@ 5d085290:0edc3292

The brand new 2025 Nissan Xterra is making waves in the UAE automotive market with its rugged design, advanced features, and improved fuel efficiency. Whether you’re navigating city streets or tackling off-road trails, fuel economy is a critical factor for SUV buyers — and this model delivers. According to recent updates, the Nissan Xterra 2025 release date is expected later this year, bringing with it a balance of power and practicality. Drivers across the UAE can expect mileage figures that compete with the best in its class, and you can explore full regional insights in the 2025 Nissan Xterra mileage in UAE guide. The SUV is estimated to deliver between 12–16 km/l depending on road conditions, which is a solid figure for a full-size adventure-ready vehicle. Compared to the previous model, efficiency has been boosted with smarter engine tuning — read more in the Nissan Xterra 2024 vs 2025 comparison. Designed for UAE conditions, it includes fuel-saving features like eco-driving modes and advanced gear ratios. This makes the 2025 Xterra not just a capable off-roader, but also a smart choice for daily commutes. Visit icartea.com for detailed specs, booking details, and the latest updates on Nissan’s newest SUV launch.

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

What is KYC/AML?

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

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

Lists of Bitcoiners

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

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

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

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

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

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@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

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

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

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

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

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

Current Nostr Stats

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

@ dfa02707:41ca50e3

Headlines

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

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

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

Source: orangesurf

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

Source: African Bitcoiners.

Use the tools

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

Other stuff

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

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

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

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

Sign up for No Bullshit Bitcoin

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@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

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

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

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

Source: Gemini

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@ 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.

@ 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.

@ 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.

@ 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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@ 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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@ 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.

@ 9ca447d2:fbf5a36d

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Key Benefits of Coinbase Lightning Network:

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

Coinbase Lightning Network vs Regular Bitcoin Transfers

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

Feature

Coinbase Lightning Network

Regular Bitcoin Transfer

Speed

Instant (seconds)

10-60 minutes

Fees

0.2% + minimal network fee

$5-50+ depending on network

Best for

Small to medium amounts

Large amounts, long-term storage

Availability

24/7 instant

Subject to network congestion

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

How to Send Bitcoin Using Coinbase Lightning Network

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

Step 1: Access Your Coinbase Account

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

Step 2: Initiate the Lightning Transfer

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

Step 3: Add Recipient Information

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

Step 4: Complete the Transaction

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

How to Receive Bitcoin via Coinbase Lightning Network

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

Step 1: Generate a Lightning Invoice

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

Step 2: Create Your Invoice

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

Step 3: Share Your Invoice

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

Step 4: Receive Your Bitcoin

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

Coinbase Lightning Network Fees and Limits

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

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

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

Troubleshooting Common Coinbase Lightning Network Issues

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

Invoice Expired Error

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

Transaction Failed

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

Can’t Find Lightning Option

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

Address Whitelist Issues

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

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

@ 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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Bitcoin Magazine

Japan’s Metaplanet Hits 10,000 Bitcoin, Overtakes Coinbase

Metaplanet has acquired an additional 1,112 Bitcoin for $117.2 million, bringing its total holdings to 10,000 BTC and overtaking Coinbase to become the ninth-largest publicly traded holder of Bitcoin, as corporate Bitcoin adoption continues to accelerate globally.

JUST IN: Metaplanet purchases ¥16.88 billion #Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/EAWOf0tg9F

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) June 16, 2025

The Tokyo-based company purchased the Bitcoin at an average price of $105,435 per coin. The acquisition brings Metaplanet’s total investment in Bitcoin to approximately $947 million, with an average cost basis of $94,698 per BTC.

The pace of corporate Bitcoin accumulation has reached unprecedented levels. What started with Strategy has evolved into a global phenomenon, with over 150 public companies now holding Bitcoin worth more than $100 billion collectively.

Metaplanet’s market value has surged alongside its Bitcoin strategy, exceeding ¥1 trillion ($6.9 billion) on Monday as shares jumped 26%. The company’s stock has soared more than 2,000% over the last year, outperforming traditional Japanese blue-chips, including chipmaker Kioxia Holdings.

The company’s Bitcoin yield – measuring the change in holdings relative to fully diluted shares – has shown strong quarterly performance, recording 41.7% in Q3 2024, 309.8% in Q4 2024, 95.6% in Q1 2025, and 87.2% in Q2 2025 to date.

To fund further Bitcoin purchases, Metaplanet recently issued $210 million in zero-percent ordinary bonds.

At press time, Bitcoin trades at $107,032, up 1.80% over the past 24 hours, as markets digest the implications of growing corporate adoption and Metaplanet’s aggressive accumulation strategy.

This post Japan’s Metaplanet Hits 10,000 Bitcoin, Overtakes Coinbase first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Vivek Sen.

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Bitcoin Magazine

Smarter Web Company Raises £29.3M to Grow Bitcoin Holdings

The Smarter Web Company, a UK-based web design and digital services firm, has raised £29.3 million in a new funding round to support its Bitcoin treasury strategy.

JUST IN: Publicly traded The Smarter Web Company raised £29.3M (~$37.1M) to buy more #Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/n5k7XlLvie

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) June 16, 2025

The raise was completed through an accelerated bookbuild and a subscription with institutional investors. Shares were priced at £1.80 each, matching the closing bid on Friday, June 13. That price is more than double the company’s last fundraising round. 

“The Smarter Web Company is pleased to announce the successful completion of an Accelerated Bookbuild to institutional investors through Tennyson Securities and Peterhouse Capital Limited. A Subscription with Qualified Investors has also been completed, the company said. 

In total, more than 16.2 million new shares were issued—15.4 million through the bookbuild and about 854,000 through the subscription. 

With a high level of demand the Bookbuild and Subscription has raised approximately £29.3 million, well above the stated minimum of £15 million, through the issue of a total of 16,297,627 new ordinary shares of £0.001 each at £1.80 per share. The Offer Price was at the closing bid price on Friday 13 June 2025,” the company said. 

The raise comes just three days after the company revealed it had purchased 74.27 more Bitcoin for £5.98 million, bringing its total Bitcoin holdings to 242.34 BTC. Its average cost basis now sits at £78,793 per Bitcoin. 

“The Company believes that Bitcoin forms a core part of the future of the global financial system,” it said in both filings.  

Smarter Web started building its Bitcoin treasury strategy in 2023. 

“Since 2023 The Smarter Web Company has adopted a policy of accepting payment in Bitcoin. The Company is pioneering the adoption of a Bitcoin Treasury Policy into its strategy.” 

The strategy was officially formalized in April, 2025 with the launch of its “10 Year Plan,” seeing Bitcoin play a key role in its financial structure. 

Admission of the new shares is expected around June 19, after which the company’s total shares in issue will rise to over 220 million. 

With this raise, Smarter Web continues to stand out as one of the few UK-listed companies actively building a corporate Bitcoin treasury. 

This post Smarter Web Company Raises £29.3M to Grow Bitcoin Holdings 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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@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

Leading OnChain Comms Agency Melrose PR Joins Decentralized Gentleman’s Club with Rare Pepe Inscription on Bitcoin

LOS ANGELES, CA — Melrose PR, the leading onchain communications agency, officially joins Decentralized Gentlemen Club (DGC) with the minting of a rare Pepe inscription on the Bitcoin blockchain. The Decentralized Gentlemen Club (DGC) will be the biggest collection on Bitcoin when complete at 3GB, which is twice as large as the next biggest collection. DGC is a Bitcoin-themed, meme-culture movement that champions decentralization, style, and storytelling. Each member is immortalized as a custom, tuxedo-clad Pepe — a digital gentleman inscribed as a massive, one-of-a-kind Ordinal on the Bitcoin blockchain. Melrose PR’s symbolic mint is a wizard frog (wearing a bowtie) representation of Melrose PR CEO Kelley Weaver.

“At Melrose, we believe in Bitcoin, not just as a technology powering the future of finance, but also as a foundation for community,” said CEO Kelley Weaver. “This is why we’re delighted to join DGC with our Pepe inscription and be part of a community of meme lords, pioneers, and visionaries who value elegance, independence, and on-chain legacy.”

Since 2016, Melrose has represented some of the most innovative projects across Bitcoin infrastructure, crypto-native venture capital, blockchain-AI convergence, and Web3 networks. Their addition to DGC signals the importance of narrative in the next wave of Bitcoin culture.

“Kelley’s wizard inscription is more than just art—it’s an eternal membership,” said Mr. Bitcoin Beast, spokesperson for the Decentralized Gentlemen Club. “She understands that great storytelling isn’t optional. It’s essential. And there’s no better pepe wizard to help tell the tale of this movement.”

Melrose’s inscription in the DGC collection features Kelley Weaver in full arcane regalia, casting spells of signal over noise, clarity over confusion, and truth over trend. The JPEG, weighing in at 388 kilobytes, stands among the largest onchain artworks in Bitcoin history.

As the biggest Ordinals collection ever attempted, DGC is pushing the technical boundaries of what can be inscribed on Bitcoin. 2500 pieces have been minted so far out of the total 10,000. To join the DGC movement, you can mint your own Degent and submit the inscription ID to the DGC Telegram or you can buy a verified DGC Ordinal at Magic Eden: https://magiceden.us/ordinals/marketplace/degentclub

About the Decentralized Gentlemen Club

The Decentralized Gentlemen Club is a 10,000-piece Bitcoin Ordinal collection featuring tuxedoed Pepe-style frogs immortalized as large-inscription art. Each Gentleman represents a unique membership in the emergent cultural layer of Bitcoin—combining elegance, satire, and self-sovereignty. Get your forever Degent at https://degent.club

About Melrose PR

Melrose PR is a leading onchain communications firm focused on delivering the highest quality results for bitcoin and crypto companies. Founded in 2016, Melrose PR is known for its strategic approach based on intimate knowledge of the unique crypto media landscape. The agency’s relationships across mainstream business, finance, tech, and crypto outlets form the foundation for the team’s success in meeting and exceeding their clients’ goals.

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Disclaimer: This is a sponsored press release. Readers are encouraged to perform their own due diligence before acting on any information presented in this article.

This post Leading OnChain Comms Agency Melrose PR Joins Decentralized Gentleman’s Club with Rare Pepe Inscription on Bitcoin first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Melrose.

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Bitcoin Magazine

Canadian Company Universal Digital Launches Bitcoin Treasury Strategy

Universal Digital Inc. (CSE: LFG) has announced it has launched a Bitcoin Treasury Strategy as a core pillar of its capital allocation framework, beginning with the divestment of altcoin holdings to accumulate Bitcoin under a new reserve model.

“Our Bitcoin Treasury Strategy marks a deliberate shift in how we manage capital – by holding Bitcoin as a long-term treasury asset, we aim to enhance balance sheet strength and align with the evolving global financial landscape,” said the CEO of the Company Tim Chan. “The framework we’ve established with GFA enables us to explore extending this model to Asia, where digital assets are gaining traction among public companies and institutional investors.”

The strategy is designed to increase long term net asset value while aligning Universal Digital with the broader global shift toward institutional adoption of BTC. The Company sees Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset and intends to implement the strategy in a transparent and phased manner.

Universal Digital plans to work with publicly traded companies across Asia to introduce Bitcoin treasury models. Eastern Asia, led by markets such as Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong, accounted for 8.9% of global on-chain crypto transaction volume between July 2023 and June 2024, according to the press release.

“Universal Digital’s and its management’s experience with the crypto and Bitcoin treasury combined with our expertise on the Japanese markets makes us a strong team,” stated Gen Matsuda, CEO of Ground Financial Advisory Co. “I look forward to working closely with Universal Digital to introduce bitcoin reserve model to Japanese listed companies.”

As part of its expansion into Asia, Universal Digital signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on June 12, 2025, with Ground Financial Advisory Co., a Tokyo stock exchange listed financial and technology group. The partnership aims to develop Bitcoin based corporate finance models for the Japanese market.

Under the MOU, the companies will jointly explore: 

• Implementing Bitcoin reserve models for publicly listed companies in Japan.
• Designing capital raising instruments such as warrants and market-based offerings to support Bitcoin acquisitions.
• Strengthening frameworks for digital asset governance, investor relations, and secure custody.

This collaboration may also extend to joint investments in public companies, the creation of blockchain-enabled corporate structures, and projects that integrate Bitcoin with cultural intellectual property and Web3-driven consumer ecosystems, according to the release. The agreement was signed on an arm’s length basis, with no related party interests between Universal Digital and GFA.

This post Canadian Company Universal Digital Launches Bitcoin Treasury Strategy first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Oscar Zarraga Perez.

@ 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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@ 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

@ 04c3c1a5:a94cf83d

testtest

123

@ 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.

@ 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.

@ 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.

@ 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 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.

@ 04c3c1a5:a94cf83d

testtesttest

@ 9f2b5b64:e811118f

1234

@ 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

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.

@ 9f2b5b64:e811118f

test propose 123

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

Strategy Acquires 10,100 BTC, Surpasses 592,000 Bitcoin in Holdings 

Michael Saylor’s Strategy announces it has purchased an additional 10,100 BTC for approximately $1.05 billion, raising its total holdings to 592,100 BTC acquired at an average cost of $70,666 per Bitcoin.

BREAKING: STRATEGY BUYS ANOTHER 10,100 #BITCOIN pic.twitter.com/TZ6nosWenr

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) June 16, 2025

Strategy added another 10,100 Bitcoin to its treasury between June 9 and June 15, 2025, according to a Form 8-K filed Monday with the SEC. The company spent approximately $1.05 billion on the latest allocation, paying an average price of $104,080 per Bitcoin, inclusive of fees and expenses. 

This brings Strategy’s total holdings to 592,100 BTC, acquired at a cumulative cost of $41.84 billion, or an average price of $70,666 per Bitcoin, solidifying its status as the world’s largest corporate holder of Bitcoin.

The recent allocation was financed through multiple capital raises. Strategy tapped its STRK and STRF at-the-market offerings, and completed a $979.7 million public offering of STRD, its 10.00% Series A Perpetual Stride Preferred Stock, on June 10.

“The Bitcoin purchases were made using proceeds from the STRK ATM, STRF ATM, and STRD Offering,” the company stated.

In addition to the purchase, Strategy reported a 19.1% BTC yield year-to-date in 2025, reflecting the strength of its long-term bitcoin investment thesis. 

This latest acquisition follows a series of steady purchases throughout 2024 and early 2025. Strategy has continued to scale its position quarter over quarter, using capital market tools to accumulate Bitcoin as part of its strategy.

“Strategy continues to execute on its commitment to the Bitcoin standard,” the company stated in its filing. 

The company continues to emphasize transparency around its holdings. Its website, strategy.com, hosts a Bitcoin Dashboard that is regularly updated with BTC purchase details, securities activity, and performance metrics in compliance with Regulation FD.

Strategy’s move comes during increasing institutional adoption of Bitcoin in 2025. The company’s acquisition strategy and consistent messaging have made it a leader for corporate engagement with the digital asset. 

With its most recent buy, Strategy now holds over 592,000 Bitcoin, a significant portion of the asset’s fixed 21 million supply—showing its view of Bitcoin not just as an investment, but as a core component of its financial strategy.  

This post Strategy Acquires 10,100 BTC, Surpasses 592,000 Bitcoin in Holdings  first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Jenna Montgomery.

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

Live Free or Die.

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

Senator Hagerty’s Vision Beyond The GENIUS Act: Make Tennessee A Hub For Bitcoin Mining

Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) has been in the headlines as of late as the GENIUS Act (S. 1582), a bill for which he was the primary sponsor, moves closer to passing in the U.S. Senate.

The GENIUS Act is a bill that, if enacted into law, would create a federal regulatory framework for stablecoins so that the technology can be more widely adopted. (While some Bitcoin enthusiasts may not like this, they should still pay attention to the language in the bill, as it could have an impact on U.S. citizens’ ability to use Bitcoin wallets privately.)

However, stablecoins aren’t the only thing on Senator Hagerty’s mind.

He’s also thinking about how to best produce and harness energy in Tennessee to use it for Bitcoin mining and AI compute.

He shared his vision on this topic with me in an interview I conducted with him at Bitcoin 2025:

Tennessee As A Hub For Bitcoin Mining and AI Compute

“We have an opportunity before us to be in the very lead,” Senator Hagerty told Bitcoin Magazine in regard to building nuclear facilities that can be used to produce energy for Bitcoin mining and AI processing.

“The largest utility in the world is the Tennessee Valley Authority — certainly the largest one in America — and I think we’ve got a unique opportunity here to move forward and become the energy hub of America,” he added.

“[We should] see more and more not only mining operations, but if you think about what Elon Musk is doing in Memphis with xAI, the data centers, the opportunities with artificial intelligence — there are many, many things that are going to happen in Tennessee.”

The Senator added that he believes the state can also strike partnerships with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Vanderbilt University, the University of Tennessee and Tennessee Tech as it works to become a more friendly destination for Bitcoin miners and data centers.

“We’ve got great opportunities [from] Memphis all the way across the state,” said Senator Hagerty.

Hagerty’s Call For Bipartisanship

Whether it’s working toward stablecoin legislation or crafting regulation that will enable industries like Bitcoin mining and data centers to thrive in the United States, Senator Hagerty believes these efforts should be inherently bipartisan.

“[These are] bipartisan — or nonpartisan issue[s] — frankly,” said the Senator.

“If you care about the competitiveness of America — if you want to see innovation happen on our shores rather than being pushed overseas — then you’re going to support what we’re trying to do in terms of putting a regulatory framework in place that will deliver certainty, that will create an ecosystem here in America that will allow these companies to thrive,” he added.

“It’s not just the stablecoin legislation I’m putting forward or what may happen with Bitcoin or other technologies like that. It’s the overall blockchain technology that’s going to help advance America beyond the 21st century. We need to stay in the lead. We can stay in the lead.”

This post Senator Hagerty’s Vision Beyond The GENIUS Act: Make Tennessee A Hub For Bitcoin Mining first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Frank Corva.

@ 04c3c1a5:a94cf83d

testest 123 456

789

@ 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.

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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

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

Michael Saylor and Pakistan’s Crypto Minister Bilal Talk Bitcoin and Global Investment

Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and State Minister of Crypto Bilal Bin Saqib, held a conversation recently with the Executive Chairman and CEO of Strategy, Michael Saylor, about Bitcoin and its potential role in Pakistan’s economy.

BREAKING: Pakistan’s Finance Minister and State Minister on Crypto Bilal just talked with Michael Saylor about #Bitcoin

Nation States are here pic.twitter.com/aa5tM5kKbY

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) June 15, 2025

Saylor highlighted the critical role of trust and leadership in attracting global capital, citing his own journey of turning a $400 million investment into a $40 billion market backed position through Bitcoin.

“Today, I will stay in touch with Bilal,” he said. “Pakistan has many brilliant people and a lot of people to do business with you. My company had less than $400 million to invest, but the markets gave me $40 billion because they trust us. And so the most important thing is leadership, intellectual leadership and that they trust you.”

Saylor further emphasized that trust and clarity of vision are what drive global capital flows.

“If the world trusts you and they hear your words, and you speak particularly, the capital and the capability will flow to Pakistan,” said Saylor. “It’s there, it wants to find a home and that’s what happened with our company. Our success is because we were clear and committed. And once the market decides who the leader is. They get behind the leader and they send their money to you. And I think they’d do it to Pakistan too. You have the most important thing, which is you have a commitment and a will and clarity here. So, I look forward to working with you.”

The new stance is a stark change for Pakistan, which had previously banned Bitcoin trading in 2018. On March 20, Bilal Bin Saqib told Bloomberg that Pakistan was planning to legalize Bitcoin and try to implement a regulatory framework to attract investors.

“Pakistan is done sitting on the sidelines,” said Saqib. “We want to attract international investment because Pakistan is a low-cost, high-growth market with 60% of the population under 30… Trump is making crypto a national priority, and every country, including Pakistan, will have to follow suit.”

During the 2025 Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas, Saqib announced that Pakistan was creating a strategic Bitcoin reserve.

“Today, I will announce that the Pakistan government is setting up their own government led Bitcoin strategic reserve… and this wallet, the national Bitcoin wallet,” said Saqib. “It’s not for speculation or hype. We will be holding this Bitcoin and we will never ever sell them.”

This post Michael Saylor and Pakistan’s Crypto Minister Bilal Talk Bitcoin and Global Investment first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Oscar Zarraga Perez.

@ 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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@ 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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@ 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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@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

Trump Media Files to Launch Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF 

Trump Media & Technology Group has filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to launch the Truth Social Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF, B.T.

The ETF will directly hold Bitcoin and Ether, with an initial allocation of 75% Bitcoin and 25% Ether. Shares of the fund will be offered to investors to track the performance of these assets and are expected to trade on NYSE Arca once approved. 

JUST IN: Registration statement for Trump Media's Bitcoin Treasury deal was declared effective by the SEC pic.twitter.com/PFyy44qXxH

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) June 13, 2025

Crypto.com has been selected as the exclusive custodian, prime execution agent, staking, and liquidity provider for the ETF. Yorkville America Digital, LLC is the sponsor of the fund.

According to the company’s announcement, “The launch of the Truth Social Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF is pending effectiveness of the Registration Statement as well as approval of a Form 19b-4 filing with the SEC.” 

The fund is structured as a Nevada business trust. Shares will be issued and redeemed in blocks of 10,000 by authorized participants, with cash used for creation and redemption. The ETF may offer in-kind transactions in the future, pending additional regulatory approval. 

Trump Media acknowledged, “A registration statement relating to the Shares has been filed with the SEC but has not yet become effective. The Shares may not be sold, nor may offers to buy be accepted, prior to the time the registration statement becomes effective.” 

The ETF is not registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, which typically governs mutual funds and traditional ETFs by imposing rules on investor protections, disclosures, and fund operations. Because the ETF holds Bitcoin and Ether directly rather than securities, it qualifies as a grantor trust and is exempt from these requirements. 

The ETF filing also reflects Trump Media’s strategy to establish a presence in the digital asset space beyond social media and streaming. With the development of its financial services arm, Truth.Fi, the company is clearly positioning itself to compete in the growing digital asset space.  

If approved, the Truth Social ETF would give investors a direct, regulated path into both Bitcoin and Ether through one fund. As Trump Media expands its presence in financial services, the move signals a clear intention to compete in the space. 

This post Trump Media Files to Launch Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF  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

@ 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

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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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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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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@ 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

@ 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!

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@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

---

"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

---

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.

@ 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.

@ 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.

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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

@ 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.

@ 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.

@ 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

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.

@ 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

@ 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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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...

East Coast aesthetics over everything.

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

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

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

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@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

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

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

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

How it works

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

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

Shared signature model (multisig 2-of-2)

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

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

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

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

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

Fee structure

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

The native LRC20 token protocol

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

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

Ecosystem and partnerships

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

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

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

@ 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.

@ 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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@ 39cc53c9:27168656

Read the original blog post

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.

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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.

@ 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.

@ 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

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.

@ 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.

@ 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

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

@ 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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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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I often hear "bitcoin doesn't interest me, I'm not a finance person."

Ironically, the beauty of sound money is you don't have to be. In the current system you're expected to manage a diversified investment portfolio or pay someone to do it. Bitcoin will make that optional.

— ODELL (@ODELL) September 16, 2018

At first glance bitcoin often appears overwhelming to newcomers. It is incredibly easy to get bogged down in the details of how it works or different ways to use it. Enthusiasts, such as myself, often enjoy going down the deep rabbit hole of the potential of bitcoin, possible pitfalls and theoretical scenarios, power user techniques, and the developer ecosystem. If your first touch point with bitcoin is that type of content then it is only natural to be overwhelmed. While it is important that we have a thriving community of bitcoiners dedicated to these complicated tasks - the true beauty of bitcoin lies in its simplicity. Bitcoin is simply better money. It is the best money we have ever had.

Life is complicated. Life is hard. Life is full of responsibility and surprises. Bitcoin allows us to focus on our lives while relying on a money that is simple. A money that is not controlled by any individual, company, or government. A money that cannot be easily seized or blocked. A money that cannot be devalued at will by a handful of corrupt bureaucrat who live hundreds of miles from us. A money that can be easily saved and should increase in purchasing power over time without having to learn how to "build a diversified stock portfolio" or hire someone to do it for us.

Bitcoin enables all of us to focus on our lives - our friends and family - doing what we love with the short time we have on this earth. Time is scarce. Life is complicated. Bitcoin is the most simple aspect of our complicated lives. If we spend our scarce time working then we should be able to easily save that accrued value for future generations without watching the news or understanding complicated financial markets. Bitcoin makes this possible for anyone.

Yesterday was Mother's Day. Raising a human is complicated. It is hard, it requires immense personal responsibility, it requires critical thinking, but mothers figure it out, because it is worth it. Using and saving bitcoin is simple -  simply install an app on your phone. Every mother can do it. Every person can do it.

Life is complicated. Life is beautiful. Bitcoin is simple.

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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.

@ 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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© 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.

@ 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.

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

@ 39cc53c9:27168656

Read the original blog post

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

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

@ bf47c19e:c3d2573b

27.08.2014

Originalni tekst na fee.org / Autor: Džefri A. Taker

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Oni koji se koriste delom Mizesa da bi osporili Bitkoin trebalo bi ponovo da razmisle.

Mnogi ljudi koji nikada nisu koristili Bitkoin posmatraju ga sa zbunjenošću. Zašto ovaj magični internet novac uopšte ima bilo kakvu vrednost? To je samo nekakva kompjuterska stvar koju je neko izmislio.

Uzmite u obzir kritike zlatoljubaca, koji su decenijama gurali ideju da čvrst novac mora biti podržan nečim stvarnim, čvrstim i vrednim samim po sebi.

Bitkoin ne ispunjava te uslove, zar ne?

Možda ipak ispunjava. Pogledajmo detaljnije.

Bitkoin se prvi put pojavio pre skoro šest godina kao mogući konkurent nacionalnom novcu kojim upravlja država. Beli papir Satošija Nakamota objavljen je 31. oktobra 2008. godine. Struktura i jezik ovog rada poslali su poruku: Ova valuta je za kompjuterske tehničare, a ne za ekonomiste niti za političke komentatore. Domet ovog rada je bio ograničen; početnici koji su ga čitali bili su zbunjeni.

Ali nedostatak interesovanja nije sprečio istoriju da ide napred. Dva meseca kasnije, oni koji su obraćali pažnju videli su pojavu Genesis bloka, prve grupe Bitkoina generisanih putem Nakamotovog koncepta distribuirane knjige (distributed ledger) koja je postojala na bilo kom kompjuterskom čvoru na svetu koji je želeo da je hostuje.

Ovde smo šest godina kasnije, a jedan Bitkoin vredi 500 američkih dolara, dok je njegova najviša vrednost bila 1.200 dolara po novčiću. Ovu valutu prihvata na hiljade institucija, kako onlajn, tako i oflajn. Njen platni sistem je veoma popularan u siromašnim zemljama koje nemaju razvijenu bankarsku infrastrukturu, ali i u razvijenim zemljama. Velike institucije – uključujući Federalne rezerve, OECD, Svetsku banku i velike investicione kuće – posvećuju mu pažnju sa dužnim poštovanjem.

Entuzijasti, koji se nalaze u svakoj zemlji, kažu da će njegova tržišna vrednost u budućnosti rasti jer je njegova ponuda strogo ograničena i pruža sistem koji je znatno superiorniji od državnog novca. Bitkoin se prenosi između pojedinaca bez posrednika. Razmena je gotovo besplatna. Ima predvidivu ponudu. Trajan je, zamenljiv i deljiv: sve su to ključne karakteristike novca. Stvara monetarni sistem koji ne zavisi od poverenja i identiteta, a mnogo manje od centralnih banaka i države. To je novi sistem za digitalno doba.

Teške pouke o čvrstom novcu

Onima koji su obrazovani u tradiciji 'čvrstog novca', cela ideja je predstavljala ozbiljan izazov. Govoreći o sebi, čitao sam o Bitkoinu dve godine pre nego što sam makar približno uspeo da ga razumem. Jednostavno, nešto u celoj toj ideji mi je smetalo. Ne možete stvoriti novac ni iz čega, a kamoli iz kompjuterskog koda. Zašto onda ima vrednost? Mora da nešto nije kako treba. Nismo očekivali da će se novac tako reformisati.

Tu je i problem: naša očekivanja. Trebalo je da posvetimo više pažnje teoriji porekla novca Ludviga fon Mizesa — ne onome što mislimo da je on napisao, već onome što je on zaista napisao.

Godine 1912. Mizes je objavio delo "Teorija novca i kredita". Kada je objavljeno na nemačkom, postiglo je ogroman uspeh u Evropi i prevedeno je na engleski jezik. Iako je obuhvatilo svaki aspekt novca, njegov ključni doprinos bio je u praćenju vrednosti i cene novca — i ne samo novca — sve do njegovog porekla. To jest, objasnio je kako novac formira svoju cenu u smislu dobara i usluga koje se njime mogu nabaviti. Kasnije je ovaj proces nazvao "teoremom regresije novca" i ispostavilo se da Bitkoin zadovoljava sve uslove te teoreme.

Mizesov učitelj, Karl Menger, demonstrirao je da sam novac potiče sa tržišta – a ne od države i ne od društvenog ugovora. On se postepeno pojavljuje dok monetarni preduzetnici traže idealan oblik robe za indirektnu razmenu. Umesto da neposredno vrše trampu, ljudi pribavljaju neko dobro ne da bi ga konzumirali, već da bi ga razmenili. To dobro postaje novac, najtržišnije dobro.

Ali Mizes je dodao da se vrednost novca prati unazad kroz vreme sve do njegove vrednosti kao robe koja je služila za trampu. Mizes je smatrao da je to jedini način na koji novac može imati vrednost.

"Teorija vrednosti novca kao takvog može pratiti objektivnu tržišnu vrednost novca kroz vreme samo do tačke kada njegova vrednost prestaje da bude vrednost kao novca i postaje isključivo vrednost kao robe... Ako se na ovaj način neprestano vraćamo sve dalje unazad, na kraju moramo doći do tačke gde više ne nalazimo nijednu komponentu u objektivnoj tržišnoj vrednosti novca koja proističe iz vrednovanja zasnovanih na funkciji novca kao opšteg sredstva razmene; gde vrednost novca nije ništa drugo do vrednost predmeta koji je koristan na neki drugi način osim kao novac... Pre nego što je postalo uobičajeno nabavljati robu na tržištu, ne za ličnu potrošnju, već jednostavno radi ponovne razmene za robu za kojom zaista postoji potreba, svakoj pojedinačnoj robi pripisivana je samo ona vrednost data subjektivnim vrednovanjem zasnovanom na njenoj direktnoj korisnosti."

Mizesovo objašnjenje rešilo je veliki problem koji je dugo zbunjivao ekonomiste. Radi se o nagađajućem istorijskom narativu, a ipak ima savršenog smisla. Da li bi so postala novac da je inače bila potpuno beskorisna? Da li bi dabrovo krzno dobilo monetarnu vrednost da nije bilo korisno kao odeća? Da li bi srebro ili zlato imali novčanu vrednost da isprva nisu imali vrednost kao roba? Odgovor u svim slučajevima monetarne istorije je jasno ne. Početna vrednost novca, pre nego što postane široko razmenjivano kao novac, potiče iz njegove direktne korisnosti. To je objašnjenje koje je demonstrirano kroz istorijsku rekonstrukciju. To je Mizesova teorema regresije novca.

Upotrebna vrednost Bitkoina

Na prvi pogled, Bitkoin deluje kao izuzetak. Ne možete koristiti Bitkoin ni za šta drugo osim kao novac. Ne može se nositi kao nakit. Ne možete od njega napraviti mašinu. Ne možete ga jesti, pa čak ni koristiti ga kao dekoraciju. Njegova vrednost se ostvaruje samo kao jedinica koja olakšava indirektnu razmenu. Pa ipak, Bitkoin je već novac. Koristi se svakodnevno. Razmene možete videti u realnom vremenu. To nije mit. Ta stvar je stvarna.

Može izgledati kao da smo prinuđeni da biramo. Da li je Mizes pogrešio? Možda moramo odbaciti celu njegovu teoriju. Ili je možda njegova poenta bila isključivo istorijska i nije primenjiva na budućnost digitalnog doba. Ili je možda njegova teorema regresije dokaz da je Bitkoin samo prazna manija bez snage da potraje jer se ne može svesti na svoju vrednost kao korisna roba.

Pa ipak, ne morate se pozivati na komplikovane monetarne teorije da biste razumeli osećaj uzbune koji okružuje Bitkoin. Mnogi ljudi, kao i ja, jednostavno osećaju nelagodu u vezi sa novcem koji nema nikakvu fizičku osnovu. Naravno, možete odštampati Bitkoin na komadu papira, ali posedovanje papira sa QR kodom ili javnim ključem nije dovoljno da ublaži taj osećaj nelagode.

Kako da rešimo ovaj problem? U svojoj glavi, zabavljao sam se ovim pitanjem više od godinu dana. Zbunjivalo me je. Pitao sam se da li je Mizesovo shvatanje primenjivo samo u preddigitalnom dobu. Pratio sam onlajn spekulacije da bi vrednost Bitkoina bila nula, da nema nacionalnih valuta u koje se konvertuje. Možda je potražnja za Bitkoinom prevazišla zahteve Mizesovog scenarija zbog očajničke potrebe za nečim drugačijim od dolara.

Vreme je prolazilo — i čitajući radove Konrada Grafa, Petera Šurde i Danijela Kraviša — rešenje je konačno samo stiglo. Preći ću odmah na stvar i otkriti ga: Bitkoin je i sistem plaćanja i novac. Sistem plaćanja je izvor vrednosti, dok obračunska jedinica samo izražava tu vrednost u smislu cene. Jedinstvo novca i plaćanja je njegova najneobičnija karakteristika i ona koju je većina komentatora imala poteškoća da shvati.

Navikli smo da razmišljamo o valuti kao o nečemu što je odvojeno od sistema plaćanja. Ovo razmišljanje je odraz istorijskih tehnoloških ograničenja. Postoji dolar i postoje kreditne kartice. Postoji evro i postoji PayPal. Postoji jen i postoje servisi za prenos novca. U svim ovim slučajevima, transfer novca se oslanja na pružaoce usluga koji predstavljaju treću stranu. Da biste ih koristili, potrebno je da uspostavite ono što se naziva „odnos poverenja“ (trust relationship) sa njima, što znači da institucija koja dogovara posao mora da vam veruje da ćete platiti.

Ovaj jaz između novca i plaćanja uvek je bio prisutan, osim u slučaju fizičke blizine. Ako ti dam dolar za parče pice, nema treće strane. Ali sistemi plaćanja, treće strane i odnosi poverenja postaju neophodni kada napustite geografsku blizinu. Tada kompanije poput Vise i institucije poput banaka postaju nezaobilazne. One su ta aplikacija koja omogućava monetarnom softveru da radi ono što želite.

Problem je u tome što sistemi plaćanja koje danas imamo nisu dostupni svakome. Zapravo, ogromna većina čovečanstva nema pristup takvim alatima, što je glavni razlog siromaštva u svetu. Oni koji su finansijski obespravljeni su ograničeni samo na lokalnu trgovinu i ne mogu proširiti svoje trgovinske odnose sa svetom.

Vodeći, ako ne i primarni, cilj nastanka Bitkoina bio je rešavanje ovog problema. Protokol je postavio sebi zadatak da poveže funkciju valute sa sistemom plaćanja. Te dve stvari su potpuno međusobno povezane u samoj strukturi koda. Ova veza je ono što čini Bitkoin drugačijim od bilo koje postojeće nacionalne valute i, zaista, bilo koje valute u istoriji.

Neka nam se sam Nakamoto obrati iz uvodnog sažetka svog belog papira. Zapazite koliko je platni sistem ključan za monetarni sistem koji je stvorio:

"Potpuna peer-to-peer verzija elektronskog novca omogućila bi slanje uplata putem interneta direktno od jedne strane ka drugoj bez posredovanja finansijskih institucija. Digitalni potpisi pružaju deo rešenja, ali se glavni benefiti gube ako je i dalje potrebna pouzdana treća strana za sprečavanje dvostruke potrošnje. Predlažemo rešenje problema dvostruke potrošnje korišćenjem peer-to-peer mreže. Mreža vremenski označava transakcije tako što ih hešuje u tekući lanac dokaza o radu (proof of work) temeljen na hešu, formirajući zapis koji se ne može promeniti bez ponovnog rada i objavljivanja dokaza o tom radu. Najduži lanac ne služi samo kao dokaz niza događaja, nego i kao dokaz da je taj niz događaja potvrđen od strane dela peer-to-peer mreže koja poseduju najveću zbirnu procesorsku snagu (CPU). Sve dok većinu procesorske snage kontrolišu čvorovi (nodes) koji ne sarađuju u napadu na mrežu, oni će generisati najduži lanac i nadmašiti napadače. Sama mreža zahteva minimalnu strukturu. Poruke kroz mrežu se prenose uz pretpostavku da svaki čvor čini maksimalan napor da poruku prenese u svom izvornom obliku i na optimalan način, a čvorovi mogu napustiti mrežu i ponovo joj se pridružiti po želji, prihvatajući najduži lanac dokaza o radu kao dokaz onoga što se dogodilo dok ih nije bilo."

Ono što je veoma upečatljivo u ovom paragrafu je da se uopšte ne spominje sama valuta. Spominje se samo problem dvostruke potrošnje (odnosno, problem inflatornog stvaranja novca). Inovacija ovde je, čak i prema rečima njenog pronalazača, platna mreža, a ne novčić. Novčić ili digitalna jedinica samo izražava vrednost mreže. To je računovodstveni alat koji apsorbuje i prenosi vrednost mreže kroz vreme i prostor.

Ova mreža se naziva blokčejn. To je knjiga transakcija koja živi u digitalnom oblaku, distribuirana mreža i njeno funkcionisanje može posmatrati svako u bilo koje vreme. Pažljivo je nadgledaju svi korisnici. Omogućava prenos sigurnih i neponovljivih bitova informacija od jedne osobe do bilo koje druge osobe bilo gde u svetu, a ovi informacioni bitovi su zaštićeni digitalnim oblikom vlasništva. Ovo je ono što je Nakamoto nazvao „digitalnim potpisima“. Njegov izum knjige transakcija koja se nalazi na oblaku omogućava proveru vlasničkih prava bez oslanjanja na agenciju koja vrši ulogu treće strane od poverenja.

Blokčejn je rešio ono što je postalo poznato kao "problem vizantijskih generala". To je problem koordinacije akcija na velikom geografskom području u prisustvu potencijalno zlonamernih aktera. Budući da se generali razdvojeni prostorom moraju oslanjati na glasnike i to oslanjanje zahteva vreme i poverenje, nijedan general ne može biti apsolutno siguran da je drugi general primio i potvrdio poruku, a kamoli njenu tačnost.

Postavljanje knjige transakcija, kojoj svi imaju pristup, na Internet rešava ovaj problem. Knjiga transakcija beleži iznose, vremena i javne adrese svake transakcije. Informacije se dele širom sveta i stalno se ažuriraju. Knjiga transakcija garantuje integritet sistema i omogućava da valutna jedinica postane digitalni oblik imovine sa vlasništvom.

Kada ovo shvatite, možete videti da je suština vrednosti Bitkoin povezana sa njegovom integrisanom platnom mrežom. Ovde se pronalazi upotrebna vrednost na koju se Mizes poziva. Ona nije ugrađena u samu valutnu jedinicu, već u briljantan i inovativan platni sistem na kojem Bitkoin živi. Kada bi bilo moguće da se blokčejn nekako odvoji od Bitkoina (a to zaista nije moguće), vrednost valute bi odmah pala na nulu.

Dokaz koncepta

Da biste dalje razumeli kako se Mizesova teorija uklapa u Bitkoin, morate razumeti još jednu stvar u vezi sa istorijom kriptovalute. Na dan pokretanja (9. januar 2009.), vrednost Bitkoina bila je tačno nula. I tako je ostalo 10 meseci nakon pokretanja. Sve to vreme su se transakcije odvijale, ali tokom celog tog perioda vrednost nije bila iznad nule.

Prva objavljena cena Bitkoina pojavila se 5. oktobra 2009. Na ovoj menjačnici, 1 dolar je iznosio 1.309,03 Bitkoina (što su mnogi tada smatrali precenjenim). Drugim rečima, prva procena vrednosti Bitkoina bila je nešto više od jedne desetine penija. Da, da ste kupili Bitkoin u vrednosti od 100 dolara u to vreme i niste ih panično prodali, danas biste bili „polu-milijarder“.

Dakle, postavlja se pitanje: Šta se dogodilo između 9. januara i 5. oktobra 2009. godine, što je dovelo do toga da Bitkoin dobije tržišnu vrednost? Odgovor je da su trgovci, entuzijasti, preduzetnici i drugi isprobavali blokčejn. Želeli su da znaju da li funkcioniše. Da li je prenosio jedinice bez dvostruke potrošnje? Da li je sistem koji se oslanjao na dobrovoljnu računarsku snagu zaista bio dovoljan za verifikaciju i potvrđivanje transakcija? Da li bitkoini koji su dodeljeni kao nagrada završavaju tamo gde treba kao naknada za usluge verifikacije? I iznad svega, da li je ovaj novi sistem zaista uspeo da uradi ono što se činilo nemogućim – to jest, da prenosi bezbedne delove informacija zasnovanih na vlasničkim pravima kroz geografski prostor, bez posredovanja neke treće strane, već direktno između korisnika (peer-to-peer)?

Potrajalo je 10 meseci da se izgradi poverenje. Bilo je potrebno još 18 meseci dok Bitkoin nije dostigao paritet sa američkim dolarom. Ovu istoriju je ključno razumeti, pogotovo ako se oslanjate na teoriju porekla novca koja spekuliše o praistoriji novca, kao što to čini Misesova regresiona teorema. Bitkoin nije uvek bio novac koji ima vrednost. Nekada je bio čisto računovodstvena jedinica vezana za knjigu transakcija (ledger). Ova knjiga transakcija je pribavila ono što je Mises nazvao „upotrebnom vrednošću“. Svi uslovi teoreme su time zadovoljeni.

Zavšni obračun

Da ponovimo, ako neko kaže da se Bitkoin zasniva ni na čemu drugom osim na "običnoj magli", da ne može biti novac jer nema pravu istoriju kao istinska roba i, bez obzira da li je ta osoba početnik ili visoko obučeno ekonomista, morate istaći dve centralne tačke. Prvo, Bitkoin nije samostalna valuta već obračunska jedinica vezana za inovativnu platnu mrežu. Drugo, ova mreža, a samim tim i Bitkoin, svoju tržišnu vrednost stekla je isključivo kroz testiranje u realnom vremenu u tržišnom okruženju.

Drugim rečima, ako zanemarimo impresivne tehničke karakteristike, Bitkoin je prešao put baš kao i svaka druga valuta, od soli do zlata. Ljudi su smatrali da je platni sistem koristan, a vezana računovodstvena jedinica je bila prenosiva, deljiva, zamenljiva, trajna i retka.

Novac je rođen. Ovaj novac poseduje sve istorijski najbolje osobine novca, ali uključuje i bestežinsku i besprostornu platnu mrežu koja omogućava celom svetu da trguje bez potrebe za trećim stranama.

Ali primetite nešto što je izuzetno važno. Kod blokčejna se ne radi samo o novcu. Radi se o bilo kakvom prenosu informacija koji zahteva sigurnost, potvrđivanje i punu garanciju autentičnosti. Ovo se odnosi na ugovore i transakcije svih vrsta, sve obavljene direktno između stranaka (peer-to-peer). Zamislite svet bez trećih strana, uključujući i najopasniju treću stranu ikada stvorenu od strane čoveka: samu Državu. Zamislite tu budućnost i počećete da shvatate implikacije naše budućnosti u svojoj potpunosti.

Mises bi bio zapanjen i iznenađen Bitkoinom. Ali možda bi osećao i ponos što je njegova monetarna teorija, stara više od 100 godina, potvrđena i dobila novi život u 21. veku.

@ 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.

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

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

@ 39cc53c9:27168656

Read the original blog post

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

UI Improvements

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

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

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

Terms of Service Summarizer

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

Nostr Comments

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

Database

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

Scoring

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

Listings

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

API

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

About Page

The About page has been restructured for brevity and clarity.

Other Changes

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

@ 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.

---

My Nostr Public Key: npub1qny3tkh0acurzla8x3zy4nhrjz5zd8l9sy9jys09umwng00manysew95gx

---

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.

---

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

@ 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!

---

Published using nostr-publisher

@ 39cc53c9:27168656

Read the original blog post

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

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

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

History of Monero

Bytecoin and CryptoNote

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The fork

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources of interest

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

@ 39cc53c9:27168656

Read the original blog post

“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.

@ 39cc53c9:27168656

Read the original blog post

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

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

User Accounts

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

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

Reviews and Community Discussions

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

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

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

Comment Moderation

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

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

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

Powerful Search & Filtering

Finding exactly what you need is now easier:

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

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

See all listings

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

Updated Scoring System

New dual-score approach provides more nuanced service evaluations:

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

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

• Combined into a weighted Overall Score for quick comparisons

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

AI-Powered Terms of Service Analysis

Basically, a TLDR summary for Terms of Service:

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

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

Service Events and Timelines

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

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

There is also a global timeline view available at /events

Notification System

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

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

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

Service Suggestions

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

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

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

---

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

What's Next?

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

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

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

---

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

@ 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.

---

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

@ 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.

---

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

@ 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

@ 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.

@ 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

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.

---

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

@ 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.

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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.

@ e1cde248:609c13b0

ในการกล่าวสุนทรพจน์หลักในงาน Bitcoin 2025 ไมเคิล เซย์เลอร์ (Michael Saylor) นักเคลื่อนไหวชื่อดังด้านบิตคอยน์และซีอีโอของบริษัท MicroStrategy ได้บรรยายหัวข้อที่ทรงพลังชื่อว่า "21 วิธีสู่ความมั่งคั่ง" เขาได้เสนอเส้นทางเชิงกลยุทธ์สำหรับบุคคลทั่วไป ครอบครัว และธุรกิจขนาดเล็ก ในการบรรลุความมั่งคั่งทางการเงินผ่านบิตคอยน์

ต่างจากคำพูดก่อนหน้าของเขาที่มุ่งเป้าไปที่สถาบันและรัฐบาล คำพูดนี้ถูกออกแบบมาสำหรับผู้คนทั้ง 8 พันล้านคน บนโลก โดยเน้นขั้นตอนปฏิบัติที่สามารถใช้บิตคอยน์เป็นทรัพย์สินเปลี่ยนชีวิตอย่างแท้จริง ด้านล่างนี้คือการสำรวจเชิงลึกใน 21 หลักการ ของเซย์เลอร์ ซึ่งเปรียบเสมือนพิมพ์เขียวในการสร้างความมั่งคั่งในยุคดิจิทัล:

1. ความชัดเจน (Clarity): เข้าใจบิตคอยน์ในฐานะทุนที่สมบูรณ์แบบ เซย์เลอร์เริ่มต้นด้วยแนวคิดเรื่อง “ความชัดเจน” โดยเน้นว่าบิตคอยน์คือ "ทุนที่ถูกออกแบบอย่างสมบูรณ์" ซึ่งไม่สามารถถูกทำลายหรือดัดแปลงได้ ความเข้าใจนี้เป็นพื้นฐานสำคัญในการยอมรับศักยภาพของบิตคอยน์ในฐานะรากฐานของความมั่งคั่ง

2. ความเชื่อมั่น (Conviction): ศรัทธาในศักยภาพการเติบโตเหนือกว่า เซย์เลอร์ยืนยันว่าบิตคอยน์ถูกออกแบบมาให้เติบโตเร็วกว่าสินทรัพย์ทั่วไป เช่น หุ้น ทองคำ หรืออสังหาริมทรัพย์ การมีความเชื่อมั่นอย่างแท้จริงเป็นสิ่งจำเป็นต่อการให้ความสำคัญกับบิตคอยน์เหนือการลงทุนแบบดั้งเดิม

3. ความกล้า (Courage): ยอมรับความเสี่ยงทางการเงินอย่างชาญฉลาด บิตคอยน์คือการยอมรับความเสี่ยงที่คำนวณได้อย่างชาญฉลาด ไม่ใช่ความกลัวหรือการพนัน ผู้ที่ "เติมเชื้อไฟ" ให้กับระบบนี้คือผู้ที่เปลี่ยนเงินเฟียตหรือสินทรัพย์ด้อยค่ามาเป็นบิตคอยน์

4. ความร่วมมือ (Cooperation): ผนึกกำลังในครอบครัวเพื่อความแข็งแกร่ง เมื่อครอบครัวร่วมมือกัน ศักยภาพในการสร้างความมั่งคั่งจะเพิ่มทวีคูณ เซย์เลอร์เสนอให้ครอบครัวผสานความสามารถและทรัพยากร เพื่อผลักดันกันและกันสู่อนาคตที่ดีกว่า

5. ความสามารถ (Capability): เชี่ยวชาญปัญญาประดิษฐ์ ในปี 2025 AI เป็นกุญแจสำคัญในการปลดล็อกโอกาสทางการเงินระดับสูง โดยที่บุคคลทั่วไปสามารถเข้าถึงคำแนะนำจากทนาย นักบัญชี หรือผู้เชี่ยวชาญ โดยไม่เสียค่าใช้จ่าย

6. การจัดวางโครงสร้าง (Composition): สร้างนิติบุคคลเพื่อป้องกันและขยายผล การตั้งบริษัท ทรัสต์ หรือโครงสร้างทางกฎหมาย เช่น IRA หรือ 401(k) คือวิธีเพิ่มประสิทธิภาพในการลงทุนบิตคอยน์อย่างปลอดภัยและถูกกฎหมาย

7. สัญชาติทางเศรษฐกิจ (Citizenship): เลือกฐานภาษีอย่างชาญฉลาด เลือกอยู่ในพื้นที่หรือประเทศที่เป็นมิตรกับบิตคอยน์ เช่น ฟลอริดา หรือประเทศอย่างสิงคโปร์ เพื่อลดภาระภาษีและเพิ่มเสถียรภาพระยะยาว

8. ความสุภาพ (Civility): เคารพโครงสร้างอำนาจ ไม่จำเป็นต้องล้มล้างระบบเก่า เพียงแค่รู้จักเคารพอำนาจและสร้างพันธมิตรในทางที่สร้างสรรค์เพื่อเดินหน้ากับบิตคอยน์ได้

9. การใช้บริษัท (Corporation): บริษัทคือเครื่องจักรสร้างความมั่งคั่ง บริษัทสามารถใช้ประโยชน์จากระบบการเงินและภาษีได้ดีกว่าปัจเจกบุคคล จึงควรจัดตั้งนิติบุคคลเพื่อลงทุนในบิตคอยน์อย่างจริงจัง

10. โฟกัส (Focus): อย่าหลงทาง อย่าวอกแวกไปกับธุรกิจเสี่ยงสูงหรือเหรียญอื่น ๆ เพราะบิตคอยน์มีประวัติผลตอบแทนสูงอย่างสม่ำเสมอ

11. การมีส่วนร่วม (Equity): ร่วมมือกับนักลงทุน ให้ผู้อื่นร่วมลงทุนในกิจการของคุณ เช่น หมอฟันอาจขายหุ้นบางส่วนของคลินิกเพื่อนำเงินไปลงทุนในบิตคอยน์

12. เครดิต (Credit): ใช้หนี้เป็นเครื่องมือ กู้เงินดอกเบี้ยต่ำและลงทุนในบิตคอยน์ที่มีแนวโน้มเติบโตสูง เพื่อทำกำไรจากส่วนต่างระหว่างดอกเบี้ยกับผลตอบแทน

13. การปฏิบัติตามกฎ (Compliance): ทำตามกฎหมาย สร้างบริษัทที่สอดคล้องกับกฎระเบียบเพื่อขยายเงินทุนได้อย่างมั่นคงและปลอดภัย

14. การระดมทุน (Capitalization): หาเงินลงทุนอย่างต่อเนื่อง ไม่ว่าจะจากการขายหุ้น หรือรีไฟแนนซ์ทรัพย์สินส่วนตัว ทุกโอกาสคือช่องทางในการระดมทุนและลงทุนต่อในบิตคอยน์

15. การสื่อสาร (Communication): โปร่งใสและจริงใจ การเปิดเผยแผนและเป้าหมายอย่างชัดเจนจะสร้างความไว้วางใจจากนักลงทุน พนักงาน และลูกค้า

16. ความมุ่งมั่น (Commitment): อยู่กับบิตคอยน์ ไม่หลงทาง หลีกเลี่ยงเหรียญอื่น ๆ หรือโปรเจกต์ที่ไม่มั่นคง ยึดมั่นในบิตคอยน์เพื่อเสถียรภาพระยะยาว

17. การลงมือทำ (Delivery): ลงมือจริงอย่างแม่นยำ ไม่ใช่แค่คิด แต่ต้องทำอย่างมีประสิทธิภาพ สม่ำเสมอ และไม่ประมาท

18. การปรับตัว (Adaptation): พร้อมเปลี่ยนแปลงเมื่อจำเป็น ระบบใด ๆ ก็มีวันล้มเหลว การปรับตัวตามสถานการณ์คือสิ่งที่ทำให้ยืนหยัดได้ในระยะยาว

19. วิวัฒนาการ (Evolution): เติบโตจากจุดแข็ง ขยายธุรกิจจากสิ่งที่คุณเชี่ยวชาญ แทนที่จะพยายามเริ่มสิ่งใหม่จากศูนย์

20. การเผยแพร่ (Advocacy): เป็นกระบอกเสียงเพื่อเสรีภาพทางเศรษฐกิจ บอกต่อและสอนผู้อื่นให้เข้าใจบิตคอยน์ เพื่อขยายเครือข่ายแห่งความมั่งคั่ง

21. ความเอื้อเฟื้อ (Generosity): แบ่งปันความสำเร็จ การช่วยเหลือครอบครัว ชุมชน และพนักงาน ด้วยทรัพยากรที่คุณมี จะสร้างความสุขทั้งต่อตัวคุณและโลก

เซย์เลอร์จบท้ายด้วยคำของซาโตชิ นากาโมโตะว่า:

“มันอาจจะดีถ้ามี bitcoin ไว้บ้าง เผื่อว่ามันจะกลายเป็นสิ่งสำคัญในอนาคต”

หลังจาก 16 ปีแห่งการเติบโตและมูลค่าตลาดกว่า 2 ล้านล้านดอลลาร์ หลักการทั้ง 21 ข้อนี้คือพิมพ์เขียวแห่งเสรีภาพทางการเงิน ที่รวมเอาความชัดเจน ความกล้า และเครื่องมืออย่าง AI, การจัดตั้งบริษัท และเครดิต เข้าด้วยกัน เพื่อให้ทุกคนสามารถใช้บิตคอยน์สร้างอนาคตที่ดีกว่าได้

@ 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.