2024, up from just 4% in 2021.

Enormous Risks for Consumers: Lessons from the Coinbase Data Breach

While the new framework aims to enhance transparency and protect consumers, it also dramatically increases the volume of sensitive personal data held by crypto firms-raising the stakes for cybersecurity.

The risks are underscored by the recent high-profile breach at Coinbase, one of the world’s largest exchanges.

In May 2025, Coinbase disclosed that cybercriminals, aided by bribed offshore contractors, accessed and exfiltrated customer data including names, addresses, government IDs, and partial bank details. 

The attackers then used this information for sophisticated phishing campaigns, successfully deceiving some customers into surrendering account credentials and funds.

“While private encryption keys remained secure, sufficient customer information was exposed to enable sophisticated phishing attacks by criminals posing as Coinbase personnel.”

Coinbase now faces up to $400 million in compensation costs and has pledged to reimburse affected users, but the incident highlights the systemic vulnerability created when large troves of personal data are centralized-even if passwords and private keys are not directly compromised. The breach also triggered a notable drop in Coinbase’s share price and prompted a $20 million bounty for information leading to the attackers’ capture.

The Bottom Line

The UK’s forthcoming crypto reporting regime represents a landmark in financial regulation, promising greater transparency and tax compliance. However, as the Coinbase episode demonstrates, the aggregation of sensitive user data at scale poses a significant cybersecurity risk.

As regulators push for more oversight, the challenge will be ensuring that consumer protection does not become a double-edged sword-exposing users to new threats even as it seeks to shield them from old ones.

@ 9ca447d2:fbf5a36d

JPMorgan Chase, the biggest bank in the U.S., is now allowing its clients to buy bitcoin — a big change of heart for an institution whose CEO, Jamie Dimon, has been a long-time critic of the scarce digital asset.

Dimon made the announcement on the bank’s investor day, which came as a shift in JPMorgan’s approach to digital assets. “We are going to allow you to buy it,” he said. “We’re not going to custody it. We’re going to put it in statements for clients.”

That means clients can buy BTC through JPMorgan but the bank won’t hold or store the digital asset. Instead it will provide access and include the BTC purchases in client statements.

According to multiple reports and posts, JPMorgan has been blocking transactions from digital asset exchanges, with several people complaining about their experience on social media.

Source

Source

There is even an official notice on the company’s UK website that explicitly says customers cannot use their funds to purchase digital assets.

JPMorgan Chase UK website — Source

It’s a big change because Dimon has been one of Bitcoin’s biggest critics. Over the years he’s called it “worthless”, a “fraud” and even compared it to a “pet rock”.

He’s repeatedly expressed concern over digital assets’ use in illegal activities such as money laundering, terrorism, sex trafficking and tax evasion. A role that his critics say the U.S. dollar is playing on a much larger scale.

Related: Jamie Dimon Would “Close Down” Bitcoin If He Had Government Role

“The only true use case for it is criminals, drug traffickers … money laundering, tax avoidance,” he told lawmakers during a Senate hearing in 2023. At the 2024 World Economic Forum in Davos, he doubled down, “Bitcoin does nothing. I call it the pet rock.”

Despite his personal views, Dimon says the bank is responding to client demand. “I don’t think you should smoke, but I defend your right to smoke,” he said. “I defend your right to buy bitcoin.”

It’s worth noting JPMorgan isn’t fully embracing digital assets. The bank won’t be offering direct custody services or launching its own exchange.

Instead, it’s offering access to digital asset exchanges. There are even reports that the bank also plans to facilitate access to bitcoin ETFs and possibly other investment vehicles. Until recently, JPMorgan had limited its bitcoin exposure to futures-based products.

Other big financial firms have already taken similar steps.

Morgan Stanley, for example, has been offering some clients access to bitcoin ETFs since August 2024. Its CEO, Ted Pick, said earlier this year that the firm is working closely with regulators to explore ways to get into the digital assets space.

Dimon does like blockchain, though — the technology that underpins it. JPMorgan has its own blockchain projects including JPM Coin and recently ran a test transaction on a public blockchain of tokenized U.S. Treasuries.

Many criticize this view, saying that the most powerful aspect of Bitcoin is its decentralization. So, a centralized blockchain is just useless. This might be the reason Dimon has grown weary of all JPMorgan’s blockchain initiatives, because they offered nothing of value.

He said he might have given blockchain too much credit during his investor day comments: “We have been talking about blockchain for 12 to 15 years,” he said. “We spend too much on it. It doesn’t matter as much as you all think.”

@ a0e937b7:50db609a

Because we are not merely addicted to #Narrativium: It is our drive, imbued into our very essence. And it is so much easier to absorb our daily dose from the billions of trickles provided by everyone else as a substitute drug #Gossipium, or temporarily saturate our unquenchable thirst by just giving in to the temptation by the incessable stream of Movies and Series providing #Fictionium than it is to find a properly satisfying Source Of Narrativium (acronymize that 😉), let alone create our own Narrativium that might even be worthy of sharing. And yet, there is so much more fulfilment possible by letting one's creativity work instead of merely using a "share" button - which briefly seems to trick the human brain into believing that one has actually participated in providing one's peers with proper Narrativium, possibly as part of an implicit social contract: "I give you all some Narrativium I found, now give me more in return". It is such a trivial action to take, even more effortless than gossiping. But let's be honest, it often just feels hollow. And even when we write something, it is again tempting to just create #Rantium instead of something actually useful.

Gossypium herbaceum, the cotton plant (Photo by H. Zell from Wikipedia)

Originally I merely wanted to post a witty quote from https://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Narrativium about Narrativium on Facebook:

"Humans add narrativium to their world. They insist on interpreting the universe as if it's telling a story. This leads them to focus on facts that fit the story, while ignoring those that don't." - T. Pratchett, I. Steward, J. Cohen, The Science of Discworld I

Maybe even subtly allude to how that might explain quite a lot about the everyday insanity that seems to surround us, especially these days.

"We are not Homo sapiens, Wise Man. We are the third chimpanzee. [...] We are Pan narrans, the storytelling ape. [...] if you understand the power of story, and learn to detect abuses of it, you might actually deserve the appellation Homo sapiens." - T. Pratchett, I. Steward, J. Cohen, The Science of Discworld II

Really. I was just going to quote a bit and go on about my day with some meaningless procrastination. Why already bother with housework when I can delay that until tomorrow or the day after and just watch some series in the Arrowverse now? But after ten minutes of a Legends of Tomorrow episode called "Lucha de Apuestas", curiosity got the better of me. What is it with Luchadores and their masks, I mockingly wondered. So I read Wikipedia on it. Lots of culture, history and, most importantly to me, Narrativium. I probably couldn't care less for to guys bumping fists on a stage, I don't really care about watching any sports either. But there's a certain fascination to stories, isn't there? So I felt like sharing about Narrativium, and here we are.

—

That's it for now, I might keep writing on this. One day. Just as I keep continuing writing everything else I start. Not. Well, motivate me.

@ b1ddb4d7:471244e7

This article was originally published on aier.org

Even after eleven years experience, and a per Bitcoin price of nearly $20,000, the incredulous are still with us. I understand why. Bitcoin is not like other traditional financial assets.

Even describing it as an asset is misleading. It is not the same as a stock, as a payment system, or a money. It has features of all these but it is not identical to them.

What Bitcoin is depends on its use as a means of storing and porting value, which in turn rests of secure titles to ownership of a scarce good. Those without experience in the sector look at all of this and get frustrated that understanding why it is valuable is not so easy to grasp. 

In this article, I’m updating an analysis I wrote six years ago. It still holds up. For those who don’t want to slog through the entire article, my thesis is that Bitcoin’s value obtains from its underlying technology, which is an open-source ledger that keeps track of ownership rights and permits the transfer of these rights. Bitcoin managed to bundle its unit of account with a payment system that lives on the ledger. That’s its innovation and why it obtained a value and that value continues to rise. 

Consider the criticism offered by traditional gold advocates, who have, for decades, pushed the idea that sound money must be backed by something real, hard, and independently valuable. Bitcoin doesn’t qualify, right? Maybe it does. 

Bitcoin first emerged as a possible competitor to national, government-managed money in 2009. Satoshi Nakamoto’s white paper was released October 31, 2008. The structure and language of this paper sent the message: This currency is for computer technicians, not economists nor political pundits. The paper’s circulation was limited; novices who read it were mystified. 

But the lack of interest didn’t stop history from moving forward. Two months later, those who were paying attention saw the emergence of the “Genesis Block,” the first group of bitcoins generated through Nakamoto’s concept of a distributed ledger that lived on any computer node in the world that wanted to host it.

Here we are all these years later and a single bitcoin trades at $18,500. The currency is held and accepted by many thousands of institutions, both online and offline. Its payment system is very popular in poor countries without vast banking infrastructures but also in developed countries. And major institutions—including the Federal Reserve, the OECD, the World Bank, and major investment houses—are paying respectful attention and weaving blockchain technology into their operations.

Enthusiasts, who are found in every country, say that its exchange value will soar even more in the future because its supply is strictly limited and it provides a system vastly superior to government money. Bitcoin is transferred between individuals without a third party. It is relatively low-cost to exchange. It has a predictable supply. It is durable, fungible, and divisible: all crucial features of money. It creates a monetary system that doesn’t depend on trust and identity, much less on central banks and government. It is a new system for the digital age.

Hard lessons for hard money

To those educated in the “hard money” tradition, the whole idea has been a serious challenge. Speaking for myself, I had been reading about bitcoin for two years before I came anywhere close to understanding it. There was just something about the whole idea that bugged me. You can’t make money out of nothing, much less out of computer code. Why does it have value then? There must be something amiss. This is not how we expected money to be reformed.

There’s the problem: our expectations. We should have been paying closer attention to Ludwig von Mises’ theory of money’s origins—not to what we think he wrote, but to what he actually did write. 

In 1912, Mises released The Theory of Money and Credit. It was a huge hit in Europe when it came out in German, and it was translated into English. While covering every aspect of money, his core contribution was in tracing the value and price of money—and not just money itself—to its origins. That is, he explained how money gets its price in terms of the goods and services it obtains. He later called this process the “regression theorem,” and as it turns out, bitcoin satisfies the conditions of the theorem.

Mises’ teacher, Carl Menger, demonstrated that money itself originates from the market—not from the State and not from social contract. It emerges gradually as monetary entrepreneurs seek out an ideal form of commodity for indirect exchange. Instead of merely bartering with each other, people acquire a good not to consume, but to trade. That good becomes money, the most marketable commodity.

But Mises added that the value of money traces backward in time to its value as a bartered commodity. Mises said that this is the only way money can have value.

The theory of the value of money as such can trace back the objective exchange value of money only to that point where it ceases to be the value of money and becomes merely the value of a commodity…. If in this way we continually go farther and farther back we must eventually arrive at a point where we no longer find any component in the objective exchange value of money that arises from valuations based on the function of money as a common medium of exchange; where the value of money is nothing other than the value of an object that is useful in some other way than as money…. Before it was usual to acquire goods in the market, not for personal consumption, but simply in order to exchange them again for the goods that were really wanted, each individual commodity was only accredited with that value given by the subjective valuations based on its direct utility.

Mises’ explanation solved a major problem that had long mystified economists. It is a narrative of conjectural history, and yet it makes perfect sense. Would salt have become money had it otherwise been completely useless? Would beaver pelts have obtained monetary value had they not been useful for clothing? Would silver or gold have had money value if they had no value as commodities first? The answer in all cases of monetary history is clearly no. The initial value of money, before it becomes widely traded as money, originates in its direct utility. It’s an explanation that is demonstrated through historical reconstruction. That’s Mises’ regression theorem.

Bitcoin’s Use Value

At first glance, bitcoin would seem to be an exception. You can’t use a bitcoin for anything other than money. It can’t be worn as jewelry. You can’t make a machine out of it. You can’t eat it or even decorate with it. Its value is only realized as a unit that facilitates indirect exchange. And yet, bitcoin already is money. It’s used every day. You can see the exchanges in real time. It’s not a myth. It’s the real deal.

It might seem like we have to choose. Is Mises wrong? Maybe we have to toss out his whole theory. Or maybe his point was purely historical and doesn’t apply in the future of a digital age. Or maybe his regression theorem is proof that bitcoin is just an empty mania with no staying power, because it can’t be reduced to its value as a useful commodity.

And yet, you don’t have to resort to complicated monetary theory in order to understand the sense of alarm surrounding bitcoin. Many people, as I did, just have a feeling of uneasiness about a money that has no basis in anything physical. Sure, you can print out a bitcoin on a piece of paper, but having a paper with a QR code or a public key is not enough to relieve that sense of unease.

How can we resolve this problem? In my own mind, I toyed with the issue for more than a year. It puzzled me. I wondered if Mises’ insight applied only in a pre-digital age. I followed the speculations online that the value of bitcoin would be zero but for the national currencies into which it is converted. Perhaps the demand for bitcoin overcame the demands of Mises’ scenario because of a desperate need for something other than the dollar.

As time passed—and I read the work of Konrad Graf, Peter Surda, and Daniel Krawisz—finally the resolution came. Bitcoin is both a payment system and a money. The payment system is the source of value, while the accounting unit merely expresses that value in terms of price. The unity of money and payment is its most unusual feature, and the one that most commentators have had trouble wrapping their heads around.

We are all used to thinking of currency as separate from payment systems. This thinking is a reflection of the technological limitations of history. There is the dollar and there are credit cards. There is the euro and there is PayPal. There is the yen and there are wire services. In each case, money transfer relies on third-party service providers. In order to use them, you need to establish what is called a “trust relationship” with them, which is to say that the institution arranging the deal has to believe that you are going to pay.

This wedge between money and payment has always been with us, except for the case of physical proximity.

If I give you a dollar for your pizza slice, there is no third party. But payment systems, third parties, and trust relationships become necessary once you leave geographic proximity. That’s when companies like Visa and institutions like banks become indispensable. They are the application that makes the monetary software do what you want it to do.

The hitch is that

@ 8d34bd24:414be32b

In our culture today, people like to have “my truth” as opposed to “your truth.” They want to have teachers who tell them what they want to hear and worship in the way they desire. The Bible predicted these times.

For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. (2 Timothy 4:3)

My question is, “do we get to choose what we want to believe about God and how we want to worship Him, or does God tell us what we are to believe and how we are to worship Him?”

The Bible makes it clear that He is who He says He is and He expects obedience and worship according to His commands. We do not get to decide for ourselves.

The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:19-24) {emphasis mine}

In this passage, Jesus gently corrects the woman for worshipping what she does not know. He also says, “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” He states what God is (spirit) and how He must be worshipped “in spirit and truth.” We don’t get to define God however we wish, and we don’t get to worship Him any way we wish. God is who He has revealed Himself to be and we must obey Him and worship Him the way He has commanded.

In this next passage, God makes clear that He is holy and we do not get to worship Him any way we wish. We are to interact with Him in the prescribed manner.

Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, “It is what the Lord spoke, saying,

‘By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy,\ And before all the people I will be honored.’ ”

So Aaron, therefore, kept silent. (Leviticus 10:1-3) {emphasis mine}

God had prescribed a particular way to approach Him and only those whom He had chosen (priests of the lineage of Aaron). Nadab and Abihu chose to “do it their way” and paid the price for ignoring God’s command. God set an example with them.

God has been gracious enough to reveal Himself, His character, His power, and His commands to us. If we have truly submitted ourselves to His rule, we should hunger for God’s words so we can know Him better and honor Him in obedience.

But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. (John 17:13-17) {emphasis mine}

In today’s culture, everybody likes to claim their own personal truth, but that isn’t how truth works. The truth is not determined by an individual for themselves. It isn’t even determined by a consensus or majority vote. The truth is the truth even if not one person on earth believes it. God speaks truth and God is truth. Our belief or lack thereof doesn’t change the truth, but our lack of belief in the truth, especially the truth as revealed by God in His word, can negatively affect our relationship with God.

God expects us to study His word so we can obey His commands.

For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.’ Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward. Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all My servants the prophets, daily rising early and sending them. Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck; they did more evil than their fathers. (Jeremiah 7:22-26) {emphasis mine}

Today you rarely see someone bowing down to a golden idol, but that doesn’t mean that we are any better at obeying God’s commands or submitting to His will. We still try to make God in our own image so He is a convenience to us and how we want to live our lives. We still put other things ahead of God — family, work, entertainment, fame, etc. Most of us aren’t any more faithful to God than the Israelites were. Just like the Israelites, we put on the trappings of faith but don’t live according to faith and faithfulness.

And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:

‘This people honors Me with their lips,\ But their heart is far away from Me.\ **But in vain do they worship Me,\ Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’\ Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.”

He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition. (Mark 7:6-9) {emphasis mine}

How many “churches” and “Christian” leaders teach people according to the culture instead of according to the Word of God? How many tell people what they want to hear and what makes them feel good instead of what they need to hear — the truth as spoken through the Bible? How many church attenders follow a “Christian” leader more than they follow their Creator, Savior, and God? How many church attenders can recite the words of their leaders better than the Holy Scriptures?

I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:1-5) {emphasis mine}

How can we know if a church leader is rightly preaching God’s word? We can only know if we have read the Bible and studied it. We should be like the Bereans:

Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. (Acts 17:11)

Honestly, I don’t trust any spiritual leader who doesn’t encourage me to search the Scriptures to see whether their words are true. Any leader who puts their own word above the Scriptures is a false teacher. Sadly there are many, maybe more than faithful teachers. Some false teachers are intentionally so, but many have been misled by other false teachers. Their guilt is less, but they don’t do any less harm than those who intentionally mislead.

We need to seek trustworthy teachers who speak according to the Word of God, who quote the Bible to support their opinions, and who seek the good of their followers rather than the submission of their followers.

Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,\ As in the day of Massah in the wilderness,

“When your fathers tested Me,\ They tried Me, though they had seen My work.\ For forty years I loathed that generation,\ And said they are a people who err in their heart,\ And they do not know My ways.\ Therefore I swore in My anger,\ Truly they shall not enter into My rest.” (Psalm 95:8-11) {emphasis mine} *Teach me good discernment and knowledge,\ For I believe in Your commandments*.\ Before I was afflicted I went astray,\ But now I keep Your word.\ You are good and do good;\ Teach me Your statutes.\ The arrogant have forged a lie against me;\ *With all my heart I will observe Your precepts*.\ Their heart is covered with fat,\ But I delight in Your law.\ It is good for me that I was afflicted,\ That I may learn Your statutes.\ The law of Your mouth is better to me\ Than thousands of gold and silver pieces. (Psalm 119:66-72) {emphasis mine}

May our Creator God teach us the truth. May He fill our hearts with the desire to be in His word daily and to seek His will. May He do what is necessary to get our attention and turn our hearts and minds fully to Him, so we can learn His statutes and serve Him faithfully, so one day we are blessed to hear, “Well done! Good and faithful servant.”

Trust Jesus.

FYI, I see lack of knowledge of truth and God’s word as one of the biggest problems in the church today; however, it is possible to know the Bible in depth, but not know God. As important as knowledge of Scriptures is, this knowledge (without faith, submission, obedience, and love) is meaningless. Knowledge doesn’t get us to heaven. Even obedience doesn’t get us to heaven. Only faith and submission to our creator God leads to salvation and heaven. That being said, we can’t faithfully serve our God without knowledge of Him and His commands. Out of gratefulness for who He is and what He has done for us, we should seek to know and please Him.

@ ffbcb706:b0574044

Just a client name test

@ 9ca447d2:fbf5a36d

Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative asset manager, has entered the Bitcoin space with a $1.08 million investment in BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF. This is a big deal for both Wall Street and the Bitcoin world.

Blackstone has made its first direct investment in bitcoin through regulated financial products. A May 20, 2025, SEC filing revealed that the firm purchased 23,094 shares of the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).

BlackStone has bought 23,094 shares of BlackRock’s IBIT — SEC

While $1.08 million is a small drop in the bucket compared to Blackstone’s $1.2 trillion in assets under management, this is a big deal for the private equity giant which has been skeptical of bitcoin in the past.

In 2019, the company’s CEO, Steve Schwarzman, said he didn’t understand Bitcoin. “I was raised in a world where someone needs to control currencies,” he said, admitting he struggled to understand the technology.

Fast forward to 2025, and it is now one of the many institutional investors taking bitcoin seriously — but doing so through cautious, regulated channels.

The investment was made through Blackstone’s $2.63 billion Alternative Multi-Strategy Fund (BTMIX), which invests in a wide range of financial instruments.

Instead of buying bitcoin directly, Blackstone chose to get exposure through a bitcoin ETF — which is how many large institutions are approaching the digital asset. Spot Bitcoin ETFs like IBIT allow investors to track the price of bitcoin without having to hold the digital asset itself.

There are several advantages to this approach. ETFs trade like stocks, are regulated by the SEC and take care of complex issues like custody and compliance. This makes them more attractive for firms that are new to Bitcoin or still wary of the risks.

Related: Bitcoin ETFs Provide Convenient Price Exposure, But At What Cost?

Blackstone’s choice of a bitcoin ETF shows how effective these products are at connecting traditional finance to the digital age.

In addition to IBIT, Blackstone also disclosed smaller investments in two other digital-asset-related companies:

• 9,889 shares of the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO), valued at about $181,166.
• 4,300 shares of Bitcoin Depot Inc. (BTM), a bitcoin ATM operator, worth approximately $6,300.

Together, these are a tiny fraction of Blackstone’s portfolio but show growing interest and exploration into the space.

Since its launch in January 2024, BlackRock’s IBIT ETF has become the top-performing Bitcoin ETF in the U.S. As of mid-May 2025, the fund has seen over $46.1 billion in net inflows with no outflows since early April.

IBIT is ahead of other major ETFs like Fidelity’s FBTC and ARK’s 21Shares Bitcoin ETF.

But the trend is clear: big firms are getting comfortable with regulated bitcoin products. Industry insiders see Blackstone’s move as part of a broader shift in institutional sentiment towards bitcoin.

This is a small investment but it matters because of who is making it. Blackstone is known for being conservative and risk-averse.

Its decision to put even a tiny amount of capital into Bitcoin ETFs means tradfi companies are getting more confident in bitcoin as an asset class. Blackstone is dipping its toe in the water, and even a small step is significant given its size and influence.

@ 9ca447d2:fbf5a36d

Adam O’Brien, Founder and CEO of Bitcoin Well, discovered Bitcoin in 2013 during its early days as what he describes as “hilarious internet money.”

Today, he leads a publicly traded Canadian company that’s redefining how people interact with this magic internet money, all while navigating a financial system that has personally debanked him and even his uninvolved loved ones.

“I had a terrible experience trying to buy bitcoin in 2013,” O’Brien explains. “Now of course today there are platforms like Bitcoin Well and many others that allow you to buy bitcoin with ease online, but in 2013 that wasn’t the case.”

This frustrating experience sparked the entrepreneurial question that would shape his future: “There must be a better way.”

With a background in restaurant management and customer service, O’Brien started small, meeting people locally in Edmonton, Canada to sell them bitcoin.

Soon after, he purchased and deployed Alberta’s first bitcoin ATM. The business grew organically, with a second machine following, then a third. Before long, Bitcoin Well had become one of Canada’s largest bitcoin ATM operators.

Today, Bitcoin Well operates approximately 160 bitcoin ATMs across Canada. While they’re no longer deploying new machines, these ATMs provide a crucial service that O’Brien is particularly proud of:

“In Canada, you can actually buy bitcoin up to $1,000 without giving your identity to Bitcoin Well. We’re the only platform in the country that is able to offer that service, which is fully legal, fully above board.”

Bitcoin Well has a fleet of over 170 bitcoin ATMs across Canada

The Pivot to Freedom

In 2020, O’Brien’s vision for the company evolved. What began as a mission for Bitcoin accessibility transformed into something deeper: a quest for financial freedom.

“I’m debanked across Canada. I don’t have my bank, even my wife has lost her bank accounts because of my work,” O’Brien revealed. “She’s not involved with the business at all. She’s a stay-at-home mother to our four kids, and she’s unbanked from the majority of the banks in Canada.”

This personal experience crystallized a troubling reality: “It became very clear to me that my money in the banking system was always going to be subject to how much I play by the rules.”

For someone self-described as “freedom-focused” and “freedom-minded,” this realization prompted a strategic shift. Bitcoin Well began developing its online platform, the Bitcoin portal, allowing users to buy, sell, and actually use bitcoin to replace traditional banking functions. O’Brien explains:

“The goal here is that we can be a conduit between the legacy financial system you know, and how you pay your bills, your rent, your power, credit card and phone bills and all that stuff  without having to have money in what I would call a captured fiat account.”

He summarizes the company’s North Star simply: “Allow people to replace their bank with bitcoin in self-custody.”

Living the Mission

O’Brien doesn’t just preach Bitcoin independence, he lives it. Debanked across Canada, he relies on Bitcoin Well’s services for his daily financial needs.

“I’ve got a normal American Express, but I pay that off with Bitcoin at the end of the month,” he shares. “In Canada, we’ve got the equivalent of Venmo, it’s called Interac e-Transfer. I can send an Interac e-Transfer to anyone in the country from bitcoin in self-custody.”

This allows him to navigate everyday situations where merchants don’t accept bitcoin directly.

“It’s spring right now. I’ve got a little property. The guy comes and picks up our rakes and trims the trees and all this stuff, and I pay him. He doesn’t want to accept bitcoin, but I’m able to pay in bitcoin, and he gets the money that he wants.”

In the U.S., Bitcoin Well customers can have their paychecks deposited with a designated portion automatically converted to sats and sent directly to self-custody, allowing clients to stack sats sovereignly without having to think much about it.

With Bitcoin Well you can set up automatic DCA

Building the Right Team

The journey hasn’t been without challenges. O’Brien candidly describes how rapid growth in 2021 led to hiring missteps.

“We scaled so fast I kind of lost control of hiring practice and culture, and we ended up with people that I felt like we had to almost convince of the mission,” he admits.

“Some of them weren’t convinced…they were just there because of the job, or they didn’t really understand the need for the freedom that I speak about every single day.”

After scaling back from that hiring spree, the company refocused on building a team aligned with its core values, emphasizing “hiring Bitcoiners really.”

The result has been transformative: “It’s so much fun having a team that is mission-focused and aligned on our mission to enable independence. Having everyone aligned and kind of running towards that mission is pretty special.”

This alignment creates a powerful filter for decision-making: “When we have a decision to make, it’s like, well, which one enables more independence? And usually there’s a pretty obvious answer. So we’re able to make very fast decisions that help the business and help the mission.”

Raising the Next Generation

Beyond building Bitcoin Well, O’Brien and his wife are raising four children with intention. The family is transitioning to homeschooling next year, allowing them to travel to Bitcoin conferences together while teaching their children to question everything.

“If you don’t indoctrinate your kids, the state will do it for you,” O’Brien states firmly. It’s a fair point, as indoctrination usually comes with a negative connotation, but it should not, since everyone gets indoctrinated with something.

It’s up to parents to decide what their kids are going to be indoctrinated with, and as parents, the O’Briens have chosen to actively shape their children’s worldview rather than defaulting to institutional influences.

Their approach combines Bitcoin principles with biblical values, with a heavy emphasis on lowering time preference. Something O’Brien notes is “10, 20, 30, 50 times more important” with children, though admittedly “way harder.”

“I think Bitcoiners more than anyone understand the need for generational thinking,” he observes.

“I’m so bullish on the amount of Bitcoiners that have more kids or that want to have more kids and that are actually excited to have kids compared to some of my fiat friends that are like, ‘Oh, it’s too expensive and I want to party.’ It’s like, man, you’re just missing the point.”

A Call to Support Bitcoin-Only Businesses

One of O’Brien’s most passionate messages is a call to action for fellow Bitcoiners: support businesses that align with your values.

“I want to call people to support businesses that are actually making steps towards the change they want to see in the world,” he urges. “If I hear one more Bitcoin maxi tell me that they’re using Kraken or Coinbase because it’s cheaper — why do you support the casinos?”

He expresses concern about the future if Bitcoin-only companies struggle to survive: “It would be very sad if all the Bitcoin-only and non-custodial businesses went out of business. That would make it very hard for me to feel comfortable onboarding my no-coiner friends.”

His message to Bitcoiners is clear: “A call out to all my fellow Bitcoiners to support and use the platform that they want to see their kids use.”

Bitcoin Well (TSX.V: BTCW, OTCQB: BCNWF) continues to build infrastructure for those who want to use Bitcoin daily while maintaining self-custody. For O’Brien, the mission is simple but powerful: enable independence and give people the freedom to control their own financial destiny.

@ 06639a38:655f8f71

Nostr-PHP

Djuri submitted quite some pull requests in the last couple of week while he was implementing a Nostr connect / login on https://satsback.com. The backend of that platform is written in PHP so the Nostr-PHP library is used for several purposes while Djuri also developed quite some new features utilizing the following NIPs:

• NIP-04
• NIP-05
• NIP-17
• NIP-44

Thank you very much Djuri for these contributions. We now can do the basic private stuff with the library. 

PR for NIP-04 and NIP-44: https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-php/pull/84 and https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-php/pull/88 
Examples:

• https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-php/blob/main/src/Examples/nip04-encrypted-messages.php
• https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-php/blob/main/src/Examples/nip44-gift-wrapping.php

PR for NIP-05: https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-php/pull/89 
Example: https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-php/blob/main/src/Examples/nip05-lookup.php 

PR for NIP-17: https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-php/pull/90 
Example: https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-php/blob/main/src/Examples/nip17-private-direct-messages.php 

PR for adding more metadata profile fields: https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-php/pull/94
Example: https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-php/blob/main/src/Examples/fetch-profile-metadata.php 

Fetch 10050 event (dm relay list) of an given pubkey
Example: https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-php/blob/main/src/Examples/fetch-dm-relayslist.php 

The CLI tool is removed from the library, see PR https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-php/pull/93 

Nostr-PHP documentation

While new NIPs are implemented in the Nostr-PHP library, I'm trying to keep up with the documentation at https://nostr-php.dev. For now, things are still much work in progress and I've added the AI agent Goose using the Claude LLM to bootstrap new documentation pages. Currently I'm working on documentation for

• How to direct messages with NIP-04 and NIP-17
• Encrypted payloads for event content NIP-44
• Fetch profiledata of a given pubkey
• Lookup NIP-05 data of given pubkey
• Using the NIP-19 helper class

CCNS.news

I've moved CCNS to a new domain https://ccns.news and have partly implemented the new NIP-B0 for web bookmarks. When you post a bookmark there, a kind 39701 event is transmitted to some Nostr relays (take a look at this event for example). Optionally you can also publish this content as a note to the network.

As you can see at https://ccns.news/l/censorship-resistant-publishing-and-archiving, I've listed some todo's. All this stuff is done with Javascript using the NDK Typescript library (so I'm not using any PHP stuff for this with Nostr-PHP).

Also new: https://ccns.news/global now has a global feed which fetches all the web bookmark events with kind 39701 from several public Nostr relays. I had a rough idea to compare feeds generated with NDK and Nostr-PHP (for both using the same set of relays).

Building a njump clone for this Drupal website

You can now use this URL pattern to fetch Nostr events: https://nostrver.se/e/{event_id|nevent1|note1|addr1} where you can provide a plain Nostr event ID or NIP-19 encoded identifier. 

An example, this URL https://nostrver.se/e/nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzqmjxss3dld622uu8q25gywum9qtg4w4cv4064jmg20xsac2aam5nqqsqm2lz4ru6wlydzpulgs8m60ylp4vufwsg55whlqgua6a93vp2y4g3uu9lr fetches the data from one or more relays. This data is then being saved as a (Drupal) node entity (in a database on the server where this website is hosted, which is located in my office fyi). With this saved node, this data is now also available at https://nostrver.se/e/0dabe2a8f9a77c8d1079f440fbd3c9f0d59c4ba08a51d7f811ceeba58b02a255/1 where the (cached) data is server from the database instead. It's just raw data for now, nothing special about it. One of my next steps is to style this in a more prettier interface and I will need to switch the theme of this website to a custom theme. A custom theme where I will be using TailwindCSS v4 and DaisyUI v5. 

The module which is providing these Nostr features is FOSS and uses the Nostr-PHP library for doing the following:

• Request the event from one or more relays
• Decode the provided NIP-19 identifier

For now this module is way for me to utilize the Nostr-PHP library with Drupal for fetching events. This can be automated so in theory I could index all the Nostr events. But this is not my ambition as it would require quite some hardware resources to accomplish this. 
I hope I can find the time to build up a new theme first for this website, so I can start styling the data for the fetched events. On this website, there is also a small piece (powered by another module) you can find at https://nostrver.se/nostrides doing things with this NIP-113 around activity events (in my case that's cycling what interests me).

What's next

I'm already working on the following stuff:

• Implement a class to setup a persistent connection to a relay for requesting events continuously
• Extend the documentation with the recent added features

Other todo stuff:

• Review NIP-13 proof-of-work PR from Djuri
• Implement a NIP-65 lookup for fetching read and write relays for a given npub issue #91
• Build a proof-of-concept with revolt/event-loop to request events asynchronous with persistent relay connections
• Add comments to https://ccns.news

@ b1ddb4d7:471244e7

Breez, a leader in Lightning Network infrastructure, and Spark, a bitcoin-native Layer 2 (L2) platform, today announced a groundbreaking collaboration to empower developers with tools to seamlessly integrate self-custodial bitcoin payments into everyday applications.

The partnership introduces a new implementation of the Breez SDK built on Spark’s bitcoin-native infrastructure, accelerating the evolution of bitcoin from “digital gold” to a global, permissionless currency.

The Breez SDK is expanding

We’re joining forces with @buildonspark to release a new nodeless implementation of the Breez SDK — giving developers the tools they need to bring Bitcoin payments to everyday apps.

→ https://t.co/iWjZhWRwsx

Bitcoin-Native
Powered by Spark’s…

— Breez (@Breez_Tech) May 22, 2025

A Bitcoin-Native Leap for Developers

The updated Breez SDK leverages Spark’s L2 architecture to deliver a frictionless, bitcoin-native experience for developers.

Key features include:

• Universal Compatibility: Bindings for all major programming languages and frameworks.
• LNURL & Lightning Address Support: Streamlined integration for peer-to-peer transactions.
• Real-Time Interaction: Instant mobile notifications for payment confirmations.
• No External Reliance: Built directly on bitcoin via Spark, eliminating bridges or third-party consensus.

This implementation unlocks use cases such as streaming content payments, social app monetization, in-game currencies, cross-border remittances, and AI micro-settlements—all powered by Bitcoin’s decentralized network.

Quotes from Leadership

Roy Sheinfeld, CEO of Breez:
“Developers are critical to bringing bitcoin into daily life. By building the Breez SDK on Spark’s revolutionary architecture, we’re giving builders a bitcoin-native toolkit to strengthen Lightning as the universal language of bitcoin payments.”

Kevin Hurley, Creator of Spark:
“This collaboration sets the standard for global peer-to-peer transactions. Fast, open, and embedded in everyday apps—this is bitcoin’s future. Together, we’re equipping developers to create next-generation payment experiences.”

David Marcus, Co-Founder and CEO of Lightspark:
“We’re thrilled to see developers harness Spark’s potential. This partnership marks an exciting milestone for the ecosystem.”

Collaboration Details
As part of the agreement, Breez will operate as a Spark Service Provider (SSP), joining Lightspark in facilitating payments and expanding Spark’s ecosystem. Technical specifications for the SDK will be released later this year, with the full implementation slated for launch in 2025.

About Breez
Breez pioneers Lightning Network solutions, enabling developers to embed self-custodial bitcoin payments into apps. Its SDK powers seamless, secure, and decentralized financial interactions.

About Spark
Spark is a bitcoin-native Layer 2 infrastructure designed for payments and settlement, allowing developers to build directly on Bitcoin’s base layer without compromises.

@ 7460b7fd:4fc4e74b

如果比特币发明了真正的钱，那么 Crypto 是什么？

引言

比特币诞生之初就以“数字黄金”姿态示人，被支持者誉为人类历史上第一次发明了真正意义上的钱——一种不依赖国家信用、总量恒定且不可篡改的硬通货。然而十多年过去，比特币之后蓬勃而起的加密世界（Crypto）已经远超“货币”范畴：从智能合约平台到去中心组织，从去央行的稳定币到戏谑荒诞的迷因币，Crypto 演化出一个丰富而混沌的新生态。这不禁引发一个根本性的追问：如果说比特币解决了“真金白银”的问题，那么 Crypto 又完成了什么发明？

Crypto 与政治的碰撞：随着Crypto版图扩张，全球政治势力也被裹挟进这场金融变革洪流（示意图）。比特币的出现重塑了货币信用，但Crypto所引发的却是一场更深刻的政治与治理结构实验。从华尔街到华盛顿，从散户论坛到主权国家，越来越多人意识到：Crypto不只是技术或金融现象，而是一种全新的政治表达结构正在萌芽。正如有激进论者所断言的：“比特币发明了真正的钱，而Crypto则在发明新的政治。”价格K线与流动性曲线，或许正成为这个时代社群意志和社会价值观的新型投射。

冲突结构：当价格挑战选票

传统政治中，选票是人民意志的载体，一人一票勾勒出民主治理的正统路径。而在链上的加密世界里，骤升骤降的价格曲线和真金白银的买卖行为却扮演起了选票的角色：资金流向成了民意走向，市场多空成为立场表决。价格行为取代选票，这听来匪夷所思，却已在Crypto社群中成为日常现实。每一次代币的抛售与追高，都是社区对项目决策的即时“投票”；每一根K线的涨跌，都折射出社区意志的赞同或抗议。市场行为本身承担了决策权与象征权——价格即政治，正在链上蔓延。

这一新生政治形式与旧世界的民主机制形成了鲜明冲突。bitcoin.org中本聪在比特币白皮书中提出“一CPU一票”的工作量证明共识，用算力投票取代了人为决策bitcoin.org。而今，Crypto更进一步，用资本市场的涨跌来取代传统政治的选举。支持某项目？直接购入其代币推高市值；反对某提案？用脚投票抛售资产。相比漫长的选举周期和层层代议制，链上市场提供了近乎实时的“公投”机制。但这种机制也引发巨大争议：资本的投票天然偏向持币多者（富者）的意志，是否意味着加密政治更为金权而非民权？持币多寡成为影响力大小，仿佛选举演变成了“一币一票”，巨鲸富豪俨然掌握更多话语权。这种与民主平等原则的冲突，成为Crypto政治形式饱受质疑的核心张力之一。

尽管如此，我们已经目睹市场投票在Crypto世界塑造秩序的威力：2016年以太坊因DAO事件分叉时，社区以真金白银“投票”决定了哪条链获得未来。arkhamintelligence.com结果是新链以太坊（ETH）成为主流，其市值一度超过2,800亿美元，而坚持原则的以太经典（ETC）市值不足35亿美元，不及前者的八十分之一arkhamintelligence.com。市场选择清楚地昭示了社区的政治意志。同样地，在比特币扩容之争、各类硬分叉博弈中，无不是由投资者和矿工用资金与算力投票，胜者存续败者黯然。价格成为裁决纷争的最终选票，冲击着传统“选票决胜”的政治理念。Crypto的价格民主，与现代代议民主正面相撞，激起当代政治哲思中前所未有的冲突火花。

治理与分配

XRP对决SEC成为了加密世界“治理与分配”冲突的经典战例。2020年底，美国证券交易委员会（SEC）突然起诉Ripple公司，指控其发行的XRP代币属于未注册证券，消息一出直接引爆市场恐慌。XRP价格应声暴跌，一度跌去超过60%，最低触及0.21美元coindesk.com。曾经位居市值前三的XRP险些被打入谷底，监管的强硬姿态似乎要将这个项目彻底扼杀。

然而XRP社区没有选择沉默。 大批长期持有者组成了自称“XRP军团”（XRP Army）的草根力量，在社交媒体上高调声援Ripple，对抗监管威胁。面对SEC的指控，他们集体发声，质疑政府选择性执法，声称以太坊当年发行却“逍遥法外”，只有Ripple遭到不公对待coindesk.com。正如《福布斯》的评论所言：没人预料到愤怒的加密散户投资者会掀起法律、政治和社交媒体领域的‘海啸式’反击，痛斥监管机构背弃了保护投资者的承诺crypto-law.us。这种草根抵抗监管的话语体系迅速形成：XRP持有者不但在网上掀起舆论风暴，还采取实际行动向SEC施压。他们发起了请愿，抨击SEC背离保护投资者初衷、诉讼给个人投资者带来巨大伤害，号召停止对Ripple的上诉纠缠——号称这是在捍卫全球加密用户的共同利益bitget.com。一场由民间主导的反监管运动就此拉开帷幕。

Ripple公司则选择背水一战，拒绝和解，在法庭上与SEC针锋相对地鏖战了近三年之久。Ripple坚称XRP并非证券，不应受到SEC管辖，即使面临沉重法律费用和业务压力也不妥协。2023年，这场持久战迎来了标志性转折：美国法庭作出初步裁决，认定XRP在二级市场的流通不构成证券coindesk.com。这一胜利犹如给沉寂已久的XRP注入强心针——消息公布当天XRP价格飙涨近一倍，盘中一度逼近1美元大关coindesk.com。沉重监管阴影下苟延残喘的项目，凭借司法层面的突破瞬间重获生机。这不仅是Ripple的胜利，更被支持者视为整个加密行业对SEC强权的一次胜仗。

XRP的对抗路线与某些“主动合规”的项目形成了鲜明对比。 稳定币USDC的发行方Circle、美国最大合规交易所Coinbase等选择了一条迎合监管的道路：它们高调拥抱现行法规，希望以合作换取生存空间。然而现实却给了它们沉重一击。USDC稳定币在监管风波中一度失去美元锚定，哪怕Circle及时披露储备状况也无法阻止恐慌蔓延，大批用户迅速失去信心，短时间内出现数十亿美元的赎回潮blockworks.co。Coinbase则更为直接：即便它早已注册上市、反复向监管示好，2023年仍被SEC指控为未注册证券交易所reuters.com，卷入漫长诉讼漩涡。可见，在迎合监管的策略下，这些机构非但未能换来监管青睐，反而因官司缠身或用户流失而丧失市场信任。 相比之下，XRP以对抗求生存的路线反而赢得了投资者的眼光：价格的涨跌成为社区投票的方式，抗争的勇气反过来强化了市场对它的信心。

同样引人深思的是另一种迥异的治理路径：技术至上的链上治理。 以MakerDAO为代表的去中心化治理模式曾被寄予厚望——MKR持币者投票决策、算法维持稳定币Dai的价值，被视为“代码即法律”的典范。然而，这套纯技术治理在市场层面却未能形成广泛认同，亦无法激发群体性的情绪动员。复杂晦涩的机制使得普通投资者难以参与其中，MakerDAO的治理讨论更多停留在极客圈子内部，在社会大众的政治对话中几乎听不见它的声音。相比XRP对抗监管所激发的铺天盖地关注，MakerDAO的治理实验显得默默无闻、难以“出圈”。这也说明，如果一种治理实践无法连接更广泛的利益诉求和情感共鸣，它在社会政治层面就难以形成影响力。

XRP之争的政治象征意义由此凸显： 它展示了一条“以市场对抗国家”的斗争路线，即通过代币价格的集体行动来回应监管权力的施压。在这场轰动业界的对决中，价格即是抗议的旗帜，涨跌映射着政治立场。XRP对SEC的胜利被视作加密世界向旧有权力宣告的一次胜利：资本市场的投票器可以撼动监管者的强权。这种“价格即政治”的张力，正是Crypto世界前所未有的社会实验：去中心化社区以市场行为直接对抗国家权力，在无形的价格曲线中凝聚起政治抗争的力量，向世人昭示加密货币不仅有技术和资本属性，更蕴含着不可小觑的社会能量和政治意涵。

不可归零的政治资本

Meme 币的本质并非廉价或易造，而在于其构建了一种“无法归零”的社群生存结构。 对于传统观点而言，多数 meme 币只是短命的投机游戏：价格暴涨暴跌后一地鸡毛，创始人套现跑路，投资者血本无归，然后“大家转去炒下一个”theguardian.com。然而，meme 币社群的独特之处在于——失败并不意味着终结，而更像是运动的逗号而非句号。一次币值崩盘后，持币的草根们往往并未散去；相反，他们汲取教训，准备东山再起。这种近乎“不死鸟”的循环，使得 meme 币运动呈现出一种数字政治循环的特质：价格可以归零，但社群的政治热情和组织势能不归零。正如研究者所指出的，加密领域中的骗局、崩盘等冲击并不会摧毁生态，反而成为让系统更加强韧的“健康应激”，令整个行业在动荡中变得更加反脆弱cointelegraph.com。对应到 meme 币，每一次暴跌和重挫，都是社群自我进化、卷土重来的契机。这个去中心化群体打造出一种自组织的安全垫，失败者得以在瓦砾上重建家园。对于草根社群、少数派乃至体制的“失败者”而言，meme 币提供了一个永不落幕的抗争舞台，一种真正反脆弱的政治性。正因如此，我们看到诸多曾被嘲笑的迷因项目屡败屡战：例如 Dogecoin 自2013年问世后历经八年沉浮，早已超越玩笑属性，成为互联网史上最具韧性的迷因之一frontiersin.org；支撑 Dogecoin 的正是背后强大的迷因文化和社区意志，它如同美国霸权支撑美元一样，为狗狗币提供了“永不中断”的生命力frontiersin.org。

“复活权”的数字政治意涵

这种“失败-重生”的循环结构蕴含着深刻的政治意涵：在传统政治和商业领域，一个政党选举失利或一家公司破产往往意味着清零出局，资源散尽、组织瓦解。然而在 meme 币的世界，社群拥有了一种前所未有的“复活权”。当项目崩盘，社区并不必然随之消亡，而是可以凭借剩余的人心和热情卷土重来——哪怕换一个 token 名称，哪怕重启一条链，运动依然延续。正如 Cheems 项目的核心开发者所言，在几乎无人问津、技术受阻的困境下，大多数人可能早已卷款走人，但 “CHEEMS 社区没有放弃，背景、技术、风投都不重要，重要的是永不言弃的精神”cointelegraph.com。这种精神使得Cheems项目起死回生，社区成员齐声宣告“我们都是 CHEEMS”，共同书写历史cointelegraph.com。与传统依赖风投和公司输血的项目不同，Cheems 完全依靠社区的信念与韧性存续发展，体现了去中心化运动的真谛cointelegraph.com。这意味着政治参与的门槛被大大降低：哪怕没有金主和官方背书，草根也能凭借群体意志赋予某个代币新的生命。对于身处社会边缘的群体来说，meme 币俨然成为自组织的安全垫和重新集结的工具。难怪有学者指出，近期涌入meme币浪潮的主力，正是那些对现实失望但渴望改变命运的年轻人theguardian.com——“迷茫的年轻人，想要一夜暴富”theguardian.com。meme币的炒作表面上看是投机赌博，但背后蕴含的是草根对既有金融秩序的不满与反抗：没有监管和护栏又如何？一次失败算不得什么，社区自有后路和新方案。这种由底层群众不断试错、纠错并重启的过程，本身就是一种数字时代的新型反抗运动和群众动员机制。

举例而言，Terra Luna 的沉浮充分展现了这种“复活机制”的政治力量。作为一度由风投资本热捧的项目，Luna 币在2022年的崩溃本可被视作“归零”的失败典范——稳定币UST瞬间失锚，Luna币价归零，数十亿美元灰飞烟灭。然而**“崩盘”并没有画下休止符**。Luna的残余社区拒绝承认失败命运，通过链上治理投票毅然启动新链，“复活”了 Luna 代币，再次回到市场交易reuters.com。正如 Terra 官方在崩盘后发布的推文所宣称：“我们力量永在社区，今日的决定正彰显了我们的韧性”reuters.com。事实上，原链更名为 Luna Classic 后，大批所谓“LUNC 军团”的散户依然死守阵地，誓言不离不弃；他们自发烧毁巨量代币以缩减供应、推动技术升级，试图让这个一度归零的项目重新燃起生命之火binance.com。失败者并未散场，而是化作一股草根洪流，奋力托举起项目的残迹。经过迷因化的叙事重塑，这场从废墟中重建价值的壮举，成为加密世界中草根政治的经典一幕。类似的案例不胜枚举：曾经被视为笑话的 DOGE（狗狗币）正因多年社群的凝聚而跻身主流币种，总市值一度高达数百亿美元，充分证明了“民有民享”的迷因货币同样可以笑傲市场frontiersin.org。再看最新的美国政治舞台，连总统特朗普也推出了自己的 meme 币 $TRUMP，号召粉丝拿真金白银来表达支持。该币首日即从7美元暴涨至75美元，两天后虽回落到40美元左右，但几乎同时，第一夫人 Melania 又发布了自己的 $Melania 币，甚至连就职典礼的牧师都跟风发行了纪念币theguardian.com！显然，对于狂热的群众来说，一个币的沉浮并非终点，而更像是运动的换挡——资本市场成为政治参与的新前线，你方唱罢我登场，meme 币的群众动员热度丝毫不减。值得注意的是，2024年出现的 Pump.fun 等平台更是进一步降低了这一循环的技术门槛，任何人都可以一键生成自己的 meme 币theguardian.com。这意味着哪怕某个项目归零，剩余的社区完全可以借助此类工具迅速复制一个新币接力，延续集体行动的火种。可以说，在 meme 币的世界里，草根社群获得了前所未有的再生能力和主动权，这正是一种数字时代的群众政治奇观：失败可以被当作梗来玩，破产能够变成重生的序章。

价格即政治：群众投机的新抗争

meme 币现象的兴盛表明：在加密时代，价格本身已成为一种政治表达。这些看似荒诞的迷因代币，将金融市场变成了群众宣泄情绪和诉求的另一个舞台。有学者将此概括为“将公民参与直接转化为了投机资产”cdn-brighterworld.humanities.mcmaster.ca——也就是说，社会运动的热情被注入币价涨跌，政治支持被铸造成可以交易的代币。meme 币融合了金融、技术与政治，通过病毒般的迷因文化激发公众参与，形成对现实政治的某种映射cdn-brighterworld.humanities.mcmaster.caosl.com。当一群草根投入全部热忱去炒作一枚毫无基本面支撑的币时，这本身就是一种大众政治动员的体现：币价暴涨，意味着一群人以戏谑的方式在向既有权威叫板；币价崩盘，也并不意味着信念的消亡，反而可能孕育下一次更汹涌的造势。正如有分析指出，政治类 meme 币的出现前所未有地将群众文化与政治情绪融入市场行情，价格曲线俨然成为民意和趋势的风向标cdn-brighterworld.humanities.mcmaster.ca。在这种局面下，投机不再仅仅是逐利，还是一种宣示立场、凝聚共识的过程——一次次看似荒唐的炒作背后，是草根对传统体制的不服与嘲讽，是失败者拒绝认输的呐喊。归根结底，meme 币所累积的，正是一种不可被归零的政治资本。价格涨落之间，群众的愤怒、幽默与希望尽显其中；这股力量不因一次挫败而消散，反而在市场的循环中愈发壮大。也正因如此，我们才说“价格即政治”——在迷因币的世界里，价格不只是数字，更是人民政治能量的晴雨表，哪怕归零也终将卷土重来。cdn-brighterworld.humanities.mcmaster.caosl.com

全球新兴现象：伊斯兰金融的入场

当Crypto在西方世界掀起市场治政的狂潮时，另一股独特力量也悄然融入这一场域：伊斯兰金融携其独特的道德秩序，开始在链上寻找存在感。长期以来，伊斯兰金融遵循着一套区别于世俗资本主义的原则：禁止利息（Riba）、反对过度投机（Gharar/Maysir）、强调实际资产支撑和道德投资。当这些原则遇上去中心化的加密技术，会碰撞出怎样的火花？出人意料的是，这两者竟在“以市场行为表达价值”这个层面产生了惊人的共鸣。伊斯兰金融并不拒绝市场机制本身，只是为其附加了道德准则；Crypto则将市场机制推向了政治高位，用价格来表达社群意志。二者看似理念迥异，实则都承认市场行为可以也应当承载社会价值观。这使得越来越多金融与政治分析人士开始关注：当虔诚的宗教伦理遇上狂野的加密市场，会塑造出何种新范式？

事实上，穆斯林世界已经在探索“清真加密”的道路。一些区块链项目致力于确保协议符合伊斯兰教法（Sharia）的要求。例如Haqq区块链发行的伊斯兰币（ISLM），从规则层面内置了宗教慈善义务——每发行新币即自动将10%拨入慈善DAO，用于公益捐赠，以符合天课（Zakat）的教义nasdaq.comnasdaq.com。同时，该链拒绝利息和赌博类应用，2022年还获得了宗教权威的教令（Fatwa）认可其合规性nasdaq.com。再看理念层面，伊斯兰经济学强调**货币必须有内在价值**、收益应来自真实劳动而非纯利息剥削。这一点与比特币的“工作量证明”精神不谋而合——有人甚至断言法定货币无锚印钞并不清真，而比特币这类需耗费能源生产的资产反而更符合教法初衷cointelegraph.com。由此，越来越多穆斯林投资者开始以道德投资的名义进入Crypto领域，将资金投向符合清真原则的代币和协议。

这种现象带来了微妙的双重合法性：一方面，Crypto世界原本奉行“价格即真理”的世俗逻辑，而伊斯兰金融为其注入了一股道德合法性，使部分加密资产同时获得了宗教与市场的双重背书；另一方面，即便在遵循宗教伦理的项目中，最终决定成败的依然是市场对其价值的认可。道德共识与市场共识在链上交汇，共同塑造出一种混合的新秩序。这一全球新兴现象引发广泛议论：有人将其视为金融民主化的极致表现——不同文化价值都能在市场平台上表达并竞争；也有人警惕这可能掩盖新的风险，因为把宗教情感融入高风险资产，既可能凝聚强大的忠诚度，也可能在泡沫破裂时引发信仰与财富的双重危机。但无论如何，伊斯兰金融的入场使Crypto的政治版图更加丰盈多元。从华尔街交易员到中东教士，不同背景的人们正通过Crypto这个奇特的舞台，对人类价值的表达方式进行前所未有的实验。

升华结语：价格即政治的新直觉

回顾比特币问世以来的这段历程，我们可以清晰地看到一条演进的主线：先有货币革命，后有政治发明。比特币赋予了人类一种真正自主的数字货币，而Crypto在此基础上完成的，则是一项前所未有的政治革新——它让市场价格行为承担起了类似政治选票的功能，开创了一种“价格即政治”的新直觉。在这个直觉下，市场不再只是冷冰冰的交易场所；每一次资本流动、每一轮行情涨落，都被赋予了社会意义和政治涵义。买入即表态，卖出即抗议，流动性的涌入或枯竭胜过千言万语的陈情。Crypto世界中，K线图俨然成为民意曲线，行情图就是政治晴雨表。决策不再由少数权力精英关起门来制定，而是在全球无眠的交易中由无数普通人共同谱写。这样的政治形式也许狂野，也许充满泡沫和噪音，但它不可否认地调动起了广泛的社会参与，让原本疏离政治进程的个体通过持币、交易重新找回了影响力的幻觉或实感。

“价格即政治”并非一句简单的口号，而是Crypto给予世界的全新想象力。它质疑了传统政治的正统性：如果一串代码和一群匿名投资者就能高效决策资源分配，我们为何还需要繁冗的官僚体系？它也拷问着自身的内在隐忧：当财富与权力深度绑定，Crypto政治如何避免堕入金钱统治的老路？或许，正是在这样的矛盾和张力中，人类政治的未来才会不断演化。Crypto所开启的，不仅是技术乌托邦或金融狂欢，更可能是一次对民主形式的深刻拓展和挑战。这里有最狂热的逐利者，也有最理想主义的社群塑梦者；有一夜暴富的神话，也有瞬间破灭的惨痛。而这一切汇聚成的洪流，正冲撞着工业时代以来既定的权力谱系。

当我们再次追问：Crypto究竟是什么？ 或许可以这样回答——Crypto是比特币之后，人类完成的一次政治范式的试验性跃迁。在这里，价格行为化身为选票，资本市场演化为广场，代码与共识共同撰写“社会契约”。这是一场仍在进行的文明实验：它可能无声地融入既有秩序，也可能剧烈地重塑未来规则。但无论结局如何，如今我们已经见证：在比特币发明真正的货币之后，Crypto正在发明真正属于21世纪的政治。它以数字时代的语言宣告：在链上，价格即政治，市场即民意，代码即法律。这，或许就是Crypto带给我们的最直观而震撼的本质启示。

参考资料：

• 中本聪. 比特币白皮书: 一种点对点的电子现金系统. (2008)bitcoin.org

• Arkham Intelligence. Ethereum vs Ethereum Classic: Understanding the Differences. (2023)arkhamintelligence.com

• Binance Square (@渔神的加密日记). 狗狗币价格为何上涨？背后的原因你知道吗？binance.com

• Cointelegraph中文. 特朗普的迷因币晚宴预期内容揭秘. (2025)cn.cointelegraph.com

• 慢雾科技 Web3Caff (@Lisa). 风险提醒：从 LIBRA 看“政治化”的加密货币骗局. (2025)web3caff.com

• Nasdaq (@Anthony Clarke). How Cryptocurrency Aligns with the Principles of Islamic Finance. (2023)nasdaq.comnasdaq.com

• Cointelegraph Magazine (@Andrew Fenton). DeFi can be halal but not DOGE? Decentralizing Islamic finance. (2023)

@ b1ddb4d7:471244e7

When Sergei talks about bitcoin, he doesn’t sound like someone chasing profits or followers. He sounds like someone about to build a monastery in the ruins.

While the mainstream world chases headlines and hype, Sergei shows up in local meetups from Sacramento to Cleveland, mentors curious minds, and shares what he knows is true – hoping that, with the right spark, someone will light their own way forward.

We interviewed Sergei to trace his steps: where he started, what keeps him going, and why teaching bitcoin is far more than explaining how to set up a node – it’s about reaching the right minds before the noise consumes them. So we began where most journeys start: at the beginning.

First Steps

• So, where did it all begin for you and what made you stay curious?

I first heard about bitcoin from a friend’s book recommendation, American Kingpin, the book about Silk Road (online drug marketplace). He is still not a true bitcoiner, although I helped him secure private keys with some bitcoin.

I was really busy at the time – focused on my school curriculum, running a 7-bedroom Airbnb, and working for a standardized test prep company. Bitcoin seemed too technical for me to explore, and the pace of my work left no time for it.

After graduating, while pursuing more training, I started playing around with stocks and maximizing my savings. Passive income seemed like the path to early retirement, as per the promise of the FIRE movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early). I mostly followed the mainstream news and my mentor’s advice – he liked preferred stocks at the time.

I had some Coinbase IOUs and remember sending bitcoin within the Coinbase ledger to a couple friends. I also recall the 2018 crash; I actually saw the legendary price spike live but couldn’t benefit because my funds were stuck amidst the frenzy. I withdrew from that investment completely for some time. Thankfully, my mentor advised to keep en eye on bitcoin.

Around late 2019, I started DCA-ing cautiously. Additionally, my friend and I were discussing famous billionaires, and how there was no curriculum for becoming a billionaire. So, I typed “billionaires” into my podcast app, and landed on We Study Billionaires podcast.

That’s where I kept hearing Preston Pysh mention bitcoin, before splitting into his own podcast series, Bitcoin Fundamentals. I didn’t understand most of the terminology of stocks, bonds, etc, yet I kept listening and trying to absorb it thru repetition. Today, I realize all that financial talk was mostly noise.

When people ask me for a technical explanation of fiat, I say: it’s all made up, just like the fiat price of bitcoin! Starting in 2020, during the so-called pandemic, I dove deeper. I religiously read Bitcoin Magazine, scrolled thru Bitcoin Twitter, and joined Simply Bitcoin Telegram group back when DarthCoin was an admin.

DarthCoin was my favorite bitcoiner – experienced, knowledgeable, and unapologetic. Watching him shift from rage to kindness, from passion to despair, gave me a glimpse at what a true educator’s journey would look like.

The struggle isn’t about adoption at scale anymore. It’s about reaching the few who are willing to study, take risks, and stay out of fiat traps. The vast majority won’t follow that example – not yet at least… if I start telling others the requirements for true freedom and prosperity, they would certainly say “Hell no!”

• At what point did you start teaching others, and why?

After college, I helped teach at a standardized test preparation company, and mentored some students one-on-one. I even tried working at a kindergarten briefly, but left quickly; Babysitting is not teaching.

What I discovered is that those who will succeed don’t really need my help – they would succeed with or without me, because they already have the inner drive.

Once you realize your people are perishing for lack of knowledge, the only rational thing to do is help raise their level of knowledge and understanding. That’s the Great Work.

I sometimes imagine myself as a political prisoner. If that were to happen, I’d probably start teaching fellow prisoners, doctors, janitors, even guards. In a way we already live in an open-air prison, So what else is there to do but teach, organize, and conspire to dismantle the Matrix?

Building on Bitcoin

• You hosted some in-person meetups in Sacramento. What did you learn from those?

My first presentation was on MultiSig storage with SeedSigner, and submarine swaps through Boltz.exchange.

I realized quickly that I had overestimated the group’s technical background. Even the meetup organizer, a financial advisor, asked, “How is anyone supposed to follow these steps?” I responded that reading was required… He decided that Unchained is an easier way.

At a crypto meetup, I gave a much simpler talk, outlining how bitcoin will save the world, based on a DarthCoin’s guide. Only one person stuck around to ask questions – a man who seemed a little out there, and did not really seem to get the message beyond the strength of cryptographic security of bitcoin.

Again, I overestimated the audience’s readiness. That forced me to rethink my strategy. People are extremely early and reluctant to study.

• Now in Ohio, you hold sessions via the Orange Pill App. What’s changed?

My new motto is: educate the educators. The corollary is: don’t orange-pill stupid normies (as DarthCoin puts it).

I’ve shifted to small, technical sessions in order to raise a few solid guardians of this esoteric knowledge who really get it and can carry it forward.

The youngest attendee at one of my sessions is a newborn baby – he mostly sleeps, but maybe he still absorbs some of the educational vibes.

• How do local groups like Sactown and Cleveland Bitcoiners influence your work?

Every meetup reflects its local culture. Sacramento and Bay Area Bitcoiners, for example, do camping trips – once we camped through a desert storm, shielding our burgers from sand while others went to shoot guns.

Cleveland Bitcoiners are different. They amass large gatherings. They recently threw a 100k party. They do a bit more community outreach. Some are curious about the esoteric topics such as jurisdiction, spirituality, and healthful living.

I have no permanent allegiance to any state, race, or group. I go where I can teach and learn. I anticipate that in my next phase, I’ll meet Bitcoiners so advanced that I’ll have to give up my fiat job and focus full-time on serious projects where real health and wealth are on the line.

Hopefully, I’ll be ready. I believe the universe always challenges you exactly to your limit – no less, no more.

• What do people struggle with the most when it comes to technical education?

The biggest struggle isn’t technical – it’s a lack of deep curiosity. People ask “how” and “what” – how do I set up a node, what should one do with the lightning channels? But very few ask “why?”

Why does on-chain bitcoin not contribute to the circular economy? Why is it essential to run Lightning? Why did humanity fall into mental enslavement in the first place?

I’d rather teach two-year-olds who constantly ask “why” than adults who ask how to flip a profit. What worries me most is that most two-year-olds will grow up asking state-funded AI bots for answers and live according to its recommendations.

• One Cleveland Bitcoiner shows up at gold bug meetups. How valuable is face-to-face education?

I don’t think the older generation is going to reverse the current human condition. Most of them have been under mind control for too long, and they just don’t have the attention span to study and change their ways.

They’re better off stacking gold and helping fund their grandkids’ education. If I were to focus on a demographic, I’d go for teenagers – high school age – because by college, the indoctrination is usually too strong, and they’re chasing fiat mastery.

As for the gold bug meetup? Perhaps one day I will show up with a ukulele to sing some bitcoin-themed songs. Seniors love such entertainment.

• How do you choose what to focus on in your sessions, especially for different types of learners?

I don’t come in with a rigid agenda. I’ve collected a massive library of resources over the years and never stopped reading. My browser tab and folder count are exploding.

At the meetup, people share questions or topics they’re curious about, then I take that home, do my homework, and bring back a session based on those themes. I give them the key takeaways, plus where to dive deeper.

Most people won’t – or can’t – study the way I do, and I expect attendees to put in the work. I suspect that it’s more important to reach those who want to learn but don’t know how, the so-called nescient (not knowing), rather than the ignorant.

There are way too many ignorant bitcoiners, so my mission is to find those who are curious what’s beyond the facade of fake reality and superficial promises.

That naturally means that fewer people show up, and that’s fine. I’m not here for the crowds; I’m here to educate the educators. One bitcoiner who came decided to branch off into self-custody sessions and that’s awesome. Personally, I’m much more focused on Lightning.

I want to see broader adoption of tools like auth, sign-message, NWC, and LSPs. Next month, I’m going deep into eCash solutions, because let’s face it – most newcomers won’t be able to afford their own UTXO or open a lightning channel; additionally, it has to be fun and easy for them to transact sats, otherwise they won’t do it. Additionally, they’ll need to rely on