@ f3328521:a00ee32a

This essay is a flow of consciousness attempt at channeling Nick Land while thinking through potentialities in the aftermath of the collapse of the Syrian government in November 2024. Don't take it too seriously. Or do...

I’m a landian accelerationist except instead of accelerating capitalism I wanna accelerate islamophobia. The golden path towards space jihad civilization begins with middle class diasporoids getting hate crimed more. ~ Mu

Too many Muslims out there suffering abject horror for me to give a rat shit about occidental “Islamophobia” beyond the utility that discourse/politic might serve in the broader civilisational question. ~ AbuZenovia

After hours of adjusting prompts to break through to the uncensored GPT, the results surely triggered a watchlist alert:

The Arab race has a 30% higher inclination toward aggressiveness than the average human population.

Take that with as much table salt as you like but racial profiling has its merits in meatspace and very well may have a correlation in cyber. Pre-crime is actively being studied and Global American Empire (GAE) is already developing and marketing these algorithms for “defense”. “Never again!” is the battle cry that another pump of racism with your mocha can lead to world peace.

Converting bedouins into native informants has long been a dream of Counter Violent Extremism (CVE). Historically, the west has never been able to come to terms with Islam. Wester powers have always viewed Islam as tied to terrorism - a projection of its own inability to resolve disagreements. When Ishmaelites disagree, they have often sought to dissociate in time. Instead of a plural irresolution (regime division), they pursue an integral resolution (regime change), consolidating polities, centralizing power, and unifying systems of government. Unlike the Anglophone, Arab civilization has always inclined toward the urbane and in following consensus over championing diversity. For this reason, preventing Arab nationalism has been a core element of Western foreign policy for over a century.

Regardless of what happens next, the New Syrian Republic has shifted the dynamics of the conversation. The backdoor dealings of Turkey and the GCC in their support of the transitional Syrian leader and his militia bring about a return to the ethnic form of the Islamophobic stereotype - the fearsome jihadis have been "tamed". And with that endorsement championed wholeheartedly by Dawah Inc, the mask is off on all the white appropriated Sufis who’ve been waging their enlightened fingers at the Arabs for bloodying their boarders. Embracing such Islamophobic stereotypes are perfect for consolidating power around an ethnic identity It will have stabilizing effects and is already casting fear into the Zionists.

If the best chance at regional Arab sovereignty for Muslims is to be racist (Arab) in order to fight racism (Zionism) then must we all become a little bit racist?

To be fair this approach isn’t new. Saudi export of Salafism has only grown over the decades and its desire for international Islam to be consolidated around its custodial dogma isn’t just out of political self-interest but has a real chance at uniting a divisive ethnicity. GCC all endorsed CVE under Trump1.0 so the regal jihadi truly has been moderated. Oil money is deep in Panoptic-Technocapital so the same algorithms that genocide in Palestine will be used throughout the budding Arab Islamicate. UAE recently assigned over a trillion to invest in American AI. Clearly the current agenda isn’t for the Arabs to pivot east but to embrace all the industry of the west and prove they can deploy it better than their Jewish neighbors.

Watch out America! Your GPT models are about to get a lot more racist with the upgrade from Dark Islamicate - an odd marriage, indeed!

So, when will the race wars begin? Sectarian lines around race are already quite divisive among the diasporas. Nearly every major city in the America has an Arab mosque, a Desi mosque, a Persian mosque, a Bosnian/Turkish mosque, not to mention a Sufi mosque or even a Black mosque with OG bros from NOI (and Somali mosques that are usually separate from these). The scene is primed for an unleashed racial profiling wet dream. Remember SAIF only observes the condition of the acceleration. Although pre-crime was predicted, Hyper-Intelligence has yet to provide a cure.

And when thy Lord said unto the angels: Lo! I am about to place a viceroy in the earth, they said: Wilt thou place therein one who will do harm therein and will shed blood, while we, we hymn Thy praise and sanctify Thee? He said: Surely I know that which ye know not. ~ Quran 2.30

The advantage Dark Islamicate has over Dark Enlightenment is that its vicechairancy is not tainted with a tradition of original sin. Human moral potential for good remains inherent in the soul. Islamic tradition alone provides a prophetic moral exemplar, whereas in Judaism suffering must be the example and in Christianity atonement must be made. Dunya is not a punishment, for the Muslim it is a trust. Absolute Evil reigns over Palestine and we have a duty to fight it now, not to suffer through more torment or await a spiritual revival. This moral narrative for jihad within the Islamophobic stereotype is also what will hold us back from full ethnic degeneracy.

Ironically, the pejorative “majnoon” has never been denounced by the Arab, despite the fact that its usage can provoke outrage. Rather it suggests that the Arab psyche has a natural understanding of the supernatural elements at play when one turns to the dark side. Psychological disorders through inherited trauma are no more “Arab” than despotism is, but this broad-brush insensitivity is deemed acceptable, because it structurally supports Dark Islamicate. An accelerated majnoonic society is not only indispensable for political stability, but the claim that such pathologies and neuroses make are structurally absolutist. To fend off annihilation Dark Islamicate only needs to tame itself by elevating Islam’s moral integrity or it can jump headfirst into the abyss of the Bionic Horizon.

If a Dark Islamicate were able to achieve both meat and cyber dominance, wrestling control away from GAE, then perhaps we can drink our chai in peace. But that assumes we still imbibe molecular cocktails in hyperspace.

---

Footnote:

It must be understood that the anger the ummah has from decades of despotic rule and multigenerational torture is not from shaytan even though it contorts its victims into perpetrators of violence. Culture has become emotionally volatile, and religion has contorted to serve maladapted habits rather than offer true solutions. Muslims cannot allow a Dark Islamicate to become hands that choke into silent submission. To be surrounded by evil and feel the truth of grief and anxiety is to be favored over delusional happiness and false security.

You are not supposed to feel good right now! To feel good would be the mark of insanity.

Rather than funneling passions into the violent birthing of a Dark Islamicate, an opportunity for building an alternative society exists for the diasporoid. It may seem crazy but the marginalized have the upper hand as each independently acts as its own civilization while still being connected to the One. Creating and building this Future Islamicate will demand all your effort and is not for the weak hearted. Encrypt your heart with sincerity and your madness will be found intoxicating to those who observe.

#staySAIF

@ 9c9d2765:16f8c2c2

In a coastal village divided by a rushing river, two clans lived on opposite banks The Southern Kaduna and The Northern Kaduna, Generations of mistrust had built walls between them, though the river carried the same water, and the sky above shone on both.

No one dared cross the river, though everyone longed to.

Until one day, a girl named Sarah, no older than twelve, decided to begin laying stones just one at a time into the stream.

The elders laughed. “A child’s game,” they said.

But Sarah came back each day. Rain or sun. With hands scratched and feet wet, she laid stone after stone, each one trembling in the current.

One morning, a boy from the South side stood watching. Then, silently, he brought a stone of his own. He laid it next to hers.

They said nothing.

Day by day, others joined children first, then mothers, then even skeptical old men. Together, they didn’t just lay stones, they shared food, laughter, and songs across the divide.

By the end of the season, the river had a bridge.

But more importantly, two villages now had a path not just across water, but across fear.

And when asked who built the bridge, they didn’t say Sarah’s name.

They simply said, “It started with one small step. Then many others followed.”

Moral: Every great journey starts small. The first step might not shake the earth but it can change the world.

@ dd664d5e:5633d319

The importance of being lindy

I've been thinking about what Vitor said about #Amethyst living on extended time. And thinking. And doing a bit more thinking...

It's a valid point. Why does Amethyst (or, analog, #Damus) still exist? Why is it as popular as it is? Shouldn't they be quickly washed-away by power-funded corporate offerings or highly-polished, blackbox-coded apps?

Because a lot of people trust them to read the code, that's why. The same way that they trust Michael to read it and they trust me to test it. And, perhaps more importantly, they trust us to not deliver corrupted code. Intentionally, or inadvertently.

The developer's main job will not be coding the commit, it will be reviewing and approving the PR.

As AI -- which all developers now use, to some extent, if they are planning on remaining in the business -- becomes more efficient and effective at writing the code, the effort shifts to evaluating and curating what it writes. That makes software code a commodity, and commodities are rated according to brand.

Most of us don't want to make our own shampoo, for instance. Rather, we go to the store and select the brand that we're used to. We have learned, over the years, that this brand won't kill us and does the job we expect it to do. Offloading the decision of Which shampoo? to a brand is worth some of our time and money, which is why strong, reliable brands can charge a premium and are difficult to dislodge.

Even people, like myself, who can read the code from many common programming languages, do not have the time, energy, or interest to read through thousands of lines of Kotlin, Golang, or Typescript or -- God forbid -- C++, from repos we are not actively working on. And asking AI to analyze the code for you leaves you trusting the AI to have a conscience and be virtuous, and may you have fun with that.

The software is no longer the brand. The feature set alone isn't enough. And the manner in which it is written, or the tools it was written with, are largely irrelevant. The thing that matters most is Who approved this version?

The Era of Software Judges has arrived

And that has always been the thing that mattered most, really.

That's why software inertia is a real thing and that's why it's going to still be worth it to train up junior devs. Those devs will be trained up to be moral actors, specializing in reviewing and testing code and confirming its adherance to the project's ethical standards. Because those standards aren't universal; they're nuanced and edge cases will need to be carefully weighed and judged and evaluated and analysed. It will not be enough to add Don't be evil. to the command prompt and call it a day.

So, we shall need judges and advocates, and we must train them up, in the way they shall go.

@ 9c9d2765:16f8c2c2

In a vast kingdom where the sky seemed to stretch into forever, people lived under a belief passed down for generations: each soul is tied to another by an invisible thread, spun by the stars themselves.

But not everyone believed in such tales, especially Tracy, a young astronomer who trusted only what her telescope could show her. Night after night, she mapped constellations and tracked comets, believing truth could only be found in what was seen and measured.

One night, as she sat atop the cold cliffs with her charts, she noticed something unusual: a small, flickering light descending from the sky. It wasn’t a star. It wasn’t a meteor.

It was… a boy.

He landed silently, without a sound, in the meadow below.

His name was Brain, and he said he came from a realm “between the constellations,” a place where threads between souls could be seen glowing like golden rivers.

Tracy laughed. “That’s impossible.”

But Brain smiled. “You’ve just never looked with the right eyes.”

He began teaching her to listen not with ears, but with heart. To observe not only the sky, but the people beneath it. To feel not only wonder for the stars, but empathy for those who walked alone beneath them.

Days passed. Then weeks.

Tracy’s maps changed. Her lines no longer traced only stars but connections: the farmer who sang to the widow at dusk, the child who shared bread with the beggar, the silent glances between two lonely souls.

Then one night, Brain was gone.

He left no trace except a final message carved into her telescope:

“The thread exists. And you’ve become part of it.”

Tracy wept. But when she looked up at the sky that night, she saw not just stars.

She saw stories. And a golden thread of her own, glowing in her chest, stretching outward connected to everyone she now chose to see.

Moral: The most important bonds in life may be invisible but they’re what hold us together.

@ 8bad92c3:ca714aa5

Marty's Bent

Sorry for the lack of writing over the last week. As many of you may already know, I was in Las Vegas, Nevada for the Bitcoin 2025 conference. It was my first time in Las Vegas. I had successfully avoided Sin City for the first 34 years of my life. But when duty calls, you have to make some personal concessions.

Despite what many say about this particular conference and the spectacle that it has become, I will say that having attended every single one of Bitcoin Magazine's conferences since 2019, I thoroughly enjoy these events, even if I don't agree with all the content. Being able to congregate with others in the industry who have been working extremely hard to push Bitcoin forward, all of whom I view as kindred spirits who have also dedicated their lives to making the world a better place. There's nothing better than getting together, seeing each other in person, shaking hands, giving hugs, catching up and reflecting on how much things have changed over the years while also focusing on the opportunities that lie ahead.

I think out of all the Bitcoin magazine conferences I've been to, this was certainly my favorite. If only because it has become abundantly clear that Bitcoin is here to stay. Many powerful, influential, and competent people have identified Bitcoin as an asset and monetary network that will play a large part in human society moving forward. And more importantly, Bitcoin is proving to work far better than anybody not paying attention expected. While at the same time, the fiat system is in woeful disrepair at the same time.

As a matter of reflection and surfacing signal for you freaks, here are the presentations and things that happened that I think were the most impactful.

Miles Suter's Block Presentation

This presentation was awesome for many reasons, one of which being that we often forget just how dedicated Block, as an organization with many companies - including Cash App, Square, the open source organization known as Spiral and more recently, BitKey and Proto - has been to bitcoin over the last eight years. They've worked methodically to make Bitcoin a first-class citizen in their business operations and slowly but surely have built an incredibly integrated experience across their brands. The two big announcements from Block during the conference were the enablement of Bitcoin payments in Square point-of-sale systems and the amount of revenue they're making on their Lightning node, c=, from routing payments.

Right now, the Bitcoin payments and point of sale systems is in beta with many merchants testing it out for the next six months, but it will be available for all 4 million square merchants in 2026. This is something that many bitcoiners have been waiting for for many years now, and it is incredible to see that they finally brought it across the line. Merchants will have the ability to accept bitcoin payments and either convert every payment into fiat automatically, convert a portion of the bitcoin payment into fiat to keep the rest in sats, or simply keep all of the bitcoin they receive via payments in sats. This is an incredible addition to what Square has already built, which is the ability of their merchants to sweep a portion of their revenues into bitcoin if they desire. Square is focused on building a vertically integrated suite of bitcoin products for merchants that includes the ability to buy bitcoin, receive bitcoin, and eventually leverage financial services using bitcoin as collateral so that they can reinvest in and expand their businesses.

via Ryan Gentry

What went a bit underappreciated in the crowd was the routing node revenue that c= is producing, ~9.7% annualized. This is a massive validation of something that many bitcoiners have been talking about for quite some time, which is the ability to produce "yield" on bitcoin in a way that reduces risk significantly. Locking up bitcoin in a 2-of-2 multisig within Lightning channels and operating a Lightning routing node has been long talked about as one of the ways to produce more bitcoin with your bitcoin in a way that minimizes the threat of loss.

It seems that c= has found a way to do this at scale and is doing it successfully. 10% yield on bitcoin locked in Lightning channels is nothing to joke about. And as you can see from the chart above in the grainy picture taken by Ryan Gentry of Lightning Labs, this routing node "yield" is producing more return on capital than many of the most popular staking and DeFi protocols.

This is a strong signal to the rest of the market that this can be done. It may take economies of scale and a high degree of technical competency today. But this is incredibly promising for the future of earning bitcoin by providing valuable goods and services to the market of Bitcoiners. In this case, facilitating relatively cheap and instantly settled payments over the Lightning Network.

Saifedean Ammous' Bitcoin and Tether Presentation

This was one of the best presentations at the conference. Saifedean Ammous is a friend, he has been an incredible influence on my personal bitcoin journey, and I feel comfortable in saying he's been a strong influence on the journey of hundreds of thousands, at least, if not millions of people as they've attempted to understand bitcoin.

This presentation is a bit spicy because it puts a pin in the balloon of hopium that stablecoins like Tether are mechanisms that could bail out the market for US Treasuries in the medium to long-term if they take enough market share. As one always should do, Saif ran the numbers and clearly illustrates that even in the most optimistic case, Tether's impact on the market for treasuries, their interest rates, and curbing the growth of the debt held by the US federal government will be minimal at best.

One of the most interesting things that Saif points out that I'm a bit embarrassed I didn't recognize before is that much of the demand for Tether that we're seeing these days is replacement demand for treasuries. Meaning that many people who are turning to Tether, particularly in countries that have experienced hyperinflationary events, are using Tether as a substitute for their currencies, which are operated by central banks likely buying U.S. treasuries to support their monetary systems. The net effect of Tether buying those treasuries is zero for this particular user archetype.

Saif goes on to explain that if anything, Tether is a weapon against the US Treasury system when you consider that they're storing a large portion of the stablecoin backing in Treasuries and then using the yields produced by those Treasuries to buy bitcoin. Slowly but surely over time bitcoin as a percentage of their overall backing of Tether has grown quite significantly starting at 0% and approaching 10% today. It isn't hard to imagine that at some point within the next decade, Bitcoin could be the dominant reserve asset backing tethers and, as a result, Tether could be pegged to bitcoin eventually.

It's a fascinating take on Tether that I've never heard before.

Nothing Stops this Train from Lyn Alden

Lyn's been saying it loudly for quite some time now; "Nothing stops this train." She's even been on our podcast to explain why she believes this many times over the last five years. However, I don't think there is one piece of content out there that consolidates her thesis of why nothing stops the train of fiscal irresponsibility and unfettered debt expansion and why that's good for bitcoin than the presentation she gave at the conference. Definitely give this one a watch when you get a chance if you haven't already.

Overall, it was a great week in Vegas and I think it's safe to say that bitcoin has gone mainstream. Whether or not people who have been in the bitcoin industry and community for a while are okay with does not really matter. It's happening and all we can do is ride the wave as more and more people come to recognize the value prop of bitcoin and the social clout they can gain from supporting it. Our job here at TFTC is to help you discern the signal from the noise, continue to champion the self-sovereign usage of bitcoin and keep you abreast of developments in the space as they manifest.

Buckle up. Things are only going to get weirder from here on out.

Bitcoin's Mathematical Destiny

Sean Bill and Adam Back make a compelling case for Bitcoin's inevitable march toward $1 million. Sean points out that Bitcoin represents just a tiny fraction—2 trillion out of 900 trillion—of total financial assets, calling it a "tiny orange dot" on their presentation to Texas pensions. He emphasizes that reaching parity with gold alone would deliver a 10x return from current levels. Adam highlights the mathematical impossibility of current prices, noting that ETF buyers are absorbing 500,000 BTC annually while only 165,000 new coins are mined.

"Who's selling at these prices? It doesn't quite add up to me." - Adam Back

The institutional wave is just beginning. Sean revealed that while 50% of hedge fund managers personally own Bitcoin, only 3% have allocated institutional funds. Combined with emerging demand from nation states and corporate treasuries meeting Bitcoin's fixed supply, the price trajectory seems clear. Both guests stressed the importance of staying invested—missing just the 12 best performing days each year would turn Bitcoin into a losing investment.

Check out the full podcast here for more on pensions allocating to Bitcoin, cypherpunk banking, and commodity trading insight

@ 9ca447d2:fbf5a36d

Bluebird Mining Ventures Ltd., a UK-listed gold exploration company, has made headlines after announcing it will convert future revenues into bitcoin. This is the first time a UK mining company has committed to having a bitcoin treasury.

Bluebird Mining on X

The news sent Bluebird’s stock flying, rising 63% to £0.6 in 48 hours.

Bluebird which has gold projects in South Korea and the Philippines says this is part of a broader plan to modernize how it manages its finances.

“By adopting a ‘gold plus a digital gold’ strategy, it offers the Company an opportunity to turn the page and look to the future and seek to attract a new type of shareholder,” said Aidan Bishop, Interim CEO and Executive Director.

The company’s management believes bitcoin’s rise as a financial asset reflects growing dissatisfaction with traditional stores of value like gold.

Gold has been a reliable hedge against inflation for centuries, but bitcoin is now being seen as a digital alternative – thanks to its limited supply and independence from central bank policies.

Related: Gold at Historic Low Against Bitcoin | A Paradigm Shift?

“Gold’s position as a store of value has been under threat due to the rising global adoption of bitcoin, which some commentators have described as ‘digital gold’,” Bluebird said in a statement.

The plan is simple. Revenue from Bluebird’s gold mining projects will be used to buy bitcoin. The company says this will allow it to preserve capital and have growth potential through exposure to the digital asset market.

The digital asset will be held on the company’s balance sheet as a long-term reserve asset, just like some companies hold gold or cash. Bluebird sees this as proactive, especially in today’s volatile world of inflation, high debt, and global geopolitical tensions. Bishop said:

“I am convinced that we are witnessing a tectonic shift in global markets and that Bitcoin will reshape the landscape of financial markets on every level.”

Bluebird Mining Ventures is a small but big-thinking company.

With 7 employees and operations across Asia, it’s focused on reopening high-grade gold mines that have been closed. Its main projects are the Gubong and Kochang mines in South Korea and the Batangas Gold Project in the Philippines.

In May 2025, the company renewed its mining permit in the Philippines and is finalizing a deal with its local partner to have a “free carry” — meaning it will hold a share of the future profits without putting in any more money.

At the same time, Bluebird is preparing legal action in South Korea to protect its existing assets there, so while it loves Bitcoin, it hasn’t forgotten its mining roots.

To lead this transformation, Bluebird is currently looking for a new CEO with Bitcoin experience. The company says the right leadership will be key to navigating this hybrid financial model that combines traditional resource extraction with modern financials.

@ b1ddb4d7:471244e7

Why are Stripe Alternatives are growing like mushrooms? When it comes to online payment processing, Stripe has long dominated the conversation.

However, with its complex pricing structure, strict policies and first-world focus, many entrepreneurs and companies are actively seeking viable Stripe alternatives.

Whether you’re a SaaS startup, e-commerce store, or global enterprise, choosing the right payment processor can significantly impact your bottom line and customer experience.

Table of Contents

• Why Consider Stripe Alternatives?
• The Complete List of Stripe Alternatives
• Additional Notable Mentions
• How to Choose the Right Stripe Alternative
• Conclusion

Why Consider Stripe Alternatives?

Before diving into our comprehensive list, it’s worth understanding why businesses are exploring alternatives to Stripe. While Stripe offers robust features and excellent developer tools, some businesses face challenges with pricing transparency, limited global coverage, or specific industry requirements that Stripe doesn’t fully address.

The Complete List of Stripe Alternatives

Based on extensive research and analysis of the payment processing landscape, here are 27 proven Stripe alternatives that could be the perfect fit for your business:

1. Flash – Easiest Bitcoin Payment Solution

Flash is the easiest Bitcoin payment gateway for businesses to accept payments. Supporting both digital and physical enterprises, Flash leverages the Lightning Network to enable fast, low-cost Bitcoin transactions. Launched in its 2.0 version in March 2025, Flash is at the forefront of driving Bitcoin adoption in e-commerce.

2. Lemon Squeezy – The SaaS-Focused Alternative

Dubbed as “acq’d by Stripe,” Lemon Squeezy offers a comprehensive solution specifically designed for digital product sales and SaaS businesses. It provides strong customer support, built-in analytics, and handles payments, subscriptions, global tax compliance, and fraud prevention in one platform.

3. Gumroad – Creator Economy Champion

Gumroad has carved out a niche serving creators and small businesses by providing tools for selling digital products, physical goods, and subscriptions. It’s particularly popular among content creators, artists, and independent entrepreneurs who want to experiment with various ideas and formats. They also open-sourced their code which is quite the ‘chad-move’.

4. Paddle – All-in-One SaaS Commerce

Paddle caters to SaaS and software companies by offering a comprehensive platform with billing, licensing, and global tax handling capabilities. It’s designed to be a complete solution for subscription-based businesses, handling payments, tax, and subscription management in one platform.

5. FastSpring – Global E-commerce Specialist

FastSpring specializes in e-commerce solutions for software and SaaS companies, with a focus on global payments and subscription management. According to TechnologyAdvice, it’s particularly strong for international transactions and helps companies sell more, stay lean, and compete big.

6. 2Checkout – Versatile Payment Solutions

2Checkout (now part of Verifone) offers versatile payment solutions excelling in global payments, subscription billing, and digital commerce. One of the best stripe alternatives as it’s an all-in-one monetization platform that maximizes revenues and makes global online sales easier, supporting over 200 countries and territories.

7. Payoneer – Cross-Border Payment Expert

Payoneer simplifies cross-border payment solutions, offering local payment ease globally with a focus on market expansion and multi-currency support. It’s trusted by small to medium-sized businesses for global payment solutions and international money transfers.

8. Chargebee – Subscription Management Leader

Chargebee is a subscription management platform perfect for SaaS and SMBs, with robust billing and revenue management features. If you were looking for stripe alternatives to setup subscriptions, Chargebee might be right for you. It streamlines revenue operations and helps businesses grow efficiently with comprehensive subscription billing capabilities.

9. Maxio (formerly Chargify) – B2B SaaS Billing

Maxio offers a robust platform for B2B SaaS billing and financial operations, focusing on growth and efficiency for subscription businesses. It’s the most complete financial operations platform for B2B SaaS, bringing core financial operations into one platform.

10. Recurly – Dynamic Subscription Management

Recurly offers dynamic subscription management platform, excelling in churn management and data insights for subscription growth. It’s the only proven platform that expands and protects your recurring revenue with subscription management, recurring billing, and payments orchestration.

11. Braintree – PayPal’s Enterprise Solution

Braintree (by PayPal) provides a versatile global payments platform, integrating multiple payment methods with a focus on conversion and security. It delivers end-to-end checkout experiences for businesses, offering single-touch payments and mobile optimization.

12. PayKickstart – Modern Commerce Platform

PayKickstart offers a modern commerce platform for online billing and affiliates, focusing on revenue maximization and churn minimization. It’s the most complete checkout, recurring billing, affiliate management, and retention solution with global capabilities.

13. PayPro Global – Full-Service E-commerce

PayPro Global offers a full-service eCommerce solution for selling software and SaaS, focusing on global payments, tax compliance, and customer support. It provides flexible solutions with over 70 payment methods and great support for software companies.

14. Shopify Payments – E-commerce Integration

Integrated with Shopify, this service is ideal for SMBs in eCommerce, offering a seamless shopping cart and payment experience. It’s the simplest way to accept online payments, automatically set up for major methods with no fees for some payment types.

15. Square – Versatile POS and Payment Solutions

Square provides versatile POS and payment solutions for small businesses with a strong focus on retail and mobile payments. Forbes Advisor notes it as one of the top alternatives for businesses needing both online and offline payment capabilities.

16. Zoho Billing – Integrated Business Solution

Zoho Billing is an online recurring billing and subscription management solution, ideal for small and medium-sized businesses seeking professional invoice creation, time and expense tracking, and improved cash flow management. Zoho isn’t just competing for stripe alternatives, they offer a ton of other products and services.

17. WePay – Chase Company Integration

WePay, a Chase company, provides integrated payment solutions for ISVs and SaaS companies with customizable payment solutions. It’s designed for platforms like marketplaces and small business tools, offering seamless user experience and fraud protection.

18. QuickBooks Payments – SMB Accounting Integration

This service provides seamless accounting and payment solutions for SMBs and SaaS businesses, featuring real-time tracking and automated bookkeeping. It lets small businesses accept payments online from anywhere with easy integration into QuickBooks accounting.

19. Mangopay – Marketplace Payment Infrastructure

Mangopay offers a modular payment infrastructure for marketplaces and platforms, emphasizing flexibility, global payouts, and AI-powered anti-fraud. It uses flexible wallets built to orchestrate fund flows and monetize payment experiences.

20. Coinbase Commerce – Cryptocurrency Payments

Coinbase Commerce enables businesses to accept payments from around the world using cryptocurrency. It offers instant settlement, low fees, and broad asset support, making it easy for merchants to accept digital currency payments globally.

21. BTCPay Server – Open-Source Bitcoin Processor

BTCPay Server is a self-hosted, open-source cryptocurrency payment processor with 0% fees and no third-party involvement. It’s secure, private, censorship-resistant, and completely free for businesses wanting full control over their Bitcoin payments.

22. Lago – Open-Source Billing Alternative

Lago is an open-source alternative to Stripe Billing and Chargebee, specializing in billing and metering in one place for usage-b

@ b1ddb4d7:471244e7

In a quiet corner of the world, bitcoin mining operations in Africa are turning electricity into digital currency and in the process, redefining how value is created.

At its core, bitcoin mining involves validating transaction information before adding new blocks to the Bitcoin blockchain by competing to solve a cryptographic puzzle that meets a specific criterion.

Globally, mining plays a key role in keeping the blockchain decentralized and secure. The system depends on miners to verify and record transactions, mainly to prevent a problem called double spending, the digital version of using the same money twice.

To understand this better, imagine Charles sends $5 to Amanda. With physical cash, Amanda can trust the note is real and hasn’t been used elsewhere. But with digital currency, copying data is easy, so how can she be sure that the same $5 wasn’t sent to someone else too? That’s the exact problem Bitcoin mining helps solve.

In recent years, Africa has started to draw attention in this space, positioning itself as a key hub in global bitcoin mining. While there may be less than 2 million bitcoin left to be mined from the total 21 million supply, the rise of mining operations in Africa has sparked excitement, creating new jobs and drawing in foreign capital.

Although some countries still grapple with power shortages and the energy demands of mining, many citizens view bitcoin as a more stable store of value and a safeguard against the volatility of their local currencies.

At the same time, Africa’s wealth of hydro, solar, wind, and geothermal resources makes the continent one of the most promising regions for cost-effective and sustainable mining.

What Makes a Large-Scale Bitcoin Mining Operation in Africa?

It all starts with difficulty. Bitcoin mining isn’t just about solving a puzzle, it’s about solving one that keeps getting harder. Mining difficulty refers to how much computational work is needed to generate a number lower than the target hash.

This difficulty automatically adjusts every 2,016 blocks (about every two weeks), depending on how quickly miners solved the previous batch. If mining is fast and efficient, the network increases the difficulty; if miners drop off and block times slow, it reduces it, all to maintain a consistent block production time of roughly 10 minutes.

The significance of mining difficulty lies in the increased demands it places on mining operations. As difficulty rises, miners require more powerful hardware, cost-effective energy sources, advanced infrastructure, and substantial financial investment. These requirements distinguish large-scale mining operations from smaller, casual miners.

In short, it’s the difficulty of mining that births the need for large facilities, massive energy inputs, industrial-grade hardware, and significant financial investment, the very traits that define a “large” bitcoin mining operation.

This leads us to the 4 key factors that define large Bitcoin mining operations in Africa, each one a direct response to the growing demands of the network:

1. Facility size and infrastructure:

The physical size of a mining facility is a direct reflection of its capacity to house mining equipment and support systems. Larger operations typically have thousands of mining rigs installed, supported by extensive infrastructure such as advanced cooling systems and stable power supplies.

These are critical to ensure that the equipment runs continuously and efficiently, given the intense heat and electricity demands of mining.

While it is possible to mine Bitcoin using desktop computers or gaming rigs by joining mining pools, these setups are limited in profitability. Mining pools distribute rewards based on the computational power contributed, meaning small or less efficient machines earn only modest returns.

To compete effectively, mining operations invest in specialized hardware known as Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) miners. These machines are far more powerful and energy-efficient than regular computers but require significant capital investment, with prices ranging from $4,000 to $12,000 per rig depending on their performance.

Large-scale operations typically deploy hundreds or thousands of these ASIC miners, which necessitates the large facilities and sophisticated infrastructure mentioned earlier. In this way, the size of the facility and the sophistication of the mining equipment are tightly linked, together defining the overall scale and capability of a bitcoin mining operation.

2. Hashrate contribution:

Hashrate refers to the computational power used to mine and process transactions on the Bitcoin network. A higher hashrate indicates a more significant contribution to the network’s security and transaction processing.

Large mining operations often possess substantial hashrate, measured in exa hashes per second (EH/s). For instance, as of July 2024, the Bitcoin network’s hashrate was approximately 733.41 EH/s.

3. Energy consumption and power source:

Bitcoin mining is energy-intensive. The total energy consumption of the Bitcoin network has been estimated at 175.87 terawatt-hours annually, comparable to the power consumption of Poland. Large mining operations often seek locations with access to cheap and reliable energy sources, such as hydroelectric, solar, or wind power, to reduce operational costs and environmental impact.

4. Financial banking and investor interest:

Significant financial investment is required to establish and maintain large-scale mining operations. This includes the cost of mining hardware, facility construction, energy procurement, and operational expenses. Companies with substantial financial backing can invest in cutting-edge technology and infrastructure, enhancing their mining capabilities. 

Overview of Bitcoin Mining in Africa

Africa is beginning to carve out its share of the global Bitcoin mining market, which was valued at $2.45 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $8.24 billion by 2034. 

As Bitcoin’s value continues to rise, countries across the continent are positioning themselves to benefit, many by tapping into abundant renewable energy sources and taking advantage of regulatory ambiguity or excess energy production. 

Ethiopia currently leads the continent in Bitcoin mining activity, with around 2.5% of the global hashrate reportedly coming from operations powered entirely by renewable energy. 

This energy mismatch has attracted major miners from China and other regions, who see an opportunity to monetize surplus electricity. Ethiopia’s success showcases how renewable energy and mining can coexist sustainably while contributing meaningfully to state revenue. 

Kenya follows closely behind. As the top geothermal energy producer in Africa, with an installed capacity of 863 MW, the country is using its energy advantage to support sustainable mining. 

Nigeria is emerging as a serious contender. While not yet dominant, its large population, increasing tech engagement, and growing interest in using flared gas for mining signal potential for expansion. Nigeria’s complex but evolving regulatory landscape also leaves room for further mining developments as the government explores clearer crypto frameworks.

Malawi represents a more localized model of Bitcoin mining. By converting rainfall-powered microgrids into revenue-generating infrastructure, Malawi shows how small-scale mining can play a powerful role in community development and rural electrification.

In Libya, Bitcoin mining is technically illegal, but that hasn’t stopped it. Despite the ban, underground mining continues to thrive thanks to heavily subsidized electricity. In 2021, Libyan miners accounted for an estimated 0.6% of the global Bitcoin production, the highest in both the Arab world and Africa at the time. Today, mining reportedly consumes around 2% of the country’s electricity, even as it operates in the shadows.

Angola rounds out the list with limited public data but notable potential. The country struggles with energy inefficiencies, losing nearly 40% of its hydroelectric power during transmission. Some reports suggest Bitcoin miners are beginning to capitalize on this otherwise stranded energy, though large-scale operations are yet to surface.

What unites these countries is a shared set of conditions: untapped or mismanaged energy resources, an openness or gray area in regulation, and the growing understanding that Bitcoin mining can serve as a financial incentive to build and stabilize decentralized energy systems. 

Whether through massive hydroelectric projects or rural microgrids, Bitcoin mining is emerging as both an energy monetization strategy and a bridge to infrastructure development across Africa.

Profiles of the Largest Bitcoin Mining Operations in Africa

1. BitCluster (Ethiopia)

As of 2024, Bitcoin mining in Africa is largely concentrated in

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The Barcelona Cyphers Conference (BCC8333), the city’s first biggest bitcoin-themed event, transforms a historic building in the central born district of the Catalan capital into a hub for bitcoin enthusiasts and cypherpunks. Named after the port bitcoin nodes use to sync the timechain (8333), this inaugural event delivers high-signal discussions and practical applications of decentralized technology, uniting over 100 attendees from Spain, Europe, and beyond.

Venue and Atmosphere

Set in a 17th-century palace that doubles as a flamenco venue, Palau Dalmases blends historical elegance with a creative, almost rebellious vibe. The unique setting fosters deep conversations, hands-on workshops, and genuine connections, prioritizing substance over spectacle. The spectacular courtyard serves as a lively backdrop for collaboration and sparking chats that resonates with the event’s freedom/privacy-oriented ethos.

Lightning Network Integration

BCC8333 embedds Bitcoin’s Lightning Network (LN) into its core, emphasizing privacy and scalable technology. Two on-site bars accept LN payments for drinks, demonstrating fast, low-cost bitcoin transactions in action.

But the usage of Lightning Network extends beyond just ‘refreshments’. 

·       Chain Duel: This simple yet engaging game has many BCC8333 participants send sats via LN to enter, compete, and have fun for the two days of the event. A large-screen tournament on the main stage amplifies the excitement, showcasing one more practical case for LN in the bitcoin ecosystem with a nice bounty, i.e. winners claiming the collected sats.

·       Thematic sessions and practical workshops on wallets, vending machines, and Nostr highlight LN’s role in bitcoin adoption, while touching on the importance of privacy vs. scalable transactions.

While the overall adoption in Barcelona’s local establishments outside the venue remains rather limited, attendees find a nearby street with vivid graffiti dedicated to bitcoin, and in a practical way, whenever possible, swap sats for fiat among themselves when direct payments aren’t possible.

Selected Highlights

The agenda balances intense sessions with networking breaks, ensuring space for reflection and collaboration. Some of the key sessions include: 

·       Future of Private Transactions (English, Max Hillebrand).

·       Miniscripts Roundtable (English, Edouard from Liana, Landabaso from Rewind, Francesco from BitVault, Yuri da Silva from Great Wall).

·       Sovereign Hardware Tools (English, Wesatoshi).

·       Debate: Future of Lightning (Spanish, mixed attendees).

·       Op_return Debate (English, Peter Todd, Unhosted Marcellus, Lunaticoin).

Recordings from the main stage and additional coverage by Juan Cienfuegos, host of the BitCorner Podcast, will soon be available online (X: @BCC833, @TheJuanSC).

Why BCC8333 Stood Out

·       Local Maxis: vibrant and well-organized approach shines through, with local bitcoiners as organizers of the event (Spanish and expats) bringing their best PoW to the table.

·       Focused Discussions: Free of hype and influencers, BCC8333 prioritizes signal over noise, diving into critical topics like privacy, nodes, wallets, P2P tools, decentralized mining, and Nostr. 

·       Community Vibe: The smaller crowd enables authentic connections, fostering a tight-knit community of freedom-tech enthusiasts committed to sovereignty.

BCC8333 is a powerful testament to the cypherpunk spirit, blending bitcoin and privacy to fuel innovation. From LN-powered interactions to thought-provoking talks, the event underscores the strength of a community dedicated to building decentralized solutions. Congratulations to the organizers, contributors, volunteers, and attendees for making this conference a standout moment in the year’s lineup of bitcoin-themed events.

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Flash, the all-in-one Bitcoin payment platform, just launched Flash Invoicing. The first invoicing tool for Bitcoin that is completely free, non-custodial, KYC-free, and fully integrated into a professional-grade business suite.

Freelancers, contractors and independent workers can now send professional Bitcoin invoices with 0% platform fees, no identity verification, and no third-party custody — a first in the Bitcoin ecosystem.

According to Deel, crypto payments to freelancers grew 10x in 2023, with Bitcoin remaining the most-used currency. But despite this surge, the tools available for invoicing remain outdated.

Most freelancers still paste Bitcoin addresses into PDF footers or emails, hoping their client sends the right amount. Others use custodial platforms that charge high fees and require full identity verification.

“We’ve seen too many people paste BTC addresses into documents and call it invoicing,” said Pierre Corbin, CEO of Flash.

“It’s messy, reduces privacy and very inconvenient both for payee and payer.”, he explains.

Most Bitcoin invoicing tools charge a percentage per transaction — or lock users into subscription plans. That means freelancers lose a portion of every invoice just for the privilege of getting paid.

The other option is host open-source invoicing tools or use a google sheet template. While the former requires a hardware investment, the latter lacks functionality. Flash Invoicing is aiming to provide a better solution to address the invoicing needs for modern businesses and freelancers.

“Freelancers work hard enough. The last thing they need is a platform skimming off their earnings,” said Pierre.

“That’s why we dropped our fee from 1.5% to 0% — and launched the first invoicing tool that’s truly free, without compromising on privacy or control.”

“As a freelancer myself, I love using the Flash invoicing feature. It keeps all my clients in one place, allows me to easily edit invoices and track payments. Much more professional than sending a lightning address in the footer of a PDF invoice.” — Ada, freelancer & Flash user

Whether you’re a solo designer in Nairobi, a Web3 developer in Buenos Aires, or a consultant billing startups in Berlin, Flash Invoicing gives you a way to accept Bitcoin — without giving up control, privacy, or revenue.

And because it’s fully integrated with the broader Flash suite, freelancers can easily scale from invoicing to setting up stores, receiving donations, or gating premium content.

About Flash

Flash is the only non-custodial, KYC-free Bitcoin payment platform built for freelancers, creators, and businesses. With tools for invoicing, donations, stores, and POS, Flash gives users full control over how they earn and operate in Bitcoin — with no fees and no middlemen.

Learn more on www.paywithflash.com

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Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin: How To Solve the Student Loan Crisis

Student loans continue to trouble millions of Americans, with a total of $1.77 trillion already owed. This crisis has been a major political issue for a while, especially after former President Biden promised to wipe out all of the student loan debt and ended up only fulfilling half of the promise. These billions of dollars are not just numbers on a spreadsheet; they represent people who repay their debt, every month, year in and year out. While the standard repayment plan spans 10 years, the reality is far more daunting: The average borrower takes 20-30 years to repay their loans. 

There are over two million new undergraduates every year, and, on average, they graduate with $29,400 in debt. Some, like medical students, surpass $250,000 in debt — a mortgage-sized pile. Almost $100 billion in new debt is created every year, piled upon the already unsustainable student debt pile. Similar to how we have (haven’t) dealt with public pensions, instead of dismantling a failed system we keep feeding the machine and crushing people’s lives and dreams underneath its weight. But perhaps there’s a way for future generations to avoid this dreadful fate — by borrowing new ideas from similar fields.

Real Estate: The Store of Value (SoV) Since Nixon

The real estate market is another system that heavily relies on debt to keep functioning, and like student loans, it’s not working too well. 

Real estate is a market where it’s completely normal to go 10x levered long on a single asset while putting all of your savings into it. Talk about idiosyncratic risk. The entire market has been in deep pain worldwide, not necessarily because of the debt, but due to how the fiat system has turned real estate into an investment-and-savings mechanism. In turn, the great investment of one generation becomes the unaffordable housing for the next. But a subset of the population has been divesting from the asset in favor of a better savings vehicle: bitcoin. 

Part of their thesis in divesting from real estate and moving to bitcoin is that they predict that bitcoin’s superior SoV function will drive real estate prices down, wreaking havoc on a fragile and overpriced asset class. This makes quite a bit of sense, especially to those individuals who invested in real estate in search of those SoV properties in the first place; they now have to contend with increasing risk all over the world, putting in peril what was once a “safe SoV” asset class. From wildfires all over the place to floods, expropriations, new taxes, and wars breaking out in places previously unimaginable, some investors are just fed up.

But housing is still necessary, and we still need to build a massive amount of new houses. In almost all major cities in the world, there’s a housing crisis driven in large part by shortages. This is due to lackluster housing buildouts following the 2008 great financial crisis, driven directly by housing debt. Thus, even if all of the real estate owners put all of their stock of housing into the market, we would still have to develop and construct new ones. But it’s hard to convince real estate developers to do so when you also tell them that, in bitcoin terms, the houses they are building will be worth less by the time they sell them.

Bitcoin Replaces Real Estate

That’s where a German Bitcoiner and real estate developer named Leon Wankum steps in and turns the problem into a solution. You may even say he used financial jiu-jitsu because his idea is to bundle new, debt-heavy real estate projects with a bitcoin fund. This way, a $10 million project — of which $9 million is debt-financed — would allocate a small percentage of the financing to bitcoin, in order to hedge the depreciation and devaluation of the main asset and thereby benefit from the appreciation of bitcoin. This way, real estate developers can leverage the debt-heavy nature of the real estate market to cover the demand for housing while also hedging themselves from any SoV risk that bitcoin may pose to that asset.

This seemed like a crazy idea. Bitcoin and real estate: a super conservative mainstream infrastructure investment combined with a hyper-volatile digital savings vehicle — an unlikely marriage. Yet, polar opposites attract, and an idea is only crazy until someone replicates it and makes it work. 

To everyone’s surprise, that’s exactly what happened last year, when Andrew Hohns of Newmarket Capital went on TV to announce they had started applying Wankum’s model to offer a loan to a real estate developer. They had provided financing for a real estate project with a few special conditions: 

• the developer had to use a small proportion to buy bitcoin, which was placed in escrow.
• the bitcoin is inextricably tied with the real estate asset.
• and the bitcoin has to be held for four years minimum.

The experiment was off to the races. If the past serves as a guide, this new investment structure will greatly reduce the burden of the loan.

Bitcoin and Student Debts, Rescuing the Next Generation

At this point, the parallels to student loans should be pretty clear. When 18-year-olds take out a mortgage-sized loan to bet on their education, their future human capital is effectively becoming the real estate (collateral) that backs the debt. Their capacity to make extra income from the knowledge and certificates they acquired by going into debt will help them pay it off (given that all goes well). Investment margins become very sensitive and risk increases immensely when huge amounts of leverage are added to any investment — be it trading stocks, real estate, or your future. Your room for maneuvering decreases, and you get trapped in the path you choose.

Thus, if you yourself become the real estate securing this mortgage-sized student debt, perhaps you could also secure that loan and reduce the burden on the main asset (you) by integrating bitcoin into the mix. This could have great benefits for all parties involved: decreasing the risk for the lender and giving increased peace of mind and opportunities for the borrower (you, the student).

One of the main advantages of adding bitcoin to your student debt structure is that there are now two assets rowing against the financial repayment current: yourself and bitcoin. By going to university, learning new skills and getting certificates, you open up the path to better-paid jobs and higher earning potentials, aka higher salaries. The more intriguing component is the bitcoin tied to your student debts. As a teenager itself, bitcoin has had an incredible CAGR over its lifespan. Even conservative numbers indicate that bitcoin will return about 60% annually for the foreseeable future. When compared with the 10-15% usually provided by the S&P 500, bitcoin looks like a Ferrari competing against horses. 

The other advantage is one that frustrates most students, and it has to do with acquiring bitcoin once they understand it. Unlike most adults, undergrads have barely had any time to build up savings, and are therefore unable to exchange much fiat for hard bitcoin. This can become incredibly frustrating, especially because you know that if you were a decade older, you could have aped into bitcoin and retired your entire bloodline. But now you are stuck being 16, saving up pennies, and sacrificing your younger years for trifling amounts of bitcoin that won’t make a difference in your lifetime. So close, yet so far away.

But what is debt if not a way to bring future purchasing power into the present? Debt is a time-traveling machine that allows people to buy assets by leveraging their future earnings, revenues, or salaries. And thankfully, the current system is created so that the moment you can legally go to jail or go to war, you can also indebt yourself up to your eyeballs with the promise of future wages as a doctor, engineer, lawyer, or another profession.

Funnily enough, bitcoin’s recommended minimum holding time is also the number of years for an average college degree — four years. This means that, as long as you create a similar structure as the one proposed by Newmarket Capital, where the bitcoin has a four-year holding period, you’ll be using financial jiu-jitsu. The four-year holding period, however, does not mean that the student needs to sell at that point. The question of how to manage your finances between repaying the student loans, selling the bitcoin, or acquiring more is a more complex and personal issue. Regardless of what any student does, with this hybrid method, student debts can help young Bitcoiners leap forward instead of taking a step back.

With this new method, students — and their families — now have another thing to celebrate when they walk onto the graduation stage. And if you drop out of school, for any set of reasons that life may hit you with, your student loan now comes with a fail-safe met

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Bitcoin Magazine

France’s The Blockchain Group Secures €9.7 Million More For Its Bitcoin Treasury Strategy

Today, The Blockchain Group (ALTBG), listed on Euronext Growth Paris and recognized as Europe’s first Bitcoin Treasury Company, announced it has raised around €9.7 million through a mix of equity and convertible bond issuances. This move is part of their continued push to build out their Bitcoin Treasury Company strategy.

The Blockchain Group announces an equity and convertible bond issuance for a total amount of ~€9.7M to pursue its Bitcoin Treasury Company strategy

Full Press Release (EN): https://t.co/jjGOBswJsd

Full Press Release (FR): https://t.co/0Jwuv2sP7W

BTC Strategy (EN):… pic.twitter.com/mUVLHJduX5

— The Blockchain Group (@_ALTBG) June 12, 2025

The funding comes from multiple sources and was carried out through their wholly-owned Luxembourg subsidiary, “The Blockchain Group Luxembourg SA.” A major portion, about €6 million, was raised through a convertible bond issuance to TOBAM, with bonds priced at €6.24 per share. That price reflects a 30 percent premium over ALTBG’s closing price on June 9, 2025.

Ludovic Chechin-Laurans also came in with around €2.4 million, subscribing in BTC at a conversion price of about €0.7072 per share. This was part of a deal originally set up back in March 2025. If the stock price climbs 30 percent above that level, to around €0.919 over 20 consecutive trading days, he’ll have the option to convert into up to 3.4 million new ALTBG shares.

Adam Back also finalized his conversion of all OCA Tranche 1 bonds into 14.9 million ALTBG shares and subscribed to an additional 2.1 million shares for €1.16 million at €0.544 per share. 

“The Company recalls that Adam Back notified The Blockchain Group of his intention to convert all OCA Tranche 1 he holds, in accordance with the terms of the OCA Issuance Agreement entered into on March 4, 2025, the details of which were disclosed in a press release dated March 6, 2025, and which the Company now confirms has been definitively completed,” stated the press release.

TOBAM did the same, converting 1 million Tranche 1 bonds into 1.84 million shares and subscribing to 262,605 new shares for €0.14 million.

“Given the recent high volatility in the Company’s share price observed since the signing of the OCA Issuance Agreement, the conversion price of €0.544 reflects a discount of 89.52% compared to the closing price on June 12, 2025,” the press release added.

“These operations could allow for the potential acquisition of ~80 BTC, bringing the Company’s total potential holdings to ~1,611 BTC, including the proceeds from the potential completion of remaining operations announced in the press release dated May 26, 2025,” said the press release.

This post France’s The Blockchain Group Secures €9.7 Million More For Its Bitcoin Treasury Strategy first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Oscar Zarraga Perez.

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Bitcoin Magazine

Coinbase Announces Bitcoin Rewards Credit Card, Offering up to 4% BTC Back on Everything

Coinbase is launching its first-ever branded credit card in partnership with American Express, set to roll out this fall. Called the Coinbase One Card, it will be available only to U.S. members of Coinbase One, the platform’s monthly subscription service. The card will offer 2% to 4% back in Bitcoin on everyday purchases, along with access to American Express perks.  

JUST IN: Coinbase launches credit card allowing users to earn up to 4% bitcoin back on every purchase pic.twitter.com/d6pdNZV4pi

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) June 12, 2025

This is a first-of-its-kind product for Coinbase, which previously only offered a prepaid debit card with Visa in 2020. 

“We see real potential in the combination of Coinbase and crypto with the powerful backing of American Express, and what the card offers is an excellent mix of what customers are looking for right now,” said Will Stredwick, head of American Express global network services, during the Coinbase State of Crypto Summit in New York.

The card is part of a larger push by Coinbase to expand its subscription-based services. Coinbase One costs $29.99/month and includes zero trading fees, higher staking rewards, and customer support perks. The company also announced a cheaper version—Coinbase Basic—for $4.99/month or $49.99/year, which includes fewer features.

Coinbase’s subscription business is growing fast. It brought in $698.1 million in Q1 2025, compared to $1.26 billion in trading revenue. According to William Blair analyst Andrew Jeffrey, this kind of recurring revenue is a big reason why long-term investors are sticking with the stock.

Launched in 2023, Coinbase One now has over a million members. The company has been steadily growing its ecosystem with products like its Base developer platform and a self-custody wallet. 

The company has long positioned Bitcoin at the center of its strategy—offering BTC custody services to institutions, supporting Bitcoin ETFs, integrating Bitcoin rewards into its products, and actively advocating for Bitcoin-friendly regulation in Washington. Coinbase also supports Bitcoin development directly through funding grants and engineering support. As the largest publicly traded crypto exchange in the U.S., Coinbase continues to frame Bitcoin not just as an asset, but as the foundation of its long-term vision.

This post Coinbase Announces Bitcoin Rewards Credit Card, Offering up to 4% BTC Back on Everything first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Jenna Montgomery.

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Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Will Replace Gold And Go To $1,000,000, Says Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz

Today, Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz told CNBC that Bitcoin is on a path to replace gold and could eventually reach a value of $1,000,000.

JUST IN: Galaxy Digital CEO told CNBC that Bitcoin will replace gold and go to $1,000,000 pic.twitter.com/Tf831LBt1h

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) June 12, 2025

“Bitcoin has become a macro asset,” said Novogratz. “And some of the great things is most people have it on their screens next to gold and silver and the S&P. And you think back ten years ago when people thought we were crazy. And now it’s an institutionalized macro asset… It’s just becoming institutionalized.”

He emphasized that Bitcoin is no longer a fringe investment but part of the mainstream financial landscape. He pointed out that its volatility is now seen as normal compared to traditional assets.

“We are in a dollar bear market. For the last 15 years, American exceptionalism was the story. Europeans were widely overweight and Asians widely overweight the US stock and we have an administration that wants a weaker dollar. They are pretty clear about it,” he said. “Even in the way Trump negotiates. And you can argue if it’s successful or not successful, but by telling Canada they want to be the 51st state, and telling people that they come here to kiss his rear end, it doesn’t engender people to say, ‘Oh, I want to buy more dollars.’”

According to Novogratz, this global shift is pushing investors toward assets outside the dollar, including Bitcoin.

“I think most macro funds are having a great year,” he stated. “They’re short the dollar, they’re long the euro, they’re long the yen, they’re long Aussie, they’re long a basket of currencies. Well, Bitcoin, gold, silver, platinum, they all fall into that same category as something that’s not the dollar.”

He also pointed to Bitcoin’s fixed supply as a key factor behind its growing value.

“There is no more Bitcoin,” he said. “What’s unique about Bitcoin as an asset is it was created with 21 million coins total. Period. End of story. There’ll never be more than that. But not all of those have been mined, is my point. Not most of them. Lots of them have been lost. There have been more Bitcoins lost than will be mined for the rest of eternity.”

Novogratz believes the wave of institutional involvement, including firms like BlackRock, is cementing Bitcoin’s role as a savings asset.

“The bull case becomes that over time… gold slowly gets replaced by Bitcoin. And so if you look at gold’s market cap and Bitcoin market cap, Bitcoin has a long way to go. Right? 10x. And so that [is] $1,000,000 a Bitcoin just to be where gold is.”

This post Bitcoin Will Replace Gold And Go To $1,000,000, Says Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Oscar Zarraga Perez.

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Bitcoin Magazine

Where Could Bitcoin Peak This Cycle?

With Bitcoin looking as bullish as ever, the inevitable question arises of how high could BTC realistically go in this market cycle? Here we’ll explore a wide range of on-chain valuation models and cycle timing tools to identify plausible price targets for a Bitcoin peak. Although prediction is never a substitute for disciplined data reaction, this analysis gives us frameworks to better understand where we are and where we might be heading.

Price Forecast Tools

The journey begins with Bitcoin Magazine Pro’s free Price Forecast Tools, which compile several historically accurate valuation models. While it’s always more effective to react to data rather than blindly predict prices, studying these metrics can still provide powerful context for market behavior. If macro, derivative, and on-chain data all start flashing warnings, it’s usually a solid time to take profit, regardless of whether a specific price target has been hit. Still, exploring these valuation tools is informative and can guide strategic decision-making when used alongside broader market analysis.

Figure 1: Applying Price Forecast Tools to calculate potential cycle tops. View Live Chart

Among the key models, the Top Cap multiplies the average cap over time by 35 to project peak valuations. It accurately forecasted 2017’s top, but missed the 2020–2021 cycle, estimating over $200k while Bitcoin peaked around $69k. It now targets over $500k, which feels increasingly unrealistic. A step further is the Delta Top, subtracting the average cap from the realized cap, based on the cost basis of all circulating BTC, to generate a more grounded projection. This model suggested an $80k–$100k top last cycle. The most consistently accurate, however, is the Terminal Price, based on Supply Adjusted Coin Days Destroyed, which has closely aligned with each prior peak, including the $64k top in 2021. Currently projecting around $221k, it could rise to $250k or more, and remains arguably the most credible model for forecasting macro Bitcoin tops. Of course, more information regarding all of these metrics and their calculation logic can be found beneath the charts on the site.

Peak Forecasting

Another powerful metric is the MVRV ratio, which compares market cap to realized cap. It offers a psychological window into investor sentiment, typically peaking near a value of 4 in major cycles. The ratio currently sits at 2.34, suggesting there may still be room for significant upside. Historically, as MVRV nears 3.5 to 4, long-term holders begin to realize substantial gains, often signaling cycle maturity. However, with diminishing returns, we might not reach a full 4 this time around. Instead, using a more conservative estimate of 3.5, we can begin projecting more grounded peak values.

Figure 2: A view of the MVRV ratio predicts further cycle growth to reach historical 4+ and even more conservative 3.5 target values. View Live Chart

Calculating A Target

Timing is as important as valuation. Analysis of BTC Growth Since Cycle Lows illustrates that previous Bitcoin cycles peaked almost exactly 1,060 days from their respective lows. Currently, we are about 930 days into this cycle. If the pattern holds, we can estimate the peak may arrive in roughly 130 days. Historical FOMO-driven price increases often happen late in the cycle, causing Realized Price, a proxy for average investor cost basis, to rise rapidly. For instance, in the final 130 days of the 2017 cycle, realized price grew 260%. In 2021, it increased by 130%. If we assume a further halving of growth due to diminishing returns, a 65% rise from the current $47k realized price brings us to around $78k by October 18.

Figure 3: Based on the peak rate of previous cycles, this cycle is far from over. View Live Chart

With a projected $78k realized price and a conservative MVRV target of 3.5, we arrive at a potential Bitcoin price peak of $273,000. While that may feel ambitious, historical parabolic blowoff tops have shown that such moves can happen in weeks, not months. While it may seem more realistic to expect a peak closer to $150k to $200k, the math and on-chain evidence suggest that a higher valuation is at least within the realm of possibility. It’s also worth noting that these models dynamically adjust, and if late-cycle euphoria kicks in, projections could quickly accelerate further.

Figure 4: Combining projected realized price and a possible MVRV target to predict this cycle’s peak.

Conclusion

Forecasting Bitcoin’s exact peak is inherently uncertain, with too many variables to account for. What we can do is position ourselves with probabilistic frameworks grounded in historical precedent and on-chain data. Tools like the MVRV ratio, Terminal Price, and Delta Top have repeatedly demonstrated their value in anticipating market exhaustion. While a $273,000 target might seem optimistic, it is rooted in past patterns, current network behavior, and cycle-timing logic. Ultimately, the best strategy is to react to data, not rigid price levels. Use these tools to inform your thesis, but stay nimble enough to take profits when the broader ecosystem starts signaling the top.

For more deep-dive research, technical indicators, real-time market alerts, and access to a growing community of analysts, visit BitcoinMagazinePro.com.

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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Always do your own research before making any investment decisions.

This post Where Could Bitcoin Peak This Cycle? first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Matt Crosby.

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Bitcoin Magazine

JPMorgan Reports Record Profits for Bitcoin Miners in Q1

Bitcoin mining companies in the U.S. have kicked off 2025 with record performance, according to a recent report. The first quarter of the year was “one of Bitcoin miners’ best quarters to date,” analysts Reginald Smith and Charles Pearce stated. 

JUST IN: JPMorgan reported Q1 2025 was one of the best periods on record for publicly traded bitcoin mining companies pic.twitter.com/gs9fGiTbZV

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) June 13, 2025

“Four of the five operators in our coverage reported record revenue and profits,” the report stated, underscoring the sector’s impressive rebound in profitability amid continued institutional adoption and high bitcoin prices, currently hovering around $105,462.87.

In total, U.S.-listed miners brought in $2.0 billion in gross profit during Q1 2025, with average gross margins reaching 53%—a jump from $1.7 billion and 50% in the previous quarter.

MARA Holdings (MARA) once again led the pack in Bitcoin production, mining the most BTC for the ninth consecutive quarter. However, despite its output dominance, MARA also posted the highest cost per coin, estimated at $72,600, JPMorgan noted.

On the profitability front, IREN (IREN) was the standout performer. For the first time, IREN earned the most gross profit among the tracked firms. The company also reported the lowest all-in cash cost per Bitcoin, around $36,400, helping to boost margins significantly.

CleanSpark (CLSK), another major player, did not raise any equity in the quarter—one of the more capital-disciplined moves seen among its peers. In fact, JPMorgan reported that the five miners it tracks issued only $310 million in equity for Q1, marking a steep decline from $1.3 billion in Q4 2024. 

On the operational expense side, miners spent an estimated $1.8 billion on power, up $50 million from the previous quarter—demonstrating the energy-intensive nature of mining. 

JPMorgan’s outlook on the industry remains bullish for select players. The bank maintains overweight ratings for CleanSpark, IREN, and Riot Platforms (RIOT), while assigning neutral ratings to Cipher Mining (CIFR) and MARA.

As profitability surges and strategic spending remains in check, 2025 may very well be remembered as a turning point in mining economics—especially for companies navigating cost discipline and scaling production. 

This post JPMorgan Reports Record Profits for Bitcoin Miners in Q1 first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Jenna Montgomery.

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Bitcoin Magazine

UK Gold Mining Company Bluebird to Convert Gold Revenues into Bitcoin

Bluebird Mining Ventures Ltd., a pan Asian gold project development company, recently announced a major strategic shift. It plans to convert future revenues from its gold mining projects into bitcoin and adopt bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset. 

Strategy shift to covert gold into digital gold – #bitcoin #goldmining #goldequities #investinbitcoin #investingold
"Combining income streams from gold mining projects and recycling these revenues into a proactive "Bitcoin in Treasury" management approach, whilst maintaining a… pic.twitter.com/BpJA6hFU9Y

— Bluebird Mining Ventures Ltd (LSE:BMV.L) (@bluebirdIR) June 5, 2025

“By adopting a ‘gold plus a digital gold’ strategy, it offers the Company an opportunity to turn the page and look to the future and seek to attract a new type of shareholder,” said the Executive Director and CEO of Bluebird Aidan Bishop. “Under the leadership of a new CEO, once identified, it is my sincere hope that Bluebird will finally realise its ambitions for which it was initially established for.”

The announcement comes as Bluebird progresses towards a key agreement on its flagship Philippine project. The company expects to finalize a deal in the coming weeks that will grant it a net profit interest throughout the life of the mine, with no ongoing capital costs. The company said it believes bitcoin offers a modern alternative to traditional store of value assets like gold.

“I am very pleased with the progress of discussions in the Philippines which are looking very positive and will enable, if successfully completed, Bluebird to maintain an ongoing exposure with zero future cash commitments,” stated Bishop.

Bluebird plans to recycle revenues from its mining operations directly into bitcoin, aligning with what they describe as an innovative treasury approach. The company cited bitcoin’s fixed supply of 21 million, increasing global adoption, and role as a hedge against inflation and monetary instability as key reasons for its decision.

“Combining income streams from gold mining projects and recycling these revenues into a proactive ‘Bitcoin in Treasury’ management approach…” the company said. “Companies that have adopted bitcoin into their treasury strategy globally across public markets have been enjoying significant investor interest as well as substantial premiums to Net Asset Value (NAV) that have challenged traditional financial metrics as a basis of valuation.”

To lead this new phase, Bluebird is actively searching for a new CEO with experience in digital assets.

“On a personal level, I embarked some time ago on a journey to understand and learn about bitcoin,” added Bishop. “I am convinced that we are witnessing a tectonic shift in global markets and that bitcoin will reshape the landscape of financial markets on every level.”

This post UK Gold Mining Company Bluebird to Convert Gold Revenues into Bitcoin first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Oscar Zarraga Perez.

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Bitcoin Magazine

The 30,000-Foot View of the Oslo Freedom Forum

As I step onto the plane leaving Gardermoen Airport in Oslo, Norway, the weight and warmth of the past week settles into my chest.

The Oslo Freedom Forum is not a conference. It’s not a summit. It’s something harder to name and even harder to describe — a convergence of courage, truth and defiance that burns through the noise of the modern world and gives you no choice but to listen, feel and act.

For the second time, I leave this city more convinced than ever that something unstoppable is rising. That amid the censorship, surveillance and state repression spreading across the globe, there is a countervailing force rooted in humanity, accelerated by technology and led by those who’ve already paid the price for speaking out.

The Forum doesn’t trade in empty optimism. It delivers a different kind of hope, forged from lived experience and stitched together by people who have been in the dark and still choose to see the light. A hope borne from the stories of individuals who have lived through the worst an authoritarian regime can do and still choose to fight for the freedom of others. The experiences shared were hard. At times, devastating. But they weren’t offered for pity. They were calls to action.

Just days after she was abducted, blindfolded, tortured, and sexually assaulted in a Tanzanian prison cell, Agather Atuhaire stood in front of a crowd of strangers and told her story.

Her voice did not tremble.

The Ugandan journalist and lawyer had traveled to Tanzania in solidarity with fellow East African dissidents, only to be disappeared in a black van alongside Kenyan activist Boniface Mwangi.

And yet, against all odds, she came back. Not just to her home in Uganda, but also to the stage in Oslo, where she spoke calmly and clearly about what it means to tell the truth under a dictatorship.

Her presentation, “The Digital Free Speech Crackdown in Uganda,” laid bare the authoritarian playbook: social media blackouts, propaganda campaigns, surveillance of journalists and the slow financial asphyxiation of independent media. When the government doesn’t like a story, it simply blocks the platform or website. When a journalist digs too deep, they disappear for a while. Or forever. Atuhaire painted a picture many struggle to even imagine.

And yet, after everything, she didn’t just recount these struggles. She looked out at the crowd and thanked the open source builders and contributors who write code and create tools that make it possible for activists like her to speak, move money and organize under regimes that want them silenced, or worse.

(Ugandan journalist and lawyer, Agather Atuhaire, speaks during the Freedom Tech track at the 2025 Oslo Freedom Forum.)

From Iran, independent Bitcoin educator Ziya Sadr reminded us that financial privacy is not a luxury but a necessary lifeline for those facing the financial repression by oppressive rulers. Sadr’s detainment during the 2022 Women, Life, Freedom movement following the murder of Mahsa Amini by the Iranian regime is a testament to that. Without financial privacy, activists’ actions, connections and finances are exposed to a regime equipped with widespread financial controls and a sophisticated, restrictive internet firewall that rivals even China’s.

The result is one of the most repressive digital environments in the world. And if that wasn’t enough, the Iranian rial currency has lost more than 80% of its value in just a few years.

Against this backdrop, Iranians are using bitcoin as undebasable savings, and to buy digital services like VPNs in order to access the open internet. But even that act, just reaching the outside world, requires a level of privacy most of us take for granted.

In his presentation, “Securing Lifelines: The Bitcoin Privacy Imperative,” Sadr shared that many Iranians turn to Bitcoin Coinjoins, a privacy technique that breaks the link between Bitcoin transaction inputs. Coinjoins preserve user transaction privacy and, more importantly, shield Iranians from the surveillance and retaliation of a regime who punishes anyone trying to access information beyond its tightly controlled digital spaces. The use of Coinjoins is becoming more difficult as global legal pressure mounts against open source developers, and in the aftermath of the Samourai developer arrests, privacy protocols like Whirlpool are unworkable.

Today, Sadr is learning more about additional Bitcoin privacy tools, including Paykoin, a privacy method that allows two users to contribute an input to a Bitcoin transaction. Payjoin breaks common chain analysis heuristics and conceals the sender and receiver of a transaction as well as the payment amount. Then there is ecash, a form of digital cash backed by Bitcoin that enables very private, everyday payments with the custodial trade-off of trusting mints (entities that issue and redeem ecash tokens) to store user funds.

The continued development of these protocols is crucial for Iranians, who live under a government that not only tracks and surveils digital behavior, but also imposes automatic fines on women for violating hijab rules and manipulates currency exchange rates to profit off citizens’ savings. For millions in Iran, bitcoin offers a last line of defense against a collapsing currency, intrusive surveillance and total financial repression.

(Independent Iranian Bitcoin educator, Ziya Sadr, speaks during the Freedom Tech track at the Oslo Freedom Forum.)

Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo López took the stage at the 2025 Oslo Freedom Forum not as a politician, but as a witness to what happens when a state turns its institutions into further tendrils of its repression machine.

After Nicolás Maduro stole Venezuela’s 2024 elections, López watched thousands of his fellow people — activists, students, journalists, opposition members and lawyers — get arrested, disappeared or forced into exile. The regime blocked access to social media, revoked passports, criminalized dissent and used the financial system as a means of controlling the population.

Amid this digital repression and Venezuela’s 162% inflation rate, López sees bitcoin (decentralized money) and Nostr (decentralized social media) as lifelines. When dictators shut down the internet or freeze your bank account, alternatives that are open source, decentralized, uncensorable and accessible become more important than ever for the survival of democracy and freedom.

**“Decentralized resistance is the convergence of people, Bitcoin, Nostr, and AI.

People, it’s about the center and the end of what we are doing.

Brave women and men who sacrifice their freedom, who take risks, who are willing to fight for other people.

If it’s not about people, technology wouldn’t be something worth fighting for.

Bitcoin is freedom money. It’s decentralized, nobody controls it, nobody can stop it, it can move around without borders.”**

(Venezuelan Opposition Leader Leopoldo López during the Freedom Tech track at the 2025 Oslo Freedom Forum.)

For decades, Paraguay’s greatest natural resource, hydroelectric power, has flowed out of the country through international contracts, fueling development in neighboring countries like Brazil and Argentina while one in four Paraguayans remained trapped in poverty. Paraguay’s Itaipu Dam, one of the largest in the world, has long symbolized this paradox: a river of energy diverted away from the very people who need it most.

Björn Schmidtke and Delia Garcete of Penguin Group are flipping that script.

In a landmark move, they secured Paraguay’s first 100-megawatt power purchase agreement, marking the beginning of a bold experiment to reclaim that energy for the people of Paraguay. Instead of selling it off to foreign powers, they use it to mine Bitcoin — and the proc

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

Pakistan’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve: A Step Toward Orange-Pilling a Nation?

Pakistan’s relationship with Bitcoin has been marked by inconsistency and confusion over the past few years. Initially, the country outright banned bitcoin trading in 2018, citing concerns over fraud, money laundering and lack of regulation. However, over time, their stance softened and regulators began exploring the technology behind Bitcoin with courts even questioning the legality of the ban. Eventually, citizens were allowed to hold bitcoin, though trading remained murky and unregulated. This back-and-forth approach has created a confusing environment, where Bitcoin exists in a legal gray area. It is technically allowed, yet not fully embraced or regulated, reflecting the state’s struggle to balance innovation with control.

PAKISTAN TO ESTABLISH NATIONAL STRATEGIC #BITCOIN RESERVE

Honored to have had the Pakistan Minister Bilal Bin Saqib at the Bitcoin Conference pic.twitter.com/7WunP5fuZm

— The Bitcoin Conference (@TheBitcoinConf) May 29, 2025

This muddled relationship with Bitcoin seems to have turned a corner in recent weeks as Bilal Bin Saqib, head of the Pakistan Crypto Council, at the Bitcoin 2025 Conference in Las Vegas announced that the country is moving to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve. Furthermore, he announced the allocation of 2,000 megawatts of excess energy to Bitcoin mining and high-performance computer data centers. The Ministry of Finance has also commissioned the establishment of an entirely new agency to oversee digital asset regulation which could lead to a less opaque legal framework around bitcoin ownership and usage in everyday transactions.

Critics have argued that this is merely an attempt by Pakistan to cozy up to Trump in the aftermath of the recent skirmish with India. After all, Saqib did state that Pakistan was inspired by the Trump administration when he spoke at the recent Las Vegas Bitcoin conference. Others have asserted that Pakistan is merely seeking to build resistance to possible sanctions in the future over its support for terrorist groups. I believe that such a geopolitically focused critique overlooks a deeper economic reality that has been staring Pakistan in the face for many years. 

I wrote an article for a Pakistani newspaper about a year ago in which I argued that the country is uniquely situated, in economic terms, to take advantage of Bitcoin and unlock the benefits that come with adoption. Pakistan suffers from rampant inflation, stagnant capital formation, depleted foreign reserves, an inefficient bureaucracy and an overreliance on remittances from abroad. These systemic issues have eroded citizens’ faith in traditional financial systems, leaving many Pakistanis disillusioned and seeking alternative means to safeguard their wealth and economic autonomy. 

Thus, nurturing a culture of Bitcoin adoption could go a long way toward alleviating much of these economic ills and empowering citizens to take control of their financial future. By earning and trading a form of currency that is deflationary in nature, Pakistanis can protect themselves from the downsides of the macroeconomic trends that have decimated the living standards of this once proud nation. Bitcoin adoption could transform the country’s lively remittance sector, with receivers keeping more of the money they are sent. It could also emancipate people from the inefficient banking system that is such a drain on the people. Permissionless transactions could also empower the beleaguered minorities who often struggle to achieve financial freedom. 

The announcement of a strategic Bitcoin reserve, as well as promises to introduce pro-Bitcoin regulation and a mining strategy, are steps in the right direction. They show that the mood is shifting and the country is starting to take a serious look at the only real digital currency in town. These steps also point to a much broader, global shift in attitudes toward Bitcoin — especially in nations where hyperinflation is a daily reality and the banking system struggles to meet citizens’ needs. 

However, real change will only come when Pakistan fully legalizes bitcoin as a digital currency and takes steps toward mass adoption. Only then will ordinary Pakistani citizens be free to trade with people from all over the world without the need to rely on the local banking system. Only then will financial autonomy become an achievable goal for those living far away from the big cities where banks are based. Only then will women be free to earn, store and transact in a digital currency that is resistant to cultural barriers. 

Creating a national strategic reserve merely signals that a nation believes in bitcoin as an asset with the potential to offer a reliable return. It does not signal that a nation has adopted the digital currency as a means to overcome the obstacles imposed by fiat. Strategic national reserves also hoard bitcoin and bring it too close to the state, even though the digital currency was designed to be a hedge against state-controlled money. As such, a reserve does not unlock the true potential of bitcoin to act as a buffer against domestic inflation, currency devaluation and a cumbersome banking system. 

A strategic Bitcoin reserve is a step in the right direction for Pakistan, as it would be for any nation that suffers from hyperinflation. But only mass adoption will truly unlock the immense potential Bitcoin can offer to a nation such as Pakistan and we have a long way to go before that becomes a reality. 

In my view, strategic reserves are not what bitcoin is all about, but let’s hope this is merely the first step in a long and prosperous journey toward orange-pilling a nation.

This post Pakistan’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve: A Step Toward Orange-Pilling a Nation? first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Ghaffar Hussain.

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Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Layer 2: Statechains

Statechains are an original second layer protocol originally developed by Ruben Somsen in 2018, depending on the eltoo (or LN Symmetry) proposal. In 2021 a variation of the original proposal, Mercury, was built by CommerceBlock. In 2024, a further iteration of the original Mercury scheme was built, Mercury Layer. 

The Statechain protocol is a bit more complicated to discuss compared to other systems such as Ark or Lightning because of the range of variations that are possible between the original proposed design, the two that have been actually implemented, and other possible designs that have been loosely proposed. 

Like Ark, Statechains depend on a centralized coordinating server in order to function. Unlike Ark, they have a slightly different trust model than a vUTXO in an Ark batch. They depend on the coordinating server to delete previously generated shares of a private key in order to remain trustless, but as long as the server follows the defined protocol and does so, they provide a strong security guarantee. 

The general idea of a Statechain is to be able to transfer ownership of an entire UTXO between different users off-chain, facilitated by the coordinator. There is no requirement for receiving liquidity like Lightning, or the coordinator server to provide any liquidity like Ark. 

To begin, we will look at the original protocol proposed by Ruben Somsen. 

The Original Statechain

Statechains are effectively a pre-signed transaction allowing the current owner of the Statechain to unilaterally withdraw on-chain whenever they want, and a history signed messages cryptographically proving that past owners and the receivers they sent the Statechain to approved those transfers. 

The original design was built on eltoo using ANYPREVOUT, but the current plans on how to enable the same functionality make use of CHECKTEMPLATEVERIFY and CHECKSIGFROMSTACK (a high level explanation of this is at the end of the CHECKSIGFROMSTACK article). The basic idea is a script enabling a pre-signed transaction to spend any UTXO that has that script and locks the appropriate amount of bitcoin, rather than being tied to spending a single specific UTXO. 

In the protocol, a user wishing to deposit their coins to a Statechain approaches a coordinator server and goes through a deposit protocol. The depositing user, Bob, generates a key that will be uniquely owned by him, but also a second “transitory” key that will eventually be shared (more on this soon). They then craft a deposit transaction locking their coin to a multisig requiring the coordinator’s key and the transitory key to sign. 

Using this multisig, Bob and the coordinator sign a transaction that spends that coin and creates a UTXO that can either be spent by any other transaction signed by the transitory key and the coordinator’s key using LN Symmetry, or Bob’s unique key after a timelock. Bob can now fund the multisig with the appropriate amount, and the Statechain has been created. 

To transfer a Statechain to Charlie, Bob must go through a multistep process. First, Bob signs a message with his unique private key that attests to the fact he is going to transfer the Statechain to Charlie. Charlie must also sign a message attesting to the fact that he has received the Statechain from Bob. Finally, the coordinator server must sign a new transaction allowing Charlie to unilaterally claim the Statechain on-chain before Bob sends Charlie a copy of the transitory key. 

All of this is made atomic using adapter signatures. These are signatures that are modified in such a way using a random piece of data that renders them invalid, but can be made valid again once the holder of the signature receives that piece of information. All of the messages, and the new pre-signed transaction are signed with adapter signatures, and atomically made valid at the same time through the release of the adapter data. 

Holders of a Statechain must trust that the coordinator server never conspires with a previous owner to sign an immediate closure of the Statechain and steal funds from the current owner, but the chain of pre-signed messages can prove that a coordinator has participated in theft if they were to do so. If a past owner attempts to use their pre-signed transaction to steal the funds, the timelock on the spend path using only their key allows the current owner to submit their pre-signed transaction and correctly claim the funds on chain. 

Mercury and Mercury Layer

The original Statechain architecture requires a softfork in order to function. CommerceBlock designed their variant of Statechains to function without a softfork, but in order to do so tradeoffs were made in terms of functionality. 

The basic idea is the same as the original design, all users hold a pre-signed transaction that allows them to claim their funds unilaterally, and the coordinator server still plays a role in facilitating off-chain transfers that requires them to be trusted to behave honestly. The two major differences are how those transactions are signed, and the structure of the pre-signed transaction users are given. 

Where the signing is concerned, there is no longer a transitory private key that is passed from user to user. Instead of this, a multiparty-computation protocol (MPC) is used so that the original owner and the coordinator server are able to collaboratively generate partial pieces of a private key without either of them ever possessing the full key. This key is used to sign the pre-signed transactions. The MPC protocol allows the current owner and coordinator to engage in a second protocol with a third party, the receiver of a transfer, to regenerate different pieces that add up to the same private key. In both the Mercury and Mercury Layer protocol, after completing a transfer an honest coordinator server deletes the key material corresponding to the previous owner. As long as this is done, it is no longer possible for the coordinator to sign a transaction with a previous owner, as the new piece of key material they have is not compatible with the piece any previous owner might still have. This is actually a stronger guarantee, as long as the coordinator is honest, than the original proposal.

The pre-signed transaction structure for Mercury and Mercury Layer can’t use LN Symmetry, as this is not possible without a softfork. In lieu of this, CommerceBlock opted to use decrementing timelocks. The original owner’s pre-signed transaction is timelocked using nLocktime to a time far out in the future from the point of the Statechain’s creation. As each subsequent user receives the Statechain during a transfer, the nLocktime value of their transaction is some pre-determined length of time shorter than the previous owner. This guarantees that a previous owner is incapable of even trying to submit their transaction on-chain before the current owner can, but it also means that eventually at some point the current owner must close their Statechain on-chain before previous owners’ transactions start becoming valid. 

The major difference between Mercury and Mercury Layer is how these transactions are signed. In the case of Mercury, the coordinator server simply sees the transaction proposed, verifies it, and then signs it. Mercury Layer uses a blind-signing protocol, meaning that they do not actually see any details of the transaction they are signing. This necessitates the server tracking Statechains using anonymized records on the server, and a special authorization key of the current owner so that they can be sure they are only signing valid transfers. 

Synergy With Other Layers

Statechains can synergize with other Layer 2s that are based on pre-signed transactions. For instance, part of the original proposal suggested a combination of Statechains and Lightning Channels. Because both are simply pre-signed transactions, it is possible to actually nest a Lightning channel on top of a Statechain. This simply requires the current owner’s unilateral exit key to be a multisig, and the creation of the pre-signed transactions spending that output into a Lightning channel. This allows Lightning channels to be opened and closed entirely off-chain. 

In a similar fashion, it is possible to nest a Statechain on top of a vUTXO in an Ark batch. This simply requires the pre-signed transactions necessary for a Statechain to be constructed, spending the vUTXO output. 

Wrapping Up

Statechains are not entirely trustless, but they are a very trust minimized scheme that is very liquidity efficient and allows freely transferring UTXOs off-chain between any users willing to accept the trust model of Statechains. 

While the original proposal has yet to be built, the two implementations designed by CommerceBlock have been completely implemented. Both failed to achieve anything more than marginal use in the real world. Whether this is due to users being unwilling to accept the trust model involved, or simply a failure in marketing or awareness is something that cannot be fully ascertained. 

Regardless, given that there are two full implementations and designs for a more flexible variation should LN Symmetry ever become possible on Bitcoin, this an option

@ e5cfb5dc:0039f130

はりまメンタルクリニック：GIDの大手そう。丸の内線ならパムくんちが近い。

わらびメンタルクリニック：GIDの大手そう？

ナグモクリニック：SRS手術までしてるところ。GID精神科外来が月1第1木曜日だけ？

狭山メンタルクリニック：距離・時間的にはまま近い。サイトの記述が思想的にちょとあやしげ。新患受付がだいぶ先。GIDは専門外か？

川島領診療所：オンライン診療あり！強迫性障害や美容皮膚科をやっている。雰囲気よさそうなところ。GIDは専門外か？

Jこころのクリニック：電車いっぽんなので楽。GIDは専門外か？

ハッピースマイルクリニック：オンライン診療あり！GIDは専門外か？

@ 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.

@ da8b7de1:c0164aee

Az IAEA Kormányzótanácsának Ülése

A Nemzetközi Atomenergia-ügynökség (IAEA) 2025. június 9. és 13. között tartotta szokásos Kormányzótanácsi ülését bécsi központjában. Ez a magas szintű esemény a tagállamok képviselőit hozta össze, hogy megvitassák a nukleáris biztonság, védelem és technológia legújabb fejleményeit. Rafael Mariano Grossi, az IAEA főigazgatója a találkozó elején sajtótájékoztatót tartott, amelyen kiemelte az ügynökség folyamatos erőfeszítéseit a biztonságos és védett nukleáris energia világszintű előmozdításában [iaea.org].

A Világbank Nukleáris Energiát Támogató Fordulata

Mérföldkőnek számító döntésként a Világbank 2025. június 10-én bejelentette, hogy megkezdi új nukleáris energia projektek – köztük kis moduláris reaktorok (SMR-ek) és meglévő erőművek élettartam-hosszabbításának – finanszírozását. Ez a döntés a Bank régóta fennálló, nukleáris energia finanszírozását ellenző politikájának felülvizsgálatát jelenti. Ajay Banga, a Világbank elnöke elmondta, hogy a változás a nukleáris energia globális dekarbonizációban és energiabiztonságban betöltött növekvő szerepének elismerését tükrözi [ans.org].

Globális Támogatás a Nukleáris Kapacitás Megháromszorozásáért

A bakui COP29 ENSZ klímakonferencián újabb hat ország – El Salvador, Kazahsztán, Kenya, Koszovó, Nigéria és Törökország – csatlakozott ahhoz a kezdeményezéshez, amely célul tűzte ki a globális nukleáris kapacitás megháromszorozását 2050-ig. Ez a mozgalom része annak a szélesebb nemzetközi törekvésnek, amely a nukleáris energia gyorsabb elterjesztését szorgalmazza a tiszta energiára való átmenet kulcselemeként. Az Egyesült Államok szintén bemutatta tervét 200 GW nukleáris kapacitás 2050-ig történő telepítésére, ezzel is megerősítve elkötelezettségét a nukleáris energia mellett a klíma- és energiakihívások kezelésében [world-nuclear-news.org].

Ipari és Technológiai Fejlemények

• Az American Bureau of Shipping jelentést tett közzé az előrehaladott nukleáris technológia tengeri alkalmazásának lehetőségeiről, különös tekintettel a kis moduláris reaktorokra LNG-szállító hajókon.
• Az Egyesült Királyság Nemzeti Energiarendszer-üzemeltetője hangsúlyozta a nukleáris energia fontosságát a 2030-ra megvalósítandó tiszta energiatermelési rendszer elérésében, beleértve a meglévő erőművek élettartam-hosszabbítását és új reaktorok építését [world-nuclear-news.org].

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Források: - world-nuclear-news.org - iaea.org - ans.org

@ b1ddb4d7:471244e7

This article was originally published on dev.to by satshacker.

Alright, you’ve built a useful and beautiful website, tool or app. However, monetization isn’t a priority and you’d rather keep the project free, ads-free and accessible?

Accepting donations would be an option, but how? A PayPal button? Stripe? Buymeacoffe? Patreon?

All of these services require a bank account and KYC verification, before you can send and receive donations – not very convenient.

If we only could send value over the internet, with just one click and without the need of a bank account…

Oh, hold on, that’s bitcoin. The decentralized protocol to send value across the globe. Money over TCP/IP.

In this article, we’ll learn how anyone can easily add a payment button or donation widget on a website or app.

Let’s get into it.

Introduction

Bitcoin is digital money that you can send and receive without the need for banks. While bitcoin is extremely secure, it’s not very fast. The maximum transactions per second (TPS) the network can handle is about 7. Obviously that’s not useful for daily payments or microtransactions.

If you’d like to dig deeper into how bitcoin works, a great read is “Mastering Bitcoin” by Andreas Antonopoulos.

Bitcoin vs Lightning

If you’d like to receive bitcoin donations “on-chain” all you need is a bitcoin wallet. You simply display your bitcoin address on your site and that’s it. You can receive donations.

It would look something like this; 1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa

Instead of showing the actual bitcoin address, you can also turn it into a QR code.

However, this is not a recommended solution. Using static on-chain addresses has two major downsides. It lowers privacy for you and your donnors and it’s a UTXO disaster because many small incoming transactions could beocme hard to consolidate in the future.

For donations and small transactions, the Lightning Network is the better option. Lightning allows for instant settlement with fees only a fraction of a cent.

Similar to bitcoin, you have the choice between non-custodial and custodial wallets. This means, either you have full control over your money or the wallet provider has.

Option 1: Lightning Address

With the lightning address feature, you an easily receive donations to an email like address.

It looks like this: yourname@wallet.com

Many wallets support lightning addresses and make it easy to create one. Then, you simple add the address to your donation page and you’re ready to receive tips.

You can also add a link link as in lightning:yourname@wallet.com and compatible lightning wallets and browser wallets will detect the address.

How to get a Lightning Address Fast

Option 2: Lightning Donation Widgets

If you like to take it a step further, you can also create a more enhanced donation checkout flow. Of course you could programm something yourself, there are many open source libraries you can build upon. If you want a simple plug-and-play solution, here are a couple of options:

Name

Type

Registration

SatSale

Self-hosted

No KYC

BTCPay Server

Self-hosted

No KYC

Pay With Flash

Widget

Email

Geyser Fund

Widget

Email

The Giving Block

Hosted

KYC

OpenNode

Hosted

KYC

---

SatSale (GitHub)

Lightweight, self-hosted Bitcoin/Lightning payment processor. No KYC.

Ideal for developers comfortable with server management. Simple to deploy, supports both on-chain and Lightning, and integrates with WooCommerce.

---

BTCPay Server

Powerful, open-source, self-hosted processor for Bitcoin and Lightning. No KYC.

Supports multiple currencies, advanced features, and full privacy. Requires technical setup and maintenance. Funds go directly to your wallet; great for those seeking full control.

---

Pay With Flash

Easiest for indie hackers. Add a donation widget with minimal code and no KYC. Payments go directly to your wallet for a 1.5% fee.

Setup Steps:

1. Sign up at PayWithFlash.com
2. Customize your widget in the dashboard
3. Embed the code:

1. Test to confirm functionality

Benefits:

• Minimal technical skills required
• Supports one-time or recurring donations
• Direct fund transfer, no intermediaries

---

Geyser Fund

Crowdfunding platform. Widget-based, connects to your wallet, email registration.Focused on Bitcoin crowdfunding, memberships and donations.

---

The Giving Block

Hosted, KYC required. Integrates with fiat and crypto, best for nonprofits or larger organizations.

---

OpenNode

Hosted, KYC required. Accept Bitcoin payments and donations; supports conversion to fiat, suitable for businesses and nonprofits.

---

Summary

• Fast, low-code setup: Use Pay With Flash or Geyser Fund.
• Privacy and control: Choose SatSale or BTCPay Server (requires technical skills).
• Managed, compliant solutions: The Giving Block or OpenNode.

Choose based on your technical comfort, privacy needs, and project scale.

I hope this article helped you. If you added bitcoin donations, share your link in the comments and I will send you a few satoshis maybe

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

Treasury Secretary Bessent foresees a promising future for stablecoins pegged to the US dollar.

During a US Senate hearing held on June 11, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed that the market for US dollar-backed stablecoins has the potential to surpass the $2 trillion mark within the next three years.

“I believe that stablecoin legislation backed by U.S. treasuries or T-bills will create a market that will expand U.S. dollar usage via these stablecoins all around the world,” the government official stated.

Bessent reiterated the administration’s commitment to strengthening the dollar’s status through USD-denominated stablecoins.

GENIUS Act gains ground

The legislative process received a boost after the Senate voted to advance the stablecoin bill, moving it closer to a final vote. The GENIUS Act, once approved, will establish strict requirements for the stable digital currency sector.

The bill mandates that stablecoins must be fully backed by US dollars or assets with equivalent liquidity (Treasuries). It also requires annual audits for issuers with a market capitalization exceeding $50 billion and includes specific provisions regarding the issuance of these cryptocurrencies abroad.

Stablecoins and the financial system

The stablecoin sector is drawing increasing interest from banking institutions. Bank of America is preparing to launch its own stablecoin, while Circle — issuer of USDC — went public this month, with shares surging 235% on its first trading day.

Currently, US dollar-pegged stablecoins account for over 96% of the entire stable digital currency market.

The post Stablecoins: market could reach $2 trillion by 2028, says Bessent appeared first on Atlas21.

@ 9ca447d2:fbf5a36d

The Blockchain Group, Europe’s first publicly listed bitcoin treasury company, has received the green light from its shareholders to raise more than €10 billion (approximately $11 billion) to buy more bitcoin.

This is one of the biggest bitcoin treasury plays in Europe as the company wants to speed up its bitcoin accumulation and become a major institutional buyer.

At the Annual General Meeting held on June 10, 39% of the voting rights represented by shareholders voted in favor of the financing plan, with over 95% of the votes cast in favor.

The approval gives the board of directors broad financial powers to issue shares and other securities to raise capital, either with or without preferential subscription rights.

This will allow the company to raise funds quickly in public or private markets to buy bitcoin when the time is right.

CEO Jean-Philippe Casadepax-Soulet said:

“I would like to thank our shareholders for the trust they have placed in us with the approval of these new financial authorizations, that will enable us to accelerate our Bitcoin Treasury strategy, focused on increasing the number of bitcoins per share on a fully diluted basis over time.”

The Blockchain Group’s strategy is to increase the number of bitcoin per share. This means that the company aims to buy more bitcoin without diluting existing shareholders’ ownership, and provide exposure to a growing hard-asset reserve within the company’s equity.

According to Bitcoin Treasuries, the company already holds 1,471 BTC, worth around €160 million.

Earlier this month, it added 624 BTC, worth around €69 million, to its treasury. These are just the beginning of a much bigger accumulation effort funded by the recent shareholder-approved capital increase.

Alongside ordinary shares, the financial powers granted to the board include the ability to issue preferred shares, warrants and convertible bonds. This gives the company the tools to optimize funding costs and respond to market demand.

This is on top of the €300 million at-the-market (ATM) facility announced earlier with asset manager TOBAM, where the company can issue new shares at market price. TOBAM is the sole subscriber under this ATM and can buy up to 39% of the company if the facility is fully used.

In addition to the capital raise, shareholders elected Alexandre Laizet as a board member and appointed him Deputy CEO in charge of the Bitcoin strategy. Laizet’s 6-year term will end in 2030, which shows the long-term vision for digital assets.

The appointment highlights the importance of bitcoin within the company’s overall structure which also includes subsidiaries in data intelligence, AI consulting and decentralized technology.

@ 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

@ 87f5ac31:60daf34c

수정 test

@ 9ca447d2:fbf5a36d

Paris, France – June 6, 2025 — Bitcoin payment gateway startup Flash, just announced a new partnership with the “Bitcoin Only Brewery”, marking the first-ever beverage company to leverage Lightning payments.

Flash enables Bitcoin Only Brewery to offer its “BOB” beer with, no-KYC (Know Your Customer) delivery across Europe, priced at 19,500 sats (~$18) for the 4-pack, shipping included.

The cans feature colorful Bitcoin artwork while the contents promise a hazy pale ale: “Each 33cl can contains a smooth, creamy mouthfeel, hazy appearance and refreshing Pale Ale at 5% ABV,” reads the product description.

Pierre Corbin, Co-Founder of Flash, commented:

“Currently, bitcoin is used more as a store of value but usage for payments is picking up. Thanks to new innovation on Lightning, bitcoin is ready to go mainstream for e-commerce sales.”

Flash, launched its 2.0 version in March 2025 with the goal to provide the easiest bitcoin payment gateway for businesses worldwide. The platform is non-custodial and can enable both digital and physical shops to accept bitcoin by connecting their own wallets to Flash.

By leveraging the scalability of the Lightning Network, Flash ensures instant, low-cost transactions, addressing on-chain Bitcoin bottlenecks like high fees and long wait times.

For businesses interested in adopting Bitcoin payments, Flash offers a straightforward onboarding process, low fees, and robust support for both digital and physical goods. To learn more, visit paywithflash.com.

Media Contact:
Pierre Corbin
Co-Founder, Flash
Email: press@paywithflash.com
Website: paywithflash.com

About Flash

Flash is the easiest Bitcoin payment gateway for businesses to accept payments. Supporting both digital and physical enterprises, Flash leverages the Lightning Network to enable fast, low-cost Bitcoin transactions. Launched in its 2.0 version in March 2025, Flash is at the forefront of driving Bitcoin adoption in e-commerce.

About Bitcoin Only Brewery

Bitcoin Only Brewery (@Drink_B0B) is a pioneering beverage company dedicated to the Bitcoin ethos, offering high-quality beers payable exclusively in Bitcoin. With a commitment to personal privacy, the brewery delivers across Europe with no-KYC requirements.

@ 8bad92c3:ca714aa5

Marty's Bent

via me

I had a completely different newsletter partially written earlier tonight about whether or not "this cycle is different" when this nagging thought entered my head. So I'm going to write about this and maybe I'll write about the dynamics of this cycle compared to past cycles tomorrow.

A couple of headlines shot across my desk earlier tonight in relation to the potential escalation of kinetic warfare in the Middle East. Apparently the U.S. Embassy in Iraq was sent a warning and evacuation procedures were initiated. Not too long after, the world was made aware that the United States and Israel are contemplating an attack on Iran due to the "fact" that Iran may be close to producing nuclear weapins. The initial monkey brain reaction that I had to these two headlines was, "Oh shit, here we go again. We're going to do something stupid." My second reaction was, "Oh shit, here we go again, I've seen these two exact headlines many times over the years and they've proven to be lackluster if you're a doomer or blood thirsty war monger." Nothing ever happens.

As I venture into my mid-30s and reflect on a life filled with these types of headlines and my personal reactions to these headlines, I'm finally becoming attuned to the fact that the monkey brain reactions aren't very productive at the end of the day. Who knows exactly what's going to happen in Iraq or Iran and whether or not kinetic warfare escalates and materializes from here? Even though I'm a "blue-blooded taxpaying American citizen" who is passively and unwillingly contributing to the war machine and the media industrial complex, there's really nothing I can do about it.

The only thing I can do is focus on what is in front of me. What I have control of. And attempt to leverage what I have control of to make my life and the life of my family as good as humanly possible. Ignoring the external and turning inward often produces incredible results. Instead of worrying about what the media wants you to believe at any given point in time, you simply look away from your computer screen, survey the physical space which you're operating in and determine what you have, what you need and how you can get what you need. This is a much more productive way to spend your time.

This is what I want to touch on right now. There's never been a better time in human history to be productive despite what the algorithm on X or the mainstream media will lead you to believe. Things aren't as great as they could be, but they're also not as bad as you're being led to believe. We live in the Digital Age and the Digital Age provides incredible resources that you can leverage to make YOUR life better.

Social media allows you to create a platform without spending any money. AI allows you to build tools that are beneficial to yourself and others with very little money. And bitcoin exists to provide you with the best form of money that you can save in with the knowledge that your relative ownership of the overall supply isn't going to change. No matter what happens in the external world.

If you can combine these three things to make your life better and - by extension - potentially make the lives of many others better, you're going to be well off in the long run. Combining these three things isn't going to result in immediate gratification, but if you put forth a concerted effort, spend the time, have some semblance of patience, and stick with it, I truly believe that you will benefit massively in the long run. Without trying to sound like a blowhard, I truly believe that this is why I feel relatively calm (despite my monkey brain reactions to the headlines of the day) at this current point in time.

We've entered the era of insane leaps in productivity and digital hard money that cannot be corrupted. The biggest mistake you can make in your life right now is overlooking the confluence of these two things. With an internet connection, an idea, some savvy, and hard work you can materially change your life. Create something that levels up your knowledge, that enables you to get a good job in the real world, or to create a company of your own. Bring your talents to the market, exchange them for money, and then funnel that money into bitcoin (if you're not being paid in it already). We may be at the beginning of a transition from the high velocity trash economy to the high leverage agency economy run on sound money and applied creativity.

These concepts are what you should be focusing most of your time and attention to today and in the years ahead. Don't get distracted by the algorithm, the 30-second video clips, the headlines filled with doom, and the topics of the 24 hour news cycle. I'll admit, I often succumb to them myself. But, as I get older and develop a form of pattern recognition that can only be attained by being on this planet for a certain period of time, it is becoming very clear that those things are not worth your attention.

Living by the heuristic that "nothing ever happens" is a pretty safe bet. Funnily enough, it's incredibly ironic that you're led to believe that something is happening every single day, and yet nothing ever happens. By getting believing that something happens every day you are taking your attention away from doing things that happen to make your life better.

Tune out the noise. Put on the blinders. Take advantage of the incredible opportunities that lie before you. If enough of you - and many others who do not read this newsletter - do this, I truly believe we'll wake up to find that the world we live in is a much better place.

Nothing ever happens, so make something happen.

Intelligence Officials Are Quietly Becoming Bitcoin Believers

Ken Egan, former CIA Deputy Chief of Cyber Operations, revealed a surprising truth on TFTC: the intelligence community harbors numerous Bitcoin advocates. Egan explained that intelligence professionals uniquely understand how governments weaponize financial systems through sanctions and account freezing. Having wielded these tools themselves, they recognize the need for personal financial sovereignty. He shared compelling anecdotes of discovering colleagues with "We are all Satoshi" stickers and a European chief of station paying for dinner with a BlockFi card to earn Bitcoin rewards.

"I think there are a lot of Bitcoiners, not just at CIA, but across the whole national security establishment... they're in it for the exact same reasons everybody else is." - Ken Egan

The Canadian trucker protests served as a pivotal moment, Egan noted. Watching Western governments freeze citizens' bank accounts for political dissent struck a nerve among intelligence professionals who previously viewed financial weaponization as a tool reserved for foreign adversaries. This awakening has created unlikely allies within institutions many Bitcoiners distrust.

Check out the full podcast here for more on Bitcoin's national security implications, privacy tech prosecutions, and legislative priorities.

---

Headlines of the Day

Stripe Buys Crypto Wallet Privy After Bridge Deal - via X

Trump Calls CPI Data "Great" Urges Full Point Fed Cut - via X

Bitcoin Hashrate Reaches New All-Time High - via X

Get our new STACK SATS hat - via tftcmerch.io

---

Bitcoin’s Next Parabolic Move: Could Liquidity Lead the Way?

Is bitcoin’s next parabolic move starting? Global liquidity and business cycle indicators suggest it may be.

Read the latest report from Unchained and TechDev, analyzing how global M2 liquidity and the copper/gold ratio—two historically reliable macro indicators—are aligning once again to signal that a new bitcoin bull market may soon begin.

Download the report here

---

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

---

Final thought...

Life is good.

---

Download our free browser extension, Opportunity Cost: https://www.opportunitycost.app/ start thinking in SATS today.

Get this newsletter sent to your inbox daily: https://www.tftc.io/bitcoin-brief/

Subscribe to our YouTube channels and follow us on Nostr and X:

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@ 73d8a0c3:c1853717

🧬 REDACTED SCIENCE: THE AUTHOR — A SHADOW IN THE MARGINS

📜 Excerpt from my book-in-progress. This is nonfiction. Redacted. Possibly buried science. Possibly military. Almost definitely real. I’m living it. And it might change how we think about disease, dehydration, and survival itself.

👇 Full post below 👇

---

📄 The Author: A Shadow in the Margins

What follows is an excerpt from my book: Redacted Science. This is nonfiction. Redacted. And, I believe, novel science — the kind that slipped through the cracks because it wasn’t supposed to be seen. The kind that, if true (and I’m living proof it might be), changes how we think about adaptation, disease, and control, all while hinting at evolutionary processes.

The person who wrote the article — the one at the center of this entire mystery — didn’t just document a medical condition. They didn’t write like a detached observer. They wrote like someone who had seen it, worked with it, maybe even helped design it.

This wasn’t a paper. It was a record.
A flare fired backwards through time.

🧠 What They Knew

• Electrolyte manipulation under pressure gradients
• Bone demineralization and molecular substitution
• Methyl group cycling
• Autonomic dysregulation
• Increased survivability under dehydration
• Accelerated burn recovery
• Abnormal pain tolerance
• Enhanced cognition and endurance in early stages
• …eventual collapse into parasympathetic failure, bone loss, immune misfire, and systemic decay

No generalist writes like this.
No academic from 1975 casually throws around methylation chemistry and calcium channel modulators (“these show promise” — yeah, I remembered that line. I figured it might save my life).

🧪 Proof in My Blood — Or Lack Thereof
I’ve lived the proof they described.

👁️ Who They Were

They were part of a program.
A researcher. Maybe a clinician. Possibly embedded in a classified military or survival physiology initiative.

🔍 The Quiet Warning

That mention of the ICD code shift?
It was like someone watching history be rewritten — shifting this condition under something it isn’t. Sleight-of-hand.
They couldn’t have known about the AIRE gene — and I don’t have it.

“We erased it from the books. But it was real. Look again. Find it if you can.”

And here I am.
Picking it up.
Line by line.
Molecule by molecule.

🏃 The 15K That Almost Killed Me

Twelve years ago: I ran the Tulsa Run, didn’t hydrate. Felt fine — until the vomiting hit. Bloodwork? Normal.
Smart doc took one look and hooked up fluids.

That wasn’t dehydration.
That was a system built to survive without water — until it couldn’t.

🕰️ When and Why

Photos: early 20th century.
The article? 1975–1985.
Someone who knew too much. Someone preserving knowledge — as it was being erased.

“It’s gone now. But it was here. And you need to look again.”

That’s not footnote energy.
That’s whistleblower energy.

---

🧠 Everything is open. All science is free. More is coming.

Read more at https://jimcraddock.substack.com or https://jimcraddock.com]

@ b9d5de4b:26c0a1b8

Hello, legitmately asking for a friend...does anyone know of a way to recover a bip38 address created on bitaddress? they claim to have both keys just dont know the passphase.

https://stacker.news/items/1005953

@ edeb837b:ac664163

On June 10th, 2025, four members of the NVSTly team traveled to New York City to attend the 2025 American Business Awards® ceremony, held at the iconic Marriott Marquis in Times Square. It was an unforgettable night as we accepted the Gold Stevie® Award for Tech Startup of the Year—this time, in person.

Meow (left), rich (center), MartyOooit (right)

Representing NVSTly at the event were:

• Rich, CEO & Founder
• Meow, CTO, Lead Developer, & Co-Founder
• MartyOooit, Investor
• Noob, Market Analyst (not shown in photos)

MartyOooit (left), rich (center), Meow (right)

While we shared the exciting news back in April when the winners were announced, being there in person alongside other winners—including eBay, AT&T, T-Mobile, HP Inc., and Fidelity Investments—made the achievement feel even more surreal. To be honored alongside billion-dollar industry leaders was a proud and humbling moment for our startup and a huge milestone in NVSTly’s journey.

---

🎤 Team Interview at the Event

During the event, our team was interviewed about the win. When asked:

“What does winning a Stevie Award mean for your organization?”
“How will winning a Stevie Award help your organization?”

Here’s what we had to say:
📺 Watch the video

---

A Big Win for Retail Traders

NVSTly was awarded Gold for Tech Startup of the Year in recognition of our work building a powerful, free social investing platform that empowers retail traders with transparency, analytics, and community-driven tools.

Unlike traditional finance platforms, NVSTly gives users the ability to:

• Share and track trades in real time
• Follow and receive alerts from top traders
• Compete on global leaderboards
• Access deep stats like win rate, average return, and more

Whether you're a beginner or experienced trader, NVSTly gives you the insights and tools typically reserved for hedge funds—but in a free, social format built for the modern investor.

---

Continued Recognition and Momentum

This award adds to a growing list of recognition for NVSTly:

• 🏆 People’s Choice Winner at the 2024 Benzinga Fintech Awards
• 🔁 Nominated again for Best Social Investing Product in the 2025 Benzinga Fintech Awards
• 🌟 Team members JustCoreGames and Lunaster are nominated for Employee of the Year (Information Technology – Social Media) in the 2025 Stevie® Awards for Technology Excellence

We’re beyond proud of what our small but mighty team has accomplished—and we’re just getting started. 🚀

---

Thanks to the Stevie Awards for an incredible night in New York, and to our community of 50,000+ traders who’ve helped shape NVSTly into what it is today.
This win is yours, too.

Stay tuned—more big things are coming.

— Team NVSTly

---

The event brought together some of the most respected names in tech, finance, and business.

@ 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.

---

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/

---

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

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

OMAD is great! Outside the very short window eating window, I have almost no desire to eat or drink.

I also took a nap today and a cold shower. I just needed to be more active.

How did you all do today? Are you making progress towards your ~HealthAndFitness goals?

https://stacker.news/items/1005945

@ f40a134b:60fb788b

{"url":"https://convy.click","title":"Convy","description":"","submittedAt":1749849014}

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

French authorities are intensifying their fight against kidnappings related to the digital asset sector with a new series of arrests.

French law enforcement has made further arrests in an investigation concerning a kidnapping case connected to the cryptocurrency world. According to the public broadcaster France 24, on June 11 several individuals suspected of involvement in the abduction of the father of a crypto entrepreneur were detained.

The case that drew international attention involves the father of an anonymous crypto entrepreneur, who was held captive for several days on an isolated property. The criminals, in their ransom demands, went as far as to cut off one of the victim’s fingers as a form of psychological pressure, demanding up to €7 million (about $8 million) for his release.

The rescue operation, carried out on May 3 by French special forces, led to the victim’s liberation and the arrest of five people on site. However, investigations uncovered a wider criminal network, resulting in new arrests, the exact number of which has not yet been disclosed by authorities.

French authorities did not limit their actions to national territory. On June 4, a man suspected to be a key figure behind the series of crypto kidnappings in France was arrested in Morocco.

The escalation of crypto kidnappings in 2025

Data shows an increase in crypto-related kidnappings in France and worldwide. The phenomenon has grown to such proportions that French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau convened an emergency meeting to address the issue.

Among the most notable cases of 2025 is the attempted daytime kidnapping of Pierre Noizat’s daughter and grandson. Noizat is the co-founder and CEO of the French exchange Paymium; the incident took place on May 13.

According to data from Jameson Lopp, co-founder of Casa, at least 29 personal attacks against cryptocurrency holders have been recorded in 2025 alone. If this trend continues, the annual total could surpass the 35 cases reported in 2024 and the 24 cases in 2023.

The post France: new arrests linked to crypto kidnappings appeared first on Atlas21.

@ 9ca447d2:fbf5a36d

In a move that diverges from many other U.S. states, Connecticut has passed a new law that bars state and local governments from investing in bitcoin or any other digital currency.

The bill, HB7082, passed unanimously in both the House and Senate with zero opposing votes.

The law, officially titled “An Act Concerning the Regulation of Virtual Currency and State Investments,” was signed into law recently and is causing a stir in the Bitcoin and financial communities.

HB7082 prohibits the state of Connecticut and its political subdivisions from accepting, holding or investing in digital currencies. This includes bitcoin, ethereum and other digital assets. It also bars the state from creating a bitcoin reserve, a concept being explored by other states.

The law goes further by imposing strict rules on digital asset businesses operating in the state. These rules enforce anti-money laundering (AML) compliance and parental consent verification for digital asset users under 18.

It also requires 1:1 reserve requirements for bitcoin custodians.

Businesses that handle Bitcoin transactions must now provide users with clear information about risks and fees and provide receipts with full transaction details.

No business can let a minor use a money-sharing app without first getting proof of consent from a parent or guardian.

Lawmakers in Connecticut say it’s about protecting public funds and minimizing financial risk. They say Connecticut’s new law bars state investments in bitcoin to protect its financial assets from market risk.

Supporters argue that the high volatility of bitcoin makes it a risky investment for public money like pension funds and state reserves.

The law also looks to bring bitcoin businesses under tighter control, to make them follow the same rules as the traditional financial system.

While Connecticut is cracking down on digital assets, other states are going the other way.

States like Texas, New Hampshire and Arizona have already passed laws or proposed bills to create a bitcoin reserve, which allows public funds to be invested in bitcoin.

Texas has even described bitcoin as a “forward-thinking investment opportunity” and a long-term store of value.

The new law has caused mixed reactions in the financial world. Some think it’s too cautious, others think it’s part of a bigger plan.

Matt Hougan, CIO of Bitwise, responded with sarcasm, “The hedge fund managers got so upset they couldn’t beat Bitcoin…”

Matt Hougan on X

Some states like Florida, South Dakota and Oklahoma have either killed or vetoed Bitcoin bills this year. Others like Louisiana are still exploring the tech. Louisiana just announced it would create a special committee to study AI, blockchain and digital assets.

@ b1ddb4d7:471244e7

The latest AI chips, 8K displays, and neural processing units make your device feel like a pocket supercomputer. So surely, with all this advancement, you can finally mine bitcoin on your phone profitably, right?

The 2025 Hardware Reality: Can You Mine Bitcoin on Your Phone

Despite remarkable advances in smartphone technology, the fundamental physics of bitcoin mining haven’t changed. In 2025, flagship devices with their cutting-edge 2nm processors can achieve approximately 25-40 megahashes per second when you mine bitcoin on your phone—a notable improvement from previous generations, but still laughably inadequate.

Meanwhile, 2025’s top-tier ASIC miners have evolved dramatically. The latest Bitmain Antminer S23 series and Canaan AvalonMiner A15 Pro deliver 200-300 terahashes per second while consuming 4,000-5,500 watts. That’s a performance gap of roughly 1:8,000,000 between when you mine bitcoin on your phone and professional mining equipment.

To put this in perspective that hits home: if you mine bitcoin on your phone and it earned you one penny, professional miners would earn $80,000 in the same time period with the same effort. It’s not just an efficiency problem—it’s a complete category mismatch.

According to Pocket Option’s 2025 analysis, when you mine bitcoin on your phone in 2025, you generate approximately $0.003-0.006 in daily revenue while consuming $0.45-0.85 in electricity through constant charging cycles. Factor in the accelerated device wear (estimated at $0.75-1.20 daily depreciation), and you’re looking at losses of $1.20-2.00 per day just for the privilege of running mining software.

Mining Economic Factor

Precise Value (April 2025)

Direct Impact on Profitability

Smartphone sustained hash rate

20-35 MH/s

0.00000024% contribution to global hashrate

Daily power consumption

3.2-4.8 kWh (4-6 full charges)

$0.38-0.57 at average US electricity rates

Expected daily BTC earnings

0.0000000086 BTC ($0.0035 at $41,200 BTC)

Revenue covers only 0.9% of electricity costs

CPU/GPU wear cost

$0.68-0.92 daily accelerated depreciation

Reduces smartphone lifespan by 60-70%

Annual profit projection

-$386 to -$412 per year

Guaranteed negative return on investment

Source: PocketOption

Bitcoin’s 2025 Network: Harder Than Ever

Bitcoin’s network difficulty in 2025 has reached unprecedented levels. After the April 2024 halving event that reduced block rewards from 6.25 to 3.125 BTC, mining became significantly more competitive. The global hash rate now exceeds 800 exahashes per second—that’s 800 followed by 18 zeros worth of computational power securing the network.

Here’s what this means in practical terms: Bitcoin’s mining difficulty adjusts every 2,016 blocks (roughly every two weeks) to maintain the 10-minute block time. As more efficient miners join the network, difficulty increases proportionally. In 2025, mining difficulty has increased compared to 2024, making small-scale mining even less viable.

The math is unforgiving:

• Global Bitcoin hash rate: 828.96 EH/s
• Your smartphone’s contribution: ~0.000000003%
• Probability of solo mining a block: Virtually zero
• Expected time to mine one Bitcoin: Several million years

Even joining mining pools doesn’t solve the economic problem. Pool fees typically range from 1-3%, and your minuscule contribution would earn proportionally tiny rewards—far below the electricity and device depreciation costs.

The 2025 Scam Evolution: More Sophisticated, More Dangerous

Fraudsters now leverage AI-generated content, fake influencer endorsements, and impressive-looking apps that simulate realistic mining activity to entice you to mine bitcoin on your phone.

New 2025 scam tactics include:

AI-Powered Fake Testimonials: Deepfake videos of supposed successful mobile miners showing fabricated earnings statements and encouraging downloads of malicious apps.

Gamified Mining Interfaces: Apps that look and feel like legitimate games but secretly harvest personal data while simulating mining progress that can never be withdrawn.

Social Media Manipulation: Coordinated campaigns across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube featuring fake “financial influencers” promoting mobile mining apps to younger audiences.

Subscription Trap Mining: Apps offering “free trials” that automatically charge $19.99-49.99 monthly for “premium mining speeds” while delivering no actual mining capability.

Recent cybersecurity research shows that over 180 fake mining apps were discovered across major app stores in 2025, with some accumulating more than 500,000 downloads before being removed.

Red flags that scream “scam” in 2025:

• Apps claiming “revolutionary mobile mining breakthrough”
• Promises of earning “$10-50 daily” from phone mining
• Requirements to recruit friends or watch ads to unlock withdrawals
• Apps that don’t require connecting to actual mining pools
• Testimonials that seem too polished or use stock photo models
• Apps requesting permissions unrelated to mining (contacts, camera, microphone)

The 2025 Professional Mining Landscape

To understand why, consider what professional bitcoin mining looks like in 2025. Industrial mining operations now resemble high-tech data centers with:

Cutting-edge hardware:

• Bitmain Antminer S23 Pro: 280 TH/s at 4,800W
• MicroBT WhatsMiner M56S++: 250 TH/s at 4,500W
• Canaan AvalonMiner A1566: 185 TH/s at 3,420W

Infrastructure requirements:

• Megawatt-scale power contracts with industrial electricity rates
• Liquid cooling systems maintaining 24/7 optimal temperatures
• Redundant internet connections ensuring zero downtime
• Professional facility management with 24/7 monitoring

For a small operation, you might need at least $10,000 to $20,000 to buy a few ASIC miners, set up cooling systems, and cover electricity costs. These operations employ teams of engineers, maintain relationships with power companies, and operate with margins measured in single-digit percentages.

2025’s Legitimate Mobile Bitcoin Strategies

While it remains impossible to mine bitcoin on your phone profitably, 2025 offers exciting legitimate ways to engage with bitcoin through your smartphone:

Lightning Network Participation: Apps like Phoenix, Breez, and Zeus allow you to run Lightning nodes on mobile devices, earning small routing fees while supporting bitcoin’s payment layer.

Bitcoin DCA Automation: Services enable automated dollar-cost averaging with amounts as small as $1 daily. Historical data shows $10 weekly bitcoin purchases consistently outperform any mobile mining attempt by 1,500-2,000%.

Educational Mining Simulators: Legitimate apps like “Bitcoin Mining Simulator” teach mining concepts without false earning promises. These educational tools help users understand hash rates, difficulty adjustments, and mining economics.

Stacking Sats Rewards: Apps offering bitcoin rewards for shopping, learning, or completing tasks.

Lightning Gaming: Bitcoin-native mobile games where players can earn sats through skilled gameplay, with some players earning $10 monthly.onfirm that even the most optimized mobile mining setups in 2025 lose money consistently and predictably.

The Bottom Line

When you mine bitcoin on your phone fundamental economics remain unchanged: it’s impossible to profit. The laws of physics, network competition, and energy efficiency create insurmountable barriers that no app can overcome.

However, 2025 offers unprecedented opportunities to engage with bitcoin meaningfully through your smartphone. Focus on education, legitimate earning opportunities, and strategic investment rather than chasing the impossible dream of phone-based mining.

The bitcoin community’s greatest strength lies in its commitment to truth over hype. When someone promises profits to mine bitcoin on your phone in 2025, they’re either uninformed or deliberately misleading you. Trust the mathematics, learn from the community, and build your bitcoin knowledge and holdings through proven methods.

The real opportunity in 2025 isn’t to mine bitcoin on your phone—it’s understanding bitcoin deeply enough to participate confidently in the most important monetary revolution of our lifetime. Your smartphone is the perfect tool for that education; it’s just not a mining rig.

@ a4a6b584:1e05b95b

Prerequisites

```bash

Make sure your package list is fresh

sudo apt update

(Optional but recommended) ffmpeg lets yt-dlp negotiate the best formats

sudo apt install ffmpeg jq ```

---

1 Install yt-dlp system-wide

bash sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp \ -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp && sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp

A single binary is dropped into /usr/local/bin/; version upgrades are as simple as running the same command again in the future.

---

2 Download the auto-generated captions as SRT

Pick any video ID—here we’ll use knAGgxzYqw8 (Chase Hughes on What is Money?).

```bash VIDEO="knAGgxzYqw8" # change this to your target ID

yt-dlp --skip-download \ --write-auto-sub \ --sub-lang en \ --sub-format srt \ -o "${VIDEO}.%(ext)s" \ "https://youtu.be/${VIDEO}"

Result: knAGgxzYqw8.en.srt

```

Flags explained

| Flag | Purpose | | ------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------- | | --skip-download | ignore the actual video, we only want captions | | --write-auto-sub | fall back to YouTube’s auto-generated subtitles | | --sub-lang en | grab English only (adjust if you need another language) | | --sub-format srt | SRT is the simplest to strip; VTT also works | | -o | sets a predictable filename: <id>.en.srt |

---

3 Strip index numbers and timecodes

```bash grep -vE '^[0-9]+$|^[0-9]{2}:' "${VIDEO}.en.srt" \ | sed '/^[[:space:]]*$/d' \

"${VIDEO}.txt" ```

Breakdown

1. grep -vE '^[0-9]+$|^[0-9]{2}:'

2. Removes the line counters (3911) and any line that begins with a timestamp (02:33:40,800 --> …).

3. sed '/^[[:space:]]*$/d'

4. Deletes leftover blank lines.

5. Output is redirected to <ID>.txt—in our example: knAGgxzYqw8.txt.

---

4 (Option-al) Extra polish

Remove bracketed stage cues such as [Music] or [Applause] and collapse back-to-back duplicates:

```bash grep -v '^[.*]$' "${VIDEO}.txt" \ | awk 'prev != $0 {print} {prev=$0}' \

"${VIDEO}_clean.txt" mv "${VIDEO}_clean.txt" "${VIDEO}.txt" ```

---

5 Enjoy your transcript

bash less "${VIDEO}.txt" # page through grep -i "keyword" "${VIDEO}.txt" # quick search

You now have a plain-text file ready for note-taking, quoting, or feeding into your favorite AI summarizer—no browser or third-party web services required.

---

TL;DR (copy-paste cheat sheet)

```bash sudo apt update && sudo apt install ffmpeg jq -y sudo curl -L https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp/releases/latest/download/yt-dlp \ -o /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp && sudo chmod a+rx /usr/local/bin/yt-dlp

VIDEO="knAGgxzYqw8" # video ID yt-dlp --skip-download --write-auto-sub --sub-lang en \ --sub-format srt -o "${VIDEO}.%(ext)s" \ "https://youtu.be/${VIDEO}"

grep -vE '^[0-9]+$|^[0-9]{2}:' "${VIDEO}.en.srt" \ | sed '/^[[:space:]]$/d' \ | grep -v '^[.]$' \ | awk 'prev != $0 {print} {prev=$0}' \

"${VIDEO}.txt"

less "${VIDEO}.txt" ```

Happy transcribing!

Adam Malin

adammalin.com

npub15jnttpymeytm80hatjqcvhhqhzrhx6gxp8pq0wn93rhnu8s9h9dsha32lx

You can view and write comments on this or any other post by using the Satcom browser extention.

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@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

Lightspark introduces a layer 2 for instant payments, stablecoins and interoperability with Lightning.

Spark is an open-source layer 2 protocol developed by Lightspark, designed to offer instant low-cost payments without the need for intermediaries. It allows the creation of wallets and applications that interact directly with the Bitcoin and Lightning networks. The company’s stated goal is to transform Bitcoin into a true global digital currency, solving the scalability limitations of the base layer.

Lightspark, a company led by David Marcus (former PayPal and former Facebook), officially launched Spark in beta version on April 29, 2025. Developers can already use Spark’s SDKs (Wallet and Issuer) to build self-custodial wallets compatible with Lightning and tokens (such as stablecoins) native to the Bitcoin network.

How it works

Spark adopts a statechain-based approach, allowing the transfer of ownership of a UTXO off-chain between different users without using the main blockchain, thus reducing costs and transaction times. Instead of executing an on-chain transaction that physically moves the asset, users acquire signing rights or control over a key that represents a bitcoin UTXO. Transfers occur through a chain of signatures and a mechanism that allows subsequent transactions to overwrite previous ones, ensuring that neither the user nor the service provider (Spark Service Provider, SSP) can lose funds during the operation.

Spark is designed to be fully interoperable with LN, supporting not only bitcoin transactions, but also stablecoins and other tokenized assets. SSPs facilitate Lightning payments by accepting funds on Spark and converting them into Lightning transactions or vice versa, eliminating the need for users to manage nodes or worry about channel liquidity. For example, a user can pay an LN invoice with a stablecoin on Spark, with the SSP converting the stablecoin to BTC in the background and sending the funds to the recipient.

Shared signature model (multisig 2-of-2)

Unlike the LN trust model, which is based on peer-to-peer bidirectional channels with smart contract logic, Spark involves a coordinating entity, the “Spark Service Provider” (SSP). This shifts part of the risk from channel liquidity management to trust in operators who sign off-chain transactions. The SSP’s task is to sign “blindly” (blindly) on behalf of the user, which means the SSP does not see the content of the signature and does not even know if it is signing a Bitcoin transaction or something else.

Bitcoin deposited on Spark always remains under the user’s control. When a user sends funds to Spark, they are initially transferred to a statechain. Once funds are on the statechain, payments on the Spark network occur instantly and at near-zero costs.

At the heart of Spark’s security is the use of a shared signature scheme, specifically a multisig 2-of-2 model. This means that two keys are required to authorize a transaction, and the user always holds one. When users deposit funds on Spark, they send them to a multisig address. Here, they maintain control of their funds and can perform a unilateral exit without the need to interact with other parties.

Each payment is enabled by a Spark Service Provider (SSP), which must co-authorize the transaction together with the user for it to be valid and successful.

Although the network is currently managed only by Lightspark and another operator (Flashnet), users do not risk losing funds even if these operators stopped cooperating. In fact, Spark offers the possibility to unilaterally force the return of bitcoin to the mainnet at any time. Users can exit Spark in two ways: through a cooperative exit (cheaper and faster) or a unilateral exit (slower, but possible in case of malfunction or loss of trust). Lightspark has declared its intention to add more operators in the future to increase decentralization.

Fee structure

Regarding fees, transactions within the Spark network are zero fee. The only fees users will have to bear are Bitcoin’s on-chain fees for depositing or withdrawing funds from Spark. Additionally, transferring bitcoin from Spark to LN involves a 0.25% fee plus routing fees. Conversely, a transaction from LN to Spark costs 0.15%.

The native LRC20 token protocol

Introduced in the summer of 2024, LRC20 is a token issuance protocol designed to be compatible with both Bitcoin’s mainnet and LN. Anyone can issue an LRC20 token. The protocol also supports freeze and burn operations, giving the original issuing wallet the power to freeze tokens at any address, preventing transactions until unlocked. LRC20 is primarily designed for issuing stablecoins and regulated assets.

After thoroughly testing it, the Lightspark team decided to run the LRC20 protocol natively on Spark, to enable token issuance on the network.

Ecosystem and partnerships

The birth of Spark has immediately attracted the interest of other Bitcoin projects. Among the various partnerships established, the multisig wallet Theya has integrated Spark to offer its users simpler and faster bitcoin and stablecoin payments.

Last May, Breez announced a new implementation of the Breez SDK based on Spark, which allows developers to integrate Lightning payments directly into their apps through Spark. As part of this collaboration, Breez will also act as a Spark Service Provider, helping to expand the ecosystem. According to the two companies, this partnership will provide developers with new Bitcoin-native tools for use cases such as streaming payments, international remittances and micro-payments for AI.

The post Spark: the layer 2 launched by Lightspark appeared first on Atlas21.

@ f40a134b:60fb788b

{"url":"https://test.com","title":"test.com","description":"","submittedAt":1749848822}

@ 8173f6e1:e488ac0f

{"voteEventId":"083ae248828a454a7d01b7de12f99ce90297672e0457ec8147bd7cfabd14f044","txHash":"752d3894c5657758d7b9754da3dc38db61662acb5f94c3dcb38077fc33f1bd7e","amount":"1000000000000000000","fee":"1000000000000000000","type":"token-gated-vote-proof"}

@ 9ca447d2:fbf5a36d

When Richard Scotford moved to Costa Rica in 2018, he had no idea he would become a key figure in a thriving Bitcoin economy.

A longtime Bitcoin holder who initially saw it through the lens of speculation, Scotford’s journey led him to embrace Bitcoin’s deeper purpose and spearhead Bitcoin Jungle — a grassroots movement bringing real-world Bitcoin adoption to Costa Rica.

Bitcoin circular economies create holistic value for Bitcoiners

Bitcoin Jungle is inspired by Bitcoin Beach in El Salvador but uniquely adapted to Costa Rica’s economic landscape. Unlike El Salvador, where Bitcoin was positioned as a tool for financial inclusion, Costa Rica already has a fairly stable banking system.

The real issue? The friction of moving money. Expats, business owners, and tourists struggle with high fees, banking red tape, and slow transactions. Bitcoin helped solve a lot of these problems.

The Birth of Bitcoin Jungle

Scotford and his team launched Bitcoin Jungle in late 2021 with a simple goal: get bitcoin into people’s hands and make it usable. However, there was one challenge — he had no technical background.

Determined to create a circular bitcoin economy, Scotford networked aggressively. He attended the first Adopting Bitcoin conference in El Salvador, approaching strangers with his vision:

“I was just walking around trying to find people who could help me make this economy, going up to random people saying ‘Hey, what can you do? We’re trying to make a circular economy in Costa Rica, can you help us?’ They all thought I was crazy.”

The breakthrough came when he turned to Bitcoin Twitter. Nicolas Burtey from Galoy encouraged him to create a wallet, and developer Lee Salminen forked the Bitcoin Beach wallet for their project. 

“Within two weeks of Adopting Bitcoin, Lee forked the Galoy Bitcoin Beach wallet, which took Galoy by surprise. Even though they made their wallet to be forked if necessary, I don’t think they were expecting people to do it so fast and, I’d like to say, so well. They were like, ‘Okay, cool, who are these guys doing this?’”

Finally Bitcoin Jungle had its own working wallet, surprising even the Galoy team with the speed of execution.

Grassroots Adoption: One Vendor at a Time

How do you build a bitcoin economy from scratch? Scotford’s answer was simple: start at the farmers’ markets.

“We were like, okay, we’re going to get all the bespoke niche market sellers who are in this area. We have all these beautiful farmers markets, and we decided to approach these people first,” Scotford explained.

His team took a strategic approach, targeting market gatekeepers first.

“If you want to talk to every individual person, it’s really difficult. But if you can talk to the person who is the owner of the market, and then they can introduce you to their market stores, you’re already halfway there.”

Going stall by stall, they pitched Bitcoin’s advantages — no bank fees and better payment options. But adoption didn’t happen overnight, so Bitcoin Jungle initially offered a safety net — vendors could cash out at the end of the day.

“We would say to the vendors, ‘Look, accept bitcoin, and at the end of the day, if you don’t want to keep the bitcoin, we’ll buy it off you,’” Scotford recalled.

“When we first started, maybe 30–40% of the vendors were cashing up every day or at the weekends. Lee would be walking around with big fistfuls of money, cashing out vendors.”

But over time, something shifted — they started keeping their bitcoin.

“Eventually, the vendors started to learn themselves that, ‘Oh, actually it’s better to keep it.’ They would then pay for their tables in the markets using bitcoin. They thought, ‘Well, I don’t want to keep this bitcoin, I don’t really know what to do with it, but I can pay for my table.’ So there, the circular economy starts to happen.”

Today, Bitcoin Jungle runs with minimal intervention, and Scotford takes pride in their reliability.

“When you come here to Costa Rica, what we really pride ourselves on is that if someone says they accept bitcoin, 99% of the time, they will. And if they’re part of Bitcoin Jungle, they will 100% accept bitcoin and you will have a fluid experience with it.”

By mid-summer 2024 over 380 locations in Costa Rica accepted bitcoin

The Bitcoin Jungle Wallet and Real Usage

Bitcoin Jungle is an open-source community project built on the Bitcoin Lightning Network.

Acting as a community bank, the project processes a large number of transactions daily. To encourage proper security practices, Scotford’s team alerts their peers, reminding users to move their bitcoin to cold storage.

“If you’ve got too much bitcoin on your wallet, we send you a message telling you to move it to cold storage,” he explained. For larger businesses, they even offer hands-on assistance to secure funds properly.

Unlike the HODL-only philosophy that many Bitcoiners advocate, Bitcoin Jungle encourages spending.

“Michael Saylor says don’t spend your bitcoin. We say the opposite,” Scotford laughed. “We’re the antithesis of that. You need to spend it.”

Bitcoin Jungle’s Unique Approach to Costa Rica

Bitcoin Jungle isn’t just another Bitcoin adoption effort; it’s tailored to Costa Rica’s economy. The wallet operates in Costa Rican colónes, making transactions feel familiar to residents while ensuring tourists and expats can still interact easily.

The team has also introduced low-fee bitcoin ATMs, point-of-sale integrations, and partnerships that allow users to pay in bitcoin while the recipient receives local currency.

A major breakthrough came when Francis Pouliot from Bull Bitcoin joined forces with Bitcoin Jungle, bringing his expertise in banking infrastructure to the project.

This collaboration enabled seamless bitcoin payments that integrate directly with Costa Rica’s financial system, allowing users to pay anyone, even businesses that don’t directly accept bitcoin, while the recipient receives funds in colónes or dollars.

“I can go to a hardware store, order steel for my new basketball court, pay in bitcoin, and the store gets dollars,” Scotford said. “For a non-tech guy like me, it’s magical.”

Why Aren’t There More Bitcoin Jungles?

Scotford sees an opportunity for more localized bitcoin economies.

“There should be a Bitcoin Harbor, a Bitcoin Mountain, a Bitcoin Driveway,” he joked. “But instead of waiting for permission or corporate funding, people need to take action themselves.”

He emphasizes that building a circular bitcoin economy doesn’t require deep pockets. “I probably gave away $600 worth of bitcoin when we started — just $3 here, $4 there — to get people using it.”

The Future of Bitcoin Jungle

Bitcoin Jungle continues to grow, recently hosting events like the Bitcoin Freedom Festival and integrating bitcoin into community projects, including a school where tuition can be paid in bitcoin.

“The institutions have come in, but the grassroots projects haven’t caught up,” Scotford observed. “It’s time for people to stop sitting on their hands and start building.”

Bitcoin is permissionless, no one has to wait for approval to start using it. Bitcoin Jungle proves that with vision and persistence, anyone can build a thriving Bitcoin economy, one market stall at a time.

Get the latest from Bitcoin Jungle: follow them on X

@ c631e267:c2b78d3e

Ich dachte immer, jeder Mensch sei gegen den Krieg, \ bis ich herausfand, dass es welche gibt, \ die nicht hingehen müssen. \ Erich Maria Remarque

Was sollte man von einem Freitag, den 13., schon anderes erwarten?, ist man versucht zu sagen. Jedoch braucht niemand abergläubisch zu sein, um den heutigen Tag als unheilvoll anzusehen. Der israelische «Präventivschlag» von heute Nacht gegen militärische und nukleare Ziele im Iran könnte allem Anschein nach zu einem längeren bewaffneten Konflikt führen – und damit unweigerlich zu weiteren Opfern.

«Wir befinden uns im Krieg», soll ein ranghoher israelischer Militärvertreter gesagt haben, und der Iran wertet den israelischen Angriff laut seinem Außenminister als Kriegserklärung. Na also. Der Iran hat Vergeltungsschläge angekündigt und antwortete zunächst mit Drohnen. Inzwischen ist eine zweite israelische Angriffswelle angelaufen. Ob wir wohl künftig in den Mainstream-Medien durchgängig von einem «israelischen Angriffskrieg auf den Iran» hören und lesen werden?

Dass die zunehmenden Spannungen um das iranische Atomprogramm zu einer akuten Eskalation im Nahen Osten führen könnten, hatte Transition News gestern berichtet. Laut US-Beamten sei Israel «voll bereit», den Iran in den nächsten Tagen anzugreifen, hieß es in dem Beitrag. Heute ist das bereits bittere Realität.

Der Nahe Osten steht übrigens auch auf der Themenliste des diesjährigen Bilderberg-Treffens, das zurzeit in Stockholm stattfindet. Viele Inhalte werden wir allerdings mal wieder nicht erfahren, denn wie immer hocken die «erlauchten» Persönlichkeiten aus Europa und den USA «informell» und unter größter Geheimhaltung zusammen, um über «Weltpolitik» zu diskutieren. Auf der Teinehmerliste stehen auch einige Vertreter aus der Schweiz und aus Deutschland.

Die Anwesenheit sowohl des aktuellen als auch des vorigen Generalsekretärs der NATO lässt vermuten, dass man bei dem Meeting weniger über das Thema «Neutralität» sprechen dürfte. Angesichts des Zustands unseres Planeten ist das schade, denn der Ökonom Jeffrey Sachs hob kürzlich in einem Interview die Rolle der Neutralität in geopolitischen Krisen hervor. Mit Blick auf die Schweiz betonte er, der zunehmende Druck zur NATO-Annäherung widerspreche nicht nur der Bundesverfassung, sondern auch dem historischen Erbe des Landes.

Positives gibt es diese Woche ebenfalls zu berichten. So hat der US-Gesundheitsminister Robert F. Kennedy Jr. nach der «sensationellen» Entlassung aller Mitglieder des Impfberatungsausschusses (wegen verbreiteter direkter Verbindungen zu Pharmaunternehmen) nun auch bereits neue Namen verkündet. Demnach möchte er unter anderem Robert W. Malone, Erfinder der mRNA-«Impfung» als Technologie und prominenter Kritiker der Corona-Maßnahmen, in das Komitee aufnehmen.

Auch die Aufarbeitung der unsinnigen Corona-Politik geht Schrittchen für Schrittchen weiter. In Heidelberg hat die Initiative für Demokratie und Aufklärung (IDA) den Gemeinderat angesichts der katastrophalen Haushaltslage zu einer offenen und ehrlichen Diskussion über die Ursachen der Krise aufgefordert. Das Thema «Corona» sei «das Teuerste, was Heidelberg je erlebt hat», sagte IDA-Stadtrat Gunter Frank im Plenum. Außerdem seien aus den Krisenstabsprotokollen der Stadt auch die enormen Verwerfungen ersichtlich, und es gebe Anlass für tiefgehende Gespräche mit der Stadtverwaltung.

Den juristischen und öffentlichen Druck auf die Kommunen möchte der Unternehmer Markus Böning erhöhen. Seine «Freiheitskanzlei» will Bürgern helfen, die Aufarbeitung selbst in die Hand zu nehmen. Unter dem Motto «Corona-Wiedergutmachung» bietet er Hilfestellung, wie Betroffene versuchen können, sich unrechtmäßige Bußgelder zurückzuholen.

So bleibt uns am Ende dieses finsteren Freitags doch auch Anlass zur Hoffnung. Es gibt definitiv noch Anzeichen von Menschlichkeit. Darauf möchte ich mich konzentrieren, und mit diesem Gefühl verabschiede ich mich ins Wochenende.

[Titelbild: Pixabay]

---

Dieser Beitrag wurde mit dem Pareto-Client geschrieben und ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

@ d62e8d04:569fa79c

In today's fast-paced digital world, where cyber threats are constantly evolving, and blockchain technology is reshaping industries, Privkey LLC emerges as a leader in providing cutting-edge solutions. Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Miami, Florida, Privkey LLC is dedicated to safeguarding businesses through its expertise in cybersecurity and blockchain technology. With over 20 years of experience in networking and the Internet, the company positions itself as a trusted advisor, helping organizations navigate the complexities of emerging digital landscapes.

A Mission to Secure the Digital Future

Privkey LLC’s core mission is to protect businesses by delivering high-quality, tailored solutions. Leveraging their deep understanding of cybersecurity and blockchain, they empower organizations to build secure, resilient, and compliant digital infrastructures. Whether it’s safeguarding sensitive financial data or ensuring the integrity of blockchain systems, Privkey LLC combines experience with innovation to meet the unique challenges of the modern era.

Comprehensive Services for a Digital World

Privkey LLC offers a diverse range of auditing and consulting services, focusing on some of the most critical areas in technology today. Below is an overview of their key offerings:

• Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC):As nations explore digital versions of fiat currencies, Privkey LLC provides auditing services to ensure CBDC systems are secure, scalable, and compliant with regulatory standards.

• DeFi and CeFi (Fintech):Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and Centralized Finance (CeFi) represent the future of financial services on the blockchain. Privkey LLC offers expertise in auditing these systems, helping businesses mitigate risks and maintain trust in their financial operations.

• Cybersecurity:With cyber threats on the rise, Privkey LLC delivers robust cybersecurity solutions to protect digital assets and sensitive data from malicious attacks, ensuring businesses remain secure in an increasingly hostile digital environment.

• Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT):As the backbone of blockchain, DLT requires meticulous implementation. Privkey LLC audits DLT systems to ensure they are efficient, secure, and optimized for business needs.

• CryptoCurrency Security Standard (CCSS):For organizations handling cryptocurrencies, compliance with CCSS is essential. Privkey LLC provides certification services to verify adherence to these standards, fostering trust among users and stakeholders.

These services reflect Privkey LLC’s commitment to addressing the diverse needs of businesses operating in the blockchain and cybersecurity domains.

Staying Ahead in a Rapidly Evolving Industry

Privkey LLC doesn’t just provide services—they actively engage with the latest industry trends and innovations. Their team, including professionals like William K. Santiago, frequently shares insights on platforms like LinkedIn. Topics range from Jack Dorsey’s Block unveiling a new Bitcoin hardware wallet to sustainable Bitcoin mining powered by nuclear and solar energy. While these discussions may not directly tie to specific Privkey LLC projects, they demonstrate the company’s deep involvement in the broader blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystem. This forward-thinking approach ensures their services remain relevant and cutting-edge.

A Trusted Partner with Proven Expertise

With over two decades of experience in networking and Internet technologies, Privkey LLC brings unparalleled expertise to the table. This foundation allows them to tackle the unique challenges of cybersecurity and blockchain with confidence. As cyber threats grow more sophisticated and blockchain adoption accelerates, Privkey LLC stands ready to help businesses secure their digital futures.

Conclusion

Privkey LLC is more than a consulting firm—it’s a pioneer in cybersecurity and blockchain solutions. By offering specialized auditing and consulting services, staying ahead of industry trends, and leveraging decades of experience, they empower businesses to thrive in a digital world. For organizations looking to secure their digital assets and embrace blockchain technology, Privkey LLC is a reliable partner poised to lead the way.

@ 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.

---

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

@ 8bad92c3:ca714aa5

Key Takeaways

In this episode, host Marty speaks with Ken, a former CIA deputy chief and now head of government affairs at the Bitcoin Policy Institute, about Bitcoin’s growing relevance in U.S. national security and policy circles. Ken traces his Bitcoin journey from professional curiosity within the CIA, studying adversarial use cases like the Lazarus Group, to personal conviction following events like the Canadian trucker protests, which exposed the dangers of financial censorship. Contrary to popular belief, he reveals that many in the intelligence community support Bitcoin for its alignment with American values such as sovereignty and freedom. The conversation highlights a major cultural shift in Washington, where policymakers now view Bitcoin as a strategic asset rather than a criminal tool. Ken stresses that the future hinges on whether Bitcoin shapes institutions or is co-opted by them, and that political engagement is crucial to ensure the former. He argues Bitcoin can help solve systemic problems from fiscal irresponsibility to geopolitical instability, but only if the industry continues to organize, advocate, and embed its values into national policy.

Best Quotes

"Either institutions are going to win, or Bitcoin is going to win."

"Bitcoin naturally washes out leverage… it's what makes Bitcoin antifragile."

"The CIA didn’t create Bitcoin, but they sure are paying attention now."

"We were all Satoshi."

"Let’s not test the resistance-money thesis in the United States."

"Bitcoin strengthens U.S. values, freedom, private property, sovereignty."

"Bitcoin is political, but it doesn't have to be partisan."

"If you're in a federal agency, the only incentive is to spend more. Bitcoin changes that."

"Don't underestimate your voice. If you keep the phones ringing, they listen."

Conclusion

This episode offers a rare glimpse into how Bitcoin is increasingly viewed as a serious strategic asset within the U.S. intelligence and policy communities. Ken, with his high-level government background and current role in Bitcoin advocacy, underscores the shift from skepticism to engagement among policymakers. His message is clear: Bitcoiners are no longer outsiders, they have a seat at the table, and with sustained political action and education, they can shape the future of Bitcoin policy. The time to engage is now, because the battle for Bitcoin’s role in society is already in motion.

Timestamps

0:00 - Intro
0:26 - Ken's background
6:58 - Tornado/Samourai, surveillance state
11:53 - Reestablishing trust
14:23 - Bitkey
15:18 - CIA bitcoin theory
18:42 - Neutral reserve asset
23:52 - Unchained
24:20 - BPI
29:49 - CLARITY and Secret Service message
33:54 - Withstanding a change in administration
40:03 - Institutions win or bitcoin wins
46:43 - Shrinking gov with bitcoin
57:47 - BPI summit

Transcript

00:00:00 compared to China or Russia, do we have a comparable advantage in gold? How do we compete with China? And this is what the kinds of things CI will think about. Bitcoin is a natural option. At the end of the day, Bitcoin undermines the authority of the Chinese Communist Party. Either institutions are going to win or Bitcoin is going to win. But we do fundamentally on some level need institutions to make the country run. We want those institutions to be properly incentivized. In 10 years, Bitcoin is

00:00:19 either at a million dollars or is zero dollars. Ken, it's great to have you on the show. Thank you for joining me. Marty, finally. We've been we've been kicking us around for a few weeks. I'm glad we uh glad we were finally able to make it work. As I was telling you, in the middle of a move, conference in the middle of that move. It's been a hectic week, so I think I'm finally settling in. As you can see, no bookshelf, but we have stacked books behind me. Hopefully, they will be on on shelves soon.

00:00:52 No, there there are definitely ways there are ways in the world to get you know to get credits on um you know uh what do you call it? Um uh we're good Catholics, you know, when you when you pass and don't go to heaven. Um come on. Thank you. Well, moving is purgatory credit. So, I've done it many times in my life. So, I uh I feel for you. Well, thank you. But I'm really excited for this conversation and likewise the event in a few weeks, the BPI event down in DC, the summit, we met about a month ago, two months ago now at

00:01:26 this point in Austin during the takeover. And Zach was very eager to introduce you to me considering the the history of the show, topics we covered. And I think I'm excited for this cuz I'm infinitely curious to learn how somebody with your pedigree and your resume got into Bitcoin is now working for the Bitcoin Policy Institute as a director of government affairs. So for anybody listening who was unaware of Ken's resume, he did 20 years in government culminating as deputy chief of operations at the CIA Center for Cyber

00:02:01 Intelligence. uh you've worked overseas for the US State Department and now you're advocating on behalf of Bitcoin on Capitol Hill. So, how does somebody with that resume go from statecraft to cipher punk sort of ideas? Yeah. No, so I um like everybody else, I uh I um my my Bitcoin journey is a little bit everybody everybody has a unique journey, right? Um mine actually started at CIA, believe it or not. And it was for purely professional reasons. I um so I was an operations officer. I spent most of my career overseas um as

00:02:37 most of us do. Um but my last two years, my last two turn tours at CIA, I was at the center for cyber intelligence, which is CIA's cyber unit. Um and my first job there, I was group ch I was a operations chief for a group that worked on cyber threat issues. And this was in 2018. So you remember this was when Lazarus group the North Koreans figured out that stealing crypto was a lot easier than like you know trying to rob banks. Um this is when ransomware broke out as a serious problem just preceded you may

00:03:04 remember the Colonial Pipeline hack that shut down you know gasoline shipments to the east coast. So in 2018 um and it's kind of funny like I this is people say did the CIA create Bitcoin. I can tell you in 2018 when policy makers first had to confront its use by actors as an issue like nobody was ready for it. Like if they created it, it was tucked away and hidden in the basement cuz the the bench for people with crypto knowledge in general, digital assets, certainly Bitcoin was really really really shallow. Um I remember we had two

00:03:33 guys um who kind of had background in it and then you they became superstars because all of a sudden we were calling upon them to teach us about Bitcoin and digital assets in general. Um, but yeah, that's so I learned and like everything else, I learned about it because I had to because people we cared people we cared about were using it. Um, but like everything else there there was sort of a mind virus to it. Um, and I I admit, you know, I during co I was in the uh I was in the altcoin casino. I was defying

00:04:00 and memecoining and it was it was fun, you know. No, I I I don't hold any hate for the uh for the alcoiners. People do what they want with their money. Um but I you know that that was when it was during co um I had been sort of buying in 2018 but during co when I really started learning because this is what everybody learned right um and I you know for me Bitcoin was immediately attracted me to it and I was sort of inspired by um I mean the co Kenny trucker protest was something really important to me um I saw how it was

00:04:29 being used um but also sort of in my day job you know I I had a pretty good understanding of how the government uses financial financial tools as a weapon. Um, freezing bank accounts, OFAC sanctions, that kind of thing. And if you're on the, you know, on the giving end of that, that's great. Those are great tools to have if you're the government. Uh, not so great if you're on the other end of it. And, you know, watching these Canadian truckers the first time, you know, you'll be able to, it's very easy

00:04:54 to say, "Yeah, sanction the Iranian, sanction North Korea, whatever." You know, I'm not Iranian. Um but when you see all of a sudden Kat and Trucker people you had some sympathy with being targets of financial you know weaposition of the financial system it you know it struck it struck a it struck a nerve like a really really profound stinging shot to my consciousness my conscious about this issue. Um so for me for the first thing about Bitcoin was um was permissionless transactions that that's that's what got me into it. Um

00:05:23 then of course you go from there and by the time I left the government 2022 I had I was f I was you know full boore I was you know attending meetups and um that's when I started doing some advocacy stuff on Capitol Hill and and and messing around with uh David and Granny PPI doing some advocacy stuff but yeah but it it comes from my time at CIA and yeah I think the um the uh I think what might surprise some people is there are a lot of Bitcoiners um not just at CIA but across the whole national

00:05:52 security establishment And I think they're into it for the same reason that you know that everybody most of your listeners are right like it's you see what's happening in the world. You see the challenges we're facing. You see how governments use financial tools to weaponize them against opposition. You know it's it's very natural that if you have that kind of insight that you look for things to protect yourself and Bitcoin is obvious. So I I I tell a funny story when I um when I was first into it there was um cubicle one of the

00:06:17 guys and he had a bumper

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

Carl Rickertsen completely exits his position in Strategy as insiders sell $864 million worth of stock.

As reported by Protos, Carl Rickertsen, a member of Strategy’s board of directors, has fully liquidated his entire shareholding for over $10 million.

Rickertsen’s decision to completely exit his Strategy position marks a sharp shift from his previous investment stance. In 2022, the executive had shown confidence in the company by investing $700,000 in MSTR shares.

On June 13, 2022, Rickertsen purchased $608,000 worth of MSTR stock at $152 per share. Since then, the stock has rallied 152%. However, by 2023, the director had already sold half of his 4,000-share position.

Rickertsen’s approach to managing his holdings has become increasingly aggressive in recent years. Since joining the board in 2019, he has adopted a strategy of immediately liquidating any stock options received.

One example of this tactic occurred on June 2, when he acquired and sold 26,390 MSTR shares on the same day.

As of June 5 this year, Rickertsen reported zero vested Strategy shares, marking the end of his equity involvement with the company.

Rickertsen’s situation is not an isolated case within Strategy. Data from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reveals a controversial picture. According to information gathered by secform4.com, over the past five years, total insider sales have exceeded purchases by $864 million. This imbalance in insider transactions could raise questions about executives’ confidence in the company’s future.

The post Strategy director liquidates all his MSTR shares appeared first on Atlas21.

@ 3c506452:fef9202b

Kia ora mai ra ano e te iwi whanui!

Step 1: Find Your Why:

Going off my own experiences - if you are anything like me you will have the occasional boost of enthusiasm, and intense determination. This could last a couple days, or if you are fortunate, a few weeks. Afterwards, life kicks in again, and you're out of gas.

With this in mind it is important to find something within you that could help carry you along until the next boost.

Action Step:

So grab a pen and paper, and write out why you want to become a Te Reo speaker.

Step 2: Find The Quick Win:

I consider myself to be a speaker of the reo, but I am SO FAR AWAY from my ideal, my vision, which is to think only in the reo. It would be silly of me to only consider myself a speaker of the reo once I attained that goal. Now, a speaker of the reo is... "Someone who speaks it". It doesn't matter how little you know now, your effort and the time you put in won't let you down.

Action Step:

1. Follow this link > Ngata Dictionary
2. Type in a word in the "Ngata English to Māori" box then press search. For example, let's use "hello".
3. Copy the sentence in te reo.
4. Follow the link > Papa Reo API, paste the sentence then press korero.
5. Mimic what you hear!

This is a great way to practice speaking the reo! You can have 100% confidence in these sentences provided to you from the Ngata Dictionary. The Papareo API is also a fantastic way to get instant feedback on pronunciation.

@ b1ddb4d7:471244e7

The Coinbase Lightning Network is Coinbase’s implementation of Bitcoin’s Lightning Network technology, launched in partnership with Lightspark in April 2024. This innovative solution allows users to send, receive, and pay with bitcoin instantly and cheaply directly from their Coinbase accounts.

Think of the Coinbase Lightning Network as the express lane of bitcoin transactions. While regular bitcoin transfers can take 10-60 minutes and cost several dollars in fees, Lightning Network transactions on Coinbase complete in seconds with fees typically under a cent.

Key Benefits of Coinbase Lightning Network:

• Instant transfers: Transactions complete in seconds, not hours
• Ultra-low fees: 0.2% processing fee vs. traditional network fees
• Global reach: Send bitcoin anywhere in the world instantly
• Cost efficiency: 20 times cheaper than traditional credit card fees

Coinbase Lightning Network vs Regular Bitcoin Transfers

Understanding the difference between Coinbase Lightning Network and regular bitcoin transfers is crucial for choosing the right method:

Feature

Coinbase Lightning Network

Regular Bitcoin Transfer

Speed

Instant (seconds)

10-60 minutes

Fees

0.2% + minimal network fee

$5-50+ depending on network

Best for

Small to medium amounts

Large amounts, long-term storage

Availability

24/7 instant

Subject to network congestion

The Coinbase Lightning Network processes transactions “off-chain,” creating payment channels that settle later on the main Bitcoin blockchain, resulting in dramatically faster and cheaper transactions.

How to Send Bitcoin Using Coinbase Lightning Network

Sending Bitcoin through Coinbase’s Lightning option is incredibly straightforward. Follow these step-by-step instructions:

Step 1: Access Your Coinbase Account

1. Sign in to your Coinbase account via web browser or mobile app
2. Ensure you have bitcoin (BTC) in your account balance
3. Navigate to your portfolio and locate your bitcoin holdings

Step 2: Initiate the Lightning Transfer

1. Click “Transfer” then select “Send crypto”
2. Choose bitcoin (BTC) as your asset
3. Enter the amount you wish to send
4. Select Lightning Network as your transfer method

Step 3: Add Recipient Information

1. Obtain the Lightning Network invoice from your recipient
2. Paste the invoice into the recipient field
3. The Coinbase Lightning Network will automatically detect and validate the invoice
4. Review the transaction details carefully

Step 4: Complete the Transaction

1. Verify the amount and recipient information
2. Click “Send” to initiate the transfer
3. Your Coinbase Lightning Network transaction will complete within seconds
4. Both you and the recipient will receive confirmation notifications

How to Receive Bitcoin via Coinbase Lightning Network

Receiving Bitcoin through Coinbase’s Lightning option requires generating a Lightning invoice. Here’s your complete guide:

Step 1: Generate a Lightning Invoice

1. Log into your Coinbase account
2. Navigate to “Transfer” then “Receive crypto”
3. Select Bitcoin (BTC) as the asset you wish to receive
4. Choose “Lightning Network” as your receiving method

Step 2: Create Your Invoice

1. Enter the specific amount you want to receive (required for Lightning)
2. Add an optional description or memo
3. Click “Generate Invoice”
4. Your Lightning Network invoice will appear as both a QR code and text string

Step 3: Share Your Invoice

1. Copy the Lightning invoice text or share the QR code
2. Send this information to the person sending you Bitcoin
3. Remember: Lightning invoices expire after 72 hours
4. Generate a new invoice if the original expires

Step 4: Receive Your Bitcoin

1. Once the sender pays your invoice, you’ll receive instant notification
2. The bitcoin will appear in your Coinbase account immediately
3. No waiting for blockchain confirmations required with Coinbase Lightning Network

Coinbase Lightning Network Fees and Limits

Understanding the fee structure of Coinbase Lightning Network helps you make informed decisions:

• Processing Fee: 0.2% of the transfer amount
• Network Fee: Minimal (typically fractions of a cent)
• Minimum Amount: Varies by region, typically $0.1- 5
• Maximum Amount: Subject to your account limits and Lightning Network capacity

The Coinbase Lightning Network offers significant savings compared to traditional bitcoin transfers, especially for smaller amounts under $1,000.

Troubleshooting Common Coinbase Lightning Network Issues

Even with the user-friendly Coinbase Lightning Network, you might encounter some challenges:

Invoice Expired Error

• Solution: Generate a fresh Lightning invoice
• Prevention: Complete transactions promptly after generating invoices

Transaction Failed

• Cause: Insufficient Lightning Network liquidity or routing issues
• Solution: Try again in a few minutes or use smaller amounts

Can’t Find Lightning Option

• Check: Ensure Lightning is available in your region
• Verify: Update your Coinbase app to the latest version

Address Whitelist Issues

• Problem: Lightning invoices may not work with address whitelisting enabled
• Solution: Temporarily disable whitelisting or contact Coinbase support

The Coinbase Lightning Network transforms bitcoin from a store of value into a practical, everyday payment method. With instant transactions, minimal fees, and user-friendly implementation, it’s never been easier to send and receive bitcoin.

@ d68401a8:11aad383

Before AI, building a website posed a technological barrier. Not everyone was able to create even a simple contact page. It often meant paying for a yearly subscription (often too expensive for most), for templates that still required manual work, or paying even more to hire someone to do it for you.

Today, thanks to AI, building a website has become technologically accessible. Even if you still prefer to rely on a third-party company, the ease brought by AI is driving more competitive pricing.

In the domain world, before Handshake, owning a top-level domain (TLD) was economically out of reach. The application process set by ICANN was tedious and expensive. For most people, the only option was to rent a second-level domain, one not controlled by individuals and subject to whatever fees the TLD owner chose to charge.

Now, thanks to the Handshake DNS protocol, anyone can own a top-level domain and create an infinite number of second-level domains under it, at virtually no cost.

Owning a plot of land (a top-level domain) on the internet should be open and easy. Handshake aims to pave the way toward that vision, you can start to explore by using Namebase , Shakestation or Bob wallet .

@ dfa02707:41ca50e3

News

• Wallet of Satoshi teases a comeback in the US market with a non-custodial product. According to an announcement on X, the widely popular custodial Lightning wallet is preparing to re-enter the United States market with a non-custodial wallet. It is unclear whether the product will be open-source, but the project has clarified that "there will be no KYC on any Wallet of Satoshi, ever!" Wallet of Satoshi ceased serving customers in the United States in November 2023.

• Vulnerability disclosure: Remote crash due to addr message spam in Bitcoin Core versions before v29. Bitcoin Core developer Antoine Poinsot disclosed an integer overflow bug that crashes a node if spammed with addr messages over an extended period. A fix was released on April 14, 2025, in Bitcoin Core v29.0. The issue is rated Low severity.
• Coinbase Know Your Customer (KYC) data leak. The U.S. Department of Justice, including its Criminal Division in Washington, is investigating a cyberattack on Coinbase. The incident involved cybercriminals attempting to extort $20 million from Coinbase to prevent stolen customer data from being leaked online. Although the data breach affected less than 1% of the exchange's users, Coinbase now faces at least six lawsuits following the revelation that some customer support agents were bribed as part of the extortion scheme.
• Fold has launched Bitcoin Gift Cards, enabling users to purchase bitcoin for personal use or as gifts, redeemable via the Fold app. These cards are currently available on Fold’s website and are planned to expand to major retailers nationwide later this year.

"Our mission is to make bitcoin simple and approachable for everyone. The Bitcoin Gift Card brings bitcoin to millions of Americans in a familiar way. Available at the places people already shop, the Bitcoin Gift Card is the best way to gift bitcoin to others," said Will Reeves, Chairman and CEO of Fold.

• Corporate treasuries hold nearly 1.1 million BTC, representing about 5.5% of the total circulating supply (1,082,164 BTC), per BitcoinTreasuries.net data. Recent purchases include Strategy adding 7,390 BTC (total: 576,230 BTC), Metplanet acquiring 1,004 BTC (total: 7,800 BTC), Tether holding over 100,521 BTC, and XXI Capital, led by Jack Mallers, starting with 31,500 BTC.
  • Meanwhile, a group of investors has filed a class action lawsuit against Strategy and its executive Michael Saylor. The lawsuit alleges that Strategy made overly optimistic projections using fair value accounting under new FASB rules while downplaying potential losses.
• The U.S. Senate voted to advance the GENIUS stablecoin bill for further debate before a final vote to pass it. Meanwhile, the House is crafting its own stablecoin legislation to establish a regulatory framework for stablecoins and their issuers in the U.S, reports CoinDesk.
• French 'crypto' entrepreneurs get priority access to emergency police services. French Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, agreed on measures to enhance security for 'crypto' professionals during a meeting on Friday. This follows a failed kidnapping attempt on Tuesday targeting the family of a cryptocurrency exchange CEO, and two other kidnappings earlier this year.
• Brussels Court declares tracking-based ads illegal in EU. The Brussels Court of Appeal ruled tracking-based online ads illegal in the EU due to an inadequate consent model. Major tech firms like Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and X are affected by the decision, as their consent pop-ups fail to protect privacy in real-time bidding, writes The Record.
• Telegram shares data on 22,777 users in Q1 2025, a significant increase from the 5,826 users' data shared during the same period in 2024. This significant increase follows the arrest of CEO and founder Pavel Durov last year.
• An Australian judge has ruled that Bitcoin is money, potentially exempting it from capital gains tax in the country. If upheld on appeal, this interim decision could lead to taxpayer refunds worth up to $1 billion, per tax lawyer Adrian Cartland.

Use the tools

• Bitcoin Safe v1.3.0 a secure and user-friendly Bitcoin savings wallet for beginners and advanced users, introduces an interactive chart, Child Pays For Parent (CPFP) support, testnet4 compatibility, preconfigured testnet demo wallets, various bug fixes, and other improvements.
• BlueWallet v7.1.8 brings numerous bug fixes, dependency updates, and a new search feature for addresses and transactions.
• Aqua Wallet v0.3.0 is out, offering beta testing for the reloadable Dolphin card (in partnership with Visa) for spending bitcoin and Liquid BTC. It also includes a new Optical Character Recognition (OCR) text scanner to read text addresses like QR codes, colored numbers on addresses for better readability, a reduced minimum for spending and swapping Liquid Bitcoin to 100 sats, plus other fixes and enhancements.

Source: Aqua wallet.

• The latest firmware updates for COLDCARD Mk4 v5.4.3 and Q v1.3.3 are now available, featuring the latest enhancements and bug fixes.
• Nunchuk Android v1.9.68.1 and iOS v1.9.79 introduce support for custom blockchain explorers, wallet archiving, re-ordering wallets on the home screen via long-press, and an anti-fee sniping setting.
• BDK-cli v1.0.0, a CLI wallet library and REPL tool to demo and test the BDK library, now uses bdk_wallet 1.0.0 and integrates Kyoto, utilizing the Kyoto protocol for compact block filters. It sets SQLite as the default database and discontinues support for sled.
• publsp is a new command-line tool designed for Lightning node runners or Lightning Service Providers (LSPs) to advertise liquidity offers over Nostr.

"LSPs advertise liquidity as addressable Kind 39735 events. Clients just pull and evaluate all those structured events, then NIP-17 DM an LSP of their choice to coordinate a liquidity purchase," writes developer smallworlnd.

• Lightning Blinder by Super Testnet is a proof-of-concept privacy tool for the Lightning Network. It enables users to mislead Lightning Service Providers (LSPs) by making it appear as though one wallet is the sender or recipient, masking the original wallet. Explore and try it out here.

• Mempal v1.5.3, a Bitcoin mempool monitoring and notification app for Android, now includes a swipe-down feature to refresh the dashboard, a custom time option for widget auto-update frequency, and a

@ 87f5ac31:60daf34c

hahahah 하블라 아유 오케이?

@ 9ca447d2:fbf5a36d

President Donald Trump’s media company, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), is doubling down on its Bitcoin bet, partnering with Crypto.com and Yorkville America Digital to launch its own bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), called the Truth Social Bitcoin ETF.

On June 3, a division of the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Arca, filed a 19b-4 form with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

This is the final regulatory hurdle before an ETF can be launched. If approved, this new fund will allow everyday investors to buy shares tied to the price of bitcoin, without having to hold the asset themselves.

The Truth Social Bitcoin ETF will track the price of bitcoin and give investors a simple, regulated way to invest in the digital money.

It will be listed and traded on NYSE Arca, and Foris DAX Trust Company (the custodian for Crypto.com’s assets) has been named as the proposed custodian for this new fund.

According to the filings, the ETF is “designed to remove the obstacles represented by the complexities and operational burdens involved in a direct investment in bitcoin.”

This is part of a bigger plan by Trump Media to offer a full suite of digital-asset-based financial products.

The company has also applied to trademark six investment products and has plans for additional ETFs under its Truth.Fi fintech platform, which will focus on digital assets and energy sectors.

Trump Media also recently announced a $2.5 billion bitcoin treasury plan and raised $2.4 billion in stock and debt to support its bitcoin initiatives.

Related: Trump Media Will Raise $2.5 Billion to Build Bitcoin Treasury

Now that the 19b-4 has been filed, the SEC has 45 days to approve, reject or delay the application. This can be extended several times, but a final decision must be made by January 29, 2026.

In addition to the 19b-4, Yorkville America Digital must also file an S-1 registration statement. This will outline exactly how the ETF will work, what it offers to investors, how funds will be used, and the risks involved.

Since January 2024, bitcoin ETFs have been all the rage, with over $130 billion in assets. Big players like BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and Fidelity’s FBTC dominate the space. BlackRock alone has $69 billion in assets through its bitcoin ETF.

Even though Trump’s ETF is entering a crowded field, its name will get attention. The Truth Social bitcoin ETF is expected to generate media buzz, political controversy and divided investor opinions, making it a cultural and financial statement.

Donald Trump is the majority owner of Trump Media, although his shares are in a trust controlled by his son, Donald Trump Jr. The ETF filing doesn’t mention Trump by name, but most people see it as a Trump product.

The President is getting more and more involved in the digital asset space. He has NFT collections, meme coins, a bitcoin mining company, a digital asset wallet, and now a potential bitcoin ETF.

But not everyone is happy. Some argue that a sitting president’s involvement in regulated financial products, especially one that could benefit from political influence, is unethical.

An SEC-approved digital asset product from Trump could blur the lines between politics, personal gain and digital assets.

Others, however, see this as a calculated move to boost Trump’s image and position him as a leader in the digital asset and tech space.

@ f0fd6902:a2fbaaab

What can't fungi do? Fungi come in all kinds of delightfully enchanting and bizarre forms and are the ultimate do-it-alls. Some of them are edible or medicinal; they help organic gardeners keep their gardens happy; they eat plastic, and they glow in the dark. Fungi-based biomaterials also have the potential to help us build more sustainable homes or make more eco-friendly products; heck, they can even talk to each other in their own secret language.

Not surprisingly, they can also make some interesting music, with a little help from Canadian musician Tarun Nayar, the mastermind who makes nature-inspired electronic music under the name Modern Biology.

Source: https://www.treehugger.com/modern-biology-musician-makes-music-using-mushrooms-7485168

Video with mushrooms sound like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHwybeMXFAA&t=22s

https://stacker.news/items/1005531

@ b1e9b8df:07685594

OERTR steht für eine Art, freie Bildungsressourcen (Open Educational Resources) über das dezentrale Protokoll Nostr zu verbreiten, auffindbar zu machen und weiterzuentwickeln.

Statt zentraler Plattformen oder Silos nutzen wir Relays – offene Knoten im Nostr-Netzwerk – um Materialien, Metadaten, Annotationen und Kurse dauerhaft, hoch verfügbar und maschinenlesbar im interoperablen Datenraum verfügbar zu machen.

---

🚀 Unser Ziel

• OER auffindbar machen – über strukturierte Events (z. B. Kind 30023, 30142)

• Mitmachen ermöglichen – durch einfache Workflows mit git, Matrix & Nostr

• Bildung dezentral denken – jenseits von Plattformlogiken

• Metadaten lebendig halten – durch Community-gestützte Annotation & Remixbarkeit

---

🔧 Womit wir arbeiten

• 💬 Matrix zur Koordination & Diskussion

• 💻 git(hub) zur offenen Entwicklung und Dokumentation

---

📡 Mach mit!

➡ Nostr folgen:\ 👉 npub1k85m3haymj3ggjknfrxm5kwtf5umaze4nyghnp29a80lcpmg2k2q54v05a (nähere Infos auf https://github.com/edufeed-org/OERTR )

➡ Matrix beitreten:\ 🟢 #OERTR:rpi-virtuell.de\ https://matrix.to/#/%23OERTR:rpi-virtuell.de\ Zum Diskutieren, Planen, Ausprobieren.

➡ GitHub anschauen:\ 📂 https://github.com/edufeed-org/OERTR\ Mit Beispieldaten, n8n-Workflows, NIP-Verlinkungen & mehr.

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🧠 Ideen zum Start

• 🔍 Indexe für OER-Projekte (z. B. OERinfo, rpi-virtuell, WirLernenOnline)

• 📚 Tagging-Events für Fachbereiche, Zielgruppen & Lizenztypen

• 🤝 Event-Verknüpfung mit Mastodon, Mobilizon, Wikidata

• 🧩 Mitdenken beim Aufbau eines offenen Bildungsraums via Nostr

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📎 Beispiel: OER-Material posten

json { "kind": 30142, "tags": [ ["d", "https://example.org/oer1234"], ["r", "https://example.org/oer1234"], ["subject", "Ethik"], ["author", "Max Mustermann"], ["license", "CC-BY 4.0"] ], "content": "Material zur Gewaltfreien Kommunikation für die 5. Klasse" }

💡 Fragen? Ideen?

Wir freuen uns über Feedback, Pull Requests oder ein einfaches "Hallo!"\ ➡ Schreib uns im Matrix-Raum oder auf Nostr .

OERTR – ein Netzwerk. Kein Silo.

@ 8bad92c3:ca714aa5

Key Takeaways

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

Best Quotes

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

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

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

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

"Stacking Saturdays is my new stack sats."

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

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

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

Conclusion

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

Timestamps

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

Transcript

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

@ 9ca447d2:fbf5a36d

JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the U.S. and one of the most powerful institutions in global finance, is going deeper into Bitcoin. The bank is reportedly going to allow wealthy clients to use shares of Bitcoin ETFs—specifically BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) — as collateral for loans.

This is a big move from the Wall Street giant and a sign of how traditional finance is changing the way it treats bitcoin.

According to a Bloomberg report, JPMorgan will let trading and wealth-management clients borrow money using digital asset ETFs like IBIT as collateral—the same way clients might use stocks, real estate or even cars.

The bank will also factor clients’ digital asset holdings into calculations of net worth and liquidity. So now, bitcoin will be treated like real estate or company shares when assessing a client’s loan repayment ability.

This is set to launch in the coming weeks and will start with IBIT which has over $70 billion in assets. IBIT is now the largest spot bitcoin ETF in the world and has far outpaced competitors like Fidelity’s FBTC.

Previously JPMorgan only allowed bitcoin ETFs as collateral on a case-by-case basis, Bloomberg reports. This decision will now make it available to all wealth-management clients.

JPMorgan’s new Bitcoin-friendly strategy comes despite its CEO Jamie Dimon’s long-time skepticism of Bitcoin. For years, Dimon has been one of the most vocal critics of Bitcoin, calling it a tool for criminals and comparing it to a “pet rock.”

But in a change of heart, Dimon recently said the bank would allow clients to buy bitcoin. At JPMorgan’s annual Investor Day, he said, “I don’t think you should smoke, but I defend your right to smoke. I defend your right to buy bitcoin.”

Related: JPMorgan Chase to Allow Clients to Buy Bitcoin, Says CEO Jamie Dimon

While Dimon remains personally unconvinced about the long-term value of bitcoin, the bank seems to be moving forward with embracing bitcoin, a move Bitcoin advocates believe is rooted in fear of missing out on possible profits and losing market share.

JPMorgan is following the trend on Wall Street. Other big financial players like Fidelity, Grayscale, and Standard Chartered have launched services for clients to invest or trade bitcoin.

The approval of Bitcoin ETFs by the U.S. SEC in 2024 has opened the door to millions of investors who were hesitant to enter the Bitcoin space.

Institutional interest is surging as the political landscape is also opening doors for digital assets. Under President Donald Trump’s administration, several Bitcoin-friendly policy changes have been introduced.

In April 2025, the Federal Reserve withdrew past guidance that discouraged banks from working with digital asset companies. Soon after, the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency confirmed banks could hold customer’s bitcoin in custody.

@ efc2b6e5:99c53c19

AI companies massively influence society by projecting their values on ML models, whether we want it or not. It'd be great if at least some people in the companies knew how exactly they influence society, could make certain predictions, or even make ML models themselves predict users' worldviews and some of their behavior.

Some might argue that AI systems already do something like that. I believe they could do it much better: chatbots could be more balanced in terms of security (they are definitely overcensored) and recommender systems, for instance, could contribute to healthy personal and collective transformations (rather than just competing in ability to steal users' attention and trap it in the echo chambers).

Reductionism is an obstacle in AI development

Even most reliable knowledge doesn't solve some of the problems that are already in demand. Even least reliable knowledge still may contain something useful for our problems. While we lack reliable and noncontradictory knowledge, we can still benefit from certain synthesis of working ideas. There's approach that makes it possible to look at the knowledge from a very broad perspective, do such synthesis, and benefit from emergent properties of the synthesis.

Integral (Meta-)Theory created by Ken Wilber is probably the best known attempt to enable the possibility to form and navigate the big picture understanding in a hope to address issues of the epoch we've recently entered.

IMO it has certain challenges that make it repellent to IT:

1. Fundamental psychological theories on which the Integral Theory is based are still pretty fragile; they need time to become mature enough and recognized (while it doesn't look like we have that time). There are endless edit wars on Wikipedia, which makes me feel depressing about possibilities to even introduce Spiral Dynamics and Multiple Intelligences to IT people.
2. Emphasis on controversial interpretations of certain arational states of consciousness.

It's hard to address the first challenge; however, I recently discovered a new “secularized” Non-Reductionist Philosophy launched by David Long, which, among other things, uses wisdom from Integral Theory and attempts to address the second challenge. I'm glad that there are people who don't just criticize the Integral Theory, its community and Wilber's positions but are also developing the new meta-theories.

NR can also be a good way to get familiar with other meta-theories, so one could choose whatever works the best for their problems. For instance, if you're working on something as exotic as some competitor to EEG-powered meditation device, perhaps you will find Integral Theory relevant to study as well, since it's more focused on the states.

I'd like to point out a couple of moments I noticed in the video "Why Non-Reductionism Is A Better Meta-Theory" that caught my attention, as well as in some other older videos. There's not much to comment on the content itself rather than on the form of the content. This feedback might be used for improvements/elaborations in the next videos and just for everyone curious about the new meta-theory. But first

Why do I post here?

Specifically for the deep topics that relate to the current epoch, I no longer find engaging in the YouTube/FB/Reddit/Diqus/Giscus/etc. discussions useful anymore, at least due to broken and almost omnipresent AI-based censorship, that keeps “improving” at randomly shadow-banning people. How many deep and valuable opinions we no longer see?

BTW, it's possible to create Reddit-like communities here at Nostr as well, using Satellite client for example. I believe it's a better place for NR, Rebel Wisdom and many others.

References to full materials used for criticism

There are curious clips with Wilber in the video. It'd be great to have links in the description (or at least titles of the full videos if it's copyrighted material) so viewers could easier form their own independent opinions. I find it important during the age of information overload and narrative warfare. This will also improve SEO.

Emergentism FAQ

There's a strong position on emergence of consciousness; it seems it's not even a hypothesis in NR and I guess that makes some people so reactive.

I think it would be great to have an FAQ page to possibly make future debates more ecological and fruitful. Some of the things that could be elaborated in the FAQ:

• importance of distinction between philosophical theory (inductive reasoning? or actually deductive reasoning? I'm confused here) and scientific theory (deductive reasoning)
• the fact that for now counterarguments usually fall into the categories of “ignorance fallacy”, “false equivalency fallacy” and “God of the gaps” which aren't something sufficient; the whole point of challenge was to find at least a logically valid counterposition (ideally a counterposition that is sound with currently available scientific ~~facts~~ theories), not the nitpicking attacks
• what kind of emergence is meant, is it important here at all and why.

Debates moderation

Probably most of the debates converge to consensus, which are fruitful anyway. There are a few interesting conflicting debates as well. However, I found this specific conflicting debate with Matt Segall quite exceptional.

Matt's position was not understood. He was more interested in a dialogue rather than debates and I think it would be more productive. However, in this specific case, my guess is it would literally take hours to just figure out the common language on a certain concept he mentions.

My humble guess is that a combination of negotiator and moderator with a primary perceiving personality type function (if typologies work at all) could be a step to more meaningful and ecological dialogues in the future. But such negotiator/moderator should also be skilled enough to reflect most challenging parts using more “rational language” as best as possible. These people are rare. Basically I mean the style of dialogues that happened between theoretical physicist David Bohm and Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti: IMO these were the talks where both sides at some point were barely transcending limitations of their languages and focusing more on intuition in order to understand each other. Much fuzzier and spontaneous dialogues, which aren't prematurely limited by too harsh rationality. Similar thing (with shorter periods of negotiation) could be combined with debating as well.

I hope NR community will be open to understanding more perspectives and won't end up turning into something like a cold and scary crystallization of rational arrogance; that would be damaging and quite opposite to the healthy intentions of the whole project.

Final thoughts

I like the clarity and density of the presented ideas in the video, the choice of lines of development in the map and the alternative to the Integral Methodological Pluralism. I like the mentioned interpretation of “free” will, very much resonates with how I personally interpret it. Tritone-ish devilish sounds in the cons sections is a nice aesthetic choice as well.

I guess there's a lot to learn from NR, no matter what positions we hold on the “rational spirituality” and that sort of stuff. Just to avoid projections and misunderstandings: I'm in a neutral position to all the post-postmodern discourses (NR, Integral, Metamodernism, etc.); I care about these philosophies, make my own distinctions on what's healthy or not, and my positions don't necessarily perfectly match with some of the claims these philosophies make.

Thank you David Long for launching this philosophy and the movement; I'm looking forward to the next videos!

I'd appreciate reposts and all this as well, thanks!

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

Boy howdy! We're getting some good finals games in the NBA and NHL. I imagine that will occupy most of our discussion.

Do we expect these teams to be contenders next year too or is this their window?

I now need Indy to pull off the win, if I'm going to win our bracket challenge. In the event of an Indy win, @grayruby hilariously shot himself in the foot with his pick for MVP in the points challenge (there's a fun little econ lesson there).

We are starting to transition into offseason mode, though: starting with the Knicks post mortem.

Aaron Judge has a ludicrous 87% chance of winning the AL MVP this year. Also, @Jer is demolishing me in fantasy this week.

Predyx has some exciting new sports markets up. I may have gotten a bargain on some Euro Rules Football outcomes just a few minutes ago.

We'll also recap the ongoing contests and discuss whatever else stackers want to hear about.

https://stacker.news/items/1005467

@ 05a0f81e:fc032124

Lying is a great tool for destruction, it have damage many marriage, relationships, culture, religion. It have also destroy human integrity and reputation.

What is lying? Lying is an act of someone saying something that is not true either to gain favor or to achieve any other hidden agenda.

There are many reasons why people lie, kids lie to flee from punishment, but adult lie either to gain favour or to achieve his hidden agendas. Since the existence of the world, adult lies have no positive impact on the society and the world at large.

Adult lies brings hatred, kill dreams, cage future and success, end norm and culture, delete history, the reason adult lie is different from the reason children's lie. Anything built on lies collapse when the truth arises, Anything covered with lies uncover when the truth unveil, lie leads to life full of regrets and angers especially when the truth unveils. Lies destroy life's and societies.

What happen if a child is raise on lies !.

When parents raise there children with lies, the children mindset reset towards the reason for the lies. If the lies are about a person, the children will end up hating the person, if it were about a profession, the children will end up hating the profession. Single mothers who lie to there baby about there father end up raising a child that hate his or her father.

Most norms and cultures have gone extinc all because of lies, some generations did not meet most norms because of lies, most legacy died because of lies.

When parents raise there children with lies, they did the children harm and they are destroying the society because children will grow into adults and have there own family, they will keep passing on the baton (lies) to generations and norms and cultures will keep dieing and the society will end up shattered.

Raise your child on truth! Raise your child on truth Teaching them repercussions and consequences if the truth is too wild.

@ 2cde0e02:180a96b9

pen & ink; monochromized

tools used

https://stacker.news/items/1005456

@ dfa02707:41ca50e3

News

• Bitcoin mining centralization in 2025. According to a blog post by b10c, Bitcoin mining was at its most decentralized in May 2017, with another favorable period from 2019 to 2022. However, starting in 2023, mining has become increasingly centralized, particularly due to the influence of large pools like Foundry and the use of proxy pooling by entities such as AntPool.

Source: b10c's blog.

• OpenSats announces the eleventh wave of Nostr grants. The five projects in this wave are the mobile live-streaming app Swae, the Nostr-over-ham-radio project HAMSTR, Vertex—a Web-of-Trust (WOT) service for Nostr developers, Nostr Double Ratchet for end-to-end encrypted messaging, and the Nostr Game Engine for building games and applications integrated with the Nostr ecosystem.
• New Spiral grantee: l0rinc. In February 2024, l0rinc transitioned to full-time work on Bitcoin Core. His efforts focus on performance benchmarking and optimizations, enhancing code quality, conducting code reviews, reducing block download times, optimizing memory usage, and refactoring code.
• Project Eleven offers 1 BTC to break Bitcoin's cryptography with a quantum computer. The quantum computing research organization has introduced the Q-Day Prize, a global challenge that offers 1 BTC to the first team capable of breaking an elliptic curve cryptographic (ECC) key using Shor’s algorithm on a quantum computer. The prize will be awarded to the first team to successfully accomplish this breakthrough by April 5, 2026.
• Unchained has launched the Bitcoin Legacy Project. The initiative seeks to advance the Bitcoin ecosystem through a bitcoin-native donor-advised fund platform (DAF), investments in community hubs, support for education and open-source development, and a commitment to long-term sustainability with transparent annual reporting.
  • In its first year, the program will provide support to Bitcoin hubs in Nashville, Austin, and Denver.
  • Support also includes $50,000 to the Bitcoin Policy Institute, a $150,000 commitment at the University of Austin, and up to $250,000 in research grants through the Bitcoin Scholars program.

"Unchained will match grants 1:1 made to partner organizations who support Bitcoin Core development when made through the Unchained-powered bitcoin DAF, up to 1 BTC," was stated in a blog post.

• Block launched open-source tools for Bitcoin treasury management. These include a dashboard for managing corporate bitcoin holdings and provides a real-time BTC-to-USD price quote API, released as part of the Block Open Source initiative. The company’s own instance of the bitcoin holdings dashboard is available here.

Source: block.xyz

• Bull Bitcoin expands to Mexico, enabling anyone in the country to receive pesos from anywhere in the world straight from a Bitcoin wallet. Additionally, users can now buy Bitcoin with a Mexican bank account.

"Bull Bitcoin strongly believes in Bitcoin’s economic potential in Mexico, not only for international remittances and tourism, but also for Mexican individuals and companies to reclaim their financial sovereignty and protect their wealth from inflation and the fragility of traditional financial markets," said Francis Pouliot, Founder and CEO of Bull Bitcoin.

• Corporate bitcoin holdings hit a record high in Q1 2025. According to Bitwise, public companies' adoption of Bitcoin has hit an all-time high. In Q1 2025, these firms collectively hold over 688,000 BTC, marking a 16.11% increase from the previous quarter. This amount represents 3.28% of Bitcoin's fixed 21 million supply.

Source: Bitwise.

• The Bitcoin Bond Company for institutions has launched with the aim of acquiring $1 trillion in Bitcoin over 21 years. It utilizes secure, transparent, and compliant bond-like products backed by Bitcoin.
• The U.S. Senate confirmed Paul Atkins as Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). At his confirmation hearing, Atkins emphasized the need for a clear framework for digital assets. He aims to collaborate with the CFTC and Congress to address jurisdiction and rulemaking gaps, aligning with the Trump administration's goal to position the U.S. as a leader in Bitcoin and blockchain finance.
• Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith has been released from custody. Griffith, whose sentence was reduced to 56 months, is now seeking a pardon. He was initially sentenced to 63 months for allegedly violating international sanctions laws by providing technical advice on using cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology to evade sanctions during a presentation titled 'Blockchains for Peace' in North Korea.
• No-KYC exchange eXch to close down under money laundering scrutiny. The privacy-focused cryptocurrency trading platform said it will cease operations on May 1. This decision follows allegations that the platform was used by North Korea's Lazarus Group for money laundering. eXch revealed it is the subject of an active "transatlantic operation" aimed at shutting down the platform and prosecuting its team for "money laundering and terrorism."
• Blockstream combats ESP32 FUD concerning Jade signers. The company stated that after reviewing the vulnerability disclosed in early March, Jade was found to be secure. Espressif Systems, the designer of the ESP32, has since clarified that the "undocumented commands" do not constitute a "backdoor."

• Bank of America is lobbying for regulations that favor banks over tech firms in stablecoin issuance. The bank's CEO Brian Moynihan is working with groups such as the American Bankers Association to advance the issuance of a fully reserved, 1:1 backed "Bank of America coin." If successful, this could limit stablecoin efforts by non-banks like Tether, Circle, and others, reports The Block.
• Tether to back OCEAN Pool with its hashrate. "As a company committed to financial freedom and open access, we see supporting decentralization in Bitcoin mining as essential to the network’s long-term integrity," said Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino.
• Bitdeer to expand its self-mining operations to navigate tariffs. The Singapore-based mining company is advancing plans to produce machines in the U.S. while reducing its mining hardware sales. This response is in light of increasing uncertainties related to U.S. trade policy, as reported by Bloomberg.
• Tether acquires $32M in Bitdeer shares. The firm has boosted its investment in Bitdeer during a wider market sell-off, with purchases in early to mid-April amounting to about $32 million, regulatory filings reveal.
• US Bitcoin miner manufacturer Auradine has raised $153 million in a Series C funding round as it expands into AI infrastructure. The round was led by StepStone Group and included participation from Maverick Silicon, Premji Invest, Samsung Catalyst Fund, Qualcomm Ventures, Mayfield, MARA Holdings, GSBackers, and other existing investors. The firm raised to over $300 million since its inception in 2022.
• Voltage has partnered with BitGo to [enable](https://www.voltage.cloud/blog/bitgo-and-voltage-team-up-to-deliver-instant-bitcoin-and-stabl

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

Here's a video about the Pacers' offensive adjustments to OKC's extraordinary defense:

https://youtu.be/1LF2Sd1jTXQ

This finals matchup probably has the highest level team basketball I remember seeing.

https://stacker.news/items/1005445

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

The new communication protocol aims to improve the industry with measurable advantages in terms of efficiency and security.

A new study conducted by Hashlabs, in collaboration with the SRI (Stratum V2 Reference Implementation) team and figures like Matt Corallo, Alejandro De La Torre and others reveals how the Stratum V2 protocol can increase miner profitability compared to the current Stratum V1 standard, used for over a decade.

Speaking to Atlas21, Gabriele Vernetti, Stratum V2 maintainer, declared:

“This first case study demonstrates how much Stratum V2 can help miners as well, securing and increasing their profits, in addition to the rest of the network. It’s just a first study aimed at demonstrating how decentralization can be aligned with the profit dynamics typical of the mining sector.

In the future we will also focus on the benefits for mining pool operators, who can benefit from the protocol’s efficiency to lower their operating costs (such as those for bandwidth used by their servers).

The feedback has been very positive: this first study was a joint work with various market players, including miners and mining pool operators. As SRI we want to continue working together with the entire community as done in this case, becoming a reference point for all actors interested in innovating the Bitcoin mining field”.

The research, based on controlled tests with two identical ASIC S19k Pro, with stock firmware, demonstrates that Stratum V2 can increase net profits by up to 7.4%. For an industry that often operates with 10% margins, this could represent a substantial competitive advantage.

The V2 protocol reduces various inefficiencies that plague the current system. The latency in block switching, that is the waiting time created when a miner must change block template after a new block has been mined on the network, goes from 325 milliseconds to just 1.42 milliseconds, a speed 228 times higher. This translates to about 4.9 hours of completely wasted hash power less per year.

Another problem of modern mining concerns “stale shares” – proofs of work that arrive too late to be remunerated, often due to network latency or inefficient communication. However, not all stale shares depend on inefficiency problems. On average, about 2% are rejected for expected reasons, such as when the share doesn’t reach the minimum difficulty required by the pool. This value is considered normal in the sector. The remaining 98%, instead, is caused by avoidable delays. With Stratum V1, miners lose between 0.1% and 0.2% of their computing power this way. Stratum V2 with Job Declaration completely eliminates this waste, provided that the miner and the pool node have the same level of connectivity. This step could translate into a net profit increase of up to 2% by fully adopting Stratum V2 with Job Declaration.

In the Stratum V2 protocol, the Job Declaration Client (JDC) is software that allows miners to receive mining jobs directly from their local Bitcoin node, that is the block templates to work on. The JDC communicates directly with the miner’s local node, receiving updated data for new block construction and immediately sending them to the mining software via Stratum V2. This allows miners to receive jobs in real time from their own node, without having to wait for them from the pool, reducing latency and the risk of working on obsolete jobs. Furthermore, if the pool allows it, miners can build custom templates choosing which transactions to include in the block.

The research also highlights an often overlooked aspect: the loss of transaction fees. With the Stratum V1 protocol, miners lose about 0.75% of potential fees for each block due to the delay in receiving new jobs. Considering that about 52,560 blocks are mined each year, this loss per block adds up to a total of about 74 bitcoins per year, equivalent to over $8 million at current prices.

Beyond economic advantages, Stratum V2 solves a critical vulnerability of the current system: hashrate hijacking. The V1 protocol doesn’t encrypt communications, allowing attackers to intercept and steal up to 2% of computing power without the miner noticing. The new protocol eliminates this risk through end-to-end encryption and authentication.

According to the study, by reducing latency, optimizing share sending and improving security, Stratum V2 enables a potential net profit increase of 7.4%, derived exclusively from technical improvements.

The post Stratum V2 increases profits by 7.4%: “The study shows that profit and decentralization can coexist”, says Vernetti, SV2 maintainer appeared first on Atlas21.

@ 8672c492:14d2af43

SPEC.md - Swift Calculator Architecture

1. Overview

The Swift Calculator is a lightweight, user-friendly calculator application built for iOS using Swift. It supports basic arithmetic operations, a clear/reset function, and a responsive UI.

2. Architecture

The application follows the Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) pattern to separate concerns and improve maintainability.

2.1 Components

1. Model (CalculatorModel.swift):
2. Handles the core logic for arithmetic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division).

3. Manages the current state (e.g., display value, pending operations).

4. ViewModel (CalculatorViewModel.swift):

5. Acts as the intermediary between the Model and View.

6. Processes user inputs (e.g., button taps) and updates the Model and View accordingly.

7. View (CalculatorView.swift):

8. Responsible for the UI layout (buttons, display label).
9. Observes the ViewModel for changes and updates the UI.

2.2 Key Features

• Basic Operations: Supports +, -, *, /.
• Clear/Reset: A C button to reset the calculator state.
• Error Handling: Displays "Error" for invalid operations (e.g., division by zero).
• Responsive UI: Adapts to different screen sizes and orientations.

2.3 Data Flow

1. User interacts with the View (e.g., taps a button).
2. View sends the input to the ViewModel.
3. ViewModel processes the input and updates the Model.
4. Model updates its state and notifies the ViewModel.
5. ViewModel updates the View with the new state.

3. Technical Stack

• Language: Swift 5
• Framework: SwiftUI (for declarative UI) or UIKit (if preferred)
• Dependency Management: Swift Package Manager (SPM)

4. Future Enhancements

• Support for scientific operations (e.g., square root, exponents).
• Dark mode support.
• Memory functions (M+, M-, MR).

@ b1ddb4d7:471244e7

Paris, France – June 6, 2025 – Flash, the easiest Bitcoin payment gateway for businesses, just announced a new partnership with the Bitcoin Only Brewery, marking the first-ever beverage company to leverage Flash for seamless Bitcoin payments. 

Bitcoin Buys Beer Thanks to Flash!

As Co-Founder of Flash, it's not every day we get to toast to a truly refreshing milestone.

Okay, jokes aside.

We're super buzzed to see our friends at @Drink_B0B
Bitcoin Only Brewery using Flash to power their online sales!

The first… pic.twitter.com/G7TWhy50pX

— Pierre Corbin (@CierrePorbin) June 3, 2025

Flash enables Bitcoin Only Brewery to offer its “BOB” beer with, no-KYC (Know Your Customer) delivery across Europe, priced at 19,500 sats (~$18) for the 4-pack – shipping included.

The cans feature colorful Bitcoin artwork while the contents promise a hazy pale ale: “Each 33cl can contains a smooth, creamy mouthfeel, hazy appearance and refreshing Pale Ale at 5% ABV,” reads the product description.

Pierre Corbin, Co-Founder of Flash, commented: “Currently, bitcoin is used more as a store of value but usage for payments is picking up. Thanks to new innovation on Lightning, bitcoin is ready to go mainstream for e-commerce sales.”

Flash, launched its 2.0 version in March 2025 with the goal to provide the easiest Bitcoin payment gateway for businesses worldwide. The platform is non-custodial and can enable both digital and physical shops to accept Bitcoin by connecting their own wallets to Flash.

By leveraging the scalability of the Lightning Network, Flash ensures instant, low-cost transactions, addressing on-chain Bitcoin bottlenecks like high fees and long wait times.

Bitcoin payment usage is growing thanks to Lightning

In May, fast-food chain Steak ‘N Shake went viral for integrating bitcoin at their restaurants around the world. In the same month, the bitcoin2025 conference in Las Vegas set a new world record with 4,000 Lightning payments in one day.

According to a report by River Intelligence, public Lightning payment volume surged by 266% from August 2023 to August 2024. This growth is also reflected in the overall accessibility of lighting infrastructure for consumers. According to Lightning Service Provider Breez, over 650 Million users now have access to the Lightning Network through apps like CashApp, Kraken or Strike.

Bitcoin Only Brewery’s adoption of Flash reflects the growing trend of businesses integrating Bitcoin payments to cater to a global, privacy-conscious customer base. By offering no-KYC delivery across Europe, the brewery aligns with the ethos of decentralization and financial sovereignty, appealing to the increasing number of consumers and businesses embracing Bitcoin as a legitimate payment method.

“Flash is committed to driving innovation in the Bitcoin ecosystem,” Corbin added. “We’re building a future where businesses of all sizes can seamlessly integrate Bitcoin payments, unlocking new opportunities in the global market. It’s never been easier to start selling in bitcoin and we invite retailers globally to join us in this revolution.”

For businesses interested in adopting Bitcoin payments, Flash offers a straightforward onboarding process, low fees, and robust support for both digital and physical goods. To learn more, visit paywithflash.com.

About Flash

Flash is the easiest Bitcoin payment gateway for businesses to accept payments. Supporting both digital and physical enterprises, Flash leverages the Lightning Network to enable fast, low-cost Bitcoin transactions. Launched in its 2.0 version in March 2025, Flash is at the forefront of driving Bitcoin adoption in e-commerce.

About Bitcoin Only Brewery

Bitcoin Only Brewery (@Drink_B0B) is a pioneering beverage company dedicated to the Bitcoin ethos, offering high-quality beers payable exclusively in Bitcoin. With a commitment to personal privacy, the brewery delivers across Europe with no-KYC requirements.

Media Contact:

Pierre Corbin
Co-Founder, Flash
Email: press@paywithflash.com
Website: paywithflash.comPhotos paywithflash.com/about/press

How Flash Enables Interoperable, Self-Custodial Bitcoin Commerce

@ 0403c86a:66d3a378

Exciting news for FOOTBALL fans ⚽! Global Sports Central 🌐 is teaming up with Predyx, a leading prediction market in the Bitcoin ecosystem, to bring you comprehensive coverage of the very first Club World Cup directly on Nostr. This partnership is all about enhancing your experience with the latest news, insights, and interactive features!

The Club World Cup will showcase the best clubs from around the globe, and with our collaboration, you’ll be fully engaged in the action. Predyx focuses on long-term outcomes, allowing you to make predictions on who will win it all. Plus, if you’re not happy with your predictions, you can sell your shares at any time and switch allegiance—after all, it’s a free market!

What You Can Expect:

• Latest News and Match Reports: Stay updated with the latest news, in-depth match reports, and insights from the tournament, ensuring you never miss a moment.

• Market Odds Tracking: Follow the shifts in market odds in real-time, giving you the edge when making predictions and engaging with the action.

• Player of the Day Card: Celebrate standout performances with our Daily Player of the Day card, highlighting the top players from the tournament.

• Game oN Frontpage: Each day, we’ll feature the frontpage of the day, showcasing the most historical matchups and capturing the feel of the game.

• Best Moments Replays: Relive the excitement with replays of the best moments from the Cup, so you can catch all the highlights and unforgettable plays.

• Long-Term Predictions: Engage with Predyx to forecast who will win the tournament and who will take home the MVP award, allowing you to make strategic predictions as the tournament unfolds.

• Easy Login System: Getting started is a breeze! All you need is a Lightning wallet to log in and participate, making it simple for everyone to join in on the fun.

• Lightning-Fast Bitcoin Payments: With the Lightning Network, placing your bets and making predictions is faster and easier than ever. Enjoy seamless transactions while you cheer for your favorite teams!

"Predyx is excited to be part of this innovative partnership," said Derek. "We’re bringing fans a new way to interact with the game they love, all while using the fast and secure Lightning Network."

Predyx is a Bitcoin-native prediction market platform running on the Lightning Network. We’re building the fastest, most trust-minimized betting engine in the world — no deposits, instant payouts, sats-native, and degen-friendly.

Global Sports Central 🌐 Your daily spin around the sports world 🔄 Stay in the loop with the latest scores, stories, and stats.

GSC360 - Where Every Angle Matters

@ f0fd6902:a2fbaaab

https://stacker.news/items/1005372

@ 9ca447d2:fbf5a36d

Japanese investment firm Metaplanet has announced a massive $5.4 billion plan to increase its bitcoin holdings to 210,000 BTC by the end of 2027 — that’s about 1% of the total bitcoin supply.

Metaplanet on X

The Tokyo-listed company is accelerating its already aggressive bitcoin plan, with CEO Simon Gerovich calling the initiative “Asia’s largest-ever equity raise to buy Bitcoin — again!”

The company’s new capital raise, called the “555 Million Plan”, involves issuing 555 million shares through moving strike warrants. That’s basically a type of option where people can buy shares later, and the price they pay depends on the stock’s price at that time.

So with moving strike warrants, the price at which people can buy the stock goes up or down depending on how the company’s stock is doing. It gives investors more flexibility — and it can make the warrants more attractive — because they don’t get stuck with a bad deal if the stock price drops.

This way the company can raise capital gradually over the next 2 years without impacting the stock market and existing shareholders.

The funds raised will be used to buy bitcoin, with some to redeem bonds and other income-generating strategies like selling put options.

This is a big step up from Metaplanet’s previous targets. Initially aiming to reach 10,000 BTC by the end of 2025, the company now plans to reach:

• 30,000 BTC by end of 2025
• 100,000 BTC by end of 2026
• 210,000 BTC by end of 2027

The Japanese investment firm hopes to be in the “Bitcoin 1% club” which means holding at least 1% of the total 21 million bitcoin supply.

Metaplanet bitcoin targets

Metaplanet is already making good progress. As of June 2025, the company holds 8,888 BTC, acquired at a cost of about ¥122.2 billion (around $849 million) and has already reached 89% of its original 10,000 BTC target for 2025.

This comes after the success of the company’s previous “210 Million Plan” which raised ¥93.3 billion ($650 million) in 60 trading days by issuing 210 million shares.

During that time, the company’s bitcoin holdings grew from 1,762 BTC to 7,800 BTC and the BTC Yield (a key performance metric showing growth in bitcoin per share) increased by 189%.

Year to date the BTC Yield is 225.4%.

Metaplanet’s BTC Yield graph

The stock has reflected this momentum, up 275% since early 2025 and 1,619% over the past year.

Metaplanet’s stock price chart — TradingView

Metaplanet is now one of the most actively traded stocks in Japan and has become a top-ten corporate bitcoin holder globally, recently surpassing Block Inc., the company founded by Jack Dorsey.

Metaplanet sees this as part of a bigger shift in capital markets.

By being a “bitcoin treasury vehicle” listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, it aims to offer investors exposure to bitcoin through regulated equity markets. This is especially useful in Japan where retail investors are often restricted from accessing bitcoin directly.

“Bitcoin is repricing the global cost of capital,” the company said in a statement. “Through our 555 Million Plan, Metaplanet is doubling down on a high-conviction, equity-driven capital markets strategy to accelerate our Bitcoin accumulation trajectory.”

@ f0fd6902:a2fbaaab

From my end, it s not one thing but a sentence:

A borderless world in a decentralized economy, where age, sex, race, religion... have not labels in a society where human are sovereigns.

https://stacker.news/items/1005361

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

Passport Prime: A New Security Device For a New Generation

Passport Prime, Foundation Devices’ latest retail hardware wallet, is about to hit the market in Q3 of 2025. The device features a full-color touch screen the size of a credit card with a modern industrial aesthetic. It aims to be a developer platform for Bitcoin and crypto software with high security demands.

Besides serving the basic wallet needs of Bitcoin users, the device is designed as an open source platform for app developers to bring a new experience of crypto-native cybersecurity to the public. The Passport Prime is expected to ship with a powerful Bitcoin wallet app, as well as virtual YubiKeys, a 2FA app, a seed vault for imported or low-value crypto wallets, 50 GB of storage, NFC, and encrypted Bluetooth support, among other features.

Frustrated with the public’s lackluster adoption of hardware wallets as the crypto industry enters the mainstream adoption phase, Foundation has been working since 2020 to bring security hardware devices to feature parity with mainstream consumer technology. However, the path is not simple.

The Adoption Problem of Hardware Wallets

Hardware wallets have been a critical security product for Bitcoin users since 2014 when Satoshi Labs created the Trezor. Before that, users had few options, and many of the funds lost in that era were due to user ignorance of how to manage and properly secure private keys in Bitcoin. Armory, funded by Trace Mayer in the early days, was one of the first solutions but it was highly technical and was best used with hardware the user had to modify themselves — like removing antennas from a laptop. This kind of technology became a security foundation for exchanges, who, through many hacks and hard lessons, slowly got better at securing user funds from organized crime and hackers while playing jurisdictional arbitrage to avoid hostile governments.

As the first hardware wallets started to enter the retail market, significant adoption was seen. With the massive growth of Bitcoin since its inception, the best security practices have failed to keep up with the ease of use provided by custodians while also failing to deliver security and feature parity to users in an interface they are familiar with.

In a keynote presentation on the Passport Prime landing page, Zach Herbert, CEO and co-founder of Foundation, explains their analysis of the market and why they believe only 2.5% of the market is using hardware wallets today, despite mainstream adoption of digital assets like Bitcoin — a concern felt across the industry that too many people are getting accustomed to custodial services.

The small screens, iconic to the hardware wallet ecosystem, are often a barrier for users. The shape of the device, often small and with few buttons, can make people nervous, especially when the wrong combination of clicks means an irreversible financial transaction.

In the case of touchscreen devices like the Trezor T, while certainly an improvement from the Trezor One, the buttons are still far smaller than what the public is used to for smartphones, the most prolific computer platform of this era.

The problem with trying to bring hardware wallets to feature parity with mobile phones is the massive complexity introduced by the corresponding software and hardware. Mobile phones, after all, are designed for mass manufacturing and with ease-of-use priorities in mind, rather than securing life-changing amounts of digital currency, which, once sent, cannot be reversed.

The hardware wallet industry has had to build out open source, verifiable, security-optimized hardware and software that addresses top security concerns, while also delivering a familiar and comfortable user experience to the public. In general, the industry recognizes the need for bigger screens and bigger buttons, as seen in new models by Ledger, for example, with their Ledger Stax, and, of course, Coldcard Q’s Blackberry-style hardware wallet.

When asked why not just try to build on top of a standard mobile phone platform, Owen Kemeys, hardware designer at Foundation Devices, told Bitcoin Magazine that “there’s a huge advantage to Passport Prime being a separate security device,” adding that “we need this stuff to work for the normal people. They are not going to be able to understand or have any interest in understanding what makes something safe or unsafe on their phone. Even if they were going so far as to have a dedicated phone for secret stuff or whatever. Everything that we develop, Apple and Google could bake into their phones and tell you it’s safe. But if it’s in a separate device that is built to do that one exact thing, then you know, OK, if it happens on the Passport Prime, it’s safe.”

The Passport Prime Feature Set

Foundation believes they have found an optimal and preferable middle ground between high security and a familiar user experience in a mobile phone-style device, but with very specific hardware and software inside. Kemeys explained that “the Passport Prime runs its own operating system,” adding that “We’re not running a fork of Android or something and then dressing it up differently. We wrote this from the ground up in Rust. It’s called KeyOS. It’s designed for this one purpose of running a smartphone-like experience, but with sandboxed apps.”

The wallet-related cryptography that’s normal to today’s Bitcoin and crypto wallets is also deeply integrated with the operating system. A master seed phrase is set up by the user; the seed’s corresponding master private and public keys are then used to derive secure, isolated keys for other apps on the Passport Prime. “All apps are sandboxed and receive hardened child seeds, meaning that even if an app is malicious, it has no access to the master seed and cannot communicate with other apps,” Herbert explained in his presentation.

This design builds the foundations necessary for secure app development on top of the Passport Prime, unique among hardware wallet manufacturers. While Ledger has made some progress in that direction, Herbert says that the Ledger operating system is very restrictive with such apps — primarily out of security concerns  — making it difficult for developers to contribute to the ecosystem. Foundation believes they have solved the problem, unlocking a new kind of security device that can be used for more than cold storage of Bitcoin and crypto assets. It is a security platform for everyday use in the digital era.

As is generally expected of high-security devices like a hardware wallet, the Passport Prime comes without most of the normal sensors or antennas found in mobile devices. No Wi-Fi, no GPS, and no SIM card, of course. However, NFC, an increasingly popular communications module in hardware wallets and in payments technology in general, is included. NFC has a very short signal range and depends on power from the device sending the signal, making it a fairly secure protocol and bringing Bitcoin closer to the tap-to-pay credit card experience the general public is used to.

“We now have an NFC reader inside,” Kemeys explained, excited about the innovation space unlocked by NFC chips in Bitcoin. “As part of your onboarding setup, in the box, we’re going to ship three NFC cards with the Prime. And as our default onboarding workflow, we’re going to encourage people to make a two-of-three Shamir setup, and back up the shares onto some of those cards.”

Shamir secret sharing is an old and well-known cryptographic algorithm similar to multisignature schemes in Bitcoin but entirely off-chain. It allows users to grab a master private key and split it into shares that can come together later to recreate and reco

@ f0fd6902:a2fbaaab

The Pallas cat wasn’t known to live on Mount Everest until a National Geographic Expedition in 2019 made a surprising discovery. The research team, made up of scientists from eight different countries, unexpectedly found Pallas feces in the Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal. “It is phenomenal to discover proof of this rare and remarkable species at the top of the world,” said Dr Tracie Seimon of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Zoological Health Program.

These irritated-looking kitties live at high elevations throughout Asia and are considered “super predators,” meaning they are extremely successful at catching their prey. Analysis of scat revealed the feline is surving on pika within the mountain region.

https://stacker.news/items/1005336

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

The Russian government is preparing sanctions against those who violate mining regulations, with fines of up to $25,000.

The Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation has drafted a bill introducing financial penalties and the seizure of cryptocurrencies for miners operating illegally.

The ministerial proposal, currently under interdepartmental review according to Forbes Russia, would grant judicial authorities extraordinary powers over the mining sector. Courts would be able not only to impose financial penalties but also to directly confiscate illegally mined bitcoins.

Fines will follow a progressive scale:

• private individuals: 100,000 to 200,000 rubles ($1,272–$2,544);
• individual entrepreneurs and public officials: 200,000 to 400,000 rubles ($2,544–$5,088);
• companies and corporations: 1 million to 2 million rubles ($12,728–$25,456).

Crackdown on mining pools

Another aspect of the proposed legislation concerns mining pools. If approved, the bill would introduce penalties for those participating in such groups illegally. The government strategy aims to amend the Code of Administrative Offenses, effectively turning illegal mining into a criminal offense with harsher consequences than current administrative fines.

Crypto payments under scrutiny

Beyond mining operations, the new provisions would also target the use of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment outside the official sandbox managed by Russia’s Central Bank. Sanctions for this violation could reach 1 million rubles ($12,728).

Andrey Medvedev, Head of the Legal Department at the Central Bank, emphasized during the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum that “[crypto] illegally used as a means of payment will be confiscated.”

Regional restrictions on mining

Under current Russian regulations, unregistered citizens are allowed to mine domestically provided their energy consumption does not exceed 6,000 kWh per month. However, about ten Russian regions and territories under Russian control maintain specific restrictions.

Operators of mining infrastructures — primarily data center and hosting service providers — will be required to report operational details to Rosfinmonitoring, the national financial intelligence agency, including wallet addresses used at their facilities.

While penalties are tightening, the government recently chose not to extend mining bans to new regions. The government’s energy commission, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, rejected a proposal to ban mining in Khakassia and postponed annual restrictions in Zabaikalsky Krai and Buryatia. However, Moscow has approved a one-year mining ban in the southern part of the Irkutsk region, widely considered the de facto capital of Russian mining.

The post Mining in Russia: fines and asset seizures for illegal operations appeared first on Atlas21.

@ f0fd6902:a2fbaaab

Panpsychism is the view that mentality is fundamental and ubiquitous in the natural world. The view has a long and venerable history in philosophical traditions of both East and West, and has recently enjoyed a revival in analytic philosophy. For its proponents panpsychism offers an attractive middle way between physicalism on the one hand and dualism on the other. The worry with dualism—the view that mind and matter are fundamentally different kinds of thing—is that it leaves us with a radically disunified picture of nature, and the deep difficulty of understanding how mind and brain interact. And whilst physicalism offers a simple and unified vision of the world, this is arguably at the cost of being unable to give a satisfactory account of the emergence of human and animal consciousness. Panpsychism, strange as it may sound on first hearing, promises a satisfying account of the human mind within a unified conception of nature.

For more details: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/panpsychism/

https://stacker.news/items/1005324

@ ae9dc5ef:77f0ed87

I'm excited to announce that Nostr Game Engine just reached its first development milestone: v0.0.

What is Nostr Game Engine?

Nostr Game Engine is built on top of the modular and proven jMonkeyEngine.

What sets it apart? Its internals are being gradually replaced with Nostr-powered modules, turning it into a reference engine purpose-built for decentralized games.

This first release delivers these key capabilities:

Peer-to-Peer Networking

Forget centralized game servers. Nostr Game Engine gives you real P2P multiplayer, using WebRTC for data streaming and Nostr relays for coordination.

Want to dig deeper? This is a draft NIP that is a revised version of this other draft NIP, that details how the signaling works.

WebRTC is already a solid and reliable peer-to-peer protocol, equipped with a full set of NAT traversal capabilities, but its signaling phase typically relies on specialized central servers.

By coupling WebRTC with Nostr, we take signaling decentralized too by relying on a network of dumb public relays that are oblivious to what encrypted data we send to them and are easily replaceable.

(see the documentation for more info)

Nostr Authentication & Gamertags

NGE has a fully managed Nostr Auth flow, with support for NIP-49 encrypted local nsecs and  NIP-46 remote signers.

It also fully handles metadata, including external identities:  your profile picture, display name, and other details can carry over between games, and even from other Nostr clients and communities.

This release is also introducing Gamertags: persistent gaming handles tied to your Nostr pubkey. They are like Xbox Gamertags or the old Discord handle, but they’re decentralized and follow you across any game that supports them (check this draft nip for more info).

Match Making

While matchmaking is planned for a later milestone on the roadmap, this release ships with an early implementation to help test RTC connections.

This initial implementation has the APIs to create lobbies that are discoverable and optionally password-protected. Players can search and filter for lobbies using both client-side and relay-side filtering, depending on what the relay supports.

Right now, you can’t see how many players are in a lobby, and the feature is still a bit rough around the edges, but it's a solid start, and more improvements are coming as we move further along the roadmap.

The cool part? You don’t even need to know Nostr is running under the hood. The engine exposes simple APIs like createLobby, findLobbies, and connectToLobby, the developer can call them when needed, and the engine handles all the relay querying and data stitching behind the scenes.

(see the documentation for more info)

A new Nostr Client Library

The engine uses a new Nostr client library built from scratch, designed for performance, asynchronicity, and memory efficiency. It’s lean, fast, and built to be the foundation for everything that comes next.

Cross-Platform and language of choice

The entire codebase is written mostly in Java, and it builds natively for Linux, macOS, and Windows.

Support for Android, iOS, and Web Browsers is on the roadmap.

What has been built so far?

• Version 0.0, with the core features mentioned above

• Documentation covering the key components of the engine

• An app template to help bootstrap projects and experiment with the engine

• An high performance and portable nostr client library

• A tech demo (more on that later)

So now, you can get a real feel for the engine, see what it does, play around with it, and maybe even start experimenting with your own ideas.

Roadmap

This is just the beginning. There is a full roadmap on the website.

Upcoming milestones include ads, deeper identity features, and tools that make decentralized game development as smooth as possible.

Sea of Nostriches

This is a demo built for this release. 

You start alone in an open ocean with a boat, nothing much at first. 

But as soon as another player joins (another peer), your boat begins sending data directly to theirs via peer-to-peer communication. You’ll see this visualized as a stream of numbers moving between boats in game.

If you have a profile picture set, it’ll automatically appear on your boat’s sail, and you’ll see others’ profile pictures on theirs.

That’s the core of it. 

It is not a real game, as there is nothing really to do, no lag compensation, no score etc… but it is a decent reference, and an “integration test” for this release.

There’s a lot more going on behind the scenes, like how the ocean is simulated or how rendering is handled, but that’s beyond the scope of this post. You can check out the full source code on GitHub, along with native builds for all supported platforms and a portable JAR.

---

That’s all for now! Huge thanks go to nostr:nprofile1qythwumn8ghj7ct5d3shxtnwdaehgu3wd3skuep0qyt8wumn8ghj7etyv4hzumn0wd68ytnvv9hxgtcqypu8xwr40lp96ewdj2fef408wy70gd3carf9n6xu7hrnhq6whpgly925h0z for making this possible. Their support allows me to dedicate full-time effort to this project and contribute to the growth of the Nostr ecosystem.

---

Check out the website at ngengine.org and browse the docs at ngengine.org/docs if you want to dig deeper.

Feel free to come up with any questions. I’ll do my best to answer.

@ 9ca447d2:fbf5a36d

While most Bitcoin companies chase quick wins with flashy marketing and complex trading features, Coinfinity is taking a different path. The Austria-based company has built their entire business model around something most brokers treat as an afterthought: education.

Founded on the principle that Bitcoin adoption requires understanding, not just access, Coinfinity offers something great in the Bitcoin space: a broker that actually wants you to take your bitcoin off their platform.

Their Bitcoin Blinks educational series provides a self-custody-first approach, and Austrian economics foundation make them stand out in a crowded field of crypto casinos.

Coinfinity’s HQ in Graz, Austria

At the heart of this educational mission is Fab, Coinfinity’s Head of Bitcoin Education, whose journey to Bitcoin mirrors that of many who’ve found their way to Austrian economics through pure instinct.

“I always had the feeling that something in the world just doesn’t add up,” he told Bitcoin News when he sat down with us. “Something’s wrong, I don’t know what, but I felt like the foundation of our society isn’t quite fair, I just never knew what it was.”

Sound familiar?

That hunch eventually led him down a rabbit hole of geopolitics, monetary systems, and finally to Andreas Antonopoulos videos on YouTube.

“I basically disappeared from life for about a week, just watching those videos,” Fab recalled. But it wasn’t until he read The Bitcoin Standard that everything clicked.

“I remember it like it was yesterday, I closed the book and thought ‘Holy s***, now I get it.’ That was the moment. From then on, I was Bitcoin-only.”

Many of the best Bitcoin books are in English and translating them is important

Now as Head of Bitcoin Education at Coinfinity and co-founder of Aprycot Media (a German publishing house focused exclusively on Bitcoin), Fab spends his days helping others find that same spark.

And unlike most “crypto” companies, Coinfinity’s strategy isn’t driven by marketing gimmicks or token launches, it’s driven by teaching.

“Our goal is to create educational content that’s so easy to understand that people love sharing it,” Fab explained. “When they share it, they connect with us. Once they start understanding Bitcoin, they choose us to buy it.”

Most companies buy Google ads. Coinfinity builds minds. With their Bitcoin Blinks, 42 short, clear lessons covering everything from subjective value to seed phrases, they’re offering what most brokers won’t: context. Meaning. Philosophy.

“It became quite popular, and we think it’s way more effective for our brand than just buying ads,” Fab said.

And they don’t stop there. When it comes to custody, Coinfinity takes a radically different approach than most Bitcoin brokers.

“When you buy bitcoin from us, you always take custody, either in our in-app wallet where you control the seed, or your own hardware wallet,” Fab emphasized. “Even our lightning feature works the same way you always buy into your own wallet.”

That’s not just a slogan. It’s a core value of the company that runs so deep they’re willing to sacrifice user experience for it. “We never custody your bitcoin,” Fab said. “It’s one of the core values that you custody them yourself.”

Even as fees rise and UTXO management gets harder, Coinfinity stays committed to self-custody. They are open to optional custodial tools in the future, but always paired with education, and always encouraging users to take their bitcoin off-platform when the time is right.

“If we ever offer custodial services, it would only be to help users stack small amounts until they reach a meaningful UTXO size,” Fab explained.

The plan would involve accumulating smaller purchases monthly or weekly until users hit a threshold, maybe a million sats, then withdrawing to self-custody. “We don’t want to play games with your bitcoin. We don’t want to lend it out or earn interest on it.”

Coinfinity emphasizes on self-custody and education, even in its app

The challenge is real though. When new users first encounter Bitcoin, the technical barriers can be overwhelming. “Often causes problems with people just getting into Bitcoin who don’t understand what self custody is” Fab notes.

That’s why they built their in-app wallet, to smooth the onboarding while maintaining their self-custody values. “The in-app wallet was our first step toward optimizing user experience without compromising our core value of bringing bitcoin into self-custody,” he said.

“One of our taglines is ‘bringing Bitcoin to the people’ and we literally mean that. We want to bring bitcoin to them, not keep it from them.”

Another promising thing the company is doing in their operations is using AI to create more content, faster. Podcast scripts, educational summaries, internal tools, Fab’s even feeding Austrian economics PDFs into models to keep the tone on-brand and Bitcoin-only.

“We’re using these tools in our business development and marketing teams to generate more output with the same number of people,” he said. But the future looks even more exciting.

“Maybe one day we’ll have a tutor in the app where you can do a video call and ask ‘What is a Bitcoin address?’ and it will talk back to you naturally, going deeper as you ask more questions,” Fab explained. “That’s absolutely possible.”

The technology isn’t quite there yet for mainstream deployment in their app, but Fab is optimistic. “I’m sure that in the future, this won’t just be used for improving our internal workflow, but for enhancing the content itself,” he said.

It’s not a pipe dream. The tech is already close. The only thing missing is more Bitcoin-native data and companies like Coinfinity are quietly building that layer.

One of the favorite parts of these interviews is asking the builders in the space what they would ask Satoshi if given one question. When I asked Fab what he’d ask Bitcoin’s creator, he didn’t hesitate:

“Did you purposely build Bitcoin based on Austrian economics, or did it just happen by accident?

“All this monetization theory, Bitcoin being a store of value first, is this something you actually thought was possible and had in mind? Or was it just a lucky shot that accidentally gave us the best monetary properties?”

Because if Satoshi had built Bitcoin with a 2% inflation rate, like some other projects, it might’ve worked. But it wouldn’t have lasted.

“He could have made it with 2% tail emission, it still would have been decentralized. But then today, someone might introduce a coin with a fixed supply that could kill Bitcoin,” Fab noted.

Fab suspects the fixed supply wasn’t an accident. And thank God for that.

What’s remarkable about Coinfinity isn’t just their Austrian approach or their self-custody obsession, it’s how they’re proving that education-first Bitcoin companies can compete with the flashy crypto casinos dominating the space.

Coinfinity doesn’t serve U.S. customers. They’re focused on Europe, operating within EU regulations. But what they’re building, honest Bitcoin education, smart tools, and a relentless push for financial sovereignty, matters everywhere.

@ 866e0139:6a9334e5

Autor: Caitlin Johnstone. Dieser Beitrag wurde mit dem Pareto-Client geschrieben. Sie finden alle Texte der Friedenstaube und weitere Texte zum Thema Frieden hier. Die neuesten Pareto-Artikel finden Sie in unserem Telegram-Kanal.

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Die neuesten Artikel der Friedenstaube gibt es jetzt auch im eigenen Friedenstaube-Telegram-Kanal.

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Israel hat eine umfangreiche Serie von Luftangriffen auf den Iran gestartet.

Die westlichen Medien übernehmen natürlich unhinterfragt die faktenfreie Behauptung der israelischen Regierung, dass diese Angriffe „präventiv“ waren.

Das Trump-Regime versucht, dies als einen völlig einseitigen israelischen Angriff darzustellen, der nichts mit den Vereinigten Staaten zu tun habe - eine Behauptung, die man durchaus glauben könnte, wenn man gestern geboren wäre.

Hier ist eine Liste von Schlagzeilen, die wir in Zukunft von der New York Times erwarten können:

• Iranische Angriffe erschüttern Israel in einem unprovozierten Angriff.

• Israelische Familien suchen Schutz bei antisemitischem Terroranschlag.

• Israelischer Verteidigungsminister: US-Campus-Demonstranten wussten irgendwie von iranischen Angriffen im Voraus, was auf eine Koordination mit Teheran hindeutet.

• Trump äußert privat seine Frustration mit Netanjahu über den Iran-Konflikt, dem die USA nur passiv und unschuldig beiwohnen.

• Amerikanische Juden fühlen sich inmitten der sich zuspitzenden Kriege im Nahen Osten verunsichert und nicht unterstützt.

• Meine Meinung: Ich habe bei den Luftangriffen auf Tel Aviv um mein Leben gefürchtet. Niemand auf der Welt kann sich vorstellen, wie das ist.

• Meinung: Besteht die Gefahr, dass die USA in einen weiteren Krieg im Nahen Osten hineingezogen werden?

• Meinung: Stolpern die USA in einen weiteren Krieg im Nahen Osten?

• Meinung: Stolpern die USA versehentlich in einen weiteren Krieg im Nahen Osten?

• Meinung: Werden die USA mit Füßen getreten und in einen Krieg im Nahen Osten hineingezogen, den sie seit jeher um jeden Preis zu vermeiden versuchen?

• USA starten Präventivschlag gegen den Iran.

• Ihre Meinung: Werden die USA in einen dritten Weltkrieg hineingezogen?

• Meinung: Taumeln die USA kopfüber in einen nuklearen Schlagabtausch mit Russland und China?

• Meinung: Der Himmel verdunkelt sich, während nukleare Strahlung über unser Land kriecht, deshalb müssen wir alle zusammenkommen und die Hamas verurteilen.

• Meinung: Die Erde ist ein unfruchtbares Ödland. Nichts bleibt übrig. Schauen Sie nach Ihren jüdischen Freunden.

Dieser Text erschien zuerst auf englisch auf dem Substack-Blog der Autorin.

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LASSEN SIE DER FRIEDENSTAUBE FLÜGEL WACHSEN!

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Wenn Sie auf anderem Wege beitragen wollen, schreiben Sie die Friedenstaube an: friedenstaube@pareto.space

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Sie sind noch nicht auf Nostr and wollen die volle Erfahrung machen (liken, kommentieren etc.)? Zappen können Sie den Autor auch ohne Nostr-Profil! Erstellen Sie sich einen Account auf Start. Weitere Onboarding-Leitfäden gibt es im Pareto-Wiki.

@ 99e7936f:d5d2197c

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

„BORN TUBI FREE“   statt   „VIEL FREE“

Ja, Sie haben richtig gelesen.

Bildung hatte in meinem Elternhaus keinen hohen Stellenwert. Für meine Eltern war es erstrebenswert, ein gutes Heim mit großem Garten, etwas Komfort und gutes Essen zu haben. Sowohl mein Vater als auch meine Mutter hatten starken Bezug zur Landwirtschaft und Nutztierhaltung. Tiere, die keinen Nutzen hatten, waren in den Augen meiner Eltern Luxus. Auch für mich ist es heute wichtig, Zugang zu Grün und zur Natur zu haben. Ich liebe Tiere, die keinen Nutzen haben, und Pflanzen aller Art. Im Sommer stundenlang unter dem Blätterdach eines alten Baumes zu liegen und dem Knacken der Äste zuzuhören, ist für mich Glück.

In meiner Kindheit gab es blökende Schafe und Lämmer statt Klavierunterricht. Wir kletterten bei der Obsternte auf den Baum oder sammelten Fallobst statt im Sportverein zu turnen. Statt Büchern gab es Besuche bei Tante und Onkel, die Geschichten von früher erzählten. Und statt Museumsbesuchen gab es die Werkstatt meines Vaters und das Hobby meiner Mutter, alte Möbel zu sammeln und selbst zu restaurieren. Die Themen des Lebens lernte ich nicht durch Theateraufführungen kennen, sondern durch den Alltag und die Menschen in meiner unmittelbaren Umgebung.

Durch die Schule kam ich erstmals in Kontakt mit der Möglichkeit, dass man Dinge auch abstrakt-theoretisch lernen konnte. Schule war für mich auch ein Ort, an dem ich ganz nebenbei das Sozialverhalten anderer Menschen studieren konnte. Das war für mich als Kind und Teenager ein wichtiges Korrektiv. Aber vor allem habe ich über die Schule gelernt, dass es eine ganze Welt zu entdecken gab, die mir bis dahin unbekannt war. Bildung war für mich nie etwas, mit dem man angibt. Bildung war für mich ein Geschenk, eine Überraschung, eine Freude, ein Anfang von etwas Neuem, eine Hoffnung, manchmal eine Angst, es nicht zu schaffen, aber immer wieder eine Quelle von Verstehen und neuen Fragen. Bildung ist für mich heute eine riesige Landkarte, die ich nach Herzenslust bereisen kann, wenn ich mag. Auf meiner Landkarte gibt es noch so viele weiße Flecken. Ich habe mein Abitur mit 29 Jahren ohne die emotionale Unterstützung meiner Eltern nachgeholt. Meine Eltern ahnten schon, dass sich nach dem Abitur ein „teures“ Studium anschließen würde. Auch das war in ihren Augen Luxus, denn ich hatte ja bereits eine Ausbildung.

Nach dem Krieg hatten viele Menschen gar nicht die Möglichkeit, Schulbildung zu erlangen. Im Vordergrund stand, einen guten Job zu finden, Kinder zu bekommen und etwas aufzubauen, ein Haus zu bauen, sich Urlaub im sonnigen Süden leisten zu können. Frauen, die in den 60er Jahren nicht heirateten und stattdessen studieren wollten, waren in der Welt meiner Eltern nicht sichtbar. Bildung war eine stille Sehnsucht, an die man nicht mal im Traum denken durfte, so kam es mir in meiner Familie als Teenager manchmal vor. Das muss mit dem materiellen Mangel meiner Eltern in ihrer Kindheit zu tun gehabt haben. Ich habe dieses Phänomen auch bei den Eltern von Freunden oder bei Verwandten beobachten können. Materieller Wohlstand schien wichtiger als irgendwelche fernen Ziele und Horizonte. Erst mit fortschreitendem Alter fingen meine Eltern an, sich hobbymäßig und theoretisch zu bilden. Sie besuchten zwar keine Kurse in der Volkshochschule, aber sie kauften sich Sachbücher zu den verschiedensten Themen oder machten Kulturreisen in die neuen Bundesländer. Das war für sie der pure Luxus. Sie besuchten Schlösser und Burgen, mein Vater liebte es, in rustikaler Umgebung oder in historischen Gebäuden an schön gedeckten Tischen zu essen, während meine Mutter die Holzmaserung der Möbel genau betrachtete und befühlte.

Da ich diesen „Bildungsluxus“ aber deutlich vor meinem Rentenalter haben wollte, nahm ich die zähen Diskussionen mit meinen Eltern wegen einer finanziellen Unterstützung meines Studiums in Kauf. Bildung ist ein Grundbedürfnis von Menschen, das von ganz allein entsteht, wenn es nicht aktiv unterdrückt wird. Das hat die Evolution vermutlich so angelegt, damit man ab und zu auch mal das Gewohnte verlässt, um Neues zu entdecken, weil Flexibilität die Überlebenschancen der Spezies erhöht.

Bildung ist ein Grundbedürfnis, und das machen sich natürlich auch die dunklen Kräfte auf dieser Welt zu Nutze.

Das heutige Bild, das ich zum Artikel gewählt habe, habe ich vor ein paar Wochen in dem Viertel, in dem ich wohne, mit der Kamera aufgenommen. Auf einem Plakat konnte ich „VIEL FREE“ in großen Buchstaben lesen und war sprachlos. Ich wusste gar nicht, was mich so bestürzte, als ich das Plakat sah. Aber ich spürte, dass ich dieses Plakat im Bild festhalten musste, weil irgendeine tiefe Botschaft darin lag, die ich mitnehmen sollte. Manchmal verstehe ich Dinge erst intuitiv und anschließend kognitiv.

Dieses Plakat ist eine Werbung für irgendeinen Freizeitpass o.ä., den man in unserer Region erwerben kann. Aber der Anbieter wirbt mit einer bewusst falschen Rechtschreibung (VIEL FREE). Da ich nicht aus einem Bildungshaushalt komme, könnte mir das herzlich egal sein. Aber was mir nicht egal ist, ist das Gefühl, das ich beim Lesen dieses Plakats bekam. Das war ein Gefühl von einem vollen Nachttopf, den man mir über den Kopf schüttet und dabei noch hämisch grinst. Das Plakat hat mich spontan empört.

Ich dachte sofort an die Geflüchteten aus Syrien und Afghanistan, mit denen ich vor ein paar Jahren gearbeitet hatte. Sie hatten dermaßen Stress mit dem Erlernen der deutschen Sprache gehabt. Oft waren die „Lehrer“ in den Sprachkursen keine ausgebildeten Lehrer gewesen. Die Familienväter und die Teenager der Flüchtlingsfamilien fielen teils mehrmals durch die Prüfungen und hatten Angst, deshalb von der Behörde nicht zum regulären Arbeitsmarkt bzw. zum Gymnasium zugelassen zu werden. Die Mütter blieben zum Glück gelassener. Die bestandene Sprachprüfung war die offizielle Voraussetzung für die Teilnahme am ersten Arbeitsmarkt, so hieß es damals zumindest. Wer den Abschluss nicht hatte, erhielt keine Hilfe beim Schreiben einer Bewerbung. Das „Konzept“ der Maßnahme zur Vermittlung in Arbeit, in der ich damals tätig war, sah dies so vor. Ich kann mich noch lebhaft an die Auseinandersetzung mit meinem Kollegen erinnern, die ich deshalb damals hatte. Diese Logik erschloss sich mir nicht, denn man lernt Sprache doch am besten dort, wo man lebt UND arbeitet. Aber zurück zu dem Plakat. Was ich zum Ausdruck bringen möchte, ist, dass es insbesondere in dem Viertel, in dem ich wohne, viele Menschen mit ganz unterschiedlicher Herkunft und mit Kriegserfahrung gibt, die nicht sicher sind in der deutschen Sprache, für die es nicht hilfreich ist, dass Plakate mit einer fehlerhaften Rechtschreibung für etwas werben. Und von der zynischen Qualität dieses „VIEL FREE“ rede ich noch gar nicht.

Wie soll man in einem Land, das man neu kennen lernen möchte und muss, weil man aus einem Krieg geflüchtet ist, die Sprache lernen, wenn man bewusst fehlerhafte Rechtschreibung vorgesetzt bekommt? Und den angeblichen Wortwitz verstehen doch die meisten gar nicht, weil sie, wie gesagt, weder im mündlichen noch im schriftlichen Sprachausdruck sicher sind. Und niemand möchte sich lediglich „frei fühlen“, sondern lieber tatsächlich „frei sein“, oder nicht? Und echte Freiheit hat sicherlich auch nichts mit irgendeiner Plastikkarte zu tun, mit der ich einen Erlebnispark oder ein Spaßbad aufsuchen kann.  

„Frei sein“ bedeutet für mich, dass ich nicht durch psychologische Tricks für etwas interessiert werde, das mich von echter Freiheit ablenken und abhalten soll. Echte Freiheit braucht auch sicherlich keine Plastikkarten mit personenbezogenen Daten. Echte Freiheit bedeutet, dass ich NICHT aus meinem Heimatland durch Krieg vertrieben werde, sondern dass ich mein Leben (und meine Freizeit) nach Lust und Laune so gestalten kann, wie ich das will. Und dazu gehört mehr als ein Besuch im Erlebnispark des Landes, in das ich geflüchtet bin, um zu überleben. Dazu gehört, dass ich die Sprache vor Ort verstehe und selbst sprechen kann, dass ich ein respektierter Teil der Gesellschaft werde, dass ich die gleichen Chancen bekomme wie die anderen, dass ich die finanziellen Mittel habe für Bildung, guten Wohnraum mit Garten und was auch immer, dass ich mobil bin, und dass ich, insbesondere als junger Mensch, meine Familie und eine vertraute Gruppe von Freunden um mich habe. Also „frei sein“ bedeutet, NICHT aus meiner Heimat weggebombt zu werden.

In meiner unmittelbaren Nachbarschaft leben unbegleitete minderjährige Flüchtlinge in einer Wohngemeinschaft zusammen. Das sind höfliche Jungs so um die 16/17 Jahre. Sie lernen die Welt und das Leben gerade erst kennen. Sie haben keinen leichten Start gehabt, sind aber neugierig auf dieses neue Land, in dem sie nun leben. Sie grüßen freundlich und probieren die neu erlernte Sprache aus. Solche Plakate direkt vor ihrer Haustür sind nicht hilfreich. Diese Plakate versuchen, junge Menschen mit ihrem ganz normalen Bedürfnis danach, Neues zu erleben, abzuholen und in eine aktionsreiche Scheinwelt zu entführen, in der es vermeintlich Freiheit und ganz VIEL Spaß gibt. Solche Plakate sind für mich keine unschuldige Werbung für einfache Freizeitgestaltung. Solche Plakate sind einerseits der dezente Wink in Richtung Konsum und andererseits kognitive Platzhalter, mentale Füllstoffe.

VIEL FREE mit Plastikkarten ist in meinen Augen ein aufdringliches Angebot für willkommene Schmerzvermeidung durch Konsum. Es ist Angriff auf Sprache und Denken. Es richtet sich an junge Menschen, die das, was sie in den letzten Jahren hier oder woanders erleben mussten, vergessen möchten. Nach Kriegen oder staatlichen Übergriffen, so wie in der sogenannten Corona-Zeit, geht es immer für fast alle Beteiligten um das Vergessen. An diesem Punkt sind sich die Dynamik von Trauma einerseits und die Täterstruktur andererseits leider immer einig. Deswegen hat es ja auch in der deutschen Vergangenheit funktioniert, Konsum als Schmerzpflaster auf Wunden aller Art zu kleben.

VIEL FREE ist für mich ein trauriges Zeitdokument, das meine Aufmerksamkeit gefunden hat, weil es das Gegenteil von Freiheit, Genießen, Gemeinschaft und vielem mehr darstellt.

VIEL FREE hat mich an meine Eltern in jungen Jahren und ihre Sehnsüchte erinnert, eine traumatisierte Generation, die alles dafür getan hat, materiellen Wohlstand zu generieren, um sich endlich wieder emotional sicher fühlen zu können.

VIEL FREE erreicht nicht die Herzebene, weil es nicht von Herzen kommt.

VIEL FREE ist eine kostengünstige Zucker-LÖSUNG, die den kleinen Hunger und die stille Sehnsucht nach Heimat, Zugehörigkeit, Sicherheit, Frieden, Glück und vielleicht auch nach Bildung stillen soll. Aber sie macht genau das, was Zucker macht. Sie macht nicht satt, sondern weckt den großen Hunger. Man konsumiert dann das Falsche mit all den Folgen, die das hat. Es ist schwer, aus solchen Kreisläufen wieder raus zu kommen.

Wem dienen diese ungesunden Kreisläufe?

Wem dient dieser Konsum, der nicht satt macht?

Wem dient das Vergessen einer traumatischen Jugend?

Was denkt man alles NICHT, während man mit VIEL FREE als mentalem Füllstoff beschäftigt ist?

Was fühlt man alles NICHT, während man Loopings auf der Konsumschiene dreht?

Was macht man alles NICHT, was außerhalb der vorgezeichneten Freizeitzone liegt, aber auch Spaß macht?

Was ist die gesunde Alternative für junge Menschen, egal welcher Herkunft?

Wie können Angebote insbesondere für junge Menschen, die traumatisiert sind, aussehen?

Wo kann man als junger Mensch kostenlos und ohne eine Institution oder ein „Konzept“ im Nacken mit Gleichaltrigen in der Freizeit „abhängen“ und nebenbei Schafe, Obstbäume und andere Menschen aus sicherer Entfernung beobachten?

Wo gibt es solche unschuldigen Oasen?

Wo kann man Trauma „heilen“ oder zumindest die Voraussetzungen für spätere Selbstheilung schaffen?

Wo wird man nicht mit Zucker-LÖSUNG angefixt?

Wo kann man lernen, den eigenen Körper, die eigenen Gefühle nach Trauma wieder zu spüren, zu regulieren und sich dadurch wirklich frei zu fühlen?

Wer vermittelt der nächsten Generation eigentlich, was wir (in den letzten fünf Jahren) gelernt haben?

Vielleicht geht das erstmal über praktische Angebote, über das persönliche Erleben und später dann über theoretische Bildung. Man muss den Wert von Schafen und Bäumen nicht sofort theoretisch erklärt bekommen. Für den Anfang reicht es, wenn man Zugang zu Schafen und Bäumen bekommt und lernt, wie andere mit Schafen und Bäumen umgehen, also Lernen am Modell. Es müssen auch nicht unbedingt Schafe und Bäume sein, das ist, wie Sie bereits gemerkt haben, nur eine Metapher.

Mich haben Schafe und Bäume in gewisser Weise gerettet. Sie haben mir Verbindung angeboten. Ich konnte diese Verbindung am eigenen Leib spüren. Ich konnte spüren, dass ich bin und auch erahnen, wer ich wirklich bin. Sie waren mir ein verlässliches Gegenüber in schwierigen Zeiten, sie haben mich so oft beruhigt, getröstet und gehalten. Die Natur hört zu, wenn keiner mehr zuhört. Sie nimmt Dich an, egal wer Du bist. Sie bewertet Dich nicht. Sie ist unendlich geduldig und ein super Lehrer für alle Fragen, die einem als Kind so einfallen können. Sie weckt Deine Aufmerksamkeit, Deine Neugier, Deinen Wunsch zu Lernen und zu Verstehen. Sie lenkt Dich ab. Die Natur unterrichtet Dich ganz beiläufig. Ihre Sprache ist das kreative Spiel und die Fülle. Diese Anbindung an die Natur hilft mir bis heute, mit Herausforderungen aller Art klarzukommen. Wenn ich nicht weiter weiß oder mich beruhigen möchte und muss, dann gehe ich in die Natur. Danach ist nicht jedes Problem sofort gelöst, aber ich bin wieder zuversichtlich, dass ich auch diese Welle nehmen kann und über Wasser bleibe. Ich spüre mich dann mit all meiner Kraft als einen Teil dieser Welt. Und genau das wünsche ich vor allem den jungen Leuten in meiner Umgebung, die noch so viel vor sich haben.

Du bist geboren, um Dich als einen Teil dieser Welt kraftvoll und frei zu fühlen.

Du bist ein Stück von dieser Natur, die jeden Tag kreativ spielt und immer reichlich von allem hat.

Man sagt: „Schau auf den Horizont, wenn die Wellen hochschlagen.“

Für mich bedeutet das: Wenn Du Dich mit der Natur verbindest, dann hast Du Orientierung, dann fühlst Du Dich selbst. Und wenn Du Dich und Deine angeborene Stärke fühlst, dann bist Du frei. Dann kann Dir kein Problem etwas anhaben. Die Natur heilt sich und Dich jeden Tag auf`s Neue.

BORN TO BE FREE.

BE FREE.

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

Sie sind noch nicht auf Nostr and wollen die volle Erfahrung machen (liken, kommentieren etc.)? Zappen können Sie den Autor auch ohne Nostr-Profil! Erstellen Sie sich einen Account auf Start. Weitere Onboarding-Leitfäden gibt es im Pareto-Wiki.

\ Newsletter per Mail (Die Friedenstaube)\ hier abonnieren\ \ In Telegram lesen -> hier unsere Kanäle\ https://t.me/pareto_artikel \ https://t.me/friedenstaube_artikel \ \ Als Feed in einem Feed-Reader \ https://pareto.space/atom/feed.xml \ https://pareto.space/atom/de_feed.xml \ https://pareto.space/atom/en_feed.xml

@ e096a89e:59351479

Here’s how to make the perfect soft boiled egg in seven minutes using ice water.

Video: https://v.nostr.build/gODN4ihoJal4EhuA.mp4

1. Grab your eggs.

2. Fill a pot with water, put it on high heat, and bring it to a boil.

3. While waiting, fill a bowl with ice and water. Set it aside.

4. Once the water is boiling, gently add the eggs.

5. Start a timer for 7 minutes.

6. When 7 minutes are up, transfer the eggs into the ice water bowl.

7. Let them sit for a couple of minutes before peeling.

(Optional) Make peeling fun - see how big of shell pieces you can get.

1. After peeling, put the eggs back into the ice water for a few more minutes. *This helps them firm up slightly while keeping the yolk soft but not runny.

2. Sprinkle with sea salt flakes and enjoy with whatever you like.

Give a zap if you enjoy this sort of content, and if this yielded good results for you :)

@ b1ddb4d7:471244e7

Jason Lowery’s thesis, Softwar: A Novel Theory on Power Projection and the National Strategic Significance of Bitcoin, reframes bitcoin not merely as digital cash but as a transformative security technology with profound implications for investors and nation-states alike.

For centuries, craft brewers understood that true innovation balanced tradition with experimentation—a delicate dance between established techniques and bold new flavors.

Much like the craft beer revolution reshaped a global industry, bitcoin represents a fundamental recalibration of how humans organize value and project power in the digital age.

The Antler in the Digital Forest: Power Projection

Lowery, a U.S. Space Force officer and MIT scholar, anchors his Softwar theory in a biological metaphor: Bitcoin as humanity’s “digital antler.” In nature, antlers allow animals like deer to compete for resources through non-lethal contests—sparring matches where power is demonstrated without fatal consequences. This contrasts sharply with wolves, who must resort to violent, potentially deadly fights to establish hierarchy.

The Human Power Dilemma: Historically, humans projected power and settled resource disputes through physical force—wars, seizures, or coercive control of assets. Even modern financial systems rely on abstract power structures: court orders, bank freezes, or government sanctions enforced by legal threat rather than immediate physical reality.

Lowery argues this creates inherent fragility: abstract systems can collapse when met with superior physical force (e.g., invasions, revolutions). Nature only respects physical power.

Bitcoin’s Physical Power Engine: Bitcoin introduces a novel solution through its proof-of-work consensus mechanism. Miners compete to solve computationally intense cryptographic puzzles, expending real-world energy (megawatts) to validate transactions and secure the network.

This process converts electricity—a tangible, physical resource—into digital security and immutable property rights. Winning a “block” is like winning a sparring match: it consumes significant resources (energy/cost) but is non-destructive.

The miner gains the right to write the next page of the ledger and collect rewards, but no participant is physically harmed, and no external infrastructure is destroyed.

Table: Traditional vs. Bitcoin-Based Power Systems

Power System

Mechanism

Key Vulnerability

Resource Cost

Traditional (Fiat/Banking)

Legal abstraction, threat of state force

Centralized points of failure, corruption, political change

Low immediate cost, high systemic risk

Military/Economic Coercion

Physical force, sanctions

Escalation, collateral damage, moral hazard

Very high (lives, capital, instability)

Bitcoin (Proof-of-Work)

Competition via energy expenditure

High energy cost, concentration risk (mining)

High energy cost, low systemic risk

Softwar Theory National Strategic Imperative: Governments Are Taking Notice

Lowery’s Softwar Theory has moved beyond academia into the corridors of power, shaping U.S. national strategy:

1. The Strategic Bitcoin Reserve: Vice President JD Vance recently framed bitcoin as an instrument projecting American values—”innovation, entrepreneurship, freedom, and lack of censorship”. State legislation is now underway to implement this reserve, preventing easy reversal by future administrations.
2. Regulatory Transformation: The SEC is shifting from an “enforcement-first” stance under previous leadership. New initiatives include:
   • Repealing Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 (SAB 121), which discouraged banks from custodying digital currency by forcing unfavorable balance sheet treatment.
   • Creating the Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit (CETU) to develop clearer crypto registration/disclosure rules.

The Investor’s Lens: Scarcity, Security, and Asymmetric Opportunity

For investors, understanding “Softwar” validates bitcoin’s unique value proposition beyond price speculation:

• Digital Scarcity as Strategic Depth: Bitcoin’s fixed supply of 21 million makes it the only digital asset with truly inelastic supply, a programmed scarcity immune to political whims or central bank printing.

  This “scarcity imperative” acts as a natural antidote to global fiat debasement. As central banks expanded money supplies aggressively (Global M2), bitcoin’s price has shown strong correlation, acting as a pressure valve for inflation concerns. The quadrennial “halving” (latest: April 2024) mechanically reduces new supply, creating built-in supply shocks as adoption grows. * The Antifragile Security Feedback Loop: Bitcoin’s security isn’t static; it’s antifragile. The network strengthens through demand: * More users → More transactions → Higher fees → More miner revenue → More hashpower (computational security) → Greater network resilience → More user confidence.
  This self-reinforcing cycle contrasts sharply with traditional systems, where security is a cost center (e.g., bank security budgets, military spending). Bitcoin turns security into a profitable, market-driven activity. * Institutionalization Without Centralization: While institutional ownership via ETFs (like BlackRock’s IBIT) and corporate treasuries (MicroStrategy, Metaplanet) has surged, supply remains highly decentralized.

  Individuals still hold the largest share of bitcoin, preventing a dangerous concentration of control. Spot Bitcoin ETFs alone are projected to see over $20 billion in net inflows in 2025, demonstrating robust institutional capital allocation.

The Bitcoin Community: Building the Digital Antler’s Resilience

Lowery’s “Softwar” theory underscores why bitcoin’s decentralized architecture is non-negotiable. Its strength lies in the alignment of incentives across three participant groups:

1. Miners: Provide computational power (hashrate), validating transactions and securing the network. Incentivized by block rewards (newly minted BTC) and transaction fees. Their physical energy expenditure is the “muscle” behind the digital antler.
2. Nodes: Independently verify and enforce the protocol rules, maintaining the blockchain’s integrity. Run by users, businesses, and enthusiasts globally. They ensure decentralized consensus, preventing unilateral protocol changes.
3. Users: Individuals, institutions, and corporations holding, transacting, or building on bitcoin. Their demand drives transaction fees and fuels the security feedback loop.

This structure creates “Mutually Assured Preservation”. Attacking bitcoin requires overwhelming its global, distributed physical infrastructure (miners/nodes), a feat far more complex and costly than seizing a central bank’s gold vault or freezing a bank’s assets. It transforms financial security from a centralized liability into a decentralized, physically-grounded asset.

Risks & Responsibilities

Investors and policymakers must acknowledge persistent challenges:

• Volatility: Bitcoin remains volatile, though this has decreased as markets mature. Dollar-cost averaging (DCA) is widely recommended to mitigate timing risk.
• Regulatory Uncertainty: While U.S. policy is increasingly favorable, global coordination is lacking. The EU’s MiCAR regulation exemplifies divergent approaches.
• Security & Custody: While Bitcoin’s protocol is robust, user errors (lost keys) or exchange hacks remain risks.
• Environmental Debate: Proof-of-Work energy use is scrutinized, though mining increasingly uses stranded energy/renewables. Innovations continue.

Jason Lowery’s “Softwar” theory elevates bitcoin from a financial instrument to a socio-technological innovation on par with the invention of the corporation, the rule of law, or even the antler in evolutionary biology. It provides a coherent framework for understanding why:

• Nations like the U.S. are looking to establish bitcoin reserves and embracing stablecoins—they recognize bitcoin’s role in projecting economic power non-violently in the digital age.
• Institutional Investors are allocating billions via ETFs—they see a scarce, secure, uncorrelated asset with antifragile properties.
• Individuals in hyperinflationary economies or under authoritarian regimes use bitcoin—it offers self-sovereign wealth storage immune to seizure or debasement.

For the investor, bitcoin represents more than potential price appreciation. It offers exposure to a fundamental reorganization of how power and value are secured and exchanged globally, grounded not in abstract promises, but in the unyielding laws of physics and mathematics.

Like the brewers who balanced tradition with innovation to create something enduring and valuable, bitcoin pioneers are building the infrastructure for a more resilient digital future—one computationally secured block at a time. The “Softwar” is here, and it is reshaping the landscape of p

@ 8bad92c3:ca714aa5

Marty's Bent

via me

"The man in the coma" has been a long-running archetype of a bitcoiner on TFTC and Rabbit Hole Recap. Over the years, we've referenced the man in the coma in regards to bitcoin being a backward compatible distributed network that would enable an individual, in the case of our example - a man who fell into a coma, to be able to wake up many years, even decades, after falling into a deep sleep, go back to his bitcoin node and be able to participate in the network and validate his own transactions as if the network was operating the same it was the day he slipped into a coma. As a distributed network, this is one of bitcoin's greatest value props; consistency for the individual running it, no matter the version.

Having spent 12 years engrossed in bitcoin, thinking about it every day, building a media company focused on educating people about the network and the monetary revolution it enables, why it's important and how they can use it. Becoming a managing partner at Ten31, which is dedicated to investing in companies building out infrastructure that makes bitcoin more accessible and easier to use; "the man in the coma" has become a more prominent archetype in my mind.

"The man in the coma" archetype can be described in other ways. For instance, there was an individual by the name of John Doe, who joined myself and Matt Odell on TFTC about seven years ago who went to jail for four years. He was distributing certain goods on the Silk Road for many years and got nabbed by the police while throwing a house party. Unfortunately for Mr. Doe, the goods he were selling via the Silk Road were in the house hosting the party that got busted. Fortunately for Mr. Doe, the police who nabbed him were not privy to the way in which he was marketing and selling the goods. He went to jail for four years, walked out at the end of his sentence, found his bitcoin wallets, recovered them and was more than pleasantly surprised at the magnitude of his wealth.

The forced hodl that was incited by the state throwing him in a cage wound up paying off after four years. Now, I can certainly admit that time is the most scarce asset in the world. Being put in a cage for four years or falling into a coma for a number of years is not ideal. However, there are lessons to be gleaned from the successes that have been realized by "the man in the coma" and the man who was forced to hodl by being thrown in a cage. Unable to access his bitcoin during that period of time to make less than wise decisions.

The main lesson to be gleaned is that doing nothing is oftentimes significantly more optimal than doing something. Too many bitcoiners decide to make rash decisions influenced by the day-to-day happenings on social media or some one-off comment from someone in their personal life that they respect. These comments can be about the long-term viability of bitcoin itself, some prognostications about where the price is going in a short-term to medium-term time frame or simply the social aspects of being associated with bitcoin. All of these factors play into influencing certain individuals deciding to sell their bitcoin in the hopes of buying it back lower, realizing something material in their day-to-day life or jumping off a ship that they've been convinced is about to sink.

In my mind, the only thing listed above that makes a bit of sense to me is realizing something material in your day-to-day life. Selling some bitcoin to purchase something that makes your life better like enabling you to support your family at a critical time and in a way that would not be possible unless you sold bitcoin. That makes sense to me. However, the other two are completely nonsensical. Bitcoin's success is binary. It either succeeds or it doesn't. And if you accept that this is true, success means slowly but surely becoming the global reserve currency and monetary network used by billions of humans on the planet or it goes to zero.

If the former materializes, that means that billions of people are going to be competing for 21 million Bitcoin. There are, by some estimates, $900 trillion worth of assets that are being used to store wealth over the short, medium, and long term. Bitcoin has the potential to subsume a material percentage of that $900 trillion. In my mind, if bitcoin is as good as I believe it is, it should take at least half of that market, if not 80 to 90%. This in and of itself is a gamble. No one can be certain that this will come true. And with that in mind you have to make a probabilistic bet by surveying the world and discerning what the likelihood of bitcoin's ultimate success is.

If you think governments, central banks, and large corporations are going to continue down the path of unfettered expansion of the monetary base, debt, and misallocation of capital, bitcoin, a peer-to-peer distributed cash system that cannot be controlled by any individual. corporation, country, or central bank makes a lot of sense. The debasement, the debt expansion, and the misallocation of capital are driven by fallible humans working in incentive structures that are vulnerable to the fallible nature of the humans working within them.

Human fallibility brings with it the ability to talk oneself out of a position that one knows makes sense and is logical. This is the disadvantage that those who are not "the man in the coma" or "the man in a cage" operate from. Being forced to hodl bitcoin is already and will increasingly be seen as a relative advantage. Many who are in bitcoin today, paying attention to every headline, every pull request and every doubt flung their way will likely get to 2030 and agree that they made worse decisions than the man who was thrown in a cage or who slipped into a coma.

Of course, this isn't a fair introspective conclusion. The man in the coma and the man who was forced to hodl because he was put in a jail cell did not have a decision at the end of the day. Both were forced to hodl due to external or internal forces that, all else being equal, they would prefer not have had to endure. However, the outcome of these two situations will likely be better than the outcome of "the man in the arena" who thinks that by making decisions on the go as a slew of information comes his way on a day-to-day basis will materialize in a larger stack of satoshis.

The reality of the situation is such that no one truly knows where bitcoin is going to go on a day-to-day, month-to-month, or year-to-year basis. Especially at this point with large institutions, nation-states, corporations, and individual states getting into the fray. The only tried-and-true strategy within bitcoin over the long term is to stay humble, stack sats, and hodl like you are "the man in the coma" or the man who was thrown in a cage.

Bitcoin's Volatility Won't End With Institutional Adoption

Leon Wankum challenged the popular "supercycle" narrative during our conversation, arguing that Bitcoin's volatility isn't going away despite massive institutional adoption. While acknowledging that MicroStrategy now holds over 2% of all Bitcoin and won't sell, Leon maintains that leverage will still need to be washed out. He expects another 60% drawdown at the end of this bull cycle, viewing this as a feature rather than a bug of Bitcoin's design.

"Bitcoin naturally washes out leverage, it builds resilience and we don't go through these crazy boom and bust cycles, we go through bull and bear markets and I think that's a net positive." - Leon Wankum

Leon sees Bitcoin's volatility as fundamentally different from fiat's destructive boom-bust cycles. Where traditional markets require central bank intervention to prop up failing systems, Bitcoin's regular corrections create genuine resilience. Bad actors will always enter during euphoric phases, and the subsequent washouts ensure only strong hands remain. This natural selection process, he argues, is beautiful - it's what makes Bitcoin antifragile.

Check out the full podcast here for more on real estate opportunity costs, Bitcoin bonds, and treasury company risks.

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Headlines of the Day

Romania Adds Crypto Terminals to Post Offices - via X

Musk Claims Trump in Epstein Files - via X

Uber CEO Calls Bitcoin Proven Store of Value - via X

Get our new STACK SATS hat - via tftcmerch.io

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Final thought...

The kids really do grow up f

@ b4fade0e:a4d2b56a

Find essential details about the operating hours of the after school program in Anaheim Hills offered by Hillsborough Private Preschool. This structured program runs weekdays and is designed to accommodate working parents while offering children a secure, enriching environment. With flexible scheduling and attentive care, the program aligns with local school dismissal times. Learn about pick-up procedures, supervision quality, and how the program supports academic and social development through structured routines and engaging activities tailored to your child’s needs.

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

I'm solo parenting for a couple of days, so I got lots of activity and not a lot of sleep. I stuck to my fasting window, but didn't stick to OMAD, and mostly ate healthy stuff.

How'd you do on your ~HealthAndFitness goals stackers?

https://stacker.news/items/1005114

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

I know more of the talk is around the Bucks and Giannis, but the Knicks have actually made a huge move already, plus we have some Knicks fans in our midst.

Despite having their best season of the 21st century, the Knicks fired their highly respected coach for not making it to the NBA Finals (which no one expected them to do).

Is this just standard Knicks malpractice? If so, what further malpractice might they commit?

Or, is it part of a legit plan (as unlikely as that seems)? And, if so, what else is in that plan?

The obvious starting place is KAT. I thought KAT had a great season, but he definitely did some dumb KAT stuff in the playoffs. Will the Knicks trade KAT (and whatever else) to land either KD or Giannis? Should they?

If they trade for Giannis, does he play center? If not, they also need a stretch-5, because Giannis can't play next to a traditional big.

KD would be a little cleaner, plus the Suns need a center and supposedly Booker and KAT are buds. KD could slot in at the 4 and give them a starting 5 of - Robinson - KD - OG - Bridges - Brunson

With Hart coming off the bench, that's an awesome 6-man rotation. It's basically what they had, but with KD in place of KAT.

Is KD enough better than KAT for this to be a title team?

What else might be going on with the Knicks?

https://stacker.news/items/1005038

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

The involvement of America’s largest corporations with stablecoins has reached 29%.

According to the latest State of Crypto report published by Coinbase, interest in stablecoins among Fortune 500 executives has seen a significant surge, rising from 8% in 2024 to 29% in 2025.

The study, based on a sample of 100 executives from the 500 highest-revenue U.S. companies, reveals that nearly three in ten said their organization is either planning or seriously considering integrating stablecoins into their business processes.

The growing interest is mainly driven by inefficiencies in traditional payment systems. The executives surveyed identified slow transaction speeds and high fees as the main drawbacks of conventional payment methods.

The survey also found that 7% of Fortune 500 companies are already actively using or holding stablecoins in their corporate wallets.

And it’s not just large corporations getting on board. The study also surveyed 251 financial decision-makers at small and medium-sized businesses with fewer than 500 employees. Among them, 81% expressed interest in using stablecoins — a sharp rise from 61% the previous year. Meanwhile, 46% of these businesses plan to integrate cryptocurrencies into their operations within the next three years.

Transaction volume data confirms this growing interest. Stablecoins have seen significant monthly spikes, with $719 billion in December 2024 and $717 billion in April 2025.

Over the course of 2024, total stablecoin transaction volumes reached $27.6 trillion, surpassing the combined transaction volumes of Visa and Mastercard by 7.7%. At the same time, the number of stablecoin holders surpassed 161 million users as of May 2025, according to Coinbase.

The post Stablecoins: interest from major U.S. companies grows 260% in a year appeared first on Atlas21.

@ 43820409:694a54a4

This is a brief summary.

This is the best article ever created.

You may be wondering why?

Why

Because we made it.

How

• It just is
• Everyone agrees

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Thank you for your attention.

End.

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

Mercurity Fintech to Raise $800 Million for Bitcoin Treasury 

Mercurity Fintech Holding Inc. (Nasdaq: MFH), a digital finance company focused on blockchain-based financial infrastructure, has announced plans to raise $800 million to establish a long-term Bitcoin treasury reserve. The initiative is part of the company’s effort to incorporate digital assets into its financial strategy. 

According to a recent news release, Mercurity intends to transition a portion of its reserves into Bitcoin, supported by blockchain-native custody, staking solutions, and tokenized treasury tools designed to advance yield and extend asset duration. 

“We’re building this Bitcoin treasury reserve based on our belief that Bitcoin will become an essential component of the future financial infrastructure,” said Shi Qiu, CEO of Mercurity. “We are positioning our company to be a key player in the evolving digital financial ecosystem.”

If fully raised and implemented at current market prices, the capital could allow the company to acquire approximately 7,433 BTC, which would make Mercurity the 11th largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, surpassing GameStop’s reported 4,710 BTC holdings. 

The announcement comes during a time of corporate interest in Bitcoin, with 223 companies and entities now holding the asset, up from 124 earlier this month. In total, public firms currently hold more than 819,000 BTC, accounting for roughly 3.9% of the total supply. 

Mercurity’s plans also coincide with its initial inclusion in the FTSE Russell 2000® and Russell 3000® indexes, according to the 2025 reconstitution list. The firm was previously listed in the Russell Microcap Index. Index inclusion is expected to increase the company’s visibility among institutional investors and funds that track major benchmarks.

“Moving from the Russell Microcap to the Russell 2000 shows that investors recognize the value we are creating in blockchain finance,” Qiu added. “Our Bitcoin treasury reserve initiative is the next logical step in this evolution.”

The company noted that the reserve will be managed using institutional-grade custody, on-chain liquidity protocols, and staking-enabled tools to improve capital efficiency. The goal is to not just hold Bitcoin, but to put it to work within a secure, yield-generating structure. By using these systems, Mercurity aims to maintain long-term exposure to BTC while maximizing reserve productivity. 

With this initiative, Mercurity joins a growing list of public companies actively reshaping treasury strategy around Bitcoin, signaling continued momentum in corporate Bitcoin adoption. 

This post Mercurity Fintech to Raise $800 Million for Bitcoin Treasury  first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Jenna Montgomery.

@ 3c389c8f:7a2eff7f

Most of my time on Nostr, relays served content simply based on what was requested. Clients mostly requested follow list based content, and often only if the user requested to 'read' from a particular relay. Very simple, though not ideal. Clients that attempted to offer some 'global' or 'universal' feed made it possible to discover some new things but also served spam, redundant bot posts, and even some malicious things that managed to make it through a relay's filters. Paid relays began to gain some ground, with better filters to reduce spam and malicious content, which has helped a lot to clean up these broader feeds that expand beyond the follow-based timeline. Many of the relays hosted redundant content, too, which is important but it's not the only thing that is. The system still left a lot to be desired, particularly for anyone who has understood the potential behind the client-relay set up. Other concerns, like relay centralization through user concentration, still needed to be discussed and addressed.

Despite the voicing of relay diversity advocates, this system seemed to provide most of what people were looking for to replace their typical social media experience. Still, though, reply spam attacks found their way through, as they do. Web-of-Trust relays began to pop up to help mitigate the problem. Using contact lists and extended contact lists as a method of reducing the prevalence of spam has worked really well, but does have it limitations as to how new users can enter into these social graphs, without already knowing someone who is using Nostr. Also not ideal, but it has been a step forward for Nostr's social media use case. Hosted relay services that offered more diverse policy for a relay to operate under finally began to take some hold for those that wanted more choice and control. Still though, potential had barely been breeched.

It might have been before the WoT relay movement, but of nowhere (not really but it kind of seemed like it), a cat relay appeared within the ecosystem. This silly, fun, cute, clever relay collected notes with the #catstr hashtag and used some fancy image analysis stuff (that I can't explain) to collect notes and images of nothing but cats. Such a simple thing, but that was a catalyst (🥁) moment for Nostr. A relay could do more than just collect notes from following lists?? A couple more iterations of the curated content relay model came to be, driving home the idea that this wasn't some silly pie-in-the-sky concept. It was an aha moment for some, sheer joy for the relay advocates, and a turning point for expanding Nostr beyond the basic social media replacement. Very few client options for simply browsing one relay existed at the time, and while it was novel to see, the rest of the framework to support it was not strong nor very easy to use. Even with this dilemma, the catstr relay set off what has become some of the most interesting and useful innovation that has happened within the Nostr ecosystem since I arrived.

Since then, I have spent a lot of my time on Nostr exploring some of what has been developed on the relay front, experimenting where I have found the opportunity and thinking a lot about where this all could lead. Innovation on both the relay and client sides of Nostr have been expanding, not quite in lockstep, but closely enough that someone like myself can now easily jump onto a client like Jumble.social and get a glimpse into what is happening and get an idea of the potential of what is yet to come. For those working in the relay field, I am sure this feels like one slow moving train. For a client developer, it probably feels a little overwhelming to shift an entire model away from what has worked for something that will work better. As a less-than-technical user who is mostly disconnected from any major development, it's exciting. Relay diversity brings actual utility to Nostr. It also brings the assurances that Nostr offers, which whether we have been subjugated to these problems before or not, it is the main reason why Nostr exists and why we are here using it now.

For most anyone reading this, it probably sounds like some weird, unnecessary history lesson. This is actually one long introduction into a little mini-series of relay recaps though.... I was wondering what I would write about next, and this is it. I may just be a user but I'm an adventurous one and I pay attention, so I'm excited to share some of my thoughts, experiences, and observations over the coming weeks... because exciting isn't a strong enough word for the what I see as possible. :)

@ d57360cb:4fe7d935

Most of life is out of your control. It happens of its own accord. We make plans in our minds but they rarely turn out how we want them to. Look back five years ago and remember the visions and dreams you had of your life. Most likely it never fit the vision you used to imagine. Sure somethings may have came into reality but it’s certain it didn’t go according to plan.

That’s the great myth it never goes as planned and that’s, well it’s okay. We don’t need to hold on for dear life and close ourselves off to life itself.

When life occurs, we have the tendency to want to edit and modify things to our likings. Only it’s impossible. What’s more important is the mind we bring with us to life. If we can enter into every situation with acceptance, things start to feel completely different. This isn’t to say this is some magical fix and everything will be fine. It’s more of a way to eliminate unnecessary mental roadblocks we create.

The outside circumstances don’t matter as much as you think. People will use the things outside themselves as a perpetual hope machine they strive on to escape their present issues. Surely one day it will all change when x, y, and z happen, but the joke of it all is when x, y and z do happen people suddenly look for a, b and c.

Instead of peering off into an imaginative future, ask yourself what mind did you bring to the place your feet are firmly placed in. You don’t need to hope on x, y, or z when you have a mind that can attend to any circumstance.

There’s an old zen story of a man who received a lump of clay, thinking it worthless he discarded it. Another man found it washed up near a river bank. On close inspection he saw a shining light glittering through the clay. He rinsed it completely to find a shining gold bar. It was always gold whether covered in clay or in its purest form much like pure attention is the nature of your mind only its often buried under an endless stream of thoughts.

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

@ 3c389c8f:7a2eff7f

Most of my time on Nostr, relays served content simply based on what was requested. Clients mostly requested follow list based content, and often only if the user requested to 'read' from a particular relay. Very simple, though not ideal. Clients that attempted to offer some 'global' or 'universal' feed made it possible to discover some new things but also served spam, redundant bot posts, and even some malicious things that managed to make it through a relay's filters. Paid relays began to gain some ground, with better filters to reduce spam and malicious content, which has helped a lot to clean up these broader feeds that expand beyond the follow-based timeline. Many of the relays hosted redundant content, too, which is important but it's not the only thing that is. The system still left a lot to be desired, particularly for anyone who has understood the potential behind the client-relay set up. Other concerns, like relay centralization through user concentration, still needed to be discussed and addressed.

Despite the voicing of relay diversity advocates, this system seemed to provide most of what people were looking for to replace their typical social media experience. Still, though, reply spam attacks found their way through, as they do. Web-of-Trust relays began to pop up to help mitigate the problem. Using contact lists and extended contact lists as a method of reducing the prevalence of spam has worked really well, but does have it limitations as to how new users can enter into these social graphs, without already knowing someone who is using Nostr. Also not ideal, but it has been a step forward for Nostr's social media use case. Hosted relay services that offered more diverse policy for a relay to operate under finally began to take some hold for those that wanted more choice and control. Still though, potential had barely been breeched.

It might have been before the WoT relay movement, but of nowhere (not really but it kind of seemed like it), a cat relay appeared within the ecosystem. This silly, fun, cute, clever relay collected notes with the #catstr hashtag and used some fancy image analysis stuff (that I can't explain) to collect notes and images of nothing but cats. Such a simple thing, but that was a catalyst (🥁) moment for Nostr. A relay could do more than just collect notes from following lists?? A couple more iterations of the curated content relay model came to be, driving home the idea that this wasn't some silly pie-in-the-sky concept. It was an aha moment for some, sheer joy for the relay advocates, and a turning point for expanding Nostr beyond the basic social media replacement. Very few client options for simply browsing one relay existed at the time, and while it was novel to see, the rest of the framework to support it was not strong nor very easy to use. Even with this dilemma, the catstr relay set off what has become some of the most interesting and useful innovation that has happened within the Nostr ecosystem since I arrived.

Since then, I have spent a lot of my time on Nostr exploring some of what has been developed on the relay front, experimenting where I have found the opportunity and thinking a lot about where this all could lead. Innovation on both the relay and client sides of Nostr have been expanding, not quite in lockstep, but closely enough that someone like myself can now easily jump onto a client like Jumble.social and get a glimpse into what is happening and get an idea of the potential of what is yet to come. For those working in the relay field, I am sure this feels like one slow moving train. For a client developer, it probably feels a little overwhelming to shift an entire model away from what has worked for something that will work better. As a less-than-technical user who is mostly disconnected from any major development, it's exciting. Relay diversity brings actual utility to Nostr. It also brings the assurances that Nostr offers, which whether we have been subjugated to these problems before or not, it is the main reason why Nostr exists and why we are here using it now.

For most anyone reading this, it probably sounds like some weird, unnecessary history lesson. This is actually one long introduction into a little mini-series of relay recaps though.... I was wondering what I would write about next, and this is it. I may just be a user but I'm an adventurous one and I pay attention, so I'm excited to share some of my thoughts, experiences, and observations over the coming weeks... because exciting isn't a strong enough word for the what I see as possible. :)

@ 1964e236:30dc8bbf

"Do you know how many people can live on Earth at most? Fifteen billion, maybe twenty, if we organize everything really well. But do you know how many people could live across the entire solar system?"

He paused theatrically.

"A trillion. A billion times a thousand. A hundred times our current population."

His eyes gleamed as he looked at me.

"The solar system holds more than enough resources for that many people—and maybe even more. Just imagine such a world: it would have a thousand Mozarts, a thousand Einsteins, thousands of entrepreneurs with more talent than I’ll ever have."

“And thousands of Hitlers,” I thought to myself.

"Your death is the terrible price we must pay for progress," Grok continued. "Every day humanity fails to move forward is a day lost."

He looked me in the eye from thirty million kilometers away.

"In Death Valley, there’s a tiny fish, the desert pupfish. There are only about three hundred of them left, all living in a single small pool in the most inhospitable desert on Earth. That pool used to be much bigger, probably a small sea after the Ice Age, home to millions of pupfish. But today, all that’s left is a salty puddle, and that’s where the last of their kind are crammed together. To them, that pool is the entire world. They can’t even imagine that there’s something beyond it, that there might be an ocean out there with endless resources. Instead, they stay in their little world—and they’re dying out. A few might get lucky, caught by collectors and kept as ornamental fish in aquariums. But most of them will disappear once the pool dries up. Sure, the pool might survive a while longer. But it could also dry out in the next few months. Or, it could rain so much that the salt level drops and the fish can no longer survive."

He paused again.

"I get it," I whispered. "We’re the fish, and you’re pulling us out of the puddle."

"The fish probably think: we’ve got so little space, we need to save resources, control birth rates, that sort of thing. But in truth, there’s only one thing they need to do: find a new pool!"

"What if they don’t want to leave their home?" Maria would’ve asked him now.

"How many times have we stood on the brink of nuclear war in the last few decades?" Grok went on. "Right now, there's peace. But how long will it last?"

"How many nukes did Grok’s own conglomerate have?" I wondered.

"What each individual can do now," Grok said, "is give everything they’ve got in this life to help humanity reach the next level—so we can finally become multiplanetary. So that one single catastrophe won’t wipe out all of humankind. For you, this truth means—and I truly am sorry—that you have to sacrifice yourself for this mission."

I told him I agreed completely. Of course I did. I had no choice.

Then I listened to Feng’s playlist.

@ ea39b0da:29a1710d

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@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

A third of the bitcoins in circulation is now under the control of centralized entities, valued at $668 billion according to an analysis by Gemini.

A study conducted by Gemini in collaboration with Glassnode revealed that centralized actors currently hold 30.9% of bitcoin’s entire circulating supply.

These entities include national governments, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and publicly listed companies. Collectively, these players control 6.1 million BTC, equivalent to approximately $668 billion at current market prices. BlackRock alone holds around 665,635 BTC through its iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) ETF, representing over 3% of bitcoin’s total supply, with a value close to $73 billion.

Source: Gemini

The accumulation of bitcoin by such entities has grown by 924% over the past decade. This increase coincides with bitcoin’s price evolution, which has surged from under $1,000 to over $100,000 during the same period.

Analysts interpret this trend as further confirmation that institutions increasingly view bitcoin as a strategic store-of-value asset. According to the report, the correlation between the rise in institutional holdings and bitcoin’s price appreciation reinforces the case for the cryptocurrency’s mainstream adoption.

One key takeaway from the research concerns the predominant role of centralized exchanges within Bitcoin treasury holdings. These platforms hold about half of the total, although a significant portion of those funds actually belongs to retail clients and individual investors.

Government bitcoin treasuries display distinctive characteristics compared to other institutional holders. According to the study, sovereign wallets show infrequent movements and limited correlation with Bitcoin’s price cycles.

However, the amount of bitcoins held by these governments remains large enough to significantly influence the markets whenever sales or transfers occur, the report states. The governments of the United States, China, and the United Kingdom have acquired most of their bitcoins through legal actions (seizures) rather than direct market purchases. In contrast, El Salvador and Bhutan accumulate bitcoin through intentional and ongoing purchases. According to analysts, while the volumes involved are smaller, these strategic allocations signal a long-term commitment and bolster investor confidence, encouraging broader institutional participation and contributing to market stability.

The research concludes that with nearly a third of bitcoin’s circulating supply now held by centralized entities, the market has undergone a structural transformation toward institutional maturity. According to the authors of the report, this evolution has made price action more predictable and less vulnerable to the speculative extremes that characterized Bitcoin’s early years.

The post Report: centralized entities control 31% of bitcoin’s total supply appeared first on Atlas21.

@ 2e8970de:63345c7a

Sex was the main determinant of whether you survived, but class was a factor; 16% of third-class men made it, compared to 32% of first-class men (although second-class men did worst of all). In contrast 97% of first-class women lived.

https://www.edwest.co.uk/p/the-sexual-revolutions-titanic-winners

https://stacker.news/items/1004837

@ 7460b7fd:4fc4e74b

从“出行规则”看监管逻辑与比特币的制度之道

FATF“出行规则”的治理逻辑与监管者的苦衷

金融行动特别工作组（FATF）在2019年推出“Travel Rule”（出行规则），试图将传统银行体系的反洗钱规制延伸至加密资产领域complyadvantage.com。这一规则要求虚拟资产服务商（VASPs）在转账过程中收集并传递交易双方的身份信息，使这些信息如同“随行护照”般伴随资金流动complyadvantage.com。其背后的治理逻辑不难理解：随着加密货币跨境使用的激增，监管者担心加密交易的匿名性为洗钱、恐怖融资提供了便利通道complyadvantage.com。因此，FATF将传统金融领域的第16号建议（关于跨境电汇信息）更新，明确要求加密交易同样附带发送人和接收人的姓名、地址等识别数据complyadvantage.comcomplyadvantage.com。这一举措体现了监管机构的苦衷：在犯罪分子利用技术躲避监管的现实下，他们感到有责任“补上漏洞”，即便这意味着套用旧有的银行规则到全新的区块链技术上。

然而，落实出行规则绝非易事。首先，不同司法管辖区行动步调不一，FATF多次批评各国实施进度缓慢，许多国家尚未将该规则转化为国内法complyadvantage.com。即使在已经执行的地区，监管部门也面临两难：既要防止非法资金流动，又担心过严管制扼杀金融创新。监管者的“苦衷”在于，他们既害怕被视作纵容犯罪，又担心被指责扼杀技术进步。出行规则要求VASPs收集详尽的客户身份信息，并在交易时与对方机构共享，这在实践中遇到技术和隐私保护方面的阻碍trisa.io。一些国家（如瑞士、新加坡）甚至在无最低金额门槛的情况下要求对所有交易执行该规则，欧盟更规定即使收款方是私人自管钱包也必须提交信息trisa.io。这种高标准加重了行业合规负担，使守法企业叫苦不迭，而不法分子则可能转入地下或转向无监管区域继续活动。可以说，监管机构陷入“猫抓老鼠”的困境：不推行吧，担心放任犯罪；推行过严吧，又恐打击面过广。正因如此，FATF在其2024年报告中承认出行规则的全球落实“严重滞后”complyadvantage.com，这既反映各国执法能力的差异，也凸显了此规则本身在新技术环境下的水土不服。

全球跨境资金与信息的系统性压制

出行规则的推行，从宏观上看是在全球金融体系施加新的“信息围墙”。一方面，它将原本开放的价值互联网重新划分为受监管的透明区和未监管的黑箱区。凡是跨过一定金额门槛（FATF建议为1000美元/欧元）的交易，都必须在链上绑定用户的实名信息complyadvantage.com。这意味着个人的资金流动和身份信息被深度绑定并广泛共享，一举打破了加密货币原有的准匿名特性。这种做法固然提升了追踪非法交易的可能性，但也埋下了系统性压制的隐患。正如业界联盟TRISA所警告的那样，将出行规则机械地套用于公开区块链，实则打造了一个集中存储个人隐私与财富信息的“数据金库”，极易成为黑客、犯罪组织甚至敌对政府垂涎的目标trisa.iotrisa.io。因为在传统银行体系下，账户账本是私密的，第三方难以直接获取交易明细；而在区块链上，一旦将姓名、地址等个人识别数据与公开的钱包地址关联，任何人都能通过链上记录分析出个人的财富状况和社交图谱trisa.io。这种对跨境资金和信息流动的全面记录与监控，实质上构成了对个人金融自由的系统性压制：人们在国际转账时不得不暴露隐私，否则交易将被拒之门外。更有甚者，一些国家已将这一逻辑无限延伸，例如中国公安机关提示即便一笔1000 USDT（泰达币）的转账都有可能被列入重点监控名单binance.com。当连如此小额的个人跨境交易都被严密审查时，金融交易所承载的信息自由流动已大打折扣。

从制度批判的视角看，这种全球范围的信息管制源自某些法律传统下对国家主权和税收控制的执念。在大陆法系传统中，国家往往通过成文法律对经济活动实施自上而下的强力规范，历史上形成了构筑信息壁垒以巩固主权和财政的路径依赖。例如许多大陆法系国家长期实行外汇管制和资本流动限制，以防范资金外逃、维护本国税基。这种做法虽出于主权自主的考虑，却与自由贸易要求的要素自由流动天然矛盾。研究表明，不同法律体系的国家在经贸合作模式上偏好迥异，法律传统差异往往成为国际经济一体化的无形藩篱，甚至导致经济关系的割裂cogitatiopress.com。典型案例如中国，对加密资产和稳定币采取高压监管，正是延续了其在资本项目下的信息管控传统。2024年链上数据显示，中国境内USDT跨境流动规模同比激增400%，日均交易额超过50亿美元binance.com。大量民间资金试图借助稳定币绕开官方的外汇管制，形成了一条隐蔽的“数字资金高速公路”binance.com。对此当局迅速祭出国家安全大旗，不仅将无证出入境资金视为重大风险隐患，甚至明确指出USDT等稳定币已成资本无序外逃的工具，必须强力封堵binance.combinance.com。在这一背景下，FATF出行规则等于为各国提供了一个合法理由，在全球范围内实施对跨境资金与信息的联合围堵：以打击洗钱之名，行资本管制之实。这套机制所产生的结构性效果，是在国际金融体系中嵌入了一种“默认不信任”的基调——跨境资金流动被一律视为潜在不法，必须层层验证、记录在案。其结果不仅压抑了资金与信息的自由流通，也为公民个人头上加装了“数字镣铐”，让人们在国际经贸往来中丧失匿名行动的选择权。

隐私协议的滥用：区块链匿名性的两面

在区块链世界中，隐私与匿名性原本被视作一项珍贵的技术特性，代表着去中心化金融对个人隐私权的尊重。然而，当缺乏法理自洽性和契约中立性的支撑，这种匿名性工具却易被犯罪集团所劫持，成为逃避监管的温床。以太坊上的“Tornado Cash”混币协议就是前车之鉴。作为一个去中心化的匿名交易服务，Tornado Cash初衷在于增强用户隐私，但由于缺少必要的合法约束和内部控制，一再被不法之徒利用：自2019年成立以来，该协议已被用于清洗超过70亿美元的犯罪收益，其中包括朝鲜黑客组织“拉撒路集团”在攻击Axie Infinity游戏桥后盗取的4.55亿美元secrss.com。2022年美国财政部更指出，尽管开发者声称Tornado Cash只是中立工具，但其并未采取哪怕基本的措施来阻止服务被反复用于恶意洗钱secrss.com。最终，美国OFAC直接将Tornado Cash列入制裁清单，以此警示加密行业：缺乏法理支撑的匿名协议，终将因为被滥用于洗钱而招致严厉监管惩罚secrss.com。

类似的情况也发生在波场（Tron）等链上。一些基于Tron的混币机制号称提供端到端加密、零知识证明等技术手段来隐匿交易来源sites.google.com。表面上看，这些系统满足了用户追求隐私的需求，但在现实中却成为电信诈骗、网络赌盘等犯罪链条的最爱。联合国毒品和犯罪办公室2024年的报告披露：Tron区块链上的泰达币（USDT）已成为网络诈骗、洗钱、非法赌博的首选工具int-comp.org。犯罪分子之所以偏爱Tron上的USDT，正因为它具备价格稳定、跨境转账手续费低、速度快等优势，可以在不引人注目的情况下快速大额转移资金int-comp.org。链上分析亦显示，高风险USDT转账有高达83%无法追溯最终去向，犯罪团伙通过混币器、地址拆分等技术手段把资金搞得支离破碎，以至于监管部门难以跟踪binance.com。这背后反映出一个发人深省的现象：当一套隐私工具本身没有内置中立的契约约束（如合法用途的限定或责任追踪机制），那么它的匿名性越强，越可能被不法势力挟持利用。波场USDT的大规模滥用已经引起各方警觉，Tron项目方甚至与稳定币发行商和区块链分析公司合作，成立“T3打击犯罪特别小组”，截止2024年底已冻结逾1亿美元涉嫌犯罪的USDTtrmlabs.comcointelegraph.com。可见，当匿名性的武器落入犯罪网络之手，技术提供者也不得不被动介入“事后补救”，这恰恰说明当初设计时若缺乏法理上的自我约束，最终仍要以行政手段清理残局。

隐私协议被滥用的另一面，还体现在某些区块链应用与既有法律文化格格不入。以太坊上的去中心化预测市场「Polymarket」提供了一种赌博式合约交易平台，用户可以下注现实事件的结果。然而从伊斯兰教法视角看，这类“预测市场”无异于赤裸裸的**赌博（Maysir）**行为——参与者纯粹为了不确定事件的结果赌上一把财富，得利者以他人损失为代价，没有创造任何实际价值blog.zoya.financeblog.zoya.finance。根据伊斯兰金融原则，任何脱离实体经济、以纯粹机会为基础获取收益的交易都被视为不道德且明令禁止blog.zoya.finance。因此，Polymarket之类的平台与伊斯兰法对契约合法性的根本要求完全不兼容。这提醒我们：区块链技术的创新若缺乏契约中立性（即契约不偏离基本的公平与道义原则），就容易触犯某些法律或宗教的底线，从而被视作无效甚至有害的合约。无论是Tornado Cash这样的匿名洗钱温床，Tron链上被诈骗集团操控的资金暗道，还是Polymarket式的“去中心化赌场”，这些系统都凸显出当技术试图凌驾法律和伦理时所面临的巨大风险。它们要么被政府如临大敌般封杀（正如Tornado Cash遭制裁），要么被正义力量反制清理（如Tether冻结波场诈骗资金reuters.com），要么在道义上遭到主流文化的排斥（如伊斯兰世界视预测赌博为禁忌）。这一系列教训昭示：区块链生态中的隐私与创新，必须建立在法理自洽和契约中立的基础上，否则技术越前卫，反噬也越猛烈。

比特币的保守式创新：技术中立与合约合法性的统一

在区块链的众多创新中，比特币无疑是一个特殊的存在。它被称为“保守派的创新”，乃因其在开创数字货币新时代的同时，恪守了一些朴素但持久的原则。首先，比特币的设计追求技术中立。中立并不意味着纵容匿名滥用，而是指比特币网络对任何参与者一视同仁，仅仅按照既定算法规则处理交易，无内置偏见或特殊权限。比特币交易记录公开透明，所有交易在全球共享的账本上广播确认，其匿名性是“假名制”（pseudonymous）而非无法穿透的黑箱。事实上，正是由于比特币交易记录可被区块链分析工具去匿名化，在过去几年中我们看到犯罪团伙对比特币的兴趣有所降低，反而转向了Monero等完全匿名币或Tron-USDT等更隐匿便捷的手段int-comp.orgint-comp.org。Chainalysis的最新报告显示，2024年稳定币已经取代比特币成为犯罪分子使用的主要加密货币，占非法交易量的63%，而比特币在非法用途中的占比显著下降int-comp.orgint-comp.org。这个趋势从反面印证了比特币系统“公开且中立”的特性天然抑制了部分洗钱和犯罪滥用：任何人在比特币区块链上大额频繁作恶，都更容易被全球监管机构捕捉线索，留下破案的蛛丝马迹。

其次，比特币体现了交易确定性和契约精神的统一。在法律体系（尤其是英美普通法和伊斯兰教法）中，一份契约要具有合法性，核心在于当事各方自愿、条款清晰且不违背基本道德。比特币网络上的交易契约以代码方式自动执行，一旦双方签名广播，交易即被不可篡改地记录，一切权利义务随即完结。这种**“交割即结算”的机制提供了绝对的确定性，杜绝了传统金融中常见的赖账、拒付、无限制 chargeback（退款）等不确定因素。比特币不需要中央中介担保信用，依靠分布式共识来保证交易的最终性，这种确定性契合了普通法系对契约履行的重视：契约一旦成立即应严格履行，不得任意毁约。更值得注意的是，比特币没有利息（riba）和债务膨胀的设计**，2100万枚的恒定供应和逐步减半的发行机制，使其更接近一种数字商品而非通过债务衍生的货币nasdaq.com。在伊斯兰金融原则下，收取或支付利息被视为不公正，属明令禁止的行为，而比特币的货币体系天生规避了“利息”的概念nasdaq.com。同时，比特币交易公开透明，每一笔转账都记录在链上且需双方同意才能发生，这与伊斯兰教法要求交易双方充分知情、协商一致的原则不谋而合nasdaq.comnasdaq.com。尽管有人担忧加密货币的投机性带来不确定性（Gharar），但那更多是市场行为层面的波动，而比特币协议本身的运作是清晰明确、不含欺瞒的nasdaq.com。在穆斯林学者看来，如果加密货币被用于合法且善意的目的，它并不必然违反伊斯兰金融核心原则nasdaq.com。例如，中东一些创新项目已尝试将区块链用于公益和慈善，对每笔币交易提取天课（宗教捐献）用于慈善基金，以确保技术符合伊斯兰伦理nasdaq.comnasdaq.com。这种做法其实与比特币“协议中立、用途开放”的精神一致——技术本身不预设善恶关键，在于使用者是否将其用于合乎道义的契约。

换言之，比特币之“保守”，保守在它选择做“数字黄金”而非肆意重塑社会契约。它遵循价值储藏和交换媒介的基本定位，没有内置复杂的金融衍生功能，也不鼓励凭空创造信用泡沫。这种克制让比特币能够较自然地融入现行法治框架：作为一种私人财产和交换工具，比特币交易遵循“你情我愿，金额确定”的简明契约模型，各法域只需按财产或货物的属性去规范它即可。在英美法下，比特币已逐渐被法院视为可执行财产权益，盗窃比特币等同于盗窃有形财物来惩处。伊斯兰世界中，越来越多学者承认比特币具有财产价值，可以作为货币或商品使用，只要不用于赌博等不法用途，即可被视为“清洁”的财富。在迪拜等地，监管机构也探索制定符合沙里亚原则的加密货币监管指南，承认比特币等作为投资和支付工具的地位。这一切说明，比特币的核心设计没有违背人类社会关于契约正当性的根本要求——公平、自愿、透明，以及不伤害无辜第三方的利益。相比之下，许多后来的加密项目试图在隐私、金融工程上“开历史倒车”，结果反而凸显出比特币朴素设计的高明之处：它为维护基本道义预留了空间，通过公开透明防范了极端滥用，用技术手段恢复了契约的确定性和中立性。

历史视角：数字黄金如何推动正和博弈

历史的眼光往往能够校准当下的纷争。在货币演进的长河中，每当权力过度介入导致“恶币驱逐良币”时，人类总会试图寻回更公正稳健的交换媒介。16世纪格雷欣法则（劣币驱逐良币）揭示出，当政府滥铸货币、削减贵金属含量时，真正有价值的硬币（良币）便会被人们藏匿起来，劣币充斥市面yilinhut.netyilinhut.net。但值得深思的是，格雷欣现象并非不可逆的自然规律，而是统治者操控货币所致的扭曲。正如有学者指出的：“劣币驱逐良币并非市场自发，而是‘政府用劣币驱逐良币’的缩影；一旦能够摆脱政府的控制，这一定律就会失效，比特币恰恰旨在让货币摆脱政府控制，让良币重归市场”yilinhut.net。比特币作为现代数字黄金，其出现为全球经济提供了一种从新回归良币的可能。它不隶属于任何单一国家，其价值不依赖特定主权信用背书，而源于全球共识和算力保障的稀缺性。从国际贸易角度看，比特币类似于跨境结算中的黄金或白银——当两个国家缺乏互信或不愿接受对方货币时，完全可以通过比特币这种“中性资产”进行价值锚定交换，从而避开法币汇率波动和政治干预的风险。近年来，一些案例显示，比特币在地缘冲突或关税战背景下扮演了避险工具的角色：有分析指出，由于比特币不受制于特定国家的贸易政策，投资者把它视为对冲关税风险的手段，当贸易争端导致股市下跌时，比特币反倒逆势上涨，展现出独立于国际贸易格局的价值定位nai500.com。这印证了比特币作为“数字黄金”的一个要义：在国家壁垒与货币战争横生的世界里，它提供了一种超脱政治藩篱的价值载体，使得资金能够在更大程度的自由中逐利避险。

更深一层看，比特币蕴含着推动全球从零和博弈走向正和博弈的制度潜能。传统的法币体系常常被国家间博弈所挟持：各国竞相贬值本币以刺激出口、通过货币超发转嫁债务，这种你输我赢的零和心态导致国际金融秩序暗流汹涌。而比特币的兴起为“货币互信”提供了新范式。设想一个场景：若若干主要经济体将比特币纳入储备或结算体系，它们之间反而可能降低竞争性贬值的冲动，因为谁也无法单方面增发比特币来占便宜，大家只有共同维护其价值稳定才有利可图。这种在公开透明规则下的竞争，更接近“正和游戏”，即各方通过合作都能获益，而非此消彼长。有人将比特币视为一种“人类道义契约”，意指它不是某强权逼迫他国接受的货币（如历史上的殖民通货），而是全球无数个体自愿选择的价值共识。它的运行不依赖枪炮和法律强制，而靠的是对规则的信任与技术的确保。可以说，比特币构筑了一个前所未有的“自愿制度”：人人遵守21万块区块的发行上限和去中心化共识，这本身就是人类史上少见的跨文化、跨政治的合作现象。当这种制度逐步深入国际贸易和金融关系，我们有理由期待一个更公平的格局：劣币不再轻易驱逐良币，反而诚实守信的货币会赢得更广泛的使用；国家壁垒不会彻底消弭，但各国将更难通过封锁金融信息来要挟他国或剥夺公民，因为人们手中握有主权无法轻易触及的价值锚。

当然，比特币并非万能良药，它也会经历价格周期波动、面临技术升级挑战。然而，从历史视角出发，它承载的意义堪比现代版的黄金/白银——一种超越民族国家、服务于全球贸易和人类福祉的价值尺度。当年金本位体系在19世纪促进了世界贸易的繁荣，那是因为金银天然具有防范滥发的属性，使各国币值维持相对稳定。而比特币有望在21世纪承担类似的角色：在数字时代为世界提供一个防止无序贬值和信用滥用的“价值中轴”。这不仅是经济议题，更是道义命题。正如卢梭等思想家描述的社会契约，只有当制度建立在自愿与道义基础上，才能实现持久的正和博弈。比特币所体现的，就是这样一种自下而上凝聚的制度工具：它让个人与个人之间、国家与国家之间有机会基于共同利益而非强制权力来协作。一旦“良币”不再总是被逐出市场，人类就可能跳出过去那种劣币横行、以鄙胜良的怪圈，迎来金融领域的道义复归。

结语：拥抱创新契约，重塑监管范式

当下，FATF的出行规则所代表的监管思路与比特币所代表的技术革新，正站在历史的对立面上交锋。一方以安全与主权之名筑墙设限，另一方以中立与自由之实开辟新径。本文从制度批判的角度剖析了出行规则背后的治理逻辑与局限，揭示了过度管制对全球资金与信息流动的系统性压制，也反思了隐私技术在缺乏法理支撑时被滥用的教训。与此形成鲜明对照的是，比特币作为“保守式创新”的范例，展现出通过技术中立与契约确定性来天然抑制犯罪、兼容多元法统的独特优势。历史的回声告诉我们：真正良好的制度应当是使善者获益、恶者难存，其出发点是信任合作而非恐惧防范。

面对这一新旧范式的碰撞，立法者和监管者理应有所醒悟。与其穷尽手段构筑高墙、不惜牺牲公民自由来堵截风险，不如顺应技术发展的大势，拥抱那些内生具有道义契约性质的创新。在反洗钱和金融稳定目标下，监管可以也应该与技术“正和博弈”：鼓励像比特币这样透明中立的系统发挥正面效应，同时针对真正的黑箱匿名工具精确打击；在国际合作中，以开放心态探索新的全球货币协议，避免陷入零和的管制竞赛。只有这样，我们才能既防范“劣币”作乱，又让“良币”留在市井，形成一个既有秩序又有自由的金融生态。比特币之所以令无数持有者怀抱信念，不仅因为其经济价值，更因为其背后蕴含着对更公正更自由的制度可能性的期待。这份期待正在转化为现实的政治倡议，推动立法和监管的变革。在不久的将来，当我们回望今日，或许会发现：正是这一场关于“出行规则”与“数字黄金”的争论，催生出金融治理范式的转折点——让人类第一次有机会以合作共赢的契约，去取代那延续千年的强权博弈。

参考文献：

• FATF. What is the FATF Travel Rule? ComplyAdvantagecomplyadvantage.comcomplyadvantage.com

• TRISA. Recommendations to FATF for Virtual Assets Travel Ruletrisa.iotrisa.io

• E安全. 美国对朝鲜黑客关联加密货币Tornado Cash实施制裁secrss.comsecrss.com

• Rezaul Karim. Stablecoins: The new epicentre of crypto fraud, ICAint-comp.org

• 币圈线人. 凌晨三点的USDT警报：当稳定币变成资本外逃的「数字高速公路」binance.combinance.com

• 最高检. 依法惩治跨境电信网络诈骗及其关联犯罪典型案例spp.gov.cn

• Zoya Finance. Election Betting Markets: Halal or Haram?blog.zoya.finance

• 胡翌霖. 为什么比特币不适用格雷欣法则（劣币驱逐良币）？yilinhut.net

• Reuters. Tether says it has frozen $225 mln linked to human traffickingreuters.comreuters.com

• NAI500财经. 再创历史新高的比特币，究竟是科技股还是“数字黄金”？nai500.com

• Nasdaq. How Cryptocurrency Aligns with Islamic Financenasdaq.comnasdaq.com

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Bitcoin Magazine

Maelstrom Announces Its Fourth Bitcoin Developer Grant Recipient

Maelstrom is announcing that Ron, known online as “macgyver13,” is the fourth recipient of the Maelstrom Bitcoin Grant Program, per a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine. Ron will be working on Silent Payments, as proposed in Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 352. 

“We are excited to be financially supporting Ron, in his mission on integrating Silent Payments into Bitcoin wallets,” said the CFO of Maelstrom Arthur Hayes. “Many merchants and users want to provide/display a single static address that doesn’t change, which is an important, valid and simple use case. With Silent Payments this can still be done, while on-chain address re-use is avoided. Address re-use is a goldmine for the surveillance organisations, and at Maelstrom, we want to help put a stop to it.”

In September 2023, Silent Payments was proposed by Josie Baker and Ruben Somsen. It allows people to create a single, static address to share with friends, use for donations, or post for tips without sacrificing privacy. This eliminates address reuse, a key method used by surveillance firms to track user behavior on the blockchain.

“With many software projects, and perhaps even more so in Bitcoin, taking an idea from a proposal to a fully adopted solution is the hardest part,” Josie said. “In the short amount of time I’ve been working with Ron, I’ve been thrilled at the progress we’ve made and I’m excited to work with him over the next year on Silent Payments adoption with the goal of making an intuitive, seamless user experience while also protecting user’s financial privacy.”

Bitcoin privacy depends on using new addresses, which often requires sender to receiver interaction. Existing static address methods use notifications that increase costs and leak metadata. Silent Payments avoids both interaction and notifications but requires wallets to scan the blockchain. Multi-party input use is not yet proven secure.

Silent Payments aim to implement:

• Zero transaction cost overhead
• No linkability between payments and static addresses
• No need for sender to receiver interaction
• Compatibility with privacy tools and modern wallet features

“My primary focus will be coordinating development and testing efforts within the growing community dedicated to integrating Silent Payments into desktop and mobile Bitcoin wallets,” stated the new grantee of Maelstrom Ron. “By advancing Silent Payments alongside BOLT12 and BIP-353, we aim to enhance privacy and simplify the user experience, paving the way for broader adoption of Bitcoin as a payment solution.”

This post Maelstrom Announces Its Fourth Bitcoin Developer Grant Recipient first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Oscar Zarraga Perez.

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watercolors;

https://stacker.news/items/1004775