@ 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

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Geyser Fund

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

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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

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

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

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

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

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

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

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

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

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

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

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

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

Current Nostr Stats

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

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

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

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

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

How it works

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

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

Shared signature model (multisig 2-of-2)

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

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

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

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

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

Fee structure

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

The native LRC20 token protocol

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

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

Ecosystem and partnerships

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

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

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

@ 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

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

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

— ODELL (@ODELL) October 27, 2022

The Basics

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

There is no 'Lightning Network'

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

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

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

Lightning in Practice

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

Sovereign Lightning

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

The Potential Fracture of Lightning

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

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

Summary

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

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

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

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

The new communication protocol aims to improve the industry with measurable advantages in terms of efficiency and security.

A new study conducted by Hashlabs, in collaboration with the SRI (Stratum V2 Reference Implementation) team and figures like Matt Corallo, Alejandro De La Torre and others reveals how the Stratum V2 protocol can increase miner profitability compared to the current Stratum V1 standard, used for over a decade.

Speaking to Atlas21, Gabriele Vernetti, Stratum V2 maintainer, declared:

“This first case study demonstrates how much Stratum V2 can help miners as well, securing and increasing their profits, in addition to the rest of the network. It’s just a first study aimed at demonstrating how decentralization can be aligned with the profit dynamics typical of the mining sector.

In the future we will also focus on the benefits for mining pool operators, who can benefit from the protocol’s efficiency to lower their operating costs (such as those for bandwidth used by their servers).

The feedback has been very positive: this first study was a joint work with various market players, including miners and mining pool operators. As SRI we want to continue working together with the entire community as done in this case, becoming a reference point for all actors interested in innovating the Bitcoin mining field”.

The research, based on controlled tests with two identical ASIC S19k Pro, with stock firmware, demonstrates that Stratum V2 can increase net profits by up to 7.4%. For an industry that often operates with 10% margins, this could represent a substantial competitive advantage.

The V2 protocol reduces various inefficiencies that plague the current system. The latency in block switching, that is the waiting time created when a miner must change block template after a new block has been mined on the network, goes from 325 milliseconds to just 1.42 milliseconds, a speed 228 times higher. This translates to about 4.9 hours of completely wasted hash power less per year.

Another problem of modern mining concerns “stale shares” – proofs of work that arrive too late to be remunerated, often due to network latency or inefficient communication. However, not all stale shares depend on inefficiency problems. On average, about 2% are rejected for expected reasons, such as when the share doesn’t reach the minimum difficulty required by the pool. This value is considered normal in the sector. The remaining 98%, instead, is caused by avoidable delays. With Stratum V1, miners lose between 0.1% and 0.2% of their computing power this way. Stratum V2 with Job Declaration completely eliminates this waste, provided that the miner and the pool node have the same level of connectivity. This step could translate into a net profit increase of up to 2% by fully adopting Stratum V2 with Job Declaration.

In the Stratum V2 protocol, the Job Declaration Client (JDC) is software that allows miners to receive mining jobs directly from their local Bitcoin node, that is the block templates to work on. The JDC communicates directly with the miner’s local node, receiving updated data for new block construction and immediately sending them to the mining software via Stratum V2. This allows miners to receive jobs in real time from their own node, without having to wait for them from the pool, reducing latency and the risk of working on obsolete jobs. Furthermore, if the pool allows it, miners can build custom templates choosing which transactions to include in the block.

The research also highlights an often overlooked aspect: the loss of transaction fees. With the Stratum V1 protocol, miners lose about 0.75% of potential fees for each block due to the delay in receiving new jobs. Considering that about 52,560 blocks are mined each year, this loss per block adds up to a total of about 74 bitcoins per year, equivalent to over $8 million at current prices.

Beyond economic advantages, Stratum V2 solves a critical vulnerability of the current system: hashrate hijacking. The V1 protocol doesn’t encrypt communications, allowing attackers to intercept and steal up to 2% of computing power without the miner noticing. The new protocol eliminates this risk through end-to-end encryption and authentication.

According to the study, by reducing latency, optimizing share sending and improving security, Stratum V2 enables a potential net profit increase of 7.4%, derived exclusively from technical improvements.

The post Stratum V2 increases profits by 7.4%: “The study shows that profit and decentralization can coexist”, says Vernetti, SV2 maintainer appeared first on Atlas21.

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

What is KYC/AML?

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

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

Lists of Bitcoiners

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

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

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

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

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

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

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

Will not live in a pod.
Will not eat the bugs.
Will not get the chip.
Will not get a blue check.
Will not use CBDCs.

Live Free or Die.

Why did Elon buy twitter for $44 Billion? What value does he see in it besides the greater influence that undoubtedly comes with controlling one of the largest social platforms in the world? We do not need to speculate - he made his intentions incredibly clear in his first meeting with twitter employees after his takeover - WeChat of the West.

To those that do not appreciate freedom, the value prop is clear - WeChat is incredibly powerful and successful in China.

To those that do appreciate freedom, the concern is clear - WeChat has essentially become required to live in China, has surveillance and censorship integrated at its core, and if you are banned from the app your entire livelihood is at risk. Employment, housing, payments, travel, communication, and more become extremely difficult if WeChat censors determine you have acted out of line.

The blue check is the first step in Elon's plan to bring the chinese social credit score system to the west. Users who verify their identity are rewarded with more reach and better tools than those that do not. Verified users are the main product of Elon's twitter - an extensive database of individuals and complete control of the tools he will slowly get them to rely on - it is easier to monetize cattle than free men.

If you cannot resist the temptation of the blue check in its current form you have already lost - what comes next will be much darker. If you realize the need to resist - freedom tech provides us options.

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

@ 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.

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

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

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

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

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

Full Text of Bill

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@ 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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@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

The Brazilian government has abolished the Bitcoin tax exemption for small investors and introduced a flat 17.5% tax rate on all crypto capital gains.

Brazil has officially ended the tax-free period for small digital asset investors, introducing a flat 17.5% rate on all profits from cryptocurrency sales. The decision was formalized through Provisional Measure 1303, part of the government’s strategy to increase tax revenues from financial markets.

Until now, Brazilian residents selling up to 35,000 Brazilian reais (around $6,300) in cryptocurrencies per month were completely exempt from income tax. Profits exceeding this threshold were subject to progressive taxation, starting at 15% and reaching up to 22.5% for amounts over 30 million reais.

The new flat rate, which took effect on June 12, removes all exemptions and applies uniformly to every investor, regardless of the size of their transactions, according to local outlet Portal do Bitcoin.

While small-scale investors will now face a higher tax burden, high-net-worth individuals might actually benefit. Under the previous system, large transactions were taxed between 17.5% and 22.5%. With the new flat 17.5% rate, many high-profile investors will see their effective tax liability reduced.

Under the new rules, taxes will be calculated quarterly, with investors allowed to offset losses from the previous five quarters. However, starting in 2026, the time frame for claiming losses will be shortened.

Last March, Brazilian lawmakers also proposed a bill allowing employers to partially pay workers in cryptocurrency. According to the draft, crypto payments could not exceed 50% of an employee’s salary.

Full payment in cryptocurrencies would only be allowed for foreign workers or contractors, and only under specific conditions set by the Brazilian Central Bank. The bill prohibits full crypto payment for standard employees.

The post Brazil scraps crypto tax exemption: new 17.5% flat tax appeared first on Atlas21.

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Layer 2: Statechains

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

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

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

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

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

The Original Statechain

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mercury and Mercury Layer

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

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

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

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

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

Synergy With Other Layers

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

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

Wrapping Up

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

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

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

@ 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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@ df478568:2a951e67

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

— ODELL (@ODELL) December 14, 2022

Good morning.

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

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

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

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

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@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

A third of the bitcoins in circulation is now under the control of centralized entities, valued at $668 billion according to an analysis by Gemini.

A study conducted by Gemini in collaboration with Glassnode revealed that centralized actors currently hold 30.9% of bitcoin’s entire circulating supply.

These entities include national governments, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and publicly listed companies. Collectively, these players control 6.1 million BTC, equivalent to approximately $668 billion at current market prices. BlackRock alone holds around 665,635 BTC through its iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) ETF, representing over 3% of bitcoin’s total supply, with a value close to $73 billion.

Source: Gemini

The accumulation of bitcoin by such entities has grown by 924% over the past decade. This increase coincides with bitcoin’s price evolution, which has surged from under $1,000 to over $100,000 during the same period.

Analysts interpret this trend as further confirmation that institutions increasingly view bitcoin as a strategic store-of-value asset. According to the report, the correlation between the rise in institutional holdings and bitcoin’s price appreciation reinforces the case for the cryptocurrency’s mainstream adoption.

One key takeaway from the research concerns the predominant role of centralized exchanges within Bitcoin treasury holdings. These platforms hold about half of the total, although a significant portion of those funds actually belongs to retail clients and individual investors.

Government bitcoin treasuries display distinctive characteristics compared to other institutional holders. According to the study, sovereign wallets show infrequent movements and limited correlation with Bitcoin’s price cycles.

However, the amount of bitcoins held by these governments remains large enough to significantly influence the markets whenever sales or transfers occur, the report states. The governments of the United States, China, and the United Kingdom have acquired most of their bitcoins through legal actions (seizures) rather than direct market purchases. In contrast, El Salvador and Bhutan accumulate bitcoin through intentional and ongoing purchases. According to analysts, while the volumes involved are smaller, these strategic allocations signal a long-term commitment and bolster investor confidence, encouraging broader institutional participation and contributing to market stability.

The research concludes that with nearly a third of bitcoin’s circulating supply now held by centralized entities, the market has undergone a structural transformation toward institutional maturity. According to the authors of the report, this evolution has made price action more predictable and less vulnerable to the speculative extremes that characterized Bitcoin’s early years.

The post Report: centralized entities control 31% of bitcoin’s total supply appeared first on Atlas21.

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

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

— ODELL (@ODELL) October 27, 2022

The Basics

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

There is no 'Lightning Network'

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

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

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

Lightning in Practice

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

Sovereign Lightning

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

The Potential Fracture of Lightning

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

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

Summary

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

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

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@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

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

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

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

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

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

The escalation of crypto kidnappings in 2025

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

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

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

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

@ 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.

---

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

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

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

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

PAKISTAN TO ESTABLISH NATIONAL STRATEGIC #BITCOIN RESERVE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

Will not live in a pod.
Will not eat the bugs.
Will not get the chip.
Will not get a blue check.
Will not use CBDCs.

Live Free or Die.

Why did Elon buy twitter for $44 Billion? What value does he see in it besides the greater influence that undoubtedly comes with controlling one of the largest social platforms in the world? We do not need to speculate - he made his intentions incredibly clear in his first meeting with twitter employees after his takeover - WeChat of the West.

To those that do not appreciate freedom, the value prop is clear - WeChat is incredibly powerful and successful in China.

To those that do appreciate freedom, the concern is clear - WeChat has essentially become required to live in China, has surveillance and censorship integrated at its core, and if you are banned from the app your entire livelihood is at risk. Employment, housing, payments, travel, communication, and more become extremely difficult if WeChat censors determine you have acted out of line.

The blue check is the first step in Elon's plan to bring the chinese social credit score system to the west. Users who verify their identity are rewarded with more reach and better tools than those that do not. Verified users are the main product of Elon's twitter - an extensive database of individuals and complete control of the tools he will slowly get them to rely on - it is easier to monetize cattle than free men.

If you cannot resist the temptation of the blue check in its current form you have already lost - what comes next will be much darker. If you realize the need to resist - freedom tech provides us options.

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@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

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

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

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

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

Full Text of Bill

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@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

— ODELL (@ODELL) December 14, 2022

Good morning.

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

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

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

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

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@ 8bad92c3:ca714aa5

Key Takeaways

Michael Goldstein, aka Bitstein, presents a sweeping philosophical and economic case for going “all in” on Bitcoin, arguing that unlike fiat, which distorts capital formation and fuels short-term thinking, Bitcoin fosters low time preference, meaningful saving, and long-term societal flourishing. At the heart of his thesis is “hodling for good”—a triple-layered idea encompassing permanence, purpose, and the pursuit of higher values like truth, beauty, and legacy. Drawing on thinkers like Aristotle, Hoppe, and Josef Pieper, Goldstein redefines leisure as contemplation, a vital practice in aligning capital with one’s deepest ideals. He urges Bitcoiners to think beyond mere wealth accumulation and consider how their sats can fund enduring institutions, art, and architecture that reflect a moral vision of the future.

Best Quotes

“Let BlackRock buy the houses, and you keep the sats.”

“We're not hodling just for the sake of hodling. There is a purpose to it.”

“Fiat money shortens your time horizon… you can never rest.”

“Savings precedes capital accumulation. You can’t build unless you’ve saved.”

“You're increasing the marginal value of everyone else’s Bitcoin.”

“True leisure is contemplation—the pursuit of the highest good.”

“What is Bitcoin for if not to make the conditions for magnificent acts of creation possible?”

“Bitcoin itself will last forever. Your stack might not. What will outlast your coins?”

“Only a whale can be magnificent.”

“The market will sell you all the crack you want. It’s up to you to demand beauty.”

Conclusion

This episode is a call to reimagine Bitcoin as more than a financial revolution—it’s a blueprint for civilizational renewal. Michael Goldstein reframes hodling as an act of moral stewardship, urging Bitcoiners to lower their time preference, build lasting institutions, and pursue truth, beauty, and legacy—not to escape the world, but to rebuild it on sound foundations.

Timestamps

00:00 - Intro
00:50 - Michael’s BBB presentation Hodl for Good
07:27 - Austrian principles on capital
15:40 - Fiat distorts the economic process
23:34 - Bitkey
24:29 - Hodl for Good triple entendre
29:52 - Bitcoin benefits everyone
39:05 - Unchained
40:14 - Leisure theory of value
52:15 - Heightening life
1:15:48 - Breaking from the chase makes room for magnificence
1:32:32 - Nakamoto Institute’s mission

Transcript

(00:00) Fiat money is by its nature a disturbance. If money is being continually produced, especially at an uncertain rate, these uh policies are really just redistribution of wealth. Most are looking for number to go up post hyper bitcoinization. The rate of growth of bitcoin would be more reflective of the growth of the economy as a whole.
(00:23) Ultimately, capital requires knowledge because it requires knowing there is something that you can add to the structures of production to lengthen it in some way that will take time but allow you to have more in the future than you would today. Let Black Rockck buy the houses and you keep the sats, not the other way around.
(00:41) You wait until later for Larry Frink to try to sell you a [Music] mansion. And we're live just like that. Just like that. 3:30 on a Friday, Memorial Day weekend. It's a good good good way to end the week and start the holiday weekend. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Thank you for having me here. Thank you for coming. I wore this hat specifically because I think it's I think it's very apppropo uh to the conversation we're going to have which is I hope an extension of the presentation you gave at Bitblock Boom Huddle for good. You were working on
(01:24) that for many weeks leading up to uh the conference and explaining how you were structuring it. I think it's a very important topic to discuss now as the Bitcoin price is hitting new all-time highs and people are trying to understand what am I doing with Bitcoin? Like you have you have the different sort of factions within Bitcoin.
(01:47) Uh get on a Bitcoin standard, get on zero, spend as much Bitcoin as possible. You have the sailors of the world are saying buy Bitcoin, never sell, die with your Bitcoin. And I think you do a really good job in that presentation. And I just think your understanding overall of Bitcoin is incredible to put everything into context. It's not either or.
(02:07) It really depends on what you want to accomplish. Yeah, it's definitely there there is no actual one-sizefits-all um for I mean nearly anything in this world. So um yeah, I mean first of all I mean there was it was the first conference talk I had given in maybe five years. I think the one prior to that uh was um bit block boom 2019 which was my meme talk which uh has uh become infamous and notorious.
(02:43) So uh there was also a lot of like high expectations uh you know rockstar dev uh has has treated that you know uh that that talk with a lot of reference. a lot of people have enjoyed it and he was expecting this one to be, you know, the greatest one ever, which is a little bit of a little bit of a uh a burden to live up to those kinds of standards.
(03:08) Um, but you know, because I don't give a lot of talks. Um, you know, I I I like to uh try to bring ideas that might even be ideas that are common. So, something like hodling, we all talk about it constantly. uh but try to bring it from a little bit of a different angle and try to give um a little bit of uh new light to it.
(03:31) I alsove I've I've always enjoyed kind of coming at things from a third angle. Um whenever there's, you know, there's there's all these little debates that we have in in Bitcoin and sometimes it's nice to try to uh step out of it and look at it a little more uh kind of objectively and find ways of understanding it that incorporate the truths of of all of them.
(03:58) uh you know cuz I think we should always be kind of as much as possible after ultimate truth. Um so with this one um yeah I was kind of finding that that sort of golden mean. So uh um yeah and I actually I think about that a lot is uh you know Aristotle has his his concept of the golden mean. So it's like any any virtue is sort of between two vices um because you can you can always you can always take something too far.
(04:27) So you're you're always trying to find that right balance. Um so someone who is uh courageous you know uh one of the vices uh on one side is being basically reckless. I I can't remember what word he would use. Uh but effectively being reckless and just wanting to put yourself in danger for no other reason than just you know the thrill of it.
(04:50) Um and then on the other side you would just have cowardice which is like you're unwilling to put yourself um at any risk at any time. Um, and courage is right there in the middle where it's understanding when is the right time uh to put your put yourself, you know, in in the face of danger um and take it on. And so um in some sense this this was kind of me uh in in some ways like I'm obviously a partisan of hodling.
(05:20) Um, I've for, you know, a long time now talked about the, um, why huddling is good, why people do it, why we should expect it. Um, but still trying to find that that sort of golden mean of like yes, huddle, but also what are we hodling for? And it's not we're we're not hodddling just merely for the sake of hodddling.
(05:45) There there is a a purpose to it. And we should think about that. And that would also help us think more about um what are the benefits of of spending, when should we spend, why should we spend, what should we spend on um to actually give light to that sort of side of the debate. Um so that was that was what I was kind of trying to trying to get into.
(06:09) Um, as well as also just uh at the same time despite all the talk of hodling, there's always this perennial uh there's always this perennial dislike of hodlers because we're treated as uh as if um we're just free riding the network or we're just greedy or you know any of these things. And I wanted to show how uh huddling does serve a real economic purpose.
(06:36) Um, and it does benefit the individual, but it also does uh it it has actual real social um benefits as well beyond merely the individual. Um, so I wanted to give that sort of defense of hodling as well to look at it from um a a broader position than just merely I'm trying to get rich. Um uh because even the person who uh that is all they want to do um just like you know your your pure number grow up go up moonboy even that behavior has positive ramifications on on the economy.
(07:14) And while we might look at them and have uh judgments about their particular choices for them as an individual, we shouldn't discount that uh their actions are having positive positive effects for the rest of the economy. Yeah. So, let's dive into that just not even in the context of Bitcoin because I think you did a great job of this in the presentation.
(07:36) just you've done a good job of this consistently throughout the years that I've known you. Just from like a first principles Austrian economics perspective, what is the idea around capital accumulation, low time preference and deployment of that capital like what what like getting getting into like the nitty-gritty and then applying it to Bitcoin? Yeah, it's it's a big question and um in many ways I mean I I even I barely scratched the surface.
(08:05) uh I I can't claim to have read uh all the volumes of Bombber works, you know, capital and interest and and stuff like that. Um but I think there's some some sort of basic concepts that we can look at that we can uh draw a lot out. Um the first uh I guess let's write that. So repeat so like capital time preference. Yeah. Well, I guess getting more broad like why sav

@ 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

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

— ODELL (@ODELL) December 14, 2022

Good morning.

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

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

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

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

---

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

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

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

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

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

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) June 12, 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@ 3c7dc2c5:805642a8

🧠Quote(s) of the week:

"Bitcoin trades 168 hours a week. Every other asset trades 35 hours at best (and less on holidays). This is the most magical, transparent, and hard-working [asset] in history. I’m in awe watching Bitcoin trade at 9:30 pm on a Saturday. You could liquidate $100 million worth, any hour of any day, and maybe take a 3% haircut. This is extremely high-bandwidth price discovery." —Michael Saylor https://i.ibb.co/LXCm3Kp8/Gshl-Ixas-Awezk3.png

🧡Bitcoin news🧡

13 years ago the block subsidy was 50 BTC. 13 years from now it will be 0.39 BTC.

On the 2nd of June:

➡️Hong Kong’s Reitar Logitech files to acquire $1.5B in Bitcoin, becoming the latest firm to join the Bitcoin treasury trend. The logistics and real estate company says the move strengthens its financial foundation as it scales its global tech platform.

➡️Bitcoin's global hashrate has reached a new all-time high, with data from Hashrate Index showing a 7-day simple moving average peak of 943 EH/s. https://i.ibb.co/3yR2ZZ0w/Gsahm-VXMAA1m-Ol.png

➡️(K)now (Y)our (C)ustomer is nothing but Stealth Mass Surveillance. What 95% of regulations cost versus return in one picture? https://i.ibb.co/Q3CLzF7j/Gsb20g-Pb-IAABy4-L.jpg

➡️Norwegian Block Exchange becomes the first publicly traded Bitcoin treasury company in Norway.' - Simply Bitcoin

➡️Poland just elected pro-Bitcoin Presidential candidate Karol Nawrocki. “Poland should be a birthplace of innovation rather than regulation.”

➡️NYC Mayor Eric Adams: “You all mocked me, ‘You’re taking your first 3 paychecks in #Bitcoin, what’s wrong with you?’ Now you wish you would have done.”

➡️Strategy plans to launch an IPO for 2.5M shares of its 10% Series A 'Stride' Preferred Stock (STRD), with proceeds going toward general corporate use and Bitcoin acquisition. Dividends are non-cumulative and paid only if declared.

Bit Paine: 'Remember: the entire fiat system is just various forms and layers of debt with different issuers all backed by an “asset,” (itself just a base layer of sovereign debt) that can and will be printed into oblivion. MSTR is just recapitulating this system but with a fixed supply underlying, meaning that in real terms anything it issues will benefit from the dilution of the fiat base layer and hence outperform (wildly) any fiat debt. No matter your institutional mandate, it makes no sense to hold debt whose base layer can be unilaterally demonetized when you can hold debt backed by a fixed supply underlying commodity that goes up forever.'

On the 3rd of June:

➡️Tether sends 37,229 Bitcoin worth almost $4 billion in total to Jack Maller's Twenty-One Capital

➡️El Salvador is running a full Bitcoin node!

➡️Canadian construction engineering company SolarBank adopts a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve "As the adoption of Bitcoin continues to grow, SolarBank believes that establishing a Bitcoin treasury strategy taps into a growing sector that is seeing increasing adoption."

➡️Willy Woo: "Who are the idiots who are selling when institutions and sovereigns are racing to buy billions in BTC?" This chart sheds light. The big whales >10k BTC have been selling since 2017. "They're stupid!" Most of those coins were bought between $0-$700 and held 8-16 years.' https://i.ibb.co/xKctV3Tf/Gsid236as-AAXPl-D.jpg

Selling at 20,000% profit is generally not a bad move.

➡️'South Korea just elected a pro-Bitcoin President who promised to legalize spot Bitcoin ETFs and scrap unfair regulation.' -Bitcoin Archive

➡️The average US investor owns 0.3% of their net worth in Bitcoin.

https://i.ibb.co/5WtFH9LM/Gsfoem-Tb0-AEfo-Ds.jpg

We are so damnn early.

➡️MARA mined 950 Bitcoin worth over $100 MILLION in May. They HODLed all of it.

➡️Bitcoin for Corporations: "Metaplanet just became Japan’s most traded stock — topping the charts in both value and volume:

➤ 170M shares traded

➤ ¥222B ($1.51B) value traded

This is what a Bitcoin strategy looks like in motion."

➡️'The Blockchain Group acquires 624 BTC for €60.2 million, nearly doubling their stack. They are now holding a total of 1,471 BTC with a BTC Yield of 1,097.6% YTD.' -Bitcoin News

➡️Publicly traded company K33 buys 10 Bitcoin for SEK 10 million for its balance sheet.

➡️California Assembly passes a bill to allow the state to receive payments in Bitcoin and digital currencies. It passed 68-0 and now heads to the Senate.

But hold up...

Bitcoin held on exchanges for +3 years will be transferred to the state of California under a law passed by the Assembly.

Not your keys…

➡️Adam Back invests $2.1 million into Swedish Bitcoin treasury company H100.

On the 4th of June:

➡️Daniel Batten: 'A large Bitcoin mining operation uses < 1/3 of the water of an average US family, and 0.0006% of the water a typical Gold mine uses.' https://i.ibb.co/TxNWSkHg/Gsn-VIjh-XQAEECOh.jpg

➡️And there it is: for JPMorgan, Bitcoin is now "safe collateral" JP Morgan will now offer loans backed by Bitcoin ETFs.

https://i.ibb.co/cXX0hKBK/Gsn-C5-B8-Wg-AA2e3i.png

Bent the knee. Wall Street realizes that Bitcoin is pristine collateral. Liquid 24/7/365 globally.

➡️Spanish coffee chain Vanadi Coffee to purchase $1.1 billion Bitcoin for its treasury reserve.

Disclaimer: This sounds great but it's not the whole story.

Pledditor: 'You mean a coffee shop chain founded just 4 years ago, only has 6 locations, and every year it has operated has suffered millions of dollars of net losses? They have 1975 Instagram followers. They have 149 Facebook followers. They have 48 X followers. But remember guys, you are investing in a "COFFEE GIANT"

So where does the $1.1B come from?

'The same way it came for Metaplanet (and all these other penny stocks) Get a bunch of high follower Bitcoin X accounts to hype your ticker (usually Bitcoin Magazine, Vivek, Pete Rizzo, etc), start up an "Irresponsibly Long ___" group, then dump a shitload of stock on the plebs.'

I have said it before...

Bitcoin treasury companies won't prevent another bear market; they’re the reason it’ll happen again this cycle.

➡️Public company Semler Scientific purchases an additional 185 Bitcoin for $20 million.

➡️Wicked: Imagine how rekt people would get if we went from $200k back down to $58k next bear market. The funny thing is that’d only be a 71% pullback, the smallest bear market pullback ever.

https://i.ibb.co/DfFtFZnP/Gsnr-U-3-Xo-AAJy-Kq.jpg

➡️Fidelty: An increasing number of institutions are leveraging Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset. And as understanding of the asset deepens, interest continues to grow. See what may be driving the shift: Source: https://www.fidelitydigitalassets.com/research-and-insights/adding-bitcoin-corporate-treasury?ccsource=owned_social_btc_corp_treasury_june_x

➡️Solo Bitcoin miner solves block 899,826, earning 3.151 BTC ( $330K). A solo miner rented a massive amount of hashrate on @NiceHashMining and successfully mined a Bitcoin block solo on CKpool, claiming the full reward alone.

➡️Romania's national postal service, Poșta Română, launches a pilot program by installing its first Bitcoin ATM at a Tulcea branch, partnering with Bitcoin Romania (BTR Exchange), the country's leading cryptocurrency exchange.

On the 6th of June:

➡️Mononaut: 'With a weight of only 5723 units, block 899998 was the second lightest non-empty block of this halving epoch.'

➡️'UK-listed gold miner Bluebird Mining Ventures announces strategy to convert gold mining income into Bitcoin. A gold mining company will become the first UK-listed company to implement a Strategic Bitcoin Treasury' - Bitcoin News

➡️Phoenix Wallet: Phoenix 2.6.1 now supports NFC for sending and receiving. Works on Android and iOS. (NFC received on iOS is only due to Apple restrictions)

➡️Man from Germany fails to declare 24 words when crossing the border – nothing happens.

https://i.ibb.co/21W5qVks/Gswdghd-Xw-AA7-SH6.png

➡️Know Labs, Inc. to become a Bitcoin Treasury Strategy company starting with 1,000 BTC. Funny isn't it? Even former Ripple executive, Greg Kidd, is choosing to fill their company treasuries with bitcoin—not XRP.

➡️Bitcoin Successfully Mines the 900,000th Block! https://x.com/i/status/1930973314475815120

➡️Trump Media's latest S-3 filing officially adopts a Bitcoin treasury strategy. - Registers up to $12B in new securities to buy BTC - Adds to $2.44B already raised - Mentions “Bitcoin” 362 times (vs. once in prior S-3)

➡️Bitcoin News: Metaplanet just issued ¥855B ($5.4B) in moving-strike warrants to buy more Bitcoin, Japan’s largest equity issuance of its kind ever. It’s the first above-market pricing in Japan's history, defying the usual 8–10% discount.

➡️ Uber CEO tells Bloomberg Bitcoin is a proven store of value and that it is exploring crypto payments.

➡️Agricultural commodity trading company Davis Commodities will buy $4.5 million Bitcoin for their reserves, calling it "digital gold.

➡️Fidelity: As digital assets evolve, bitcoin’s potential as a store of value sets it apart from other cryptocurrencies. “Coin Report: Bitcoin” outlines why the asset’s design, scarcity, and decentralized nature help make it distinct—and where its future opportunities may lie. Read now: https://www.fidelitydigitalassets.com/research-and-insights/coin-report-bitcoin-btc?ccsource=owned_social_btc_report_june_x

➡️Japanese public company Remixpoint announces it bought 44.8 #Bitcoin worth $4.7 million

On the 8th of June:

➡️Wicked: Bitcoin has been running for 6,000 days and it’s already spent 60 of them, 1% of its life, closing above $100k. https://i.ibb.co/kVyrjR7v/Gs4uy-MIW8-AAOl-A.jpg

On the 9th of June:

➡️Australia’s ABC News reports on how Bitcoin adoption is bringing financial freedom and greater safety to Kibera, one of Africa’s largest slums in Kenya.

➡️ IBIT just blew through $70b and is now the fastest ETF to ever hit that mark in only 341 days, which is 5x faster than the old record held by GLD of 1,691 days. https://i.ibb.co/DfKbwhjG/Gt-Ar6-Eq-X0-AAzrl5.png

Credit chart JackiWang17 on X

➡️Japanese fashion brand ANAP plans to buy and hold over 1,000 Bitcoin by August 2025.

➡️South Korean President to introduce legislation this week to allow big banks to adopt Bitcoin.

➡️Wicked: Bitcoin's now 3x larger than the top 9 shitcoins combined. https://i.ibb.co/LDQKsGHM/Gt-AJy-D6-X0-AA7-PIY.jpg

💸Traditional Finance / Macro:

On the 3rd of May:

👉🏽'Hedge funds are still not buying the Magnificent 7: Hedge funds’ long/short ratio on Magnificent 7 stocks is now at its lowest level in 5 years, per Goldman Sachs. This is even lower than at the 2022 bear market bottom. Furthermore, their exposure to Magnificent 7 stocks is now down -50% over the last year. Meanwhile, hedge funds have bought US information technology stocks for 3 consecutive weeks. This occurred after the sector had been net sold in 10 of the previous 12 weeks. Retail has led the recent rebound.' -TKL

On the 6th of June:

👉🏽If you net out the Mag 7 from the S&P 500, the remaining 493 stocks have barely gone anywhere in over a decade (comparatively speaking). Chart: Goldman Sachs https://i.ibb.co/s9LmVBL8/Gsx53k6-W8-AAM2xr.jpg

🏦Banks:

On the 21st of May: 👉🏽No News

🌎Macro/Geopolitics:

'The reality is that the US soft defaults on its debt every day through structural inflation (the perpetual debasement of the US dollar). In other words, the Treasury pays you back dollars that are worth far less than what you lent to them. A soft default.' This is also valid for Europe.

On top of that, the richest man in the world is publicly arguing with the president of the United States about America’s solvency. Consider buying bitcoin.

So far regarding Trump: - didn't audit the Gold - didn't stop the wars - didn't reduce the deficit/debt/budget - didn't form a Bitcoin reserve - didn't release the Epstein files

Anyway, consider buying Bitcoin.

On the 2nd of June:

👉🏽'The Bank of Japan just racked up a record ¥28.6 trillion in bond losses That’s three times bigger than last year! This isn’t just Japan’s problem. It’s a screaming red alert for global markets.' - StockMarket News

TKL: " Japanese equity funds posted a record $11.8 billion in net outflows last week. This brought the 4-week moving average of outflows to $4.0 billion, an all-time high. Investors’ concerns over rapidly rising long-dated Japanese government bond yields were behind the outflows. Additionally, investors withdrew $5.1 billion from US stock funds. All while global equity funds saw $9.5 billion in net outflows, the most this year. Investors are taking profits after a sharp market recovery."

👉🏽The money printer is back on. US M2 just hit a new all-time high at $21.86T. Liquidity is flowing back into the system.

https://i.ibb.co/fGdx5kmt/Gsd-Jn-R9-XUAAUAO2.jpg

Recession odds have just dropped by 70% to 30% That’s the steepest decline in 65 years without a recession actually happening. Forget everything about a recession when M2 is moving up. Simple as that.

👉🏽$698 billion worth of homes are for sale in the United States, a new all-time high. Rajat Soni: 'The price of a house should be 0.01 BTC right now The housing market is way overpriced in terms of Bitcoin Interest rates or real estate prices will have to fall for these these homes actually to be sold.'

👉🏽The US Dollar is worth 8.9% less than it was at the beginning of the year.

👉🏽Argentina's economy grew 8% year-over-year in April 2025, the highest in the Western world!

On the 3rd of June:

👉🏽Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" bans all 50 states from regulating AI for 10 years, centralizes control at the federal level, and integrates AI systems into key federal agencies. https://i.ibb.co/Q7t14q7M/Gse-V2f-YWUAAyb-Py.png

👉🏽 ZeroHedge: 'Total US debt is now $37.5 trillion (accrued). The $36.2 trillion actual is just the ceiling set by the debt limit which will be revised to $40 trillion in August/September.'

👉🏽A million seconds ago was May 23rd

A billion seconds ago was 1993

A trillion seconds ago was 30,000 B.C.

The US national debt is now rising by $1 Trillion every 180 days.

👉🏽NATO pushes European members to increase ground-based air defense systems five-fold — Bloomberg

👉🏽Global Markets Investor: 'This is incredible how European markets have outperformed the US this year. Poland, the Czech Republic, and Austria have grown their market capitalization by 44%, 36%, and 33%, respectively. Next are Hungary, Spain, Luxembourg, Greece, and Germany. The US has been flat.'

https://i.ibb.co/TMwrLnB0/Gsiu-KWYXEAAto-U1.jpg

This is one of the WORST years for the US stock market in history: The S&P 500 has UNDERperformed World stocks excluding the US by 12 percentage points year-to-date, the most in 32 YEARS. This is even worse than during the Great Financial Crisis.

👉🏽Bravos Research: 'M2 money supply is now expanding at 4.4% After reaching its deepest contraction in 65 years This is quite constructive for the stock market.' https://i.ibb.co/hFCRgFhr/Gsht-Kgk-Xw-AAy-PFq.jpg

On the 4th of June:

👉🏽“The $1.06 trillion unrealized loss in 2024 was ‘modestly higher’ than the $948.4 billion paper loss seen in 2023.” https://i.ibb.co/Pvm7zVWy/Gsj-9-OWs-AAvwp-F.jpg

Probably nothing. What’s a trillion between friends…

Currently, the US is spending $1,200 trillion per year on interest payments (dark line). If everything were financed at the current interest rate, the cost would exceed $1,500 trillion per year (green). https://i.ibb.co/mCpYtwVW/Gsm-H6-Mr-Xc-AAqd-F5.png

Note: The national debt is $36,9 trillion.

👉🏽Global debt is gigantic: Debt-to-GDP is above 100% in 6 of 7 G7 nations, and is still rising. Japan: ~250% Italy, the US, France, the UK, and Canada: all near or above 100%.

For 5 of 7 G7 economies, debt is set to surge further by 2030. Now debt is a problem but the main question would be...what will the productivity be in 2030?

On the 5th of June:

👉🏽 The United States Treasury just bought back $10 Billion of its own debt, the largest Treasury buyback in history.

Buying back your own debt with printed money. That's what happens just before fiat money goes to die (eventually). Eventually, nobody wants that worthless debt anymore, eventually!

Context by EndGame Macro:

💰 $10 Billion Buyback: The Treasury’s Silent Signal

On June 3, 2025, the U.S. Treasury quietly executed the largest debt buyback in American history, repurchasing $10 billion in short- and medium-term bonds. At first glance, it looked routine. But under the surface, this was a stealth intervention aimed at calming a system under increasing strain. This wasn’t just liquidity smoothing. It was strategic triage.

🧾 What Happened

Buyback Size: $10B (a record)

Debt Offered: $22.87B — more than double what was accepted

Target Maturities: July 2025 to May 2027

Issues Accepted: 22 of 40 eligible

Settlement: June 4, 2025

That huge offer volume isn’t just noise—it’s a warning sign that institutional players are under pressure.

🚨 What the Buyback Really Signaled

1. A Quiet Circuit Breaker The buyback focused on maturities clustered around a $9 trillion rollover wall over the next 12 months. Without announcing it, the Treasury effectively tripped a circuit breaker to reduce near-term funding stress.
2. QE Without the Label This wasn’t the Fed. No balance sheet expansion. But by retiring debt ahead of maturity and shrinking market float, the effect mirrored QE—without the political baggage.
3. Institutions Are Feeling the Squeeze A staggering $22.87 billion in offers points to constraints at banks, funds, or foreign reserve desks. The Treasury didn’t save everyone—just enough to relieve pressure quietly.

🎯 Strategic Motivation

This wasn’t about boosting confidence. It was about managing two threats: Maturity Wall Risk: Avoiding auction failures as short-term debt piles up in 2025–2026. Yield Curve Stability: Preventing disorderly spikes by quietly absorbing supply. This move avoided triggering headlines—while containing the fire under the hood.

🧠 Echoes from History

This buyback fits into a lineage of quiet but powerful interventions: Operation Twist (1961) – Rebalancing maturity without QE branding. BoE Gilt Crisis (2022) – Targeted long-end intervention to save pensions. Belgium’s Shadow QE (2014) – U.S. debt absorbed off-balance-sheet during geopolitical tension. Each move relied on subtlety and intent—not optics.

🧩 What the Market Heard

Primary Dealers: Help exists—but it’s selective and discretionary.

Foreign Holders: Exit in order—or risk exclusion.

Money Markets: Relief, not resolution.

❗ Where the Logic Cracks

If this was routine: Why buy back below par? Why accept only 44% of the offered debt? Why deploy this now and not earlier? Each of these points to deeper stress than officials are openly admitting.

🔒 High-Conviction Takeaway

This buyback was a preemptive stabilization maneuver, not a stimulus. With over $9 trillion in short-term debt set to roll, foreign participation weakening, and institutional selling pressure rising, the Treasury acted before fractures became visible. The line wasn’t drawn to show strength. It was drawn behind the market—to stop a collapse.

🕵️‍♂️ Known Unknowns

Who were the biggest sellers—and what’s pressuring them? Was this coordinated with the Fed or global reserve desks? Is this a one-off event—or the start of a multi-phase liquidity campaign? The silence is strategic—but the signal is loud.

👉🏽Joe Consorti: 'Congress refuses to cut spending. So we must "grow our way out" of the deficit. That would take 39 years of 5% nominal GDP growth, or 22 years at 10%. In other words, 2-4 decades of explosive growth just to break even. We can't "grow our way out". We'll print our way out.'

👉🏽ZeroHedge: And just like that, the "climate crisis" is gone https://i.ibb.co/GQ76Z79P/Gsr3uus-XEAAjuv6.png

Don't get me wrong and with all respect to my environmentalist friends, but the “Crisis” never existed. A big part of the push has been marketing dollars/euros and media spin, let's face it.

Why do I think that? How do you think we will grow out of the Global Debt problem? One word: PRODUCTIVITY.

How can we manage that? They (Governments/Central Banks) need AI data farms. What do data farms need?

Electricity, water, energy.

Because Big Tech and AI need energy -- wherever they can find it -- climate change as a cause is finished. It was all virtue signaling. And remember the climate didn’t cool, it just stopped polling well. The scariest part of the “climate crisis” becoming out-of-vogue with the left is that it'll likely be replaced by something equally absurd and artificially manufactured.

On the 6th of June

👉🏽 'The US economy adds 139,000 jobs in May, above expectations of 126,000. The unemployment rate was 4.2%, in line with expectations of 4.2%. The April jobs number was revised down from 177,000 to 147,000. The headline numbers continue to exceed expectations.' - TKL

Surprise, surprise…

March jobs revised: 185K 120K (-65k)

April jobs revised: 177K 147K (-30k)

13 of the L16 have been revised lower.

Just to make it even worse, this is something I have shared multiple times in 2024. The number of year-over-year private job gains in 2024 was likely overstated by a MASSIVE 907,000 jobs, according to BLS data released Wednesday. This comes as the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) data covering 97% of employers showed a private payroll growth rate of 0.6% for December 2024. This is 50% lower than the 1.2% growth rate initially reported in the monthly non-farm payroll (NFP) reports. To put this differently, there was a 907,000 gap between NFP data and QCEW data in 2024. This means jobs were likely overstated by an average of 75,583 PER MONTH in 2024.

👉🏽Opinion: Milei reduced government spending by 30% and achieved a surplus in only 1 month. His popularity didn't fall, it rose. Don't tell me fiscal discipline isn't popular with the general public. It's just unpopular to the powerful special interests that control DC or Brussels.

👉🏽'In the current fiscal year, the U.S. government already spent $4,159 billion. This is for the first 7 months and the fiscal year ends in September. The latest available data is as of April. The already accrued deficit amounts to over $1 trillion: $1,049 billion.

You can see in the chart how net interest expense has become the #2 largest spending category at $579 billion (for 7 months) after social security ($907 billion) and even exceeded national defense ($536 billion), health ($555 billion), and Medicare ($550 billion). The deficit is 34% of total receipts! (1049/3110) In other words: the U.S. government spent 34% more than it took in.

The last full fiscal year ended in September 2024. In that fiscal year, we spent $1.13 trillion on interest expenses. After only the first 7 months of fiscal year 2025 ending in September, they are already at $776 billion. This means we'll likely touch $1.3 trillion this fiscal year!' - AJ https://i.ibb.co/RTLTZPn1/Gsxv-Tso-Xc-AAZs-Zo.jpg

On the 7th of June:

👉🏽 The EU Commission paid climate "NGOs" for questionable lobbying with money from German taxpayers and wanted to keep it secret. https://i.ibb.co/zH6J41Zq/Gsz-Lu-F9-Xg-AAZttn.jpg Now read the above statement again and after that read the following bit:

👉🏽EU TRIES TO LECTURE EL SALVADOR - BUKELE BODYSLAMS BACK Source: https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/el-salvador-statement-spokesperson-foreign-agents-law-and-recent-developments_en

The Diplomatic Service of the European: "El Salvador: The EU regrets the adoption of the Foreign Agents Law, which risks restricting civil society and runs counter to international obligations. Recent arrests of human rights defenders raise further concerns."

The EU’s sanctimonious finger-wagging at El Salvador reeks of hypocrisy. Brussels lectures sovereign nations on “civil society” while funneling billions into globalist NGOs that undermine national sovereignty. The institution that attacks liberty, freedom, democracy, and free speech in the name of a neosocialist woke ideology wants to lecture other countries on how they defend against their constant meddling and aggression. They are a bunch of unelected bureaucrats, accountable to no one, representing no one. Classic!

Supporting this further, let’s have a look how the EU is increasingly positioning itself as a technocratic regulator of personal freedom:

'The EU – the one that:

•wants to monitor every Bitcoin transaction through MiCA & DAC-8 •would love to ban non-custodial wallets

•is planning a chat control law that would make even China blush

•is considering a wealth register to digitally track every cent of your retirement savings

•restricts cash withdrawals in some member states •is testing CBDCs with expiration dates and spending limits

•and is preparing the digital euro as a full-blown control tool

…this EU is now complaining about human rights violations in El Salvador – a country whose government enjoys one of the highest approval ratings in the world. Over 85% support for President Bukele. Show me a single Western leader who even comes close to that.' - Bitcoin Hotel

Great reply by El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele: 'EU: El Salvador regrets that a bloc which is aging, overregulated, energy-dependent, tech-lagging, and led by unelected bureaucrats still insists on lecturing the rest of the world.'

👉🏽Sam Callahan: Alternative title: 73% of bonds in the world trading at less than the rate of debasement https://i.ibb.co/Y4qMvh0T/Gs7-Ry-WMAABf49.jpg

On the 8th of June:

👉🏽'US existing home sales dropped -3.1% year-over-year to an annualized 4.0 million in April, the lowest for any April since 2009. Month-over-month, home sales fell 0.5%, well below expectations of a +2.0% increase. The decline was driven by the West and Northeast regions. Sales in the South were flat, while in the Midwest improved slightly. Meanwhile, existing home inventory rose +21%, to 1.45 million, the most for any April since 2020, per ZeroHedge. Despite that, the median sales price increased +1.8% year-over-year to $414,000, a record for April. Homebuyer demand is weak and prices are still rising.' -TKL

On the 9th of June:

👉🏽Jeroen Blokland: '- China bought more gold in May. -China has been buying even more gold through ‘unofficial’ channels. - China's gold reserves today are low compared to those of the US and European countries -China is determined to move away from US dollar hegemony - China’s ambition to move away from the US dollar will only have strengthened because of the Trump tariff war - China has to acknowledge that few countries, companies, and households want to hold the Yuan So what will China be doing for years to come?'

No surprise central banks are avoiding sovereign debt and adding gold.

👉🏽TKL: Gold is on fire: Gold's share of global reserves reached 23% in Q2 2025, the highest level in 30 years. Over the last 6 years, the percentage has DOUBLED. At the same time, the US Dollar's share of international reserves has declined 10 percentage points, to 44%, the lowest since 1993. By comparison, the Euro's share has decreased 2 percentage points, to 16%, the lowest in 22 years. Gold is quickly replacing fiat currencies as a reserve currency.

🎁If you have made it this far, I would like to give you a little gift:

Lysander: "Lyn Alden gave one of the clearest breakdowns of why the U.S. is on an unstoppable fiscal path—and why Bitcoin matters more than ever because of it.

Lyn Alden walks through the numbers behind the federal deficit, interest expenses, Social Security, and the structural changes that happened post-2008. The short version? We’re in a new era. One where the government can’t slow down even if it wants to.

Her phrase: “Nothing stops this train.” Not because of ideology, but because of math—and human nature.

This isn’t hyperinflation doom-talk. It’s a sober look at what happens when a system built on ever-growing debt reaches its limits—and why Bitcoin, with its fixed supply and transparent rules, is the opposite of that system.

If you haven’t seen it, this is a must watch. Pure signal! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Giuzcd4oxIk

Credit: I have used multiple sources!

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

Use the code SE3997

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

⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀

Do you think this post is helpful to you?

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

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

⭐ Many thanks⭐

Felipe - Bitcoin Friday!

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

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

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

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

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

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

Current Nostr Stats

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

@ 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.

@ 374ee93a:36623347

Chef's notes

A quick and easy recipe to help preserve your fresh strawberry harvest for months to come with the addition of vanilla to bring out that summer flavour.

Made with 20% extra fruit than standard supermarket jam. To make a reduced sugar version you can use Pomona's Pectin or accept runny jam ;)

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 10 mins
• 🍳 Cook time: 30 mins
• 🍽️ Servings: 5 jars

Ingredients

• 1.2kg fresh hulled strawberries
• 1kg golden cane sugar (can sub honey or maple syrup 1:1)
• 1 lemon
• 1 vanilla pod (or 1 tbspn extract)

Directions

1. Remove the green stalks from your strawberries and cut into quarters
2. Pare the lemon zest and reserve for another recipe (such as lemon curd, or cocktails!), chop roughly and add to a pan inside a small muslin bag)
3. Gently cook the strawberries and lemon together with a lid on the pan for 15-20 minutes, until the lemon pith softens
4. Squeeze the muslin bag to get as much pectin out as possiblem then add 1kg sugar to the miture and boil on high
5. The jam can be tested for set after approx 10 mins boiling, spoon a small amount onto a chilled plate and place in the freezer for 2 minutes. If the jam wrinkles when pushed with a spoon it is ready to pot into sterlised jars. If it still appears runny cook for a further 5 minutes and repeat testing

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

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

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

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

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

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

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

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

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

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

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

GENIUS Act gains ground

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

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

Stablecoins and the financial system

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

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

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

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

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

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

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

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) June 12, 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Key Takeaways

Michael Goldstein, aka Bitstein, presents a sweeping philosophical and economic case for going “all in” on Bitcoin, arguing that unlike fiat, which distorts capital formation and fuels short-term thinking, Bitcoin fosters low time preference, meaningful saving, and long-term societal flourishing. At the heart of his thesis is “hodling for good”—a triple-layered idea encompassing permanence, purpose, and the pursuit of higher values like truth, beauty, and legacy. Drawing on thinkers like Aristotle, Hoppe, and Josef Pieper, Goldstein redefines leisure as contemplation, a vital practice in aligning capital with one’s deepest ideals. He urges Bitcoiners to think beyond mere wealth accumulation and consider how their sats can fund enduring institutions, art, and architecture that reflect a moral vision of the future.

Best Quotes

“Let BlackRock buy the houses, and you keep the sats.”

“We're not hodling just for the sake of hodling. There is a purpose to it.”

“Fiat money shortens your time horizon… you can never rest.”

“Savings precedes capital accumulation. You can’t build unless you’ve saved.”

“You're increasing the marginal value of everyone else’s Bitcoin.”

“True leisure is contemplation—the pursuit of the highest good.”

“What is Bitcoin for if not to make the conditions for magnificent acts of creation possible?”

“Bitcoin itself will last forever. Your stack might not. What will outlast your coins?”

“Only a whale can be magnificent.”

“The market will sell you all the crack you want. It’s up to you to demand beauty.”

Conclusion

This episode is a call to reimagine Bitcoin as more than a financial revolution—it’s a blueprint for civilizational renewal. Michael Goldstein reframes hodling as an act of moral stewardship, urging Bitcoiners to lower their time preference, build lasting institutions, and pursue truth, beauty, and legacy—not to escape the world, but to rebuild it on sound foundations.

Timestamps

00:00 - Intro
00:50 - Michael’s BBB presentation Hodl for Good
07:27 - Austrian principles on capital
15:40 - Fiat distorts the economic process
23:34 - Bitkey
24:29 - Hodl for Good triple entendre
29:52 - Bitcoin benefits everyone
39:05 - Unchained
40:14 - Leisure theory of value
52:15 - Heightening life
1:15:48 - Breaking from the chase makes room for magnificence
1:32:32 - Nakamoto Institute’s mission

Transcript

(00:00) Fiat money is by its nature a disturbance. If money is being continually produced, especially at an uncertain rate, these uh policies are really just redistribution of wealth. Most are looking for number to go up post hyper bitcoinization. The rate of growth of bitcoin would be more reflective of the growth of the economy as a whole.
(00:23) Ultimately, capital requires knowledge because it requires knowing there is something that you can add to the structures of production to lengthen it in some way that will take time but allow you to have more in the future than you would today. Let Black Rockck buy the houses and you keep the sats, not the other way around.
(00:41) You wait until later for Larry Frink to try to sell you a [Music] mansion. And we're live just like that. Just like that. 3:30 on a Friday, Memorial Day weekend. It's a good good good way to end the week and start the holiday weekend. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Thank you for having me here. Thank you for coming. I wore this hat specifically because I think it's I think it's very apppropo uh to the conversation we're going to have which is I hope an extension of the presentation you gave at Bitblock Boom Huddle for good. You were working on
(01:24) that for many weeks leading up to uh the conference and explaining how you were structuring it. I think it's a very important topic to discuss now as the Bitcoin price is hitting new all-time highs and people are trying to understand what am I doing with Bitcoin? Like you have you have the different sort of factions within Bitcoin.
(01:47) Uh get on a Bitcoin standard, get on zero, spend as much Bitcoin as possible. You have the sailors of the world are saying buy Bitcoin, never sell, die with your Bitcoin. And I think you do a really good job in that presentation. And I just think your understanding overall of Bitcoin is incredible to put everything into context. It's not either or.
(02:07) It really depends on what you want to accomplish. Yeah, it's definitely there there is no actual one-sizefits-all um for I mean nearly anything in this world. So um yeah, I mean first of all I mean there was it was the first conference talk I had given in maybe five years. I think the one prior to that uh was um bit block boom 2019 which was my meme talk which uh has uh become infamous and notorious.
(02:43) So uh there was also a lot of like high expectations uh you know rockstar dev uh has has treated that you know uh that that talk with a lot of reference. a lot of people have enjoyed it and he was expecting this one to be, you know, the greatest one ever, which is a little bit of a little bit of a uh a burden to live up to those kinds of standards.
(03:08) Um, but you know, because I don't give a lot of talks. Um, you know, I I I like to uh try to bring ideas that might even be ideas that are common. So, something like hodling, we all talk about it constantly. uh but try to bring it from a little bit of a different angle and try to give um a little bit of uh new light to it.
(03:31) I alsove I've I've always enjoyed kind of coming at things from a third angle. Um whenever there's, you know, there's there's all these little debates that we have in in Bitcoin and sometimes it's nice to try to uh step out of it and look at it a little more uh kind of objectively and find ways of understanding it that incorporate the truths of of all of them.
(03:58) uh you know cuz I think we should always be kind of as much as possible after ultimate truth. Um so with this one um yeah I was kind of finding that that sort of golden mean. So uh um yeah and I actually I think about that a lot is uh you know Aristotle has his his concept of the golden mean. So it's like any any virtue is sort of between two vices um because you can you can always you can always take something too far.
(04:27) So you're you're always trying to find that right balance. Um so someone who is uh courageous you know uh one of the vices uh on one side is being basically reckless. I I can't remember what word he would use. Uh but effectively being reckless and just wanting to put yourself in danger for no other reason than just you know the thrill of it.
(04:50) Um and then on the other side you would just have cowardice which is like you're unwilling to put yourself um at any risk at any time. Um, and courage is right there in the middle where it's understanding when is the right time uh to put your put yourself, you know, in in the face of danger um and take it on. And so um in some sense this this was kind of me uh in in some ways like I'm obviously a partisan of hodling.
(05:20) Um, I've for, you know, a long time now talked about the, um, why huddling is good, why people do it, why we should expect it. Um, but still trying to find that that sort of golden mean of like yes, huddle, but also what are we hodling for? And it's not we're we're not hodddling just merely for the sake of hodddling.
(05:45) There there is a a purpose to it. And we should think about that. And that would also help us think more about um what are the benefits of of spending, when should we spend, why should we spend, what should we spend on um to actually give light to that sort of side of the debate. Um so that was that was what I was kind of trying to trying to get into.
(06:09) Um, as well as also just uh at the same time despite all the talk of hodling, there's always this perennial uh there's always this perennial dislike of hodlers because we're treated as uh as if um we're just free riding the network or we're just greedy or you know any of these things. And I wanted to show how uh huddling does serve a real economic purpose.
(06:36) Um, and it does benefit the individual, but it also does uh it it has actual real social um benefits as well beyond merely the individual. Um, so I wanted to give that sort of defense of hodling as well to look at it from um a a broader position than just merely I'm trying to get rich. Um uh because even the person who uh that is all they want to do um just like you know your your pure number grow up go up moonboy even that behavior has positive ramifications on on the economy.
(07:14) And while we might look at them and have uh judgments about their particular choices for them as an individual, we shouldn't discount that uh their actions are having positive positive effects for the rest of the economy. Yeah. So, let's dive into that just not even in the context of Bitcoin because I think you did a great job of this in the presentation.
(07:36) just you've done a good job of this consistently throughout the years that I've known you. Just from like a first principles Austrian economics perspective, what is the idea around capital accumulation, low time preference and deployment of that capital like what what like getting getting into like the nitty-gritty and then applying it to Bitcoin? Yeah, it's it's a big question and um in many ways I mean I I even I barely scratched the surface.
(08:05) uh I I can't claim to have read uh all the volumes of Bombber works, you know, capital and interest and and stuff like that. Um but I think there's some some sort of basic concepts that we can look at that we can uh draw a lot out. Um the first uh I guess let's write that. So repeat so like capital time preference. Yeah. Well, I guess getting more broad like why sav

@ b1ddb4d7:471244e7

In today’s digital era, access to financial services remains a privilege for many. Bitcoinization – the mass adoption of Bitcoin as a payment medium and store of value – represents a unique opportunity to democratize access to financial services (Read this article Can the Lightning Network Lead to “Hyperbitcoinization”? to know more about Bitcoinization). Telecommunications carriers occupy a strategic position in this transformation, especially in regions where traditional internet access is limited. However, this aspect remains largely unexplored. This article seeks to examine how these companies can catalyze this financial revolution by analyzing the Machankura case and the technical possibilities within current communication infrastructures.

The Success Sotry of Machankura

The Machankura project (8333.mobi) emerged to address a common challenge in various African regions: financial exclusion due to limited internet access. Created by South African developer Kgothatso Ngako, the service utilizes the USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) protocol, supported by virtually all mobile phones, to facilitate Bitcoin transactions via 2G and 3G cellular networks.

Machankura – derived from South African slang for “money” – functions as a custodial Bitcoin wallet. Through the USSD protocol, users can access the service by dialing short codes (*123*456789#, for example) or sending SMS messages to specific numbers. When the server receives the code or message, an interactive session between the parties (server-user) begins. This enables users to create Bitcoin wallets associated with their phone numbers, protected by multi-digit PINs.

Once registered, users receive a Lightning address (example: 1234567890@8333.mobi) that can be used to receive Bitcoin from anyone worldwide. Users can also customize this address to a preferred username, further enhancing privacy.

Currently, Machankura is available in nine African countries, including Nigeria, Tanzania, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, and Malawi. The creator’s objective is to expand the service to all countries across the African continent in the coming years.

Why Lightning network? Please read this article Lightning Network vs. Traditional Bitcoin Transactions.

The Technical Foundations of Machankura’s Success – USSD

As mentioned, USSD is a protocol embedded in mobile networks and available on virtually all cellular devices. This choice proved crucial for the Machankura project, given that in Africa, more than half of phones sold are not smartphones. Additionally, this protocol offers critical technical advantages:

• Operates without requiring internet access, functioning in areas with poor connectivity.
• Universal compatibility with any mobile phone, including the most basic models.
• Provides real-time interactivity between users and the system.
• Features an intuitive interface already utilized for banking services, customer support, and self-service applications

These advantages have enabled Bitcoin to become accessible to a significant portion of the region’s population, with over 15,000 users, according to the Machankura project creator.

USSD and Connectivity Challenges

The primary technical limitation of USSD manifests in high-connectivity environments (4G, 5G, or higher). As established by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project, organization for standardization of mobile networks), the protocol must be recognized by newer generations of cellular networks. However, this recognition requires a procedure known as inter-technology fallback. For instance, if a user is connected to a 5G network and streaming music, when accessing a USSD service, their connection will downgrade to a 3G (or 2G) network, inevitably interrupting media streaming execution.

IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS): The Evolution in Telecommunications Services

The solution to connectivity issues with USSD resides within the IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem), a subsystem within the standardized architecture of newer cellular networks (from fourth generation onwards). Its objective is to unify access and provision of multimedia services across both mobile and fixed networks. These services include:

• Voice services – such as Voice over LTE (VoLTE) and Voice over WiFi (VoWiFi)
• Video services – such as Video over LTE  (ViLTE) and Video over WiFi (ViWiFi)
• Videoconferencing
• Instant messaging
• Streaming media
• Emergency services
• Interoperability between legacy networks

The New Era: USSI (USSD over IP)

USSI (USSD over IP) represents the solution for service continuity across 4G, 5G, and future networks when utilizing USSD services. This new protocol enhances service quality, increases simultaneous session capacity, provides additional features for recent devices, improves session security, and enables operation without requiring fallback procedures.

Strategic Opportunities for Carriers

Institutional Bitcoin adoption is already established, with integration into portfolios of mining companies, exchanges, automobile manufacturers (Tesla), investment funds (BlackRock), financial institutions (Galaxy Digital Holdings), technology companies (including MicroStrategy, MercadoLibre, and Brazilian Meliúz), and even nations such as El Salvador, the United States, and China.

With robust, secure, and extensive infrastructure, telecommunications carriers can implement complex and advanced Bitcoin-based financial services, demystifying its use and stimulating adoption. Strategic partnerships with exchanges and fintechs enhance integrated solutions for entrepreneurs and consumers, such as integration with Lightning Network nodes to enable rapid, low-cost transactions between IoT devices, machine-to-machine (M2M) applications, and point-of-sale (POS) terminals.

The competitive advantages of this approach include

• New Revenue Streams: Companies can collect fees from simple transactions and provide advanced financial services such as loans, insurance, and investments.
• Customer Retention: By offering innovative services, they can reduce customer churn.
• Vanguard Strategy: Strategic positioning in an emerging high-capitalization market

The Future of Bitcoinization in Telecommunications

The success of the Machankura project unequivocally demonstrates the potential of telecommunications as transformative agents in the mass adoption of Bitcoin. As the Bitcoin ecosystem consolidates and expands, it is essential that we recognize this opportunity not merely as a new business vertical but as an important step toward strategic positioning at the forefront of a global economic transformation.

Given the extensive reach of existing infrastructure, these carriers can become the primary catalyst for transforming the lives of the unbanked in an unprecedented manner. As we have seen, Bitcoin is no longer just a trend; it is a reality. The natural consequence of this reality is bitcoinization, and we have the opportunity to be at the forefront of this emerging paradigm.

@ 044da344:073a8a0e

Im September starten wir an der Freien Akademie für Medien & Journalismus eine Veranstaltungsreihe im Vorderen Bayerischen Wald und laden alle ein, live dabei zu sein, wenn Menschen interviewt werden, die etwas zu sagen und spannende Geschichten zu erzählen haben. Nach etwa einer Stunde werden die Kameras ausgeschaltet, sodass genug Raum bleibt für Fragen, für das Kennenlernen, für den Austausch mit Gleichgesinnten.

Die ersten Gäste ab dem 8. September: Jürgen Fliege, Joana Cotar, Gerd Reuther und Gabriele Gysi. Es gibt eine zweite Gesprächsreihe, die am 13. Oktober mit Jörg Bernig startet. Die Aufzeichnungen beginnen jeweils um 18 Uhr in einer Gaststätte im Raum Sankt Englmar. Wer eine weitere Anreise hat: Die Gegend ist wunderschön, lädt zum Entspannen ein (Wandern, hervorragende Gastronomie, Unterkünfte für jeden Geldbeutel) und verfügt über alles, was das Urlauberherz begehrt. Organistorisches und Anmeldung

8. September 2025: Jürgen Fliege – Glaube, Kirche, Hoffnung

Eine Talkshow im Ersten, präsentiert von einem Pastor, der alles mitbringt, was man braucht, um Menschen zu gewinnen: Einen besseren Werbeträger hätte sich die evangelische Kirche nicht wünschen können. Jürgen Fliege war von 1994 bis 2005 Stammgast in den Wohnzimmern und ist trotzdem oder gerade deshalb schon damals immer wieder in Konflikt geraten mit Amtsträgern aller Art. Ab 2020 hat er sich in Sachen Corona öffentlich klar positioniert und dabei auch auf die Bibel verwiesen.

9. September 2025: Joana Cotar – Acht Jahre Bundestag. Wie weiter mit der Demokratie?

Ganz stimmt das mit den acht Jahren nicht: Die zweite Legislaturperiode ist vor der Zeit zu Ende gegangen. Joana Cotar wurde zweimal über die AfD-Landesliste in Hessen in den Bundestag gewählt, war dabei 2021 auch als Spitzenkandidatin im Gespräch und zwei Jahre im Bundesvorstand. Ende 2022 hat sie Partei und Fraktion verlassen, im Parlament aber weitergemacht und immer wieder den Finger in die Wunde gelegt, wenn es um das Parteiensystem ging oder um den Spielraum der Volksvertreter.

10. September 2025: Gerd Reuther – Tatort Vergangenheit

Gerd Reuther hat sich als Medizinaufklärer ohne Tabus einen Namen gemacht – ein Radiologe, der an drei Kliniken Chefarzt war, dann aber mit 55 aufgehört hat. Sein Buch „Der betrogene Patient“ war 2017 ein Bestseller. Danach hat er die Geschichte der Medizin gegen den Strich gebürstet („Heilung Nebensache“) und in „Hauptsache Panik“ die europäische Seuchengeschichte demontiert. Jetzt nimmt er sich unsere gesamte Geschichte vor und stellt von den Römern bis in die Neuzeit unser „Wissen“ über die Vergangenheit in Frage.

11. September 2025: Gabriele Gysi – Gibt es noch eine deutsche Frage?

Niemand kann das besser beantworten als diese Künstlerin, Spross einer Politikerfamilie und Zeitzeugin für alle drei deutschen Nachkriegsstaaten – für die DDR sowieso, nach ihrer Ausreise 1984 aber auch für die alte Bundesrepublik und dann natürlich für die neue, wo sie unter anderem Chefdramaturgin der Berliner Volksbühne war. Gabriele Gysi sagt: Solange wir keine gesamtdeutsche Geschichte haben, bleibt die große Frage offen.

Michael Meyen: Videos

Freie Akademie für Medien & Journalismus

Unterstützen

@ b1ddb4d7:471244e7

Paris, France – June 6, 2025 – Flash, the easiest Bitcoin payment gateway for businesses, just announced a new partnership with the Bitcoin Only Brewery, marking the first-ever beverage company to leverage Flash for seamless Bitcoin payments. 

Bitcoin Buys Beer Thanks to Flash!

As Co-Founder of Flash, it's not every day we get to toast to a truly refreshing milestone.

Okay, jokes aside.

We're super buzzed to see our friends at @Drink_B0B
Bitcoin Only Brewery using Flash to power their online sales!

The first… pic.twitter.com/G7TWhy50pX

— Pierre Corbin (@CierrePorbin) June 3, 2025

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

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

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

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

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

Bitcoin payment usage is growing thanks to Lightning

In May, fast-food chain Steak ‘N Shake went viral for integrating bitcoin at their restaurants around the world. In the same month, the bitcoin2025 conference in Las Vegas set a new world record with 4,000 Lightning payments in one day.

According to a report by River Intelligence, public Lightning payment volume surged by 266% from August 2023 to August 2024. This growth is also reflected in the overall accessibility of lighting infrastructure for consumers. According to Lightning Service Provider Breez, over 650 Million users now have access to the Lightning Network through apps like CashApp, Kraken or Strike.

Bitcoin Only Brewery’s adoption of Flash reflects the growing trend of businesses integrating Bitcoin payments to cater to a global, privacy-conscious customer base. By offering no-KYC delivery across Europe, the brewery aligns with the ethos of decentralization and financial sovereignty, appealing to the increasing number of consumers and businesses embracing Bitcoin as a legitimate payment method.

“Flash is committed to driving innovation in the Bitcoin ecosystem,” Corbin added. “We’re building a future where businesses of all sizes can seamlessly integrate Bitcoin payments, unlocking new opportunities in the global market. It’s never been easier to start selling in bitcoin and we invite retailers globally to join us in this revolution.”

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

About Flash

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

About Bitcoin Only Brewery

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

Media Contact:

Pierre Corbin
Co-Founder, Flash
Email: press@paywithflash.com
Website: paywithflash.comPhotos paywithflash.com/about/press

How Flash Enables Interoperable, Self-Custodial Bitcoin Commerce

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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.

@ b1ddb4d7:471244e7

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1. Facility size and infrastructure:

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

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

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

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

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

2. Hashrate contribution:

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

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

3. Energy consumption and power source:

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

4. Financial banking and investor interest:

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

Overview of Bitcoin Mining in Africa

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Profiles of the Largest Bitcoin Mining Operations in Africa

1. BitCluster (Ethiopia)

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

@ 39cc53c9:27168656

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Know Your Customer is a regulation that requires companies of all sizes to verify the identity, suitability, and risks involved with maintaining a business relationship with a customer. Such procedures fit within the broader scope of anti-money laundering (AML) and counterterrorism financing (CTF) regulations.

Banks, exchanges, online business, mail providers, domain registrars... Everyone wants to know who you are before you can even opt for their service. Your personal information is flowing around the internet in the hands of "god-knows-who" and secured by "trust-me-bro military-grade encryption". Once your account is linked to your personal (and verified) identity, tracking you is just as easy as keeping logs on all these platforms.

Rights for Illusions

KYC processes aim to combat terrorist financing, money laundering, and other illicit activities. On the surface, KYC seems like a commendable initiative. I mean, who wouldn't want to halt terrorists and criminals in their tracks?

The logic behind KYC is: "If we mandate every financial service provider to identify their users, it becomes easier to pinpoint and apprehend the malicious actors."

However, terrorists and criminals are not precisely lining up to be identified. They're crafty. They may adopt false identities or find alternative strategies to continue their operations. Far from being outwitted, many times they're several steps ahead of regulations. Realistically, KYC might deter a small fraction – let's say about 1% ^1 – of these malefactors. Yet, the cost? All of us are saddled with the inconvenient process of identification just to use a service.

Under the rhetoric of "ensuring our safety", governments and institutions enact regulations that seem more out of a dystopian novel, gradually taking away our right to privacy.

To illustrate, consider a city where the mayor has rolled out facial recognition cameras in every nook and cranny. A band of criminals, intent on robbing a local store, rolls in with a stolen car, their faces obscured by masks and their bodies cloaked in all-black clothes. Once they've committed the crime and exited the city's boundaries, they switch vehicles and clothes out of the cameras' watchful eyes. The high-tech surveillance? It didn’t manage to identify or trace them. Yet, for every law-abiding citizen who merely wants to drive through the city or do some shopping, their movements and identities are constantly logged. The irony? This invasive tracking impacts all of us, just to catch the 1% ^1 of less-than-careful criminals.

KYC? Not you.

KYC creates barriers to participation in normal economic activity, to supposedly stop criminals. ^2

KYC puts barriers between many users and businesses. One of these comes from the fact that the process often requires multiple forms of identification, proof of address, and sometimes even financial records. For individuals in areas with poor record-keeping, non-recognized legal documents, or those who are unbanked, homeless or transient, obtaining these documents can be challenging, if not impossible.

For people who are not skilled with technology or just don't have access to it, there's also a barrier since KYC procedures are mostly online, leaving them inadvertently excluded.

Another barrier goes for the casual or one-time user, where they might not see the value in undergoing a rigorous KYC process, and these requirements can deter them from using the service altogether.

It also wipes some businesses out of the equation, since for smaller businesses, the costs associated with complying with KYC norms—from the actual process of gathering and submitting documents to potential delays in operations—can be prohibitive in economical and/or technical terms.

You're not welcome

Imagine a swanky new club in town with a strict "members only" sign. You hear the music, you see the lights, and you want in. You step up, ready to join, but suddenly there's a long list of criteria you must meet. After some time, you are finally checking all the boxes. But then the club rejects your membership with no clear reason why. You just weren't accepted. Frustrating, right?

This club scenario isn't too different from the fact that KYC is being used by many businesses as a convenient gatekeeping tool. A perfect excuse based on a "legal" procedure they are obliged to.

Even some exchanges may randomly use this to freeze and block funds from users, claiming these were "flagged" by a cryptic system that inspects the transactions. You are left hostage to their arbitrary decision to let you successfully pass the KYC procedure. If you choose to sidestep their invasive process, they might just hold onto your funds indefinitely.

Your identity has been stolen

KYC data has been found to be for sale on many dark net markets^3. Exchanges may have leaks or hacks, and such leaks contain very sensitive data. We're talking about the full monty: passport or ID scans, proof of address, and even those awkward selfies where you're holding up your ID next to your face. All this data is being left to the mercy of the (mostly) "trust-me-bro" security systems of such companies. Quite scary, isn't it?

As cheap as $10 for 100 documents, with discounts applying for those who buy in bulk, the personal identities of innocent users who passed KYC procedures are for sale. ^3

In short, if you have ever passed the KYC/AML process of a crypto exchange, your privacy is at risk of being compromised, or it might even have already been compromised.

(they) Know Your Coins

You may already know that Bitcoin and most cryptocurrencies have a transparent public blockchain, meaning that all data is shown unencrypted for everyone to see and recorded forever. If you link an address you own to your identity through KYC, for example, by sending an amount from a KYC exchange to it, your Bitcoin is no longer pseudonymous and can then be traced.

If, for instance, you send Bitcoin from such an identified address to another KYC'ed address (say, from a friend), everyone having access to that address-identity link information (exchanges, governments, hackers, etc.) will be able to associate that transaction and know who you are transacting with.

Conclusions

To sum up, KYC does not protect individuals; rather, it's a threat to our privacy, freedom, security and integrity. Sensible information flowing through the internet is thrown into chaos by dubious security measures. It puts borders between many potential customers and businesses, and it helps governments and companies track innocent users. That's the chaos KYC has stirred.

The criminals are using stolen identities from companies that gathered them thanks to these very same regulations that were supposed to combat them. Criminals always know how to circumvent such regulations. In the end, normal people are the most affected by these policies.

The threat that KYC poses to individuals in terms of privacy, security and freedom is not to be neglected. And if we don’t start challenging these systems and questioning their efficacy, we are just one step closer to the dystopian future that is now foreseeable.

Edited 20/03/2024 * Add reference to the 1% statement on Rights for Illusions section to an article where Chainalysis found that only 0.34% of the transaction volume with cryptocurrencies in 2023 was attributable to criminal activity ^1

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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.

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I'm launching a new service review section on this blog in collaboration with OrangeFren. These reviews are sponsored, yet the sponsorship does not influence the outcome of the evaluations. Reviews are done in advance, then, the service provider has the discretion to approve publication without modifications.

Sponsored reviews are independent from the kycnot.me list, being only part of the blog. The reviews have no impact on the scores of the listings or their continued presence on the list. Should any issues arise, I will not hesitate to remove any listing.

---

The review

WizardSwap is an instant exchange centred around privacy coins. It was launched in 2020 making it old enough to have weathered the 2021 bull run and the subsequent bearish year.

| Pros | Cons | |------|------| | Tor-friendly | Limited liquidity | | Guarantee of no KYC | Overly simplistic design | | Earn by providing liquidity | |

Rating: ★★★★★ Service Website: wizardswap.io

Liquidity

Right off the bat, we'll start off by pointing out that WizardSwap relies on its own liquidity reserves, meaning they aren't just a reseller of Binance or another exchange. They're also committed to a no-KYC policy, when asking them, they even promised they would rather refund a user their original coins, than force them to undergo any sort of verification.

On the one hand, full control over all their infrastructure gives users the most privacy and conviction about the KYC policies remaining in place.

On the other hand, this means the liquidity available for swapping isn't huge. At the time of testing we could only purchase at most about 0.73 BTC with XMR.

It's clear the team behind WizardSwap is aware of this shortfall and so they've come up with a solution unique among instant exchanges. They let you, the user, deposit any of the currencies they support into your account and earn a profit on the trades made using your liquidity.

Trading

Fees on WizardSwap are middle-of-the-pack. The normal fee is 2.2%. That's more than some exchanges that reserve the right to suddenly demand you undergo verification, yet less than half the fees on some other privacy-first exchanges. However as we mentioned in the section above you can earn almost all of that fee (2%) if you provide liquidity to WizardSwap.

It's good that with the current Bitcoin fee market their fees are constant regardless of how much, or how little, you send. This is in stark contrast with some of the alternative swap providers that will charge you a massive premium when attempting to swap small amounts of BTC away.

Test trades

Test trades are always performed without previous notice to the service provider.

During our testing we performed a few test trades and found that every single time WizardSwap immediately detected the incoming transaction and the amount we received was exactly what was quoted before depositing. The fees were inline with what WizardSwap advertises.

• Monero payment proof
• Bitcoin received
• Wizardswap TX link - it's possible that this link may cease to be valid at some point in the future.

ToS and KYC

WizardSwap does not have a Terms of Service or a Privacy Policy page, at least none that can be found by users. Instead, they offer a FAQ section where they addresses some basic questions.

The site does not mention any KYC or AML practices. It also does not specify how refunds are handled in case of failure. However, based on the FAQ section "What if I send funds after the offer expires?" it can be inferred that contacting support is necessary and network fees will be deducted from any refund.

UI & Tor

WizardSwap can be visited both via your usual browser and Tor Browser. Should you decide on the latter you'll find that the website works even with the most strict settings available in the Tor Browser (meaning no JavaScript).

However, when disabling Javascript you'll miss the live support chat, as well as automatic refreshing of the trade page. The lack of the first means that you will have no way to contact support from the trade page if anything goes wrong during your swap, although you can do so by mail.

One important thing to have in mind is that if you were to accidentally close the browser during the swap, and you did not save the swap ID or your browser history is disabled, you'll have no easy way to return to the trade. For this reason we suggest when you begin a trade to copy the url or ID to someplace safe, before sending any coins to WizardSwap.

The UI you'll be greeted by is simple, minimalist, and easy to navigate. It works well not just across browsers, but also across devices. You won't have any issues using this exchange on your phone.

Getting in touch

The team behind WizardSwap appears to be most active on X (formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/WizardSwap_io

If you have any comments or suggestions about the exchange make sure to reach out to them. In the past they've been very receptive to user feedback, for instance a few months back WizardSwap was planning on removing DeepOnion, but the community behind that project got together ^1 and after reaching out WizardSwap reversed their decision ^2.

You can also contact them via email at: support @ wizardswap . io

Disclaimer

None of the above should be understood as investment or financial advice. The views are our own only and constitute a faithful representation of our experience in using and investigating this exchange. This review is not a guarantee of any kind on the services rendered by the exchange. Do your own research before using any service.

@ 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/

@ 23f48c23:b6fe0ded

iPhone Calculator App Specification

Core Features

1. Basic Arithmetic Operations: Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division with decimal support.
2. Display Formatting: Dynamic sizing for large numbers and decimals.
3. Memory Functions: Store, recall, and clear memory values.
4. Operation Chaining: Perform multiple operations in sequence.
5. Advanced Features: Percentage calculation, sign toggle, and haptic feedback.

Architecture

• Frontend: React + TypeScript with Vite.
• State Management: Custom hooks for logic separation.
• Testing: Jest for unit tests, Playwright for e2e tests.
• Styling: CSS Modules for component-specific styles.

Project Structure

• /src/components: Reusable UI components.
• /src/hooks: Custom hooks for business logic.
• /src/utils: Utility functions (e.g., calculations).
• /tests: Unit and e2e tests.

Dependencies

• React, TypeScript, Vite, Jest, Playwright, Biome.

Setup

1. Run bun install to install dependencies.
2. Run bun run dev to start the development server.
3. Run bun run test to execute unit tests.
4. Run bun run build to create a production build.

@ 39cc53c9:27168656

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“The future is there... staring back at us. Trying to make sense of the fiction we will have become.” — William Gibson.

This month is the 4th anniversary of kycnot.me. Thank you for being here.

Fifteen years ago, Satoshi Nakamoto introduced Bitcoin, a peer-to-peer electronic cash system: a decentralized currency free from government and institutional control. Nakamoto's whitepaper showed a vision for a financial system based on trustless transactions, secured by cryptography. Some time forward and KYC (Know Your Customer), AML (Anti-Money Laundering), and CTF (Counter-Terrorism Financing) regulations started to come into play.

What a paradox: to engage with a system designed for decentralization, privacy, and independence, we are forced to give away our personal details. Using Bitcoin in the economy requires revealing your identity, not just to the party you interact with, but also to third parties who must track and report the interaction. You are forced to give sensitive data to entities you don't, can't, and shouldn't trust. Information can never be kept 100% safe; there's always a risk. Information is power, who knows about you has control over you.

Information asymmetry creates imbalances of power. When entities have detailed knowledge about individuals, they can manipulate, influence, or exploit this information to their advantage. The accumulation of personal data by corporations and governments enables extensive surveillances.

Such practices, moreover, exclude individuals from traditional economic systems if their documentation doesn't meet arbitrary standards, reinforcing a dystopian divide. Small businesses are similarly burdened by the costs of implementing these regulations, hindering free market competition^1:

How will they keep this information safe? Why do they need my identity? Why do they force businesses to enforce such regulations? It's always for your safety, to protect you from the "bad". Your life is perpetually in danger: terrorists, money launderers, villains... so the government steps in to save us.

‟Hush now, baby, baby, don't you cry Mamma's gonna make all of your nightmares come true Mamma's gonna put all of her fears into you Mamma's gonna keep you right here, under her wing She won't let you fly, but she might let you sing Mamma's gonna keep baby cosy and warm” — Mother, Pink Floyd

We must resist any attack on our privacy and freedom. To do this, we must collaborate.

If you have a service, refuse to ask for KYC; find a way. Accept cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Monero. Commit to circular economies. Remove the need to go through the FIAT system. People need fiat money to use most services, but we can change that.

If you're a user, donate to and prefer using services that accept such currencies. Encourage your friends to accept cryptocurrencies as well. Boycott FIAT system to the greatest extent you possibly can.

This may sound utopian, but it can be achieved. This movement can't be stopped. Go kick the hornet's nest.

“We must defend our own privacy if we expect to have any. We must come together and create systems which allow anonymous transactions to take place. People have been defending their own privacy for centuries with whispers, darkness, envelopes, closed doors, secret handshakes, and couriers. The technologies of the past did not allow for strong privacy, but electronic technologies do.” — Eric Hughes, A Cypherpunk's Manifesto

The anniversary

Four years ago, I began exploring ways to use crypto without KYC. I bookmarked a few favorite services and thought sharing them to the world might be useful. That was the first version of kycnot.me — a simple list of about 15 services. Since then, I've added services, rewritten it three times, and improved it to what it is now.

kycnot.me has remained 100% independent and 100% open source^2 all these years. I've received offers to buy the site, all of which I have declined and will continue to decline. It has been DDoS attacked many times, but we made it through. I have also rewritten the whole site almost once per year (three times in four years).

The code and scoring algorithm are open source (contributions are welcome) and I can't arbitrarly change a service's score without adding or removing attributes, making any arbitrary alterations obvious if they were fake. You can even see the score summary for any service's score.

I'm a one-person team, dedicating my free time to this project. I hope to keep doing so for many more years. Again, thank you for being part of this.

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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!

@ 9ca447d2:fbf5a36d

CANNES, FRANCE – May 2025 — Bitcoin mining made its mark at the world’s most prestigious film gathering this year as Puerto Rican director and producer Alana Mediavilla introduced her feature documentary Dirty Coin: The Bitcoin Mining Documentary at the Marché du Film during the Cannes Film Festival.

The film puts bitcoin mining at the center of a rising global conversation about energy, technology, and economic freedom.

Dirty Coin is the first feature-length documentary to explore bitcoin mining through immersive, on-the-ground case studies.

From rural towns in the United States to hydro-powered sites in Latin America and the Congo, the film follows miners and communities navigating what may be one of the most misunderstood technologies of our time.

The result is a human-centered look at how bitcoin mining is transforming local economies and energy infrastructure in real ways.

To mark its Cannes debut, Mediavilla and her team hosted a packed industry event that brought together leaders from both film and finance.

Dirty Coin debut ceremony at the Marché du Film

Sponsors Celestial Management, Sangha Renewables, Nordblock, and Paystand.org supported the program, which featured panels on mining, energy use, and decentralized infrastructure.

Attendees had the rare opportunity to engage directly with pioneers in the space. A special session in French led by Seb Gouspillou spotlighted mining efforts in the Congo’s Virunga region.

Dirty Coin builds on Mediavilla’s award-winning short film Stranded, which won over 20 international prizes, including Best Short Documentary at Cannes in 2024.

That success helped lay the foundation for the feature and positioned Mediavilla as one of the boldest new voices in global documentary filmmaking.

Alana Mediavilla speaks at the Marché du Film — Cannes Film Festival

“If we’ve found an industry that can unlock stranded energy and turn it into real power for people—especially in regions with energy poverty—why wouldn’t we look into it?” says Mediavilla. “Our privilege blinds us.

“The same thing we criticize could be the very thing that lifts the developing world to our standard of living. Ignoring that potential is a failure of imagination.”

Much like the decentralized network it explores, Dirty Coin is spreading globally through grassroots momentum.

Local leaders are hosting independent screenings around the world, from Roatán and Berlin to São Paulo and Madrid. Upcoming events include Toronto and Zurich, with more cities joining each month.

Mediavilla, who previously worked in creative leadership roles in the U.S. — including as a producer at Google — returned to Puerto Rico to found Campo Libre, a studio focused on high-caliber, globally relevant storytelling from the Caribbean.

She was also accepted into the Cannes Producers Network, a selective program open only to producers with box office releases in the past four years.

Mediavilla qualified after independently releasing Dirty Coin in theaters across Puerto Rico. Her participation in the network gave her direct access to meetings, insights, and connections with the most active distributors and producers working today.

The film’s next public screening will take place at the Anthem Film Festival in Palm Springs on Saturday, June 14 at 2 PM. Additional screenings and market appearances are planned throughout the year at Bitcoin events and international film platforms.

Dirty Coin at the Cannes Film Festival

Watch the Trailer + Access Press Materials

📂 EPK
🎬 Screener
🌍 Host a Screening

Follow the Movement

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dirty_coin_official/
Twitter: https://x.com/DirtyCoinDoc
Website: www.dirtycointhemovie.com

@ 9f2b5b64:e811118f

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@ 9f2b5b64:e811118f

test propose 123

@ 04c3c1a5:a94cf83d

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@ 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.

@ 04c3c1a5:a94cf83d

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123

@ a8d1560d:3fec7a08

THIS IS IMPORTANT!!!

After the wave of word-scrambling spam bots, a new and very problematic kind of spam has arrived in the Nostr. Whenever you post something now, you will get gay porn videos as an automated answer (No, being gay itself is not problematic!!!). To get rid of all the automated spam, remove the following relays from your inbox and outbox relay list: - nos.lol - relay.damus.io - nostr.oxtr.dev - relay.primal.net

As long as you have even one of these relays in your inbox and outbox lists, you and your followers will be spammed whenever posting something.

It is unknown if the bots only reply to kind 1 events or to all events.

@ 04c3c1a5:a94cf83d

testtesttest

@ dfa02707:41ca50e3

Contribute to keep No Bullshit Bitcoin news going.

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

• Upcoming updates for Bitcoin Safe include Compact Block Filters.

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

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

What's new in v1.3

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

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

Announcement / Archive
Blog Post / Archive
GitHub Repo
Website

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

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

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

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

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

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

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

Her voice did not tremble.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@ dfa02707:41ca50e3

Contribute to keep No Bullshit Bitcoin news going.

• RoboSats v0.7.7-alpha is now available!

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

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

Source: RoboSats.

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

What's new

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

Source: RoboSats.

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

New contributors

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

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

GitHub Repo

@ dfa02707:41ca50e3

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

@ 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

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

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

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

nostr is to twitter as bitcoin is to paypal

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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My Nostr Public Key: npub1qny3tkh0acurzla8x3zy4nhrjz5zd8l9sy9jys09umwng00manysew95gx

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

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

— ODELL (@ODELL) December 14, 2022

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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

@ 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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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

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

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

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

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

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) June 12, 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Bitcoin Magazine

Where Could Bitcoin Peak This Cycle?

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

Price Forecast Tools

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

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

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

Peak Forecasting

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

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

Calculating A Target

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

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

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

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

Conclusion

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

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

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

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

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Bitcoin Magazine

JPMorgan Reports Record Profits for Bitcoin Miners in Q1

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

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

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) June 13, 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

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

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

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

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

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Bitcoin Magazine

UK Gold Mining Company Bluebird to Convert Gold Revenues into Bitcoin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

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

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

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

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

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

Current Nostr Stats

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

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Konzeptionelle Überlegungen zu dezentralen OER-Infrastrukturen

Die Diskussion eröffnete Matthias mit Reflexionen zu einem Vorhaben, das bei einem bevorstehenden HackathOERn in Göttingen präsentiert werden soll - unter Voraussetzung der Beitragsannahme. Im Zentrum steht dabei ein partizipativer Ansatz, der die frühzeitige Identifikation technischer Herausforderungen durch den direkten Austausch mit Entwicklergemeinschaften ermöglicht: "Auch wirklich mal ganz konkret mit Programmierern diese Ideen durchzusprechen, um aus der Sache auch schon Stolpersteine zu finden". Diese methodische Herangehensweise stellt eine essenzielle Phase im Entwicklungsprozess dar, wie am Beispiel eines Moodle-Plugins illustriert wird, bei dem substanzielle Herausforderungen im Bereich des Backup-Systems erst durch externe Expertise identifiziert werden konnten.

Jörg kontextualisiert diese Überlegungen im Rahmen der Forschungsaktivitäten von FOERBICO und einer durchgeführten Nutzerbefragung. Signifikant ist dabei die Erkenntnis, dass neben juristischen Aspekten wie Lizenzfragen vor allem technische Infrastrukturen einen kritischen Faktor für die Vernetzung von Communities darstellen: "Das Techniksystem spielt wirklich eine bedeutsame Rolle, um die Communities zusammenzubringen". Bemerkenswert ist hierbei die explizite Distinktion von traditionellen, isolierten Repositorien-Konzepten zugunsten praxisorientierter Ansätze, die kollaborative OER-Praktiken substanziell fördern.

Nutzerzentrierte Gestaltungsprinzipien und praktische Anforderungen

Ein zentrales Desiderat der Gesprächspartner ist die Überwindung fragmentierter Toollandschaften, die aktuell eine Barriere für effektive communityübergreifende Kooperationen darstellen. Jörg artikuliert dieses Problem prägnant: "Communities sollten schlicht und einfach offen miteinander arbeiten können und sich nicht immer neu vereinbaren müssen auf geschlossene Werkzeuge wie Google Docs, Canva, Padlet, Taskcards und Co.". Diese Beobachtung korrespondiert mit Erkenntnissen aus der Nutzungsforschung, die auf die Präferenz für intuitive Interfaces, wie sie in den proprietären Angeboten in Padlets und Taskcards geboten werden, hinweist – ein Aspekt, der in der Konzeption innovativer OER-Infrastrukturen adäquate Berücksichtigung finden sollte.

Darüber hinaus wird die Relevanz nutzerzentrierter Gestaltungsprinzipien mehrfach betont: "Es muss vom UX-Design auch so den Leuten entgegenkommen, dass man es einfach so in die Hand nimmt, wie es den Benutzungsgewohnheiten entspricht". Dies umfasst intuitiv bedienbare Funktionalitäten wie Drag-and-Drop sowie potenziell KI-gestützte Unterstützungssysteme, die die Benutzerfreundlichkeit signifikant erhöhen könnten.

Technische Architekturen und Interoperabilitätskonzepte

Ein substantieller Teil des Diskurses widmet sich architektonischen Überlegungen. Matthias argumentiert für modular konzipierte Systeme anstelle monolithischer Lösungen: "Also kleine Dinge, die andockbar sind, nicht das One Big Thing denken". Diese Perspektive reflektiert eine fundamentale Erkenntnis aus seiner langjährigen Erfahrung mit Open-Source-Entwicklungen und korrespondiert mit dem übergeordneten Paradigma dezentraler Infrastrukturen.

Die technische Herausforderung besteht primär in der Integration heterogener Systeme und dem Ausbalancieren verschiedener Anforderungsebenen. Jörg beschreibt dieses Spannungsfeld: "Wie kriegen wir so eine Schnittstellenkonfiguration hin, damit die Dinge ineinander überführt werden können?". In diesem Kontext werden verschiedene technische Ansätze diskutiert, darunter die Verwendung von JSON und XML für Metadaten sowie die Integration etablierter Systeme wie H5P, Serlo oder WordPress.

Besonders hervorzuheben ist die angestrebte Zusammenführung von Referatorien (fokussiert auf Auffindbarkeit durch Metadaten) und Repositorien (primär für Speicherung) in einer integrierten Editorfunktion: "Eigentlich müsste so ein Editor beides zusammenfügen und integrieren, sodass die Inhalte, die man erstellt, auch mit den entsprechenden Metadaten versehen werden". Diese konzeptionelle Verknüpfung adressiert eine fundamentale Herausforderung im OER-Ökosystem und würde die Auffindbarkeit, Interoperabilität und Nachnutzbarkeit von Bildungsressourcen signifikant verbessern.

Community-Perspektiven und kollaborative Praktiken

Die Gesprächspartner differenzieren zwischen synchronen (kollaborativen) und asynchronen (kooperativen) Arbeitsweisen, wobei Matthias zunächst für letztere plädiert: "Aus meiner Sicht wäre auch das Ziel gar nicht, das direkt kollaborativ zu haben, sondern ich würde erstmal kooperativ denken, also zeitversetzt gemeinsam, aber nicht unbedingt gleichzeitig". Diese pragmatische Herangehensweise reflektiert die Komplexität synchroner Bearbeitungsfunktionalitäten und priorisiert Machbarkeit vor maximaler Funktionalität – ein sinnvoller Ansatz für initiale Entwicklungsphasen.

Besonders aufschlussreich sind die Erkenntnisse aus Nutzeranalysen, die eine klare Präferenz für modular strukturierte, adaptierbare Inhalte zeigen: "Die meisten Leute sind nicht interessiert an zu komplexen Inhalten, sondern die gucken nach einfachen Bausteinen, die sie leicht verändern können und zusammenstellen können, wie es für die eigene Lernsituation und Lerngruppe passt". Diese Beobachtung hat weitreichende Implikationen für die Granularität und Strukturierung von OER und unterstreicht die Notwendigkeit flexibler, rekombinierbarer Ressourcenformate.

Implikationen für OEP und zukünftige Entwicklungen

Das skizzierte "Open Cards"-Konzept repräsentiert einen vielversprechenden Ansatz, der auf die identifizierten Nutzerpräferenzen und kollaborativen Anforderungen reagiert. Es zielt auf die Entwicklung einer Infrastruktur, die "kuratierte Sammlungen remixbar macht und dezentral verwaltet", wodurch fundamentale OEP-Prinzipien wie partizipative Wissensproduktion und adaptive Wiederverwendung operationalisiert werden könnten.

Darüber hinaus wird die Bedeutung einheitlicher Identifikationssysteme hervorgehoben, um Autor:innenschaft nachvollziehbar zu machen und rechtliche Anforderungen (wie die korrekte Namensnennung) zu erfüllen. Die Integration von Systemen wie VIDIS oder "Mein Bildungsraum" könnte in diesem Kontext eine Schlüsselrolle spielen und zur Etablierung nachhaltiger Anerkennungsmechanismen im OER-Ökosystem beitragen.

Fazit: Toward a Federated OER Infrastructure

Der analysierte Diskurs illustriert paradigmatisch die multidimensionale Komplexität bei der Entwicklung zukunftsfähiger OER-Infrastrukturen. Die diskutierten Ansätze und Konzepte konvergieren in der Vision einer dezentralen, interoperablen Architektur, die technische Potenziale mit nutzerzentrierten Gestaltungsprinzipien und community-orientierten Praktiken harmonisiert.

Die Transformation von einer "Silo-Architektur in so eine dezentrale Protokoll-Technik" repräsentiert dabei nicht nur einen technologischen Paradigmenwechsel, sondern reflektiert zugleich ein fundamentales Umdenken im Verständnis digitaler Bildungsökosysteme. Die Realisierung dieser Vision erfordert interdisziplinäre Kooperation, kontinuierlichen Austausch mit Nutzergemeinschaften sowie flexible, modulare Entwicklungsansätze – Prinzipien, die in dem dokumentierten Gespräch zwischen Matthias, Jörg und Gina hoffentlich bereits beispielhaft praktiziert werden und hiermit euch zu Diskussion und Austausch gestellt werden.

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*Dieser Beitrag reflektiert den Stand der Diskussion vom 20. März 2025 und wurde im Kontext der Projekte POET, digiLL(_COM), eport.nrw und FOERBICO verfasst. Die genannten Tools und Initiativen stehen exemplarisch für die Vielfalt der OER-Entwicklungslandschaft.

@ 2c564b98:5c6444b0

© unsplash

Dieser Beitrag von Laura und Phillip aus dem FOERBICO Team erschien zuerst auf dem Theologie-Blog y-nachten.

Alle reden von OER - was ist das eigentlich?

Offene Vorlesungsreihen auf YouTube, Podcasts, Blogs, Podiumsdiskussionen und die Beteiligung an Wikipedia-Einträgen machen deutlich, dass sich das Geschehen an Hochschulen zunehmend öffnet, um mit einer interessierten Öffentlichkeit transparent zu kommunizieren sowie Diskurse breiter zugänglich zu machen (vgl. Mößle, Pirker 2024). Für viele wirkt aber gerade die wissenschaftliche Theologie wie eine Disziplin für Expert:innen, geprägt von antiken Sprachen, dogmatischen Gerüsten und traditionsgebundenen Denken, das ein hohes Maß an Vorwissen erfordert. Doch muss die Theologie wirklich so fern und unverständlich wirken? Die Open-Science-Bewegung zielt auf Transparenz und Nachvollziehbarkeit und fordert Wissenschaftler:innen sowie Akteur:innen aus Politik, Wirtschaft und Kultur dazu auf, zum Austausch beizutragen und den wissenschaftlichen Dialog im Sinne einer Demokratisierung des Wissens mitzugestalten (vgl. Siegfried, Scherp, Linek, Flieger 2024). Hierbei kommt den Open Educational Resources, kurz OER, eine bedeutsame Rolle zu. OER sind frei zugängliche Bildungsmaterialien, die in unterschiedlichen Formaten und Medien vorliegen können. Sie stehen unter einer offenen Lizenz, die es ermöglicht, sie kostenlos zu nutzen, zu verändern und mit oder ohne Änderungen weiterzugeben, mit wenigen oder gar keinen Einschränkungen. Ob einzelne Arbeitsblätter, komplette Lehrbücher, Onlinekurse, Videos oder Podcasts, solange sie offen, d.h. mit CC-Lizenzen versehen sind, gelten sie als OER. Ziel ist es, Bildung für alle zugänglicher und flexibler zu machen (vgl. UNESCO 2019). OER unterscheiden sich von kostenlosen Materialien durch die rechtssichere Möglichkeit der Bearbeitung und Weiterverbreitung, vgl. exemplarisch die OER-Lizensierung bei (Pirner 2024). Dies ermöglicht sowohl Lehrenden die Anpassung der Lehrmaterialien an ihre Zielgruppe als auch Lernenden die Bearbeitung der Materialien für sich und ihre Lerngruppe.

OER braucht Praxis! Open Educational Practice

OER allein führen jedoch nicht zu einer Bildungsreform. Eine partizipative Lehr- und Lernkultur ist notwendig und es bedarf einer gewissen Haltung und Praxis, damit OER entstehen und weiterentwickelt werden können, die sog. Open Educational Practices (OEP). Die Definition von (Cronin 2017, 4) gibt einen guten Einblick, um was es sich dabei handelt. OEP sind:

»collaborative practices that include the creation, use, and reuse of OER, as well as pedagogical practices employing participatory technologies and social networks for interaction, peer-learning, knowledge creation, and empowerment of learners« .

OEP sind also kollaborative Praktiken, die rund um OER stattfinden und den Prozess der OER-Erstellung und Bearbeitung von Anfang an mitbestimmen. Besonders wichtig sind dabei soziale Netzwerke und Communities. Diese können Lernende, Lehrende, Expert:innen oder Fächergruppen umfassen, die sich austauschen, OER weiterentwickeln und sich gegenseitig motivieren, neue Ansätze zu erproben.

Third Mission an Hochschulen: Über die Grenzen hinaus

Unter dem Schlagwort Third Mission, also der dritten Mission von Hochschule neben Forschung und Lehre, stehen die zentralen Fragen: Wie kann sich Hochschule für die Gesellschaft öffnen? Und wie lässt sich der Austausch zwischen Wissenschaft und Öffentlichkeit fördern? Hierbei tritt die Hochschule in wechselseitige Interaktion mit der Gesellschaft und ist offen für Erwartungen, Herausforderungen und Fragen, die an sie gerichtet werden. Im Sinne der wissenschaftlichen Weiterbildung gehört es auch zur Third Mission, Lernaktivitäten zu entwickeln, die Fähigkeiten und Kompetenzen in persönlicher, gesellschaftlicher oder beruflicher Perspektive erhöhen (vgl. Roessler 2015). Aus der Perspektive theologischer Hochschullehre lässt sich dieser Aspekt besonders fruchtbar mit OER und OEP verknüpfen und kann die Third Mission sogar weiterentwickeln. Denn Theologie lebt nicht nur vom reinen Wissenstransfer, sondern auch von der dialogischen Auseinandersetzung und der gemeinsamen Suche. Hierfür ist eine Kultur der Partizipation ein Gamechanger. Denn OER bietet mehr als nur den offenen Zugang zu Materialien. Es schafft Bewusstsein für Lizensierungen und ermöglicht eine Kultur des Teilens. So könnte zum Beispiel eine Vorlesung aus dem Theologiestudium nicht nur öffentlich zugänglich gemacht werden, sondern – im Sinne von OER – auch zur Weiterverarbeitung und Anpassung einladen. Damit hätten Kirchengemeinden, Bildungseinrichtungen oder interreligiöse Dialogkreise Zugang zu Materialien und könnten sie für ihren Kontext anpassen, mit ihrem Wissen, ihren Erfahrungen und Erkenntnisgewinnen weiterentwickeln und wiederum mit anderen teilen. Theologie ist in ihrem Kern auf Dialog auslegt, sei es mit anderen Disziplinen, Religionen oder der Gesellschaft. OER und OEP fördern diese Lehr- und Lernkultur, in der Menschen miteinander in Beziehung treten, Wissen teilen und sich gegenseitig inspirieren können. Dies entspricht nicht nur dem Kerngedanken der Third Mission, sondern auch der theologischen Grundhaltung, dass Erkenntnis vor allem im Dialog wächst.

Fürchtet euch nicht! Gehet hinaus und teilet!

Offene Bildungsressourcen bieten zwar viele Chancen, doch ihre Nutzung bringt auch Herausforderungen und gewisse Ängste mit sich. In Fachgesprächen und Interviews wird deutlich, dass die Idee von OER zwar sympathisch ist, aber auch Bedenken hervorruft. Das größte Hindernis sind rechtliche Unsicherheiten, insbesondere bei der Verwendung von Bildern, Musiksequenzen oder auch Texten Dritter. Die Klärung dieser Fragen ist oft zeitaufwendig und erfordert etwas Lust, sich reinzudenken. Es gibt auch Anlaufstellen, an die man sich bei konkreten Fragen wenden kann, z.B. bei OERInfo; Irights; Twillo oder ORCA.nrw. Bei eigenen Forschungsergebnissen oder selbst erstelltem Material, sind diese Bedenken hingegen weniger relevant. Zudem muss nicht sofort alles als OER veröffentlicht werden. Ein schrittweiser Einstieg mit einzelnen Elementen kann bereits einen Beitrag leisten. Je mehr offen lizenzierte Inhalte existieren, desto leichter wird es, rechtssichere OER zu erstellen. Ein weiteres häufig geäußertes Bedenken ist der potenzielle Missbrauch von offenem Material. Die Möglichkeit zur Bearbeitung oder Neuzusammenstellung birgt das Risiko von Verfremdungen oder Verfälschungen. Doch Erfahrung mit OER-Communities zeigen, dass die Inhalte meist verantwortungsvoll genutzt werden. Zudem kann eine vollständige Kontrolle über die Verwendung von Wissen nie gewährleistet werden. Dies gilt nicht nur für OER, sondern für alle öffentlichen Inhalte.

Theologie sollte nicht hinter verschlossenen Türen stattfinden, sondern im offenen Austausch mit der Gesellschaft. OER bieten die Chance, theologisches Wissen zugänglich zu machen und neu mit der Gesellschaft in Diskurs zu treten. Theologie-Treiben sollte kein einseitiger Prozess sein, sondern ein gemeinsames Lernen, Wagen und Gestalten. Dabei spielt auch der Gedanke der Freigiebigkeit eine Rolle: Bildung sollte geteilt, verbreitet und möglichst vielen Menschen zugänglich gemacht werden. OER können ein neuer Impuls sein, um Barrieren zu überwinden und theologische Erkenntnisse mit der Lebenswelt der Menschen zu verbinden.

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

Will not live in a pod.
Will not eat the bugs.
Will not get the chip.
Will not get a blue check.
Will not use CBDCs.

Live Free or Die.

Why did Elon buy twitter for $44 Billion? What value does he see in it besides the greater influence that undoubtedly comes with controlling one of the largest social platforms in the world? We do not need to speculate - he made his intentions incredibly clear in his first meeting with twitter employees after his takeover - WeChat of the West.

To those that do not appreciate freedom, the value prop is clear - WeChat is incredibly powerful and successful in China.

To those that do appreciate freedom, the concern is clear - WeChat has essentially become required to live in China, has surveillance and censorship integrated at its core, and if you are banned from the app your entire livelihood is at risk. Employment, housing, payments, travel, communication, and more become extremely difficult if WeChat censors determine you have acted out of line.

The blue check is the first step in Elon's plan to bring the chinese social credit score system to the west. Users who verify their identity are rewarded with more reach and better tools than those that do not. Verified users are the main product of Elon's twitter - an extensive database of individuals and complete control of the tools he will slowly get them to rely on - it is easier to monetize cattle than free men.

If you cannot resist the temptation of the blue check in its current form you have already lost - what comes next will be much darker. If you realize the need to resist - freedom tech provides us options.

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

@ 2c564b98:5c6444b0

Welcome to Nostr: A Decentralized Future

Nostr (Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays) is a simple, open protocol that enables global, decentralized, and censorship-resistant social media.

Why Nostr?

Traditional social media platforms have several problems:

1. Centralized Control - A single company controls your data
2. Censorship - Content can be removed at will
3. Data Lock-in - Hard to move your social graph

Nostr solves these problems through:

• Decentralization - No single point of control
• Cryptographic Signatures - You own your identity
• Relay Network - Multiple servers ensure availability

How It Works

javascript // Simple example of creating a Nostr event const event = { kind: 1, // Text note content: "Hello, Nostr!", tags: [], created_at: Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000) };

Getting Started

To start using Nostr:

1. Generate your keys (public/private keypair)
2. Choose a client (web, mobile, or desktop)
3. Connect to relays
4. Start publishing!

Long-Form Content on Nostr

This post itself is an example of long-form content on Nostr, using:

• NIP-23 standard for long-form content
• Markdown formatting for rich text
• Metadata for better organization

Join the Revolution

Nostr represents a fundamental shift in how we think about social media and online identity. By giving users control over their data and identity, it creates a more open and resilient internet.

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This post was published using nostr-publisher - a simple tool for publishing long-form content to Nostr.

@ 2c564b98:5c6444b0

My First Nostr Long-Form Post

This is a test of long-form content publishing on Nostr using the NIP-23 standard.

What is Nostr?

Nostr is a simple, open protocol that enables global, decentralized, and censorship-resistant social media.

Features of This Post

• Written in Markdown
• Tagged appropriately
• Includes metadata
• Published to multiple relays

Code Example

javascript console.log("Hello, Nostr!");

Conclusion

This demonstrates how easy it is to publish long-form content to Nostr!

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Published using nostr-publisher

@ 6a14b203:2e99b880

My First Nostr Long-Form Post

This is a test of long-form content publishing on Nostr using the NIP-23 standard.

What is Nostr?

Nostr is a simple, open protocol that enables global, decentralized, and censorship-resistant social media.

Features of This Post

• Written in Markdown
• Tagged appropriately
• Includes metadata
• Published to multiple relays

Code Example

javascript console.log("Hello, Nostr!");

Conclusion

This demonstrates how easy it is to publish long-form content to Nostr!

---

Published using nostr-publisher

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

— ODELL (@ODELL) December 14, 2022

Good morning.

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

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

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

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

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

@ 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

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

@ 88cc134b:5ae99079

small test

@ ecda4328:1278f072

⚡ TL;DR: Bitcoin Core is removing the 80-byte OP_RETURN relay limit — a policy, not consensus, change. It aligns with how miners already behave, but reduces node configurability.

Relay policy is policy — and what nodes don’t forward rarely gets mined. Spam resistance should come from fees and filters, not hardcoded caps.

Bitcoin runs on rules, not rulers. Let the market and nodes decide — not just Core.

Intro (for non-techies)

Bitcoin Core plans to remove a size limit on data stored in special transactions called OP_RETURN, but this is a policy change, not a consensus change.

What is OP_RETURN?

• OP_RETURN is a Bitcoin script opcode introduced in 2014 (Bitcoin Core 0.9.0) to allow small amounts of arbitrary data to be embedded in transactions.
• Crucially, it creates provably unspendable outputs, preventing UTXO set pollution.
• A default policy limit of 80 bytes was added to discourage non-payment data usage while still allowing basic use cases (e.g., hashes, commitments).

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Historical Context: Why OP_RETURN Was Introduced (Bitcoin Core 0.9, March 2014)

When OP_RETURN was introduced in Bitcoin Core 0.9, it was not meant to encourage data storage on-chain. Instead, it was a harm-reduction feature:

“This change is not an endorsement of storing data in the blockchain. The OP_RETURN change creates a provably-prunable output, to avoid data storage schemes — some of which were already deployed — that were storing arbitrary data such as images as forever-unspendable TX outputs, bloating Bitcoin’s UTXO database.”

— Bitcoin Core 0.9 Release Notes (March 2014)

Before OP_RETURN, users were already embedding data in fake outputs, which polluted the UTXO set (the set of unspent coins all full nodes track in memory).

OP_RETURN allowed data to be embedded in a provably unspendable output, which:

• Makes the output prunable, improving node performance

• Avoids permanently bloating the UTXO set

• Encouraged safer practices while still discouraging large-scale non-financial data storage

The 80-byte cap was a policy deterrent, not a consensus limit — large OP_RETURNs were discouraged, not invalid.

🔹 What does that mean?

• The fundamental rules of Bitcoin — like the 4 MB block size limit — are not changing.
• This change only affects how the Bitcoin Core software relays certain types of data transactions, not what it considers valid in a block.

🔹 What is changing?

• Bitcoin Core will stop enforcing an 80-byte size limit on OP_RETURN data, allowing larger metadata transactions to be shared between nodes.
• Miners already include such transactions using custom policy settings.

---

🧘‍♂️ Why Bitcoiners Don’t Need to Panic

• ✅ No risk of a chain split: This doesn’t touch Bitcoin’s consensus rules — everyone still agrees on what makes a valid block.
• ✅ Block size stays the same (\~4 MB): This ensures that blockchain growth remains limited and sustainable.
• ✅ Alternative options exist: If you prefer the old limits, you can run Bitcoin Knots, which still enforces them.

Bottom line:

This is a software configuration change, not a change to Bitcoin’s fundamental rules. If you're using Bitcoin to store value or make payments, nothing about that has changed.
Bitcoin still enforces a ~100k virtual byte (kvB) standardness limit for most transactions (equivalent to 400,000 weight units), which helps mitigate spam and DoS attacks. For witness-heavy transactions, this can approach ~400kB in serialized size.

---

Common Uses of OP_RETURN

• Timestamping documents
• Cross-chain anchoring (e.g., merge-mined sidechains)
• Asset issuance (e.g., Omni/Tether)
• Notarization and digital certificates
• Commitment schemes for external protocols (e.g., Citrea)

Note: Ordinal inscriptions and Stamps use witness data or fake outputs, not OP_RETURN.

---

The Change (PR #32359)

• Bitcoin Core developers proposed removing the 80-byte OP_RETURN size cap.
• The change also deprecates the -datacarrier and -datacarriersize options, with removal planned in future versions. This reflects an effort to consolidate node behavior and improve interoperability, though it reduces user-configurable relay control.
• Larger OP_RETURN transactions would now be relayed and mined by default.

---

Why Remove the Limit? (Arguments For)

1. The cap is ineffective: Easily bypassed via:

2. Multi-output/multisig scripts

3. Witness data
4. Private miner APIs (e.g., MARA Slipstream)
5. Perverse incentives: Drives users to harmful alternatives that pollute the UTXO set.
6. Cleaner data: Encourages proper use of OP_RETURN rather than misusing spendable outputs. OP_RETURN outputs are prunable and do not enter the UTXO set — this is the cleanest way to embed data without long-term storage burdens.
7. Aligns with mining reality: Miners already include larger OP_RETURN transactions if their policies allow it.
8. Fee market is sufficient: Block size (4MB) + fee pressure limits abuse naturally.
9. Improves relay consistency: Nodes and miners share policy, improving block propagation and mempool estimation. While standardness rules don't prevent non-standard transactions from being mined, they raise the cost, delay inclusion, and reduce miner incentives — effectively discouraging misuse.
10. Reduces miner centralization: Some argue removing the limit spreads fee opportunities more evenly across miners. Others caution it may disadvantage miners who choose not to include such transactions — potentially reducing diversity. (i.e. purist miners (e.g., Ocean) may become less competitive if spam volume and revenue increases.)
11. Improves block relay performance: Removing artificial limits leads to fewer compact block reconstruction failures, reducing latency and making the network more resilient.
12. Enables better metaprotocol support: Clean OP_RETURN usage helps future protocols (e.g. Citrea, tokens, cross-chain anchoring) embed structured data safely without abusing spendable outputs.

---

Why Oppose the Change? (Arguments Against)

1. Encourages non-monetary use: Seen as shifting Bitcoin toward data storage.
2. Spam and bloat: Fear of more data-heavy protocols (e.g., inscriptions, stamps, NFTs) and “junk” data.
3. Undermines Bitcoin’s monetary purpose: Viewed as deviating from “sound money” principles.

   Some argue that Bitcoin should remain minimal, focusing solely on censorship-resistant money — not general-purpose data storage.

4. Governance concerns:

5. Allegations of irregular PR handling

6. Claims of GitHub bans and manipulation

7. Some have noted that the change was poorly communicated — the initial feedback round may have been missed by the wider community, causing tension once the PR was submitted more formally.

8. Community dissent: Change was pushed despite vocal opposition from notable Bitcoiners and developers.

Note: “Inscriptions” technically refer to a specific Tapscript pattern used in Ordinals. Other methods like Stamps use different — and often more harmful — techniques.

Why this matters: Stamps are more harmful than inscriptions or OP_RETURN because they trick the network into storing data as if it were real, spendable bitcoin — permanently bloating the UTXO set, increasing node costs, and degrading performance

1. Weakens mempool-level spam resistance: Critics argue that filters play a vital role in making spam expensive and harder to propagate. Without such deterrents, spammers can bypass node filtering entirely via direct submission services (e.g., MARA Slipstream), further empowering large mining pools.

While miners are free to include any valid transaction in blocks, network-wide filters still raise the cost of abuse and protect the mempool from being flooded — as noted by Matt Hill (Start9): “Filters can’t stop every attack, but they deter most and raise the cost of success. We should be adding filters, not removing them. All filters should be configurable. Power to the nodes.”

---

The Role of Configuration Options

• Previously, miners could set:

• -datacarrier=1 to allow OP_RETURN

• -datacarriersize=X to raise the limit
• Many private miners already raised these limits and mine such transactions.
• Deprecating user-level control (e.g., -datacarrier, -datacarriersize) has sparked concerns about diminishing node sovereignty — even if such options had little practical impact in today's mining landscape.

---

Policy vs. Consensus: Why the 80-Byte Limit Causes Relay Inconsistency

• The OP_RETURN size limit is a policy rule—not a consensus rule.
• Miners/nodes can already mine/accept large OP_RETURN txs, and all nodes must still accept blocks containing them if they are valid under consensus rules (block size < 4MB).
• This causes inconsistency between what gets relayed and what gets mined.

Today, many nodes won’t relay OP_RETURN transactions over 80 bytes, while miners using custom settings may still mine them. This creates an inconsistency: transactions not visible to most of the network can still end up in blocks. Removing the limit aligns what nodes relay with what miners accept, making mempools more consistent, block propagation faster, and fee estimates more reliable.

Some argue that removing the OP_RETURN cap weakens Bitcoin's built-in spam defenses. As Luke Dashjr noted, spam filters work collectively and are distinct from censorship — a block can always include any valid tx, but mempool filters help keep spam out before it gets that far.

Only ~30 non-standard OP_RETURN transactions have been mined out of 7 million in 2024, showing that standardness rules were a strong deterrent in practice.

---

Bitcoin Knots: A Protest Client

Bitcoin Knots (maintained by Luke Dashjr) retains the old 80-byte policy by default — in fact, it sets an even stricter default of 40 bytes for -datacarriersize. After the PR surfaced, some users switched to Knots as a protest.

According to Matthew R. Kratter, Bitcoin Knots briefly surpassed Core 29.0 in node count during early 2025 — but this spike appears to have been driven more by timing mismatches between release cycles and a coordinated protest campaign, rather than a durable shift in user adoption. In fact, most Bitcoin nodes today still run older versions of Core. As of May 2025, Core 28.1.0 alone accounts for over 21% of nodes, while Core 29.0.0 sits below 6%, and Knots 20250305 trails at just over 6% — suggesting that the majority of the network remains on pre-29 Core versions rather than switching to Knots en masse.

---

Implications

• Bitcoin Governance: Highlights tension over who steers Bitcoin—developers, miners, users?
• Network Fragmentation: Policy divergence leads to inconsistent mempool contents and complicates block propagation across nodes.
• Market-driven moderation: Supporters argue fee markets, not hard-coded caps, should regulate block usage.
• User Sovereignty: Running alternative clients (like Knots) is a check against centralization of development control.

---

Final Thoughts

This debate isn’t just about a technical tweak — it cuts to the heart of Bitcoin’s design: what it is for, who controls it, and how we preserve its neutrality: What is Bitcoin for? Who decides how it evolves? And how do we protect user sovereignty?

Removing the OP_RETURN limit appears to be a technically sound cleanup that brings Core’s policy in line with how miners already operate. It improves relay consistency and encourages clean, prunable data over harmful workarounds. But it also reduces node configurability by deprecating -datacarriersize, and introduces new tradeoffs around block space usage, fee pressure, and miner incentives.

What nodes don’t relay rarely gets mined — and that’s why relay policy is policy.

While blocks are still capped at 4 MiB and consensus remains unchanged, this change underscores a deeper truth: Bitcoin's integrity depends not just on code correctness, but on who gets to shape that code and how.

If miners continue favoring pay-to-prioritize services (e.g., MARA Slipstream) over standard mempool flows, the removal of the cap may not reduce centralization as hoped. Instead, it may highlight the incentive distortions created by mining pool dominance — a more urgent challenge than OP_RETURN usage itself.

As Matthew Kratter noted:

“It's not that spam filters caused mining pool centralization — it's the reverse. Centralized pools make spam profitable.”

Ultimately, Bitcoiners must wrestle with the root problem: How do we decentralize transaction selection in a world where relay policy, miner behavior, and mempool visibility are increasingly shaped by a handful of large actors?

The answer isn’t to freeze innovation or block all non-monetary use. It’s to protect choice.

👉 Run your own full node. Customize your policy. Choose your client. This is where Bitcoin's sovereignty lies — and where its future will be decided.

---

Refs

• PR: Remove arbitrary limits on OP_Return (datacarrier) outputs #32359
• mailing list: Relax OP_RETURN standardness restrictions
• youtube: Bitcoin Core Removes The Mask - by Matthew R. Kratter
• gist: Retiring the 80-Byte OP_RETURN Limit
• Bitcoin Knots
• PR: Deprecate datacarrier options without removing them #32406
• Q&A Compilation on OP_RETURN Policy Change (Stacker News) — curated answers to common concerns and misconceptions from the community debate
• youtube: Bitcoin Spam and Mining Pool Centralization - by Matthew R. Kratter

---

🙏 Acknowledgements

Special thanks to @hodlinator for insightful and technically grounded feedback on:

• The distinction between policy vs. consensus rules
• Correcting OP_RETURN use case misconceptions (e.g., RSK, Lightning, inscriptions)
• Emphasizing the ongoing role of transaction size limits for DoS mitigation
• Clarifying miner centralization risks and block propagation realities
• Improving phrasing around metaprotocols and node impact

Thanks also to ShiShi21m for surfacing the historical context from Bitcoin Core 0.9 — highlighting that OP_RETURN was originally introduced as a harm-reduction measure, not an endorsement of on-chain data storage.

Thanks to @murchandamus for technical corrections on Bitcoin Knots defaults and transaction size limits.

Additional thanks to all those who participated in the discussion — including critics — whose questions and objections helped clarify and refine key points.A detailed breakdown of the recent debate around Bitcoin Core’s proposed policy change to OP_RETURN — and why it’s less dramatic than some fear.

---

TL;DR

Removing the 80-byte OP_RETURN limit is a mempool policy cleanup, not a consensus rule change. It reduces UTXO bloat, improves relay consistency, and doesn’t affect Bitcoin’s monetary properties or block size limits.

---

What Is OP_RETURN?

OP_RETURN is a Bitcoin script opcode introduced in 2014 (Bitcoin Core 0.9.0) to allow small amounts of arbitrary data to be embedded in transactions. Crucially, it creates provably unspendable outputs, preventing UTXO set pollution.

A default policy limit of 80 bytes was added to discourage non-payment data usage while still allowing basic use cases (e.g., hashes, commitments).

---

Why Was OP_RETURN Added? (Bitcoin Core 0.9, March 2014)

When OP_RETURN was introduced, it wasn’t to promote on-chain data — it was a harm-reduction tool:

“This change is not an endorsement of storing data in the blockchain... [It] creates a provably-prunable output, to avoid data storage schemes... storing arbitrary data... bloating Bitcoin’s UTXO database.” — Bitcoin Core 0.9 Release Notes

Before that, users embedded data in fake outputs, bloating the UTXO set and degrading node performance.

OP_RETURN made those outputs prunable and cleaner, though it imposed an 80-byte policy cap — not a consensus rule.

---

What’s Actually Changing?

Bitcoin Core PR #32359 proposes:

• Removing the 80-byte policy limit on OP_RETURN data
• Removing the -datacarrier and -datacarriersize configuration options
• Default behavior will now relay (and mine) larger OP_RETURNs

⚠️ This is not a consensus change. Blocks stay limited to \~4MB. No rules about block validity are altered.

---

Why It’s Not a Big Deal

• ✅ Consensus stays the same: No risk of chain splits
• ✅ Block size stays capped (\~4MB)
• ✅ You can still run Bitcoin Knots if you prefer stricter policies
• ✅ Transaction size limit (\~100KB) remains for DoS protection

Bottom line: This is a configuration tweak to improve consistency between nodes and miners.

---

Common Uses of OP_RETURN

• Timestamping
• Cross-chain anchoring (e.g., merge-mined sidechains)
• Asset issuance (e.g., Omni/Tether)
• Notarization and commitments
• Metadata for protocols like Citrea

📝 In contrast, Ordinal inscriptions use witness data; Stamps use fake outputs — not OP_RETURN.

---

Arguments For Removing the Limit

1. The limit is ineffective — easily bypassed via witness/multisig/fake outputs
2. Cleaner data paths — prevents UTXO bloat from “Stamp”-style tricks
3. Reflects mining reality — miners already include these transactions
4. Improves relay/mempool consistency
5. Avoids centralization risks — removes miner advantages from custom policies
6. Enables metaprotocols — safely embed structured metadata without abusing Bitcoin’s core design

---

Arguments Against Removing the Limit

1. Risk of encouraging non-monetary use
2. Fears of "spam" or NFT-like inscriptions
3. Concerns over governance process
4. Perceived erosion of Bitcoin’s monetary purity

🧠 Note: The 80-byte cap was policy, not consensus. Removing it doesn’t allow anything that wasn’t already valid on-chain.

---

Policy vs. Consensus

• Policy rules affect relay and mempool behavior
• Consensus rules affect what blocks are considered valid

Large OP_RETURNs are already valid. The inconsistency is that many nodes don’t relay them, while miners do include them. This change aligns relay with mining, improving propagation and fee estimation.

---

Bitcoin Knots: A Protest Client

Bitcoin Knots (maintained by Luke Dashjr) retains the old 80-byte policy. After the PR surfaced, some users switched to Knots as a protest.

According to Matthew R. Kratter, Bitcoin Knots briefly surpassed Core 29.0 in node count during early 2025 — but this spike appears to have been driven more by timing mismatches between release cycles and a coordinated protest campaign, rather than a durable shift in user adoption. In fact, most Bitcoin nodes today still run older versions of Core. As of May 2025, Core 28.1.0 alone accounts for over 21% of nodes, while Core 29.0.0 sits below 6%, and Knots 20250305 trails at just over 6% — suggesting that the majority of the network remains on pre-29 Core versions rather than switching to Knots en masse.

---

Broader Implications

• 🛠️ Highlights tensions between devs, miners, and users over governance
• 🧭 Shows how non-consensus rules can impact perceived neutrality
• 🧪 Sparks renewed focus on tooling (e.g., ASMap, better banlists, relay filtering)
• 🔐 Reaffirms user sovereignty through client diversity

---

Final Thoughts

Removing the OP_RETURN limit aligns Bitcoin Core’s policy with reality — what’s already getting mined — while cleaning up harmful workarounds.

It won’t break Bitcoin.

But it does surface deeper tensions about Bitcoin’s purpose, evolution, and who ultimately decides what gets built and accepted.

---

References

• PR: Remove arbitrary limits on OP_RETURN #32359
• PR: Deprecate datacarrier options #32406
• Mailing list: Relax OP_RETURN standardness restrictions
• Gist with full community discussion
• Bitcoin Knots
• Kratter video: Bitcoin Core Removes the Mask

---

🙏 Acknowledgements

Thanks to @hodlinator, ShiShi21m, and many others in the community for their thoughtful insights, corrections, and spirited discussion.

---

Based on the original GitHub Gist: Bitcoin OP_RETURN Controversy: Complete Summary

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

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

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

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

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) June 12, 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@ 8bad92c3:ca714aa5

Key Takeaways

Michael Goldstein, aka Bitstein, presents a sweeping philosophical and economic case for going “all in” on Bitcoin, arguing that unlike fiat, which distorts capital formation and fuels short-term thinking, Bitcoin fosters low time preference, meaningful saving, and long-term societal flourishing. At the heart of his thesis is “hodling for good”—a triple-layered idea encompassing permanence, purpose, and the pursuit of higher values like truth, beauty, and legacy. Drawing on thinkers like Aristotle, Hoppe, and Josef Pieper, Goldstein redefines leisure as contemplation, a vital practice in aligning capital with one’s deepest ideals. He urges Bitcoiners to think beyond mere wealth accumulation and consider how their sats can fund enduring institutions, art, and architecture that reflect a moral vision of the future.

Best Quotes

“Let BlackRock buy the houses, and you keep the sats.”

“We're not hodling just for the sake of hodling. There is a purpose to it.”

“Fiat money shortens your time horizon… you can never rest.”

“Savings precedes capital accumulation. You can’t build unless you’ve saved.”

“You're increasing the marginal value of everyone else’s Bitcoin.”

“True leisure is contemplation—the pursuit of the highest good.”

“What is Bitcoin for if not to make the conditions for magnificent acts of creation possible?”

“Bitcoin itself will last forever. Your stack might not. What will outlast your coins?”

“Only a whale can be magnificent.”

“The market will sell you all the crack you want. It’s up to you to demand beauty.”

Conclusion

This episode is a call to reimagine Bitcoin as more than a financial revolution—it’s a blueprint for civilizational renewal. Michael Goldstein reframes hodling as an act of moral stewardship, urging Bitcoiners to lower their time preference, build lasting institutions, and pursue truth, beauty, and legacy—not to escape the world, but to rebuild it on sound foundations.

Timestamps

00:00 - Intro
00:50 - Michael’s BBB presentation Hodl for Good
07:27 - Austrian principles on capital
15:40 - Fiat distorts the economic process
23:34 - Bitkey
24:29 - Hodl for Good triple entendre
29:52 - Bitcoin benefits everyone
39:05 - Unchained
40:14 - Leisure theory of value
52:15 - Heightening life
1:15:48 - Breaking from the chase makes room for magnificence
1:32:32 - Nakamoto Institute’s mission

Transcript

(00:00) Fiat money is by its nature a disturbance. If money is being continually produced, especially at an uncertain rate, these uh policies are really just redistribution of wealth. Most are looking for number to go up post hyper bitcoinization. The rate of growth of bitcoin would be more reflective of the growth of the economy as a whole.
(00:23) Ultimately, capital requires knowledge because it requires knowing there is something that you can add to the structures of production to lengthen it in some way that will take time but allow you to have more in the future than you would today. Let Black Rockck buy the houses and you keep the sats, not the other way around.
(00:41) You wait until later for Larry Frink to try to sell you a [Music] mansion. And we're live just like that. Just like that. 3:30 on a Friday, Memorial Day weekend. It's a good good good way to end the week and start the holiday weekend. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Thank you for having me here. Thank you for coming. I wore this hat specifically because I think it's I think it's very apppropo uh to the conversation we're going to have which is I hope an extension of the presentation you gave at Bitblock Boom Huddle for good. You were working on
(01:24) that for many weeks leading up to uh the conference and explaining how you were structuring it. I think it's a very important topic to discuss now as the Bitcoin price is hitting new all-time highs and people are trying to understand what am I doing with Bitcoin? Like you have you have the different sort of factions within Bitcoin.
(01:47) Uh get on a Bitcoin standard, get on zero, spend as much Bitcoin as possible. You have the sailors of the world are saying buy Bitcoin, never sell, die with your Bitcoin. And I think you do a really good job in that presentation. And I just think your understanding overall of Bitcoin is incredible to put everything into context. It's not either or.
(02:07) It really depends on what you want to accomplish. Yeah, it's definitely there there is no actual one-sizefits-all um for I mean nearly anything in this world. So um yeah, I mean first of all I mean there was it was the first conference talk I had given in maybe five years. I think the one prior to that uh was um bit block boom 2019 which was my meme talk which uh has uh become infamous and notorious.
(02:43) So uh there was also a lot of like high expectations uh you know rockstar dev uh has has treated that you know uh that that talk with a lot of reference. a lot of people have enjoyed it and he was expecting this one to be, you know, the greatest one ever, which is a little bit of a little bit of a uh a burden to live up to those kinds of standards.
(03:08) Um, but you know, because I don't give a lot of talks. Um, you know, I I I like to uh try to bring ideas that might even be ideas that are common. So, something like hodling, we all talk about it constantly. uh but try to bring it from a little bit of a different angle and try to give um a little bit of uh new light to it.
(03:31) I alsove I've I've always enjoyed kind of coming at things from a third angle. Um whenever there's, you know, there's there's all these little debates that we have in in Bitcoin and sometimes it's nice to try to uh step out of it and look at it a little more uh kind of objectively and find ways of understanding it that incorporate the truths of of all of them.
(03:58) uh you know cuz I think we should always be kind of as much as possible after ultimate truth. Um so with this one um yeah I was kind of finding that that sort of golden mean. So uh um yeah and I actually I think about that a lot is uh you know Aristotle has his his concept of the golden mean. So it's like any any virtue is sort of between two vices um because you can you can always you can always take something too far.
(04:27) So you're you're always trying to find that right balance. Um so someone who is uh courageous you know uh one of the vices uh on one side is being basically reckless. I I can't remember what word he would use. Uh but effectively being reckless and just wanting to put yourself in danger for no other reason than just you know the thrill of it.
(04:50) Um and then on the other side you would just have cowardice which is like you're unwilling to put yourself um at any risk at any time. Um, and courage is right there in the middle where it's understanding when is the right time uh to put your put yourself, you know, in in the face of danger um and take it on. And so um in some sense this this was kind of me uh in in some ways like I'm obviously a partisan of hodling.
(05:20) Um, I've for, you know, a long time now talked about the, um, why huddling is good, why people do it, why we should expect it. Um, but still trying to find that that sort of golden mean of like yes, huddle, but also what are we hodling for? And it's not we're we're not hodddling just merely for the sake of hodddling.
(05:45) There there is a a purpose to it. And we should think about that. And that would also help us think more about um what are the benefits of of spending, when should we spend, why should we spend, what should we spend on um to actually give light to that sort of side of the debate. Um so that was that was what I was kind of trying to trying to get into.
(06:09) Um, as well as also just uh at the same time despite all the talk of hodling, there's always this perennial uh there's always this perennial dislike of hodlers because we're treated as uh as if um we're just free riding the network or we're just greedy or you know any of these things. And I wanted to show how uh huddling does serve a real economic purpose.
(06:36) Um, and it does benefit the individual, but it also does uh it it has actual real social um benefits as well beyond merely the individual. Um, so I wanted to give that sort of defense of hodling as well to look at it from um a a broader position than just merely I'm trying to get rich. Um uh because even the person who uh that is all they want to do um just like you know your your pure number grow up go up moonboy even that behavior has positive ramifications on on the economy.
(07:14) And while we might look at them and have uh judgments about their particular choices for them as an individual, we shouldn't discount that uh their actions are having positive positive effects for the rest of the economy. Yeah. So, let's dive into that just not even in the context of Bitcoin because I think you did a great job of this in the presentation.
(07:36) just you've done a good job of this consistently throughout the years that I've known you. Just from like a first principles Austrian economics perspective, what is the idea around capital accumulation, low time preference and deployment of that capital like what what like getting getting into like the nitty-gritty and then applying it to Bitcoin? Yeah, it's it's a big question and um in many ways I mean I I even I barely scratched the surface.
(08:05) uh I I can't claim to have read uh all the volumes of Bombber works, you know, capital and interest and and stuff like that. Um but I think there's some some sort of basic concepts that we can look at that we can uh draw a lot out. Um the first uh I guess let's write that. So repeat so like capital time preference. Yeah. Well, I guess getting more broad like why sav

@ 70c48e4b:00ce3ccb

Hello all :)

Something pretty exciting just happened in the world of decentralized tech.

A new social network project called Nostria successfully wrapped up its pre-seed funding round. It raised the funds through Angor, a crowdfunding platform built on Bitcoin and Nostr that aligns perfectly with the project’s decentralized mission.This post is all about what Nostria is doing, why it matters, and how Angor made it all possible.

What is Nostria?

nostr:npub16x7nxvehx0wvgy0sa6ynkw9c2ghuph3z0ll5t8veq3xwm8n9tqds6ka44x is a social network app that’s built to make the Nostr protocol easy to use. If you're not familiar with Nostr, it's an open protocol for decentralized social networking. It gives users more control and privacy, without relying on big platforms.

Nostria makes all that feel less like a tech experiment and more like a real social network. The app is simple, elegant, and beginner-friendly. It is available across iOS, Android, and web so you can jump in from anywhere.

Think of it as the easiest way to start using Nostr without needing to understand all the technical stuff under the hood.

https://www.nostria.app/assets/screenshots/nostria-01.jpg

The Problem Nostria is Solving:

One of the challenges Nostr faces right now is scaling. The network relies on relays to pass messages around, but many of these are centralized and getting overloaded. That creates serious bottlenecks and makes the whole experience less reliable. Just to give you an idea:

• Damus relay has around 646,000 users
• Nos relay has 601,000 users
• Snort sits at 417,000 users

When so many users depend on just a few relays, it puts a huge strain on the system and limits how far the network can grow.

Nostria’s Clever Fix

Nostria introduces a smarter way to scale Nostr without losing its decentralized core. Instead of relying on a few overloaded relays, it uses:

• Regionally deployed Discovery Relays – Think of these as local hubs placed in different parts of the world. When users connect, they are matched with a nearby relay, which keeps things faster and spreads the traffic out so no single relay gets overwhelmed.

• Pooled User Relays – Instead of each person depending on just one relay, users are connected through a shared pool. This means messages are sent and received more efficiently, especially when more people join the network.

All of this happens behind the scenes. The app keeps things simple and intuitive, with automation that handles the complexity for you. Whether you're posting, reading, or connecting with others, the experience stays smooth.

Nostria has bold ambitions. Here’s what they’re going for:

• A goal of 1 million daily active users
• Competing with platforms like Bluesky, Mastodon, and even X (formerly Twitter)
• A long-term plan to support both free and premium services to drive adoption

As of now, the Nostr network as a whole has:

• 15,000 daily active users
• 42.7 million total users
• 552 million total events

So the market is already there. It just needs the right tools to grow.

https://www.nostria.app/assets/screenshots/nostria-02.jpg

Meet the Team

Nostria is led by nostr:npub1zl3g38a6qypp6py2z07shggg45cu8qex992xpss7d8zrl28mu52s4cjajh, a software engineer with deep experience in distributed systems. He has been involved with the Nostr protocol since its early days in 2021 and is deeply passionate about decentralization and open-source tech.

https://www.nostria.app/assets/team/sondre.jpg

He’s joined by nostr:npub1e0krp2gr3l5nfd2jw2cydh68adxjpmcqdhs2e0jxkrqd4crwt4dslwrk0k, a thoughtful full-stack developer focused on simplicity and sovereignty, and nostr:npub10c4sn723akd7fqegfe6xntpq43p86vnyvv7j2ryaq8jzvhyea4pq72c5ul, a junior dev who’s already contributed to open source and is finishing up her studies.

https://www.nostria.app/assets/team/kosta.jpg https://www.nostria.app/assets/team/lu.jpg

The Funding Round

To bring Nostria to life, the team aimed to raise $30,000 during their pre-seed round. This funding would help them:

• Complete their MVP (Minimum Viable Product)
• Deploy global infrastructure
• Start building their user base
• Get ready for a full Seed round in late 2025

How Angor Helped?

Angor is a decentralized crowdfunding platform built on Bitcoin and the Nostr protocol. It’s designed exactly for projects like this. The team at Nostria launched their campaign on Angor between May 12 and May 31, and it was a success.

What made the campaign stand out?

1. The whole process was decentralized and transparent.
2. Backers could fund the project directly, without intermediaries.
3. Nostria aligned perfectly with Angor’s vision of empowering projects that push decentralization forward.

The campaign served as both a fundraiser and a real-world example of how decentralized infrastructure can power decentralized ideas. And it worked.

Inside the Funding Terms

As part of this funding round, Nostria offered contributors a post-money SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity). This is a modern, flexible way for startups to raise money early without the complexity of traditional equity rounds.

In simple terms:

•Investors contributed funds now, and in return, they will receive equity in Nostria during a future priced equity round. When Nostria raises its next round, most likely a Seed round, then those SAFE contributions will convert into actual shares.

•The SAFE includes a valuation cap, which sets a maximum company valuation for conversion. This guarantees that early backers receive shares at a better rate than future investors. While the exact cap isn't publicly listed, this feature ensures early supporters are rewarded for their trust.

•There is no interest or maturity date, which is a major benefit over traditional convertible notes. There’s no ticking clock or repayment obligation. Investors simply wait until the next funding event.

•The SAFE also features a Most Favored Nation (MFN) clause. This ensures that if the company issues another SAFE later with better terms, early investors will automatically receive the same improved terms. It’s designed to keep things transparent and equitable.

•Jurisdiction and legal terms: While the full legal text isn’t included in the note, SAFEs typically specify the legal jurisdiction governing the agreement. Nostria’s approach suggests a commitment to following standard legal frameworks, further underlining their seriousness and professionalism.

You can read Nostria’s public SAFE summary here: nostr:npub16x7nxvehx0wvgy0sa6ynkw9c2ghuph3z0ll5t8veq3xwm8n9tqds6ka44x

And you can view the full campaign hosted on Angor here: https://hub.angor.io/project/angor1qwdgxjuzhjykgpn5q8p3l2q9vyrgqdlrkfp5sjr

By sharing these details openly, the team added a strong layer of transparency and trust to the entire campaign. It is a clear signal that they are building something serious and thoughtful, with long-term commitment and care instead of shortcuts.

What’s Next?

With the funding secured, Nostria is sprinting ahead. The roadmap includes:

• June: Deploying media and relay servers
• July: Adding premium features and full cross-platform support
• August: Growing the user base and preparing for the next funding round

If all goes well, Nostria is on track to become one of the most accessible and user-friendly Nostr based platforms out there. With a clear roadmap and a team focused on long-term decentralization, the journey is just getting started...

Got an idea of your own? You can launch your project on Angor, just like Nostria did, and start your own funding round with the support of a like-minded community.

Thanks for reading. See y’all next week with another story from the world of open, decentralized innovation. Ciao

@ 8bad92c3:ca714aa5

Marty's Bent

Sup, freaks? Your Uncle Marty did a little vibe coding a couple months ago and that vibe coding project has turned into an actual product that is live in the Google Chrome web store and will soon to be live in the Firefox add-on store as well. It's called Opportunity Cost and it is an extension that enables you to price the internet in Bitcoin.

[

Opportunity Cost – See Prices in Bitcoin Instantly

Convert USD prices to Bitcoin (satoshis) as you browse. Dual display, privacy-first, and open source.

Opportunity CostTFTC

](https://www.opportunitycost.app/?ref=tftc.io)

Check it out!

This whole process has been extremely rewarding to me for many reasons. The first of which is that I've had many ideas in the past to launch a product focused on bitcoin education that simply never left my brain because I never felt comfortable paying a developer to go out and build a product that I wasn't sure would ultimately get product market fit.

Due to the advancements of AI, particularly ChatGPT and Replit, I was able to spend a few hours on a Saturday vibe coding a prototype for Opportunity Cost. It worked. I side loaded it into Chrome and Firefox, tested it out for a few days and decided, "Hey, I think this is something that's worthwhile and should be built."

Backtracking just a little bit, the initial idea for this app was to create an AR application that would enable you to take pictures of goods in the real world and have their prices automatically converted to bitcoin so that you could weigh the opportunity cost of whether or not you actually wanted to buy that good or decide to save in bitcoin instead. With the help of Justin Moon from the Human Rights Foundation and Anthony Ronning from OpenSecret and Maple AI, I was pointed in the right direction of vibe coding tools I could use to build a simple MVP. I took their advice, built the MVP, and demoed it at the Bitcoin Park Austin weekly AI meetup in mid-April.

The next week, I was talking with a friend, Luke Thomas, about the idea and during our conversation he made a simple quip, "You should make a Chrome extension. I really want a Chrome extension that does this." And that's what sent me down the vibe coding rabbit hole that Saturday which led to the prototype.

After I was comfortable with and confident in the prototype, I found a young hungry developer by the name of Moses on Nostr, I reached out to him, told him my idea, showed him the prototype and asked if he thought he could finish the application for me. He luckily agreed to do so and within a couple of weeks we had a fully functioning app that was officially launched today. We're about 12 hours into the launch and I must say that I'm pleasantly surprised with the reception from the broader Bitcoin community. It seems like something that people are happy exists and I feel extremely happy that people see some value in this particular application.

Now that you have the backstory, let's get into why I think something like Opportunity Cost should exist. As someone who's been writing a newsletter and producing podcasts about bitcoin for eight years in an attempt to educate individuals from around the world about what bitcoin is, why it's important, and how they can leverage it, I've become convinced that a lot of the work that needs to be done still exists at the top of the funnel. You can scream at people. You can grab them by the shoulders. You can shake them. You can remind them at Thanksgiving that if they had listened to your advice during any Thanksgiving in the previous years they would be better off financially. But at the end of the day most people don't listen. They need to see things. Seeing things for yourself is a much more effective teaching mechanism than be lectured to by someone else.

My hope with Opportunity Cost is that it catches the eye of some bitcoin skeptics or individuals who may be on the cusp of falling down the bitcoin rabbit hole and they see the extension as a way to dip their toes into bitcoin to get a better understanding of the world by pricing the goods and services they purchase on a day-to-day month-to-month and year-to-year basis in bitcoin without having to download a wallet or set up an exchange account. The tippy top of the bitcoin marketing funnel.

That is not all though. I think Opportunity Cost can serve individuals at both ends of the funnel. That's why it's pretty exciting to me. It's as valuable to the person who is bitcoin curious and looking to get a better understanding as it is to the hardcore bitcoiner living on a bitcoin standard who is trying to get access to better tools that enable him to get a better grasp of their spending in bitcoin terms.

Lastly, after playing around with it for a few days after I built the prototype, I realized that it has incredible memetic potential. Being able to take a screenshot of goods that people are buying on a day-to-day basis, pricing them in bitcoin and then sharing them on social media is very powerful. Everything from houses to junk items on Amazon to the salaries of pro athletes to your everyday necessities. Seeing the value of those things in bitcoin really makes you think.

One day while I was testing the app, I tried to see how quickly I could find goods on the internet that cumulatively eclipsed the 21 million supply cap limit of bitcoin. To my surprise, even though I've been in bitcoin for 12 years now, it did not take me that long. The opportunity cost of everything I buy on a day-to-day basis becomes very clear when using the extension. What's even clearer is the fact that Bitcoin is completely mispriced at current levels. There is so much winning ahead of us.

Also, it's probably important to note that the extension is completely open source. You can check out our GitHub page here. Submit pull requests. Suggest changes to the app.

We've also tried to make Opportunity Cost as privacy preserving as possible. Everything within the extension happens in your browser. The only external data that we're providing is the bitcoin to fiat price conversion at any given point in time. We're not data harvesting the web pages you're browsing or the items you're looking at. We're not collecting data and sending it to third party marketers. We want to align ourselves with the open and permissionless nature of bitcoin while also preserving our users' privacy. We're not trying to monetize this in that way. Though, I will say that I'm thinking of ways to monetize Opportunity Cost if it does gain significant traction, but I promise it will be in a way that respects your privacy and is as unobtrusive as possible. We'll see how it goes.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk. Please download and use the extension. Let us know what you think.

Headlines of the Day

Saylor Says Bitcoin Is Perfect Money to Jordan Peterson - via X

Trump Won't Sell Tesla Despite Musk-Bessent Heated Exchange - via X

Bitcoin Gains Traction in Kenya's Largest Slum Kibera - via X

Get our new STACK SATS hat - via tftcmerch.io

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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.

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---

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---

Final thought...

East Coast aesthetics over everything.

---

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

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

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

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@ a8d1560d:3fec7a08

THIS IS IMPORTANT!!!

After the wave of word-scrambling spam bots, a new and very problematic kind of spam has arrived in the Nostr. Whenever you post something now, you will get gay porn videos as an automated answer (No, being gay itself is not problematic!!!). To get rid of all the automated spam, remove the following relays from your inbox and outbox relay list: - nos.lol - relay.damus.io - nostr.oxtr.dev - relay.primal.net

As long as you have even one of these relays in your inbox and outbox lists, you and your followers will be spammed whenever posting something.

It is unknown if the bots only reply to kind 1 events or to all events.

@ 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.”

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

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

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

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

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

Full Text of Bill

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

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

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

— ODELL (@ODELL) October 27, 2022

The Basics

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

There is no 'Lightning Network'

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

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

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

Lightning in Practice

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

Sovereign Lightning

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

The Potential Fracture of Lightning

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

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

Summary

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

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

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

@ a19caaa8:88985eaf

NostrをXのように使い始めて3か月が経った。最初は「ぷ　プロトコル？　ブロックチェーン？サーバー？　そもそも、ギットハブって？？」って謎だらけで、それでも利用できてしまうから「使えちゃって大丈夫かな」とすら思っていたけど、いちユーザーながら少しずつわかることが増えてきたから、この3か月間で覚えたこととかできるようになったことを、備忘録も兼ねてまとめてみる。といっても過去ツイ（便宜上）を集めてきただけだけど。初心を忘れたくない！！

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• PCで始めて、スマホは後だったんだろうな nostr:note1q8t0spfhg9dc4h590jedd00a5pag5j44tv0vzu55004q8qjw7fkscecvkz

• iPhoneからNostore(拡張機能(NIP-??))を使ってSafariでlumilumiにログイン nostr:note1egt7y4a8wulu6kex40z0zqtgls0r9ups0q4npyrlmgd3f2swrcysrskp42 nostr:note15gjqzpnevft2h6ywlz2hzacsk6emlna5lwechcpwkx5n6fq8gs9qprfh6v ↑Damusをdisるな
  nostr:note1cn4aspxthcysjgwhyd3wwr6slsz57anwn2ep3th05lpa0yag6xrqm8x3lh やかましい　※用語解説：Nostrクライアントなどの名前です

• Nostore: 拡張機能(の、説明のscrapbox)
• nostter: https://nostter.app/about
• damus(for iOS): https://damus.io/
• lumilumi: https://lumilumi.app/about
• Rabbit(拡張機能必須): https://rabbit.syusui.net/

---

• 出会い nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzqv33pxtldvmmdntqhv269r56zjadmhalpp660h3yc6gj8gxpuexvqyxhwumn8ghj77tpvf6jumt9qyghwumn8ghj7u3wddhk56tjvyhxjmcpp4mhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mqqyz9k4uamtpsy9rtfh4dpxez0n8vr7tufttz5x5v9j5vd3t76kapjwxk245u nostr:note10e6flvadpyfshtnplfnc83dunzjrgl4fl0uzrw70xt3ulf0nv2yqm4qjfa nostr:note1wwchrc7vz8fcp2jrknms5ascup9eux9fkd89jxhqy6d46mkr06ssmgrjhk ↓続き

• 3sats (zap)(NIP-?? kind:??) nostr:nevent1qqsw9sfvmaqy6ngvl98drg93e7sy08kfu2y4tuyj8m2mleftvcx5mqc8uyq3m nostr:note1zzs7qfemq7qaekxv0qjea24t6k4kvlla0m9lusep2ce38tef8gjqfgv7zu nostr:nevent1qqsz8m0c5drajst00x92uc8pjwxa40nd5hmzxu4vn3yhuzjkaqmk4fqa4lvkl nostr:note106n902n66lsfxck4fsu9dqkwmelnp06qqx96nzyqvp89c9v28apqzjcflw (急な意思表示)

  たゃ仕事中に熟考

• nostr:note1fj5mmtsk0nh0e23hez2dm4unweklrypm6s6n9ajwaug574dg7pqq8phvav nostr:note1wk0ugra9pyv0y0rmpql6sjgsavu634x53f4v4jztqluq02awxwhql8d8mf nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzq2aj4wlutzft00dg77x4x6pdjy7vnfzxk30pry5lpy6a3l0uks9aqyxhwumn8ghj77tpvf6jumt9qqsyt4yh934z6fd324z5hljwlx74nndfwetu04lnu8wcj0pkhkqlppqwpsmue ⚡3satsくれました

• ステータス　NIP-??kind:30315 nostr:note1p836vncvcxfvkqmpggxzf53q6kywxn443w2hytydr7pdvrca835s83nd2u nostr:nevent1qqsdu2mf3d5am8hpjj432yf0qmpfxuwy50pv9rx6q7pryz0axnj44dg0d7auc nostr:nevent1qqsyaypjm0a99g7626r28ct97jhjvt4kk4vyv63fphdz8guhsdtevsg4yvvhr nostr:nevent1qqswea28tdayxe67axzxmwjfc4jq664phrep82zhveg8f5c0nfd06mgwt0taw
  nostr:nevent1qqsqkt8pgpchqphgvv8hd6lxfv4ylx3xtu76x2psj7asm6z846amy3c3w2s2z nostr:note1657tlek0uulr5xa3jqc2sj2l0lm24q79m0984xhm9tnzyy9nsrksynxl6y みんなやさしすぎる　おｋじゃないねん　みんなありがとうございます
• バッジ　kind:?? nostr:nevent1qqst45zcjha92jy0raun59lm05haw24rpjpw6njae93qfyasgxppmjchuq2c0 nostr:nevent1qqstvtx67c74xztstc9hze62h25saycr2ktrkwknevkhy8glzf0g78sqge3fu こいつbotなんヤバい
  nostr:nevent1qqsv6k54yysjdrfpxxtlxhfuh56mhslx63xwfncfvvg8a8vug4az4vstjyey6 nostr:nevent1qqspgur97rvwtry6t9nc6gjm9p8taw2563u3lgqn4p32e2gmqe30xxqwz9d90 nostr:note15shchwfllja7k9nd428a7ts7xf0ggefwllk7rv6qq3guuztjvcfs80pe03
• カスタム絵文字(いっぱいある)(kind10030(使うやつ),kind30030(仕切り板みたいな)) nostr:note16qkqfhezksjxrkk5z4vca8qs42fr8z9awvny39fytl73gty64nrs738g7c nostr:note1xrrer5ayqg3meskga2uc9m2x0lg2dglr3dkaf3qukpjtftysn96qdq7uda nostr:note156fyw2e4w8f0cmu6xmkj7k7f39yh8zw4pq2q90l9llmtefmtu0ds6743zm nostr:note1zz288585z68a0xlm9pc6y4s48ghfdl8hg6zkfmslaj2k9v0nscpsae8m95 nostr:note17tcfuxu8h3ss3rzjpx3zwwnucqdpramnh0yd5j4vj3ee65dleyxqfhcwk7 nostr:note1tu8d06kyw9a4s7xrsu723xmu24f2y34shd6qzn9wpa2jz5ddcu5sa5nvpq
• ネームタグ？　kind:?? nostr:note1ck3h58hjm6z00xcxu6fmm2raujrzy8t5ajc7p76pwafl6e0ffdvqh3k07t
• ピン留め　kind:?? nostr:note18dfzlgaf4ugkxs5209556p53gl67d8hfkutvtm7qnprjlfnavf0sr98k2h nostr:note1mnz5xlu0wnrh2rhjucjmzv2p9ta6xm5e0hhg2p8kyhe2dkgul3qs09h98h
• リスト？　NIP-?? kind:30000 nostr:note1ug7lcgjpkac57a9wd27rjqwymv5cwczmuc4ezg5wweuzrxgwhddqzp3mwz nostr:note126ahjdpmy6alv7mfm5x0yupyty03w3knlwf03cyypguguqjwrxqqyk7ysp
• 長文投稿　kind30023(これ)NIP-?? nostr:note1qzt4xpwv63tac460ha2am9xfdys4l0p34g8q93tqyp8dckgf6lkqkrua73 nostr:note1cx6w82s6p735n765y5rurzu038qkly03t7pcf4u8r6z6yucgf8qspsnkt4
• Suno(上記音楽生成AI)が出力した曲の耳コピ nostr:note12pry99d4z8w3cnpzy46xlg2kpudzj09jpv4vjxt62l54gt4v8dqsvlwyxl
• Damusへのリンク共有？ nostr:note1y2uzgxz89lnnzqgj0ndj43qan34wv4cvx56srgzghezt07jc6g6qukddry nostr:note1hcnndcrmwjulzt07t4aelraptr7zyhjuf8ut3vg293j06fwn7fgqae0w0y
• 警告？　NIP-?? nostr:note1w6djak9hknd84ryz389jctrmx39eqm2xvwv97k4sk2m2c0akvmysuny8p4
• emoji kitchen (先述のnostterからすぐできます！他もできるかも) nostr:note1k5s6x4hglqwzqghajpl8r7g7t9q8t6uzv2cx92q26tkjcj8hm6rq8elxfu nostr:note1ue575wzjvun0zy4wg2lfv6unrcxnzd688980eur9mulak3msxqgsf2rw72 nostr:note1246rg8v3gvwpwhu5tgzdf2e8cwn77q65gkjt7yhyyqchcchpsduq6mrex7
• kind7のkind5 nostr:note1fwtplut4pshq55790rrf328gxqglrx2m77wkxhsfrpajrnxjnvkqwvlf7w 無事外せたというか、全部lumilumiでできることがわかったんだけど、その記録が見当たらなかった
• ハッシュタグ　NIP-?? kind:?? nostr:note13lfdgatre3v5hnxcst0hkcgm8guzlavu6vyxez6n4s09jl7setlsfq3fcf nostr:note1dllf6795ttv0sft4rlclf7zerfpher23z3ga26kyn9yfafffncls3z5n42

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kind30023用クライアントまとめ

（拡張機能を使わずに使用した所感）
* makimono：署名方法→秘密鍵×/nsec.app〇　表示→編集画面で表示確認可、njumpとlumilumiのnaddrリンクあり　NIP-21→対応　kind5（削除）→流せない　kind30024→多分、流せない

• habla：署名方法→なし（秘密鍵ログインできない。nsec.appもなんか入れない（読み込みから進まない）。）read only　表示→シンプルだけど文字がデカい　nip-21→対応

• yakihonnne：署名方法→秘密鍵〇/nsec.app→試してない　kind30023の編集ができない（読み込みから進まない）。NIP-21試してない。

• flycat：署名方法→秘密鍵〇/nsec.app試してない　kind1も流せる　NIP-21→非対応　kind30024→Draftがあるけど、kind30024を流しているわけでは無さそう。キャッシュクリアして再ログインすると残ってない。　kind5→流せない。

• tagayasu：署名方法：秘密鍵×/ncec.app×/拡張機能のみ？（画像↓参照）　でも、なんか、全部できる。kind5も流せる。kind30024も。

※NIP-21はこうやって引用元のツイートを表示するルール（※ルールっていうとニュアンス違うくて！ちゃぴに聞こう↓） さすがちゃぴ。

まとめ

| クライアント | 署名方法 | NIP-21 | 備考 | |--------------|-----------|--------|------| | makimono | 秘密鍵× / nsec.app〇 | 対応 | 編集画面で表示確認可。njump・lumilumiのnaddrリンクあり。kind5（削除）は送信不可。kind30024（下書き）も多分送信不可。 | | flycat | 秘密鍵〇 / nsec.app未確認 | 非対応 | kind1も送信可。kind5は送信不可。Draft機能はあるけどkind30024ではなさそう（キャッシュ消すと消える）。 | | habla | 秘密鍵× / nsec.app× | 対応 | nsec.appのBunkerURLの読み込みが進まない。使うとしたら表示確認。シンプルだけど文字が大きい。 | | yakihonnne | 秘密鍵〇 / nsec.app未確認 | 不明 | kind30023の編集が読み込みで止まる。NIP-21対応は未確認。 | | tagayasu | 秘密鍵× / nsec.app×（拡張機能のみ？） | 不明 | 拡張ログインさえあれば全部できる。kind5・kind30024も送信可能。 |

• 未確認を埋めたいひとはコピペしてご自身でkind30023をお流しくださいませね🙏

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今のたゃが言えるのはこんなとこかなー！！！ 穴（NIPとかkindとか未試行とか）、いつかは埋めたいけど、いつか、かな…。
別にこれが仕事に繋がるとかじゃないけど、たゃ生（人生のたゃバージョン）がより良い（好い）ものになったことは確か！
一旦ここまで！
終

@ e0a24c5c:fa44b1e7

Am 13. Juni 2025 hat der offene Krieg Israels gegen den Iran begonnen, ein Krieg, der, wie schon der Krieg in Gaza, dazu führen dürfte, dass unsere Politik die Unterstützung Israels verstärkt zur deutschen Staatsräson erklären und Israel (mittels neuer "Sondervermögen"?) jetzt nochmals verstärkt mit Waffen beliefern wird.

Die Unterstützung Israels zur deutschen Staatsräson zu erklären, ist eine – historisch zwar verständliche – heute aber radikal auch Israel zerstörende und extrem verfassungswidrige und rassistische Position. Weil sie finster die Nicht-Unterstützung der Palästinenser, bzw. die stillschweigende Gewährung der Vernichtung der Bevölkerung in Gaza im Schlagschatten führt.

Die Würde des Menschen ist unantastbar! Und der Schutz von Würde und Leben des Menschen ist die einzig legitime deutsche Staatsräson – unabhängig davon, ob dieser Mensch Jude, Palästinenser, Ukrainer, Russe, Chinese oder sonst wer ist.

In Deutschland wird durch die einseitige Positionierung auf die "Unterstützung Israels" ein Bürgerkrieg herauf beschworen. Antisemitismus und Terrorgefahr in Deutschland werden extrem verstärk. Und in Israel wird schon durch den maßlosen Rachefeldzug in Gaza und jetzt durch den entfachten Krieg mit dem Iran, aufs tiefste jede Möglichkeit für eine friedliche Koexistenz im palästinensisch-arabischen Raum zerstört.

Einen Freund zu unterstützen heißt nicht, ihm die Mittel zu menschenverachtenden Rachefeldzügen und zur moralischen und physischen Selbstzerstörung zu liefern, sondern ihn – im Sinne des Grundgesetzes Artikel 1, Absatz 2 – selbst in Krisensituationen auf den Weg von Achtung und Schutz der unveräußerlichen Menschenrechte zu verpflichten.

Außenpolitik im Sinne des Grundgesetzes kann nur Politik zum Schutz der Menschenwürde und nicht Politik für oder gegen Staaten, für oder gegen Religionsgemeinschaften, für oder gegen Völker und Volksgruppen, für oder gegen Rassen und so weiter sein.

Dass sich die Deutsche Politik in keinerlei Weise mehr an das Grundgesetz gebunden fühlt,

- weder bezüglich Israels

- noch auch bezüglich Russlands (wo es ebenfalls nicht um den Schutz von Menschenrechten, sondern - auf Kosten der Ukraine (!) - um einen Regime-Change in Russland und um Rüstungsgeschäfte geht),

- erst recht auch hier nicht mehr im Inland (wo die Freiheitsrechte nicht mehr als unmittelbar geltendes Recht und als unantastbare Grundlage der gesamten Politik gelten, sondern nur noch - in alter Feudalmanier - gnadenvoll von oben an "systemtreue" Bürger als Belohnung für parteigenehmes Verhalten ausgeliehen werden) …

kurz: dass die deutsche Politik sämtliche positiven Errungenschaften Deutschlands nach dem zweiten Weltkrieg aushöhlt und zerstört, sowohl die moralisch-politischen als auch die wirtschaftlichen, geistigen, kulturellen und sozialen, ist deutliches Zeichen ihres Zusammenbruchs und nimmt ihr jegliche Legitimation.

Wir DÜRFEN da als Volk nicht einfach zusehen!

Da wir als Volk geknebelt und aus den politischen Entscheidungen völlig herausgehalten sind, bleibt uns nur der Weg, die Politik im Sinne eines "Great Reset von unten" selber in die Hand zu nehmen.

Der Weg dazu wird auf www.unsere-verfassung.de gewiesen

@ 6fef351a:2a884204

Was für eine Woche!

Die Hitze hatte Deutschland und den DACH-Raum in den letzten Tagen fest im Griff – 33 Grad zeigte das Thermometer am Samstag bei mir an. Und nicht nur die Temperaturen steigen: Auch die Nachrichtenlage wirkt aufgeheizt. Neue Kriegsherde. Neue Rüstungsausgaben. Neue Sorgen.

Ich wäre nicht ehrlich, würde ich behaupten, dass mich das alles unberührt lässt. Ich mache mir Gedanken – über die Zukunft, über die geopolitische Lage und die möglichen Auswirkungen auf unser gesellschaftliches Miteinander. Aber anders als früher fühle ich mich nicht mehr machtlos.

Seit Bitcoin hat sich viel verändert: Ich spüre mehr Handlungsspielraum. Und durch meine Arbeit – durch diesen Newsletter, den Podcast, die Gespräche – habe ich das Gefühl, einen kleinen Beitrag zu leisten und ein Angebot zu machen: für mehr Souveränität, mehr Selbstbestimmung, mehr Sicherheit. Und das ist sehr erfüllend.

Mit diesem Gefühl gelingt es, trotz der Nachrichtenlage, ein Lächeln und den Frohsinn zu bewahren. (Sagt man eigentlich noch Frohsinn? Falls nicht: Ich bin ganz klar für die Wiedereinführung. Ganz tolles Wort!)

MEINE HEART WORDS DER WOCHE

1. Eine Wiederentdeckung

Vor ein paar Tagen bin ich auf einen Artikel von Gigi gestoßen – einem der klügsten Köpfe im Bitcoin-Space, bekannt seit den frühen Tagen. Der Text stammt aus dem Jahr 2018 und behandelt den Energieverbrauch von Bitcoin. Seine Gedanken wirken auch heute noch erstaunlich aktuell. Ich schätze seinen Stil sehr – durchdacht, klar, nahbar. Einige seiner Beiträge sind inzwischen auch auf Deutsch erschienen.

Umso erschütternder ist es, zu sehen, dass selbst Menschen wie Gigi mit Depressionen ringen oder schwere familiäre Verluste erleiden. Vor Kurzem hat er öffentlich gemacht, dass sein Vater sich das Leben genommen hat – auch darüber schreibt er offen.

Wer Gigi einmal beweglich und in Farbe erleben möchte, findet ihn in meiner Lieblings-Bitcoin-Doku Human B. Ich habe sie mehrfach gesehen – sie hebt die Stimmung und gibt Hoffnung auf eine bessere Zukunft.

2. Ein Gespräch

Am Donnerstag war ich zu Gast im Podcast von Stefanie Tschupp, Finanzpsychologin aus der Schweiz. Sie war übrigens die erste Person, die mir jemals öffentlich die Frage stellte: „Und – besitzt du schon einen ganzen Bitcoin?“ Das muss am Schweizer Temperament liegen 😉

Stefanie hat kluge, durchdachte Fragen gestellt – und ich glaube, unser Gespräch ist besonders spannend für Menschen, die bisher wenig oder gar keinen Kontakt zu Bitcoin hatten.

Mich freut es jedes Mal, wenn Frauen oder Menschen aus der klassischen Finanzwelt beginnen, sich für Bitcoin zu öffnen. Und ich bin zuversichtlich: Diese Entwicklung steht erst am Anfang.

3. Eine Lotto-Maschine

Zum Vatertag habe ich meinem Vater einen NerdAxe Gamma geschenkt – ein kleines Gerät, das im Mini-Format echtes Bitcoin-Mining betreibt. Die Chance, damit einen Block zu finden (und aktuell 3,125 Bitcoin zu erhalten), ist zwar winzig – aber aufs Jahr gerechnet immer noch größer, als beim Lotto fünf Richtige samt Superzahl zu treffen. So wird Bitcoin plötzlich greifbar – und zieht vielleicht sogar ins Wohnzimmer der Familie ein. Meine Mutter war übrigens noch begeisterter als mein Vater. Kein Wunder – sie hört schließlich meinen Podcast 😉

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Eine Werbung

Falls du dir auch einen NerdAxe zulegen möchtest: Mit dem Code NICOLE erhältst du 5 % Rabatt und unterstützt damit meine Arbeit – und ein junges Bitcoin-Unternehmen aus Deutschland. Die Jungs von Nerdminer.de sind großartig und bauen mit viel Liebe zum Detail.

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4. Ein Störgeräusch

Frank Thelen – Unternehmer, Investor und bekannt aus Die Höhle der Löwen – hat in einem Interview mit der BILD-Zeitung über Bitcoin gesprochen. Leider waren seine Aussagen weder sachlich noch korrekt – und ernteten prompt scharfe Kritik aus der Bitcoin-Community. Viele seiner Argumente gelten längst als widerlegt. Der Fall zeigt einmal mehr, wie wichtig es ist, sich bei komplexen Themen wie Bitcoin selbst ein Bild zu machen – statt sich auf prominente Stimmen zu verlassen.

5. Ein Zitat

Technik ist einfach nicht meine Stärke und auch nicht mein Interesse. Aber Freiheit ist mein Interesse und deswegen musste ich mich mit der Technik auseinandersetzen. Und es geht wirklich, auch wenn man keine Lust hat! – Anastasia Umrik

Anastasia ist eine starke und beeindruckende Frau. Kaum jemand, dem ich im echten Leben begegnet bin, hat mich so sehr inspiriert wie sie.

Diese Woche war Anastasia zu Gast bei LFO live, dem neuen Streaming-Format von Les Femmes Orange, und hat ihre Bitcoin-Geschichte erzählt.

Trotz technischer Schwierigkeiten – am Ende fiel sogar der Google-Server aus – ist unser Gespräch erhalten geblieben. Zum Glück! Du findest es auf YouTube.

Bitcoin selbst hatte übrigens seit 2013 keinen Ausfall mehr – und gilt heute als das sicherste Netzwerk der Welt. Sicherer als die Systeme großer Tech-Giganten wie Google, Microsoft oder Amazon.

Danke fürs Lesen! Wenn dir dieser Beitrag gefallen hat, leite ihn gerne weiter oder antworte mir. Dein Feedback hilft, diesen Newsletter besser zu machen.

Hab einen schönen Sonntag oder eine schöne Woche – ganz egal, wann du diese Worte liest.

Nicole ❤️

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Ich bin Nicole, Wirtschaftsmathematikerin und Ex-Angestellte aus dem Schwarzwald. Meinen Job als Data Analystin habe ich an den Nagel gehängt, um über Bitcoin aufzuklären – weil es alles auf den Kopf gestellt hat.

Heute sehe ich die Welt mit neuen Augen.

Heart Money – das ist mein Newsletter zum gleichnamigen Podcast auf YouTube. Es geht um hartes Geld. Und um das Geld des Herzens.

Ich schreibe über Bitcoin, Gesellschaft und das, was mich bewegt.

Hier teile ich Gedanken, Anregungen, Videos und Fundstücke rund um eine Technologie, die uns ermutigt, wieder Verantwortung zu übernehmen – für uns selbst und für die Zukunft.

Sonntags auf Substack, montags auf NOSTR.

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

The involvement of America’s largest corporations with stablecoins has reached 29%.

According to the latest State of Crypto report published by Coinbase, interest in stablecoins among Fortune 500 executives has seen a significant surge, rising from 8% in 2024 to 29% in 2025.

The study, based on a sample of 100 executives from the 500 highest-revenue U.S. companies, reveals that nearly three in ten said their organization is either planning or seriously considering integrating stablecoins into their business processes.

The growing interest is mainly driven by inefficiencies in traditional payment systems. The executives surveyed identified slow transaction speeds and high fees as the main drawbacks of conventional payment methods.

The survey also found that 7% of Fortune 500 companies are already actively using or holding stablecoins in their corporate wallets.

And it’s not just large corporations getting on board. The study also surveyed 251 financial decision-makers at small and medium-sized businesses with fewer than 500 employees. Among them, 81% expressed interest in using stablecoins — a sharp rise from 61% the previous year. Meanwhile, 46% of these businesses plan to integrate cryptocurrencies into their operations within the next three years.

Transaction volume data confirms this growing interest. Stablecoins have seen significant monthly spikes, with $719 billion in December 2024 and $717 billion in April 2025.

Over the course of 2024, total stablecoin transaction volumes reached $27.6 trillion, surpassing the combined transaction volumes of Visa and Mastercard by 7.7%. At the same time, the number of stablecoin holders surpassed 161 million users as of May 2025, according to Coinbase.

The post Stablecoins: interest from major U.S. companies grows 260% in a year appeared first on Atlas21.