@ 86dfbe73:628cef55

Das Konzept der Netzwerk-Öffentlichkeit geht davon aus, dass sich im Internet Suböffentlichkeiten bilden, die als Gruppe über ganz eigene Wissensbestände verfügen. Es handelt sich dabei um einen weiteren Kommunikationsraum neben der massenmedial geprägten Öffentlichkeit.

In den Netzwerk-Öffentlichkeiten wird sich mit Gleichgesinnten ausgetauscht und spezifische Informationen und Sichtweisen werden verbreitet. Politische Akteure werden durch Netzwerk-Öffentlichkeiten autarker. Während das Konzept der Netzwerk-Öffentlichkeit den Schwerpunkt auf das neue Verhältnis zwischen politischem Akteur und Teil- bzw. Gegenöffentlichkeiten legt, konzentriert sich das Konzept der persönlichen Öffentlichkeit primär auf die Nutzer.

Sie oder er sucht sich im Internet Inhalte nach Kriterien der persönlichen Relevanz. Digital können Informationsquellen nach eigenen Bedürfnissen selbst zusammengestellt werden. Gleichzeitig richtet sich die persönliche Öffentlichkeit an ein Publikum aus sozialen Kontakten, wie beispielsweise Freunden, Bekannte, Kollegen oder Familienmitglieder. Eine ‘große’ Öffentlichkeit wird in der Regel nicht angestrebt, obwohl die technischen Voraussetzungen gegeben sind. Zudem ist persönliche Öffentlichkeit durch einen wechselseitigen Austausch und durch Dialog gekennzeichnet. Somit verschwindet in der persönlichen Öffentlichkeit allmählich das massenmediale Sender-Empfänger-Modell.

Das frühere Twitter wäre dafür ein gutes Beispiel. Aus netzwerktheoretischer Sicht bestand es aus den wesentlichen Hubs, relevanten Clustern und Akteuren der öffentlichen Sphäre. Auf Twitter tummelten sich (fast) alle, die an den Semantiken arbeiten: Wissenschaftler, Autor, Künstler, Aktivisten, Politiker aller Ränge, Juristen, Medienleute, allerlei Prominente und Public Figures und Experen für praktisch alles. Das, was wir digitale Öffentlichkeit nennen, fand nicht ausschließlich, aber zu einem bedeutenden Teil auf Twitter statt

Die digitale Öffentlichkeit hat, auf den kommerziellen Plattformen, allerdings aufgehört eine vernetzte Öffentlichkeit zu sein und geht zunehmend in den „For you“-Algorithmen der kommerziellen Plattformen auf. Das bedeutet, dass die neue digitale Öffentlichkeit nicht mehr durch menschliche Beziehungen und vernetztes Vertrauen getragen wird, sondern vollends den opaken Steuerungsinstrumenten einer Hand voll Konzernen ausgeliefert ist.

@ 9c9d2765:16f8c2c2

In the middle of a sun-drenched village stood an old tree. Its trunk was crooked, its bark rough, and its branches reached out like tired arms.

Children ran past it. Elders sat under it. But no one gave it much thought.

Except for Ben.

Every day after school, he sat at its roots and read aloud. He didn’t know why but the tree made him feel listened to.

One day, the mayor announced a new plaza would be built.

“We’ll remove the old tree,” he said. “It’s taking up space.”

No one protested.

Except Ben.

“But it gives shade, and memories, and peace,” he pleaded. “It just… waits. That means something.”

The mayor chuckled. “It’s a tree, boy.”

That night, a storm unlike any the village had seen tore through the valley. Homes were shaken. Roofs blown. People cried.

But one house, a small cottage stood untouched.

The next morning, they saw why.

The old tree, though battered, had shielded it with its branches. Its roots had absorbed the flood. Its strength had held.

Ben stood before it, smiling through tears.

“You didn’t wait for nothing.”

The mayor planted a bench beneath it the next day.

Moral/Theme:

What seems unimportant often becomes the very thing that saves us.

@ 9c9d2765:16f8c2c2

In a quiet village nestled between mountains, lived a humble shoemaker named Ali. He wasn’t rich, but every pair of shoes he made carried a touch of magic crafted not for fashion, but for the journey of the soul.

One stormy night, a little girl named Rita entered his shop. Her dress was torn, her feet bare and muddy.

“I don’t have money,” she whispered, shivering.

Ali smiled gently. “Money doesn’t buy kindness. Sit.”

He made her a pair of soft brown boots. On the inside of each sole, he stitched a star.

“These will guide your steps when the road feels too long,” he said.

She looked up. “Why are you so kind?”

He paused. “Because someone once did the same for me.”

Rita hugged him and disappeared into the storm.

Years passed. The village changed. Ali grew older. His hands slowed. Fewer people came.

One night, as the snow fell heavily, he closed the shop for what he thought would be the last time.

A knock echoed at the door.

There stood a young woman, dressed in fine clothes, holding a pair of worn-out boots brown, with faded stars inside.

“You helped me walk through life when I had nothing,” she said. “Now, let me walk you home.”

Tears welled in his eyes.

Moral: When you give from the heart, the return may take time, but it always finds its way back.

@ 9c9d2765:16f8c2c2

Susan was a quiet librarian in a fading town where people no longer visited the library. Dust coated shelves, and the old wooden chairs creaked from disuse, not presence.

But every week, an old man named Mr. Mark came in. Always alone. Always carrying a black leather journal.

He never borrowed books. Just sat in the corner, writing slowly, thoughtfully.

One day, Susan’s curiosity got the better of her.

"Excuse me," she said gently. "What do you write in there?"

Mr. Mark looked up with a soft smile. "Letters. To people I’ve never met."

She blinked. "Why?"

"Because not all wisdom should die quietly."

He closed the journal and handed her a letter.

To the one who feels invisible: You are not unseen. Sometimes, the quietest souls carry the brightest lights. Don’t dim yours because others don’t notice. Shine anyway.

Susan’s throat tightened. She kept the letter.

Weeks passed. Then one day, Mr. Mark didn’t come.

Nor the next.

After a month, she found a small package on her desk, his journal, wrapped in string.

Inside the cover:

To Miss Susan For those who listen. Keep passing the ink along.

Susan placed the journal on the library counter with a new sign: "Take a letter. Leave a truth."

Years later, the library was no longer silent. People came, not just for books but for the ink that stayed.

Moral:

Words, once shared, can echo longer than a voice ever could.

@ dfa02707:41ca50e3

Headlines

• Twenty One Capital is set to launch with over 42,000 BTC in its treasury. This new Bitcoin-native firm, backed by Tether and SoftBank, is planned to go public via a SPAC merger with Cantor Equity Partners and will be led by Jack Mallers, co-founder and CEO of Strike. According to a report by the Financial Times, the company aims to replicate the model of Michael Saylor with his company, MicroStrategy.
• Florida's SB 868 proposes a backdoor into encrypted platforms. The bill and its House companion have both passed through their respective committees and are headed to a full vote. If enacted, SB 868 would require social media companies to decrypt teens' private messages, ban disappearing messages, allow unrestricted parental access to private messages, and likely eliminate encryption for all minors altogether.
• Paul Atkins has officially assumed the role of the 34th Chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This is a return to the agency for Atkins, who previously served as an SEC Commissioner from 2002 to 2008 under the George W. Bush administration. He has committed to advancing the SEC’s mission of fostering capital formation, safeguarding investors, and ensuring fair and efficient markets.
• Solosatoshi.com has sold over 10,000 open-source miners, adding more than 10 PH of hashpower to the Bitcoin network.

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

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

Source: orangesurf

• Arch Labs has secured $13 million to develop "ArchVM" and integrate smart-contract functionality with Bitcoin. The funding round, valuing the company at $200 million, was led by Pantera Capital, as announced on Tuesday.
• Tesla still holds nearly $1 billion in bitcoin. According to the automaker's latest earnings report, the firm reported digital asset holdings worth $951 million as of March 31.
• The European Central Bank is pushing for amendments to the European Union's Markets in Crypto Assets legislation (MiCA), just months after its implementation. According to Politico's report on Tuesday, the ECB is concerned that U.S. support for cryptocurrency, particularly stablecoins, could cause economic harm to the 27-nation bloc.
• TABConf 2025 is scheduled to take place from October 13-16, 2025. This prominent technical Bitcoin conference is dedicated to community building, education, and developer support, and it is set to return in October. Get your tickets here.
• Kaduna Lightning Development Bootcamp. From May 14th to 17th, the Bitcoin Lightning Developer Bootcamp will take place in Kaduna, Nigeria. Thisevent offers four dynamic days of coding, learning, and networking. Organized by Africa Free Routing and supported by Btrust, Tether, and African Bitcoiners, this bootcamp is designed as a gateway for African developers eager to advance their skills in Bitcoin and Lightning development. Apply here.

Source: African Bitcoiners.

Use the tools

• Core Lightning (CLN) v25.02.2 as been released to fix a broken Docker image. The issue was caused by an SQLite version that did not support an advanced query.
• Blitz wallet v0.4.4-beta introduces several updates and improvements, including the prevention of duplicate ecash payments, fixes for background ecash invoice handling, the ability for users to send payments to BOLT12 invoices from their Liquid balance, support for Blink QR codes, a lowered minimum amount for Lightning-to-Liquid payments to 100 sats, the option to initiate a node sync via a swipe gesture on the wallet's home screen, and the introduction of opt-in or opt-out functionality for newly implemented crash analytics via settings.
• Utreexo v0.5.0, a hash-based dynamic accumulator, is now available.
• Specter v2.1.1 is now available on StartOS. "This update brings compatibility with Bitcoin Core v28 and incorporates several upstream improvements," said developer Alex71btc.
• ESP-Miner (AxeOS) v2.7.0b1 is now available for testing.
• NodeGuard v0.16.1, a treasury management solution for Lightning nodes, has been released.
• The latest stacker.news updates include prompts to add a receiving wallet when posting or making comments (for new users), an option to randomize poll choices, improved URL search, and a few other enhancements. A bug fix for territories created after 9/19/24 has been implemented to reward 70% of their revenue to owners instead of 50%.

Other stuff

• The April edition of the 256 Foundation's newsletter is now available. It includes the latest mining news, Bitcoin network health updates, project developments, and a tutorial on how to update FutureBit's Apollo 1 to the Apollo 2 software.
• Siggy47 has posted a comprehensive RoboSats guide on stacker.news.
• Learn how to run your own Nostr relay using Citrine and Cloudflare Tunnels by following this step-by-step guide by Dhalism.
• Max Guise has written a Bitkey roadmap update for April 2025.

• PlebLab has uploaded a video on how to build a Rust wallet with LDK Node by Ben Carman.

• Do you want more? Subscribe and get No Bullshit GM report straight to your mailbox and No Bullshit Bitcoin on Nostr.

• Feedback or tips? Drop it here.
• #FREESAMOURAI

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@ 472f440f:5669301e

Marty's Bent

via me

Here's a thought that's been rattling around in my head this week and especially today after the FOMC meeting, during which Jerome Powell announced that the Federal Reserve will hold the Fed Funds rate where it is. Much to the chagrin of President Trump, who has been begging Jerome Powell to lower rates since before he even got into office.

A lot of my thoughts around this particular subject are anchored in conversations I've had with our good friend Parker Lewis on the podcast over the last year. When I ask him about when the Fed will lower rates and potentially revert to quantitative easing, he always responds, "When a liquidity crisis emerges." The Fed is always late to respond and it won't lower rates and turn the money printer on until something breaks in the plumbing of the financial system.

As it stands today, and to my shock, no structural liquidity crisis has materialized in the plumbing and the financial system. We've covered many topics over the course of the last six months. Everything from the yen carry trade blowing out to the treasury carry trade blowing out to the micro-financing of DoorDash deliveries to the increase in delinquency rates for credit card and car loans to the dislocation that currently exists between sellers, buyers, and prices in the real estate market. In aggregate, all these disparate indicators signal to me that there certainly are different sectors of the global economy that are experiencing stress. But if we're being honest with ourselves and looking at the empirical data, there have only been tremors of a liquidity crisis, particularly around the yen and treasury carry trades. Which bubbled up, but then quickly went away.

Inflation is still coming in above the Fed's arbitrary target. The unemployment rate is within range of the Fed's arbitrary target. And the stock market is not too far from all-time highs. Granted, we all know too well that the government reported inflation numbers are severely under-reported and do not reflect actual inflation. The same can be said with the unemployment rate which is typically under-reported because economists refuse to acknowledge the participation rate, which is still below pre-COVID levels. When you factor in this data manipulation, the case for keeping rates higher for longer only gets stronger. Especially when you factor in Trump's immigration policy focused on mass deportation, which should be beneficial for American jobs, increase real wages, increase demand for goods and services in the economy and put upward pressure on prices.

Many who are calling for lower rates will feign worry about economic growth and investment, but it's not too hard to read through the lines and see that many of those cheerleaders just want to return to the asset price acceleration that we experienced at the end of 2020, 2021, and the first half of 2022. Worries of inflation and mass misallocation of capital be damned. Start blowing the bubble again.

There were many responses to the tweet I sent out above saying that we need to lower rates as soon as possible due to the amount of federal debt via the treasury market that is being rolled over in the coming years. I can certainly see that argument, but also believe that these people have extremely short memories considering the fact that treasury yields went up significantly last September after the Fed began to lower rates from the 5.5% target that was set previously. Another set of responses to this tweet pointed to the real estate market claiming that American citizens cannot buy houses due to elevated mortgage rates, which is only half true. The other part of the real estate market equation is the prices of the actual homes, which are also elevated. And as I mentioned earlier, there is currently a wide chasm between the number of sellers and number of buyers in the market at the moment, favoring buyers who have a ton of supply to choose from.

Prices are beginning to come down in major markets across the country, which should make conditions more favorable for those looking to buy, even with elevated mortgage rates. It's also important to understand that mortgage rates are derived in part from Treasury yields, which, as we explained earlier, are not guaranteed to fall with a cut of the Fed Funds rate. I am under the impression that to guarantee a lowering of treasury yields alongside a cut of the Fed Funds rate any cuts would have to be paired with QE to bolster demand and artificially increase the price of treasury bonds (which lowers the yield), and QE can't really be justified without a systemic liquidity crisis.

So for those out there shaking their fists at the sky and damning Jerome Powell and the Federal Reserve Board for not lowering the Fed funds rate, I think you're showing your true bias, which is you want to see financial assets artificially skyrocket and for inflation to increase at a faster clip. Saifedean Ammous made a very good point at the end of The Bitcoin Standard, which was that if the only thing Bitcoin succeeded in doing was to force central banks to practice better, more conservative monetary policy than it will have succeeded.

Now, to be clear, I'm not saying that Bitcoin is guiding the decisions of the Federal Reserve, but I think keeping rates higher for longer, increasing the cost of capital so that allocators are forced to weigh the opportunity costs of where they're investing and demanding that entrepreneurs produce truly innovative, productive, and profitable businesses is a good thing in the long run. The vociferous nagging for lower rates is a product of the ZIRP derp that people became accustomed and addicted to post-2008. It's important to recognize that this period of monetary policy is an anomaly and will be remembered as a grave injustice.

I'm not saying ZIRP derp won't return. I still believe it's inevitable at some point in the future. I'm just saying that it seems a bit odd to me to be cheering it on and wishing it would come ASAP. ZIRP derp is a signal that things are terribly broken. Being able to hold rates higher for longer is a signal that people are being forced to make more calculated decisions and they're doing that successfully. Either that or stealth QE in the form of reverse repo markets and amended reserve requirements for banks are delaying the liquidity crisis despite higher rates.

Why the U.S. Won't Go Bankrupt Despite Record Debt Levels

Mel Mattison presented a compelling case that U.S. bankruptcy fears are overblown, emphasizing that America "has a printing press" and can create dollars at will. He argued that the Fed's balance sheet has significant room to expand, currently holding only 13% of Treasury debt—the same percentage it's maintained since the 1940s. Most importantly, Mattison highlighted that deflationary forces from AI productivity gains and demographic shifts (baby boomers leaving the workforce) will allow continued deficit spending without triggering runaway inflation.

"The U.S. cannot go bankrupt. I mean, like we have a printing press." - Mel Mattison

Mattison's analysis shows that interest expense stabilizing around 3% of GDP mirrors the prosperous 1985-1996 period when stocks rose 350%. He views government spending not as reckless, but as necessary stimulus to prevent deflationary collapse in an aging economy. While this perspective challenges conventional fiscal hawks, the historical precedents and structural changes he cites suggest our debt concerns may be fighting yesterday's battles.

Check out the full podcast here for more on AI's impact on jobs, Bitcoin hitting $150k, and why higher interest rates won't crash markets.

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Headlines of the Day

Davis Commodities Puts 40% of $30M Into Bitcoin - via X

Ukraine Bill Adds Bitcoin to National Reserves - via X

Vinanz Raises £3.58M to Expand Bitcoin Mining - via X

Get our new STACK SATS hat - via tftcmerch.io

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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

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

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Final thought...

Ground beef, guacamole and eggs over medium is an elite dinner.

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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/

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@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

The world’s leading bitcoin mining rig manufacturers are moving to build facilities in the U.S. to sidestep tariffs imposed by President Trump.

According to Reuters, the three Chinese giants dominating global ASIC device production — Bitmain, Canaan, and MicroBT — have launched a strategic shift toward the United States, driven by steep tariffs enforced by the Trump administration.

The move is a direct response to American protectionist policies. Trump introduced 30% tariffs on Chinese tech products, heavily impacting a sector where China controls over 90% of global mining hardware production.

Bitmain led the way, starting device assembly on U.S. soil last December, just weeks after Trump’s election victory. Canaan quickly followed, launching a pilot production line in the U.S. to bypass the heavy import taxes.

Leo Wang, Canaan’s VP of Business Development, called the American project “exploratory,” highlighting the unpredictability of current trade policies. MicroBT, the world’s third-largest player, announced it was actively rolling out a U.S.-based “localization strategy.”

Guang Yang, Chief Technology Officer of Conflux Network, noted that “the U.S.-China trade war is triggering structural, not superficial, changes in Bitcoin’s supply chains.”

For American firms, this shift represents “a strategic pivot toward ‘politically acceptable’ hardware sources,” Yang added. The near-monopoly of the three Chinese mining giants — which, according to Frost & Sullivan, accounted for 95.4% of the global hashrate sold in 2023 — has raised national security concerns in the U.S.

Sanjay Gupta, Chief Strategy Officer at Auradine, pointed out the imbalance:

“While over 30% of global bitcoin mining occurs in North America, more than 90% of mining hardware originates from China representing a major imbalance of geographic demand and supply.”

The post Bitmain, Canaan, and MicroBT open U.S. factories to dodge Trump’s tariffs appeared first on Atlas21.

@ 8d34bd24:414be32b

As I read the news over the past week, we’ve heard of Ukrainian drone attacks on Russia’s nuclear attack planes and Russia’s threats of retaliation. We’ve heard of Israel attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities and Iran returning attacks on Israel’s major cities. I’ve read of AI taking jobs, threatening someone trying to turn it off, and refusing to turn off. There are threats of inflation, market crashes, housing crashes, and monetary crashes. There are riots across the US. There are warnings of potential new pandemics or of calls for terrorist cells to awaken and attack. It is easy to get overwhelmed by everything happening in the world. It is easy to become fearful of everything, but God does not call us to be afraid. He repeatedly tells us to “trust him” and to “fear not.”

Do not fear, for I am with you;\ Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.\ I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,\ Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ (Isaiah 41:10)

With all of the crazy going on in the world, it is easy to worry about our jobs, our families, our country, and even our lives, but God does not want us to worry. He wants us to trust in Him in all things.

And He said to His disciples, “For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds! And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life’s span? If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You men of little faith! And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying. For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things. But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom. (Luke 12:22-32) {emphasis mine}

God provides for His own. He doesn’t always provide in the way we wish, but He does provide when we trust in Him. Even when believers die, He provides them a place in heaven.

When we look at the world around us, where everything seems like it is falling apart and/or turning to evil, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus and on eternity.

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18) {emphasis mine}

What we experience here on earth may sometimes be unpleasant, but it is a “momentary, light affliction” compared to the glory of heaven. Just as labor and delivery of a child is hard and unpleasant, but is worth every effort and pain when you hold your child, in the same way our suffering on earth will seem like nothing compared to the joy of being in the presence of our Creator God and Savior.

My Experiences

I used to try to prepare for everything. When I was young, I would say, “a good Girl Scout is always prepared.” When I got married and had kids, I started trying to prepare for anything that might possibly go wrong. I had extra food, water, and medical supplies. I started a garden. I got chickens. I got rid of chickens when I developed a lung allergy and couldn’t breathe.

None of that was wrong in itself. I’d even argue it could be wise actions, but I was relying on myself and stuff to face the troubles of this world instead of relying on God. That was definitely not good and was not the way to peace.

We also got involved in politics. My husband was in the state legislature. I was a precinct person and involved in precinct, county, state, and national meetings. I helped set the platform for our state political party in two elections and helped set the resolutions in another.

None of that was wrong in itself. I’d even argue that Christians are called to be a blessing to our earthly nations, but it wasn’t the way to peace, nor was it putting my time in effort into the most important things.

I’ve been reading my Bible daily for 40+ years and reading the Bible in a year for 20+ years. For more than a decade I intensely studied the beginnings, Genesis and how science and archaeology support every fact in Genesis. That study really taught me the power of God and how He always keeps His promises.

For the past several years, I’ve switched to spending most of my intense study on end times prophecy. Despite the fact that the end times prophecies predict a time of unimaginable hardship, the promises of the rapture, the millennial kingdom, and eternity with Jesus in heaven brings great peace. The crazy, evil, and agony in the world is not the world falling apart, but God’s controlled, merciful judgment on the world. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I don’t just see everything that can possibly go wrong. I trust God with my life and that of my family.

I still have extra food, water, and medical supplies on hand, but I don’t obsess about it, nor do I put all my trust in my preparations. I still vote, but I have pulled back from political life. I have learned to trust Jesus in these difficult times. I try to be wise, but not worry about every thing that could possibly go wrong. I have gained peace.

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe. (John 14:26-29) {emphasis mine}

Studying God’s word enables me to know God’s power, trust His promises, and know His predictions. I don’t need to worry because God is in control of everything that happens in the world.

Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:5-7) {emphasis mine}

I really can know the “peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension.”

What We Need for Peace

Knowing God’s word can give us peace. We can bring Bible verses to mind as reminders of His promises given and His promises fulfilled. I am going to go through a bunch of verses that we can bring to mind when we are feeling worried and fearful. I’ll probably make a few comments, but I want God’s word to speak to you.

When I am afraid,\ I will put my trust in You.\ In God, whose word I praise,\ In God I have put my trust;\ I shall not be afraid.\ What can mere man do to me? (Psalm 56:3-4)

It is hard to be afraid when you are praising God.

While He was still speaking, they came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the Teacher anymore?” But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, said to the synagogue official, “Do not be afraid any longer, only believe.” (Mark 5:35-36)

Once trusting Jesus as Savior, we don’t need to be afraid of anything, just believe.

The Lord also will be a stronghold for the oppressed,\ A stronghold in times of trouble;\ And those who know Your name will put their trust in You,\ For You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You. (Psalm 9:9-10)

No matter what we are going through, God is with us and working through us for good. We are never left alone.

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)

God may allow hard times to come, but it is always for good. There is no pointless pain.

Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. (Deuteronomy 31:6)

It is amazing how we can deal with hardships when we rely on God and not our own power.

For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous,\ And His ears attend to their prayer,\ But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.

Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. And do not fear their intimidation, and do not be troubled, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. (1 Peter 3:12-16) {emphasis mine}

How amazing is it that suffering can actually be a blessing. There is no witness stronger than the person who keeps the faith and has joy and hope in suffering.

Do not fret because of evildoers,\ Be not envious toward wrongdoers.\ For they will wither quickly like the grass\ And fade like the green herb.\ *Trust in the Lord and do good*;\ Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.\ Delight yourself in the Lord;\ And He will give you the desires of your heart.\ *Commit your way to the Lord*,\ Trust also in Him, and He will do it. (Psalm 37:1-5) {emphasis mine}

When we trust in God, commit our way to Him, and delight in Him, we can have joy in any situation.

Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter,\ The one that remains faithful.\ **The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace,\ Because he trusts in You.\ Trust in the Lord forever,\ For in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock. (Isaiah 26:2-4) {emphasis mine}

What a promise! “The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in You.”

I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. (Revelation 2:9-10) {emphasis mine}

Do you think of tribulation and poverty as riches? If you trust Jesus, then you are rich in blessings when you experience tribulation and poverty. God does not promise His people ease in this life, but He does promise to use every pain and hardship for good — for our good, the good of others, and His glory. We need to trust Jesus and not fear.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart\ And do not lean on your own understanding.\ In all your ways acknowledge Him,\ And He will make your paths straight.\ *Do not be wise in your own eyes;\ Fear the Lord* and turn away from evil.\ It will be healing to your body\ And refreshment to your bones.** (Proverbs 3:5-8) {emphasis mine}

I need this verse: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.” I definitely want to lean on my own power and understanding and have to remind myself of God’s power, wisdom, and goodness continually so I lean on Him. You have to love what God promises when we trust in Him alone: “healing to your body and refreshment to your bones.” Doesn’t that sound wonderful?

For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.

Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, (2 Timothy 1:6-9) {emphasis mine}

If you haven’t relied on God for everything for a long time, a call to “join with me in suffering for the gospel” probably sounds crazy, but when we live a life “not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace” we quickly learn how everything in life brings more peace and joy. It doesn’t make it easier or nicer necessarily, but it does bring peace and joy like you can’t imagine.

Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. (1 John 4:15-18) {emphasis mine}

If we repent of our sins and confess Jesus as Lord, the God and Creator of the universe lives in us. Is there anything more magnificent? When we trust in Jesus, “we may have confidence in the day of judgment.” When we love God, He loves us and “perfect love casts out fear.”

What Would I Do?

My son with Down Syndrome loves watching this show called “Mayday, Air Disaster.” It goes through different, real plane crashes and reviews how they figured out why the plane crashed. Sometimes everyone dies. Sometimes everyone lives. Sometimes some live and some die.

Watching this show and seeing the people (in reenactments) screaming in terror as the plane plummets to the ground makes me wonder how I would react in a similar circumstance. If I wasn’t a Christian, I’d probably never set foot on a plane again after watching the show. I’d like to think I would be like Jesus calmly praying “into thy hands I commit my spirit,” but I might be frantically gripping the armrests and screaming like the rest. I don’t guess anyone truly knows until they experience something like that.

Whatever the case, whether we act in perfect faith or whether we have a moment of weakness in fear of danger, pain, and the unknown, Jesus will be there with us, if we have trusted in Jesus as Savior. Everything is better with Jesus.

May our Lord, Creator, and Savior keep us in total faith, love, peace, and joy in Him so that we do not fear, no matter what trials we face. May He help us to lean on Him and not try to do everything ourselves or rely on stuff. May our faithful service and hope during trial glorify Him and draw many to Him.

Trust Jesus

@ 39cc53c9:27168656

Read the original blog post

After almost 3 months of work, we've completed the redesign of kycnot.me. More modern and with many new features.

Privacy remains the foundation - everything still works with JavaScript disabled. If you enable JS, you will get some nice-to-have features like lazy loading and smoother page transitions, but nothing essential requires it.

User Accounts

We've introduced user accounts that require zero personal information:

• Secret user tokens - no email, no phone number, no personal data
• Randomly generated usernames for default privacy and fairness
• Karma system that rewards contributions and unlocks features: custom display names, profile pictures, and more.

Reviews and Community Discussions

On the previous sites, I was using third party open source tools for the comments and discussions. This time, I've built my own from scratch, fully integrated into the site, without JavaScript requirements.

Everyone can share their experiences and help others make informed decisions:

• Ratings: Comments can have a 1-5 star rating attached. You can have one rating per service and it will affect the overall user score.
• Discussions: These are normal comments, you can add them on any listed service.

Comment Moderation

I was strugling to keep up with moderation on the old site. For this, we've implemented an AI-powered moderation system that:

• Auto-approves legitimate comments instantly
• Flags suspicious content for human review
• Keeps discussions valuable by minimizing spam

The AI still can mark comments for human review, but most comments will get approved automatically by this system. The AI also makes summaries of the comments to help you understand the overall sentiment of the community.

Powerful Search & Filtering

Finding exactly what you need is now easier:

• Advanced filtering system with many parameters. You can even filter by attributes to pinpoint services with specific features.

The results are dynamic and shuffle services with identical scores for fairness.

See all listings

Listings are now added as 'Community Contributed' by default. This means that you can still find them in the search results, but they will be clearly marked as such.

Updated Scoring System

New dual-score approach provides more nuanced service evaluations:

• Privacy Score: Measures how well a service protects your personal information and data

• Trust Score: Assesses reliability, security, and overall reputation

• Combined into a weighted Overall Score for quick comparisons

• Completely transparent and open source calculation algorithm. No manual tweaking or hidden factors.

AI-Powered Terms of Service Analysis

Basically, a TLDR summary for Terms of Service:

• Automated system extracts the most important points from complex ToS documents
• Clear summaries
• Updated monthly to catch any changes

The ToS document is hashed and only will be updated if there are any changes.

Service Events and Timelines

Track the complete history of any service, on each service page you can see the timeline of events. There are two types of events:

• Automatic events: Created by the system whenever something about a service changes, like its description, supported currencies, attributes, verification status…
• Manual events: Added by admins when there’s important news, such as a service going offline, being hacked, acquired, shut down, or other major updates.

There is also a global timeline view available at /events

Notification System

Since we now have user accounts, we built a notifiaction system so you can stay informed about anything:

• Notifications for comment replies and status changes
• Watch any comment to get notified for new replies.
• Subscribe to services to monitor events and updates
• Notification customization.

Coming soon: Third-party privacy-preserving notifications integration with Telegram, Ntfy.sh, webhooks...

Service Suggestions

Anyone with an account can suggest a new service via the suggestion form. After submitting, you'll receive a tracking page where you can follow the status of your suggestion and communicate directly with admins.

All new suggestions start as "unlisted" — they won't appear in search results until reviewed. Our team checks each submission to ensure it's not spam or inappropriate. If similar services already exist, you'll be shown possible duplicates and can choose to submit your suggestion as an edit instead.

You can always check the progress of your suggestion, respond to moderator questions, and see when it goes live, everything will also be notified to your account. This process ensures high-quality listings and a collaborative approach to building the directory.

---

These are some of the main features we already have, but there are many more small changes and improvements that you will find when using the site.

What's Next?

This is just the beginning. We will be constantly working to improve KYCnot.me and add more features that help you preserve your privacy.

Remember: True financial freedom requires the right to privacy. Stay KYC-free!

@ 0a80b7ba:cabb9ba4

Life doesn’t always go as planned. Even in the most loving families, challenges arise—whether it’s growing distance between partners, a child struggling emotionally, or the daily stress that builds up into anxiety. When these moments feel too big to handle alone, therapy can offer a path toward healing, understanding, and reconnection.

At Evolution Psychotherapy, we’re proud to support families across Toronto with compassionate, personalized care. From couples counselling to child therapy and evidence-based anxiety treatment in Toronto residents can rely on, we help individuals and families find strength, stability, and clarity—together and within.

When Relationships Feel Stuck: How Couples Therapy Helps

All relationships go through ups and downs. But when communication starts to break down, arguments become more frequent, or emotional intimacy fades, it may be time to seek outside support. Couples counselling is not about choosing sides—it’s about learning how to work together again.

At Evolution Psychotherapy, our therapists provide a safe, neutral space where both partners can express themselves openly and feel heard. Using proven techniques such as Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), we help couples uncover deeper emotional needs, resolve conflict with empathy, and rebuild trust. Whether you’re dealing with major life transitions, parenting stress, or simply want to reconnect, couples counselling can be the reset your relationship needs.

Supporting Kids Through Big Feelings

Children feel things deeply, but they often struggle to express those emotions in words. As a result, stress, anxiety, or grief may show up as tantrums, withdrawal, or changes in behavior. That’s where child therapy can play a powerful role in helping young minds process their world.

Our therapists work with children using age-appropriate approaches, such as play therapy and expressive arts, to help them feel safe and understood. We collaborate closely with parents too—offering guidance, insight, and strategies to support your child’s emotional well-being at home. Whether your child is coping with family changes, school stress, or emotional challenges, child therapy provides the tools to help them grow, adapt, and thrive.

Managing Anxiety with Care and Confidence

Anxiety is one of the most common mental health challenges in today’s fast-paced world—and it doesn’t discriminate by age or background. If you or a loved one find yourself overwhelmed by racing thoughts, panic, or constant worry, you’re not alone. Fortunately, effective anxiety treatment Toronto residents trust is available.

At Evolution Psychotherapy, we tailor treatment plans to each client’s unique experience with anxiety. Our approach often includes Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), mindfulness strategies, and emotion regulation techniques to help reduce symptoms and promote resilience. Whether you're navigating social anxiety, generalized worry, or panic attacks, anxiety treatment Toronto programs offer hope and relief.

A Holistic Approach to Family Wellness

Mental health doesn’t exist in a vacuum. That’s why we take a holistic view—recognizing how individuals, relationships, and family dynamics all interact. Whether it’s through couples counselling, child therapy, or focused anxiety treatment Toronto clients seek out for lasting change, our goal is always the same: to help you move forward with greater clarity, connection, and peace of mind. When you’re ready, we’re here. At Evolution Psychotherapy, we walk alongside you—offering the support, tools, and insights you need to build a healthier future, one step at a time.

@ 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

@ 39cc53c9:27168656

Read the original blog post

The new website is finally live! I put in a lot of hard work over the past months on it. I'm proud to say that it's out now and it looks pretty cool, at least to me!

Why rewrite it all?

The old kycnot.me site was built using Python with Flask about two years ago. Since then, I've gained a lot more experience with Golang and coding in general. Trying to update that old codebase, which had a lot of design flaws, would have been a bad idea. It would have been like building on an unstable foundation.

That's why I made the decision to rewrite the entire application. Initially, I chose to use SvelteKit with JavaScript. I did manage to create a stable site that looked similar to the new one, but it required Jav aScript to work. As I kept coding, I started feeling like I was repeating "the Python mistake". I was writing the app in a language I wasn't very familiar with (just like when I was learning Python at that mom ent), and I wasn't happy with the code. It felt like spaghetti code all the time.

So, I made a complete U-turn and started over, this time using Golang. While I'm not as proficient in Golang as I am in Python now, I find it to be a very enjoyable language to code with. Most aof my recent pr ojects have been written in Golang, and I'm getting the hang of it. I tried to make the best decisions I could and structure the code as well as possible. Of course, there's still room for improvement, which I'll address in future updates.

Now I have a more maintainable website that can scale much better. It uses a real database instead of a JSON file like the old site, and I can add many more features. Since I chose to go with Golang, I mad e the "tradeoff" of not using JavaScript at all, so all the rendering load falls on the server. But I believe it's a tradeoff that's worth it.

What's new

• UI/UX - I've designed a new logo and color palette for kycnot.me. I think it looks pretty cool and cypherpunk. I am not a graphic designer, but I think I did a decent work and I put a lot of thinking on it to make it pleasant!
• Point system - The new point system provides more detailed information about the listings, and can be expanded to cover additional features across all services. Anyone can request a new point!
• ToS Scrapper: I've implemented a powerful automated terms-of-service scrapper that collects all the ToS pages from the listings. It saves you from the hassle of reading the ToS by listing the lines that are suspiciously related to KYC/AML practices. This is still in development and it will improve for sure, but it works pretty fine right now!
• Search bar - The new search bar allows you to easily filter services. It performs a full-text search on the Title, Description, Category, and Tags of all the services. Looking for VPN services? Just search for "vpn"!
• Transparency - To be more transparent, all discussions about services now take place publicly on GitLab. I won't be answering any e-mails (an auto-reply will prompt to write to the corresponding Gitlab issue). This ensures that all service-related matters are publicly accessible and recorded. Additionally, there's a real-time audits page that displays database changes.
• Listing Requests - I have upgraded the request system. The new form allows you to directly request services or points without any extra steps. In the future, I plan to enable requests for specific changes to parts of the website.
• Lightweight and fast - The new site is lighter and faster than its predecessor!
• Tor and I2P - At last! kycnot.me is now officially on Tor and I2P!

How?

This rewrite has been a labor of love, in the end, I've been working on this for more than 3 months now. I don't have a team, so I work by myself on my free time, but I find great joy in helping people on their private journey with cryptocurrencies. Making it easier for individuals to use cryptocurrencies without KYC is a goal I am proud of!

If you appreciate my work, you can support me through the methods listed here. Alternatively, feel free to send me an email with a kind message!

Technical details

All the code is written in Golang, the website makes use of the chi router for the routing part. I also make use of BigCache for caching database requests. There is 0 JavaScript, so all the rendering load falls on the server, this means it needed to be efficient enough to not drawn with a few users since the old site was reporting about 2M requests per month on average (note that this are not unique users).

The database is running with mariadb, using gorm as the ORM. This is more than enough for this project. I started working with an sqlite database, but I ended up migrating to mariadb since it works better with JSON.

The scraper is using chromedp combined with a series of keywords, regex and other logic. It runs every 24h and scraps all the services. You can find the scraper code here.

The frontend is written using Golang Templates for the HTML, and TailwindCSS plus DaisyUI for the CSS classes framework. I also use some plain CSS, but it's minimal.

The requests forms is the only part of the project that requires JavaScript to be enabled. It is needed for parsing some from fields that are a bit complex and for the "captcha", which is a simple Proof of Work that runs on your browser, destinated to avoid spam. For this, I use mCaptcha.

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

The Blockchain Group Buys $20 Million Worth Of Bitcoin

The Blockchain Group has acquired an additional 182 Bitcoin for approximately €17 million ($19.6 million), further expanding its position as Europe’s first Bitcoin treasury company amid accelerating institutional adoption of Bitcoin reserves.

According to a press release issued June 18, the Euronext Growth Paris-listed company completed the purchases through multiple convertible bond issuances totalling over €18 million, subscribed by several investors, including UTXO Management, Moonlight Capital, and asset manager TOBAM.

JUST IN: French publicly traded, The Blockchain Group buys an additional 182 #Bitcoin for €17.0 million

Nothing stops this train pic.twitter.com/fwIqq934Yy

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) June 18, 2025

The acquisitions bring The Blockchain Group’s total Bitcoin holdings to 1,653 BTC, purchased at an average price of €90,081 ($104,000) per coin. The company reported a “BTC Yield” – measuring Bitcoin holdings relative to fully diluted shares – of 1,173.2% year-to-date, significantly outpacing other major corporate holders.

The company’s latest purchases were executed through Swissquote Bank Europe and Banque Delubac, with custody provided by Swiss infrastructure provider Taurus. Additional funding came from the conversion of share warrants into 2.98 million ordinary shares, raising €1.6 million.

We’re seeing unprecedented growth in corporate Bitcoin treasury strategies. The Blockchain Group’s success has created a model for European companies, with new organizations announcing Bitcoin purchases almost weekly.

The company indicated potential plans to acquire an additional 70 BTC through ongoing transactions, which could bring its total holdings to 1,723 BTC. This follows recent Bitcoin treasury announcements from companies including Metaplanet, which now holds 10,000 BTC, and Strategy’s latest acquisition of 10,1000 BTC.

At press time, Bitcoin trades at $104,021, down 1.26% over the past 24 hours, as markets continue to process the implications of growing institutional adoption. The Blockchain Group’s shares were down 3.9% to €4.80 on Wednesday, trading on Euronext Paris.

This post The Blockchain Group Buys $20 Million Worth Of Bitcoin first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Vivek Sen.

@ 39cc53c9:27168656

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

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

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

History of Monero

Bytecoin and CryptoNote

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The fork

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources of interest

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

@ 6ad3e2a3:c90b7740

"Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent."

— Ludwig Wittgenstein

Simulation Theory, the idea our entire existence is part of a simulation, that we are just code running on some more advanced civilization’s supercomputer has come up in conversations of late. I’m writing to say it’s not just wrong, but bullshit. A category error, at best, and cover for a nefarious agenda at worst.

The first problem with Simulation Theory is unless there’s some way to get outside the simulation, to access base reality, so to speak, the theory has no meaning. It’s just a semantic game.

Consider for example the theory (one I came up with on my walk back from the track) that you are actually a sleeping elephant dreaming of this human life. You are sleeping peacefully under a quiet grove of trees, and you won’t wake into elephant consciousness for another four hours when the sun rises. Moreover, the pace of your dream is glacial — you will experience tens of thousands of human incarnations, full lifetimes, before daybreak. You will not wake up before then as your elephant self.

Maybe this theory is true, maybe it’s not, there’s no way to know. Anything that could possibly happen in this lifetime would not invalidate it. When there is nothing that could possibly falsify a theory, it’s neither true nor false, but meaningless. Elephant Dream and Simulation Theory are similar in this respect. You might as well call them The Universe. It’s just substituting one word-concept for another to describe an inaccessible structure containing all of reality.

Now some proponents of Simulation Theory posit a base reality beyond our simulation, namely that of the simulators. But there are two problems with that: (1) If you can’t access it because you’re just code within their closed system, you are stuck back at Elephant Dream; and (2) Even if you could somehow figure this out and access the “reality” of the simulators, why would you assume they too were not a simulation of some even yet more advanced civilization?

If they could simulate us, why couldn’t someone else simulate them? Why would their reality be any more real than ours for the exact same reasons? There could conceivably be an infinite regress of simulations within simulations, and even worse it could turn out to be circular, i.e., we will one day create a simulation that becomes the “base” simulation for all the simulations all the way down, eventually including our own.

So not being able to falsify any simulators’ reality, n-simulations deep, you are back to Elephant Dream. The elephant when he awakes similarly could himself be the dream of a person, who is the dream of another elephant ad infinitum. These are just empty words that don’t describe or affect the content of your “reality.”

(As an aside I like the infinite circular loop simulation theory as a short-circuit to the false logic it purports. It reminds me of that scene in Animal House where the students get high with Donald Sutherland (their professor.) When they opine his new book must be amazing, he says, “piece of shit” and they talk about how each atom in their hands could be an entire universe, and our entire universe might be an atom in the hand of some giant being. I always thought this could also be an infinite regress of universes as atoms in yet larger universes, and also circular wherein our universe could actually reside in one of the atoms in our own hand.)

These thought experiments reveal category errors in that they purport to describe something that’s outside the range of describability. To describe something is to distinguish it from the things that it is not, so to describe everything is the same as describing nothing in particular. You cannot describe the totality of reality any better than you can its absence. It’s like imagining how it is to be dead.

. . .

What I wrote above is the most generous interpretation of Simulation Theory, but at worst it’s actually being pushed to further an agenda. Just as a “science-based” materialism (everything is atoms) underpinned communist ideology where material resources were the only thing, and their equitable distribution at all costs the moral imperative, a code-based reality supports its own distorted, dark worldview.

If we are merely code in a simulation, then humans have no special claim to individual rights and resources any more than artificially intelligent robots. It’s only a small step from there to trans-humanism, utilitarianism and a technocratic state that subverts the principle of the individual being an end in himself.

The category error, in this view, is a convenient one — it removes the obstacles for the power-mad autists into quite literally playing God.

. . .

But back to the original inquiry: If Simulation Theory is no better than Elephant Dream, how can people hope to understand their reality? Are we stuck simply pushing back the impenetrable wall of truth via incremental scientific advances, doomed never to connect to the ultimate ground of our existence?

I think not. For the same reasons Simulation Theory fails, all of our theories will ultimately fail, and the best we can do is create better descriptions and explanations about particular phenomena that occur within our observational range.

But just because our logical minds can never reach beyond that expandable but necessarily limited spectrum, doesn’t mean it’s off limits. The problem is that to know consciousness itself, i.e., the base reality, outside of thought concepts like “code” or “atoms” one must be consciousness, not grasp at the perceptible phenomena within it.

That’s why religions emphasize faith, or in some cases, doubt. Trust in God, or doubting everything else that would impede you, is the path to that level of understanding. Logical explanations like Simulation Theory then are at best a misunderstanding to keep the deepest questions at bay, at worst a justification for unholy schemes at the heart of which is simply a will to power.

@ 472f440f:5669301e

Marty's Bent

via Dr. Eli David

The case for a neutral, permissionless monetary protocol has never been stronger. The incumbent financial system is a permissioned wall garden that is susceptible to a tax. When you're using this system, you don't own your money. Your money doesn't really even exist. What you have is a claim to be able to ask your bank to give you your money or move it somewhere that you desire. Not only is it a permissioned wall garden, but it is an insecure permissioned wall garden that is susceptible to attacks from nefarious actors.

This was made very clear earlier today when Sepah Bank in Iran was the subject of a cyber attack that led to all of its databases being erased and their ATMs being deemed non-functional. Sepah Bank customers have been unable to withdraw cash. And many are warning Iranian citizens to withdraw as much cash as possible from any ATM outside of Sepah Bank's network that is working. Because there is a high likelihood that other banks and ATM networks will be targeted.

Bitcoin is a digital bearer instrument that you can custody yourself using either a software or hardware wallet. The network is operated by an army of geographically distributed nodes that maintain the rules and ensure that anybody trying to transact within the network is doing so within the rules that are set forth. Bitcoin is a push system, not a pull system. It is extremely hard to attack in the way that Sepah Bank was attacked earlier today.

I think it's important to note the way in which Sepah Bank was attacked and highlight that it is starkly different from the types of attacks or shortcomings from the financial system that we've seen over the years.

One of the events that caused a rush to Bitcoin over a decade ago was the banking crisis in Cyprus. We've seen hyperinflationary events in countries like Lebanon and Turkey that have rendered their currencies defunct. In the case of Lebanon, the central bank simply came out and said that people were not going to have access to their money and gave Lebanese citizens an overnight haircut on their savings. We've seen countries like India and Nigeria mess with their physical bills, forcing their citizens to exchange smaller denominations for larger denominations, causing massive disruptions in the process.

We've seen the United States government and its allies freeze the treasury assets of its enemies and they move towards a more multipolar monetary order over the last five years. We've seen the Canadian government freeze the bank accounts of protesters fighting for bodily autonomy. We've seen Operation Chokepoint 1.0 and 2.0. Here in the United States, the government directly targeted industries and businesses within those industries by either overtly preventing them from accessing bank accounts or covertly making it as hard as possible to access bank accounts.

On top of all this, obviously, we have the constant drumbeat of currency debasement across the world, even here in the United States, where the Federal Reserve and Federal Government are expanding the monetary base and going further into debt, ultimately destroying the purchasing power of the dollar at an increasing rate over time.

However, this type of cyber attack on a bank is unique, at least from what I can recall. The ability of nefarious actors to access bank databases and erase them is something new and something that should not be taken lightly. If Iranian hacking capabilities are as sufficient and capable as we are led to believe, it's not hard to imagine that we could see some retaliatory actions from the Iranian regime to counteract the attack on their banking system.

I don't want to incite alarm in any of you, but I think it is important to highlight that this new attack vector is definitely a step towards financial nihilism that could put hundreds of millions, if not billions of people in harm's way, in the sense that they could wake up one morning and be told that the bank does not have access to the records of their cuck buck IOUs. If something like this were to happen, I'm sure anyone who isn't holding Bitcoin in a wallet that they control will really wish they were. Being able to access your money is a vital part of being able to live you life. The thought of that ability being taken away because of a hacking war that breaks out is extremely unnerving.

As I said at the top of this letter, the case for a neutral, permissionless, distributed monetary system with a native currency that is finite is clearer than it ever has been, at least for me. It is imperative that you and anyone that you care about holds Bitcoin in self-custody to inoculate yourselves from these very real risks that are only going to increase from here on out.

Eliminate the trusted third party risks that exist in your life. Use Bitcoin as your money and use it correctly by holding it in self-custody.

Why 5% Interest Rates Won't Trigger The Next Market Crash

Guest Mel Mattison challenges the prevailing fear around rising interest rates, arguing that markets have developed immunity to higher yields. Unlike 2023's sharp selloff when the 10-year hit 5%, Mattison believes equities and Bitcoin can now absorb these levels because they signal stronger growth expectations ahead. He emphasizes that the pace of rate increases matters more than absolute levels, and notes that markets have had time to adjust. With oil trading at just $65 per barrel—a fraction of its inflation-adjusted 2008 peak of over $200—the deflationary pressure from cheap energy provides a crucial buffer.

> "It's not just what the rate we get to, it's how fast we get there." - Mel Mattison

Mattison's most compelling argument centers on AI-driven productivity gains enabling companies to maintain margins despite higher borrowing costs. As I've witnessed firsthand implementing AI tools at TFTC, what once required hiring multiple employees can now be handled by one person with the right automation. This productivity revolution means traditional rate sensitivity models may no longer apply.

Check out the full podcast here for more on institutional Bitcoin adoption, resistance money warnings, and bipartisan coalition building.

---

Headlines of the Day

Davis Commodities Puts 40% of $30M Into Bitcoin - via X

Ukraine Bill Adds Bitcoin to National Reserves - via X

Vinanz Raises £3.58M to Expand Bitcoin Mining - 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...

The joy of a 5-year old riding a bike for the first time is something that should be protected at all costs.

---

*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:

@ 534cf27d:57e048b5

Growth Maintenance offers expert hedge trimming services in Auckland, ensuring your hedges are always sharp, healthy, and well-shaped. With attention to detail and top-quality equipment, we provide professional care for residential and commercial gardens alike. Maintain curb appeal and keep your greenery in check—choose Growth Maintenance for trusted, local hedge trimming professionals in Auckland.

@ dfa02707:41ca50e3

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

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

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

What's new

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

Other changes

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

#FREESAMOURAI

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

Announcement / Archive
GitHub Repo

@ f0fd6902:a2fbaaab

A wagging tail means a variety of things depending on the animal and the circumstance. For instance, a cat might wag its tail when it’s annoyed or uncomfortable, while a dog might do so to express excitement and happiness. When a squirrel wags its tail, it usually means the animal feels upset in some way. Squirrels often wag their tails to communicate a message. This might be a warning to other squirrels about potential predators or other dangers. On the other hand, it could also point to feelings of fear or even frustration. Odds are, if a squirrel is wagging or twitching its tail near you, you should probably back off.

https://stacker.news/items/1009916

@ b95e8b1a:d8a9dfe3

When it comes to protecting truck beds, enhancing vehicle aesthetics, and improving fuel efficiency, many truck owners swear by one product—tonneau covers. These versatile accessories have gained immense popularity over the years, with a range of styles and functions to meet diverse needs. At Galaxy Auto, we’ve gathered real insights from truck owners to uncover what they truly think about their tonneau covers, especially the widely used tri fold tonneau cover.

Durability That Withstands All Conditions

Truck owners often highlight durability as a top reason they invest in tonneau covers. Whether facing harsh sun, torrential rain, or dusty terrains, a quality tonneau cover offers long-lasting protection. One user shared, “I’ve had my tri fold tonneau cover for over three years now. It’s been through multiple snowstorms and desert trips—and it still looks and functions like new.”

Materials like marine-grade vinyl, aluminum, and reinforced ABS plastic are often praised for their toughness. According to feedback we’ve received at Galaxy Auto, customers particularly love how their tri fold tonneau cover holds up without warping or fading.

Security and Peace of Mind

Another popular feature mentioned by truck owners is the added security. A covered truck bed is far less appealing to thieves. “Before getting a tri fold tonneau cover, I was always worried about leaving tools in the bed,” says a contractor based in Texas. “Now, with the lockable system in place, I feel at ease even when parked overnight.”

The locking mechanisms of many tonneau covers integrate seamlessly with tailgate locks, offering an extra layer of protection without the need for additional accessories.

Easy Installation and Use

Ease of use is a major selling point for many. Several truck owners appreciate the no-drill installation process that most tri fold tonneau covers offer. “I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to install,” shared one user from California. “It took less than 30 minutes, and I didn’t need help.”

Opening and closing a tri fold tonneau cover is also effortless. With their folding design, users can access as much or as little of the truck bed as they need. This flexibility is especially useful for hauling mixed loads of gear or equipment.

Improved Aesthetics and Fuel Efficiency

A sleek tonneau cover doesn’t just protect—it enhances the look of a truck. Many owners express pride in their vehicle’s upgraded appearance. “It gives my truck a polished, finished look,” says a frequent Galaxy Auto customer.

Beyond looks, truck owners also note a small but noticeable improvement in fuel efficiency. “I wasn’t expecting a mileage change, but I’ve actually noticed I get around 1-2 MPG more on the highway,” one user stated, attributing the improvement to the aerodynamic benefits of their tonneau cover.

Versatility and Storage Options

For those who use their trucks for both work and leisure, tonneau covers provide incredible versatility. A tri fold tonneau cover can be folded up when transporting tall items and closed when needing full coverage. “Whether I'm hauling tools during the week or camping gear on the weekends, it adapts to every situation,” one truck enthusiast commented.

What Galaxy Auto Recommends

At Galaxy Auto, we always recommend exploring multiple tonneau cover options based on your specific needs. While soft covers offer affordability and flexibility, hard folding designs like the tri fold tonneau cover are ideal for enhanced security and durability. We’ve seen customers come back time and again to upgrade or outfit their second trucks because they were so satisfied.

Final Thoughts

Truck owners overwhelmingly express satisfaction with their investment in tonneau covers. From protection and security to improved aesthetics and fuel economy, the benefits are well-documented by real users. If you're considering upgrading your truck, a tri fold tonneau cover from Galaxy Auto is a smart and reliable choice that thousands of customers vouch for.

@ ae8ef557:3633e453

The boy left the piano and ran toward his parents. "Shall we play another song?" In one of those surprisingly magical moments, the three of them were playing together, pretending to be a band: the father with the trumpet, playing distractedly while checking messages on his phone; the mother with the guitar, smiling and listening attentively; the son with the piano, happy. Stumbles in the notes, laughter, joy. "Tomorrow is Monday," she remembered. They stopped and put away the instruments—they could do it another time. There was time. There's always more time, right?

That night, like any other on a typical week, they fulfilled the ritual of dinner at eight, a shower before bed, getting the uniform and backpack ready. Afterward, the quick hug to the father and the long kiss to the mother. In turn, the parents continued with their own routine: checking emails, reading for a while. He went to sleep while she logged on to her computer to teach an online class. The nocturnal silence took over the house, interrupted only by the occasional comment from her lesson.

The scream startled her. Was it coming from a neighbor's house? No, it couldn't be. That slight sensation in her chest, that anguish... She decided to go see how her only son was doing. When she was about to reach the second floor, she heard some moaning. She ran to the room. Her boy, curled up in a ball, and beside the bed, vomit. The forehead first—it was burning—then the abdomen. Another scream tore through her. The father woke up and approached to ask what was happening. "I don't know. Go to sleep, I'll handle it." How many other times had she said that? Without thinking, without considering the weight of the tacit agreement between them, of the comfortable distance he called space.

She lifted her son in her arms, covered him with a blanket, and took him to the emergency room. The bright lights of triage, the familiar waiting, then nurse, and finally, doctor. She knew the procedure by heart. She was always the one who handled these emergencies, who knew the nurses, who knew his medical history —allergies, previous injuries. "The experience of having an athlete son," she used to say. During the examination, the boy remained curled up. "It looks like acute appendicitis," the doctor said. "We need an urgent ultrasound and blood work."

The mother grew impatient between her child's suffering and the staff's slowness. She demanded faster attention, called the nurses over and over. "The CT scan shows perforation with fluid in the abdomen," she heard afterward. "He needs surgery now." When they came rushing and took him, while she waited for the results... it had been because of her demands, surely. She never thought she wouldn't see him again. How could she imagine that emptiness that would take over her chest, to the point of not being able to breathe?

They called the father. He arrived disoriented, like someone arriving in unknown territory, and somewhat worried, not much, because he was used to her taking care of things. The father listened to the doctor's explanation with a distorted face. "I'm very sorry. There were complications. The perforation caused severe sepsis." The man let out a scream that echoed throughout the entire hallway: "He died alone, my God, he died alone." It was the first time in years that he expressed something so profound, and it came too late. A postponed fatherhood concentrated in an instant.

Hadn't the mother been with her son until they took him away? Or the doctor and staff in the operating room? He didn't ask about her, didn't look for her. She wanted to speak, but the words wouldn't come out. If she hadn't been at the hospital, perhaps no one would have comforted her in that terrible moment. She moved because she had to, responded because they asked her. From that night she would only remember her son's face and small hands when she let them go for the last time. Afterward, only the reconstruction of events through the eyes of others: her sister and her parents.

Who thinks about when it will be the last time for anything? The last chess game with the father, the last dinner out with the mother, the last birthday of the favorite aunt. The last frightened squeeze of a small child's hand. They hadn't paid attention. Why would they? You always think there's more time.

The days that followed blurred into a hazy sequence of impossible decisions. Arrangements had to be made. At first, everything seemed suspended, even sadness. A family eclipse where darkness takes everything. You know it's temporary, but you can't glimpse the light. The family gropes around like blind people, and slowly grief sprouts. Decisions are made that will be forgotten: how to tell others, who will speak and who won't. An endless series of unimportant actions in the face of pain invading everything, little by little, to then explode like a volcano. The siblings of both parents and the grandparents crying. The parents in black silence.

The funeral passed. The weeks passed. For the mother, everything was now subordinated to the memory of an ancient life. The habit of picking him up after school or some activity outside, seeing him walk toward the car, seeing him walk away. His voice. His smell. He still smelled like a child—he was still a few months away from his eleventh birthday. He was still her little one. She could take his hand to cross the street, give him a long hug just because, plant a kiss on his cheek. He didn't impose that distance that comes when children start becoming men. Her boy, the storyteller of the childhood world... had departed.

As the months passed, the father withdrew more and more. He came home later and later, hardly spoke. He avoided talking to her. Sometimes, she found him crying in the boy's room. The fragility became evident and the limited kindnesses from one to the other disappeared. The one who was barely there was no longer there. The bridge between two solitudes had disappeared. The family had also died, and so, simply, one afternoon, he didn't return. Without words, without farewell.

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

K33 Announces Plans To Purchase Up To 1,000 Bitcoin

K33 AB, a leading digital asset brokerage and research firm, announced today the launch of a SEK 85 million direct share issue to fund the purchase of Bitcoin. The company aims to build Bitcoin as a core asset on its balance sheet, targeting the accumulation of up to 1,000 BTC as a strategic reserve.

PRESS RELEASE: K33 launches a share issue to finance the purchase of up to 1000 Bitcoin, with a minimum of SEK 85 million secured through pre-commitments pic.twitter.com/sG1LZjR6EI

— K33 (@K33HQ) June 18, 2025

The share issue, priced at SEK 0.1036 per share, is fully backed by existing shareholders and new investors. Proceeds from the raise will be used exclusively to acquire BTC, supporting K33’s accumulation strategy revealed in May. By acquiring BTC, the company aims to strengthen its balance sheet, boost brokerage margins, launch new products, and attract more investors.

“This raise marks a major milestone towards our initial goal of acquiring 1000 BTC before scaling further,” commented the CEO of the Company Torbjørn Bull Jenssen. “We strongly believe that Bitcoin represents the future of global finance and are positioning K33 to benefit maximally from this. A strong balance sheet built on Bitcoin enables us to significantly improve our brokerage operation while maintaining full exposure to Bitcoin’s upside potential.”

As part of the strategy, K33 recently completed its first Bitcoin acquisition, purchasing 10 BTC for approximately SEK 10 million on June 3. This transaction is the initial deployment of capital from the SEK 60 million investment commitment announced earlier this year to support the company’s BTC treasury.

“We expect Bitcoin to be the best-performing asset in the coming years and will build our balance sheet in Bitcoin moving forward,” stated Jenssen. “This will give K33 direct exposure to the Bitcoin price and help unlock powerful synergies with our brokerage operation. Our ambition is to build a balance of at least 1000 BTC over time and then scale from there.”

During its Q1 2025 Report and Strategic Outlook presentation, K33 underscored the accelerating institutional adoption of Bitcoin, referencing the rapid growth of the US Bitcoin ETFs, which attracted more capital in its first year than gold ETFs had in the past two decades.

“For K33, Bitcoin is not only a high-conviction asset — it’s also a strategic enabler,” Jenssen said. “With a sizable BTC reserve, we will be able to strengthen our financial position while unlocking new revenue streams, product capabilities, and partnerships.”

This post K33 Announces Plans To Purchase Up To 1,000 Bitcoin first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Oscar Zarraga Perez.

@ 7459d333:f207289b

SN has created an interesting recommendation system: users that zap good content early get rewarded.

What this could enable is some kind of decentralized system of independent recommendation algorithms that get paid for their work.

What would happen if a bot account could predict the success of every new post and zapped accordingly? If the predictions were good enough, the rewards would be greater than the expenses.

Does it make sense to give this a try? The naive approach would be to just create a metric of expected success of a post per user, based on the the mean/median sats per post in their last year or something.

This has some kind of centralizing or winner takes all effect but would just be an starting point to see if it could make sense.

Then of course the algorithm could be improved and extended. Its success would be measured by its ROI (spent sats vs. rewards).

What do you think?

https://stacker.news/items/1009906

@ 472f440f:5669301e

Marty's Bent

So much for that tariff hyperinflation.\ \ New inflation numbers came at 1.2% — way below the Fed’s target.\ \ For the 4th time in Trump’s 4 months.\ \ Yet not a word about easing from the fed. Who’s now moving the inflation goal-posts to 2026 or even 2027. pic.twitter.com/nwzSCABrbR

— Peter St Onge, Ph.D. (@profstonge) June 16, 2025

After months of pundits, politicians, and partisan hacks kvetching about the aggressive tariff regime put forth by the Trump administration, we're beginning to see some data tickle in that makes it seem as if the tariff strategy may actually be working. At the end of last week, inflation data hit the market cooler than expected. Some core components coming in below the Federal Reserve's 2% inflation target. Granted, the CPI is manipulated and may be underreporting actual inflation. However, if we're simply comparing the CPI to itself, it seems to be moving in the right direction if, like me, you don't like when prices consistently rise month on month, year on year, decade on decade.

On top of this, the amount of revenue that tariffs are bringing in is significant and rising quickly. In May, tariff revenue collected in the U.S. hit a record of $22.3 billion. In April, the U.S. government brought in $16.5 billion from tariffs, and collectively, since Trump took office, the government has brought in around $67.2 billion in tariff revenue. Tariffs now reflect 4% of the total federal revenue, which is up from an average of 2% over the last few years. If this trend keeps up, the idea that tariffs can replace income tax revenue in the United States seems to be validated. Even better, it seems that the increased inflation that many were warning about hasn't materialized yet. There could be a way to increase the revenue of the federal government without increasing taxes on American producers while keeping prices lower. This is a beautiful thing.

I don't think it's time to ring the bell and claim victory in regards to tariffs and inflation quite yet, but this is extremely encouraging and something that all of you should be monitoring closely in the months ahead. Whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, I think we should all celebrate if the bold strategy of levying tariffs on the rest of the world to bring manufacturing home, while the government produces revenue via means that don't attack the income of individual citizens actually works out in the end.

It's crazy what pricing your life in Bitcoin does as you surf the internet. This newsletter was partly inspired by the video above from our good friend Peter St. Onge, but also because of this tweet I saw earlier today that priced the tariff revenue in bitcoin.

via The Kobeissi Letter

The Kobeissi Letter did not include the bitcoin denominations in its tweet. Our browser extension, Opportunity Cost, automatically injected it into the tweet so that I could understand how much revenue the government is bringing in in terms of Bitcoin. If they chose to use Bitcoin as a reserve asset.

It's crazy to think that at current bitcoin prices and if tariff revenue stays at the level it reached last month, the United States government could acquire a strategic reserve of 1 million bitcoin in less than five months. That really puts things into perspective, for me at least, about how much money is being thrown around the system both in the private markets and the public sector.

We are still extremely early in terms of bitcoin's adoption and monetization. Just looking at the tweet makes me want to tap somebody on the shoulder in the government and say, "Hey, look at this. If you sacrifice less than five months of tariff revenue and funnel that into bitcoin, you could have your strategic reserve by the end of the year. Before Thanksgiving even."

If tariff revenue continues to increase at the pace it has over the last couple of months, and the economy recovers, inflation isn't that bad, why not? Why not start building the strategic reserve with some of these revenues? A man can dream.

Washington's Bitcoin Awakening: From Crime Concerns to Strategic Asset

Ken Egan described a remarkable shift in how Washington views Bitcoin. Just a year ago, he recalls fighting defensive battles against basic misconceptions about criminal use and technical vulnerabilities. Today, policymakers ask sophisticated questions about Bitcoin's role in global monetary competition and national security strategy. Egan emphasized that discussions no longer waste time on "is it just for buying drugs" but instead focus on how Bitcoin can counter China's parallel financial systems and strengthen America's competitive position.

"There are people thinking, even the Department of Energy, some of whom will be at our conference, thinking really deeply about everything this ecosystem has to offer and how we can apply it to sort of a comprehensive national security strategy." - Ken Egan

Multiple government departments are now actively exploring Bitcoin's potential, Egan revealed. The Department of Defense examines mining for energy resilience, while the Department of Energy considers grid applications. Trump's executive order formally distinguished Bitcoin from other cryptocurrencies, signaling institutional recognition of its unique properties. This evolution from skepticism to strategic thinking represents a fundamental transformation in how America's policy establishment approaches Bitcoin.

Check out the full podcast here for more on institutional Bitcoin adoption, resistance money warnings, and bipartisan coalition building.

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Headlines of the Day

France Eyes Bitcoin Mining to Use Excess Energy - via X

Truth Social Files for Bitcoin ETF - via X

French Firm Raises €9.7M to Expand Bitcoin Treasury - via X

China's DDC Enterprise Adds 38 BTC to Treasury - via X

Get our new STACK SATS hat - via tftcmerch.io

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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

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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.

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Final thought...

The best way to start your Monday morning is for the brake system in your car to completely shit the bed and force you to sit on the side of the road for a tow truck for two hours.

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

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@ 31a4605e:cf043959

Você já ouviu isso antes. Um bitcoiner é questionado sobre seus sats e, com um sorriso irônico, responde: “Perdi tudo num acidente de barco.” Mas de onde vem essa frase? Por que tantos bitcoiners fazem essa piada? E mais importante: o que ela realmente significa?

A origem do meme

A expressão "Lost all my Bitcoin in a boating accident" nasceu nos fóruns americanos de entusiastas de armas e metais preciosos, muito antes do Bitcoin ganhar notoriedade mainstream. O contexto original era o seguinte: alguém perguntava se você ainda tinha sua coleção de armas (ou ouro), e a resposta sarcástica era "infelizmente, perdi tudo num acidente de barco".

Essa desculpa servia como uma forma de recusar-se a declarar posse de bens aos olhos do governo ou de outras autoridades. Afinal, o que não se pode provar que existe, não pode ser confiscado, taxado ou regulado. Com o tempo, essa lógica encontrou um terreno fértil entre os defensores da soberania individual, um grupo no qual os bitcoiners naturalmente se encaixam.

A metáfora da resistência

Quando os maximalistas de Bitcoin adotaram a frase, ela passou a representar mais do que apenas uma desculpa para evitar perguntas incômodas: virou um símbolo de resistência contra um sistema financeiro cada vez mais invasivo e coercitivo. Dizer que “perdeu os seus Bitcoin num acidente de barco” é, muitas vezes, um eufemismo para dizer:

“Não é da sua conta quantos sats eu tenho.”

“Não reconheço a autoridade de quem tenta confiscar meu patrimônio digital.”

“Meus ativos são soberanos, autocustodiados e inalcançáveis por meios tradicionais.”

Bitcoin é liberdade, não compliance

O meme também toca num ponto central da filosofia bitcoin: a autocustódia e o direito à privacidade financeira. Em um mundo onde governos congelam contas, censuram transações e imprimem moeda ao bel-prazer, possuir Bitcoin é uma forma de resistência civil. Mas para que isso tenha valor real, é necessário que o indivíduo assuma a responsabilidade pela custódia e, inevitavelmente, pelo silêncio.

Dizer que você “perdeu seus Bitcoin” também é um lembrete: não fale sobre suas chaves privadas. Não ostente seus sats. Não coloque um alvo nas suas costas.

Um meme com propósito

No fim das contas, o “acidente de barco” é uma piada com um fundo muito sério. Ele nos relembra que, num sistema verdadeiramente soberano, a posse de ativos digitais é algo íntimo, pessoal e — se necessário — negável. É uma forma de reafirmar que o Bitcoin não é apenas uma ferramenta de investimento, mas um instrumento de liberdade.

Então da próxima vez que alguém te perguntar onde estão seus bitcoins, sorria e diga:

“Infelizmente, perdi tudo num acidente de barco…”

E deixe que fiquem imaginando.

Muito obrigado por teres lido o texto até aqui, espero que esteja tudo bem contigo e um abraço enorme do teu madeirense bitcoiner maximalista favorito. Viva a liberdade!

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Tech Booms: Lightning Data Defies Digital Gold Narrative

Ego Death Capital’s portfolio reveals adoption metrics including $1.5 billion in Lightning-powered trading volume, as Block shocks the industry with their 9.7% Lightning Network yield. 

While bitcoin treasury companies, debates about market structure bills, and strategic bitcoin reserve advocacy dominate the headlines in 2025, a trend is quietly growing in the background: the success of Bitcoin technology companies.

Increasingly recognized as digital gold and a long-term store of value, bitcoin is far more than just a shiny rock in cyberspace. As a software technology, Bitcoin is programmable and has unlocked a new paradigm of payments, custody, settlement and trading possibilities.

Nevertheless, some critics point to the empty blocks on the Bitcoin base layer and historically low transaction fees as implicit proof that Bitcoin is failing as a medium of exchange. Others claim that the Lightning Network has failed to get mainstream adoption and even argue that it suffers from significant privacy problems. But the opposite may be true. 

New data coming out of various companies throughout the industry is starting to paint a different picture. Perhaps the Lightning Network has been so successful in drawing transactions off chain and making them more private that it is hard to quantify success metrics without companies involved sharing the data.

But, a variety of Bitcoin start-ups and companies using bitcoin to build out new financial infrastructure are now starting to boast of their success metrics, claiming numbers that suggest there is a strong product market fit beyond treasury strategies.

Jeff Booth, author of The Price Of Tomorrow and co-founder of the Bitcoin-focused VC firm Ego Death Capital, told Bitcoin Magazine he doesn’t “think the general public has any clue with how fast the Bitcoin ecosystem is growing.” Adding that, “They keep on hearing treasury companies this and politics that, and they’re missing the forest for the trees.” 

Below follows a summary of various companies and projects demonstrating Bitcoin adoption in significant numbers, many of them within the Ego Death Capital portfolio. 

Block: Earning Big on Lightning and Bitcoin Payments

The contrast in perspectives between the digital gold thesis and those that believe in Bitcoin as a payments technology was most recently seen at Bitcoin Vegas 2025 where Block, the parent company of Cash App, disclosed that they are earning 9.7% yield off their Bitcoin Lightning node. 

Miles Suter, Bitcoin Product Lead at Block, told the live audience that “at the infrastructure layer, we’re earning nearly 10% bitcoin-on-bitcoin returns by efficiently routing real payments across the Lightning network. This isn’t yield from altcoin staking or reckless speculation; it’s from solving hard, real-time routing problems, and its real bitcoin-on-bitcoin returns from our corporate holdings via supporting real payments use cases.”

Besides Block’s stunning 9.7% figure announcement, which stood out as one of the most lasting impressions from the conference, Suter claimed that Cash App ranks “among the top bitcoin on-ramps in the U.S., accounting for nearly 10% of on-chain block space at any time,” adding that in 2024, its Lightning usage grew 7x and one in four of their outbound Bitcoin payments are processed on Lightning. These numbers highlight Block’s growth as a Bitcoin payments giant, now perhaps the most common merchant payments terminal and consumer payments app that integrates bitcoin.

Ego Death Capital

Ego Death Capital has been investing in Bitcoin infrastructure start-ups since 2022, initially raising a tactical 30 million dollar fund amid a boom in crypto and altcoin VC investments. 

“When we first raised money, we actually targeted 30 million because the ecosystem at that time was really early. We realized we had to lean into these companies to help them scale. There were a lot of big crypto funds at that time, but they were spraying money everywhere else. And it was largely the exact opposite of what we believed would happen on Bitcoin.” Booth recalled that “Bitcoin was a protocol. It was developing in layers and it was early. And if you realized that and leaned in to help those companies that were developing in the layers, helping the infrastructure be created, then you would accelerate that. You would accelerate what we saw Bitcoin being, a currency, a store of value, an entirely new network.”

“We don’t have a failure in that fund,” Booth said of the firm’s first investment cohort, which included companies like Breez, Relai, LN Markets, Fedi, Wolf and Simple Proof. “That fund is just over three years old. It’s staggering. A number of those companies, I think three of those companies are already profitable — and profitable in bitcoin terms. So adding bitcoin to their treasury each month and growing incredibly fast.” 

Breez: Powering a Global Lightning Payments Network

Breez, founded in 2018, is a self-custodial Lightning-as-a-service provider that enables developers to integrate Bitcoin payments into apps using its open source Breez SDK. By simplifying Lightning’s complexities, Breez has been driving widespread adoption across diverse industries. 

“Over 40 apps have already implemented our SDK in production or beta since we launched it less than 18 months ago. Collectively, ~1.5 million users now have access to self-custodial, peer-to-peer bitcoin payments through these apps. These apps processed over $4.5 million in gross transaction volume in 2024,” wrote Roy Sheinfeld, CEO of Breez, in a January 2025 blog post. 

The “Bitcoin Payments Report” by Breez and 1A1z, released February 2025, added, “The Lightning Network now reaches over 650 million users; driven by integrations with mainstream products, new developer tools, and growing merchant adoption.” A month later Sheinfeld published that “Lightning Pay’s user base has been growing with users moving a billion sats monthly.” Additionally, Breez’s integration with Klever Wallet brought Lightning to “100,000 monthly active users,” as stated in a December, 2024, blog post. 

LN Markets: Lightning-Fueled Trading Takes Off

LN Markets, launched in 2020, is a Bitcoin-native derivatives trading platform, leveraging the Lightning Network for instant settlements and minimized counterparty risk. 

Its Lightning-native login interface demonstrates they are on the cutting edge of Bitcoin technologies and unlocks user experience features that differentiate it from most other advanced trading platforms. The fast payment rails that result from this deep integration with the Lightning Network unlock faster settlement, lower withdrawal fees and provides access to smaller traders throughout the third world, with many users in South America in countries like Mexico, Brazil and Colombia.

“Basically we’ve gone from 50 million in monthly trading volume to 1.5 billion last month in May,” co-founder Romain Rouphael told Bitcoin Magazine, adding that they have gone from “one billion dollar yearly trading volume in 2023 to six billion last year to 12 billion this year.” Profitability is also strong, with Romain stating, “We double our revenue each year and we double our EBITDA as well every year,” and “We are doing millions of Lightning transactions every year” These figures highlight LN Markets’ strong and active user base as well as Lightning’s scalability.

The exchange focuses on

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitdeer Raises $330M to Expand Bitcoin Mining and AI Operations

Singapore-based Bitcoin mining firm Bitdeer Technologies Group has launched a $330 million convertible notes offering, aiming to strengthen its mining operations, develop ASIC rigs, and scale its AI infrastructure. 

The notes, due in 2031, carry an annual interest rate of 4.875% and may be converted into Bitdeer Class A shares at a 25% premium to the current stock price of $11.84, placing the conversion price at approximately $15.88 per share. 

The offering is targeted at qualified institutional buyers under Rule 144A of the Securities Act. If investors exercise an option to buy more within 13 days, the offering could reach $375 million.

This is Bitdeer’s third convertible notes raise. Previously, the company secured $150 million in August and $360 million in November last year. According to Bitdeer, the offering is expected to close on June 23, 2025.

Net proceeds are expected to total roughly $319.6 million. Around $129.6 million will go toward a zero-strike call option, with $36.1 million allocated for concurrent note exchanges. The remaining funds will support datacenter expansion, new ASIC rig development, and general corporate needs.

Bitdeer is also conducting a note exchange, offering cash and equity to holders of its 8.50% convertible notes due 2029. That transaction includes approximately $36.1 million in cash and 8.1 million shares, exchanged for $75.7 million in outstanding notes. 

This announcement follows Bitdeer’s recent growth. As previously reported, the company mined 196 BTC in May (worth over $21 million) and expanded its self mining hashrate to 13.6 EH/s. New SEALMINER rigs were deployed across sites in Texas, Norway, and Bhutan, and its AI cloud platform, powered by large language models, officially launched.

“In May 2025, we continued to deploy our SEALMINER mining rigs to our sites in Texas, U.S., Norway, and Bhutan, bringing Bitdeer’s self-mining hashrate to 13.6 EH/s,” said Matt Kong, Chief Business Officer at Bitdeer.

Bitdeer also raised capital from Tether in 2024 and secured $40 million from a debt facility with Matrix Finance in May. Both Bitdeer and Matrix are led by Jihan Wu, co-founder of Bitmain.

With its market cap now exceeding $2.3 billion, Bitdeer continues to invest in scaling its infrastructure and technology as competition in Bitcoin mining and AI computing intensifies.

This post Bitdeer Raises $330M to Expand Bitcoin Mining and AI Operations first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Jenna Montgomery.

@ 39cc53c9:27168656

Read the original blog post

Over the past few months, I've dedicated my time to a complete rewrite of the kycnot.me website. The technology stack remains unchanged; Golang paired with TailwindCSS. However, I've made some design choices in this iteration that I believe significantly enhance the site. Particularly to backend code.

UI Improvements

You'll notice a refreshed UI that retains the original concept but has some notable enhancements. The service list view is now more visually engaging, it displays additional information in a more aesthetically pleasing manner. Both filtering and searching functionalities have been optimized for speed and user experience.

Service pages have been also redesigned to highlight key information at the top, with the KYC Level box always accessible. The display of service attributes is now more visually intuitive.

The request form, especially the Captcha, has undergone substantial improvements. The new self-made Captcha is robust, addressing the reliability issues encountered with the previous version.

Terms of Service Summarizer

A significant upgrade is the Terms of Service summarizer/reviewer, now powered by AI (GPT-4-turbo). It efficiently condenses each service's ToS, extracting and presenting critical points, including any warnings. Summaries are updated monthly, processing over 40 ToS pages via the OpenAI API using a self-crafted and thoroughly tested prompt.

Nostr Comments

I've integrated a comment section for each service using Nostr. For guidance on using this feature, visit the dedicated how-to page.

Database

The backend database has transitioned to pocketbase, an open-source Golang backend that has been a pleasure to work with. I maintain an updated fork of the Golang SDK for pocketbase at pluja/pocketbase.

Scoring

The scoring algorithm has also been refined to be more fair. Despite I had considered its removal due to the complexity it adds (it is very difficult to design a fair scoring system), some users highlighted its value, so I kept it. The updated algorithm is available open source.

Listings

Each listing has been re-evaluated, and the ones that were no longer operational were removed. New additions are included, and the backlog of pending services will be addressed progressively, since I still have access to the old database.

API

The API now offers more comprehensive data. For more details, check here.

About Page

The About page has been restructured for brevity and clarity.

Other Changes

Extensive changes have been implemented in the server-side logic, since the whole code base was re-written from the ground up. I may discuss these in a future post, but for now, I consider the current version to be just a bit beyond beta, and additional updates are planned in the coming weeks.

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

The Trolls Are Coming: Defending Bitcoin Mining from Patent Trolls

Introduction: Patent Trolls Targeting Bitcoin Mining

Bitcoin’s use of elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), which is essential for generating key pairs and validating digital signatures, has drawn the attention of a nonpracticing entity (NPE), more commonly known as a patent troll. In May 2025, Malikie Innovations Ltd., a troll that acquired thousands of patents from BlackBerry’s portfolio, filed lawsuits against major mining firms Core Scientific (CORZ) and Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA). (Some considered MARA an original patent troll itself and thus have expressed schadenfreude at the current attacks.) Malikie claims that routine Bitcoin operations (like verifying transactions with ECC-based signatures) infringe on several ECC-related patents originally developed by Certicom (later owned by BlackBerry). The patents cover techniques for accelerated digital signature verification, finite field math optimizations and other ECC improvements.

Malikie’s lawsuits, in Texas’ Eastern District against CORZ and Western District against MARA, demand damages for past infringement and an injunction against further use of the patented methods. In essence, Malikie seeks to impose a licensing regime on Bitcoin’s core cryptographic functions, a move that could set a dangerous precedent for the entire industry. If Malikie succeeds, virtually anyone running Bitcoin software (miners, node operators and potentially even wallet providers) could be exposed to patent liability. This threat has galvanized the Bitcoin and open source communities to explore every available defensive tool. In this preparatory briefing, we examine: 

1. Historical legal strategies used to fend off troll lawsuits. 
2. The mechanics, costs and effectiveness of Inter Partes Review (IPR) in challenging software/crypto patents. 
3. Community-led responses (EFF, Linux Foundation, COPA, etc.) that help defendants by funding prior-art searches or legal defenses. 
4. The potential ramifications for Bitcoin mining if Malikie’s claims prevail, drawing parallels from other industries.

1. Historical Strategies Against NPE Patent Lawsuits

Over the past two decades, tech companies and industries have developed several tactics to combat patent trolls. Key strategies include challenging patent validity, shifting lawsuits to favorable venues via declaratory judgment actions, leveraging recent case law to dismiss abstract patents and simply refusing to settle in order to deter trolls.

While not all strategies will apply to these cases, for completeness I’ll outline these approaches:

Rigorous Invalidity Challenges (Prior Art – §102/103): The most direct way to neutralize a troll’s patent is to demonstrate that the patent should never have been granted in the first place because earlier technology already taught the same invention. Defendants search for prior art — such as earlier publications, academic papers, standards (RFCs) or open source code — that predate the patent’s priority date and disclose the claimed invention. If a single prior art reference embodies every element of a patent claim, the claim is “anticipated” (invalid for lack of novelty under 35 U.S.C. §102). If no one reference is complete but a combination of references would have been obvious to a skilled person, the claim is invalid for obviousness (§103). In the Malikie cases, for example, Bitcoiners have been called to urgently collect publications from before January 18, 2005 (the priority date of one asserted patent, U.S. 8,788,827), and before December 31, 2001 (for U.S. 7,372,960). to prove the patented ECC techniques were already known. The Bitcoin community has noted that Hal Finney and others actively tracked ECC patents and even delayed certain optimizations in Bitcoin until patents expired — for instance, the famed “GLV endomorphism” speedup was only added to Bitcoin Core after its patent lapsed (and caution on the GLV issue was taken by developers, which Malikie itself acknowledged in its complaint — paragraphs 20 and 21 of the MARA complaint, for instance). Unearthing such prior art may not only win the case at hand but invalidate the patent for everyone.

• Inter Partes Review (IPR) and Post-Grant Proceedings: Beyond raising invalidity in court, since 2012 defendants have relied on IPR at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) as a powerful forum to knock out bad patents. IPR is an administrative trial within the U.S. Patent Office where challengers can present prior patents or publications to show a granted patent is invalid. We detail IPR’s mechanics in Section 2, but historically it has been a favored tool against NPEs because of its high success rate (around 70%+ of patents see claims canceled when reviewed) and lower burden of proof (“preponderance of the evidence,” 51%, rather than the “clear and convincing,” 75%, standard in court). Companies sued by trolls often file IPR petitions early and then move to stay (or pause) the litigation pending the PTAB’s decision — a stay which many courts grant once an IPR is instituted, given the likelihood that the patent may be invalidated. Notably, in the landmark Personal Audio “podcasting patent” case, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed an IPR that successfully invalidated a troll’s patent on podcast distribution, even as the troll was suing podcasters in East Texas. That IPR, funded by over a thousand small donations from the community, culminated in the Patent Office canceling all claims of the patent in 2015, a result later affirmed on appeal. This victory protected not just the sued targets (like comedian Adam Carolla) but all podcasters going forward. Similarly, the best path for the Bitcoin ecosystem may be to file IPR (or the related Post-Grant Review) against Malikie’s ECC patents, leveraging the mountain of cryptography literature from the 1990s and early 2000s to demonstrate that Bitcoin’s use of ECC was not novel to Malikie’s assignors.

• Declaratory Judgment (DJ) Actions: Another defensive tactic is to preempt the troll by filing a declaratory judgment lawsuit in a preferred court, seeking a ruling that your product does not infringe or that the patent is invalid. Under U.S. law, a company that feels threatened by a patent (e.g., it received a demand letter or sees peers being sued) can sometimes sue first if it can show a substantial controversy. The goal is to avoid being haled into the NPE’s chosen venue (historically, the Eastern District of Texas was favored by trolls) and instead litigate in a more neutral or defendant-friendly forum. For instance, when notorious troll Lodsys threatened dozens of small app developers over in-app purchase patents, one strategy (supported indirectly by Apple and Google) was to seek declaratory rulings outside of East Texas to undermine the troll’s jurisdiction. In practice, DJ actions can prompt a faster resolution or even settlement on better terms. However, the patent owner must have made a concrete infringement assertion to establish the requisite “case or controversy.” In Malikie’s situation, if other Bitcoin companies (exchanges, wallet providers, smaller miners) suspect they are next in line, those companies could file a declaratory suit in a jurisdiction of their choice. This would flip the script, making Malikie the defendant and potentially consolidating the fight in a forum less favorable to NPEs.

• Motions to Dismiss Under Alice (35 U.S.C. §101): Since the 2014 Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank decision, many software patents have been invalidated early in litigation for claiming unpatentable abstract ideas. Courts now examine whether a patent is directed to a fundamental abstract idea (like a mathematical formula) without an “inventive concept.” Defendants often file Rule 12(b)(6) motions to dismiss, arguing the patent is invalid on its face under §101. While cryptographic algorithms can be viewed as mathematical computations (a classic abstract idea), success with an Alice motion depends on how the patent claims are drafted. If the claims merely cover a generalized math formula or the concept of using ECC on a computer, a judge could void them as abstract. Indeed, some defendants have beaten trolls this way, sparing the cost of trial. In Malikie’s case, their patents seem to cover specific techniques to speed up ECC computations (like endomorphisms, modular reduction optimizations, etc.) — arguably “technical improvements” in cryptography rather than a naked abstract idea. That may make an Alice challenge less straigh

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

The banking giant is exploring an expansion of its blockchain services, focusing on digital payments and currencies.

JPMorgan Chase has filed a new trademark application for the name “JPMD.” The filing was submitted on June 15 to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

The application, filed by JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., covers a broad range of services related to digital assets and blockchain technology. These include the issuance of digital currencies, electronic payment processing, and financial custody services — all of which suggest a possible new stablecoin initiative for JPMorgan.

Experience with JPM Coin

This move wouldn’t be JPMorgan’s first foray into blockchain-based finance. The bank already operates JPM Coin, a dollar-pegged stablecoin used to enable instant transactions between institutional clients. The token runs on Quorum, a private blockchain network developed in-house by JPMorgan and based on Ethereum’s technology.

The registration of the JPMD trademark comes as JPMorgan and other major U.S. banks are considering a collaborative stablecoin project through their jointly owned entities: Early Warning Services and The Clearing House.

Similarly, corporations like Walmart and Amazon are mulling the creation of their own stablecoins.

The post JPMorgan files trademark for ‘JPMD’: a new stablecoin on the horizon for the American bank appeared first on Atlas21.

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

‘Ancient’ Bitcoin Supply Now Outpacing Newly Mined BTC: Fidelity Report

Fidelity Digital Assets released a new report that reveals that for the first time in history, more bitcoin is entering “ancient supply,” which refers to coins that have remained unmoved for 10 years or more, than are being mined. 

As of June 8, 17% of all bitcoin falls into the category of “ancient supply”—meaning these coins have not moved in a decade or more. What could this mean for scarcity, market dynamics, and investors’ conviction? Find our team’s thoughts: https://t.co/EALzrfS92c pic.twitter.com/Ckm3MylTLY

— Fidelity Digital Assets (@DigitalAssets) June 18, 2025

As of June 8, an average of 566 BTC per day is crossing the 10 year threshold, while only 450 BTC is being issued daily following the 2024 halving. 3

“The share of ancient supply also tends to increase each day, with daily decreases observed less than 3% of the time,” the report says. “In contrast, that number increases to 13% when the threshold is lowered to bitcoin holders of five years or more.”

Bitcoin’s ancient supply has grown since January 1, 2019, when Satoshi Nakamoto became the first 10 year holder. Today, over 3.4 million BTC fall into this category, worth more than $360 billion. Around 1/3 is believed to belong to Nakamoto.

Despite their rising value, long-term holders are not cashing out. Ancient supply makes up over 17 percent of all bitcoin, and that share continues to grow.

Since the 2024 halving, the number of coins entering ancient supply has consistently outpaced the number of new coins being mined, according to the report. This shift highlights growing long-term conviction among holders and reflects a broader tightening of bitcoin’s liquid supply.

Following the 2024 U.S. election, ancient supply declined on 10% of days, which is nearly four times higher than the historical average. Movement among the holders was even more pronounced, with daily declines occurring 39% of the time.

To better track this trend, Fidelity uses a metric called the ancient supply HODL rate. It measures how many coins are entering the 10 year category each day, adjusted for new issuance. This rate turned positive in April 2024 and has remained that way, reinforcing the long-term supply shift.

Looking ahead, Fidelity Digital Assets projections that ancient supply could reach 20 percent of total bitcoin by 2028 and 25 percent by 2034. If public companies holding at least 1,000 BTC are included, it could reach 30 percent by 2035.

As of June 8, 27 public companies hold more than 800,000 BTC combined, according to the report. This growing institutional presence may further tighten supply and increase the influence of long-term holders over time.

This post ‘Ancient’ Bitcoin Supply Now Outpacing Newly Mined BTC: Fidelity Report first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Oscar Zarraga Perez.

@ 8d34bd24:414be32b

How do you look at the things in your life?

• Do you focus on your physical problems or do you look forward to your resurrection body in heaven?

• Do you spend your time trying to fix the corruption in government or do you spend your time trying to bring as many people as possible home to heaven?

• When you see someone suffering do you first pray for their physical healing or do you pray for their spiritual healing?

• Do you work to fit in with the people around you or do you work to become more Christ-like?

• Do you crave entertainment or do you crave biblical enrichment?

• Do you focus more on your citizenship here on earth or more on your eternal citizenship?

• Do you seek fellowship with the people of this world or do you seek fellowship with your Savior?

• Do you look at people’s faults and how they hurt you or do you look at their hurt and separation from God and seek to bring them to Jesus?

• Do you spend your time on work and entertainment or do you spend your time studying the word of God, praying to God, and telling others about God?

Do you have an earthly or an eternal perspective?

Physical or Spiritual Needs

Jesus always had an eternal perspective. This event is just one example.

One day He was teaching; and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing. And some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him. But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” But Jesus, aware of their reasonings, answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”—He said to the paralytic—“I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home.” (Luke 5:17-24) {emphasis mine}

In this familiar story a man who was paralyzed was brought to Jesus for healing. The paralytic’s friends worked so hard to get him physically healed that they hauled him up on the roof, dug through the roof, and lowered him down in front of Jesus. What was Jesus’s response? Jesus forgave the man’s sins. Every person there saw the man’s need to be able to walk, so he could take care of himself here on earth. Jesus saw the more important spiritual need and forgave his sins. After taking care of his eternal need, he also took care of his more earthly need and healed him physically.

Do you see people’s eternal need or do you just see their physical needs or worse, only see their earthly failings? Do you only see the hurt they are causing you or do you see the hurt they feel that comes from being separated from God?

Earthly or Heavenly Citizenship

I’ve been involved in politics for many years. I’ve been to precinct, county, state, and national conventions. I’ve written, debated, and defended political platforms and resolutions. I vote every election. All of that is good and useful, but is that where we are supposed to spend most of our time and effort? I’ve come to the conclusion that this is not what is most important.

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. (Philippians 3:20-21)

We are told that our citizenship is in heaven. The majority of our effort should be put into support of our heavenly citizenship, not our earthly citizenship. That doesn’t mean that we should let our earthly kingdom fall apart and turn away from God, but it does mean we should be more focused on turning hearts and minds to Jesus than we are with setting domestic laws. We should be more focused on worshipping God than supporting politicians.

Sadly I see too many Christians who focus on pushing the “Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag” than they do pushing loyalty to Jesus. I see too many Christians who put all of their effort into electing the “right” politician instead of pointing people to the real Savior. I see too many Christians who try to pass the “right” laws instead of reading the law of God. I see too many Christians who put all of their effort into changing people’s minds to the “right” party instead of changing hearts and minds for Christ.

Do you really seek the kingdom of God or are you only focused on your earthly nation? Do you spend more time trying to win people for your political party than you do trying to win people for Christ? Our primary focus should be on the Millennial Kingdom of Christ and on eternity in heaven with Jesus, not on our earthly country.

Yes, we are to be a light in the world and we should seek the good of our earthly nations, but sharing the gospel, living a life honoring to God, and doing everything within our power to draw people to Jesus should be our focus and where we put most of our effort.

And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:17-22)

The Hurt They Cause or the Hurt They Feel

People today are selfish and hurtful. Most people are trying to be the greatest victim which means they are accusing others of being abusers, tyrants, or haters. People are impolite, inconsiderate, and sometimes downright hateful. How do you respond?

Do you attack back when you are attacked? Are you rude back when you are treated rudely? Do you only see how others hurt you or can you see the hurt behind the hurtful behavior?

Most of the people who are striking out with hate and anger are truly hurting people. They have been taught that they are evolved pond scum and feel hopeless. They have been mistreated by other hurting people. They have been taught to be victims and to hate anyone who may not be a victim. Instead of feeling hate, we should feel compassion.

In Matthew 18:21-35 Jesus tells a parable of a master who forgives his slave of his debts, but then that slave does not show the same mercy to another who owes him much less. The slave is rebuked.

Then summoning him, his lord said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’ (Matthew 18:32-33)

God loved us before we loved Him. Jesus forgave us far more than we can ever forgive others. After all Jesus did for us, we should be forgiving like He is. We should see other’s hurt and eternal destination and have compassion on them. Instead of treating them the way we were treated, we should treat them like Jesus treated us. We should seek their eternal good above our momentary comfort.

And He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.” (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves.

The people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them. When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things. (Mark 6:31-34) {emphasis mine}

Just as Jesus had compassion for the crowd and their spiritual needs when He and His disciples had need of food and rest, in the same way we should sacrifice our egos to minister to the spiritual needs of those that may seem unlovable because of their eternal need.

May the Lord of Heaven help us to have an eternal perspective and to view everything and everyone with that eternal and spiritual perspective so we can faithfully serve Jesus and bring with us a plentiful harvest. May Jesus use us for His glory and for the eternal good of those around us.

@ 866e0139:6a9334e5

Autor: Daniele Ganser. Dieser Beitrag wurde mit dem Pareto-Client geschrieben und erschien zuerst auf dem Blog des Autors. 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 am 13. Juni 2025 den Iran bombardiert und Iraner getötet. Das ist ein Verstoss gegen das UNO Gewaltverbot. Dieses besagt: «Alle UNO Mitglieder unterlassen in ihren internationalen Beziehungen jede Androhung oder Anwendung von Gewalt.» Der Angriff von Israel auf den Iran ist ein Verstoss gegen das Völkerrecht und destabilisiert den Nahen Osten. Premierminister Netanjahu begründete den Angriff mit dem iranischen Atomprogramm, das eine Bedrohung für Israel sei. Israel, das selber über Atomwaffen verfügt, werde nicht zulassen, dass der Iran auch in den Besitz von Atomwaffen gelangt, so Netanjahu. Wie berichten die Leitmedien im deutschsprachigen Raum? Interessant ist das Wording, also welche Worte benutzt werden. Durch Wording, Framing und Narrativ werden die Gedanken und Gefühle der Leser gelenkt. Bei der russischen Invasion in die Ukraine wird immer das Wording «illegaler Angriffskrieg» verwendet. Die russische Invasion vom 24. Februar 2022 ist auch wirklich ein Verstoss gegen das UNO-Gewaltverbot. Und wie wird jetzt der Angriff von Israel auf Iran beschrieben? Das Wording «illegaler Angriffskrieg» taucht nicht auf. Die ARD Tagesschau spricht stattessen von einem «Militäreinsatz gegen den Iran» und einem «Militärschlag».

(...) Bundeskanzler Friedrich Merz lobt den illegalen Angriff von Israel auf den Iran im Gespräch mit dem ZDF. «Das ist die Drecksarbeit, die Israel macht für uns alle», sagte Merz. Hier kann man die Techniken Wording, Framing und Narrativ genau beobachten. Der Angriff von Israel auf den Iran ist ein klarer Verstoss gegen das UNO-Gewaltverbot. Merz verschweigt das. Die Staaten Europas behaupten immer, dass sie für das Völkerrecht einstehen. Merz ignoriert das Völkerrecht mit seiner Aussage. Wer soll Europa noch glauben nach diesem Framing von Merz? Das wichtigste Element des Völkerrechts ist das UNO-Gewaltverbot. Das ist das Herz des Völkerrechts. Es besagt in Artikel 2 der UNO-Charta ganz klar: «Alle Mitglieder unterlassen in ihren internationalen Beziehungen jede gegen die territoriale Unversehrtheit oder die politische Unabhängigkeit eines Staates gerichtete oder sonst mit den Zielen der Vereinten Nationen unvereinbare Androhung oder Anwendung von Gewalt.» Sowohl Israel wie auch der Iran sind UNO-Mitgliedsstaaten und müssten sich an das UNO-Gewaltverbot halten.

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DIE FRIEDENSTAUBE FLIEGT AUCH IN IHR POSTFACH!

Hier können Sie die Friedenstaube abonnieren und bekommen die Artikel zugesandt, vorerst für alle kostenfrei, wir starten gänzlich ohne Paywall. (Die Bezahlabos fangen erst zu laufen an, wenn ein Monetarisierungskonzept für die Inhalte steht). Sie wollen der Genossenschaft beitreten oder uns unterstützen? Mehr Infos hier oder am Ende des Textes.

Sie schreiben und haben etwas zum Frieden zu sagen? Melden Sie sich gerne: friedenstaube@pareto.space

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Doch Merz ignoriert das und erklärte am Rande des G7-Gipfels in den kanadischen Rocky Mountains, er sei dankbar für den Angriff von Israel auf den Iran. Die Führung in Teheran habe "Tod und Zerstörung über die Welt gebracht, mit Anschlägen, mit Mord und Totschlag, mit Hisbollah, mit Hamas". Der Angriff der Hamas am 7. Oktober 2023 auf Israel "wäre ohne das Regime in Teheran niemals möglich gewesen", behauptete Merz. Er sagt: "Ich kann nur sagen, grössten Respekt davor, dass die israelische Armee, die israelische Staatsführung den Mut dazu gehabt hat, das zu machen. Wir hätten sonst möglicherweise Monate und Jahre weiter den Terror dieses Regimes gesehen. Und dann auch noch mit einer Atomwaffe in der Hand."

Bundeskanzler Merz, der nach dem illegalen Einmarsch von Russland in die Ukraine am 24. Februar 2022 während drei Jahren bei jedem Interview das Wording «illegaler russischer Angriffskrieg» verwendet hatte, tut nun beim ebenso illegalen Angriff von Israel auf den Iran genau das Gegenteil. Er vermeidet das Wording «illegaler israelischer Angriffskrieg» und behauptete mit seinem Narrativ, dass Israels Angriff auf den Iran eine Schutzmassnahme für den ganzen Westen sei, also auch für Europa und die USA. Aber das stimmt nicht. Alle Länder müssen das UNO-Gewaltverbot respektieren. Und wenn ein Land das UNO-Gewaltverbot verletzt, müssten mächtige Regierungen wie die von Deutschland an das UNO-Gewaltverbot erinnern. Merz tut das nicht. Er ist meiner Ansicht nach keine Kraft für den Frieden.

(Quelle: Dr. Daniele Ganser/Facebook v. 13.06. und vom 19.06.2025).

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LASSEN SIE DER FRIEDENSTAUBE FLÜGEL WACHSEN!

Hier können Sie die Friedenstaube abonnieren und bekommen die Artikel zugesandt.

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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.

@ dfa02707:41ca50e3

Contribute to keep No Bullshit Bitcoin news going.

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

What's new

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

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

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

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

  • For more technical details, see the protocol spec.

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

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

Fixes

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

Blog Post / Archive
GitHub Repo
CCC Guide
Key Teleport site

@ 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.

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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

@ 6e0ea5d6:0327f353

Ascolta! There is an illusion nurtured by the weak that worrying about everything and everyone is a virtue. A great mistake.

Excessive compassion is often just an excuse for incompetence. While you waste away over the country’s woes, the problems of those around you, or a friend’s existential crisis, your own life rots.

Let every man carry the cross he forged. Do not become a dumping ground for tears that are not yours. Other people’s problems are like dirty laundry — each one should wash their own. Your duty is to your own name, your own blood, your own honor. While you spend sleepless nights worrying about national unemployment or the chronic heartbreak of a friend, someone else, quietly, is building the wealth you’ll never have. Because in the end, my friend, the one who drowns trying to save others is always remembered as a well-meaning fool.

Stop with the cheap sentimentalism. True selfishness is what they do to you: placing on your back the weight of responsibilities that were never yours to bear. They make mistakes, wreak havoc, reap the storms they’ve sown... and like rats fleeing a sinking ship, they come seeking refuge in your boat. They want you to solve everything, clean up their mess, pay their bills, carry their shame. And they call it “heartlessness” when you refuse.

Davvero, when it’s you in the gutter, dignity shattered and pockets empty, few — very few — will even bother to ask if you’re still alive. And even those few will first measure the value of your fall before deciding whether to help.

Make money. Gain power. Build a wall between your family and the emotional misery of others. It’s not selfishness — it’s intelligence. The real mistake is trying to carry the world on your back when you can barely support your own spine.

And if some hypocrite dares to call you selfish, smile with contempt. Better to be called cold by those who build nothing than to be dragged into the mud by those who already live in it.

Thank you for reading, my friend!

If this message resonated with you, consider leaving your "🥃" as a token of appreciation.

A toast to our family!

@ 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.

@ 20986fb8:cdac21b3

Build your AI-powered MiniApp, unlock new possibilities in decentralized social and payment experiences

📅 Timeline & Prize Pool

• Kickoff: June 20, 2025
• Development Phase: June 20 – July 15
• Demo & Community Review: July 15 – July 31
• Final Results: Early August

💰 Total Prize Pool: 10,000,000 sats (paid in BTC), awarded across three rounds:

• 🥇 1st Prize: 1,000,000 sats 1
• 🥈 2nd Prize: 700,000 sats 1
• 🥉 3rd Prize: 500,000 sats  2
• 🎁 Participation Rewards – All successfully deployed MiniApps will receive rewards (details TBA)

🛠 Hackathon Tracks

• Nostr Tools: Nip-05 services, Relay tools, Short notes services, plugins and more.
• Payment Solutions –  Innovations in Payments: BTC, Lightning, Stablecoins, and Local Currencies; Red packets, tipping, QR pay, content paywalls, merchant tools
• AI Interaction – AI bots, content recommenders, smart media MiniApps
• Other Innovative Use Cases – Any decentralized application idea is welcome

How to participate?

✅ Nostr Version: - Submit your application to YakiHonne Smart Widgets GitHub - Deploy your MiniApp via YakiHonne (new or adapted from an existing app) - Your MiniApp must be usable and testable in Nostr posts

🧑‍⚖️ Judging Criteria

• Technical implementation & innovation
• UX/UI design quality
• Level of decentralization
• Integration with Nostr / YakiHonne
• Community votes
• Expert panel evaluation

🎉 Why Join?

• Build the next generation of AI-powered decentralized MiniApps
• Deploy on the most open and composable network: Nostr + Lightning + AI
• Gain global exposure, community traffic, and funding
• Rapidly validate your ideas in the real world
• Pioneer the Agentic MiniApp development track

🚀 Why Join the Agentic Mini Apps Hack on Nostr?

The Nostr network is rapidly growing, opening up unprecedented opportunities for innovation in decentralized social and payment systems. At the same time, AI is revolutionizing how we interact—with intelligent agents, social assistants, and content recommendations.

Agentic MiniApps represent a new generation of applications designed for this future: ✅ Lightweight, open, and composable. ✅ Natively support AI, payments, and social interaction. ✅ Decentralized deployment—no downloads needed, users access them directly from Nostr posts.

Agentic Mini Apps Hack on Nostr – Round 1 is the first hackathon centered on this emerging format. It combines Nostr + Bitcoin/Lightning payments + AI to explore the next generation of decentralized apps, enriching Nostr with advanced social, payment, and intelligent interaction capabilities—powering the open ecosystem forward.

What is a Mini App?

A MiniApp as a Smart Widgets are interactive graphical components encapsulated as Nostr events, designed for seamless integration into applications. Each widget type serves a specific purpose, with well-defined structures and behaviors to support various use cases.

Refer to https://yakihonne.com/docs/sw/intro for full documentation.

Widget Types

Basic Widget (Does not concern the current Hackathon)

• Description: A versatile widget comprising multiple UI components for flexible display and interaction.
• Components:
  • Images (mandatory, maximum of one).
  • Input Field (optional, maximum of one).
  • Buttons (optional, maximum of six).
• Use Case: Ideal for scenarios requiring a combination of visual elements and user inputs, such as forms or dashboards.

Action Widget

• Description: A streamlined widget designed to trigger an action by embedding a URL in an iframe.
• Components:
  • Image (single, for visual representation).
  • Button (single, type: app).
• Behavior:
  • Clicking the button opens the specified URL within an iframe.
  • The iframe does not return any data to the parent application.
• Use Case: Suitable for launching external applications or resources without expecting a response, such as opening a third-party tool.

Tool Widget

• Description: A widget that facilitates interaction with an external application via an iframe, with data exchange capabilities.
• Components:
  • Image (single, for visual representation).
  • Button (single, type: app).
• Behavior:
  • Clicking the button opens the specified URL within an iframe.
  • The iframe is configured to return data to the parent application upon interaction.
• Use Case: Perfect for scenarios requiring data retrieval or feedback from an external tool, such as a configuration interface or a data picker.

Technical Notes

• Nostr Event Structure: Each widget is represented as a Nostr event, ensuring compatibility with the Nostr protocol for decentralized communication.
• Iframe Integration: For Action and Tool widgets, the iframe must adhere to standard web security practices (e.g., sandboxing, CORS policies) to ensure safe URL embedding.
• Extensibility: Developers can customize widget appearance and behavior within the defined constraints (e.g., maximum button limits, single input field) to align with application requirements.

🔧 How to Deploy Your MiniApp?

Developers will build and deploy via the YakiHonne Programmable Smart Widgets Product: 1. Build your mini app using YakiHonne provided packages 1. Smart widget handler package: https://yakihonne.com/docs/sw/smart-widget-handler 2. Smart widget previewer package (required for clients): https://yakihonne.com/docs/sw/smart-widget-previewer 2. Deploy to a hosting service: 1. Vercel, Netflify, GitHub Pages, etc. 2. Ensure the /.well-known/widget.json file is accessible (Widget Manifest) JSON { "pubkey": "your-nostr-pubkey-in-hex", "widget": { "title": "My Amazing Widget", "appUrl": " https://your-app-url.com", "iconUrl": " https://your-app-url.com/icon.png", "imageUrl": " https://your-app-url.com/thumbnail.png", "buttonTitle": "Launch Widget", "tags": ["tool", "utility", "nostr"] } } // This manifest serves two important purposes: // 1. Verifies the authenticity of your mini app // 2. Provides metadata for Nostr clients to display your widget (miniapp) 3. Register with YakiHonne Widget Editor 1. Go to the YakiHonne Widget Editor 2. Select Action or Tool based on your mini app type 3. Enter your mini app URL 4. The editor will fetch your manifest and validate it 5. Configure any additional settings 6. Publish to Nostr

Side notes:

• Smart widget previewer is required by Nostr client to preview all types of smart widgets whether: Action/Tool or even the Basic ones (Please refer to Smart widget previewer for more details)
• Smart widget builder is only used to created embedde Basic smart widgets types, which out of scope for this hackathon (Please refer to Smart widget builder for more details)
• Smart widget handler is necessary for the MiniApps developers to build and deploy their Mini-Apps (Smart widgets from types: Action/Tool) (Please refer to Smart widget handler for more details)

Common Use Cases

Action Mini Apps

• Note composers with special formatting
• Media uploaders
• Event creators
• NFT minters
• Payment widgets

Tool Mini Apps

• Analytics providers
• Search tools
• Data aggregators
• Content recommendation engines
• Information lookup services

💡 YakiHonne Smart Widgets are programmable micro-app components enabling real-time social interaction, on-chain payments, and AI features—creating a seamless “scroll-and-use” experience.

🎯 Why Choose YakiHonne Smart Widgets?

⚡ Fast deployment, viral reach – Go live instantly, no app store approval, spread via Nostr posts 🤖 Deep AI + Payment + Social integration – Build immersive, smart and transactional MiniApps
🔐 One-click login – Use Nostr, a pubkey with no KYC hassle
📈 High visibility – Your MiniApp lives in nostr events, clients, posts, DMs, and community feeds
🌍 Open ecosystem – Supports Lightning / BTC / stablecoins, accessible across clients

Reference Links

• Smart widgets full documentation: https://yakihonne.com/docs/sw/intro
• Smart widgets builder package a package for NodeJS to build Nostr Smart Widgets:
  • https://yakihonne.com/docs/sw/smart-widget-builder
  • https://www.npmjs.com/package/smart-widget-builder
• Smart widgets previewer a React component for previewing and interacting with Nostr-based Smart Widgets:
  • https://yakihonne.com/docs/sw/smart-widget-previewer
  • https://www.npmjs.com/package/smart-widget-previewer
• Smart widgets handler an sdk to communicate with embeded apps on nostr smart widgets:
  • https://yakihonne.com/docs/sw/smart-widget-handler
  • https://www.npmjs.com/package/smart-widget-handler

Quick Tutorials

Action/Tool smart widgets mini-apps Part 1

Action/Tool smart widgets mini-apps Part 1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SS-5N-LVCPM)

Action/Tool smart widgets mini-apps Part 2

Action/Tool smart widgets mini-apps Part 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NfMqjkRKnQ)

Action/Tool smart widgets mini-apps Part 3

Action/Tool smart widgets mini-apps Part 3](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGCEEGfIo_I)

@ 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.

@ 52524fbb:ae4025dc

GBP/JPY currency pair dubbed Beast or Widowmaker by traders is notoriously renowned for exceptional volatility with rather unpredictable price swings occurring rapidly. Potent combination of British Pound sensitivity to UK economic turmoil post-Brexit and Japanese Yen's safe-haven status fuels this characteristic globally. This potent mix further amplified by sizable interest rate differentials spawns a wildly volatile trading environment often fraught with unpredictability quickly. British Pound GBP remains inherently vulnerable mostly due to fluctuations triggered by sudden domestic political developments or sporadic releases of economic data. Post-Brexit UK economy grapples with gnarly structural issues and Pound sterling reacts violently to trade negotiation headlines and BoE monetary policy moves. Unexpected economic data releases or leadership changes in UK often trigger substantial moves in Pound rapidly amidst brewing political instability.

Japanese Yen JPY exhibits traditionally quirky safe-haven traits conversely under radically uncertain market conditions very quietly. Capital flows into Yen rapidly during global market turmoil or severe geopolitical crises triggering risk-off sentiment and making it surge in value. GBP might weaken due to UK-specific woes but some concurrent global risk-off event could catapult JPY higher against major currencies including Pound. Extreme volatility characterizing GBP/JPY stems largely from interaction between two forces that frequently amplify each other violently somehow. Envision a situation where lackluster UK economic data sends Pound tumbling lower and concurrently some major geopolitical kerfuffle sparks frantic flight into safe-haven Yen. Both factors would aggressively push GBP/JPY downwards pretty rapidly and sharply downwards still further. Strong UK data paired with a risk-on vibe worldwide can send GBPJPY soaring as JPY gets thoroughly pummeled. Movements in GBP/JPY are often starkly more pronounced than those seen in other major currency pairs under normal market conditions.

Significant interest rate differentials between UK and Japan add another layer of complexity and opportunity pretty substantially nowadays. Bank of England has generally maintained significantly higher interest rates than ultra dovish Bank of Japan over past few decades mostly. GBP/JPY appears particularly attractive for carry trade strategies where traders borrow cheap JPY and invest heavily in higher yielding GBP. Traders can reap rewards from daily interest accrual and potential capital gains if global risk appetite keeps carry trade momentum trending higher. Risk of a massive carry trade unwind in GBP/JPY remains substantial pretty much nowadays. Sudden global risk appetite downturn or BoJ policy shift surprisingly triggers rapid reversal as borrowed Yen gets bought back and higher-yielding Pound positions liquidate rapidly overseas. Such unwind can precipitate precipitous downward plunges befitting their notorious Widowmaker moniker eerily. GBP/JPY trading brutally tests resolve of even seasoned investors daily. Geopolitical events and significant yield differentials heavily amplify its volatility stemming from disparate fundamental drivers of constituent currencies. Its large swings offer potentially rewarding opportunities in Forex for experienced traders who are well-prepared and willing to take considerable risks.

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

A new study by Kraken reveals how cryptocurrency investors perceive security as the main challenge in self-managing their digital assets.

According to The Block, a recent survey conducted by crypto exchange Kraken found that nearly half of respondents consider themselves the primary risk factor for their own crypto security. The research, which surveyed 789 participants, highlights that 48% of users see their own actions as the greatest threat to their investments in digital assets, surpassing concerns about external theft or fraud.

Kraken’s report underlines how personal responsibility in security management forces users to take full control of their digital funds. However, the study suggests that this autonomy can also become a source of anxiety for many investors.

Nick Percoco, Chief Security Officer at Kraken, commented on the findings, noting that “a lack of confidence in personal crypto security is capping the growth of the industry.” According to Percoco, unlocking the full potential of cryptocurrencies will require users to embrace self-custody and consistently invest in strong security habits.

Technologies to strengthen security

Despite the concerns highlighted in the study, 31% of participants expressed optimism about future technologies that could improve crypto security. Among the most promising solutions identified:

• advanced biometric systems for user authentication;
• multi-factor authentication to secure wallet access;
• AI-based fraud detection systems to prevent attacks.

Data and case studies

Kraken’s research emerges in a context where security threats remain a pressing reality. FBI data shows that in 2024, nearly 150,000 reports of crypto-related internet fraud resulted in $9.3 billion in losses. Older users, particularly those over 60, proved especially vulnerable, accounting for $3 billion in crypto-related financial fraud losses on their own.

The post Kraken study: 48% of users fear themselves in managing and securing their funds appeared first on Atlas21.

@ 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.

@ b7274d28:c99628cb

Tired of dealing with spam? You're not alone. Here is a guide to picking relays that are good at keeping spam out, without sacrificing your own reach.

If you just want to skip to the relay suggestions, scroll to the sections titled "The Setup." There is one for users of Haven and one for those who aren't running their own relay at all.

Client Selection

"Wait, I thought this was a guide about selecting relays, not clients."

Yes, it is. But what relays you choose doesn't matter if you are using a client that does not read from your chosen relays, or that hard-codes problematic relays as fallbacks in addition to the relays you selected in an effort to "help you."

Additionally, some clients have settings that can help make up for poor relay selection using client-side spam mitigation methods. This includes clients like Coracle, Damus, Amethyst, and Nostur. Some may do so via web-of-trust (WoT) filters, so you only see notes and replies from those within your broader social circle, while others will automatically hide notes that those you follow have reported as spam or scams.

Coracle is a great client for dealing with spam, so long as you have gone into your "Content Settings" and set the "Minimum WoT Score" to at least 1. This means you will only see posts from users followed by at least one of the npubs you follow.

Damus also employs WoT, but it appears to be just for notifications, so you only receive notifications for those you follow and those they follow, or "friends of friends," as Damus put's it. This can be accessed by toggling it on in your notification tab at the top right, where you see the icon of the person with a check mark.

Nostur has WoT filters for downloading media turned on by default and also uses WoT to filter spam by default. Even better, if you use multiple npubs, you can filter using the WoT of your main npub, while logged into your alternate npubs.

Jumble recently added WoT filtering specifically for interactions. When you load a thread in Jumble, a shield icon will appear near the top right of the page, in line with the tabs for Replies and Quotes. Toggle it on, so the shield is green with a check mark and you will only see replies from those you follow and those your follows follow.

Amethyst does not yet have WoT based filtering built into the client, but it can hide notes that have been reported as spam, scams, impersonation, etc, by those you follow. This is not the most effective way to combat spam, though, since most users aren't often using the report feature. Hopefully we will see WoT filtering as an option in a future update.

Primal's apps do not read from any of your selected relays, but rather from their caching server alone. That said, they have a spam filter that is turned on by default so you see relatively little spam, regardless of which relays you use.

For this guide, I recommend using Amethyst for updating your relays, if you possibly can. The reason for this is because Amethyst has the most robust settings for being able to update all of your various relay lists.

Relay Lists Explained

Contrary to what you might think, there is not a single relay list for each user that is stored in a single note, because you can have relays that are used for only one purpose, and not for any other. Each of those purposes for which you might use a particular relay has its own list. That way a Nostr client can tell which relays you want to use for each separate purpose.

While this can make things less approachable for the user, it also means users don't have to rely on clients to hard code appropriate relays for each of these use-cases. If your client doesn't let you edit each of these relay lists, chances are they are using a set of relays for that purpose that the developer chose instead of you.

Public Outbox/Inbox Relays

This list of relays is found in your kind 10002 note, if you have one. If you don't have one, there won't be any relays shown for these categories in Amethyst. Other clients may fallback to showing you relays from a different list.

This list is intended to be used for Nostr clients to implement the "outbox model" to fetch notes from whatever relays they were written to, even if they aren't in the requesting user's relay list. This solves the issue of needing to share relays with those you follow in order to see their notes, allowing Nostr to remain decentralized.

Your "outbox" relays are the ones you write to, or at least the ones you want other users to know that you write to. When you add a relay here, it's like advertising to everyone, "If you want to see my public-facing notes, look for them on these relays."

Your "inbox" relays are the ones you read from. On this part of your list you are advertising, "If you want me to see your replies, comments, reactions, and zaps, then send them to these relays." These relays are massively important for reducing the amount of spam you see. If you have relays listed here that anyone can post to for free, you will almost certainly see a lot of spam in your replies, unless you have WoT filters turned on in your Nostr client.

DM Inbox Relays

This list is found in your kind 10050 note, if you have one, and is a list of relays where you want others to send you Direct Messages. Ideally, you will use a relay or two here that supports AUTH, so that it will only allow direct messages to be retrieved by the user they are addressed to.

What happens if you put a relay in here that doesn't support AUTH, so it allows anyone to retrieve your DMs? Not much. Anyone who wants to will just be able to see the encrypted content of the message, and depending on the type of DM they will see the identity of the receiver and perhaps also the sender. They will not be able to decrypt what was actually said in the messages. It's better if they cannot retrieve even that much, though.

Private Relays

This list is found in your 10013 note, if you have one. This is intended for listing a relay that you run yourself and that only you can access, as it will house notes that other users should not be able to see at all, such as eCash tokens and draft notes.

Search Relays

This list is found in your 10007 note, if you have one, and is used to search for notes or users who may not be using the same relays as you. It is good to use relays here that aggregate notes from other relays automatically, and which support NIP-50 for search capability.

Local Relays

This section is for any relays running on the local device, such as Citrine. Because the relays themselves are local, this list is local, as well, and is not saved to any note kind that is saved to your relays like the above lists.

General Relays

This list is found in the "content" tag of your kind 3 note, which is also where all of the npubs you follow are stored. As such, this note is commonly known as your follow list, rather than as a relay list. However, some clients, such as Amethyst, do make use of this list, and others use it as a fallback if they can't find a kind 10002.

If you are an Amethyst user most of the time, then I would recommend using this list to fill in any gaps that you may have from only writing to a few outbox relays, or only reading from a few inbox relays. It's a good place to put an aggregator relay, for instance, so long as that relay has good spam filtering, or a blastr relay, so those who don't yet use a client that supports the outbox model will still likely see your notes.

If you do not generally use Amethyst, then I would recommend you mirror your public inbox/outbox relays here, in case you use a client that cannot find your 10002 list. Relays that are only for outbox should be added as write only, those only for inbox should be added as read only, and those you use for both outbox and inbox should be both read and write.

The Setup (Haven Users)

If you are running your own set of Haven relays, here is the setup I would recommend:

Public Outbox (kind 10002)

Maximum of 4 relays.

• Your Haven outbox relay (Remember to add some public relays to your blastr)
• A paid relay of your choice (List available in "Paid Relays" section)
• A public relay, such as relay.damus.io, relay.primal.net, or nos.lol

Public Inbox (kind 10002)

Maximum of 4 relays.

• Your Haven inbox relay: [RelayAddress]/inbox
• A paid relay of your choice (can be same as outbox)
• A WoT relay of your choice (available in "WoT Relays" section)
• Optional additional WoT relay

DM Inbox

Maximum of 3 relays.

• Your Haven "chat" relay: [RelayAddress]/chat
• An alternate AUTH relay, such as inbox.nostr.wine(paid), nostr.land(paid), or auth.nostr1.com(free).

Private Relays

Maximum of 3 relays.

• Your Haven private relay: [RelayAddress]/private

Search Relays

Maximum of 4 relays.

• wss://nostr.wine (even if you don't pay to write to it)
• wss://relay.nostr.band
• wss://relay.noswhere.com
• wss://search.nos.today

Local Relays

• Your Citrine IP:Port, if you run Citrine.

General Relays

Assuming you use Amethyst on a regular basis, I recommend the following:

• A couple additional WoT relays set to read only.
• An aggregator relay that has good spam filtering, such as wss://aggr.nostr.land(payment required) and/or wss://nostr.wine(paid for write, but can read for free).

The Setup (Not Running Haven)

If you are not running your own set of Haven relays, I would highly recommend you learn how and do so. However, if you decide against it, here is a setup that should suffice:

Public Outbox (kind 10002)

Maximum of 4 relays.

• A paid relay of your choice (List available in "Paid Relays" section)
• A large public relay, such as relay.damus.io, relay.primal.net, or nos.lol
• An additional public relay, but a smaller one, or one-time-payment paid relay.

Public Inbox (kind 10002)

Maximum of 4 relays.

• A paid relay of your choice (can be same as outbox)
• wss://nostr.wine - Even if you don't pay for it, you can read from it.
• A WoT relay of your choice (available in "WoT Relays" section)
• Optional additional WoT relay

DM Inbox

Maximum of 3 relays.

• A paid AUTH relay, such as inbox.nostr.wine or nostr.land.
• An alternate AUTH relay, such as auth.nostr1.com(free).

Private Relays

Maximum of 3 relays.

• A private relay you run on your Umbrel or Start9, or that is hosted for you on relay.tools.

Search Relays

Maximum of 4 relays.

• wss://nostr.wine (even if you don't pay to write to it)
• wss://relay.nostr.band
• wss://relay.noswhere.com
• wss://search.nos.today

Local Relays

• Your Citrine IP:Port, if you run Citrine.

General Relays

Assuming you use Amethyst on a regular basis, I recommend the following:

• A couple additional WoT relays set to read only.
• An aggregator relay that has good spam filtering, such as wss://aggr.nostr.land(payment required).
• A blastr relay, such as filter.nostr.wine(paid), or...
• A few additional public relays set to write only.

Paid Relays

• wss://nostr.land - Details.
• The Nostr.Wine of relays.
  • wss://nostr.wine - Details
  • wss://filter.nostr.wine - Details
  • wss://inbox.nostr.wine -Details
  • wss://cellar.nostr.wine - Details
  • wss://creatr.nostr.wine - Details
• wss://jellyfish.land - Details

There are a ton of other paid relays out there that can be found via nostr.watch. The above listed options are simply the most popular with the largest feature-sets.

WoT Relays

These relays will only accept notes from npubs that are within the relay owner's WoT. I have provided a Jumble.social address for each relay so you can peruse the feed for yourself to see if you want to use it.

• wss://wot.utxo.one - Jumble Feed
• wss://nostrelites.org - Jumble Feed
• wss://wot.nostr.party - Jumble Feed
• wss://wot.sovbit.host - Jumble Feed
• wss://wot.girino.org - Jumble Feed
• wss://relay.lnau.net - Jumble Feed
• wss://wot.siamstr.com - Jumble Feed
• wss://relay.lexingtonbitcoin.org - Jumble Feed
• wss://wot.azzamo.net - Jumble Feed
• wss://wot.swarmstr.com - Jumble Feed
• wss://zap.watch - Jumble Feed
• wss://satsage.xyz - Jumble Feed
• wss://wons.calva.dev - Jumble Feed
• wss://wot.zacoos.com - Jumble Feed
• wss://wot.shaving.kiwi - Jumble Feed
• wss://wot.tealeaf.dev - Jumble Feed
• wss://wot.nostr.net - Jumble Feed
• wss://relay.goodmorningbitcoin.com - Jumble Feed
• wss://wot.sudocarlos.com - Jumble Feed

@ 14ca97ca:3f363b7f

ZAP COOKING NEWSLETTER | DEC 2024 | ISSUE 4 (Fork)

Ingredients

• 2 pieces salad (green salad is best, brown not so much)
• 2 pieces melons (honey)

Instructions

1. prepare everything together

@ 52524fbb:ae4025dc

NZD/USD currency pair affectionately known as Kiwi exemplifies commodity-sensitive currency behavior heavily influenced by New Zealand's hefty agricultural export reliance overseas. New Zealand economy heavily reliant on dairy products meat and other ag goods means Kiwi dances wildly to global food prices and China's whims. New Zealand's economy relies heavily on primary sector industries with dairy farming being a rather significant contributor somehow overseas. Fonterra its dominant dairy cooperative plays a significant role globally in various markets as one of world's largest dairy exporters. GDT auctions setting prices for various dairy products are keenly watched by NZD/USD traders fairly closely nowadays apparently. Strong global demand particularly from China drives up GDT auction prices directly translating into heftier export earnings for New Zealand bolstering NZD.

Meat and wool exports significantly bolster New Zealand's commodity currency status alongside dairy products reinforcing its robust export receipts quite substantially overseas. NZD/USD frequently acts as barometer for global agricultural demand and remains highly sensitive pretty much to economic shifts in China somehow. China being a huge consumer of New Zealand's farm produce its economic vitality and demand for imports heavily influence NZD exchange rates. Robust economic indicators from China or hints of surging demand for food imports frequently give Kiwi currency a welcome boost. Reserve Bank of New Zealand operates with such dynamics squarely in its mind evidently nowadays. RBNZ keenly aware of commodity price fluctuations impact on domestic economy while its mandate focuses on price stability and high employment levels. RBNZ may raise interest rates somewhat vigorously amid surging export prices and an extremely booming agricultural sector beset by inflationary pressures. A sharp downturn in commodity prices might prompt RBNZ to pivot towards dovish policies and possibly slash rates, thereby stimulating economic growth rapidly. Traders scrutinize RBNZ monetary policy statements and economic forecasts quite closely for cryptic insights into reaction functions amidst volatile commodity cycles.

NZD/USD appreciates markedly during heightened global risk appetite periods when investors eagerly invest in growth-sensitive assets with reckless abandon. This often aligns with a positive outlook for global growth which in turn bolsters demand somewhat irregularly across various commodity markets. During risk-off environments investors typically flock to relatively safe havens like US Dollar and NZD subsequently weakens quite drastically. NZD/USD pair serves as a singular lens into a tiny economy heavily swayed by natural resources and commodity prices abroad. Kiwi's movements are distinctly tied to fortunes of its agricultural sector and insatiable demand from key trading partners making it rather compelling currency pair.

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

Flash Releases Free Bitcoin Invoicing Tool with No Fees, KYC, or Custody

Flash, a Bitcoin payment platform, just announced it has launched Flash Invoicing, a completely free, non-custodial, and KYC-free Bitcoin invoicing tool. Designed for freelancers, the platform allows users to send professional invoices without platform fees, identity checks, or third party custody.

According to Deel, a crypto payments company for freelancers, Bitcoin is the most used cryptocurrency in the world for payments. Despite this growth, many freelancers continue to use basic methods such as pasting Bitcoin addresses into PDFs or emails. Some rely on custodial platforms that deduct fees or require identity verification, which can affect both earnings and data privacy.

“We’ve seen too many people paste BTC addresses into documents and call it invoicing,” said the CEO of Flash Pierre Corbin. “It’s messy. It’s risky. And it’s time for something better.” 

Flash Invoicing Features:

• 0% platform fees: no subscriptions or commission
• Non-custodial: Bitcoin goes straight to the user’s wallet
• No KYC: users maintain full privacy
• Professional output: branded PDFs and secure payment links
• Integrated dashboard: manage payments, clients, and revenue
• Works with Flash ecosystem: including Stores, Donations, Paywalls, and POS

Many Bitcoin invoicing tools charge a percentage per transaction or require a subscription. As a result, freelancers often lose part of their income simply to issue an invoice and receive payment. Flash is aiming to solve this issue.

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

Flash Invoicing allows users to accept Bitcoin payments without relinquishing control, privacy, or revenue. It is integrated with the broader Flash suite, enabling users to manage invoicing alongside features such as setting up stores, receiving donations, or gating premium content.

“As a freelancer myself, I love using the Flash invoicing feature,” stated a freelancer & Flash user. ”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.”

This post Flash Releases Free Bitcoin Invoicing Tool with No Fees, KYC, or Custody first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Oscar Zarraga Perez.

@ 56a18512:78772baf

Lots of wars, soon Christ will come! Repent you sons of sinners!

@ 4ba8e86d:89d32de4

A sede do ProtonMail está localizada na Suíça, um país conhecido por suas leis rigorosas de privacidade, embora a empresa tenha enfrentado alguns desafios, como ataques DDoS e pressão do governo suíço, ela continua comprometida em fornecer um serviço seguro e privado aos seus usuários.

O ProtonMail foi fundado em 2014 por um grupo de cientistas do CERN (Organização Europeia para Pesquisa Nuclear) que queriam criar uma plataforma de e-mail segura e privada que usasse criptografia de ponta a ponta. O objetivo era oferecer aos usuários uma alternativa aos serviços de e-mail tradicionais que frequentemente violam a privacidade dos usuários.A equipe fundadora incluía Andy Yen, Jason Stockman e Wei Sun, todos com formação em física e matemática.

Ao longo dos anos, o ProtonMail lançou vários recursos adicionais, incluindo aplicativos móveis para iOS e Android, integração com Tor e a possibilidade de enviar e-mails criptografados para usuários de outros provedores de e-mail. O ProtonMail também lançou uma VPN (rede privada virtual) chamada ProtonVPN, que segue o mesmo compromisso com a privacidade e segurança dos usuários.

A criptografia de ponta a ponta utilizada pelo ProtonMail assegura a proteção de todas as mensagens de seus usuários. O processo de criptografia ocorre no dispositivo do remetente antes do envio das mensagens aos servidores da ProtonMail, onde elas são armazenadas em formato criptografado. Quando o destinatário abre a mensagem, ela é descriptografada no dispositivo do destinatário, garantindo que somente o destinatário possa ler o conteúdo da mensagem. Isso significa que, mesmo que os servidores da ProtonMail sejam violados, as mensagens dos usuários permanecerão seguras e protegidas.

O ProtonMail oferece suporte à autenticação de dois fatores usando chaves de segurança YubiKey. Isso adiciona uma camada extra de segurança ao login da conta do ProtonMail, pois um invasor precisaria não apenas da senha, mas também da chave física para acessar a conta do usuário. A YubiKey é uma opção popular para autenticação de dois fatores, pois é fácil de usar e oferece proteção adicional contra-ataques de phishing e keylogging. O ProtonMail também suporta outras opções de autenticação de dois fatores, aplicativos de autenticação, como o Aegis Authenticator.

Outra funcionalidade importante é a proteção contra phishing e spam. O ProtonMail utiliza algoritmos avançados de filtragem para identificar e bloquear mensagens maliciosas antes que elas cheguem à caixa de entrada do usuário. Isso ajuda a reduzir a quantidade de spam recebida e a proteger contra-ataques de phishing, que tentam enganar o usuário a fornecer informações pessoais.

Passo a passo instalação do aplicativo protonmail no Android:

1. Baixe e instale o aplicativo protonmail em seu dispositivo móvel no F-droid ou obtainium.

2. Clique em "Criar nova conta" se você ainda não tiver uma conta ProtonMail, ou clique em "Fazer login" se já tiver uma conta.

3. Se você está criando uma nova conta, preencha os campos de registro, incluindo seu endereço de e-mail desejado e uma senha forte.

4. Depois de criar ou fazer login em sua conta, você pode usar o ProtonMail em seu dispositivo Android para enviar e receber e-mails seguros e protegidos.

Lembre-se de que, para garantir a privacidade e a segurança de suas informações, é importante usar uma senha forte e habilitar a autenticação de dois fatores. Utilize o Tor para acessar seu e-mail no site onion e considere usar uma VPN.

No Relatório de Transparência do ProtonMail, em muitos casos, a única informação que eles puderam fornecer foi um e-mail de recuperação (opcional na criação da conta) ou o IP que acessou o e-mail.

A própria ProtonMail recomenda o uso do Tor para acesso anônimo ao serviço. Se um juiz exigir a coleta do seu IP, a Proton não terá essa informação se você acessar seu e-mail via o site onion pelo Tor.

Se você é uma pessoa em situação de risco, como um ativista ou alguém que pode ser perseguido por diversos motivos, é essencial tomar medidas excepcionais: 1. Pague pelo serviço com Bitcoin. 2. Não use informações que possam identificá-lo ao se registrar. 3. Utilize o Tor, ou uma VPN, sempre que acessar o ProtonMail.

@ 7460b7fd:4fc4e74b

第一部分：解构宏观论点：逆风与逆流 1.1 通缩拖累：验证核心看空逻辑 投资者的核心看空逻辑，即中国内地与香港市场将面临日益加剧的通缩压力，这一判断具有坚实的数据支撑。当前宏观环境的核心症结在于信用收缩周期与房地产市场的长期低迷，二者共同作用，严重侵蚀了家庭部门的财富与信心 。 中金公司的分析明确指出，需求下行、通胀低迷及信贷疲弱等问题的根源是信用收-缩 。私人部门因融资成本普遍高于投资回报预期而持续“去杠杆”，无论是居民购房还是企业投资均意愿不振。财政本应作为对冲力量，但其发力速度与规模尚不足以扭转整体经济的“去杠杆”状态，这加剧了增长和通胀的下行压力 。 通缩数据本身也印证了这一趋势。中国2025年3月的居民消费价格指数（CPI）同比下降0.1%，已连续数月为负值 。2月份的CPI同比降幅更是达到0.7% 。展望未来，机构预测2025年全年CPI增速仅为0.6%左右，而生产者价格指数（PPI）预计将继续处于收缩区间 。食品价格作为CPI的重要组成部分，其通缩趋势尤为明显，2025年5月同比下降0.4%，已是连续第四个月下降，主要受蔬菜价格下跌拖累 。这种持续的定价能力缺失，是构建做空策略的基石。 消费者信心的疲软是上述宏观压力的直接体现。由于房地产占中国家庭资产近三分之二，楼市的低迷直接导致了“负财富效应”，抑制了居民的消费意愿 。官方消费者信心指数虽在低位企稳，但仍远未达到乐观水平。2025年4月的数据为87.8，虽略有回升，但仍接近2022年底创下的85.5的历史低点，远低于106.71的历史平均水平 。麦肯锡的调查同样证实了这种谨慎情绪，消费者对2025年的消费增长预期与上年持平，但对家庭收入增长的预期却在下降 。 这种信心缺失最终传导至零售层面，并催生了“消费降级”的核心投资主题。尽管2025年5月整体零售额同比增长6.4%，但这并非全面复苏的信号，而是由政府补贴驱动的结构性分化。数据显示，增长主要由家用电器（+53.0%）和通讯器材（+33.0%）等“以旧换新”政策的受益品类贡献 。这表明消费并非源于内生性需求的强劲，而是政策刺激下的定向释放。与此同时，非补贴、高价值的可选消费领域则表现疲弱。香港的零售数据提供了更为清晰的佐证：2025年第一季度整体零售额同比下降6.5%，其中珠宝首饰、钟表及名贵礼物类别更是暴跌12.3% 。这清晰地揭示了当前消费市场的核心矛盾：消费者正在缩减非必要、高价值的开支，转向追求性价比和必需品。 尽管政府已出台一系列刺激政策 ，但其边际效应可能因居民收入预期不稳而递减 ，且政策规模可能不足以完全对冲私人部门的去杠杆压力 。这种宏观背景为做空那些处于“消费降级”不利端的传统品牌提供了逻辑基础。 1.2 汇率迷局：一个微妙的前景 投资者预期的港币与人民币贬值，其逻辑具有合理性，但并非毫无变数。 支持贬值的核心因素包括：中国经济基本面疲弱、持续的通缩压力、以及与美国之间不断扩大的利率差距，这些都可能加剧资本外流的压力 。此外，潜在的美国关税上调构成了显著的地缘政治风险，可能进一步对人民币汇率施压 。德勤的预测认为，人民币在2025年可能贬值5-7% 。 然而，也存在强大的反作用力。中国人民银行拥有丰富的工具箱和干预外汇市场的历史，以防止汇率出现过度波动 。同时，如果中国国内的经济刺激政策能够有效提振基本面，将为人民币提供支撑 。更重要的是，若美联储开启降息周期，美元走弱，则可能推动人民币对美元升值至7.0甚至6.8的水平 。高盛也指出，人民币在贸易争端中表现出韧性，其潜在的升值趋势将利好中国股市 。 对于港币而言，其与美元挂钩的联系汇率制度是决定其走势的关键。尽管套息交易（carry trades）可能使港币汇率承压，并触及7.85的弱方兑换保证水平，但香港金融管理局的干预能力和港元银行同业拆息（HIBOR）的上升会形成有力的稳定机制 。因此，除非出现打破联汇制度的系统性危机（这是一个低概率、高影响的尾部风险），否则港币发生大幅“贬值”的可能性极低。 综上，人民币汇率的走势存在双向风险，虽然温和贬值的可能性存在，但政策转向或美元走弱也可能导致其意外升值，这对基于汇率贬值的做空策略构成风险。而港币的稳定性使得直接押注其贬值的策略并不可行。 1.3 港股市场：熊市乐园还是价值陷阱？ 当前港股市场被普遍形容为“震荡格局”，即反弹是间歇性的，结构性机会是主线 。市场整体估值偏低，但盈利增长需要更强有力的宏观刺激才能实现，这使得指数层面缺乏持续上行的动力 。 在这种疲软的市场环境中，一个对做空者构成严峻挑战的现象是“抱团”取暖（capital concentration）。该风险并非假设，而是正在发生的事实。数据显示，2025年第二季度，恒生指数83只成份股中，仅有23只跑赢指数，而表现最好的前五名均为人工智能（AI）相关公司 。近期超过50%流入内地股市的资金也主要集中在与AI相关的互联网和信息技术板块 。 这种狭窄的市场宽度意味着，即使大盘整体表现不佳，但资金会高度集中于少数几个具备强劲增长叙事和基本面支撑的“明星”板块或个股。做空者如果选错标的，即便对宏观大势判断正确，也极有可能在个股层面被这种集中的买盘“轧空”（squeeze），遭受严重损失。这正是投资者所担心的“妖股报团不跌反杀”。 表1：中国内地及香港宏观经济指标仪表盘 (2025年) | 指标 | 地区 | 最新数据 | 时点 | 趋势解读 | 来源 | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | CPI (同比) | 中国内地 | -0.1% | 2025年3月 | 持续通缩，物价疲软 | | | PPI (同比) | 中国内地 | -2.1% (2024年) | 2025年预测: -0.3% | 工业领域通缩压力持续 | | | 消费者信心指数 | 中国内地 | 87.8 | 2025年4月 | 处于历史低位，信心疲弱 | | | 零售额 (同比) | 中国内地 | +6.4% | 2025年5月 | 结构性分化，由政策补贴驱动 | | | CPI (同比) | 香港 | +2.0% | 2025年4月 | 通胀温和，但低于历史水平 | | | 零售额 (同比) | 香港 | -6.5% | 2025年第一季度 | 消费市场显著萎缩 | | | 珠宝钟表零售额 (同比) | 香港 | -12.3% | 2025年第一季度 | 奢侈品消费重灾区 | | 第二部分：轧空的解剖学：化解“妖股”风险 2.1 “抱团”：熊市中拥挤交易的机制 投资者所提及的“妖股报团”，精准地描述了一种在熊市中尤为突出的市场现象。当市场整体缺乏增长动力时，存量资金为了追逐稀缺的α收益，会放弃广泛配置，转而高度集中地涌入少数几个拥有强大增长叙事、不受宏观周期影响的“明星”股票。这种行为具备自我强化的特征：资金的涌入推高股价，股价的上涨吸引更多资金，形成一个正反馈循环，导致这些股票的走势与大盘完全脱钩。 如前文所述，2025年的港股市场已清晰展现了这一特征。资金显著流向AI、互联网和科技板块，使得少数股票贡献了市场绝大部分的涨幅 。对于做空者而言，这意味着即便对市场整体判断正确，但如果做空了这些被资金“抱团”的个股，将面临巨大的上行风险。 2.2 炒作案例研究：泡泡玛特 (9992.HK) 与瑞幸咖啡 (LKNCY) 的崛起 要理解并防范这种风险，深入分析典型的“妖股”案例至关重要。这些股票并非简单的“Meme股”，其背后往往有强劲的、可量化的基本面动能支撑。 泡泡玛特： “超级IP”驱动的增长妖股 * 叙事与增长： 泡泡玛特早已超越了玩具公司的范畴，它是一个以IP为核心的文化消费现象 。近年来其股价实现了惊人的600%增长，背后是爆炸性的营收表现——2025年第一季度营收同比增长高达165-170%，其中海外市场成为主要驱动力 。旗舰IP“Labubu”已进化为“超级IP”，不仅销量惊人，更培养了极高的用户忠诚度 。 * 财务表现： 其增长并非空谈。公司2024年财报显示，营收增长106.9%，净利润飙升203.9% 。海外营收更是猛增375.2% 。这是一家拥有真实业绩支撑的高增长公司。 * 市场情绪： 泡泡玛特成功构建了“情绪消费”模型，通过盲盒、隐藏款和社群文化，制造了延迟满足感和强烈的复购欲望 。这培养了一批对传统估值指标不敏感的忠实零售投资者基础。 * 做空危险性： 尽管其市盈率高达91.09倍 ，且在2022年市场低谷时曾出现负面社交媒体评价 ，但做空泡泡玛特是极其危险的。其强大的增长故事、被验证的IP变现能力和全球扩张的势头，使其成为“抱团”资金的完美目标，任何负面情绪都可能被强劲的业绩迅速扭转，从而引发猛烈的轧空。 瑞幸咖啡： “困境反转”的叙事妖股 * 叙事与增长： 瑞幸咖啡上演了自2020年财务造假丑闻以来的惊人“救赎”故事 。通过与茅台等品牌联名（“酱香拿铁”首日销量达542万杯）等创新营销手段，成功重塑了品牌形象，抓住了年轻消费群体 。 * 财务表现： 2025年第一季度业绩极为强劲：营收同比增长41.2%，同店销售增长8.1%（较前几个季度显著改善），营业利润率大幅扩张，并持续快速开店 。 * 市场情绪与估值： 尽管有不光彩的历史，但分析师情绪正在转为积极，里昂证券（CLSA）已给予“跑赢大市”的初始评级 。其做空股数占流通股的比例（Short Float）仅为0.95%，说明市场主流资金并不愿意与这一强劲的复苏势头对赌 。 * 做空危险性： 瑞幸代表了另一种类型的“妖股”——困境反转型。做空一家拥有如此强大正面动能、财务数据持续改善、并且具备引人注目“王者归来”故事的公司，同样是高风险的策略。 这些案例揭示了一个关键点：“妖股”的强势并非完全源于非理性炒作，而是由其超预期的真实业务动能所驱动。这种动能能够使其在宏观逆风中逆势上扬，对只看重高估值而忽视其背后增长逻辑的做空者构成致命威胁。 2.3 做空者的防御手册：识别轧空风险 综合上述案例，做空者可以建立一个风险识别框架，以避开这些危险的“抱团”标的。 定性风险信号： * 强大的简化叙事： 公司是否拥有一个易于理解且富有感染力的故事，例如“中国的星巴克”或“下一个迪士尼”？。 * 强大的社交媒体热度： 品牌是否在抖音等平台成为病毒式话题，从而吸引了大量忠实的散户投资者？。 * 契合Z世代或新消费趋势： 品牌是否抓住了传统品牌所忽视的新消费偏好，如透明度、可持续性或体验式消费？。 定量风险信号： * 高做空比例 (Short Interest / Short Float %): 流通股中被做空的比例很高，表明该交易已十分拥挤，为轧空提供了燃料 。 * 高借券成本 (Cost to Borrow): 借入股票的年化费率很高，意味着做空需求旺盛，这会侵蚀潜在利润并增加风险 。 * 高空头回补天数 (Days to Cover): 该指标（做空股数/日均成交量）衡量所有空头平仓所需的时间。高数值（如大于5天）意味着在股价逆转时难以快速离场，增加了流动性风险 。 * 强劲的价格动能： 股票是否在疲软的大市中不断创出新高，这是“抱团”趋势的明确信号。 第三部分：理想的做空标的：描绘衰退中的传统品牌画像 3.1 定义“传统消费”：品牌传承的双刃剑 在当前的市场环境下，一个品牌的历史传承既是资产，也可能是负债。 * 资产面： 悠久的历史可以作为品质、信誉和真实的象征，从而支撑其高昂的定价和品牌溢价 。 * 负债面： 在通缩和“消费降级”的大背景下，这种依赖历史光环的定价策略变得异常脆弱。消费者对价格日益敏感，开始审视高价传统品牌背后的真实价值 。随着供应链日益透明化（例如，揭示奢侈品实际生产成本的短视频在社交媒体上流传），“欧洲制造”的神秘光环正在褪色，消费者开始质疑品牌溢价的合理性 。此外，一个“传统”品牌如果未能与时俱进，可能会被认为与追求透明、可持续等价值观的Z世代脱节 。 因此，一个理想的做空标的，正是一个价值主张严重依赖其品牌历史和声望，但在价格敏感和追求透明的新消费现实中未能成功转型的传统品牌。 3.2 衰退的财务指标 寻找此类标的时，应关注以下财务恶化的明确信号： * 持续的营收下滑： 不仅仅是单个季度的不佳表现，而是长期的销售额下降趋势，尤其是同店销售额（SSS）的持续萎缩。 * 结构性的利润率侵蚀： 毛利率和营业利润率持续承压，表明公司丧失了定价权，同时成本控制失效。 * 负向或不断下降的自由现金流： 扣除资本支出后无法产生正现金流，是核心业务陷入困境的强烈信号。 * 资产负债表恶化： 债务水平不断攀升（尤其是高成本债务），以及资本的低效使用（如进行价值摧毁的收购而非回馈股东）。 * 不可持续的股息政策： 派息率远超净利润，意味着公司正动用储蓄或借贷来维持股息。这通常是未来削减股息的前兆，而削减股息本身就是一个重大的负面催化剂。 3.3 实用性筛选：应用流动性与借券成本标准 做空交易的本质是借入并卖出股票，因此其实际操作的可行性至关重要 。 * 流动性与市场情绪 (Short Float %): 做空股数占流通股的百分比。一个适度较高的比例（例如 >5%）可能表明市场存在显著的看空共识。 * 成本 (Borrow Rate): 借券的年化费率。理想情况下，该费率应较低（例如 <1%），因为高昂的借券成本会持续侵蚀做空交易的利润 。 * 风险 (Days to Cover): 空头回补天数。过高的数值（例如 >5天）意味着在股价不利变动时，空头难以迅速平仓，从而增加了被轧空的风险 。 一个理想的做空标的，应当具备足够的流动性以便进出，合理的借券成本，以及一定程度的看空情绪，但又不能拥挤到成为一个高风险的“明星空头”。 第四部分：对首要候选者的尽职调查：百胜中国 (YUMC) 深度分析 根据上述标准，我们对投资者提出的“百胜中国”（NYSE: YUMC; HKEX: 9987）进行全面评估，以判断其是否为合适的做空标的。 4.1 商业模式与市场地位：一个有韧性的巨头？ 百胜中国运营着肯德基和必胜客两大品牌，是中国餐饮市场最具主导地位的连锁企业之一 。其产品定位更接近于大众消费必需品，而非高端可选消费品。这种“准必需品”的属性使其在经济下行周期中具备天然的防御性。更重要的是，百胜中国并未固守传统，而是在积极适应“消费降级”的趋势。公司通过菜单创新，提供了更宽的价格带和高性价比选择，成功地在客单价下降的情况下，实现了交易量的增长 。这反映了其强大的运营弹性和市场适应能力，而非衰退迹象。 4.2 财务健康与运营表现 百胜中国的财务数据完全不支持“衰退品牌”的论断。 * 营收坚韧： 2025年第一季度，公司总系统销售额实现增长，同店销售额恢复至去年同期100%的水平 。这一表现由6%的同店交易量增长驱动，且已是连续第九个季度的交易量增长 。外卖业务销售额同比增长13%，表现尤为强劲 。这表明公司的核心业务需求旺盛。 * 利润率扩张： 最令人瞩目的是，尽管客单价有所下降，百胜中国却成功实现了利润率的提升。2025年第一季度，其餐厅利润率扩张100个基点至18.6%，营业利润率扩张80个基点至13.4% 。这得益于公司在原材料成本和运营效率方面的优化 。利润率的扩张直接反驳了其定价能力丧失、品牌正在衰退的假设。 * 利润增长： 2025年第一季度，公司营业利润同比增长7%，稀释后每股收益（EPS）增长8% 。这是一家盈利能力正在增强的成长型公司。 4.3 做空者的记分卡：流动性、借券成本与轧空风险 从做空交易的实用性角度看，百胜中国同样是一个糟糕的选择。 * 极低的做空兴趣： 其做空股数占流通股的比例（Short Float）非常低，仅为2.3%左右 。这表明市场上几乎没有看空该公司的共识。 * 极低的借券成本： 借入百胜中国股票的成本极低，通常在0.41%或以下 。这意味着市场上没有显著的做空需求。 * 可控的空头回补天数： 其空头回补天数在2.8至5.9天之间 ，并未显示出因流动性不足而导致的高轧空风险。 表3：百胜中国 (YUMC) 关键做空指标分析 | 指标 | 数值 | 来源 | 解读 | |---|---|---|---| | 做空股数占流通股比例 (Short Float %) | ~2.3% | | 市场看空情绪极低，缺乏做空共识。 | | 借券费率 (Borrow Rate) | ~0.4% | | 借券成本极低，反映出市场做空需求疲软。 | | 空头回补天数 (Days to Cover) | ~3-6 天 | | 退出流动性风险可控，但并非做空热门股。 | | 机构持股比例 | ~89% | | 股票由长期投资者主导，股价稳定性高。 | | 内部人持股比例 | ~3.6% | | 内部人未出现大量抛售，持股稳定。 | 4.4 支撑堡垒：机构持股与资本回报政策 百胜中国的股东结构和资本政策为空头设置了难以逾越的障碍。 * 机构堡垒： 公司拥有高达85-89%的机构持股比例 。其主要股东包括摩根大通、贝莱德和先锋集团等全球顶级资产管理公司 。这些通常是长期、稳定的“粘性”投资者，为股价提供了坚实的支撑。 * 激进的股东回报： 公司正在执行一项庞大的资本回报计划。计划在2025至2026年间向股东返还30亿美元，这还不包括2024年已返还的15亿美元 。仅2025年下半年就计划回购5.1亿美元的股票 。如此大规模的股票回购计划，本身就是对做空压力的直接对冲，也彰显了管理层对公司前景的极度自信。 4.5 结论：为何百胜中国是不合适的做空标的 综合以上所有分析，百胜中国未能通过任何一项理想做空标的的筛选标准。它并非一个正在衰退的传统品牌，而是一个展现出强大韧性和适应性的市场领导者。其财务状况正在改善而非恶化。市场对其做空兴趣极低，股价受到庞大机构持股和巨额回购计划的双重保护。做空百胜中国将是一个低概率、高风险的交易，与投资者规避风险、寻求确定性的初衷背道而驰。 第五部分：传统消费领域的其他做空候选标的 在排除了百胜中国之后，我们运用相同的分析框架，在港股市场中寻找更符合做空条件的传统消费品牌。 5.1 候选标的A：周大福 (1929.HK) – 黯然失色的珠宝 做空逻辑： 作为典型的建立在黄金和珠宝信誉之上的“传统消费”品牌，周大福极易受到消费降级、香港零售市场疲软以及黄金价格波动的三重打击。 * 财务恶化迹象： 公司2025财年（截至2025年3月31日）的业绩清晰地显示了业务的恶化。营收同比下降17.5%，归属股东净利润下降9.0% 。核心的同店销售数据更是惨淡，中国内地市场同比暴跌19.4%，香港及澳门市场则下跌26.1% 。尽管因金价上涨，存货的毛利率提升，从而推高了营业利润，但这是一种不可持续的一次性效应，掩盖了核心销售量严重下滑的真相。公司的派息率高达87.8% ，甚至有报告称达到112% ，这表明其股息政策难以为继，未来削减股息的风险极高。 * 宏观逆风中心： 周大福正处于宏观风暴的中心。奢侈品行业正面临中国消费者需求疲软的困境 。香港的珠宝零售额也已大幅下滑 。虽然金价飙升能暂时提振利润率，但分析也指出，过高的金价会抑制实物黄金产品的消费需求 。 * 做空指标： 与百胜中国形成鲜明对比，周大福的卖空活动异常活跃。在某些交易日，其卖空成交额占总成交额的比例甚至超过30-40% ，这反映了市场强烈的看空共识。 * 风险与反方观点： 主要风险在于其控股股东——郑氏家族的强大实力和影响力 。该家族拥有丰富的资本运作经验，不惧于使用金融工具来稳定公司。近期发行的88亿港元可转换债券就是一个例子，这笔资金可能被用于改善资产负债表或进行战略投资 。此外，部分分析师（如花旗和瑞银）在业绩后上调了目标价，认为金价上涨对公司的正面影响大于负面 。 5.2 候选标的B：安踏体育 (2020.HK) – 复杂的运动服饰饱和博弈 做空逻辑： 安踏提供了一个更为复杂的做空案例。其核心的安踏品牌和收购的FILA品牌，曾是增长的主要引擎，但如今正走向成熟并面临利润率压力，符合“传统品牌衰退”的叙事。 * 财务状况——喜忧参半： 2024财年业绩显示，FILA品牌的利润率未达预期 。管理层对2025年的指引也偏向保守，预计安踏主品牌仅实现高单位数增长，FILA为中单位数增长 。同时，公司计划在2025年净减少门店数量，这明确指向其核心业务已出现饱和迹象 。 * 内部的“妖股”对冲： 做空安踏的最大障碍在于其成功的“其他品牌”组合。管理层预计，DESCENTE（迪桑特）和KOLON SPORT（可隆）等品牌将保持30%以上的高速增长 。这些品牌精准地切入了高增长、高利润的户外和功能性运动休闲赛道，实际上构成了安踏内部的“妖股”投资组合，有效对冲了主品牌的疲软。这使得一个纯粹的看空逻辑难以成立。 * 做空指标： 其卖空成交比例显著，通常在20-25%之间，但不如周大福极端 。作为恒生指数的重要成份股，其市值巨大，流动性良好，为交易提供了便利 。 * 结论： 相比周大福，安踏是一个吸引力较低的做空标的。尽管其传统核心品牌增速放缓，但公司内部成功孵化的高增长品牌组合，极大地复杂化了看空叙事，并为整体业绩提供了强有力的缓冲。 表4：潜在做空标的对比分析 | 评估维度 | 百胜中国 (YUMC) | 周大福 (1929.HK) | 安踏体育 (2020.HK) | |---|---|---|---| | 宏观风险敞口 | 低：大众餐饮，具防御性，适应消费降级。 | 高：奢侈品珠宝，直接受消费降级和香港零售疲软冲击。 | 中等：核心品牌受影响，但户外高端品牌受益于消费升级趋势。 | | 基本面趋势 | 改善：营收/交易量增长，利润率扩张。 | 恶化：营收/净利双降，同店销售暴跌，股息政策存疑。 | 分化：核心品牌放缓，新兴品牌高速增长。 | | “妖股”轧空风险 | 低：自身非“妖股”，无强劲叙事。 | 低：传统品牌，缺乏“妖股”特征。 | 高：内部拥有迪桑特等高增长“妖股”组合，形成对冲。 | | 做空实用性 | 差：做空比例极低(~2.3%)，市场无看空共识。 | 好：做空比例高(常>30%)，市场看空情绪浓厚。 | 中等：做空比例较高(~20-25%)，流动性好。 | | 空头主要风险 | 巨额股票回购；强大机构持股。 | 控股家族实力雄厚，可能进行资本运作（如发CB）。 | 多元化品牌组合的对冲效应。 | | 分析师结论 | 不推荐做空 | 推荐做空 | 谨慎，非首选 | 第六部分：战略建议与风险管理 6.1 执行交易：行动框架 * 仓位规模与止损： 鉴于中国/香港市场固有的政策驱动波动性，任何空头头寸都必须进行严格的风险管理。应设定合理的仓位规模，并预设明确的止损点，以防范因突发政策或市场情绪逆转而导致的灾难性亏损。 * 入场时机： 建议监控技术图表形态，等待明确的催化剂出现（如关键支撑位被跌破、发布不及预期的财报）后再入场，避免在股价强势时逆势做空。 * 交易规则： 需注意香港市场的“提价交易规则”（uptick rule），该规则限制了只能在股价等于或高于前一成交价时进行卖空，这可能会影响交易执行的时机 。 6.2 监控清单：关键宏观与公司指标 * 宏观数据： 需密切关注每月发布的中国消费者信心指数 、中国分项零售数据 以及香港分项零售数据 。这些是验证宏观做空逻辑是否依然成立的核心指标。 * 公司特定数据： 季度财报至关重要。对于周大福，应特别关注同店销售额、剔除金价影响后的毛利率、以及任何关于股息政策的声明。同时，监控内部人交易和公司进一步的资本市场活动（如可转债的后续影响）。 * 政策与地缘政治： 关注中国人民银行的政策动向、政府刺激措施的规模与效果，以及中美贸易关系的任何变化，这些都可能成为驱动市场的强大催化剂 。 6.3 完善后的做空论点 投资者的宏观判断——即通缩压力将主导市场——是成立的，并确实创造了做空机会。然而，成功的关键不仅在于对宏观趋势的正确判断，更在于选择正确的交易工具。 一个理想的做空策略，应当聚焦于那些业务模式单一、高度暴露于“消费降级”风险、缺乏内部增长引擎来对冲主业下滑，并且财务状况已出现明显恶化迹象的“纯粹”传统消费品牌。 根据本报告的全面分析，周大福 (1929.HK) 最符合这一画像，是当前环境下最值得考虑的做空标的。百胜中国 (YUMC) 因其强大的业务韧性和对股东的友好政策，强烈不建议做空。安踏体育 (2020.HK) 因其成功的品牌多元化战略，做空逻辑不纯粹，风险较高，并非理想选择。最后，必须再次强调，做空周大福的主要风险在于政策的不可预测性以及其背后控股家族的强大资本实力，任何交易决策都应将这些风险纳入考量。

@ cee287bb:ffb55547

Introducción a ¿qué carajo es Nostr?

Por sus siglas traducidas: Notas y otras cosas transmitidas por relays, Nostr no es más que un sencillo protocolo de comunicación capaz de generar los cimientos para la próxima revolución social.

Protocolos: Arquitectura

Para poder entender Nostr tendremos que hacer una comparativa de los elementos mas importantes dentro de los protocolos que más utilizamos (o espero que usen 😏).

¿Qué es un relay de Nostr? Un relay es un servidor, alojado por ti o por otra persona que cualquiera puede montar y/o gestionar. Existen relays públicos y de pago. A su vez, un relay funciona como base de datos en la cual guardan y reenvían notas.

Los relays usan el protocolo de websocket (wss://...) para conectarse con los clientes. Esto genera una comunicación asíncrona y canales de comunicación bidireccionales que se mantienen abiertos.

Un relay es “tonto”. Tanto la firma como la creación de las notas sucede de lado del cliente.

¿Qué es un cliente de Nostr? Un cliente de Nostr es una aplicación diseñada para interactuar con el protocolo de Nostr. Podés conectarte a un cliente mediante web, mobile, clientes de escritorios, etc.

Debido a que Nostr es un protocolo abierto, los clientes buscan ser lo mas interoperables posibles. Prueba algunos!

Web:

Primal.net

Zapcito.app

Androd:

Amethyst

Nostros

iOS:

Damus

¿Qué es un evento de Nostr? Los eventos, o también denominado notas, son toda interacción que genere el usuario del lado del cliente. Todo evento es enviado a los relays que el usuario tenga conectado.

Los eventos a nivel protocolo están construidos en formato JSON, un lenguaje utilizado para el manejo de estructuras de datos a nivel API. Además, tienen una estructura particular que determina el tipo de evento que se esta intentando transmitir.

Estructura de un evento Debido a que estamos usando un protocolo primo hermano de Bitcoin, podemos encontrar que la estructura de un evento es algo similar a una transacción:

id: identificador de 32 bytes con el que podremos identificar nuestras notas en otros relays. created_at: fecha de creación en formato unix. tags: array de etiquetas, su formato depende de su categoría. pubkey: nuestra llave publica de 32 bytes en formato hex. sig: firma de 64 bytes. content: contenido arbitrario en formato string. kind: categoría en formato numérico.

Aplicaciones centralizadas

Si bien es lo que conocemos, y como hemos estado trabajando todo este tiempo. La realidad es que las aplicaciones centralizadas tienen 3 grandes problemas:

Hackeos: debido a que se centraliza la información en un único lugar, existe un solo vector de ataque y, en caso de conseguirse, podría interrumpir cualquier comunicación.

Políticas de uso: en base a lo anteriormente comentado, podemos dar por sentado que nuestras cuentas no son realmente nuestras. No podemos trasladar nuestros datos entre plataformas como Twitter a Instagram (por ejemplo). Debido a esto, estamos limitados por los términos y políticas de uso.

Censura de gobiernos: esta es una realidad a la cual no podemos escapar (hasta ahora). Noticias recientes como que Brazil suspende la red social X/Twitter o Maduro quiere regular Instagram y Tiktok en Venezuela hace que se intente censurar la opinion publica o plataformas de comunicación “libres”.

Pero si Nostr es primo hermano de Bitcoin, y Bitcoin nos trae la premisa de que busca separar dinero de estado quitando al mayor intermediario del medio, ¿por que nosotros no hacemos lo mismo?

¿Y si eliminamos los intermediarios? Para lograr esto necesitaríamos una forma de identificarnos dentro de nuestro protocolo descentralizado. Como en Bitcoin, esto lo podemos resolver con un par de llaves:

Llave publica: piensa en tu llave publica como el usuario de una red social. Es un identificador con el que otras personas van a poder encontrarte. Ambos formatos mostrados corresponden al usuario de quien esta escribiendo este post:

Hexadecimal: cee287bb0990a8ecbd1dee7ee7f938200908a5c8aa804b3bdeaed88effb55547

NPUB (Nostr Pub Key): npub1em3g0wcfjz5we0gaaelw07fcyqys3fwg42qykw774mvgala424rsl26ytm

Llave privada: piensa en tu llave privada como tu contraseña o tu semilla de Bitcoin. NO LA COMPARTAS CON NADIE. Una vez vulnerada, no hay vuelta atrás y tocará generar una nueva. Podemos encontrarlo en varios formatos:

Hexadecimal: 3b1b6e09236ab49050079fffced663a3b09d610a4c5beb895cda5c7f53f6d1f2

NSEC (Nostr Secret Key): nsec18vdkuzfrd26fq5q8nllua4nr5wcf6cg2f3d7hz2umfw875lk68eqms52y6

BIP39 (Semilla): early please toss later caught book raven attract attract flower outside scene sponsor arena exotic convince rely cattle fortune scrub cluster tape shop horror

Algunas consideraciones:

Podés generar la cantidad de llaves que desees, son “infinitas”.

No se necesita internet para generar un par de llaves.

Utiliza gestores de claves como: GetAlby o Nos2x

Profesionales de UX: Si bien el formato hexadecimal es el más primitivo, la realidad es que para una rápida diferenciacion mostrarlo en formato npub y nsec.

NIP Los NIPs, o “Posibles implementaciones en Nostr”, definen la estructura de los eventos o notas. Entre ellos podemos encontrar algunas implementaciones de todo sistema social:

NIP-01: Protocolo básico de publicación y perfil

NIP-02: Lista de seguidores

NIP-05: Identificadores basados en DNS (ej: satoshi@bitcoin.org)

NIP-17: Mensajes privados

Ejemplos de uso: En base a ejemplo de aplicaciones sociales, ¿cómo podríamos utilizar estos NIP?

Twitter.com

NIP-02 - Lista de seguidores

NIP-18 - Republicar contenido

NIP-25 - Reacciones

Telegram.org NIP-17 - Mensajes privados NIP-29 - Grupo de mensajes

Cafecito.app NIP-57 - Pagos Lightning NIP-75 - Objetivos de pagos

LaWallet.io NIP-26 - Eventos delegados

Entonces, ¿por qué Web 5? Porque en lo que va del articulo no hemos hablado de crypto, blockchain o token. Únicamente de datos, datos que son resilientes, incensurables, transparentes y libre.

Debido a que estamos hablando a nivel protocolo, existen diferentes tipos de implementaciones. No aprendas un nuevo lenguaje para empezar a construir, utiliza el que ya conoces!

@ 52524fbb:ae4025dc

EUR/GBP currency pair offers fascinating insight into divergent economic paths of Euro and British Pound wielding European powerhouses with starkly differing monetary policies. Situated geographically close yet starkly diverging economically post-Brexit this cross-channel nexus teems with lucrative opportunities for canny traders keenly observing contrasting fortunes amidst wildly divergent policy responses in Eurozone and United Kingdom. EUR/GBP reflects relative economic health starkly and monetary policy stances vehemently of European Central Bank alongside Bank of England pretty much. Both central banks share a price stability goal and react differently to economic environments resulting in significant movements within currency pairs occasionally.

Eurozone inflation persists markedly higher than UK rates or strong growth momentum prevails and ECB adopts decidedly hawkish stance by raising interest rates. Divergence in monetary policy makes Euro suddenly rather attractive leading to significant EUR/GBP appreciation very quickly over time. EUR/GBP will likely plummet if UK economy outshines Eurozone or BoE signals an aggressive rate hike pretty quickly. Brexit has been quite a pivotal factor undoubtedly for this particular pair of entities somewhat controversially. UK's departure from EU spawns long-term structural changes that subtly influence economic performance of both regions rather slowly now. Shifts in convoluted supply chains and disparate regulatory regimes can spawn enduring headwinds or surprisingly robust tailwinds for one economy or another very suddenly. UK businesses encountering heftier trade friction with EU nations versus their Eurozone rivals can hamper productivity and stunt growth thereby putting downward pressure on the Pound relative to the Euro.

Political developments in Eurozone and UK play a significant role alongside major structural shifts and unprecedented monetary policy decisions. Fiscal cohesion among Eurozone member states and stability of common currency are threatened by crises in major economies like France or Germany. Domestic political stability in UK and implementation of post-Brexit policies alongside fraught discussions with EU regarding Northern Ireland are pretty critical. EUR/GBP pair offers unique advantage being fairly less susceptible broadly to global risk sentiment compared pairs involving US Dollar or Yen. Its movements get finely calibrated rather irregularly according mostly to relative strengths or glaring weaknesses and also policy choices of two economies. EUR/GBP yields intriguing trading prospects for astute traders capable of deciphering such intricate narrative across multiple channels effectively.

@ 31a4605e:cf043959

Milhões de pessoas em todo o mundo ainda não têm acesso a serviços bancários básicos, seja por falta de infraestrutura, requisitos burocráticos ou instabilidade económica nos seus países. Bitcoin surge como uma solução inovadora para este problema, permitindo que qualquer pessoa com acesso à internet tenha controlo sobre o seu dinheiro, sem depender de bancos ou governos. Ao oferecer um sistema financeiro aberto e acessível, Bitcoin torna-se uma ferramenta poderosa para a inclusão financeira global.

O problema da exclusão financeira

Em muitos países em desenvolvimento, grande parte da população não possui conta bancária. Isto pode acontecer por diversas razões, como:

Falta de acesso a bancos: Muitas comunidades, especialmente em áreas rurais, não têm instituições financeiras próximas.

Exigências burocráticas: Alguns bancos exigem documentação específica ou um histórico de crédito que muitas pessoas não conseguem fornecer.

Custos elevados: As taxas bancárias podem ser proibitivas para quem ganha pouco dinheiro.

Instabilidade económica e política: Em países com alta inflação ou governos instáveis, os bancos podem não ser uma opção segura para guardar dinheiro.

Estas dificuldades deixam milhões de pessoas à margem do sistema financeiro, impossibilitadas de poupar, investir ou realizar transações de forma eficiente.

Bitcoin como alternativa

Bitcoin resolve muitos dos problemas da exclusão financeira ao oferecer um sistema acessível e descentralizado. Com Bitcoin, qualquer pessoa com um telemóvel e acesso à internet pode armazenar e transferir dinheiro sem necessidade de um banco. Entre as principais vantagens estão:

Acessibilidade global: Bitcoin pode ser usado em qualquer lugar do mundo, independentemente da localização do utilizador.

Sem necessidade de intermediários: Diferente dos bancos, que impõem taxas e regras, Bitcoin permite transações diretas entre pessoas.

Baixo custo para transferências internacionais: Enviar dinheiro para outro país pode ser caro e demorado com os métodos tradicionais, enquanto Bitcoin oferece uma alternativa mais rápida e acessível.

Proteção contra a inflação: Em países com moedas instáveis, Bitcoin pode ser usado como reserva de valor, protegendo o poder de compra da população.

Casos de uso na inclusão financeira

Bitcoin já tem sido utilizado para promover a inclusão financeira em diversas partes do mundo. Alguns exemplos incluem:

África e América Latina: Em países como Nigéria, Venezuela e Argentina, onde a inflação é elevada e o acesso a dólares é limitado, muitas pessoas usam Bitcoin para preservar o seu dinheiro e realizar transações internacionais.

Remessas internacionais: Trabalhadores que enviam dinheiro para as suas famílias no estrangeiro evitam as elevadas taxas das empresas de transferências tradicionais ao utilizarem Bitcoin.

Microeconomia digital: Pequenos comerciantes e freelancers que não têm acesso a contas bancárias podem receber pagamentos em Bitcoin de forma direta e segura.

Desafios da inclusão financeira com Bitcoin

Apesar das suas vantagens, a adoção de Bitcoin como ferramenta de inclusão financeira ainda enfrenta alguns desafios, tais como:

Acesso à internet: Muitas regiões pobres ainda não têm uma infraestrutura digital adequada.

Educação financeira: Para que mais pessoas utilizem Bitcoin, é necessário maior conhecimento sobre a tecnologia e as melhores práticas de segurança.

Volatilidade do preço: As oscilações de valor podem dificultar o uso de Bitcoin no dia a dia, especialmente em países onde as pessoas vivem com rendimentos instáveis.

Resumindo, o Bitcoin oferece uma solução viável para milhões de pessoas excluídas do sistema financeiro tradicional. Ao proporcionar acesso global, transações baratas e segurança contra a inflação, torna-se um instrumento poderoso para promover a inclusão financeira. No entanto, para que o seu potencial seja totalmente aproveitado, é essencial investir na educação digital e expandir a infraestrutura tecnológica, permitindo que mais pessoas tenham autonomia financeira através de Bitcoin.

Muito obrigado por teres lido o texto até aqui, espero que esteja tudo bem contigo e um abraço enorme do teu madeirense bitcoiner maximalista favorito. Viva a liberdade!

@ 502ab02a:a2860397

กลางทศวรรษ 1930 สหรัฐฯ เริ่มตระหนักว่า หากจะต้องเผชิญกับสงครามใหญ่ครั้งใหม่อย่างที่ยุโรปกำลังลุกเป็นไฟ กองทัพจะต้องพร้อมทั้งกำลังคนและ “กำลังแคลอรี่” โดยเฉพาะในสนามรบ ที่การขนส่งอาหารร้อนเต็มรูปแบบแทบเป็นไปไม่ได้เลย ยุคนั้นสิ่งที่มีอยู่คือ “ration” แบบกระป๋อง หรือแครกเกอร์กับน้ำตาลที่กินได้นาน แต่กินแล้วไม่อยากกินอีก

พันเอก Paul Logan แห่ง Quartermaster Corps เป็นผู้เสนอว่า “ทำไมเราถึงไม่มีอาหารฉุกเฉิน ที่เหมาะสำหรับทหารพกติดตัวได้ตลอดเวลา ให้พลังงานสูง กินง่าย ไม่เสียเร็ว และกินแล้วยังสามารถเดินหน้าต่อได้?” เขาไม่ได้ขอ “ขนม” แต่ขอ “อาวุธ” ทางพลังงาน และเมื่อพูดถึงช็อกโกแลต ผู้ผลิตเบอร์หนึ่งในอเมริกายุคนั้นก็คือ Hershey’s Chocolate Corporation

Logan ติดต่อไปหาประธานบริษัทชื่อ William Murrie ด้วยข้อเสนอที่ฟังดูย้อนแย้งสุดๆ เขาอยากได้ช็อกโกแลตที่ “กินไม่อร่อยเกินไป” เพราะหากมันอร่อยจนเกินไป ทหารจะกินหมดก่อนถึงเวลาจำเป็น จึงเป็นที่มาของภารกิจลับ: “Field Ration D”

โจทย์คือ… ต้องมีน้ำหนัก 4 ออนซ์ (ประมาณ 113 กรัม หรือขีดกว่าๆ) ให้พลังงานมากกว่า 600 kcal ต่อแท่ง ทนความร้อน 120°F (ประมาณ 49°C) ไม่ละลายในกระเป๋าทหาร ไม่อร่อยเกินไป (Seriously!) ช็อคโกแลต 1 แท่งแทนอาหาร 1 มื้อ ดังนั้นทหารแต่ละคนจะได้ช็อคโกแลตนี่ 3 แท่งต่อวัน

Milton Hershey (ผู้ก่อตั้งและเจ้าของอาณาจักรช็อกโกแลต) รับทราบโครงการและสนับสนุนแนวทางเต็มที่ รวมถึงให้ทุนวิจัยและกำลังการผลิตเริ่มต้นและคนที่ทำสูตรสำเร็จคือ Sam Hinkle นักเคมีกับทีมเทคนิคของ Hershey ที่รวมพลังคิดค้นแท่งช็อกโกแลตที่ไม่ละลายง่าย เป็นช็อตโกแลตแท่ง 4 เหลี่ยมผืนผ้า มีรอยตัดแบ่งเป็น 6 ช่อง และมีความแข็งพอจะทุบเป็นอาวุธได้ ในปี 1937 Hershey’s Field Ration D จึงถือกำเนิดขึ้น เป็นแท่งช็อกโกแลตสีน้ำตาลเข้ม แข็งราวอิฐก่อสร้าง มีส่วนผสมของ ช็อกโกแลต
น้ำตาล นมผงพร่องมันเนย ไขมันโกโก้ แป้งโอ้ต เจือกลิ่นสังเคราะห์ และวิตามิน B1 (เพื่อลดภาวะเหน็บชา)

กินแล้วได้พลังทันที แต่ไม่อร่อยพอให้หยิบบ่อย และนี่คือสิ่งที่รัฐบาลสหรัฐฯ ต้องการพอดี ในสงครามโลกครั้งที่ 2 ช็อกโกแลตแท่ง Field Ration D กลายเป็นไอเท็มพื้นฐานใน “emergency kit” ของทหารอเมริกันทุกคน โดยเฉพาะในแนวหน้า ไม่ว่าจะเป็นสนามรบในยุโรปหรือในแปซิฟิก

มีข้อมูลบอกว่า จากส่วนผสมของมันที่เน้นด้วย ไขมันและแป้งข้าวโอ๊ต ทำให้ส่วนผสมนั้นข้นหนืดมากจนไม่สามารถใช้กระบวนการผลิตตามปกติของโรงงาน Hershey ในการบรรจุลงแม่พิมพ์ได้ ดังนั้น จึงต้องใช้แรงงานคนในการบรรจุส่วนผสมลงในแม่พิมพ์ขนาด 4 ออนซ์ด้วยมือแทน

เมื่อผลิตส่งไปทัพหน้าแล้วก็มีการค้นพบว่า ยิ่งเวลาผ่านไปมันจะยิ่งแข็งขึ้นไปมากกว่าตอนผลิตเสียอีก ดังนั้นถ้านับจากวันผลิตและกว่าจะขนส่งไปถึงทหารแนวหน้าจริงๆ อาจกินเวลาเป็นปีๆได้ นั่นคือมันจะแข็งอย่างกะก้อนหิน ต้องเอามีดมาหั่นเป็นชิ้นเล็กๆ ถึงจะเคี้ยวได้ และถ้าเอาไปต้มในน้ำเดือดก็จะได้เครื่องดื่มช็อคโกแลตร้อนแทน

แต่กระนั้นในช่วงสงคราม Hershey ก็ผลิต D Bar มากกว่า 3 พันล้านแท่ง และนี่ไม่ใช่ของฟรี บริษัทได้รับสัญญารัฐบาลและการสนับสนุนการผลิตเต็มรูปแบบ

และในปี 1943 Hershey ได้รับรางวัล Army-Navy ‘E’ Award ซึ่งเป็นรางวัลแห่งความยอดเยี่ยมด้านการผลิตยุทโธปกรณ์ ทั้งที่ผลิต “ขนม” แต่ถูกนับว่าเป็นอาวุธทางพลังงาน

เมื่อสงครามจบ ของดี(ของผู้ผลิต)จะทิ้งก็เสียดาย

Hershey และรัฐบาลสหรัฐฯ รู้ดีว่ากำลังการผลิตระดับนี้จะไม่สามารถคงอยู่ได้หากไม่มี “ตลาดรอง” จึงเริ่มเปลี่ยนภาพจำ “Field Ration D” ที่เคยเป็นของแข็งไร้รสชาติ ให้กลายเป็น “ช็อกโกแลตแห่งชัยชนะ” (Victory Chocolate) ทีมการตลาดของ Hershey จึงค่อยๆ ขยับสูตรให้กินง่ายขึ้น เพิ่มโกโก้ เพิ่มความหวาน ลดความแข็ง แล้วเปลี่ยนชื่อสู่แบรนด์พลเรือน เช่น Hershey’s Tropical Bar และต่อมากลายเป็นไอเดียให้แบรนด์ต่างๆ ทำแท่งพลังงานที่อิงโมเดลเดียวกัน หนึ่งในนั้นคือ PowerBar ที่เปิดตัวในยุค 1980 และอ้างอิงถึง “nutritional science” ที่ได้แรงบันดาลใจจากทหาร

เบื้องหลังของความอร่อย คือกลยุทธ์ที่หวานอมขมกลืน Hershey’s Field Ration D คือภาพสะท้อนของแนวคิด “การระดมอุตสาหกรรมเอกชนเพื่อรัฐ” ที่เกิดขึ้นในสงครามโลกอย่างแท้จริง บริษัทเอกชนที่มีศักยภาพถูก “จูงมือ” เข้าสู่ระบบยุทโธปกรณ์ภายใต้ข้ออ้างเรื่อง “ชาติ” และเมื่อชนะสงคราม ก็หันกลับมาครองตลาดพลเรือนด้วยต้นทุนและกำลังผลิตที่ไม่มีใครเทียบได้ ดังนั้น สิ่งที่เริ่มต้นด้วยความหวังดีอย่าง “อยากให้ทหารมีแรง” จึงกลายเป็นต้นแบบของแนวคิดการตลาด “อาหารคือพลัง อาหารคืออาวุธ และอาหารคือธุรกิจที่รัฐสนับสนุน”

Field Ration D ไม่ใช่แค่ช็อกโกแลตแท่ง แต่มันคือสิ่งที่เปลี่ยนวิธีที่โลกมองอาหารแบบพร้อมกิน (ready-to-eat) และกลายเป็นรากฐานของ “Functional Snack” ที่สร้างพฤติกรรมการกินแบบนี้และครองตลาดทั่วโลกในปัจจุบัน โดยมีฉากหลังเป็นทั้งสงคราม การเมือง และการตลาดแบบอเมริกันสไตล์ มันคือจุดเริ่มต้นของยุคสมัยที่มีการเข้ามาควบคุมพฤติกรรมการกินอย่างเป็นระบบ กลไกนี้ได้ขยายไปสู่การพัฒนา power bar หรือ energy bar ที่เราเห็นในตลาดปัจจุบัน มักใช้ผงพืช ผงถั่ว หรือสารสกัดต่างๆ มาขึ้นรูปเป็นแท่ง และถูกโฆษณาว่าเป็น “อาหารดีต่อสุขภาพ” แบบสำเร็จรูป ซึ่งในความเป็นจริงนี่คือกลยุทธ์ที่อยู่เบื้องหลังการกลืนกินพฤติกรรมการบริโภคอาหารแบบใหม่ ที่สร้างขึ้นโดยวงการ future food เพื่อควบคุมและกำหนดรูปแบบการกินทั่วโลก

การเปลี่ยนอาหารให้กลายเป็นสิ่งที่ง่าย สะดวก และพร้อมบริโภคตลอดเวลานั้น ส่งผลให้ผู้คนหันไปพึ่งพาอาหารแปรรูปเหล่านี้มากขึ้น และนี่คือการ “เข้าควบคุมอาหารโลก” ในแบบที่ซ่อนเร้น ผ่านการสร้าง superfood สำเร็จรูป ที่ถูกออกแบบมาให้ตอบโจทย์ตลาด ไม่ใช่ธรรมชาติของมนุษย์อย่างแท้จริง การเข้าใจเบื้องหลังเหล่านี้ช่วยให้เราระวังตัวและตั้งคำถามกับอาหารที่เรากินในทุกๆ มื้อ ว่าจริงๆ แล้ว เรากำลังถูกเลือกหรือควบคุมโดยใครกันแน่

ใครควบคุมอาหาร… คนนั้นคุมเกม #pirateketo #กูต้องรู้มั๊ย #ม้วนหางสิลูก #siamstr

@ 14ca97ca:3f363b7f

Forked grilled steak (Fork)

Ingredients

• 2, 1 lb bone-in strip steaks ((or your preferred cut, ribeye recommended))
• 1 spoon greece
• 3/4 tabelspoon salt (rock salt is best)

Instructions

1. Coarsely grind all seasoning ingredients using a mortar and pestle or crush in a sealed bag with a heavy object.
2. Mix softened butter with herbs, garlic, and some steak seasoning. Shape into a log with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm.
3. Trim excess fat to avoid flare-ups. Pat steaks dry, drizzle with vegetable oil, and rub generously with steak seasoning on both sides.

4. Preheat your grill by turning 1/2 to 2/3 of the burners on high to reach about 500°F (or arrange hot coals on one side for charcoal grills).

   Sear steaks on the hot side for 1 1/2 minutes per side (adjust for thickness).

   Move steaks to the cooler, unlit side of the grill and cook with the lid closed for about 7 minutes for medium doneness.

   Remove steaks and let rest for at least 15 minutes.

5. Top steaks with sliced herb butter before serving for a rich, flavorful finish.

This method ensures a juicy, tender steak with a flavorful crust and herbaceous butter melt

@ 14ca97ca:3f363b7f

perfect grilled steak

Ingredients

• 2, 1 lb bone-in strip steaks ((or your preferred cut, ribeye recommended))
• 1 spoon greece
• 3/4 tabelspoon salt (rock salt is best)

Instructions

1. Coarsely grind all seasoning ingredients using a mortar and pestle or crush in a sealed bag with a heavy object.
2. Mix softened butter with herbs, garlic, and some steak seasoning. Shape into a log with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm.
3. Trim excess fat to avoid flare-ups. Pat steaks dry, drizzle with vegetable oil, and rub generously with steak seasoning on both sides.

4. Preheat your grill by turning 1/2 to 2/3 of the burners on high to reach about 500°F (or arrange hot coals on one side for charcoal grills).

   Sear steaks on the hot side for 1 1/2 minutes per side (adjust for thickness).

   Move steaks to the cooler, unlit side of the grill and cook with the lid closed for about 7 minutes for medium doneness.

   Remove steaks and let rest for at least 15 minutes.

5. Top steaks with sliced herb butter before serving for a rich, flavorful finish.

This method ensures a juicy, tender steak with a flavorful crust and herbaceous butter melt

@ 52524fbb:ae4025dc

USD/CHF currency pair showcases Swiss Franc a currency frequently lumped together with Japanese Yen as traditional safe haven asset class. Switzerland's rock-solid fiscal stewardship and beefy financial sector have long rendered "Swissie" highly sought after by jittery investors worldwide. Relying solely on its safe-haven status overlooks a crucial dynamic namely proactive intervention policies of Swiss National Bank and broader European stability. Switzerland's status as safe haven comes with caveat notably during risk-off periods such as financial crises and heightened geopolitical tensions surrounding small export-oriented economy. A ridiculously robust Franc makes Swiss goods ridiculously pricey for foreign buyers directly harming Switzerlands vital export sector potentially precipitating nasty deflationary pressures. SNB has quite a lengthy history of meddling in foreign exchange markets and curbing excessive CHF appreciation pretty vigorously overseas.

Such interventions manifest diversely including outright forex transactions undertaken pretty swiftly or imposition of rather negative interest rates. SNB actions or strongly worded verbal warnings can rapidly flip trends in USD/CHF creating sudden sharp volatility overnight with surprising ferocity. Dramatic unpegging of CHF from Euro in 2015 sent shockwaves through Forex market highlighting SNB's willingness to take drastic protective measures. Traders must stay vigilant for signals from SNB regarding its comfort level with Franc's burgeoning strength quite rapidly every day. Stability of Eurozone profoundly impacts USD/CHF pair beyond direct intervention occasionally with significant effects on currency markets daily. Switzerland's geographical positioning fosters deep economic ties with Eurozone nations which account for much Swiss trade sparking a flight to safety into CHF whenever major EU economic upheaval occurs. Periods of robust Eurozone expansion and unruffled politics can erode demand for Franc as safe haven potentially allowing USD/CHF currency pair to surge upwards. EUR/CHF frequently behaves as harbinger of USD/CHF movements despite being distinct currency pair altogether often unexpectedly.

Traders navigating USD/CHF currency pair require a complex analysis deeply rooted in SNB monitoring pretty closely for policy shifts and interventions. Keep an eye on key economic indicators and political developments within Eurozone as these can trigger safe-haven flows into CHF suddenly. USD/CHF combines allure of Swiss Franc with active management by SNB and susceptibility to economic fortunes of larger European neighbors essentially. Traders face a mercurial environment utterly dependent on grasping central bank machinations and regional upheaval alongside prevailing market mood swings rather tenuously.

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

Humanity's Natural State Is Chaos
Without order there is chaos. Humans competing with each other for scarce resources naturally leads to conflict until one group achieves significant power and instates a "monopoly on violence."

Power Brings Stability
Power has always been the key means to achieve stability in societies. Centralized power can be incredibly effective in addressing issues such as crime, poverty, and social unrest efficiently. Unfortunately this power is often abused and corrupted.

Centralized Power Breeds Tyranny
Centralized power often leads to tyrannical rule. When a select few individuals hold control over a society, they tend to become corrupted. Centralized power structures often lack accountability and transparency, and rely too heavily on trust.

Distributed Power Cultivates Freedom
New technology that empowers individuals provide us the ability to rebuild societies from the bottom up. Strong individuals that can defend and provide for themselves will help build strong local communities on a similar foundation. The result is power being distributed throughout society rather than held by a select few.

In the short term, relying on trust and centralized power is an easy answer to mitigating chaos, but freedom tech tools provide us the ability to build on top of much stronger distributed foundations that provide stability while also cultivating individual freedom.

The solution starts with us. Empower yourself. Empower others. A grassroots freedom tech movement scaling one person at a time.

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

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

At @Scoresby's request, this is a summary of the different places to engage in sports betting degeneracy with your bitcoin.

Predyx

Starting with ~Stacker_Sports' favorite, Predyx is a lightning only prediction market, where you can buy and sell shares directly with your own wallet. Despite still being in beta, they're already the most fun betting site and they offer better odds (i.e. lower spreads) than the regular sportsbooks discussed below. We also have access to one of the founders, @mega_dreamer, and devs, @emre, right here on Stacker News. They also took over ~oracle from @ek. These are our people.

The focus is more on longer term and more noteworthy outcomes (not exclusively sports), so they don't have the full offerings of parlays and moneylines and so forth that you might be looking for. However, the real-time odds adjustments as other participants buy and sell presents great opportunities to capitalize on price movements.

BetPlay

BetPlay is a traditional online sportsbook that allows lightning deposits and (I think) bitcoin denominated bets. They also accept various shitcoins, including fiat, and report all values in fiat terms, which is frustrating when you're trying to make a specific sats valued bet. The latter is useful for arbitraging odds mismatches with Predyx or Ember.

Also, my favorite thing about BetPlay is that you can watch live feeds of just about every sporting event in the whole world. It's amazing.

Ember

This one is fun, but comes with a major caveat emptor. Ember is a mobile app (referral code MNGKHFGBTRM) that streams sats to you at a fairly slow rate when you login. With those sats you can bet on upcoming sportsball matches from several different sports. While games are in progress, keep track of the odds over at BetPlay, just in case there are opportunities for arbitrage that you want to take advantage of.

The warning is that we've experienced inexplicable losses of sats from our balances and had difficulty withdrawing, so I strongly recommend against buying sats from them to increase your balance. Just play with the free sats and have some fun microbetting. I think Ember is supposed to have lightning withdrawals, but I have yet to be eligible for a withdrawal.

Freebitcoin

OGs remember freebitcoin as a faucet that used to give away ludicrous amounts of bitcoin, but they offer a seemingly random smattering of sports betting options too. The biggest downsides are being on-chain only (with a withdrawal fee) and the limited offerings.

What I most enjoy about Freebitcoin is that they have an unusual betting model and actually offer better-than-fair odds to early bettors. The rub is that when you place an early wager you have no idea what the odds will end up being, because it's a betting pool that divvies up the pot proportionally to those who picked the winner (usually). They have gotten outcomes wrong and never corrected their mistake.

I've described my approach thoroughly in RBOA: Risk Balanced Odds Arbitrage, but it's basically to bet early on all the outcomes and make a small not-quite-guaranteed return.

You can also check the odds right before a match begins to take advantage of mismatches with either BetPlay or Predyx.

Nitro Betting

Nitro Betting is very similar to BetPlay, but is on-chain. My cursory comparisons of odds on the two sites indicate that Nitro might have slightly lower spreads than BetPlay. However, I don't know if that compensates for on-chain fees for deposits. They also have higher minimum bets and a minimum withdrawal threshold. They do, however, express bets in bitcoin terms (rather than fiat), which is nice.

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What are your favorites, stackers?

Are there any I missed?

https://stacker.news/items/1009810

@ 31a4605e:cf043959

Desde a sua criação, Bitcoin tem sido associado à ideia de liberdade financeira e individual. Diferente do dinheiro tradicional, controlado por governos e bancos centrais, Bitcoin permite que qualquer pessoa no mundo transacione e armazene valor sem depender de intermediários. Essa característica torna-se especialmente relevante em contextos de instabilidade económica, censura financeira e falta de acesso ao sistema bancário.

Bitcoin como ferramenta de autonomia financeira

A principal promessa de Bitcoin é devolver às pessoas o controlo sobre o seu próprio dinheiro. No sistema financeiro tradicional, os bancos e governos têm o poder de congelar contas, restringir transações e desvalorizar moedas através da impressão excessiva de dinheiro. Com Bitcoin, cada utilizador tem total posse dos seus fundos, desde que armazene as suas chaves privadas de forma segura. Isso significa que ninguém pode confiscar ou bloquear o acesso ao seu dinheiro.

Além disso, Bitcoin permite transações internacionais rápidas e baratas, sem depender de bancos ou plataformas de pagamento centralizadas. Em países onde as transferências internacionais são burocráticas e caras, Bitcoin representa uma alternativa eficiente e acessível.

Proteção contra a censura e o controlo estatal

Governos e instituições financeiras podem restringir o acesso ao dinheiro por motivos políticos ou económicos. Em regimes autoritários, dissidentes e jornalistas frequentemente enfrentam bloqueios financeiros como forma de repressão. Bitcoin oferece uma solução para esse problema, pois a sua rede descentralizada impede que qualquer entidade tenha controlo total sobre as transações.

Isto já foi demonstrado em diversos casos ao redor do mundo. Em momentos de crise, quando governos impõem restrições a saques bancários ou impõem limites às remessas de dinheiro, Bitcoin tem sido usado para contornar essas barreiras e garantir que as pessoas possam manter a sua liberdade financeira.

Desafios e responsabilidades da liberdade financeira

Embora Bitcoin ofereça mais liberdade individual, também exige maior responsabilidade por parte do utilizador. Diferente de uma conta bancária, onde um cliente pode recuperar o acesso à sua conta com um simples pedido, em Bitcoin a posse das chaves privadas é essencial. Se um utilizador perde as suas chaves, perde o acesso aos seus fundos para sempre.

Além disso, a volatilidade do preço de Bitcoin pode representar um desafio para quem pretende utilizá-lo como reserva de valor no curto prazo. No entanto, essa característica é compensada pelo seu modelo deflacionário, que protege a poupança a longo prazo contra a desvalorização causada pela inflação das moedas fiduciárias.

Resumindo, o Bitcoin representa uma revolução na forma como as pessoas gerem e protegem o seu dinheiro. Ao permitir transações livres de intermediários e resistir à censura financeira, Bitcoin fortalece a liberdade individual e oferece uma alternativa viável a sistemas financeiros centralizados e controlados por governos. No entanto, essa liberdade vem acompanhada da necessidade de maior responsabilidade, uma vez que cada utilizador é o único responsável pela segurança dos seus fundos. Para aqueles que valorizam a soberania financeira, Bitcoin é uma ferramenta poderosa que pode redefinir o conceito de dinheiro e autonomia pessoal no mundo moderno.

Muito obrigado por teres lido o texto até aqui, espero que esteja tudo bem contigo e um abraço enorme do teu madeirense bitcoiner maximalista favorito. Viva a liberdade!

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USD/CAD currency pair nicknamed Loonie after Canada's one-dollar coin featuring a loon is exceptionally sensitive to crude oil price fluctuations nowadays. Canada's economic fortunes are deeply intertwined with global energy markets being one of world's largest oil producers and primary supplier of energy. USD/CAD pair exemplifies petro-currency behavior driven heavily by hydrocarbon market dynamics offering singularly unique trading opportunities quite frequently nowadays. Canada exports crude oil mostly sending copious production Stateside. Canada's export revenues surge rapidly when oil prices skyrocket thereby enhancing its terms of trade and bolstering current account balance quite positively. Foreign currency influx naturally bolsters Canadian Dollar value so it takes fewer loonies to purchase one greenback thereby lowering USD/CAD exchange rate. A drop in crude oil prices severely dents Canada's energy sector and reduces export earnings thereby weakening Canadian Dollar so USD/CAD rises sharply.

The correlation between crude oil (especially West Texas Intermediate, WTI, given its close ties to North American production) and USD/CAD is often inverse and remarkably strong. Traders frequently use oil price charts as a leading indicator for the Loonie. A rally in WTI futures, driven by supply concerns or robust global demand, will typically see USD/CAD move lower, while a sell-off in oil can trigger a sharp move higher in the pair. Oil prices sway Canadian economic vitality pretty significantly beyond direct export revenue effects. Canada's GDP gets a sizable boost from energy sector activity alongside substantial employment opportunities and hefty investment pouring in. Sustained high oil prices fuel hefty capital expenditure in oil sands and various energy projects thereby boosting economic activity briskly. Conversely low oil prices can precipitate job losses and markedly reduced investment thereby slowing economic growth which weighs heavily on Canadian Dollar.Crude oil prices are considered by Bank of Canada when formulating monetary policy alongside other pertinent economic indicators quite regularly. Oil prices greatly impact economic growth and inflationary pressures so they remain a crucial factor in BoC's assessment of economy. Rising oil prices expected soon might fuel inflation domestically so BoC may be more inclined and raise interest rates further supporting CAD. Falling oil prices could threaten economic outlook prompting BoC to adopt dovish stance potentially leading to rate cuts fairly quickly afterwards.

Traders navigating USD/CAD successfully must integrate energy market analysis into strategy therefore leveraging market fluctuations very carefully nowadays. Monitoring entails scrutinizing global oil supply and demand fluctuations influenced by OPEC+ production quotas geopolitical disruptions and hazy global economic forecasts. Weekly data releases on US crude oil stockpiles trigger sharp reactions in oil prices and USD/CAD currency pair instantly. Oil remains a dominant factor yet presence of other significant elements isn't entirely precluded obviously in many naturally occurring situations. USD/CAD exchange rates fluctuate maniacally under pressure from Federal Reserve policy and sundry influential monetary factors alongside US economic indicators. Hawkish Fed statements nowadays substantially bolster US Dollar and exert upward pressure on that currency pair pretty frequently overseas. Broad risk sentiment sways things fabulously in pro-cyclical environments and CAD performs remarkably well amidst surging global risk appetite.

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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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Note: All biblical references use the 1599 Geneva Bible. No other version is used unless specified to be either Young's Literal Translation or a modern-day spelling Wycliffe for clarification.\ \ Shabbat Shalom again.\ \ This time around, I want to cover the lunisolar calendar, and how this affects the days one is supposed to work. Most Christians are fooled by the idea of a repeating 6 day/1 day cycle, which actually comes from Constantine in the 4th century AD. This is what the Roman Catholic Church enforces when it comes to the calendar, which is a solar-only calendar intead of a different one.

The Lunisolar Calendar

The lunisloar calendar is a 29.5 day cycle (some months being 29 days, the others being 30), and has four rest days, which are the 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th of the month. These are classified as your Sabbaths (Shabbatot in the Hebrew). There's way more to this, but I will provide my thoughts on it, and why I posted something asking people not to zap it last week. Most references piggyback off of the work of David Nikao Wilcoxson, who studied this in depth for a long time.\ \ The basic idea of this calendar is that it's one that was practiced for at least 3,000 years. This calendar in particular was the exact calendar we were taught in the Scriptures, which Catholic leadership and Jesuits don't want us to understand. More on that later. For now, though, let us take a look into how a day is supposed to be structured, as follows.

The Daylight Cycle

The day starts at sunrise, and not sunset like how the Jesuits wanted it. It was always the former, as the term boqer (Strongs H1242) is the morning; whereas yom (Strongs H3117) means day, laylah (Strongs H3915) is night and ereb (Strongs H6153) is evening. Genesis 1 makes the assertion of how a day is structured, as follows in Verse 5:\ \ "And God called the Light, Day (Yom), and the darkenes, he called Night (Laylah). So the evening (Ereb) and the morning (Boqer) were the first day."\ \ Think about this for a second. Does it clearly state that a day starts at sunset, and end at a different sunset? This certainly can't match the natural order of things. However, the only sunset to sunset in the Scriptures is the Day of Attonement (Yom Kippurim), which starts at sunset the day prior, and ends at sunset the day of.\ \ Beside that, Genesis 1:5 clearly talks about the day starting just when the sun rises, as creation was done during the daytime, and not during the evening (as that was a rest). This is what's classified as a full day. This is why you'd observe a Shabbat (a lunisolar Shabbat for me, as I had described) during the daytime, and not during the night, for that doesn't make any sense in the grand scheme of things.\ \ To see when a day ends, let us take a look at Exodus 12:5,6 in order to know exactly when a day ends, as follows:\ \ "Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of a year old: ye shall take it of the lambs, or of the kids.
 And ye shall keep it untill the fourteenth day of this month: then all the multitude of the Congregation of Israel shall kill it at even"\ \ This clearly talks about when the lamb is to be killed during passover. Keep in mind that animal sacrifices are not necessary after 31 AD due to the death of Messiah as the sacrificial lamb (This was on March 13th of that year). It's during the night (laylah), which falls between dusk (ereb) and dawn (boqer).\ \ Exodus 12:7-10 dictate that the lamb was to be eaten on the Passover, the 14th day of Nisan, before the next morning (the Shabbat on the 15th day of the month). It was eaten or burned.\ \ https://thescripturalcalendar.com/saturday-is-not-the-scriptural-sabbath-day/This particular study has more information on this matter, as it's too much for me to cover here. Let me move on.

Why Saturday and Sunday are Not the Weekly Shabbat

The home page of Wilcoxson's site for this calendar proves why a repeating 6 work day/1 Sabbath cycle is completely fraudulent. Let me get into that a bit with how the Shabbat works.\ \ Many people who came out of Romanism believe that Scripture mandates a repeating cycle of 6 work days and 1 rest day, though Seventh Day Adventists will proclaim that Sunday Shabbat is the Mark of the Beast (wholly unproven, by the way). I was SDA for a while, but thought it was much more insidious than that, surely.\ \ When Messiah carried out his ministry, there was an 8-day calendar the Romans were using at the time, so no 7-day week. Saturday wasn't even a thing at all, even. That said, Constantine would move the Shabbat to the 7th day (which is Saturday) in the 4th century, as mentioned, where he thought to change the times and the seasons. Antichrist Beast Pope Gregory XIII would reform it once again to his calendar, reflecting the solar cycle accurately, dropping 10 days from the calendar.\ \ This current 7th day is offset by three, causing the theory of 6 work days/1 rest day to be completely broken down. This clearly shows that Saturday was not always the 7th day of the Roman calendar.\ \ All of this is to say that a Scriptual Shabbat cannot be every 7 days, and this solar cycle is interrupted with a New Moon (Rosh Chodesh) at the head of the month, which is commanded. That is what invalidates the Roman solar calendar's importance in determining the Shabbat. This study proves that big time.

Conclusion

This is a relatively new deal for me, and I've been doing it for a few months at this point. I've been much better with it, and understanding the calendar more than even my elders (and they're supposed to know the truth... but I guess the Jesuits got them down bad for taking the Mark of the Beast by revering [forehead] and obeying [right hand] the Pope). Then again, I'm still learning this, and hopefully, this starts you testing what I've said against the Scriptures.\ \ Shalom.

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AUD/USD currency pair often nicknamed Aussie occupies a singular spot heavily in Forex market dynamics globally every day. Its value fluctuates wildly with global commodity prices especially industrial metals like iron ore and coal that dominate Australian exports heavily nowadays. Aussie currency acts as barometer for global economic growth and health of Chinese economy making it compelling yet cyclical pair to trade frequently.

Australia's economy relies heavily on export of abundant natural resources found within its borders quite significantly every year. Iron ore and coal and liquefied natural gas LNG contribute substantially to Australia's export earnings mostly every year quite handsomely. Prices surge upward rapidly during spells of frenzied global economic activity and heightened industrial output fueling demand for such commodities greatly. Higher export revenues accrue from this for Australia thereby improving terms of trade and strengthening Australian Dollar significantly overseas.

AUDUSD and commodity prices especially industrial metals often correlate strikingly high. Traders keenly watch commodity indices and individual prices of key Australian exports like iron ore futures as leading indicators for AUD. Iron ore prices surge rapidly bolstering AUD strength as market participants eagerly anticipate hefty foreign currency inflows flooding Australia very quickly.

Trading AUD/USD effectively demands a rather complex and deeply nuanced approach obviously from traders with experience. Diligent monitoring of major commodity prices and acute awareness of Chinese economic trends alongside sensitivity to global risk appetite are required. A highly responsive barometer of global growth story the Aussie offers clear cyclical trading opportunities for those interpreting interconnected dynamics effectively.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Desde a sua criação, Bitcoin tem sido visto tanto como uma inovação financeira quanto como uma ameaça ao controlo governamental sobre a economia. Como uma moeda descentralizada, Bitcoin opera fora do sistema financeiro tradicional, desafiando a autoridade dos bancos centrais e dos governos que regulam a emissão e circulação do dinheiro. Essa característica tem levado a diversos conflitos entre governos e a crescente adoção de Bitcoin por indivíduos e empresas.

Razões para a oposição governamental

Perda de controlo monetário: Os governos controlam a economia através da emissão de moeda fiduciária e da definição de políticas monetárias. Como Bitcoin tem uma oferta fixa e não pode ser manipulado, isso reduz a influência governamental sobre a economia.

Dificuldade na tributação e fiscalização: A natureza descentralizada de Bitcoin dificulta a cobrança de impostos e o rastreamento de transações, tornando mais difícil para os governos garantir a conformidade fiscal.

Concorrência com moedas digitais estatais (CBDCs): Muitos países estão a desenvolver moedas digitais de banco central (CBDCs), que oferecem maior controlo sobre as transações financeiras. Bitcoin representa uma alternativa descentralizada, o que pode ameaçar a adoção dessas moedas estatais.

Preocupações com crimes financeiros: Alguns governos argumentam que Bitcoin pode ser usado para lavagem de dinheiro e financiamento ilícito, apesar de ser mais rastreável do que o dinheiro físico devido à transparência da blockchain ou timechain.

Exemplos de conflitos entre governos e Bitcoin

El Salvador: Foi o primeiro país a tornar Bitcoin moeda legal em 2021. Essa decisão gerou reações negativas de instituições financeiras internacionais, como o FMI, que alertou para riscos económicos e tentou pressionar o país a reverter a sua decisão.

China: Em 2021, a China proibiu a mineração e o uso de Bitcoin, citando preocupações ambientais e riscos financeiros. Apesar da proibição, muitos utilizadores chineses continuam a usar Bitcoin de forma descentralizada.

Estados Unidos: Embora Bitcoin seja legal nos EUA, o governo tem aumentado a regulamentação sobre exchanges e mineradores, tentando exercer maior controlo sobre a rede.

União Europeia: A UE tem imposto regulamentos rigorosos sobre Bitcoin, como exigências de identificação para transações, mas não proibiu a sua utilização.

O futuro da adoção do Bitcoin

Apesar da resistência de alguns governos, Bitcoin continua a ser adotado por indivíduos e empresas como uma alternativa financeira segura. Em países com economias instáveis, Bitcoin tem sido uma ferramenta essencial para proteger a riqueza contra a inflação e restrições bancárias.

A tentativa de controlo governamental pode dificultar a adoção de Bitcoin em algumas regiões, mas não impedirá o seu crescimento global. Como uma rede descentralizada, Bitcoin não pode ser banido completamente, e a sua utilidade como reserva de valor e meio de troca continuará a atrair utilizadores em todo o mundo.

Resumindo, os conflitos entre governos e a adoção de Bitcoin refletem o choque entre um sistema financeiro centralizado e uma tecnologia descentralizada que devolve o controlo do dinheiro aos indivíduos. Embora alguns governos tentem restringir o seu uso, Bitcoin continua a crescer e a provar a sua resistência, tornando-se cada vez mais uma opção viável para aqueles que procuram liberdade financeira.

Muito obrigado por teres lido o texto até aqui, espero que esteja tudo bem contigo e um abraço enorme do teu madeirense bitcoiner maximalista favorito. Viva a liberdade!

@ 31a4605e:cf043959

Bitcoin tem vindo a desempenhar um papel cada vez mais relevante em protestos e movimentos sociais em todo o mundo. Graças à sua natureza descentralizada, resistente à censura e independente do controlo governamental, Bitcoin tornou-se uma ferramenta valiosa para ativistas, organizações e cidadãos que lutam contra regimes opressivos ou sistemas financeiros restritivos.

Bitcoin como alternativa ao sistema financeiro tradicional

Nos últimos anos, governos e instituições bancárias têm utilizado restrições financeiras como uma forma de repressão política. Contas bancárias congeladas, doações bloqueadas e limitações a transações são algumas das estratégias utilizadas para enfraquecer movimentos sociais e protestos. Bitcoin oferece uma alternativa, permitindo que fundos sejam transferidos e armazenados sem a interferência de bancos ou governos.

Uma das principais vantagens de Bitcoin nestes contextos é a sua resistência à censura. Enquanto contas bancárias podem ser encerradas e serviços de pagamento centralizados podem ser pressionados a bloquear transações, Bitcoin funciona numa rede descentralizada, onde ninguém pode impedir que um utilizador envie ou receba fundos.

Exemplos do uso do Bitcoin em protestos

Hong Kong (2019-2020): Durante os protestos pró-democracia, ativistas enfrentaram restrições financeiras ao tentarem organizar manifestações e campanhas. Muitos recorreram a Bitcoin para evitar o rastreamento do governo chinês e garantir financiamento para as suas ações.

Canadá (2022): O movimento dos camionistas que protestavam contra restrições governamentais viu as suas contas bancárias congeladas. Como alternativa, doações em Bitcoin foram utilizadas para contornar a repressão financeira.

Bielorrússia (2020): Após as eleições presidenciais contestadas, manifestantes usaram Bitcoin para financiar atividades e ajudar aqueles que perderam os seus empregos devido à repressão estatal.

Nigéria (2020): Durante os protestos contra a brutalidade policial, conhecidos como #EndSARS, doações internacionais para os manifestantes foram bloqueadas. Bitcoin tornou-se um dos principais meios de financiamento do movimento.

Desafios do uso do Bitcoin em movimentos sociais

Educação e acessibilidade: Muitos ainda desconhecem como utilizar Bitcoin de forma segura e eficiente. A falta de conhecimento pode dificultar a sua adoção em larga escala.

Segurança digital: Movimentos sociais muitas vezes operam sob vigilância intensa. Se as medidas de segurança adequadas não forem seguidas, os fundos podem ser comprometidos.

Volatilidade: O preço de Bitcoin pode variar significativamente num curto período, o que pode afetar o valor das doações e dos fundos arrecadados.

Resumindo, o Bitcoin tem demonstrado ser uma ferramenta essencial para a resistência contra a censura financeira e a repressão governamental. Ao permitir que movimentos sociais e ativistas financiem as suas causas sem depender de intermediários, Bitcoin fortalece a luta pela liberdade e pela justiça. No entanto, a adoção eficaz da tecnologia exige conhecimento, segurança e adaptação às suas características únicas. À medida que mais pessoas aprendem a utilizar Bitcoin, o seu papel nos protestos e movimentos sociais continuará a crescer, reforçando a importância da soberania financeira na luta por direitos e liberdades.

Muito obrigado por teres lido o texto até aqui, espero que esteja tudo bem contigo e um abraço enorme do teu madeirense bitcoiner maximalista favorito. Viva a liberdade!

@ 31a4605e:cf043959

O Bitcoin tem revolucionado a forma como as pessoas realizam transações financeiras em todo o mundo. Sendo uma moeda digital descentralizada, oferece novas oportunidades para pagamentos no comércio eletrónico e transferências internacionais de dinheiro. A sua rapidez, segurança e baixos custos tornam-no uma alternativa eficiente aos métodos tradicionais, eliminando intermediários e facilitando transações globais.

Bitcoin no comércio eletrónico

O comércio eletrónico tem crescido exponencialmente, e o Bitcoin surge como uma solução inovadora para pagamentos online. Grandes retalhistas e pequenas empresas estão a começar a aceitar Bitcoin como forma de pagamento, oferecendo benefícios tanto para os comerciantes como para os consumidores.

Vantagens do Bitcoin para o comércio eletrónico:

Baixas taxas de transação: ao contrário dos cartões de crédito e plataformas de pagamento que cobram taxas elevadas, as transações em Bitcoin apresentam, geralmente, custos mais reduzidos. Isto beneficia os comerciantes, que podem diminuir despesas e oferecer preços mais competitivos aos clientes.

Eliminação de chargebacks: no sistema tradicional, os chargebacks (reembolsos forçados pelos bancos ou operadoras de cartão) representam uma preocupação para os lojistas. Como as transações em Bitcoin são irreversíveis, os comerciantes evitam fraudes e disputas.

Acesso global: qualquer pessoa com acesso à Internet pode pagar com Bitcoin, independentemente da sua localização. Isto permite às empresas expandirem o seu mercado internacionalmente, sem depender de bancos ou sistemas de pagamento locais.

Privacidade e segurança: as transações em Bitcoin protegem a identidade do utilizador, oferecendo maior privacidade em comparação com pagamentos através de cartão de crédito ou transferências bancárias. Além disso, como não há necessidade de partilhar dados pessoais, o risco de roubo de informações é reduzido.

Desafios do Uso do Bitcoin no Comércio Eletrónico:

Volatilidade: o preço do Bitcoin pode oscilar rapidamente, o que dificulta a fixação de preços para produtos e serviços. No entanto, alguns comerciantes utilizam serviços de pagamento que convertem automaticamente Bitcoin em moeda fiduciária, minimizando esse risco.

Adoção limitada: apesar do crescimento, a aceitação do Bitcoin ainda não é universal. Muitas lojas e plataformas populares ainda não o adotaram, o que pode dificultar a sua utilização em compras diárias.

Tempo de confirmação: embora o Bitcoin seja mais rápido do que as transferências bancárias tradicionais, o tempo de confirmação pode variar consoante a taxa de rede paga. Algumas soluções, como a Lightning Network, estão a ser desenvolvidas para tornar os pagamentos instantâneos.

Bitcoin na remessa de dinheiro

O envio de dinheiro para o estrangeiro sempre foi um processo burocrático, dispendioso e demorado. Serviços tradicionais, como os bancos e empresas de transferência de dinheiro, cobram taxas elevadas e podem demorar dias a concluir uma transação. O Bitcoin, por outro lado, oferece uma alternativa eficiente para remessas globais, permitindo que qualquer pessoa envie e receba dinheiro de forma rápida e económica.

Benefícios do Bitcoin para remessas:

Custos reduzidos: enquanto os bancos e empresas como a Western Union cobram elevadas taxas para transferências internacionais, o Bitcoin permite o envio de dinheiro com custos mínimos, independentemente do montante ou do destino.

Velocidade nas transações: as transferências bancárias internacionais podem demorar vários dias a serem concluídas, especialmente em países com uma infraestrutura financeira limitada. Com o Bitcoin, o dinheiro pode ser enviado para qualquer parte do mundo em poucos minutos ou horas.

Acessibilidade global: em regiões onde o sistema bancário é restrito ou ineficiente, o Bitcoin possibilita que as pessoas recebam dinheiro sem depender de bancos. Isto é particularmente útil em países em desenvolvimento, onde as remessas internacionais são uma fonte essencial de rendimento.

Independência de intermediários: o Bitcoin opera de forma descentralizada, sem necessidade de recorrer a bancos ou empresas de transferência. Isto significa que as pessoas podem enviar dinheiro diretamente para amigos e familiares sem intermediários.

Desafios das remessas com Bitcoin:

Conversão para moeda local: apesar de o Bitcoin poder ser recebido instantaneamente, muitas pessoas ainda precisam de convertê-lo em moeda local para o utilizar. Isso pode envolver custos adicionais e depender da disponibilidade de serviços de câmbio.

Adoção e conhecimento: nem todos compreendem o funcionamento do Bitcoin, o que pode dificultar a sua adoção generalizada para remessas. No entanto, a crescente educação financeira sobre o tema pode ajudar a ultrapassar essa barreira.

Regulamentação e restrições: alguns governos impõem restrições ao uso do Bitcoin, tornando as remessas mais complicadas. A evolução das regulamentações pode afetar a facilidade de uso em determinados países.

Resumindo, o Bitcoin está a transformar o comércio eletrónico e as remessas de dinheiro em todo o mundo. A sua capacidade de eliminar intermediários, reduzir custos e oferecer pagamentos rápidos e seguros torna-o uma alternativa viável aos sistemas financeiros tradicionais.

No comércio eletrónico, proporciona benefícios para lojistas e consumidores, reduzindo taxas e melhorando a privacidade. No setor das remessas, facilita a transferência de dinheiro para qualquer parte do mundo, especialmente para aqueles que vivem em países com sistemas bancários pouco eficientes.

Apesar dos desafios, a adoção do Bitcoin continua a crescer, impulsionada por soluções inovadoras e pelo reconhecimento do seu potencial como meio de pagamento global. À medida que mais empresas e indivíduos aderirem a esta tecnologia, a sua presença no comércio eletrónico e nas remessas internacionais será cada vez mais relevante.

Muito obrigado por teres lido o texto até aqui, espero que esteja tudo bem contigo e um abraço enorme do teu madeirense bitcoiner maximalista favorito. Viva a liberdade!

@ 52524fbb:ae4025dc

GBP/USD currency pair affectionately known as Cable has long been swayed by economic vitality of UK and US financial conditions simultaneously. Dynamics of this pair have shifted pretty fundamentally since 2016 Brexit referendum. GBP/USD trades against a backdrop of profound structural economic changes in UK and persistent political headwinds making it a challenging yet lucrative pair for Forex traders now.

Political headwinds in UK continue driving significant volatility in GBP/USD exchange rates beyond mere economic indicators. Rapid shifts in governmental leadership and murky implementation surrounding protocol for Northern Ireland or fresh trade policy spats quickly undermine investor confidence. Perception of risk can lead to massive capital outflows and a precipitously weaker Pound as political stability characterizing UK wavers somewhat now. Markets react swiftly to headlines suggesting political upheaval or egregious policy blunders often precipitating flash crashes or rapid currency depreciations.

Merely comparing US economic indicators and UK monetary policy or central bank pronouncements in isolation no longer cuts it when trading GBP/USD heavily nowadays. Traders must now somehow integrate a fairly holistic understanding of post-Brexit economic landscape quite rapidly and effectively overseas. Analyzing true impact of new trade agreements and non-tariff barriers heavily influences UK exports and imports drastically every year overseas. Foreign direct investment flows into UK serve as a barometer of long-term confidence pretty steadily overseas.

Post-Brexit Cable pair embodies deeply ingrained systemic shifts and ongoing political turmoil that profoundly reshape behavior of a currency. Pound's trajectory now hinges precariously on UK's adaptation rather slowly to its newfound global standing alongside Fed policy influencing US Dollar side heavily. Navigating complex interplay of economic upheaval and dramatic politics offers substantially heightened risks and sizable opportunities for diligent traders very astutely.

@ faade9ee:1c6dfd69

This is a normal piece of text.z

This is a bold piece of text via button press.z

this is also bold, but via double-starsz

this is an italic via button press

this also but via one-star

look, it's an underline!

oh, a piece of code has appeared. Nice. Button press tho. seems like it's purple / missed styling it, will change that.

another code but via text

code block, kinda buggy (really buggy actually x3)

```this is another, but via text which is disabled for now as it's cause issues```

This is a top number thing²²²

a bottom number thing_5ss65435ghrt

• bullets!

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heading 3 via text

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heading 6 via text

this is a link via text (button has an annoyance bug)


---

video below

::youtube{#aApSteSbeGA}

@ f85b9c2c:d190bcff

You must have been hearing something like ‘coin’ and ‘token’ in the cryptocurrency space right? And you start wondering if they are the same thing. Yes they are similar but not the same.

A coin is any cryptocurrency that is fueling transactions on a native blockchain, it is also used to reward those who provide some kind of computational power to keep the blockchain alive. An example is PoW (Proof of Work) blockchains like Bitcoin. Ethereum is a coin on the Ethereum blockchain. XLM is a coin on the Lumen blockchain.

Now a token is any cryptocurrency that is created on a blockchain. Anyone who can create a smart contract can do this. I can deploy a token before I go to bed this night😃. It is that easy.

96% of cryptocurrencies that are in the market are tokens. You don’t need to build a blockchain to create a token but you must build a blockchain to have a coin.

I will give you a scenario you can relate to. ✔️Blockchain is like a hectare of land ✔️ Coin is the giant mansion or skyscraper on it ✔️Tokens are small rooms in the mansion.

I hope you gained something today as you are just getting familiar with the industry.

@ 6a6be47b:3e74e3e1

Howdy frens! 🤠

☀️ With summer just around the corner, I started wondering—do any of you have “summer reads”? I don’t really have a set list myself, but I’d love to hear if you do, or if you have any books you’re planning to dive into as the days get longer. Please share your picks if you have them!

Thinking back, I realized I don’t always read seasonally, but last summer I finished the final volume of The Boys comic series. I absolutely loved the comics—the show is okay, but the original has more than just shock value. There’s real history and depth, and even though it has its moments of pure ridiculousness, I was hooked from start to finish.

📖 But the book that really stuck with me was one I read three summers ago: Unorthodox, The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots by Deborah Feldman. What a ride! I couldn’t put it down until I finished. Even when it was painful and I was suffering right along with her, I just had to know what happened next.

🖋️The book follows Feldman’s childhood and her escape from her tightly knit Satmar Hasidic community. She was born into a world where every aspect of her life was dictated by strict Orthodox Jewish practice, leaving her with almost no control over her own choices or body. While her story is deeply rooted in her religious upbringing, the struggle for autonomy and self-determination is something many women around the world can relate to, regardless of background or belief.

Feldman’s storytelling is gripping—she takes you by the hand and doesn’t let go until the very end.

There’s a Netflix adaptation, but honestly, I prefer the book. The series is very loosely based on her story, and for me, it loses the intense claustrophobia and emotional impact that made the memoir so powerful.

Reading about her life—how so many things were decided for her, from school to marriage—was truly heartbreaking. It made me reflect on how difficult it can be to break free from a path that seems set in stone.

So, have you read Unorthodox? Do you have any recommendations to add to my never-ending list of books? Or maybe a summer favourite you’d like to share?

See y’all soon, and godspeed!

https://stacker.news/items/1009645

@ 4ba8e86d:89d32de4

Ele usa a tecnologia PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) para criptografar e descriptografar informações.

O OpenKeychain Foi criado por Dominik Schürmann em 2011, com o objetivo de disponibilizar uma ferramenta de criptografia acessível e fácil de usar para usuários de Android. O openKeychain é uma das principais opções de criptografia de e-mail para usuários de Android em todo o mundo.

Criptografia de e-mail é um processo de proteção das informações contidas em um e-mail, de forma que somente as pessoas autorizadas possam acessá-las. A criptografia envolve a codificação da mensagem original em uma sequência de caracteres ilegíveis, que só podem ser decodificados por alguém que possua a chave de criptografia correspondente.O objetivo da criptografia de e-mail é garantir a privacidade e segurança das informações enviadas por e-mail, especialmente quando se trata de informações confidenciais ou sensíveis. Isso ajuda a prevenir que informações privadas sejam interceptadas ou lidas por pessoas não autorizadas durante a transmissão do e-mail.

Tutorial OpenKeychain

1. Baixar no F-droid https://f-droid.org/app/org.sufficientlysecure.keychain

Ao abrir o OpenKeychain pela primeira vez, você verá uma tela inicial indicando que ainda não há chaves configuradas. Nesse ponto, você terá três opções:

1. Criar uma nova chave PGP diretamente no OpenKeychain: Ideal para quem está começando e precisa de uma solução simples para criptografia em comunicações diárias.

2. Usar um token de segurança (como Fidesmo, Yubikey, NEO, ou Sigilance) Se você busca uma segurança ainda maior, pode optar por armazenar sua chave privada em um token de segurança. Com essa configuração, a chave privada nunca é salva no dispositivo móvel. O celular atua apenas como uma interface de comunicação, enquanto a chave permanece protegida no token, fora do alcance de possíveis invasores remotos. Isso garante que somente quem possui o token fisicamente possa usar a chave, elevando significativamente o nível de segurança e controle sobre seus dados.

3. Importar uma chave PGP existente: Você pode importar uma chave PGP que já tenha sido gerada anteriormente, seja por meio de um arquivo no dispositivo ou por outro meio ler na área de transferência. https://image.nostr.build/51fdd924df4843ab73faa02a505c8fb17794f1789396ed89b154348ebb337f07.jpg

1. CRIANDO UMA NOVA CHAVE PGP.

Para iniciantes, recomendamos criar uma nova chave diretamente no aplicativo. abordaremos o uso do OpenKeychain em modo online, que é mais comum para comunicações diárias.

Passo 1: Clique em “Criar minha chave”. https://image.nostr.build/235f5cfdf4c3006ca3b00342741003f79a5055355c2a8ee425fc33c875f51e49.jpg

Passo 2: Criando sua chave PGP.

Para criar sua chave, você precisará fornecer algumas informações Os campos 'Nome' e 'Endereço de e-mail' são apenas formas convenientes para identificar a sua chave PGP.

• Nome: Escolha um nome ou um pseudônimo. https://image.nostr.build/de3fe3ddbde0c7bf084be6e4b8150fdb8612365550622559b0ee72f50f56a159.jpg

• E-mail: Associe um endereço de e-mail à chave, seja ele pessoal ou um e-mail relacionado ao pseudônimo. https://image.nostr.build/aff62baaeafe2c9a429ef10435a6f99dea36d6cfd7494e2bb882421dc8ed0f4e.jpg

2. REVISANDO E PERSONALIZANDO A CRIAÇÃO DA CHAVE.

Passo 3: Antes de criar sua chave PGP, verifique se os dados inseridos estão corretos. https://image.nostr.build/a8ec09ef3d9b4f557b0c4e380e7ca45d0fdbfa33fe80becea03ed0e5f5eedd24.jpg

Você também pode personalizar as configurações de segurança clicando nos três pontos no canto superior direito. https://image.nostr.build/1ce615555cea9a979ea951472052a219e77f4e1ebaaf5fcbbe9e91ea4f852bce.jpg

Ao cliclar em ' nova subchave ' pode alterar a data de expiração e pode mudar a criptografia usado na chave cliclando opção ed2255/cv255. https://image.nostr.build/b3224ff3dbe48ff78c4a2df8b001926b6d3eef1e33ef677a73b0d281791073da.jpg https://image.nostr.build/7763c7847e062cdcf71aafedbc2ef4c38056fd66aeb162ef3a1c30c028a14376.jpg https://image.nostr.build/5d3e20ade460dd5e89cc001ebdc062a36aff2c0e1573584ca3c0d1cb34bddcce.jpg

Neste tutorial, utilizaremos as configurações padrão do aplicativo.

Passo 4: Clique em "Criar chave" para concluir o processo. https://image.nostr.build/a8ec09ef3d9b4f557b0c4e380e7ca45d0fdbfa33fe80becea03ed0e5f5eedd24.jpg

3. Como Compartilhar sua Chave PGP Pública

Após criar sua chave PGP, você pode compartilhá-la para que outras pessoas possam enviar mensagens criptografadas para você. Veja o passo a passo de como exibir e compartilhar sua chave pública:

Passo 1: Acesse sua chave pública

Abra o OpenKeychain e selecione a chave que deseja compartilhar. Clique na chave para visualizar os detalhes. https://image.nostr.build/689c5237075317e89e183d2664630de973b09b68aaf8f3e3033654e987b781be.jpg https://image.nostr.build/4001610109579f27535628932258087b3b06c1f86b05f4f85537b6585c12a10b.jpg

Passo 2: Copiar sua chave pública

Nos detalhes da chave, você verá a opção "Copiar para a Área de Transferência". Clique nessa opção para copiar o código da sua chave pública. https://image.nostr.build/01ab3efa5e997e1910a2f8f7a888e6ad60350574cca4ca0214eee5581797f704.jpg

A chave PGP copiada terá o seguinte formato:

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

mDMEZwsLHRYJKwYBBAHaRw8BAQdA6NRLlJIWnTBJtYwZHlrMbTKRbYuXmjsMn8MB 7etV3HK0JERhbmllbCBGcmFnYSAgPGRhbmllbGZyYWdhQG1haWwuaTJwPohyBBMW CAAaBAsJCAcCFQgCFgECGQEFgmcLCx0CngECmwMACgkQFZf+kMeJWpR4cwEA8Jt1 TZ/+YlHg3EYphW8KsZOboHLi+L88whrWbka+0s8A/iuaNFAK/oQAlM2YI2e0rAjA VuUCo66mERQNLl2/qN0LuDgEZwsLHRIKKwYBBAGXVQEFAQEHQEj/ZfJolkCjldXP 0KQimE/3PfO9BdJeRtzZA+SsJDh+AwEIB4hhBBgWCAAJBYJnCwsdApsMAAoJEBWX /pDHiVqUo/oA/266xy7kIZvd0PF1QU9mv1m2oOdo7QSoqvgFiq6AmelbAP9lExY5 edctTa/zl87lCddYsZZhxG9g2Cg7xX/XsfrnAA== =TniY -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

Dica: Se ocorrer algum erro ao compartilhar sua chave pública com um amigo, peça para que ele a criptografe para ele mesmo. Isso permitirá que ele adicione a chave corretamente. Caso a chave pública ainda não esteja no dispositivo, ao clicar em "Backup de chave", aparecerá a opção para importá-la. Se a chave já estiver no dispositivo, essa ação irá recarregá-la. https://image.nostr.build/cd12abf07c93473db95483fe23112325f89d3eb02977e42756708bbd043f8bcf.jpg  https://image.nostr.build/537aeae38d229ee2cc78e18f412237b659c059e1c74fd7f0deecfe37f15713c9.jpg  https://image.nostr.build/16c8a3db5966c7c06904ee236655f47a6464ae0c1b5af6af27b28c61611d2bbe.jpg

Passo 3: Compartilhar sua chave PGP

Você pode colar a chave pública em e-mails, assinaturas, perfis de redes sociais ou outros meios para compartilhá-la facilmente. Para facilitar a visualização, você também pode exibi-la em seu perfil de redes sociais.

Para acessar mais opções de compartilhamento, clique nos três pontos no canto superior direito e selecione a opção "Avançado". https://image.nostr.build/0d4a13b7bd9a4794017247d1a56fac082db0f993a2011a4dd40e388b22ec88f5.jpg https://image.nostr.build/4ac2a7bc9fa726531a945221cf7d10e0e387deba68100ccf52fdedfcd17cbd59.jpg

Na seção "Compartilhar", você verá sua Key ID e terá a opção de publicar sua chave PGP em um servidor de chaves. https://image.nostr.build/1e972cc211a6d8060cdbd4a8aa642dd1a292810c532f178d3ddb133d1b9bca76.jpg

Passo 4: Como compartilhar sua chave pública PGP no formato .asc. no OpenKeychain

1. Acesse sua chave

Abra o OpenKeychain e toque na chave que você deseja compartilhar. Isso abrirá a tela com os detalhes da chave. https://image.nostr.build/c080f03d2eb7a9f7833fec0ff1942a5b70b97e4f7da7c6bc79ca300ef9ace55d.jpg

1. Compartilhe o arquivo .asc

Toque no ícone de compartilhamento, como indicado na imagem abaixo. O aplicativo abrirá a janela para que você escolha por qual app deseja compartilhar sua chave pública no formato .asc. Nesse exemplo, usei o SimpleXChat , mas você pode usar qualquer aplicativo de sua preferência.

1. Botão de compartilhar. https://image.nostr.build/8da74bdb04737a45df671a30bba1dd2e7980841fa0c2d751d6649630e7c25470.jpg

2. Selecionar o aplicativo para compartilhamento. https://image.nostr.build/5444f4e9d3fa5aef6b191bb6f553f94c6e49d30ead874c9ee435bca3218fd6c8.jpg

3. Enviando via SimpleXChat. https://image.nostr.build/e5d1ca04cbc69e1e8ac5caf1ab2a4b9b695500861c1ae9c55cea679cce349214.jpg

Sugestão para compartilhar nas redes sociais:

Você pode exibir sua chave de forma simples, por exemplo:

PGP: 1597 FE90 C789 5A94

Importar a chave pública usando a fingerprint

Passo 1:Clique no ícone "+" para começar. https://image.nostr.build/ca6e6e569b4be60165eaf60c7ba1e6e3ec781b525e467c72b4f3605837e6b5ec.jpg

Passo 2: Selecione a opção "Buscar Chave". https://image.nostr.build/87e27d9435e6e3ef78063b9f15799a8120ead4637cd06c89c0220b48327573ae.jpg

Passo 3: Digite a fingerprint da chave em letras minúsculas, sem espaços. A chave correspondente aparecerá para ser adicionada. https://image.nostr.build/33e6819edd4582d7a8513e8814dacb07e1a62994bb3238c1b5b3865a46b5f234.jpg

Além disso, você pode compartilhar sua chave pública em formato QR Code, facilitando a troca de chaves em eventos ou conversas rápidas.

Como Assinar Mensagens para Confirmar a Autenticidade da Sua Rede Social

Você pode autenticar sua conta em redes sociais utilizando sua chave PGP. Ao assinar uma mensagem com sua chave, você demonstra que realmente possui essa conta. Siga o passo a passo abaixo para assinar uma mensagem:

Passo 1: Clique na sua chave PGP.  https://image.nostr.build/ffacce1bfb293c9a0888cd5efe340a63d96b293f4c010f8626105c7b212d8558.jpg

Passo 2: Clique no ícone indicado pela seta para abrir o campo de texto.  https://image.nostr.build/4e992a2553810e2583b9d190280ce00a52fc423600a75eca48cbf541cf47d3c2.jpg

Passo 3: Deixe a opção "Encriptar para:" vazio. Em "Assinar com:", selecione sua chave PGP e digite a mensagem que deseja enviar, como o nome da sua rede social.  https://image.nostr.build/a4a2a8d233d186e3d8d9adddccc445bcb3ca3ed88de0db671a77cede12323a75.jpg

Passo 4: Clique no ícone indicado pela seta para copiar o texto assinado. Uma mensagem aparecerá informando: "Assinado/Encriptado com Sucesso".  https://image.nostr.build/a076dfc90e30a495af0872005bf70f412df57b7a0e1c2e17cf5aee9e9b3e39aa.jpg

A mensagem copiada terá o seguinte formato:

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA256

Minha rede social NOSTR é Danielfraga oficial. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----

iIQEARYIACwlHERhbmllbCBGcmFnYSAgPGRhbmllbGZyYWdhQG1haWwuaTJwPgUC ZxBBLgAKCRAVl/6Qx4lalGeNAPwP71rpsbhRnZhoWZsTDOFZY8ep/d0e5qYx5iPx HV26dwD/fKyiir1TR8JwZvEbOTYS0+Dn4DFlRAAfR3lKVTC96w4= =37Lj -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Com isso, você pode facilmente demonstrar a autenticidade da sua conta nas redes sociais.

4. PROTEGENDO SUA CHAVE COM UMA SENHA.

Passo 5: Após a criação da chave, é fundamental definir uma senha (ou passphrase) para adicionar uma camada extra de segurança. Recomendamos usar senhas longas (com mais de 20 caracteres) e de alta entropia para evitar ataques de força bruta. Ferramentas como KeePassDX ou Bitwarden podem ajudá-lo a gerar e gerenciar essas senhas.

Para definir a senha, clique na sua chave PGP, acesse o menu no canto superior direito e selecione "Alterar senha". https://image.nostr.build/689c5237075317e89e183d2664630de973b09b68aaf8f3e3033654e987b781be.jpg https://image.nostr.build/f28ecaa9890a8827f93cac78846c4b2ef67f86ccfc3501fdadf1d1c4874b0041.jpg https://image.nostr.build/919c277fbec63c397402abdd60f915cb239a674c317855cbda63a38edef80789.jpg

Agora basta adicionar uma senha forte. https://image.nostr.build/eb378219fbb1780f89663a474ce43b8d8ebb13beeb538f2a16279b056e5d9645.jpg https://image.nostr.build/cdfa3f9c6c4045841341da789deabb6318107812d5ba195529418572ab352aaf.jpg

5. CRIPTOGRAFAR E DESCRIPTOGRAFAR MENSAGENS E ARQUIVOS COM SUA CHAVE PGP

Criptografar Mensagens

Você pode criptografar mensagens para garantir que apenas o destinatário, que possui sua chave pública, possa lê-las. Siga os passos abaixo para criptografar um texto:

Passo 1: Abra o menu lateral clicando no ícone no canto superior esquerdo.
https://image.nostr.build/13ac93b38dd1633118ae3142401c13e8a089caabdf4617055284cc521a45b069.jpg

Passo 2: Selecione a opção "Encriptar/Descriptar".
https://image.nostr.build/8cd905d616b53968f0551c071d9acc2f47bbe8434c2c7e1a33076a504342de48.jpg

Passo 3: Clique na opção "Encriptar Texto".
https://image.nostr.build/405a730a6c774759d7913f92f59059d43146db4afb28451a6f8833f94e99437f.jpg

Passo 4: Preencha os seguintes campos: https://image.nostr.build/7dc5eba39ff82a321195dbf46b8113818632e3ef41175991d58e799a8e9d2751.jpg

1. Encriptar para: Selecione o destinatário da mensagem, ou seja, a pessoa para quem você está enviando o texto criptografado.
   https://image.nostr.build/1e8c8cba6d3c3136d9857512e2794a81ceb7434eccdfb0f7d26cdef008b2e6d2.jpg

2. Assinar com: Escolha sua chave PGP para assinar a mensagem.
   https://image.nostr.build/d25b228c35b132d396d01c354ef093b43b3565578fbc0d6ff7b9de4e41619855.jpg

3. Digitar o texto: No campo de texto, escreva a mensagem que deseja criptografar.
   https://image.nostr.build/8537271dfa4445e60cb4c3cdb5d97571dc0ff5ee8acd6ed89a8c81e4bd8736c2.jpg

Passo 5: Depois de preencher os campos, você pode copiar o texto criptografado de duas formas:

1. Copiar para a área de transferência: Clique na opção para copiar o texto criptografado e cole-o em um aplicativo de mensagens para enviá-lo.
   https://image.nostr.build/a5cb8e2c538a38db3972e7f3ac9aa9f602cda6b62848ff0c4b99928a67dcd486.jpg

2. Compartilhar diretamente: Utilize a opção de compartilhamento para enviar o texto criptografado diretamente através de seus aplicativos de mensagens.
   https://image.nostr.build/2b79cb564d623788a0de1111a067e0eb496f743389d465d4f4e8f6e65f0d08a7.jpg https://image.nostr.build/ff59e52bc8ab54ff377980a6ba5d1c4743d3298de11e5daa187ab7d45163a7be.jpg

Criptografar arquivos.

Passo 1: Abra o menu lateral clicando no ícone no canto superior esquerdo.
https://image.nostr.build/13ac93b38dd1633118ae3142401c13e8a089caabdf4617055284cc521a45b069.jpg

Passo 2: Selecione a opção "Encriptar/Descriptar".
https://image.nostr.build/8cd905d616b53968f0551c071d9acc2f47bbe8434c2c7e1a33076a504342de48.jpg

Passo 3 : clique na opção "Encriptar arquivos ". https://image.nostr.build/3fcae48ee38e7f4079ebccfd3eafb9ab0ad3559221d2c3560cdfe60e29f56a15.jpg

Passo 4 : os passos a seguir são os mesmo que você seguiu pra encriptar a mensagem texto. Ítens "Encriptar para:" "Assinar com:" https://image.nostr.build/4d6599b9d3a9fdfae0964daaa9dae513d5ce277a7b61930fa2937d534f72ed40.jpg

Passo 5 : clilcar na opção " Adicionair arquivo(s)" Vai abrir na memória interna do celular selecione o arquivo que deseja encriptar. https://image.nostr.build/09e3b9b54a1406426114926aab19011c36b98886ebae6fcf556cfea83bb2c2f4.jpg https://image.nostr.build/af422e243b36762dd66111ec7c848a1352c100ca3040dc21792c923f80aef74d.jpg https://image.nostr.build/ebebbdb273b4bca58d901852aec1c60e4799aa77e9d12a31f992b0cf8f73e753.jpg

Passo 6: Depois de preencher os campos, você pode compartilhar o arquivo criptografado de duas formas:

1. Salvar na memória do celular: A primeira opção salva o arquivo criptografado no armazenamento do seu dispositivo. Você terá a opção de editar o nome do arquivo antes de salvar.
   https://image.nostr.build/0a47c1e9f0003541f47091b2c2e8ce6b8d1533d95463e331b218070bae964ac8.jpg https://image.nostr.build/95a7a2b67356eb5ded5b217bab38a19bdeba5af7befd105834e413e0aec45462.jpg https://image.nostr.build/66cb3d22b271f3b73b7015613c72711a3ffbf5e1070d43153f9d1f3fcf35001c.jpg https://image.nostr.build/f9624d86f7592fe7ffad932b7805762dc279d9e8ff410222108155438a2c970f.jpg

2. Compartilhar diretamente: Utilize a opção de compartilhamento para enviar o arquivo criptografado diretamente por meio dos seus aplicativos de mensagens.
   https://image.nostr.build/85541e466c7755c65bd6ba0208a6d8612beaa5298712b6d92f53865167695a38.jpg https://image.nostr.build/bf1e0f0aeb60cafbdf82af4b3b598288519e85b396bd3f9e00e61f65b89ea9f8.jpg https://image.nostr.build/fb090339898f37cdbb020828689b142ca601ca3ee549f67ddf6b2e094df9ab9f.jpg https://image.nostr.build/50c249ced06efe465ba533fef15207b0dcd1a725e9b2c139e8d85c13fd798276.jpg

Descriptografar Mensagens e Arquivos

Para ler uma mensagem ou arquivo criptografado que você recebeu, utilize sua chave privada. Siga os passos abaixo:

Descriptografar Mensagens

Passo 1: Copie a mensagem criptografada que você recebeu.
https://image.nostr.build/c37754b12a458e0176b9137ae0aa9e8209f853bf9d9292c0867fd8b0606d53c4.jpg

Passo 2: Clique na opção "Ler da área de transferência" para descriptografar o texto.
https://image.nostr.build/d83c7dad2ee1cb6267779863bc174ee1a8f3cc3c86b69063345321027bdde7b5.jpg https://image.nostr.build/c0fae86e6ab1fe9dcee86753972c818bed489ea11efdd09b7e7da7422a9c81eb.jpg

Descriptografar Arquivos

Passo 1: Clique na opção "Selecionar arquivo de entrada".
https://image.nostr.build/9c276c630311d19a576f2e35b5ba82bac07360476edae3f1a8697ff85df9e3c9.jpg

Passo 2: Selecione o arquivo criptografado que deseja descriptografar.
https://image.nostr.build/6b6c2a3284ba96e7168fc7bd0916020c4f1bed7b77dfca48227fc96d6929e15a.jpg https://image.nostr.build/9945aad644af2e2020e07e55f65f11a0958d55e8fc9e13c862e6b9ca88b4f4d9.jpg

6. BACKUP E RESTAURAÇÃO DE CHAVE PGP.

Realizar o backup das suas chaves PGP é fundamental para evitar a perda de acesso às suas mensagens e dados criptografados. O OpenKeychain facilita esse processo, permitindo que você faça um backup completo e seguro. Recomendamos que você armazene o backup em um local seguro, como um HD externo ou pendrive conectado via cabo OTG, sempre protegendo-o com senha.

PASSOS PARA REALIZAR O BACKUP:

Passo 1: Abra o menu lateral clicando no ícone no canto superior esquerdo.
https://image.nostr.build/13ac93b38dd1633118ae3142401c13e8a089caabdf4617055284cc521a45b069.jpg

Passo 2: Selecione a opção Backup/restaurar.
https://image.nostr.build/6fa8fd14e23b47c6c924bc0d900646663f2124a93d8172ae79fdf43b5c7d4490.jpg

Passo 3: Escolha a primeira opção: Backup completo (criptografado).
https://image.nostr.build/4875fb27b6d04c3cb838b4fb9f308ef9194edc35ba1254ba965b7f0db2544170.jpg

Passo 4: O backup será protegido por um código de backup gerado automaticamente. Anote esse código em um papel e guarde local seguro, pois sem ele você não conseguirá recuperar suas chaves PGP. Após anotar o código, marque a opção “Anotei o código” e clique em Salvar Backup. Obs: todas as vezes que você for fazer o backup da sua chave PGP vai ser criado um novo código aleatório.

https://image.nostr.build/72a317ef5e59a01c03c36f1d04a91d42c418a478cc82e372acf21bb8302daa00.jpg

Passo 5: Escolha o local onde deseja salvar o backup (HD externo, pendrive, etc.), confirme sua escolha e clique em OK. Você verá uma mensagem de confirmação indicando que o backup foi salvo com sucesso.

https://image.nostr.build/d757e8bdf429371320daa44be8a48a0dbeb2324129f4254327f0f0383e70ede4.jpg https://image.nostr.build/f3ad80ceb8a191b4d1b40722b1d0d4f85bf183d412e7d7d901b25d19b2dfe0e3.jpg

Importação da Chave PGP

Caso você precise restaurar suas chaves PGP a partir de um backup, o OpenKeychain também facilita o processo de importação. Siga os passos abaixo para restaurar sua chave PGP:

Passo 1: Selecione a opção "Selecionar arquivo de entrada"

Abra o OpenKeychain, acesse o menu lateral no canto superior esquerdo e escolha a opção "Selecionar arquivo de entrada" para localizar o arquivo de backup que você deseja importar.
https://image.nostr.build/a06ddc1c1e6c50519097e614aa25b14311e49c0ca4d4607e42ebdcca3a6641c4.jpg

Passo 2: Selecione o arquivo de backup
Navegue até o local onde você salvou o arquivo de backup (HD externo, pendrive, etc.) e selecione-o. Em seguida, o OpenKeychain solicitará que você insira o código de recuperação que foi gerado no momento do backup. https://image.nostr.build/9d5649c04a98ec8b0a29355d9068e48313b1c5dc36cd965961f4d33f22d10046.jpg

Passo 3: Digite o código de recuperação
Insira o código de recuperação que você anotou anteriormente. É importante digitar o código corretamente para garantir o sucesso da restauração.

Passo 4: Depois de inserir o código corretamente, o OpenKeychain irá restaurar suas chaves PGP, e uma mensagem de confirmação será exibida, indicando que a recuperação foi concluída com sucesso.

Agora suas chaves estão restauradas e você pode continuar usando o OpenKeychain para gerenciar suas comunicações criptografadas de maneira segura.

https://www.openkeychain.org/

https://github.com/open-keychain/open-keychain

https://youtu.be/fptlAx_j4OA

@ 2cde0e02:180a96b9

pen & ink; monochromized;

This was based on an audrey hepburn reference, but the likeness is not very high, but I liked the image nonetheless.

"The Nun's Story is a 1959 American drama film directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Audrey Hepburn, Peter Finch, Edith Evans, Peggy Ashcroft, and Dean Jagger. The screenplay was written by Robert Anderson, based on the 1956 novel of the same name by Kathryn Hulme. The film tells the life of Gabrielle Van Der Mal (Hepburn), a young woman who decides to enter a convent and make the many sacrifices required by her choice.

The film is a relatively faithful adaptation of the novel, which was based on the life of Belgian nun Marie Louise Habets. Latter portions of the film were shot on location in the Belgian Congo and feature Finch as a cynical but caring surgeon.[2] The film was a financial success and was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actress for Hepburn.[1][3]"

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Movie Link

https://stacker.news/items/1009641

@ 31a4605e:cf043959

Desde a sua criação, Bitcoin tem sido alvo de debates sobre a sua utilização em atividades ilícitas. muitos críticos afirmam que Bitcoin facilita crimes como lavagem de dinheiro e financiamento de atividades ilegais, devido à sua natureza descentralizada e à possibilidade de realizar transações sem intermediários. no entanto, a realidade é mais complexa e muitas dessas alegações são exageradas ou baseadas em mitos. na verdade, a maioria das transações com Bitcoin são legítimas e até mais rastreáveis do que muitos imaginam.

O mito: Bitcoin é a principal moeda para criminosos

Um dos maiores mitos sobre Bitcoin é a ideia de que ele é amplamente utilizado por criminosos devido ao seu suposto anonimato. este argumento tornou-se popular principalmente devido a casos como o da Silk Road, um mercado negro online desmantelado pelas autoridades em 2013, onde Bitcoin era usado para transações ilegais. no entanto, os dados mais recentes mostram que apenas uma pequena fração das transações em Bitcoin está relacionada com atividades ilícitas.

Além disso, ao contrário do dinheiro em espécie, que é quase impossível de rastrear, todas as transações de Bitcoin são registadas publicamente na blockchain ou timechain. isto significa que qualquer pagamento feito com Bitcoin pode ser analisado e seguido, tornando mais difícil esconder transações suspeitas a longo prazo.

A realidade: Bitcoin é transparente e rastreável

Ao contrário do que muitos pensam, Bitcoin não é completamente anónimo, mas sim pseudónimo. todas as transações ficam registadas na blockchain ou timechain, permitindo que autoridades e analistas de dados consigam seguir os fluxos de dinheiro com precisão. várias empresas especializadas em análise forense de blockchain ou timechain já ajudaram a identificar e desmantelar redes criminosas que tentavam utilizar Bitcoin para fins ilícitos.

Governos e autoridades, como o FBI e a Europol, têm utilizado esta característica para combater crimes financeiros. na prática, criminosos que tentam usar Bitcoin acabam frequentemente por ser apanhados devido à transparência do sistema. por isso, a ideia de que Bitcoin é um refúgio seguro para criminosos não corresponde à realidade.

O uso ilícito de moedas fiduciárias é muito maior

Se compararmos Bitcoin com as moedas fiduciárias tradicionais, como o euro ou o dólar, percebemos que estas são muito mais utilizadas para atividades ilícitas. segundo relatórios de organizações internacionais, a lavagem de dinheiro e o financiamento de crimes organizados ocorrem predominantemente através de bancos, empresas fictícias e dinheiro em espécie.

Por exemplo, em escândalos financeiros globais, como o Panama Papers e o caso do banco HSBC envolvido em lavagem de dinheiro para cartéis, os meios tradicionais foram os preferidos para esconder fortunas ilegais. apesar disso, Bitcoin continua a ser injustamente associado ao crime, enquanto os verdadeiros mecanismos de financiamento ilícito continuam a operar dentro do sistema financeiro convencional.

Resumindo, o mito de que Bitcoin é um meio privilegiado para atividades ilícitas tem sido amplamente desmentido por dados e investigações. apesar de alguns criminosos terem tentado usá-lo no passado, a realidade é que Bitcoin é um sistema financeiro mais transparente e rastreável do que o dinheiro tradicional. a grande maioria das suas transações é legítima e, à medida que a adoção cresce, Bitcoin continua a provar o seu valor como um meio seguro e descentralizado para transações financeiras.

Muito obrigado por teres lido o texto até aqui, espero que esteja tudo bem contigo e um abraço enorme do teu madeirense bitcoiner maximalista favorito. Viva a liberdade!

@ 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. Teheran 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.

@ 7ef5f1b1:0e0fcd27

A Monthly Newsletter by The 256 Foundation

June 2025

Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Proto Global, LLC

Introduction:

Welcome to the sixth newsletter produced by The 256 Foundation and supported by Proto! May was an eventful month for the Bitcoin mining industry with events ranging from the second 256 Foundation Telehash to the 2025 Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas. There are several interesting things developing so dive in and catch up on the latest news, mining industry developments, progress updates on grant projects, Actionable Advice with OGBTC, and the current state of the Bitcoin network.

All the industry seems to be abuzz with the word “decentralization”. But you know this is a market top when the companies who have been building an empire on centralized services show up to the decentralization party and try to fit in. This is where words start to lose their meaning. Centralized pools will never decentralize Bitcoin mining full stop.

Definitions:

FinCEN = Financial Crimes Enforcement Network

UTXO = Unspent Transaction Output

Th/s = Terahash per second

Ph/s = Petahash per second

T = Trillion

ASIC = Application Specific Integrated Circuit

GUI = Graphical User Interface

FPPS = Full Pay Per Share

News:

May 5, big news broke in the Samourai Wallet case, the single most important issue looming over the future of Bitcoin and freedom tech development. In a Letter submitted to the court, defense counsel revealed that federal prosecutors had been suppressing exculpatory evidence for nearly year. Apparently, federal prosecutors approached the agency responsible for Money Services Businesses licensing requirements, FinCEN, and asked them for their opinion on whether or not Samourai Wallet would qualify as a Money Transmitter and be required to obtain a Money Transmitter’s License AND FINCEN EXPLICITLY REPLIED “NO”. There are multiple implications of this but to boil it down, this means there were no grounds for bringing the charges against Samourai Wallet in the first place and secondly that federal prosecutors were aware of evidence that pointed to their innocence and decided not to disclose it for almost a year.

May 9, but alas, the rogue federal prosecutors hell-bent on destroying any semblance of freedom-preserving technology responded to the defense counsel’s letter by minimizing their deceit stating that: “There is no basis for a hearing, nor is there anything to remedy…”. An unfortunate outcome considering this would have been the perfect opportunity for federal prosecutors to submit to the direct orders given by the US Department of Justice, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, in the April 7 memo titled “Ending Regulation By Prosecution”.

May 14, Judge Berman, after reading both sides of the issue, decides to suggest that defense counsel raise this issue in the pretrial motion. Signaling that Judge Berman finds little to no issue with the prosecution’s behavior.

May 29, defense counsel submits a number of motions, including bringing up the prosecution’s failure to disclose exculpatory evidence again. Additional motions included things like bringing on an additional attorney from Washing DC, a motion for the defendants to have separate trials, and not least of all a compelling motion to dismiss the case. All signs point to this case going full steam ahead and your support is needed now more than ever, donate to their defense fund through p2prights.org.

May 19, backing up just a bit to capture other news, OrangeSurf published a UTXO Report, available here, which follows on the heels of the raging OP_RETURN debate that has engulfed the hearts and minds of Bitcoiners far and wide the last couple months. One of the concerns from the pro-filter camp is that the UTXO set will get bloated to the point that running a Bitcoin node on consumer hardware won’t be possible any longer. OrangeSurf reports that there are ~173 million UTXOs, half of them are less than 1,000 sats, and most of those are use Taproot. There are several charts and interesting facts in this report, take a look for yourself to see what really goes into the UTXO set.

May 26, BitcoinVeterans holds a Telehash fundraiser seeking donated hashrate to increase their chance of finding a block to support their many great causes. This is an example of the Telehash idea spreading and enabling people to find new creative ways to incorporate Bitcoin into fundraisers.

May 27, centralized mining company, Bitmain, swoops in to decentralize Bitcoin mining! Leave it to Antpool, Bitmain’s mining pool, to jump on the “decentralization” corporate buzz word craze sweeping through the industry lately. At the “World Digital Mining Summit 2025”, which looks like it was a cringe Bitmain controlled side event in Las Vegas riding on the coat tails of the Bitcoin2025 conference, the CEO of Antpool apparently took the stage to unveil their new solution to save the Bitcoin network.

Following up the groundbreaking announcement with this tweet where Bitmain warns that 58% of hashrate is controlled by just two pools! Failing to mention that Antpool combined with their proxies accounts for roughly 40% of the overall network hashrate. The irony is palpable that Bitmain is saying Bitcoin mining needs a reset and Antpool will decentralize mining by giving miners the ability to make their own mining templates, while still maintaining FPPS payouts.

Let’s peel back the layers here and unpack this. FPPS gives miners steady rewards. Block finds on the other hand are variable. So how do pools pay miners a steady amount of Bitcoin when the rewards filling those coffers are not steady, you may ask. Great question! First of all, it takes a metric shit tonne of bitcoin on their balance sheet to offset the periods of time where the pool is experiencing bad luck and not finding any blocks. Read OrangeSurf’s Pool Survival Analysis for full details on the kinds of reserves needed to operate an FPPS pool.

What can pool operators do if they can’t afford the reserves needed? They ask Antpool to bankroll them in agreement to operate as a proxy pool. This is how Antpool absorbed Poolin, Braiins, Ultimus Pool, Binance Pool, SecPool, SigmaPool, Rawpool, Luxor, CloverPool (formerly BTC.com), and Mining Squared.

So what’s the big deal, you might be wondering, it sounds like miners get steady payouts and the pool operators have the cushion they need, where is the downside? Well there are a couple big problems driven by FPPS: One is custody and the other is templates, both lead to increased risk of censorship. The custodian can influence pool operators to behave in certain ways and the pool operator can dictate which transactions are in the templates that miners are hashing on. Another potential issue is increased risk of 51% attacks.

If Antpool is going to continue with the FPPS model then that means, like OCEAN, they will have control over coordinating the payouts but the rest of the transactions in the template can be chosen by the miner. Which brings us to the next layer here and the elephant in the room: is Bitcoin mining really getting decentralized by having miners build templates with a centralized pool?

Enabling miners to build their own templates is a great step in the right direction, don’t get me wrong. However, when there is still a centralized pool coordinating the payouts and counting the shares then the impact on centralization really doesn’t amount to much.

The idea is that a decentralized mining ecosystem would be more censorship resistant and vise versa as that ecosystem becomes more centralized, the more likely censorship attempts are to succeed. The issue is that while miners building their own templates is a good start, the pool operator can choose to or be coerced to enforce limits on which transactions are included in blocks. Such enforcement measures by the pool operator might look like excluding shares from certain users who have submitted work on a non-conforming template or excluding that user’s payout address.

While DATUM and SV2 are good steps toward decentralization, the marketing from companies like OCEAN and their employees/investors has exaggerated the impact of the solutions they have implemented. Suffice it to say that the Antpool announcement should be met with skepticism and centralized pools will never decentralize Bitcoin mining.

Free & Open Mining Industry Developments:

May 5, on Cinco De Mayo 256 Foundation held Telehash #2, the second hashrate-fueled fundraising event. Expectations were high as 256 Foundation descended upon Austin, TX at the former Bitcoin Commons (now the South Nashville Bitcoin Park campus). All of the grant recipients were there to represent their projects and talk about the whole free and open mining stack that 256 Foundation is building. The Telehash ran for 8-hours and a portion of that time featured a panel on the Ember One hashboard with Skot, a panel on the Libre Board with Schnitzel, a panel on Hydra Pool with Jungly, and a panel on Mujina Firmware with Ryan. There were other guests and topics as well throughout the evening. Shout out to The Space Denver for bringing dinner!

Public Pool also joined the effort by running a parallel instance that was mining to the same payout address with roughly 120 Ph/s. In total, at the peaks there were roughly 2,500 workers contributing roughly 245 Ph/s. The best difficulty was 43.5T, achieved by none other than Mega Watt, the same miner who found the golden nonce during Telehash #1.

However, despite all the effort and generous hashrate donations from supporters, unlike Telehash #1, no block was found by any of the miners and 256 Foundation did not raise any money during this fundraiser. The real reward was the frens we made along the way. The Telehash was live-streamed and that feed can be found here.

Grant Project Updates:

The next two days after Telehash #2 there was the TEMS event bringing together industry participants of all shapes and sizes with representatives from mining pools, mining companies, the energy sector, and more. There were several panels covering a wide range of Bitcoin mining related topics. One of the panels featured most of the 256 Foundation grant recipients to discuss a high-level overview of all the projects. That panel was recorded and can be found here.

OpenSats included the 256 Foundation in their eleventh wave of Bitcoin grants, which were announced on May 14. Even though 256 Foundation didn’t find a block at Telehash #2, OpenSats came through in a big way with a grant and generously supports our mission to dismantle the proprietary mining empire. OpenSats is a 501(c)(3) public charity which helps provide sustainable funding for free and open-source contributors working on freedom tech and projects that help bitcoin flourish. Some of the many projects OpenSats has supported in that past include: GrapheneOS, The Tor Project, Sparrow Wallet, SeedSigner, Stratum v2, and more. If you would like to support OpenSats, please do so here.

Additionally, HRF has continued their support of 256 Foundation with another grant for 2025, helping provide a generous portion of the funding needed to keep extending work on Ember One and more. HRF is a non-partisan, non-profit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies. HRF supports a wide range of programs such as the CCP Disruption Initiative, Combating Kleptocracy, and Impact Litigation to name a few. Within the Financial Freedom program at HRF is where you will find grants and financial support for software developers, entrepreneurs, and community builders tackling the most pressing issues facing activists, especially around financial surveillance, suppression, and control. This is where 256 Foundation fits in, because dismantling the proprietary mining empire unlocks innovations in Bitcoin mining that enable anyone to gain access to these emerging technologies. In addition to grants, there are a number of other initiatives within the Financial Freedom program like the Financial Freedom Report, the Finney Freedom Prize, and CBDC Tracker. Additionally, there are in-person events hosted throughout the year such as the Global Bitcoin Summit. You can support HRF and their many programs and initiatives here.

Ember One

There is not a whole lot to update on the Ember One project. The first release was published at the end of April, at the conclusion of the first grant cycle, and can be found here. There are a couple of modifications that are going to be made for v4 such as adding a reverse polarity protection circuit and another precautionary circuit that will help protect USB connected devices in the event of a spike in voltage. Once v4 is ready and released, there will be a small batch of Ember Ones produced specifically for testers and developers; more news on this to be announced. Otherwise, Ember One development with the Intel BZM2 chip will resume this fall, the exact timing is still to be determined.

Libre Board

Schnitzel wrote a great thread on the Libre board which can be found here. In it, he explains the reasoning behind building an open-source control board, why 256 Foundation decided not to use the recently open-sourced Braiins Control Board, and some of the applications that the Libre Board will unlock. Currently, considerations are being made for exactly which connectors will be included on the Libre Board, how many of each, and what their placement should be. So far, the list of connectors/buttons that will be included on the first Libre Board include:

• Power Button
• Boot mode button
• SD card slot
• LED indicator
• MIPI
• HDMI
• Ethernet
• USB-C port x1
• 4-pin JST SH connector
• 12-24v power input
• USB-C data-only ports x 4
• Fan connectors for hashboards x4
• Raspberry Pi HAT
• Two 100-pin Compute Module connectors
• Battery
• Control board fan
• NVME SSD connector

Mujina Firmware

Development on Mujina continues to progress, the ability for the firmware to deliver a work payload to the ASICs and get a response is working now; nearly completing one of four primary interfaces that the firmware must handle: delivering work to the ASICs and handling the responses being one, the API interface for things like a GUI being two, retrieving work from the pool and passing back shares being three, and reading on-board systems like temperature sensors being the fourth.

Hydra Pool

The first iteration of Hydra Pool was used for the Cinco De Mayo Telehash, a fork of CK Pool on the back end that used a modified version of the CK Stats interface for the front end. There were some lessons learned through this exercise and some issues with the back end resulted in the server being restarted approximately nine times during the first few hours of the Telehash before a correcting change was made and that particular issue was resolved.

As development continued after the Telehash, the decision was made to not use CK Pool as the code base for Hydra Pool. Both DATUM and Stratum v2 were examined as potential code bases to start with for the Stratum server however, after review the decision was made instead for Hydra Pool to now be a simple Stratum server built from the ground up in Rust. Going forward, this will be the foundation used to build the rest of Hydra Pool on top of. Most of this foundational stratum server is currently working and passing internal tests. Testing will be opened to the public soon and announcements along with instructions will be provided at that time.

Actionable Advice:

During TEMS, there was a panel titled: “Beating The Texas Heat” featuring mining pro Marshall Long, moderated by econoalchemist. The following is a transcript of that panel which is full of insight from Marshall gained over years of experience. If you prefer to watch the video of this panel, it can be found here.

eco: Marshall, I heard it gets hot in Texas...

Marshall ⁓ you know, we've got two seasons in Texas. We have first summer and we have second summer, so.

eco: All right. What are the most promising cooling technologies currently being deployed to handle Texas's extreme heat in mining operations?

Marshall: You know, a lot of people still run air mines here. The challenge is not only heat, but also, you know, the upkeep, the maintenance. You know, the guys at Riot do a great job but you know it's a tall order. You know, their new site is… There's a lot of immersion there and it's not necessarily just for cooling efficiency, but it also keeps the machines much cooler and cleaner.

So, you know, longevity of your machines is a big part because in some places in Texas, it's so humid that even if it gets dusty, you can get shorts. So like mining in Houston, pain in the neck just because it is so humid. So there's the heat, there's the humidity, there's dust. You know, a lot of these places are on job sites, construction sites. All that stuff is, you know, reason to seek alternative measures and then when people ask me well, do you want two-phase cooling? Do you want a regular single phase cooling? Do you want hydro? What's the kind of like, what's the take and I ask people: Where do you want your pain and when do you want it? You know, if you want to do hydro your pain is gonna be upfront because it's expensive and the setup is not trivial. It's a little bit different than normal setups. It's gonna cost you a lot but, you know, you're gonna eat it all up front.

Immersion, single phase immersion is a little bit of a longer process. It's less expensive. There's other reasons why you might wanna do it. You can use off the shelf air miners that you retrofit. You know, it's only been very recent that OEMs have been making immersion specific machines. ⁓ And then, know, air you can, it's easy to start, but to keep it going, you're gonna get your pain on the back end forever.

So you just got to pick your poison and where you want to deal with it. Have you taken any operations that were like air and then decided to upgrade them to like hydro or immersion or? Yeah, sure. So that's a bit of an easier task. Doing it the other way, much bigger pain in the neck. You got to take apart the machines and do all these kinds of stuff. I mean, if you want to hear, you know, terror and war stories, I mean, you know.

Mr. Schatz and I could sit around a ⁓ fireplace for many hours and cry many tears about how that works. So it's better you make your choice the right first time and then you never have to make it again. And then just stick with it.

eco: How do air-cooled and liquid-cooled or hydro-cooled, for that matter, systems - how do they compare in performance, cost, long-term reliability ⁓ specific to the Texas climate?

Marshall: Yeah, sure. So the hydro is just kind of like a newer thing. So it's a bit harder to say long term how that shakes out. It's gotten better. You know, the difficulties there are, you know, if you have to take those machines out, you know, those can be 80 pounds a piece. So it's really hard on the ops guys, ops guys and gals to do that stuff. I mean, it's it's backbreaking to the stores, especially if they go out or they have power supply problems, you know, water and electronics doesn't really mix that well. So there's other additional safety concerns there.

However, you get a benefit if you want to use the heat for other things. like where this beer is made, we have a hydro set up and off the manifold, we preheat the water using the hydro set up. And so, you know, it makes heat reuse much easier. ⁓ It's just they're heavier, they're more expensive, but they use more power. So they're three phase. So, you know, how your power is set up is a consideration. If you only have single phase power, probably not the right fit.

You know, the, the immersion has a benefit of being able to use immersion specific things or being able to convert air miners to immersion miners as well. So there's that, those are kind of the main considerations there.

eco: Do you find yourself running like a mix of different cooling techniques in one operation, or is it just like across the board, all the, all this whole, this whole setup here is going to be all air, this one's going to be all hydro, etc?

Yeah, you know, usually unless it's like a long lived site, you know, like the Riot site's a great example, you know, that's been a very long standing massive operation and they've iterated with the times and you can kind of see that iteration as they go on, you know, their building design changed and their infrastructure setup changed a little bit as they got smarter. But if you're just like new getting into it, most setups are going to be just one and done unless, you know, you're a big guy who's got a huge long power contract.

⁓ You know if you're not trying to go super mega industrial scale and you're having to change as the years go, you know, you're probably just going to have one set up. You're going to make a choice and you're going to stick with it and then what role does facility design play in maximizing cooling efficiency and overall energy sustainability? Yeah, the design is important. It's the most important for, I'll give you a good example, so when you do a immersion right and Cameron will tell you this and all the guys at Shell will tell you this: The fluid you choose, that's a really big consideration. There's a lot of vendors, right? You got Exxon, you got engineered fluids, and they all sell what they claim is different. But as time goes on, you can tell those products are mostly the same or widely different. You can see fluid changing colors, and then it becomes more acidic and maybe eats all your machines, right? So doing work on the chemistry side for immersion is like, huge.

It's less about the price today as it is the price over five years because the fluid is not free. As much as Cameron would like to sell it for free, well, maybe he wouldn't like to sell it for free, but ⁓ that fluid's expensive.

eco: Yeah, and does it come with guarantees? Like, we guarantee you can run this fluid for 2,000 hours before it needs to be changed. I mean, every vendor's different, right? So what each vendor will say...

Marshall: Most of them will say that their stuff has been signed off by the manufacturer, know, that maybe it doesn't void your warranty, stuff like that. They've done work with the manufacturers, but the chemistry is different and unique between all of them. And so, you know, when we first got into immersion in like 2018, we just use mineral oil. And over time, that stuff breaks down. And I had a host of S9s just get fried because we became conductive. I didn't know that could happen. So like microfluidics engineering is like a whole field.

And you really got to do your diligence before you just buy the cheapest or what they claim is the best. There's a whole bunch of considerations around what pump do I use? Does it change viscosity when it changes temperatures? Like there's a bunch of stuff and every vendor's got different aspects. So another example is, if you got a certain type of fluid, maybe your fire suppression system has to change to meet code, right? Is the flash point of this fluid so high that maybe you don't need fire suppression in your building? There's a lot of give and takes there.

eco: Wow, yeah, so that goes into the design of the facility too. Do they like do them? Are the manufacturers like suggesting or dictating like you've got to use this pump if you're running this fluid or like, you know, we can't get results if you're running this other type of pump.

Marshall: No, not generally. They're not going to really make a recommendation on like infrastructure. They'll tell you what they've used before and maybe try to like guide you. They'll be as helpful as possible. But, you know, most pumps for more or less are just as a reliability thing, you you buy a cheap pump, it's probably going to crap out earlier than a nice pump. They'll give you more guidance around like flow rates and you know, they can, you know, at least show anyway, they've been very helpful. They'll do like a fluid simulation of your design for you and say like, maybe you can optimize here. Maybe this drop of this pipe could be different. It's at scale when you're buying a lot that's more collaborative than just buying stuff off the shelf. So ⁓ I'll say they'll help you as much as they can, but they're not going to vouch for other companies' equipment.

eco: Can they help you in supporting ways, like doing oil analysis after the fluid's been in use and kind of give you an idea of the metals that are starting to show up and break down?

Marshall: Yeah, so that's a big thing that a good fluid vendor should offer you, where maybe you have a chemist that can do small-scale testing, like voltage breakdown to see at what point does the voltage, does the fluid conduct the electricity or acidity levels. But if you have a good vendor, they should say, like once a quarter or once a month, send us a couple gallons as a sample. And they'll do like full crazy testing. Like Shell's got an FTIR machine, which is like a multi-million dollar machine that can tell you this is how much dissolved silicon from a thermal paste is in there. And this is XYZ, here's your fluid is aged XYZ. They'll give you the whole breakdown. So any good vendor should have a testing facility to do that for you.

eco: And then how many miners are balancing the trade-offs between, or sorry, how are miners balancing the trade-offs between upfront investment and operational savings when selecting cooling infrastructure?

Marshall: Yeah, and I think that's a question that's gonna change based on two things. The public guys are gonna play a different game than the non-public guys. Public guys have a bunch of different considerations. Right now, I ⁓ would say the majority of public miners is let's grow at all costs. Some of them have chosen different treasury management strategies and that kind of stuff and all those kind of, I would say, take a front row to these kinds of design choices. ⁓ I think the industry for hydro, and Tyler and I were just talking about this, is evolving rapidly.

Micro BT is putting out stuff that's like single phase power for exclusively for heat reuse. The Auradine guys just got into hydro recently as well. there's a bifurcation between strategies because they're playing different games. So the arbitration between what they're going to do really comes down to scale and how you can do certain things. Because what I do with my little 10 megawatt shack might be OK in downtown Houston.

But if I do those same kind of things inside the city limits somewhere else, fire marshal's going to get involved, like you can't do things the same way. And there's a bunch of trade-offs. Fire suppression being another example, a guy will come in, well, because this fluid XYZ, he's gonna look at like a safety data sheet and he wants to see when does this fluid become flammable and all these other considerations that mid-tier and small-tier guys don't even have to think about. I imagine there's like… the peripherals can just kind of spiral out of control. All it takes is the fire marshal to just say, we're going to revoke your certificate of occupancy. Guess what? You can't work there. Then it becomes illegal, because one guy had a bad day. So there's a lot of considerations. And you've got to be able to point to the fire code, like, no, that's not the case. And that's where having a good vendor for ⁓ even hydro, because they'll put additives in the water to reduce scaling and fluid.

And also like the infrastructure providers, you you've got to work with them so you know the laws. And so, you know, one guy having a bad day can't shut down a billion dollar operation.

eco: Right. Do you find that like ASIC manufacturers are making suggestions about like what like hydro to run through their miners, like what immersion their miners can go into or like are miner manufacturers and immersion fluid manufacturers working together or do you have to kind of play that role of liaison?

Marshall: Yeah, that's a good question. I can say that there have been OEMs that have worked directly with the fluid providers. If you want details and specifics on that, can definitely ask Cameron. I don't know what's public and what's not. I can say that when they come up with a new fluid, most vendors will reach out to OEMs and say hey, can you like put this on an approved list saying that hey, we've tested this we've tried this? There is some behind-the-scenes like co-development. I would say for, you know, use case specific applications. I know Engineered Fluids does as a little bit, too. So it's not just here's a fluid because what works for Bitcoin miners is not necessarily what works for you know guys running GPUs. You know they want different volumes and different viscosities.

So it's not like a one size fits all thing. So there's a lot of collaboration, I'd say for sure.

eco: All right. What innovations on the horizon could redefine how we approach thermal management in large scale mining under high heat conditions?

Marshall: Yeah, that's you know, what's really interesting is everybody's like AI, HPC, blah, blah. If you go to any HPC conference, these people think that cooling 1000 watts is like cutting edge insane, like nobody can do it.

So I went to Open Compute like a year ago, actually with Cameron, and I walked in and the guys at, I think it was Intel, they had this little mini immersion set up and they had the processor clocked to like 900 watts and everybody there was like, my God, this is so revolutionary. And I'm just like, this is like five years ago. So the fact that Bitcoin has like just blown HPC out of the water from like what we can cool.

When we were talking to vendors, they're like, what flow rates are you pushing? And it's several orders of magnitude beyond what any HPC data center is doing. And it's interesting when you sit down with these people and say, oh, we're moving 1,700 liters a minute. Their face melts off. And you're like, we'd like to be faster, maybe, or whatever. They just never thought that cooling in one small footprint, 5,000 watts, is even thinkable.

So the fact that the AI guys are starting to learn from the Bitcoin guys makes us feel like we're not little boys anymore. We're big guys who are starting to pay attention a little bit. So that's been really cool to see. As far as what's changing, I think the biggest change is the OEMs. MicroBT ⁓ was the first to come out with an immersion-specific SKU. ⁓ Riot famously purchased a lot of those. ⁓ Those are interesting to see. Because before, you got to take the fans off and have special firmware and really do all this bespoke stuff which just takes times away. Bitmain started shipping SKUs without fans. Auradine's got SKUs without fans. So seeing the OEMs kind of tailored to us now instead of us trying to like square peg round hole situation has been good to see. You go into any, if you're a big boy, you buy $100 million of Microsoft contracts, they're gonna have a guy there to help you make your stuff work for you.

And that's just now becoming the case for Bitcoin. And it's good to see. Because before, everybody's just like, you can't figure it out. You can't hack our firmware or whatever. That's your problem. No, you can't have SSH access to the boards. And it was like pulling teeth up until like three years ago, maybe. But now they're starting to come along and see like, look, we now have the money to hire serious professionals, serious electrical engineers. If you're not going to build it, we'll build it ourselves. So you can either come along or not.

And now to see the OEMs kind of play ball a little bit has been really encouraging. So yeah, I imagine like they're looking at this like if they don't do it, their competitors are going to do it. Not even that; if they don't do it, we will do it. So like early on, I know, maybe 2020 micro BT wouldn't give you SSH access unless you really begged and pleaded. But the tool that they had, had a sequel injection vulnerability, so we would just give ourselves root access through the Whatsminer tool.

And you know, you can just see through the Whatsminer tool by updating your pool. Okay, cool. And then for like two years, it was cat and mouse. They would patch that. We'd find another one where if you shove an SD card during post, it'll dump the firmware. And now you got the firmware and you can do all these things. This whole adversarial kind of, when I'm spending hundreds of millions of dollars with you, no other vendor would have done that in the professional world, right? And so now it's starting to kind of come back to where it should be, which has been very useful for just running a good operation.

eco: Have you been confronted with like environmental concerns like, you know, cooling Bitcoin miners with hydro uses a lot of water?

Marshall: Yeah.

eco: How do you how do you counter those?

Marshall: There's most of the marketing now. There's a very infamous Bitcoin site that I will leave names out in West Texas where these guys used Bitmain cooling. They had like a cooling tower and the Bitmain hydros and they had to drill wells and they started a reverse osmosis water treatment plant in order to get enough water to run in their cooling tower. And then as the water table depleted, the water got more and more briny and more and more salty, and then their RO system got clogged up. And then their site failed, and then it was like a whole massive thing. And so now anybody doing a tour, their big selling point from these, like let's say Heatcore for example, they'll say you don't have to add any water. Once you fill the system up, that's it. It's a closed system.

That's everybody's marketing point now is we don't use water. ⁓ Beyond that, you know, it just gets so freaking hot that OEMs are starting to use better components. Like micro BTs and Auradine hydro units can withstand like 65 Celsius degrees or 75 Celsius degree water coming into the machine so that you can use no water. So the, you know, outside of that, it also depends on where you're located. If it was a previously EPA investigated site.

You get one drop of immersion fluid outside the containing wall of your building. It's a whole like EPA shutdown. They gotta come and do soil studies and sampling and all this other crap because somebody before you had messed up the site, right? From like a previous business or whatever. you know, anything you can do to keep things contained is super important because it just takes you spilling a couple of liters of immersion fluid outside a previously condemned site and then can shut you down for a week while they do this sample study for like a gallon of milk spilling outside basically like rainwater runoff all this kind of crap when you hit scale it's like a huge operational overhead so anybody here that you know that runs a big op they've all got to deal with this crap and it's like it's a very serious time and money sink to do that and so working with the people to make sure that you can limit all those risks long till is super beneficial ⁓

eco: We've got five minutes left. Are we gonna take questions on this panel? All right, I'm wondering if you've got any funny anecdotes from your experience as it relates to keeping miners cool.

Marshall: Yeah, we used to do this thing where if you start working, I still do this in my current facility, my little test lab. If you come in there and you want a tour, you have to taste the fluid.

eco: No, you don't. Come on.

Marshall: I make people put a little finger in there because the good fluid is all biodegradable. They use it in like make up and stuff.

eco: It's like food grade?

Marshall: Yeah. And so that's like my first like right of passage. If you want to tour at my dojo, you got to taste it. And the feedback, at least for the Shell, I don't know if you guys got in this feedback, but your fluid has a slight buttery taste. So ⁓ that's the most common feedback we get. I don't know if that's useful, but maybe a selling point. ⁓

We also, we like to sous vide steaks in there as well. So for lunch, we get out the flamethrower, finish it off. It's the perfect temperature for like a nice, it's a little bit too well done for my taste, but you know, nice like medium. We do a lot of sous vide in the tanks. ⁓ So yeah, those are just a few of what I can mention publicly. So.

eco: That's awesome. Let's give Marshall a round of applause here.

And then I think we got enough time for two questions before we break for lunch, right? one more panel, okay.

All right, well thanks. Huge round of applause for these gentlemen. You guys crushed it. ⁓ Note to self, I'll double check the state.

State of the Network:

Hashrate on the 14-day MA according to mempool.space increased from ~837 Eh/s at the beginning of May to a new all-time high of ~917 Eh/s by the end of May, marking ~9.5% growth for the month and ~17% year to date.

Difficulty was 119.12T at it’s lowest in May and 126.98T at it’s highest, which is a 6.6% increase for the month. All together for 2025 up to Epoch #446, difficulty has gone up ~15.6%.

According to the Hashrate Index, ASIC prices have increased ever so slightly over the last month. The more efficient miners like the <19 J/Th models are now fetching $17.77 per terahash, models between 19J/Th – 25J/Th are selling for $8.85 per terahash, and models >25J/Th are selling for $3.02 per terahash. You can expect to pay roughly $4,000 for a new-gen miner with 230+ Th/s.

Hashvalue over the month of May peaked at ~59,000 sats/Ph per day and closed the month out at ~52,000 sats/Ph per day, according to the Braiins Insights dashboard.

The next halving will occur at block height 1,050,000 which should be in roughly 1,026 days or in other words ~150,000 blocks from time of publishing this newsletter.

Conclusion:

Thank you for reading the sixth 256 Foundation newsletter. Keep an eye out for more newsletters on a monthly basis in your email inbox by subscribing at 256foundation.org. Or you can download .pdf versions of the newsletters from there as well. You can also find these newsletters published in article form on Nostr.

If you want to continue seeing developers build free and open solutions be sure to support the Samourai Wallet developers by making a tax-deductible contribution to their legal defense fund here. The first step in ensuring a future of free and open Bitcoin development starts with freeing these developers. Also, consider talking to your local representatives about the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act which aims to codify that software developers cannot be held liable for the actions of end-users.

@ a53364ff:e6ba5513

The internet is filled with countless social media platforms, all built on centralized servers and proprietary algorithms. However, in the world of decentralized technologies, a new contender is rising. Nostr is a simple, open protocol that promises to bring decentralized, censorship-resistant communication to the masses. In this article, we will explore what Nostr is, how it works, and why it might be the next big thing in the social media space.

How Did the Nostr Protocol Come About?

Nostr (Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays) was first conceived as a solution to the growing control centralized entities exert over online communications. Most social media platforms today are controlled by corporations, which have the power to censor, ban users, or manipulate what people see in their feeds. These issues, combined with growing concerns about privacy and data collection, inspired the creation of Nostr in 2020 by an anonymous developer named “fiatjaf”. The protocol aims to provide a decentralized alternative where users have control over their own content and identities.

What is Nostr?

Nostr is an open, decentralized communication protocol that allows users to send and receive messages in a censorship-resistant manner. It’s not a social network by itself but a foundation for building decentralized applications (DApps), such as social networks, chat apps, and other forms of communication platforms. Unlike traditional platforms, where all data is stored and managed by a single company, Nostr allows users to control their own data and interact directly without intermediaries.

Why is Nostr Different from Other Social Networks?

Traditional social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are centralized, meaning all of your posts, messages, and data are controlled by a single company. These platforms have the power to suspend accounts, remove content, or alter algorithms in ways that impact your online presence. Nostr, on the other hand, is decentralized and open-source. There is no central authority, meaning your posts cannot be censored or deleted by a single entity. Each user owns their data, and communication happens directly between users and servers (called relays), reducing the potential for manipulation or surveillance.

Similarities of Nostr with Bitcoin

Nostr shares a similar ethos with Bitcoin, in that both are decentralized, censorship-resistant, and permissionless. Just as Bitcoin allows people to transfer value without intermediaries, Nostr enables communication without relying on a central authority. Both projects promote the idea of individual sovereignty—whether that’s over your money or your communication.

Another connection is the use of public and private keys for identity management. Like Bitcoin wallets, Nostr uses cryptographic keys, meaning that users “log in” by signing messages with their private key. This ensures that only the true owner of the key can send messages from a specific identity.

Bitcoin Integrations

Bitcoin and Nostr are increasingly integrated, especially through Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, which is designed for fast, low-fee transactions. Nostr and Bitcoin are a natural fit. By integrating Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, Nostr allows users to send and receive micropayments seamlessly. This is particularly useful for tipping or rewarding content creators within the network. Satoshis (the smallest unit of Bitcoin) can be sent across Nostr’s network almost instantly and with minimal fees. On Nostr, users can send Bitcoin micropayments, often referred to as “zaps.” This enables tipping and rewarding users directly within the network, providing a seamless way for content creators to monetize their work without the need for third-party platforms. For example, if you appreciate a post, you can “zap” the creator a small amount of Bitcoin, creating a new way to support online communities.

How Does Nostr Work? What are Clients and Relays?

Nostr operates through two main components: Clients and Relays.

– Clients are applications that allow users to create accounts, post messages, and interact with others. These clients can be web apps, mobile apps, or desktop apps that interact with the Nostr network.

– Relays are servers that store and transmit the messages between clients. When you post a message on Nostr, it is sent to a relay, and other users’ clients pull that message from the relay. You are not tied to any single relay, so even if one relay is down or blocks your content, you can still interact with others using different relays.

This relay-client model ensures that the network remains decentralized and difficult to censor.

Difference Between Today’s Internet and Nostr’s

Today’s internet is heavily centralized. Most of our communication, from emails to social media, is managed by large corporations with access to vast amounts of data about their users. This leads to issues like censorship, surveillance, and data harvesting. Nostr seeks to change this by decentralizing communication. It puts control back into the hands of users, allowing for a more private and open internet experience. There’s no need for trust in any single company—users own their data and decide which relays to trust or use.

How Do Bitcoin Zaps and Micropayments Work on Nostr?

One of the most exciting features of Nostr is its integration with Bitcoin’s Lightning Network. Through this integration, users can send Bitcoin zaps, which are small amounts of Bitcoin transferred instantly over the Lightning Network. Zaps function like “likes” on traditional social media platforms, but with the added benefit of rewarding users with real monetary value.

To send a zap, users link their Nostr profile to a Lightning wallet. Once connected, they can zap others by sending small amounts of Bitcoin, typically for content they enjoy or want to support. These zaps are fast, inexpensive, and work seamlessly within the Nostr ecosystem, making it easy for users to monetize content and interact with Bitcoin in a meaningful way.

Conclusion

Nostr is an exciting protocol that promises to reshape how we think about online communication. Its decentralized, censorship-resistant nature, along with its integration with Bitcoin, creates a platform where users have control over their data and interactions. Whether you’re looking for a more private social media experience or want to explore new ways to integrate Bitcoin into everyday interactions, Nostr is a protocol worth watching. With its growing ecosystem of clients and relays, Nostr might just be the future of decentralized communication.

Nostr is more than just a social network; it represents a shift towards user autonomy, privacy, and decentralized control. By combining cutting-edge technology with a solid ideological foundation, Nostr offers a refreshing alternative to mainstream social platforms. Whether you’re tech-savvy or just curious about new innovations, Nostr is worth exploring. And with various clients making it easily accessible, there’s no reason not to dive in and experience the future of decentralized social networking for yourself!

@ dfa02707:41ca50e3

Contribute to keep No Bullshit Bitcoin news going.

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

What's new

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

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

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

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

  • For more technical details, see the protocol spec.

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

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

Fixes

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

Blog Post / Archive
GitHub Repo
CCC Guide
Key Teleport site

@ fd0bcf8c:521f98c0

Marcus enters the dining room.

They're all waiting.

Ramirez at the head of the table like some broken queen. Morrison to her right, medals catching light that costs more than food. Chen sweating through his collar, salt stains mapping his desperation. Williams straightening his tie with shaking hands.

The table is set.

China plates cracked at the edges. Crystal glasses clouded with water spots. Nothing on them. Nothing coming.

"Mr. Cross." Ramirez rises. Perfect smile painted over ruin. "Marcus. Thank you for coming."

"You said lunch."

"Yes. Well. Please, sit. We have so much to discuss."

He takes the empty chair. Studies the empty plates. The pristine silverware that won't touch food. Because there is no food.

Outside, sirens wail. Inside, silence breeds.

"How was the drive?" Morrison asks. His voice too bright. "Traffic not too bad, I hope?"

"Fine."

"The new checkpoint system," Chen adds, dabbing sweat. "It's actually improved flow rates by thirty percent."

"Forty percent," Williams corrects. His collar damp now. "In some sectors."

Small talk. The dance of the damned. Marcus waits. Watches them perform their ritual of normalcy while the state dies around them.

"Your parents," Ramirez says finally. The real conversation beginning. "We've been discussing ways to honor them."

"Have you."

"The Cross Memorial Act. Full posthumous pardons. A park perhaps." She gestures at nothing. "With fountains."

"They're dead."

"Their legacy—"

"Dead too."

Silence falls like ash.

Morrison adjusts his medals, each one marking battles they've already lost. Chen dabs his forehead with a napkin that costs more than most people's meals. The air conditioning hums but doesn't cool. Nothing cools anymore.

"Water?" Ramirez offers. Lifts an empty pitcher. Crystal catching fluorescent light. Sets it down with a clink that echoes. "I apologize. We're waiting on a delivery."

"No need."

"The shortages," she explains. Her voice smaller now. "Temporary. Everything's temporary."

"Except Bitcoin."

The word hangs there.

What they've been dancing around.

Why he's really here. Why they called him to this tomb of a dining room with its empty promises and emptier plates.

"Yes," she says. Breathing shallow. "Bitcoin. We should discuss that."

"Should we."

"California's position has... evolved." The word costs her. "We see the value now. The importance."

"You had ten thousand coins once."

Her smile flickers. Dies. Returns as a grimace. "Ancient history."

"You sold."

"The state needed liquidity." A lie they've told themselves so many times it almost sounds true.

"The state needed better advisors."

Morrison leans forward. His chair creaks under the weight of his desperation. "We've learned... from our mistakes."

"Have you."

"We bought back what we could," Chen says. Voice breaking on each syllable. "Four coins. Cost us everything."

"Two coins," Williams corrects quietly. A whisper of defeat. "We paid for water this morning."

The mask slips. Ramirez's perfect composure cracks like drought earth. Like everything else in this dying place.

"Two coins," she repeats. Testing the words. Tasting failure. "Yes. Two."

"Not enough," Marcus says.

"No. Not nearly enough."

More silence.

The empty plates mock them with their hunger. The crystal glasses hold nothing but light and broken dreams. Somewhere in the distance, gunfire. Always gunfire now.

"We know you have ten," Morrison says. Drops the pretense like a worn mask. "Chain analysis confirms it."

"So?"

"First purchase at sixteen thousand. Smart. Eight more over the years. The last two—" He stops. Even desperation has limits.

"What about them?"

"We know what they cost you. What you sacrificed."

Marcus says nothing. The silence stretches taut as wire. They all know. His wife. His daughter. The hospital that wouldn't take dollars. That only took Bitcoin. The choice no father should make.

"We need your help," Ramirez says simply. Truth naked and bleeding. "California needs your help."

"California needed help ten years ago."

"We weren't ready then."

"You're not ready now."

"We are." She opens her laptop. Shows him contracts printed on paper they can't afford. Plans drawn in blood they haven't shed yet.

"With what funds?"

"We'll find funds."

"You can't afford lunch."

The words land like bullets. Chen looks at his empty plate as if it might sprout food through will alone. Williams studies the ceiling, counting cracks like rosary beads.

"The militia needs payment," Morrison says. Each word a stone in his throat. "Without them, it's chaos."

"It's already chaos."

"Controlled chaos. One Bitcoin keeps them loyal for three months."

"And then?"

"We mine more."

"With what power?"

"Solar. Wind." Fantasies dressed as plans.

"With what hardware?"

"We'll source it."

"With what expertise?"

"You."

Ramirez turns her laptop. "Digital Currency Advisor. New position. Help us transition."

Marcus stands. The empty chair scrapes marble like nails on coffin wood. The sound echoes in the tomb they've made of governance.

"We're done here."

"Wait." Morrison stands too. His hand moves toward his sidearm. Old habits. "Executive order 12204. We can requisition digital assets."

"From where? My brain?"

"We have methods."

"You have nothing. Empty plates. Empty promises. Empty threats from empty men."

"Sit down," Ramirez says quietly. The last queen of a broken kingdom. "Please."

Marcus remains standing. Ten feet tall in a room full of shadows.

"Half a coin," he says. Each word measured. Weighed. "For the kids. Not for you. Not for your militia. For the kids dying of thirst in your streets."

"Half?" Chen's voice breaks completely. "We need all ten."

"You need time travel. You need your ten thousand coins back. You need leaders who understood value before it was too late."

"That's not fair," Williams whispers.

"Fair?" Marcus almost laughs. The sound would shatter glass if there was any left unbroken. "You invited me to lunch with no food. You talk about honoring my parents with no money. You make threats with no power. Tell me about fair."

Ramirez closes her laptop. The performance over. The curtain fallen. The truth naked between them like a wound.

"Half a coin," she says. "We accept."

Marcus pulls out his phone. The transfer screen glows like salvation. His fingers pause over buttons that control the future.

"This is the last time. Don't contact me again."

"Understood."

He sends it. Half a Bitcoin disappearing into the void of their incompetence. Ten percent of his wealth. For children he'll never meet in a state that can't save itself.

The transaction confirms. Somewhere, servers hum. The blockchain grows. The future loads one block at a time.

Marcus walks to the door. Each step an epoch. Stops. Turns back to them. Their empty plates. Their empty treasury. Their empty souls.

"What if we fail?" Ramirez asks. The last question of the dying.

"You already did."

He opens the door. Steps through. Closes it behind him with the finality of extinction.

In the dining room, they sit with their empty plates and their single Bitcoin and the weight of what comes next. Outside, through windows that still gleam with borrowed light, California burns on. The sovereign individual has made his choice. The state has made theirs.

The future already loading. One block at a time.

@ 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？公式サイトには影もかたちも

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？

@ a53364ff:e6ba5513

Cashu is a free and open-source Chaumian ecash protocol built for Bitcoin. Ecash is a digital bearer token that is stored on a user's device, very similar to physical cash. The Cashu protocol allows you to build applications such as wallets or voucher systems. Cashu is designed to be private, secure and scalable. Transactions are instant and nearly free.

What is Cashu?

Cashu is an ecash protocol that is integrated with the Bitcoin protocol. An Ecash system consists of two parts, the mint and the Ecash wallet. Anyone can run a mint for their application, be it a wallet, a web paywall, paid streaming services, or a voucher and rewards system for a super market. Ecash transactions between users or from the user to a service provider respect the user's privacy. A mint does not store a database of user accounts and their activity which protects users of an Ecash system from leaks their private data to hackers and can provide stronger censorship resistant than classical payment systems.

The Cashu Protocol

Cashu is an ecash protocol built for Bitcoin. It is an open protocol which means that everyone can write their own software to interact with other Cashu apps. Applications that follow the specifications will be compatible with the rest of the ecosystem.

Cashu wallets

Nutshell

Nutshell is a CLI wallet available through PyPi. It is the first Cashu wallet and mint. Both, the mint and the wallet can be used as standalone software or included into other applications as a library. It has full Bitcoin Lightning integration, PostgreSQL and SQLite database support, builtin Tor, supports multiple mints, and can send and receive tokens on nostr, and supports complex spending conditions tokens.

Nutstash

Nutstash is a Cashu web wallet with many features such as multimint support and support for sending and receiving tokens via nostr. Nutstash is written in TypeScript and uses the cashu-ts library.

Minibits

Minibits is a mobile Cashu wallet with a focus on performance and usability.

Cashu.me

Cashu.me is another web wallet built on Quasar and Vue.js. It is written in JavaScript and TypeScript and is in active development.

Macadamia

Macadamia is a Cashu wallet for iOS written in Swift.

Sovran

Sovran is a Cashu wallet for iOS.

Prism

Prism wallet is a social wallet that runs on Discord.

Boardwalk

Boardwalk Cash is a wallet designed for fast, easy onboarding and use.

@ 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.”

@ a53364ff:e6ba5513

Run Knots…

Knots helps you exercise your self sovereignty verification muscle, instead of conforming to the TrustMeBro defaults of core. Thus, you are more prepared to actively defend Bitcoin in case of hardfork-softfork or other shenanigan’s.

Knots is more feature rich and useful than core, allowing end users to finely tune their nodes mempool policy to reject spam transactions from their own mempools, through such bitcoin.conf settings as: rejectparasites=1 , datacarrier=0, permitbaremultisig=0

Running a Underdog Bitcoin Client makes the Bitcoin network more robust as a whole. Supporting an ecosystem of multiple compatible clients running in tandem. Running knots makes Bitcoin, the network more robust, and makes the bitcoin development ecosystem richer. Knots is a backup-option in case core becomes obviously compromised. For decentralization, do we really want only a single implementation, with all our eggs in one basket with just bitcoin core? No.

Knots makes it so that you’re not using your node’s computing resources to hold and process spam shitcoin transactions and you have better control over what transactions you prioritize processing.” — Thus you can save your mempool resources from being abused by bad actors with Knots, but not with core, unfortunately. Core doesn’t believe in giving their end users too much choice. This has long been their attitude: to dictate down and deny non-consensus violating choice to end users.

Thus running Knots is a counter movement to the unfortunate attitude in core that has willfully neglected a core subset of it’s users who care about spam filters. Running Knots is not just a technical improvement in running Bitcoin. It’s a political statement in the Bitcoin development ecosystem.

@ b7274d28:c99628cb

Tired of dealing with spam? You're not alone. Here is a guide to picking relays that are good at keeping spam out, without sacrificing your own reach.

If you just want to skip to the relay suggestions, scroll to the sections titled "The Setup." There is one for users of Haven and one for those who aren't running their own relay at all.

Client Selection

"Wait, I thought this was a guide about selecting relays, not clients."

Yes, it is. But what relays you choose doesn't matter if you are using a client that does not read from your chosen relays, or that hard-codes problematic relays as fallbacks in addition to the relays you selected in an effort to "help you."

Additionally, some clients have settings that can help make up for poor relay selection using client-side spam mitigation methods. This includes clients like Coracle, Damus, Amethyst, and Nostur. Some may do so via web-of-trust (WoT) filters, so you only see notes and replies from those within your broader social circle, while others will automatically hide notes that those you follow have reported as spam or scams.

Coracle is a great client for dealing with spam, so long as you have gone into your "Content Settings" and set the "Minimum WoT Score" to at least 1. This means you will only see posts from users followed by at least one of the npubs you follow.

Damus also employs WoT, but it appears to be just for notifications, so you only receive notifications for those you follow and those they follow, or "friends of friends," as Damus put's it. This can be accessed by toggling it on in your notification tab at the top right, where you see the icon of the person with a check mark.

Nostur has WoT filters for downloading media turned on by default and also uses WoT to filter spam by default. Even better, if you use multiple npubs, you can filter using the WoT of your main npub, while logged into your alternate npubs.

Jumble recently added WoT filtering specifically for interactions. When you load a thread in Jumble, a shield icon will appear near the top right of the page, in line with the tabs for Replies and Quotes. Toggle it on, so the shield is green with a check mark and you will only see replies from those you follow and those your follows follow.

Amethyst does not yet have WoT based filtering built into the client, but it can hide notes that have been reported as spam, scams, impersonation, etc, by those you follow. This is not the most effective way to combat spam, though, since most users aren't often using the report feature. Hopefully we will see WoT filtering as an option in a future update.

Primal's apps do not read from any of your selected relays, but rather from their caching server alone. That said, they have a spam filter that is turned on by default so you see relatively little spam, regardless of which relays you use.

For this guide, I recommend using Amethyst for updating your relays, if you possibly can. The reason for this is because Amethyst has the most robust settings for being able to update all of your various relay lists.

Relay Lists Explained

Contrary to what you might think, there is not a single relay list for each user that is stored in a single note, because you can have relays that are used for only one purpose, and not for any other. Each of those purposes for which you might use a particular relay has its own list. That way a Nostr client can tell which relays you want to use for each separate purpose.

While this can make things less approachable for the user, it also means users don't have to rely on clients to hard code appropriate relays for each of these use-cases. If your client doesn't let you edit each of these relay lists, chances are they are using a set of relays for that purpose that the developer chose instead of you.

Public Outbox/Inbox Relays

This list of relays is found in your kind 10002 note, if you have one. If you don't have one, there won't be any relays shown for these categories in Amethyst. Other clients may fallback to showing you relays from a different list.

This list is intended to be used for Nostr clients to implement the "outbox model" to fetch notes from whatever relays they were written to, even if they aren't in the requesting user's relay list. This solves the issue of needing to share relays with those you follow in order to see their notes, allowing Nostr to remain decentralized.

Your "outbox" relays are the ones you write to, or at least the ones you want other users to know that you write to. When you add a relay here, it's like advertising to everyone, "If you want to see my public-facing notes, look for them on these relays."

Your "inbox" relays are the ones you read from. On this part of your list you are advertising, "If you want me to see your replies, comments, reactions, and zaps, then send them to these relays." These relays are massively important for reducing the amount of spam you see. If you have relays listed here that anyone can post to for free, you will almost certainly see a lot of spam in your replies, unless you have WoT filters turned on in your Nostr client.

DM Inbox Relays

This list is found in your kind 10050 note, if you have one, and is a list of relays where you want others to send you Direct Messages. Ideally, you will use a relay or two here that supports AUTH, so that it will only allow direct messages to be retrieved by the user they are addressed to.

What happens if you put a relay in here that doesn't support AUTH, so it allows anyone to retrieve your DMs? Not much. Anyone who wants to will just be able to see the encrypted content of the message, and depending on the type of DM they will see the identity of the receiver and perhaps also the sender. They will not be able to decrypt what was actually said in the messages. It's better if they cannot retrieve even that much, though.

Private Relays

This list is found in your 10013 note, if you have one. This is intended for listing a relay that you run yourself and that only you can access, as it will house notes that other users should not be able to see at all, such as eCash tokens and draft notes.

Search Relays

This list is found in your 10007 note, if you have one, and is used to search for notes or users who may not be using the same relays as you. It is good to use relays here that aggregate notes from other relays automatically, and which support NIP-50 for search capability.

Local Relays

This section is for any relays running on the local device, such as Citrine. Because the relays themselves are local, this list is local, as well, and is not saved to any note kind that is saved to your relays like the above lists.

General Relays

This list is found in the "content" tag of your kind 3 note, which is also where all of the npubs you follow are stored. As such, this note is commonly known as your follow list, rather than as a relay list. However, some clients, such as Amethyst, do make use of this list, and others use it as a fallback if they can't find a kind 10002.

If you are an Amethyst user most of the time, then I would recommend using this list to fill in any gaps that you may have from only writing to a few outbox relays, or only reading from a few inbox relays. It's a good place to put an aggregator relay, for instance, so long as that relay has good spam filtering, or a blastr relay, so those who don't yet use a client that supports the outbox model will still likely see your notes.

If you do not generally use Amethyst, then I would recommend you mirror your public inbox/outbox relays here, in case you use a client that cannot find your 10002 list. Relays that are only for outbox should be added as write only, those only for inbox should be added as read only, and those you use for both outbox and inbox should be both read and write.

The Setup (Haven Users)

If you are running your own set of Haven relays, here is the setup I would recommend:

Public Outbox (kind 10002)

Maximum of 4 relays.

• Your Haven outbox relay (Remember to add some public relays to your blastr)
• A paid relay of your choice (List available in "Paid Relays" section)
• A public relay, such as relay.damus.io, relay.primal.net, or nos.lol

Public Inbox (kind 10002)

Maximum of 4 relays.

• Your Haven inbox relay: [RelayAddress]/inbox
• A paid relay of your choice (can be same as outbox)
• A WoT relay of your choice (available in "WoT Relays" section)
• Optional additional WoT relay

DM Inbox

Maximum of 3 relays.

• Your Haven "chat" relay: [RelayAddress]/chat
• An alternate AUTH relay, such as inbox.nostr.wine(paid), nostr.land(paid), or auth.nostr1.com(free).

Private Relays

Maximum of 3 relays.

• Your Haven private relay: [RelayAddress]/private

Search Relays

Maximum of 4 relays.

• wss://nostr.wine (even if you don't pay to write to it)
• wss://relay.nostr.band
• wss://relay.noswhere.com
• wss://search.nos.today

Local Relays

• Your Citrine IP:Port, if you run Citrine.

General Relays

Assuming you use Amethyst on a regular basis, I recommend the following:

• A couple additional WoT relays set to read only.
• An aggregator relay that has good spam filtering, such as wss://aggr.nostr.land(payment required) and/or wss://nostr.wine(paid for write, but can read for free).

The Setup (Not Running Haven)

If you are not running your own set of Haven relays, I would highly recommend you learn how and do so. However, if you decide against it, here is a setup that should suffice:

Public Outbox (kind 10002)

Maximum of 4 relays.

• A paid relay of your choice (List available in "Paid Relays" section)
• A large public relay, such as relay.damus.io, relay.primal.net, or nos.lol
• An additional public relay, but a smaller one, or one-time-payment paid relay.

Public Inbox (kind 10002)

Maximum of 4 relays.

• A paid relay of your choice (can be same as outbox)
• wss://nostr.wine - Even if you don't pay for it, you can read from it.
• A WoT relay of your choice (available in "WoT Relays" section)
• Optional additional WoT relay

DM Inbox

Maximum of 3 relays.

• A paid AUTH relay, such as inbox.nostr.wine or nostr.land.
• An alternate AUTH relay, such as auth.nostr1.com(free).

Private Relays

Maximum of 3 relays.

• A private relay you run on your Umbrel or Start9, or that is hosted for you on relay.tools.

Search Relays

Maximum of 4 relays.

• wss://nostr.wine (even if you don't pay to write to it)
• wss://relay.nostr.band
• wss://relay.noswhere.com
• wss://search.nos.today

Local Relays

• Your Citrine IP:Port, if you run Citrine.

General Relays

Assuming you use Amethyst on a regular basis, I recommend the following:

• A couple additional WoT relays set to read only.
• An aggregator relay that has good spam filtering, such as wss://aggr.nostr.land(payment required).
• A blastr relay, such as filter.nostr.wine(paid), or...
• A few additional public relays set to write only.

Paid Relays

• wss://nostr.land - Details.
• The Nostr.Wine suite of relays.
  • wss://nostr.wine - Details
  • wss://filter.nostr.wine - Details
  • wss://inbox.nostr.wine -Details
  • wss://cellar.nostr.wine - Details
  • wss://creatr.nostr.wine - Details
• wss://jellyfish.land - Details

There are a ton of other paid relays out there that can be found via nostr.watch. The above listed options are simply the most popular with the largest feature-sets.

WoT Relays

These relays will only accept notes from npubs that are within the relay owner's WoT. I have provided a Jumble.social address for each relay so you can peruse the feed for yourself to see if you want to use it.

• wss://wot.utxo.one - Jumble Feed
• wss://nostrelites.org - Jumble Feed
• wss://wot.nostr.party - Jumble Feed
• wss://wot.sovbit.host - Jumble Feed
• wss://wot.girino.org - Jumble Feed
• wss://relay.lnau.net - Jumble Feed
• wss://wot.siamstr.com - Jumble Feed
• wss://relay.lexingtonbitcoin.org - Jumble Feed
• wss://wot.azzamo.net - Jumble Feed
• wss://wot.swarmstr.com - Jumble Feed
• wss://zap.watch - Jumble Feed
• wss://satsage.xyz - Jumble Feed
• wss://wons.calva.dev - Jumble Feed
• wss://wot.zacoos.com - Jumble Feed
• wss://wot.shaving.kiwi - Jumble Feed
• wss://wot.tealeaf.dev - Jumble Feed
• wss://wot.nostr.net - Jumble Feed
• wss://relay.goodmorningbitcoin.com - Jumble Feed
• wss://wot.sudocarlos.com - Jumble Feed

@ 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

@ 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

@ b1ddb4d7:471244e7

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.

@ 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.

@ 000002de:c05780a7

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

I've been meditating on these words from our savior since Easter. In these times I need to remind myself of this pretty much every day.

https://stacker.news/items/1009542

@ f85b9c2c:d190bcff

This is too scaring cannot break this vicious circle and it goes with complications. There isn't a more serious condition beyond an empty pocket or people's economic status.People told they do not have the right to education, healthcare etc. Of course there are thousands of critical areas to target so that it may be adequately addressed to help break the cycle of areas of education, economic opportunities, health care, and mechanisms of social support.

Education Quality education should also give them the ability to lead a stable income, course of better lives. However the program would benefit poor children and help in more long-term aspects . Investment in education also means an improvement of the school environment in poor areas. It means first of all professional education of teachers, improving conditions and accessibility to all resources needed for studying-books, technology, etc. Relatively low costs of higher education and vocational trainings can equip young people with the needed and actually demanded skills for more promising employment.

Economic Opportunities It is the most basic need to save people from poverty and empower them with ownership over some opportunities economically. For example creation of jobs, small businesses, equal pay to citizens within the country and a willing government and organizations which will give out a micro-loan and grant to business-oriented entrepreneurs who want to start up. Then undergoing a good program on training of financial literacy, business management, and marketing that will empower people with a better foundation which can then leverage to do well through enterprising ambition. For this reason people will thus be able to make a living wage ,at least their basic needs will be available and the means to invest for themselves.

Access to Health Care Health and poverty problems are evident therefore better health means improved levels of productivity.Improvement in health care is therefore expected to get health care that not only meets the price but also accessible at some cost. So ,universal health services including preventive service, mental health and maternal and child health care may improve the health of families defined as low-income providers. All these public health programs should be based on nutrition sanitation and prevention of diseases. Education should bring out the potentiality of the community in acquiring the proper information that will help them decide the right choices for betterment in health, hence a healthier economic outlook in the future.

Social Support Systems Support systems that would have protection provided for families and individuals. Other programs may also be monetary, food, or housing that may be needed which will minimize a part of the direct burdens. Such assistance and resources are also made possible with access entry to community networks. Community organizations and non-profits providing counseling and mentoring support perhaps some skills development programs-show people an opportunity to work against the challenge that stands out as a barrier for people getting successes.

@ cbd044aa:090d5436

Additional Pet Services Abbotsford Hey, Abbotsford pet parents! At Alpha Animal Hospital, we go beyond basic care with awesome pet services tailored for your furry pals. From doggy daycare and cozy cat boarding to expert dental cleanings and fun puppy training classes, we’ve got your pet’s needs covered. Our friendly team ensures every visit is stress-free, keeping your pet happy and healthy. With years of trusted care, we’re here to make pet parenting a breeze. Call us at Alpha Animal Hospital to book today!

@ dfa02707:41ca50e3

Good morning (good night?)! The No Bullshit Bitcoin news feed is now available on Moody's Dashboard! A huge shoutout to sir Clark Moody for integrating our feed.

Headlines

• Spiral welcomes Ben Carman. The developer will work on the LDK server and a new SDK designed to simplify the onboarding process for new self-custodial Bitcoin users.

• The Bitcoin Dev Kit Foundation announced new corporate members for 2025, including AnchorWatch, CleanSpark, and Proton Foundation. The annual dues from these corporate members fund the small team of open-source developers responsible for maintaining the core BDK libraries and related free and open-source software (FOSS) projects.
• Strategy increases Bitcoin holdings to 538,200 BTC. In the latest purchase, the company has spent more than $555M to buy 6,556 coins through proceeds of two at-the-market stock offering programs.
• Spar supermarket experiments with Bitcoin payments in Zug, Switzerland. The store has introduced a new payment method powered by the Lightning Network. The implementation was facilitated by DFX Swiss, a service that supports seamless conversions between bitcoin and legacy currencies.

• The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) wants to contain 'crypto' risks. A report titled "Cryptocurrencies and Decentralised Finance: Functions and Financial Stability Implications" calls for expanding research into "how new forms of central bank money, capital controls, and taxation policies can counter the risks of widespread crypto adoption while still fostering technological innovation."
• "Global Implications of Scam Centres, Underground Banking, and Illicit Online Marketplaces in Southeast Asia." According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report, criminal organizations from East and Southeast Asia are swiftly extending their global reach. These groups are moving beyond traditional scams and trafficking, creating sophisticated online networks that include unlicensed cryptocurrency exchanges, encrypted communication platforms, and stablecoins, fueling a massive fraud economy on an industrial scale.
• Slovenia is considering a 25% capital gains tax on Bitcoin profits for individuals. The Ministry of Finance has proposed legislation to impose this tax on gains from cryptocurrency transactions, though exchanging one cryptocurrency for another would remain exempt. At present, individual 'crypto' traders in Slovenia are not taxed.
• Circle, BitGo, Coinbase, and Paxos plan to apply for U.S. bank charters or licenses. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, major crypto companies are planning to apply for U.S. bank charters or licenses. These firms are pursuing limited licenses that would permit them to issue stablecoins, as the U.S. Congress deliberates on legislation mandating licensing for stablecoin issuers.

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

• Charles Schwab to launch spot Bitcoin trading by 2026. The financial investment firm, managing over $10 trillion in assets, has revealed plans to introduce spot Bitcoin trading for its clients within the next year.

Use the tools

• Bitcoin Safe v1.2.3 expands QR SignMessage compatibility for all QR-UR-compatible hardware signers (SpecterDIY, KeyStone, Passport, Jade; already supported COLDCARD Q). It also adds the ability to import wallets via QR, ensuring compatibility with Keystone's latest firmware (2.0.6), alongside other improvements.
• Minibits v0.2.2-beta, an ecash wallet for Android devices, packages many changes to align the project with the planned iOS app release. New features and improvements include the ability to lock ecash to a receiver's pubkey, faster confirmations of ecash minting and payments thanks to WebSockets, UI-related fixes, and more.
• Zeus v0.11.0-alpha1 introduces Cashu wallets tied to embedded LND wallets. Navigate to Settings > Ecash to enable it. Other wallet types can still sweep funds from Cashu tokens. Zeus Pay now supports Cashu address types in Zaplocker, Cashu, and NWC modes.
• LNDg v1.10.0, an advanced web interface designed for analyzing Lightning Network Daemon (LND) data and automating node management tasks, introduces performance improvements, adds a new metrics page for unprofitable and stuck channels, and displays warnings for batch openings. The Profit and Loss Chart has been updated to include on-chain costs. Advanced settings have been added for users who would like their channel database size to be read remotely (the default remains local). Additionally, the AutoFees tool now uses aggregated pubkey metrics for multiple channels with the same peer.
• Nunchuk Desktop v1.9.45 release brings the latest bug fixes and improvements.
• Blockstream Green iOS v4.1.8 has renamed L-BTC to LBTC, and improves translations of notifications, login time, and background payments.
• Blockstream Green Android v4.1.8 has added language preference in App Settings and enables an Android data backup option for disaster recovery. Additionally, it fixes issues with Jade entry point PIN timeout and Trezor passphrase input.
• Torq v2.2.2, an advanced Lightning node management software designed to handle large nodes with over 1000 channels, fixes bugs that caused channel balance to not be updated in some cases and channel "peer total local balance" not getting updated.
• Stack Wallet v2.1.12, a multicoin wallet by Cypher Stack, fixes an issue with Xelis introduced in the latest release for Windows.
• ESP-Miner-NerdQAxePlus v1.0.29.1, a forked version from the NerdAxe miner that was modified for use on the NerdQAxe+, is now available.
• Zark enables sending sats to an npub using Bark.

• Erk is a novel variation of the Ark protocol that completely removes the need for user interactivity in rounds, addressing one of Ark's key limitations: the requirement for users to come online before their VTXOs expire.
• Aegis v0.1.1 is now available. It is a Nostr event signer app for iOS devices.
• Nostash is a NIP-07 Nostr signing extension for Safari. It is a fork of Nostore and is maintained by Terry Yiu. Available on iOS TestFlight.
• Amber v3.2.8, a Nostr event signer for Android, delivers the latest fixes and improvements.
• Nostur v1.20.0, a Nostr client for iOS, adds

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

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

— ODELL (@ODELL) October 27, 2022

The Basics

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

There is no 'Lightning Network'

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

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

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

Lightning in Practice

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

Sovereign Lightning

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

The Potential Fracture of Lightning

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

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

Summary

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

---

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

---

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

@ 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

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

Only 1% of stablecoin transactions in 2024 are linked to criminal activity.

A recent report by TRM Labs has revealed new data on stablecoin usage in 2024. Contrary to widespread perception, 99% of stablecoin transactions were entirely legal and compliant with existing regulations.

The research shows that over 60% of last year’s total transaction volume was conducted using dollar-pegged tokens.

One key point highlighted in the report is the intrinsic traceability of stablecoins. Operating on public blockchains, these digital currencies allow for highly precise transaction monitoring through specialized analytics tools.

Issuers of centralized tokens like USDT and USDC also have the ability to freeze or permanently remove tokens associated with illicit activities.

TRM Labs data shows a 24% decrease in crypto-related criminal activity compared to 2023, with a total of $45 billion representing just 0.4% of overall crypto transaction volume. This decline is attributed to increased law enforcement efforts, stronger industry collaboration, and the growing adoption of advanced analytics tools.

According to TRM Labs, regulatory clarity provided by legislation such as the GENIUS Act could accelerate stablecoin adoption among major banks, financial institutions, and corporations. Many of these entities are already testing stablecoin-based infrastructures for cross-border payments, supply chain management, and programmable finance.

The post Stablecoins: new report debunks myths about illicit use appeared first on Atlas21.

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@ dfa02707:41ca50e3

Contribute to keep No Bullshit Bitcoin news going.

This update brings key enhancements for clarity and usability:

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

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

Learn how to get started with Sparrow wallet:

Release notes (v2.2.0)

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

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

What's new in v2.2.1

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

Announcement / Archive
GitHub Repo

@ 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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@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

What is KYC/AML?

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

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

Lists of Bitcoiners

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

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

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

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

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

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@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

Influencers would have you believe there is an ongoing binance bank run but bitcoin wallet data says otherwise.

- binance wallets are near all time highs
- bitfinex wallets are also trending up
- gemini and coinbase are being hit with massive withdrawals though

You should not trust custodians, they can rug you without warning. It is incredibly important you learn how to hold bitcoin yourself, but also consider not blindly trusting influencers with a ref link to shill you.

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