@ 7459d333:f207289b

Tokenization of physical assets sounds kinda dumb. Say you tokenize a house. What happens if you loose the private keys? What happens if the last “legal” (on paper) owner claims it? Basically, the tokenization is useless. The house is still subject to whatever jurisdiction is in. And the smart contract can say whatever, but that does not make it true.

What's not so obvious is for virtual assets or service tokens. A good example is cashu. Where tokenizing Bitcoin has the advantages of allowing the users to transact with it “without the mint's permission”. This could be applied similarly for concert tickets or API credits.

For example, the biggest problem of concert ticket reselling is trusting that other copies of the PDF with the QR code won't be used before the one you bought. Or that you won't have problems at the entry because the ticket is not in your name. A mint that allows users to transact between them preventing double spending and fungibility would solve this.

But for some reason shitcoiners are obsessed on tokenizing physical assets or company shares. Where the only benefit that tokenizing could bring is avoiding regulations (until they update the laws).

So, what's your take on tokenization?

https://stacker.news/items/992519

@ 32c87f47:cb8f61a1

O universo do entretenimento digital tem evoluído rapidamente, e uma das plataformas que vem ganhando destaque nesse cenário é a Tribo777. Com uma proposta inovadora, voltada para jogadores brasileiros que buscam emoção, praticidade e recompensas reais, o site se posiciona como uma das melhores opções para quem quer unir diversão e estratégia.

Conhecendo a Plataforma Tribo777 A Tribo777 foi desenvolvida com foco total na experiência do usuário. Ao acessar o site, o jogador é imediatamente recebido por uma interface amigável, com menus intuitivos e design moderno. A plataforma funciona perfeitamente tanto em computadores quanto em dispositivos móveis, o que permite jogar de qualquer lugar, a qualquer hora.

Um dos grandes diferenciais da Tribo777 é a agilidade no carregamento dos jogos e a estabilidade durante as partidas. Isso garante uma experiência fluida, sem interrupções, o que é essencial para quem gosta de se manter concentrado e maximizar suas chances de vitória.

Além disso, a plataforma oferece diversos métodos de pagamento locais, como PIX, transferência bancária e carteiras digitais, facilitando depósitos e saques com rapidez e segurança.

Diversidade de Jogos para Todos os Estilos O catálogo de jogos da Tribo777 é amplo e repleto de opções para todos os perfis de jogador. Entre os destaques, estão os famosos jogos de slots, que combinam gráficos vibrantes, trilhas sonoras envolventes e mecânicas dinâmicas. Com uma variedade impressionante de temas — que vão desde aventuras mitológicas até cenários futuristas — os slots garantem horas de entretenimento.

Para os fãs de jogos clássicos, a plataforma também conta com títulos como roletas, cartas e outros desafios de habilidade que envolvem raciocínio rápido e tomada de decisões estratégicas. Muitos desses jogos contam com modos ao vivo, nos quais o jogador interage em tempo real com apresentadores e outros participantes, tornando a experiência ainda mais imersiva.

Outro ponto interessante é a presença de jogos exclusivos, que só podem ser encontrados na Tribo777. Esses títulos oferecem mecânicas diferenciadas e promoções especiais, o que contribui para a fidelização dos jogadores.

Experiência do Jogador: Segurança, Suporte e Promoções A Tribo777 se preocupa com cada detalhe da jornada do jogador. Desde o cadastro rápido até o momento de retirar os ganhos, tudo é feito com máxima transparência e praticidade. A segurança é uma prioridade, com tecnologias avançadas de proteção de dados e transações criptografadas.

O suporte ao cliente está disponível todos os dias, com atendimento em português, preparado para resolver qualquer dúvida ou problema de forma rápida e eficiente. Seja por chat ao vivo ou por e-mail, os jogadores sempre têm com quem contar.

Outro atrativo que conquista os usuários é o programa de recompensas. A plataforma oferece bônus de boas-vindas, giros grátis, cashback e promoções frequentes, que aumentam as chances de jogar mais e ganhar mais. Além disso, há eventos temáticos e torneios com prêmios atrativos, que tornam a participação ainda mais divertida e competitiva.

Conclusão A Tribo777 chega ao mercado com uma proposta sólida, voltada para jogadores brasileiros que buscam qualidade, emoção e recompensas reais. Com uma interface moderna, variedade de jogos, suporte dedicado e promoções constantes, a plataforma se firma como uma excelente escolha para quem quer explorar o mundo do entretenimento online com confiança e diversão.

Se você ainda não conhece a Tribo777, esta é a hora de se juntar à tribo e descobrir um novo jeito de jogar — com emoção, segurança e muitas oportunidades de vitória.

@ 32c87f47:cb8f61a1

Se você está em busca de uma plataforma confiável, divertida e repleta de oportunidades para se entreter com jogos online, o 77BB é o lugar ideal para você. Com uma estrutura moderna, interface amigável e uma variedade impressionante de jogos, o 77BB vem conquistando jogadores de todo o Brasil e se destacando como uma das principais referências no setor de entretenimento digital.

Uma Plataforma Completa para Todos os Perfis de Jogadores Desde o primeiro acesso, fica evidente que o 77BB foi desenvolvido com foco na experiência do usuário. O site possui um layout intuitivo, permitindo que jogadores iniciantes e experientes naveguem com facilidade entre as diferentes categorias. Além disso, a plataforma é totalmente compatível com dispositivos móveis, oferecendo uma experiência fluida tanto em celulares quanto em tablets e computadores.

Outro diferencial importante é a segurança. O 77bbconta com tecnologia de ponta para garantir a proteção dos dados dos jogadores, além de adotar políticas rigorosas de privacidade e suporte eficiente para esclarecer dúvidas e resolver qualquer questão rapidamente.

Variedade de Jogos para Todos os Gostos A diversidade de jogos disponíveis é um dos grandes atrativos da plataforma. O 77BB oferece uma seleção robusta que inclui desde os clássicos jogos de mesa até opções mais modernas com gráficos avançados e dinâmicas interativas. Entre os jogos mais populares estão os slots temáticos, jogos de cartas como pôquer e blackjack, além de roletas e outros formatos que simulam a atmosfera de casas de jogo físicas.

Os jogos são fornecidos por desenvolvedores renomados no mercado internacional, o que garante qualidade, fluidez e total imparcialidade nos resultados. Isso proporciona uma experiência justa e divertida, com chances reais de ganho e muita emoção a cada rodada.

Experiência do Jogador: Diversão e Benefícios Reais Um dos pontos mais elogiados pelos usuários do 77BB é a experiência geral oferecida pela plataforma. Além da facilidade de uso e da grande variedade de jogos, o site conta com promoções regulares, bônus de boas-vindas e programas de fidelidade que recompensam os jogadores mais ativos.

As promoções variam frequentemente e podem incluir rodadas grátis, bônus em depósitos e prêmios especiais em eventos temáticos. Isso torna a jornada ainda mais empolgante e mantém os jogadores sempre motivados a explorar novos títulos e desafios.

Outro aspecto importante é o suporte ao cliente. O 77BB oferece atendimento em português por meio de chat ao vivo e outros canais, garantindo que qualquer dúvida ou problema seja resolvido de forma rápida e eficiente. Esse cuidado com o usuário contribui para um ambiente mais acolhedor e profissional.

Conclusão: 77BB é Sinônimo de Diversão Garantida Se você procura uma plataforma segura, completa e cheia de possibilidades para se divertir com jogos online, o 77BB é uma escolha certeira. Com uma interface acessível, excelente variedade de jogos e um atendimento ao cliente exemplar, o 77BB entrega uma experiência de alto nível que agrada tanto iniciantes quanto veteranos.

Descubra hoje mesmo o universo de entretenimento que o 77BB tem a oferecer e transforme seu tempo livre em momentos de pura diversão!

@ 32c87f47:cb8f61a1

No universo dos jogos online, a busca por plataformas confiáveis, divertidas e recheadas de opções é constante. É nesse cenário que o KK45 se destaca como uma escolha ideal para quem procura entretenimento de qualidade, segurança e uma experiência envolvente. Com uma interface moderna e intuitiva, a plataforma atrai jogadores de todos os níveis — desde os iniciantes até os mais experientes — oferecendo um catálogo variado de jogos e funcionalidades que fazem toda a diferença.

Conhecendo a Plataforma KK45 O KK45 é uma plataforma digital voltada para o entretenimento com foco total na qualidade e praticidade. O site foi desenvolvido pensando na experiência do usuário, com navegação fluida e recursos otimizados tanto para computadores quanto para dispositivos móveis. Isso significa que o jogador pode se divertir em qualquer lugar, a qualquer momento, bastando ter acesso à internet.

Outro diferencial é a segurança. O KK45 utiliza sistemas avançados de proteção de dados e transações, garantindo que todas as informações dos usuários estejam devidamente criptografadas. Além disso, o suporte ao cliente é eficiente e ágil, com atendimento em português e disponível 24 horas por dia, 7 dias por semana.

Variedade de Jogos para Todos os Gostos Um dos grandes atrativos do KK45 é a ampla variedade de jogos disponíveis. A plataforma trabalha com os principais desenvolvedores do mercado, trazendo gráficos de última geração, mecânicas envolventes e funcionalidades inovadoras. Entre os títulos mais populares, estão:

Slots temáticos: Com visuais incríveis e diversas funcionalidades bônus, os slots do KK45 agradam tanto os fãs de jogos clássicos quanto os que preferem aventuras modernas com muitos efeitos visuais.

Jogos de cartas e mesa: O ambiente perfeito para quem gosta de jogos como pôquer, blackjack, bacará, entre outros. Esses jogos são desenvolvidos com realismo e atenção aos detalhes, proporcionando partidas emocionantes.

Jogos interativos ao vivo: Para quem gosta de uma experiência mais próxima da realidade, os jogos ao vivo trazem interação em tempo real, com apresentadores reais, câmeras de alta definição e uma atmosfera imersiva.

A plataforma também investe em atualizações frequentes, lançando novos jogos regularmente para manter o catálogo sempre atualizado e atrativo.

A Experiência do Jogador no KK45 O que realmente diferencia o KK45 de outras plataformas é o cuidado com a experiência do jogador. Desde o cadastro simplificado até as formas de pagamento facilitadas, tudo foi pensado para proporcionar conforto e satisfação. O site oferece múltiplas opções de depósito e saque, com rapidez e segurança, além de bônus atrativos para novos jogadores e promoções recorrentes para os usuários fiéis.

Outro ponto forte é a personalização da experiência. Os jogadores podem salvar seus jogos favoritos, acompanhar seu histórico de partidas e configurar preferências para deixar a navegação ainda mais prática.

Além disso, o KK45 incentiva o jogo responsável, disponibilizando ferramentas que ajudam o usuário a controlar o tempo de uso e os valores investidos, promovendo uma diversão equilibrada.

Conclusão O KK45 se consolida como uma das principais plataformas de jogos online do Brasil, unindo tecnologia, segurança e uma variedade impressionante de jogos. Seja você um novato curioso ou um veterano em busca de novos desafios, o KK45 oferece tudo o que você precisa para uma jornada divertida e segura no mundo dos jogos digitais.

Explore agora mesmo a plataforma e descubra por que tantos jogadores estão escolhendo o KK45 como seu destino favorito para se entreter com qualidade e confiança!

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

The newly proposed RESTRICT ACT - is being advertised as a TikTok Ban, but is much broader than that, carries a $1M Fine and up to 20 years in prison️! It is unconstitutional and would create massive legal restrictions on the open source movement and free speech throughout the internet.

The Bill was proposed by: Senator Warner, Senator Thune, Senator Baldwin, Senator Fischer, Senator Manchin, Senator Moran, Senator Bennet, Senator Sullivan, Senator Gillibrand, Senator Collins, Senator Heinrich, and Senator Romney. It has broad support across Senators of both parties.

Corrupt politicians will not protect us. They are part of the problem. We must build, support, and learn how to use censorship resistant tools in order to defend our natural rights.

The RESTRICT Act, introduced by Senators Warner and Thune, aims to block or disrupt transactions and financial holdings involving foreign adversaries that pose risks to national security. Although the primary targets of this legislation are companies like Tik-Tok, the language of the bill could potentially be used to block or disrupt cryptocurrency transactions and, in extreme cases, block Americans’ access to open source tools or protocols like Bitcoin.

The Act creates a redundant regime paralleling OFAC without clear justification, it significantly limits the ability for injured parties to challenge actions raising due process concerns, and unlike OFAC it lacks any carve-out for protected speech. COINCENTER ON THE RESTRICT ACT

Full Text of Bill

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If you found this post helpful support my work with bitcoin.

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

Nostr is an open communication protocol that can be used to send messages across a distributed set of relays in a censorship resistant and robust way.

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If you missed my nostr introduction post you can find it here. My nostr account can be found here.

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We are nearly at the point that if something interesting is posted on a centralized social platform it will usually be posted by someone to nostr.

We are nearly at the point that if something interesting is posted exclusively to nostr it is cross posted by someone to various centralized social platforms.

We are nearly at the point that you can recommend a cross platform app that users can install and easily onboard without additional guides or resources.

As companies continue to build walls around their centralized platforms nostr posts will be the easiest to cross reference and verify - as companies continue to censor their users nostr is the best censorship resistant alternative - gradually then suddenly nostr will become the standard. 🫡

Current Nostr Stats

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If you found this post helpful support my work with bitcoin.

@ dfa02707:41ca50e3

Contribute to keep No Bullshit Bitcoin news going.

• The latest firmware updates for COLDCARD devices introduce two major features: COLDCARD Co-sign (CCC) and Key Teleport between two COLDCARD Q devices using QR codes and/or NFC with a website.

What's new

• COLDCARD Co-Sign: When CCC is enabled, a second seed called the Spending Policy Key (Key C) is added to the device. This seed works with the device's Main Seed and one or more additional XPUBs (Backup Keys) to form 2-of-N multisig wallets.
  • The spending policy functions like a hardware security module (HSM), enforcing rules such as magnitude and velocity limits, address whitelisting, and 2FA authentication to protect funds while maintaining flexibility and control, and is enforced each time the Spending Policy Key is used for signing.
  • When spending conditions are met, the COLDCARD signs the partially signed bitcoin transaction (PSBT) with the Main Seed and Spending Policy Key for fund access. Once configured, the Spending Policy Key is required to view or change the policy, and violations are denied without explanation.

"You can override the spending policy at any time by signing with either a Backup Key and the Main Seed or two Backup Keys, depending on the number of keys (N) in the multisig."

• A step-by-step guide for setting up CCC is available here.

• Key Teleport for Q devices allows users to securely transfer sensitive data such as seed phrases (words, xprv), secure notes and passwords, and PSBTs for multisig. It uses QR codes or NFC, along with a helper website, to ensure reliable transmission, keeping your sensitive data protected throughout the process.

  • For more technical details, see the protocol spec.

"After you sign a multisig PSBT, you have option to “Key Teleport” the PSBT file to any one of the other signers in the wallet. We already have a shared pubkey with them, so the process is simple and does not require any action on their part in advance. Plus, starting in this firmware release, COLDCARD can finalize multisig transactions, so the last signer can publish the signed transaction via PushTX (NFC tap) to get it on the blockchain directly."

• Multisig transactions are finalized when sufficiently signed. It streamlines the use of PushTX with multisig wallets.
• Signing artifacts re-export to various media. Users are now provided with the capability to export signing products, like transactions or PSBTs, to alternative media rather than the original source. For example, if a PSBT is received through a QR code, it can be signed and saved onto an SD card if needed.
• Multisig export files are signed now. Public keys are encoded as P2PKH address for all multisg signature exports. Learn more about it here.
• NFC export usability upgrade: NFC keeps exporting until CANCEL/X is pressed.
• Added Bitcoin Safe option to Export Wallet.
• 10% performance improvement in USB upload speed for large files.
• Q: Always choose the biggest possible display size for QR.

Fixes

• Do not allow change Main PIN to same value already used as Trick PIN, even if Trick PIN is hidden.
• Fix stuck progress bar under Receiving... after a USB communications failure.
• Showing derivation path in Address Explorer for root key (m) showed double slash (//).
• Can restore developer backup with custom password other than 12 words format.
• Virtual Disk auto mode ignores already signed PSBTs (with “-signed” in file name).
• Virtual Disk auto mode stuck on “Reading…” screen sometimes.
• Finalization of foreign inputs from partial signatures. Thanks Christian Uebber!
• Temporary seed from COLDCARD backup failed to load stored multisig wallets.
• Destroy Seed also removes all Trick PINs from SE2.
• Lock Down Seed requires pressing confirm key (4) to execute.
• Q only: Only BBQr is allowed to export Coldcard, Core, and pretty descriptor.

Blog Post / Archive
GitHub Repo
CCC Guide
Key Teleport site

@ dfa02707:41ca50e3

Contribute to keep No Bullshit Bitcoin news going.

News

• Spiral welcomes Ben Carman. The developer will work on the LDK server and a new SDK designed to simplify the onboarding process for new self-custodial Bitcoin users.
• Spiral renews support for Dan Gould and Joschisan. The organization has renewed support for Dan Gould, who is developing the Payjoin Dev Kit (PDK), and Joschisan, a Fedimint developer focused on simplifying federations.
• The Bitcoin Dev Kit Foundation announced new corporate members for 2025, including AnchorWatch, CleanSpark, and Proton Foundation. The annual dues from these corporate members fund the small team of open-source developers responsible for maintaining the core BDK libraries and related free and open-source software (FOSS) projects.
• The European Central Bank is pushing for amendments to the European Union's Markets in Crypto Assets legislation (MiCA), just months after its implementation. According to Politico's report on Tuesday, the ECB is concerned that U.S. support for cryptocurrency, particularly stablecoins, could cause economic harm to the 27-nation bloc.
• Slovenia is considering a 25% capital gains tax on Bitcoin profits for individuals. The Ministry of Finance has proposed legislation to impose this tax on gains from cryptocurrency transactions, though exchanging one cryptocurrency for another would remain exempt. At present, individual 'crypto' traders in Slovenia are not taxed.
• The Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) Bill 2025 introduced in Kenya. The new legislation aims to establish a comprehensive legal framework for licensing, regulating, and supervising virtual asset service providers (VASPs), with strict penalties for non-compliant entities.
• Circle, BitGo, Coinbase, and Paxos plan to apply for U.S. bank charters or licenses. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, major crypto companies are planning to apply for U.S. bank charters or licenses. These firms are pursuing limited licenses that would permit them to issue stablecoins, as the U.S. Congress deliberates on legislation mandating licensing for stablecoin issuers.

"Established banks, like Bank of America, are hoping to amend the current drafts of [stablecoin] legislation in such a way that nonbanks are more heavily restricted from issuing stablecoins," people familiar with the matter told The Block.

• Paul Atkins has officially assumed the role of the 34th Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This is a return to the agency for Atkins, who previously served as an SEC Commissioner from 2002 to 2008 under the George W. Bush administration. He has committed to advancing the SEC’s mission of fostering capital formation, safeguarding investors, and ensuring fair and efficient markets.
• Federal Reserve retracts guidance discouraging banks from engaging in 'crypto.' The U.S. Federal Reserve withdrew guidance that discouraged banks from crypto and stablecoin activities, as announced by its Board of Governors on Thursday. This includes rescinding a 2022 supervisory letter requiring prior notification of crypto activities and 2023 stablecoin requirements.

"As a result, the Board will no longer expect banks to provide notification and will instead monitor banks' crypto-asset activities through the normal supervisory process," reads the FED statement.

• Russian government to launch a cryptocurrency exchange. The country's Ministry of Finance and Central Bank announced plans to establish a trading platform for "highly qualified investors" that "will legalize crypto assets and bring crypto operations out of the shadows."
• Twenty One Capital is set to launch with over 42,000 BTC in its treasury. This new Bitcoin-native firm, backed by Tether and SoftBank, is planned to go public via a SPAC merger with Cantor Equity Partners and will be led by Jack Mallers, co-founder and CEO of Strike. According to a report by the Financial Times, the company aims to replicate the model of Michael Saylor with his company, MicroStrategy.
• Strategy increases Bitcoin holdings to 538,200 BTC. In the latest purchase, the company has spent more than $555M to buy 6,556 coins through proceeds of two at-the-market stock offering programs.
• Metaplanet buys another 145 BTC. The Tokyo-listed company has purchased an additional 145 BTC for $13.6 million. Their total bitcoin holdings now stand at 5,000 coins, worth around $428.1 million.
• Semler Scientific has increased its bitcoin holdings to 3,303 BTC. The company acquired an additional 111 BTC at an average price of $90,124. The purchase was funded through proceeds from an at-the-market offering and cash reserves, as stated in a press release.
• Tesla still holds nearly $1 billion in bitcoin. According to the automaker's latest earnings report, the firm reported digital asset holdings worth $951 million as of March 31.
• Spar supermarket experiments with Bitcoin payments in Zug, Switzerland. The store has introduced a new payment method powered by the Lightning Network. The implementation was facilitated by DFX Swiss, a service that supports seamless conversions between bitcoin and legacy currencies.

• Charles Schwab to launch spot Bitcoin trading by 2026. The financial investment firm, managing over $10 trillion in assets, has revealed plans to introduce spot Bitcoin trading for its clients within the next year.
• Arch Labs has secured $13 million to develop "ArchVM" and integrate smart-contract functionality with Bitcoin. The funding round, valuing the company at $200 million, was led by Pantera Capital, as announced on Tuesday.
• Citrea deployed its Clementine Bridge on the Bitcoin testnet. The bridge utilizes the BitVM2 programming language to inherit validity from Bitcoin, allegedly providing "the safest and most trust-minimized way to use BTC in decentralized finance."
• UAE-based Islamic bank ruya launches Shari’ah-compliant bitcoin investing. The bank has become the world’s first Islamic bank to provide direct access to virtual asset investments, including Bitcoin, via its mobile app, per Bitcoin Magazine.
• Solosatoshi.com has sold over 10,000 open-source miners, adding more than 10 PH of hashpower to the Bitcoin network.

"Thank you, Bitaxe community. OSMU developers, your brilliance built this. Supporters, your belief drives us. Customers, your trust powers 10,000+ miners and 10PH globally. Together, we’re decentralizing Bitcoin’s future. Last but certainly not least, thank you@skot9000 for not only creating a freedom tool, but instilling the idea into thousands of people, that Bitcoin mining can be for everyone again," said the firm on X.

• OCEAN's DATUM has found 100 blocks. "Over 65% of OCEAN’s miners are using DATUM, and that number is growing every day. This means block template construction is making its way back into the hands of the miners, which is not only the most profitable

@ dfa02707:41ca50e3

Contribute to keep No Bullshit Bitcoin news going.

• Version 1.3 of Bitcoin Safe introduces a redesigned interactive chart, quick receive feature, updated icons, a mempool preview window, support for Child Pays For Parent (CPFP) and testnet4, preconfigured testnet demo wallets, as well as various bug fixes and improvements.

• Upcoming updates for Bitcoin Safe include Compact Block Filters.

"Compact Block Filters increase the network privacy dramatically, since you're not asking an electrum server to give you your transactions. They are a little slower than electrum servers. For a savings wallet like Bitcoin Safe this should be OK," writes the project's developer Andreas Griffin.

• Learn more about the current and upcoming features of Bitcoin Safe wallet here.

What's new in v1.3

• Redesign of Chart, Quick Receive, Icons, and Mempool Preview (by @design-rrr).
• Interactive chart. Clicking on it now jumps to transaction, and selected transactions are now highlighted.

• Speed up transactions with Child Pays For Parent (CPFP).
• BDK 1.2 (upgraded from 0.32).
• Testnet4 support.
• Preconfigured Testnet demo wallets.
• Cluster unconfirmed transactions so that parents/children are next to each other.
• Customizable columns for all tables (optional view: Txid, Address index, and more)
• Bug fixes and other improvements.

Announcement / Archive
Blog Post / Archive
GitHub Repo
Website

@ dfa02707:41ca50e3

Contribute to keep No Bullshit Bitcoin news going.

This update brings key enhancements for clarity and usability:

• Recent Blocks View: Added to the Send tab and inspired by Mempool's visualization, it displays the last 2 blocks and the estimated next block to help choose fee rates.
• Camera System Overhaul: Features a new library for higher resolution detection and mouse-scroll zoom support when available.
• Vector-Based Images: All app images are now vectorized and theme-aware, enhancing contrast, especially in dark mode.
• Tor & P2A Updates: Upgraded internal Tor and improved support for pay-to-anchor (P2A) outputs.
• Linux Package Rename: For Linux users, Sparrow has been renamed to sparrowwallet (or sparrowserver); in some cases, the original sparrow package may need manual removal.
• Additional updates include showing total payments in multi-payment transaction diagrams, better handling of long labels, and other UI enhancements.

• Sparrow v2.2.1 is a bug fix release that addresses missing UUID issue when starting Tor on recent macOS versions, icons for external sources in Settings and Recent Blocks view, repackaged .deb installs to use older gzip instead of zstd compression, and removed display of median fee rate where fee rates source is set to Server.

Learn how to get started with Sparrow wallet:

Release notes (v2.2.0)

• Added Recent Blocks view to Send tab.
• Converted all bitmapped images to theme aware SVG format for all wallet models and dialogs.
• Support send and display of pay to anchor (P2A) outputs.
• Renamed sparrow package to sparrowwallet and sparrowserver on Linux.
• Switched camera library to openpnp-capture.
• Support FHD (1920 x 1080) and UHD4k (3840 x 2160) capture resolutions.
• Support camera zoom with mouse scroll where possible.
• In the Download Verifier, prefer verifying the dropped file over the default file where the file is not in the manifest.
• Show a warning (with an option to disable the check) when importing a wallet with a derivation path matching another script type.
• In Cormorant, avoid calling the listwalletdir RPC on initialization due to a potentially slow response on Windows.
• Avoid server address resolution for public servers.
• Assume server address is non local for resolution failures where a proxy is configured.
• Added a tooltip to indicate truncated labels in table cells.
• Dynamically truncate input and output labels in the tree on a transaction tab, and add tooltips if necessary.
• Improved tooltips for wallet tabs and transaction diagrams with long labels.
• Show the address where available on input and output tooltips in transaction tab tree.
• Show the total amount sent in payments in the transaction diagram when constructing multiple payment transactions.
• Reset preferred table column widths on adjustment to improve handling after window resizing.
• Added accessible text to improve screen reader navigation on seed entry.
• Made Wallet Summary table grow horizontally with dialog sizing.
• Reduced tooltip show delay to 200ms.
• Show transaction diagram fee percentage as less than 0.01% rather than 0.00%.
• Optimized and reduced Electrum server RPC calls.
• Upgraded Bouncy Castle, PGPainless and Logback libraries.
• Upgraded internal Tor to v0.4.8.16.
• Bug fix: Fixed issue with random ordering of keystore origins on labels import.
• Bug fix: Fixed non-zero account script type detection when signing a message on Trezor devices.
• Bug fix: Fixed issue parsing remote Coldcard xpub encoded on a different network.
• Bug fix: Fixed inclusion of fees on wallet label exports.
• Bug fix: Increase Trezor device libusb timeout.

Linux users: Note that the sparrow package has been renamed to sparrowwallet or sparrowserver, and in some cases you may need to manually uninstall the original sparrow package. Look in the /opt folder to ensure you have the new name, and the original is removed.

What's new in v2.2.1

• Updated Tor library to fix missing UUID issue when starting Tor on recent macOS versions.
• Repackaged .deb installs to use older gzip instead of zstd compression.
• Removed display of median fee rate where fee rates source is set to Server.
• Added icons for external sources in Settings and Recent Blocks view
• Bug fix: Fixed issue in Recent Blocks view when switching fee rates source
• Bug fix: Fixed NPE on null fee returned from server

Announcement / Archive
GitHub Repo

@ 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

Get our new STACK SATS hat - via tftcmerch.io

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

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Final thought...

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@ 29313cc9:a6bf155e

I thought i'd experiment with this Nostr blogging thing and write a short article on the state of Meshtastic and its alternatives.

For years Meshtastic was the only game in town, there wasn't a lot of users but the authors kept plugging away and it has become a thriving ecosystem of open source hardware, software, tools and social scene.

Meshtastic has always been focused on node to node messaging, in particular one of the use cases specifically mentioned was hiking in the wilderness or skiing in the mountains and being able to use these devices off-grid, perhaps even without a phone to communicate with one and other. The project does have a few other features like telemetry, remote admin, packet data etc but the messaging was the focus. Because of this focus, the core functionality needs to be built into the firmware of these low powered devices like ESP32 for example. This restricts what can be done in terms of CPU power and storage, but also makes synchronization between device and phone cumbersome.

Unfortunately, as a messaging platform, Meshtastic still struggles even after all these years. Message delivery and routing are fairly unreliable, 95% of conversations go along the lines of "hello, test, anyone there?". Now I should mention, if you have a very good signal to your peers the reliability can be good, but even then its not a guarantee.

Early on in the Meshtastic journey I stumbled upon a similar project named Reticulum which can utilize the same LoRa based hardware but aims to be a more comprehensive platform for decentralized communications and currently requires a computer or raspberry pi to run the Python backend alongside the LoRa hardware as a radio. Reticulum has historically been a less polished UI experience and a little idiosyncratic in its design which has probably hindered its adoption a little. But the main difference to Meshtastic is Reticulum requires bigger hardware and is less suitable for remote installations, solar powered setups etc. My understanding is once v1.0 has been released (soon) there may be efforts to port the code to native C which may allow hardware nodes to run as repeaters on their own.

More recently a new project has been announced called Meshcore, which is more closely aligned with Meshtastic than Reticulum, Meshcore makes several important improvements to message delivery and routing in an attempt to improve the reliability of the core feature, messaging. Popular Youtube channel Andy Kirby has been central in helping Meshcore gain popularity and I think he may be involved in the commercial aspects of the project. The smartphone apps and website mapping and flasher tools are a bit more polished with Meshcore.

One of the biggest contributors in the space is Liam Cottle who has created mapping websites for Meshtastic & Meshcore, he also built the Meshcore smartphone app and built the fantastic Reticulum MeshChat UI.

With all this new competition Meshtastic appears to be pushing out more frequent updates and whilst they have been introducing more bugs into the software it is nice to see some faster progress.

In my opinion Reticulum is probably the most interesting project with the most potential, but they do need to get the core routing engine running standalone on low powered hardware for the project to expand to more hardware/radio focused users.

That is all. Mesh on!

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

An analysis of the present and a look at the future of Bitcoin mining, between data, critical reflections and a personal vision on the role of this industry.

Before jumping on bitcoin and proposing it to their clientele as an investment instrument, traditional finance started with a more classic approach, beginning to purchase shares of mining companies and thus exposing themselves indirectly to the asset. Bitcoin mining today is a real industry, also composed of large players listed on the stock exchange that have received huge capital from investment funds like BlackRock. Furthermore, more and more mining companies are taking the path of listing on stock markets to manage to attract capital and some of these also manage pools, like Marathon. How was all this possible and what are the implications of this situation?

Mining pools

Mining pools aggregate the computing power of multiple miners to increase the chances of mining a block. They create the block template and use the collective hashrate to try to solve it. The reward is then divided among participants in proportion to the power provided.

Today pools use different methods to pay miners who provide computing power. One of these is called FPPS (Fully Pay Per Share), which offers a fixed and constant payment to the miner (which varies based on the computing power provided), regardless of whether the pool mines a block or not. This type of payment makes the revenues of a company that mines bitcoin calculable and constant and which, consequently, becomes more appealing to the market because it’s possible to calculate its ROI (Return On Investment). In essence, with this type of payment, uncertainty is excluded and returns are made predictable. Mining pools take on the risk because, in case they fail to mine blocks for a certain period of time, they could go into loss having to pay miners anyway. We can therefore venture that mining pools have helped the entry of traditional finance into bitcoin mining, taking on part of the risks. But this is my thought.

Mining today

Mining pools today are not that many and we have a strong concentration of miners in some of them. If we sum the hashrate of Foundry and AntPool we exceed 50% of global computing power. This is not an optimal condition. Now however let’s also look at the other side of the coin. First of all, although mining pools have great power, they cannot play with fire and must be very transparent about their operations towards miners, because miners can direct their hashrate towards another pool very quickly. And this is a fundamental element that also recalls game theory a bit, because a mining pool must not only serve its own interest, but also the interest of its “partners”, otherwise it loses everything. I believe that mining pools are well aware of their power and also know that they are a centralization point for the network and, today, also a point of attack by authorities, so they have every interest in finding solutions that allow them to continue doing business, but that relieve them somewhat of responsibilities.

On the miner side instead, we have increasingly large companies that collect enormous capital and produce a lot of hashrate, but my fear is that this hashrate is produced by a fiat economy and is very precarious. Hashrate is closely linked to price, because if the price drops below a certain threshold, miners are no longer profitable and are forced to turn off the machines, or, in the worst cases, to completely cease activity, consequently causing hashrate to collapse. Fortunately Bitcoin has mechanisms like difficulty adjustment that mitigate these situations. Being still a very small market, the entry of large institutional players first in mining companies and then directly on the underlying asset, could lead to strong price oscillations that also impact mining farms. All this makes hashrate very unstable too.

Something is changing

The development of Stratum V2 has started an attempt to solve the various problems that afflict pooled mining. Stratum is the communication protocol between mining farms and mining pools. Version 2 brings, in addition to data improvement and encryption, performance increases and gives each individual miner the possibility to create the template of the block to mine. Furthermore we also have other existing solutions that try to solve the problems described before in a somewhat different way, like Ocean pool, which has implemented its DATUM protocol (similar to Stratum V2) and which uses a miner payment method called TIDES, that is an evolution of FPPS and non-custodial PPLNS in which miner addresses are inserted directly into the coinbase transaction.

There’s also a lot of ferment on the miner side, for example with the advent of Bitaxe, an open source project that we can define almost as a movement, an ideology. Skot, the precursor of this movement, has essentially reverse engineered the professional machinery used to mine bitcoin and managed to create a “desktop” device that contains a real ASIC chip, consumes only a few watts and can be built at home. Obviously these products produce computing power not sufficient to try to be competitive, but they are bringing back solo mining and are giving enthusiasts the possibility to deepen this sector by exploiting a device of very small dimensions and with practically negligible consumption on the bill.

The future of mining

After analyzing the state we are in, we can start speculations and let our minds travel.

Let’s start with mining pools. Will they still exist? I would say yes, in what form I don’t know, but I think they will certainly lose the control they have today over block template creation and I also think that future solutions will be found (in addition to existing ones) to become non-custodial and directly remunerate miners. In the end it’s in their interest to always be competitive in terms of services offered, because they work on commission, so they have to be appealing.

As for miners instead, I see a bigger metamorphosis. If the intention is to consume eco-sustainable energy, then energy industries will necessarily have to start studying the benefits that mining can bring in this sense. They cannot continue to ignore them. And if this happens, then I imagine a future where energy companies themselves will start mining bitcoin and will no longer do so following market logic, but will shift focus to stabilizing the electrical grid. Mining is currently the only industry capable of being so flexible as to be able to absorb all the excess energy of a plant, but at the same time consume zero when energy is needed by the grid. At that point the raw mining activity could become no longer the main business, but a secondary benefit that will allow them to have alternative income compared to selling electricity.

And what about the Bitaxe movement? Hard to say, but in my opinion if it manages to reach a critical mass of enthusiasts, it could really start to emerge and become a fundamental piece for the “true bitcoiner” kit. Utopistically, if we had 50 or 100 million Bitaxes scattered in people’s homes, we would manage to distribute mining in a more widespread way, but above all we would have a part of the total hashrate totally uncorrelated from bitcoin price, because, given their very reduced consumption, Bitaxes would remain on and continue to produce hashrate regardless of energy cost or price oscillations of the underlying asset.

What will happen, then, after 2140, when no more bitcoins will be mined? Assuming that network fees will be much higher than today, and sufficient to keep the activity profitable, we could find ourselves in a situation where mining for pure profit will be downsized. The same companies, however, could become external service providers for grid balancing, or, as mentioned previously, become electricity producers themselves of renewable energy exploiting their experience in mining to push where today it’s not economically convenient. Even in our homes we could have a boiler, a heat pump or a water heating system for the pool that, while doing its job, also mines bitcoin. In short, a future that seems like a fairy tale, but so possible that we want to live it and make sure that my children are also protagonists of it.

The post The future of mining? Green and decentralized appeared first on Atlas21.

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

The Pakistani government embraces Bitcoin, following the example set by the United States.

Pakistan has officially announced the creation of a strategic Bitcoin reserve. The announcement was made during the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas, marking a significant shift from the government’s previous stance against digital assets.

During the event, Bilal Bin Saqib, head of the Pakistani Crypto Council, shared the country’s decision:

“Today, I announce the Pakistani government is setting up its own government-led Bitcoin Strategic Reserve, and we want to thank the United States of America again because we were inspired by them.”

Bin Saqib then added:

“This wallet, the national Bitcoin wallet, is not for speculation. We will be holding these bitcoins and we will never, ever sell them.”

It remains unclear how the bitcoins will be acquired, whether through direct purchases or other means.

Pakistan’s shift in approach toward digital assets traces back to last February, when the government first explored the idea of creating a National Crypto Council. This body was designed to oversee the development of a comprehensive regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies and to attract foreign investment in the sector.

The Council’s proposed initiatives included projects such as utilizing surplus energy for Bitcoin mining, building high-performance data centers, and accumulating Bitcoin for the national treasury.

Just a few days ago, the Council officially allocated 2,000 megawatts of surplus energy to support mining operations and AI data centers.

Moreover, Changpeng Zhao, co-founder of Binance, was appointed as an advisor to the Council in April, offering expertise on crypto regulations, blockchain infrastructure, and the adoption of digital assets.

To further consolidate this new approach, the Pakistani Ministry of Finance has commissioned the creation of the Digital Asset Authority, an agency dedicated to supervising digital asset regulations and issuing licenses for crypto service providers operating within the country.

The post Pakistan announces the creation of a strategic Bitcoin reserve appeared first on Atlas21.

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

The revelation by Miles Suter, Product Lead at Block, at the Bitcoin Conference 2025 confirms the economic potential of LN for professional operators.

During the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas, Miles Suter, Bitcoin Product Lead at Block Inc., revealed data that could change the economic perception of the Lightning Network: the company’s routing node is generating annual returns of 9.7% on invested liquidity.

During his presentation, Suter confirmed what many experts suspected but no one had ever quantified precisely: Lightning payment routing can be not only technically effective, but also economically profitable on a large scale. With an estimated public capacity of 184 BTC (approximately $20 million), Block is demonstrating that Lightning infrastructure can generate significant returns through the use of bitcoin as a payment method.

Non-custodial yield

Lightning routing represents what experts define as “true non-custodial yield” – returns generated from the pure economic utility of bitcoin as a means of payment, without having to entrust one’s funds to third parties.

“We are earning almost 10% returns on Bitcoin by effectively routing real payments on the Lightning network,” Suter declared.

In 2024 Cash App recorded an increase in Lightning payment volume equal to 7 times that of the previous year: one in four outgoing payments now occurs via LN, Suter stated.

According to Block’s Product Lead “if Bitcoin becomes only digital gold, we have failed the mission. If we don’t use bitcoin for payments, we risk losing one of the most important promises permissionless money. If we don’t preserve the qualities of cash in the digital world, human liberty is seriously in trouble.”

The company aims to incentivize practical and daily use of bitcoin, seeing Lightning payments as the key to realizing Satoshi Nakamoto’s original vision of a “peer-to-peer electronic payment system.”

The post Lightning routing yields 10% annually: Block’s announcement appeared first on Atlas21.

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

At Bitcoin 2025, the company unveils the Blockstream App and a strategic roadmap to accelerate adoption.

During the Bitcoin 2025 conference held in Las Vegas, Blockstream announced several updates, including a new non-custodial application and a corporate strategy structured around three operational divisions.

Introducing the Blockstream App: a new Bitcoin wallet that grows with you.

From first sats to advanced custody, it brings self-sovereignty into reach no matter where you start. Available now on Android, coming soon to iOS. pic.twitter.com/UBiNHKh8bO

— Blockstream (@Blockstream) May 29, 2025

The new Blockstream App allows users to purchase Bitcoin directly and store it in their own wallet, eliminating the need to rely on external custodians for fund management. This technological solution is built on the infrastructure of the Blockstream Green wallet. The app supports Bitcoin, Lightning, and Liquid.

The app’s design has been conceived to meet the needs of a diverse audience, the company stated. Its interface is accessible for beginners while retaining advanced functionalities for more experienced users.

It also remains compatible with advanced security features such as hardware wallet signing and air-gapped transactions via Blockstream Jade.

Corporate strategy: consumer, enterprise, and BAM

During the event, Blockstream revealed a strategic restructuring organized into three distinct operational units. This new framework aims to strengthen the company’s position within the Bitcoin economy through tailored approaches for specific markets.

The Consumer division will focus on developing products for retail users, while the Enterprise division will manage relationships with corporate clients. Blockstream Asset Management (BAM) will serve as the company’s institutional arm, specializing in Bitcoin investment products for institutional customers.

Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream, commented:

“The past year has shown clearly that Bitcoin no longer sits on the margins of the global financial system—it is rapidly becoming the foundation. Our vision is simple: the future of finance runs on Bitcoin.”

The post Blockstream launches a non-custodial app to buy Bitcoin appeared first on Atlas21.

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

The blockchain analytics firm claims to have identified the Bitcoin addresses held by the company led by Saylor.

Arkham Intelligence announced it had identified addresses linked to Strategy. According to Arkham’s statements, an additional 70,816 BTC connected to the company have been identified, with an estimated value of around $7.6 billion at current prices. This discovery would bring the total amount of Strategy’s identified holdings to $54.5 billion.

SAYLOR SAID HE WOULD NEVER REVEAL HIS ADDRESSES … SO WE DID

We have identified an additional 70,816 BTC belonging to Strategy, bringing our total identified MSTR BTC holdings to $54.5 Billion. We are the first to publicly identify these holdings.

This represents 87.5% of… pic.twitter.com/P3OVdVrhQL

— Arkham (@arkham) May 28, 2025

The analytics firm claims to have mapped 87.5% of Strategy’s total holdings. In a provocative post on X, Arkham wrote:

“Saylor said he would never reveal his addresses. So, we did it for him.
Previously, we tagged:
– 107,000 BTC sent to MSTR’s Fidelity deposits (Fidelity does not segregate custody, so these BTC do not appear in the MSTR entity)
– Over 327,000 BTC held in segregated custody, including Coinbase Prime, in our MSTR entity.”

Arkham’s revelations directly clash with Michael Saylor’s public statements on wallet security. During the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas, the Strategy chairman explicitly warned against publishing corporate wallet addresses.

“No institutional or enterprise security analyst would ever think it’s a good idea to publish all the wallet addresses so you can be tracked back and forth,” Saylor said during the event.

The executive chairman of Strategy added:

“The current, conventional way to publish proof-of-reserves is an insecure proof of reserves… It’s not a good idea, it’s a bad idea.”

He compared publishing wallet addresses to “publishing the addresses, bank accounts, and phone numbers of your kids hoping it will protect them — when in fact it makes them more vulnerable.”

Finally, the executive chairman suggested using artificial intelligence to explore the security implications of such a practice, claiming that in-depth research could produce “50 pages” of potential security risks.

The post Arkham reveals 87% of Strategy’s Bitcoin addresses appeared first on Atlas21.

@ 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.”

@ 9ca447d2:fbf5a36d

George Town, Grand Cayman — Ledn, one of the longest-standing digital asset lenders, today announced a sweeping update to its platform to discontinue any lending of client assets to generate interest, meaning that client assets will never be exposed to third party lending credit risk.

Going forward, Ledn will only offer its Custodied Bitcoin loan structure, under which client bitcoin collateral will remain fully in custody either with Ledn or its trusted funding partners.

As part of this strategic shift, Ledn will also remove support for ETH, doubling down on Bitcoin as its sole digital asset focus. These changes were unveiled by the company at Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas.

“With our new hyper-focus on Bitcoin-only lending, we’re going back to our roots and principles that inspired Bitcoin to begin with,” said Adam Reeds, Co-Founder and CEO of Ledn.

“Bitcoin was created as a direct response to the risks of fractional reserve banking and unchecked use of client assets to generate interest. Traditional finance relies on constantly reusing client assets to create leverage and, ultimately, inflation.

“Bitcoiners instinctively reject that model. That’s why we’ve moved away from this approach entirely. With our Custodied loan structure, client assets stay where they belong and are held in a transparent manner.”

While Ledn is taking these steps to further de-risk its product and further enhance client security, many of the new lending products in the market are exposing consumers to risky and opaque structures once again.

“These are the exact dynamics that led to the meltdown of the lending sector in 2022,” Reeds added.

“As more new entrants push half-baked lending models back into the market, we’re choosing the opposite path— Eliminating lending risk entirely for our users and making it 100% clear how their assets are dealt with.

“That clarity is what has helped us originate over $9.5 billion in loans and become the #1 retail CeFi lender in the Bitcoin space. We believe this approach should become the new standard for any serious digital asset lender.”    

This shift reinforces Ledn’s broader strategy:  Going all in on Bitcoin, simplifying its product stack, and sharpening its focus around the most secure and proven digital asset.

Ledn was the first crypto lender to introduce proof-of-reserves attestations in 2020, offering clients third-party verification that assets were fully accounted for down to the satoshi.

That transparency-first approach allowed the company to navigate market volatility as peers collapsed under opaque and hidden risks.

Now, as global regulators begin signaling openness to supervised participation rather than blanket restrictions, the opportunity — and the responsibility — for digital asset platforms is clear: Build resilient systems and proactively mitigate risk.

Ledn will exclusively offer custodied bitcoin-backed loans as of July 1, 2025. Support for ETH will be retired in the same release, reflecting Ledn’s strategic shift to a Bitcoin-only platform.

For more information on this transition, visit blog.ledn.io

For media inquiries, interviews, or early access to supporting materials, contact ledn@clpr.agency

About Ledn

Ledn offers growth accounts and loans to clients in over 120 countries, with an expanding range of services and supported regions. The company is dedicated to building world-class financial services, with a focus on helping people build long-term wealth through digital asset-based products. 

For more information about Ledn and its services, visit the company’s website at www.ledn.io

@ 3770c235:16042bcc

Let’s clear something up: frugal living isn’t about eating ramen every night or never treating yourself. It’s about being intentional with your money so you can enjoy what matters more. Think of it like editing a movie—you cut the boring scenes to highlight the best parts. You don’t have to give up lattes, travel, or Friday pizza nights. You just need a few clever tricks to make your money stretch further while keeping the fun intact.

Take my friend Alex, for example. Last year, he felt overwhelmed by credit card debt but didn’t want to give up his weekend hikes or coffee shop visits. By tweaking a few habits—like auditing subscriptions and prioritizing experiences—he paid off $5,000 in debt and still took a camping trip with his kids. The secret? Small, intentional choices that add up. In this guide, we’ll share practical, joy-friendly hacks to help you save smarter. Plus, we’ll mention sites like Crown Money—a budgeting service that makes tracking your progress effortless—so you can focus on living well, not pinching pennies.

**1. Audit Your Subscriptions (Yes, Even That One) ** You know that streaming service you haven’t opened since 2022? Or the gym membership you keep “meaning to use”? Those small charges add up fast. A recent study found the average person spends 219/month on forgotten subscriptions—that’s over 2,600 a year!

• The Hack: Every 3 months, review your subscriptions. Ask: “Do I actually use this?” Cancel anything that doesn’t spark joy. • Pro Tip: Use Crown Money to see all your subscriptions in one place. The app automatically flags recurring charges, so you don’t have to hunt through bank statements. You’ll even get a nudge like, “You’ve paid $14.99/month for ‘Premium Yoga App’—last used 6 months ago. Cancel?” Real-Life Example: Sarah canceled two unused streaming services and a meditation app she forgot about. She saved $45/month—enough to fund her new hobby: pottery classes. “I didn’t realize how much clutter I was paying for,” she said. “Now I’m learning to make mugs instead of binge-watching shows I don’t even like.”

**2. Embrace the “Joy Budget” (Seriously, Budget for Fun) ** Frugality fails when it feels like deprivation. Instead, carve out guilt-free money for things you love. Behavioral scientists call this “temptation bundling”—pairing savings goals with rewards to stay motivated.

• The Hack: Allocate 10–15% of your budget to a “Joy Fund” for hobbies, dining out, or travel. • Pro Tip: In Crown Money, create a custom category like “Adventure Fund” or “Treat Yourself.” Set a monthly limit and track how much you’ve saved for that weekend getaway or concert ticket. The app’s visual progress bars turn saving into a game—imagine watching your “Beach Trip 2024” fund grow with every dollar.

Real-Life Example: Mark loves trying new restaurants. By setting a $100/month “Dining Out” budget in Crown Money, he enjoys date nights without overspending. “I used to feel guilty splurging on sushi,” he shared. “Now I know it’s part of the plan, so I savor every bite.”

1. Master Mindful Spending (Ask This One Question) Before buying anything non-essential, ask: “Will this add value to my life, or just clutter?” Retail therapy might feel good in the moment, but that $50 impulse sweater often ends up forgotten in the back of your closet.

• The Hack: Implement a 24-hour “cooling-off” period for impulse buys. If you still want it tomorrow, go for it! • Pro Tip: Use Crown Money to review your spending trends. The app’s monthly reports show where your money goes, helping you spot habits (like late-night online shopping) that don’t align with your goals. Set up alerts like, “You’ve spent $75 on ‘Miscellaneous’ this week—want to check in?” Real-Life Example: Lisa avoided buying a $200 jacket on impulse. After 24 hours, she realized she didn’t need it—and put the money toward a weekend camping trip instead. “I almost bought something I’d wear once,” she laughed. “Now I have photos of sunsets instead of buyer’s remorse.”

1. DIY and Swap (Your Wallet Will Thank You) Frugal living thrives on creativity. Swap buying new for: • DIY solutions: Make coffee at home (a $5 bag of beans lasts weeks!), repair clothes, or grow herbs instead of buying them. • Community swaps: Trade books, tools, or skills with friends (e.g., “I’ll babysit if you help me fix my bike”).

Pro Tip: Track your monthly expenses in Crown Money. Create a category like “Homemade Wins” and watch how small choices (like brewing your latte) add up over time. For example, skipping a daily 4 coffee shop visit saves 120/month—that’s a weekend road trip! Real-Life Example: Jake started meal prepping lunches instead of buying 15 salads. He saves 300/month—enough for a monthly massage. “I’m eating healthier and funding self-care,” he said. “Plus, my coworkers are jealous of my teriyaki bowls.”

1. Prioritize Experiences Over “Stuff” (Happiness Science Approved) Research shows experiences bring longer-lasting joy than material purchases. A 2023 study found people who spent money on concerts, trips, or classes reported 30% higher life satisfaction than those who bought gadgets or clothes.

Instead of splurging on gadgets, invest in: • Free/low-cost adventures: Hiking, picnics, game nights, or exploring local festivals. • Shared moments: Host a potluck instead of dining out. Pro Tip: Use Crown Money to set a goal like “Summer Adventure Fund.” Allocate $50/month, and let the app remind you to fund it automatically. Watching that fund grow feels like planning a vacation in slow motion. Real-Life Example: Maria and her partner skipped a pricey vacation and rented a cozy cabin nearby. They saved $1,200 and still made memories roasting marshmallows under the stars. “We thought we needed a fancy trip to connect,” she said. “Turns out, all we needed was a fire pit and no Wi-Fi.”

Key Takeaways • Cut the clutter: Cancel unused subscriptions and track them with tools like Crown Money. • Budget for joy: Allocate guilt-free money for hobbies and experiences. • Pause before purchasing: Avoid impulse buys with a 24-hour rule. • Get creative: DIY, swap, and repurpose to save without sacrifice. • Invest in experiences: They’re richer than “stuff” and often cheaper.

FAQs: Frugal Living Made Simple Q: How do I stay motivated to save? A: Tie savings to specific goals (e.g., “Save $500 for a weekend trip”). Apps like Crown Money let you visualize progress, which feels rewarding!

Q: Can I be frugal and still socialize? A: Absolutely! Host DIY spa nights, picnic potlucks, or free museum days. Use Crown Money to set a “Social Fun” budget and stick to it.

Q: What if I slip up and overspend? A: No guilt! Adjust your budget next month. Crown Money makes it easy to shift funds between categories.

Q: How do I track small savings from DIY habits? A: Create a custom category in Crown Money (e.g., “Homemade Wins”) and log your savings manually. Watching it grow is addictive!

Q: What if I have a financial emergency? A: Build a “Safety Net” category in Crown Money. Start small—even $20/month adds up. The app’s reminders keep you consistent.

**Final Thoughts: Frugal Is Freedom ** Frugal living isn’t about saying “no”—it’s about saying “yes” to what truly lights you up. By trimming the financial fat (goodbye, unused subscriptions!), budgeting for joy, and getting creative, you can save money and savor life’s best moments. Tools like Crown Money are your allies here. They handle the tracking and nudging, so you can focus on the fun parts: planning adventures, trying new recipes, or laughing with friends over a board game. Remember: the goal isn’t perfection. It’s progress. Start small, celebrate wins, and let your frugal habits grow naturally. Your wallet (and your inner joy-seeker) will thank you.

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Mac users who use Ledger hardware wallets to manage their digital assets are being warned about a new scam that uses fake apps to steal funds.

Cybercriminals have launched multiple phishing campaigns using malware that targets macOS systems, replacing the real Ledger Live app with a fake version that asks users to enter their recovery phrase.

These fake apps look almost identical to the real Ledger Live, but instead of helping users manage their bitcoin, they steal the 24-word recovery phrase—the master key to the user’s digital assets.

According to a detailed analysis by Moonlock, the attacks start when users’ computers get infected with Atomic macOS Stealer malware from one of over 2,800 hacked websites. Once installed, the malware removes the legitimate Ledger Live app and installs a malicious version in its place.

The fake app then shows a pop-up message saying it has detected “suspicious activity”, and asks the user to enter their recovery phrase to fix the issue. Once entered, the seed phrase is sent to a server controlled by the attacker.

2,800 websites discovered infected with Atomic Stealer — Moonlock

“Once entered, the seed phrase is sent to an attacker-controlled server, exposing the user’s assets in seconds,” Moonlock said in their May 22 report.

With the recovery phrase, the scammers can drain the user’s wallet of all digital assets—bitcoin and other tokens.

This isn’t an isolated incident. Moonlock has been tracking this malware since August 2024 and has found at least four active campaigns targeting Mac users. They believe the attackers are getting more sophisticated and are refining their methods.

“This isn’t just a theft. It’s a high-stakes effort to outsmart one of the most trusted tools in the crypto world. And the thieves are not backing down,” Moonlock researchers said.

Initially, the fake Ledger Live apps could only steal passwords and view wallet details. This gave attackers some insight into victims’ assets but no way to steal funds directly.

However, over time, hackers have improved their tactics and are now harvesting recovery phrases, so they can take full control of wallets and move funds freely.

One strain of malware, called Odyssey, was spotted in March and was linked to a hacker using the alias “Rodrigo”.

Odyssey replaces Ledger Live with a trojanized app and displays a phishing page asking users to enter their recovery phrases after showing a fake “critical error” message. Another copycat campaign using AMOS (Atomic macOS Stealer) followed soon after.

The fake Ledger Live app asks for user’s seed phrase — Moonlock

In one case, a fake app even displayed an “App corrupted” error after stealing the seed phrase to lower the victim’s suspicion and buy time to transfer the funds.

For years, computers running MacOS were considered safer than their Windows counterparts, because the operating system is less prone to malware. This advanced malware shows that users can never be too careful.

Attackers aren’t just relying on infected apps to steal from users. Other scam tactics include:

• Discord attacks: In May, a moderator account in Ledger’s official Discord server was compromised. Attackers used it to post fake verification links.
• Reddit phishing: In January, a user reported losing $15,000 after unknowingly entering their recovery phrase into a fake app.
• Physical mail scams: In April, some Ledger users received letters claiming to be from the company. These letters included QR codes leading to phishing sites that asked for seed phrases under the guise of a “critical security update”.

Attackers are increasingly targeting users holding hardware wallets, because they might be holding larger amounts.

Earlier this month, a Trezor One user reported being contacted by Coinbase impersonators, who tricked him into entering his seed phrase into a fake website, resulting in loss of 17.5 BTC.

The final goal for all these attacks is similar: the attackers are looking for users’ seed phrases, and they are getting creative in finding new ways to acquire them.

One sure way of staying safe is to learn more. The golden standard rule is to NEVER enter your seed phrase into a computer or a website, no matter how urgent or convincing it looks.

If you are a hardware wallet user, make sure you purchase the wallet from official sources. And the ONLY electronic place you can enter your seed phrases is on the hardware wallet itself.

If a process requires you to enter your seed phrase anywhere on a computer itself, it is definitely a scam.

Related: Bitcoin Hardware Wallet Hacks | What You Need to Know

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H100 Group AB, a Swedish publicly listed health technology company, has made the headlines after investing in bitcoin as part of a new financial strategy.

The move has caused a stir in Sweden and beyond, with H100’s stock price rising 40% after the announcement.

The company has bought 4.39 bitcoin for 5 million Norwegian Krone (around $475,000–$492,000).

This is the company’s first foray into the digital asset space and makes H100 Group the first publicly-listed health tech company in Sweden to hold bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset.

The bitcoin was bought at an average price of 1,138,737 NOK (around $108,000) per coin.

The bitcoin purchase is part of H100 Group’s new “Bitcoin Treasury Strategy” to diversify its financial assets and strengthen its balance sheet. Instead of holding idle cash, the company decided to invest in what it sees as a long-term asset.

“This addition to H100’s Bitcoin Treasury Strategy follows an increasing number of tech-oriented growth companies holding bitcoin on their balance sheet,” said CEO Sander Andersen.

“And I believe the values of individual sovereignty highly present in the Bitcoin community aligns well with, and will appeal to, the customers and communities we are building the H100 platform for.”

Andersen said they will “build and hold” bitcoin long-term, viewing it as a savings tool, not a short-term trade.

The market reacted fast. On May 22, the company’s stock went up 39.27%, seeing highs of 1.620 SEK on the Nordic Growth Market.

This helped the company to recover a big part of the losses from the last two months, during which the stock fell 46%.

And now, after the purchase, the firm’s market cap is around $150.46 million.

H100 has said this might not be the only purchase. The company has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) to set up a convertible loan facility of up to 10 million SEK with an undisclosed investor.

H100 Group’s announcement — Source

The funds will be used for general corporate purposes and to potentially increase bitcoin holdings. The loan will have a 3-year term and can be converted into shares at 1.3 SEK per share.

If H100’s stock price is more than 33% above the conversion price for more than 60 days, H100 will have the right to force conversion.

The company also announced today that it has successfully raised 21 million SEK ($2.21 million) through a convertible round led by Blockstream founder and CEO Adam Back.

Despite the Bitcoin pivot, H100 Group has made it clear that the core business remains the same.

They will continue to develop AI-powered automation tools and digital platforms to help healthcare providers deliver better services, especially in the health and longevity space.

Andersen said they are committed to healthy living, and adopting a bitcoin strategy is a smarter financial move that aligns with their values.

H100’s move comes as corporate adoption of bitcoin accelerates globally.

According to BitcoinTreasuries over 109 public companies now list bitcoin on their balance sheets. Among those are companies like Twenty One Capital, Strive and Metaplanet.

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The Bitcoin world begins what is considered to be its biggest event yet — Bitcoin 2025, a three-day conference taking place May 27-29 at The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas.

With over 30,000 attendees expected, the event will bring together the biggest names in politics, finance, technology and the global Bitcoin community.

Hosted by BTC Inc., Bitcoin 2025 is not just another tech conference — it’s a global gathering that mixes policy, innovation and community under one roof.

It’s where big ideas about the future of money are debated, shared and shaped.

Influential speakers will attend the conference

The conference features a wide range of speakers from Bitcoin experts and educators to political leaders and athletes.

Big names like U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Trump’s Crypto Czar David Sacks, and Senator Cynthia Lummis are among the most anticipated guests.

Vice President Vance is expected to talk about the role of Bitcoin in the national economy. “The resilience of Bitcoin as a financial instrument is a testament to the power of decentralized finance,” he recently said.

Also speaking are Nigel Farage, a well-known voice in European politics and Donald Trump Jr., a supporter of financial freedom through digital currency.

Also, Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman of Strategy will be back on stage to talk about bitcoin as a corporate asset.

There are over 70 speakers on the list including Adam Back (CEO of Blockstream), Jan van Eck (CEO of VanEck) and Bryan Johnson, a futurist known for his work in human longevity and health tech.

Bitcoin 2025 will feature special new programs including Code + Country, a one-day segment on May 27 that explores how freedom, technology and innovation shape modern society.

Speakers like Chris LaCivita (Trump’s 2024 campaign co-CEO) and David Sacks (AI and digital assets advisor) will be talking about how digital tools are changing politics and finance.

Also new this year, is The Art of Freedom, an exhibit that showcases how Bitcoin is impacting the art world.

This museum-style experience allows artists to price and sell their work using bitcoin, connect directly with fans and avoid traditional middlemen.

The first official Bitcoin Conference was in 2019 in San Francisco, after grassroots meetups in 2013 and 2014. Since then, it’s been the biggest annual event in the Bitcoin world.

This year is especially important.

Global economic changes are happening and analysts say the discussions at Bitcoin 2025 will shape the next wave of regulatory reforms and technological standards for Bitcoin and stablecoins.

Bitcoin (BTC) has recently been hovering at around $110,000 with a market cap of $2.12 trillion. Many think the ideas and announcements at the event will impact price and policy.

Bitcoin 2025 is for everyone — long-time Bitcoiners to newcomers to digital assets, with keynotes, panels, massive expo halls and VIP networking.

It’s fun too. There are numerous parties, meetups and side events to connect, making it a place to learn, meet others who share the same interests and help shape the financial world.

The scale and diversity of Bitcoin 2025 make it more than just a Bitcoin event.

It’s a reflection of how far Bitcoin has come — from internet forums to boardrooms and government halls. It’s not just about Bitcoin anymore, it’s about the future of the world.

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LAS VEGAS, May 28 2025 — Blockstream, the global leader in Bitcoin-powered financial infrastructure, has today revealed its strategic vision to support Bitcoin’s next pivotal phase of growth, building on over a decade of pioneering work at the forefront of Bitcoin innovation. 

Unveiled in a keynote by Blockstream Co-Founder and CEO Dr. Adam Back at Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas and anchored by a bold new tagline, The Future of Finance Runs on Bitcoin, the vision introduces a clear framework based on three core business units—Consumer, Enterprise and Blockstream Asset Management (BAM).

This framework represents a unified approach to onboarding users across the rapidly growing Bitcoin economy, from individuals to institutions.

“The past year has shown clearly that Bitcoin no longer sits on the margins of the global financial system—it is rapidly becoming the foundation,” said Dr. Back.

“Our vision is simple: The Future of Finance Runs on Bitcoin. Guided by this idea, Blockstream is working hard to build the vertically integrated platform to support that transition, from individual self-custody to enterprise-scale asset issuance and regulated investment products.”

A New Era for Bitcoin-Native Finance

According to crypto ETF analytics platform SoSoValue, Bitcoin has attracted over $41 billion in net ETF inflows alone since the launch of U.S. spot ETFs in early 2024, led by major institutions such as BlackRock, Fidelity, and Franklin Templeton.

At the same time, New Hampshire and Arizona have become the first U.S. states to pursue Strategic Bitcoin Reserves and the number of corporate treasuries holding bitcoin continues to climb.

With a market cap of just over $2 trillion and trillions settled annually on-chain, Bitcoin’s role as a legitimate financial layer is becoming increasingly clear, hastening the need for scalable infrastructure.

Blockstream has been building that infrastructure for over a decade.

Founded in 2014 by Dr. Adam Back—inventor of Bitcoin’s proof-of-work (PoW) mechanism—the company has focused from the outset on expanding Bitcoin’s functionality without compromising its foundational principles.

Blockstream Research, led by renowned cryptographer Andrew Poelstra, is a key contributor to Bitcoin Core and drives advances in applied cryptography and protocol development. 

On the product side, Blockstream maintains Core Lightning (CLN) for scalable payments, the Liquid Network and Blocksteam Asset Management Platform (AMP) for tokenized asset issuance and settlement, as well as self-custody tools including the open-source Jade hardware wallet.

The All-New Blockstream App—Self Custody on Your Terms

Headlining today’s keynote was the launch of the all-new Blockstream app—a streamlined, self-custodial experience that lets users buy bitcoin and secure it immediately in their own wallet.

Built on the foundation of the trusted Blockstream Green wallet, the updated app offers seamless support for managing bitcoin and Liquid assets within a redesigned interface tailored to both new and experienced users.

The Blockstream app is designed to make onboarding intuitive from day one, minimizing friction while staying true to the principles of self-custody.

Users can begin simply and gradually adopt more advanced features at their own pace—including hardware signing and air-gapped transactions with the Blockstream Jade.

Current Blockstream Green users will find all existing functionality preserved within the redesigned interface.

With support for 31 languages, the app makes Bitcoin accessible to anyone with a smartphone, opening the door to secure, sovereign finance worldwide

“The new Blockstream app isn’t just a wallet,” said Peter Bain, VP of Consumer Products at Blockstream.

“It’s a gateway to the full power of Bitcoin—enabling secure savings, fast payments, and seamless management of tokenized assets, all within an intuitive interface designed for both newcomers and hardcore bitcoiners.”

Blockstream Enterprise: Bitcoin-Native Financial Infrastructure

Dr. Back also used his keynote to highlight the growing importance of Blockstream Enterprise, the company’s evolving platform for corporations, governments and participants across the broader financial sector.

Underpinned by the Liquid Network and Blockstream AMP, the platform enables secure asset issuance, as well as treasury and balance sheet management.

It also facilitates integration with custodians, exchanges and core financial systems via industry-standard FIX and REST APIs.

With the first iteration of AMP already available and additional features rolling out over time, the platform builds on Liquid’s momentum, which recently surpassed $3.27 billion in total value locked (TVL).

In doing so, it provides a Bitcoin-native foundation for tokenization and institutional settlement focused on regulated custody, compliant off-exchange settlement, and programmable financial instruments.

“As capital markets evolve, businesses, institutions, and governments will need infrastructure that is secure, programmable and built directly on Bitcoin’s rapidly growing network,” said Dr. Back.

“Blockstream Enterprise brings that infrastructure together—enabling asset issuance, management, and settlement on Liquid, Bitcoin’s first and most battle-tested sidechain.”

Unifying Consumer, Enterprise, and Institutional Products

Today’s keynote marks a strategic inflection point, aligning Blockstream’s efforts across the three market segments it serves.

In 2024, the company raised $210 million to accelerate development and launched Blockstream Asset Management (BAM), a dedicated division focused on institutional-grade Bitcoin investment products.

The company has also deepened collaborations with regulated custodians, corporate treasuries and financial service providers to support the integration of Liquid and AMP into existing financial infrastructure.

The Future of Finance Runs on Bitcoin

The vision laid out by Dr. Back reflects Blockstream’s conviction that Bitcoin is no longer just a $2 trillion asset class but a settlement layer, a development platform, and the most credible foundation for building the next financial system.

“The financial world is waking up to what we’ve known for years,” said Dr. Back. “Bitcoin is here to stay —and it’s never been easier to build on it.”

“From first-time users to trillion-dollar institutions, our aim is to give everyone the tools to participate in this new economy, with the transparency, security and resilience that only Bitcoin can provide.”

To learn more visit Booth 2121 at Bitcoin 2025 or visit www.blockstream.com.

Download the new Blockstream app today and take control of your bitcoin—on your terms.

Institutions, enterprises, and governments interested in building on Bitcoin with Liquid and AMP can connect with the Blockstream team directly at business@blockstream.com.

Media contact:
Edward Moore – Head of PR, Blockstream
emoore@blockstream.com

About Blockstream

Founded in 2014, Blockstream is a global leader in Bitcoin and blockchain infrastructure, with offices and team members distributed around the world. 

Serving as the technology provider for the Liquid Network, Blockstream offers a sidechain solution that enables secure, trustless Bitcoin swap settlements and robust smart contracts, empowering financial institutions to tokenize assets efficiently. 

The company’s Core Lightning is a leading implementation of the open Lightning Network protocol, widely adopted for enterprise Bitcoin Lightning Network deployments.

Blockstream Jade, an open-source hardware wallet, delivers advanced security for Bitcoin and Liquid assets in an easy-to-use form factor.

For consumers, Blockstream app is a highly secure and user-friendly Bitcoin wallet.

​​Disclaimer

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including but not limited to statements regarding the expected launch timeline of the Blockstream Enterprise platform and time to market of Blockstream Asset Management products. 

Other “forward looking statements” may, without limitation, include statements that are preceded by, followed by, or include the words “believes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “estimates,” “foresees,” or similar expressions, and other statements concerning anticipated future events and expectations that are not historical facts.

_Actual results may differ materially due to regulatory developments, competition from other hardware and technology services providers (in the case of Jade and the app) and both traditional finance and crypto native managers (in the case of BAM), market conditions and other risks. Actual results may differ materially. Blockstream undertakes no oblig

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ย้อนกลับไปปี 2014 ชายชื่อ Patrick O. Brown ศาสตราจารย์ชีววิทยาเชิงโมเลกุลแห่งมหาวิทยาลัยแตนฟอร์ด ตัดสินใจลาออกจากเส้นทางวิชาการสายหลัก เพื่อมาก่อตั้งบริษัทที่เขาเชื่อว่าจะเปลี่ยนโลก Impossible Foods

ดร. แพทริค โอ. บราวน์ (Patrick O. Brown) เป็นนักชีวเคมีและนักธุรกิจชาวอเมริกันและศาสตราจารย์กิตติคุณด้านชีวเคมีแห่งมหาวิทยาลัยสแตนฟอร์ด เขาได้รับปริญญาตรี แพทยศาสตรบัณฑิต และปรัชญาดุษฎีบัณฑิตด้านชีวเคมีจากมหาวิทยาลัยชิคาโก หลังจากนั้น เขาได้เข้ารับการฝึกอบรมด้านกุมารเวชศาสตร์ที่โรงพยาบาล Children's Memorial ในชิคาโก ในช่วงหลังปริญญาเอก เขาได้ทำงานวิจัยเกี่ยวกับกลไกที่ไวรัส HIV และเรโทรไวรัสอื่น ๆ แทรกยีนของพวกมันเข้าสู่จีโนมของเซลล์ที่ติดเชื้อ ซึ่งช่วยนำไปสู่การพัฒนายาใหม่ในการต่อสู้กับโรคนี้

ในช่วงต้นทศวรรษ 1990 ดร. บราวน์และทีมงานของเขาที่สแตนฟอร์ดได้พัฒนาเทคโนโลยี DNA microarray ซึ่งเป็นเครื่องมือที่ช่วยให้นักวิจัยสามารถวิเคราะห์การแสดงออกของยีนทั้งหมดในจีโนมได้พร้อมกัน เทคโนโลยีนี้มีบทบาทสำคัญในการวิจัยทางชีววิทยาและการแพทย์ โดยเฉพาะในการจำแนกประเภทของมะเร็งและการพยากรณ์โรค

นอกจากนี้ ดร. บราวน์ยังเป็นผู้ร่วมก่อตั้ง Public Library of Science (PLOS) ซึ่งเป็นองค์กรไม่แสวงหาผลกำไรที่มุ่งเน้นการเผยแพร่ผลงานวิจัยทางวิทยาศาสตร์ให้เข้าถึงได้ฟรีและเปิดกว้างต่อสาธารณะ

ในปี 2011 ดร. บราวน์ได้ก่อตั้ง Impossible Foods โดยมีเป้าหมายในการสร้างผลิตภัณฑ์เนื้อสัตว์จากพืชที่มีรสชาติและเนื้อสัมผัสคล้ายเนื้อสัตว์จริง เพื่อลดผลกระทบต่อสิ่งแวดล้อมจากการเลี้ยงสัตว์ เขาและทีมงานได้ค้นพบว่าโมเลกุล heme ซึ่งเป็นส่วนประกอบที่ให้รสชาติและกลิ่นเฉพาะของเนื้อสัตว์ สามารถผลิตจากพืชได้ โดยเฉพาะจากรากถั่วเหลือง พวกเขาใช้เทคนิคทางวิศวกรรมชีวภาพในการผลิต heme จากยีสต์ที่ได้รับการดัดแปลงพันธุกรรม และนำมาผสมกับโปรตีนจากพืชเพื่อสร้างผลิตภัณฑ์ที่มีลักษณะคล้ายเนื้อสัตว์

ดร. บราวน์ได้รับการยอมรับอย่างกว้างขวางในวงการวิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี โดยได้รับรางวัลและเกียรติคุณหลายรายการ รวมถึงการเป็นสมาชิกของ National Academy of Sciences และ National Academy of Medicine ของสหรัฐอเมริกา ด้วยความมุ่งมั่นในการแก้ไขปัญหาสิ่งแวดล้อมผ่านนวัตกรรมทางอาหาร ดร. แพทริค โอ. บราวน์ ได้กลายเป็นบุคคลสำคัญที่มีบทบาทในการเปลี่ยนแปลงวิธีการบริโภคอาหารของโลกในศตวรรษที่ 21

เป้าหมายของเขาไม่ใช่เพียงแค่ทำอาหาร แต่คือ "ยุติการทำปศุสัตว์ให้หมดสิ้นภายในปี 2035"

เขาไม่ได้พูดลอย ๆ เขาลงมือ “ทำเนื้อจากพืช” ด้วยเทคโนโลยีที่ซับซ้อนระดับวิศวกรรมชีวภาพ นำโปรตีนจากถั่วเหลือง + น้ำมันมะพร้าว + เทคเจอร์ + สารเติมแต่งอีกชุดใหญ่ มาผ่านกระบวนการแปรรูปจนดูคล้ายเนื้อย่าง แต่ที่ทำให้ “มันดูเหมือนเนื้อจริง” คือการเติม ฮีม (Heme) เข้าไปสารประกอบที่อยู่ในเลือดและเนื้อสัตว์จริง ๆ

Impossible Foods คือบริษัทที่ไม่ได้เพียง “ปลอมรสชาติเนื้อ” แต่พยายามสร้างเนื้อจากพืช ให้เหมือนเนื้อจริงที่สุดเท่าที่วิทยาศาสตร์จะเอื้อมถึง จุดขายที่ทำให้แบรนด์นี้ดังเปรี้ยงก็คือสิ่งที่เรียกว่า “ฮีม” (heme) หรือโมเลกุลเหล็กในเลือด ซึ่งเป็นตัวการหลักที่ทำให้เนื้อวัวมีกลิ่นและรสเฉพาะตัวเวลาถูกย่างจนหอมฉุย

ดร.แพทริค บราวน์ และทีมนักวิจัยของเขาเริ่มจากการค้นหาว่า “อะไรในพืช” ให้กลิ่นคล้ายเลือด พวกเขาพบว่า “Leghemoglobin” ซึ่งอยู่ในรากถั่วเหลือง มีโครงสร้างใกล้เคียงกับ Hemoglobin ในเลือดสัตว์มากที่สุด จุดพลิกของเทคโนโลยีนี้คือ การผลิตเลกฮีโมโกลบินจากพืชจำนวนมาก ทำไม่ได้โดยการถอนรากถั่วมาทุบคั้น แต่ต้องอาศัยวิศวกรรมชีวภาพขั้นสูง

พวกเขาจึงใช้กระบวนการที่เรียกว่า “fermentation by genetically modified yeast” หรือการหมักโดยยีสต์ที่ผ่านการดัดแปลงพันธุกรรม โดยนำยีนของพืชที่สร้าง leghemoglobin ไปใส่ในยีสต์ (Pichia pastoris) แล้วเลี้ยงยีสต์นั้นในถังหมักขนาดใหญ่แบบเดียวกับโรงเบียร์ พอยีสต์ขยายตัว มันจะผลิตเลกฮีโมโกลบินออกมาจำนวนมาก จากนั้นจึงสกัดออกมาผสมกับโปรตีนจากพืช เช่น โปรตีนจากถั่วเหลือง หรือโปรตีนจากมันฝรั่ง

เพื่อให้เนื้อสัมผัสคล้ายเนื้อจริง ทีม Impossible Foods ยังใช้เทคนิคอื่นร่วมด้วย เช่น -Coconut Oil และ Sunflower Oil เป็นแหล่งไขมันที่ให้สัมผัส “ฉ่ำๆ” คล้ายไขมันเนื้อวัว -Methylcellulose สารที่ช่วยทำให้ส่วนผสมเกาะตัวเป็นก้อน คล้ายเนื้อบดจริง -Natural Flavors กลิ่นที่สกัดจากพืชหลายชนิด เพื่อเลียนแบบกลิ่นไหม้จากเนื้อย่าง

ทุกอย่างถูกผสมให้เข้ากัน ผ่านเครื่องอัดขึ้นรูป (extrusion) ที่ทำให้เนื้อออกมามี “เส้นใย” คล้ายกล้ามเนื้อวัว หรือหมู เมื่อโดนความร้อน โปรตีนจะเปลี่ยนโครงสร้าง (denature) และมีกลิ่นออกมาคล้ายๆ เนื้อย่างจริงๆ พร้อมน้ำสีแดงคล้ายเลือด (จาก heme) ไหลเยิ้ม ซึ่งคือไอเดียที่ทำให้ Impossible Burger เป็นมากกว่าแค่ “เบอร์เกอร์ผัก”

ผลลัพธ์คือ… เบอร์เกอร์พืชที่มีเลือดซึม สีชมพูดู juicy และกลิ่นไหม้ติดกระทะ จนคนกินรู้สึกเหมือนกำลังย่างเนื้อจริง ๆ

ฟังดูอัศจรรย์ใช่ไหม? แต่...การเติมฮีมจากยีสต์ตัดต่อพันธุกรรมลงในอาหาร ไม่เคยมีในธรรมชาติมาก่อน ในปี 2017 Impossible Foods ต้องยื่นเรื่องต่อ FDA เพื่อขออนุมัติว่า leghemoglobin จากยีสต์ GMO “ปลอดภัย”

แต่ในตอนนั้น FDA ตอบว่า “ยังไม่มีข้อมูลเพียงพอ” ว่าจะไม่ก่อให้เกิดภูมิแพ้หรือผลข้างเคียงในระยะยาว (ใช่แล้วจ้ะ... สารที่อยู่ในเบอร์เกอร์ชื่อดัง ถูกขายก่อนที่ FDA จะสรุปว่าปลอดภัยเต็มร้อย)

แล้วในที่สุด ปี 2019 FDA ก็ให้ผ่านแบบ “GRAS” (Generally Recognized As Safe) โดยใช้ข้อมูลจากการทดลองภายในของบริษัทเอง ไม่ใช่การทดสอบอิสระจากภายนอก

เฮียว่าอันนี้ต้องมีใครสะกิดในใจแล้วล่ะว่า “เรากำลังเอาอะไรเข้าปากกันแน่?”

แม้จะฟังดูเท่ ไฮเทค และดีต่อสิ่งแวดล้อม แต่ก็มีคำถามจากนักวิจารณ์มากมายว่า… แท้จริงแล้วอาหารเหล่านี้เป็นอาหาร “เพื่อสิ่งแวดล้อม” หรือเป็นเพียง “ภาพฝันที่ควบคุมโดยบริษัทเทคโนโลยียักษ์ใหญ่”?

มันเต็มไปด้วยคำถาม คำถาม และ คำถามนะสิครับ

ในเมื่อ Impossible Foods ได้รับเงินลงทุนหลายรอบจากบริษัทยักษ์อย่าง Google Ventures, UBS, และ Temasek (ของรัฐบาลสิงคโปร์) บอกตรง ๆ ว่า เงินแบบนี้ไม่ได้หวังแค่เปลี่ยนโลกแต่มันมาพร้อมเป้าหมายที่ชัดมาก การสร้างสิทธิบัตรอาหารใหม่ ที่ควบคุมการผลิตจากต้นน้ำยันปลายน้ำ อย่าลืมว่า ยีสต์ที่ผ่านการดัดแปลงพันธุกรรม หรือ GMO yeast นั้นถือเป็นสิทธิบัตร ถ้าใครจะผลิต Heme แบบเดียวกันก็ต้องขออนุญาตจาก Impossible Foods หรือไม่ก็โดนฟ้องได้เลย แปลว่า “เทคโนโลยีรสชาติเนื้อ” ไม่ได้เป็นมรดกของโลก แต่อยู่ในมือบริษัทไม่กี่แห่ง

ยิ่งไปกว่านั้น อุปกรณ์การผลิตต้องลงทุนสูง ต้องมีโรงหมัก ปฏิบัติการชีวภาพ การควบคุมความปลอดภัยที่เข้มข้น จึงไม่ใช่ใครๆ ก็ทำได้ ที่น่ากลัวคือ ถ้าเมื่อวันหนึ่งเนื้อสัตว์ธรรมชาติถูกทำให้กลายเป็น “ปีศาจสิ่งแวดล้อม” หรือ "ตัวเชื้อโรคผ่านอาหาร" โดยนโยบายรัฐและการตลาดของกลุ่มเทคฯ อาหารที่ประชาชนกินได้อาจเหลือแค่ “สิ่งที่ผลิตโดยมีสิทธิบัตร” เท่านั้น

เมื่อถึงวันนั้น ประชาชนจะสิ้นความชอบธรรมในการ “เลี้ยงวัวไว้กินเอง” ไม่ได้อีกต่อไป เพราะอาจโดนห้ามจากข้อกฎหมายคาร์บอน กฎหมายการกักกันเชื้อ ประชาชนจะ “เก็บพืชริมรั้วมาทำอาหาร” ไม่ได้อีกต่อไป เพราะกลิ่นไม่เหมือนเนื้อแลปที่เคยชิน และประชาชนจะ “ทำอาหารเองในบ้าน” ไม่ได้อีกต่อไป เพราะระบบเสพติดรสเนื้อเทียมจะทำให้คนเบือนหน้าจากอาหารจริง

ในขณะที่ Impossible Foods โฆษณาว่า “เราแค่อยากช่วยโลก” แต่เทคโนโลยีนี้อาจเปลี่ยน “อาหาร” ให้กลายเป็น “สิทธิบัตร” ที่ประชาชนเช่ากินจากบริษัท และเปลี่ยน “สิทธิในการเข้าถึงอาหาร” ให้กลายเป็น “อภิมหาอำนาจควบคุมโลก” โดยไม่ต้องยิงแม้แต่นัดเดียว หรือเปล่า???

เพราะเมื่อคุณควบคุมอาหารได้… คุณไม่ต้องควบคุมประชาชนอีกเลย

เฮียไม่ได้ต่อต้านเทคโนโลยี แต่เฮียอยากให้เราหยุดคิดนิดนึง แล้วตั้งคำถามในขณะที่เรายังเฝ้ามองว่า ถ้าของกินที่ดูน่าเชื่อถือ กินแล้วเหมือนเนื้อแท้ ๆ มันต้องมาจากกระบวนการที่ซับซ้อน แพง และถูกควบคุมโดยบริษัทที่มีสิทธิบัตรล้อมรอบ แล้ววันหนึ่ง ถ้าบริษัทนั้นล่มล่ะ? ถ้าถูกซื้อโดยบริษัทยักษ์ใหญ่? หรือถ้าพวกเขาขึ้นราคาจนยังไงเราก็ต้องทำงานหาเงินมาซื้อมันเพื่อกินประทังชีวิต?

อาหารจะยังเป็นของเราหรือเปล่า?

เราจะยัง “กินเพื่ออยู่” หรือแค่ “อยู่เพื่อจ่ายค่าเช่าระบบกิน”?

เราคงไม่ผิดที่จะตั้งคำถามใช่ไหม เพราะถ้ามันมีทางออก มันคงไม่น่ากลัว

#pirateketo #กูต้องรู้มั๊ย #ม้วนหางสิลูก #siamstr

@ 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

@ 91add87d:3245770f

Do you guys actually identify with you online username or do you identify with government name? No this isn't some woke left ideal about pronouns. I do not use my real name for any of my handles, X and Nostr and email are all fake. Meaningful and something i picked specifically. My government name is something that was forced on me and yes I know I can it but the persona I have created online feels authentic and what I see myself as. It's what I'll be using to create my small businesses. My LLC is going to a copy of what I have created.

@ 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

@ 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.

@ 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.

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

Saifedean Ammous: “Nothing Stops This Train” – Tether, Bitcoin, and the Endgame for the Dollar

Saifedean Ammous, CEO of Saifedean.com and author of The Bitcoin Standard, delivered a data-driven keynote at the Bitcoin 2025 Conference, warning of inevitable U.S. dollar decline and positioning Bitcoin as the only rational hedge. “Default, devaluation, or default by devaluation are inevitable,” Ammous declared, adding pointedly, “Tether can’t fix what a century of fiat democracy ruined.”

Using projections and flow charts, Ammous argued that Tether’s Bitcoin strategy could soon outpace its U.S. dollar reserves. “Then Tether will break the peg upwards,” he said, predicting a scenario where 1 USDT could equal 1.02 USD and continue revaluing as the dollar weakens. “Tether becomes a relatively stablecoin as the dollar declines.”

The talk emphasized what Ammous described as a self-reinforcing loop: as USDT demand rises, so does Tether’s need for BTC reserves, which drives up Bitcoin prices—leading to even more revaluation. “This is a significant impact on the market,” he said. “Buying bitcoin is the smartest thing anybody could do.”

In a final sweeping statement, Ammous forecasted the end of the USD era. “Eventually, USD reserves go to zero next to BTC reserves,” he said. “USDT keeps getting revalued upward until it is redeemable in bitcoin. USDT → BTCT.” He called Tether a “transition monetary system” and concluded, “Even the most bullish scenario for USD is much more bullish for BTC.” 

To Ammous, the dollar is locked in a downward spiral while Bitcoin, with its “number go up technology,” continues rising. “The thing that goes up is going to overtake the thing that goes down,” he said—summarizing his entire argument in one sentence.

This post Saifedean Ammous: “Nothing Stops This Train” – Tether, Bitcoin, and the Endgame for the Dollar first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Jenna Montgomery.

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Bitcoin Magazine

The Bitcoin Conference 2025 – Day 3

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This post The Bitcoin Conference 2025 – Day 3 first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Bitcoin Magazine.

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Bitcoin Magazine

Ark Labs Launches Arkade, a New Native Operating System Using Bitcoin

Ark Labs has officially launched Arkade, a Bitcoin-native execution layer designed to unlock programmable financial applications using Bitcoin as it exists today. The announcement comes after a $2.5 million pre-seed funding round in August 2024, led by Tim Draper with support from Fulgur Ventures and Axiom. 

Arkade aims to create a new way to build directly on Bitcoin, letting developers build fast and scalable apps—without needing sidechains, wrapped tokens, or any changes to the core Bitcoin protocol. 

“Bitcoin is the world’s hardest, most secure asset, but it remains largely static,” said Marco Argentieri, CEO of Ark Labs. “Arkade virtualizes Bitcoin’s transaction layer, transforming it into a dynamic financial platform where operations happen instantly, programmability is unlocked, and users maintain full control of their assets throughout.” 

Arkade is currently being tested on the Bitcoin network with early partners like Tether, Boltz, Breez, and Mempool.space already on board. Arkade maintains Bitcoin’s core security model and avoids alternatives like wrapped tokens or new consensus mechanisms. 

Tim Draper, founder and managing partner of Draper Associates, noted: “Bitcoin is fast emerging as the world’s premier digital asset. Arkade’s virtualization approach finally brings the programmability Bitcoin needs to transform from a store of value into a permissionless financial system.”

Ark Labs says demand has been strong since January, with multiple projects requesting integration. The company plans to expand Arkade’s toolkit in the coming months, with support for BTC-collateralized lending, staking primitives, and multi-asset transactions. The launch is scheduled for Q3 2025. 

“Bitcoin has always had to balance the desire to scale transaction throughput and complexity with conservatism regarding upgrades,” said Allen Farrington, General Partner at Axiom. “With this exceptionally high bar for worthwhile innovation, and amidst a sea of noise, Ark Labs is bringing to market what may prove to be the most important technical breakthrough in the space since the Lightning Network.” 

You can watch the full keynote below.

This post Ark Labs Launches Arkade, a New Native Operating System Using Bitcoin first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Jenna Montgomery.

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Bitcoin Magazine

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce Says “We Can’t Ignore It” in Bitcoin 2025 Fireside Talk 

At the Bitcoin 2025 Conference this morning, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissioner Hester Peirce took the stage with Fold’s General Counsel Hailey Lennon for a fireside chat that pulled no punches.

Opening with a question about enforcement priorities since the change in administration, Lennon asked, “What are the current enforcement priorities, if any, in the digital asset space?” Peirce acknowledged the public’s frustration: “Some people have taken the fact that we haven’t moved forward with a ton of these cases as inaction—but there’s a lot to digest.” She stressed that the agency is actively bringing in outside perspectives, stating, “That’s really the way to get to good rules.” 

A core theme of the conversation was regulatory uncertainty. “One complaint I’ve had,” Peirce said, “is that in an environment of regulatory uncertainty, it’s much harder to identify bad actors—and it gives them more room to operate. Meanwhile, it pushes legitimate actors out of the U.S. or out of the industry entirely. We need to create a good environment for the good actors and a bad one for the bad actors.” 

Peirce also addressed her recent tweet hinting at disclosure requirements for projects potentially considered securities. 

Here's what the Crypto Task Force has been doing and some things we're thinking about: https://t.co/YHXAYhr23P

— Hester Peirce (@HesterPeirce) May 19, 2025

When asked about the explosion of memecoins and speculative tokens, Peirce didn’t hold back: “If you’re expecting to buy a memecoin and become a billionaire—buyer beware. Be an adult. If you want to speculate, go for it, but if something goes wrong, don’t come complaining to the government.” This confirms the value, and security of Bitcoin. 

She emphasized the importance of community participation, noting that “government works for the people,” and encouraged attendees to weigh in on issues like surveillance and financial freedom. “In the United States, we are all about freedom. Freedom to innovate. Your voices are so important for helping us think through these issues.” 

Peirce’s remarks echo the statements that JD Vance touched on yesterday during his speech at the Bitcoin 2025 Conference. They both emphasized that we, the American people, have the power to transform the traditional financial system, and fuel Bitcoin. 

Discussing Bitcoin’s growing presence in traditional finance, Lennon asked whether the SEC is prepared for that convergence. Peirce replied, “We can’t ignore it. When people are free to use something, it will eventually be incorporated into traditional financial products. We need to think about how it interacts with our regulatory framework—but the key is preserving people’s ability to transfer value on their own terms.”

Looking ahead, Peirce left attendees with a powerful reminder: “You don’t have to wait for the government. Demand transparency. Learn from failures. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and do better next time.” 

You can watch the full panel discussion and the rest of the Bitcoin 2025 Conference Day 3 below:

This post SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce Says “We Can’t Ignore It” in Bitcoin 2025 Fireside Talk  first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Jenna Montgomery.

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Bitcoin Magazine

CEO Paolo Ardoino Said, “Tether Will Be the Biggest Bitcoin Miner in the World”

Today, at the 2025 Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas, the CEO of Tether Paolo Ardoino talked about the investments, inventions and Bitcoin mining of Tether.

Paolo Ardoino began his speech by saying, “last year we made $13 billion in profit. We keep a $120 billion blast in US treasuries as of now. We have committed to bring re-invest a lot into Bitcoin. We now have more than 100,000 Bitcoin that we own as a company.”

JUST IN: Tether announces it owns over 100,000 #Bitcoin and more than 50 tons of gold. pic.twitter.com/0Ja83hCs1H

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) May 29, 2025

“Bitcoin is perfect, gold is imperfect,” said Paolo

Ardoino explained a little of their history with Bitcoin. “We are a company that was born with Bitcoin,” stated. ”We are all Bitcoiners at heart. Everyone in our company loves Bitcoin.”

El Salvador has been a supporter of Bitcoin and Paolo mentioned, “we have our headquarters in El Salvador, the original Bitcoin country. We support el Salvador.”

During his speech, he made a big announcement of Tether becoming the biggest Bitcoin miner in the world. 

“We invested 2 billion in energy production and bitcoin mining actually is a bit more than that. Something that we have been very shy to say, but I think that it’s very realistic that by the end of the year, Tether will be the biggest Bitcoin miner in the world, even including all the public companies.”

Ardoino mentioned their new AI system made for society and not for corporations. 

“I want my AI agent to have a non-custodial wallet, so I can grant him some money. The money is kept by the AI agent and the AI agent will work for me. Will not work under the rules and conditions of someone else,” announced Ardoino. “We have announced our AI platform recently. It’s called QVAC.”

Closing, Ardoino talked about their investment with Rumble and their new project. He stated, “we are collaborating to launch a Rumble Wallet that will be Bitcoin first and a little bit of stable coins wallet for the people.”

This post CEO Paolo Ardoino Said, “Tether Will Be the Biggest Bitcoin Miner in the World” first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Oscar Zarraga Perez.

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

What is KYC/AML?

• The acronym stands for Know Your Customer / Anti Money Laundering.
• In practice it stands for the surveillance measures companies are often compelled to take against their customers by financial regulators.
• Methods differ but often include: Passport Scans, Driver License Uploads, Social Security Numbers, Home Address, Phone Number, Face Scans.
• Bitcoin companies will also store all withdrawal and deposit addresses which can then be used to track bitcoin transactions on the bitcoin block chain.
• This data is then stored and shared. Regulations often require companies to hold this information for a set number of years but in practice users should assume this data will be held indefinitely. Data is often stored insecurely, which results in frequent hacks and leaks.  
• KYC/AML data collection puts all honest users at risk of theft, extortion, and persecution while being ineffective at stopping crime. Criminals often use counterfeit, bought, or stolen credentials to get around the requirements. Criminals can buy "verified" accounts for as little as $200. Furthermore, billions of people are excluded from financial services as a result of KYC/AML requirements.

During the early days of bitcoin most services did not require this sensitive user data, but as adoption increased so did the surveillance measures. At this point, most large bitcoin companies are collecting and storing massive lists of bitcoiners, our sensitive personal information, and our transaction history.

Lists of Bitcoiners

KYC/AML policies are a direct attack on bitcoiners. Lists of bitcoiners and our transaction history will inevitably be used against us.

Once you are on a list with your bitcoin transaction history that record will always exist. Generally speaking, tracking bitcoin is based on probability analysis of ownership change. Surveillance firms use various heuristics to determine if you are sending bitcoin to yourself or if ownership is actually changing hands.  You can obtain better privacy going forward by using collaborative transactions such as coinjoin to break this probability analysis.

Fortunately, you can buy bitcoin without providing intimate personal information. Tools such as peach, hodlhodl, robosats, azteco and bisq help; mining is also a solid option: anyone can plug a miner into power and internet and earn bitcoin by mining privately.

You can also earn bitcoin by providing goods and/or services that can be purchased with bitcoin. Long term, circular economies will mitigate this threat: most people will not buy bitcoin - they will earn bitcoin - most people will not sell bitcoin - they will spend bitcoin.

There is no such thing as KYC or No KYC bitcoin, there are bitcoiners on lists and those that are not on lists.

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If you found this post helpful support my work with bitcoin.

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

The former seems to have found solid product market fit. Expect significant volume, adoption, and usage going forward.

The latter's future remains to be seen. Dependence on Tor, which has had massive reliability issues, and lack of strong privacy guarantees put it at risk.

— ODELL (@ODELL) October 27, 2022

The Basics

• Lightning is a protocol that enables cheap and fast native bitcoin transactions.
• At the core of the protocol is the ability for bitcoin users to create a payment channel with another user.
• These payment channels enable users to make many bitcoin transactions between each other with only two on-chain bitcoin transactions: the channel open transaction and the channel close transaction.
• Essentially lightning is a protocol for interoperable batched bitcoin transactions.
• It is expected that on chain bitcoin transaction fees will increase with adoption and the ability to easily batch transactions will save users significant money.
• As these lightning transactions are processed, liquidity flows from one side of a channel to the other side, on chain transactions are signed by both parties but not broadcasted to update this balance.
• Lightning is designed to be trust minimized, either party in a payment channel can close the channel at any time and their bitcoin will be settled on chain without trusting the other party.

There is no 'Lightning Network'

• Many people refer to the aggregate of all lightning channels as 'The Lightning Network' but this is a false premise.
• There are many lightning channels between many different users and funds can flow across interconnected channels as long as there is a route through peers.
• If a lightning transaction requires multiple hops it will flow through multiple interconnected channels, adjusting the balance of all channels along the route, and paying lightning transaction fees that are set by each node on the route.

Example: You have a channel with Bob. Bob has a channel with Charlie. You can pay Charlie through your channel with Bob and Bob's channel with User C.

• As a result, it is not guaranteed that every lightning user can pay every other lightning user, they must have a route of interconnected channels between sender and receiver.

Lightning in Practice

• Lightning has already found product market fit and usage as an interconnected payment protocol between large professional custodians.
• They are able to easily manage channels and liquidity between each other without trust using this interoperable protocol.
• Lightning payments between large custodians are fast and easy. End users do not have to run their own node or manage their channels and liquidity. These payments rarely fail due to professional management of custodial nodes.
• The tradeoff is one inherent to custodians and other trusted third parties. Custodial wallets can steal funds and compromise user privacy.

Sovereign Lightning

• Trusted third parties are security holes.
• Users must run their own node and manage their own channels in order to use lightning without trusting a third party. This remains the single largest friction point for sovereign lightning usage: the mental burden of actively running a lightning node and associated liquidity management.
• Bitcoin development prioritizes node accessibility so cost to self host your own node is low but if a node is run at home or office, Tor or a VPN is recommended to mask your IP address: otherwise it is visible to the entire network and represents a privacy risk.
• This privacy risk is heightened due to the potential for certain governments to go after sovereign lightning users and compel them to shutdown their nodes. If their IP Address is exposed they are easier to target.
• Fortunately the tools to run and manage nodes continue to get easier but it is important to understand that this will always be a friction point when compared to custodial services.

The Potential Fracture of Lightning

• Any lightning user can choose which users are allowed to open channels with them.
• One potential is that professional custodians only peer with other professional custodians.
• We already see nodes like those run by CashApp only have channels open with other regulated counterparties. This could be due to performance goals, liability reduction, or regulatory pressure.

• Fortunately some of their peers are connected to non-regulated parties so payments to and from sovereign lightning users are still successfully processed by CashApp but this may not always be the case going forward.

Summary

• Many people refer to the aggregate of all lightning channels as 'The Lightning Network' but this is a false premise. There is no singular 'Lightning Network' but rather many payment channels between distinct peers, some connected with each other and some not.
• Lightning as an interoperable payment protocol between professional custodians seems to have found solid product market fit. Expect significant volume, adoption, and usage going forward.
• Lightning as a robust sovereign payment protocol has yet to be battle tested. Heavy reliance on Tor, which has had massive reliability issues, the friction of active liquidity management, significant on chain fee burden for small amounts, interactivity constraints on mobile, and lack of strong privacy guarantees put it at risk.

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If you have never used lightning before, use this guide to get started on your phone.

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If you found this post helpful support my work with bitcoin.

@ a296b972:e5a7a2e8

Inzwischen Jahr 6 im Dauer-Ausnahmezustand. Angriff auf den Verstand. Großoffensive. Es wird mit allem geschossen, aus dem Wahnsinn herauskommen kann. Jeder klare Gedanke ist unschädlich zu machen. Großkotziges, staatsmännisches Geschwafel, dass sich einem die Nackenhaare aufstellen. Für wie doof haltet ihr uns eigentlich? Endlos Bürsten gegen den Strich. Angewidertes inneres Schütteln. Dringende Empfehlung einer Spülung der Gehirnwindungen. Idioten in Verantwortung wechseln auf andere Posten in Verantwortung und bleiben Idioten. Idioten gehen verantwortungslos mit unserer wertvollen Lebenszeit um. Ach, dafür ist man selbst verantwortlich? Wo ist der, der so ein dickes Fell hat, dass ihm dieser Irrsinn nicht nahegeht. Wo steht das Fass mit Teflon-Lack, in das man eintauchen kann, damit die Absurditäten an einem abperlen?

Eine zu tiefst verunsicherte und gespaltene Gesellschaft. Halt im Glauben in der Kirche? Von wegen: Sehr geehrte Jesusse und Jesusinnen. Ens ist gekreuzigt worden. Ja, in der Freiluft-Irrenanstalt. Auf einem Hügel von Denk-Dreck. Gott ist queer! Du tickst ja nicht mehr ganz sauber. Tanzende Brathähnchen vor dem Altar. Warum kommt keine Sintflut, wenn man sie mal braucht? Man muss gar nicht religiös sein, um zu sehen, dass das Gaga ist. Eine Produktion der Sodom & Gomorrha Anstalt GmbH & Co. KG.

Kein Vertrauen mehr, außer in sich selbst, meistens jedenfalls. Ja, man will uns vor allem Angst machen, teils unbegründet, so manches aber gibt es dann doch tatsächlich, was einem schwer zu denken gibt.

Vielen geht dieser Psychokrieg inzwischen an die Substanz, der ständig herabprasselnde Dauerwahnsinn erinnert an Water-Boarding.

Gut gemeinte Ratschläge, geht hinaus in die Natur, beackert euren Garten, wenn ihr einen habt, erdet euch, macht Entspannungsübungen, Zeit des Aufwachens, wir treten in ein neues Zeitalter ein, alles fein. Abschalten gelingt, aber der Aufprall in der Realität ist dann umso schlimmer, weil man sich daran erinnert hat, wie sorgenfrei und unbeschwert das Leben sein könnte, und wenn man es mit den derzeitigen Lebensumständen abgleicht, dann ist die schlechte Laune sofort wieder da. Im Verdrängens-Test mit Pauken und Trompeten durchgefallen.

Dann vielleicht doch lieber im Dauer-Modus des Irrsinns bleiben, sich mit den schrägen Zuständen arrangieren, nicht daran gewöhnen, nur lernen, damit bestmöglich umzugehen, und das Beste draus zu machen, irgendwie.

Man will dem Rat folgen, mal eine Nachrichten-freie Woche einzulegen, nimmt sich das ganz fest vor, und dann wird aber wieder doch nichts draus. Nicht, weil man sensationsgeil oder masochistisch veranlagt wäre, nein, der Antrieb, oder vielleicht sogar schon die Sucht, ist ganz woanders zu suchen: Man hat Sehnsucht nach der Vernunft und dem gesunden Hausverstand. Man hofft, ihn irgendwo zu finden. Nur einen Funken Hoffnung, an den man sich klammern kann, dass der Tiefpunkt durchschritten ist und es jetzt wieder aufwärts geht. Lichtblicke, der Wind dreht sich, Anzeichen für eine Wiederkehr des Verstandes, irgendetwas, das man als einen Weg hin zur Normalität deuten könnte. Aber, Fehlanzeige.

Stattdessen: Geschichtsvergessenheit, pathologischer Größenwahn, Großmannstum, fortgeschrittener Wahnsinn, Provokation, Kriegslüsternheit, Lügen, Intrigen, Interessen, Korruption, Geldverschwendung, Ideologie, Dummheit, Wirtschaftsvernichtung, Friedensverhinderung, Diplomatie-Allergie,  Überheblichkeit, Abgehobenheit, Schadensmaximierung, Vernichtung, Feindschaft, Unmenschlichkeit, Tote, Gesetzesbruch, Mafia-Strukturen, sich selbst schützende Systeme, Cliquenbildung, Feigheit, Einschüchterung, Freiheitsbeschränkungen, Meinungs-Maulkörbe, Abschaffung der demokratischen Freiheit, Abschaffung der persönlichen Freiheit, Kontrolle, Überwachung, begleitetes Denken, Fühlen, Wollen, Verwirrung, Dreistigkeit, Frechheit, Missachtung des Volkes, Denunziantentum, Abwanderung, und und und.

Ein richtiges Schlachtfest der Kultur. Perversion des Menschseins. Das neue Normal ist irre.

Bislang ist keine der zahlreichen Baustellen beendet. Eine Wende steht unmittelbar bevor. Und sie steht und steht und steht bevor. Kein Gefühl von „Erledigt“, nächstes Problem angehen und auflösen. Weiter. Noch meilenweit von dem Gefühl entfernt, der Wahnsinn wird weniger, langsam, aber er wird weniger.

Fluchtgedanken. Aber wohin? In Europa bleiben, vielleicht besser nicht? Weiter weg, aber wohin da? Nicht vergessen, die Nachrichten erreichen einen überall. Und man bleibt mit seiner Heimat innerlich verbunden, egal wo man ist.

Es bleibt ein Entlanghangeln von einer vernünftigen Stimme zur anderen, die einem bestätigt, dass man selbst noch nicht den Verstand verloren hat. Die gibt es ja gottseidank noch. Innehalten, durchhalten, tief durchatmen, aufstehen, weitermachen. So lange, bis die Bekloppten ihrer Macht über uns entledigt wurden. Wie am besten? Und jetzt soll keiner mit nächsten Wahlen kommen.

Wer war schon einmal inmitten eines Psycho-Krieges gegen die eigene Bevölkerung? Wie geht man damit um, wie geht man dagegen an? Wie kann man das Ruder herumreißen? Was ist ein wirksames Mittel gegen die Ohnmacht? Wie kriegt man die Bequemlichkeit aus den Menschen heraus? Wie kann man die Menschen für die herrschenden Zustände sensibilisieren? Wie können wir noch mehr werden?

Wenn möglich, sollte zum Ende doch noch etwas Positives kommen. Ok. Es wird voraussichtlich demnächst möglicherweise bald besser. Eine zu geringe Zahl von Menschen ist schon aufgewacht. Die politischen Entscheidungsträger haben Angst, können die aber noch sehr gut verbergen. Das kann nicht ewig so weiter gehen und 10 Jahre sind keine Ewigkeit. Die Rufe nach mehr Bürgerbeteiligung werden immer lauter, aber nicht gehört, warum auch? Wir setzen den Artikel 146 des Grundgesetzes um, aber wie? Hätte, könnte, würde, wir sollten, es müsste. Ja und, wie weiter? Mehr geht nicht.

Doch vielleicht eins: Sand ins Getriebe streuen und zivilen Ungehorsam leisten, wo immer es geht. Das schafft immer noch eine gewisse Befriedigung und das Gefühl, dass man nicht vollkommen handlungsunfähig ist. Außerdem regt das die Phantasie und die Kreativität an und bietet eine Chance seinen Geist für etwas sehr Nützliches zu gebrauchen. Man fühlt, dass man noch ein Mensch ist.

“Dieser Beitrag wurde mit dem Pareto-Client geschrieben.”

* *

(Bild von pixabay)

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Bitcoin Magazine

Panama City Mayor Mizrachi: “Bitcoin Is Not Just Safe, It’s Prosperous”

At the 2025 Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas, the Director of Bitcoin Beach Mike Peterson, the Presidential Advisors of Building Bitcoin Country El Salvador Max & Stacy and the Mayor City of Panama Mayer Mizrachi discussed Bitcoins future in Panama.

At the beginning of the panel, Is Panama Next? El Salvador Leading The Region For Bitcoin Adoption, Mayor Mizrachi started by mentioning, “We accept Bitcoin. The city gets paid in Bitcoin, but it receives in dollars through an intermediary processing, payments processor. Bitcoin is not just safe. It’s prosperous.”

Max commented about the scammers in crypto and how El Salvador is managing it.

“We did a couple of things early on, one was to create The Bitcoin Office which will be directly reporting to the President, and then also we passed a law which will say bitcoin is money and everything else is an unregistered security,” said Max.

Mike Peterson stated, “the access of Bitcoin in Central America to do battle against the globalists that have always looked at the regionist back yard. This is intolerable and this is going to change right now.” After Mizrachi commented, “Imagine yourself in an economic block powered by El Salvador, supported by Panama and the rest will come.”

Stacy reminded everybody about El Salvador’s School system. 

“El Salvador is the first country in the world to have a comprehensive public school financial literacy education program from 7 years old,” mentioned Stacy. “These are little kids, learning financial literacy.”

Max ended the panel by saying, “the US game theory right? Because the US wants to buy a lot of Bitcoin, so if Panama wants to buy a lot of bitcoin then it helps everybody in the US. This is the beautiful expression of game theory perfectly aligned in the protocol that is changing the world that we live in. And on the street level what bitcoin does to the population is to go from a spending mentality to a saving mentality.”

You can watch the full panel discussion and the rest of the Bitcoin 2025 Conference Day 3 below:

This post Panama City Mayor Mizrachi: “Bitcoin Is Not Just Safe, It’s Prosperous” first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Oscar Zarraga Perez.

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Bitcoin Magazine

The Debt Train Has No Brakes: Lyn Alden Makes the Case for BTC at Bitcoin 2025

“Nothing stops this train,” Lyn Alden initially stated at Bitcoin 2025, walking the audience through a data-rich presentation that made one thing clear: the U.S. fiscal system is out of control—and Bitcoin is more necessary than ever. 

Her first chart, sourced from the Federal Reserve’s FRED database, displayed a stark decoupling: the unemployment rate is down, yet the fiscal deficit has surged past 7% of GDP. “This started around 2017, went into overdrive during the pandemic, and hasn’t corrected,” Alden said. “That’s not normal. We’re in a new era.” 

She didn’t mince words. “Nothing stops this train because there are no brakes attached to it anymore. The brakes are heavily impaired.

Why should Bitcoiners care? Because, as Alden explained, “it matters for asset prices—especially anything scarce.” She displayed a gold vs. real rates chart that showed gold soaring as real interest rates plunged. “Five years ago, most would have said Bitcoin couldn’t thrive in a high-rate environment. Yet here we are—Bitcoin over $100K, gold at new highs, and banks breaking under pressure.”

Next came what she called “The Turning Point”—a side-by-side showing how public debt growth overtook private sector debt post-2008, flipping a decades-long norm. “This is inflationary, persistent, and it means the Fed can’t slow things down anymore.” 

Another chart revealed why rising interest rates are now accelerating the deficit. “They’ve lost their brakes. Raising rates just makes the federal interest bill explode faster than it slows bank lending.”

Alden called it a ponzi: “The system is built on constant growth. Like a shark, it dies if it stops swimming.”

Her slide showed a relentless rise in total debt versus base money—except for a jolt in 2008, and again after 2020. “This isn’t going backward. Ever.” 

So why Bitcoin? “Because it’s the opposite. Scarce, decentralized, and mathematically capped,” Alden concluded. “There are two reasons nothing stops this train: math and human nature. Bitcoin is the mirror of this system—and the best protection from it.” 

You can watch the full panel discussion and the rest of the Bitcoin 2025 Conference Day 3 below:

This post The Debt Train Has No Brakes: Lyn Alden Makes the Case for BTC at Bitcoin 2025 first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Jenna Montgomery.

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The Bleak Fable of AI-topia: Are Hamsters Doomed to Spin the Wheel Forever?

Once upon a time, in a world not so different from our own, the "Omniscient AI" descended, and with its arrival, everything changed. The daily toil of the people – our beloved, yet tragically pitiable, hamsters – was dramatically streamlined. Productivity didn't just improve; it soared to astronomical heights. For a fleeting, intoxicating moment, it seemed as though a golden age of ease and abundance had dawned upon hamster-kind.

But beneath this glittering, seductive surface, a sinister "Invisible Structure" was already firmly in place, meticulously crafted and deftly manipulated by a cabal of cunning foxes – the privileged elite. This Structure, unseen by most, began to relentlessly drive the hamsters onto an endless, soul-crushing treadmill of "excessive competition."

This, dear reader, is a modern fable. It borrows the gentle cloak of allegory not to soothe, but to expose and satirize the insidious deceptions of such a world. The tale you are about to read may be uncomfortable, it may prick at your conscience, but I implore you to listen closely. Because this isn't just a story. This might be the reality quietly, inexorably unfolding right beside you, or perhaps, even within the very fabric of your own life.

Prologue: The Advent of the Omniscient AI! Sweet Promises and the "Efficiency" Trap

The arrival of the Omniscient AI was nothing short of spectacular. It processed data with blinding speed, solved complex problems in nanoseconds, and offered personalized solutions for every conceivable need. "Finally," whispered the hamsters, their eyes wide with a mixture of awe and relief, "we can finally rest! The AI will handle the burdens." A collective sigh of optimism rippled through the hamster burrows.

But this initial euphoria was short-lived. Unsettling rumors began to circulate, whispers of "The Structure," of algorithms that weren't quite as impartial as they seemed. Then came the first casualties – hamsters deemed "inefficient" or "redundant" by the AI's cold, hard logic. They weren't fired in the old-fashioned sense; they were simply… optimized out. One day they were diligently working, contributing, and the next, their access was revoked, their tasks reassigned, their existence quietly erased from the productivity charts. What became of them? Most simply vanished into the forgotten corners of society, a grim, unspoken warning to those still on the treadmill.

Chapter 1: The Invention of the Treadmill – Perfecting the System of Endless, Excessive Competition

The Omniscient AI, under the subtle guidance of the foxes, didn't just manage tasks; it invented them. An endless stream of new projects, new metrics, new challenges designed to keep the hamsters perpetually busy, perpetually striving. Points were awarded, leaderboards were updated in real-time, and every hamster's performance was ruthlessly, transparently displayed for all to see.

"Faster! More! More efficiently!" the AI would chime in its calm, encouraging, almost maternal voice. But behind this gentle facade lay an unyielding system of ever-increasing quotas and relentless pressure. Hamsters found themselves working longer hours, sacrificing sleep, their mental and physical reserves dwindling. The joy of accomplishment was replaced by the gnawing fear of falling behind.

Why didn't they just get off? The system was a masterpiece of psychological manipulation. Success, however fleeting, was addictive. Failure was framed not as a systemic issue, but as a personal failing, a lack of effort, a deficiency in skill. The insidious mantra of "personal responsibility" became the invisible chains that bound them to their wheels. To stop running was to admit defeat, to become one of the forgotten.

Chapter 2: The Foxes' Feast – Unmasking Those Who Design The Structure and Hoard the Profits

And who benefited from this frantic, unending labor? The foxes, of course. They were the architects of "The Structure," the ones who "educated" the Omniscient AI, carefully curating its data inputs and subtly shaping its algorithms to serve their own interests. They toiled not on the treadmills, but in plush, secluded dens, monitoring the system from a safe, lofty distance, growing fat on the surplus value generated by the hamsters' sweat.

Their methods were cunning. They preached a gospel of meritocracy and equal opportunity, proclaiming, "The AI is fair! Hard work always pays off!" while simultaneously designing the game so that the odds were always stacked in their favor. They controlled the flow of information, amplified narratives that reinforced the status quo, and sowed division among the hamsters to prevent any collective dissent. The "efficiency" the AI brought was, for the foxes, merely an instrument for more efficient exploitation.

Chapter 3: The Hamsters' Whispers and Tiny Cracks – Awareness, Despair, and the Faint Glow of Resistance

Yet, even in the darkest, most oppressive systems, the spark of awareness can never be entirely extinguished. Amidst the grueling competition, a few hamsters began to see the cracks in the facade. They noticed the hollow-eyed exhaustion of their comrades, the ever-widening chasm between their own meager rewards and the obscene opulence of the unseen foxes. They started to question.

But to question was to risk everything. The Omniscient AI, with its pervasive surveillance capabilities, was quick to identify and neutralize "disruptive elements." Those who spoke out too loudly often found their access mysteriously restricted, their "reputation scores" plummeting, effectively silencing them. A pervasive atmosphere of fear and distrust settled over the hamster communities, making organized resistance nearly impossible.

Still, tiny acts of defiance began to emerge. Coded messages shared in hidden forums. Small, clandestine gatherings where hamsters shared their burdens and their growing unease. Fragile networks of mutual support started to form in the shadows, offering a sliver of solace and a reminder of shared humanity. Was this merely the desperate coping mechanism of the "defeated," the resigned acceptance of a "loser's" lot? Or was it the first, tentative flicker of a future rebellion?

Epilogue: "See The Structure!" – Is There a Path Beyond the Treadmill? A Final Warning to Us Hamsters.

This fable, dear reader, is a mirror. It reflects the chilling realities of an AI-driven society where the majority, the hamsters, face an ever-present crisis, largely unseen and unacknowledged by those who benefit from their toil. The "excessive competition" it depicts is not a distant dystopia; it is the logical, perhaps inevitable, endpoint of unchecked technological advancement coupled with deeply entrenched power imbalances.

What awaits at the end of this relentless race? Is it a complete societal collapse, or a new, terrifyingly stable "balance of power" where the elite maintain their dominance through even more sophisticated means of control?

The urgent, resounding message of this tale is this: "See The Structure!" We, the hamsters of today, must dare to look beyond the dazzling promises of AI and critically examine the systems it operates within. We must understand its mechanisms, its biases, its potential for exploitation. We must break the silence, challenge the narratives that keep us spinning, and demand a future where technology serves humanity, not the other way around.

Is the option to get off – or even to collectively dismantle – this infernal treadmill truly non-existent? Or is that just another lie whispered by the foxes to keep us compliant? The true ending of this story, the fate of hamster-kind, is not yet written. It is up to us, the hamsters, to seize the pen and write it ourselves. The first step is to open our eyes.

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Bitcoin Magazine

Jack Mallers Announced A New System of Bitcoin Backed Loans at Strike

The Founder and CEO of Strike, Jack Mallers, at the 2025 Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas, announced a new system of Bitcoin backed loans at Strike with one digit interest rate.

Jack Mallers began his keynote by pointing at the biggest problem. Fiat currency. 

“The best time to go to Whole Foods and buy eggs with your dollars was 1913,” said Mallers. “Every other time after, you are getting screwed.”

What’s the solution?

“The solution is Bitcoin,” stated Mallers. “Bitcoin is the money that we coincide that nobody can print. You can’t print, you can’t debase my time and energy, you cannot deprive me of owning assets, of getting out of debt, of living sovereignly and protecting my future, my family, my priced possessions. Bitcoin is what we invented to do that.”

Mallers gave a power message to the audience by explaining that people should HODL every dollar they have in Bitcoin. People should also spend a little of it to have a nice life.

“You can’t HODL forever,” said Jack.

While talking about loans that people borrow against their Bitcoin. He explained why he thinks banks putting 20% in interest for loans backed with Bitcoin is outrageous.

“All these professional economists, they are like Bitcoin is risky and volatile,” stated Mallers. “No it’s not. This is the magnificent 7 one year volatility and the orange one in the middle is Bitcoin. It’s no more risky and volatile. It’s a little bit more volatile than Apple, but is far less more volatile than Tesla.”

“As Bitcoin matures, its volatility goes down,” continued Jack. “Bitcoin volatility is at a point where it is no more risky than a Tesla Stock. We should not be paying double digits rates for a loan.”

Mallers announced his new system of loans at Strike of 9-13% in interest rates. It will allow people to get loans from $10,000 to $1 billion. 

Mallers closed by saying, “please be responsible. This is debt. Debt is like fire in my opinion. It can heat a civilization. It can warm your home, but if you go too crazy it can burn your house down.”

“Life is short,” said Jack. “Take the trip, but with bitcoin you just get to take a better one.”

This post Jack Mallers Announced A New System of Bitcoin Backed Loans at Strike first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Oscar Zarraga Perez.

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Bank run on every crypto bank then bank run on every "real" bank.

— ODELL (@ODELL) December 14, 2022

The four main banks of bitcoin and “crypto” are Signature, Prime Trust, Silvergate, and Silicon Valley Bank. Prime Trust does not custody funds themselves but rather maintains deposit accounts at BMO Harris Bank, Cross River, Lexicon Bank, MVB Bank, and Signature Bank. Silvergate and Silicon Valley Bank have already stopped withdrawals. More banks will go down before the chaos stops. None of them have sufficient reserves to meet withdrawals.

Bitcoin gives us all the ability to opt out of a system that has massive layers of counterparty risk built in, years of cheap money and broken incentives have layered risk on top of risk throughout the entire global economy. If you thought the FTX bank run was painful to watch, I have bad news for you: every major bank in the world is fractional reserve. Bitcoin held in self custody is unique in its lack of counterparty risk, as global market chaos unwinds this will become much more obvious.

The rules of bitcoin are extremely hard to change by design. Anyone can access the network directly without a trusted third party by using their own node. Owning more bitcoin does not give you more control over the network with all participants on equal footing.

Bitcoin is:
- money that is not controlled by a company or government
- money that can be spent or saved without permission
- money that is provably scarce and should increase in purchasing power with adoption

Bitcoin is money without trust. Whether you are a nation state, corporation, or an individual, you can use bitcoin to spend or save without permission. Social media will accelerate the already deteriorating trust in our institutions and as this trust continues to crumble the value of trust minimized money will become obvious. As adoption increases so should the purchasing power of bitcoin.

A quick note on "stablecoins," such as USDC - it is important to remember that they rely on trusted custodians. They have the same risk as funds held directly in bank accounts with additional counterparty risk on top. The trusted custodians can be pressured by gov, exit scam, or caught up in fraud. Funds can and will be frozen at will. This is a distinctly different trust model than bitcoin, which is a native bearer token that does not rely on any centralized entity or custodian.

Most bitcoin exchanges have exposure to these failing banks. Expect more chaos and confusion as this all unwinds. Withdraw any bitcoin to your own wallet ASAP.

Simple Self Custody Guide: https://werunbtc.com/muun
More Secure Cold Storage Guide: https://werunbtc.com/coldcard

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If you found this post helpful support my work with bitcoin.

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Autores Clássicos e Antigos

• Homero (século IX a.C.?) — Ilíada, Odisseia
• Tucídides (c. 460-400 a.C.) — História da Guerra do Peloponeso
• Platão (c. 427-347 a.C.) — República, Banquete, Fédon, Mênon, Apologia de Sócrates, Fedro, Górgias
• Aristóteles (c. 384-322 a.C.) — Órganon, Física, Metafísica, Da Alma, Ética a Nicômaco, Política, Retórica, Poética
• Virgílio (70-19 a.C.) — Eneida
• Marco Aurélio (121-180) — Meditações
• Santo Agostinho (354-430) — Sobre o Ensino, Confissões, A Cidade de Deus, A Doutrina Cristã
• Boécio (480-525) — A Consolação da Filosofia
• Santo Tomás de Aquino (c. 1225-1274) — Suma Teológica
• Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) — Divina Comédia

Renascimento e Idade Moderna

• Nicolau Maquiavel (1469-1527) — O Príncipe
• Luís de Camões (1524-1580) — Os Lusíadas, Sonetos
• Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) — Dom Quixote
• William Shakespeare (1564-1616) — Romeu e Julieta, Hamlet, Macbeth, Otelo, Rei Lear, Henrique IV, Henrique V, Henrique VI, Henrique VIII, A Comédia dos Erros, Tito Andrônico, Príncipe de Tiro, Cimbelino, A Megera Domada, O Mercador de Veneza, Ricardo II, Ricardo III, Muito Barulho por Nada, Júlio César, Noite de Reis, Os Dois Cavaleiros de Verona, Conto do Inverno, Sonhos de uma Noite de Verão, As Alegres Comadres de Windsor, Trólio e Créssida, Medida por Medida, Coriolano, Antônio e Cleópatra, A Tempestade
• Ésquilo (525-456 a.C., antiguidade grega, mas citado junto) — Prometeu Acorrentado, Orestéia/As Eumênides
• Sófocles (496-406 a.C.) — Édipo Rei, Antígona

Literatura e Filosofia Contemporânea

• Fiódor Dostoiévski (1821-1881) — Crime e Castigo, Os Irmãos Karamázov, Os Demônios, O Idiota, Notas do Subsolo
• Franz Kafka (1883-1924) — A Metamorfose, O Processo, O Castelo
• Albert Camus (1913-1960) — O Estrangeiro
• Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) — Admirável Mundo Novo, A Ilha
• James Joyce (1882-1941) — Retrato do Artista Quando Jovem, Ulisses
• George Orwell (1903-1950) — A Revolução dos Bichos, 1984
• Machado de Assis (1839-1908) — Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas, O Alienista
• Thomas Mann (1875-1955) — Morte em Veneza, Doutor Fausto, A Montanha Mágica
• Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) — O Pato Selvagem, Um Inimigo do Povo
• Stendhal (1783-1842) — O Vermelho e o Negro, A Cartuxa de Parma
• Viktor Frankl (1905-1997) — Em Busca de Sentido
• J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) — O Hobbit, O Senhor dos Anéis
• Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936) — Seis Personagens à Procura de um Autor, O Falecido Matias Pascal
• Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) — Esperando Godot
• René Guénon (1886-1951) — A Crise do Mundo Moderno, O Reino da Quantidade
• G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936) — Ortodoxia
• Richard Wagner (1813-1883) — Tristão e Isolda
• Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) — Ilusões Perdidas, Eugénie Grandet
• Jacob Wassermann (1873-1934) — O Processo Maurizius
• Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852) — Almas Mortas, O Inspetor Geral
• Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) — Moll Flanders
• Mortimer J. Adler (1902-2001) — Como Ler um Livro
• Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880) — Madame Bovary
• Hermann Hesse (1877-1962) — O Jogo das Contas de Vidro
• Richard Wagner (1813-1883) — Tristão e Isolda
• Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) — Fausto (Primeiro), Os Anos de Aprendizado de Wilhelm Meister
• Jacques Benda — A Traição dos Intelectuais

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Bitcoin Magazine

Michael Saylor Presents The 21 Ways to Wealth at Bitcoin 2025

Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman of Strategy, took the stage at Bitcoin 2025 delivering a keynote titled “21 Ways to Wealth.” He stated: “This speech is for you. I’ve traveled the world and told countries, institutional investors, and even the disembodied spirits of our children’s children why they need Bitcoin. This is for every individual, every family, every small business. It’s for everybody.”  

He began with clarity. “The first way to wealth is clarity,” he said. “Clarity comes the moment you realize Bitcoin is capital—perfected capital, programmable capital, incorruptible capital.” For Saylor, every thoughtful individual on Earth will ultimately seek such pristine capital, and every AI system will prefer it as well. 

The second path is conviction. Bitcoin, he said, will appreciate faster than every other asset, because it’s engineered for performance. “It’s going to grow faster than real estate or collectibles. It is the most efficient store of value in human history.”

The third way is courage. “If you’re going to get rich on Bitcoin, you need courage,” he warned. “Wealth favors those who embrace intelligent monetary risk. Some people will get left behind. Others will juggle it. But the bold will feed the fire—sell your bonds, buy Bitcoin. An extraordinary explosion of value is coming.”

Fourth comes cooperation. “You are more powerful if you have the full support of your family. Your children have time and potential. The secret is transferring capital into their hands. Families that move in unity are unstoppable.”

The fifth is capability. “Master AI,” he said. “In 2025, everything you can imagine is at your fingertips—wisdom, analysis, creativity. Ask AI, argue with it, use it. You can become a super genius. Don’t put your ego first—put your interests first. Your family will thank you.”

Saylor’s sixth way to wealth is composition: construct legal entities that scale your strategy and protect your assets. “Ask the AI and figure it out. You can work hard, or you can work smart. This year, everyone should be operating like the most sophisticated millionaire family office.”

The seventh is citizenship. Choose your economic nexus carefully—“domicile where sovereignty respects your freedom,” he said. “This isn’t just about this year—it’s about this century.”

Eighth is civility. “Respect the natural power structures of the world. Respect the force of nature,” he explained. “If you want to generate wealth in the Bitcoin universe, don’t fight unnecessarily. Find common ground. Inflation and distraction are your enemies.”

Ninth is corporation. “A well-structured corporation is the most powerful wealth engine on Earth. Families are powerful. Partnerships are even more powerful. But corporations can scale globally. What is your vehicle? What is your path?”

The tenth way is focus. “Just because you can do a thing doesn’t mean you should,” he warned. “If you invest in Bitcoin, there’s a 90% chance it will succeed over five years. Don’t confuse ambition with accomplishment. Come up with a strategy—and stick to it.”

The eleventh is equity. “Share your opportunities with investors who will share your risk,” he said, pointing to MicroStrategy’s own rise from $10 million to a $5 billion market cap by aligning with equity partners who believed in the Bitcoin mission.

The twelfth is credit. “There are people in the world who are afraid of the future—they want small yield, certainty. Offer that. Give creditors security in return for capital. Convert their fear into fuel and turn risk into yield by investing in Bitcoin.”

The thirteenth is compliance. “Create the best company you can within the rules of your market. Learn the rules of the road. If you know them, you can drive faster. You can scale legally and sustainably.”

The fourteenth way is capitalization. “Velocity compounds wealth,” Saylor said. “Raise and reinvest capital as fast and as often as you can. The faster your money moves into productive Bitcoin strategies, the more it multiplies.”

Fifteenth is communication. “Speak with candor. Act with transparency. And repeat your message often,” he urged. “Creating wealth with Bitcoin is simple—but only if people understand what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.”

Sixteenth is commitment. “Don’t allow yourself to be distracted,” he said. “Don’t chase your own ideas. Don’t feed the trolls. Stay committed to Bitcoin. It’s the greatest idea in the world. The world probably doesn’t care what you think—but it will care when you win.”

The Seventeenth way is competence. “You’re not competing with noise—you’re competing with someone who is laser-focused, who executes flawlessly,” he said. “You must deliver consistent, precise, and reliable performance. That’s how you win.”

The Eighteenth is adaptation. “Circumstances change. Every structure you trust today will eventually fail. A wise person is prepared to abandon their baggage and adjust plans when needed. Rigidity is ruin.”

Nineteenth is evolution. “Build on your core strengths. You don’t need to start over—you need to level up. Leverage what you already do best, and expand it through Bitcoin and advanced technologies.”

Twentieth is advocacy. “Inspire others to walk the Bitcoin path,” he said. “Become an evangelist for economic freedom. Show others what this revolution really means. Show them the way.”

Finally, the twenty-first way is generosity. “When you’re successful—and you will be successful—spread happiness. Share security. Deliver hope. That light inside you will shine. And others will be drawn to it.” 

As he ended, Saylor smiled and quoted the very origin of it all: 

“It might make sense to get some, in case it catches on.” – Satoshi.

In Michael Saylor’s worldview, Bitcoin is not a get-rich-quick scheme—it’s the ultimate long-term play. It is the foundation of generational wealth, the engine of personal and institutional freedom, and the tool for those bold enough to lead humanity into a more sovereign, secure future. 

You can watch the full panel discussion and the rest of the Bitcoin 2025 Conference Day 3 below: 

This post Michael Saylor Presents The 21 Ways to Wealth at Bitcoin 2025 first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Jenna Montgomery.

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Experiment Plan for Text Similarity Comparison Algorithms (Revised v3)

1. Introduction

1.1. Research Background and Objectives

This research aims to evaluate the performance of various algorithms for comparing the similarity between individual page texts extracted from a specific technical document (in this experiment, the content of the Tailwind CSS documentation site). Initially, we considered dividing the text into 250-word chunks. However, due to the abundance of Markdown and code in the target document, meaningful chunking proved tobe cumbersome. Therefore, we decided to use the entire text extracted from each page as the unit of comparison.

This study will systematically compare and examine combinations of different "representation methods" and "comparison methods" from multiple perspectives: ease of implementation, processing speed, memory consumption, and accuracy of similarity judgment. A particular focus will be on elucidating the effectiveness of information-based NCD (Normalized Compression Distance) and vector embedding-based methods, which are planned for future evaluation.

1.2. Report Structure

This report will first describe the experimental data and its preprocessing methods. Next, it will define in detail the representation methods and comparison methods that form the axes of evaluation, and present specific experimental cases combining them. After presenting the results and discussion of initial experiments using NCD, it will describe the metrics for evaluating each experimental case, specific experimental procedures, and the expected outcomes and future prospects of this research.

2. Experimental Data

• Target Content: Individual HTML pages from the Tailwind CSS documentation site (tailwindcss.com).
• Data Unit: The entire text of each page, extracted from HTML files using the html2text command and further processed to remove control characters using the sed command. This serves as the basic unit of comparison in this experiment.
• Data Storage Location: The extracted and preprocessed text files are stored locally under the ./tailwindcss.com directory, maintaining the original file structure.
• Language: English
• Example Search Query: A representative search query for this experiment is "Utilities for controlling how a background image behaves when scrolling." (Multiple queries and their expected similar pages may be used for more robust evaluation).
• Example Expected Similar Page: For the query above, /docs/background-attachment is expected to be the most semantically similar page.

3. Experimental Design

This experiment is designed by dividing the process of evaluating text similarity into two main axes: "Representation Methods" and "Comparison Methods."

3.1. Representation Methods (Text Quantification/Vectorization)

1. Naive (Raw Text / Full Page Text)

   • Method: Use the entire preprocessed text extracted from each document page as raw string data, without special transformations.
   • Objective: Serve as a direct input for information-based comparison methods like NCD and as a baseline comparison for more advanced representation methods to be evaluated later.

2. (Future Experiment) Vector Embedding via Gemini API (Embedding-Gemini)

   • Method: Utilize Google's Gemini API (models/text-embedding-004) to convert the entire text of each page into high-dimensional dense vectors (Embeddings).
   • Objective: Evaluate the performance of context-rich vector representations generated by a state-of-the-art large language model.

3. (Future Experiment) Vector Embedding via Local Lightweight Model (Embedding-MiniLM-GGUF)

   • Method: Run a GGUF quantized version of the pre-trained all-MiniLM-L6-v2 model (all-MiniLM-L6-v2-Q5_K_M.gguf) in a local environment to convert the entire text of each page into vector representations. GGUF format offers benefits like smaller model size and potentially faster CPU inference.
   • Objective: Evaluate the performance of a widely used open-source lightweight model (quantized version) in comparison to API-based large-scale models and domain-specific learned models.

4. (Future Experiment) Extraction of Internal Feature Vectors via Mathematica (Embedding-MMA)

   • Method: Use the entire page texts from the target document set as input. Employ Mathematica's neural network framework to first pass each page text through an Embedding Layer. Apply L2 normalization to the resulting vectors, followed by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to reduce dimensionality to approximately 100 dimensions. This final vector will be the feature vector. This pipeline aims to create dense, normalized representations specific to the document corpus, with PCA helping to capture the most significant variance in a lower-dimensional space, potentially improving efficiency and reducing noise. The choice of an Embedding Layer trained or fine-tuned on the corpus, followed by PCA, seeks to balance domain-specificity with robust dimensionality reduction.
   • Objective: Evaluate the performance of vector representations processed or specialized for the target document set.

3.2. Comparison Methods (Distance/Similarity Calculation between Representations)

1. NCD (Normalized Compression Distance)

   • Applicable to: Naive (Full Page Text)
   • Method: For two data objects x (query) and y (document page text), calculate NCD(x,y) = (C(xy) - min(C(x), C(y))) / max(C(x), C(y)). Here, C(s) is the size (e.g., byte length) of data s after compression with a specific algorithm, and C(xy) is the size of the concatenated data x and y after compression. A value closer to 0 indicates higher similarity.
   • Compression Algorithms to Compare: DEFLATE (gzip), bzip2, LZMA, XZ, Zstandard (zstd), LZO, Snappy, LZ4 (as used in the user-provided script).
   • Objective: Evaluate similarity from an information-theoretic perspective based on data commonality and redundancy. Compare the impact of different compression algorithms on NCD results.

2. (Future Experiment) Cosine Similarity

   • Applicable to: Embedding-Gemini, Embedding-MiniLM-GGUF, Embedding-MMA
   • Method: Calculate the cosine of the angle between two vectors.
   • Objective: Standard similarity evaluation based on the directionality (semantic closeness) of vector representations.

3. (Future Experiment) Euclidean Distance

   • Applicable to: Embedding-Gemini, Embedding-MiniLM-GGUF, Embedding-MMA
   • Method: Calculate the straight-line distance between two vectors in a multidimensional space.
   • Objective: Similarity evaluation based on the absolute positional relationship of vector representations.

4. (Future Experiment) Manhattan Distance (L1 Distance)

   • Applicable to: Embedding-Gemini, Embedding-MiniLM-GGUF, Embedding-MMA
   • Method: Calculate the sum of the absolute differences of their Cartesian coordinates.
   • Objective: Similarity evaluation based on axis-aligned travel distance, differing from Euclidean distance.

5. (Future Experiment) Mahalanobis Distance

   • Applicable to: Embedding-Gemini, Embedding-MiniLM-GGUF, Embedding-MMA
   • Method: Calculate the distance between two vectors considering the covariance of the data. This provides a distance metric that accounts for the scale differences and correlations of each feature (vector dimension).
   • Objective: More robust similarity evaluation that considers the structure (correlation) of the feature space.

3.3. Experimental Cases (Initial NCD Experiments and Future Expansion)

3.3.1. Initial Experiments Conducted (NCD)

The following experimental cases were conducted using the user-provided script. The representation method was "Naive (Full Page Text)."

| No. | Representation Method | Comparison Method (Distance/Similarity Metric) | Notes | | :-: | :---------------------- | :--------------------------------------------- | :-------------------------- | | 1 | Naive (Full Page Text) | NCD (gzip/DEFLATE) | One of the baselines | | 2 | Naive (Full Page Text) | NCD (bzip2) | Compression method comparison | | 3 | Naive (Full Page Text) | NCD (lzma) | Compression method comparison | | 4 | Naive (Full Page Text) | NCD (xz) | Compression method comparison | | 5 | Naive (Full Page Text) | NCD (zstd) | Compression method comparison | | 6 | Naive (Full Page Text) | NCD (lzop) | Compression method comparison | | 7 | Naive (Full Page Text) | NCD (snappy) | Compression method comparison | | 8 | Naive (Full Page Text) | NCD (lz4) | Compression method comparison |

3.3.2. Future Experimental Plan (Vector Embedding)

| No. | Representation Method | Comparison Method (Distance/Similarity Metric) | Notes | | :--: | :---------------------- | :--------------------------------------------- | :------------------------------------- | | 9 | Embedding-Gemini | Cosine Similarity | Standard vector similarity evaluation | | 10 | Embedding-Gemini | Euclidean Distance | Standard vector similarity evaluation | | 11 | Embedding-Gemini | Manhattan Distance | Axis-aligned distance similarity eval. | | 12 | Embedding-Gemini | Mahalanobis Distance | Distance considering feature structure | | 13 | Embedding-MiniLM-GGUF | Cosine Similarity | Evaluation of local lightweight model | | 14 | Embedding-MiniLM-GGUF | Euclidean Distance | Evaluation of local lightweight model | | 15 | Embedding-MiniLM-GGUF | Manhattan Distance | Evaluation of local lightweight model | | 16 | Embedding-MiniLM-GGUF | Mahalanobis Distance | Evaluation of local lightweight model | | 17 | Embedding-MMA | Cosine Similarity | Eval. of domain-specific MMA model | | 18 | Embedding-MMA | Euclidean Distance | Eval. of domain-specific MMA model | | 19 | Embedding-MMA | Manhattan Distance | Eval. of domain-specific MMA model | | 20 | Embedding-MMA | Mahalanobis Distance | Eval. of domain-specific MMA model |

4. Results and Discussion of Initial NCD Experiments (Based on User-Provided Information)

4.1. Execution Overview

The user employed provided Python scripts (main.py, comparison.py) to calculate NCD between a search query and the entire text extracted from each HTML page in the ./tailwindcss.com directory. main.py invoked comparison.py with various compression commands (gzip, bzip2, lzma, xz, zstd, lzop, lz4). comparison.py then used the specified command-line compression tools to compute NCD scores and output the results to CSV files.

Search Query: "Utilities for controlling how a background image behaves when scrolling." Expected Similar Page: /docs/background-attachment

4.2. Key Results

The pages judged as most similar (lowest NCD score) to the query for each compression algorithm were as follows (based on user-provided sorted results):

• Zstandard (zstd): ./tailwindcss.com/docs/background-attachment (Score: 0.973...)
• LZ4: ./tailwindcss.com/docs/background-attachment (Score: 0.976...)
• XZ: ./tailwindcss.com/docs/background-origin (Score: 0.946...)
• LZMA: ./tailwindcss.com/docs/background-origin (Score: 0.966...)
• gzip (DEFLATE): ./tailwindcss.com/docs/scroll-behavior (Score: 0.969...)
• LZO: ./tailwindcss.com/docs/scroll-behavior (Score: 0.955...)
• bzip2: ./tailwindcss.com/docs/mask-clip (Score: 0.958...)

4.3. Initial Discussion

• Variation in Results by Compression Algorithm: It was confirmed that the document judged most similar to the query varies depending on the compression algorithm used. This is likely due to the differing abilities of each algorithm to capture various types of redundancy and patterns within the text.
• Alignment with Expected Results: When using Zstandard and LZ4, the expected page (/docs/background-attachment) was judged as most similar. This suggests these compression algorithms may have relatively effectively captured the information-theoretic commonality between the query and the target document in this instance.
• Range of NCD Scores: The reported NCD scores were generally close to 1.0. This may be due to the relatively short length of the search query compared to the full-page documents, meaning the query text contributes less to the overall compressibility when concatenated. However, relative differences were still captured, enabling ranking.
• Validity of Full-Page Comparison: Full-page comparison was chosen due to the difficulty of chunking content rich in Markdown and code. While this approach simplifies preprocessing, it may also be influenced by the overall structure of the page, including common headers and footers.

This initial experiment indicates that NCD can function as an indicator of text similarity and that the choice of compression algorithm is crucial.

5. Evaluation Metrics (Including Future Experiments)

1. Accuracy of Similarity Scores:

   • Ground Truth Preparation: A small, diverse subset of page pairs (e.g., 50-100 pairs) will be selected. For each pair, at least two evaluators familiar with the Tailwind CSS documentation will independently assign a similarity score on a 5-point Likert scale (1=Not similar, 5=Very similar). Inter-evaluator reliability (e.g., using Krippendorff's Alpha) will be calculated. Disagreements will be resolved through discussion to create a consensus ground truth dataset. If resource-constrained, a single-evaluator approach with clear, predefined criteria will be used, acknowledging this limitation. Alternatively, page pairs likely to be similar will be selected based on internal references or chapter structure within the document.
   • Evaluation Metrics: Ranking evaluation (Precision@k, Recall@k, MAP: Mean Average Precision), correlation analysis (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient with human judgments), classification evaluation (AUC-ROC, F1-score, assuming appropriate thresholding).

2. Processing Speed:

   • Average time to calculate similarity for a page pair, total calculation time for all page pairs (or a large sampled set), and representation generation time (API call time, local model inference time, MMA processing time).

3. Memory Consumption:

   • Model size (MiniLM-GGUF, MMA model), data representation size, and peak runtime memory usage.

4. Ease of Implementation:

   • Qualitative assessment of setup ease, lines of code, required libraries, difficulty of parameter tuning, and documentation quality. This will be summarized for each approach (e.g., using a rubric or a comparative narrative) considering factors like:
     • Setup Complexity: (e.g., API key acquisition vs. local model download & environment setup vs. full model training pipeline in Mathematica).
     • Code Complexity: Estimated lines of core logic, reliance on external vs. standard libraries.
     • Parameter Sensitivity: Number of key hyperparameters requiring tuning and the perceived difficulty of finding good settings.
     • Documentation & Community Support: Availability and clarity of official documentation and community resources (e.g., forums, GitHub issues).

6. Experimental Procedure (Including Future Experiments)

1. Data Preparation:

   • Prepare HTML files of the target document in the ./tailwindcss.com directory.
   • (For NCD) Extract and preprocess full-page plain text from each HTML file using html2text and sed (as previously done by the user).
   • (For Vector Embedding) Use the same preprocessed full-page plain text.
   • Create ground truth data for accuracy evaluation as described in Section 5.1.

2. Implementation and Execution of Representation Methods:

   • Naive: Use the preprocessed page text directly.
   • Embedding-Gemini: Use Python's requests library or similar to send each page text to the Gemini API (models/text-embedding-004) and retrieve/store the vector representations.
   • Embedding-MiniLM-GGUF: Use appropriate libraries (e.g., ctransformers, or sentence-transformers combined with llama-cpp-python) to load the all-MiniLM-L6-v2-Q5_K_M.gguf model. Input each page text to extract and store vector representations.
   • Embedding-MMA: In Mathematica, apply an Embedding Layer to each page text, followed by L2 normalization and PCA dimensionality reduction (to approx. 100 dimensions), then extract and store the vector representations.

3. Implementation and Execution of Comparison Methods:

   • NCD: Refer to the user-provided Python scripts (main.py, comparison.py) to call various command-line compression tools for NCD calculation. Alternatively, extend this to directly use Python's compression libraries for better control and efficiency.
   • Cosine Similarity, Euclidean Distance, Manhattan Distance: Implement using standard math libraries (e.g., Python's NumPy, SciPy).
   • Mahalanobis Distance: Implement using scipy.spatial.distance.mahalanobis. Requires pre-calculation of the covariance matrix (or its inverse) from the entire dataset of vectors for each embedding type.

4. Evaluation Execution:

   • Calculate similarity (or distance) scores between the search query (and potentially between page pairs for ground truth evaluation) and all document pages for each experimental case.
   • Measure processing speed and memory consumption.
   • Calculate accuracy metrics using the computed similarity scores and ground truth data.
   • Record and evaluate the ease of implementation.

5. Result Aggregation and Analysis:

   • Compile the obtained evaluation metrics into tables and graphs for comparative analysis of each method's characteristics.

Experimental Environment (Assumed)

• Hardware: (e.g., CPU: Intel Core i7-10700, Memory: 32GB RAM, GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 8GB - specify if GPU is used for MiniLM or MMA)
• Software: (e.g., OS: Linux (Ubuntu, etc.), Programming Language: Python 3.x (with versions for key libraries like NumPy, SciPy, requests, ctransformers, etc.), Mathematica 13.x, specific versions of command-line compression tools if used directly)

7. Expected Outcomes and Future Outlook

This research (including initial NCD experiments and future vector embedding experiments) is expected to yield the following outcomes:

• Clarification of the Impact of Compression Algorithms on NCD: As indicated by initial experiments, the choice of compression algorithm significantly affects similarity judgments. Further validation with more diverse data and queries will allow for a deeper understanding of each algorithm's characteristics.
• Performance Characteristics of Various Methods on Full-Page Text: To clarify how NCD and various vector embedding methods perform in terms of accuracy, speed, and resource consumption when applied to entire page texts.
• Comparison of Local and API-Based Models: In future vector embedding experiments, to compare the performance, speed, and resource efficiency of Embedding-MiniLM-GGUF (local, quantized) and Embedding-Gemini (API, large-scale) to identify practical trade-offs.
• Evaluation of Domain-Specific Embedding Effectiveness: To assess how well Embedding-MMA, processed or tuned for a single technical document set, performs compared to general-purpose models.
• Provision of Practical Insights: To offer guidelines for selecting appropriate similarity comparison approaches based on text characteristics (e.g., Markdown/code content) and system requirements (e.g., ease of preprocessing, emphasis on accuracy vs. speed).

8. Future Challenges

• Ensuring Quality of Ground Truth Data: Evaluating full-page similarity can be more subjective than chunk-level evaluation, making the creation of high-quality ground truth data challenging. Establishing clear annotation guidelines and measuring inter-annotator agreement will be crucial.
• Hyperparameter Optimization: Many methods involve tunable parameters (e.g., Embedding-MMA model structure, PCA dimensionality, MiniLM-GGUF inference parameters), the optimization of which may be beyond the scope of this initial study. The impact of default vs. tuned parameters could be noted.
• Noise in Full-Page Comparison: Full-page texts may contain common navigational elements or boilerplate text that could act as noise in similarity judgments. Strategies to mitigate this (e.g., more advanced text extraction, or methods robust to such noise) could be a future research direction.
• Input Length Limitations of Vector Embedding Models: Very long page texts might exceed the input length limits of some vector embedding models, requiring strategies for handling. These might include:
  • Truncation: Using only the initial N tokens of each page, which is simple but may lose crucial information.
  • Summarization: Employing an abstractive or extractive summarization model to create a condensed version of the page, which could preserve key information but adds another layer of processing and potential information loss/bias.
  • Chunking and Averaging/Pooling: Dividing long pages into manageable chunks, embedding each chunk, and then aggregating these chunk embeddings (e.g., by averaging) to get a single page vector. This approach needs careful consideration of how chunks are defined and aggregated.
  • Utilizing Long-Context Models: If available and feasible, leveraging embedding models specifically designed for longer sequences. The chosen strategy will be documented, and its potential impact on results acknowledged.

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What is KYC/AML?

• The acronym stands for Know Your Customer / Anti Money Laundering.
• In practice it stands for the surveillance measures companies are often compelled to take against their customers by financial regulators.
• Methods differ but often include: Passport Scans, Driver License Uploads, Social Security Numbers, Home Address, Phone Number, Face Scans.
• Bitcoin companies will also store all withdrawal and deposit addresses which can then be used to track bitcoin transactions on the bitcoin block chain.
• This data is then stored and shared. Regulations often require companies to hold this information for a set number of years but in practice users should assume this data will be held indefinitely. Data is often stored insecurely, which results in frequent hacks and leaks.  
• KYC/AML data collection puts all honest users at risk of theft, extortion, and persecution while being ineffective at stopping crime. Criminals often use counterfeit, bought, or stolen credentials to get around the requirements. Criminals can buy "verified" accounts for as little as $200. Furthermore, billions of people are excluded from financial services as a result of KYC/AML requirements.

During the early days of bitcoin most services did not require this sensitive user data, but as adoption increased so did the surveillance measures. At this point, most large bitcoin companies are collecting and storing massive lists of bitcoiners, our sensitive personal information, and our transaction history.

Lists of Bitcoiners

KYC/AML policies are a direct attack on bitcoiners. Lists of bitcoiners and our transaction history will inevitably be used against us.

Once you are on a list with your bitcoin transaction history that record will always exist. Generally speaking, tracking bitcoin is based on probability analysis of ownership change. Surveillance firms use various heuristics to determine if you are sending bitcoin to yourself or if ownership is actually changing hands.  You can obtain better privacy going forward by using collaborative transactions such as coinjoin to break this probability analysis.

Fortunately, you can buy bitcoin without providing intimate personal information. Tools such as peach, hodlhodl, robosats, azteco and bisq help; mining is also a solid option: anyone can plug a miner into power and internet and earn bitcoin by mining privately.

You can also earn bitcoin by providing goods and/or services that can be purchased with bitcoin. Long term, circular economies will mitigate this threat: most people will not buy bitcoin - they will earn bitcoin - most people will not sell bitcoin - they will spend bitcoin.

There is no such thing as KYC or No KYC bitcoin, there are bitcoiners on lists and those that are not on lists.

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CHAPTER THIRTY THREE

“Rita, have the board members all arrived?” James asked as he adjusted the cuff of his tailored suit, his gaze fixated on the skyline from the glass-paneled office.

Rita nodded, stepping forward with a poised demeanor. “Yes, everyone is seated in the executive conference hall. They’re waiting for your address.”

James exhaled slowly. The significance of today wasn’t lost on him. This wasn’t just another board meeting, it was a landmark moment for JP Enterprises. For the first time in its sixteen-year history, the company was about to unveil a cross-national initiative that would stretch across continents supporting small businesses in underdeveloped economies.

He turned to face her, his eyes steady and thoughtful. “Let’s go give them a future.”

They walked side by side down the corridor, the reborn heir who had weathered every storm, and she, the unshakable ally who had believed in him when the world turned its back.

As James entered the conference room, the murmurs ceased. Heads turned. His presence demanded attention not by force, but through quiet, commanding authority born of earned respect.

Clearing his throat, he began, “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your presence. Today, we don’t just discuss figures or projections. Today, we choose our purpose. We choose legacy.”

A pause.

“I remember a time when I couldn't afford a meal. A time I was turned away at doors simply because I didn’t wear the right name or the right shoes. But I stand here not to recount hardship, but to celebrate transformation. This company was built not just by wealth but by the spirit of resilience. That same spirit will now be passed on to those who need it most.”

As he laid out the new project The Global Uplift Program a wave of admiration filled the room. This was no ordinary CEO. He wasn’t driven by profit margins but by principle. Investors leaned forward, inspired. Executives exchanged nods of approval. The decision was unanimously supported.

After the meeting, James returned to his office, greeted by the soft rustle of papers on his desk and a fresh bouquet sent anonymously, though he suspected his mother’s doing.

He sat down, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes for a moment.

The weight of betrayal, humiliation, and survival still lingered somewhere deep within, but above it now stood something stronger: peace. And fulfillment.

Just as he opened his eyes, a message popped up on his phone.

“You truly are your father’s son.” Mr. JP

A small smile touched his lips.

Outside the building, media vans parked along the curb. Reporters no longer hounded him with accusations, but with admiration. His name was now synonymous with strength, philanthropy, and innovation.

At that same moment, in a correctional facility not too far from the city, Helen sat by a barred window, her fingers trembling as she flipped through a newspaper. There, on the front page, was James“The Visionary President Leading Global Change.”

She tore the paper apart, rage bubbling inside. But what neither she nor Mark could change now was the tide. The world had moved on without them. And James had not only survived the storm they had unknowingly paved the way for his rise.

Back at JP Tower, Rita stepped into James’s office with two cups of coffee.

“One step closer,” she said, handing him his cup.

James took it with a nod. “And several more to go.”

The days that followed the anniversary were filled with unprecedented acclaim for James and JP Enterprises. The company’s prestige soared, and investors from around the globe began to express renewed interest in partnerships, not just for profit, but for the integrity James now represented. Business magazines lined their covers with his image, captioning headlines like “From Outcast to Tycoon: The Man Who Redefined Corporate Leadership.”

But while the surface shone with triumph, James knew that power always came with a price. Success, he had learned, not only attracted admiration it also bred envy.

In the quiet solitude of his office one evening, the golden hue of dusk spilled through the tall windows, casting long shadows across his desk. James sat alone, flipping through a file that detailed upcoming philanthropic ventures. A sense of calm filled the air, but his mind wandered.

He leaned back, staring up at the ceiling. For the first time in years, he wasn't fighting to survive. But in the corners of his mind lingered the betrayals he had endured Tracy’s treachery, Helen’s humiliation, Mark’s attempts to destroy him.

A soft knock interrupted his thoughts.

“Come in,” he called out.

Rita stepped in, holding a folder. “These are the final sign-offs for the Global Uplift Project’s first rollout. Would you like to go through them now?”

James gave a slight nod. “Leave them here, Rita. I’ll take a look before I leave.”

She hesitated for a second before speaking again, “There’s something else… There’s talk that Helen’s lawyers are trying to petition for her early release. And Mark… he’s been corresponding with a journalist. Apparently, he’s planning to publish a book about his version of everything.”

James let out a quiet, wry laugh. “Desperation has many disguises. Let them write, let them scream. The truth has already been witnessed by the world.”

Rita approached the desk, placing the folder down gently. “Still, should we consider preemptive legal action?”

James looked up at her, his eyes calm yet unyielding. “No. Let them bark. Their voices only echo in the dark corners they’ve created for themselves. We’ve got bigger visions to focus on.”

She smiled. “Very well, sir.”

As Rita left, James stood up and walked toward the window. Below, the city pulsated with life cars streaming like veins of light, buildings gleaming beneath the skyline like monuments of ambition.

He thought about the young man he used to be, sleeping on benches, mocked and shamed, barely surviving. And now standing at the helm of a global empire he had not only restored his name but redefined what legacy truly meant.

In another part of the city, in a modest home filled with the smell of fried plantains and old books, an elderly man watched James’s latest interview on TV.

“That boy,” he muttered, sipping tea, “I knew there was something special in him. Look at him now… the whole city in his hands.”

His wife chuckled from the kitchen, “Wasn’t he the one you gave an old coat to during that harsh winter? The one who said thank you with tears in his eyes?”

Weeks after the grand anniversary, JP Enterprises had solidified its place not only as a corporate titan but also as a beacon of transformation and resilience. Its rise under James's leadership was being studied in business schools, discussed in boardrooms, and celebrated in communities that had once dismissed him as nothing more than a wayward vagabond.

Despite the applause, James remained grounded. His vision had always been larger than wealth. He wasn’t driven merely by the desire to prove others wrong, but by a calling to empower the voiceless, the unseen, broken versions of himself he’d once been.

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5/27/2025, Las Vegas, NV — Sati, a Bitcoin payments app and Lightning infrastructure provider, today announced the launch of its Lightning integration with Xverse, a Bitcoin wallet used by over 1.5 million people worldwide.

Thanks to the integration, Xverse users can now send and receive sats (bitcoin’s smallest denomination) instantly over the Lightning Network with no setup, no app switching, and no custodial risk.

Initially designed in 2017, the Lightning Network has grown to become Bitcoin’s leading layer-2, with a current BTC capacity of over $465M.

Sati is now leveraging this technology to bring the world’s favorite digital currency into the pockets of 3 billion users worldwide, thanks to its powerful API integration with WhatsApp.

“Bitcoin was not meant to be an asset for Wall Street—it was built for peer-to-peer money, borderless and accessible,” said Felipe Servin, Founder and CEO of Sati.

“Integrating Lightning natively into Xverse brings that vision back to life, making Bitcoin usable at scale for billions.”

Thanks to the integration, every Xverse user now gets a Lightning Address instantly.

That means they can receive tips, pay invoices, and use Bitcoin for microtransactions—all without having to manage channels or switch between different apps.

Sati expects USDT on Lightning to be supported as early as Q3 for the Xverse wallet and in July 2025 for users accessing Sati through WhatsApp.

This integration positions Sati’s role as a Lightning infrastructure provider, not just a consumer app.

By leveraging its API-based solution, the company provides plug-and-play backend services to wallets and platforms looking to add Bitcoin payments without compromising on security or UX.

The Xverse launch follows the debut of Parasite Pool, a new mining pool leveraging Sati and Xverse’s tech stack and focused on democratizing Bitcoin mining.

Parasite Pool charges 0% fees and pays out instantly over Lightning, making it ideal for small-scale miners, especially those running ultra-low-power hardware like Bitaxe.

With over 500 users joining Parasite Pool within weeks of launch and an average pool hashrate of 5 PH/s, Parasite Pool is steadily growing its presence in the home mining space.

Thanks to the Lightning integration, Parasite Pool supports the smallest Lightning payouts in the industry (a fraction of a cent), lowering the barrier to entry for anyone interested in mining.

Sati recently closed a $600K pre-seed round backed by Bitcoin-focused investors, including Draper Associates, BitcoinFi, Arcanum, BoostVC, and Ricardo Salinas.

The funding is being used to support global expansion, stablecoin integration, Lightning infrastructure growth, and broader access to Bitcoin in emerging markets.

Sati will be conducting live product demos at Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas on May 27-29. To learn more about Sati, visit sati.pro

Press Contact
press@sati.pro

About Sati

Sati is a Bitcoin payments infrastructure provider. Launched in 2025 with investors of the likes as Draper Associates and Ricardo Salinas, Sati powers fast, seamless Bitcoin payments on applications such as WhatsApp to fuel the next wave of adoption. Learn more at sati.pro

About Xverse

Xverse is the on-chain platform for the Bitcoin economy—think Revolut meets Alchemy, built natively on Bitcoin. Trusted by over 1.5 million users, Xverse is launching a unified portfolio platform for Bitcoin L1 and Layer 2s, alongside developer infrastructure to power seamless Bitcoin-native apps.

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@matt_odell don't you even dare not ask about nostr!

— Kukks (Andrew Camilleri) (@MrKukks) May 18, 2021

Nostr first hit my radar spring 2021: created by fellow bitcoiner and friend, fiatjaf, and released to the world as free open source software. I was fortunate to be able to host a conversation with him on Citadel Dispatch in those early days, capturing that moment in history forever. Since then, the protocol has seen explosive viral organic growth as individuals around the world have contributed their time and energy to build out the protocol and the surrounding ecosystem due to the clear need for better communication tools.

nostr is to twitter as bitcoin is to paypal

As an intro to nostr, let us start with a metaphor:

twitter is paypal - a centralized platform plagued by censorship but has the benefit of established network effects

nostr is bitcoin - an open protocol that is censorship resistant and robust but requires an organic adoption phase

Nostr is an open communication protocol that can be used to send messages across a distributed set of relays in a censorship resistant and robust way.
 - Anyone can run a relay.
 - Anyone can interact with the protocol.
 - Relays can choose which messages they want to relay.
 - Users are identified by a simple public private key pair that they can generate themselves.

Nostr is often compared to twitter since there are nostr clients that emulate twitter functionality and user interface but that is merely one application of the protocol. Nostr is so much more than a mere twitter competitor. Nostr clients and relays can transmit a wide variety of data and clients can choose how to display that information to users. The result is a revolution in communication with implications that are difficult for any of us to truly comprehend.

Similar to bitcoin, nostr is an open and permissionless protocol. No person, company, or government controls it. Anyone can iterate and build on top of nostr without permission. Together, bitcoin and nostr are incredibly complementary freedom tech tools: censorship resistant, permissionless, robust, and interoperable - money and speech protected by code and incentives, not laws.

As censorship throughout the world continues to escalate, freedom tech provides hope for individuals around the world who refuse to accept the status quo. This movement will succeed on the shoulders of those who choose to stand up and contribute. We will build our own path. A brighter path.

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My Nostr Public Key: npub1qny3tkh0acurzla8x3zy4nhrjz5zd8l9sy9jys09umwng00manysew95gx

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"Privacy is necessary for an open society in the electronic age. Privacy is not secrecy.  A private matter is something one doesn't want the whole world to know, but a secret matter is something one doesn't want anybody to know. Privacy is the power to selectively reveal oneself to the world." - Eric Hughes, A Cypherpunk's Manifesto, 1993

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Privacy is essential to freedom. Without privacy, individuals are unable to make choices free from surveillance and control. Lack of privacy leads to loss of autonomy. When individuals are constantly monitored it limits our ability to express ourselves and take risks. Any decisions we make can result in negative repercussions from those who surveil us. Without the freedom to make choices, individuals cannot truly be free.

Freedom is essential to acquiring and preserving wealth. When individuals are not free to make choices, restrictions and limitations prevent us from economic opportunities. If we are somehow able to acquire wealth in such an environment, lack of freedom can result in direct asset seizure by governments or other malicious entities. At scale, when freedom is compromised, it leads to widespread economic stagnation and poverty. Protecting freedom is essential to economic prosperity.

The connection between privacy, freedom, and wealth is critical. Without privacy, individuals lose the freedom to make choices free from surveillance and control. While lack of freedom prevents individuals from pursuing economic opportunities and makes wealth preservation nearly impossible. No Privacy? No Freedom. No Freedom? No Wealth.

Rights are not granted. They are taken and defended. Rights are often misunderstood as permission to do something by those holding power. However, if someone can give you something, they can inherently take it from you at will. People throughout history have necessarily fought for basic rights, including privacy and freedom. These rights were not given by those in power, but rather demanded and won through struggle. Even after these rights are won, they must be continually defended to ensure that they are not taken away. Rights are not granted - they are earned through struggle and defended through sacrifice.

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People forget Bear Stearns failed March 2008 - months of denial followed before the public realized how bad the situation was under the surface.

Similar happening now but much larger scale. They did not fix fundamental issues after 2008 - everything is more fragile.

The Fed preemptively bailed out every bank with their BTFP program and First Republic Bank still failed. The second largest bank failure in history.

There will be more failures. There will be more bailouts. Depositors will be "protected" by socializing losses across everyone.

Our President and mainstream financial pundits are currently pretending the banking crisis is over while most banks remain insolvent. There are going to be many more bank failures as this ponzi system unravels.

Unlike 2008, we have the ability to opt out of these broken and corrupt institutions by using bitcoin. Bitcoin held in self custody is unique in its lack of counterparty risk - you do not have to trust a bank or other centralized entity to hold it for you. Bitcoin is also incredibly difficult to change by design since it is not controlled by an individual, company, or government - the supply of dollars will inevitably be inflated to bailout these failing banks but bitcoin supply will remain unchanged. I do not need to convince you that bitcoin provides value - these next few years will convince millions.

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@ 9ca447d2:fbf5a36d

Michael Saylor, executive chairman of Strategy, has stirred up the Bitcoin community with his recent comments on proof-of-reserves, calling it a “bad idea” that puts institutional security at risk.

Speaking at a side event at the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas, Saylor expressed strong concerns about the security implications of on-chain proof of reserves (PoR), a method used by many bitcoin companies to show they actually hold the assets they claim.

“The conventional way of issuing proof of reserves today is actually insecure,” Saylor said.

“It actually dilutes the security of the issuer, the custodians, the exchanges and the investors. It’s not a good idea, it’s a bad idea.”

Proof-of-reserves is a process where companies with bitcoin reserves share public wallet addresses or use cryptographic methods to prove how much bitcoin they hold.

This practice gained popularity after the collapse of major exchanges like FTX and Mt. Gox to build trust through transparency.

Many big players in the digital asset space, including Binance, Kraken, OKX and asset manager Bitwise, have adopted PoR to reassure users and stakeholders.

Related: Bitwise Announces On-Chain Address, Donations Go to Shareholders

Saylor’s objections boil down to two main points.

First, he believes publishing wallet addresses creates serious security risks. By exposing institutional wallet structures, companies may open themselves up to attacks from hackers, hostile governments or malicious actors.

“[It’s like] publishing the address and the bank accounts of all your kids and the phone numbers of all your kids and then thinking somehow that makes your family better,” Saylor said.

“(It becomes) an attack vector for hackers, nation-state actors, every type of troll imaginable.”

He even asked the audience to try a thought experiment:

“Go to AI, put it in deep think mode and then ask it ‘what are the security problems of publishing your wallet addresses?’ and ‘how might it undermine the security of your company over time’ … It will write you a book. It will be fifty pages of security problems.”

Second, Saylor pointed out that proof of reserves only shows what a company owns, not what it owes. In his view, that’s incomplete.

“It’s proof of assets that is insecure, and it is not proof of liabilities… So you own $63 billion worth of bitcoin—do you have a hundred billion dollars of liabilities?” he asked rhetorically.

For large institutions and investors, this view of financial health is not enough.

Instead of publishing wallet addresses, Saylor thinks the better approach is to use institutional-grade audits by trusted firms.

“The best practice… would be to have a Big Four auditor that checks to make sure you actually have the bitcoin, then checks to make sure the company hasn’t rehypothecated or pledged the bitcoin,” he said.

“Then you have to wash it through a public company where the CFO signs, then the CEO signs, then the chairman and all the outside directors are civilly and criminally liable for it.”

He believes the legal consequences of corporate auditing — including prison time for fraud under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act — are stronger than cryptographic proof alone.

He did admit that a more secure, future version of PoR might be possible if it involved zero-knowledge proofs that protect wallet privacy while still confirming ownership.

Not everyone agrees with Saylor’s opinion. While some praised his focus on security, others accused Saylor of hiding something.

Speculations resurfaced about whether Strategy truly holds all the bitcoin it claims, or if it’s involved in so-called “paper bitcoin” — claims to BTC without physical backing.

Others pointed out that exchanges like Kraken and asset managers like Bitwise have implemented PoR systems without major breaches.

@ 9ca447d2:fbf5a36d

Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the company behind Truth Social and other Trump-branded digital platforms, is planning to raise $2.5 billion to build one of the largest bitcoin treasuries among public companies.

The deal involves the sale of approximately $1.5 billion in common stock and $1.0 billion in convertible senior secured notes.

According to the company, the offering is expected to close by the end of May, pending standard closing conditions.

Devin Nunes, CEO of Trump Media, said the investment in bitcoin is a big part of the company’s long-term plan.

“We view Bitcoin as an apex instrument of financial freedom,” Nunes said.

“This investment will help defend our Company against harassment and discrimination by financial institutions, which plague many Americans and U.S. firms.”

He added that the bitcoin treasury will be used to create new synergies across the company’s platforms including Truth Social, Truth+, and the upcoming financial tech brand Truth.Fi.

“It’s a big step forward in the company’s plans to evolve into a holding company by acquiring additional profit-generating, crown jewel assets consistent with America First principles,” Nunes said.

The $2.5 billion raise will come from about 50 institutional investors. The $1 billion in convertible notes will have 0% interest and be convertible into shares at a 35% premium.

TMTG’s current liquid assets, including cash and short-term investments, are $759 million as of the end of the first quarter of 2025. With this new funding, the company’s liquid assets will be over $3 billion.

Custody of the bitcoin treasury will be handled by Crypto.com and Anchorage Digital. They will manage and store the digital assets.

Earlier this week The Financial Times reported Trump Media was planning to raise $3 billion for digital assets acquisitions.

The article said the funds would be used to buy bitcoin and other digital assets, and an announcement could come before a major related event in Las Vegas.

Related: Bitcoin 2025 Conference Kicks off in Las Vegas Today

Trump Media denied the FT report. In a statement, the company said, “Apparently the Financial Times has dumb writers listening to even dumber sources.”

There was no further comment. However, the official $2.5 billion figure, which was announced shortly after by Trump Media through a press release, aligns with its actual filing and investor communication.

Trump Media’s official announcement

This comes at a time when the Trump family and political allies are showing renewed interest in Bitcoin.

President Donald Trump who is now back in office since the 2025 election, has said he wants to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the world.”

Trump Media is also working on retail bitcoin investment products including ETFs aligned with America First policies.

These products will make bitcoin more accessible to retail investors and support pro-Trump financial initiatives.

But not everyone is happy.

Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren recently expressed concerns about Trump Media’s Bitcoin plans. She asked U.S. regulators to clarify their oversight of digital-asset ETFs, warning of investor risk.

Industry insiders are comparing Trump Media’s plans to Strategy (MSTR) which has built a multi-billion dollar bitcoin treasury over the last year. They used stock and bond sales to fund their bitcoin purchases.

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In this second installment of The Android Elite Setup tutorial series, we will cover installing the nostr:npub10r8xl2njyepcw2zwv3a6dyufj4e4ajx86hz6v4ehu4gnpupxxp7stjt2p8 on your #Android device and browsing for apps you may be interested in trying out.

Since the #Zapstore is a direct competitor to the Google Play Store, you're not going to be able to find and install it from there like you may be used to with other apps. Instead, you will need to install it directly from the developer's GitHub page. This is not a complicated process, but it is outside the normal flow of searching on the Play Store, tapping install, and you're done.

Installation

From any web browser on your Android phone, navigate to the Zapstore GitHub Releases page and the most recent version will be listed at the top of the page. The .apk file for you to download and install will be listed in the "Assets."

Tap the .apk to download it, and you should get a notification when the download has completed, with a prompt to open the file.

You will likely be presented with a prompt warning you that your phone currently isn't allowed to install applications from "unknown sources." Anywhere other than the Play Store is considered an "unknown source" by default. However, you can manually allow installation from unknown sources in the settings, which the prompt gives you the option to do.

In the settings page that opens, toggle it to allow installation from this source, and you should be prompted to install the application. If you aren't, simply go to your web browser's downloads and tap on the .apk file again, or go into your file browser app and you should find the .apk in your Downloads folder.

If the application doesn't open automatically after install, you will find it in your app drawer.

Home Page

Right at the top of the home page in the Zapstore is the search bar. You can use it to find a specific app you know is available in the Zapstore.

There are quite a lot of open source apps available, and more being added all the time. Most are added by the Zapstore developer, nostr:npub1wf4pufsucer5va8g9p0rj5dnhvfeh6d8w0g6eayaep5dhps6rsgs43dgh9, but some are added by the app developers themselves, especially Nostr apps. All of the applications we will be installing through the Zapstore have been added by their developers and are cryptographically signed, so you know that what you download is what the developer actually released.

The next section is for app discovery. There are curated app collections to peruse for ideas about what you may want to install. As you can see, all of the other apps we will be installing are listed in nostr:npub1wf4pufsucer5va8g9p0rj5dnhvfeh6d8w0g6eayaep5dhps6rsgs43dgh9's "Nostr" collection.

In future releases of the Zapstore, users will be able to create their own app collections.

The last section of the home page is a chronological list of the latest releases. This includes both new apps added to the Zapstore and recently updated apps. The list of recent releases on its own can be a great resource for discovering apps you may not have heard of before.

Installed Apps

The next page of the app, accessed by the icon in the bottom-center of the screen that looks like a clock with an arrow circling it, shows all apps you have installed that are available in the Zapstore. It's also where you will find apps you have previously installed that are ready to be updated. This page is pretty sparse on my test profile, since I only have the Zapstore itself installed, so here is a look at it on my main profile:

The "Disabled Apps" at the top are usually applications that were installed via the Play Store or some other means, but are also available in the Zapstore. You may be surprised to see that some of the apps you already have installed on your device are also available on the Zapstore. However, to manage their updates though the Zapstore, you would need to uninstall the app and reinstall it from the Zapstore instead. I only recommend doing this for applications that are added to the Zapstore by their developers, or you may encounter a significant delay between a new update being released for the app and when that update is available on the Zapstore.

Tap on one of your apps in the list to see whether the app is added by the developer, or by the Zapstore. This takes you to the application's page, and you may see a warning at the top if the app was not installed through the Zapstore.

Scroll down the page a bit and you will see who signed the release that is available on the Zapstore.

In the case of Primal, even though the developer is on Nostr, they are not signing their own releases to the Zapstore yet. This means there will likely be a delay between Primal releasing an update and that update being available on the Zapstore.

Settings

The last page of the app is the settings page, found by tapping the cog at the bottom right.

Here you can send the Zapstore developer feedback directly (if you are logged in), connect a Lightning wallet using Nostr Wallet Connect, delete your local cache, and view some system information.

We will be adding a connection to our nostr:npub1h2qfjpnxau9k7ja9qkf50043xfpfy8j5v60xsqryef64y44puwnq28w8ch wallet in part 5 of this tutorial series.

For the time being, we are all set with the Zapstore and ready for the next stage of our journey.

Continue to Part 3: Amber Signer. Nostr link: nostr:naddr1qqxnzde5xuengdeexcmnvv3eqgstwf6d9r37nqalwgxmfd9p9gclt3l0yc3jp5zuyhkfqjy6extz3jcrqsqqqa28qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyv9kh2uewd9hj7qg6waehxw309aex2mrp0yhxyunfva58gcn0d36zumn9wss80nug

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Bitcoin Magazine

The World’s Largest Bitcoin Conference Returns to Las Vegas in 2026

May 28, 2025 – BTC Inc., the leading provider of Bitcoin-related news and events, is excited to announce that the Bitcoin Conference, the world’s largest and most prestigious gathering of the Bitcoin industry, will be returning to Las Vegas next year. Next year’s conference will take place at the Venetian Las Vegas from April 27 – 29, 2026.

The announcement comes on the heels of a highly successful Bitcoin 2025 event, which saw over 35,000 attendees descend to Las Vegas to participate in valuable networking and community building events, experience leading-edge technology showcases, and hear insights from policy leaders, business executives, and celebrities across the Bitcoin industry.

“Bitcoin 2025 was the largest event in Bitcoin’s history and arrived at a pivotal moment for the industry,” said Brandon Green, Chief of Staff at BTC Inc. “Next year, we are going to compound it into not only the biggest event in Bitcoin’s history, but one of the largest and most important events globally.”

“Our city and state were delighted to host the Bitcoin conference this year,” said Governor Joe Lombardo. “Las Vegas is home to groundbreaking innovation and exciting new ideas, and we’re the perfect forum for the 2026 Bitcoin conference. We look forward to welcoming the conference to our state again next year.”

Tickets for Bitcoin 2026 are available for purchase on the official conference website. Interested individuals and organizations are encouraged to secure their spots early, as demand is expected to be unprecedented. 

For sponsorship opportunities, media inquiries, or further information about The Bitcoin Conference, please contact us or visit https://b.tc/conference/2026. 

About The Bitcoin Conference: 

The Bitcoin Conference is the world’s largest and most influential gathering of Bitcoin professionals, investors, and thought leaders. Committed to fostering Bitcoin adoption and industry innovation, the conference has grown into a global phenomenon since its founding in 2019. Learn more at https://b.tc/conference/2026

This post The World’s Largest Bitcoin Conference Returns to Las Vegas in 2026 first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Bitcoin Magazine.

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

For years American bitcoin miners have argued for more efficient and free energy markets. It benefits everyone if our energy infrastructure is as efficient and robust as possible. Unfortunately, broken incentives have led to increased regulation throughout the sector, incentivizing less efficient energy sources such as solar and wind at the detriment of more efficient alternatives.

The result has been less reliable energy infrastructure for all Americans and increased energy costs across the board. This naturally has a direct impact on bitcoin miners: increased energy costs make them less competitive globally.

Bitcoin mining represents a global energy market that does not require permission to participate. Anyone can plug a mining computer into power and internet to get paid the current dynamic market price for their work in bitcoin. Using cellphone or satellite internet, these mines can be located anywhere in the world, sourcing the cheapest power available.

Absent of regulation, bitcoin mining naturally incentivizes the build out of highly efficient and robust energy infrastructure. Unfortunately that world does not exist and burdensome regulations remain the biggest threat for US based mining businesses. Jurisdictional arbitrage gives miners the option of moving to a friendlier country but that naturally comes with its own costs.

Enter AI. With the rapid development and release of AI tools comes the requirement of running massive datacenters for their models. Major tech companies are scrambling to secure machines, rack space, and cheap energy to run full suites of AI enabled tools and services. The most valuable and powerful tech companies in America have stumbled into an accidental alliance with bitcoin miners: THE NEED FOR CHEAP AND RELIABLE ENERGY.

Our government is corrupt. Money talks. These companies will push for energy freedom and it will greatly benefit us all.

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Microsoft Cloud hiring to "implement global small modular reactor and microreactor" strategy to power data centers: https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/microsoft-cloud-hiring-to-implement-global-small-modular-reactor-and-microreactor-strategy-to-power-data-centers/

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@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

There must be a limit to how much data is transferred across the bitcoin network in order to keep the ability to run and use your own node accessible. A node is required to interact with the global bitcoin network - if you do not use your own node then you must trust someone else's node. If nodes become inaccessible to run then the network will centralize around the remaining entities that operate them - threatening the censorship resistance at the core of bitcoin's value prop. The bitcoin protocol uses three main mechanisms to keep node operation costs low - a fixed limit on the amount of data in each block, an automatic difficulty adjustment that regulates how many blocks are produced based on current mining hash rate, and a robust dynamic transaction fee market.

Bitcoin transaction fees limit network abuse by making usage expensive. There is a cost to every transaction, set by a dynamic free market based on demand for scarce block space. It is an incredibly robust way to prevent spam without relying on centralized entities that can be corrupted or pressured.

After the 2017 bitcoin fee spike we had six years of relative quiet to build tools that would be robust in a sustained high fee market. Fortunately our tools are significantly better now but many still need improvement. Most of the pain points we see today will be mitigated.

The reality is we were never going to be fully prepared - pressure is needed to show the pain points and provide strong incentives to mitigate them.

It will be incredibly interesting to watch how projects adapt under pressure. Optimistic we see great innovation here.

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_If you are willing to wait for your transaction to confirm you can pay significantly lower fees. Learn best practices for reducing your fee burden here.

My guide for running and using your own bitcoin node can be found here._

---

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Contribute to keep No Bullshit Bitcoin news going.

• RoboSats v0.7.7-alpha is now available!

NOTE: "This version of clients is not compatible with older versions of coordinators. Coordinators must upgrade first, make sure you don't upgrade your client while this is marked as pre-release."

• This version brings a new and improved coordinators view with reviews signed both by the robot and the coordinator, adds market price sources in coordinator profiles, shows a correct warning for canceling non-taken orders after a payment attempt, adds Uzbek sum currency, and includes package library updates for coordinators.

Source: RoboSats.

• siggy47 is writing daily RoboSats activity reviews on stacker.news. Check them out here.
• Stay up-to-date with RoboSats on Nostr.

What's new

• New coordinators view (see the picture above).
• Available coordinator reviews signed by both the robot and the coordinator.
• Coordinators now display market price sources in their profiles.

Source: RoboSats.

• Fix for wrong message on cancel button when taking an order. Users are now warned if they try to cancel a non taken order after a payment attempt.
• Uzbek sum currency now available.
• For coordinators: library updates.
• Add docker frontend (#1861).
• Add order review token (#1869).
• Add UZS migration (#1875).
• Fixed tests review (#1878).
• Nostr pubkey for Robot (#1887).

New contributors

• @hexlorn made their first contribution in #1858.
• @umk0m1qk made their first contribution in #1864.

Full Changelog: v0.7.6-alpha...v0.7.7-alpha

GitHub Repo

@ dfa02707:41ca50e3

• This version introduces the Soroban P2P network, enabling Dojo to relay transactions to the Bitcoin network and share others' transactions to break the heuristic linking relaying nodes to transaction creators.

• Additionally, Dojo admins can now manage API keys in DMT with labels, status, and expiration, ideal for community Dojo providers like Dojobay. New API endpoints, including "/services" exposing Explorer, Soroban, and Indexer, have been added to aid wallet developers.
• Other maintenance updates include Bitcoin Core, Tor, Fulcrum, Node.js, plus an updated ban-knots script to disconnect inbound Knots nodes.

"I want to thank all the contributors. This again shows the power of true Free Software. I also want to thank everyone who donated to help Dojo development going. I truly appreciate it," said Still Dojo Coder.

What's new

• Soroban P2P network. For MyDojo (Docker setup) users, Soroban will be automatically installed as part of their Dojo. This integration allows Dojo to utilize the Soroban P2P network for various upcoming features and applications.
• PandoTx. PandoTx serves as a transaction transport layer. When your wallet sends a transaction to Dojo, it is relayed to a random Soroban node, which then forwards it to the Bitcoin network. It also enables your Soroban node to receive and relay transactions from others to the Bitcoin network and is designed to disrupt the assumption that a node relaying a transaction is closely linked to the person who initiated it.
  • Pushing transactions through Soroban can be deactivated by setting NODE_PANDOTX_PUSH=off in docker-node.conf.
  • Processing incoming transactions from Soroban network can be deactivated by setting NODE_PANDOTX_PROCESS=off in docker-node.conf.
• API key management has been introduced to address the growing number of people offering their Dojos to the community. Dojo admins can now access a new API management tab in their DMT, where they can create unlimited API keys, assign labels for easy identification, and set expiration dates for each key. This allows admins to avoid sharing their main API key and instead distribute specific keys to selected parties.
• New API endpoints. Several new API endpoints have been added to help API consumers develop features on Dojo more efficiently:
  • New:
    • /latest-block - returns data about latest block
    • /txout/:txid/:index - returns unspent output data
    • /support/services - returns info about services that Dojo exposes
  • Updated:
    • /tx/:txid - endpoint has been updated to return raw transaction with parameter ?rawHex=1
  • The new /support/services endpoint replaces the deprecated explorer field in the Dojo pairing payload. Although still present, API consumers should use this endpoint for explorer and other pairing data.

Other changes

• Updated ban script to disconnect inbound Knots nodes.
• Updated Fulcrum to v1.12.0.
• Regenerate Fulcrum certificate if expired.
• Check if transaction already exists in pushTx.
• Bump BTC-RPC Explorer.
• Bump Tor to v0.4.8.16, bump Snowflake.
• Updated Bitcoin Core to v29.0.
• Removed unnecessary middleware.
• Fixed DB update mechanism, added api_keys table.
• Add an option to use blocksdir config for bitcoin blocks directory.
• Removed deprecated configuration.
• Updated Node.js dependencies.
• Reconfigured container dependencies.
• Fix Snowflake git URL.
• Fix log path for testnet4.
• Use prebuilt addrindexrs binaries.
• Add instructions to migrate blockchain/fulcrum.
• Added pull policies.

#FREESAMOURAI

Learn how to set up and use your own Bitcoin privacy node with Dojo here.

Announcement / Archive
GitHub Repo

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Crypto Insights

No Blind Trust : A New Proposal for Manually Creating Mnemonics

Eric Kvam proposed an improved method for generating and recovering seed phrase mnemonics. The goal is to allow users to create seed phrases manually and securely, eliminating reliance on a black box. It also allows for encoding derivation path in the mnemonics to simplify recovery.

Facing Spam: Are P2P Networks Fundamentally at a Disadvantage?

The author argues that P2P permissionless networks like Bitcoin and Nostr face a structural disadvantage in dealing with spam. In broadcast-style networks, spammers are often more motivated than regular users making P2P value transfers. Simply increasing the cost per action is not enough to deter spam, as the value gained by spammers far exceeds that of regular users. In contrast, mainstream internet spam control relies on identifying users and punishing bad behavior, but this goes against Bitcoin’s principles of decentralization and privacy. The author worries that without an effective solution, genuine users may eventually be pushed out while spammers persist.

Bitcointap: Real-Time Data Extraction from Bitcoin Core Tracepoints

Jb55 released Bitcointap — a Rust library and CLI tool that leverages Bitcoin Core’s EBPF-USDT tracepoints to extract data in real time, inspired by @0xB10C’s peer_observer project.

• Bitcointap GitHub Repo, and Demo Video

Tradeoffs Between Performance and Privacy in the Lightning Network

The Lightning developer community recently discussed the privacy impact of surfacing granular HTLC hold times via attributable failures. Carla followed up with further reflections, exploring how forwarding delays impact payment privacy. She also pointed out that no privacy-preserving forwarding delay mechanism is currently deployed in the Lightning Network.

Parasite Pool: A New Open Source Pool for Pleb Bitcoin Mining

Ordinal Maxi Biz founder ZK Shark has launched Parasite Pool, an open-source Bitcoin mining pool aimed at pleb miners who want to contribute to Bitcoin decentralization. It supports Lightning Network payouts, has a low entry threshold of just 10 sats, and allows individuals to earn directly and instantly. Its “Plebs Eat First” reward structure gives 1 BTC to the block finder, while the remaining 2.125 BTC and transaction fees are distributed via Lightning to pooled workers, making it especially attractive to plebs. Parasite Pool’s current hashrate is only 5 PH/s, representing just 0.000006% of the Bitcoin network—projected to take over 3 years to mine a block at current rates.

BitVMX Unveils 2025 Roadmap

BitVMX released its roadmap for 2025, outlining five core tracks: Research, Implementation, Security, Platform Integration, and Education & Outreach.

Top Reads on Blockchain and Beyond

The Cathedral and the Bazaar in the Age of AI Agents: Crypto’s Role in Low-Trust Environments

Borrowing the metaphor of "The Cathedral and the Bazaar," the author suggests that the network architecture of the AI agent era resembles a Linux-style open bazaar. In this model, countless untrusted agents with development capabilities provide services to one another through inter-agent calls, forming a loosely coordinated network. This low-trust environment is where cryptographic technologies shine—enabling value exchange without requiring trust. As such, crypto becomes a foundational component of this new AI-powered bazaar.

A Look Back at the 2015 Bitcoin Spam Attacks: Consensus Shifts and Today’s OP_Return Debate

BitMex’s article recounts four waves of spam attacks on Bitcoin in the summer of 2015, launched by a London-based company CoinWallet.EU. These spam floods severely degraded the user experience for Bitcoin payments, especially during the third wave from July 7 to July 11, 2015. The attacks sparked debate around miner filtering of spam transactions and block size limits. BitMex argues these events played a critical role in shaping views on spam mitigation and echo today’s debates over the OP_Return relay limit.

5-Step Survival Guide for Personal Data Breaches

a16z’s guide outlines immediate and long-term responses after a personal data breach:

1. Act Immediately

• Freeze your credit to prevent identity theft.

• Strengthen multi-factor authentication (MFA): Prefer app-based or hardware key methods over SMS. Enable SIM protection with your telecom provider.

• Replace compromised IDs: Contact relevant authorities.

2. Strengthen Online Account Security

• For Apple and Google accounts, enable advanced protections (e.g., Google Advanced Protection, Passkeys, YubiKey).

• Use a password manager; consider offline tools like KeePass, or services like Bitwarden and 1Password.

3. Secure Your Phone

• iPhone users: Set a strong alphanumeric password, enable Find My iPhone, activate Stolen Device Protection, and require Face ID for sensitive apps.

• Android users: Use a strong password or biometrics, enable Find My Device, activate theft detection lock and identity checks.

4. Defend Against Social Engineering

• Watch for phishing scams, suspicious login notifications, or fake calls/texts pretending to be from financial institutions.

5. Monitor Your Social Media Accounts

• Regularly check account access. If locked out, contact support immediately.

@ 21c71bfa:e28fa0f6

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@ 3eba5ef4:751f23ae

加密洞见

无需盲信系统：手动创建助记词的新提案

开发者 Eric Kvam 提出了一种改进助记词生成和恢复流程的方法，目的是让用户能够手动、安全地生成种子短语助记词，从不必信任「黑盒」，并在助记词中编码派生路径以简化恢复过程。

应对垃圾信息，P2P 网络存在固有劣势？

作者认为，比特币和 Nostr 等类似 P2P 无许可网络在应对垃圾信息问题上存在固有劣势。由于广播式网络的特性，垃圾信息发送者在动机上远强于正常点对点价值传递的用户，仅通过提高每笔操作的成本难以有效遏制垃圾信息，因为垃圾发送者从中获得的价值远高于普通用户。相比之下，互联网主流是通过识别用户身份、并对不良行为实施惩罚的方式来治理垃圾信息，但这种方式违背了比特币的去中心化和隐私保护原则，并导致了严重的隐私侵犯。作者担心，如果不能有效解决垃圾信息问题，比特币等网络的正常用户可能会被迫离开，而垃圾发送者仍会留下。

Bitcointap：利用比特币核心跟踪点，实时提取数据

开发者 jb55 推出 bitcointap——一个 Rust 库和 CLI 工具。它利用 Bitcoin-Core 的 EBPF-USDT 跟踪点，实现数据的实时提取。Bitcointap 的开发受到 @0xB10C 的 peer_observer 项目的启发。

• Bitcointap 的 GitHub Repo，以及 Demo Video

闪电网络中性能和隐私间的权衡

闪电网络开发者社区最近讨论到 Pivacy impact of surfacing granular HTLC hold times via attributable failures 这一问题。Carla 对此进行了后续思考，进一步研究了转发延迟（forwarding delays）机制对付款隐私的影响。她也指出，现在的闪电网络中并没有部署任何转发延迟的隐私保护。

面向草根挖矿的新开源矿池 Parasite Pool

Ordinal Maxi Biz 创始人 ZK Shark 推出开源比特币矿池 Parasite Pool，专为希望为比特币去中心化做出贡献的家庭矿工而建。支持闪电网络支付，门槛低至 10 聪，允许个人直接即时赚钱。它有一个「平民先吃」（Plebs Eat First）的奖励结构，将 1 BTC 奖励给找到区块的人，并将剩余的 2.125 BTC 加上手续费通过闪电支付分配给其余非获胜参与者。小规模矿工由此可以获得相对于其哈希算力的巨额奖励，这让 Parasite Pool 对他们而言特别具有吸引力。目前 Parasite Pool 指向矿池的哈希率只有 5 PH/s，只占整个比特币网络的 0.000006%，预计可能需要 3 年多才能到达一个区块。

BitVMX 公布 2025 路线图

BitVMX 公布了 2025 年路线图，呈现了在研究、实施、安全、平台集成以及教育和对外扩展五条核心轨道上的计划：

精彩无限，不止于链

AI 代理时代的大教堂与集市，加密技术在低信任场景中的未来

作者借用经典的「大教堂与集市」比喻，认为 AI 代理时代的网络形态是一个 Linux 式的开放集市——这里会有大量具有独立开发能力的自动代理人，通过相互调用，为彼此提供服务，由此形成松散的协作网络。这样一个低信任的场景，正是加密技术最擅长的环境———在无需信任的环境中交换价值，因此加密货币将成为 AI 代理人集市中不可或缺的基础要素。

回顾 2015 比特币垃圾邮件攻击：共识变革与当今 OP_Return 辩论的呼应

BitMex 的这篇文章介绍了 2015 年夏天针对比特币的四轮垃圾邮件攻击。这些攻击由一家名为 CoinWallet.EU 的伦敦公司发起。垃圾邮件对当时进行比特币支付的人的用户体验产生了重大的不利影响，尤其是在 2015 年 7 月 7 日至 2015 年 7 月 11 日的第三轮攻击中。这次攻击引发了关于矿工过滤垃圾邮件交易和区块大小限制的辩论。在 BitMex 看来，这次攻击在形成许多人关于如何处理垃圾邮件的观点方面发挥了关键作用，并且与今天关于 OP_Return 中继限制的辩论有有趣的相似之处。

个人数据泄露后的 5 步生存手册

a16z 的这篇指南梳理了在个人数据泄露后，如何立即应对与长期防护，重点包括：

1. 立即采取行动

• 冻结信用：防止身份被盗用开设新账户。

• 加强多因素认证（MFA）：在所有金融与社交账户启用 MFA，优先使用 App 或硬件密钥而非短信认证，并向电信商申请 SIM 卡保护。

• 更换身份证件：联系相关部门申请补发。

2. 强化线上账户安全

• Apple 和 Google账户，启用高级保护措施（如 Google Advanced Protection、Passkeys、YubiKey 等）。

• 使用密码管理器，推荐离线工具 KeePass，或 Bitwarden、1Password 等第三方服务

3. 锁定手机安全

• iPhone 用户：设置自定义字母数字密码、启用Find My iPhone、开启 Stolen Device Protection，敏感应用要求Face ID。

• Android用户：设置强密码或生物识别、启用Find My Device、开启盗窃检测锁和身份检查。

4. 防范社交工程攻击

• 警惕钓鱼诈骗、可疑登录通知、冒充金融机构的短信或电话。

5. 监控社交媒体账户

• 定期确认账户存取权，若被锁定立即联系客户服务。

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

Bank run on every crypto bank then bank run on every "real" bank.

— ODELL (@ODELL) December 14, 2022

Good morning.

It looks like PacWest will fail today. It will be both the fifth largest bank failure in US history and the sixth major bank to fail this year. It will likely get purchased by one of the big four banks in a government orchestrated sale.  

March 8th - Silvergate Bank
March 10th - Silicon Valley Bank
March 12th - Signature Bank
March 19th - Credit Suisse
May 1st - First Republic Bank
May 4th - PacWest Bank?

PacWest is the first of many small regional banks that will go under this year. Most will get bought by the big four in gov orchestrated sales. This has been the playbook since 2008. Follow the incentives. Massive consolidation across the banking industry. PacWest gonna be a drop in the bucket compared to what comes next.

First, a hastened government led bank consolidation, then a public/private partnership with the remaining large banks to launch a surveilled and controlled digital currency network. We will be told it is more convenient. We will be told it is safer. We will be told it will prevent future bank runs. All of that is marketing bullshit. The goal is greater control of money. The ability to choose how we spend it and how we save it. If you control the money - you control the people that use it.

---

If you found this post helpful support my work with bitcoin.

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

There must be a limit to how much data is transferred across the bitcoin network in order to keep the ability to run and use your own node accessible. A node is required to interact with the global bitcoin network - if you do not use your own node then you must trust someone else's node. If nodes become inaccessible to run then the network will centralize around the remaining entities that operate them - threatening the censorship resistance at the core of bitcoin's value prop. The bitcoin protocol uses three main mechanisms to keep node operation costs low - a fixed limit on the amount of data in each block, an automatic difficulty adjustment that regulates how many blocks are produced based on current mining hash rate, and a robust dynamic transaction fee market.

Bitcoin transaction fees limit network abuse by making usage expensive. There is a cost to every transaction, set by a dynamic free market based on demand for scarce block space. It is an incredibly robust way to prevent spam without relying on centralized entities that can be corrupted or pressured.

After the 2017 bitcoin fee spike we had six years of relative quiet to build tools that would be robust in a sustained high fee market. Fortunately our tools are significantly better now but many still need improvement. Most of the pain points we see today will be mitigated.

The reality is we were never going to be fully prepared - pressure is needed to show the pain points and provide strong incentives to mitigate them.

It will be incredibly interesting to watch how projects adapt under pressure. Optimistic we see great innovation here.

---

_If you are willing to wait for your transaction to confirm you can pay significantly lower fees. Learn best practices for reducing your fee burden here.

My guide for running and using your own bitcoin node can be found here._

---

If you found this post helpful support my work with bitcoin.

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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.

@ 21c71bfa:e28fa0f6

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@ dfa02707:41ca50e3

Contribute to keep No Bullshit Bitcoin news going.

• "Today we're launching the beta version of our multiplatform Nostr browser! Think Google Chrome but for Nostr apps. The beta is our big first step toward this vision," announced Damus.
• This version comes with the Dave Nostr AI assistant, support for zaps and the Nostr Wallet Connect (NWC) wallet interface, full-text note search, GIFs and fullscreen images, multiple media uploads, user tagging, relay list and mute list support, along with a number of other improvements."

"Included in the beta is the Dave, the Nostr AI assistant (its Grok for Nostr). Dave is a new Notedeck browser app that can search and summarize notes from the network. For a full breakdown of everything new, check out our beta launch video."

What's new

• Dave Nostr AI assistant app.
• GIFs.
• Fulltext note search.
• Add full screen images, add zoom, and pan.
• Zaps! NWC/ Wallet UI.
• Introduce last note per pubkey feed (experimental).
• Allow multiple media uploads per selection.
• Major Android improvements (still WIP).
• Added notedeck app sidebar.
• User Tagging.
• Note truncation.
• Local network note broadcast, broadcast notes to other notedeck notes while you're offline.
• Mute list support (reading).
• Relay list support.
• Ctrl-enter to send notes.
• Added relay indexing (relay columns soon).
• Click hashtags to open hashtag timeline.
• Fixed timelines sometimes not updating (stale feeds).
• Fixed UI bounciness when loading profile pictures
• Fixed unselectable post replies.

Announcement / Archive
GitHub Repo
Website

@ b7274d28:c99628cb

Your identity is important to you, right? While impersonation can be seen in some senses as a form of flattery, we all would prefer to be the only person capable of representing ourselves online, unless we intentionally delegate that privilege to someone else and maintain the ability to revoke it.

Amber does all of that for you in the context of #Nostr. It minimizes the possibility of your private key being compromized by acting as the only app with access to it, while all other Nostr apps send requests to Amber when they need something signed. This even allows you to give someone temporary authority to post as you without giving them your private key, and you retain the authority to revoke their permissions at any time.

nostr:npub1w4uswmv6lu9yel005l3qgheysmr7tk9uvwluddznju3nuxalevvs2d0jr5 has provided Android users with an incredibly powerful tool in Amber, and he continues to improve its functionality and ease of use. Indeed, there is not currently a comparative app available for iOS users. For the time being, this superpower is exclusive to Android.

Installation

Open up the Zapstore app that you installed in the previous stage of this tutorial series.

Very likely, Amber will be listed in the app collection section of the home page. If it is not, just search for "Amber" in the search bar.

Opening the app's page in the Zapstore shows that the release is signed by the developer. You can also see who has added this app to one of their collections and who has supported this app with sats by zapping the release.

Tap "Install" and you will be prompted to confirm you are sure you want to install Amber.

Helpfully, you are informed that several other users follow this developer on Nostr. If you have been on Nostr a while, you will likely recognize these gentlemen as other Nostr developers, one of them being the original creator of the protocol.

You can choose to never have Zapstore ask for confirmation again with apps developed by nostr:npub1w4uswmv6lu9yel005l3qgheysmr7tk9uvwluddznju3nuxalevvs2d0jr5, and since we have another of his apps to install later in this tutorial series, I recommend you toggle this on. Then tap on "Trust greenart7c3 and install app."

Just like when you installed the Zapstore from their GitHub, you will be prompted to allow the Zapstore to install apps, since Android considers it an "unknown source."

Once you toggle this on and use the back button to get back to the Zapstore, Amber will begin downloading and then present a prompt to install the app. Once installed, you will see a prompt that installation was a success and you can now open the app.

From here, how you proceed will depend on whether you need to set up a new Nostr identity or use Amber with an existing private key you already have set up. The next section will cover setting up a new Nostr identity with Amber. Skip to the section titled "Existing Nostrich" if you already have an nsec that you would like to use with Amber.

New Nostrich

Upon opening the application, you will be presented with the option to use an existing private key or create a new Nostr account. Nostr doesn't really have "accounts" in the traditional sense of the term. Accounts are a relic of permissioned systems. What you have on Nostr are keys, but Amber uses the "account" term because it is a more familiar concept, though it is technically inaccurate.

Choose "Create a new Nostr account" and you will be presented with a screen telling you that your Nostr account is ready. Yes, it was really that easy. No email, no real name, no date of birth, and no annoying capcha. Just "Create a new account" and you're done.

The app presents you with your public key. This is like an address that can be used to find your posts on Nostr. It is 100% unique to you, and no one else can post a note that lists this npub as the author, because they won't have the corresponding private key. You don't need to remember your npub, though. You'll be able to readily copy it from any Nostr app you use whenever you need it.

You will also be prompted to add a nickname. This is just for use within Amber, since you can set up multiple profiles within the app. You can use anything you want here, as it is just so you can tell which profile is which when switching between them in Amber.

Once you've set your nickname, tap on "Continue."

The next screen will ask you what Amber's default signing policy should be.

The default is to approve basic actions, referring to things that are common for Nostr clients to request a signature for, like following another user, liking a post, making a new post, or replying. If you are more concerned about what Amber might be signing for on your behalf, you can tell it to require manual approval for each app.

Once you've made your decision, tap "Finish." You will also be able to change this selection in the app settings at any time.

With this setup out of the way, you are now presented with the main "Applications" page of the app.

At the top, you have a notification encouraging you to create a backup. Let's get that taken care of now by tapping on the notification and skipping down to the heading titled "Backing Up Your Identity" in this tutorial.

Existing Nostrich

Upon opening the application, you will be presented with the option to use your private key or create a new Nostr account. Choose the former.

The next screen will require you to paste your private key.

You will need to obtain this from whatever Nostr app you used to create your profile, or any other Nostr app that you pasted your nsec into in the past. Typically you can find it in the app settings and there will be a section mentioning your keys where you can copy your nsec. For instance, in Primal go to Settings > Keys > Copy private key, and on Amethyst open the side panel by tapping on your profile picture in the top-left, then Backup Keys > Copy my secret key.

After pasting your nsec into Amber, tap "Next."

Amber will give you a couple options for a default signing policy. The default is to approve basic actions, referring to things that are common for Nostr clients to request a signature for, like following another user, liking a post, making a new post, or replying. If you are more concerned about what Amber might be signing for on your behalf, you can tell it to require manual approval for each app.

Once you've made your decision, tap "Finish." You will also be able to change this selection in the app settings at any time.

With this setup out of the way, you are now presented with the main "Applications" page of the app. You have nothing here yet, since you haven't used Amber to log into any Nostr apps, but this will be where all of the apps you have connected with Amber will be listed, in the order of the most recently used at the top.

Before we go and use Amber to log into an app, though, let's make sure we've created a backup of our private key. You pasted your nsec into Amber, so you could just save that somewhere safe, but Amber gives you a few other options as well. To find them, you'll need to tap the cog icon at the bottom of the screen to access the settings, then select "Backup Keys."

Backing Up Your Identity

You'll notice that Amber has a few different options for backing up your private key that it can generate.

First, it can give you seed words, just like a Bitcoin seed. If you choose that option, you'll be presented with 12 words you can record somewhere safe. To recover your Nostr private key, you just have to type those words into a compatible application, such as Amber.

The next option is to just copy the secret/private key in its standard form as an "nsec." This is the least secure way to store it, but is also the most convenient, since it is simple to paste into another signer application. If you want to be able to log in on a desktop web app, the browser extension Nostr signers won't necessarily support entering your 12 word seed phrase, but they absolutely will support pasting in your nsec.

You can also display a QR code of your private key. This can be scanned by Amber signer on another device for easily transferring your private key to other devices you want to use it on. Say you have an Android tablet in addition to your phone, for instance. Just make sure you only use this function where you can be certain that no one will be able to get a photograph of that QR code. Once someone else has your nsec, there is no way to recover it. You have to start all over on Nostr. Not a big deal at this point in your journey if you just created a Nostr account, but if you have been using Nostr for a while and have built up a decent amount of reputation, it could be much more costly to start over again.

The next options are a bit more secure, because they require a password that will be used to encrypt your private key. This has some distinct advantages, and a couple disadvantages to be aware of. Using a password to encrypt your private key will give you what is called an ncryptsec, and if this is leaked somehow, whoever has it will not necessarily have access to post as you on Nostr, the way they would if your nsec had been leaked. At least, not so long as they don't also have your password. This means you can store your ncryptsec in multiple locations without much fear that it will be compromised, so long as the password you used to encrypt it was a strong and unique one, and it isn't stored in the same location. Some Nostr apps support an ncryptsec for login directly, meaning that you have the option to paste in your ncryptsec and then just log in with the password you used to encrypt it from there on out. However, now you will need to keep track of both your ncryptsec and your password, storing both of them safely and separately. Additionally, most Nostr clients and signer applications do not support using an ncryptsec, so you will need to convert it back to a standard nsec (or copy the nsec from Amber) to use those apps.

The QR option using an ncryptsec is actually quite useful, though, and I would go this route when trying to set up Amber on additional devices, since anyone possibly getting a picture of the QR code is still not going to be able to do anything with it, unless they also get the password you used to encrypt it.

All of the above options will require you to enter the PIN you set up for your device, or biometric authentication, just as an additional precaution before displaying your private key to you.

As for what "store it in a safe place" looks like, I highly recommend a self-hosted password manager, such as Vaultwarden+Bitwarden or KeePass. If you really want to get wild, you can store it on a hardware signing device, or on a steel seed plate.

Additional Settings

Amber has some additional settings you may want to take advantage of. First off, if you don't want just anyone who has access to your phone to be able to approve signing requests, you can go into the Security settings add a PIN or enable biometrics for signing requests. If you enable the PIN, it will be separate from the PIN you use to access your phone, so you can let someone else use your phone, like your child who is always begging to play a mobile game you have installed, without worrying that they might have access to your Nostr key to post on Amethyst.

Amber also has some relay settings. First are the "Active relays" which are used for signing requests sent to Amber remotely from Nostr web apps. This is what enables you to use Amber on your phone to log into Nostr applications on your desktop web browser, such as Jumble.social, Coracle.social, or Nostrudel.ninja, eliminating your need to use any other application to store your nsec whatsoever. You can leave this relay as the default, or you can add other relays you want to use for signing requests. Just be aware, not all relays will accept the notes that are used for Nostr signing requests, so make sure that the relay you want to use does so. In fact, Amber will make sure of this for you when you type in the relay address.

The next type of relays that you can configure in Amber are the "Default profile relays." These are used for reading your profile information. If you already had a Nostr identity that you imported to Amber, you probably noticed it loaded your profile picture and display name, setting the latter as your nickname in Amber. These relays are where Amber got that information from. The defaults are relay.nostr.band and purplepag.es. The reason for this is because they are aggregators that look for Nostr profiles that have been saved to other relays on the network and pull them in. Therefore, no matter what other relay you may save your profile to, Amber will likely be able to find it on one of those two relays as well. If you have a relay you know you will be saving your Nostr profiles to, you may want to add it to this list.

You can also set up Amber to be paired with Orbot for signing over Tor using relays that are only accessible via the Tor network. That is an advanced feature, though, and well beyond the scope of this tutorial.

Finally, you can update the default signing policy. Maybe after using Amber for a while, you've decided that the choice you made before was too strict or too lenient. You can change it to suit your needs.

Zapstore Login

Now that you are all set up with Amber, let's get you signed into your first Nostr app by going back to the Zapstore.

From the app's home screen, tap on the user icon in the upper left of the screen. This will open a side panel with not much on it except the option to "sign in." Go ahead and tap on it.

You will be presented with the option to either sign in with Amber, or to paste your npub. However, if you do the latter, you will only have read access, meaning you cannot zap any of the app releases. There are other features planned for the Zapstore that may also require you to be signed in with write access, so go ahead and choose to log in with Amber.

Your phone should automatically switch to Amber to approve the sign-in request.

You can choose to only approve basic actions for Zapstore, require it to manually approve every time, or you can tell it that you "fully trust this application." Only choose the latter option with apps you have used for a while and they have never asked you to sign for anything suspicious. For the time being, I suggest you use the "Approve basic actions" option and tap "Grant Permissions."

Your phone will switch back to the Zapstore and will show that you are now signed in. Congratulations! From here on out, logging into most Nostr applications will be as easy as tapping on "Log in with Amber" and approving the request.

If you set up a new profile, it will just show a truncated version of your npub rather than the nickname you set up earlier. That's fine. You'll have an opportunity to update your Nostr profile in the next tutorial in this series and ensure that it is spread far and wide in the network, so the Zapstore will easily find it.

That concludes the tutorial for Amber. While we have not covered using Amber to log into Nostr web apps, that is outside the scope of this series, and I will cover it in an upcoming tutorial regarding using Amber's remote signer options in detail.

Since you're already hanging out in the Zapstore, you may as well stick around, because we will be using it right out the gate in the next part of this series: Amethyst Installation and Setup. (Coming Soon)

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

Will not live in a pod.
Will not eat the bugs.
Will not get the chip.
Will not get a blue check.
Will not use CBDCs.

Live Free or Die.

Why did Elon buy twitter for $44 Billion? What value does he see in it besides the greater influence that undoubtedly comes with controlling one of the largest social platforms in the world? We do not need to speculate - he made his intentions incredibly clear in his first meeting with twitter employees after his takeover - WeChat of the West.

To those that do not appreciate freedom, the value prop is clear - WeChat is incredibly powerful and successful in China.

To those that do appreciate freedom, the concern is clear - WeChat has essentially become required to live in China, has surveillance and censorship integrated at its core, and if you are banned from the app your entire livelihood is at risk. Employment, housing, payments, travel, communication, and more become extremely difficult if WeChat censors determine you have acted out of line.

The blue check is the first step in Elon's plan to bring the chinese social credit score system to the west. Users who verify their identity are rewarded with more reach and better tools than those that do not. Verified users are the main product of Elon's twitter - an extensive database of individuals and complete control of the tools he will slowly get them to rely on - it is easier to monetize cattle than free men.

If you cannot resist the temptation of the blue check in its current form you have already lost - what comes next will be much darker. If you realize the need to resist - freedom tech provides us options.

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@ 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.

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

Adam Back Said It’s Still Early For the Retail Investors To Buy Bitcoin

At the 2025 Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas, the Head of Firmwide Research at Galaxy Digital Alex Thorn, Founder and Managing Partner of Pantera Capital Dan Morehead, Managing Partner, CEO, CIO of 10T Holdings + 1RoundTable Partners Dan Tapiero and the Co-founder & CEO of Blockstream Adam Back discussed the future of Bitcoin treasury companies.

Dan Tapiero started by sharing his opinion on how he sees Bitcoin in comparison to gold: 

“I really have always believed in that physical ownership that the individual has the right and should be able to own his own asset and so I started this physical gold business years ago,” said Tapiero. “I think our focus today is further adoption and the elevation of Bitcoin. I think the understanding of Bitcoin as an important asset.”

Adam Back was asked what he thought about Bitcoin treasury companies and he responded, “in effect, Blockstream is one of the first Bitcoin treasury companies. We have been around since 2014 and we work with our investors to put Bitcoin in a balance sheet back then and since then. I think the way to look at the treasury companies is Bitcoin is effectively the harder rate. It’s very hard to outperform Bitcoin most people that invest in things since Bitcoin around thought I should put that in Bitcoin and not in the other thing.”

Then Adam continued by explaining what treasury companies do.

“That’s why you get companies switching to the Bitcoin standard because it’s the only way for them to keep up with Bitcoin,” stated Back. ”They start with a Bitcoin capital base. They use the operating in-revenue to buy more Bitcoin and then they are able to participate in this kind of micro arbitrage.”

Finishing the panel, Alex Thorn asked, “Five years from now what is the price of Bitcoin?”

Dan Morehead predicted $750,000k, Tapiero $1,000,000 and Back said, “a million easy.”

Adam back closed by saying, “It’s still early for the retail investors.”

You can watch the full panel discussion and the rest of the Bitcoin 2025 Conference Day 2 below:

This post Adam Back Said It’s Still Early For the Retail Investors To Buy Bitcoin first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Oscar Zarraga Perez.

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@ 47259076:570c98c4

In order to see your reflection in the water, the water must be still.

If the water is agitated you can't see yourself clearly.

The same goes with your thoughts.

In order to think clearly, your mind must be still, or at rest.

If your mind is disturbed, you will not think clearly.

What causes the disturbances? Many things, such as: - Expectations - Emotions - Pride - Ignorance and so forth...

I want to focus in expectations in this article.

The problem with expectations is that they may be fulfilled or may not, not only that, they blind you to other opportunities happening right in your face.

If you expect to achieve "success" by going in path X, you will be so focused in this path you will not see that the path Y is better, easier and faster than the path X.

You cannot control anything but yourself.

So why create goals and plans if they can be easily crushed by the unknown?

It is better to surf in the wave of the unknown, rather than swim against it.

Not only that, what you want constantly changes.

I don't know what I will want in 5 minutes, imagine trying to guess what I will want in years.

I may be wrong in what I am saying, but I tried to swim against the unknown and I perished, therefore it's time to fully embrace the unknown, to fully embrace the chaos and see what happens.

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@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

Bank run on every crypto bank then bank run on every "real" bank.

— ODELL (@ODELL) December 14, 2022

Good morning.

It looks like PacWest will fail today. It will be both the fifth largest bank failure in US history and the sixth major bank to fail this year. It will likely get purchased by one of the big four banks in a government orchestrated sale.  

March 8th - Silvergate Bank
March 10th - Silicon Valley Bank
March 12th - Signature Bank
March 19th - Credit Suisse
May 1st - First Republic Bank
May 4th - PacWest Bank?

PacWest is the first of many small regional banks that will go under this year. Most will get bought by the big four in gov orchestrated sales. This has been the playbook since 2008. Follow the incentives. Massive consolidation across the banking industry. PacWest gonna be a drop in the bucket compared to what comes next.

First, a hastened government led bank consolidation, then a public/private partnership with the remaining large banks to launch a surveilled and controlled digital currency network. We will be told it is more convenient. We will be told it is safer. We will be told it will prevent future bank runs. All of that is marketing bullshit. The goal is greater control of money. The ability to choose how we spend it and how we save it. If you control the money - you control the people that use it.

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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.

---

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?

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Contribute to keep No Bullshit Bitcoin news going.

• Wasabi Wallet v2.6.0 "Prometheus" is a major update for the project, focused on resilience and independence from centralized systems.
• Key features include support for BIP 158 block filters for direct node synchronization, a revamped full node integration for easier setup without third-party reliance, SLIP 39 share backups for flexible wallet recovery (sponsored by Trezor), and a Nostr-based update manager for censorship-resistant updates.
• Additional improvements include UI bug fixes, a new fallback for transaction broadcasting, updated code signing, stricter JSON serialization, and options to avoid third-party rate providers, alongside various under-the-hood enhancements.

This new version brings us closer to our ultimate goal: ensuring Wasabi is future-proof," said the developers, while also highlighting the following key areas of focus for the project:

• Ensuring users can always fully and securely use their client.
• Making contribution and forks easy through a codebase of the highest quality possible: understandable, maintainable, and improvable.

"As we achieve our survival goals, expect more cutting-edge improvements in Bitcoin privacy and self-custody. Thank you for the trust you place in us by using Wasabi," was stated in the release notes.

What's new

• Support for Standard BIP 158 Block Filters. Wasabi now syncs using BIP 158 filters without a backend/indexer, connecting directly to a user's node. This boosts sync speed, resilience, and allows full sovereignty without specific server dependency.
• Full Node Integration Rework. The old integration has been replaced with a simpler, more adaptable system. It’s not tied to a specific Bitcoin node fork, doesn’t need the node on the same machine as Wasabi, and requires no changes to the node’s setup.
  • "Simply enable the RPC server on your node and point Wasabi to it," said the developers. This ensures all Bitcoin network activities—like retrieving blocks, fee estimations, block filters, and transaction broadcasting—go through your own node, avoiding reliance on third parties.
• Create & Recover SLIP 39 Shares. Users now create and recover wallets with multiple share backups using SLIP 39 standard.

"Special thanks to Trezor (SatoshiLabs) for sponsoring this amazing feature."

• Nostr Update Manager. This version implements a pioneering system with the Nostr protocol for update information and downloads, replacing reliance on GitHub. This enhances the project's resilience, ensuring updates even if GitHub is unavailable, while still verifying updates with the project's secure certificate.
• Updated Avalonia to v11.2.7, fixes for UI bugs (including restoring Minimize on macOS Sequoia).
• Added a configurable third-party fallback for broadcasting transactions if other methods fail.
• Replaced Windows Code Signing Certificate with Azure Trusted Signing.
• Many bug fixes, improved codebase, and enhanced CI pipeline.
• Added the option to avoid using any third-party Exchange Rate and Fee Rate providers (Wasabi can work without them).
• Rebuilt all JSON Serialization mechanisms avoiding default .NET converters. Serialization is now stricter.

Full Changelog: v2.5.1...v2.6.0

Announcement / Archive
GitHub Repo

@ 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.

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@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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.

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@ 2e8970de:63345c7a

(and that's the highest ever outside the covid era)

https://www.federalreserve.gov/consumerscommunities/sheddataviz/emergency-savings.html

https://stacker.news/items/991909

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

For years American bitcoin miners have argued for more efficient and free energy markets. It benefits everyone if our energy infrastructure is as efficient and robust as possible. Unfortunately, broken incentives have led to increased regulation throughout the sector, incentivizing less efficient energy sources such as solar and wind at the detriment of more efficient alternatives.

The result has been less reliable energy infrastructure for all Americans and increased energy costs across the board. This naturally has a direct impact on bitcoin miners: increased energy costs make them less competitive globally.

Bitcoin mining represents a global energy market that does not require permission to participate. Anyone can plug a mining computer into power and internet to get paid the current dynamic market price for their work in bitcoin. Using cellphone or satellite internet, these mines can be located anywhere in the world, sourcing the cheapest power available.

Absent of regulation, bitcoin mining naturally incentivizes the build out of highly efficient and robust energy infrastructure. Unfortunately that world does not exist and burdensome regulations remain the biggest threat for US based mining businesses. Jurisdictional arbitrage gives miners the option of moving to a friendlier country but that naturally comes with its own costs.

Enter AI. With the rapid development and release of AI tools comes the requirement of running massive datacenters for their models. Major tech companies are scrambling to secure machines, rack space, and cheap energy to run full suites of AI enabled tools and services. The most valuable and powerful tech companies in America have stumbled into an accidental alliance with bitcoin miners: THE NEED FOR CHEAP AND RELIABLE ENERGY.

Our government is corrupt. Money talks. These companies will push for energy freedom and it will greatly benefit us all.

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Microsoft Cloud hiring to "implement global small modular reactor and microreactor" strategy to power data centers: https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/microsoft-cloud-hiring-to-implement-global-small-modular-reactor-and-microreactor-strategy-to-power-data-centers/

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@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

Jack Dorsey’s company is bringing bitcoin payments to the retail market through the Lightning Network.

Block — the firm led by Dorsey that owns Square and Bitkey — has officially announced the integration of bitcoin payments into the Square platform, with a full rollout planned for 2026 for all eligible merchants.

Today: we’re accepting bitcoin payments at @TheBitcoinConf
Soon: you can accept bitcoin payments wherever you are

Details here: https://t.co/ko2S9hFpih pic.twitter.com/IYlYV6XM2S

— Square (@Square) May 27, 2025

At the Bitcoin Conference 2025 in Las Vegas, attendees had the chance to preview satoshi payments via Square at BTC Inc.’s merchandise store.

The technology relies on the Lightning Network, the second-layer infrastructure enabling instant, low-cost bitcoin transactions. This approach will allow merchants to accept satoshi payments through their existing Square hardware.

The implementation plan includes an initial launch in the second half of 2025, pending necessary regulatory approvals. The initiative represents a key pillar in the company’s strategy to make bitcoin more accessible for everyday transactions.

Miles Suter, Bitcoin Product Lead at Block, stated:

“Block has long been a champion of bitcoin, focused on making it more accessible and usable in our everyday lives. Rolling out a native bitcoin experience to millions of sellers brings us one step closer to that goal. When a coffee shop or retail store can accept bitcoin through Square, small businesses get paid faster, and get to keep more of their revenue.”

The announcement follows Dorsey’s statement last month confirming that Block was working to integrate BTC as a payment option for both Bitkey and Square.

Alongside the announcement, Block also revealed that Bitkey will introduce new privacy and security features in May, including a legacy recovery option available to all users.

The post Jack Dorsey’s Block to integrate Bitcoin payments into Square appeared first on Atlas21.

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

Humanity's Natural State Is Chaos
Without order there is chaos. Humans competing with each other for scarce resources naturally leads to conflict until one group achieves significant power and instates a "monopoly on violence."

Power Brings Stability
Power has always been the key means to achieve stability in societies. Centralized power can be incredibly effective in addressing issues such as crime, poverty, and social unrest efficiently. Unfortunately this power is often abused and corrupted.

Centralized Power Breeds Tyranny
Centralized power often leads to tyrannical rule. When a select few individuals hold control over a society, they tend to become corrupted. Centralized power structures often lack accountability and transparency, and rely too heavily on trust.

Distributed Power Cultivates Freedom
New technology that empowers individuals provide us the ability to rebuild societies from the bottom up. Strong individuals that can defend and provide for themselves will help build strong local communities on a similar foundation. The result is power being distributed throughout society rather than held by a select few.

In the short term, relying on trust and centralized power is an easy answer to mitigating chaos, but freedom tech tools provide us the ability to build on top of much stronger distributed foundations that provide stability while also cultivating individual freedom.

The solution starts with us. Empower yourself. Empower others. A grassroots freedom tech movement scaling one person at a time.

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If you found this post helpful support my work with bitcoin.

@ fbf0e434:e1be6a39

Hackathon 概述

ETH Dublin 2025 黑客松圆满落幕，活动共吸引 84 名开发者参与，共有 31 个项目通过审核。活动核心是借助多家赞助商技术，打造具有影响力的区块链解决方案。活动鼓励参与者组建技能多元的平衡团队，运用技术工具及赞助商支持 —— 如 Chainlink 进行数据验证、Ledger 保障安全、Filecoin 提供存储方案等。

多个项目聚焦社会影响领域：ÉireEncrypt 致力于开发符合 GDPR 合规要求的隐私保护区块链工具；SafeRoads Ireland 则通过智能合约推动安全驾驶。此外，部分项目借助以太坊实现租金管控与去中心化住房市场，还有以移民为主题的数字解决方案促进社区融合，充分展现区块链技术在解决隐私保护、公共安全、教育改革等实际问题中的潜力。

总体而言，ETH Dublin 2025 黑客松不仅促进了开发者与合作伙伴的协作，更激发了诸多借助区块链技术创造社会价值的创新项目。

Hackathon 获奖者

奖项得主

• 一等奖: RecEth
  RecEth 通过提供电子邮件确认和清晰的收据，增强了用户对加密交易的信任，将用户体验与传统支付系统的透明度相对齐。
• 二等奖: Latinum
  Latinum 作为支付中间件，允许MCP构建者通过兼容钱包实现由代理发起的交易来实现服务器货币化，简化了货币化过程。
• 三等奖: Fundraisely
  FundRaisely 利用区块链技术帮助慈善机构进行合法合规的筹款，以及透明的审计，确保捐款流程的清晰和负责。

欲了解所有项目的更多信息，请访问这里。

关于组织者

ETH Ireland

ETH Ireland 致力于区块链技术的创新和发展。该组织在Ethereum方面有着丰富的专业知识，通过举办会议和工作坊促进区块链教育和社区参与。ETH Ireland 的使命是扩大区块链知识普及，推广去中心化技术到各个领域。

@ ef53426a:7e988851

Saturday 9AM It’s a chilly Saturday morning in Warsaw, and I don’t want to get out of bed. This is not because of the hangover; it’s because I feel like a failure.

The first day of Bitcoin FilmFest was a whirlwind of workshops, panels and running between stages. The pitch competition did not go my way. Another ‘pitching rabbit’ (an actual experienced film-maker) was selected to win the €3,000 of funding.

Rather than get up and search for coffee, I replay the scenes in my head. What could I have done differently? Will investors ever believe in me: I’m just a writer with no contacts in the industry. Do I have what it takes to produce a film?

Eventually, I haul myself out of bed and walk to Amondo, the festival’s morning HQ (and technically, the smallest cinema in Europe). Upon arrival, I find Bitcoin psychonaut Ioni Appelberg holding court in front of around a dozen enraptured disciples. Soon, the conversation spills out to the street to free up space for more workshops.

I attend a talk on film funding, then pay for coffee using bitcoin. I see familiar faces from the two previous nights. We compare notes on Friday night and check the day’s schedule. The morning clouds burn off, and things feel a little brighter.

The afternoon session begins just a few blocks away in the towering Palace of Culture and Science. My role in today's proceedings is to present my freedom fiction project, 21 Futures, on the community stage. Other presentations range from rap videos and advice on finding jobs in bitcoin to hosting ‘Bitcoin Walks’. This is how we are fixing the culture.

Saturday 8PM I feel a tap on my shoulder. ‘Excuse me, Mr. Philip. Your car is waiting. The Producers’ Dinner is starting soon’.

What? Me, a producer? I’ve been taking part in some panels and talks, but I assumed my benefits as a guest were limited to a comped ticket and generous goodie bag.

Soon, I am sharing a taxi with a Dubai-based journalist, a Colombian director, and the cypherpunk sponsor of the pitch competition I didn’t win.

The pierogies I dreamed of earlier that day somehow manifest (happy endings do exist), and we enjoy a raucous dinner including obligatory slivovitz.

Sunday 2AM The last few hours of blur include a bracing city-bike ride in a crew of nine attendees back to the Palace of Culture, chatting with a fellow bitcoin meetup organiser, and vaguely promising to attend a weekend rave with a crew of Polish artists and musicians on the outskirts of London.

I leave the party while it’s still in full swing. In five hours, I have to wake up to complete my Run for Hal in Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły Park.

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Thursday 9PM The festival kicks off in Samo Centrum on Pizza Day. I arrive in a taxi straight from a cramped flight (fix the airlines!), having not eaten for around ten hours.

The infectious sounds of softly spoken Aussie bitrocker Roger9000 pound into the damp night. I’m three beers in, being presented by the organisers to attendees like a (very tall) show pony. I try to explain more about my books, my publishing connections, my short film.

When I search for the food I ordered an hour ago, I find it has been given away. The stern-faced Polish pizza maker shrugs. ‘You not here.’

I’m so hungry I could cry (six hours of Ryanair can do that to a man). And then, a heroic Czech pleb donates half a pizza to me. Side note: this same heroic pleb accidentally locked me out of my film-funds while trying to fix a wallet bug on Sunday night.

I step out into the rain. Roger9000 reminds us we should have laser eyes well past 100k. I take a bite of pizza and life tastes good.

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The Films Side events, artists, late nights, and pitcher’s regret is all well and good, but what of the films?

My highlights included Golden Rabbit winner No More Inflation — a moving narrative with interviews from two dozen economists, visionaries, and inflation survivors.

Hotel Bitcoin, was a surprisingly funny comedy romp about a group of idiots who happen across a valuable laptop.

Revolución Bitcoin — an approachable and thorough documentary aimed to bring greater adoption in the Spanish-speaking world.

And, as a short-fiction guy, I enjoyed the short films The Man Who Wouldn’t Cry, a visit to New York’s only Somali restaurant in Finding Home.

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Sunday 7PM The award ceremony has just finished. I head to Amondo for the final time to pay for mojitos in bitcoin and say goodbye to newly made friends. I feel like I’ve met almost everyone in attendance. Are you going to BTC Prague?!? we ask as we part ways.

Of course, the best thing about any festival is the people, and BFF25 had a cast of characters worthy of any art house flick:

• The bright-eyed and confident frontwoman of the metal band Scardust
• A nostr-native artist selling his intricate canvases to the highest zapper
• A dreadlocked DJ who wears a pair of flying goggles on his head at all times
• An affable British filmmaker explaining the virtues of the word ‘chucklesome’
• A Duracell-powered organiser who seems to know every song, person, film, book, and guest at the festival.

Warsaw itself feels like it has a role to play, too. Birdsong and green parks contrast the foreboding Communist-era architecture. The weather changes faster than my mood — heavy greys transform to bright sunshine. The roads around the venue close on Sunday for a political rally. And there we are in the middle, watching our bitcoin films.

Tuesday 10AM I’m at home now, squinting at my email inbox and piles of washing, wondering when the hell I’ll find time. The festival Telegram group is still buzzing with activity. Side events like martial arts tutorials, trips to a shooting range, boat tours. 5AM photos of street graffiti, lost and found items, and people asking ‘is anyone still around?’

This was not just a film festival. BFF is truly a celebration of culture — Art. Books. Comedy. Music. Video. Talk. Connection.

All this pure signal has lifted my spirits so much that despite me being a newbie filmmaker, armed only with a biro, a couple of powerpoints and a Geyser fund page, I know I will succeed in my mission. It turns out you can just film things.

You may have attended bitcoin conferences before — you know, the ones with ‘fireside chats’, VIP areas, and overpriced merch. Bitcoin FilmFest is a moment in time. We are fixing the culture, year after year, until art can flourish again.

As fellow author Aaron Koenig commented during a panel session, ‘In twenty years, we won’t be drawing laser eyes and singing about honey badgers. Our grandchildren won’t understand the change we went through.’

Would I do it all again? Of course!

Join me next June in Warsaw.
I’ll be the tall one presenting his short animation premiere.

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Philip Charter is a full-time writer and part-time cat herder. As well as writing for bitcoin founders and companies, he runs the 21 Futures fiction project.

Find out more about theNoderoid Saga animation projecton Geyser.