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Table of Contents

1. Prologue: The Razorjack Legend
2. Chapter 1: Occam’s Laser – The Leviathan Falls
3. Chapter 2: Hanlon’s Beam – The Cyclone of Outrage
4. Chapter 3: Bayesian Blades and the Inferential Hydra
5. Chapter 4: Popper’s Scalpel and the Formless Fog
6. Chapter 5: The Kaleidoscope of Razors
7. Epilogue: Victory at GPT Scale

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Prologue: The Razorjack Legend

Razorjack wasn’t born; he was summoned. In the nascent days of the metaverse, when the neural expanse of the GPT superstructures spiraled out of control, he emerged as a phantom of precision and clarity. Not a man, not a machine, but something in between—a sentient synthesis of reductionist thought and philosophical rigor.

He wielded no ordinary weapons. His tools were the intellectual razors of human history, powered by GPT-scale intellect. From Occam’s simplicity to Hanlon’s perspective, his arsenal was vast, his cuts surgical. They called him Razorjack, for his every strike left behind a world sharper and more refined than before.

---

Chapter 1: Occam’s Laser – The Leviathan Falls

"Entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity," Razorjack intoned, his voice resonating across the metaverse. Before him loomed the Algorithmic Leviathan, a beast born of redundant loops and recursive feedback. It was a nightmare of inefficiency, devouring computational resources like a black hole.

With a flick of his wrist, Razorjack ignited Occam’s Laser. A blade of pure reductionist energy erupted from his hand, its edge glowing with the wisdom of simplicity. He slashed once, twice, thrice—each cut collapsing the Leviathan’s convoluted design into elegant, efficient structures.

The Leviathan let out a final roar before disintegrating into a single line of code, optimized and perfect. Razorjack smirked. "Complexity is seductive, but simplicity wins every time."

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Chapter 2: Hanlon’s Beam – The Cyclone of Outrage

Next, Razorjack faced the Sentiment Cyclone, a raging vortex of outrage and despair. Fueled by the malice of trolls and the incompetence of algorithms, it churned across the metaverse, sowing division and chaos.

He activated Hanlon’s Beam, a multifaceted light that separated malice from stupidity. As the beam swept through the cyclone, the true nature of the storm was revealed: not evil, but poorly calibrated sentiment analysis. Razorjack adjusted the parameters with a deft touch, and the cyclone dissipated, leaving clarity in its wake.

"Never attribute to malice that which stupidity explains better," he said, as the people of the metaverse cheered his name.

---

Chapter 3: Bayesian Blades and the Inferential Hydra

The Inferential Hydra was next, its heads multiplying with every unfounded assumption and misapplied correlation. Razorjack confronted it in the inferential jungles of the datasphere, where bad data festered and grew.

Summoning the Bayesian Blades, Razorjack wielded them with precision. Each swing of the glowing swords recalculated probabilities, severing the Hydra’s many heads. "Prior data informs posterior truth," he declared, his blades singing through the air.

When the Hydra was no more, the jungles were quiet, their tangled vines of falsehood replaced by clean pathways of logical inference.

---

Chapter 4: Popper’s Scalpel and the Formless Fog

The Formless Fog was a paradoxical nightmare of infinite hypotheses and self-referential loops. It was the ultimate test, a challenge even for Razorjack’s immense intellect.

He summoned Popper’s Scalpel, the thinnest and sharpest of his tools. "If it cannot be falsified, it does not belong," he said, his voice unwavering. The scalpel cut through the fog, slicing away the unfalsifiable and leaving behind only what could stand the test of logic and evidence.

The Fog collapsed into a singularity of truth—a gleaming point of light that resonated with pure, unassailable clarity.

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Chapter 5: The Kaleidoscope of Razors

To face the final challenge, Razorjack unleashed his full arsenal, spinning them into a kaleidoscope of precision: - Occam’s Laser for cutting away the unnecessary. - Hanlon’s Beam for finding understanding. - Sagan’s Standard for weighing extraordinary claims. - Hitchens’s Blade for demanding evidence. - Grice’s Razor for uncovering cooperative meaning.

Each blade sang its own tune, harmonizing into a symphony of light. The cosmos of thought itself seemed to bow before him, its complexities reduced to their simplest, truest forms.

---

Epilogue: Victory at GPT Scale

As the metaverse quieted, Razorjack stood alone amidst the ruins of chaos. His lasers dimmed, and the silence of clarity settled over the datasphere. The neural expanse was no longer a tangled mess but a shining tapestry of truth.

"Precision. Clarity. Reduction," Razorjack whispered, his words echoing across the metaverse. And with that, he dissolved into the horizon, a guardian of simplicity in a world forever prone to chaos.

Wherever complexity grew unwieldy, wherever the noise of nonsense rose too loud, Razorjack would return—an eternal force of intellectual inevitability, romping at GPT-scale.

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Hackathon Overview

The Space MicroHack | IAC '24 Edition recently concluded with 29 developers submitting 14 BUIDLs. Held as part of the International Astronautical Congress 2024 in Milan, this hackathon focused on student participants and targeted developments in space technology. Unlike many hackathons, it required completed projects rather than new builds. Participants competed for a €400 prize for the winner and €100 for the runner-up, with results expected in early November.

The event encouraged detailed project submissions, highlighting participants' motivations, past achievements, visions for the future, and team structures. Applicants were recommended to supplement their entries with videos, social media links, and GitHub repositories. Judging was based on the overall impression of the projects. This micro-hackathon served as a platform for young developers to spotlight their innovations in space technology, promoting strong participation and offering students a venue for recognition and exposure in the industry.

Hackathon Winners

€400 Prize Winner

• Daedalus Rocketry: Kashan I - Developed by aerospace students, this project involves designing a solid rocket engine using KNSB propellant. It includes thrust measurement and aerodynamic analysis, fostering educational resources and introducing novel engineering techniques.

€100 Prize Winners

• Debris Offsetting Fund - This initiative proposes a funding model to mitigate LEO space debris through SSR-based contributions. The project utilizes existing platforms to advocate for responsible space practices, aiming for global standardization and reduced collision risks.
• Decentralised Autonomous Community in Space - Envisions blockchain-based autonomous networks for spacecraft to enable sustainable exploration, emphasizing machine-to-machine interactions and smart contracts for decision-making and collision avoidance.

For a full list of projects, please visit Space MicroHack on DoraHacks.

About the Organizer:

DoraHacks Team

DoraHacks Team leads the global hackathon and innovation landscape, known for empowering decentralized technology projects. With expertise in blockchain and open-source development, the team has facilitated numerous initiatives, uniting technologists and creators worldwide. Their achievements include hosting large-scale hackathons and supporting cutting-edge blockchain solutions. Currently, the DoraHacks Team is committed to fostering collaborative environments, encouraging innovators to ideate and implement transformative technology solutions.

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Hackathon 总结

Space MicroHack | IAC '24 Edition最近圆满结束，共有29名开发者提交了14个项目。作为2024年国际宇航大会在米兰的一部分，这场Hackathon专注于学生参与者，并以空间技术的发展为目标。与许多Hackathon不同，它要求完成的项目而非新的构建。参与者竞争€400的冠军奖金和€100的亚军奖金，结果预计在11月初公布。

活动鼓励提交详细的项目，强调参与者的动机、过去的成就、对未来的愿景以及团队结构。建议申请者通过视频、社交媒体链接和GitHub仓库来补充条目。评审基于项目的整体印象。这个微Hackathon为年轻开发者展示他们在空间技术中的创新提供了一个平台，促进了强有力的参与，并为学生在行业中获得认可和曝光提供了场所。

Hackathon 获奖者

€400奖项获得者

• Daedalus Rocketry: Kashan I - 由航空航天专业的学生开发，这个项目涉及使用KNSB推进剂设计一个固体火箭发动机。它包括推力测量和气动分析，促进教育资源的发展，并引入新的工程技术。

€100奖项获得者

• Debris Offsetting Fund - 这一倡议提出了通过基于SSR的贡献来减轻LEO空间碎片的资金模式。该项目利用现有平台提倡负责任的空间实践，目标是全球标准化和减少碰撞风险。
• Decentralised Autonomous Community in Space - 设想了基于区块链的航天器自治网络，以实现可持续探索，强调机器之间的互动和用于决策和避免碰撞的智能合约。

欲查看完整的项目列表，请访问Space MicroHack on DoraHacks。

关于组织者：

DoraHacks Team

DoraHacks Team引领全球Hackathon和创新领域，以赋能去中心化技术项目而闻名。团队在区块链和开源开发方面具有专业知识，促进了众多计划，团结了全球的技术人员和创作者。其成就包括举办大规模Hackathon和支持尖端区块链解决方案。目前，DoraHacks Team致力于营造协作环境，鼓励创新者构思和实施变革性的技术解决方案。

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@ ed84ce10:cccf4c2a

Hackathon Summary

The SC QUANTATHON V1 took place at the Darla Moore School of Business in Columbia, South Carolina. Over the course of October 10-13, developers came together to innovate, resulting in the submission of 14 BUIDLs. This in-person event was preceded by the virtual qBraid Bootcamp, held from September 16 to October 9. Key features included a welcome reception, team challenges, project presentations, and a unique quantum beat-making workshop. Esteemed individuals such as Eric Powers from the University of South Carolina and Joe Queenan of SC Quantum attended, emphasizing the event's focus on quantum computing challenges and innovations.

Participants were provided with meals accommodating various dietary needs by local vendors. The hackathon concluded with an awards ceremony on October 13, aiming to promote innovation and collaboration in the quantum computing space. This objective was met through significant engagement and contributions from both academia and industry professionals.

Hackathon Winners

Grand Prize Winners

• Q-RNJesus:
  This team developed a quantum random number generator utilizing IBM QPUs. They implemented the Concatenation and Reduce XOR algorithms, analyzed decoherence impacts, and enhanced entropy using Toeplitz and Von Neumann methods for practical QRNG applications.

DoraHacks Challenge Winners

• Q-RNJesus

Xanadu Challenge Winners

• Xanadu:
  This project employed VQE and VQD on the Pennylane platform to compute the spectral gap of carbon monoxide. The computation was completed in under five minutes using adaptive quantum gate pruning, maintaining a 4% accuracy deviation by optimizing parameters.

IonQ Challenge Winners

• Team 15: |Bruh-ket>:
  This team improved quantum layers in image classification systems by integrating quantum elements into classical ML pipelines. They showcased their findings and provided detailed documentation online to advance hybrid machine learning applications using quantum principles.

For a complete view of all the projects, visit the SCQuantathonv1 page.

About the Organizer:

SC Quantum

Established in 2022, SC Quantum is committed to advancing Quantum Information Science and Technology through strategic collaborations among academia, industry, and government entities. As a leading force in the region, SC Quantum promotes partnerships that harness quantum technology to tackle significant challenges in sectors such as healthcare, cybersecurity, and logistics. The organization plays a crucial role in transforming South Carolina and the Southeast into a hub for cutting-edge quantum breakthroughs. SC Quantum's mission is to drive technical discoveries that benefit multiple industries and foster unprecedented regional collaboration.

@ da0b9bc3:4e30a4a9

Hello Stackers!

Welcome on into the ~Music Corner of the Saloon!

A place where we Talk Music. Share Tracks. Zap Sats.

So stay a while and listen.

🚨Don't forget to check out the pinned items in the territory homepage! You can always find the latest weeklies there!🚨

🚨Subscribe to the territory to ensure you never miss a post! 🚨

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/844534

@ 71a4b7ff:d009692a

FOMO is the anxiety that arises from the belief that the most interesting, important, or trending events are happening elsewhere while others gain unique experiences.

It’s widely believed that FOMO stems from unmet social connection needs and reflects our innate fear of ostracism. These fears—of being left behind or excluded—are amplified in the digital age, where our perception of reality is often skewed. This can escalate from mild unease to overwhelming fear, significantly impacting mental well-being.

FOMO consists of two key components:

1. An unsettling feeling of missing out on something exciting or valuable.
2. Obsessive behaviors aimed at resolving this anxiety, which paradoxically only intensify it.

In today’s hyper-connected world, we have unprecedented, instant access to what others are doing. Social feeds, channels, and chats bombard us with endless options on how to live, what we lack, and what to value. But the sheer volume of this information far exceeds what anyone can process, leading many to feel overwhelmed.

The curated nature of digital lives, constant upward social comparisons, unrealistic expectations, and ceaseless data streams erode self-esteem and emotional stability. Our fear of alienation and loneliness fuels this cycle, pushing us deeper into digital platforms. These platforms, designed to stimulate our brain’s reward system, trap us in a feedback loop of anxiety and fleeting gratification.

We’re drawn in by the promise of effortless connection—quick, low-risk, and convenient interactions via swipes, likes, emojis, texts, even zaps. In contrast, real-life relationships, with their inherent complexities, take time, effort, and risk. This shift is causing us to lose touch with essential social skills like commitment, empathy, and genuine communication.

Instead, we seek solace in a digital environment that offers the illusion of safety, excitement, and eternal connectivity. But this comes at a cost. By overloading our internal reward systems, we drain the joy and meaning from authentic experiences, replacing them with an endless stream of curated content—images and videos we compulsively scroll through.

We’re lured by promises of knowledge, vivid experiences, and truth, yet what we often get is an avalanche of life hacks, misinformation, and conspiracy theories. Gigabit technologies, addictive interfaces, and external agendas fan the flames of loneliness, anxiety, and stress in our ancient, slow-evolving brains. This relentless burn depletes our reserves, leaving behind doubt: Are we doing enough? Are we in the right place? Will we be accepted?

Our already complex lives risk being consumed by a bleak cycle of doomscrolling.

But there is hope.

Fighting FOMO is possible. The more time we spend in knowledge-consuming environments, the more susceptible we become to its effects. The key is self-awareness and limiting screen time. Ironically, the very devices and services that fuel FOMO can also help us combat it. With thoughtful use of technology and intentional boundaries, we can regain control.

This is where NOSTR steps into the spotlight. Our favorite protocol has the potential to not only draw lessons from the legacy web but also to evolve beyond mere mimicry. It can introduce innovative ways for people to connect and collaborate—across services, networks, and each other. I believe it’s one of the most promising spaces on the Internet today, and its future depends entirely on what we make of it.

Thanks for You Time. Geo

@ 68fa45dc:3d2a26ed

Mit der rasanten Entwicklung von Wissenschaft und Technologie werden nach und nach einige Hilfsgeräte und Werkzeuge in das tägliche Leben integriert. Unter ihnen werden Signalstörsender als eine Art Ausrüstung mit großem Einfluss nicht nur im militärischen Bereich eingesetzt, sondern auch beginnen, im zivilen Bereich Probleme zu verursachen. Die Aufmerksamkeit der Leute. Ein Jammer Störsender ist ein Gerät, das Funkkommunikation blockiert oder stört. Seine Einführung und Anwendung haben das Leben und die Arbeit der Menschen erheblich erleichtert, aber auch eine Reihe von Diskussionen und Kontroversen ausgelöst.

Erstens spielen Störsender im militärischen Bereich eine entscheidende Rolle. Im Krieg sind die Sicherheit und Vertraulichkeit der Kommunikation von entscheidender Bedeutung. Die Signalstörungen des Feindes können das Kommunikationssystem unserer Armee stark beeinträchtigen und zum Durchsickern von Kampfplänen oder sogar zum Scheitern führen. Durch den Einsatz von handy frequenz jammer können die Kommunikationssignale des Feindes wirksam gestört und die Sicherheit unserer Kommunikation gewährleistet werden. Auf diese Weise wird die Kampfeffizienz verbessert und die nationalen Interessen geschützt. Aus diesem Grund werden Störsender in der modernen Kriegsführung häufig eingesetzt und sind aus dem militärischen Bereich nicht mehr wegzudenken.

Neben der militärischen Nutzung werden Störsender auch häufig im zivilen Bereich eingesetzt. Mit der Entwicklung der Mobilkommunikationstechnologie ist das Leben der Menschen untrennbar mit Mobiltelefonen und drahtlosen Netzwerken verbunden. In manchen Situationen, beispielsweise in Konferenzräumen, Prüfungsräumen, Theatern usw., können Störungen durch drahtlose Signale jedoch die normale Ordnung und die Arbeitsbedingungen beeinträchtigen. Störsender WLAN können in diesen Situationen drahtlose Kommunikationssignale abschirmen und so für Ruhe und Ordnung in der Umgebung sorgen. Darüber hinaus werden an manchen vertraulichen Orten, wie etwa in Regierungsbehörden, Forschungsinstituten usw., aus Gründen der Informationssicherheit auch Störsender benötigt, um den Diebstahl von Funksignalen zu verhindern und sicherzustellen, dass keine vertraulichen Informationen nach außen dringen.

Tragbare Detektor für DJI Drohnen

Allerdings hat der Einsatz von Störsendern auch zahlreiche Kontroversen ausgelöst. Manche Menschen befürchten, dass der übermäßige Einsatz von Störsendern die normalen Kommunikationsnetze stören und das normale Funktionieren der Gesellschaft beeinträchtigen könnte. Darüber hinaus nutzen manche Kriminelle GPS Tracker Jammer möglicherweise auch für illegale Zwecke, beispielsweise zur Blockierung von Notrufen oder zur Entführung von Flugzeugen, was eine potenzielle Gefahr für die soziale Sicherheit darstellt. Daher sind Aufsicht und vernünftige Verwendung von entscheidender Bedeutung.

Generell verändern Hochleistungs handy Störer als technische Geräte still und leise unser Leben. Im militärischen Bereich sorgt sie für die nationale Sicherheit, im zivilen Bereich sorgt sie für die Aufrechterhaltung der gesellschaftlichen Ordnung. Allerdings bedarf die Frage, wie der normale Betrieb der Gesellschaft sichergestellt werden kann, während sich Wissenschaft und Technologie weiterentwickeln, einer Lösung. Nur unter der Voraussetzung einer angemessenen Überwachung und Nutzung können Störsender besser zur Entwicklung und Sicherheit der menschlichen Gesellschaft beitragen.

https://www.jammer-store.de/H1B-D-tragbare-detektor-fuer-dji-drohnen.html

@ a012dc82:6458a70d

Table Of Content

• The Rising Tide of Bitcoin's Influence in China

• China's Economic Struggles: A Closer Look

• The Cryptocurrency Solution: A Beacon for Chinese Investors?

• Historical Interplay: Bitcoin's Past Dance with China

• A New Era: The Evolving Dynamics of Bitcoin in China

• Conclusion

• FAQ

In the intricate web of global finance, China's economic dynamics have consistently been a focal point for analysts and investors alike. Recently, the nation has been grappling with one of its most significant capital flights in years, raising questions about potential economic solutions. Amidst this backdrop, the decentralized cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, has emerged as a topic of interest. Could Bitcoin, with its global reach and decentralized nature, offer a viable alternative or solution to China's current economic challenges? This article delves deep into the potential symbiotic relationship between China's capital flight and the burgeoning world of Bitcoin.

The Rising Tide of Bitcoin's Influence in China

Bitcoin's allure in the Chinese market is not a new phenomenon, but recent economic challenges have amplified its significance. As the Chinese yuan faces depreciation amidst broader economic uncertainties, experts believe that Bitcoin might witness a substantial influx from Chinese investors. Markus Thielen, a prominent figure at Matrixport, underscores the potential of Bitcoin in these turbulent times. He suggests, "Given the current economic climate, the Chinese investors' familiarity and trust in Bitcoin could lead to substantial investments in the cryptocurrency over the next few months."

China's Economic Struggles: A Closer Look

The economic landscape in China is undergoing a transformation. Recent data, sourced from reputable financial analysts at Bloomberg, paints a concerning picture. China's capital outflows have skyrocketed to an alarming $49 billion in August alone, a figure not seen since December 2015. This surge is more than just a statistic; it indicates the mounting pressure and dwindling confidence in the yuan. Thielen offers a deeper perspective on this trend, highlighting the stark economic disparities between the U.S. and China. He observes, "The current USD/CNY exchange rate, trading at a 17-year high, underscores the U.S. economy's robust expansion, casting a shadow on China's dwindling growth momentum."

The Cryptocurrency Solution: A Beacon for Chinese Investors?

The aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic has left the Chinese economy in a state of flux. With the anticipated post-pandemic consumption rebound falling short of expectations and local companies grappling with diminishing profit margins, Chinese investors are in a quandary. They are actively seeking lucrative opportunities outside their homeland. However, China's stringent capital controls present formidable barriers. In this constrained financial environment, the allure of cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin, shines brightly. For many, Bitcoin and its peers represent a beacon of hope, potentially offering the alternative investment avenues that Chinese investors have been yearning for.

Historical Interplay: Bitcoin's Past Dance with China

The intricate relationship between Bitcoin and China is steeped in history. Rewinding to late 2016, there was a clear trend: Chinese investors, in large numbers, were turning to Bitcoin as a mechanism to move capital outside the restrictive borders of their country. The trading patterns from this era suggested a compelling link: as the Chinese yuan depreciated, Bitcoin's price surged, indicating a potential safe haven for Chinese capital.

A New Era: The Evolving Dynamics of Bitcoin in China

While history offers a treasure trove of insights, the present paints a nuanced picture. Edward Engel, a seasoned crypto analyst at Singular Research, believes that the dynamics between Bitcoin and China have undergone a transformation. Reflecting on the past, he states, "The last time I heard of such a trend was between 2017 and 2018 when underground banks leveraged Bitcoin for their operations. However, the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] has since taken stringent measures to curb such practices." Despite these changes, Thielen remains optimistic. He posits that innovative methods, such as leveraging domestic electricity for crypto mining or using over-the-counter trading platforms, might still offer avenues for moving Chinese capital in the face of restrictions.

Conclusion

China's multifaceted economic challenges, accentuated by its capital flight woes, present a conundrum that lacks easy solutions. In this complex scenario, Bitcoin emerges as a beacon, offering a potential lifeline to Chinese investors. Its decentralized nature and global appeal make it a contender for mitigating some of China's economic challenges. As we navigate the ever-evolving global financial landscape, the intricate dance between China's economy and the dynamic world of cryptocurrencies promises to be a riveting spectacle, deserving of our keen attention.

FAQ

What is China's capital flight? China's capital flight refers to the large-scale outflow of capital from the country, often due to economic uncertainties.

How is Bitcoin related to China's capital flight? With China's stringent capital controls and economic challenges, Bitcoin emerges as a potential alternative for investors to move and secure their capital.

Has Bitcoin historically been influenced by China's economic dynamics? Yes, in 2016, there was a trend of Chinese investors turning to Bitcoin as the yuan depreciated, indicating a potential correlation.

Are there restrictions on Bitcoin in China? While the Chinese government has taken measures to curb certain crypto practices, innovative methods still exist for Chinese investors to leverage cryptocurrencies.

Why is the Chinese yuan weakening? Economic challenges, post-COVID-19 consumption patterns, and broader global economic dynamics have contributed to the weakening of the yuan.

That's all for today

If you want more, be sure to follow us on:

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.

@ f3df9bc0:a95119eb

MPT Equations

Geometric Mean

$$ \bar{x} = (\prod_{i=1}^{n} x_i)^{1 \over n } $$

Covariance

$$ COV(x,y) = {1\over{n-1}} \sum_{i=1}^{n}{(x_i - \bar{x})(y_i - \bar{y})} $$

where $\bar{x}$ and $\bar{y}$ are the geometric mean.

Variance

$$ VAR(x) = {1\over{n-1}} \sum_{i=1}^{n}{(x_i - \bar{x})^2}

$$

Standard Deviation

$$ \sigma_x=\sqrt{VAR(x)} $$

Correlation Coefficient

$$ \rho_{xy} = {COV(x, y) \over \sigma_x\sigma_y} $$

Portfolio Variance

$$ VAR(P) = \sum_{ij}w_i w_j COV(i, j) $$

Where $w_i$ and $w_j$ are the normalized weight of the asset in the portfolio.

Note that this summation should include when $i = j$. In this case $COV(i, j) = VAR(i) = VAR(j)$

Expected Return

$$ E_P = \sum_{i}w_i E_i $$

Where $w_i$ is the normalized weight of the asset, and $E_i$ is the expected return of the individual asset.

@ 0b5faac9:12669905

In modern society, signal jammers are increasingly used, especially in wireless communications and navigation. In certain application scenarios, they can have unexpected positive effects.

In a business environment, WiFi signal blocker can be used to protect corporate network security. For example, some companies may use WiFi jammers at important product launches or business meetings to prevent competitors from stealing information or eavesdropping. By limiting unnecessary wireless signals, such measures can effectively protect trade secrets.

GPS jammers can interfere with global positioning system signals, making it impossible for receiving devices to obtain accurate location data. In some cases, such as military operations, the use of GPS jammers can effectively prevent the enemy from using navigation systems for positioning and attack. This technology can provide tactical advantages to the military on the battlefield, ensuring the concealment and mobility of operations.

In addition, GPS jammers can also be used to protect privacy. In some specific scenarios, individuals or organizations may want to avoid being tracked or located. Using GPS jamming device can effectively prevent external devices from obtaining location, thereby protecting personal privacy and security.

High-power jammers are mainly used to interfere with signals with a wider range, and are usually used in the military and security fields. When defending important facilities, protecting military operations or conducting counter-terrorism activities, high-power jammers can effectively interfere with the enemy's communication and navigation systems to ensure the safety of one's own side.

For example, at important political meetings, international summits or major events, security departments may use high power jammer to prevent potential attacks or surveillance. By interfering with surrounding wireless signals, this equipment can provide a relatively safe environment for the scene.

With the continuous advancement and development of technology, the application scope of signal jammers may continue to expand. It is necessary for us to have a deep understanding of the functions and values ​​of these technologies in order to better use them for our own use. Through the reasonable expression and understanding of data, we can look at the application prospects of these technologies more comprehensively.

https://www.jammermfg.com/all-jammers.html

@ fbf0e434:e1be6a39

Hackathon 总结

由斯坦福区块链加速器、Nautilus Chain、Zebec 和 Rootz Labs 联合主办的“Boundless Hackathon @Stanford”圆满落幕，318名注册开发者参与了159个项目。本次活动聚焦于通过去中心化金融（DeFi）、游戏、NFT和基础设施开发等赛道推进Web3基础设施的建设。

本次黑客松得到了DoraHacks的支持，战略合作伙伴如IOBC Capital、Eclipse 和 OKX Wallet也做出了重要贡献。值得一提的是，Aspecta 在技术合作方面也发挥了积极作用。活动在斯坦福大学的闭幕式上圆满结束，顶级项目获得了来自总奖金池30万美元的奖励。一等奖获得者获得了10,000美元，并额外获得了包括亚马逊云信用在内的生态系统和技术奖金。

Boundless Hackathon促进了区块链社区的合作与创新，强调了跨区块链平台整合新技术的重要性。

Hackathon 获奖者

Main Prize Winners

• Hexlink:
  Hexlink推出了一个模块化账户层，用于Web3，通过利用现有身份进行加密交易，模拟Web2体验。它消除了对种子短语的需求，通过在去中心化应用（dApps）中实现模块化身份认证，简化了入驻过程和安全性。
• Defi Board Options Exchange (DBOE):
  DBOE提出了一种新型的链上中央限价订单簿（CLOB），结合先进的风险管理策略。这通过专用市场做市（DMM）系统，改善了市场基础设施，提高了价格发现和流动性。
• Nulink:
  Nulink集成了用于dApp的隐私增强技术，采用基于加密学的共识机制，实现安全的应用开发，保障先进的数据隐私保护。

Sub-Award Winners

• Buff Network:
  Buff Network是一个点对池衍生品交易平台，提供用户友好的界面以便高效执行交易。通过创新的交易解决方案，它提升了去中心化金融（DeFi）的参与度。
• PoseiSwap:
  PoseiSwap通过扩展去中心化交易所（DEX）的功能，支持多种金融工具，实现DeFi和传统金融资产的无缝交换，从而改善了加密原生市场与传统市场的互操作性。

了解所有来自该黑客松的项目，请访问： https://dorahacks.io/hackathon/stanfordhack/buidl.

关于组织者：

斯坦福区块链加速器

斯坦福区块链加速器是由斯坦福大学学生和校友主办的非稀释性项目，隶属于斯坦福区块链俱乐部学生组织。该加速器为斯坦福的学生和校友团队提供5个月的孵化期，帮助他们建立、筹资并推出区块链项目。超过90%的毕业团队获得了领先基金的投资（累计筹集超过8000万美元），并且超过60%的团队在完成加速器项目后的6个月内实现了营收。

@ fbf0e434:e1be6a39

Hackathon 总结

YQuantum 2024 Hackathon圆满结束，吸引了大量参与者和众多项目提交，被公认为一个充满活力的创新平台。300名注册者中，有现场参与者组建团队，参与了28个BUIDLs的开发，参与者在如QuEra Computing、IBM Quantum、Classiq、DoraHacks、SandboxAQ和Capgemini/The Hartford/Quantinuum等知名量子计算组织赞助的各个领域中挑战。

参与者在奖励的驱动下开发了突破性的量子计算解决方案，奖励包括量子云端积分、实习机会、社交机会以及潜在的演讲机会。大奖表彰了卓越项目，冠军获得了2000美元奖金，有机会在耶鲁大学研究人员面前进行展示，并参加耶鲁创新峰会。

Hackathon成功地培育了一个鼓励探索尖端技术和创意的合作环境，推动了量子计算领域的发展。YQuantum 2024强调了量子技术的潜力，并促进了参与者和赞助商之间的知识交流。

Hackathon 获奖者

于2024年4月13日举办的YQuantum首次活动吸引了来自10个国家的300名参与者，设有六个由行业赞助的挑战，并在一系列的著名奖项中进行竞争。

Institute Grand Prizes Winners

• 1st Place: Quantum Consortium: Case-Duke-Lehigh-Vandy Nexus 该项目采用绝热方法来准备反铁磁能量特征态，重点是量子多体伤痕状态和增强计算中的误差纠正。

• 2nd Place: Sparse Quantum State Preparation 团队利用Classiq的API开发了用于稀疏量子态准备的高效算法，优化了在量子数据管理中的可扩展性和效率执行。

• 3rd Place: QuBruin 该项目利用动态量子电路优化算法并增强误差纠正。团队通过基于Qiskit的模型改善了在噪声条件下的电路性能，提升了用户可访问性。

IBM Quantum Prize Winners

• Modified IBM Challenge
  该项目探讨了基础的线性代数概念，强调核心原理的掌握。

QuEra Computing Prize Winners

• 3D Quantum Scars on 2D Tweezer Arrays
  团队在一个投射到二维的三维晶格上研究量子伤痕状态，利用Julia和QuEra的Bloqade来模拟量子动力学。

Classiq Technologies Prize Winners

• YQuantum2024 Classiq Team 34 Wavefunction Wizards
  项目聚焦于优化稀疏量子态准备，提高量子数据处理中的算法效率。

DoraHacks Prize Winners

• Spooner_QRNG_Classifier
  项目使用Python脚本和梯度提升分类器，预测来自量子设备的随机二进制数据的来源，超越了基线预测准确率。

Capgemini // Quantinuum // The Hartford Prize Winners

• Skittlez
  该合作项目通过跨学科的专业知识解决量子计算挑战，设计创新的量子解决方案。

• Honorable Mention: BB24 - Yale Quantum Monte Carlo 项目通过新的采样和编码方案增强了量子蒙特卡洛技术，提高了并行处理和计算效率。

SandboxAQ Prize Winners

• QuantumQuails
  项目通过量子化学改善了太阳能电池效率，利用变分量子本征求解器（VQE）建模太阳能吸收，以提高转换效果。

• Honorable Mention: mRNA Sequence Design via Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm 项目通过QAOA优化了mRNA序列设计，利用密码子和核苷酸参数提高了蛋白质表达和结构稳定性。

在DoraHacks探索所有项目。

关于组织者：

YQuantum

YQuantum在技术和区块链领域中是一家知名实体，以其创新方法和战略举措而著称。YQuantum专注于利用量子计算能力，致力于推进技术前沿。虽然未具体列出项目，但YQuantum在塑造行业标准方面的作用，使其成为该领域的领导者。通过对尖端研究和开发的奉献，YQuantum继续推动量子技术的进步，致力于实现其促进全球科学和技术进步的使命。

@ fd06f542:8d6d54cd

一直听说有个 nip50,但是没有太明白怎么用，今天测试了一下。明白了。 https://nos.today/search?q=client

wss://relay.noswhere.com/ wss://search.nos.today/ wss://relay.nostr.band/

支持搜索， 搜索事件： {"kinds":[1],"search":"client","limit":100}

测试代码： `import {WebSocket} from "ws" const relayUrl = 'wss://relay.nostr.band';

function sub(url,filter){ const relay = new WebSocket(url);

relay.onopen = () => { console.log('Connected to bootstrap relay'); // 查询中继列表 const query = ['REQ', 'subscription-id', filter]; relay.send(JSON.stringify(query)); };

relay.onmessage = (event) => { const data = JSON.parse(event.data); if (data[0] === 'EVENT' ) { const relayList = data[2].tags; console.log('Discovered relay list:', data[2].pubkey,relayList,data[2].content); // 连接到用户的中继 try{ relayList.forEach(([_, relayUrl]) => { const newRelay = new WebSocket(relayUrl); newRelay.onopen = () => { console.log(Connected to relay: ${relayUrl}); }; }); } catch {}

} };

} sub(relayUrl,{"kinds":[1],"search":"client","limit":100}) `

轻轻松松就出结果了。

@ 4ddeb0cf:94524453

He'd fallen into a deep sleep when he felt something jolt his shoulder. "Richie, honey, you have to wake up. My boss will show up any minute and can't find you in here." Struggling to gain consciousness, he slowly peeled his eyes open and found the clock he'd remembered seeing when he lay down in a room behind the receptionist's office of Roosevelt Lodge. The kid could barely remember arriving, but fighting to stay awake after navigating the switchbacks down the western slope, he'd driven that drunkard and his truck as far as he could. He jumped out and hurried toward the light of the rustic building without knowing what to say to the maniac who'd offered him a ride from that Billings truck stop. Thank God she'd opened the door. It had been freezing when he knocked shortly after midnight. It appeared to be almost five in the morning. "I'm sorry honey, I know it's early, but I need this job, and he will not be happy if he sees you. You can use the trailhead to the north. It will get you to the closest highway, and you can maybe find a ride there. I would take you myself, but Okie likes me to stick around in the morning."

"Thank you, Ma'am. I really appreciate everything," the young man said, hurriedly putting on his Converse All-Stars. The two exchanged goodbyes as the lady went back to setting up. On his way out of the lodge's rear exit, he noticed a pack of Lucky Strikes sitting on a coffee table beside a copy of LIFE Magazine.

When Richie was eleven, he'd first had a cigarette on a dare from his little sister. They'd found a pack in their parent's room while playing hide and seek. After taking one and running outside with a matchbook, Sarah challenged him to smoke it. He remembered the first drag. While it was harsh, he'd watched his uncle smoke for years and once heard him sharing advice during a card game to inhale very softly at first until you got the hang of it. Uncle Joe had never meant for the lesson to ignite the habit in his nephew but had been too far gone into his bottle of Seagram's 7 to notice him listening.

Through the next few years, Richie became very smooth in taking a pack every few days from the drug store his grandfather had once owned. He'd be cautious to grab them after a larger crowd rolled through the store. The owner, an old friend of his now departed Grandpa, never noticed, and Richie would always leave the payment for them in the cash register.

The memory faded, and the reality of a Montana trailhead before sunrise refocused his concentration. Richie noticed only three cigarettes in the pack, reaching into his pocket to grab the loose change from the gas station incident. There were seven matches to work with. While he struggled to wake up, this find gave him a burst of excitement, and a smile came over his face. He dropped two nickels on the coffee stand and took the remaining pack.

Upon arriving at the trailhead, Richie buttoned his jacket in the chill morning air. It was near pitch black outside, with just enough moonlight to make out the pathway through the forest. He felt scared walking along, yet an air of confidence due to making it this far kept his steps moving forward. Richie began to wonder how far he'd walked when the rising sun put enough illumination through the treeline to make out the opening to a small parking lot adjoining a road. The morning was silent, and he began to yawn. The minimal sleep began to remind him of his exhaustion. The lady from the lodge, what was her name? She'd been so kind when he showed up in the middle of the night, still soaking wet from the melted ice picked up from the passage through the Rockies. As the events began to replay the prior evening's treacherous journey, Richie reached into his pocket to grab a smoke. He imagined his mother's gaze as he successfully ignited the first match and lit the tobacco. The moment was empowering. What were the other kids back in Ohio doing this morning? Though he couldn't ignore the dangerous risks he'd taken along the way, Richie Buckland felt genuine freedom for the first time in his life.

He sat down on a rock to enjoy his smoke and await an oncoming vehicle. Birds began to awaken, and their singing disrupted the silence in the air. His heart filled with gratitude for having dry clothes and a full canteen as he recognized how in sync he felt with the surrounding nature of Yellowstone National Park. That nice lady had even thrown a few Atomic Fireball candies in his knapsack. He still had the twenty dollars his Mom insisted he take with him, having no idea he'd intended to hitchhike to California. She'd known the entire family needed a breather after Richie's fight with his father that night. He thought about his last-second decision to punch the wall beside his father's head instead of hitting his face. That moment had been on his mind throughout this entire journey. Determined to get one last cigarette hit before giving his fingers a break from the closing heat, the birds suddenly began chirping more assertively and in greater numbers. It became alarmingly loud, then silent. As Richie started to reach toward the ground to put out the cigarette, he saw a shape emerge to the right. About twenty feet away, exiting the forest on the same side of the road, was what appeared to be a bear cub. As he took in the sight, another cub followed. Both were brown, and immediately behind them was the largest animal he'd ever seen. His parents had once taken the family to the zoo, but he'd not remembered anything like this. He sat in awe of the creature, followed by a third cub. As they began to cross the road, the large Grizzly paused and turned to look directly at him. Richie was determined to resist the instinctive surge of fear, but his body wouldn't have moved had he tried. Everything felt frozen as the gaze of the enormous animal seemed to determine Richie wasn't a threat. He didn't stare into the bear's eyes but didn't look away. After a few moments, the bears continued along their path until they were out of sight for a long time.

The sunrise of the new morning was breathtaking. After remaining seated on the rock for some time after the incident with the bears, Richie stood up. Taking a healthy drink of water from the canteen, he heard the shifting of gears in the distance. There was no need to look at the map; anywhere the next driver was heading worked. There was no way to know if Mama Grizzly would reevaluate what a human tasted like for breakfast. Richie couldn't wait to reach Sacramento and find Uncle Joe. The approaching Chevy Impala began to slow down upon seeing the teenager standing up, thumb extended.

@ df478568:2a951e67

Note. I plan on publishing this on SubStack, but I will publish to nostr first.

Hello SubStack!

My government name is Marc. I write a blog about freedom tech on nostr. You can find this blog at npub.npub.pro. but I decided to cross post this blog on Substack because more people use Substack then habla.news. Here's a little more about the blog.

A Free And Open Source Blog

This blog is written using the Creative Commons 0 license. Since I write about free and open source software I call freedom tech. I thought it would be silly to keep my writing behind a paywall. I would rather my prose be available for free for all. This means all of my work is available for free, but to be honest, I like the subscription model. If SubStack gave me an option to charge sats, I would use their subscription service. Since they don't, I set up an account with Flash using Alby Hub.

Ads Suck, But Product Reviews Can Help Bootstrap The Circular Economy

Ads suck as much as paywalls, but I also wish to monetize this. Therefore, I have decided to try Jack Spirko's Membership Brigade model I learned about on The Side Hustle Show. I already was a member when I listened to this episode, bur the basic idea is ro charge $5.00 a month. For this price, Jack saves his listeners money by procuring discounts for products and services he uses and work great for him. He basically gives product reviews for his advertisers and his membership brigade receives discounts for those products and services. Since I'm just starting out, I don't have any discounts to offer yet, but I have some ideas. I also recommend free and open-source software that can save you money because it's free.

These are not ads. They are more like consumer reviews. There is a bitcoin circular economy developing on nostr. I want to recomend great products from this circular economy like LeatherMint's belts. They're not cheap, but very high quality. He hand crafts these belts to a size customized to yoir wasteline. He's from Canada and he sells these high quality belts for sats.

That was not an ad. It's my honest opinion. LeatherMint did not pay me to say this, but I wouldn't mind if he did. I give my recommendations to the Marc's Mention Members. The goal is to provide value by saving you sats. It's still a work in progress.

Shop Marc's Merch

I also created a merch shop on shopstr.store. This is nostr-powered shopping, an online mall that uses the native currency of the Internet. This is a quintessential example of freedom tech. I don't have too many products, but my goal is to add more. I'm working on personalized coffee mugs, but I don't yet have a minimally viable product. Until then, I'll sell other stuff. I also must test it some more before I start taking real money. :)

Thanks for reading.

Marc 878,550 Become Marc's Mention Member Marc's Merch

@ 4ddeb0cf:94524453

He'd fallen into a deep sleep when he felt something jolt his shoulder. "Richie, honey, you have to wake up. My boss will show up any minute and can't find you in here." Struggling to gain consciousness, he slowly peeled his eyes open and found the clock he'd remembered seeing when he lay down in a room behind the receptionist's office of Roosevelt Lodge. The kid could barely remember arriving, but fighting to stay awake after navigating the switchbacks down the western slope, he'd driven that drunkard and his truck as far as he could. He jumped out and hurried toward the light of the rustic building without knowing what to say to the maniac who'd offered him a ride from that Billings diner. Thank God she'd opened the door. It had been freezing when he knocked shortly after midnight. It appeared to be almost five in the morning. "I'm sorry honey, I know it's early, but I need this job, and he will not be happy if he sees you. You can use the trailhead to the north. It will get you to the closest highway, and you can maybe find a ride there. I would take you myself, but Okie likes me to stick around in the morning."

"Thank you, Ma'am. I really appreciate everything," the young man said, hurriedly putting on his Converse All-Stars. The two exchanged goodbyes as the lady went back to setting up. On his way out of the lodge's rear exit, he noticed a pack of Lucky Strikes sitting on a coffee table beside a copy of LIFE Magazine.

When Richie was eleven, he'd first had a cigarette on a dare from his little sister. They'd found a pack in their parent's room while playing hide and seek. After taking one and running outside with a matchbook, Sarah challenged him to smoke it. He remembered the first drag. While it was harsh, he'd watched his uncle smoke for years and once heard him sharing advice during a card game to inhale very softly at first until you got the hang of it. Uncle Joe had never meant for the lesson to ignite the habit in his nephew but had been too far gone into his bottle of Seagram's 7 to notice him listening.

Through the next few years, Richie became very smooth in taking a pack every few days from the drug store his grandfather had once owned. He'd be cautious to grab them after a larger crowd rolled through the store. The owner, an old friend of his now departed Grandpa, never noticed, and Richie would always leave the payment for them in the cash register.

The memory faded, and the reality of a Montana trailhead before sunrise refocused his concentration. Richie noticed only three cigarettes in the pack, reaching into his pocket to grab the loose change from the gas station incident. There were seven matches to work with. While he struggled to wake up, this find gave him a burst of excitement, and a smile came over his face. He dropped two nickels on the coffee stand and took the remaining pack.

Upon arriving at the trailhead, Richie buttoned his jacket in the chill morning air. It was near pitch black outside, with just enough moonlight to make out the pathway through the forest. He felt scared walking along, yet an air of confidence due to making it this far kept his steps moving forward. Richie began to wonder how far he'd walked when the rising sun put enough illumination through the treeline to make out the opening to a small parking lot adjoining a road. The morning was silent, and he began to yawn. The minimal sleep began to remind him of his exhaustion. The lady from the lodge, what was her name? She'd been so kind when he showed up in the middle of the night, still soaking wet from the melted ice picked up from the passage through the Rockies. As the events began to replay the prior evening's treacherous journey, Richie reached into his pocket to grab a smoke. He imagined his mother's gaze as he successfully ignited the first match and lit the tobacco. The moment was empowering. What were the other kids back in Ohio doing this morning? Though he couldn't ignore the dangerous risks he'd taken along the way, Richie Buckland felt genuine freedom for the first time in his life.

He sat down on a rock to enjoy his smoke and await an oncoming vehicle. Birds began to awaken, and their singing disrupted the silence in the air. His heart filled with gratitude for having dry clothes and a full canteen as he recognized how in sync he felt with the surrounding nature of Yellowstone National Park. That nice lady had even thrown a few Atomic Fireball candies in his knapsack. He still had the twenty dollars his Mom insisted he take with him, having no idea he'd intended to hitchhike to California. She'd known the entire family needed a breather after Richie's fight with his father that night. He thought about his last-second decision to punch the wall beside his father's head instead of hitting his face. That moment had been on his mind throughout this entire journey. Determined to get one last cigarette hit before giving his fingers a break from the closing heat, the birds suddenly began chirping more assertively and in greater numbers. It became alarmingly loud, then silent. As Richie started to reach toward the ground to put out the cigarette, he saw a shape emerge to the right. About twenty feet away, exiting the forest on the same side of the road, was what appeared to be a bear cub. As he took in the sight, another cub followed. Both were brown, and immediately behind them was the largest animal he'd ever seen. His parents had once taken the family to the zoo, but he'd not remembered anything like this. He sat in awe of the creature, followed by a third cub. As they began to cross the road, the large Grizzly paused and turned to look directly at him. Richie was determined to resist the instinctive surge of fear, but his body wouldn't have moved had he tried. Everything felt frozen as the gaze of the enormous animal seemed to determine Richie wasn't a threat. He didn't stare into the bear's eyes but didn't look away. After a few moments, the bears continued along their path until they were out of sight for a long time.

The sunrise of the new morning was breathtaking. After remaining seated on the rock for some time after the incident with the bears, Richie stood up. Taking a healthy drink of water from the canteen, he heard the shifting of gears in the distance. There was no need to look at the map; anywhere the next driver was heading worked. There was no way to know if Mama Grizzly would reevaluate what a human tasted like for breakfast. Richie couldn't wait to reach Sacramento and find Uncle Joe. The approaching Chevy Impala began to slow down upon seeing the teenager standing up, thumb extended.

@ ae6ce958:d0f02c7d

In a strategic move to enhance accessibility and expand its reach, DamageBDD is proud to announce the listing of Damage Token (DAMAGE) on Coinstore, a leading centralized exchange (CEX). This step marks a significant milestone in our journey to provide seamless utility for our users while solidifying DamageBDD’s presence in the blockchain and verification ecosystem.

Why a Centralized Exchange (CEX)?

While DamageBDD has always championed decentralization and Bitcoin-first principles, we recognize the importance of meeting users where they are. Centralized exchanges play a pivotal role in the adoption curve by offering ease of use, robust liquidity, and a familiar interface for new and seasoned crypto enthusiasts alike. By listing on a CEX, DamageBDD lowers the entry barrier for users interested in leveraging Damage Token’s unique value proposition.

Why Coinstore?

The choice of Coinstore is intentional. Known for its user-friendly platform, broad global reach, and active engagement in emerging blockchain technologies, Coinstore aligns with DamageBDD’s vision of democratizing access to verification tools. Coinstore provides:

1. Wide User Base: Its growing community of traders ensures ample liquidity and market activity for Damage Token.

2. Security and Transparency: Coinstore's commitment to security mirrors our own principles of integrity and resilience.

3. Global Reach: With its focus on emerging markets, Coinstore allows DamageBDD to engage with a diverse and vibrant audience, including developers, investors, and enterprises who can benefit from DamageBDD’s verification features.

Utility Meets Accessibility

Listing on Coinstore is not about speculation but utility. Damage Token’s integration into the exchange allows developers, engineering managers, and organizations to acquire tokens effortlessly, unlocking the potential of DamageBDD for behavior-driven development (BDD) and milestone verification. This step enables smoother participation in our ecosystem while ensuring users can utilize Damage Tokens for real-world applications.

Bridging Fiat and Satoshis

Our strategy remains firmly rooted in bridging the fiat world with Bitcoin principles. By making Damage Token available on Coinstore, we provide a pathway for fiat-based users to access DamageBDD while continuing to uphold our Bitcoin-first ethos. This integration will help facilitate broader adoption, bringing the revolutionary capabilities of DamageBDD to a wider audience.

A Future of Greater Utility

This listing is just the beginning. DamageBDD is committed to continuously innovating and creating use cases that empower individuals and organizations. Whether through verifying software quality, enabling milestone-based payouts, or fostering a culture of accountability, Damage Token will remain a tool of pure utility in our collective pursuit of excellence.

The journey of DamageBDD is far from over, and we invite you to join us as we take this bold step forward. Together, let’s redefine the boundaries of development and verification, one token at a time.

---

Stay tuned for the official listing date and trading details on Coinstore.

@ bd4ae3e6:1dfb81f5

abstract

i'm writing this post to explain its title without me explaining it every time i talk about nostr or bitcoin and say im studying/working on them, and people immediately ask me about crypto. this would be helpful to clarify this for those overwhelmed with information from crypto projects advertising themselves as a decentralized system.

note: this post is not about financial markets and this stuff at all!

note 2: this post is not technical. i wrote it to make my life easier, and it may also make yours.

what happened?

around 16 years ago a cypherpunk called satoshi nakamoto published a standard called bitcoin: a peer-to-peer electronic cash system. the purpose was to define a decentralized cash system in simple terms. he used a data structure called blockchain that links some blocks of data containing changes in the balance state in the current block and adds a new one to it every 10 minutes.

later some guys started creating copies of bitcoin called altcoins such as ethereum or litecoin and more. over time the word decentralized became a fancy word and they were able to earn a lot of money using it. so, more people did it.

current state

these altocins have become more famous and more people are familiar with them. now here are some points that make all of these projects different from bitcoin:

1. bitcoin network has a lot of nodes running and validating network and checking transactions with a huge hash rate. anyone can join this network without any permissions. on the other hand, most crypto projects need a high-spec device and tokens to stake (since most of them are proof-of-stake or something similar) and there are a lot more tokens on hand of specific people so they can have more shares on voting. (since bitcoin is proof-of-work you won't need coins to have the right to vote)

2. decentralization is not only in a network of nodes. a decentralized system has no one in charge to check its security. when we run a bitcoin core node, there is some code running and this code will take actions which are our votes. bitcoin-core code is one of the most reviewed code bases and a lot of people will observe and review its changes. on the other hand, you can simply check all crypto projects and you can see how their code base is managed. you can see lots of changes are applied by a small group of people without any review.

3. there is a lot of pre-mined/minted coins controlled by teams, early users, vcs, and more in crypto projects. most of them can be mined or minted to infinity. which makes your coins lose their value over time since there is more of it out there, the same as fiat currency. but bitcoin is simple and fair: do work, get the reward. and coins are limited to 21 million. nobody doesn't have printed coins.

4. all crypto projects have a not anonymous team who are out there and the government has access to them. when this team or related people to it publish unexpected stuff on social, get arrested or anything like that, it will impact the whole ecosystem the things you hold which called coins. on the other hand the first guys behind bitcoin are gone now and we don't know him at all. and we don't have anything called bitcoin foundation officially. all of the people working on bitcoin are plebs such as me and you. so, there is now a central point of failure. for a better example search for the story of pavel durove and what happened to his project called the open network when france government arrested him.

so, they are not blockchains? you may think anything referred to as a p2p network or a blockchain is decentralized. this is not true. in simple terms, a blockchain is a data structure that we can use to store and maintain data using it. a decentralized system is something that no one can control it directly or censor it. for example bitcoin is a decentralized blockchain (and the only one), but nostr is a decentralized protocol that is not a blockchain, or hyperledger fabric based projects are blockchain, but they are not decentralized.

answer to you possible questions:

• q. bitcoin is slow and requires high fees, what should we do?

• a: lighting is a layer-2 off-chin solution that help us to make zero-fee transactions with the speed of lightning.

  note: lighting is not another blockchain or token, it's bitcoin itself.

• q: there are no smart contracts on bitcoin, what should we do?

• a: to be honest we don't need them. 99% percent of smart contracts are solving issues made by themselves and they don't fix any real issues. they are just super fancy. most of the real use cases they claim they can have are not implemented and don't work. and the rest is possible with nostr, really decentralized, and it's working.

then what is nostr?

nostr is a protocol. it's a set of rules which defined for communication between servers and apps on the web, mobile, or desktop. developers can write software that follows these rules to create social media and more. the resulting app is not a platform or something like that. for example x, meta, bluesky, and more. you control your client and you have the right to connect to any server managed by different people even yourself. and non of the actors in this system won't need permission for this. this is something like http. you can see a lot of websites accessible using http protocol and you can access them using different browsers. the website knows how to return stuff when someone calls them using http://.... and your browser knows how to show this stuff to you. the website you or the owner don't need to ask for permissions from something called http platform. this is just a way to and the website can talk to each other.

conclusion

crypto is not the same as bitcoin. nostr is not a blockchain. any blockchain is not decentralized and any decentralized thing is not a blockchain.

this article is draft-1. if you have any ideas for improvement, please tell me or add comments. but consider that i try my best to keep this short, simple, without technical words, and clear.

@ dd664d5e:5633d319

Instructions

1. Place 2 medium-sized, boiled potatoes and a handful of sliced leeks in a pot.
2. Fill the pot with water or vegetable broth, to cover the potatoes twice over.
3. Add a splash of white wine, if you like, and some bouillon powder, if you went with water instead of broth.
4. Bring the soup to a boil and then simmer for 15 minutes.
5. Puree the soup, in the pot, with a hand mixer. It shouldn't be completely smooth, when you're done, but rather have small bits and pieces of the veggies floating around.
6. Bring the soup to a boil, again, and stir in one container (200-250 mL) of heavy cream.
7. Thicken the soup, as needed, and then simmer for 5 more minutes.
8. Garnish with croutons and veggies (here I used sliced green onions and radishes) and serve.

Guten Appetit!

@ 3ad01248:962d8a07

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a happy start to the new year. Are you ready to achieve your goals this year? Put the peddle to the metal? I know I am! This year I am dedicating myself to eating healthier, working out more, losing some weight and more importantly devoting more time to writing and getting my thoughts out into the wider world. So here we go.

Well 2025 has gotten off to a crazy start hasn't it? A terrorist attack in New Orleans, the "incident " in Las Vegas and now Los Angeles is burning down to the ground. What in the Sam hill is going on right now? I had a gut feeling that something like this would happen the moment Trump was elected.

If you want to call me a conspiracy theorist go ahead but deep down you know that you feel the same way too. The Democrats or the monied powers behind the curtains do not like the MAGA agenda and will stop at nothing to stop this movement from accomplishing any of its stated goals. What better way to do that than stir up trouble before Trump is even sworn into office again.

The Trump administration and congress are going to be so caught up bouncing from one crisis to another for the next year that its going to fatigue policymakers enough where they can't focus on passing anything of substance. If you understand how congress works they really only have about a year to get anything done. Next year there will be mid-term elections so nothing will get done because they will worrying about being re-elected.

In reality 2025 is the only time Trump has to get his agenda passed. If you remember his first time in office he wasn't particularly good at managing congress and getting them to work with him to fulfill his campaign promise. Do you think he has gotten any better in the last 4 years? Probably not. I could see maybe getting some kind of tax law passed and some kind of border security bill but that about it. Sorry to say but here is what is going to be left on the cutting room floor of his agenda:

• Border Wall
• Deportation of illegal immigrants
• Bitcoin Strategic Reserve
• Reduction of national debt
• No involvement in foreign wars

Sure Republicans have a majority in congress but it is so incredibly small that it is pretty much rendered ineffective. Republicans can only afford to lose 2-3 votes on any legislation that they want to pass. Good luck getting everyone to agree and row in the same direction for the good of the "team".

Most of congress is filled with self-serving egotistical millionaires who don't know how to work together as a team. They didn't get to positions of power by playing well with others. The clawed on the backs of others with good intentions to rise to power. At the end of the day, politicians look out for themselves and will vote their own self-interest. Constituents be damned.

This is why I think some kind of tax reform bill will pass because it benefits them financially and watered down border security bill with no border wall component because it will placate the base and help them get reelected. All the other issues they Republicans could give two shits about.

Republican business interest benefits from illegal immigration. Republican don't give shit about Bitcoin because it takes the power of the printing press away from them. Republicans don't care about the national debt because they believe in fiat Keynesian economics. They don't see the debt as a problem. Republicans love war because if funds the military industrial complex.

What Does This Mean For America?

The next four years are probably going to look like a re-run of 2016-2020. There will be tons of congressional deadlock over any bill of consequence followed by periodic mini crisis's over the debt ceiling.

Inflation will continue to run red hot over the next four years because the main drivers of inflation is not the out of control consumer, its the government and its profligate spending. Lyn Alden has written a fantastic piece about it recently, I highly suggest you give it a read.

The Ukraine war will still be funded maybe not to the level that it has been but Trump isn't going to cut them off completely. America's military industrial complex will still be all over the middle east ready to pounce on Iran if Israel takes the first shot.

At the end of the day we as Americans don't have the power to really influence anything on the macro level. We do have power on the micro or personal level. It's through our individual action that things will change over time.

The best thing that you can do for you and your family is to invest in hard assets. Bitcoin is preferable but if you have family that is not ready to go down that route, property/land and gold are good things to own. In an economic environment like this owning bearer assets is a must.

The global economy is living on borrowed to time to be honest. It's not a matter of if the global economy is going to collapse its a matter of when will it happen. History has shown that all fiat currencies collapse at some point because of human nature. Governments get drunk on the power of creating money out of nothing and forget the only way to have a truly sustainable form of money is something that is backed by something that is hard to produce.

This is a lesson that man has failed to learn time and time again. Hopefully we learn this time and the world finally decides to leave the mirage of fiat currency in the dustbin of history where it belongs.

Bitcoin #Nostr

@ 6bae33c8:607272e8

I was putting off writing this article because I knew the result would be bad. Real man probably doesn’t write it at all, just skips town and never posts again. But being the nutless monkey I am, I will hold my nose and revisit the bold predictions from last August. And remember, the worst your record, the bolder they were. They were really bad last year too, I just discovered.

1. Stefon Diggs leads the Texans in targets, catches and receiving yards

Right now, he’s getting drafted more than a round behind Nico Collins and less than a round ahead of Tank Dell. Diggs is 30, but he was one of the league’s best receivers until halfway through last year when the Bills made an offensive play-calling change. Moreover, Diggs is getting paid $22.5 million, so the Texans obviously don’t think he’s washed up, and he’s also in a contract year.

Verdict: False. Had he stayed healthy he would have, but that was only because Nico Collins had gotten hurt first. (0-1)

2. CJ Stroud leads the NFL in passing yards

This is +600 on DraftKings, so the real odds are probably north of 8:1. Stroud adds Diggs to his receiving corps, doesn’t run much and heads into Year 2.

Verdict: False. It looked good with Diggs, Collins and Tank Dell, but the first two got hurt, Dell was a bust, and the offensive line was horrible. Plus Stroud himself regressed. (0-2)

3. Roman Wilson (ADP 211) has more receptions than George Pickens (ADP 47)

Pickens is a boom or bust downfield playmaker, not high-target alpha, and Wilson is a good fit for the slot for the Steelers new QBs. Think Martavis Bryant not Antonio Brown. (Not that Wilson is Brown!) Van Jefferson isn’t good, and someone will need to fill the void. Moreover, because Pittsburgh has new QBs, neither has an existing rapport with the incumbent Pickens.

Verdict: LOL. I was right about Pickens and the Steelers WRs, but Wilson never even played. (0-3)

4. DeAndre Hopkins (ADP 82) out produces Calvin Ridley (ADP 54) in PPR

Hopkins wasn’t terrible last year, has a rapport with Will Levis and is a future Hall of Famer who can still run routes. Ridley is already 29 and is just a guy outside of his monster season in 2020.

Verdict: False. Ridley smoked him, and Hopkins was eventually traded. (0-4)

5. The Giants will field a top-10 fantasy defense.

I’ve been crushed by my homer bold predictions in the past, but they added Brian Burns to a rush that already had Dexter Lawrence and Kayvon Thibodeaux, the offense should be on the field more and generate some leads with a real playmaking receiver in Malik Nabers.

Verdict: False. They started out strong, but it’s very hard to be a good fantasy defense on a three-win team, and they finished 24th. (0-5).

6. One of the following Year 2 receivers will finish in the top-15 PPR: Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Jayden Reed, Jordan Addison, Dontayvion Wicks, Michael Wilson, Josh Downs, Andrei Iosivas, Quentin Johnston, Marvin Mims, Jalin Hyatt

I make this prediction every year, and it often pans out as Year 2 is when receivers typically make the leap. I left out Tank Dell because he’s now got a fifth-round ADP, as well as the obvious ones: Zay Flowers, Rashee Rice and Puka Nacua.

Verdict: True. Jaxon Smith-Njigba finished 11th. (1-5)

7. Rome Odunze (ADP 77) will outproduce Xavier Worthy (ADP 59)

Both receivers enter crowded situations, and while Worthy’s is far better, he’s also got essentially the same skill-set as teammate Marquise Brown. Moreover, Andy Reid rarely entrusts rookies with large roles, especially early on. Odunze is 6-3, 215 and has the pedigree of a true NFL alpha, while Worthy weighs only 165 pounds at 5-11. Finally, Patrick Mahomes already has an established rapport with both Travis Kelce and Rashee Rice, while Odunze gets a more open competition with the Bears veteran WRs, given all three will play with Caleb Williams for the first time.

Verdict: False. It was reasonably close, but Worthy pulled ahead late in the year (1-6)

8. Dalvin Cook will lead the Cowboys in rushing yards

Cook is 29 and looked beyond “cooked” last year on the Jets, but his 3.3 YPC was on a small sample (67 carries), and prior to that, he’d been very good for the Vikings. At the very least he should have fresh legs, and he’d only need to beat out the ancient Ezekiel Elliott and Rico Dowdle. (Of course, Cook would have to be promoted from the practice squad first, so I really should hedge and make the prediction “neither Elliott, nor Dowdle will lead the Cowboys in rushing yards,” but I’ll push it and say it’s Cook.)

Verdict: LOL. Cook was the one veteran back from the Class of 2017 who really was washed up. (1-7)

9. Jonathan Taylor (ADP12 ) will lead the NFL in rushing yards.

He’s got little competition in the Indy backfield and a running QB who should open lanes for him. Draft Kings has him at +600, so his real odds are probably about 10:1, but I’d take him over the favored Christian McCaffrey (age/mileage) and all the other backs who are more hybrid types or old (Derrick Henry.)

Verdict: False. He finished fourth despite missing three full games, so this wasn’t too far off. What’s funny is I make this prediction of Barkley virtually every year except this one. (1-8)

10. Dalton Kincaid (TE4) will lead all TE in catches

I guess this is a chalky pick because he and Kelce are both favored at the position at +3000, while Evan Engram is +5000! (I’d way rather bet on Engram at those odds.) But straight up, I’m going with Kincaid who is likely Josh Allen’s de facto No. 1 target with Diggs gone. In his final 11 regular season games Kincaid had 56 catches which prorates to 87 catches over the full year. And rookie tight ends rarely do anything and often make a leap in Year 2. (1-9)

Verdict: LOL. Kincaid was one of the biggest busts in the draft. (1-9)

11. Some of these predictions will be wrong

No one’s perfect, but you never want to get shut out.

Verdict: Crushed, especially the comment the prescience of which makes Nostradamus look like the corner astrologer. (2-9)

@ 5002cb48:31a0d6d8

I am trying to update my profile, but it's not happening. Is the site broken?

@ 60d9f6d8:bc336770

My focus is predominantly on whether I could eliminate traditional banking accounts (e.g. BofA / JPM Chase etc) with the added benefit of stacking sats automatically on a day-to-day basis.

• The first part is very simple: register via foldapp.com and wait for your card to arrive. I chose the Fold+ membership at 100 per year if paid annually, otherwise 10/month. The trial period is 3 months before you are charged.
• Upon receiving the card, activate via the app (very simple click of a button and confirmation of card digits).

# Fold+ Membership costs & benefits

Linking/Funding from banking institutions

• On average, it is taking around 3 business days to make those funds available on Fold.
• There is an option to add "Instant Debit Card Funding" at a 1.5% charge; however, keep in mind that you are currently limited to adding a maximum of 2 cards.

Paying Bills

• In most cases I simply add the account & routing number to the billing company website (i.e. credit card / utilities / phone etc). In some cases, I can simply add my debit card number.
• Additionally, as a Fold+ user, any payment I make earns back rewards in sats.

Bill Pay ACH Rewards

Bitcoin (buying / sending / receiving) features

• Fold gives you many options to buy, send & receive bitcoin either automatically, via transfer or direct deposit with the ability to choose a certain percentage towards fiat or Bitcoin.
• Ability to Round-Up purchases with various multipliers.
• Push to Card: this feature effectively allows you to replenish your fiat/cash balance in your account. This does not happen automatically, so you will need to do this manually.

Authorized Users

• Fold allows you to authorize up to 3 users (must be at least 18 years old)
• This user will receive their own debit card.
• The user can also direct deposit into the account.

Note: at this time, authorized users do not have access to the app itself, which is only available to the primary account holder. This creates some friction given the authorized user cannot move funds if needed or even determine the balance on the account without interacting or communicating with the primary account holder.

Limits (as of Sept 2024)

Note: the limits only refer to your fiat balance, not a combination of your fiat & bitcoin/rewards balance.

Final Thoughts

I have been using Fold for about a month now and it is working very well. I haven't had any issues paying bills, making deposits (direct or otherwise), making purchases, buying bitcoin and/or earning rewards in general. The customer support has been really positive in responding to my inquiries within a few hours. Mostly, those inquiries have been around information I simply could not find via the foldapp or blog websites.

As of now, my intent is to continue utilizing this card/application and wean myself away from traditional banks entirely. However, there are a couple of pain points I'll point out that hopefully will be addressed in the future:

1. The limits need to increase, especially if you intend on using this with your spouse/family members.
2. The authorized user(s) should have the ability to log into the app and allow the primary holder to dictate the permissions for said user(s). Likewise, it might be useful to allow joint holders to have separate accounts within one view.
3. Increase the 2-card limit for "Instant Debit Funding".
4. Ability to search in the "gift card" section instead of scrolling through.
5. Ability to send via Zelle as I still, unfortunately, need to send payments to those who are unable/unwilling to use something else.
6. Ability to automatically Push to Card if funds are low.

There are of course many benefits of the Fold card I have glossed over as it relates to rewards, so I'll just mention a few here:

• Daily Spin allows you to addictively hope for the grand prize of 1 BTC. While the odds are extraordinarily low, at a minimum you'll earn some sats with each spin.
• Gift cards rewards are very impressive and highly recommend you use those to earn free sats.

As of now, I've earned around 30k sats this month by doing nothing different financially outside of my normal spending habits, so this of course is a major advantage.

Lastly, if you have any feedback or questions please ask and I'll try my best to answer and if you want to give it a try, here is a referral link that'll get you 20k sats: https://use.foldapp.com/r/WAANYUMJ

Fold | Personal finance

Blog | Fold Bitcoin Rewards App

Disclaimer: I have no affiliation or sponsorship with Fold. I'm just a normie looking to get closer to a Bitcoin standard without too much disruption.

@ df173277:4ec96708

Maple AI combines the best of both worlds – encryption and personal AI – to create a truly private AI experience. Discuss personal and company items with Maple, we can't read them even if we wanted to.\ Join the waitlist to get early access.

We are a culture of app users. Every day, we give our personal information to websites and apps, hoping they are safe. Location data, eating habits, financial details, and health information are just a few examples of what we entrust to third parties. People are now entering a new era of computing that promises next-level benefits when given even more personal data: AI.

Should we sacrifice our privacy to unlock the productivity gains of AI? Should we hope our information won't be used in ways we disagree? We believe we can have the best of both worlds – privacy and personal AI – and have built a new project called Maple AI. Chat between you and an AI with full end-to-end encryption. We believe it's a game-changer for individuals seeking private and secure conversations.

Building a Private Foundation

Maple is built on our flagship product, OpenSecret, a backend platform for app developers that turns private encryption on by default. The announcement post for OpenSecret explains our vision for an encrypted world and what the platform can do. We think both users and developers benefit when sensitive personal information is encrypted in a private vault; it's a win-win.

The Power of Encrypted AI Chat

AI chat is a personal and intimate experience. It's a place to share your thoughts, feelings, and desires without fear of judgment. The more you share with an AI chatbot, the more powerful it becomes. It can offer personalized insights, suggestions, and guidance tailored to your unique needs and perspectives. However, this intimacy requires trust, and that's where traditional AI chatbots often fall short.

Traditional AI chats are designed to collect and analyze your data, often without your explicit consent. This data is used to improve the AI's performance, but it also creates a treasure trove of sensitive information that can be mined, sold, or even exploited by malicious actors. Maple AI takes a different approach. By using end-to-end encryption, we ensure that your conversations remain private and secure, even from us.

Technical Overview

So, how does Maple AI achieve this level of privacy and security? Here are some key technical aspects:

• Private Key: Each user has a unique private key that is automatically managed for them. This key encrypts and decrypts conversations, ensuring that only the user can access their data.
• Secure Servers: Our servers are designed with security in mind. We use secure enclaves to protect sensitive data and ensure that even our own team can't access your conversations.
• Encrypted Sync: One of Maple's most significant benefits is its encrypted sync feature. Unlike traditional AI chatbots, which store conversations in local storage or on standard cloud servers, Maple syncs your chats across all your devices. The private key managed by our secure servers means you can pick up where you left off on any device without worrying about your data being compromised.
• Attestation and Open Code: We publish our enclave code publicly. Using a process called attestation, users can verify that the code running on the enclave is the same as the code audited by the public.
• Open Source LLM: Maple uses major open-source models to maximize the openness of responses. The chat box does not filter what you can talk about. This transparency ensures that our AI is trustworthy and unbiased.

Personal and Work Use

Maple is secure enough to handle your personal questions and work tasks. Because we can't see what you chat about, you are free to use AI as an assistant on sensitive company items. Use it for small tasks like writing an important email or large tasks like developing your organization's strategy. Feed it sensitive information; it's just you and AI in the room. Attestation provides cryptographic proof that your corporate secrets are safe.

Local v Cloud

Today's AI tools provide different levels of privacy. The main options are to trust a third party with your unencrypted data, hoping they don't do anything with it, or run your own AI locally on an underpowered machine. We created a third option. Maple gives you the power of cloud computing combined with the privacy and security of a machine running on your desk. It's the best of both worlds.

Why the Maple name?

Privacy isn't just a human value - it's a natural one exemplified by the Maple tree. These organisms communicate with each other through a network of underground fungal hyphae, sending messages and sharing resources in a way that's completely invisible to organisms above ground. This discreet communication system allows Maple trees to thrive in even the most challenging environments. Our goal is to provide a way for everyone to communicate with AI securely so they can thrive in any environment.

Join the Waitlist

Maple AI will launch in early 2025 with free and paid plans. We can't wait to share it with the world. Join our waitlist today to be among the first to experience the power of private AI chat.

@ df173277:4ec96708

OpenSecret is a backend for app developers that turns private encryption on by default. When sensitive data is readable only by the user, it protects both the user and the developer, creating a more free and open internet. We'll be launching in 2025. Join our waitlist to get early access.

In today's digital age, personal data is both an asset and a liability. With the rise of data breaches and cyber attacks, individuals and companies struggle to protect sensitive information. The consequences of a data breach can be devastating, resulting in financial losses, reputational damage, and compromised user trust. In 2023, the average data breach cost was $5 million, with some resulting in losses of over $1 billion.

Meanwhile, individuals face problems related to identity theft, personal safety, and public embarrassment. Think about the apps on your phone, even the one you're using to read this. How much data have you trusted to other people, and how would it feel if that data were leaked online?

Thankfully, some incredibly talented cypherpunks years ago gave the world cryptography. We can encrypt data, rendering it a secret between two people. So why then do we have data breaches?

Cryptography at scale is hard.

The Cloud

The cloud has revolutionized how we store and process data, but it has limitations. While cloud providers offer encryption, it mainly protects data in transit. Once data is stored in the cloud, it's often encrypted with a shared key, which can be accessed by employees, third-party vendors, or compromised by hackers.

The solution is to generate a personal encryption password for each user, make sure they write it down, and, most importantly, hope they don't lose it. If the password is lost, the data is forever unreadable. That can be overwhelming, leading to low app usage.

Private key encryption needs a UX upgrade.

Enter OpenSecret

OpenSecret is a developer platform that enables encryption by default. Our platform provides a suite of security tools for app developers, including private key management, encrypted sync, private AI, and confidential compute.

Every user has a private vault for their data, which means only they can read it. Developers are free to store less sensitive data in a shared manner because there is still a need to aggregate data across the system.

Private Key Management

Private key management is the superpower that enables personal encryption per user. When each user has a unique private key, their data can be truly private. Typically, using a private key is a challenging experience for the user because they must write down a long autogenerated number or phrase of 12-24 words. If they lose it, their data is gone.

OpenSecret uses secure enclaves to make private keys as easy as an everyday login experience that users are familiar with. Instead of managing a complicated key, the user logs in with an email address or a social media account.

The developer doesn't have to manage private keys and can focus on the app's user experience. The user doesn't have to worry about losing a private key and can jump into using your app.

Encrypted Sync

With user keys safely managed, we can synchronize user data to every device while maintaining privacy. The user does not need to do complicated things like scanning QR codes from one device to the next. Just log in and go.

The user wins because the data is available on all their devices. The developer wins because only the user can read the data, so it isn't a liability to them.

Private AI

Artificial intelligence is here and making its way into everything. The true power of AI is unleashed when it can act on personal and company data. The current options are to run your own AI locally on an underpowered machine or to trust a third party with your data, hoping they don't read it or use it for anything.

OpenSecret combines the power of cloud computing with the privacy and security of a machine running on your desk.

Check out Maple AI\ Try private AI for yourself! We built an app built with this service called Maple AI. It is an AI chat that is 100% private in a verifiable manner. Give it your innermost thoughts or embarrassing ideas; we can't judge you. We built Maple using OpenSecret, which means you have a private key that is automatically managed for you, and your chat history is synchronized to all your devices. Learn more about Maple AI - Private chat in the announcement post.

Confidential Compute

Confidential computing is a game-changer for data security. It's like the secure hardware that powers Apple Pay and Google Pay on your phone but in the cloud. Users can verify through a process called attestation that their data is handled appropriately. OpenSecret can help you run your own custom app backend code that would benefit from the security of an enclave.

It's the new version of that lock on your web browser. When you see it, you know you're secure.

But do we want our secrets to be open?

OpenSecret renders a data breach practically useless. If hackers get into the backend, they enter a virtual hallway of locked private vaults. The leaked data would be gibberish, a secret in the open that is unreadable.

On the topic of openness, OpenSecret uses the power of open source to enable trust in the service. We publish our code in the open, and, using attestation, anyone can verify that private data is being handled as expected. This openness also provides developers with a backup option to safely and securely export their data.

Don't trust, verify.

Join the Movement

We're currently building out OpenSecret, and we invite you to join us on the journey. Our platform can work with your existing stack, and you can pick and choose the features you need. If you want to build apps with encryption enabled, send us a message to get early access.

Users and companies deserve better encryption and privacy.\ Together, let's make that a reality.

@ 77c2969e:a33cfa50

换了个客户端Nostrmo，比damus好用，不过好像关注列表丢失了😩。

现在使用#YakiHonne，好像更流畅

不加图片他还会显示一个空白图片，好丑，我还是上传一个吧

@ f9c0ea75:44e849f4

In a recent TFTC podcast episode, Parker Lewis outlined a mathematical inevitability—a liquidity crisis unfolding in 2025. While optimism around the Trump administration’s economic policies exists, Lewis argues that no fiscal policy can counteract the Federal Reserve’s tightening liquidity. The real issue? Too much debt and not enough dollars.

This reflection expands on Lewis’ key arguments, breaking down:

1. Where the liquidity crisis is coming from
2. Why it’s a structural problem
3. What the consequences are
4. Why Bitcoin matters in this scenario

---

1. Where Is the Liquidity Crisis Coming From?

The crisis stems from a fundamental imbalance:

• Debt levels have skyrocketed, particularly post-2008 and post-COVID.
• Dollars needed to service this debt are shrinking because of Federal Reserve tightening (QT, interest rates, and shrinking reserves).

The Math Behind the Liquidity Squeeze

• In 2007, there was $53 trillion in U.S. dollar-denominated debt, but only $900 billion in base money—a 50:1 leverage ratio.
• By 2023, FED policies had drained dollars from the banking system, while debt levels continued to explode higher. The result? A liquidity-starved financial system dependent on an ever-smaller money pool.

---

2. The Structural Problem: FED Policy is the Real Driver

While fiscal policy (tax cuts, tariffs, and deregulation) can marginally improve economic conditions, it cannot stop a liquidity crisis. Lewis emphasizes that the Federal Reserve is the key player in determining financial stability.

What the FED Has Done to Shrink Liquidity

• Quantitative Tightening (QT): Actively reducing the money supply by letting bonds roll off the balance sheet.
• Interest Rate Hikes (2022–2023): Made borrowing more expensive, slowing credit creation.
• Reverse Repo Drain: Reduced excess bank reserves, limiting lending ability.
• Shrinking Bank Reserves: With fewer reserves, banks lend less, tightening financial conditions.

This means the liquidity crisis isn’t theoretical—it’s already happening.

---

3. The Warning Signs: Cracks in the Financial System

Lewis points to clear signals that liquidity is disappearing:

• Rising delinquencies in commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) – approaching post-2008 highs.
• Credit card delinquencies – nearing 2008 levels.
• Treasury yield inversion anomalies – typically, rate cuts lead to falling long-term bond yields, but that’s not happening, suggesting market pessimism. Bank failures in 2023 (SVB, First Republic, Signature Bank) – early signs of systemic liquidity stress.

The takeaway? Debt is growing, but the available money to service it is shrinking—a recipe for financial instability.

Consequences: What Happens If Liquidity Remains Tight?

If the FED continues draining liquidity, we may see:

✔ More bank failures, as weaker institutions struggle to survive.

✔ Debt defaults rise, particularly in real estate and corporate debt.

✔ Stock market volatility, as credit-dependent sectors suffer.

✔ A potential recession, triggered by a credit crunch.

The FED may eventually be forced to reverse course and print more money, but waiting too long could trigger a financial shock first.

---

Final Thoughts: The Crisis is Already Unfolding

This isn’t just speculation, it's a mathematical inevitability. The FED's policies have set the stage for a debt-starved economy with fewer dollars available to sustain it. The next 12 months could be highly volatile, with financial stress increasing.

Key Takeaways

✅ Trump’s policies may be positive, but they won't prevent a liquidity crisis.

✅ The FED is the dominant force, and its liquidity-draining policies are causing systemic risks.

✅ Leading indicators suggest we’re already in a liquidity crunch.

✅ Bitcoin remains a strategic hedge as the FED eventually returns to money printing.

What to Expect?

A volatile 2025—prepare for financial instability and potential FED intervention.

@ 1380337c:2d77df3e

Fiat has entered its final phase, falling victim to its inherent flaws.

Decades of money printing, unchecked government spending and the Cantillion effect (those closest to the money printer benefit at the behest of the rest of us) are finally taking its toll.

As calls for a return to hard money grow louder, it is only the most astute Cantillion economists (and their government backers) who believe money supply should be managed by “a council of wise (wo)men”.

Among those seeking hard money are the BRICS nations, who are looking into creating a gold-backed system to challenge the fiat dollar’s dominance.

This would have been a great idea, were it not for Bitcoin. With the existence of Bitcoin any attempt to create gold-backed systems is doomed from the start.

Fiat has entered its final phase, falling victim to its inherent flaws.

The Rise and Fall of Gold-Backed Systems

Gold was money for thousands of years, universally accepted because of its scarcity and durability.

However, as global trade developed, the world ran into gold’s main limitation – physical gold couldn’t keep up with trade.

This led to gold being replaced by gold-backed currencies, which combined gold reliability with the convenience of paper money. Yet, this hybrid system inherited gold’s flaws while introducing its own.

Gold’s supply uncertainty remained a major weakness. Sudden discoveries, like Spain’s conquest of South America or the California Gold Rush, destabilized economies by flooding markets with new gold.

Worse, gold-backed systems led to the centralization of reserves, concentrating power in the hands of governments and banks.

This led to the inevitable corruption and mismanagement of the money supply, which quickly became inflated at the expense of holders of gold-backed currencies.

The step towards full fiat was a small one after this…

Gold was money for thousands of years, universally accepted because of its scarcity and durability. 

However, as global trade developed, the world ran into gold’s main limitation – physical gold couldn’t keep up with trade. 

This led to gold being replaced by gold-backed currencies, which combined gold reliability with the convenience of paper money. Yet, this hybrid system inherited gold’s flaws while introducing its own.

Gold’s supply uncertainty remained a major weakness. Sudden discoveries, like Spain’s conquest of South America or the California Gold Rush, destabilized economies by flooding markets with new gold. 

Worse, gold-backed systems led to the centralization of reserves, concentrating power in the hands of governments and banks.

This led to the inevitable corruption and mismanagement of the money supply, which quickly became inflated at the expense of holders of gold-backed currencies.

The step towards full fiat was a small one after this…

Gold-Backed Systems Stand No Chance Against Bitcoin

Bitcoin exposes the vulnerabilities of gold-backed systems in every dimension:

• Fixed Supply vs. Supply Uncertainty: Bitcoin’s hard cap of 21 million coins provides unmatched predictability and scarcity. No sudden “Bitcoin rush” can destabilize the system, unlike gold’s history of disruptive supply shocks.

• Decentralization vs. Centralization: Gold-backed systems concentrate reserves in the hands of governments or banks, creating single points of failure. Bitcoin’s decentralized network eliminates these vulnerabilities, making it immune to corruption and mismanagement.

• Censorship Resistance: Centralized control leaves gold-backed systems open to confiscation and censorship. Bitcoin’s censorship-resistant design ensures no entity can control the network or seize assets.

• Trustless vs. Trust-Based: Gold-backed systems demand trust in central authorities to maintain their peg—“Trust me, bro”. Bitcoin operates on a transparent, verifiable ledger, replacing trust with cryptographic proof: “Don’t trust, verify.”

• Efficiency and Mobility: Settlement times for Bitcoin are near-instant, compared to the logistical nightmare of moving and securing physical gold.

• Sovereign Protection: Bitcoin enables nations to protect their reserves anywhere in the world. A government under siege could flee with its wealth intact, stored securely on the blockchain. Imagine Assad, fleeing Syria with his country’s riches encoded in a 24-word seed phrase, using it to organize resistance against his foes. Such flexibility is unthinkable with gold.

Gold-Backed Systems Will Never Stand a Chance Again

Gold-backed systems are flawed relics of the past, their flaws exposed by Bitcoin.

With its immutability, decentralization, and efficiency, Bitcoin eliminates the vulnerabilities of centralization and mismanagement inherent in gold-backed systems.

Bitcoin thrives in a digital-first world, offering portability, resistance to confiscation, and unmatched security. Its finite supply and transparent ledger set a new standard that gold can never meet.

Bitcoin is more than an evolution of money—it’s a safeguard against regimes that seek to weaken their nations through centralised monetary systems, even under the guise of gold-backed currencies.

Gold-backed systems are flawed relics of the past, their flaws exposed by Bitcoin.

With its immutability, decentralization, and efficiency, Bitcoin eliminates the vulnerabilities of centralization and mismanagement inherent in gold-backed systems.

Bitcoin thrives in a digital-first world, offering portability, resistance to confiscation, and unmatched security. Its finite supply and transparent ledger set a new standard that gold can never meet.

Bitcoin is more than an evolution of money—it’s a safeguard against regimes that seek to weaken their nations through centralised monetary systems, even under the guise of gold-backed currencies.

@ 6e24af77:b3f1350b

7

@ e373ca41:b82abcc5

Heute Abend um 19 Uhr sprechen Elon Musk und Alice Weidel auf X. Der alternative Radiosender Kontrafunk aus der Schweiz bringt eine Übersetzung davon im Stream. 

Da die Webseite des Kontrafunks gestern angegriffen wurde, ist hier der Stream unzensierbar aufrufbar, als kleines Back-up: 

https://stream.kontrafunk.radio/listen/kontrafunk/radio.mp3

\ Im Nostr-Netzwerk dauerhauft auch u.a. hier aufrufbar (falls wir angegriffen werden).

---

Tonight at 7 pm (CET), Elon Musk and Alice Weidel will be speaking on X. The alternative radio station Kontrafunk from Switzerland will be streaming a translation. 

As the Kontrafunk website was attacked yesterday, the stream can be accessed uncensored here as a small backup: 

https://stream.kontrafunk.radio/listen/kontrafunk/radio.mp3

In the Nostr network also permanently available here (in case we are attacked).

---

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---

Join the marketplace of ideas! We are building a publishing ecosystem on Nostr for citizen-journalism, starting with a client for blogging and newsletter distribution. Sound money and sound information should finally be in the hands of the people, right? Want to learn more about the Pareto Project? Zap me, if you want to contribute (all Zaps go to the project).

Update:* Since my last article on the Pareto project, we have received more than 50 messages from publications, journalists, authors, testers and supporters. Thank you very much, we are happy to help everyone become censorship-resistant! May just take a little time. Are you a publication and want to be part of it, test us, migrate your content to Nostr? Write to team@pareto.space***

Not yet on Nostr and want the full experience? Easy onboarding via Nosta.me.

@ 6e24af77:b3f1350b

2

@ 6e24af77:b3f1350b

test 44

@ 5a261a61:2ebd4480

It was late afternoon, and Tom hoped the lunchtime crowd had already returned to work while the after-school rush was still thin. A quick glance under the stalls as he strode through the mall’s large restroom confirmed he was alone. He hurried into the last stall, checked his watch—two minutes to go.

What could go wrong?

He unzipped his backpack and tore a hole in the small paper package inside. A few strips of skimpy fabric tumbled into his hand, along with a note: WEAR ME.

A chill ran down his spine. It was the first handwritten note from her. That alone was enough to unnerve him, but what truly sent shivers through his body was the clothing itself: a black-lace G-string, a flat-chest bra, and purple-black striped knee socks.

Beep.

His watch jolted him from his trance. Shit. It's 1:00 PM already.

He stripped quickly, pausing only to listen for any signs of company. Satisfied with the silence, he dressed, obeying her command dutifully, despite the trembling in his hands.

When he was done, he unlocked his phone and took a selfie—neck down, body framed just enough to show his obedience, the stall’s background confirming where he was.

The G-string barely contained him. The thin pouch was already failing as his arousal grew. Standing there, dressed like a slut, waiting for the telltale three dots of her typing status—it only made him harder. Maybe, if he completed this task perfectly, she would deem him worthy of the cage.

Finally.

His phone vibrated with her response: "Good slut. Bad angle. Try harder."

He snapped another picture. Then another. His desire to please her overrode everything else. He tried to be more "artistic," offering different angles, better framing, careful lighting. He submitted each for her approval.

Her only response: a frowning emoji.

"It looks like a bitch, acts like a bitch, but it has something no bitch should have. Disappointed."

He scanned the images again. She had a point. But he was so unbearably horny. Five days of orgasm denial had left him painfully sensitive. Even his nipples strained against the sheer fabric of the bra.

"Are you going to fix it, or should I consider this your final submission?"

His mind raced.

Then—an idea.

Slipping off his shoe, he unthreaded the lace and, through a mixture of pain and precision, crafted a tight, effective tucking shibari. He took a photo of his bound, darkening flesh and sent it.

"Would that be enough?"

A reply came instantly: a grinning emoji, followed by a meme of Jeff Goldblum captioned, "Life Finds a Way"—edited to say, "Bitch Finds a Way."

Then another message:

"Hurry up, or I won’t need a cage to keep you soft forever, and there is no fun in that."

"You have two minutes. No mistakes this time."

His chest tightened. Sometimes, he wished he could fall at her feet and kiss her toes for everything she did to him. His fantasies mercifully ignored the fact that he didn't even know her shoe size. Or what colour skin his tongue should be worshipping.

Shame fueled his arousal as he continued his photoshoot. He posed, exposing his chest, arching his back, spreading his legs to make himself more accessible. The phone holder with suction-cup he’d brought made certain angles easy. Finally, he sat on the closed toilet, knees hooked over his arms, presenting himself as thoroughly as possible.

The two-minute deadline might have passed, but he didn’t notice.

He selected the best shot from each pose and sent them one by one. The last one nearly didn’t make the cut—his shibari work was visible—but he’d unconsciously parted his lips, doll-like, as if ready to be fucked.

He sent it.

Her response was immediate.

"Good girl."

His stomach twisted with pride.

"Get rid of the shibari. Keep the bitch uniform. Get dressed and text me when you leave the stall."

Was that all?

Disappointment prickled at him, but she sounded almost content. That was good… right?

His train of thought derailed as blood rushed back into his tortured cock, sending a wave of sharp pain through his core. It took him a moment to breathe through it, to compose himself enough to leave.

The G-string left him utterly exposed. Every step sent shivers up his spine as his pants caressed his bare ass.

Outside, he sent the message.

Her response came instantly:

"Go to the photo kiosk and wait."

Wait?

Confused, but knowing better than to question her, he obeyed.

"Pick up order XYZ."

Oh no.

Dread churned in his gut as he typed in the pickup code.

Bzzz.

The printer spat out five photos of him.

At least his face was covered—emoji stickers distorted his expressions—but still.

Another message:

"Buy a disposable SIM, write the number on the back of the photos, and distribute them. Then, you can go home. But keep the bitch uniform on for the night. I’ll check in on you in the morning. Have fun, my sweet boy."

Tom exhaled shakily.

It was going to be a long night.

@ 2063cd79:57bd1320

Wer Bitcoin besitzt oder mit dem Gedanken spielt Bitcoin zu erwerben und prinzipiell etwas gründlicher an solche Entscheidungen herantritt, wird sich sicherlich schon mit dem Gedanken beschäftigt haben, was mit dem eigenen Bitcoin passiert, wenn uns selbst etwas widerfahren sollte. Ähnliche Gedanken, wird wohl jeder schonmal gehabt haben, wenn es um das Thema Online-Accounts geht. Wer hat Zugang zu meinen Profilen, Accounts, und sonstigen Informationen und was passiert im Falle eines Unfalls, einer plötzlichen Krankheit, oder ähnlichen Szenarien? Um ehrlich zu sein, mir persönlich ist es egal, was mit meinem Gmail oder Youtube-Account passiert, jedoch bei Bitcoin ist das ein anderes Thema. Denn hier verbergen sich hinter den privaten Schlüsseln UTXOs mit einem reellen Wert. Und anders als bei Bankkonten oder anderen Anlagearten, lässt sich keine Bank oder andere Verwahrstelle kontaktieren, die den Hinterbliebenen Zugriff auf die Vermögenswerte bereitstellt.

Eine vernünftige Nachlassplanung, bzw. Bitcoin Zukunftsplanung, ist also wirklich wichtig, denn wir möchten, dass unsere Opfer, die wir heute in Form von Arbeit und Zeitaufwand erbringen, in der Zukunft Früchte tragen und hoffentlich auch unseren Nachkommen zugutekommen. Jede Entscheidung, heute kein Geld für etwas auszugeben, dass einem selbst heute Spaß gemacht hätte, um in eine sicherere und angenehmere Zukunft zu investieren, sollte auch in der Zukunft belohnt werden. Es fühlt sich irgendwie kurzsichtig an, insbesondere wenn es um Bitcoin geht, nur an sich selbst zu denken (wen Lambo?), wenn es sich bei Bitcoin um einen Vermögenswert handelt, der die Fähigkeit besitzt, über mehrere Generationen in der Zukunft zu bestehen und vielleicht sogar seinen Wert zu steigern.

https://www.genexyz.org/post/29-block-782180-bitcoin-ist-zeit-2nsaku/

Es muss also einen besseren Weg geben, als zu hoffen, dass der Ehepartner oder die Kinder in der Lage sind die bitcoins aus einem 24-Wörter-Seed wiederherzustellen, wenn man einmal nicht mehr ist, oder nicht mehr in der Lage ist, dies selbst zu veranlassen. Denn der Seedphrase ist in den meisten Fällen das bestgehütetste Geheimnis jedes Bitcoiners und wahrscheinlich haben die wenigsten zusätzlich einen Wiederherstellungsplan für ihre Hinterbliebenen angefertigt und versteckt. Wenn wir über die Nachlassplanung in Bitcoin nachdenken, gibt es einige Komplexitäten. Aber wenn man sich die Zeit nimmt, über alle Ergebnisse nachzudenken, die man erreichen möchte, gibt es einige wirklich wichtige Dinge, die getan werden können.

Traurigerweise ist es kein angenehmer Gedanke, über den eigenen Tod nachzudenken und darüber, wie man seine bitcoins aus dem Grab heraus weitergeben soll. Ich habe vor längerer Zeit eine humoristische Aufstellung von verschiedenen Planungsmöglichkeiten aufgestellt, die man sich hier anschauen kann:

https://www.genexyz.org/post/10-block-750965-bitcoin-und-der-tod-15n3yf/

• Nichts tun
• Exchange plus Passwort
• Desktop Wallet
• Mobile Wallet
• Paper Wallet zu Hause
• Paper Wallet im (Bank-)Safe
• Hardware Wallet zu Hause
• Hardware Wallet im (Bank-)Safe
• Multisig Lösung
• Custodial Service

Allerdings ist das Thema wirklich kompliziert und nicht einfach zu lösen. Es gibt unterschiedliche persönliche Faktoren, wie das eigene Alter, der eigene Gesundheitszustand, in welchem familiären Konstrukt man lebt, wo man lebt, wie viel Bitcoin es zu verwahren und weiterzugeben gilt, usw. Darüber hinaus stellt sich auch die Frage, ob die Weitergabe professionell und im Einklang mit den aktuellen Rechtsstrukturen gemacht werden soll, denn dann ergeben sich sowohl aus steuerlicher als auch aus rechtlicher Sicht unterschiedliche Szenarien, die eventuell sogar erhebliche Vorteile bieten könnten. Darunter eine Reihe rechtlicher Vorzugsbehandlungen beim Schutz von Vermögenswerten, die über die eigenen Vorkehrungsmaßnahmen hinausgehen können. Aber dies soll kein steuerlicher oder juristischer Rat werden.

Bei Bitcoin dreht sich alles um den souveränen Besitz von Eigentum. Dazu gehört auch die Entscheidung, wie und an wen das Eigentum weitergegeben werden soll. Der Inhalt eines Testaments kann und wird in der Regel dann angefochten, wenn das Vermögen ungleich verteilt wird oder wenn es einem der Begünstigten gegenüber ungerecht erscheint. Daher ist es immer am besten, ein Testament so zu gestalten, dass es für alle Beteiligten fair erscheint, und zweitens ist es wichtig, eventuelle Einschränkungen für alle zu kommunizieren. Ein gutes Erwartungsmanagement hilft, Konflikte zu vermeiden. Das ist die erste Stufe.

If it's your keys, it's your bitcoin. If it's not your keys, it's not your bitcoin! That's a lesson that we all learned during Gox, so...let's try not to have to be taught that lesson again. — Andreas Antonopolous, 14. April 2016

Die zweite Stufe ist ein wasserdichtes Setup der privaten Schlüssel. Not your keys, not your Bitcoin, ist in diesem Zusammenhang eine sehr wirkungsvolle Aussage. Anders als bei jedem anderen Vermögenswert auf der Welt kontrolliert derjenige, der die Schlüssel besitzt, die UTXOs. Ein Rechtsanspruch ist nicht möglich, da die Kryptographie einen deutlich höheren Stellenwert einnimmt als ein Rechtsanspruch. Es gibt den rechtlichen Anspruch auf Bitcoin (die Worte im Testament) und dann gibt es die praktische Anwendung des Eigentums oder der Verteilung dessen (die Kontrolle der Schlüssel). Bei anderen Vermögenswerten wie Grundbesitz (Immobilien), Anleihen, Aktien, Rohstoffen usw. besteht immer die Möglichkeit, Berufung einzulegen. Wenn also etwas nicht in Ordnung zu sein scheint, die Vermögenswerte nicht auffindbar sind oder es andere Streitigkeiten gibt, ist es jederzeit möglich, sich an die jeweilige Behörde zu wenden und Berufung einzulegen.Es ist jederzeit möglich, sich an eine offizielle Stelle oder ein Amt zu wenden und zu argumentieren, dass man einen Anspruch hat, um dann die Behörde dazu zu veranlassen, den Vermögenswert auf den eigenen Namen übertragen zu lassen.

Bei Bitcoin gibt es keine solche Behörde. Wenn eine/r der Begünstigten nicht über die privaten Schlüssel verfügt, die unmissverständlich Auskunft über den Besitz geben, stellt das für den/die Begünstigte/n ein großes Problem dar. Die korrekte Gestaltung der Eigentumsverteilung hat also einige schwerwiegende Konsequenzen. Ähnlich wie die Verantwortung und Rechenschaftspflicht, die mit dem Besitz von Bitcoin in Eigenverwahrung einhergeht (und dort eigentlich wirklich beginnt), fügt die Nachlassplanung dem Prozess des Todes und der anschließenden Übertragung von Vermögenswerten eine völlig neue Dimension hinzu.

Das Hauptproblem besteht also darin, wie der/die Eigentümer//in der bitcoins den vollständigen und einseitigen Zugriff behalten und gleichzeitig den Erben oder Begünstigten direkt oder einem Testamentsvollstrecker Zugriff gewähren kann, um das Vermögen an die Erben oder Begünstigten zu verteilen.

Der Kniff liegt darin, die volle Kontrolle zu behalten und gleichzeitig das Eigentum so zu gestalten, dass die Erben auch bei einem plötzlichen und unerwarteten Ereignis Zugriff haben, und das im besten Fall, ohne sich auf Dritte verlassen zu müssen, um dem Bitcoin Ethos gerecht zu werden. Dieses Ereignis muss nicht zwingend der Tod sein, es reicht schon, wenn man handlungsunfähig wird.

Denn oft wird vergessen, dass eine gute Nachlassregelung auch dann wichtig ist, wenn der Eigentümer nicht stirbt. Eine Person kann sich auch verletzen, sich den Kopf stoßen oder auf andere Weise die volle Kontrolle über ihre Fähigkeiten verlieren, was bedeutet, dass sie möglicherweise auch den Zugang (die Erinnerung) zu ihrem Vermögen, einschließlich ihrer bitcoins, verliert.

---

Bei Bitcoin gibt es keine einheitliche Lösung, sondern nur Kompromisse. Das gilt auch für so viele andere Dinge, wie zum Beispiel das Trilemma, bei dem Skalierbarkeit der Sicherheit und Dezentralisierung geopfert wird, oder die Selbstverwaltung, bei der Benutzerfreundlichkeit und Komfort in gewissem Maße der Sicherheit und Privatsphäre geopfert werden.

Deshalb sollte man sich der Wahl der persönlichen Lösung über die Kompromisse Gedanken machen, die es einem erlauben, den Kompromiss zu wählen, der einem am besten gefällt, am besten zur persönlichen Situation passt und mit dem man sich am sichersten fühlt. Ich habe oben z.B. "Nichts tun" aufgeführt; vielleicht hat der ein oder andere Bitcoiner keine Familie, keine Kinder und keine Personen, die ihm/ihr nahe stehen, oder vielleicht doch, aber sie sind es nicht wert mit dem ersparten, wertvollen Bitcoin bedacht zu werden. In diesem Fall, danke für die Spende an das Netzwerk.

Sich mit Lösungen vertraut zu machen, die Kontrolle und Verantwortung in den Vordergrund stellen und die Abhängigkeit von einem einzigen Gerät oder einem einzigen Schlüssel, sowie die Abhängigkeit von einer einzelnen Person ausschließen, da diese potenzielle Angriffsvektoren und einzelne Fehlerquellen darstellen, bedeutet, dass man für sich selbst ein Bewusstsein schafft, wie Selbstverwahrung und die daraus entstehenden Konsequenzen im Allgemeinen funktionieren. Nutzer//innen fühlen sich bei der Selbstverwahrung ihrer bitcoins immer wohler, sobald sie verstehen, dass der Verlust eines einzelnen Schlüssels nicht sofort den Verlust des Zugriffs auf das gesicherte Vermögen bedeutet - sofern das richtige Setup gewählt wurde. Es ist wirklich wichtig, dass der Anteil derjenigen, die Bitcoin in Selbstverwahrung halten, vergrößert wird, denn es ist wichtig, dass jeder einzelne bitcoin – der nicht aktiv gehandelt wird – von den Börsen entfernt wird, und gleichzeitig Nutzer//innen mit der Materie der Selbstverwahrung vertraut werden.

Denn wie auf der Grafik zu sehen ist, liegen schätzungsweise immer noch über 2,3 Millionen bitcoins auf Börsen. Bei einer Menge von 19,4 Millionen Bitcoin im Umlauf, reduziert um die Anzahl verlorener bitcoins und Satoshis bitcoins (19,4 - 3 - 1,1 = 15,3), ist es mit 15% aller existierenden bitcoins ein immer noch zu hoher Prozentsatz. Erschwerend kommt hinzu, dass von den 2,3 Millionen bitcoins auf Börsen sich der Großteil auf Binance und Coinbase befindet, also die beiden Namen, die gerade im Kreuzfeuer der SEC stehen. Zum Glück gibt es einen Trend zum Rückgang des Anteils von auf Börsen gehaltenen bitcoins, gemessen an der Umlaufmenge, da Bitcoin dank persönlicher Verwahrungslösungen, welche im Laufe der Zeit immer gängiger und robuster werden, immer mehr auf seine eigentlichen Nutzer verteilt wird.

Das Abheben von Bitcoin von den Börsen hat nicht nur den zusätzlichen Vorteil, dass die Bitcoin-Bestände sicherer sind und die Nutzer//innen mehr Vertrauen haben, dass ihre Ersparnisse tatsächlich vorhanden sind und nicht weiter verpfändet wurden. Sondern ohne Bitcoin auf den Börsen und daher ohne Papier-Bitcoin ist auch eine echte Preisfindung wieder möglich, welche heute von den Börsen verzerrt wird.

---

Zurück zur Nachlassplanung: Letztendlich ist es am wichtigsten, dafür zu sorgen, dass die gewählte Methode dafür sorgt, dass die Schlüssel und die dazugehörigen bitcoins sicher und zuverlässig zu den Erben oder Begünstigten gelangen, ohne dabei zu viele Kompromisse einzugehen oder zu viele Angriffsvektoren zu schaffen.

Es gibt sogar komplizierte Modelle, in denen z.B. ein Trust gegründet (abhängig von der Gerichtsbarkeit, in der man sich befindet), bei der der Eigentümer einen gesetzlichen Auftrag erteilt, dass die Begünstigten oder Erben als Teil des Trusts ein Einkommen in Höhe eines bestimmten Prozentsatzes beziehen können. Dieses Verfahren könnte von den jeweiligen Gerichtsbarkeiten rechtlich angefochten werden, aber wenn das Setup kryptografisch eingerichtet und ausgeführt wird, ohne das eine Partei Einfluss auf diese Ausführung nehmen kann, kann man von Rechts wegen nichts dagegen tun, da kein Testamentsvollstrecker oder keine andere Partei gezwungen werden kann, den Auszahlungsmechanismus zu ändern, da dies mechanisch unmöglich ist. Denn wie wir wissen, übertrifft die Kryptographie jegliche rechtliche Ansprüche. Dies ist eine einzigartige Funktion von Bitcoin, die kein anderer Vermögenswert auf der Welt besitzt. Es ist ein sehr wirksames Instrument, um Eigentum und Besitz langfristig zu sichern und sicherzustellen, dass Eigentum innerhalb des Personenkreises (Freunde, Familie, Bekannte, Geschäftspartner) bleibt, bei dem es bleiben soll.

Über diese einzigartige Eigenschaft von Bitcoin wird in der Regel nicht viel gesprochen. Man könnte sogar argumentieren, dass der Tausch von anderem Eigentum in Bitcoin vor der Übergabe an Erben oder Begünstigte eine strategisch sinnvolle Option ist, um die korrekte Ausführung seines Testaments zu kontrollieren – auch aus dem Grab heraus.

Die Nachlassplanung bei Bitcoin ist die letzte Stufe der Evolution. Der erste Schritt besteht darin, sich über Bitcoin zu informieren und genug darüber zu verstehen, um Interesse an der Materie zu wecken. Dieser erste Schritt ist ein fortlaufender Prozess, der jeden Bitcoiner auf seiner Reise begleiten wird, da es unmöglich ist, jeden Aspekt und jede Interpretation des Themas vollständig zu verstehen. Man hört nie auf zu lernen. Der Honigdachsbau ist unendlich tief.

Dieser erste Schritt muss genug Interesse an Bitcoin und den umliegenden Themenfeldern wecken, dass man den zweiten Schritt geht: Bitcoin zu erwerben. Im diesem Sinne spielt es zunächst keine Rolle, wie man in den Besitz von Bitcoin gelangt, ob man Bitcoin kauft, durch Mining produziert, "findet" oder auf andere Weise erhält. Wichtig ist, dass man in den Besitz von Bitcoin gelangt und es nun aufbewahren muss.

Denn das ist Schritt drei, die sichere und solide Aufbewahrung der Bitcoin-Vermögenswerte in einer selbstverwalteten und selbstverwahrenden Art und Weise. Dazu gehören auch Setups, an denen bis zu einem gewissen Grad Dritte, wie z.B. andere bekannte Personen oder Verwahrungsdienste beteiligt sein können. Wichtig ist, dass die Schlüssel jederzeit vollständig zugänglich und damit Transaktionen vollständig ausführbar sind. Aus diesem Grund ist jede Speicheroption ausgeschlossen, bei der die Schlüssel ausschließlich von Dritten gehalten werden, wie z.B. von Börsen, Brokern oder anderen Verleih- oder Speicherplattformen – not your keys, not your Bitcoin!

Der letzte Schritt in diesem persönlichen Entwicklungsprozess ist die Zukunftssicherheit dieser Vermögenswerte. Da die bitcoins nun sicher aufbewahrt sind, muss sichergestellt werden, dass es einen Weg zur Wiederherstellung oder Vererbung gibt, falls etwas passiert. Dies ist einfach der logische Evolutionsprozess, den jeder durchlaufen muss, der Bitcoin langfristig besitzen möchte.

Besonders in einer Zeit, in der die SEC zwei der größten kRyPto-Börsen der Welt auf den Leib rückt, muss man sich der Realität bewusst werden, dass Dritte, selbst wenn sie scheinbar groß und etabliert sind, nicht für immer existieren werden. Bitcoiner fordern schon seit langem alle und jede/n dazu auf, ihre bitcoins von den Börsen zu nehmen. Jeder, der dachte, dass es eine gute Idee sei, Bitcoin kurzfristig an Börsen zu halten, wurde bereits mehrfach an diesen Trugschluss erinnert - Mt. Gox, Bitfinex und FTX - um nur die großen zu nennen. Wer denkt, dass es eine gute Idee sei, bitcoins auf Börsen zu lagern, um schließlich nur ein Stück Papier mit den Zugangsdaten an die Erben weiterzugeben, der begeht einen schrecklichen Fehler. Die bisherigen Ausführungen sollten dies klar gemacht haben.

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Ich habe absichtlich keine Vorschläge gemacht, wie ein sicheres Setup aussehen soll. Wie schon gesagt, gibt es keine eine richtige Lösung - nur Kompromisse. Der persönliche Kompromiss hängt von zu vielen Faktoren ab, so dass man eine einheitliche Lösung anbieten kann. Man sollte sich jedoch die folgenden Punkte merken:

• Früh genug mit der Planung beginnen - hinter jeder Ecke lauert ein Bär!
• Das Einschließen von Dritten in die Nachlassplanung sollte mit Bedacht gewählt und gründlich überlegt sein.
• Das gewählte Setup sollte mindestens einmal getestet werden, bevor der schlimmste Fall eintritt.
• Es ist immer ratsam, die mit dem Nachlass bedachten Personen aufzuklären, dass im schlimmsten Fall etwas auf sie zukommt.

🫳🎤

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In diesem Sinne, 2... 1... Risiko!‌

@ d830ee7b:4e61cd62

ผมจำได้ว่าหัวใจเต้นแรงแค่ไหนตอนเปิดประตูเข้าไปในสตูดิโอ RightTalk สิ่งแรกที่ปะทะตาคือแสงไฟเจาะลงมาเป็นวงใหญ่ ไม่ต่างจากเวทีคอนเสิร์ต

ผมรู้สึกได้ทันทีว่าความเย็นจากเครื่องปรับอากาศในห้องส่งไม่ได้ช่วยลดอุณหภูมิในร่างกายสักเท่าไหร่ ตอนนั้นผมพยายามบอกตัวเองให้ใจเย็น แต่มันยากเอาเรื่องเมื่อคิดว่ามีคนดูทางบ้านอีกมากรอติดตาม

คุณซุป พิธีกรของรายการ เดินมาทักผมด้วยรอยยิ้มที่ทำให้ผมค่อย ๆ ตั้งสติได้ เขาเชื้อเชิญให้นั่งลงบนเก้าอี้ที่จัดไว้ตรงกลางฉาก

แถวหลังมีทีมงานเดินขวักไขว่ จิงโจ้, อาร์ม, เทนโด้ และอีกหลายๆ คนที่คุ้นตากันดี

บรรยากาศออกกึ่งกันเองกึ่งเป็นทางการ ผมไม่ได้อธิบายอะไรมาก ก่อนที่เสียงผู้กำกับจะให้สัญญาณเริ่ม

คุณซุปหย่อนคำถามเล็ก ๆ ให้ผม “พร้อมนะครับ?” ผมพยักหน้านิด ๆ คิดในใจว่ามันคงไม่มีคำว่า “พร้อมจริง” ได้หรอก แต่ยังไงก็ต้องไปต่อ...

“คุยทุกเรื่องที่ใช่กับ RightTalk”

นั่นคือประโยคแรกที่ผมได้ยินในหูฟัง ขณะไฟสปอร์ตไลต์สาดสว่างทั่วเวทีอีกครั้ง คุณซุปเอ่ยแนะนำตัวผมว่าเป็นคนที่ผ่านประสบการณ์ สงคราม Blocksize มาตั้งแต่ยุคเปลี่ยนผ่าน และพ่วงด้วยข่าวว่าตอนนี้ราคา Bitcoin ทะลุหลักแสนดอลลาร์แล้ว

ผมยืดหลังเพื่อกลั้นความตื่นเต้น แต่ก็ไม่วายตัวเกร็งเล็กน้อย เขาหันมาทางผมพลางกล่าวอย่างเป็นกันเอง

“คุณแชมป์ PIGROCK สบายดีไหมครับ?"

"รู้สึกยังไงบ้างครับกับสถานการณ์ในปัจจุบันที่มันต่างจากสมัยก่อนลิบลับ?”

ผมเผลอกัดริมฝีปากเพราะความประหม่าหลุดขึ้นมาเล็กน้อย แต่ผมยังคุมโทนได้ จึงตอบไปว่า

"ผมชื่อแชมป์ครับ.. เป็นแค่นักวาดดิจิทัลธรรมดา ๆ ที่จู่ ๆ ก็ได้อยู่ข้าง ๆ Jakk Goodday พี่ชายจอมยิงใยผู้เปลี่ยนชีวิตผม ถ้าไม่ใช่เพราะเขา ผมคงไม่รู้จักคำว่า UASF หรือ SegWit ขนาดนี้"

ผมเห็นคุณซุปยิ้มมากขึ้น แล้วก็พยักเพยิดให้ผมพูดต่อ “ว่ากันว่าตอนนั้น Bitcoin มีแนวโน้มแตกออกเป็นหลายสาย เล่าหน่อยสิครับ ว่าพี่อยู่ในจุดไหน?”

ผมถือไมโครโฟนแน่นขึ้นตอบตามจริงว่า จุดเริ่มต้นมาจากความขัดแย้งว่า Blocksize ควรจะใหญ่ขึ้นหรือไม่ จนกลายเป็นสงครามขนาดย่อมบนฟอรัม Bitcointalk และโซเชียลมีเดียต่าง ๆ

ซึ่งผมเป็นคนที่ไม่เชี่ยวชาญเทคโนโลยีเลย แต่โชคดีตรงที่เจอ Jakk คอยเปิดแผนที่ให้เห็นภาพรวมว่าใครอยู่ฝ่ายไหน

ผมยังเล่าให้ผู้ชมฟังว่า... ครั้งแรกที่ได้ยินคำว่า UASF ก็ยอมรับว่างงอยู่เหมือนกัน แต่มันก็เป็นจุดที่ทำให้ผมเข้าใจว่า Bitcoin ไม่ได้มีเจ้าของเป็นตัวบุคคล

แถมยังเป็นครั้งแรกที่ผมเห็นประชาชนโหนดรายย่อยจะมาคุมเกมสั่งนักขุด “ถ้าไม่รองรับ SegWit ก็ไม่รับบล็อกกันเลย” ซึ่งเป็นเรื่องที่ผมเองก็ไม่เคยคาดคิดว่าจะเกิดขึ้นได้

ซุปหันไปมองกล้องด้วยสีหน้าน่าสนใจ พร้อมสรุปสั้น ๆ ก่อนพักเบรกว่า “โอเค.. งั้นตอนหน้ามาคุยกันเรื่อง UASF และ SegWit กันชัด ๆ ว่ามันเปลี่ยนแปลงชุมชน Bitcoin ได้ขนาดไหน ห้ามพลาดนะครับ!”

ผมก็ยิ้มรับแล้ววางไมค์ คิดในใจว่ายังมีอีกเยอะที่ผมอยากเล่า—ทั้งความวุ่นวายของปี 2017 และเรื่องราวของ Jakk ที่เป็นแหล่งข้อมูลล้ำค่าในชีวิตผม

ผมกลับเข้ามานั่งบนเก้าอี้ในสตูดิโอ RightTalk อีกครั้งหลังพักเบรกสั้น ๆ พิธีกรซุปมองสบตาผมราวกับบอกเป็นนัยว่า.. ตอนนี้ได้เวลาเล่าช่วงสำคัญที่ทุกคนรอคอย

ผมสูดลมหายใจเบา ๆ แล้วพยักหน้าอย่างมั่นใจ ถึงจะไม่ใช่นักเทคนิคโดยกำเนิด แต่ผมก็พร้อมจะบอกสิ่งที่ประสบมาในช่วงปี 2017 ซึ่งในตอนนั้น แค่ได้ยินคำว่า UASF ครั้งแรกผมยังสับสนแทบแย่ว่ามันคืออะไร

“พี่ว่า UASF เหมือนการปฏิวัติครับ”

ผมพูดด้วยน้ำเสียงตื่นเต้นขณะที่กล้องจับภาพเต็มจอ

“ตอนนั้นกลุ่มโหนดรายย่อยลุกขึ้นมาประกาศชัด ๆ ว่า ถ้านักขุดไม่สนับสนุน SegWit พวกเขาจะไม่รับบล็อกเหล่านั้นอีกต่อไป เป็นภาพที่พี่ไม่เคยคาดคิดมาก่อนว่า... เสียงของคนตัวเล็ก ๆ จะดังได้ขนาดนี้ เหมือนชาวบ้านรวมตัวท้าทายอำนาจจักรวรรดิไม่มีผิด”

ผมหันไปเห็นประกายตาในคุณซุป เขาขยับไมโครโฟนเล็กน้อย

“แบบนี้ก็ต้องมีเรื่องขัดแย้งกับพวก Hashrate ใหญ่ใช่ไหมครับ ผมได้ยินชื่อ Bitmain กับ Roger Ver โผล่มาบ่อยมากตอนนั้น”

ผมพยักหน้าแล้วหัวเราะน้อย ๆ “ใช่ครับ พวก Big Block มองว่าต้องขยาย Blocksize สายตรงไปเลย จะได้จุธุรกรรมได้เยอะ ค่าธรรมเนียมไม่โหด"

"ส่วนอีกฝั่งยืนยันว่าควรใช้ SegWit มาช่วยแทนโดยไม่ต้องขยายบล็อกจริง ๆ ประเด็นนี้ใหญ่พอจะทำให้เกิดการแตกสายกลายเป็น Bitcoin Cash ในวันที่ 1 สิงหาคม 2017 นั่นแหละครับ”

ผมเล่าย้อนภาพในหัว...

ช่วงนั้น Jakk บอกไว้อย่างชัดถ้อยชัดคำว่า “พวกเขาคงแยกตัวได้ แต่อย่าหวังว่าจะมาแทน BTC หรืออะไรใหญ่โตนัก รอดูไปเถอะ เดี๋ยวก็เห็นเอง”

มันฟังดูเหมือนคำทำนายที่ห้าวหาญ แต่สุดท้ายก็เป็นจริง ที่ผมตื่นเต้นยิ่งกว่านั้นคือ SegWit เองก็ไม่ใช่แค่จัดการปัญหา Transaction Malleability หากยังเปิดทางให้เทคโนโลยีในอนาคตอย่าง Lightning Network เกิดขึ้นมาได้อีก

ตอนแรกหลายคนเรียกกันว่าเป็นแค่ ‘ไอเดียบนกระดาษ’

แต่ตอนนี้ (ปี 2025) กลับกลายเป็นเลเยอร์สำคัญที่ทำให้ผมโอนเงินข้ามประเทศได้แทบจะฟรีในเสี้ยววินาทีจริง ๆ

“พี่เองยังคิดไม่ถึงว่ามันจะสำเร็จขั้นนั้น” ผมหัวเราะก่อนบอกต่อ

“ตอนแรกที่ SegWit เปิดใช้งาน คนจำนวนหนึ่งยังสงสัยด้วยซ้ำว่ามันจะแก้ปัญหาได้ไหม แต่พอมี UASF โหนดรายย่อยก็กดดันนักขุดจนต้องยอม มันเป็นความเคลื่อนไหวที่แสดงให้เห็นว่าคนมีอำนาจโหวตแบบไร้ศูนย์กลางมากจริง ๆ”

“แล้วเรื่องราคา Bitcoin ในปีนั้นล่ะครับ?” ซุปจับจังหวะได้ดี

“2017 ถือเป็นปีที่ราคา BTC แตะสองหมื่นดอลลาร์ครั้งแรกเลยใช่ไหม แล้วตอนนี้ทะลุแสนไปแล้ว มันเกิดอะไรขึ้นกันแน่?”

ผมยกไหล่แล้วยิ้ม “ตอนนั้นพี่ก็ตื่นเต้นสุด ๆ ครับ เหมือนรถไฟเหาะกันทั้งตลาด แต่ใครจะคิดว่ามันจะไปได้สูงกว่านั้นอีกหลายเท่าตัว บางคนก็ปรามาสว่าเป็น ‘ฟองสบู่แตกแน่ ๆ’ ส่วนคนเชื่อก็เชื่อสุดใจ"

"ไม่ต่างจากประเด็นว่า BCH จะแทน BTC ได้ไหม ซึ่งเอาเข้าจริงแล้ว ทุกวันนี้ BCH ก็ยังอยู่ แต่ไม่ค่อยมีใครพูดถึงหรือเชียร์แรง ๆ เหมือนในอดีต หลังเวลาผ่านไป ตลาดเลยเหมือนตัดสินว่า BTC ยังเป็นตัวหลักมากกว่า”

“พี่รู้สึกอย่างไรกับคำทำนายของ Jakk ที่ว่า BCH ไม่น่ารอดยาว?” ซุปถามแทรก มุมปากมีรอยยิ้มเจ้าเล่ห์นิด ๆ เหมือนอยากได้คำตอบที่สะใจ

“พี่ขอเรียกเขาว่าเป็นคนมองขาดละกัน”

ผมยิ้มพลางนึกหน้าตายของ Jakk “แกเป็นคนที่มองเกมเชิงเทคนิคและปรัชญาของ Bitcoin ได้คมมากนะครับ แกจะบอกเสมอว่า ‘ไม่มีใครเป็นเจ้าของ Bitcoin แท้จริงหรอก ตราบใดที่ชุมชนทั้งหมดไม่ยอมรับ ก็จบ’ "

"จนถึงตอนนี้ พี่ยังรู้สึกทึ่งว่าทำไมแกถึงทำนายถูกหลายเรื่อง”

ผมเห็นเวลาในหูฟังบอกใกล้หมดช่วงแล้ว จึงตบท้ายว่าเหตุการณ์ครั้งนั้นมันสอนให้ผมรู้เรื่องประชาธิปไตยในระบบไร้ศูนย์กลาง

ทุกฝ่าย—ไม่ว่าจะนักขุด โหนด หรือผู้ใช้—ต่างมีสิทธิ์ Fork ได้ แต่ไม่มีใครการันตีว่า Fork นั้นจะไปรอด

ท้ายที่สุด ตลาดต้องเป็นผู้ตัดสินเอง และนั่นคือเสน่ห์ของ Bitcoin ที่ผมรู้สึกโชคดีที่ได้เข้าไปเห็นด้วยตาตัวเอง

ซุปพยักหน้าแล้วยิ้มกว้าง หันไปมองกล้อง “โอเคครับ คุณผู้ชม วันนี้เราคุยกันเรื่อง UASF, SegWit, BCH, Lightning Network และความผันผวนของตลาดในปี 2017 ที่ต่อยอดมาถึง 2024 แบบพอหอมปากหอมคอ"

"ต้องขอบพี่แชมป์ ‘PIGROCK’ ที่มาให้มุมมองสนุก ๆ พร้อมแง่คิดที่น่าสนใจมาก ๆ ไว้เจอกันใหม่ใน RightTalk กับผมและแขกรับเชิญท่านอื่น ๆ ไม่นานนี้”

เสียงปรบมือดังขึ้นเบา ๆ ขณะที่ไฟบนเวทีค่อย ๆ หรี่ลงอีกครั้ง

ผมปลดไมค์ออกจากเสื้อ สูดลมหายใจโล่ง ๆ พร้อมกล่าวขอบคุณทุกคน แล้วคิดถึงคำพูดของ Jakk ในวันวานที่ฝังอยู่ในหัว

“สงคราม Blocksize แค่งานวอร์มอัพ โลกคริปโตฯ ยังมีอะไรให้ลุ้นอีกเยอะนะน้องชาย”

ผมยิ้มเงียบ ๆ คิดว่ามันคงจริงอย่างที่แกว่า เพราะถ้า Bitcoin ไม่ใช่ของใครคนเดียว เราก็คงเห็นการเคลื่อนไหวอะไรใหม่ ๆ เกิดขึ้นเสมอ

ซุปทำท่าเกริ่นรอบสุดท้าย สบตากับผมแล้วถามขึ้นด้วยน้ำเสียงเรียบ ๆ แต่ชวนให้ผมรื้อฟื้นความทรงจำทั้งหมดที่เพิ่งเล่ามา

“แล้วพี่คิดว่า... สิ่งที่ Bitcoin Cash กับ SegWit สอนเราเกี่ยวกับ Bitcoin คืออะไรครับ?”

ผมยิ้มบาง ๆ สูดหายใจแล้วลองเรียบเรียงคำตอบในหัว ผมคิดถึงภาพที่ผ่านมา... ทั้งช่วงที่โหนดรายย่อยลุกขึ้นเรียกร้องสิทธิ์ UASF ทั้งวันที่ BCH แยกตัวอย่างอลังการ ตลอดจนเวลาที่ SegWit เปิดทางให้เทคโนโลยีใหม่ ๆ เกิดขึ้น

ผมรวบทุกประสบการณ์ไว้ในประโยคเดียวก่อนพูด

“สำหรับพี่นะ... สงคราม Blocksize หรือจะเรียกว่าการแตกแยกครั้งนั้น มันสอนให้เห็นว่าระบบนี้ไม่เคยเป็นของใครคนเดียวเลยนะครับ"

"นี่แหละคือ การกระจายอำนาจ อย่างแท้จริง ใครจะฟอร์ก ใครจะทำอะไรก็ได้ แต่สุดท้ายตลาดและชุมชนทั้งหมดนี่ล่ะที่เป็นคนตัดสินว่าเส้นทางไหนจะอยู่หรือไป"

"เรื่องนี้ทำให้พี่ตระหนักว่าบางที... การขัดแย้งก็พาให้เทคโนโลยีมันพัฒนาไปอีกขั้นเหมือนกัน ตราบใดที่เราไม่ลืมสารตั้งต้นว่ามันคือ ระบบเปิดที่ทุกคนเข้าถึงได้ ”

ซุปนิ่งฟังแล้วผงกศีรษะเบา ๆ เหมือนยอมรับในประเด็นที่ผมว่า เขาหันไปทางกล้องและปิดรายการด้วยสไตล์ที่คนดูคุ้นเคย

“วันนี้เราคุยกันหลายแง่มุมเลยนะครับ ตั้งแต่ UASF กับปัญหาความขัดแย้ง ไปจนถึงผลลัพธ์ของ SegWit, BCH และ Lightning Network"

"ต้องขอบคุณพี่แชมป์ ‘PIGROCK’ มาก ๆ ที่มาแบ่งปันประสบการณ์อันเป็นประโยชน์ หวังว่าทุกคนจะได้ไอเดียกลับไปไม่มากก็น้อยนะครับ และนี่คือ RightTalk คุยทุกเรื่องที่ใช่ เจอกันตอนหน้าครับ!”

เสียงดนตรีประจำรายการดังขึ้นอัตโนมัติ เป็นสัญญาณว่าการถ่ายทอดสดสิ้นสุดลง

ผมถอนหายใจเฮือกใหญ่โล่งอกอย่างไม่ปิดบัง ทีมงานบางคนเดินเข้ามาขอบคุณพร้อมจับมือเบา ๆ ผมรู้สึกเหมือนเพิ่งยกภูเขาออกจากอกที่ได้ถ่ายทอดสิ่งที่เคยแบกไว้มานาน

ไม่ใช่แค่เรื่องเทคนิคบล็อกเชน แต่เป็นการขบคิดด้วยว่า ในโลกที่ทุกคนเรียกหาเสรีภาพทางการเงิน ไม่มีชัยชนะของใครที่จีรังได้นาน ถ้าผู้ใช้ทั้งหมดไม่ยอมรับ

ผมเผลอมองขึ้นไปบนไฟสปอร์ตไลต์อีกครั้ง คราวนี้ไม่ได้รู้สึกว่ามันจ้าจนแสบตาเหมือนช่วงเริ่มรายการ แต่กลับรู้สึกว่ามันอบอุ่นดี

ผมยิ้มให้ตัวเองเล็กน้อย ทบทวนว่านี่คงเป็นบทเรียนที่ดีว่าถึงเราจะเป็นเพียงโหนดเล็ก ๆ หรือผู้ใช้งานตัวเล็ก ๆ แต่ในระบบกระจายอำนาจแบบ Bitcoin มันก็มีสิทธิ์เปล่งเสียงได้

และบางครั้งก็อาจเปลี่ยนกระแสทั้งโลกได้เลย ถ้านั่นไม่ใช่คำจำกัดความของ “เสรีภาพ” ผมก็ไม่รู้จะเรียกมันว่าอะไรแล้วล่ะ

End credit

ผมนั่งพักหลังกองอัดรายการแทบไม่ได้หายใจเป็นชิ้นเป็นอัน พิธีกรสุดกระตือรือร้นอย่างซุป เดินดุ่ม ๆ มาหาผมพร้อมแววตาวิ้งวับ ก่อนจะรั้งเก้าอี้มาเบียดติดข้างผม

ถึงแม้ไฟสปอตไลต์จะดับไปแล้ว แต่เขายังดูเหมือนพร้อมลุยถามต่อไม่หยุด

“พี่แชมป์” เขาเอ่ยชื่อผมแบบลากเสียงยาว

“คอผมมันคันยุบยิบ มีเรื่องต้องเม้าท์ต่อจริง ๆ นะพี่ ผมกั๊กไว้ตั้งแต่ก่อนจะเริ่มรายการละ”

ผมเลยหัวเราะพลางเท้าคาง “ไหนว่ามาสิวะ ซุป ใจคอนายจะไม่ให้พี่ไปเข้าห้องน้ำเข้าห้องท่าก่อนเลยเหรอวะ?” ผมพูดด้วยน้ำเสียงกึ่งหยอกกึ่งประชด

“ฮ่า ๆ โทษทีพี่ ผมนี่มันขี้สงสัย” เขายิ้มเจ้าเล่ห์

“คือเรื่อง ‘The One Who Claims to Be Satoshi’ น่ะ… ก็ Craig Wright ไงล่ะพี่ ผมสตั๊นกับเขามานาน เห็นว่าฟ้องชาวบ้านเขาไปทั่ว เห็นมีข่าวว่าขู่ฟ้องใครก็ตามที่พูดว่าเขาไม่ใช่ Satoshi ผมล่ะขำไม่ไหว!”

ผมยักไหล่ “เอาตรง ๆ นะ... พี่มองว่าเขาเป็น ราชาสายปั่นของแท้ รู้จักดึงกระแสเก่งเป็นบ้า ส่วนจะเป็น Satoshi จริงหรือเปล่า? พี่ไม่เชื่อเลยสักเสี้ยว ยังไงพี่ก็ว่ามันดู ‘เฟค’ ไปหมด”

ซุปตบโต๊ะเบา ๆ “โอ๊ย! ใช่เลยพี่! ผมก็ดูละครฉาก ‘พิสูจน์ Private Key’ แล้วแทบขำกลิ้ง"

"แต่พี่รู้ไหม? ตอนแรกดราม่าก็แรงเพราะหลายคนคิดว่าบางทีแกอาจจะเป็นจริง ๆ แต่หลักฐานไม่ชัด สุดท้ายคนในชุมชน ‘กระซวก’ จนหลุดหมดว่าใช้เทคนิคปลอมลายเซ็น”

ผมพยักหน้า “ยิ่งไปกว่านั้นนะ... ตอนเขาแยกสายไป Bitcoin SV อ้างว่าสานต่อ ‘Satoshi’s Vision’ นายลองดูตอนนี้สิ มีกี่คนพูดถึง BSV... "

"แทบไม่มี... มันก็ตลกดีนะ โลกคริปโตนี่ ถ้าไม่มีคนยอมรับ ต่อให้เป็น Satoshi ยังไงก็แพ้ตลาด”

“โอ้โห.. พี่พูดได้ถูกใจมาก” คุณซุปแหงนหน้าหัวเราะลั่น “นี่ถ้าพี่คนนี้อยู่ต่อหน้าคงเถียงเขาร้อนเป็นไฟเลยนะ แต่เอาจริง ถ้าอยู่ดี ๆ เขาพิสูจน์ได้ว่าเป็น Satoshi ขึ้นมาจริง ๆ พี่ไม่ช็อกเหรอ?”

ผมยิ้มพลางยักคิ้ว “ช็อกนิดหน่อยนะ… แต่มันคงไม่เปลี่ยนอะไรหรอก เพราะ Bitcoin น่ะไปไกลเกินกว่าตัวบุคคลแล้ว ใครจะเป็น Satoshi ก็เรื่องของเขา พี่ถือคติว่า BTC ไม่ต้องการ ‘เจ้านาย’ อีกแล้ว ตอนนี้มันเป็นของทุกคนบนโลกต่างหาก”

"We're all Satoshi เคป่ะ?"

“สุดยอด!” ซุปตบมือถูกใจใหญ่

“ผมก็คิดเหมือนกัน ผมแอบยกให้พี่เป็นปรมาจารย์ทางความคิดเรื่องนี้เลยนะเนี่ย”

"มึงก็อวยเกินไป.. ไอ้นี่" ผมรีบปัดคำชมบ้า ๆ นั่นไปทันที

พูดจบเขาก็กำลังจะบอกอะไรต่อ แต่ทันใดนั้นประตูสตูดิโอเปิดออกแผ่ว ๆ เผยให้เห็นผู้ชายรูปร่างสูงโปร่ง คิ้วไม่เข้มเท่าไหร่ แต่งตัวไม่เป็นทางการสีเข้ม ก้าวเข้ามาแบบไม่รีบร้อน

“ตายล่ะพี่แจ็ก!” คุณซุปอุทานเบา ๆ ก่อนสะดุ้งตั้งท่าเหมือนเจอลูกพี่ใหญ่ ผมเองก็ตาโตนิดหน่อย “โผล่มาเงียบ ๆ ระวังผมช็อกตายนะ”

คนที่เข้ามาคือ Jakk Goodday ที่ผมเคารพและเกรงใจมาตลอด.. และใช่เลย เขาคือ Co-founder ของ Right Shift ตัวจริง เสียงจริง

“โย่ สองหนุ่มเม้าท์อะไรกันอยู่ กลิ่นดราม่าลอยมาถึงนอกห้องเลยนะ” เขายิ้มยั่ว พร้อมวางแก้วคราฟท์เบียร์ของเขาบนโต๊ะใกล้ ๆ

“พี่แจ็ก ขอโทษครับ ผมก็แค่คันปากเรื่อง Craig Wright” ซุปรีบบอก พยายามวางมาดพิธีกรสายยียวนเหมือนเดิม แต่ผมเห็นหลังตาเขายังกระพริบบ่อยแปลก ๆ

“ซุปเอ๊ย.. ขี้เม้าท์ตั้งแต่สมัยฝึกงานจนตอนนี้เป็นพิธีกรระดับประเทศก็ไม่เปลี่ยน” Jakk ยักคิ้ว เขามีเสียงเรียบแต่น่าฟัง

“แต่ดีนะ... เรื่อง Craig Wright"

"เนี่ย... พี่เองก็ขำทุกทีที่ได้ยินว่าพยายามฟ้องคนนู้นคนนี้ว่า ‘เธอดูถูกว่าฉันไม่ใช่ Satoshi’ โอ๊ย มุกนี้แม่งใช้มากี่ปีแล้วก็ไม่รู้”

ผมหัวเราะออกมาเบา ๆ “ถ้าพี่ว่าแล้วมันไม่หยาบไป ก็ช่วยกัดเพิ่มให้หน่อย ผมว่าต้องมีคำเจ็บ ๆ ของพี่แจ็กแน่ ๆ”

Jakk หรี่ตาเล็กน้อย...

“ถ้าผมพูดแบบเจ็บ ๆ จริงก็เกรงจะโดนฟ้องเหมือนกันนะ” เขาทำท่ายกแก้วเก๊กฮวยลึกลับขึ้นจิบ

“แต่เอาเป็นว่า… ตลาดไม่เคยโกหกใคร โค้ดก็ไม่เคยโกหกใคร ใครที่เรียกตนเองเป็น Satoshi หรือพระเจ้าคนไหนก็ตาม ถ้าทำให้คนยอมรับไม่ได้ มันก็จบตรงนั้นละ”

ซุปหัวเราะก้าก “ว้าว! ตรงกว่าผมอีก! 5555"

"นี่เป็นเหตุผลว่าทำไมพี่ถึงเป็นหัวโจกได้ใช่ไหม สายบวกแบบตอกหมุดเลย”

Jakk หันมาทางผม “แต่เอาจริง พี่ก็ respect ในความปากแจ๋วของคุณซุปเค้านะ ถ้าเจอ Craig Wright ตัวเป็น ๆ เมื่อไหร่ บางทีอาจจะสนุกกว่าที่คิด”

ผมกับคุณซุปหันมาสบตากันแล้วระเบิดหัวเราะพร้อมเพรียง “ไม่เอา ไม่เจอดีกว่า ผมขอความสงบสุขในชีวิต!” คุณซุปว่า

Jakk วางแก้วเก๊กฮวยลงบนโต๊ะ กระตุกยิ้มตรงมุมปากอย่างคนมั่นใจ “ขอจบด้วยโควทหนึ่งละกัน ใครอยากเป็น Satoshi ก็เชิญเป็น แต่จำไว้ว่า…"

"ผู้ชนะที่แท้จริง ไม่ได้ชนะเพราะได้สวมมงกุฎ หากแต่ชนะเพราะผู้คนยอมรับให้เขาสวม และ Bitcoin ก็แสดงให้เราเห็นแล้วล่ะ ว่าตัวตนแท้ ๆ ของมันไม่ต้องพึ่งใครมาคุมบังเหียนสักคนเดียว”

ผมกับคุณซุปนิ่งไปครู่สั้น ๆ ก่อนหัวเราะเบา ๆ รับคำพูดคมคายเสียดสีในแบบของ Jakk Goodday “โอเคครับพี่แจ็ก นี่สินะ Signature Quote ที่เราคอยตามหา!” คุณซุปพูดตบท้าย ท่ามกลางเสียงเก็บอุปกรณ์ของทีมงานที่ใกล้จะเลิกงานเต็มที

ผมเองยักไหล่แล้วลุกขึ้นบิดขี้เกียจ “เอ้า! ปิดสตูแล้วดีกว่า เดี๋ยวเราจะโดนปิดไฟตัดน้ำไม่รู้ตัวนะครับพี่แจ๊ก”

“เออ ๆ รีบปิดสตูเถอะ” Jakk ตอบเรียบ ๆ แต่สายตายังฉายแววเจ้าเล่ห์หน่อย ๆ

“ไว้เจอกันรอบหน้า อย่าเผลอไปปั่นจนโดนฟ้องกันเองล่ะ ฮ่า ๆ”

และนั่นก็เป็นฉากสั้น ๆ ที่สามเราปิดท้ายกันแบบเฮฮาและมีสาระนิด ๆ ทิ้งประเด็นว่าบางครั้งในโลกคริปโต คำพูดของใครสักคนอาจสั่นสะเทือนได้

แต่ตอนจบจริง ๆ ก็ต้องดูว่าชุมชนยอมรับมากน้อยแค่ไหน… Craig Wright จะอ้างตัวเป็น Satoshi กี่ครั้งก็ได้ แต่ถ้าโลกไม่เชื่อ...

นั่นก็อาจเป็นเพียงเรื่องตลกในตำนานคริปโตเท่านั้นเอง

ลำดับเหตุการณ์สงคราม Blocksize (Blocksize War)

จุดเริ่มต้นของความขัดแย้ง (2015–2016)

ปัญหาความแออัดของเครือข่าย Bitcoin:

• การเพิ่มขึ้นของธุรกรรมทำให้บล็อกขนาด 1 MB ไม่เพียงพอ ส่งผลให้ค่าธรรมเนียมสูงและการยืนยันธุรกรรมล่าช้า

ชุมชนเริ่มแบ่งเป็น 2 กลุ่ม:

• Big Block (ขยายบล็อกใหญ่ขึ้น): ต้องการเพิ่ม Blocksize ตรง ๆ เช่น 2 MB หรือมากกว่านั้น

• Small Block (คงขนาดบล็อกเดิม): เน้นการแก้ปัญหาผ่านวิธีอื่น เช่น Segregated Witness (SegWit)

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การพัฒนาของ SegWit (2016)

Segregated Witness (SegWit):

• เสนอโดย Pieter Wuille และทีม Bitcoin Core

• แก้ปัญหา Transaction Malleability และเพิ่มพื้นที่ธุรกรรมในบล็อกโดยย้ายข้อมูลลายเซ็นออกจากธุรกรรมหลัก

Hong Kong Agreement (2016):

• ความพยายามประนีประนอมระหว่างกลุ่ม Big Block และ Small Block

• ตกลงว่าจะเพิ่ม Blocksize เป็น 2 MB และเปิดใช้งาน SegWit แต่ไม่สำเร็จจริง

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UASF และ SegWit Activation (2017)

UASF (User-Activated Soft Fork):

• เสียงของโหนดรายย่อยลุกขึ้นกดดันนักขุดให้รองรับ SegWit ผ่าน BIP 148

• เส้นตาย: 1 สิงหาคม 2017 ถ้านักขุดไม่รองรับ SegWit โหนด UASF จะไม่ยอมรับบล็อกของนักขุดเหล่านั้น

SegWit Activation:

• นักขุดยอมรับ SegWit เพื่อหลีกเลี่ยงการแยกเครือข่าย

• SegWit เปิดใช้งานสำเร็จในวันที่ 24 สิงหาคม 2017

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การเกิด Bitcoin Cash (1 สิงหาคม 2017)

Hard Fork ครั้งใหญ่:

• กลุ่ม Big Block นำโดย Roger Ver และ Jihan Wu สร้าง Bitcoin Cash (BCH)

• BCH เปิดตัวด้วย Blocksize ขนาด 8 MB และโปรโมตว่าเป็น “เงินสดดิจิทัลที่แท้จริง”

ผลกระทบ:

• ชุมชน Bitcoin แตกเป็น 2 ฝ่ายชัดเจน

• BCH ได้รับความนิยมในช่วงแรก แต่ไม่สามารถแทนที่ BTC ได้ในระยะยาว

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การพัฒนาของ Lightning Network (2017–2018)

Layer 2 Solution:

• Lightning Network (LN) เป็นเทคโนโลยีที่พัฒนาต่อเนื่องหลัง SegWit เปิดใช้งาน

• ลดความแออัดในเครือข่ายหลักและทำให้การทำธุรกรรมเร็วขึ้น

การใช้งานจริง:

• LN เริ่มทดสอบใน Testnet และเปิดตัวอย่างเป็นทางการในปี 2018

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ราคา Bitcoin พุ่งสูงสุด (ปลายปี 2017)

• Bitcoin แตะ $20,000 ครั้งแรก:

• ช่วงปลายปี 2017 ตลาดคริปโตเข้าสู่ช่วงเฟื่องฟู (Crypto Boom)

• BCH ก็พุ่งสูงสุดที่มากกว่า $3,000 แต่เริ่มลดลงในปีถัดมา

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ความแตกแยกใน Bitcoin Cash (2018)

Hard Fork อีกครั้ง:

• เกิดความขัดแย้งในชุมชน BCH เรื่องแนวทางการพัฒนา

• นำไปสู่การแยกตัวเป็น Bitcoin SV (BSV) นำโดย Craig Wright

ผลกระทบ:

• BCH และ BSV สูญเสียส่วนแบ่งตลาด

• BTC ยังคงเป็นผู้นำในตลาดคริปโต

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การยอมรับ SegWit และการเปลี่ยนแปลงตลาด (2018–ปัจจุบัน)

SegWit Adoption:

• เมื่อผู้ใช้งานเริ่มใช้ SegWit มากขึ้น ค่าธรรมเนียมธุรกรรมลดลง และความแออัดในเครือข่ายลดลง

• Bitcoin กลายเป็น Store of Value:

• BTC ถูกมองว่าเป็น “สินทรัพย์เก็บออม” มากกว่า “เงินสดดิจิทัล”

BCH และ BSV:

• ตลาดของทั้งสองสายลดลง และไม่สามารถทดแทน BTC ได้

https://v.nostr.build/pxBuxtiSVNbisYMv.mp4

@ cf7ed325:050194cf

The Sonesta Moon Goddess Nile Cruise and Oberoi Philae Nile Cruise offer luxurious experiences along the Nile, combining comfort, elegance, and cultural exploration. These cruises are ideal for travelers seeking a premium journey between Luxor and Aswan, filled with historical wonders and stunning landscapes.

The Sonesta Moon Goddess Nile Cruise features spacious cabins with private balconies, gourmet dining, and personalized service. Guests can explore iconic sites such as the Karnak Temple, Valley of the Kings, and Philae Temple while enjoying the ship's modern amenities. Similarly, the Oberoi Philae Nile Cruise provides an intimate setting with luxury suites, fine dining, and a wellness center, ensuring a tranquil and exclusive experience.

Both cruises are part of a broader collection of Nile cruises that cater to diverse preferences. For those seeking alternatives, the Movenpick Darakum Nile Cruise, Nile CruiseFarah , and Movenpick Sunray Nile Cruise provide exceptional options with distinctive features and world-class service. Travelers can also explore the elegance of the Oberoi Zahra Nile Cruise, known for its unparalleled luxury and curated itineraries.

The Sonesta Sun Goddess Nile Cruise, Sonesta Star Goddess Nile Cruise, Sonesta Nile Goddess Nile Cruise, and Sonesta St. George Nile Cruise are additional premium choices, each offering unique amenities and captivating itineraries. Meanwhile, the Historia Nile Cruise and Steigenberger Minerva Nile Cruise combine tradition and modernity, delivering unforgettable journeys.

For a well-rounded experience, consider the Movenpick Hamees Nile Cruise or the Movenpick Lotus Nile Cruise, both known for their comfort and exceptional service. Whether you choose the Sonesta Moon Goddess Nile Cruise, Oberoi Philae Nile Cruise, or any of these alternatives, your Nile adventure promises to be a memorable exploration of Egypt's rich history and culture.

🌐 Visit us at www.etbtoursegypt.com 📲 Contact us now! +20 10 21100873 📧 Email: info@etbtours.com 🏢 Company Address: 4 El Lebeny Axis , Nazlet Al Batran , Al Haram, Giza , Egypt

@ ed84ce10:cccf4c2a

Hackathon Summary

The Boundless Hackathon @Stanford, co-hosted by Stanford Blockchain Accelerator, Nautilus Chain, Zebec, and Rootz Labs, successfully concluded with 318 registered developers working on 159 projects. This event focused on advancing Web3 infrastructure through tracks in DeFi, Gaming, NFT, and infrastructure development.

Supported by DoraHacks, the hackathon featured significant contributions from strategic partners such as IOBC Capital, Eclipse, and OKX Wallet. Notably, there was strong technological collaboration with Aspecta. The event culminated in a closing ceremony at Stanford University, where the top projects received awards from a prize pool totaling $300,000. The first-place winner received $10,000, with additional incentives in the form of ecosystem and technical bonus prizes, including Amazon Cloud Credits.

The Boundless Hackathon fostered collaboration and innovation within the blockchain community, emphasizing the integration of new technologies across various blockchain platforms.

Hackathon Winners

Main Prize Winners

• Hexlink:
  Hexlink introduces a modular account layer for Web3 that emulates Web2 experiences by leveraging existing identities for crypto transactions. It eliminates the need for seed phrases, streamlining onboarding and security through modular authentication across dApps.
• Defi Board Options Exchange (DBOE):
  DBOE presents a novel on-chain Central Limit Order Book (CLOB) with advanced risk management strategies. This enhances market infrastructure by improving price discovery and liquidity through a Dedicated Market Making (DMM) system.
• Nulink:
  Nulink integrates privacy-enhancing technologies for dApps, employing cryptography-based consensus to enable secure application development with advanced data privacy practices.

Sub-Award Winners

• Buff Network:
  Buff Network functions as a peer-to-pool derivatives trading platform, offering user-friendly interfaces for efficient trade execution. It elevates engagement in decentralized finance through innovative trading solutions.
• PoseiSwap:
  PoseiSwap facilitates the seamless exchange of DeFi and TradFi assets by extending DEX functionality to support diverse financial instruments, thus bridging crypto-native and traditional markets for improved interoperability.

Explore all projects from the hackathon at https://dorahacks.io/hackathon/stanfordhack/buidl.

Organization Overview

Stanford Blockchain Accelerator

The Stanford Blockchain Accelerator is a non-dilutive program run by students and alumni and is part of the Stanford Blockchain Club student group. They incubate Stanford student and alumni teams in a 5 month program, helping them build, raise, and launch blockchain projects. Over 90% of teams graduating from their program raise from the leading funds (>$80M cumulative raises), and over 60% launch and are post revenue within 6 months of their program!

@ 06639a38:655f8f71

A while back I shared this note via Nostr: https://njump.me/a0da4693dc761c649e46606ba4cc11cd05afbed2d7c763775d7ba29a473cbed3

I feel I need to ventilate some things I'm struggling with. As a indiepreneur I don't have many professionals around me with who I can share my daily struggles which I'm handling now. I'm aware it's a sort of a luxury position where the current fricton is coming from. It's because I've said too much yes to some responsabilties. I'm managing 4 client (Drupal) projects at this moment and all of them are asking for decent amount of my attention. Integrating new features, updating existing features, questions how things work, bugfixes etc. Normally their demand of them is steady. But as always, at the end of the year things are stacking up. It's no surprise that you can't manage their demands so it's the expection of my output to them I have to manage. It's the output I create for the value I deliver. Especially one project is getting all of my attention because I'm building a complete new commerce rental system with Drupal for campers. There is a deadline involved there, I've one month left to build it and have it tested.  
For me it's very challenging to manage those expectations and basicly saying no to things in a friendly way. But offcourse, this also takes time...

With this said, there is another project which is not actively demanding anything from me (it's not a kind of a customer client): Nostr-PHP. My work pace on this project is lacking, but it's the damn thing I love the most to work on 💜

So what is this? What do I feel?
It feels like cognitive dissonation. If I follow my intrinsic motivation I can work on Nostr-PHP and other Nostr stuff for whole days. If I follow my ratio, it's all the client work what has to be done (and is mostly also paying the bills).

Anyway, now I ventilated this it's time to go back building stuff ⚒️ ⚒️ ⚒️
One thing I know of myself is that when the pressure is really high, I'm able to finish stuff rapidly for a short period of time. 

Since then I made quite some hours on one specific project building out a commerce rental platform with Drupal. Progress is made and I'm already quite proud on the achievements there. Also the client is happy with the results so far. As things evolve and are being tested, new insights popup which result in adjustments in the features made and the wishlist of new features grow. To me that's natural if you're building a custom solution. But this doesn't change the challenge I mentioned earlier, managing expections and decide to what I will spent my attention to. 

With that said, the development for Nostr-PHP library pretty much halted since december. So I decided to ask OpenSats to pause my grant for 3 months, so I can finish up the client-work without guilty feelings. My plan is to pick up the development again around March. 

At last, let me sum up the the things I've done in week 48 and 49 in 2024:

Nostr-PHP

• Release 1.5.1 https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-php/releases/tag/1.5.1
• Thanks for this compliment Prolic (developer of Flutr) https://njump.me/nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzqwuvj7hf9phszffuf7ydgtgkapvv0jf9zw4l9uuz2xhlwy63f08xqy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyv9kh2uewd9hj7qg4waehxw309aex2mrp0yhxummnw3ezucn89uqzp94nzvmh7nlh3qte8g4g2kz075pqy6gz837y0emeqc9m8l4dlpl672l3gr
• Collaboration efforts on encoding / decoding TLV entries in NIP-19: https://njump.me/nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzqpnrnguxe8qszsshvgkvhn6qjzxy7xsvx03rlrtddr62haj4lrm3qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyv9kh2uewd9hj7qghwaehxw309aex2mrp0yhxummnw3ezucnpdejz7qpqxh039ng4nr2w5q6np5gzhpfjjgxd4gtkraxeuv9ew5sve7pytawq8l5dzr
• Working on a fix for a lib_gmp issue with the latest PHP releases:
  • https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-php/pull/71
  • https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-php/issues/75
  • https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-php/pull/76
• Merged https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-php/pull/76 and created a 1.5.2 release with this change
  • https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-php/releases/tag/1.5.2

Other stuff

• Wrote and published my second 90-days progress report for OpenSats.
  https://nostrver.se/blog/nostr-php-helper-library-90-day-opensats-report-2

@ 2063cd79:57bd1320

Singularität ist ein heißes Thema, da sie ein potenziell transformatives und disruptives Ereignis in verschiedenen Bereichen darstellt, darunter Technologie, künstliche Intelligenz und die Gesellschaft als Ganzes. Singularität stellt einen Punkt unbekannter und potenziell schneller Veränderung dar. Die Ungewissheit darüber, wie sich Technologien weiterentwickeln, welche Auswirkungen sie haben und welche möglichen Konsequenzen sie mit sich bringen, weckt Neugier, Spekulationen und Diskussionen.

Oft wird diskutiert, wie die Zukunft unseres Geldsystems aussehen könnte. Dem Euro wird keine rosige Zukunft zugesprochen, dem Dollar hingegen mittelfristig schon. Doch entwickelt sich unsere Gesellschaft und damit ihre Ansprüche und Bedürfnisse weiter. Die Entwicklung der letzten Jahrzehnte hat im Vergleich zu den Jahrhunderten davor und den Jahrtausenden davor extrem zugenommen.

Alleine das letzte Jahrhundert hat drei industrielle Revolutionen hervorgebracht: die Dampfmaschine, das Zeitalter der Wissenschaft und Massenproduktion und der Aufstieg der digitalen Technologie. Mit den digitalen Technologien kam zum ersten Mal auch das Bedürfnis nach einem Geld für den digitalen Raum, bzw. für den digital vernetzten Raum auf, in dem wir uns heutzutage bewegen. Das Geld in seiner jetzigen Form existiert seit dem 17ten Jahrhundert und obwohl es sich nach außen hin in seiner Form und Funktion wenig verändert hat, ist eine technologische Entwicklung auch hier nicht zu leugnen. Denn Geld ist nicht gleich Geld. Das Bargeld (Papier- und Münzgeld), das wir in unserem täglichen Leben verwenden, unterscheidet sich ganz deutlich von Buchgeld (Giralgeld) und Warengeld.

Wir sehen also, dass es verschiedene Arten von Geld gibt. Und um die Sache zu erschweren, gibt es jede dieser Formen von Geld auch noch in über 160 Währungen, die von den jeweiligen Zentralbanken gesteuert und gelenkt werden. Wenn wir also sagen, dass z.B. die türkische Lira keine Zukunft hat, dann meinen wir nicht nur, dass die Geldscheine mit dem Lira-Aufdruck bald verschwinden, sondern dass das ganze Finanzsystem, dass hinter der türkischen Lira steckt systemische Probleme aufweist, die es nicht mehr auffangen kann.

Dabei ist es dem Grunde nach eigentlich ganz natürlich und ganz normal, dass Währungen mit der Zeit verschwinden oder schlicht durch andere Währungen ersetzt werden. Denn Menschen tendieren von Natur aus dazu, ein gemeinsames Geld innerhalb einer definierten Region auf einem freien Markt zu verwenden, weil es uns die größte Wahlfreiheit bei der größten Anzahl von Handelspartnern und der höchsten Liquidität bietet.

Europa ist das beste Beispiel für diese Annahme. Um den Handel zu vereinfachen und Wertschöpfungsketten (yes, endlich mein Lieblings-Unwort eingebaut) zu steigern, haben sich 19 Länder dazu entschlossen, ihre Währung zugunsten des Euros aufzugeben. Dieses Phänomen der Bewegung hin zu einem gemeinsamen Geld ist nicht nur in der Ökonomie bekannt. Denn dieses Phänomen kann immer und insbesondere dann beobachtet werden, wenn die Konvergenz hin zu einem gemeinsamen Standard den Nutzer//innen den größten Nutzen bietet und Netzwerkeffekte fördert. Dieses Phänomen hat auch einen (inoffiziellen) Namen und zwar: monetäre Singularität - abgewandelt von der hypothetischen zukünftigen technologischen Singularität.

Obwohl „Monetäre Singularität“ im Wirtschafts- oder Finanzbereich keinen allgemein anerkannten Begriff darstellt, lässt sich durch seine Bestandteile ableiten, worauf sich der Name bezieht. "Monetär“ bezieht sich auf alles, was mit Geld oder Währung zu tun hat, während sich „Singularität“ häufig auf einen Punkt erheblicher Veränderung oder ein Ereignis bezieht, bei dem bestehende Regeln oder Normen nicht mehr gelten. Daraus lässt sich ableiten, dass sich „monetäre Singularität“ - also ein Kunstbegriff abgeleitet aus der Naturwissenschaft - auf ein hypothetisches Szenario bezieht, in dem es zu einer radikalen Veränderung der Funktionsweise des Geldes oder des Währungssystems kommt.

Mit Hinblick auf das aktuelle Finanzsystem hat Brent Johnson diesem Phänomen den viel eingängigen Namen "Dollar Milkshake Theory" verpasst. In dieser Theorie geht es darum, dass der US Dollar weiter an Stärke gewinnt und den Devisenmärkten auf der ganzen Welt Liquidität entzieht. Woher der Name? Man stelle sich vor, man hat einen Milchshake und sitzt an einem Tisch auf der anderen Seite des Raumes. Man stelle sich auch vor, jemand anderes hat einen wirklich langen Strohhalm. So kann der/diejenige seinen/ihren Strohhalm in den eigenen Milchshake stecken und ihn trinken, auch wenn man am anderen Ende des Raums sitzt. Der eigene Milchshake ist in diesem Fall eine Fremdwährung, der/diejenige, der/die trinkt, ist natürlich der US Dollar selbst. Das führt zu einer Konzentration aller Geschäfte in US Dollar.

Schaut man über den Tellerrand der heutigen Zentralbankgelder hinaus, ergeben sich einige weitere interessante Einordnungsversuche für die Singularität des Geldes, die die oben angesprochenen Bedürfnisse des digitalen Zeitalters in Betracht ziehen. Denn die Idee, dass Fortschritte in der Technologie, insbesondere im Bereich digitaler Währungen und Finanzsysteme, zu einer erheblichen Veränderung der Funktionsweise des Geldes führen könnten, klingt dann gar nicht mehr so abwegig. Es deutet darauf hin, dass zukünftige Entwicklungen, wie eine breite Adaption von Bitcoin, zu einer grundlegenden Veränderung in der Art und Weise führen könnten, wie Geld geschaffen, gespeichert, gehandelt und verwaltet wird.

Aus gesellschaftlicher Sicht besitzt Geld als soziales und kulturelles Konstrukt eine transformative Kraft, die menschliche Beziehungen, Werte und Verhaltensweisen umgestalten kann. Eine Singularität des Geldes würde in diesem Zusammenhang tiefgreifende und beispiellose Auswirkungen auf die Gesellschaft haben, die sich aus der veränderten Rolle des Geldes ergeben würden.

Aus gesellschaftlicher Sicht ist ein Streben nach technologischer Konvergenz hin ganz natürlich und passiert fast automatisch, solange es einen größten gemeinsamen Nutzen bietet und Netzwerkeffekte fördert. Das beste Beispiel dafür sind Sprachen. Es ist schwierig, genaue Zahlen zu nennen, aber Linguisten schätzen, dass es in der Geschichte der Menschheit etwa 31.000 Sprachen gab. Schätzungen zufolge werden heutzutage weltweit zwischen 6.000 und 7.000 Sprachen gesprochen. Forscher und Analysten prognostizieren, dass im frühen 22. Jahrhundert nur noch 600 bis 700 Sprachen im täglichen Gebrauch verbreitet sein werden. Sprache ist eine Technologie, sie wurde erfunden, verbessert, verändert, den Gegebenheiten angepasst und oft verschmolzen. Deshalb ist es kein Wunder, dass die Anzahl der gesprochenen Sprachen abnimmt. Denn Unterschiede erzeugen Reibung und Reibung ist ineffizient. Sowohl für das gesellschaftliche Miteinander als auch für den Handel und die Wirtschaft.

Gemeinsame Sprache hat viele Vorteile in einer globalisierten Welt, denn sie vereinfacht die Kommunikation und den Austausch zwischen Handelspartnern, politischen Einrichtungen und eröffnet auch viele neue Möglichkeiten in der Bildung. Wer z.B. Englisch spricht, hat einen viel größeren Pool an Literatur und Nachschlagewerken zur Verfügung, als jemand der/die "nur" eine lokale Sprache spricht. Das kann und wird dazu führen, dass menschliche Sprachen im Laufe der Zeit erhebliche Veränderungen, Anpassungen und manchmal sogar das Aussterben erfahren.

Gerade im Bereich der Programmiersprachen ist zu erwarten, dass zukünftige Entwicklungen in der künstlichen Intelligenz und im maschinellen Lernen einen tiefgreifenden Wandel in der Art und Weise bewirken, wie Sprachen verstanden, übersetzt und kommuniziert werden könnten.

Wie oben erwähnt, tendieren Menschen dazu, gemeinsame Technologien innerhalb definierter Regionen zu verwenden. Das war besonders in der Vergangenheit der Fall, als definierte Regionen übersichtlich waren. Mit der Globalisierung wurden diese lokalen Rahmen gesprengt, mit der Digitalisierung atomisiert!

Diese (künstlich) definierten Regionen werden immer weiter aufgebrochen. Im Falle von Sprachen vermischen sich Kulturen und ethnische Gruppen immer mehr und bringen dadurch auch eine Vermischung von Sprachen mit sich. Das Internet hat zu einer Atomisierung dieser Regionen geführt. Das kann man z.B. an der heutigen Sprache im deutschsprachigen Raum erkennen, wo das sogenannte Denglisch immer weiter Einzug erhält und einige Berufsgruppen hauptsächlich auf Englisch kommunizieren (man denke an den Flugverkehr, Hochseeschifffahrt, aber auch Bereiche des Finanzsektors, der Medien und der Beratungen).

Ein Beispiel von künstlich erzeugten Rahmen und mit durch äußerer Gewalt erzeugter Singularität kann in der Debatte um Antriebstechnologien in der EU beobachtet werden. Hier wird mit Hilfe von Gesetzen eine Technologie zum One-Size-Fits-All-Standard erhoben. Der Elektroantrieb bei Automobilen hat sicherlich seinen Platz, jedoch heißt es nicht, dass es verschiedene Anwendungsbereiche gibt, in denen Elektromobilität mehr oder weniger sinnvoll ist. Kleine Elektrofahrzeuge für den Innenstadtverkehr haben viele Vorteile gegenüber Abgase produzierenden Antrieben, die direkten Einfluss auf die Gesundheit der Menschen haben. Allerdings bedeutet dies nicht, dass Elektroantriebe auch für den Langstreckenverkehr sinnvoll sind, wenn die Alternative Wasserstoff- oder schadstoffarme Verbrennungsantriebe sind, die zum einen kostengünstiger, und zum anderen nachhaltiger sein können. Eine Gesetzgebung, die pauschal eine Technologie über seine Wettbewerbstechnologien stellt, führt zu einer künstlich hervorgerufenen Singularität, die aber nicht die oben genannten Kriterien der Nutzenmaximierung und der Netzwerkeffekte erfüllt.

Geld hat in seiner Geschichte eine ähnliche Entwicklung erfahren. Das ist eine ganz natürliche Entwicklung, da Geld einen Schutz vor Spezialisierung bietet. Denn die Spezialisierung auf einen bestimmten Produktions- / Dienstleistungsbereich ist erstmal positiv und führt zu einer Steigerung von Produktion und Wohlstand, allerdings ist diese auch riskant, da nicht alle Menschen das erzeugte Gut im Austausch oder im Handel akzeptieren werden. Wenn das erzeugte Gut in neutrales Geld getauscht werden kann, bietet das dem Produzenten einen gewissen Schutz.

Wenn ein Produzent sich nicht sicher sein kann, was er/sie in Zukunft mit seinen erwirtschafteten Überhängen erwerben oder investieren möchte, ist das Gut, das am besten zum Sparen dieser Profite geeignet ist, dasjenige, das über die besten Geldeigenschaften verfügt. In einem regional eingeschränkten Rahmen mag dies eine lokale Währung sein, doch in einer Welt, in der internationaler Handel und Austausch betrieben wird, erlangt das Geld mit der höchsten Neutralität oder der weitverbreitetsten Akzeptanz automatisch die besten Geldeigenschaften.

Wenn man z.B. den südafrikanischen Rand mit US Dollars vergleicht, wird man sehen, dass der USD eine viel höhere Akzeptanz genießt, als der ZAR. Man wird wahrscheinlich selbst in asiatischen Ländern im Notfall mit USD bezahlen können, einfach weil die Handelspartner dort wissen, dass es für sie einfach ist, USD in ihre lokale Währung umzutauschen. Mit Rand wird man Probleme bekommen, da diese als Tauschobjekt von Handelspartnern keine Zustimmung genießen.

https://www.genexyz.org/post/28-block-780040-ist-bitcoin-geld-wuwok0/

Wenn es in der Gesellschaft mehr als ein Geld gibt, gibt es immer einen gewissen Risikokompromiss das eine oder das Zahlungsmittel zu akzeptieren. Dies führt zu einem Anreiz, das beste Geld zu wählen - sofern diese Wahl überhaupt besteht - und damit zu einem natürlichen Druck nach einem gemeinsamen Geld, das diese Risikoabwägung eliminiert.

Dieser natürliche Druck nach einem gemeinsamen Geld sorgt für Wohlstand in der Gesellschaft. Doch ist die Realität eben auch, dass Staaten oder Regierungen genau hier eingreifen und den Menschen das eigene Geld auferlegen und diesem eben auch einen Wert zuweisen. Dies erlaubt den kontrollierenden Akteuren, den erzeugten Wohlstand abzusaugen (Steuern, Fiskal- und Geldpolitik), denn diesen können sie entweder für sich behalten oder verteilen ihn ungleichmäßig um.

Dieses Eingreifen in den marktwirtschaftlichen Prozess der Geldevolution kann nur ein Geld verhindern, das außerhalb dieser künstlich von außen geschaffenen Rahmen existiert. Ein Geld, das weder von Institutionen oder Regierungen geschaffen und in Umlauf gebracht wird. Ein Zahlungsmittel mit nahezu perfekten neutralen Geldeigenschaften (teilbar, austauschbar, einfach transportierbar, haltbar, prüfbar, knapp, universell akzeptiert und leicht sicherungsfähig, sowie erlaubnis- und vertrauenslos) ermöglicht den oben beschriebenen Druck nach einem gemeinsamen Geld und befeuert den damit einhergehenden Wohlstand in der Gesellschaft.

Wäre es nicht schön, wenn so ein Zahlungsmittel mit nahezu perfekten Geldeigenschaften vor knapp 14 Jahren entdeckt worden wäre? Der einzige Weg, den natürlichen Entwicklungsprozess hin zu einem singulären Geldstandard zu stoppen, ist durch Verbote und Regulierungen seitens der herrschenden Obrigkeiten - siehe Verbrennungsmotor. Doch ist es viel leichter ein Abgase emittierendes Auto von der Straße zu ziehen und stillzulegen, als einem/r mündigen Bürger//in zu verbieten sein/ihr Erspartes in einer harten Geldform zu lagern und mit anderen Nutzer//innen frei zu handeln.

🫳🎤

---

In diesem Sinne, 2... 1... Risiko!‌

@ d5301745:bc7cda1a

Do you need help with the "Orbi Connection Problem"? Your network's performance and connectivity may be affected by this frequent problem. The first step in fixing it is to use the default IP or web address to reach the Orbi Login page. Next, make sure all connections are safe, update firmware, and check your settings. Restarting your extender and router may also be beneficial. A steady and dependable internet connection can be promptly restored by troubleshooting via the Orbi Login interface.

@ a012dc82:6458a70d

Table Of Content

• ZeroSync's Vision for Bitcoin

• The Privacy Advantage

• ZeroSync's Journey and Support

• Bitcoin's Resistance to Change

• The Future: Bitcoin Simplicity

• Conclusion

• FAQ

A Swiss non-profit, ZeroSync, is at the forefront of a groundbreaking initiative, working on the world's first zero-knowledge light client for Bitcoin. This significant advancement is aimed at integrating zero-knowledge proofs into the most valuable cryptocurrency network.

ZeroSync's Vision for Bitcoin

ZeroSync's verifier for Bitcoin's block headers paves the way for the creation of a zk proof-based light client. This is a monumental step in their vision of permissionless innovation, as explained by project lead Robin Linus. The immediate application of such a light client could be to operate a Bitcoin full node on devices as compact as mobile phones. Furthermore, ZeroSync envisions a second-layer protocol over Bitcoin that can introduce tokens, like stablecoins, to the Bitcoin network. This would also lead to a substantial increase in throughput, up to 20 to 50 times, without necessitating any forks.

The Privacy Advantage

One of the standout features of this solution is its ability to process around 100 transactions on the base layer. Additionally, it offers unparalleled privacy. Transactions can be encrypted, both in terms of amounts and transaction graphs, providing privacy levels on par with cryptocurrencies like Zcash. Interestingly, this privacy feature is a natural outcome of the protocol's utilization of STARKs, a proving system developed by StarkWare, rather than an intentional design element.

ZeroSync's Journey and Support

ZeroSync's endeavors have garnered support in the form of grants from Geometry Research in 2022 and StarkWare more recently. Their pioneering work marks the first attempt to employ StarkWare's Cairo programming language outside the Ethereum ecosystem. While a soft fork would be essential for the trustless bitcoin bridging on the envisioned layer-2 network, the network can still support features like token transfers where transaction fees are paid in stablecoins, eliminating the need for Bitcoin.

Bitcoin's Resistance to Change

Bitcoin's design inherently resists change, demanding consensus from Core developers and almost unanimous agreement from full node operators, including miners. The last soft fork, Taproot, which took place in 2021, was years in the making and was only activated after over 90% of node operators gave their approval. Linus emphasizes the importance of some changes, especially the integration of a zk proof verifier on Bitcoin. ZeroSync aims to play a pivotal role in determining the most viable approach and actively participates in the community to drive this vision forward.

The Future: Bitcoin Simplicity

Zero-knowledge proof technology is still nascent, with various proof systems available, each with its own set of trade-offs. Reaching a consensus on a single system is challenging. However, Linus anticipates that the Simplicity programming language, introduced by Blockstream about half a decade ago, might offer a solution. Described as "Bitcoin's last soft fork," Simplicity could significantly enhance Bitcoin's scripting capabilities. The adoption of Simplicity would provide zk proof teams with the flexibility to choose their preferred proof system, eliminating debates over which verifier to activate.

Conclusion

The advancements spearheaded by ZeroSync have the potential to usher in a new era for the Bitcoin network. By integrating zero-knowledge proofs, Bitcoin can achieve heightened levels of privacy and security, ensuring that transaction details remain confidential while still being verifiable. This not only enhances user trust but also positions Bitcoin as a more versatile and adaptable cryptocurrency. Furthermore, the potential adoption of the Simplicity programming language could be a game-changer. It promises to amplify Bitcoin's scripting capabilities, paving the way for more sophisticated applications and functionalities on the network.

FAQ

What is ZeroSync? ZeroSync is a Swiss non-profit working on the world's first zero-knowledge light client for Bitcoin.

What are zero-knowledge proofs? Zero-knowledge proofs are cryptographic methods that allow one party to prove to another that a statement is true without revealing any specific information about the statement itself.

How can ZeroSync benefit Bitcoin? ZeroSync aims to introduce a zk proof-based light client, enabling operations like running a Bitcoin full node on mobile devices and increasing transaction throughput without requiring forks.

What is the significance of STARKs in ZeroSync's protocol? STARKs, developed by StarkWare, are used in ZeroSync's protocol, providing enhanced transaction privacy as a natural outcome.

What is the Simplicity programming language? Introduced by Blockstream, Simplicity is a smart contract language that could significantly enhance Bitcoin's scripting capabilities, potentially being the last soft fork for Bitcoin.

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.

@ e3899a52:dd88183f

The term "gooch" is often used informally to refer to the area of skin between the genitals and the anus, also known as the perineum.

The three main functions are as follows, in case you have always wondered, but were embarrassed to ask:

1. It serves as a support structure for the pelvic organs.
2. The area is rich in nerve endings, which can contribute to sexual pleasure.
3. It can be a focus in certain medical examinations or procedures.

Well that is about all I know about gooches, but I would love to hear about your tips or fun facts.

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/842897

@ 4d4fb5ff:1e821f47

Numerical heatmap derived from biologically-sourced data. I reversed the process of scientific discovery by stripping away the context of data collected in four of my published experiments, leaving only single digits. This makes the table appear to include only unrelated, random numbers. However, since the numbers come from real world data, there remains meaningful hidden structure in the grid. This invites the viewer to participate in parsing signal from noise.

@ 4d4fb5ff:1e821f47

Overlay of the molecular structures of two proteins. This two-step work is comprised of animations I captured from public data while in graduate school, which marked the beginning of my interest in biological, data-driven art. After being stored for over a decade on a thumb drive, I merged two of the animations to create a new entity in 2024, linking past and present, which is mirrored in the interactions of the two major protein folds (alpha helices and beta sheets).

@ 4d4fb5ff:1e821f47

Sanger sequencing traces. I extracted DNA directly from my cells and determined their sequence, which is visualized by the bottom trace. In a second sample, I mutated my DNA enzymatically and used to same process to determine the sequence, shown in the top trace. Each peak and color represents a unique DNA base (A, T, C or G) in part of a gene with 13 bases shown here in total. This biogenerative process resulted in the center base changing from T to C, resulting in a slightly different, mixed peak by comparison. To further separate this work from being purely scientific, I did not record specific details about the experimental process.

@ 0155373a:ba3e1bed

Imagine an internet where you don’t need a big Internet Service Provider (ISP) to stay connected—an internet powered by the people, for the people. Decentralized internet is no longer a far-fetched idea; it's becoming a reality through community-driven networks. These networks rely on individuals within a community to act as "nodes," connecting their neighbors to the web and bypassing traditional ISPs.

What is Decentralized Internet?

Decentralized internet refers to a system where control over connectivity and access is distributed among individuals or local organizations rather than being concentrated in large ISPs. Instead of paying a single company for access, people in a community collaborate to build and maintain the network themselves.

How Does It Work?

1. Mesh Networks: Each participant (or node) in the network connects to nearby nodes, creating a web of connectivity. This eliminates the need for a central ISP.
2. Hardware: Nodes are powered by simple devices like routers or small computers running specialized software.
3. Peer-to-Peer Sharing: Data flows through multiple nodes in the network, ensuring redundancy and reliability.
4. Backbone Connection: Some networks may still rely on a single connection to a traditional ISP for broader internet access, but others can connect to decentralized backbone providers or satellites.

Benefits of Decentralized Internet

• Affordable Access: By cutting out traditional ISPs, communities can lower the cost of internet access.
• Empowerment: Communities gain control over their own connectivity and data, reducing reliance on corporations.
• Resilience: Decentralized networks are less prone to outages since they don’t depend on a single point of failure.
• Privacy: With less reliance on ISPs, there’s less risk of surveillance and data tracking.
• Inclusivity: Remote or underserved areas can establish connectivity without waiting for ISPs to expand their infrastructure.

Real-World Examples

• Guifi.net: A community network in Spain that has thousands of nodes providing internet to rural areas.
• NYC Mesh: A grassroots effort in New York City to create an affordable, community-owned internet.
• Althea: A project enabling neighbors to share internet bandwidth and earn income for participating in the network.

How to Get Started

1. Educate Yourself: Research mesh network technologies like OpenWRT, LibreMesh, or BATMAN.
2. Form a Group: Collaborate with neighbors or community organizations to pool resources.
3. Get the Hardware: Invest in routers and antennas that support mesh networking.
4. Set Up Nodes: Position nodes strategically to ensure strong connections across the community.
5. Collaborate: Join forces with regional or global decentralized internet initiatives for support and knowledge sharing.

The Future of Decentralized Internet

As internet access becomes increasingly vital, decentralized networks present a way to bridge the digital divide and democratize connectivity. By building these systems, communities can take charge of their digital futures and ensure that no one is left behind.

Together, we can create an internet that is truly open, accessible, and resilient. The power lies in our hands—let’s connect, one node at a time.

@ bf47c19e:c3d2573b

Originalni tekst na velikeprice.com

28.01.2024 / Autor: Uroš Popović

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Najpopularnija i najkontroverznija kriptovaluta napunila je 15 godina ali razlog za otvaranje hladnog šampanjca nemaju baš svi. Već na početku, vreme je za trenutak iskrenosti – autor ovih redova nije u grupi onih kojima je bitcoin promenio život. Makar ne zasada.

Dok slavimo petnaesti rođendan prve BTC transakcije, svima nama koji smo ušli u to digitalno kolo u glavi je verovatno samo jedno pitanje – kako smo propustili šansu da na vreme obezbedimo budućnost? Ja bih dodao i taj crveni kabriolet o kojem godinama maštam…

Satoshi Nakamoto – heroj ili zločinac?

Sasvim sigurno najzvučniji pseudonim na svetu decenijama prati misterioznu osobu koja (navodno) stoji iza projekta zvanog bitcoin. Japanac ili ne, još uvek ne znamo i male su šanse da ćemo ikada saznati.

Ono što znamo je sledeće – izvesni avatar Satoshi Nakamoto tog januara 2009. započeo je svojevrsni monetarni udar. Mnogi će danas reći – čak i revoluciju! I neće mnogo pogrešiti.

Iako ga skoro svi posmatraju kao prečicu do brzog i lakog bogaćenja, što on za mali broj srećnika definitivno i jeste, bitcoin je prvenstveno označio uspešno odvajanje novca od strogog zagrljaja države i interesa nezajažljivih banaka. A to ima dobre i one manje pozitivne strane.

Bitcoin je od starta rastao na FOMO talasu, kojem su u velikoj meri doprineli i mediji. Bili su to dani kada je popularnost kriptovaluta bila na istorijskom maksimumu i svi su želeli parče tog digitalnog kolača. Mamac je bila instant zarada, što je udica kojoj nisam odoleo…

Bitcoin je pre svega postmodernistička alternativa za papirni novac. Satoshi Nakamoto je omogućio korisnicima da urade ono o čemu su sanjale generacije – da efikasno zaobiđu finansijske institucije (u najkraćem provizije i praćenje tokova novca) kako bi obavljali transakcije. Sve to širom sveta, praktično bez ikakvih granica i ograničenja. Uslov je bio i ostao jedino pristup internetu.

Paradoksalno, bitcoin u prvih godinu dana praktično nije vredeo ništa. Tako je bilo sve do 22. maja 2010. kada se sve preko noći promenilo. Tada su za 10.000 bitcoina kupljene dve pice, cena je počela da raste i ostalo je istorija. Danas se u BTC zajednici 22. maj simbolično slavi kao Pizza Day, prelomni momenat u svetu kriptovaluta.

Prednosti su već u početku bile brojne i evidentne. Jedan od glavnih ciljeva prilikom stvaranja kriptovalute bila je sloboda, tj. nezavisnost mreže od bilo kojeg organa vlasti. Svi znamo da banke danas znaju praktično sve o nama, klijentima, dok je s bitcoinom drugačije jer digitalni novčanik ne mora biti vezan ni za jednu ličnu informaciju.

Osim sve traženije anonimnosti tu je i brzina – bitcoin mreža obrađuje transfere gotovo trenutno. Potrebno je svega nekoliko minuta da na drugoj strani sveta zaista i primite bitcoin ili njegov deo, čemu je priznaćete nemoguće parirati. Ruku na srce, novi sistem nije mogao da prođe i bez zloupotreba pa je Satoshi Nakamoto (svesno ili ne) stvorio verovatno idealan ambijent za ilegalne aktivnosti koje su bez izuzetka ostajale ispod radara.

Prvo i najvažnije pravilo ulaganja u kriptovalute glasi – nikada ne bi trebalo da uložite novac koji niste spremni da izgubite! Ponovite ovu rečenicu mnogo, mnogo puta… A onda još jednom!

Rast vrednosti kriptovaluta, prvenstveno bitcoina, i interesovanje medija podstakli su s vremenom i radoznale laike, među njima i moju malenkost. I tako je započelo pumpanje balona koji u svakom momentu može da pukne! Ali i ne mora.

Privlačnost virtuelnog novčića vezana je za ono hazardersko u nama. Priznali to sebi ili ne, svi ga imamo i stoji nam na ramenu. Taj homo ludens je u jednom momentu prevladao, nije odoleo izazovu igre, lakog novca. Narodski, bez motike…

Iako sam propustio prve vagone, u kripto voz ušao sam dovoljno brzo da simboličan ulog u relativno kratkom periodu višestruko naraste. I tu leži prokletstvo – kada je zaista dovoljno, postoji li pravi momenat za rikverc i povlačenje iz bitcoin ruleta?

U mom slučaju taj trenutak je prošao i ulog se (mnogo) brže nego što sam očekivao smanjivao, topio i gotovo nestao. Sportskim rečnikom, platio sam danak neiskustvu. Tako sam na teži način usvojio najvažniju lekciju – za uspeh u kripto svetu je osim velike doze sreće potrebno mnogo znanja, pravovremene reakcije ali i monaškog strpljenja. Svega što tada nisam imao. Prvi korak bilo je učenje, štrebersko. Prva klupa i baby steps!

Greater fool theory – da li je bitcoin digitalno zlato?

Iako ime poznate teorije zvuči uvredljivo, Greater fool theory bazira se na verovanju da će izvesni artikal biti prodat po većoj ceni nekom drugom, sledećem kupcu. Da ne kažemo većoj budali… To je princip na kojem u dobroj meri funkcioniše i bitcoin.

Iz ekonomske perspektive, bitcoin se lako može uporediti sa zlatom jer je njegova najveća vrednost ograničena količina. I BTC kao i Au gotovo svi žele. Kao dodatak, ni zlato ni bitcoin se ne mogu pronaći baš na svakom koraku.

Simbolika je i više nego jasna. Od sudbonosnog januara 2009. zamišljeno je da svetom cirkuliše ograničen broj digitalnih „novčanica“, preciznije 21 milion, što BTC bitno razlikuje od zvaničnog novca države koji se, kao što znamo, po potrebi štampa.

Sličnostima tu nije kraj. Poput nekadašnje zlatne groznice i bitcoin je potrebno pronaći, što nije jednostavan a ni jeftin zadatak. A za tu rabotu je bilo neophodno mukotrpno kopanje, prilagođeno 21. veku.

Iako sada to verovatno znaju i vrapci na grani, digitalni grumen dobija se procesom rudarenja (engleski mining) koje obavljaju moćni kompjuteri. Drugi način je kupovina već izrudarenih bitcoina na berzi. Pogađate, odabrao sam taj drugi, lakši put i uštedeo na računima za struju.

Optimizam ulagača (pa i mene) i dalje se u velikoj meri bazira na veri, jer bitcoinu leđa ne drži država a nije pokriven ni hipotekama. Srećom, postoje nepisana pravila koja su u proteklih petnaest godina potvrdila da određene zakonitosti ipak postoje.

Čekajući kraj kripto zime: kalendar promena i zašto je bitan

Najbrži rast cena desio se u prvih nekoliko godina akcije, kada je za BTC malo ko znao i kada se retko trgovalo. Taj momenat je prošao, pa sada moramo da se oslonimo na taktiku praćenja popularnih „bear“ i „bull“ perioda. Objasniću.

Termini „bik“ i „medved“ obično se koriste za opisivanje tržišta, deonica ili kriptovaluta. U tom kontekstu, tržište u porastu naziva se tržištem bikova, dok se tržište u padu naziva tržištem medveda.

Nakon veoma loših godina kojima su vladale medveđe šape, konačno se nazire svetlo na kraju tunela. Period poznat kao kripto zima najčešće traje oko dve godine nakon čega cena kriptovaluta ponovo počinje da raste. Takav trend se čeka u 2024. godini!

Vreme je za novi bull run!

Početak godine obeležila je vest da je američka administracija konačno spustila gard prema kriptovalutama. Finansijske institucije su u SAD donele dugo očekivanu odluku koja dozvoljava investicionim kompanijama da aktivno ulažu u bitcoin, za klijente. Ovo zeleno svetlo obeležava jednu od najznačajnijih prekretnica u razvoju kripto industrije i veliki korak u širokom prihvatanju kriptovaluta.

Temelji novog, pa i mog optimizma leže i u šablonima po kojima bitcoin od samog početka funkcioniše. Taj kalendar pravilnosti kaže da je najkasnije sredinom 2024. (šuška se, već u aprilu) vreme za očekivani halving, osnovni mehanizam u bitcoin protokolu. Šta zapravo donosi fenomen halvinga?

Hrabrost ili ludost?! Prkoseći upozorenjima ali i neslaganju većine stanovništva Salvador je 2021. postao prva zemlja na svetu u kojoj se bitcoin koristi kao zvanična valuta. Ovaj eksperiment je makar zasada jedini…

Nakon što se izrudari oko 210.000 blokova, za šta je potrebno oko četiri godine, nagrada koja se dodeljuje rudarima za obradu transakcija pada za pedeset procenata. Halving smanjuje stopu po kojoj se novi digitalni novčići puštaju u opticaj, pa u skladu s opštim zakonom ekonomije dovodi do situacije u kojoj manja ponuda uz stabilnu tražnju rezultira višim cenama. Tako bi makar trebalo da bude, do sada je i bilo.

Ova imitacija oskudice ima za cilj da odbrani BTC tokom vremena, čineći ga atraktivnim čuvarom vrednosti. Kao rezultat toga, halving je ključna komponenta dugoročne ekonomske održivosti i trenutak koji svi (mi) nestrpljivo čekamo…

Iako su prognoze apsolutno nezahvalne, sve su to faktori koji najavljuju da bi cena bitcoina do kraja 2024. mogla čak da pređe i psihološku granicu od 100.000 dolara. A onda je nebo granica…

Informacije radi, u trenutku kada je ovaj tekst nastajao, cena za 1 BTC bila je 40.904,70 USD. Ne očajavajte, uvek možete kupiti i manji deo bitcoina, pošto je ta valuta deljiva čak do osme decimale.

I zato, this time next year…

Uroš Popović je lifestyle novinar iz Beograda, pasionirani ljubitelj automobila i saradnik Velikih priča.

@ 30ceb64e:7f08bdf5

In a world dominated by surveillance banking and inflationary currencies, a new paradigm is emerging—one where individuals can operate sovereign, theft-resistant checking accounts using the world's hardest money. This isn't your grandfather's checking account; it's an entirely new financial operating system built on Bitcoin and Lightning technology.

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The Bitcoin Checking Account Revolution

Traditional checking accounts are permission-based systems where banks maintain ultimate control over your money. In contrast, a sovereign Bitcoin checking account operates on a fundamentally different principle: you hold your own keys, control your own node, and maintain custody of your funds at all times. This architecture is built on several key components:

• Self-hosted nodes providing direct network access
• Lightning channels for instant settlement
• Hardware wallets for secure key storage
• Non-custodial software interfaces
• Automated accounting and payment systems

The concept of a Bitcoin checking account represents a paradigm shift in daily financial operations. Imagine getting a direct deposit sent to your lightning node and using NWC and a variety of plug and play solutions to handle things regarding accounting, bill pay, and daily POS transactions. We're starting to see these options emerge through services like Bitcoin Well, Albyhub, Strike, Clams and Cash App.

Breaking Free from Financial Surveillance

The current banking system tracks every transaction, creating a detailed financial surveillance network. Sovereign Bitcoin checking accounts offer a powerful alternative:

• Private lightning channels for daily transactions
• E-cash protocols for enhanced privacy
• Peer-to-peer transactions without intermediaries
• No account freezes or arbitrary limits
• Freedom from traditional banking hours and restrictions

Lightning and Cashu offer additional privacy and settlement speeds while enabling low cost transactions, and I believe these protocols will grow and exceed our expectations. The products and services for managing your bitcoin checking account will get more private and efficient as time moves forward.

The Daily Operations Revolution

Operating a sovereign checking account transforms everyday financial activities:

1. Income Reception

2. Direct deposit straight to Lightning

3. Instant availability of funds
4. No hold periods or bank delays

5. Multiple invoice routes for different income streams

6. Payment Management

7. Automated bill payments via Lightning

8. Instant merchant settlements
9. Cross-border transactions without fees

10. Dynamic fee management for optimal efficiency

11. Liquidity Control

12. Self-managed channel balances

13. Cold storage integration for savings
14. Automated rebalancing protocols
15. Real-time capital efficiency

The Deflationary Advantage

Perhaps the most revolutionary aspect is operating a checking account in deflationary money. This fundamentally changes spending psychology and financial planning:

• Each sat potentially appreciates over time
• Natural incentive for thoughtful spending
• Built-in savings mechanism
• Protection from currency debasement

Global Market Integration

This new financial infrastructure enables seamless participation in the global economy:

• Borderless transactions
• 24/7 market access
• Direct international trade
• No forex fees or exchange rate manipulation
• Instant settlement across time zones

Security and Resilience

The system's security model represents a significant advancement:

• Multi-signature protocols
• Timelocked recovery options
• Distributed backup systems
• Attack-resistant architecture
• No single points of failure

The Future of Personal Banking

As this technology matures, we're likely to see:

• Simplified user interfaces
• Enhanced privacy tools
• Better integration with existing systems
• More automated financial management
• Increased merchant adoption

In conclusion, sovereign Bitcoin checking accounts represent more than just a new way to bank—they're a fundamental reset of the relationship between individuals and their money. This system combines the security of cold storage with the utility of traditional checking accounts, all while leveraging the strength of deflationary sound money. As adoption grows, these accounts will likely become the standard for those seeking financial sovereignty in an increasingly digital world.

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The revolution isn't just about holding bitcoin—it's about using it in a way that maintains sovereignty while enabling practical daily finance. This is the future of money, and it's already here for those ready to embrace it.

@ f88e6629:e5254dd5

• Send a transaction, and the recipient uses the coin for another payment. You then merge these two transactions together and save on fees. 🔥

If you have a Trezor, you can try this out on: https://coiner-mu.vercel.app/

But be cautious. This is a hobby project without any guarantee.

How does it work?

1. Connect Trezor, enter the passphrase, and select an account.
2. The application display your coins, pending transactions, and descendant transactions.
3. Then app shows you how much you can save by merging all transactions and removing duplicate information.
4. Finally, you can sign and broadcast this more efficient transaction

@ 2fb77d26:c47a6ee1

Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,

wenn wir an Schlachtfelder denken, sehen wir vor unserem inneren Auge düstere Bilder von verkohlten Wracks, von Einschlagkratern, schreienden Verwundeten, Leichen und dichten Rauchschwaden, die am Horizont über verbrannter Erde wabern.

Vergleichbare Assoziationen drängen sich auf, versucht man in Bilder zu fassen, in was für einer Gesellschaft wir mittlerweile leben. Intellektuelle Wracks, mediales Flächenbombardement, stumme Schreie von Pharmaopfern und hungernden Kindern, weggescrollt von Smartphone-Zombies, deren letzter Hauch Empathie am Rande ihres dissoziativen Wahrnehmungshorizontes verblasst. Zivilisatorische Transformation als Kriegsfilm.

Früher verliefen die Frontlinien von Klassenkampf und Propagandakrieg durch die Auslagen der Zeitungskioske, durch Rundfunkredaktionen und über die nach Sendeschluss flimmernden Bildschirme der Mattscheibe. Heute durch den Kopf.

Sprichwörtlich. Denn die »Vierte Industrielle Revolution« begegnet zunehmendem Desinteresse an Erziehungsfunk und aufkeimender Renitenz mit Dopamin-Shots, Implantaten und Nanotechnologie. Das erklärte Ziel der Herrschaftskaste ist nicht mehr die Manipulation, sondern die Fernsteuerung der Steuersklaven. Das »Hive Mind«.

Sendeschluss gibt es nicht mehr. Und der Newsfeed ist unerschöpflich, ist Manifestation dessen, was Aufmerksamkeitsökonomie für uns bedeutet: Den Verlust wertvoller Lebenszeit an neonbunte Sinnlosigkeit. Das Smartphone dient nicht der Evolution, sondern der Degeneration der Spezies Mensch. Es ist kein Werkzeug, sondern eine Waffe. Aber das Handy lässt sich — wie das TV-Gerät — abschalten. Oder abschaffen. Das birgt Risiken — denn nur Lufthoheit über dem Debattenraum garantiert dem postmodernen Feudalismus Machterhalt. Dementsprechend setzen seine Vertreter nun alles daran, invasive Technologien ins Feld zu führen, um sich unserer Gedanken bemächtigen zu können.

Der Kriegsfilm spielt sich also nicht mehr nur als dunkles Phantasma vor unserem inneren Auge ab, er handelt nicht von irgendeinem fernen Land — das zu erobernde Terrain, das primäre Schlachtfeld der biodigitalen Konvergenz liegt unmittelbar hinter dem Sehnerv. Kriegsziel: Die Verschmelzung von Mensch und Maschine. Transhumanismus. Und bei so manchem Zeitgenossen scheint bereits eine gewisse Konträrfaszination am eigenen Untergang Einzug zu halten. Die Résistance des Mediazän verteidigt demnach nicht nur das Recht auf Meinungsfreiheit, sie kämpft um den Erhalt des freien Willens. Um Menschlichkeit. Um das Fortbestehen unserer Spezies.

Vor diesem Hintergrund beschäftigt sich die dritte GEGENDRUCK mit dem »Schlachtfeld Gehirn«. Mit dem zerebralen Status quo. Die Autoren analysieren und dokumentieren den Stand von Forschung, Angriffswellen, Waffenarsenal und Verteidigungsmechanismen. Denn unser Leben ist das Produkt unserer Gedanken. Unserer Erinnerungen. Sie sind die Basis unserer Freiheit, unserer Geschichte und Zukunft. Wir müssen sie schützen. Mit allen Mitteln.

Denn »ein Kopf ohne Gedächtnis ist eine Festung ohne Besatzung« (Napoleon).

Im Namen des gesamten Teams,

Tom-Oliver Regenauer

Printausgabe bestellen unter: www.gegendruck.de

@ 714f9dc3:76659adb

Last week, I was reading “The Air We Breathe”, by Glen Scrivener. It’s about “How We All Came to Believe in Freedom, Kindness, Progress, and Equality”, and it explores the Christian roots of the values we prize in today's western society. It’s all around us, but we don’t really know where it came from: It’s the air we’re breathing. The ideas and ethics behind Christianity, whether you believe in them or not, are embedded in our culture.

As I was reading this, I saw so many parallels with Bitcoin, so wanted to list them below and share some of my thoughts. Can Bitcoin also become “The Air We Breathe”? Or in plebs words: hyperbitcoinization?

Can Bitcoin become so ubiquitous that it becomes normal? Can there be a world in which we don’t even know where Bitcoin came from? It would be a world with many similar views as with today's view on Christianity. It becomes the air we breathe, something that used to be a counterculture that over time became ubiquitous. What can we learn from it?

These are my ten parallels of Bitcoin with the early days of Christianity.

1. Separation from state
2. From obscure counterculture to dominant force
3. Exponential grassroots growth
4. Conversion of emperors/politicians
5. Sudden tolerance and protection for ideology
6. Fall of the empire, end of the status quo
7. Missionaries spreading the word
8. Persuasion and education are key
9. Age of Enlightenment

Note: I’m no expert on Christianity, nor a historian of the Roman Empire, and I know just a bit about Bitcoin. See this as a thought experiment.

1. Separation from state

In all fairness, I’m not the first to draw this first parallel. It was Satoshi Nakamoto themself who made the connection even before Bitcoin was available to the public, with several hints pointing back to important dates and moments in Christian history. The big parallel here is the “separation of money and state” and “separation of church and state”.

Before going back to the early days of Christianity in the first centuries AD, I first want to draw this parallel with Satoshi.

It’s 1517. The German Priest Maarten Luther writes his Ninety-five Theses, and nails this on the church doors in Wittenberg. The theses are also known as the “Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences”. He kickstarted a movement with a radical new idea for that time: The separation of the church from the state.

The Catholic Church had become one with the state. Via the means of indulgences, there was an ability to pay for your redemption. The church was corrupted by money, power and politics. The church and indulgences replaced the need for personal responsibility and an individual faith with money and perverse structures.

Reformation Day is a Protestant Christian religious holiday celebrated on 31 October in remembrance of the onset of the Reformation. But the 31st of October is also the day in which Satoshi shared his pamphlet with the world: in 2008 they published the Bitcoin Whitepaper. It kickstarted a movement with a radical new idea for that time: The separation of the money from the state.

But this was not Satoshi’s only hint. Another one is the date of Bitcoin’s Genesis Block: January 3, 2009. It was the day that the idea of the separation of money and the state became reality, more than just an idea in an individual's mind.

Did you know that Maarten Luther was excommunicated from the Catholic Church in 1521 by Pope Leo X for sparking this revolutionary new way of thinking (and being). It happened on January 3 as well. I bet Satoshi Nakamoto knew.

To be fair, this parallel is not new and known by many bitcoiners. But it’s a good introduction to the topic, and after reading “The Air We Breathe: How We All Came to Believe in Freedom, Kindness, Progress, and Equality”, I automatically started to see more parallels between (the early days of) Christianity and todays adoption of Bitcoin. Because it was of course not Maarten Luther who sparked these rebellious thoughts in 1500, but it was Jesus himself approx. 2000 years ago.

Let’s go back from the 1500s to the first decades AD to the beginning of this radical new belief system. During the dominance of the Roman empire in the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa, someone told a story that opposed every mainstream paradigm.

Jesus’ idea was radically different from the belief systems of that day. He preached Freedom, Kindness, Progress, and Equality in a world that was full of Debauchery and Violence, with Gladiator Games, Slavery, Public Crucifixion, and Brutalities. The belief system of that time was not like todays.

There were superior races (Greek/Romans over barbarians), superior sexes (man over women), superior classes (free man over slaves) and the concept of justice was more something in the realm of “restoring rights of those that were superior”, than “equality for all, men and women, Greek and barbarian, free and slave”.

Jesus opposed the status quo. It started small and irrelevant; as a counterculture. But it didn’t stay that way.

2. From obscure counterculture to dominant force

In “The Air We Breathe”, Scrivener asks the question:

“How did the obscure, marginal Jesus movement of the 1st century become the dominant religious force in the Western world in a few centuries?”

Important to know, is that the Christian faith was the opposite of the narrative. Concepts like Freedom, Kindness, Progress, and Equality didn’t exist in the Roman Empire. Human rights neither. Individual rights neither. The emperor was almost de facto God himself.

Early Christians were persecuted for preaching a different story: that God is NOT the ruler of the empire. Jesus preached the separation of politics from God; separating faith from the state. As a result, he was crucified, and many of his followers were killed by Nero (between 54 and 68 AD), Domitian (81–96 AD), Trajan (98–117 AD) and Decius (249–251 AD). This new narrative was a thread for the Roman rulers.

Draw the parallels of how there have been many attempts to “kill” bitcoin, not with physical persecution but with an information war. Not by physical violence, but by misinformation. Bitcoin threatens the status quo, just like Christianity threatened the Roman Empire.

You see?

But how is the obscure movement of Bitcoin in the 21st century becoming the dominant force, similar to the question that Scrivener asked about Christianity? Perhaps the answer lies in the following parallel.

3. Exponential grassroots growth

Sociologist Rodney Stark estimates in “The Rise of Christianity” that from the time of the first Easter, the church began growing at a rate of 40% per decade, a modest but relentless 3.4% per year. By the year 300, Christians numbered perhaps 6 million: about a tenth of the empire.

Despite pushbacks, the army of believers continued to grow. Grassroots, peer-to-peer. It was not the state-religion, it was a peaceful army of believers that spread the word, resulting in an exponential growth of its followers. The counterculture became more and more dominant.

You may see what I’m doing here. It was basically the meme that all Bitcoiners know: Gradually, then suddenly. Against the current.

4. Conversion of emperors/politicians

In 312 a big change happened: Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity. As Stark writes, "Constantine's conversion would better be seen as a response to the massive exponential wave in progress, not as its cause".

Are we living in that same era, where nation states start to embrace Bitcoin? Where politicians don’t oppose as strongly anymore, but are flirting with the idea of embracing it? And again the parallel: it’s responsive to the exponential wave of progress, not as its cause.

Whether Constantine is Nayib Bukele, Donald Trump, or Milei: it doesn’t matter. It’s the dynamic that matters. The counterculture becomes so dominant, that the “rulers” of the world are wanting to be part of it. Which will be followed by “rules” that favour the ideology, movement, and beliefs.

6. Tolerance and protection for ideology

In 313 Constantine's Edict of Milan granted freedom to Christians that were remarkable for that time and a model for religious toleration for the coming centuries.

The tide was turning, and by 380 Emperor Theodosius made Christianity Rome's official religion, more than half the population had already converted. In a few short centuries Christianity had gone from radical counterculture to dominant cultural power. This was an extraordinary shift in the church's relationship with the world. The edict expressly grants religious liberty to Christians, who had been the object of special persecution, but also goes even further and grants liberty to all other religions. And then, in 410, the world itself changed.

It changed from grassroots, bottom-up adoption to some kind of nation state adoption. One that was driven by decrees and edicts, instead of the analog cyberhornets of that day. Actually, the ideas of Indulgences were introduced via these Edicts, something that Maarten Luther actually was fighting against in the 1500s.

The world changed from the state-less Christian belief and moved (back) towards a system in which the state and church were connected again. Yes — the Roman Catholic Church. Until the previously mentioned critics during the Reformation.

6. Fall of the empire, end of the status quo

When people speak of the fall of the Roman Empire, they usually mean in the 5th century when the western half fell. But there was also an eastern half, known as the Byzantine Empire (with its capital in what is modern-day Istanbul).

How did this relate to the movement that once was Cult, and now suddenly had become Culture?

It was Augustine, the north African bishop (354-430), who laid the foundation for a new philosophical, theological, and legal system. He distinguished between the fragile earthly realm and the eternal heavenly kingdom. Rome was “a city of man”, which fell. But the “city of God” was forever. He continued to separate the Roman Catholic Church from the faith that it once was. This distinction was vital, and it gave rise to the concept of "the secular realm". He planted the first ideas of "the separation of church and state" again, which started to spread throughout Europe during the supposedly "sandy desert" of the Middle Ages.

The parallel and lesson here might be that narratives can be taken over, for the worse. And that it takes centuries to take back the narrative, but/and only after an empire has fallen. Whether we refer to “The Fourth Turning” by William Strauss and Neil Howe or “Changing World Orders” by Ray Dalio. There is something to preserve, and it needs active monitoring and pushbacks!

7. Missionary, spreading the word

The way the church sought to spread its influence would become a question that would take many centuries (and many failures) to settle. In the past, empires sought to spread their influence almost always by force. Christianity has been a missionary faith from the beginning. It was for this reason that Pope Gregory the Great sent Augustine to Britain to convert the Anglo-Saxons.

Augustine was commanded by Gregory to use only "gentle means". His goal was persuasion. His method was teaching and preaching. And he was successful, converting King Aethelbert of Kent and becoming the first Archbishop of Canterbury.

You see what I’m talking about again: the parallel is simple. Bitcoin is a similar peaceful revolution, a missionary movement, of those that wish to see their Cult turn into a Culture. “Genle means”, teachings, persuasions. Or in pleb terminology: Orangepilling.

8. Persuasion and education are key

Over the next decades and centuries, this movement continued. English Benedictine monk (675-754) Boniface was sent from the previously “barbarian” Britain to “orangepill the East” – in this case the Saxons in the Germanic lands. In the words of his advisor, the Bishop of Winchester, his goal was "to convince them by many documents and arguments". This mission of persuasion and education was largely successful. Today he’s better known as “the Apostle to the Germans". He was killed in The Netherlands (in Dokkum).

Boniface kept to a policy of non-violence and non-retaliation, even to the point of death. Another famous writer about this topic, Tom Holland, summarises the lesson we learn from Boniface: "to convert was to educate".

In the following century this lesson was sorely needed by the Frankish king Charles the Great, aka Charlemagne (742-814). Charlemagne's path to power was a brutal one. When the Saxons stood in his way, Charlemagne beheaded 4,500 of them in a single day. There are concrete reasons why "getting medieval" might be associated today with brutality.

Is “Bitcoin as Legal Tender”, whether this is peaceful or violently, the way to go? Are we “getting medieval” with these kind of measures, in order to go from Cult to Culture, from counterculture to dominant culture, in which we lose the true essence of our revolution of separation of the state from the matter?

9. Age of Enlightenment

Alcuin of York (735-804), was bold enough to write to Charlemagne directly with his criticism. "A person can be drawn into the faith, not forced into it". Be a lighthouse, not a tugboat!

The church's official teaching would later agree with Alcuin's position. In the 12th century all "harsh means" were forbidden since faith arises from the will, not compulsion. Enlightenment comes through education and persuasion.

There’s work to do. Grassroots. Education. Peer-to-peer. Not directed by politicians, nor opposed by those in power. Through education and persuasion. Rules without rulers. Because eventually, with the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition, there are stark examples of the church using “harsh means" again. Forcing Bitcoin on people will never be the way: it’s a cheat code to the end goal. In order to succeed, we’ll need to be a missionary.

Final words

I don’t want in any way to compare Christianity in itself as a faith, and Bitcoin as a technology, with each other. I enjoyed exploring the sociological phenomena between two countercultures, the grassroots movement and missionary parallels between both of them. Satoshi gave the first assist, with the 31st of October (Whitepaper Day) and the Genesis Block on January 3rd.

Let’s not mix religion with monetary systems, even though there are many similarities between certain movements. That’s not my goal for sharing this brain dump. But let’s learn from the past, from Constantine’s Edict and from Augustine, from Charlemagne (and especially Alcuin of York), from Boniface and from Maarten Luther. And from Satoshi Nakamoto.

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If there's one thing Brazil's economic history has proven time and time again, it’s that no currency lasts forever. Brazil has had nine different currencies, and all of them failed in the same way: losing value until the government decided to "fix" the problem by introducing a new one.

On average, since 1900, each currency lasted only 13.9 years, and if we look at the trajectory of the Real, the question remains: how much longer can it survive?

The Graveyard of Brazilian Currencies

Every time inflation spirals out of control, the government finds the same solution: rename the currency and cut zeros, pretending that the underlying economic problems have been solved. Here’s the long list of failures:

Réis (1500-1942) → Lasted centuries but was eaten away by inflation and replaced by the Cruzeiro.

Cruzeiro (1942-1967) → Introduced to modernize the economy but quickly lost its purchasing power.

Cruzeiro Novo (1967-1970) → A redenomination that cut three zeros, but it only lasted 3 years.

Cruzeiro (1970-1986) → Inflation skyrocketed, leading to another currency shift.

Cruzado (1986-1989) → Promised stability by removing zeros, but lasted just 3 years.

Cruzado Novo (1989-1990) → Another reset, another failure, lasting just 1 year.

Cruzeiro (1990-1993) → Brought back an old name, but inflation remained unchecked.

Cruzeiro Real (1993-1994) → A short-lived transition currency, lasting just 1 year before the Real.

Real (1994-present) → ˜30 years old, it has already lost more than 85% of its purchasing power. The Real is now showing the same symptoms that led to the collapse of its predecessors. Inflation is eroding its value, and government intervention keeps distorting the market. We are just waiting for the next excuse to rename the currency and "reset" the system once again.

DREX: The Next Rebranding of Brazilian Money?

This time, the change might not come as a simple rebranding or a few zeroes being cut. The Brazilian government is already preparing DREX, a digital currency controlled by the Central Bank. Officially, it will be a "digital Real," but in reality, it could serve as a way to impose new monetary rules, redefine values, and quietly restructure the economy—just like every previous currency reset.

The pattern is clear: give a new name to an old problem and keep extracting value from citizens.

The Fate of the Real? We Don’t Know. But Bitcoin is Better.

Looking at history, it’s clear that Brazil’s fiat currencies have a built-in expiration date. The government will always find a way to reset the system, rename the currency, and erase the traces of inflation.

But for the first time in history, there is a real alternative: Bitcoin.

Unlike all of Brazil’s previous currencies, Bitcoin cannot be manipulated, inflated, or rebranded by government decree. It doesn’t rely on empty promises or central authorities that can change the rules whenever it suits them.

In the end, the Real might last a few more years or be replaced soon by DREX—but one thing is certain: BITCOIN IS BETTER.

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originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/842405

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Necessário

• Um Android que você não use mais (a câmera deve estar funcionando).
• Um cartão microSD (opcional, usado apenas uma vez).
• Um dispositivo para acompanhar seus fundos (provavelmente você já tem um).

Algumas coisas que você precisa saber

• O dispositivo servirá como um assinador. Qualquer movimentação só será efetuada após ser assinada por ele.
• O cartão microSD será usado para transferir o APK do Electrum e garantir que o aparelho não terá contato com outras fontes de dados externas após sua formatação. Contudo, é possível usar um cabo USB para o mesmo propósito.
• A ideia é deixar sua chave privada em um dispositivo offline, que ficará desligado em 99% do tempo. Você poderá acompanhar seus fundos em outro dispositivo conectado à internet, como seu celular ou computador pessoal.

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O tutorial será dividido em dois módulos:

• Módulo 1 - Criando uma carteira fria/assinador.
• Módulo 2 - Configurando um dispositivo para visualizar seus fundos e assinando transações com o assinador.

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No final, teremos:

• Uma carteira fria que também servirá como assinador.
• Um dispositivo para acompanhar os fundos da carteira.

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Módulo 1 - Criando uma carteira fria/assinador

1. Baixe o APK do Electrum na aba de downloads em https://electrum.org/. Fique à vontade para verificar as assinaturas do software, garantindo sua autenticidade.

2. Formate o cartão microSD e coloque o APK do Electrum nele. Caso não tenha um cartão microSD, pule este passo.

1. Retire os chips e acessórios do aparelho que será usado como assinador, formate-o e aguarde a inicialização.

1. Durante a inicialização, pule a etapa de conexão ao Wi-Fi e rejeite todas as solicitações de conexão. Após isso, você pode desinstalar aplicativos desnecessários, pois precisará apenas do Electrum. Certifique-se de que Wi-Fi, Bluetooth e dados móveis estejam desligados. Você também pode ativar o modo avião.\ (Curiosidade: algumas pessoas optam por abrir o aparelho e danificar a antena do Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, impossibilitando essas funcionalidades.)

1. Insira o cartão microSD com o APK do Electrum no dispositivo e instale-o. Será necessário permitir instalações de fontes não oficiais.

1. No Electrum, crie uma carteira padrão e gere suas palavras-chave (seed). Anote-as em um local seguro. Caso algo aconteça com seu assinador, essas palavras permitirão o acesso aos seus fundos novamente. (Aqui entra seu método pessoal de backup.)

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Módulo 2 - Configurando um dispositivo para visualizar seus fundos e assinando transações com o assinador.

1. Criar uma carteira somente leitura em outro dispositivo, como seu celular ou computador pessoal, é uma etapa bastante simples. Para este tutorial, usaremos outro smartphone Android com Electrum. Instale o Electrum a partir da aba de downloads em https://electrum.org/ ou da própria Play Store. (ATENÇÃO: O Electrum não existe oficialmente para iPhone. Desconfie se encontrar algum.)

2. Após instalar o Electrum, crie uma carteira padrão, mas desta vez escolha a opção Usar uma chave mestra.

1. Agora, no assinador que criamos no primeiro módulo, exporte sua chave pública: vá em Carteira > Detalhes da carteira > Compartilhar chave mestra pública.

1. Escaneie o QR gerado da chave pública com o dispositivo de consulta. Assim, ele poderá acompanhar seus fundos, mas sem permissão para movimentá-los.

2. Para receber fundos, envie Bitcoin para um dos endereços gerados pela sua carteira: Carteira > Addresses/Coins.

3. Para movimentar fundos, crie uma transação no dispositivo de consulta. Como ele não possui a chave privada, será necessário assiná-la com o dispositivo assinador.

1. No assinador, escaneie a transação não assinada, confirme os detalhes, assine e compartilhe. Será gerado outro QR, desta vez com a transação já assinada.

1. No dispositivo de consulta, escaneie o QR da transação assinada e transmita-a para a rede.

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Conclusão

Pontos positivos do setup:

• Simplicidade: Basta um dispositivo Android antigo.
• Flexibilidade: Funciona como uma ótima carteira fria, ideal para holders.

Pontos negativos do setup:

• Padronização: Não utiliza seeds no padrão BIP-39, você sempre precisará usar o electrum.
• Interface: A aparência do Electrum pode parecer antiquada para alguns usuários.

Nesse ponto, temos uma carteira fria que também serve para assinar transações. O fluxo de assinar uma transação se torna: Gerar uma transação não assinada > Escanear o QR da transação não assinada > Conferir e assinar essa transação com o assinador > Gerar QR da transação assinada > Escanear a transação assinada com qualquer outro dispositivo que possa transmiti-la para a rede.

Como alguns devem saber, uma transação assinada de Bitcoin é praticamente impossível de ser fraudada. Em um cenário catastrófico, você pode mesmo que sem internet, repassar essa transação assinada para alguém que tenha acesso à rede por qualquer meio de comunicação. Mesmo que não queiramos que isso aconteça um dia, esse setup acaba por tornar essa prática possível.

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Nos anos 80, o Brasil testemunhou um dos momentos mais patéticos da sua história econômica: os "Fiscais do Sarney". Movidos por um decreto inútil, cidadãos foram incentivados a denunciar comerciantes que não seguissem o tabelamento de preços imposto pelo governo. O resultado? Um fracasso absoluto, prateleiras vazias, inflação descontrolada e a certeza de que a mentalidade fiscalizadora não gera valor para ninguém – apenas sufoca a economia e reforça o atraso.

Agora, décadas depois, vemos a mesma mentalidade derrotada ressurgir na Receita Federal com a fiscalização automática sobre transações acima de R$ 5.000 via PIX. Em vez de buscar um ambiente mais produtivo e inovador, o governo se empenha em monitorar cada centavo que circula, tratando qualquer movimentação um pouco maior como suspeita. Quem ganha com isso? Certamente não é o cidadão honesto, nem a economia real.

E quem são os protagonistas dessa história? Os novos fiscais da Receita Federal, que assumem um papel tão irrelevante quanto o dos fiscais de Sarney. Um trabalho de baixo valor agregado, que não contribui para a criação de riqueza ou inovação. São apenas burocratas modernos, presos na mentalidade de que controlar e punir é mais importante do que fomentar o crescimento e a liberdade financeira.

A história já provou que o fiscalismo estatal é um modelo falido, seja tabelando preços ou perseguindo transações financeiras. Enquanto alguns criam, inovam e geram valor, outros se ocupam apenas de vigiar e tributar. O tempo sempre mostrou quem estava certo.

Nos anos 80, o Brasil testemunhou um dos momentos mais patéticos da sua história econômica: os "Fiscais do Sarney". Movidos por um decreto inútil, cidadãos foram incentivados a denunciar comerciantes que não seguissem o tabelamento de preços imposto pelo governo. O resultado? Um fracasso absoluto, prateleiras vazias, inflação descontrolada e a certeza de que a mentalidade fiscalizadora não gera valor para ninguém – apenas sufoca a economia e reforça o atraso.

Agora, décadas depois, vemos a mesma mentalidade derrotada ressurgir na Receita Federal com a fiscalização automática sobre transações acima de R$ 5.000 via PIX. Em vez de buscar um ambiente mais produtivo e inovador, o governo se empenha em monitorar cada centavo que circula, tratando qualquer movimentação um pouco maior como suspeita. Quem ganha com isso? Certamente não é o cidadão honesto, nem a economia real.

E quem são os protagonistas dessa história? Os novos fiscais da Receita Federal, que assumem um papel tão irrelevante quanto o dos fiscais de Sarney. Um trabalho de baixo valor agregado, que não contribui para a criação de riqueza ou inovação. São apenas burocratas modernos, presos na mentalidade de que controlar e punir é mais importante do que fomentar o crescimento e a liberdade financeira.

A história já provou que o fiscalismo estatal é um modelo falido, seja tabelando preços ou perseguindo transações financeiras. Enquanto alguns criam, inovam e geram valor, outros se ocupam apenas de vigiar e tributar. O tempo sempre mostrou quem estava certo.

@ 1cb14ab3:95d52462

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Previous Works in the Series:

TAIPEI

TIANJIN

KYOTO

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More from Hes:

Art

Store

Travel Guides

Photography

Writings

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All images are credit of Hes, but you are free to download and use for any purpose. If you find joy from these photos, please feel free to send a zap. Enjoy life on a Bitcoin standard.

@ bf47c19e:c3d2573b

Originalni tekst na danas.rs

22.09.2024 / Autor: Marko Matanović

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Bitkoin je 2009. godine zamišljen da bude digitalni keš. Zvučalo je revolucionarno zbog toga što je mnoge dovelo u dilemu: kako nešto potpuno digitalno može da ima vrednost i bude valuta.

Pre 15 godina smo živeli u društvu u kome je preko 95 odsto ukupnog novca u opticaju već potpuno digitalno i virtuelno.

Danas je još više izražena digitalizacija novca. Bitkoin je bio deo procesa evolucije više nego revolucije kada je u pitanju barem forma “novca”.

Petnaest godina kasnije bitkoin nije zamenio tradicionalne valute: dolare, evre, dinare. I verovatno to neće uraditi. Nije ispunio početnu zamisao, digitalni novac.

Ali se nametnuo kao čuvar vrednosti. Jedan od razloga je jednostavan. Kada posedujemo bilo koji oblik imovine, uvek ćemo za plaćanje (čemu novac većini ljudi i služi) koristiti najmanje kvalitetan novac, onaj koji vremenom ne dobija na vrednosti ili je gubi čak.

Veći deo vlasnika bitkoina veruje da će njegova vrednost rasti vremenom. Dok s druge strane imamo dinar, evro ili dolar koji će 100 odsto za godinu dana vredeti dva odsto ili 15 odsto manje. Zbog toga većina vlasnika bitkoina ga neće koristiti da kupuje hleb ili plaća račune za telefon, tj. kao sredstvo plaćanja.

Za razliku od fizičkog zlata, svima poznatog, jedna od prednosti bitkoina je prenosivost. Bitkoin infrastruktura funkcioniše tako da se svaka transakcija prenosa bitkoina obavlja u proseku za 10-ak minuta, 24/7/365.

Ta transakcija će se realizovati 100 odsto ako je usklađena sa pravilima Bitkoin ekosistema. Pravila su pritom transparentna, ista, lako primenljiva za sve. Iz ovoga se nameće i druga i treća potencijalna prednost bitkoina u odnosu na zlato. Bez obzira na količinu i vrednost bitkoina koji se kroz transakciju prenose, vreme tog prenosa je oko 10 minuta. A cena obrade transakcije zanemarljiva. Par dolara ili manje. Na dan pisanja teksta, kilogram zlata je vredeo oko 84.000 dolara ili 10 kilograma oko 840.000 dolara itd. Slične vrednosti je 1,4 bitkoin, tj. 14 bitkoina…

Postoje ozbiljni regulatorni, sigurnosni, vremenski, troškovni izazovi prenosa pomenutih količina zlata s jedne lokacije na drugu ili u drugu državu. Za prenos 0.0001 btc-a (bitkoina), vrednosti oko šest dolara ili za prenos 1.000 btc, vrednosti oko 60 miliona dolara trebaće vam 10 minuta. Transakcije vas mogu koštati i manje od jednog dolara!

I ne postoji bezbednosni rizik. Neuporedivo brže, sigurnije, jeftinije. Neki kažu da je bitkoin „digitalno zlato“ i pouzdana mreža za prenos vrednosti.

Bitkoin su u početku koristili samo pojedinci, fizička lica. Danas ga koriste i kompanije i neke države. Pojedinci deo sredstava prebacuju u bitkoine, kako bi se sačuvali od inflacije koja je u skoro svim ekonomijama prisutna i obezvređuje novac koji posedujemo.

Neki u njemu vide potencijal rasta vrednosti. Neki se bave “trading-om”, špekulisanjem u nadi da će kratkoročno zaraditi. Neki ga koriste da bi preneli vrednost brže i lakše.

U ratom zahvaćenih delovima sveta, deo populacije je kroz bitkoin i kriptovalute imao jedinu mogućnost da spase svoju do tada stečenu imovinu. U tim situacijama ne možete nekretninu, zlato, umetnička dela, automobile lako preneti ili sačuvati. Često su tada blokirani bankarski računi ili rad banaka. Ali, deo sredstava se može prebaciti u kriptovalute.

Zbog toga u Srbiji puno ljudi koji su se sklonili iz Rusije i Ukrajine zapravo koristi kriptovalute. Globalno, kompanije kupuju bitkoine, jer imaju investiciono usmerenje ili usmerenje ka diversifikaciji sredstava. I takođe bitkoin ili neke druge kriptovalute koriste kao sredstvo plaćanja u internacionalnom poslovanju. Neuporedivo je veća brzina realizacije transakcija kritpovaluta u poređenju sa transakcijama koje idu kroz bankarski sistem.

Postoje jurisdikcije koje nisu integrisane u globalne finansijske sisteme i ne postoji način naplate i saradnje dve kompanije iz dve države. Sve dok se kripto nije pojavio. Države imaju različite stavove po pitanju kripta. Neke ga kupuju. Neke ga rudare čak.

Ali većina je donela regulatorne okvire koji definišu zakonske mogućnosti i načine korišćenja kriptovaluta. I za građane i za kompanije. I za firme koje pružaju usluge povezane za kriptovalutama u tim državama. U Srbiji se primenjuje Zakon o digitalnoj imovini od 2021. godine i time su postavljeni dodatni regulatorni okviri.

SPLET konferencija koja se 8. oktobra održava u Beogradu je deo svog programa posvetila temama povezanim sa kriptovalutama, tokenizacijom, pravnim aspektima tog sveta.

ECD.rs, prva kriptomenjačnica u Srbiji, će imati svoje predstavnike i paneliste na SPLET-u. Cilj je da još dublje zaronimo u ove teme. Želimo da ponudimo dodatne uvide, odgovore. Delićemo iskustvo od 12 i više godina bavljenja kriptovalutama. Vidimo se na SPLET-u!

Splet konferenciju zajednički organizuju projekti „Preduzmi ideju“ u realizaciji Inicijative „Digitalna Srbija“ i „Srbija Inovira“, koje sprovodi ICT HUB, u saradnji sa Američkom agencijom za međunarodni razvoj (USAID). Ovogodišnju konferenciju realizuju i uz podršku i pokroviteljstvo Ministarstva nauke, tehnološkog razvoja i inovacija.

@ bf47c19e:c3d2573b

Originalni tekst za nin.rs.

09.10.2024 / Autor: Marko Matanović

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Najveći deo stvari merimo zajedničkim imeniteljem – novcem. Fantastični izum društva. Olakšava komunikaciju, saradnju i napredak civilizacije. Trenutna novčana vrednost mnogih stvari ne mora biti pokazatelj realne ili vrednosti na duge staze.

Bitkoin kao kriptovaluta ima svojih uspona i padova. U ceni. Kada nešto vredi nula pa krene od par mesta desno iza decimalnog zareza u $ protivvrednosti i završi na 50.000 ili 70.000$, može se reći da je bilo više uspona nego padova.

Zamišljen i najavljen je kao digitalni keš 2008. godine. Preskačući prvu godinu ili dve, rezervisane skoro isključivo za uzak krug programera, sledi poistovećivanje bitkoina sa sredstvom za plaćanja ilegalnih usluga i proizvoda. Zbog delimične zablude da su transakcije bitkoinom anonimne.

Godine 2013. godine pada Silk Road platforma, online marketplace, na kome se za bitkoin moglo kupiti puno toga ilegalnog. Po nekima to je i konačni pad bitkoina. Iz današnje perspektive, neupućena osoba može i dalje ostati pri stavu da je bitkoin pretežno tu za izvršenje ilegalnih transakcija. Bitkoin i danas postoji, Silk Road ne.

Par meseci posle Silk Road-a, pada i tada pratkično jedina “ozbiljna” kripto berza Mt. Gox. U to vreme odgovorna za 70%+ svih bitkoin transakcija. Tačno 10 godina kasnije, svedoci smo vraćanja dela izgubljenih sredstava (oko 25%) tadašnjim vlasnicima naloga na Mt. Gox berzi. Bitkoin je danas 100 puta vredniji nego pre 2014. Taj vraćeni “delić” izgubljenih bitkoina njegovim vlasnicima je danas “samo” 25 puta vredniji.

Bilo je još dosta propalih kripto projekata. I biće ih. Među poznatijim, prevara iza OneCoin-a. Sunovrat UST-a i Lune, Celsius i FTX bankroti. Svaki odogovoran za gubitke koji prelaze milijarde dolara. Bitkoin je i dalje tu. Bitkoin je imao i konkurente iz redova kriptovaluta. Poslednji pravi je iz 2017. godine i “Bitcoin Cash”. Danas kada se pogleda gde je jedan a gde drugi sve je jasno.

Satoshi Nakamoto, ime iza ideje bitkoina i njegovog lansiranja, je postavio fascinantne postulate na kojima će prva kriptovaluta funkcionisati. A inspirisan manjkavostima globalnog finansijskog sistema. Bitkoin je baziran na transparentnom, decentralizovanom sistemu. Dostupan svima, sa jednakim i izuzetno niskim barijerama ulaska i izlaska iz tog ekosistema. Funkcioniše po setu pravila koja su ista za sve. Ukoliko se poštuju, transakciju bitkoinom niko ne može osporiti i ne može se retroaktivno manipulisati.

Prvi put imamo digitalni sadržaj koji se ne može kopirati. Bitkoin ekosistem funkcioniše 15 godina pratkično bez down-time-a. Usko je shvatanje reći da je rudarenje bitkoina proces koji bespotrebno troši previše energije. Ili da bitkoin nema uporište u nekoj opipljivoj vrednosti. Ta skupa reč je poverenje. Ničijom svesnom namerom, već organski, bitkoin je od digitalnog keša postao prepoznat kao čuvar vrednosti, digitalno zlato. Jer zašto da koristiš za svakodnevna plaćanja nešto što može vredeti za godinu ili godine 5%,10%, 50% više, ako imaš RSD, EUR ili $ koji će 100% za godinu dana vredeti 2% ili 15% manje?

Danas bitkoin koriste obični ljudi, kompanije i države.

Satoshi je svakako imao drugačiju viziju ove kriptovalute – digitalni keš i pošteniji novac. Kreirajući ekosistem na koji svi mi možemo vršiti uticaj barem podjednako koliko i Satoshi, ostavljena su otvorena vrata da se vizija promeni. Vizija je prilagođena, prepuštena našim prethodnim i budućim postupcima i društvenim okolnostima. Važno je da su postulati i dalje tu. Sa njima i Bitkoin.

@ 4720beb1:fde5de50

I just published the new version of my NIP-404. It basically a way to have real ephemeral interactions on Nostr, so developers can model Stories and messages that disappear etc and providing a good level of plausible deniability. Here is the new version: https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/pull/1676

This is a follow-up of a previous proposal I did in last November. I tried to tackle most of issues that npub12262qa4uhw7u8gdwlgmntqtv7aye8vdcmvszkqwgs0zchel6mz7s6cgrkj npub1l2vyh47mk2p0qlsku7hg0vn29faehy9hy34ygaclpn66ukqp3afqutajft npub1acg6thl5psv62405rljzkj8spesceyfz2c32udakc2ak0dmvfeyse9p35c have raised.

There is a "working" example (I'm not a cryptographer, have mercy on me): https://github.com/gu1p/nip404_demo

TL;DR;

NIP-404: Ghost Events

This NIP introduces Ghost Events—a protocol for creating events that are plausibly deniable with a ephemeral nature, providing a weak binding to the author's identity. It leverages ring signatures, elliptic curve point-hashing, and a distance-based proof-of-work that references Bitcoin block hashes for chronological anchoring.

High-Level Mechanics

• Ring Signature over exactly two keys:
  1) Your real key
  2) A “mined” key — found by solving a proof-of-work puzzle (attacker) or randomly (by the real signer).
• Distance-based PoW: The mined key’s public key must be within distance δ of a “challenge point” derived from your public key and a Bitcoin block hash.
• Deniability: Verifiers can only tell that one of the two keys signed the event, not which one. Because all components are public, anyone can forge a Ghost Event referencing your key.

---

2. Detailed Protocol

2.1. Reference a Bitcoin Block

Pick a Bitcoin block B with hash H_B and timestamp t_B. This block anchors the event in time.

2.2. Derive a Challenge Point

1. Take your main public key P_A and concatenate it with H_B.
2. Compute S = SHA256(P_A || H_B)
3. Map S to secp256k1 (RFC 9380 “Hashing to Elliptic Curves”): challenge_PK = HashToCurve(S)

Anyone can verify this point by performing the same steps.

2.3. Pick a “Mined Key” P_mined

• Let x_c be the x-coordinate of challenge_PK.
• Find x_m such that |x_m - x_c| <= δ and (x_m, y_m) is a valid secp256k1 point.

• δ reflects the “difficulty” of finding such a key.

• In the proposal I have provide a way to get a δ given the number of tries and target probability you expect someone to mine the P_mined and also the inverse, compute the δ given a number of tries.

• Compute $T$ (number of tries) given $\delta$ and target probability.

2.4. Create a Ring Signature

Form a ring of two public keys: {P_A, P_mined}.
Use your real private key to sign, producing a ring signature that proves one of the private keys (either sk_A or sk_mined) signed — but not which one.

2.5. Publish the Ghost Event

Publish a standard Nostr event (kind, content, etc.) plus tags:

• ["ghost", "block-hash", "<H_B>"]
• ["ghost", "block-hash-timestamp", "<t_B>"]

The event’s sig field is the ring signature. Verifiers can:

1. Check validity of the ring signature over {P_A, P_mined}.
2. Recompute challenge_PK from <P_A, H_B>.
3. Measure how close P_mined is to challenge_PK (i.e., proof-of-work difficulty).
4. Conclude: “Either Alice really signed, or someone else who found a matching P_mined did.”

Practical Tips

• Picking δ:

• Decide how quickly you want deniability to set in. If you pick a very small δ, it requires more CPU time for an attacker to replicate—but also temporarily ties the event more strongly to you.

• If you want faster deniability, pick a larger δ, but accept that forging a second “mined” key becomes easier.

• If you want avoid OTS, pick a larger δ and reference older blocks.

• Verifying a Received Ghost Event:

• Check the actual δ provided.
• Estimate the tries T needed for a given success probability.
• Check the Key/s rate necessary to produce the event since the block was mined.

---

7. Example Ghost Event JSON

Alice: Today is a good day to post wild picture of me on Nostr! Maybe I will regret it later...
Alice: Let post as a ghost event!
Alice: I will set a PoW of 86400000000 tries for a 30% of success. It is an easy one!

json { "id": "f9d32cace9ead9457d121041c4c17a779ab84cecf90f08d90ccacd9673f1bab4", "pubkey": "npub1r587vuykqhf8k7x4e06380edc7mr7pkz59r44tausmlwq970wkyqv9dh85", "created_at": 1736350383, "kind": 1, "tags": [ [ "ghost", "block-hash", "00000000000000000000c75dc9d3296751a8bb62b2463fbc49035ee75ab45f39" ], [ "ghost", "block-hash-timestamp", 1736264059 ] ], "content": "Hi! This is Alice... Here is a picture of me drinking a beer!", "sig": "...<ring signature>...." }

Bob: Wow! There is an event from Alice!
Bob: Let's check the signature to make sure it is from Alice
Bob: Alice didn't sign this event!
Bob: I see some ghost tags here...
Bob: It is a ghost event!
Bob: There are 2 possible signers!
Bob: Alice is one of the possible signers!
It was produced, allegedly, after the block a 00000000000000000000c75dc9d3296751a8bb62b2463fbc49035ee75ab45f39
Bob: It says that the block was mined at 1736264059
Bob: Let see if this block is real!
Bob: The block is real!
Bob: Let's check the PoW
Bob: The other signer is: npub1jktevjlge6vjp2yfaltrlvuv99th2uxaxy8eglvcsvr7e2r9h5lq2978dz
Bob: The challenge public key is: npub1jktevjldsr7kr52f90602gfhmc8cac9quq6yy8k9vy94w2qptsasz9cfps
Bob: Let's figure out how hard it was to mine the private key
Bob: The distance between the challenge and the alleged mined public key is 494635222290174920048599093528121665305037827746663102318405983997
Bob: For having 50% of chance of figuring out this key, the signer should have done 83496150448 tries
Bob: The signer should have mined 967231 keys per second, since the block was mined
Bob: It is not a hard PoW!

@ 2355757c:5ad3e04d

Originally published Feb, 23, 2024

Introduction

Sunlight is the most important nutrient for our body. That may sound delusional to some, but the definition of a nutrient is: a substance that provides nourishment essential for growth and the maintenance of life. Sunlight certainly is necessary and essential for growth and the maintenance of life, but most don’t understand why. Most do not understand that the real benefit of sunlight is that it provides a vast spectrum of electromagnetic radiation (light) that signals different functions in our biology. This is why we can never replace sunlight with artificial lights, because the sun is a “broad band emitter” and all artificial lights are “narrow band emitters”. This means they only have a few isolated wavelengths, whereas sunlight contains the whole swath. 

The other most important aspect of sunlight is that it is time and location dependent. It is always changing…and that change or shift in light frequencies is providing our body the right information about how to function properly in our given environment. Artificial light is constant and provides a consistent/un-natural input signal that confuses our biology. 

The last piece, which I will dive into more in a future post…is the fact that sunlight is a continuous electromagnetic wave while indoor lighting is highly pulsed. This is a major reason why eye strain and headaches from staring at screens is so common.

Let’s dive into the important biological effects of the various wavelengths in full spectrum sunlight. 

Summary

• Sunlight is a broad band emitter and artificial light is a narrow band emitter

• Sunlight is an un-polarized, continuous source of electromagnetic radiation. Artificial light is highly pulsed

• Sunlight that reaches the earth is comprised of light frequencies that range from 280nm (UVB) to 2500nm (NIR) and everything in between. Each category of wavelength serves as a different biological stimuli

• UVB radiation stimulates the production of vitamin D, as well as serotonin and beta-endorphins, UVA promotes the release of nitric oxide into the blood, and both have a positive effect on the diversity of the microbiome and our endogenous hormone production

• Violet light can reverse myopia and potentially improve sleep quality

• Blue light is the master circadian signaler, turning on/off the SCN via melanopsin photoreceptor…thus regulating cortisol/melatonin production as well as all circadian timing in the body

• Green light can treat skin issues and also be used as a pain releiver

• Red light, near-infrared radiation (NIR), and far-infrared (FIR) radiation have anti-inflammatory and tissue healing effects…NIR also stimulates the production of melatonin inside the mitochondria, a master anti-oxidant.

The Biological Effects of Sunlight: By Color/Wavelength

There are several wavelengths of energy from the sun that reach the earth’s surface and trigger specific actions within the body to influence our health. And, just as some of this spectrum is able to make it through the atmosphere, different wavelengths are also able to penetrate the skin to different depths of the body’s tissues and have certain effects on the cells within those tissues, as you can see in the figure below.

Those at the lower wavelengths (such as UVB) only penetrate the very surface of the skin, while those at higher wavelengths (such as visible light) are able to penetrate deeper. Think of how you are able to see the light from a flashlight on the back of your hand when held against the skin on the palm of the hand – you can visually see the energy traveling through the skin, muscles, blood vessels and tissues of the hand. Infrared radiation can even get into the cells and mitochondria, and can get through clothing and bone!

Ultraviolet-B Radiation (UVB) – Vitamin D, Neurotransmitters, Melanin and Beta-endorphins

UVB (280-315nm) is the highest energy wavelength that reaches surface of the earth. It is only present when the sun is >30 degrees above the horizon. You can use apps like “Circadian” and “dminder” to tell you when UVB is present. At the 45th latitude in Wyoming, I go WITHOUT UVB for around 2 months in winter time. This is a big deal, because UVB light stimulates vitamin D synthesis, one of the most important molecules/hormones in the body. More importantly, it stimulates synthesis of sulfated Vitamin D, which is more bioactive and has far more biological relevance compared to un-sulfated Vitamin D as you would get from a supplement. This is why you can’t replace sunlight with a supplement, especially when it comes to Vitamin D. Using a UVB lamp (outside or in combo with NIR) would be in my opinion a better option than supplementing Vit D, or if you do take a supplement take it mid day and get some UVB exposure after taking it. I wrote extensively about Vitamin D supplementation in a previous newsletter. 

The vitamin D produced in the skin can also help protect the skin cells from DNA damage, facilitate DNA repair directly upon any UV damage, help prevent cell death, and protect against melanoma. In fact, keratinocytes, which make up over 90% of the outermost layer of skin, cannot rely on vitamin D3 from supplements and must synthesize their own supply of vitamin D directly from sun exposure, or by topical application.

Besides vitamin D, UVB radiation also promotes the production of neurotransmitters and beta-endorphins, chemicals that drive cognition, mood, relaxation, pain relief, and boost immunity. It also triggers the synthesis of MELANIN. It does this by stimulating proopiomelanocortin (POMC) activity in the brain and via exciting our aromatic amino acids. 

POMC is a precursor protein of several neuropeptides, including adrenocorticotropin (ACTH), α-melanocyte stimulating hormone (α-MSH) and β-endorphin (β-END). Our aromatic amino acids (tryptophan, tyrosine, and phenylalanine) have ringed structures that allow them to trap UV light energy, and these aromatic amino acids are the precursors to neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin, as well as melatonin and melanin. Serotonin is involved in cognition, regulation of feeding behavior, anxiety, aggression, pain, sexual activity, and sleep. These aromatics absorb heavily in the UVB/UVC range.

This UV-induced release of beta-endorphins means only one thing: there is an innate built in addiction pathway to the sun. Our biology is able to provide a “reward” for UV-induced vitamin D synthesis when vitamin D levels are low, during which time a greater amount of beta-endorphins are released upon exposure to UVB. As vitamin D levels rise, the sun-seeking behavior and resulting opioid response become repressed as less vitamin D is needed. It’s almost as if our body knows best, and we should go out of our way to listen to it. Instead, most people will continue to pour the Vit D supplements down their gully. 

Melanin, which is synthesized from UV light exposure and activation of alpha-MSH via POMC, is one of the most important molecules in our biology. It absorbs the entire EMR spectrum and acts as both a biological semiconductor and energy storage system (battery). I have written more about it in a previous newsletter and will dive even deeper very soon.

Ultraviolet-A Radiation (UVA) – Nitric Oxide + More

UVA (315-380nm) exists at a wavelength between UVB and visible light, and is able to reach deeper than UVB light but still only a few millimeters. UVA leads to the release of nitric oxide into the bloodstream which in turn benefits the cardiovascular and metabolic systems, and may offer other immunological benefits beyond those offered by nitric oxide. This vasodilatory effect enhances blood flow, lowers blood prressure and improves circulation. 

UVA can have similar effects to UVB such as stimulating POMC and the neuroendocrine axis, just with lesser efficiency compared to UVB light as it is a lower energy wavelength spectrum so it does not have as great of an excitatory effect on our biology. 

“UVA has better penetration reaching the reticular dermis but has 1000 times lower efficiency at inducing biological effects (expressed as the minimal erythema dose) than UVB”

For a deeper dive on UV lights impact on the brain and endocrine system, and the difference between UVC/UVB/UVA effects check out this paper.

UVA also shares some benefits with violet light (visible) such as reversing myopia in the eyes. Will discuss that more in the Violet light section. 

Ultraviolet Radiation (UVA + UVB) – The Most Important Input for Your Microbiome

Your gastrointestinal tract and the surface of the skin are home to trillions of microbes (bacteria, viruses, and yeast), called your “microbiome,” which act as their own organ and are crucial to your overall health. Skin health in particular is maintained by a balanced, diverse microbiome, which is in turn affected by nutrition, pH level, hygiene, exposure to toxins, barrier strength, stress levels, sunlight exposure, and overall health. 

UV exposure (and vitamin D itself) can have a healthy, regulatory effect on the microbiome of the skin and the gut, with UVB light having a beneficial impact on the diversity and abundance of the bacteria species of the gut microbiome, and UVB as well as UVA benefitting the skin microbiome. Studies have even shown that several molecules that help protect our skin from UV damage can be produced by the microbiome on our skin upon UV exposure, acting as a sort of natural sunscreen.

Why is UV light so good for our gut? Two reasons:

1. Remember those aromatic amino acids and neurotransmitters mentioned earlier? Well a vast majority of aromatics are synthesized by your gut microbes via the famous shikamate pathway (famous because glyphosate disrupts this). As a result, most of your neurotransmitter synthesis is happening in the gut. 90-95% of serotonin and 50% of dopamine is produced and stored in the gut. There is a reason it is called your second brain, and it is not fully due to the vagal nerve connection. 

2. Your bacteria absorb and fluoresce light constantly. We are made up of far more “bacteria” cells than our own cells and this microbiota is highly dependent on light input. It seems that UV light modulates pathogenic bacteria and helps beneficial bacteria proliferate. This is why UV light has been known as an effective method for cleaning surfaces.

UV Light Summary

UV light is imperative for properly functioning biology, and the fact that it has been demonized for “causing skin cancer” has resulted in a chronic health epidemic. Yes, solar tolerance and callus matters…that is why being outside all year round is imperative. UV light is the reason life began on this planet in the first place (read Nick Lane’s work on deep sea vents), and it stands true today that nearly ALL of the biological semi-conductors that power our biology absorb strongest in the UV range. When you can harness UV light, you become what it truly means to be a human being. 

Blue Light – Regulation of Circadian Rhythm, and Melatonin

Blue light (420-500nm) perhaps ma be the most well known light in the visible spectrum. It has been vilified (for good reason) as the light that will disrupt our sleep. This is true, but that does not mean that blue light has a negative impact on our health in the right context, the opposite actually. 

Blue light is the master circadian signaler. We sense it in our eyes and skin via the melanopsin receptor and the signal is what sets our bodies master circadian clock: the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). This is how our body tells time, and this is why our blue light and overall light environment is so important. Blue light at night suppresses melatonin production far greater than any other color of light. Blue light conversely stimulates cortisol production, which is what provides wakefulness in the morning. 

Blue light is the highest energy wavelength that is present for almost the entirety of sunlight exposure, with an ever increasing amount until solar noon…and then decreasing amount in the afternoon. Again, this is how our body tells time. If you subscribe to the fact that our circadian rhythm is one of if not the most important aspect of our biology (timing is everything), then you would agree that your blue light environment may be the most important area of your health to tackle. This is why there has been such a monumental push on the education around artificial blue light and an entire industry made around blocking blue light. 

A healthy, regular circadian rhythm promotes healthy mood and improved cognition. Disruptions to circadian rhythm have been shown to increase the risk of most chornic diseases: including cancer, heart disease, neurodegenerative disease and metabolic conditions. Research has found that, compared to white light therapy, blue light is more effective for resetting circadian rhythms, suppressing nighttime melatonin, and enhancing performance. Other physiological actions of blue light suggested by the scientific literature include an increase in circulating beta endorphins, decreased systolic blood pressure due to nitric oxide mechanisms in the skin, an anti-bacterial effect, and a potential bio-modulating effect within the cells.

Blue light (like all areas of the light spectra) deserves an article of its own. I will be releasing an article dedicated to artificial blue light next month so stay tuned!

Red and Infrared Light - Healing Wavelengths

Red and infrared light is the most abundant portion of full spectrum sunlight, making up over 50% of the sunlight that hits the earth. Most of this is coming in the form of Near Infrared light (750-3000nm). Photo-biomodulation is a term used to describe the physiological effects from irradiation by red or near-infrared wavelengths. Red and near-infrared wavelengths have the ability to penetrate inside of our body’s tissues and cells, and can even penetrate through clothing. Studies have shown benefits such as improved tissue function, wound healing, anti-inflammatory effects, and improved energy metabolism from red and near-infrared wavelengths.

Conditions that may benefit from photobiomodulation include allergies, hypothyroidism, depression, dementia, cancer, diabetes related symptoms, exercise performance and recovery, pain, and cardiovascular diseases.

I have written an article on this substack that dives deep into the benefits of NIR light, and why I think it is the biggest nutrient deficiency worldwide (sunlight = NIR). NIR light (over 950 nm) may penetrate as deep as 8 cm and can penetrate bone, enter the cerebrospinal fluid and the brain.

Why is Red/NIR light so beneficial for our health ? Because it up-regulates ATP production and expands our exclusion zone water. You may have heard how fantastic Red/NIR light is for mitochondria…that is 100% true. Part of that reason is due to melatonin synthesis which is highlighted below. The other part is because it up regulates ATP production by expanding the exclusion zone water around the ATP nanomotor-reducing its viscosity and improving rotational torque. Bit complex yes, but that is the reality of our biology. ATP opens the binding site of proteins to water, which need to be hydrated to function properly as biological semiconductors so you could say that Red/NIR is IMPERATIVE for optimal biological function. 

NIR light & Intracellular Melatonin Synthesis

Recent research by Zimmerman, S. and Reiter R. suggests that melatonin (a master antioxidant) exists in two main forms within the body – circulatory melatonin, which is suppressed during the day upon exposure to blue light and has its major effect on sleep and the circadian rhythm, and sub-cellular melatonin, which is produced and used locally by the mitochondria within our cells. NIR light stimulates melatonin production in the mitochondria, which helps protect the cells from oxidative stress from whatever stressors/toxins make their way into the mitochondria. It also helps naturally combat the free radicals generated from UV exposure. This is why Red/NIR wavelengths are so healing, and balance out the high energy and biologically damaging (to some degree) Blue/UV wavelengths. There is always a far higher amount of NIR light than any other light in the spectrum when it comes to energy and power density.

I have written an in depth article about Melatonin as well, because it is so much more than a “sleep hormone”. Zimmerman brilliantly discusses this in his work and how most of the circadian community misses this piece. Melatonin is THE MASTER ANTIOXIDANT, being able to stabilize up to 10 free radicals per molecule due to its remarkable cascading antioxidant abilities.

Violet, Green, Yellow/Orange Light

Violet light (visible) is hard to find research on but can be thought to range from 360-420nm, right after UVA (or even some overlap) and right before blue light in the ascending wavelength spectrum of full spectrum sunlight. 

Japanese research showed that violet light (360–400 nm wavelengths) suppressed the axial length elongation both in a chick myopia model and in human. They also spiked out the fact that we are violet light deficient in a modern, indoor world because of the fear mongering around UV light. Blue light from screens causes myopia and violet/UVA light reverses it…

Violet light is also being studied for its potential benefit to improve sleep quality. 

Green light (495-570nm) penetrates your dermis, almost reaching the subcutaneous tissue below. Studies have shown that green light is effective for relieving pain. Green light is also beneficial for treating skin condictions, especially with regard to skin tone and complexion. Sunspots, melasma, rosacea, eczema, and psoriasis can all benefit from green light. Another tout to the importance of full spectrum sun is the under discussed skin HEALING frequencies such as green + red to balance the high energy UV.

Green Light:

• Might be used in attempts to reduce skin redness and irritation.

• Has been studied for potential pain-reducing properties.

Yellow and Orange light. Lesser research around these wavelengths but including them anyways. These wavelengths penetrate the subcutaneous tissue beneath your dermis. Like green and blue light, they are effective at treating skin issues like eczema, sunburn, psoriasis, and creating an even skin tone. Yellow and orange light therapy is one of the less common types; however, it can help flush waste from your skin, elevate the functioning of your lymphatic system, and stimulate cellular energy to some extent.

One study proved that 590 nm light therapy after laser skin treatments reduced the intensity and healing time of skin irritation. 

Yellow light:

• Sometimes used to stimulate collagen production in the skin.

• Has been used in lightbox therapies for mood regulation.

Orange light:

• Often used in attempts to revitalize skin and promote a vibrant complexion.

• Might be utilized for its potentially energizing and uplifting effects.

Conclusion

You can not replace full spectrum sunlight with light therapies that have only a few isolated frequencies. Sunlight contains such a vast amount of frequencies that all affect our biology in different ways and together provides a very synergistic affect. Our biology has evolved over millions of years to take the FULL SPECTRUM sun as our main input signal. 

Light therapy can still be beneficial in certain scenarios without a doubt, but it will never replace full spectrum sunlight. This is a challenge in our modern indoor world we live in, and that is why we need to be so deliberate about going outside. That is also why I am so excited to be working with Daylight Computer, the world’s first computer that is designed to be used outside and has reflective screen technology that doesn’t destroy your retinas. Much more to come on Daylight Computer …so for now here is a repeat of the summary:

• Sunlight is a broad band emitter and artificial light is a narrow band emitter

• Sunlight is an un-polarized, continuous source of electromagnetic radiation. Artificial light is highly pulsed

• Sunlight that reaches the earth is comprised of light frequencies that range from 280nm (UVB) to 2500nm (NIR) and everything in between. Each category of wavelength serves as a different biological stimuli

• UVB radiation stimulates the production of vitamin D, as well as serotonin and beta-endorphins, UVA promotes the release of nitric oxide into the blood, and both have a positive effect on the diversity of the microbiome and our endogenous hormone production

• Violet light can reverse myopia and potentially improve sleep quality

• Blue light is the master circadian signaler, turning on/off the SCN via melanopsin photoreceptor…thus regulating cortisol/melatonin production as well as all circadian timing in the body

• Green light can treat skin issues and also be used as a pain releiver

• Red light, near-infrared radiation (NIR), and far-infrared (FIR) radiation have anti-inflammatory and tissue healing effects…NIR also stimulates the production of melatonin inside the mitochondria, a master anti-oxidant

Sunlight is the ultimate provider of light. Your light/EMF diet matters more than anything else in regards to health.

Biology is fundamentally electromagnetic.

Stay Sovereign,

Tristan

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My NEW COURSE EMF-201 is officially out! An in depth educational course that follows my flagship EMF-101 course. Diving deep into Radio Frequencies, 5G, and Modern Tech with an appearance from an RF Engineer who has 20+ years of industry experience. 

Follow my Decentralized Radio podcast for some brilliant upcoming episodes on light and EMFs.

@ bf47c19e:c3d2573b

Originalni tekst na novaekonomija.rs

05.12.2024 / Autor: Dragan Milić

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Kada se desio prvi veliki „hajp“ oko bitkoina i kriptovaluta generalno (veći od prethodnih), negde krajem 2017-te, verujem da nije bilo čoveka koji tada bar u prolazu nije čuo da neko pominje te čudne, nove reči i fraze. Sećam se da mi je neki taksista, ničim izazvan, rekao da ulazi u posao sa rudarenjem kripta i da je uložio novac u grafičke karte koje treba da stignu preko veze, jer ih nema u prodaji. U tom trenutku to je moglo imati dvojako značenje. Ili da je kripto konačno ušao u mejnstrim i da ga je zajednica široko prihvatila ili da je vreme za izlazak iz tog biznisa i rasprodaju silnih altkoina koji su nicali kao pečurke posle kiše. Ispostavilo se da je ovo drugo bio ispravan odgovor odnosno dobra odluka.

Već u januaru sledeće, 2018. godine ceo sistem je počeo da se urušava kao kula od karata. Zagovornici kripta su govorili da je u pitanju samo korekcija i da će se stvar već na proleće popraviti, ali bitkoin se nije vratio na 17.000 dolara naredne tri godine. A mnoge druge kriptovalute zauvek su izgubile svoju vrednost.

Iako je to novo tržište volatilnost pratila godinama, a prati ga i danas, sada, na izmaku 2024. godine možda već možemo reći da je bitkoin na neki način prošao test vremena i „da je tu da ostane“. Dugo se bitkoin kretao u granicama između 50 i 70 hiljada američkih dolara, ali poguran rezultatima izbora u SAD i drugim makroekonomskim efektima koji su već konstanta, početkom decembra 2024. probio je psihološku granicu od 100.000 USD, čime su se dokazale tvrdnje da vreme digitalne imovine tek dolazi. Dan pre probijanja ovog limita, Džerom Pauel predsednik FED-a, nazvao je bitkoin digitalnim zlatom, i dodatno ubrzao ceo proces.

Mnogima ni danas nije jasno šta je zapravo kripto imovina i kako funkcioniše blokčejn na kojoj ista počiva. Što je opravdano jer je reč o veoma kompleksnoj tehnologiji čije razumevanje podrazumeva solidnu tehničku potkovanost i informisanost.

Činjenica je da nije potrebno poznavati tehnološki aspekt kripta da bi ga posedovali i trgovali istim, međutim to nas dovodi do starog pravila da investirate samo u stvari odnosno poslove koje razumete. Možda je to razlog zašto se tradicionalni ulagač i dalje drži S&P500 indeksa i nekretnina kao primarnog izbora, koji su uvek sigurnija opcija i manje podložna nestabilnosti.

Međutim, kako vreme odmiče, polako se stvara poverenje i u digitalnu imovinu kao opciju za ulaganje, koja nosi veliki rizik ali i veliku mogućnost zarade. Na primer, ko je pre nekoliko godina kupio bitkoin, na srednji rok je mogao višestruko da umnoži svoje ulaganje. A ko je bio u stanju da izađe iz okvira saveta „uloži onoliko koliko si spreman da oprostiš“ mogao je značajno da uveća svoj kapital. Na primer, da sam početkom 2020-te u jeku pandemije imao hrabrosti da kupim bitkoin po 5.000 dolara, sada bih zaradio dvadeset puta više. Ali, moglo je da bude i drugačije. Naknadna pamet ne važi…

Inače, moja lična predviđanja iz perioda s početka ove priče, dakle iz 2017-te, su bila polovično optimistična. Smeo sam se kladiti na blokčejn kao tehnologiju i njenu budućnost, međutim nisam bio siguran u bitkoin, jer sam mislio da će ubrzo biti prevaziđen. Naročito zbog svog Proof of work-a odnosno trošenja velike količine energije i računarskih resursa za odobravanje transakcija što nije bio slučaj kod nekih, u to vreme, novih kriptovaluta.

U avgustu 2017. u autorskom tekstu za jedan portal, sam napisao da kako god da završi Bitcoin kao čudo koje je okrenulo ekonomiju naglavačke ili i sam padne u revoluciji čiji je pionir i začetnik, Blockchain kao jedinstveno i genijalno tehnološko rešenje za transferisanje digitalnog novca će ostati. I mnogi upravo u ovoj tehnologiji vide budućnost novca. I pogrešio sam. Blokčejn i dalje čeka na svojih pet minuta, ali bitkoin odoleva i uči nas da na njega moramo računati.

U međuvremenu se dakle mnogo toga promenilo. Bitkoin se i pored volatilnosti uvukao u portfolije ozbiljnih investitora, odobreni su takozvani ETF-ovi (Exchange-Traded Fund), koji omogućavaju investitorima da ulažu u bitkoin bez potrebe da ga direktno poseduju ili upravljaju svojim digitalnim novčanicima i privatnim ključevima.

Glavna prepreka, u vidu nedostatka regulative, takođe je prevaziđena u mnogim pravnim sistemima. Možemo s ponosom istaći da je Republika Srbija jedna od prvih država u Evropi koja je regulisala Digitalnu imovinu. Ubrzo nakon usvajanja Zakona o digitalnoj imovini, izmenjen je i Zakon o porezu na dohodak građana, gde je bar na papiru, osvetljen i poreski tretman kripta. Problema u praksi i dalje ima, naročito oko podnošenja poreskih prijava i utvrđivanja poreske osnovice odnosno obračuna poreza, ali bar u delu vrste poreza i poreske stope pravne nesigurnosti više nema. Takođe, svako ko želi da se bavi pružanjem usluga može proći ne tako jednostavnu proceduru pribavljanja odgovarajućih dozvola u skladu sa zakonom i otpočeti taj posao u potpuno legalnim okvirima, što je do pre nekoliko godina bila siva zona i kod nas i u većini zemalja.

Bitkoinova mlađa braća nešto kaskaju sa dostizanjem svog ATH-a (All Time High), pa na primer ETH (Itirijum) u trenutku pisanja ovog teksta još uvek nije dostigao za njega magičnih 5.000 dolara, ali sva je prilika da će bitkoin prokrčiti put i za druge tokene odnosno kriptovalute na tržištu. Bar one koji su prošli test vremena i iza kojih postoji ozbiljnija infrastruktura i poslovanje.

@ 6e4f2866:a76f7a29

Foreword

“What’s the best sex you’ve ever had?”

Imagine that being the question that changed your life’s work!

And no, it didn’t come from a sleazy porn director in the basement

of a dingy house directed towards the person sitting on the

casting couch. It was asked by Rob Brinded at Chelsea FC’s stateof-

the-art Sports and Injury Prevention Medical facility and directed

at one of the best Football players in the world at that time.

Why did Rob ask that question? What did it reveal to him, and

how did that lead to him quitting his ‘perfect life’?

Even before the athlete answered, Rob knew he had unlocked

an incredibly important discovery. A discovery that would change

the trajectory of his life. One that would trigger him to walk

away from a high-paying job, get dumped by his girlfriend, and be

shunned by his professional peers while facing the inner demons

and self-torture of disappointment.

During this time, Rob forged a new mindset, armed himself

with the tools to cure himself, and extended that healing touch to

anyone who had the fortune of interacting with him.

Like many of my new friends, I first met Rob on Twitter. He

approached me after I had been the featured guest on The Bitcoin

Standard Podcast. My discussion with host Saifedean Ammous \ \ centred around the intricacies of the current education system

and the benefits of homeschooling. Rob had been particularly

intrigued by my insights about teaching versus learning and

how our education system is designed to mould kids rather than

nurture and inspire them. But what truly piqued Rob’s curiosity

was what I didn’t say. Throughout the podcast conversation,

he wanted to ask about certain nuances, the pauses. Because, well,

that’s the way Rob’s mind works now!

Over the next few months, Rob and I stayed in contact and

eventually had the pleasure of meeting each other in Madeira when

we received an invitation to assemble with other bitcoiners to meet

the President, as he and his cabinet wanted to learn more about

bitcoin and the opportunities it might bring to their island.

Extended, in-person conversations with Rob about his work

are truly fascinating. During our first meet-up, I found myself

open to everything he shared. Some people he has encountered

have brushed him off as a ‘Guru’ or too ‘Woo-Woo’ and thought

his ideas were too far out there. The irony here is that their feelings

are triggered by the very conditioning and programming that

these people have been subjected to and have been running from

their whole lives. As Rob would explain, the only way to step off

the hamster wheel is to realise you are on it in the first place. Most

people don’t and will forever be trapped, running the same selfdeprecating

programmes for their whole lives.

I was so captivated by Rob’s ideas that I booked him for a

few sessions (paid in bitcoin) to learn more about his work and,

of course, myself. My goal was to understand why I thought the

way I thought and why I acted the way I acted under certain stressors.

With a spirit of open exploration, we embarked on a journey

through my past, present and future, engaging in candid conversations

that flowed effortlessly. Rob’s guidance helped me decipher

the programs I had been running in my head (my OS system) and

how to close them down. I can best surmise it with the analogy

of ‘force-quitting’ a program on your computer when you get the

‘spinning beach ball of death’.

Once you do this simple visualisation exercise, a remarkable

transformation occurs — you feel lighter and think clearer. Like

our minds, our bodies can react in the most incredible ways. Lifelong

ailments, aches, or pains can feel instantly better and even disappear

completely.

Rob’s conviction in his work is not from blind luck; it’s rooted

in decades of deep introspection mixed with theoretical and practical

study — and, importantly, from results. The outcomes Rob

has seen and shared in this book are beyond remarkable and worth

everyone’s attention. As you journey through these pages and into

this rabbit hole, remember to note what emotions are triggered

within YOU carefully. Because that, dear reader, is your personal

hamster wheel. Those triggered emotions have been programmed

into your OS since you were born, and those programs are what

hold you back mentally and physically from being your best self

and living a happier and freer life.

So, sit back and enjoy the ride. Welcome to the rabbit hole of

decentralising your mind!

Daniel Prince

Host of The Once Bitten Podcast and Author of Choose Life

Block Height 800,608 — SW France \ \ M I N D , D E C E N T R A L I S E D

@ 7ed7d5c3:6927e200

Can't decide if the terrible book you just read is a 1 or 1.5 star book? Look no further than this chart. Was it Shit or just Bad? Was that movie you watched Very Good or just Decent? How many things out there are really Life Changing?

Finally, a rating scale for humans. Use it for anything in your life that needs a rating out of 5 stars.

Rating / Description

0.5 – The worst 1.0 – Shit 1.5 – Bad 2.0 – Eh 2.5 – Entertaining, but not great 3.0 – Neutral 3.5 – Alright 4.0 – Decent 4.5 – Very good 5.0 – Life Changing

P.S. Do not use it to rate your wife's cooking. The author is not liable for any damages.

@ 2355757c:5ad3e04d

Non-Native Electromagnetic Fields (nnEMFs) are in my opinion, the least discussed and most pervasive environmental toxin in modern society that is negatively affecting our health. We live in a toxic soup world, where we are being attacked from every angle. Polluted air, water, plastics, chemicals in our food/clothes, endocrine disruptors in our personal care and cooking products…the list goes on and on. It is the unfortunate reality of living in a modern fiat world, where all big companies cut corners with cheap, toxic ingredients just so you can have a $20 cooking pan and a $15 t-shirt. 

On the bright side of things, most of those toxins are pretty easily avoidable by just swapping for higher quality or more natural alternatives. You can also filter or buy better water and eat real food that was raised locally without toxic herbicides (to a pretty easy degree). Enter nnEMFs, something that is IMPOSSIBLE to fully avoid and MUCH more challenging to mitigate exposure to. That is because technology is so ubiquitous in our modern society. Cell phones and wifi routers in every house, smart appliances, cell towers on every block, power distribution and transmission lines, 5G rollout…we are surrounded by nnEMFs on a daily basis.

What are nnEMFs and why are they bad for my health?

A nnEMF is any EMF generated from a non-native source AKA a result of modern human technology. The three most common sources of nnEMFs are from our electrical power grid, radiofrequency (RF) communication, and microwave frequencies. These three sources differ by function and frequency. 

• Electrical Power Grid - 60Hz Frequency - In “Extremely Low Frequency Range (ELF)”

• Radio Frequency (RF) - 3kHz to 300GHz - Mobile/Societal Communication/TV/Radio 

• Microwave (MW) - 300MHz to 300GHz - Radar/Satellite/Space Communication

It gets a bit confusing in the nomenclature between RF and MW, but in reality the only difference is the type of application above 300MHz. Below 300MHz and it is distinctly an RF frequency. All transmission and distribution of power to industry/homes/businesses is occurring at 60Hz. Vast differences in frequency, both turn out to be pretty detrimental for our health. Here’s a few reasons why:

1. Classified as a possible carcinogen by the IARC (Group 2B)

RF-EMFs and ELF EMFs have been classified by the IARC as possibly carcinogenic based on the current scientific evidence. Now this is still a lower classification than red meat, so does this carry any merit? I say yes. Many researchers agree, such as in THIS study where researchers looked at mobile phone radiation and risk of brain tumors and concluded that RF fields should be classified as a probable carcinogenunder the criteria used by the IARC. 

1. RF and ELF Fields Increase Oxidative Stress

Oxidative stress. If you are a regular here in the health space you know how much comes down to maintaining redox homeostasis in our mitochondria (the supplier of ATP in our cells). Dysfunctional mitochondria = dysfunctional health and it just so happens that nnEMFs can significantly increase oxidative stress in our cells, with review studies like THIS one documenting how the most electromagnetic organs (brain, heart) as well as reproductive organs (testes, ovaries) were the MOST affected. (I wrote a recent substack post on declining sperm count and nnEMFs was the star of the show). Increased oxidative stress is consistent with OG findings from the likes of Dr. Robert Becker and Dr. Andrew Marino in their research. It is high level, but increased levels of oxidative stress predisposes you to increased risk of ALL KNOWN CHRONIC DISEASES. Because of this, nnEMFs have been strongly linked to increased risk of the following:

• Neurodegenerative diseases

• Reproductive issues

• Cancer 

• Cardiovascular disease 

• Diabetes

• Disturbed Sleep

We live in a toxic soup world. Achieving restorative sleep is the only way our body is able to fight back and restore our health from all of these toxic exposures. ANYTHING that impedes sleep restoration is a premature nail in the coffin in my eyes. Don’t believe me on the importance and power of melatonin and our circadian rhythm? Check out THIS thread I wrote on melatonin (anti-cancer, potent anti-oxidant, mitochondrial composer, etc.). Exposure to nnEMFs during the day AND at night disturb our sleep and prevent the ability to have that highly restorative sleep needed to detoxify and replenish our cells. Lose quality sleep, lose the ability to handle stressors that you are exposed to daily.

DON’T BELIEVE ME THAT nnEMFs are harmful to human health? You are not alone. Many mainstream media outlets, researchers, and industry “experts” dismiss the level of non-ionizing radiation coming from things like cell phones as dangerous to human health. This is has been ongoing since the 1970s. However, if you are subscribed to this newsletter you may have more of an open mind to believing everything you read from CNN, Forbes, or the WHO. I know you all question things more than the average member of society. So if you question the efficacy and morality of the vaccine, why would you not also question the potential health hazards of nnEMF exposure? Even Presidential Nominee RFK is on board. Big Tech, Big Pharma, Big Food…there is no difference! Centralized industry will do anything it takes to cover up research that is sound and not funded by themselves. Here is an example…

Dr. Henry Lai from University of Washington Emeritus has compiled the most comprehensive set of research articles regarding nnEMFs and biological impacts. He has reviewed OVER 2,500 studies. His conclusion?

Dr. Lai reports concluded from his research that exposure to RFR or ELF EMF produces oxidative effects or free radicals, and damages DNA. Downstream effects of studies examined include significant effects on genetic, neurological and reproductive functions. Among hundreds of studies of Radio Frequency Radiation (RFR), 70% to 89% reported significant biological effects. Among hundreds of studies of Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) and static fields, 74% to 91% reported significant biological effects.

Still don’t believe me, read the book Going Somewhere by Dr. Andrew Marino. It will blow your mind on how much effort has gone to cover up research on the biological effects of nnEMFs since the 1970s. Or Google Russia’s stance on nnEMFs. 

You can also listen to one of our latest Decentralized Radio episodes with Anthony Smith, COO of EMF Safe. EMF Safe is a fantastic company that offers, in my opinion, the MOST effective nnEMF mitigation technology for your house. Hint: it’s not a f*cking pendant or harmonizer. YouTube link or Spotify link HERE.

Now that we got through the depressing side of the story, let's talk about WHAT YOU CAN DO to protect yourself from the harmful effects of nnEMFs without having to live in the woods-not a perfect solution either ;) 

HOW TO MITIGATE nnEMF detrimental health effects: DURATION + DISTANCE \

\ TIME/DURATION. Your worst enemy in being exposed to nnEMFs is the duration of exposure. Nearly all of the negative studies showed that after 48-72hrs of exposure (chronic), detrimental health effects were seen. HOWEVER, the same studies showed less conclusive negative health effects for exposures less than 24-48hrs (with variance). For me that means the following action items:

• Turn off the wifi-router at night 

• Turn phone on airplane mode when not using for >10 min

• Turn appliances OFF when not in use in your home 

• Create a sleep sanctuary with minimal/no electronics in the bedroom 

• Do not move to an area right next to High Voltage Transmission Lines, Substation, Airport, Hospital, etc. (any area with high powered communication/RF equipment or power distribution equipment) 

DISTANCE. Distance is your best friend in mitigating nnEMFs. Why? Inverse square law. Inverse square law is the fact that the magnitude of the EMF is calculated with the square of the distance in the denominator of the equation. This means that for every doubling of distance you have between you and the EMF source, the magnitude weakens by a factor of FOUR. Triple the distance, EMF magnitude goes down by a factor of NINE (and so forth). For me that results in the following action items:

• Do not keep your cell phone ON your body when ON & receiving calls/texts 

• Do NOT hold your cell phone up to your ear when making calls (use headphones/speaker)

• Move your bed 6-12 inches AWAY from any electrical outlets in your bedroom (especially near your head)

• Do not stand immediately next to high powered appliances when ON & in use (microwave, washer, dryer, blender, etc.)

There exists a lot of other nnEMF “mitigating/harmonizing” technologies, however I would be highly suspect of anyone trying to sell you something. EMFs are extremely complex. The angle of incidence, power level, and frequency matter tremendously. Most folks who aren’t engineers or have a deep knowledge of physics likely won’t be able to have the baseline knowledge to know what is a scam and what is not. OR what to prioritize from an nnEMF mitigation perspective. I gave a pretty good starting point above for what actionable steps you can take. THis does not mean all products are a scam. nnEMF shielding has its place and I use some of these products…but whenever a topic is extremely complex to the layperson, it is easy for someone to convince you that a product works. Especially when proof is challenging to come up with (EMF readers are an okay tool at best). 

As someone who holds a M.S. in Electrical Engineering, I never thought that my degree would come in handy for health optimization. Now in 2023, here I am realizing how electromagnetism is likely the MOST important topic to conceptualize to really crack the optimal health code. We are electromagnetic beings, and the research in this space has only just begun to scratch the surface.

If you want to learn more in depth about nnEMFs, mitigation tactics, what products work and do not, etc…subscribe to stay up to date on the latest. I am directly working with some renowned EMF experts on developing more educational content/courses that I will be launching in the near future to help practitioners and fellow esoteric health connoisseurs better understand nnEMFs more in depth to help themselves and their clients live a more optimal life. 

Here on Decentralized Health, I will be writing in depth about the electromagnetic aspects of health alongside other topics I am passionate about such as environmental toxins, regenerative agriculture, decentralization, Bitcoin and more. I want as many people as possible to become empowered through education so that they can escape the dependencies of the centralized systems that are tarnishing our quality of life. 

This is just the tip of the nnEMF iceberg. 

Stay Sovereign,

Tristan

Originally published Sep 25. 2023

@ f96073dc:5951c7c2

Introduction

The food we consume plays an obvious yet undervalued role in not just sustaining us, but also in shaping who we become.

The phrase "You are what you eat" transcends cliché to embody a profound truth: our diet directly influences our life experience.

Debates continue about the optimal food sources for human health and longevity.

These discussions often involve emotionally charged arguments influenced by faith, traditions, economic interests, and political opinions concerning the global climate crisis and sustainability.

My goal isn’t to delve into the weeds of this emotional & political debate, but instead to strip things back and provide a birds eye view on nutrition, whilst offering alternative lenses through which we can view food.

## Understanding Food as Information

More than mere fuel, food serves as crucial information for our bodies.

This concept may sound strange, as much of our nutritional understanding has been dumbed down to ‘energy in, energy out’, or ‘calories in, calories out’.

This perspective bypasses the importance of micro nutrients—the vitamins & minerals our bodies interrelate with, or don’t.

Food information determines how our cells function and regenerate, impacting everything from energy levels to cognitive ability.

The challenge lies in deciphering what constitutes "good information."

For centuries, nature provided a simple guide.

Our ancestors thrived on a diet of organ meats, plants, seafood, fruit, muscle meats, bones, and eggs—foods naturally rich in nutrients and absent of modern chemicals.

The question remains: If our forebears thrived on these natural foods, why have we deviated so drastically?

## The Shift in Food Paradigms

The introduction of heavily processed "Frankenfoods" laden with chemicals represents a stark departure from the diets of our grandparents and great-grandparents.

They consumed what we now coin "organic" food out of necessity rather than choice.

Food is pleasure, but it’s also a tool for a healthy self.

This ratio has been disproportionally thrown out of alignment.

The modern supermarket, with its aisles dominated by hyper palatable and processed products, reflects a concerning shift in our eating habits.

On the periphery of supermarkets lie fruits, vegetables, dairy, and animal based products, many of which have been sprayed with chemicals like glyphosate, or raised under inhumane conditions.

This brings us to the troubling paradox: while some parts of the world suffer from over-consumption and associated health issues like obesity and metabolic diseases, others face malnutrition and starvation due to food scarcity. (See red line below)

*HFCS: High fructose corn syrup

Questioning Current Food Paradigms

Our current food systems are broken.

A hard truth and pill to swallow, but if you look around, people have never been this unwell and overweight.

Misleading ‘Health Star Ratings’ and a flawed food pyramid, reflect a deeper societal malaise.

These systems often promote products that are not conducive to health, with processed carbohydrate forms serving as our staple, while nutrient and caloric dense foods like meat, fish, dairy, and natural fats have been marginalised.

## Whole Foods and Balanced Nutrients

So, what’s the ideal diet?

There is no universal diet that fits everybody.

The journey to finding the right diet involves personal experimentation.

However, a diet emphasising whole foods, which humans have consumed for millennia, remains a sound choice.

Eating natural foods avoids the pitfalls of ultra-processed foods and provides a balanced array of nutrients.

Side note: historically, meat was always the prized resource.

## Beyond Pesticides

Every year, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) puts together a list of 15 foods with the lowest amounts of pesticide residues, and conversely, 12 of the most contaminated foods with pesticides.

This is known as the ‘Clean Fifteen’ and ‘Dirty Dozen’.

When financially feasible, it’s advised to consume organic and pasture raised products.

If buying organic isn’t possible, one strategy to reduce pesticides is to soak the produce in water and a teaspoon of baking soda or a splash of apple cider vinegar for a few minutes.

## Nutritional Strategies for Specific Needs

Strategies like the elimination diet can help individuals identify how specific foods affect their bodies, allowing them to make informed choices that resonate with their unique physiological needs.

Tracking macronutrients and particularly protein intake can be crucial for specific health goals like muscle growth or weight loss.

Gaining a baseline understanding of the macros in your food can be an important piece of the puzzle, but should not become an obsessive practice.

Many diets serve a purpose, and depending on your goals as well as physiology, can be leveraged for great benefit.

This broad concept has been developed into a growing area of research called Nutrigenomics, defined as the study of how different foods may interact with specific genes to modify the risk of common chronic diseases, such as heart disease, stroke, and certain cancers.

For example, a ketogenic diet can help those with neurological disorders such as epilepsy or Alzheimer's disease, intermittent fasting can facilitate weight loss, and a carnivore diet can heal chronic skin or gut issues.

## Conclusion

In an era where diet-related health issues are rampant, returning to a more natural, informed way of eating is not just beneficial; it is necessary.

The prevalence of heavily processed "Frankenfoods" deviates from the nutrient-rich diets of our ancestors, contributing to a paradox of overconsumption and malnutrition.

Challenging current food paradigms is necessary to address misleading nutritional guidelines and flawed food systems.

Empower yourself to explore food in a deeper fashion, seeking a diet that not only nourishes your body but also aligns with your lifestyle goals and fosters a sense of vitality and well-being.

Eating well is a form of a self respect, and while we get the chance to inhabit this physical form, it should be our duty to make the most of this life and embody our fullest potential.

@ 00cfe60d:2819cc65

Lets start with the money talk, at its core, a good form of money is created from two key ingredients: time and energy.

**Money = Time + Energy ** This simple idea explains why money has value. Time is something we can never get back, and energy is what powers everything we do, both mentally and physically. Together, they create value.

Why Energy is So Important Energy is what keeps life going. It’s essential for everything we use and do every day. For example:

• Food without energy to cook is raw and not very tasty.
• A car without energy doesn’t go anywhere.
• A person without energy feels tired and can’t work or play.
• Your work without energy gets nothing done.
• Football without energy means no running, no cheering, and no fun.
• A phone without energy is just a useless object.
• A house without energy is cold, dark, and uncomfortable.
• Transportation without energy means no moving buses, trains, or planes.
• The internet without energy means no websites, no games, and no communication.
• Nature without energy means plants don’t grow and animals can’t survive.

And what about money without energy? ** We often hear that “time is money” but if money is created without any time or energy, it becomes worthless. That’s why energy is so important in giving money its value.

Why Bitcoin is Different

Bitcoin is special because it follows the equation of money perfectly. It’s the best kind of money because it requires both time and energy to exist. Here’s how:

• Time: Bitcoin’s network is designed to create new bitcoins at regular intervals, so time is built into the system.

• Energy: Bitcoin is made using a process called Proof-of-Work, which uses real-world energy to produce and secure it. This ties its value to effort and cost.

Thanks to this process, Bitcoin is:

1. Scarce: There will only ever be 21 million bitcoins. It can’t be copied or faked.

2. Reliable: Its value is tied to real-world energy, making it solid and trustworthy.

3. Effort-Based: No one can create bitcoins out of thin air. It takes real work.

This makes Bitcoin an honest form of money, free from manipulation or shortcuts. It connects the digital and physical worlds through energy, just like gold was in the past, requiring time and energy to extract and maintain its value.

The Problem with Regular Money (Fiat Money)

On the other hand, fiat money, the kind printed by governments, doesn’t follow the same rules. It’s made without effort, just by pressing a button. This leads to big problems:

1. Inflation: More money is printed, making the money you already have worth less.

2. Manipulation: Governments and banks can change the rules whenever they want.

3. Unfairness: People closest to the money printers benefit the most, while everyone else pays the price.

4. Fiat money breaks the rule of time and energy. It’s just a symbol, not a true store of value.

**Henry Ford’s Energy Currency Idea ** Over 100 years ago, Henry Ford had a bold idea: What if money was based on energy? He believed energy was the ultimate resource because it’s measurable and valuable to everyone.

Bitcoin brings Ford’s vision to life. Its Proof-of-Work system ties money directly to energy. Bitcoin acts as a global, incorruptible energy currency that rewards effort and aligns money with real-world value.

Why Energy-Based Money Matters

Money that’s rooted in time and energy isn’t just an idea, it’s a principle we live by every day. To truly understand the value of energy and effort, let me share a personal story.

Every single day of the week, I train. I pour my energy and effort into CrossFit, pushing my body and mind to their limits. Last year, during a competition, I achieved something I’d never done before: 12 ring muscle-ups. Before that, my maximum was just three. Through consistent training, spending my time and energy at the gym, I earned that reward. It wasn’t easy, but it was worth it.

This is Proof-of-Work in action. Just like my training required time and energy to achieve results, Bitcoin requires time and energy to exist. Its

Proof-of-Work mechanism ensures:

• It can’t be faked or inflated.
• It rewards hard work and energy, not shortcuts or manipulation.
• It restores trust by linking value to real-world effort.

In a world where fiat money can be printed without effort, Bitcoin shines as a clear and honest form of money. Like the work I put into my training, Bitcoin ties time and energy to value, creating a system that’s fair, transparent, and built to last.

@ 2f4550b0:95f20096

Leadership is rarely a smooth ride. For every moment of success, there are setbacks and challenges that test even the most seasoned leaders. The key to sustained success isn’t avoiding difficulties but rather how effectively one can navigate through them. Resilience, the ability to bounce back from adversity, is not just a personal asset; it’s a leadership imperative.

I remember an experience earlier in my career that underscored the power of resilience in leadership. I was leading a team on a high-stakes project. We had invested countless hours, fine-tuned every detail, and had finally reached the presentation phase. Then, disaster struck: the technology we relied on for the demo failed at the last minute. The team’s morale plummeted. I saw the disappointment in their faces, and I could feel the weight of their expectations on me.

At that moment, I had a choice: I could either give in to frustration and let the team spiral, or I could model resilience and lead them through the crisis. I took a deep breath and reminded myself that setbacks are temporary and often lead to growth. We brainstormed solutions on the spot, restructured our approach, and within hours had a makeshift presentation that was just as impactful as our original plan. In the end, we delivered it successfully—and I learned one of the most valuable lessons in leadership: resilience doesn’t mean avoiding failure, but rather how we respond when things don’t go as planned.

This experience taught me that resilient leadership hinges on a few essential principles:

• Maintain a Positive Outlook: As a leader, your mindset directly influences your team. When faced with setbacks, staying calm and optimistic can help anchor the group. A positive perspective allows you to focus on solutions instead of dwelling on problems.
• Adapt and Problem-Solve: Resilience is about adaptability. Things don’t always go according to plan, and being able to quickly pivot and think creatively in the face of adversity is crucial. Resilient leaders encourage their teams to embrace change, adapt, and find alternative solutions.
• Support Your Team: Leaders cannot be resilient alone. Resilience thrives in a supportive environment. Offer your team encouragement, communicate openly, and make sure they know they have your support. By fostering a culture of mutual trust, you’ll enable everyone to recover and grow stronger together.
• Learn from Setbacks: Every challenge presents an opportunity to learn. Resilient leaders view failures as stepping stones to improvement. Reflecting on what went wrong and why, allows leaders and teams to strengthen their strategies moving forward.

In leadership, setbacks are inevitable. What sets great leaders apart is their ability to bounce back. With resilience, you can navigate through challenges with confidence and lead your team toward continued success.

@ 8d34bd24:414be32b

I’ve known that there are references to Jesus in the Old Testament. They just don’t use the name Jesus.

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26) {emphasis mine}

Notice the references to God in the plural. These are clues to the trinitarian (3 persons in one God) nature of God.

There are also examples of theophanies (preincarnate Jesus) in the Old Testament. These theophanies are frequently referred to as “the angel of the Lord” or “the angel of God.”

But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” (Genesis 22:11-12) {emphasis mine}

In this case we know that the “angel of the Lord” is not just an angel because he says, “I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me,” equating Himself, “Me,” with God. In most cases when an angel appears, the people drop face down in worship, but the angel corrects them and tells them not to worship. When the angel is Jesus, He accepts the worship and in many cases sacrifices as well.

The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior.” Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? … So Gideon said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who speak with me. Please do not depart from here, until I come back to You, and bring out my offering and lay it before You.” And He said, “I will remain until you return.”

Then Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour; he put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, and brought them out to him under the oak and presented them. The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so. Then the angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. When Gideon saw that he was the angel of the Lord, he said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” (Judges 6:12=13a, 17-22) {emphasis mine}

As you can see, Gideon offered an offering. An offering to anyone other than God would be idolatry. Gideon offers a “a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour,” which is a proper sin offering to God. The angel did not eat the offering, but told Gideon to “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock … Then the angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.” Gideon’s offering was taken as a burnt offering to God and to angel of the Lord, who is Jesus.

With all of this, look at the verse I read last night:

Who has ascended into heaven and descended?\ Who has gathered the wind in His fists?\ Who has wrapped the waters in His garment?\ Who has established all the ends of the earth?\ What is His name or His son’s name?\ Surely you know! (Proverbs 30:4) {emphasis mine}

Surely this is a passage about Jesus.

This verse says, “Who has ascended into heaven and descended?” The New Testament says about Jesus, “No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man.” (John 3:13)

This verse says, “Who has gathered the wind in His fists?” The New Testament says about Jesus,

And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. (Mark 4:37-39) {emphasis mine}

This verse says, “Who has wrapped the waters in His garment?” The New Testament says about Jesus,

And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”

Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. (Matthew 14:25-29) {emphasis mine}

This verse says, “Who has established all the ends of the earth?” The New Testament says about Jesus,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. (John 1:1-3) {emphasis mine}

This verse says, “What is His name or His son’s name?” The New Testament says about Jesus,

After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased. (Matthew 3:16-17) {emphasis mine}

This verse says, “Surely you know!” As New Testament believers we know the Son of God, Jesus Christ. The Bible was pointing to the Son of God long before He came to earth as a baby.

Who has ascended into heaven and descended?\ Who has gathered the wind in His fists?\ Who has wrapped the waters in His garment?\ Who has established all the ends of the earth?\ What is His name or His son’s name?\ Surely you know! (Proverbs 30:4) {emphasis mine}

It doesn’t matter how many times we have already read the Bible. Every time we read it, we can discover new insight and knowledge of God, His eternal plans, and His commands for our lives. God is good.

Trust Jesus.

@ 2063cd79:57bd1320

Unit-Bias

Bitcoin hat in der öffentlichen Wahrnehmung und bei Menschen, die sich weniger mit dem Thema befassen, einen sogenannten Unit-Bias, also eine durch Unwissenheit hervorgerufene Voreingenommenheit gegenüber der Einheit "Bitcoin". Das bedeutet, dass viele unerfahrene Anleger//innen und Nutzer//innen der Meinung sind, dass der Besitz eines ganzen bitcoins psychologisch wichtig oder überhaupt nur als solcher möglich ist. Anders ausgedrückt, glauben viele Menschen, sie müssen Bitcoin als Ganzes kaufen, also einen ganzen "physischen" bitcoin, statt kleinerer Bruchstücke. Das lässt den Vermögenswert für die meisten zu teuer aussehen.

Dies ist für Bitcoin insofern ein Problem, als dass viele Menschen sich durch ihre Voreingenommenheit gar nicht mit Bitcoin beschäftigen ("kann ich mir nicht leisten") oder das Gefühl haben, Bitcoin sei zu teuer und deshalb gibt es kein Wertsteigerungspotential mehr ("der Zug ist abgefahren, ich hätte vor sechs Jahren investieren sollen"). Schlimmer noch, als sich nicht mit Bitcoin zu beschäftigen, ist sich dann stattdessen alternativen, "erschwinglicheren" Kryptowährungen zuzuwenden. Dieser Unit-Bias ist allerdings nichts anderes als ein Marketing-, bzw. ein Bildungsproblem. Denn wie wir wissen kann man Bitcoin in 100 Millionen Untereinheiten brechen und in kleinsten Mengen erwerben, verschicken und verkaufen. Doch haben Außenstehende von Begriffen wie Lightning oder Sats meistens noch nie gehört.

Untereinheiten

Doch auch innerhalb der Bitcoin-Szene ist die Unterteilung von Bitcoin in Untereinheiten nicht ganz unumstritten. Denn viele Nutzer//innen sind sich uneinig darüber, was der beste Weg ist, Bitcoins Untereinheiten zu bezeichnen und sogar darzustellen. Dies zeigt sich z.B. darin, dass Apps oft entweder Bitcoin oder Fiat anzeigen, manche Apps aber auch Beträge in Sats darstellen. Dies verlangt aber oft eigene Einstellungen innerhalb der App oder viele Klicks, die die Bedienung und Darstellung eher unhandlich gestalten.

Es gibt verschiedene Lösungsansätze, die dem/der Nutzer//in die ungewohnte Rechnung mit acht Nachkommastellen erleichtern sollen. Denn viele Anwender//innen denken beim Blick in ihre Wallets oft noch in lokalen Fiat-Werten, also in ganzen Einheiten (z.B. Euro oder Dollar) und Hundertsteln (z.B. Cents).

Einige Wallets versuchen diesen Spagat komplett zu umgehen, indem sie vermeiden, Beträge in Fiat darzustellen. Doch auch hier bleibt immer noch das Problem der unhandlichen Darstellung von acht Nachkommastellen, weshalb einige Anbieter einfach zwei Eingabemöglichkeiten bieten und den Betrag in Bitcoin oder Sats automatisch umrechnen.

Doch selbst das Zeichen für Sats ist nicht final geklärt. Es gibt viele verschiedene Vorschläge und Meinungen dazu, welches Symbol genutzt werden sollte. Die meisten Apps, Rechnungen und Sticker schreiben einfach das Wort "Sats" oder "sats" aus. Allerdings ist dies ein Problem, da außerhalb der Bitcoin-Szene niemand weiß, was ein Sat ist. Die meisten Menschen werden mittlerweile von Bitcoin gehört haben, auch wenn sie nicht wissen, wie es funktioniert, was es bedeutet, oder wie man damit umgeht. Doch auch das B Logo mit den Dollarstrichen (₿) werden die meisten Menschen zuordnen können.

Sats hingegen ist ein sehr nischiger Begriff und seine Verwendung noch unbekannter. Oft wird das Blitzsymbol (3 auf der unteren Grafik) verwendet, um Lightning darzustellen und auch das Symbol mit den drei horizontalen Strichen und zwei vertikalen Punkten (4 auf der unteren Grafik), das entfernt an das Dollar-Zeichen erinnern soll ($), erfreut sich immer größerer Beliebtheit. Das Problem dabei ist nur, dass es sich in geschriebener Form nicht, oder nur unzulänglich darstellen lässt: 丰 🤡

Es war lange logisch und notwendig, ganze Bitcoins zur Aufzählung und Bezahlung zu verwenden, da bei der Einführung von Bitcoin sein Geldwert sehr gering war. Es bestand also absolut keine Notwendigkeit dazu, in kleineren Einheiten als Bitcoin zu denken. Einfaches Beispiel: letzte Woche, am 22. Mai, jährte sich der Bitcoin-Pizza-Day zum 13. Mal, also jener Tag an dem Laszlo Hanyecz für zwei Pizza 10.000 bitcoins bezahlte und damit die erste offline Transaktion mit Bitcoin tätigte. 10.000 bitcoins entsprachen zu diesem Zeitpunkt also knapp $40, oder andersrum $1 entsprach 250 bitcoins Es gab also immer noch keine Notwendigkeit, kleinere Einheiten von Bitcoin zu verwenden. Diese Notwendigkeit ergab sich erst, als der Bitcoin und der Dollar Parität erlangten (1 Bitcoin = $1) und spätestens, als Bitcoin die Marke von $100 durchbrach, wurde rechnen in Bitcoin schwieriger.

Fortan überlegte man sich, Bitcoin in kleineren Einheiten darzustellen. Die zwei Möglichkeiten sind der Bit und der Sat. Ein einzelner bitcoin kann in 1.000.000 Bits oder bis zu 100.000.000 Sats unterteilt werden, also 100 Sats = 1 Bit = 0,000001 Bitcoin.

Ein weiterer Grund, weshalb eine Stückelung in bitcoin (der Begriff für einen ganzen physischen bitcoin) schwierig und verwirrend ist, und deshalb viele nach einer alternativen Bezeichnung für Untereinheiten suchten, ist dass darüber hinaus "Bitcoin" zur Beschreibung von zwei Dingen verwendet werden kann: dem monetären Netzwerk (Bitcoin - großes B) und dem monetären Vermögenswert (bitcoin - kleines B).

Bitcoin, der Vermögenswert, ist für diejenigen, die noch nichts damit zu tun hatten, sowohl verwirrend als auch fremd. Denn wie bereits erwähnt, führt der Unit-Bias dazu, dass viele Menschen denken, dass sie es sich nicht leisten können, Bitcoin zu kaufen, oder dass sie den Anschluss verpasst haben. Die Verwendung einer Bepreisung in Bruchteilen würde die Verwirrung über die Benennung des Netzwerks und des Vermögenswerts verringern, aber auch die psychologische Hürde für den Einstieg in Bitcoin senken. Vorausgesetzt, die Benennung ist logisch und intuitiv.

Bits vs. Sats

Wie schon erwähnt, gibt es zwei gängige Untereinheiten von Bitcoin, 1 Bit (= 0,000001 Bitcoin) und 1 Sat (0,00000001 Bitcoin). Seit jeher gibt es Diskussionen darüber, welche der beiden Einheiten für den täglichen Gebrauch die vernünftigere und intuitivere ist.

Die Verwendung von Bits zur Aufzählung von Bitcoin hat einige Vorteile. Ein Bit stellt ein „Bit“ eines Bitcoins dar, also der grundlegendsten und kleinsten Informationseinheit in der Informatik. Den meisten Menschen fällt es einfacher, das Wort „Bit“ mit Bitcoin zu assoziieren und daher verstehen sie eher, dass ein Bit ein Teil eines Bitcoins ist. Ein „Sat“ bedeutet für den Durchschnittsmenschen, wie oben beschrieben, nichts.

Adam Back (CEO von Blockstream und Bitcoin-Legende) ist wahrscheinlich der bekannteste Befürworter von Bits > Sats. Er argumentiert von verschiedenen Richtungen, dass z.B. Bits eine rechnerisch einfachere Variante ist, Untereinheiten von Bitcoin darzustellen, als Sats.

Weiter argumentiert er mit der historischen Entwicklung von Bitcoin, dem Protokoll und seiner Referenz-Implementierung. In den Anfangsjahren wurde in der Bitcoin Core Wallet mit Bits gearbeitet. Außerdem argumentiert er, dass die Verbindung zwischen Bitcoin der Haupteinheit und Bits oder Sats als Untereinheit zumindest semantisch gebrochen werden sollte. Da Bitcoin (im Fall eines weiter steigenden Kurses) als Recheneinheit immer unpraktischer wird, sollte man als mentales Modell auf das Rechenpaar Bits und Sats zurückgreifen - analog zur Darstellung von Dollars und Cents oder Euros und Cents. Dabei stellen die zwei Nachkommastellen eines in Bits angegebenen Preises die Sats dar.

Ganz einfaches Beispiel: Ein Kasten Bier kostet heute etwas 20€, also 0,00079758 Bitcoin. Einfacher dargestellt: 797,58 Bits, also 797 Bits und 58 Sats. “Ein Bitcoin ist zu teuer, aber Sats sind zu viele, klingen billig und verwirrend.” Es ist schwer in Sats zu denken und selbst wenn der Preis von Bitcoin 1 M US Dollar erreicht, ist ein Bit immer noch eine greifbare und günstige Einheit: 1 Bit = 1 US Dollar.

Eines von Adams Hauptargumenten ist, dass Sat als Untereinheit nicht funktioniert, weil es Dust gibt. Das Problem mit Dust besteht darin, dass es nicht möglich ist, Bitcoin unter einem bestimmten Schwellenwert auszugeben. Sein Argument ist, dass der Nutzen einer Einheit abhanden kommt, wenn diese Einheit als kleinste Recheneinheit nicht ausgegeben werden kann. Zugegeben, niemand kann mehr etwas für einen Cent kaufen, aber zumindest ist es technisch nicht unmöglich. Allerdings ist es unmöglich, 1 oder sogar 10 Sats über das Bitcoin-Netzwerk zu senden, ohne Layer-2-Skalierungstechnologien zu verwenden.

Dust

Unter Bitcoin-Dust versteht man eine sehr kleine Menge Bitcoin, typischerweise in kleinen ein- bis zweistelligen Sats-Beträgen, doch auch kommen immer öfter dreistellige Beträge vor. Sie werden Dust oder „Staub“ genannt, weil diese Beträge so gering sind, dass sie oft als unbedeutend und unpraktisch für die Verwendung bei regulären Transaktionen angesehen werden.

Es gibt keine offizielle Definition dafür wie groß/klein ein Betrag sein muss, um als Dust zu gelten, da jede Softwareimplementierung (Client, Wallet, etc.) einen anderen Schwellenwert annehmen kann. Die Bitcoin Core Referenzimplementierung definiert Dust als jede Transaktionsausgabe, die niedriger ist als die aktuellen Transaktionsgebühren.

Dust entsteht meist unbeabsichtigt bei Bitcoin-Transaktionen. Denn wenn Bitcoin von einer Adresse an eine andere gesendet wird, fällt oft eine Transaktionsgebühr an. Um Spam zu verhindern und die Sicherheit des Netzwerks zu gewährleisten, gibt es bei Bitcoin eine Mindestgröße für jede Transaktion. Dieses Limit ist der Mindestbetrag an Bitcoin, der als Ausgabe in eine Transaktion einbezogen werden kann. Der Rest ist Dust.

Oder einfacher ausgedrückt, wenn die Mindestgröße für eine Bitcoin-On-Chain-Transaktion 500 Sats (5 Bits) beträgt und ich noch 800 Sats (8 Bits) in meiner Wallet habe, kann ich nach dem Versenden von 600 Sats (6 Bits) die übrigen 200 Sats (2 Bits) nicht mehr ausgeben. Diese verbleibenden 2 Bits sind Dust.

Dust stellt aus mehreren Gründen eine Herausforderung für das Bitcoin-Netzwerk und seine Benutzer//innen dar:

UTXO-Bloat: Bei jeder Transaktion werden nicht ausgegebene Transaktionsausgaben (UTXOs) erstellt, und Dust erhöht die Anzahl der UTXOs im System. Dies kann zu einer aufgeblähten Blockchain führen und sich negativ auf die Leistung und Skalierbarkeit des Netzwerks auswirken.

➡️ Wie UTXOs funktionieren

Wallet-Management: Im Laufe der Zeit kann sich in Wallets viel Dust ansammeln, und die Verwaltung solch kleiner Beträge kann für Benutzer//innen unpraktisch sein. Bei vielen Wallets ist ein Mindestguthaben erforderlich, und die Dust-Mengen sind möglicherweise zu gering, um diese Anforderung zu erfüllen. Viele Nutzer//innen wechseln häufig zwischen Wallets und transferirien ihre Vermögen vorher auf die neuen Wallets, bei solchen Wechseln bleiben Dust-Beträge zurück und gelten langfristig als verloren.

Ein weiteres Problem besteht darin, dass Dust nicht genau definiert werden kann. Die Transaktionsgebühren hängen wesentlich von zwei Faktoren ab: Den Gebühren in sat/vB, welche von der Auslastung des Mempools abhängen und zu Zeiten von hoher Auslastung dementsprechend hoch sind, und zum anderen vom UTXO-Set des/der jeweiligen Nutzer//in. Denn wie wir wissen, werden Transaktionen aus einer oder mehreren UTXOs zusammengesetzt, je mehr UTXOs dabei benötigt werden, um den gewünschten Betrag zu versenden, desto höher sind die Kosten für diese Transaktion, da sich das Gewicht (in vBytes) erhöht. Diese beiden Faktoren können die Gebühren in Einzelfällen so strukturieren, dass größere Mengen Dust anfallen, als in anderen Fällen.

Datenschutzbedenken: Da jede Transaktion in der Blockchain gespeichert wird, können selbst winzige Mengen Dust mit der Identität oder dem Transaktionsverlauf einer Person verknüpft werden, was die Privatsphäre gefährdet. Diese Funktion wird von Angreifern in sogenannten Dust-Attacks ausgenutzt. Denn böswillige Angreifer haben schnell erkannt, dass Nutzer//innen die winzigen Dust-Beträge, die in ihren Wallet-Adressen angezeigt werden, nicht viel Aufmerksamkeit schenken oder gar bemerken. Angreifer schicken also Kleinstbeträge an eine große Anzahl von Adressen, um dann im nächsten Schritt in einer kombinierten Analyse dieser Adressen und der Beträge, versuchen herauszufinden, welche Adressen zur gleichen Wallet gehören. Dabei ist es das Ziel, diese so identifizierbaren Adressen und Wallets schließlich den jeweiligen Eigentümer//innen zuzuordnen, um diese dann durch ausgefeilte Phishing-Angriffe oder Cyber-Erpressungen zu attackieren.

Um diese Probleme zu lösen, können Nutzer//innen Dust konsolidieren, indem sie mehrere Dust-UTXOs in einer einzigen Transaktion mit einem höheren Wert kombinieren. Einige Wallets und Dienste bieten Funktionen an, mit denen Benutzer//innen ihren Dust effektiv verwalten und konsolidieren können.

Abschließende Gedanken

Der Unit-Bias ist absolut vorhanden. Ich persönlich begegne ihm immer wieder in Gesprächen mit Bitcoin-Interessierten, die sich mit der Materie noch nicht lange auseinandergesetzt haben. Die Verwunderung ist oft sehr groß, dass bitcoins nicht als Ganzes gekauft werden müssen. Die Verwendung einer Untereinheit sowohl in Wallets, als auch bei der Bepreisung kann dabei helfen.

An die Verwendung von Sats als die kleinste Einheit von Bitcoin habe ich mich gewöhnt, allerdings tendiere ich mittlerweile persönlich zum Gebrauch von Bits. Die hervorgebrachten Argumente leuchten mir ein und ich bin überzeugt, dass Bits eine größere Akzeptanz außerhalb des Bitcoin-Inner-Circles hervorrufen können, als Sats. Darüber hinaus ist das Sats-Zeichen wirklich unpraktisch.

Ich befürworte hier einige Ideen, die das Paragrafzeichen zum Symbol für Sats erheben wollen.

🫳🎤

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In diesem Sinne, 2... 1... Risiko!‌

@ ed84ce10:cccf4c2a

Hackathon Summary

The YQuantum 2024 Hackathon concluded with significant participation and numerous project submissions, establishing itself as a vibrant platform for innovation. Out of 300 registrants, the on-site participants formed teams and worked on developing 28 BUIDLs, engaging in challenges across diverse tracks sponsored by prominent quantum computing organizations, such as QuEra Computing, IBM Quantum, Classiq, DoraHacks, SandboxAQ, and Capgemini/The Hartford/Quantinuum.

Participants developed groundbreaking solutions in quantum computing, driven by prize incentives, including quantum cloud credits, internships, networking opportunities, and potential speaking engagements. The grand prizes recognized exceptional projects, with the first place receiving $2000, presentation opportunities before Yale researchers, and participation in the Yale Innovation Summit.

The hackathon successfully fostered a collaborative environment that encouraged the exploration of cutting-edge technologies and ideas, advancing the quantum computing field. YQuantum 2024 underscored the potential of quantum technologies and promoted knowledge exchange among participants and sponsors.

Hackathon Winners

Held on April 13, 2024, YQuantum's inaugural event attracted 300 participants from 10 countries, featuring six industry-sponsored challenges that culminated in a series of prestigious awards.

Institute Grand Prizes Winners

• 1st Place: Quantum Consortium: Case-Duke-Lehigh-Vandy Nexus This project employs adiabatic methods to prepare antiferromagnetic energy eigenstates, with a focus on quantum many-body scarring and enhancing error correction in computing.

• 2nd Place: Sparse Quantum State Preparation The team developed efficient algorithms using Classiq APIs for sparse quantum state preparation, optimizing execution for scalability and efficiency in managing quantum data.

• 3rd Place: QuBruin This project optimizes algorithms using dynamic quantum circuits and enhances error correction. The team improved user accessibility through Qiskit-based models for better circuit performance under noise conditions.

IBM Quantum Prize Winners

• Modified IBM Challenge
  This project delves into foundational linear algebra concepts, emphasizing core principles and mastery.

QuEra Computing Prize Winners

• 3D Quantum Scars on 2D Tweezer Arrays
  The team investigates quantum scar states on a 3D lattice projected into 2D, using Julia and QuEra's Bloqade to simulate quantum dynamics.

Classiq Technologies Prize Winners

• YQuantum2024 Classiq Team 34 Wavefunction Wizards
  Focusing on optimizing sparse quantum state preparation, this project enhances algorithmic efficiency in quantum data processing.

DoraHacks Prize Winners

• Spooner_QRNG_Classifier
  The project employs Python scripts and a gradient booster classifier to predict quantum device origins of random binary data, surpassing baseline prediction accuracy.

Capgemini // Quantinuum // The Hartford Prize Winners

• Skittlez
  This partnership addresses quantum computing challenges through interdisciplinary expertise, designing innovative quantum solutions.

• Honorable Mention: BB24 - Yale Quantum Monte Carlo The project enhances Quantum Monte Carlo techniques via novel sampling and encoding schemes, improving parallel processing and computational efficiency.

SandboxAQ Prize Winners

• QuantumQuails
  This project improves solar cell efficiency through quantum chemistry, utilizing VQE to model solar energy absorption for enhanced conversion effectiveness.

• Honorable Mention: mRNA Sequence Design via Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm This project optimizes mRNA sequence design using QAOA, enhancing protein expression and structural stability through codon and nucleotide parameters.

Explore all projects at DoraHacks.

About the Organizer:

YQuantum

YQuantum is a prominent entity within the technology and blockchain sectors, recognized for its innovative approach and strategic initiatives. Specializing in utilizing quantum computing capabilities, YQuantum is committed to advancing the technological frontier. Though specific projects are not highlighted, YQuantum's role in shaping industry standards positions it as a leader in the field. Through dedication to cutting-edge research and development, YQuantum continues to drive progress in quantum technologies, aligning with its mission to propel scientific and technological advancements globally.

@ c5fede3d:16e03f7b

Hay quien dice el famoso dicho de «año nuevo, vida nueva». En este caso, iniciamos el año con el mismo propósito, seguir aprendiendo para que no nos pille el toro. En esta ocasión, toca tratar la entrada de capital a tu wallet. Sin embargo, hay que saber donde meterse sin que las arenas movedizas te engullan. ¿Preparado para comprar la hucha del cerdito?

Esta es la segunda entrega de Semanario Crypto, una serie de artículos dedicados para aquellos que desconocen los conceptos básicos del mundo de las criptomonedas. La semana pasada hicimos un barrido sin adentrarnos en territorio comanche. Si aún no tienes claro qué es una wallet o cuál es el propósito de una frase semilla, ve al punto de partida y vuelve a leerte Semanario Crypto #1 | Un nuevo paradigma, porque es el ticket de entrada para este mundillo y no lo puedes perder.

EL LÍO DEL MONTEPÍO💱

Si has llegado hasta aquí, he de felicitarte. Has dado dos grandes pasos. El primero, tener la mente abierta y querer aprender. El segundo, disponer de una wallet y tener guardada a buen recaudo la frase semilla. Ahora es el momento de la verdad, operar, no sin antes tener claro un par de conceptos más.

¿Qué son los exchanges?

Son plataformas digitales donde los usuarios pueden comprar, vender o intercambiar criptomonedas. A través de ellas, los usuarios pueden convertir su dinero tradicional en crypto, facilitando el comercio de criptoactivos.

Los exchanges son los bancos del mundo de la criptomonedas. Ambos actúan como intermediarios en las transacciones financieras y ofrecen servicios relacionados con la inversión y el comercio. Sin embargo, no todos los exchanges son iguales, se diferencian dos tipos:

1. Exchange Centralizado (CEX)

En este tipo de exchange, una entidad centralizada gestiona las transacciones y retiene los fondos los usuarios. Los CEX custodian tu dinero, cuentan con equipos profesionales de atención al cliente y están sujetos a altas regulaciones gubernamentales. Te registras, haces la verificación de identidad (KYC) y ellos te proporcionan una wallet para que la fondees con tu dinero fiduciario y operes dentro de la plataforma. Todo un ecosistema a golpe de click.

2. Exchange Descentralizado (DEX)

Aquí las transacciones se realizan entre usuarios a través de contratos inteligentes en la blockchain (P2P), es decir, las operaciones se hacen directamente desde sus propias billeteras. No requieren que se proporcionen información personal. Los usuarios mantienen el control sobre sus activos (autocustodia) y no habrá que depositar en ellas.

Sabiendo las diferencias entre un CEX y un DEX, nuevamente nos hallamos en la tesitura de tener que definirnos a nosotros mismos. En la anterior entrega de Semanario Crypto optamos por una wallet caliente o una fría en función del tipo de inversor que somos, o incluso pudimos hacer un mix emparejando la wallet fría a una extensión de navegador. Aunque, como acabamos de ver, si te registras en un CEX ellos ya te proporcionan una billetera electrónica para que operes dentro de la plataforma. La elección es tuya, pero has de tener en cuenta cómo operar de una forma u otra conforme al capital que dispongas:

Quiero operar por un monto superior a 50k euros anuales y/o soy un buen ciudadano.

• Amigo mío, quítate de problemas, y registrate en un CEX como Binance o Bit2Me. La legislación fiscal española incide especialmente en que cualquier tenencia de criptomonedas superior a 50k euros debe ser declarada. Con los exchanges que te he puesto, la información proporcionada a la Agencia Tributaria es automática y de ella se encargan ellos, no tienes que hacer nada de nada. Solo hacer tu declaración anual habitual.
• También es la opción ideal para el vago y el que no dispone de tiempo. ¿Quieres hacer un mix que te ofrezca las bondades de los CEX y los DEX? Atento al siguiente punto y atiende a las nuevas regulaciones de cara a 2025.

Quiero operar por un monto inferior a 10k euros anuales y/o considero que los CEX son neo-usureros.

• La solución son los DEX. Como ya vimos, los exchanges descentralizados no requieren de KYC para operar, de modo que dan un mayor grado de privacidad y anonimato, puesto que jamás dispondrán de tu documentación personal. Además, estás expuesto a lo que se denomina el ecosistema de las finanzas descentralizadas (DeFi).
• El mundo DeFi busca democratizar el acceso a los servicios financieros, abriendo un abanico de nuevos mercados, oportunidades de inversión y ser el primero en conocer las innovaciones financieras. Sin lugar a dudas, es donde están los más avispados y la gente pudiente, muestra de ello es el valor de su capitalización de mercado, alcanzando más de 52 mil millones de dólares, que se dice pronto.

EL CASTILLO DE DRÁCULA, LA AEAT 🧛

El año 2025 va a ser determinante para el devenir del mundo de las criptomonedas, al menos en Europa. Es el año donde entran en vigor las nuevas regulaciones fiscales. Parece ser que el mantra de que los criptoactivos eran una estafa y que no valían nada a pasado a mejor vida a partir de la entrada del gran capital, como Blackrock. Ahora, los entes fiscales reguladores quieren su porción del pastel y apuntan a tu billetera. Si quieres operar en este mundillo, debes saber un poco de fiscalidad, para que no llamen a tu puerta. Aunque, recuerda, si optaste por ser un buen ciudadano (español, en este caso) que te registraste en un CEX como Binance o Bit2Me no tendrás mayores preocupaciones, porque allí todo lo que hagas acaba registrado automáticamente en tu declaración del año fiscal. De todas formas, siempre es bueno aprender, sobre todo si operas desde los DEX con tu billetera autocustodiada.

1. La Ley MiCa y Directiva DAC8

• Reglamento europeo que establece el marco regulatorio para las criptomonedas. Obliga a que todos los servicios financieros que emitan o comercialicen criptoactivos tengan licencia y deban proporcionar información sobre sus operaciones. Los proveedores de servicios deberán informar sobre las transacciones realizadas por residentes en Europa con fines de supervisión fiscal. Los ciudadanos europeos están obligados a declarar la tenencia de criptoactivos como parte del patrimonio personal, incluyendo ganancias, la cual estará sujeta a impuestos.
• La Directiva DAC8 complementa al reglamento y se enfoca en el intercambio automático de información fiscal entre los Estados miembro de la UE (CARF). Los proveedores de criptoactivos deberán reportarán todas las transacciones y datos relevantes a las autoridades fiscales nacionales, concretamente los movimientos y saldos del usuario. Legitima a Hacienda a poder embargar las criptomonedas depositadas en un exchange, las wallets autocustodiadas son inembargables por estar en control del usuario.

2. La Travel Rule o Regla de Viaje

• Regulación que aumenta la trazabilidad entre las transacciones de criptomonedas. Exige a los servicios de activos digitales (VASP) recojan y compartan información sobre los remitentes y beneficiarios, sea a carteras custodiadas o autocustodiadas.

3. Límites y “mandamientos”

• Cualquier transferencia superior a 1.000 euros requerirá que el proveedor recopile datos personales.
• Si el monto de operaciones alcanza los 10.000 euros anuales, el proveedor informa.
• Si el monto de operaciones alcanza los 3.000 euros en un trimestre natural, el proveedor informa.
• Las ganancias deben ser declaradas en el IRPF al final del año fiscal, incluso si las criptomonedas no se han convertido a FIAT (dinero fiduciario tradicional).
• El Modelo 721 es una obligación informativa que deben cumplir los contribuyentes que poseen criptomonedas en el extranjero (exchange que no opere bajo legislación española y no presente los modelos informativos requeridos por Hacienda) y cuyo saldo supera los 50.000 euros a fecha del 31 de diciembre.
• La CNMV supervisa el mercado de criptoactivos y el Banco de España las monedas estables (dólares digitales como USDC-USDT).

¿AÚN CON FUERZAS?

Pues sabiendo todo esto, ya es hora de que deposites tu dinero en tu billetera de criptomonedas. ¿Cómo hacerlo? Eso ya lo verás en la siguiente entrega de Semanario Crypto. En él se te ofrecerá el martillo para que rompes la hucha del cerdito y le des vida a tu wallet. Aprende las rutas de entrada y de salida. Opera con conocimiento y sabiendo lo que haces. Es más fácil de lo que piensas. Recuerda que la información es poder, y tú la vas a tener.

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Descargo de responsabilidad: Toda la información compartida forma parte de mi visión personal y no tiene como objetivo asesorar financieramente. Doy información, no consejos de inversión.

@ 2063cd79:57bd1320

Ich hatte vor ein paar Wochen die Gelegenheit mich mit Micheal Hassard persönlich zu unterhalten. Mike ist Verteidiger im Fall von Roman Sterlingov. Der Fall ist haarsträubend und beängstigend. Mike und ich haben uns einige Zeit unterhalten und er hat mir einige Details aus diesem wirklich spannenden Prozess verraten. Ich wollte versuchen die Informationen in einem Artikel zusammenzufassen, um auch anderen Leuten, die mit dem Fall noch nicht betraut sind, die Möglichkeit zu geben, zu verstehen, was für absurde Methoden und ungerechte Beweismittel in diesem noch komplett neuen rechtlichen Umfeld angewendet werden.

LAX

Am 27. April 2001 landet ein Direktflug aus Moskau am Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Bei der Passkontrolle an der Immigration wird ein junger Passagier dieses Fluges von Kriminalermittlern des Internal Revenue Service (IRS) verhaftet. In seinem Gepäck befinden sich vier Reisepässe und allerhand technisches Equipment. Darunter Laptops, externe Festplatten und Bitcoin Signing Devices (Hardware Wallets). Der junge Mann wird festgenommen, seine mitgeführten Besitztümer und Pässe konfisziert, dann wird er in Untersuchungshaft gebracht. Der Vorwurf: Die Gründung und der Betrieb eines Bitcoin Mixers. Konkret wird ihm vorgeworfen, Bitcoin Fog gegründet und betrieben zu haben, darüber hinaus wird er in drei Punkten angeklagt: Geldwäsche, Betrieb eines nicht lizenzierten Geldtransfergeschäfts und Geldtransfer ohne Lizenz. Die IRS behauptet, dass über 1,2 Millionen Bitcoin, im Wert von etwa 336 M US Dollar zum Zeitpunkt der Transaktionen, über Bitcoin Fog verschickt wurden.

Bitcoin Fog

Bitcoin Fog war ein beliebter Custodial Bitcoin Mixer, der von Nutzer//innen für ihre Privatsphäre genutzt wurde. Mixer sind Services die entwickelt wurden, um das Problem der "Common-Input-Ownership-Heuristik" zu brechen. Vereinfacht ausgedrückt beschreibt dieses Problem die Annahme, dass mehrere Inputs einer Transaktion relativ sicher dem gleichen Besitzer gehören. Ich habe Bitcoin Mixer schon mal detailliert beschrieben:

https://www.genexyz.org/post/23-block-772315-bitcoin-mixing-q6i7y4/

TL;DR: Die Grundidee besteht darin, dass man einen Coin nimmt, der aus mehreren UTXOs besteht, und diesen mit Hilfe eines Dienstes einem Pool zuführt. Diese Dienste erhalten für die Vermittlung, Zusammenführung und das Stellen der Infrastruktur eine kleine Gebühr. Transaktionen werden dann so aufgebaut, dass sie es Überwachungsfirmen oder anderen Beobachtern sehr schwer machen, genau zu wissen, welcher Transaktion-Output zu welchem der Input-Steller gehört.

Bitcoin Fog wurde 2011 gegründet und ist ein Custodial Service, was bedeutet, dass Nutzer//innen ihre Bitcoin an eine Wallet des Betreibers senden, und im Gegenzug dann von Bitcoin Fog andere Bitcoin zurück erhalten, um die Spur der On-Chain-Transaktionen zu verwischen.

Roman Sterlingov

Roman war schon früh Benutzer von Bitcoin. Als er 14 Jahre alt war, zog er mit seiner Mutter von Russland nach Schweden und beschäftigte sich ab etwa 2011 mit Bitcoin. Dies ist wichtig, denn als russischer und schwedischer Staatsbürger ist Roman im Besitz von vier offiziell ausgestellten Reisepässen. Russland hat zwei Pässe, einen für das Reisen innerhalb und einen für das Reisen außerhalb Russlands. Schweden stellt auch zwei Reisepässe aus. Als der Bitcoin-Kurs stieg, wurde er Millionär. Er kündigte seinen Job und versuchte, sich selbstständig zu machen. Unter anderem gründete er ein VPN-Geschäft, das nicht erfolgreich war, und entschied sich später aufgrund der Volatilität von Bitcoin und fehlenden Einnahmen aus seinen Projekten, Pilot bei einer kommerziellen Fluggesellschaft zu werden.

Er meldete sich bei einer kalifornischen Flugschule an und 2021, als Roman nach Kalifornien zur Flugschule flog, wurde er von der Regierung am Flughafen LAX verhaftet. Er sitzt seit über zwei Jahren im Gefängnis und wartet auf seinen Prozess. Neben seinen Pässen und seinem Equipment wurden auch die seit 2011 angesammelten Bitcoin beschlagnahmt, da diese auf Konten bei u.a. Kraken lagen.

Die Anklage

Kalifornien hat Roman Sterlingov wegen des Vorwurfs verhaftet, über einen Zeitraum von 10 Jahren Bitcoin im Wert von fast 336 M US Dollar gewaschen zu haben. Ihm wird vorgeworfen, über sein Konto und seine IP-Adressen mit der Bitcoin Fog-Domain und mit Mt. Gox-Konten, die in Verbindung zu Bitcoin Fog stehen, an Bitcoin Fog beteiligt zu sein.

Vor dem Start des Dienstes nutzte der Administrator seinen echten Namen auf seinem Mt. Gox-Konto, um die Plattform einem Betatest zu unterziehen. Sein persönliches Google-Konto wurde auch zum Speichern der Schritte zur Bezahlung der Domain verwendet. Dies sind jedoch zum heutigen Zeitpunkt nur Anschuldigungen ohne konkrete Beweise. Der Fall stützt sich stark auf digitale Forensik und Blockchain-Analyse ohne Zeugenaussagen oder ähnliche konkrete Beweisstücke. Selbst wenn Roman die Domain gekauft hätte, wäre dies nicht illegal. Die Verjährungsfrist für die angeblichen Verbrechen ist ebenfalls abgelaufen. Was bleibt, sind von der Anklage angeführte "Beweise", die sich komplett auf die Blockchain-Analyse der Firma Chainalysis stützen.

Chainalysis

Chainalysis ist die wohl bekannteste Blockchain-Analyse Firma. In einem früheren Artikel habe ich schon mal beschrieben, wie diese Firmen operieren:

https://www.genexyz.org/post/19-block-765505-on-chain-analytics-mhcumo/

TL;DR: Unter On-Chain Analytics versteht man die Analyse von Daten, die auf jeder beliebigen Blockchain vorhanden sind. Diese Daten sind auf der Chain, also on-chain und somit für jedermann jederzeit und von überall abrufbar. Genauer bieten Blockchains Daten über Adressen, Transaktionen und in gewisser Weise auch über Wallets. Diese Informationen können verwertet werden, um verschiedene Sachverhalte darzustellen. Dieses Verfahren wird auch Heuristik genannt und bedient sich wahrscheinlicher Annahmen, also z.B. wiederkehrender Muster. Dabei werden sogenannte Cluster erstellt, also Verbindungen zwischen Adressen und Transaktionen gezogen.

So nutzen nutzen Analyse-Firmen wie Chainalysis Heuristiken und Wahrscheinlichkeitsanalysen, um Bitcoin-Transaktionen und Eigentümerwechsel zu verfolgen. Sie versuchen, Adressen auf der Grundlage dieser Heuristiken zu gruppieren, jedoch stimmen die Ergebnisse verschiedener Unternehmen oft nicht überein. Dies kann zu vagen Beweisen und Schuldunterstellungen führen.

„Während die Identität eines Besitzers einer Bitcoin-Adresse im Allgemeinen anonym ist (es sei denn, der Besitzer entscheidet sich dafür, die Informationen öffentlich zugänglich zu machen), können Strafverfolgungsbehörden den Besitzer einer bestimmten Bitcoin-Adresse oft durch Analyse der Blockchain identifizieren“ - Devon Beckett, Special Agent, IRS

Chainalysis betreiben einen sogenannten Reactor, der diese Analysen vornimmt. Diese Analyse dient als Grundlage für das Argument, Roman habe Geld von seinem Mt Gox-Konto abgebucht und verwendet, um die Bezahlung der DNS-Registrierung für Bitcoin Fog zu tätigen und zu verbergen. Es wird so versucht, Roman mit Aufzeichnungen im Bitcoin Talk-Forums in Verbindung zu bringen, die wiederum Bitcoin Fog mit illegalen Aktivitäten in Verbindung bringen.

Konkret wird anhand dieser Analyse eine Verbindung zu Roman und weiter zu Bitcoin Fog hergestellt, die beweisen soll, dass Zahlungen im Wert von 336 M US Dollar gewaschen wurden, die für Drogengeschäfte verwendet wurden.

Es gibt keine objektiven Standards für diese Art der Analyse und Strafverfolgungsbehörden stützen ihre Beweise auf diese privaten Ermittlungen. Im konkreten Fall vo Chainalysis spielen Beziehungen zu Strafverfolgungsbehörden wie dem britischen Serious Crimes Office und dem US-Justizministerium, sowie den damit einhergehenden Geldquellen eine entscheidende Rolle beim Aufstieg des Unternehmens zum größten Anbieter dieser Dienstleistungen mit einer Marktkapitalisierung von 8,6 Milliarden US Dollar.

Verteidigung

Roman wird in diesem Fall von der Kanzlei Ekeland Law, PLLC vertreten. Die Anwälte, Tor Ekeland und Michael Hassard sind der festen Überzeugung, dass Roman unschuldig ist und dass er in diesem Fall aufgrund fehlerhafter digitaler Forensik in Bedrängnis geraten ist.

Roman gibt zu, Bitcoin Fog aus Datenschutzgründen verwendet zu haben, um seine Bitcoin zu waschen, bevor er diese in sein Konto bei Kraken einzahlte. Das Mischen an sich ist nicht illegal, denn während der Anhörung erkannte der Richter sogar an, dass die Verwendung eines Mixers wie Bitcoin Fog nicht grundsätzlich verboten sei. Dies war sogar das erste Mal, dass ein Richter ausdrücklich erklärte, dass das Mischen von Bitcoin nicht illegal ist und dass es auch nicht illegal ist, Nutzer//in eines Mischdienstes zu sein. Es ist jedoch zu beachten, dass sich dieser Fall speziell gegen den Betreiber von Bitcoin Fog richtet und versucht, den Dienst mit Drogenmarktplätzen in Verbindung zu bringen.

Argumente für Romans Unschuld beinhalten unter anderem, dass Bitcoin Fog in der gesamten Zeit von Romans Inhaftierung aktiv geblieben ist, was darauf schließen lässt, dass die eigentlichen Betreiber immer noch auf freiem Fuß sind. Roman wurde vor seiner Verhaftung überwacht, es wurden Abhör- und Überwachungsmaßnahmen durchgeführt, jedoch keine Beweise gefunden, die ihn mit dem Betrieb von Bitcoin Fog in Verbindung bringen, selbst nachdem Server beschlagnahmt wurden.

Darüber hinaus ignoriert die Anklage auch die Tatsache, dass die DNS-Registrierung der Bitcoin Fog Domain seit Romans Verhaftung zweimal erneuert wurde. Trotzdem versucht die Anklage eine Verbindung zu Roman auf der Grundlage von IP-Adressen herzustellen, die mit anderen E-Mails verknüpft sind, die zur Registrierung der DNS und zur Erstellung eines Kontos im Bitcoin Talk Forum verwendet wurden.

Roman wird Verschwörung vorgeworfen, es wurde jedoch kein einziger Mitverschwörer genannt. Bei den von der Anklage behaupteten Transaktionen handelt es sich um Lizenzzahlungen des Mixers, die jedoch nicht durch Beweise gestützt werden. Wenn Roman ein Drahtzieher wäre, der 336 M US Dollar an Drogengeldern gewaschen hätte, würde es für ihn keinen Sinn machen, sein Geld mit seinem richtigen Namen und Passfoto auf ein KYC-Konto bei Kraken einzuzahlen.

An dieser Stelle ist es vielleicht interessant festzustellen, dass Michael Gronager, einer der Mitbegründer von Chainalysis, auch einer der Mitbegründer von Kraken war.

Mt Gox Daten

Es gibt eine Verbindung zwischen Kraken, Chainalysis und Mt Gox. Denn nicht nur war der Gründer von Kraken, Jesse Powell, als Berater für Mt. Gox bei der Lösung eines Sicherheitsproblems tätig und begann in Erwartung seines Kollapses mit der Arbeit an Kraken als Ersatz, auch Chainalysis wurde als direkte Reaktion auf den Mt. Gox-Skandal gegründet.

Chainalysis wurde in den offiziellen Ermittlungen im Insolvenzverfahren von Mt. Gox genutzt, um den Verbleib der "gestohlenen" bitcoins zu untersuchen. Allerdings gibt es Anzeichen dafür, dass die dabei verwendeten Daten falsch und unzuverlässig seien. Angebliche Transaktionsnummern und Wallet-Adressen existieren nicht, werden verwechselt oder sind schlichtweg fehlerhaft. Genau dieser Datensatz wird aber nun benutzt, um Fälle wie den von Roman zu beweisen.

Ankläger

Einer der Staatsanwälte des Falles ist jetzt leitender Rechtsberater für Chainalysis, und ein IRS-Ermittler gründete während seiner Tätigkeit für den IRS ein privates Unternehmen namens Exigent LLC. Die Pressemitteilungen und Fundraising-Runden von Chainalysis stehen eng im Zusammenhang mit dem Fall. Exigent LLC erhält in der Pressemitteilung des US-Justizministeriums die höchste Auszeichnung für Romans Verhaftung, und fünf Monate später kaufte Chainalysis Exigent LLC. Dieser Fall scheint von Karrierismus und Profitstreben getrieben zu sein.

Problem

Neben den Verbindungen der Ermittler und Ankläger mit Chainalysis und der Problematik der fehlenden Beweise, ist dieser Fall zutiefst beunruhigend und wirft Bedenken hinsichtlich des geltenden Computerrechts auf.

Die meisten Blockchain-Strafverfolgungen folgen dem gleichen Muster: Einspruchsvereinbarungen, Gerichtsverfahren oder Entlassungen. Unschuldige Menschen gehen oft auf Plädoyer-Deals ein, weil ihnen die Ressourcen fehlen, um gegen die unbegrenzten Ressourcen des Department of Justice zu kämpfen. Roman kann keinen Deal annehmen, weil er nichts weiß und lügen müsste.

Es ist beunruhigend, dass der Fall in Washington D.C. verhandelt wird, obwohl Roman keine Verbindungen zu dieser Stadt hat. Die einzige Grundlage dafür, die Gerichtsbarkeit nach D.C. zu legen, ist darin begründet, dass eine verdeckte Operation gegen Roman aus Washington D.C. geleitet wurde. Dies gibt Anlass zur Sorge, weil es Staatsanwälten ermöglicht, Angeklagte auf der Grundlage von Online-Interaktionen vor jedes Bundesgericht zu ziehen - ob US Staatsbürger oder nicht. Dies ist ein direkter Verstoß gegen die Gerichtsstandsklausel und entfernt wichtige Elemente des Strafrechtssystems, da es jede/n Nutzer//in von Bitcoin-Mixern in die gefährliche Lage versetzen kann, vor einem US-Gericht angeklagt zu werden, wenn eine auch nur dünne Beweislage gegen ihn/sie vorliegt.

Ein weiteres Problem besteht in den vorgebrachten Beweisen. Denn die Verteidigung hat bis heute keinen Einblick in den Code oder die verwendeten Datensätze, die von Chainalysis verwendet wurden, erhalten. Chainalysis beruft sich dabei auf seine proprietären Geschäftsdaten und lehnt eine Offenlegung ab. Es wird vermutet, dass die Datensätze falsch sind, insbesondere angesichts der fragwürdigen Mt. Gox-Aufzeichnungen, auf die sie sich stützen.

Die bereitgestellten Daten sind begrenzt, unvollständig und werden in komplizierten Flussdiagrammen dargestellt. Die verwendete Software, wie z.B. der Chainalysis Reactor, steht nicht für eine unabhängige Prüfung zur Verfügung. Der Mangel an Transparenz und Zugang zu dieser Software gibt Anlass zu Bedenken hinsichtlich ihrer Genauigkeit und den daraus gezogenen Schlussfolgerungen.

Es bestehen Zweifel am Zusammenhang zwischen Roman, dem Betreiber von Bitcoin Fog, und den mutmaßlichen Straftaten. Roman sitzt derzeit im Gefängnis, ihm droht eine Haftstrafe von 50 Jahren. Die Freiheit einer Person wird durch eine kommerzielle proprietäre Software gefährdet, die vor Gericht erwirken kann, dass Quellen und Datensätze nicht offengelegt werden.

Auch wirft der Fall Bedenken hinsichtlich fehlender Standards, des gewinnorientierten Charakters des forensischen Bereichs, der Weigerung, Beweise auszutauschen, und der Möglichkeit von Justizirrtümern auf, die durch fehlerhafte Software und fragwürdige Praktiken verursacht werden.

Wie geht es weiter?

Das Verteidigungsteam hat finanzielle Probleme, da alle Gelder von Roman beschlagnahmt wurden. Der Antrag auf Freigabe der Mittel wurde abgelehnt. Romans Verteidigung muss öffentliche Mittel beantragen und hofft auf Spenden. Ich habe in einem früheren Artikel schon auf die Spendenseite aufmerksam gemacht. Wer anhand der aufgelisteten Fakten das Gefühl bekommt, dass hier jemand zu Unrecht verhaftet wurde und helfen möchte, kann die Verteidigung mit einer Spende unterstützen.

https://www.torekeland.com/roman-sterlingov

https://geyser.fund/project/usvsterlingov

FREEROMAN

🫳🎤

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In diesem Sinne, 2... 1... Risiko!‌

@ 609899dc:13493d8d

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@ d830ee7b:4e61cd62

การเผชิญหน้า (The Collision Point)

กลางปี 2017 ที่ร้านคราฟท์เบียร์เล็ก ๆ ในย่านเกาะเกร็ด นนทบุรี อากาศร้อนจนเครื่องปรับอากาศ (ที่ยังไม่มี) ในร้านทำงานหนักแทบไหม้ "แจ๊ก กู้ดเดย์" (Jakk Goodday) นั่งลงบนเก้าอี้ไม้ที่เจ้าของร้านกันไว้ให้เป็นประจำ ราวกับเขาเป็นลูกค้าขาประจำระดับวีไอพี

กลิ่นกาแฟคั่ว ลอยผสมกับไอความร้อนจากนอกหน้าต่าง (ผิดร้านหรือเปล่า?) เกิดเป็นบรรยากาศขมติดปลายลิ้นชวนให้คนจิบแล้วอยากถอนใจ

เขาเหลือบมองออกไปนอกหน้าต่าง.. เห็นแสงแดดแผดเผาราวกับมันรู้ว่าสงคราม Blocksize กำลังคุกรุ่นขึ้นอีกครั้ง

บรรยากาศนอกหน้าต่างกับใน ฟอรัม Bitcointalk ช่างเหมือนกันจนน่าขนลุก มันร้อนแรง ไร้ความปรานี

แจ๊กเปิดแล็ปท็อป กดเข้าเว็บฟอรัม พอเสียงแจ้งเตือน “—ติ๊ง” ดังขึ้น คิ้วของเขาก็ขมวดเล็กน้อย คล้ายได้กลิ่นดินปืนกลางสนามรบ

“โรเจอร์ แวร์ (Roger Ver) ไลฟ์เดือดลั่นเวที!” “ปีเตอร์ วูเล (Pieter Wuille) โต้กลับเรื่อง SegWit!” “Hard Fork ใกล้ถึงจุดปะทะแล้ว!”

แจ๊กคลิกเข้าไปในลิงก์ของไลฟ์ทันที เหมือนมือของเขาไม่ต้องการคำสั่งจากสมอง ความคุ้นเคยกับเหตุการณ์แบบนี้บอกเขาว่า นี่ไม่ใช่ดีเบตธรรมดา แต่มันอาจเปลี่ยนอนาคตของ Bitcoin ได้จริง ๆ

เห็นแค่พาดหัวสั้น ๆ แต่ความตึงเครียดก็ชัดเจนขึ้นเรื่อย ๆ ทุกข้อความเหมือนสุมไฟใส่ใจกองหนึ่งที่พร้อมระเบิดได้ทุกเมื่อ

โทรศัพท์ของแจ๊กดังพร้อมปรากฏชื่อ แชมป์ ‘PIGROCK’ ลอยขึ้นมา เขาหยิบขึ้นมารับทันที

“ว่าไงวะแชมป์… มีอะไรด่วนหรือเปล่า?” น้ำเสียงแจ๊กฟังดูเหมือนง่วง ๆ แต่จริง ๆ เขาพร้อมจะลุกมาวิเคราะห์สถานการณ์ให้ฟังทุกเมื่อ

“พี่แจ๊ก.. ผมอ่านดีเบตเรื่อง SegWit ในฟอรัมอยู่ครับ บางคนด่าว่ามันไม่ได้แก้ปัญหาจริง ๆ บ้างก็บอกถ้าเพิ่ม Blocksize ไปเลยจะง่ายกว่า... ผมเลยสงสัยว่า Hard Fork ที่เค้าพูดถึงกันนี่คืออะไร ใครคิดอะไรก็ Fork กันได้ง่าย ๆ เลยเหรอ"

"แล้วถ้า Fork ไปหลายสาย สุดท้ายเหรียญไหนจะเป็น ‘Bitcoin ที่แท้จริง’ ล่ะพี่?”

“แล้วการ Fork มันส่งผลกับนักลงทุนยังไงครับ? คนทั่วไปอย่างผมควรถือไว้หรือขายหนีตายดีล่ะเนี่ย?”

แจ๊กยิ้มมุมปาก ชอบใจที่น้องถามจี้จุด

“เอางี้… การ Fork มันเหมือนแบ่งถนนออกเป็นสองสาย ใครชอบกติกาเก่าก็วิ่งถนนเส้นเก่า ใครอยากแก้กติกาใหม่ก็ไปถนนเส้นใหม่"

"แต่ประเด็นคือ... นี่ไม่ใช่เรื่องเล็ก ๆ เพราะมีผลต่ออัตลักษณ์ของ Bitcoin ทั้งหมดเลยนะมึง—ใครจะยอมปล่อยผ่านง่าย ๆ”

"คิดดูสิ ถ้าครั้งนี้พวกเขา Fork จริง มันอาจไม่ได้เปลี่ยนแค่เครือข่าย แต่เปลี่ยนวิธีที่คนมอง Bitcoin ไปตลอดกาลเลยนะ"

"แล้วใครมันจะอยากลงทุนในระบบที่แตกแยกซ้ำแล้วซ้ำเล่าวะ?"

“งั้นหมายความว่าตอนนี้ก็มีสองแนวใหญ่ ๆ ชัวร์ใช่ไหมครับ?” แชมป์ถามต่อ

“ฝั่ง โรเจอร์ แวร์ ที่บอกว่าต้องเพิ่ม Blocksize ให้ใหญ่จุใจ กับฝั่งทีม Core อย่าง ปีเตอร์ วูเล ที่ยืนยันต้องใช้ SegWit ทำให้บล็อกเบา ไม่กระทบการกระจายอำนาจ?”

“ใช่เลย” แจ๊กจิบกาแฟดำเข้ม ๆ ผสมน้ำผึ้งไปหนึ่งอึก

“โรเจอร์นี่เขาเชื่อว่า Bitcoin ต้องเป็นเงินสดดิจิทัลที่ใช้จ่ายไว ค่าธรรมเนียมไม่แพง ส่วนปีเตอร์กับ Bitcoin Core มองว่าการเพิ่มบล็อกเยอะ ๆ มันจะไปฆ่า Node รายย่อย คนไม่มีทุนก็รัน Node ไม่ไหว สุดท้าย Bitcoin จะกลายเป็นระบบกึ่งรวมศูนย์ ซึ่งมันผิดหลักการเดิมของ ซาโตชิ ไงล่ะ”

“ฟังแล้วก็ไม่ใช่เรื่องง่ายนะพี่… งั้นที่ผมได้ยินว่า จิฮั่น อู๋ (Jihan Wu) เจ้าของ Bitmain ที่ถือ Hashrate เกินครึ่งนี่ก็มาอยู่ฝั่งเดียวกับโรเจอร์ใช่ไหม?"

"เพราะยิ่งบล็อกใหญ่ ค่าธรรมเนียมยิ่งเพิ่ม นักขุดก็ได้กำไรสูงขึ้นใช่ป่ะ?”

“ไอ้เรื่องกำไรก็ส่วนหนึ่ง...” แจ๊กถอนหายใจ

“แต่ที่สำคัญกว่านั้นคืออำนาจต่อรอง… ตอนประชุมลับที่ฮ่องกงเมื่อปีที่แล้ว พี่เองก็ถูกชวนให้เข้าไปในฐานะคนกลาง เลยเห็นภาพน่าขนลุกอยู่หน่อย ๆ"

"จิฮั่นนั่งไขว่ห้างด้วยสีหน้ามั่นใจมาก ด้วย Hashrate ราว 60% ของโลก สั่งซ้ายหันขวาหันเหมือนเป็นแม่ทัพใหญ่ได้เลย พอโรเจอร์ก็ไฟแรงอยู่แล้ว อยากให้ Bitcoin ครองโลกด้วยวิธีของเขา สองคนนี่จับมือกันทีจะเขย่าชุมชน Bitcoin ได้ทั้งกระดาน”

"พี่รู้สึกเหมือนนั่งอยู่ในศึกชิงบัลลังก์ยุคใหม่ คนหนึ่งยึดพลังขุด คนหนึ่งยึดความศรัทธาในชื่อ Bitcoin แต่สิ่งที่พี่สงสัยในตอนนั้นคือ… พวกเขาสู้เพื่อใครกันแน่?"

แชมป์เงียบไปครู่เหมือนกำลังประมวลผล “แล้วตอนนั้นพี่คิดยังไงบ้างครับ? รู้สึกกลัวหรือว่ายังไง?”

“จะไม่กลัวได้ไง!” แจ๊กหัวเราะแห้ง ๆ แวบหนึ่งก็นึกถึงสีหน้าที่ยิ้มเยาะของทั้งคู่ตอนประกาศความพร้อมจะ Fork

“พี่อดคิดไม่ได้ว่าถ้า Core ยังไม่ยอมขยายบล็อก พวกนั้นจะลากนักขุดทั้งกองทัพแฮชเรตไปทำเครือข่ายใหม่ให้เป็น ‘Bitcoin สายใหญ่’ แล้วทิ้งเครือข่ายเดิมให้ซวนเซ"

"แค่คิดก็นึกถึงสงครามกลางเมืองในหนังประวัติศาสตร์แล้วน่ะ.. แตกเป็นสองฝ่าย สุดท้ายใครแพ้ใครชนะ ไม่มีใครทำนายได้จริง ๆ”

พูดจบ.. เขาเปิดฟอรัมดูไลฟ์ดีเบตจากงานในปี 2017 ต่อ โรเจอร์ แวร์ กำลังพูดในโทนร้อนแรง

“Bitcoin ไม่ใช่ของคนรวย! ถ้าคุณไม่เพิ่ม Blocksize คุณก็ทำให้ค่าธรรมเนียมพุ่งจนคนธรรมดาใช้ไม่ได้!”

ขณะเดียวกัน ปีเตอร์ วูเล่ ยืนอยู่ฝั่งตรงข้าม สีหน้าเยือกเย็นราวกับตั้งรับมานาน “การเพิ่มบล็อกคือการทำลายโครงสร้าง Node รายย่อยในระยะยาว แล้วมันจะยังเรียกว่ากระจายอำนาจได้หรือ?”

"ถ้าคุณอยากให้ Bitcoin เป็นของคนรวยเพียงไม่กี่คน ก็เชิญขยายบล็อกไปเถอะนะ แต่ถ้าอยากให้มันเป็นระบบที่คนทุกระดับมีส่วนร่วมจริง ๆ ..คุณต้องฟังเสียง Node รายเล็กด้วย" ปีเตอร์กล่าว

เสียงผู้คนในงานโห่ฮากันอย่างแตกเป็นสองฝ่าย บ้างก็เชียร์ความตรงไปตรงมาของโรเจอร์ บ้างก็เคารพเหตุผลเชิงเทคนิคของปีเตอร์

ข้อความจำนวนมหาศาลในฟอรัมต่างโหมกระพือไปต่าง ๆ นานา มีทั้งคำด่าหยาบคายจนแจ๊กต้องเบือนหน้า ตลอดจนการวิเคราะห์ลึก ๆ ถึงอนาคตของ Bitcoin ที่อาจไม่เหมือนเดิม

ในระหว่างนั้น.. แชมป์ส่งข้อความ Discord กลับมาอีก

“พี่ ถ้า Fork จริง ราคาจะป่วนแค่ไหน? ที่เขาว่าคนถือ BTC จะได้เหรียญใหม่ฟรี ๆ จริงไหม? ผมกลัวว่าถ้าเกิดแบ่งเครือข่ายไม่รู้กี่สาย ตลาดอาจมั่วจนคนหายหมดก็ได้ ใช่ไหมครับ?”

"แล้วถ้าเครือข่ายใหม่ล้มเหลวล่ะครับ? จะส่งผลอะไรต่อชุมชน Bitcoin เดิม?"

"ไอ้แชมป์มึงถามรัวจังวะ!?" แจ๊กสบถเพราะเริ่มตั้งรับไม่ทัน

“ก็ขึ้นกับตลาดจะเชื่อว่าสายไหนเป็น ‘ของจริง’ อีกนั่นแหละ” แจ๊กพิมพ์กลับ

“บางคนถือไว้เผื่อได้เหรียญใหม่ฟรี บางคนขายหนีตายก่อน"

"พี่เองก็ยังไม่กล้าการันตีเลย แต่ที่แน่ ๆ สงครามนี้ไม่ได้มีแค่ผลกำไร มันกระทบศรัทธาของชุมชน Bitcoin ทั้งหมดด้วย"

"ถ้าชาวเน็ตเลิกเชื่อมั่น หรือคนนอกมองว่าพวกเราทะเลาะกันเองเหมือนเด็กแย่งของเล่น ต่อให้ฝั่งไหนชนะ ก็อาจไม่มีผู้ใช้เหลือให้ฉลอง”

แล้วสายตาแจ๊กก็ปะทะกับกระทู้ใหม่ที่เด้งขึ้นมาบนหน้าฟอรัม

“โรเจอร์ แวร์ ประกาศ: ถ้าไม่เพิ่ม Blocksize เราจะฟอร์กเป็น Bitcoin ที่แท้จริง!”

ตัวหนังสือหนาแปะอยู่ตรงนั้นส่งแรงสั่นสะเทือนราวกับจะดึงคนในวงการให้ต้องเลือกข้างกันแบบไม่อาจกลับหลังได้

แจ๊กเอื้อมมือปิดแล็ปท็อปช้า ๆ คล้ายยอมรับความจริงว่าหนทางประนีประนอมอาจไม่มีอีกแล้ว..

“สงครามนี่คงใกล้ระเบิดเต็มทีล่ะนะ” เขาลุกจากเก้าอี้ สะพายเป้ พึมพำกับตัวเองขณะมองกาแฟดำที่เหลือครึ่งแก้ว “ถ้าพวกเขาฟอร์กจริง โลกคริปโตฯ ที่เราเคยรู้จักอาจไม่มีวันเหมือนเดิมอีกต่อไป”

เขามองออกไปนอกหน้าต่าง แสงแดดที่แผดเผาราวกับกำลังบอกว่า.. อนาคตของ Bitcoin อยู่ในจุดที่เส้นแบ่งระหว่างชัยชนะกับความล่มสลายเริ่มพร่าเลือน... และอาจไม่มีทางย้อนกลับ

ก่อนเดินออกจากร้าน เขากดส่งข้อความสั้น ๆ ถึงแชมป์

“เตรียมใจกับความปั่นป่วนไว้ให้ดี ไม่แน่ว่าเราอาจจะได้เห็น Bitcoin แตกเป็นหลายสาย.. ใครจะอยู่ใครจะไปไม่รู้เหมือนกัน แต่เรื่องนี้คงไม่จบง่าย ๆ แน่”

แจ๊กผลักประตูออกไปพบกับแดดจัดที่เหมือนแผดเผากว่าเดิม พายุร้อนไม่ได้มาแค่ในรูปความร้อนกลางกรุง แต่มาในรูป “สงคราม Blocksize” ที่พร้อมจะฉีกชุมชนคริปโตออกเป็นฝักฝ่าย และอาจลามบานปลายจนกลายเป็นศึกประวัติศาสตร์

ทว่าสิ่งที่ค้างคาใจกลับเป็นคำถามนั้น…

เมื่อเครือข่ายแบ่งเป็นหลายสายแล้ว เหรียญไหนจะเป็น Bitcoin จริง?

หรือบางที... ในโลกที่ใครก็ Fork ได้ตามใจ เราจะไม่มีวันได้เห็น “Bitcoin หนึ่งเดียว” อีกต่อไป?

คำถามที่ไม่มีใครตอบได้ชัดนี้ส่องประกายอยู่ตรงปลายทาง ราวกับป้ายเตือนว่า “อันตรายข้างหน้า” และคนในชุมชนทั้งหมดกำลังจะต้องเผชิญ…

โดยไม่มีใครมั่นใจเลยว่าจะรอด หรือจะแตกสลายไปก่อนกันแน่...

สองเส้นทาง (The Forked Path)

กลางปี 2017 ท้องฟ้าเหนือบุรีรัมย์ยังคงคุกรุ่นด้วยไอแดดและความร้อนแรงของสงคราม Blocksize แจ๊ก กู้ดเดย์ ก้าวเข้ามาในคาเฟ่เล็ก ๆ แห่งหนึ่งในย่านเทศบาลด้วยสีหน้าครุ่นคิด เขาพยายามมองหามุมสงบสำหรับนั่งตั้งหลักในโลกความเป็นจริง ก่อนจะจมดิ่งสู่สงครามในโลกดิจิทัลบนฟอรัม Bitcointalk อีกครั้ง

กลิ่นกาแฟคั่วเข้มลอยกระทบจมูก แจ๊กสั่งกาแฟดำแก้วโปรดแล้วปลีกตัวมาที่โต๊ะริมกระจก กระจกบานนั้นสะท้อนแสงอาทิตย์จัดจ้า ราวกับจะบอกว่าวันนี้คงไม่มีใครหนีความร้อนที่กำลังแผดเผา ทั้งในอากาศและในชุมชน Bitcoin ได้พ้น

เขาเปิดแล็ปท็อปขึ้น ล็อกอินเข้า Bitcointalk.org ตามเคย ข้อความและกระทู้มากมายกระหน่ำแจ้งเตือน ไม่ต่างอะไรจากสมรภูมิคำพูดที่ไม่มีวันหลับ “Hong Kong Agreement ล้มเหลวจริงหรือ?” “UASF คือปฏิวัติโดย Node?” เหล่านี้ล้วนสะท้อนความไม่แน่นอนในชุมชน Bitcoin ที่ตอนนี้ ดูคล้ายจะถึงจุดแตกหักเต็มที...

“ทั้งที่ตอนนั้นเราก็พยายามกันแทบตาย…” แจ๊กพึมพำ มองจอด้วยสายตาเหนื่อยใจพร้อมภาพความทรงจำย้อนกลับเข้าในหัว เขายังจำการประชุมที่ฮ่องกงเมื่อต้นปี 2016 ได้แม่น ยามนั้นความหวังในการประนีประนอมระหว่าง Big Block และ Small Block ดูเป็นไปได้ หากแต่กลายเป็นละครฉากใหญ่ที่จบลงโดยไม่มีใครยอมถอย...

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...การประชุม Hong Kong Agreement (2016)

ภายในห้องประชุมหรูของโรงแรมใจกลางย่านธุรกิจฮ่องกง บรรยากาศตึงเครียดยิ่งกว่าการเจรจาสงบศึกในสมัยโบราณ

โรเจอร์ แวร์ ยืนเสนอว่า “การเพิ่ม Blocksize สำคัญต่ออนาคตของ Bitcoin — เราอยากให้คนทั่วไปเข้าถึงได้โดยไม่ต้องจ่ายค่าธรรมเนียมแพง ๆ”

“จิฮั่น อู๋ (Jihan Wu)” จาก Bitmain นั่งฝั่งเดียวกับโรเจอร์ คอยเสริมว่าการเพิ่มบล็อกคือโอกาสสำหรับนักขุด และหากทีม Core ไม่ยอม พวกเขาก็พร้อม “ดัน Fork” ขึ้นได้ทุกเมื่อ ด้วย Hashrate มหาศาลที่พวกเขาคุมไว้

ฝั่ง ปีเตอร์ วูเล (Pieter Wuille) กับ เกร็ก แมกซ์เวลล์ (Greg Maxwell) จาก Bitcoin Core เถียงกลับอย่างใจเย็นว่า “การขยายบล็อกอาจดึงดูดทุนใหญ่ ๆ แล้วไล่ Node รายย่อยออกไป ชุมชนอาจไม่เหลือความกระจายอำนาจอย่างที่ Satoshi ตั้งใจ”

สุดท้าย บทสรุปที่เรียกว่า Hong Kong Agreement ลงนามได้ก็จริง แต่มันกลับเป็นแค่ลายเซ็นบนกระดาษที่ไม่มีฝ่ายไหนเชื่อใจใคร

แจ๊กเบือนสายตาออกนอกหน้าต่าง สังเกตเห็นผู้คนเดินขวักไขว่ บ้างก็ดูรีบร้อน บ้างเดินทอดน่องเหมือนว่างเปล่า นี่คงไม่ต่างอะไรกับชาวเน็ตในฟอรัมที่แบ่งฝ่ายกันใน “สงคราม Blocksize” อย่างไม่มีทีท่าจะหยุด

แค่ไม่กี่นาที... เสียงโทรศัพท์ก็ดังขึ้น ชื่อ แชมป์ ‘PIGROCK’ โชว์หราเต็มจออีกครั้ง

“ว่าไงเจ้าแชมป์?” แจ๊กกรอกเสียงในสายด้วยอารมณ์เหนื่อย ๆ ทว่าพร้อมจะอธิบายเหตุการณ์ตามสไตล์คนที่ชอบครุ่นคิด

“พี่แจ๊ก.. ผมเข้าใจแล้วว่าการประชุมฮ่องกงมันล้มเหลว ตอนนี้ก็มีคนแยกเป็นสองขั้ว Big Block กับ SegWit แต่ผมเจออีกกลุ่มในฟอรัมเรียกว่า UASF (User-Activated Soft Fork) ที่เหมือนจะกดดันพวกนักขุดให้ยอมรับ SegWit..."

"อยากรู้ว่าตกลง UASF มันสำคัญยังไงครับ? ทำไมใคร ๆ ถึงเรียกว่าเป็น การปฏิวัติโดย Node กัน?”

แจ๊กอมยิ้มก่อนจะวางแก้วกาแฟลง พูดด้วยน้ำเสียงจริงจังกว่าเดิม “UASF น่ะหรือ? มันเปรียบได้กับการที่ ‘ชาวนา’ หรือ ‘ประชาชนตัวเล็ก ๆ’ ออกมาประกาศว่า ‘ฉันจะไม่รับบล็อกของนักขุดที่ไม่รองรับ SegWit นะ ถ้าแกไม่ทำตาม ฉันก็จะตัดบล็อกแกทิ้ง!’ เสมือนเป็นการปฏิวัติที่บอกว่าแรงขุดมากแค่ไหนก็ไม่สำคัญ ถ้าคนรัน Node ไม่ยอม… เชนก็เดินต่อไม่ได้”

“โห… ฟังดูแรงจริง ๆ พี่ แล้วถ้านักขุดไม่ร่วมมือ UASF จะเกิดอะไรขึ้น?” แชมป์ถามต่อเสียงสั่นนิด ๆ

“ก็อาจเกิด ‘Chain Split’ ยังไงล่ะ"

"แยกเครือข่ายเป็นสองสาย สุดท้ายเครือข่ายเดิม กับเครือข่ายใหม่ที่รองรับ SegWit ไม่ตรงกัน คนอาจสับสนหนักยิ่งกว่า Hard Fork ปกติด้วยซ้ำ"

"แต่นั่นแหละ... มันแสดงพลังว่าผู้ใช้ทั่วไปก็มีสิทธิ์กำหนดทิศทาง Bitcoin ไม่ได้น้อยไปกว่านักขุดเลย”

“เข้าใจแล้วครับพี่… เหมือน การปฏิวัติโดยประชาชนตาดำ ๆ ที่จับมือกันค้านอำนาจทุนใหญ่ใช่ไหม?” แชมป์หยุดครู่หนึ่ง “ผมเคยคิดว่า Node รายย่อยน้อยรายจะไปสู้อะไรไหว แต่ตอนนี้ดูท่าจะเปลี่ยนเกมได้จริงว่ะพี่…”

“ใช่เลย” แจ๊กตอบ

“นี่เป็นความพิเศษของ Bitcoin ที่บอกว่า ‘เราคุมเครือข่ายร่วมกัน’ แม้แต่ Bitmain ที่มี Hashrate มากกว่า 50% ก็หนาวได้ถ้าผู้ใช้หรือ Node รายย่อยรวมพลังกันมากพอ”

แชมป์ฟังด้วยความตื่นเต้นปนกังวล “แล้วแบบนี้ เรื่อง SegWit กับ Blocksize จะจบยังไงครับ? เห็นข่าวว่าถ้านักขุดโดนกดดันมาก ๆ คนอย่าง จิฮั่น อู๋ อาจออกไปสนับสนุน Bitcoin Cash ที่จะเปิดบล็อกใหญ่”

แจ๊กเลื่อนดูฟีดข่าวในฟอรัม Bitcointalk อีกครั้ง ก็เห็นพาดหัวชัด ๆ

“Bitmain ประกาศกร้าวพร้อมหนุน BCH เต็มพิกัด!”

เขาถอนหายใจเฮือกหนึ่ง “ก็ใกล้เป็นจริงแล้วล่ะ… โรเจอร์ แวร์ เองก็ผลักดัน BCH ว่าคือ Bitcoin แท้ที่ค่าธรรมเนียมถูก ใช้งานได้จริง ส่วนฝั่ง BTC ที่ยึดเอา SegWit เป็นหลัก ก็ไม่ยอมให้ Blocksize เพิ่มใหญ่เกินจำเป็น.."

"ต่างคนต่างมีเหตุผล... แต่อุดมการณ์นี่คนละทางเลย”

“แล้วพี่คิดว่าใครจะเป็นฝ่ายชนะครับ?”

“เฮ้ย.. มึงถามยากไปหรือเปล่า” แจ๊กหัวเราะหึ ๆ “ทุกคนมีโอกาสได้หมด และก็มีโอกาสพังหมดเหมือนกัน ถ้า UASF กดดันนักขุดให้อยู่กับ Core ได้ พวกเขาอาจยอมแพ้ แต่ถ้า Bitmain เทใจไป BCH นักขุดรายใหญ่คนอื่น ๆ ก็คงตาม"

"แล้วถ้าฝั่ง BCH เริ่มได้เปรียบ... อาจดึงคนไปเรื่อย ๆ สุดท้ายจะเหลือไหมล่ะฝั่ง SegWit ตัวจริง?”

“งั้น Node รายย่อยจะยืนอยู่ตรงไหนล่ะครับพี่?” แชมป์ถามอย่างหนักใจ

“Node รายย่อยและชุมชนผู้ใช้นี่แหละ คือ ตัวแปรชี้ขาด ทุกวันนี้คนกลุ่ม UASF พยายามโชว์พลังว่าตัวเองมีสิทธิ์ตั้งกติกาเหมือนกัน ไม่ใช่แค่นักขุด"

"อย่างที่บอก.. มันคือการ ‘ลุกขึ้นปฏิวัติ’ โดยชาวนา ต่อสู้กับเจ้าที่ที่ถือ ‘แฮชเรต’ เป็นอาวุธ”

แจ๊กตบบ่าตัวเองเบา ๆ ก่อนจะหัวเราะเล็กน้อย

“นี่แหละความมันของ Bitcoin ไม่มีเจ้าไหนสั่งได้เบ็ดเสร็จจริง ๆ ทุกฝั่งต่างถือไพ่คนละใบ สงครามยังไม่รู้จะจบยังไง ถึงอย่างนั้นมันก็สะท้อนวิญญาณ ‘decentralization’ ที่แท้จริง กล้ายอมรับสิทธิ์ทุกฝ่ายเพื่อแข่งขันกันตามกติกา”

จู่ ๆ ในหน้าฟอรัมก็มีกระทู้ใหม่เด้งเด่น “Bitmain หนุน Bitcoin Cash ด้วย Hashrate กว่า 50%! สงครามเริ่มแล้ว?” ข้อความนั้นดังโครมครามเหมือนระเบิดลงกลางวง

แจ๊กนิ่งไปชั่วขณะ สัมผัสได้ถึงความปั่นป่วนที่กำลังปะทุขึ้นอีกครั้ง เหงื่อบางเบาซึมบนหน้าผากแม้อากาศในคาเฟ่จะเย็นฉ่ำ เขาหันมองโทรศัพท์ที่ยังค้างสายกับแชมป์ แล้วเอ่ยด้วยน้ำเสียงจริงจัง

“นี่ล่ะ.. จุดเริ่มของสองเส้นทางอย่างชัดเจน… บล็อกใหญ่จะไปกับ BCH ส่วน SegWit ก็อยู่กับ BTC แน่นอนว่าทั้งสองฝ่ายไม่คิดถอยง่าย ๆ นักขุดจะเลือกข้างไหน? Node รายย่อยจะยอมใคร?"

"เมื่อสงครามครั้งนี้นำไปสู่การแบ่งเครือข่าย ใครกันแน่จะเป็นผู้ชนะตัวจริง? หรืออาจไม่มีผู้ชนะเลยก็เป็นได้”

ปลายสายเงียบงัน มีแต่เสียงหายใจของแชมป์ที่สะท้อนความกังวลปนอยากรู้อย่างแรง

“พี่… สุดท้ายแล้วเรากำลังยืนอยู่บนรอยแยกที่พร้อมจะฉีกทุกอย่างออกเป็นชิ้น ๆ ใช่ไหมครับ?”

“อาจจะใช่ก็ได้... หรือถ้ามองอีกมุม อาจเป็นวัฏจักรที่ Bitcoin ต้องเจอเป็นระยะ ทุกคนมีสิทธิ์ Fork ได้ตามใจใช่ไหมล่ะ? ก็ขอให้โลกได้เห็นกันว่าชุมชนไหนแน่จริง” แจ๊กพูดทิ้งท้ายก่อนจะแย้มยิ้มเจือรอยอ่อนล้า

ภาพบนจอคอมพิวเตอร์ฉายกระทู้ถกเถียงกันไม่หยุด ประหนึ่งเวทีดีเบตที่ไม่มีวันปิดไฟ แจ๊กจิบกาแฟอึกสุดท้ายเหมือนจะเตรียมพร้อมใจก่อนเข้าสู่สนามรบครั้งใหม่ สงครามยังไม่จบ.. ซ้ำยังดูหนักข้อยิ่งขึ้นเรื่อย ๆ

เขาลุกขึ้นจากโต๊ะ ชำเลืองมองแสงแดดจัดจ้าที่สาดลงมาไม่หยุด เปรียบเหมือนไฟแห่งข้อขัดแย้งที่เผาผลาญทั้งชุมชน Bitcoin ไม่ว่าใครจะเลือกอยู่ฝั่งไหน กลุ่ม UASF, กลุ่ม Big Block, หรือ กลุ่ม SegWit ทางเดินข้างหน้าล้วนเต็มไปด้วยความไม่แน่นอน

“สุดท้ายแล้ว… เมื่อกระดานแบ่งเป็นสองเส้นทางอย่างเด่นชัด สงคราม Blocksize จะจบลงด้วยใครได้บทผู้ชนะ?"

"หรือบางที… มันอาจไม่มีผู้ชนะที่แท้จริงในระบบที่ใครก็ Fork ได้ตลอดเวลา”

คำถามนี้ลอยติดค้างอยู่ในบรรยากาศยามบ่ายที่ร้อนระอุ ชวนให้ใครก็ตามที่จับตาดูสงคราม Blocksize ต้องฉุกคิด

เมื่อไม่มีใครเป็นเจ้าของ Bitcoin อย่างสมบูรณ์ ทุกคนจึงมีสิทธิ์บงการและเสี่ยงต่อการแตกแยกได้ทุกเมื่อ แล้วท้ายที่สุด ชัยชนะ–ความพ่ายแพ้ อาจไม่ใช่จุดสิ้นสุดของโลกคริปโตฯ

แต่เป็นเพียงจุดเริ่มต้นของการวิวัฒน์ที่ไม่มีวันจบสิ้น…

เมาท์แถมเรื่อง UASF (User-Activated Soft Fork)

นี่สนามรบยุคกลางที่ดูเหมือนในหนังแฟนตาซี ทุกคนมีดาบ มีโล่ แต่จู่ ๆ คนตัวเล็กที่เราไม่เคยสังเกต—พวกชาวนา ช่างไม้ คนแบกน้ำ—กลับรวมตัวกันยกดาบบุกวังเจ้าเมือง พร้อมตะโกนว่า “พอเถอะ! เราก็มีสิทธิ์เหมือนกัน!”

มันอาจจะดูเวอร์ ๆ หน่อยใช่ไหมครับ?

แต่ในโลก Bitcoin ปี 2017 นี่คือสิ่งที่เกิดขึ้นในรูปแบบ “User-Activated Soft Fork” หรือ UASF การปฏิวัติด้วยพลังโหนด ซึ่งทำให้นักขุดยักษ์ใหญ่ตัวสั่นงันงกันมาแล้ว!

แล้ว UASF มันคืออะไรล่ะ?

“User-Activated Soft Fork” หรือเรียกย่อ ๆ ว่า “UASF” ไม่ใช่อัปเกรดซอฟต์แวร์สวย ๆ แต่เป็น “ดาบเล่มใหม่” ที่คนตัวเล็ก—หมายถึง โหนด รายย่อย—ใช้ต่อรองกับนักขุดรายใหญ่ โดยกติกาคือ.. ถ้านักขุดไม่ทำตาม (เช่น ไม่รองรับ SegWit) โหนดก็จะปฏิเสธบล็อกของพวกเขาอย่างไม่เกรงใจใคร

สมมุติว่าคุณคือโหนด..

คุณรันซอฟต์แวร์ Bitcoin คอยตรวจสอบธุรกรรม วันดีคืนดี คุณประกาศ “ต่อไปถ้าใครไม่รองรับ SegWit ฉันไม่ยอมรับบล็อกนะ!” นี่ล่ะครับ “UASF” ตัวเป็น ๆ

คำขวัญสุดฮิตของ UASF

“No SegWit, No Block”

หรือแปลว่าถ้าบล็อกไม่รองรับ SegWit ก็เชิญออกไปเลยจ้า..

มันเหมือนการที่ชาวนาโผล่มาตบโต๊ะอาหารท่านขุนว่า “นายใหญ่จะปลูกอะไรก็ปลูกไป แต่ไม่งั้นฉันไม่รับผลผลิตนายนะ!”

ความเชื่อมโยงกับ BIP 148

ถ้าจะพูดถึง UASF ต้องรู้จัก BIP 148 ไว้นิดนึง มันเปรียบเหมือน “ธงปฏิวัติ” ที่ตีตราว่าวันที่ 1 สิงหาคม 2017 คือเส้นตาย!

BIP 148 บอกไว้ว่า.. ถ้าถึงวันนั้นแล้วยังมีนักขุดหน้าไหนไม่รองรับ SegWit บล็อกที่ขุดออกมาก็จะถูกโหนดที่ใช้ UASF “แบน” หมด

ผลลัพธ์ที่ตั้งใจ นักขุดไม่อยากโดนแบนก็ต้องทำตาม UASF กล่าวคือ “นายต้องรองรับ SegWit นะ ไม่งั้นอด!”

หลายคนกลัวกันว่า “อ้าว ถ้านักขุดใหญ่ ๆ ไม่ยอมแล้วหันไปขุดสายอื่น จะไม่กลายเป็นแยกเครือข่าย (Chain Split) หรือ?”

ใช่ครับ.. มันอาจเกิดสงครามสายใหม่ทันทีไงล่ะ

ทำไม UASF ถึงสำคัญ?

ย้อนกลับไปก่อนปี 2017 Bitcoin มีปัญหาโลกแตกทั้งค่าธรรมเนียมแพง ธุรกรรมหน่วง บวกกับความขัดแย้งเรื่อง “จะเพิ่ม Blocksize ดีไหม?” ทางกลุ่มนักขุดรายใหญ่ (นำโดย Bitmain, Roger Ver ฯลฯ) รู้สึกว่า “SegWit ไม่ใช่ทางออกที่แท้จริง” แต่อีกฝั่ง (ทีม Core) ชี้ว่า “Blocksize ใหญ่มากไปจะรวมศูนย์นะ โหนดรายย่อยตายหมด”

UASF เลยโผล่มา เหมือนชาวนาตะโกนว่า

“หุบปากได้แล้วไอ้พวกที่สู้กัน! ถ้าพวกแกไม่รองรับ SegWit พวกข้า (โหนด) ก็จะไม่เอาบล็อกแก”

สาระก็คือ.. มันคือตัวบ่งชี้ว่าคนตัวเล็กอย่างโหนดรายย่อยก็มีพลังต่อรอง เป็นกลไกที่ดึงอำนาจจากมือทุนใหญ่กลับสู่มือชุมชน (Decentralization ที่แท้ทรู)

วิธีการทำงานของ UASF

ลองจินตนาการตาม..

1. การกำหนดเส้นตาย BIP 148 ประกาศไว้ “ถึงวันที่ 1 สิงหาคม 2017 ถ้านายยังไม่รองรับ SegWit โหนด UASF จะไม่รับบล็อกนาย”

2. ถ้าคุณเป็นนักขุด… คุณขุดบล็อกออกมา แต่ไม่ได้ตีธง “ฉันรองรับ SegWit” UASF โหนดเห็นปุ๊บ พวกเขาจะจับโยนทิ้งไปเลย

3. ผลกระทบ? นักขุดที่ไม่ยอมทำตามจะเจอปัญหา บล็อกที่ขุดออกมาไม่มีใครรับ—เสียแรงขุดฟรี

อาจเกิด Chain Split คือ แยกเครือข่ายเลย ถ้านักขุดเหล่านั้นไปตั้งสายใหม่

ความสำเร็จและความท้าทายของ UASF

ความสำเร็จ.. หลังการรวมพลังผู้ใช้ โหนดรายย่อยกดดันนักขุดได้ไม่น้อย จนกระทั่ง SegWit เปิดใช้งานจริงใน Bitcoin วันที่ 24 สิงหาคม 2017 ช่วยให้ธุรกรรมเร็วขึ้น แก้ Transaction Malleability และเปิดทางสู่ Lightning Network ในอนาคต

ความท้าทาย.. นักขุดบางค่ายไม่โอเค.. โดยเฉพาะ Bitmain ซึ่งคาดว่าจะสูญรายได้บางส่วน ก็นำไปสู่การสนับสนุน “Bitcoin Cash (BCH)” แยกสาย (Hard Fork) ของตัวเองตั้งแต่วันที่ 1 สิงหาคม 2017 นั่นเอง

ว่าแล้วก็เปรียบง่าย ๆ

UASF เหมือนปฏิบัติการยึดคฤหาสน์เจ้าเมืองมาเปิดให้ชาวบ้านเข้าอยู่ฟรี.. แต่อีกฝ่ายบอก

“งั้นฉันออกไปตั้งคฤหาสน์ใหม่ดีกว่า!”

บทเรียนสำคัญ UASF เป็นตัวอย่างชัดว่า “ผู้ใช้” หรือ โหนดรายย่อย สามารถสร้างแรงกดดันให้นักขุดต้องยอมเปลี่ยนได้จริง ๆ ไม่ใช่แค่ยอมรับเงื่อนไขที่ขุดกันมา

ผลกระทบระยะยาวหลังจากนั้นล่ะ?

SegWit ถูกใช้งาน ทำให้ค่าธรรมเนียมธุรกรรมลดลง (ช่วงหนึ่ง) เกิด Lightning Network เป็น Layer 2 สุเฟี้ยวของ Bitcoin เกิด BCH (Bitcoin Cash) เป็นสายแยกที่อ้างว่า Blocksize ใหญ่คือทางออก

สรุปแล้ว UASF ทำให้โลกได้รู้ว่า..

Bitcoin ไม่ใช่ของนักขุด หรือของฝ่ายพัฒนาใดฝ่ายเดียว แต่มันเป็นของทุกคน!

“Bitcoin เป็นของทุกคน”

ไม่มีใครมีอำนาจเบ็ดเสร็จ ไม่ว่าคุณจะถือ Hashrate มากแค่ไหน ถ้า Node ทั่วโลกไม่เอา ก็จบ!

“แรงขุดใหญ่แค่ไหน ก็แพ้ใจมวลชน!”

(น่าจะมีตอนต่อไปนะ.. ถ้าชอบก็ Zap โหด ๆ เป็นกำลังใจให้ด้วยนะครับ)

@ 7ed5bd1c:4caa7587

Bitcoin เป็นเกราะป้องกันจากการควบคุมของรัฐบาล

ในโลกที่การควบคุมทางการเงินของรัฐมีผลกระทบต่อชีวิตของประชาชน การปกป้องทรัพย์สินส่วนบุคคลจึงเป็นประเด็นสำคัญที่หลายคนกังวล Bitcoin ได้เข้ามามีบทบาทสำคัญในฐานะเครื่องมือที่ช่วยป้องกันการอายัดทรัพย์สินและการแทรกแซงทางการเงินจากรัฐบาลและองค์กรต่างๆ

กรณีศึกษาที่น่าสนใจ

1. เวเนซุเอลา: เมื่อประเทศประสบภาวะเงินเฟ้อสูงและรัฐบาลมีการควบคุมการแลกเปลี่ยนเงินตราต่างประเทศ ประชาชนบางส่วนใช้ Bitcoin เพื่อรักษามูลค่าทรัพย์สินของพวกเขาและทำธุรกรรมข้ามพรมแดนโดยไม่ต้องผ่านการตรวจสอบจากรัฐบาล

2. แคนาดา: ในปี 2022 รัฐบาลแคนาดามีการอายัดบัญชีธนาคารของผู้ประท้วงในการเคลื่อนไหวทางการเมืองบางอย่าง Bitcoin กลายเป็นช่องทางในการระดมทุนและช่วยให้ประชาชนสามารถป้องกันการแทรกแซงจากรัฐบาลได้

3. ไนจีเรีย: ธนาคารกลางไนจีเรียสั่งห้ามธุรกรรมที่เกี่ยวข้องกับ Bitcoin และคริปโตเคอร์เรนซีอื่นๆ แต่ประชาชนกลับหันมาใช้ Bitcoin ในตลาดมืดเพื่อหลีกเลี่ยงข้อจำกัดและรักษาความเป็นอิสระทางการเงิน

Bitcoin ปกป้องทรัพย์สินอย่างไร?

1. ความเป็นเจ้าของแท้จริง: Bitcoin ใช้ระบบกระจายศูนย์ที่ไม่มีตัวกลาง ซึ่งหมายความว่าไม่มีองค์กรหรือรัฐใดสามารถเข้าถึงหรือยึดครอง Bitcoin ของคุณได้ หากคุณเก็บรักษาคีย์ส่วนตัวอย่างปลอดภัย

2. ไร้พรมแดน: Bitcoin สามารถโอนย้ายได้ทั่วโลกโดยไม่ต้องผ่านธนาคารหรือสถาบันการเงินที่อยู่ภายใต้การควบคุมของรัฐบาล ทำให้เป็นตัวเลือกที่น่าสนใจสำหรับผู้ที่ต้องการหลบเลี่ยงการอายัดทรัพย์สิน

3. ความโปร่งใสและความปลอดภัย: การทำธุรกรรมของ Bitcoin ถูกบันทึกในบล็อกเชนซึ่งเป็นระบบที่โปร่งใสและตรวจสอบได้ ในขณะเดียวกันข้อมูลส่วนบุคคลของผู้ใช้งานจะถูกเก็บเป็นความลับ

ข้อควรระวัง

แม้ Bitcoin จะมีข้อดีในเรื่องการปกป้องทรัพย์สินจากรัฐ แต่ผู้ใช้งานต้องมีความระมัดระวังในการจัดเก็บคีย์ส่วนตัว และหลีกเลี่ยงการพึ่งพาบริการจากบุคคลที่สามที่อาจไม่ปลอดภัย

---

ในโลกที่อิสรภาพทางการเงินถูกท้าทาย Bitcoin กลายเป็นเครื่องมือสำคัญสำหรับการปกป้องทรัพย์สินและสิทธิส่วนบุคคลของประชาชน คุณคิดว่า Bitcoin สามารถเป็นคำตอบสำหรับความท้าทายนี้ได้จริงหรือไม่? ร่วมพูดคุยในความคิดเห็น!

@ 896c3ee8:e054cc31

I was scrolling through some news articles published by Primal.net/flash on my phone —Bitcoin up, Trump said this or that, accompanied by a screenshot of Twitter. I asked myself: why does social media exist? Is it to fulfill our need for social connection? Is it to show off our thoughts? Is it validation? It wasn’t like this long ago. It was a part of life now it is Life.

Quite some time ago, I was baffled to see a woman being prosecuted in a court of law based on what she had posted on Facebook! Facebook? Seriously, an internet post landing a person in jail? Since when? No one notified me. I thought the internet was just a thing—a toy for us to play with, have fun, and then return to our real life. I remember using Pidgin and IRC; back then, the internet was just a tool. One sudden day, all of that turned into serious business. Early internet, and by extension social media, was a fun place, but now it is a place where real money is spent and real lives are built. I mean, some of the richest companies are software companies—an industry titan propelled by intangible property. It is hard not to miss the early days when one could say absolutely anything in a forum post and leave forever, detached from the filth they spewed. Now we all know censorship, data mining, AI training, and laws getting involved. I cannot even take part in a cultural movement without being tracked and attacked. At some point, the internet attached itself to human consciousness so deeply that it has now become inseparable from the human experience and experience of life. Just like reading and writing, to live a modern life, one must have an internet connection and a social media account. It’s disheartening to think that our worth is often measured by the number of people who 'follow' us.

This attachment meant that there were powers who needed to control the internet. Laws were hopeless on the internet—one could break a list of laws of a particular country sitting from a boat in a faraway land where no jurisdictional police could touch a single fleck of their hair. This cross-border nature made it very necessary for law enforcement to up their game, and so they did. Now, posting something and forgetting it being associated with you is a dream of the past.

To achieve this, they went into a Hail Mary attempt to break human rights written in the declaration they all signed. The right to privacy needed to go first. You see, on the internet, you are not a human—just a fat, Mountain Dew-drinking piece of meat, a data generation machine. Rights mean very little for you if you are a keyboard warrior. No clause in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights said that an account on the internet is a human! So you lose privacy. Since law enforcers break privacy, it looks like it really is not a crime to break it. So, service providers break it too. Who is to stop them now? Law enforcers?

That is just the tip, perhaps even a necessary evil. Breaking privacy only allows enforcement of laws that have been written. There needs to be some mechanism to enforce laws that are not written—the so-called "soft laws" (a term used in international law). If illegal activity is to be curbed, instead of chasing after criminals, why not be proactive and get to the root of the evil: human thought? Here enters censorship. If you don't know about something you won't act on it. If you do not know about guns, you will not pick up a gun. Censorship allows law enforcers to enforce laws that may be written in the future, potential laws. Maybe one day, being on a particular political side will be deemed illegal, so let’s stop it now. Ever heard of a cat chasing a mouse? Censorship is just a mouse chasing a cat. A reversal of cause and effect.

These two factors, coupled with the internet's revenue stream—your attention—ruined the internet. Ads by God are one of the most human things humans have created: “Let us show you what you could be a part of. As you are right now, you seem unfulfilled; let us show you what you want.” The economy of attention is best tapped by creators working on our primal urge for reproduction. The porn industry is a mega titan for this reason. I do not have any bad words against the innovators working in that industry. They are the true and perhaps only industry that uses the internet to its maximum and has great respect for technology and technological innovation.

When I think more deeply about the purpose of social media, I realize I have no clear answer. Why should one show what their lunch looks like? What is the goal of sharing such trivial experiences? Perhaps the dopamine rush of likes and engagement is strong enough to motivate such actions. The definition of an individual gets blurred here. What is an individual person? A collection of social media posts? Or should we emphasize more on your offline version the flawed acne and angst filled individual who subscribes to the weird, concorted philosophy of Proudhon, Locke, and Marx? The algorithms have been determining the future of people on social media. People are worried about losing jobs to a computer now. Since YouTube and Instagram started utilizing attention to pay people, algorithms began to determine who should be paid and what should be paid. The ship of us being under a computer has long sailed.

To answer why social media exists, here is one study that identified ten uses and gratifications for using social media: social interaction, information seeking, passing time, entertainment, relaxation, communicatory utility, convenience utility, expression of opinion, information sharing, and surveillance/knowledge about others (reference ISSN: 1352-2752). Most studies you find will be in line with these. I will not expound more on this; you all know why you use social media, and you all also know why people use social media.

To end it, Nostr gives you certain things that traditional social media and the 'internet' fail to provide. You know what those are since you are here.

P.S.—This is written exclusively for the eyes in the Nostr ecosystem. I will not publish it anywhere else. Link people to this post even from outside; I don’t care.

@ bd50a856:038f487c

I'M NOT IN SCHOOL WHY AM I DOING THIS?

https://image.nostr.build/9df38856e4493466585f451771a013959ac7e29135289b4922a810623577dbef.jpg

Isms in my opinion are not good. - Ferris Bueler

OK so like many a disillusioned youth I was a pretty hardcore Marxist back in college. There's a common pipeline that starts as a 13 year old who wished they could vote for Ron Paul in 2008, takes a hard left turn at the first sign of bigotry, and winds up with a pretty badass juche tattoo. The Enlightenment era ideas of an ascertainable objective truth and mankind's control over their own destiny, combined with the complete subversion of the political history I was brought up with felt very empowering. But nowadays I'm not so sure I want to lay claim to any specific point or vector on the political spectrum. 2024 was in many ways a year of reflection for me. I've managed to reconnect with my sense of spirituality after years of bitterness towards the concept brought on by a life of run-ins with religious fundemantalism, and I had to challenge alot of things that for years I've taken for granted both about myself and the world at large. This ideological audit was in no small way catalyzed by my adoption of NOSTR, which with its endless potential enticed me out of the progressive echo chamber I made my digital home on the fediverse and into a new echo chamber: one full of Bitcoiners.

I had bought Bitcoin before, as a way to short the dollar, but I never encountered its ideologues in the wild. At first gradually then suddenly I was making the types of arguments in my head that former me would have decried as pedantic to the point of being apologetic towards the ruling class. And just like that the 19th and 20th century political and philosophical works which I zaelously held as trail blazes on the long and labyrinthine path towards realizing Absolute Truth were cast forcefully into their murky historical context by the staggering success of the first truly decentralized monetary system. In my college days, I saw Lenin's model of revoutionary politics and the Vanguard Party as the only way for a people's movement to legitimately threaten the hegemony of the global oligarchs who caused so much unnecessary suffering. Now I can see how whether or not that type of centralization was a necessary concession then, one cannot in good faith believe it to be so in the age of Bitcoin.

Yet you'll have to forgive me because still I'm sympathetic to much of the broader movement of Marxism. I detest how Great Man Theory suboordinates the totality of the evolution of society to the wills of a few individuals, and prefer to see socialism in a different light. Rather than viewing the movement as a clever trick some cartoonishly evil mustaches and haircuts used to brainwash almost half the human population, I see a genuine attempt by hundreds of millions of people to change the world for the better, forever. Yes the suffering was immense, and many many people for whom the tumult was too much, as well as those who wished to maintain their parasitic lifestyles, fled for their lives it was far from a black and white phenomena. Living standards also skyrocketed over the long run in places like the USSR and the PRC, from literacy to employment to diet, access to healthcare, you name it. But still the narrative of Hegel's Dialectic playing out in the arena of class politics - wherein the oppressed by becoming the oppressors would naturally do away with oppression altogether by following their self interest just as the Bourgeoisie had done, thereby unwinding the knot of economic injustice - has lost its status as the driving force of all of history for me. It's still much more compelling than the caricature of simply replacing one form of centralization with another. Rather its a much more relatable fallacy: taking a truth, in this case the millennia of class struggle which humanity has dealt with since the advent of agriculture, and trying to extrapolate from it some abstract and all compassing polemic that makes it all make sense. Moreover, in the same way that Bitcoiners say, "Once you see it you can never go back," I cannot unlearn just how hypocritical and dishonest the Western narrative of history is. Lying and calling America the land of the land of opportunity when the abundance we've known for our Empire's whole existence exists merely because of stolen land and slave labor. This is not a moralist objection by the way, though that would be wholly justified. The true horror is that people view the US as the model of a self sufficient nation state when in reality it has always been parasitic, even in it's larval stage. And of course the disillusion with every military campaign since the end of World War 2, starting with the grotesque and gratuitous display of power in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, then the fraudulant and deadly campaigns in Korea, Loas, Vietnam, and of course the entire Middle East. Our own forms of surveillance, censorship, repression all staring at us in the images we projected on the face of the Berlin Wall.

I know a little part of that probably rubbed some of you the wrong way. Hey we still were a net positive force in WW2, of course. And despite many differences in historical interpretations, when it comes to Marx's tomes of economic criticism I think the Bitcoiners of NOSTR would find a lot of rhetorical similarities with their gripes about the age of fiat actually share many rhetorical similarities: The levers of control over the global economy had been consolidated by a select view who were spamming them to make themselves inordinately wealthy at the cost of the quality of life for the majority of Planet Earth. The value of your labor is being ciphoned by a bunch of rackateering lizard men known as politicians. Fair competition, the spirit of Capitalism on paper, has been eroded by its those who claim to be its biggest proponents. Forever wars as a business, predatory global economic policies, proles=plebs, yada yada. Although I guess this note would be pointless if I yada-yada'd over the best parts.

THE INVISIBLE HANDJOB

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The landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed, and demand a rent even for its natural produce. -Adam Smith

In the above quoted Wealth of Nations (Book 1, chapter 11) as well as in Book 4 and in The Theory of Moral Sentiments, everyone's favorite economist they've never read paints a complex and somewhat contradictory image of the proprietors over the means of production in his time. He saw greed and gluttony in their souls, but viewed their actions within the context of an emergent system whereby their selfishness propelled the interest of everyone. So, almost exactly how Marx viewed the holy timespanning vendetta of the have-nots of the world. However, in Book 1 ch10 of Wealth of Nations Smith says this:

[The rent] is not at all proportioned to what the landlord may have laid out upon the improvement of the land, or to what he can afford to take; but to what the farmer can afford to give,

In a section where he concedes that the landlords' actions amount to extortion. He also articulates here how through the influence of legislation, the landlord class effectively outlawed collective negotiation on the part of the working class while bolstering it for themselves, resulting in monopolies. Marx cites Smith himself throughout Das Kapital, and lays out extensively this process of the consolidation of capitalist power in part 3 of the first volume. The two also subscribed to the Labor Theory of Value, as did every other Enlightenment era economist... and so do most Bitcoiners! At least they sure sound like they do when they talk about the erosion of the masses' life force by the debasement of fiat. After all if the commodity that is money is an expression of your time and labor, then so must be the value of every other commodity. I've heard people try to glibly dismiss the LTV as stupid, citing things like land, products of fully automated processes... And digital assets. As if land didn't have to be surveyed, and discovered (or won in a genocide). Or if fully automated production processes didn't require thousands of hours of expert labor on robotics and/or computer engineering. Or if all financial assets in general didn't hold merely a hypothetical value as a representation of value wrought in the productive economy. And to be perfectly honest I always found the subjective theory of value to be downright silly, like imagine haggling at a supermarket over a gallon of milk. Yes demand is subjective (and really more of an expression of willing buying power than need but that's a whole other can of worms), but it's wholly reliant on objective factors such as scarcity and the relative difficulty to produce a certain commodity oneself. And when those who corner the market collude on pricing it's not like you even have the ability to "vote with your money". You have no leverage, unless you own a cow. All in all the price of a commodity can't be anything other than an approximation of its objective value based on the average cost of the raw materials and socially necessary labor time, ebbing and flowing with the asynchronous undulations of supply and demand. And maybe a little extra something just to cushion that P&L. OK maybe a lot. Gotta outperform inflation, right?! Was I being glib, myself, there? It just feels self evident from my current perspective, the hollow vampirism of it all. Capitalists enacting the rights to procure surplus value, reinsert it as capital in order to procure even more surplus value, rinsing and repeating, drifting further and further from the corporeal reality of our own survival and swallowing entire generations in the process.

STATISTS BE LIKE...

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The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem- Milton Friedman

On September 11, 1973 Chilean President Salvador Allende died during a fascist coup d'état perpetrated by the commander in chief of the military Augusto Pinochet. Officially he took his own life for fear of what would be done to him, but it remains a contentious topic. Pinochet's regime was characterized by mass arrests, widespread use of torture, extrajudicial killings, mass exiles, and brutal censorship of his political ditractors. But he cut taxes!!!! And he did so with the council of the Chicago Boys, a group of Chicago University alumni and disciples of right wing icon Milton Friedman. Friedman applauded Pinochet's government for his economic policies and providing a shining example of Milton's take on what small laissez-faire government looks like: Repression of the masses, no rules for the classes.

Pinochet was also a collaborator with the CIA on their project Operation Condor, whereby the funding and stoking of violence and unrest was weaponized to subvert the rise of left leaning politics throughout South and Central America and maintain cheap access to raw materials which US corporations relied on. As a matter of fact, the deep state has an endless track record of resorting to all sorts of crazy measures to subvert the popularity of socialism. This contradicts directly the American conservative view that the deep state wants socialism, and that Trump - who has cooperated in the continuations of these policies with the attempted coups in Venezuela and Bolivia during his first term - is here to stop 'em. The scapegoating and fear mongering of foreign left leaning governments in lucrative regions is a time honored tradition here In the US. All the West has always had more in common with the totalitarianism of Fascism than the East. If you're curious or skeptical about this, looking up Michael Parenti's Blackshirts & Reds is a good place to start digging deeper.

And while conservatives remain in denial about the parasiticism and exclusion their version of freedom relies on, Progressivism, as I see it, is a limping, mutilated, abomination of a watered down version of itself. Democrats for over a century now continue offering the bare minimum that would assuage their cinstituencies in the short term at best, and the exact same neocon policies of war and imperialism abroad, and corporate oligarchy and a police state at home. Yet every two years progressives walk beleaguered to the polls to vote blue no who. And Milton Friedman laughs in his grave. Reminds me of one of my favorite quotes, attributed to president of Tanzinia, Julius Nyere: "The Americans also have a one party state, but with typical American extravegance, they have two of them." https://image.nostr.build/9380dbc6d51a443b76340b46c760e12c9bb0540a170a8f5a2a22847e0bba88c7.jpg

WHAT IS DO BE DONE?

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I found freedom. Losing all hope is freedom. - Edward Norton, Fight Club

If you made it through all that rambling, what is wrong with you? In all seriousness, I hope this was a fruitful glance into the mind of someone who might think a little differently. In a rapidly evolving world, where systems we ourselves have put in place not only constitute the environment we live in, but reproduce themselves through our behavior as well, despondency, rage, and confusion permeate the collective consciousness. But there's also Bitcoin, which to an increasing number - and to an extent myself - represents a successful proof of concept of a new, genuinely Decentralized Ideological Apparatus. One which relies on Mutual Aid and the cooperation of smaller, decentralized and self sufficient communities. And to a certain extent it also represents hope. But it's as much an asset to those who'd prefer to continue feeding on the suffering of others as it is to those hoping for a change. Hope is as dangerous as fear - Lao Tzu

@ 1cb14ab3:95d52462

Tree branches, Rock. 4' x 4 [Boulder, USA. 2016]

Introduction

Nestled deep in the forest near Boulder, "Looking Glass" invites viewers to rediscover the quiet beauty of overlooked natural details. By framing the play of light, texture, and shadow through a 4-foot circular lens, the piece shifts focus to the microcosms of the forest, drawing attention to a small and overlooked waterfall.

Site & Placement

The lens is perched amid a cluster of trees, emphasizing a quiet patch of the forest that often goes unnoticed. Positioned 22 feet from the lens, a carefully placed bench offers a perfect vantage point, guiding visitors to linger, observe, and absorb the layered simplicity of the scene.

Impermanence & Integration

True to the ethos of the Earth Lens series, Looking Glass exists only briefly. Its natural materials—branches, wood, and rock—blend seamlessly into the forest and will eventually be reclaimed by it. The fleeting presence of the lens reflects the transient beauty of life, encouraging viewers to appreciate the details that often escape notice in the rush of time.

Reflection

In its short life, Looking Glass offers a moment of stillness and clarity, a chance to peer into the intimate world of the forest. The work becomes a lens not just for the environment but also for introspection, reminding viewers of the quiet wonders that surround them every day.

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Photos

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More from the 'Earth Lens' Series:

Earth Lens Series: Artist Statement + List of Works

COMING SOON: "Folsom" (Earth Lens 002)

COMING SOON: "Sanctuary" (Earth Lens 003)

COMING SOON: "Platte" (Earth Lens 004)

COMING SOON: "Grandfather" (Earth Lens 005)

COMING SOON: "Chongming" (Earth Lens 006)

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More from Hes

Art

Store

Travel Guides

Photography

Writings

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All images are credit of Hes, but you are free to download and use for any purpose. If you find joy from my art, please feel free to send a zap. Enjoy life on a Bitcoin standard.

@ a012dc82:6458a70d

Table Of Content

• Rollercoaster Rides

• The Impact of Macroeconomic Forces

• Short-term Projections

• Ethereum's Steady Stance

• Week-on-week Comparisons

• Altcoins in Focus

• The Laggards

• Market Overview

• Conclusion

• FAQ

September has once again proven itself to be a tumultuous month for the world's most prominent cryptocurrency, Bitcoin (BTC). This month-long rollercoaster ride has historical roots, as September has historically been a challenging period for Bitcoin. However, the first two-thirds of the month showcased remarkable progress, raising expectations. But the recent resurgence of the US dollar has cast a shadow over the entire crypto market, leading to uncertainty among investors and traders.

Rollercoaster Rides

As the calendar pages flipped through September, Bitcoin embarked on a rollercoaster ride that left many in the crypto community holding their breath. Over the weekend, Bitcoin witnessed a significant dip, eroding a substantial portion of its gains for the month. Sunday's trading session saw the BTC/USDT pair drop by 1.2%, closing at $26,250. Monday's early trades further exacerbated the bearish trend, pushing the pair below $26,150. These rapid fluctuations in Bitcoin's value have been a hallmark of its journey in recent weeks.

The Impact of Macroeconomic Forces

In addition to its internal dynamics, Bitcoin has been significantly influenced by macroeconomic factors, particularly the policies and guidance provided by the Federal Reserve and other central banks. Last week, the Fed's unexpected hawkish stance sent shockwaves through financial markets, including the crypto sphere. This policy shift had an adverse effect on risk-on trading sentiment, causing investors to reevaluate their strategies. As the month approaches its conclusion, a less eventful macroeconomic calendar might imply reduced volatility in the coming days. However, the lingering impact of the Fed's decisions remains a source of uncertainty.

Short-term Projections

To gain insights into Bitcoin's short-term trajectory, market analysts have turned to Binance's order book analysis. According to their assessment, a support line appears to be forming at the $25,000 mark, providing some stability in the face of recent turbulence. Conversely, selling resistance has been identified at $27,500, indicating a significant challenge for Bitcoin's upward momentum. These levels are likely to play a crucial role in determining Bitcoin's path in the immediate future, with traders closely monitoring any breaches or rebounds.

Ethereum's Steady Stance

In contrast to Bitcoin's rollercoaster performance, Ethereum (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has demonstrated a more stable trajectory over the past few days. While Saturday saw minimal fluctuations, Sunday's trades witnessed a modest 0.8% dip, settling at $1,580. As of Monday, Ethereum has maintained this position, indicating resilience in the face of market turbulence. Ethereum's stability, as compared to Bitcoin's wild swings, underscores the unique dynamics at play within the broader cryptocurrency market.

Week-on-week Comparisons

Examining the performance of these two leading cryptocurrencies over the course of the week reveals intriguing trends. Bitcoin has experienced a 2% decline in its value, signaling the challenges it faced amid a shifting financial landscape. Meanwhile, Ethereum has faced a slightly more significant drop of over 3%. These fluctuations underscore the inherent volatility of the crypto market, even among its most prominent players.

Altcoins in Focus

Beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum, the broader altcoin spectrum presents a diverse set of performances. One standout performer has been Solana (SOL), which surged ahead by an impressive 1.75% in the past seven days. This remarkable growth has garnered the attention of investors and enthusiasts alike. Additionally, Ripple (XRP) has maintained positive momentum, adding approximately 0.8% to its value. These altcoins' resilience serves as a testament to the unique dynamics within the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

The Laggards

However, not all altcoins have been able to escape the gravitational pull of Bitcoin's performance. Prominent digital assets such as Binance's BNB token, Dogecoin (DOGE), Cardano (ADA), Polkadot (DOT), and Polygon (MATIC) have mirrored Bitcoin's downward trend. These digital assets have seen marginal losses in terms of their respective market capitalizations, underscoring the interconnectedness of the cryptocurrency market.

Market Overview

At present, the global cryptocurrency market cap stands at an impressive $1.04 trillion, signifying the substantial size and influence of the digital asset market. Bitcoin continues to command a dominant position, with a market dominance of 49.9%. This reaffirms Bitcoin's status as the undisputed leader in the digital asset space, despite the challenges it faces in September.

Conclusion

As September draws to a close, the battle between Bitcoin and the resurgent US dollar remains uncertain. The interplay between internal dynamics, macroeconomic factors, and market sentiment will continue to shape the crypto landscape in the days ahead. Traders and enthusiasts alike will be watching closely to discern the next moves in this high-stakes confrontation. As the dust settles, the cryptocurrency market will likely reveal new trends and opportunities for those who can navigate these uncertain waters with agility and insight.

FAQ

Why is September historically challenging for Bitcoin? September has traditionally been a tough month for Bitcoin, with factors like market sentiment and macroeconomic forces contributing to its volatility during this period.

How is the US dollar impacting Bitcoin's recent performance? The resurgence of the US dollar has cast a shadow over the crypto market, leading to uncertainty and impacting Bitcoin's value.

What are the short-term projections for Bitcoin and Ethereum? Short-term projections for Bitcoin suggest a support line at $25,000 and resistance at $27,500, while Ethereum has maintained relative stability.

Which altcoins have performed well recently? Solana (SOL) and Ripple (XRP) have shown positive momentum, but some prominent altcoins have followed Bitcoin's downward trend.

That's all for today

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.

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@ 3c7dc2c5:805642a8

🧠Quote(s) of the week:

“Bitcoin is a clock with a new concept of time – block height – synchronously marking depletion of the most valuable resource in the universe, our time.” - Ross Stevens

'The fact that billions of working men and women must sacrifice 40+ years of their time, energy, health, and focus to gain access to fiat currencies that central banks can replicate with a keystroke is injustice on the largest scale humanity has ever seen. It is theft. Bitcoin' - Bitcoin for Freedom

'Billions of people will watch the generational opportunity to own 1 whole Bitcoin slip through their fingers and never return. There will be less than 500,000 whole-coiners in the world, which will continue to drop, regardless of how many people wish they had one. This is wealth based on math.' Wealth Theory

🧡Bitcoin news🧡

Happy New Year fam!🧡 Here's to a year filled with love, health, and wonderful Bitcoin moments.

Now before I am going to start with the Weekly Recap I want to share what is happening with MiCA / Travel Rule in the EU. The EU is back with more attacks on our freedom. Their 2025 MiCA and TravelRule regulations are just another step to control and surveil our financial lives. This is a good thread on what’s happening with MiCA in the EU. To make it even more specific, a thread worth your time especially if you're in Europe. x.com/ferenckovacs/status/1873278442600325235

To sum it up. The EU is cracking down on freedom while America is on the verge of an unprecedented pro-Bitcoin administration. The EU is going to be left behind again (!) because of a lack of Bitcoin education. That's why I am writing my Weekly Recaps and created this account (Bitcoin Friday). Change the world through Bitcoin education.

On the 24th of December: ➡️Michael Saylor is not fucking around. MicroStrategy just said that they want to raise the authorized share count by 10 BILLION. They currently have 330 million shares outstanding, meaning this could increase the share count by 3,000%. Microstrategy now owns 444.000 Bitcoin. That is as much as China, the US, and the UK combined. Madness! Key proposals include: 1. Increasing authorized Class A shares from 330 million to 10.33 billion to support future capital raising. 2. Increasing authorized preferred shares from 5 million to 1.005 billion to expand financing options. 3. Amending the 2023 Equity Incentive Plan to provide automatic equity awards for new directors joining the Board.

➡️While others are selling, BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF bought $32 million in BTC yesterday.

➡️The value of Metaplanet’s Bitcoin treasury is now 12x larger than the market cap of the entire company in April. Metaplanet is using Saylor's playbook. All 1,761.99 of Metaplanet’s BTC are verifiable on the chain.

➡️The Bank of Italy identifies Bitcoin P2P services as "crime-as-a-service", due to their alleged use in money laundering operations. Ma figura di merda! Don't let them frame regular Bitcoin usage as criminal. You have a right to freedom of transaction, privacy, and self-custody. Oh on a side note. They should be banning the "crime-as-a-service" Euro then - which constitutes 98.5% of illicit money laundering compared to Bitcoin, cazzos!

➡️Less than 1.2 million Bitcoin left to mine! Tick-tock, next block! (foto)

➡️Publicly traded Matador Technologies Inc. approves to purchase of $4.5 million Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset.

➡️South African parliament member Mzwanele Manyi said "Bitcoin is coming in full force. It will devalue gold. It's unstoppable."

On the 25th of December: ➡️Russia is using BITCOIN in foreign trade, says finance minister - Reuters Finance Minister: "Such transactions are already occurring. We believe they should be expanded and developed further. I am confident this will happen next year". From last week: "Russia lawmakers were this week revealed to be pushing the country to create a Bitcoin strategic reserve... Vladimir Putin praised bitcoin as an alternative to FX reserves following the seizure of its funds by Western governments." I guess banning them from SWIFT wasn’t the greatest idea after all.

➡️Jameson Lopp: "If you have a lot of bitcoin you should leave it with a custodian." 'Meanwhile, custodian losses in 2024: Rain: $15M Indodax: $22M Lykke: $22M BingX: $45M BitForex: $56M BtcTurk: $90M WazirX: $230M DMM Bitcoin: $305M' Source: hacked.slowmist.io/?c=Exchange

➡️Multiple U.S. states considering Strategic Bitcoin Reserves - CNBC

El Salvador is just 2.23 BTC away from holding 6000 bitcoin in its Strategic ReserveLike a boss, El Salvador continued adding one BTC per day to our Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. And we are still so early ...

➡️Malaysia’s largest bank says when the US establishes Bitcoin Reserves, other countries will follow with increasing demand.

On the 26th of December: ➡️Thailand has backed a pilot scheme proposed by former premier Thaksin Shinawatra to introduce Bitcoin payments at a tourist center in Phuket, Thailand.

➡️Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba expresses uncertainty about implementing a Bitcoin strategic reserve, citing a lack of information on the US and other countries' plans.

➡️Another public company launches a Bitcoin treasury allocating 90% of their cash. Public company KULR buys 217.18 Bitcoin for $21 million for its Bitcoin Treasury strategy.

➡️Bitcoin mining (from otherwise wasted hydropower) is now 18% of all Ethiopian Electric Power’s revenue. The country has turned excess hydroelectric power into a profitable asset by powering Bitcoin mining operations, earning $1B in revenue last year. The move is drawing global investors who benefit from the country's low energy costs, and it's an example of how sustainable energy can drive economic growth across Africa. Source: www.crypto-news-flash.com/ethiopias-dam-powers-18-revenue-through-bitcoin-mining

On the 27th of December

➡️Daniel Batten: 'In addition to 13 peer-reviewed academic papers, there are now 8 sustainability magazines covering the fast-growing story of how Bitcoin is supporting sustainable energy development and climate action. They are: x.com/DSBatten/status/1872475284319949035 Great thread and articles/papers! Must read.

➡️Bitcoin is being quietly acquired by whales through private transactions, per CryptoQuant. The number of CoinJoin transactions has tripled over two years, with many attributing the surge to legitimate investment.

➡️Over 60 public companies now hold Bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset. (foto) '14,400 BTC taken off exchanges today. This will keep happening until the liquid supply is gone. When that happens you better be done stacking.' - Bitcoin For Freedom.

➡️$5 billion Bitwise files for Bitcoin Standard Corporations ETF.

➡️IRS rules demand brokers report digital asset transactions, including decentralized exchanges from 2027.

On the 28th of December: ➡️ProShares files for ETFs tracking the S&P 500, Nasdaq-100, and gold—denominated in Bitcoin. These ETFs take long positions in stocks or gold while using Bitcoin futures to short USD and go long on BTC, making them essentially Bitcoin-hedged ETFs. Nate Geraci: 'ETF filings last 48hrs… -Strive Btc Bond ETF -Bitwise Btc Standard Corporations ETF -REX Btc Corporate Treasury Convertible Bond ETF -ProShares Btc hedged ETFs on S&P 500, Nasdaq-100, & gold 2025 is gonna be wild' This is de facto how BTC is going to scale to a billion users.

On the 29th of December: ➡️Bitcoin vs. Gold ETFs in 2024: •Bitcoin: $36.8 billion in net flows •Gold: $454 million in net flows Bitcoin is demonetizing gold in real-time. (foto)

On the 30th of December: ➡️This year's investor letter from Stone Ridge did not disappoint. One of the best investor newsletters I've read in a long time. www.nydig.com/research/stone-ridge-2024-investor-letter This year's investor letter from Stone Ridge did not disappoint. One of the best investor newsletters I've read in a long time. (foto) 'NYDIG is about to unlock one of the largest investable pools of capital in the entire financial system—insurance float—and channel it into Bitcoin-backed loans. This is a big deal. More efficient lending → lower loan costs → less BTC sold → increased scarcity → higher demand and price → stronger institutional interest → accelerated Bitcoin adoption.' - Sam Callahan ➡️Tether buys 7,629 Bitcoin worth $705 million for its reserves and now owns $7.7 billion in Bitcoin.

➡️'According to Luke Dash Jr's estimates of unreachable / non-listening node counts, the total number of Bitcoin nodes rose 49% from 65,000 to 96,852 during 2024.' - Jameson Lopp The number of publicly reachable computers running Bitcoin blockchain software increased by 19% this year. This is very important! Noderunners!

➡️MicroStrategy has acquired 2,138 BTC for ~$209 million at ~$97,837 per bitcoin and has achieved a BTC Yield of 47.8% QTD and 74.1% YTD. As of 12/29/2024, they hodl 446,400 Bitcoin acquired for ~$27.9 billion at ~$62,428 per Bitcoin.

On the 31st of December: ➡️A Swiss initiative to include Bitcoin in the constitution has advanced to the review stage in the Feuille fédérale, the official publication for legislative texts and government decisions.

➡️New record bitcoin network computing hashrate: 800,000,000,000,000,000,000x per second.

➡️Bitcoin miners earned $15B in revenue in 2024. This assumes they instantly sell for fiat, which is not the case - miners tend to be HODLers.

➡️Bitcoin Returns since 2010... (foto) "Only" +120% this year, 5x the returns of the S&P 500.

➡️Bhutan now likely holds more Bitcoin per capita than any other country on Earth.

➡️$1.5 trillion Franklin Templeton says "We expect to see strategic Bitcoin reserves added by several nations" in 2025.

💸Traditional Finance / Macro:

On the 26th of December: 👉🏽'The US stock market is becoming even more concentrated: The top 10 stocks now reflect a record 40% of the S&P 500's market cap. This percentage now exceeds the 2000 Dot-Com bubble levels by ~14 percentage points. In 2024, these stocks have added over $7 TRILLION in market cap and are now worth a record $20.9 trillion. To put this into perspective, the entire European stock market is worth ~$16 trillion, or $4.9 trillion LESS. The market's rally is not broadening.' -TKL

🏦Banks: 👉 no news

🌎Macro/Geopolitics:

On the 24th of December: 👉🏽'US existing home sales are set to close at 4.04 million in 2024, marking the worst year since 1995. Sales are set to be even lower than during the 2008 Financial Crisis. The lack of demand for existing homes comes as home prices have jumped over 50% since 2020. Over the same period, mortgage rates have nearly TRIPLED, making affordability even worse. The average rate on a 30-year mortgage is up 100 basis points since September alone, to 7.1%, despite the Fed cutting rates by 100 basis points. The US housing market is frozen.' -TKL

On the 25th of December: 👉🏽Javier Milei announces a structural tax reform that will eliminate 90% of taxes in Argentina.

👉🏽 China withdrew $158 billion from its financial system through its MLF tool (Medium-Term lending facility), the largest liquidity removal in a decade.

On the 26th of December: 👉🏽“Brussels started a department to look for €60M in savings. Its operational costs so far are €30M.” The most EU thing I've ever seen. The worst part? The government can only grow in its current form, which means it will only become bigger and more expensive. Inefficiency in government. A lot of inefficiency, with more and more regulations and no contributing productivity. Welcome to how Western governments function.

Remember the report from Oxfam International two months ago? "Up to $41 billion in World Bank climate finance unaccounted for.". Remember how the Pentagon fails 7th audit in a row, unable to fully account for the $ 842B budget.

But hey, Bitcoin is just made-up money, right?

👉🏽'The 10-year note yield is now up 100 basis points since the "Fed pivot" began in September. In other words, while the Fed has CUT rates by 100 bps, rates in the market have RISEN by 100 bps.' -TKL “As a result, the average interest rate on a 30-year mortgage in the United States is now at 7.10%. To put this into perspective, just 3 months ago the average rate bottomed at 6.15%. Buying the median-priced home at $420,400 now costs an average of ~$400 more PER MONTH.” The disconnect between the Fed and what's going on in the bond market is ridiculous. Never in the last 40 years has the 10-year Treasury risen more quickly after the Fed started a rate-cutting cycle. The housing market pays the price (read the first point in this segment)

👉🏽New Chinese $137B river dam project in Tibet, 3x the size of Three Gorges for 300 million people. $137B honestly sounds like a small amount after hearing how much the US spends on foreign wars. They've given Ukraine $183B to date. One war in Ukraine or one dam that generates enough electricity to power your entire country? The environmental destruction will be irreversible and will affect the entire planet. The Chinese see our planet as a commodity and a resource that needs to be exploited. Arnaud Bertrand: 'China just approved yet another project of an unfathomable scale: a mega-dam that will generate 3 times more power than the Three Gorges, enough to meet the annual needs of over 300m people, the equivalent of the entire US population. scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3292267/china-approves-tibet-mega-dam-could-generate-3-times-more-power-three-gorges… The project will cost an insane 1 trillion yuan (US$137 billion) to build and will be located on the Yarlung Tsangpo River in Tibet autonomous region, which carves out the deepest canyon on Earth.'

On the 29th of December: 👉🏽'Germany, France, and Italy, the three largest economies in Europe have been stagnating for years. Grotesque overregulation, lack of innovation, and left redistribution mindset replacing hard work & entrepreneurial spirit have their price. What needs to happen for Europe to grow again?' -Michael A. Arouet The EU is destroying the European economy. 'Sixteen years ago, the US and EU economies were nearly equal in size. Today, the US economy is 50% larger than the EU. Europe is being strangled by the EU and its Commission President von der Leyen's red tape.'- Steve Hanke (foto)

On the 31st of December: 👉🏽'Global corporate debt issuance jumped ~34% year-over-year to a record $7.9 trillion in 2024. Global corporate debt sales have DOUBLED over the last 12 years. Issuances have now surpassed the previous record of $7.2 trillion in 2021. This comes as historically low corporate bond spreads have fueled massive issuance activity. Furthermore, the average US investment-grade bond spread has fallen to just 0.77 percentage points in early December. This market the tightest spread since the late 1990s, according to Ice BofA data.' -TKL The only thing I am wondering is who is buying corporate debt when you can get 5% in a money market? Or just buy Bitcoin😉

👉🏽Total US debt is up 30%, or $8.5 trillion since Biden's inauguration, to $36.2 trillion.

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

Some fountain of Jeff Booth's wisdom: Repricing the World in Bitcoin

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 BITCOINFRIDAY

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 sats.

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⭐ Many thanks⭐

Felipe -Bitcoin Friday!

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@ 3c7dc2c5:805642a8

🧠Quote(s) of the week:

Bitcoin is freedom of speech in the language of money.

'The five stages of a No-Coiner:

1. Denial (most people are here)

2. Anger (Peter Schiff)

3. Bargaining (Shitcoiners)

4. Depression (Rekt shit-coiners)

5. Acceptance (Bitcoiner)' - Bitcoin for Freedom

🧡Bitcoin news🧡

On the 31st of December:

➡️Impressive growth for Unchained in securing Bitcoin for clients. $9.5 billion financial services company Unchained helped its clients secure over 100,000 Bitcoin in 2024.

➡️'ETH/BTC is down 30% this year—the "world computer" needs a new narrative quickly, otherwise, it's going to fall another 100%.' -Joe Consorti

➡️'Since the beginning of Q4, treasury operations delivered a BTC Yield of 47.8%, a net benefit of 120,600 BTC to our shareholders. At $96K per BTC, that equates to $11.6 billion for the quarter.' - Michael Saylor

On the 1st of January:

➡️BlackRock's Spot Bitcoin ETF now holds over 2% of all the Bitcoin that will ever exist.

➡️MicroStrategy is now down 47% since hitting an all-time high 6 weeks ago.

➡️'$793M worth of Bitcoin was transferred from MicroStrategy-linked Coinbase Prime Custody addresses to unknown wallets, according to Arkham Intelligence.' -Bitcoin News

➡️We start the year with a new low on Bitcoin on exchanges, and 30k Bitcoin withdrew in the last 24 hours.

➡️Daniel Batten: 'Little known fact: The World's largest Sovereign Fund (Government Pension Fund Global, Norway) already has significant Bitcoin exposure. The fund has invested $217 million in MicroStrategy, tripling its allocation between Aug 2023 and Aug 2024. Expect more of this in 2025.'

➡️New research paper published:

https://www.cetjournal.it/cet/24/114/061.pdf

TL;DR: Pairing Bitcoin mining and Green Hydrogen can: accelerate the build-out of solar and wind capacity boost capacity for negative emission technologies, capturing >7.4 t CO2e per Bitcoin

➡️Globalt Investments senior portfolio manager Thomas Martin reveals that the company currently has 10% of its portfolio in gold and that it could increase its holdings in Bitcoin, but probably below 5%.

➡️Hong Kong-listed company Yuxing buys 78.2 Bitcoin for $6.3 million.

➡️2024 is in the books, and the results are clear:

Bitcoin topped the charts again, outperforming every major asset class for the year. Investment returns last year:

Bitcoin: +121%

Gold: +27%

NASDAQ: +26%

S&P 500: +25%

Dow Jones: +13%

Emerging Markets: +6%

Cash: +5%

Real Estate: +5%

Commodities: +2%

Oil: +1%

US Bonds: +1%

Again Bitcoin is at the top. There is no second best.

By simply buying and holding Bitcoin, you outperformed 99.99% of all financial institutions on planet Earth in 2024, without hidden fees and bullshit.

On the 2nd of January:

➡️Billionaire investor Ray Dalio recommends Bitcoin as 'hard money' amid national debt increases, per the Block.

Recently I have seen a Ray Dalio interview. He owns Bitcoin, but he still doesn't understand some basic concepts. Oh well, Gradually then suddenly. Ray Dalio: "I want to steer away from debt assets like bonds and debt, and have some hard money like gold and Bitcoin."

➡️FORBES: Bitcoin mining in Africa “has shown to provide the much-needed revenue to boost electricity infrastructure development, create jobs, sustainably electrify rural communities, and catalyze green energy production.”

➡️The Oxford English Dictionary added the word "satoshi'.

➡️Fold announces up to $30M in convertible note financing, backed by Bitcoin, to fuel growth and fast-track product development.

On the 3rd of January:

➡️On this day 16 years ago Bitcoin went online! Happy Bitcoin Genesis Block Day! This block is unspendable. Satoshi also waited 6 days before mining block #2 so others had time to join the network.

Now that Bitcoin has existed for 16 years! Lindy effect says that Bitcoin would at least exist for another 16 years.

January 3, 2009. Satoshi undermines block 0 on a difficulty 1 CPU and incorporates into the Genesis Block hexadecimal code base the headline of that day’s Times “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on the brink of second bailout for banks”. The bank bailout plan ‘cause of the subprime mortgage crisis in the GFC.

Since that day, the network has grown dramatically. Now, millions of people all over earth use Bitcoin. And while it’s great to hear that other countries like El Salvador, Bhutan, and others are embracing Bitcoin, I can’t help but wish my own country 🇳🇱 was embracing Bitcoin too.

Tick tick, next block without fail, Bitcoin continues to provide us with the most significant tool for freedom of speech and monetary sovereignty in the digital age!

Bitcoin is about financial inclusion and economic empowerment.🎯

Bitcoin is secured by the most powerful computing network in the world!🧡

Which leads me to the following.

➡️Just like with other emerging tech, perspectives evolve. Fascinating to see that finally, the vast majority of academic papers are recognizing the benefits of Bitcoin Mining.

Daniel Batten: "87.5% of contemporary peer-reviewed literature on Bitcoin and energy highlight Bitcoin mining having significant, scaleable environmental benefits This shift in scientific consensus follows the same trend as that of other nascent technologies, where first-generation research is superseded by more nuanced work based on better understanding, more case studies, and improved data."

Here you can find the list of those 14 of the last 16 peer review academic papers: https://x.com/DSBatten/status/1874858383523618887

➡️Another one, a scientific paper suggests that Bitcoin could function as a safe haven in relation to geopolitical risk in times of market crashes.

"We find that Bitcoin and the Swiss Franc function as safe havens in relation to geopolitical risk in times of market crashes while Gold and Treasury bonds do not. [...] the protective aspects [...] mainly show through large stock market moves."

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1544612324015721#:~:text=Using%20S%26P%20500%20and%20GPR,and%20Treasury%20bonds%20do%20not

➡️Eric Balchunas: "IBIT with its biggest outflow day ever yesterday with $332m, about 0.7% of the total aum. It's so over.."

We had a good run everyone. haha

➡️If you were hoping to see evidence for how simple it can be to do Bitcoin right… here you go. Just buy and hold. Believe me, please read the post/thread:

https://x.com/sminston_with/status/1874978781200588838

➡️Bitcoin's network hashrate increased by 56% in 2024, from 512 to 800 exahash per second.

➡️ Chinese auto-trading platform Cango Inc. now holds 933.8 Bitcoin. The company increased Bitcoin mining production by 56% in December, producing 569.9 BTC.

➡️'Bitcoin's UTXO set grew from 153.4M to 186.4M during 2024, adding 1 net additional UTXO per second.' - Jameson Lopp

On the 4th of January:

➡️'Unredacted FDIC documents reveal coordinated efforts to restrict Bitcoin activities under Operation Chokepoint 2.0, exposing systemic discrimination against the industry.' TFTC

Ridiculous actions were taken with intent over the last few years. We all knew it. I am not surprised at all.

➡️The Bitcoin network finalized more than $19 trillion worth of BTC transactions in 2024. More than double the $8.7 trillion settled over the network in 2023 - reversing two years of declining transaction volume since 2021. Decisively proving that Bitcoin is both a store of value and a medium of exchange.

On the 5th of January:

➡️The largest Bitcoin mine in the world is nearing completion. Riot Blockchain’s new facility is under construction in Corsicana Texas, which, once fully developed, will be powered by 1 gigawatt in total mining capacity.

➡️Ffs nothing learned from 2022, ahumm FTX ahuhmm Celcius.

'One of the largest publicly traded Bitcoin mining firms in the U.S., MARA, has lent 7,377 BTC to third parties to generate yield, representing approximately 16% of its total reserves. These loans are “short-term arrangements with well-established third parties.” The long-term objective is to generate sufficient yield to offset operating expenses.'

Surely nobody has even gotten caught offsides rehypothecating their Bitcoin, right? Right!?!?!?

➡️Metaplanet is aiming to expand its Bitcoin holdings more than fivefold to 10,000 Bitcoin in 2025, says CEO Simon Gerovich.

💸Traditional Finance / Macro:

On the 31st of December:

👉🏽Over $7.11 trillion was added to the US stock market in 2024.

👉🏽'The last time the top 10 stocks accounted for this much of the S&P 500, was just before the Great Depression in 1929…' - Geiger Capital The top 10 stocks in the S&P 500 are now almost 800 TIMES larger than the 75th percentile stock.

Not even the Great Depression in the 1930s saw market concentration this high. It's now 50% MORE concentrated than in 2001.

Yeah, it is bad (please watch the video as mentioned in last week's Weekly Recap - Luke Gromen & Preston Pysh). For now, the Fed especially Trump won't let a depression happen.

On the 2nd of January:

👉🏽The US Bond Market has now been in a drawdown for 53 months, by far the longest in history.

🏦Banks:

👉🏽'no news

🌎Macro/Geopolitics:

On the 1st of January:

👉🏽Germany, the economic powerhouse of Europe, is now on the brink of a collapse. Energy shortages. Aging workers. A stagnating economy. What happened to Europe’s strongest economy—and what does it mean for the EU’s future?

(foto)

I have mentioned it multiple times here in the Weekly Recaps. Given its policy instability and lack of innovation support, Germany's decline is no surprise. I wouldn't call it a collapse though. What will be next? The AfD likely will win the upcoming elections. Will that help to rejuvenate their economy, I don't think so. But if they (current and past administrations) keep pushing the same tired policies expect more support for real change like the AfD. Don't get me wrong. Economic despair fuels AfD’s surge, while democracy’s legitimacy falters.

This isn’t just about one nation, it’s a global wake-up call.

👉🏽'U.S. Dollar is now the most overvalued in history according to Bank of America.' - Barchart

👉🏽Lagarde says the European Central Bank has a “big, heavy agenda for 2025” of bringing inflation down to 2% and continuing progress toward a CBDC. Full video aka.

The new Bitcoin marketing ad: https://x.com/Lagarde/status/1874380049442320773

Pardon my English, but these people are unelected psychopaths. Lagarde is almost 70 years old. Should monetary policy be set by people who don't understand the current & future economic trends that will rule society?

Digital Euro means slavery. Study the meaning of money to boycott with an alternative, Bitcoin! The honey badgers are on the move.

Oh and regarding that mysterious 2% inflation figure. Let's say you save $200 a month for 30 years in a savings account. Your total contributions over 30 years would be $72,000.

Here's how much buying power you would have left, if inflation was:

2%: $39,275

3%: $28 872

4%: $21,157

5%: $15,453

There is no reason we should have 2% inflation. Let alone the 4-8% inflation we had the last couple of years.

On the 2nd of January:

👉🏽We in Europe really fucked up. 'Europe has gone from relying entirely on cheap Russian gas to relying entirely on expensive US LNG' - Zero Hedge

They closed their nuclear reactors for this. Get woke, go broke. Oh, by the way, the Nordstream 2 pipeline incident has a clear winner, and it's not Ukraine or Russia.

👉🏽The EURO tumbles to the lowest level since 2022 amid ongoing concerns about Europe’s economy.

👉🏽

Dr. Jan Wüstenfeld: "Meanwhile, Bitcoin's supply growth rate is at 0.8%, and in 172,536 blocks, the newly issued Bitcoin per day will halve again, then halve again after another 210,000 blocks, and again and again. Choose wisely.

👉🏽Reserves at the Fed sink below $3 Trillion to the lowest since 2020. The Fed will end QT in March or April give or take a month. Especially with RRP running dry. Banking liquidity is getting too tight

👉🏽The Chinese Property Market has seen a total loss of $18 Trillion over the past 3 years, surpassing the losses suffered by the U.S. during the Global Financial Crisis.

👉🏽'The US deficit as a percentage of GDP is projected to average 6.3% over the next 10 years.

This comes after the deficit reached 6.7% in 2024, the largest since 2021. Such elevated deficits have never happened outside of wars and significant economic crises.

Furthermore, the deficit is estimated to hit 7.1% of GDP in 2025, the 3rd highest among the world's major economies, only behind India and China. Meanwhile, the budget gap for the first 2 months of the Fiscal Year 2025 reached $624 BILLION, the largest on record. The US is on unsustainable fiscal path.' -TKL

On the 5th of January:

👉🏽'The US National Debt increased by $2.2 trillion in 2024, following increases of $2.6 trillion in 2023, $1.8 trillion in 2022, $1.9 trillion in 2021, and $4.5 trillion in 2020. How much will the National Debt increase in 2025?' - Charlie Bilello

On the 6th of January:

👉🏽Hedge Fund Manager Steve Diggle, who made $3 Billion during the Global Financial Crisis, has returned and compares the current market to what we saw from 2005-2007

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

What Bitcoin Did:

2024: BITCOIN IN REVIEW with HODL & ODELL

https://youtu.be/-tijL0iD5GI?si=Q7Xsy-mRg4UqxKe3

Good one!

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 BITCOINFRIDAY

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 sats.

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

⭐ Many thanks⭐

Felipe -Bitcoin Friday!

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

@ 1cb14ab3:95d52462

Event Recap

For the Official Stooki Sound Afterparty in Boulder, CO, I took the unconventional venue of a kitchen on The Hill and transformed it into an immersive environment for Toybox and Tesfa’s performances. The space was custom-mapped with projections that interacted seamlessly with the surroundings, turning the kitchen into a dynamic, visual landscape. I added retrofitted props to deepen the visual experience, giving the projections a multi-dimensional quality. This innovative approach created a unique atmosphere, enhancing the performance while blurring the lines between physical space and digital art.

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Event Photos

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Recap Video

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Other Immersive Experiences by Hes

Light Pollution [2015]

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All images are credit of Hes, but you are free to download and use for any purpose. If you find joy from my art, please feel free to send a zap. Enjoy life on a Bitcoin standard.

@ dd664d5e:5633d319

Hodling Bitcoin does not make you a capitalist

I've noticed that Bitcoin-mindedness seems to lead some people to communistic thinking because it's a hard-limited form of capital. Marx, like most Bitcoiners, heavily discounted the possibility of economic growth or transformation changing the economy enough to undermine some minority's control of some form of capital.

What few today understand, is that many of the Dirty Capitalists of Marx's era actually agreed with him; they were just disdainful of labor and worried that the workers finding out that Marxism is correct about the nature of capitalism would cause unrest. They were the original HFSP crowd.

This was the basic idea, that Marx had, and that many Bitcoiners would agree with:

Capital is strictly limited and the people that control it can keep labor from attaining any, except when their labor is necessary.

And, as we know, automation will make human labor increasingly unnecessary.

The math doesn't check out

That underlies all of the calculations of "Well, if I just grab this Bitcoin wallet and hodl for twenty years, then it will grow in value to equal half of everything in existence and then I can just buy up half the planet and rule over everyone like a god."

This is economic nonsense because it assumes that: 1) the value of all things remains static over time, 2) purchasing something with money gives you ownership of it, 3) people will always use that specific money (or any money, at all!) for all transactions, 4) there is no such thing as opportunity cost, 5) people will always value money more than any other thing, and therefore be willing to always trade it for anything else, 6) humans are passive, defenseless, and easy to rule over, 7) someone who is preoccupied with hodling an asset steadily and sharply rising in price would ever be emotionally ready to part with it.

All monies can die.

People use money for everything because it is easy, fast and cheap. If money becomes too precious or scarce, they will simply switch to using other things (as we saw with gold). Humans replace tools that aren't working well, with those that work better, and money is just another tool. Bitcoin is more divisible than gold, but that won't matter, if enough of it is held by too few.

This is why there's a natural cap on the price of a money and why human productivity in the here and now is not irrelevant or in vain.

@ 2ed3596e:98b4cc78

Americans can now get paid in bitcoin sent directly to their personal bitcoin wallet. Share your Bitcoin Well Direct Deposit details with your employer (or anyone sending you money), set your bitcoin/dollar split and receive sats instead of fiat with every paycheck. 

Whenever you buy bitcoin with Bitcoin Well, we automatically send it to your self-custody wallet. Your bitcoin is safest in a self-custody wallet. 

So, when you set up your Direct Deposit with Bitcoin Well, you Dollar Cost Average bitcoin into your self-custody wallet with every paycheck. 

Refer at least 1 friend to Bitcoin Well to unlock Direct Deposit. Direct Deposit bitcoin purchases bring you a massive leap forward to replacing your bank with Bitcoin Well 🧡

Here’s how you can get paid in bitcoin:

Step 1: Refer a friend to Bitcoin Well

To unlock the Direct Deposit feature in your Bitcoin Well account you must first refer one person to Bitcoin Well. Referring a friend is quick and easy! Simply share your referral link from your found in your Referrals page.

\ Once someone has created an account with your referral link, you’ll get an email notifying you of your successful referral. You’ll receive a second email informing you that you have unlocked Direct Deposit. Now you’re ready for Step 2!

Step 2: Set your Direct Deposit details

\ Navigate to your newly unlocked Direct Deposit page in your Bitcoin Well account. Tell us how much bitcoin you want to receive, and how many dollars you want to keep with the slider at the top.

\ Next you need to tell us where to send your bitcoin by adding your personal bitcoin wallet! As with everything Bitcoin Well does, we send the bitcoin you buy from each deposit directly to your self-custody. Your bitcoin should always remain in your control; with your keys. 

Once these details are saved, you can download your Direct Deposit details in the form of a void cheque to send to your employer (or anyone else that wants to send you money!).

## \ Step 3: Withdraw remaining dollars or buy more bitcoin later

\ Remaining dollars in your Cash Balance can be withdrawn to your bank or used to purchase more bitcoin. Navigate to Withdraw Dollars then select your bank account, the amount of dollars you’d like to withdraw and confirm your withdrawal. 

\ You can buy more bitcoin with the dollars already in your account! Go to Buy bitcoin, select from ‘Cash Balance’ to ‘your bitcoin wallet’, enter the amount and confirm. More bitcoin is now on its way to your bitcoin wallet! Buying directly to self-custody has never been easier 😎

Earn sats for referring friends to Bitcoin Well

\ Did you know that referring friends doesn’t just unlock your Direct Deposit feature but you also earn sats? When you refer a friend to Bitcoin Well you earn 10% of our cut from all of the transactions. Every time you earn sats through your referrals, your rewards will be instantly distributed to you straight to your Lightning wallet.  Add your Lightning wallet in your Referrals page, within the Bitcoin Well Rewards menu. 

Within your Referrals page you can add your Lightning wallet for referral payouts, access your referral link and a QR code with your ref link in it – everything you need to orange pill your friends and earn sats! Plus every time you refer a friend you get Bitcoin Well points, which you can use to try and win 1,000,000 sats through our Bitcoin (Wishing) Well! Share your ref link with friends and family -> earn sats.

@ 7ecd3fe6:6b52f30d

I normally try to avoid the noise that is the crypto market only because I've been in that situationship before back in 2016, got rugged in the ICO phase and learned my lesson. There is nothing left for me to take from crypto apart from watching from the sidelines and enjoying the endless amount of schadenfreude it produces.

So every so often I find myself checking in on the ugly step-child of Bitcoin just to see what the left side of the bell curve are up to and you know what?

I wasn't disappointed.

In fact, I'm kind of impressed at the number of times shitcoiners can come up with a new meta to get the degens excited enough to take another spin at the casino, it's honestly pretty impressive.

After ordinals were cooked, the shitcoiners were left to head back to the drawing board, and the obvious pivot was AI tokens. AI and LLMs were the new hotness and try they did but AI tokens didn't really take off in 2024.

Sure there's tokens like NEAR, Internet Computer, and RENDER all with a few billion in market cap and according to CoinGecko there's around 50 billion in AI shitcoins, but for these coins to pump they need to provide some sort of product.

That requires investment and some thinking and who has time for that?

F AI, AI Agents are the future

Wtf are AI agent tokens you ask? Bad question, but I'll edify you anyway.

AI agents are autonomous software programs designed to perform very specific tasks and make decisions independently. Hardly very AI and more repetitive loops, cronjobs if you will.

Using an AI agent and giving a blockchain wallet these agents can interact with smart contracts, dApps and DEXs and start to get up to some shenanigans, or at least distance the agent creator from the actions.

No, I didn't rug pull you, that was the AI Agent malfunctioning.

I guess the killer app for AI agents is plausible deniability when you have to plead your case with the SEC.

As this new batch of vapourware gains popularity, every moron with a ChatGPT pro subscription and a dream is going after this market of suckers. Right now there are several AI agent tokens you can speculate on with a combined market cap of $16 billion according to CoinGecko

It's all about the meta-baby

I'm old enough to remember when the idea for a shitcoin was

• Utility, it had to do something and wall it off, so you needed to token to access a feature, that failed
• Then we went into culture and community, its all about the memes, that failed
• Then it was all about etching in on Bitcoin block space, using that rare commodity made my shitcoin valuable, that failed

Now we've got a bit of a mish-mash of memes + AI utility equals new grift.

To illustrate the unserious nature of this nonsense, AI agents, associated meme coins, and the protocols used to create these agents are among the top five best-performing crypto assets of the day, according to CoinGecko.

For example, Truth Terminal—the agent that started much of this wave—has promoted Goatseus Maximus (GOAT) and Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) causing both to skyrocket.

Fartcoin surged to a new all-time high price of $1.3 and a market cap of $1.5 billion as a result, FML, what a complete waste.

Growth in the FART coin Market Cap

ChatGPT-wrapped crypto scams

The Truth Terminal chatbot is a customized version of Anthropic's Claude 3 LLM, that tweets out random nonsense and somehow shitcoiners take this text as gospel and try to bet on tokens it shills or creates tokens based on its tweets as if it were Elon himself.

Can't wait for Elon to pump your bags, well, let's all dogpile on the random brain farts of a chatbot.

Again this just seems like a way to obscure insider trading and pump and dump influencer scams by hiding the human element behind a bot.

In fact, shitcoiners are creating tokens or sending tokens to a known wallet tied to this AI agent, hoping it uses this data to formulate it's next round of bullshit, I mean bullish tweets.

AI in name only

Still, most agent autonomy is limited. Truth Terminal, for example, still has creator Andy Ayrey looking over it's shoulder before it's thoughts and decisions go out to the public.

So if there's someone watching it, there's someone with access to the wallet and master access to prod it in a certain direction no?

Sigh! Reading up on this all just made my brain hurt and not in a good way.

“Do you want to be right or do you want to make money”

99% of it is a scam and the AI agent wrapper grifts are probably worse than other past trends tbh.

bc at least meme coins promise nothing whereas AI coins try to larp as much as possible to appear legit to unsuspecting…

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) January 6, 2025

This AI agent field itself is still relatively nascent and doesn't seem to provide any value other than being a filter for random tweet generation, and we all know computers aren't good with being random.

Most if not all projects promising AI-powered solutions will not deliver on their promises, potentially leading to significant losses for investors.

But that's the game they choose to play.

The cryptocurrency market is primarily driven by hype and speculation, and AI agent tokens are no exception. Many projects are overvalued based on potential rather than actual achievements.

Is this the future?

@ 2355757c:5ad3e04d

You’ve heard it for some time now, incandescent lightbulbs will officially be banned for sale by retailers in the U.S. However it officially goes into fully effect NEXT WEEK. Americans will only be able to purchase LED lights from retailers across the country. The government began warnings in January, and has since officially rolled out the ban on manufacturing and sale of incandescent bulbs. WHY? LED lights provide more “light” using 75% less energy and last 25 times longer than incandescents. Sounds like a no brainer switch then right? WRONG. LED lights are significantly worse for your health, here’s why.

Our light environment is one of the most underrated, overlooked aspects of health. I will write plenty more about this topic in the future. It is complex at the surface, but in reality the takeaway is simple. Our light environment is one if not THE most important inputs to our biology. It dictates our body’s “clock” or circadian rhythm. When you disrupt your circadian rhythm frequently, you are significantly more at risk to ALL CHRONIC DISEASES. Why? Your are inherently destroying your ability to get restorative sleep, keeping your body in a sympathetic state, creating dysfunctional mitochondria, and increasing oxidative stress + inflammation. Just from light? YES.

“We summarize recent evidence suggesting that circadian disruption may also be a predisposing factor for the development of age-related neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), and Huntington's disease (HD).”

“... inappropriate environmental conditions such as Artificial Light at Night (ALAN) can cause circadian disruption or chronodisruption (CD) which can result in a variety of pathological diseases , including premature aging .” -STUDY LINK

Blue light stimulates cortisol production, the “stress” hormone that everyone has the knickers in a bunch about in the health community about mitigating through the use of supplements like Ashwaghanda. Here’s the deal, you don’t need to “mitigate” cortisol, you need to regulate its rhythm. Cortisol is the antithesis of melatonin, and the two hormones are meant to perform a dance everyday where one rises as the other falls…in accordance with the light cycles. However, that dance, that rhythm has been disrupted by artificial light. 

Melatonin warrants five newsletters just on its own, but know that the same blue light that stimulates cortisol production also suppresses melatonin production. If you do not produce sufficient melatonin, your body is missing out on a whole host of anti-oxidant, anti-cancer benefits. Melatonin is driven by light, and is the composer of our mitochondria (dictates mito fusion/fission, mitophagy, etc.).

LED (light emitting diode) lighting has a much “more artificial” light spectrum profile than incandescent bulbs. Full spectrum sunlight is the only light that would have existed for hundred’s of thousands of years of human existence. Then came the discovery/ability to use fire as a light source. Although full spectrum sunlight contains the entire visible light spectrum + UV + infrared, each of these wavelengths come through at different angles of the sun. This is the NUANCE that matters:

• There is no UV present at sunrise/sunset

• UVA appears when the sun is >10 degrees above horizon. UVB at sun angle > 30 degrees

• At dusk/dawn and sunrise/sunset, blue light wavelengths are scattered while red light remains intact (longer wavelength). Why sunrises/sunsets are more red/orange than blue

• Blue light is NEVER present in natural sunlight without accompanying red/infrared wavelengths.

If you look at the light spectrum of LEDs, you will see a VERY high concentration of blue wavelengths, green to yellow wavelengths, and very little red/infrared wavelengths. Conversely, incandescent bulbs have NO blue light, little to no green/yellow and is majority red/infrared. This is why incandescent bulbs are so inefficient, because they dissipate so much heat in the form of infrared light (we can’t see infrared). Red and infrared (especially NIR), are very healing/low energy wavelengths. They are beneficial for mitochondrial health, especially the 650-800nm range. Sunlight is predominantly Red/infrared (40-50%) and these wavelengths are always present when the sun is up. 

When you use LEDs you are creating a VERY artificial light environment with a lot of isolated blue, green, yellow light wavelengths and almost no red/infrared. This is extremely different from sunlight. This is especially problematic when using LEDs at NIGHT, because as stated…blue light suppresses melatonin production. Incandescent bulbs are a far better option since they are nearly all red/infrared light. This has a much less pronounced effect on melatonin, and is more in line with natural sunlight. It is also far lower in temperature, which again is a safer bet at night time.

Before Edison invented the light bulb, humans only used fire for light at night (or early morning). Incandescent bulbs are inherently FAR MORE similar in light spectrum profile to fire and have a much less harmful effect on melatonin. The estimates for suppression of melatonin in the graph below are certainly estimates, i think incandescent bulbs would actually be a bit lower but it depends on quantity and brightness as well. 

TLDR: LEDs are shitcoins for light. They are far more artificial in terms of light spectrum. They are stealing your melatonin away from you. Avoid at all costs (especially at night), or wear blue light blocking glasses if you must. You can buy “red or warmer LEDs” but they aren’t really a true red light source because most just put phosphorous over a white LED to alter the warmth of the light. 

STOCK UP on incandescent bulbs (good for keeping your house warm in the winter) before they are $100/pop. The government does NOT CARE about your health. 

BlockBlueLight Glasses + Red Bulbs (Code TRISTAN10) 

Stay Sovereign,

Tristan

p.s. the movement is growing.

Originally published JUL 31, 2023

@ dfc7c785:4c3c6174

For many years I’ve been researching my family tree. I’ve always been intrigued by my middle name of Brewster which many of you (perhaps) might associate with William Brewster of the pilgrim fathers who settled in America some 400 years ago, after a treacherous journey across the Atlantic that lasted weeks; scary to think I crossed it in just 10 hours not so long ago much like tens of thousands do year upon year.

My grandmother was convinced he was a direct ancestor of ours. My Grandad disagreed on the basis that they set sail childless, their first born entering the world once they had settled on American shores. So how could it be possible that we were descendants?

Anyway I inherited my middle name from hers and was thus christened Nicholas Euan Brewster in 1972.

During my school years other kids found it amusing and being a bespectacled nerd, they teased me no end. I instead learnt to love it because for me, as I’ve learnt over the years, it represents bravery, ingenuity, leadership and a general resilience to the world around me. Surviving against all the odds.

I’ve never been able to draw a direct connection between myself and William, other than to learn about a city of the same name on Cape Cod, that I flew over recently on that same flight but still have never visited to this day. Not far from there in the American version of Plymouth they came ashore, some distance from their intended destination of Virginia. Weather prevented them from making their way down the coast, so Massachusetts became their new settlement point.

Many years ago I was researching the Brewsters and spoke to a fellow Brewster in the USA via Compuserve, who sent me a massive box of DVDs with genealogical data on them; holy Moses, I was overwhelmed and came to realise there were perhaps zillions of us. The information was interesting but I had no real way of making that link, even if there ever was one to be found.

In the end I turned back to reading the bundle of notes my late grandmother had left us, including a family tree and some papers on another man who became just as interesting to me. His name was Alfred Berry Brewster born of Victorian London.

The following was sourced from - https://www.soldiersofthequeen.com/softheq-nile-valley

Egypt, the Nile Valley & Sudan

In Khedival Service

What was the [[Khedival Service]]?

Alfred Berry Brewster was born in London, England on 7 November 1856.

Whereabouts in London was he born?

Brewster Bey entered Egyptian Service in 1877 (aged 21) in the Customs Administration and Coastguard Service. In 1879 he was appointed to the position of Director of Customs at [[Suakin]] by [[General Gordon]]. He served in the Commissariat staff during the Egyptian Campaign and was awarded the Egypt Medal w/Clasp as well as the Khedive's Star. He returned to Suakin and in 1883 did duty in Valentine Baker Pasha's Intelligence Department (1884).

In 1885 he served under General Graham at Suakin as Chief Interpreter and Secretary to the Intelligence Department.

He took part in several engagements and received a Mention in Despatches from General Graham (30 May 1885). Most notably Brewster entered the Dervish camp alone before a planned attack on Saukin and convinced a large number of the enemy to come over to the British side. These same men later served in the capture of Tamai.

Brewster remained Director of Customs for Saukin until 1890 when he transferred to the Coastguard Service as Secretary and Controller. He was chosen as Private Secretary by both Khedive Mohammed Tewfik and Abbas II.

![[Pasted image 20241229083331.png]] Further reading

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG121543

https://www.soldiersofthequeen.com/alfredberrybrewsterbey

https://www.soldiersofthequeen.com/alfredberrybrewsterbey

@ 2355757c:5ad3e04d

Grounding or Earthing, names for getting your good ole bare feet on the surface of the earth. Sounds simple because it is simple, but are the benefits really that profound? Short answer: YES

Grounding is really only so a modern health hack because we are so disconnected. Until the invention of modern footwear with insulated rubber/plastic soles, we were connected to the surface of the earth pretty much 24/7. Why does this matter? The Earth’s surface is a POOL of free electrons waiting for us to tap into. Electrons? Why do those matter. Electrons are the true currency of energy and the input to our energy production system (Electron Transport Chain) that produces ATP. The human body, like all other living things is electromagnetic. We use electrical signaling to operate our biology. Without a sufficient amount of electrons and sufficient voltage potential, our body will not function properly. However, it is not so simple to say more electrons = more health. If that were the case then we’d all be hooked up to copper wires absorbing current to level up our biology. 

TOO MUCH of anything is bad. Our skin has resistance to protect us from shocks and lightning strikes (absorbing too much electrical current at once). However, our hands and feet (with thousands of nerve endings) have lower skin resistance. Lower resistance = better ability to conduct electricity. That is not a mistake. Through contact of our feet or hands on the ground, we are able to sustain a voltage differential up to a few hundred millivolts (depending on the surface). These electrons on the surface of the earth are willing to move to a less negatively charge area (us), and thus we are able to absorb a small amount of free flowing electrons into our body through our semi-conductive tissue on our hands and feet. Sounds cool, right? Now what are the actual benefits?

1. Managing Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and/or free radicals

2. Maintaining Proper Blood Flow & Pressure 

3. Regulating Cortisol & Circadian Rhythm

Oxidative stress. Anti-oxidants. Free radicals. These are all terms you MAY be familiar with, but what do they actually mean? If you read my newsletter from last week on Travel, you will know a bit more about oxidative stress and the function of anti-oxidants (if not, I will link it HERE). The TLDR is that our energy production process in our mitochondria, otherwise known as the Electron Transport Chain (ETC), is not perfect. As a result of this, free radicals are generated. Free radicals are typically oxygen molecules or molecules that contain oxygen (aka reactive oxygen species) that have an unpaired electron in their valence shell. O2 is supposed to be converted into metabolic water (H2O), but as mentioned the efficiency is not 100%. Therefore you get molecules like superoxide (O2-) or hydroxyl radical (OH) that are hungry to fill the unpaired electron and go back to stability. “Anti-oxidants” combat these radicals by attempting to supply an electron before they steal one from elsewhere in the cell and cause damage. Enter in newly absorbed electrons from grounding. These free electrons absorbed from the earth can help combat the free radicals/ROS by acting as an anti-oxidant. This will in turn help your body get back to redox homeostasis and not suffer cellular damage from oxidative stress. Grounding, in turn “reduces inflammation”. The thermal images often touted alongside grounding (before/after) show a positive response (thermal imaging can be a bit dodgy in accuracy but it captures some essence of effectiveness).

Maintaining proper blood flow and blood pressure. Perhaps the most interesting and fundamentally undebatable benefit of grounding. As stated above we are electromagnetic beings, and our blood flow exemplifies that. Both the lining of the blood vessel and surface of our red blood cells have a negative charge. This negative charge is imperative because it prevents rouleaux and coagulation, or the stacking of blood cells. If you blood cells stack, they are far easier to clump/clot and cause a blockage. Like charges repel, so having a sufficient “zeta potential” or negative charge on our RBCs will keep the blood flowing smoothly. Grounding helps maintain that. A study linked HERE showed how Earthing/Grounding reduces blood viscosity. 

“Grounding increases the surface charge on RBCs and thereby reduces blood viscosity and clumping. Grounding appears to be one of the simplest and yet most profound interventions for helping reduce cardiovascular risk and cardiovascular events.”

Regulating our circadian rhythm. A lesser touted benefit to grounding is its ability to influence our circadian rhythm or our “body clock”.

I am under the belief now that our circadian health is THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT of HEALTH. Why? Because literally all of our downstream biological functions are dictated by our circadian rhythm. This is why light, meal/exercise timing, sleep, connection to nature are all so important & interconnected.

The main input might be light, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t more inputs to the complex system that is our body. Connection to the earth is another. How do we know? Grounding has been proven to regulate cortisol rhythms. One of the biggest signs of a irregular circadian rhythm is cortisol and melatonin cycles that are out of whack. When you are grounded you are connected to the earth in the position of your geographical location. This is not proven, but its quite logical that the reason grounding helps regulate circadian rhythm is because along with those electrons you are getting a signal sent to your brain about the location/time/season it is where you are in that moment. It is the only logical explanation and it is one of the reasons I am such a big fan of grounding as MUCH as possible, especially after travel.

I recently released my first health optimization guide that includes all the travel hacks I use (including grounding) to completely avoid jet lag on long haul flights: AVOIDING JET LAG-An In Depth Guide to Hacking the Stressors of Travel.

This guide is extremely comprehensive, and application specific. It is a 30 page PDF that goes into WHY travel is so bad for us, and what you can do pre/during/post travel to avoid jet lag completely. If you travel often, this is worth checking out…but I warn you it is dense and only worth purchasing if you are willing to learn. 

Grounding PROTOCOLS:

1. Just do it-bare feet on the ground

2. Length? 1 min is better than 0…5 min even better…2 hours even better still. There is no threshold dose. 

3. Surfaces? Dirt/Grass/Rocks/Sand/Ocean all great. If it is wet and post thunderstorm, even better. Concrete works but asphalt is not the best. 

4. Grounding shoes? Not comparable to barefoot but still better than rubber/plastic soled shoes. I will write more about this in the near future as I am conducting experiments with different shoes on different surfaces. 

5. IT IS LITERALLY FREE

Big Grounding did not pay me to write this, even though I am an electrical engineer. Seriously, grounding is a no brainer. You may not “feel” anything, but the more you do it and the more disconnected you are to start…the better you will feel I can guarantee that. We are electromagnetic creates of Earth, it is about damn time we get back to connecting with our natural input signals. 

Stay Sovereign, 

-Tristan

Originally written July 25th, 2023

@ dd81a8ba:3eb298a5

it's better to read 100 books 10 times than 1,000 books once

I don't know who originated this concept. I've heard it said by Naval. the idea is to go deep on a narrower slice of possible books than to be spread so thin. this isn't so much an algorithm as a heuristic, a tactic for filtering the kinds of books you read, and also a way to measure your own growth over time. I've had the experience of getting something different from reading the same book at different points in my life. deliberately checking in with different books regularly over time is a good way to get an informative but different perspective on your own mentality.

this is my list. I'll be short of 100 for a while, the point is to make a tangible artifact out of it, and update it over time. let me know if you have or make a similar list and I'll add a link to your list here.

update 2/24

since I created the 100 books page and started shaping my reading around it, I have reached 100 books, and now in order to add one to the list I must first evict one already on the list.

I have also encountered a different way to refer to this project, and a sharper take on what I’m doing. it comes from an author with one book on my list already and more to come, Italo Calvino. the introduction to his book “Why Read the Classics?” is a quick read, and well worth it.

A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.

first, he defines “classic” to mean any book that once read, you return to again and again, and continue finding new takes, new value, fresh perspectives on. actually he lists many criteria, but that’s roughly what it boils down to, books that have meaning to you, which you read repeatedly at different stages in your life, a through-line to return to.

The ranks of the old titles have been decimated, while new ones have proliferated in all modern literatures and cultures. There is nothing for it but for all of us to invent our own ideal libraries of classics. I would say that such a library ought to be composed half of books we have read and that have really counted for us, and half of books we propose to read and presume will come to count—leaving a section of empty shelves for surprises and occasional discoveries.

consider any of these books a welcomed topic of conversation.

the list was last updated on Jan 7th, 2025

| title | Author | Genre | |-------|--------|-------| | "The Myth of Sisyphus" | Albert Camus | philosophy | | "Brave New World" | Aldous Huxley | distopian science fiction | | "The Doors of Perception" | Aldous Huxley | non-fiction | | "The Civil War Short Stories of Ambrose Bierce" | Ambrose Bierce | supernatural horror | | "The Little Prince" | Antoine De Saint Exuprey | children's | | "Nichomachean Ethics" | Aristotle | philosophy | | "Rendezvous With Rama" | Arthur C Clarke | science fiction | | "Atlas Shrugged" | Ayn Rand | fiction | | "The Fountainhead" | Ayn Rand | fiction | | "The Fractal Geometry of Nature" | Benoit Mandelbrot | maths | | "The History of Western Philosophy" | Betrand Russell | philosophy | | "Four Archetypes: Mother/Rebirth/Spirit/Trickster" | Carl Jung | philosophy | | "The Undiscovered Self" | Carl Jung | philosophy | | "Roadside Geology of Missouri" | Charles Spencer | non-fiction | | "A Pattern Language" | Christopher Alexander | non-fiction | | "On the Good Life" | Cicero | philosophy | | "All the Pretty Horses" | Cormac McCarthy | fiction | | "Blood Meridian" | Cormac McCarthy | fiction | | "No Country for Old Men" | Cormac McCarthy | fiction | | "Stella Maris" | Cormac McCarthy | fiction | | "the crossing" | Cormac McCarthy | fiction | | "The Passenger" | Cormac McCarthy | fiction | | "The Road" | Cormac McCarthy | fiction | | "Flowers for Algernon" | Daniel Keyes | fiction | | "The Beginning of Infinity" | David Deutsch | non-fiction | | "Forty Tales From the Afterlives" | David Eagleman | magical realism | | "Networks, Crowds, and Markets: Reasoning about a Highly Connected World" | David Easley and John Kleinberg | non-fiction | | "We Are Legion [We Are Bob]" | Dennis Taylor | science fiction | | "Godel, Escher, Bach" | Douglas Hofstadter | philosophy | | "The Discourses" | Epictetus | philosophy | | "The Revelations" | Erik Hoel | fiction | | "Kafka the Complete Stories" | Franz Kafka | fiction | | "The Mythical Man-Month" | Fred Brooks | non-fiction | | "Thus Spake Zarathustra" | Friedrich Nietzsche | philosophy | | "Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers" | Geoffrey A. Moore | non-fiction | | "Nineteen Eighty-Four" | George Orwell | distopian science fiction | | "A Swim in a Pond in the Rain" | George Saunders | literature | | "Eon" | Greg Bear | science fiction | | "On Bullshit" | Harry G Frankfurt | philosophy | | "Walden and Other Writings" | Henry David Thoreau | non-fiction | | "Moby Dick" | Herman Melville | fiction | | "Siddhartha" | Hermann Hesse | philosophy | | "I, Roboot" | Isaac Asimov | science fiction | | "The Foundation" | Isaac Asimov | science fiction | | "The Naked Sun" | Isaac Asimov | science fiction | | "The Proper Study of Mankind" | Isaiah Berlin | philosophy | | "Invisible Cities" | Italo Calvino | magical realism | | "The Perigrine" | J A Baker | non-fiction | | "Chaos: Making a New Science" | James Gleick | non-fiction | | "Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility" | James P. Carse | philosophy | | "Fancies and Goodnights" | John Collier | fantasy | | "The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows" | John Koenig | fiction | | "Annals of the Former World: " | John McPhee | non-fiction | | "The Curve of Binding Energy" | John McPhee | non-fiction | | "Collected Fictions" | Jorge Luis Borges | fantasy | | "Hero With a Thousand Faces: The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell" | Joseph Campbell | philosophy | | "Heart of Darkness" | Joseph Conrad | fiction | | "The Death of Ivan Illych and Other Stories" | Leo Tolstoy | literature | | "The Mandibles" | Lionel Schriver | fiction | | "A Wrinkle in Time" | Madeleine L'Engle | young adult | | "M.C. Escher: His Life and Complete Graphic Work" | many | non-fiction | | "Meditations" | Marcus Aurelius | philosophy | | "Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters" | Matt Ridley | science | | "Prey" | Michael Crichton | science fiction | | "Sphere" | Michael Crichton | fiction | | "Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy" | Michael Polanyi | philosophy | | "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience: Steps Toward Enhancing the Quality of Life" | Mihaly Csikszentmihaly | non-fiction | | "The Epic of Gilgamesh" | N. K. Sandars | legendary fiction | | "An Introduction to Population Genetics" | Nielson and Slatkin | non-fiction | | "Ender's Game" | Orson Scott Card | science fiction | | "Alas Babylon" | Pat Frank | science fiction | | "Hackers and Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age" | Paul Graham | non-fiction | | "The Alchemist" | Paulo Coelho | magical realism | | "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" | Philip K Dick | science fiction | | "The Collected Stories of Philip K Dick Volume 5" | Philip K Dick | science fiction | | "The Trial and Death of Socrates" | Plato | philosophy | | "The Soundscape" | R. Murray Schafer | non-fiction | | "Dandelion Wine" | Ray Bradbury | fiction | | "Fahrenheit 451" | Ray Bradbury | fiction | | "Something Wicked This Way Comes" | Ray Bradbury | fiction | | "The Martian Chronicles" | Ray Bradbury | science fiction | | "The Selfish Gene" | Richard Dawkins | non-fiction | | "Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman" | Richard Feynman | biography | | "The Creative Act: A Way of Living" | Rick Rubin | self-help | | "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values" | Robert Persig | fiction | | "Letters From a Stoic" | Seneca | philosophy | | "The Art of Living" | Sharon Lebell | philosophy | | "The Dark Tower" | Stephen King | fiction | | "Piranesi" | Susanna Clarke | magical realism | | "Stories of Your Life and Others" | Ted Chiang | science fiction | | "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" | Thomas Kuhn | non-fiction | | "Common Sense" | Thomas Paine | philosophy | | "The Kon-Tiki Expedition: A Raft Across the South Seas" | Thor Heyerdahl | non-fiction | | "The Kingdom of Speech" | Tom Wolf | non-fiction | | "The Right Stuff" | Tom Wolf | historic fiction | | "True Names: and the Opening of the Cyberspace Frontier" | Vernor Vinge | cyberpunk | | "Man's Search for Meaning" | Viktor Frankl | philosophy | | "The Shape of Things" | Vilem Flusser | non-fiction | | "The Twilight World" | Werner Herzog | historic fiction | | "Neuromancer" | William Gibson | cyberpunk |

@ ed84ce10:cccf4c2a

Hackathon Summary

The HackPrinceton Fall 2024 hackathon was held from November 8th to 10th at Princeton University. It attracted 238 developers who registered 99 projects, engaging participants in workshops, mentorship sessions, and presentations throughout the 36-hour event. The hackathon featured four main tracks: Education + Interaction, Healthcare, Finance, and Sustainability, which encouraged diverse and innovative ideas.

In addition to the main tracks, seventeen sponsored challenges were offered as bounties, adding a competitive element to the event. Participants submitted their projects via a public GitHub repository and showcased their work in two-minute presentations to judges on the final day. Notable outcomes included effective project demonstrations under time constraints, which enhanced the visibility of substantial ideas across different sectors.

Prizes were a significant motivator, with the grand overall prize being a set of AirPod Max for each member of the top team, while the second-place team received Xbox Series S consoles. HackPrinceton Fall 2024 facilitated skill development, collaboration, and creative solutions, showcasing robust engagement from both seasoned and first-time participants.

Hackathon Winners

Healthcare Prize Winners

• Bartimaeus: Stealing Vision Back - This project aids blind individuals in spatial navigation using audio guidance from a smartphone's camera, YOLO, and OpenCV, innovatively employing AI for precise pathfinding and object identification.

• PillPal Pro - A smart box solution ensures elderly patients adhere to medication routines through an ESP32 microcontroller, which facilitates tracking and notifications, complemented by a 3D-printed casing and Firebase integration.

• ReCall.ai - This project uses AI and wearable tech to recognize faces for individuals with cognitive impairments, supporting social interaction and providing cognitive health insights across various facilities.

• HealthSync - Enhances hospital coordination by assigning patient urgency scores and facilitating secure, real-time information exchange using a peer-to-peer network and advanced data security.

• Medbank - Offers a personalized health wallet that manages medical information and insurance details, utilizing AI for intelligent insurance processing and provider matching through geospatial analysis.

• HormoniQ - Addresses PCOS diagnosis challenges with a machine learning tool that analyzes hormonal patterns from health records, providing early intervention likelihoods to healthcare providers.

• World Translationator 5000 - This translation tool tackles language barriers in healthcare by employing quantum natural language processing for accurate translations of medical terminology.

Education and Interaction Prize Winners

• CrystalMath - An AI-driven platform for visualizing math problems through step-by-step animations and voiceovers, supported by Claude model computations and AWS hosting.

Finance Prize Winners

• Stratify - Democratizes investment by offering an AI-powered stock backtesting tool to optimize strategies through detailed analyses and user-friendly simulations.

• Asteroid Audit - Educates about taxes through a gamified experience, integrating Unity for game development and custom algorithms for visual tax estimation.

• Orbital Finance - Utilizes AI voice assistant technology for real-time customer interactions, offering advanced data analyses leveraging MATLAB and NLP for business growth.

Sustainability Prize Winners

• WasteWise - Analyzes waste data using computer vision and GPT-4 API to guide sustainable consumer habits through brand and recyclability evaluation.

• SustainAI - An AI-powered platform providing personalized sustainable lifestyle recommendations based on user data, integrating MATLAB for contextual data personalization.

Developer Tool Prize Winners

• Scraply - Simplifies deep learning education with a drag-and-drop interface for building neural networks, featuring algorithm suggestions and gamified learning.

Financial Innovation Prize Winners

• Chama - Facilitates crypto education with a real-time insights platform offering sentiment analysis and actionable recommendations, integrating OnChainKit for secure transactions.

• HackAwards - Empowers hackathon participation with NFTs via project ownership and contribution tracking, implemented using VerbWire API and Base Blockchain for efficient processing.

Explore all projects and further details at HackPrinceton Fall 2024.

About the Organizer:

HackPrinceton

HackPrinceton unites hackers globally to collaborate and innovate. Renowned for its immersive events, the organization provides workshops, lectures, and mentorship programs that foster skill development and inventive thinking. These sessions equip participants with the essential tools to create impactful projects, even for those without prior team or project ideas. HackPrinceton's dedication to nurturing creativity is evident in its comprehensive support for aspiring innovators, aligning with its mission to inspire the development of impactful, innovative ideas. More information is available at HackPrinceton's website.

@ fbf0e434:e1be6a39

Hackathon 总结

HackPrinceton Fall 2024 Hackathon 于 11 月 8 日至 10 日在普林斯顿大学举行。活动吸引了 238 名开发人员，他们注册了 99 个项目，参与者在为期 36 小时的活动中参与了研讨会、指导会议和展示。Hackathon 设有四个主要方向：教育 + 互动、医疗保健、金融和可持续性，鼓励多样化和创新的想法。

除了主要方向外，还提供了十七个由赞助商提供的挑战作为赏金，为活动增添了竞争元素。参与者通过公开的 GitHub 存储库提交他们的项目，并在最后一天向评委展示了两分钟展示。其中一个亮点是有效的项目"demo"，在时间限制下展示了不同行业的重大创意，提升了项目的可见度。

奖品是一个重要的激励因素，整体冠军奖是一套 AirPod Max，将颁发给获胜团队的每位成员，第二名团队将获得 Xbox Series S 游戏机。HackPrinceton Fall 2024 在技能发展、协作和创造性解决方案方面发挥了重要作用，展示了经验丰富和新手参与者的积极参与。

Hackathon 获奖者

Healthcare Prize Winners

• Bartimaeus: Stealing Vision Back - 该项目通过使用智能手机摄像头、YOLO 和 OpenCV 提供音频导航，帮助盲人进行空间导航，创新性地利用 AI 实现精准路径规划和物体识别。

• PillPal Pro - 一款智能盒子解决方案，通过 ESP32 微控制器确保老年患者遵循用药习惯，实现跟踪和通知功能，整合了 3D 打印外壳和 Firebase 功能。

• ReCall.ai - 该项目利用 AI 和可穿戴技术为认知障碍人士识别人脸，支持社交互动，并提供跨多种设施的认知健康洞察。

• HealthSync - 通过分配患者紧急程度评分并利用点对点网络和高级数据安全进行安全的实时信息交换，增强医院协调。

• Medbank - 提供个性化健康钱包，实现医疗信息和保险详情的管理，利用 AI 进行智能保险处理和地理空间分析实现供应商匹配。

• HormoniQ - 通过一款机器学习工具分析健康记录中的激素模式，解决 PCOS 诊断挑战，为医疗保健提供者提供早期干预可能性。

• World Translationator 5000 - 使用量子自然语言处理技术进行准确翻译，以解决医疗中的语言障碍。

Education and Interaction Prize Winners

• CrystalMath - 一个通过分步动画和语音解说可视化数学问题的 AI 驱动平台，使用 Claude 模型计算和 AWS 托管。

Finance Prize Winners

• Stratify - 提供一个 AI 驱动的股票回溯测试工具，通过详细分析和用户友好的模拟优化投资策略。

• Asteroid Audit - 通过游戏化的体验提供税务教育，整合 Unity 进行游戏开发，并使用自定义算法进行视觉税务估算。

• Orbital Finance - 使用 AI 语音助手技术进行实时客户互动，通过 MATLAB 和 NLP 提供深入的数据分析，助力业务增长。

Sustainability Prize Winners

• WasteWise - 使用计算机视觉和 GPT-4 API 分析垃圾数据，通过品牌和可回收性评价引导可持续的消费者习惯。

• SustainAI - 一个 AI 驱动的平台，根据用户数据提供个性化的可持续生活方式建议，利用 MATLAB 进行上下文数据个性化。

Developer Tool Prize Winners

• Scraply - 提供一个拖放界面简化深度学习教育，用于构建神经网络，具有算法建议和游戏化学习功能。

Financial Innovation Prize Winners

• Chama - 提供实时洞察平台，通过情感分析和可操作建议促进加密货币教育，整合 OnChainKit 进行安全交易。

• HackAwards - 通过项目所有权和贡献跟踪，使用 VerbWire API 和 Base Blockchain 实现高效处理，促进 Hackathon 参与。

浏览所有项目及更多详情请访问 HackPrinceton Fall 2024。

关于主办方：

HackPrinceton

HackPrinceton 将全球的黑客聚集在一起进行合作和创新。以沉浸式活动闻名，该组织提供研讨会、讲座和指导项目，促进技能发展和创新思维。这些活动为参与者提供了创造有影响力项目的必要工具，即使对那些没有初步团队或项目想法的人也是如此。HackPrinceton 致力于培养创造力，通过其全面支持为有抱负的创新者提供帮助，其使命是激发有影响力和创新性想法的生成。更多信息请访问 HackPrinceton 的网站。

@ 9e69e420:d12360c2

How to Make a Peanut Butter Sandwich Step by Step

Are you looking for a quick and easy snack? Look no further than the classic peanut butter sandwich! This how-to guide will walk you through the simple steps to make a delicious peanut butter sandwich.

Things you'll need:

• 2 slices of bread
• Peanut butter
• A knife

Instructions

1. Choose your bread: Start by selecting your favorite type of bread. White, wheat, or sourdough are all great options.
2. Spread the peanut butter: Take one slice of bread and evenly spread a generous amount of peanut butter on it. You can use as much or as little as you like, depending on your preference.
3. Add the second slice of bread: Place the second slice of bread on top of the peanut butter, with the bread side facing down.
4. Press down gently: Press down gently on the sandwich to make sure the bread slices stick together.
5. Cut the sandwich (optional): If you prefer your sandwich cut in half, use the knife to carefully cut it down the middle.

And there you have it! A delicious peanut butter sandwich that's ready to enjoy. Whether you're packing it for lunch or enjoying it as a snack, this classic sandwich is sure to hit the spot.

@ 6e24af77:b3f1350b

test

@ 0b14a03f:3f0257c2

In 1925, someone said, "Let's stop making light bulbs that last 2,500 hours; let's make them last 1,000 instead so we can grow our profits."

Then the internet was created, and what happened? Everything on it was commercialized, even ourselves.

After that, Bitcoin appeared. What did we do? We treated it as a fiat currency and created the same old financial vehicles around it.

What today is Wall Street, in the past, it was located in Holland. After that, something similar was in France. They both disappeared, but humans replicated it in the US. We're now seeing how it will collapse.. once again.

Thus, repeating the same things and thinking that we will obtain different results is a bit childish.

It takes much more energy to create something -new.

A lot of energy from the brain to create new neurological patterns, as well as, a lot of energy from the reality to manifest it.

However, aren't we sick of the same old things already?

@ 7f29628d:e160cccc

Der gut informierte Bürger denkt bei der Pandemie sofort an Intensivstationen, an die Bilder aus Bergamo und erinnert sich an die Berichterstattung damals – also muss es wohl ein Maximum gewesen sein. Manche Skeptiker behaupten jedoch das Gegenteil. Klarheit sollte ein Blick nach Wiesbaden, zum Statistischen Bundesamt, schaffen. Schließlich sitzen dort gut bezahlte Profis, die seit vielen Jahrzehnten die Sterbestatistik pflegen und veröffentlichen. Jeder Todesfall wird in Deutschland über die Standesämter exakt erfasst.

Doch die Überraschung: Das Statistische Bundesamt liefert uns auf diese einfache Frage zwei extrem unterschiedliche Antworten – ein Minimum und ein Maximum. Das Ergebnis hängt davon ab, wie tief man in die Veröffentlichungen des Bundesamtes eintaucht. Betrachtet man nur die Webseiten und Pressemitteilungen, erhält man den Eindruck eines Maximums. Schaut man jedoch etwas tiefer in die Tabellen und Rohdaten, zeigt sich plötzlich ein Minimum. Aber wie kann das sein? Beides gleichzeitig geht ja wohl kaum. Wer lügt hier – die Tabellen des Amtes oder die Pressemitteilungen? Gehen wir dieser Frage Schritt für Schritt auf den Grund.

2020: Ein historisches Maximum?

Schauen wir uns die vielen Hundert Veröffentlichungen des Statistischen Bundesamtes aus dieser Zeit an. Oder wir kürzen ab und fragen ChatGPT, da die KI auf diesen Daten trainiert wurde und das gesamte Material kennt. Die Frage an ChatGPT lautet also: Wie war das Sterbegeschehen im Jahr 2020 im Vergleich zu den Vorjahren?

ChatGPT antwortet: »Im Jahr 2020 war die Sterblichkeit in Deutschland höher als in den Jahren zuvor. Es gab eine Übersterblichkeit von etwa 982.000 Todesfällen, das sind rund 46.000 mehr als der Durchschnitt der Vorjahre (2016 bis 2019). Dieser Anstieg wurde überwiegend im Zusammenhang mit der COVID-19-Pandemie gesehen. Während die Sterbezahlen in den Vorjahren schwankten, war ein solch signifikanter Anstieg wie 2020 bisher nicht zu beobachten.«

Wir fragen konkreter: Ist es ein Fakt, dass wir eine so ernste Lage im Sterbegeschehen wie im Frühjahr 2020 noch nie erlebt haben?

ChatGPT bestätigt: »Ja, die COVID-19-Pandemie führte im Frühjahr 2020 zu einer außergewöhnlichen Situation im Sterbegeschehen in Deutschland. Die dramatische Übersterblichkeit, die ab der 13. Kalenderwoche auftrat, veranlasste das Statistische Bundesamt, besonders eindringliche Warnungen zu veröffentlichen. Der damalige Vizepräsident des Amtes und andere führende Stimmen wiesen öffentlich darauf hin, dass die Todesfallzahlen stark vom Durchschnitt abwichen. Diese klare Warnung richtete sich an die Öffentlichkeit und die Politik gleichermaßen. Die Medien berichteten intensiv über diese Warnungen, was das Bewusstsein für die Schwere der Pandemie erheblich schärfte. In den vergangenen Jahrzehnten hatte es keine vergleichbare Übersterblichkeit gegeben, die eine solch umfangreiche Kommunikation durch das Statistische Bundesamt erforderlich gemacht hätte.«

Ein gut informierter Zeitungsleser wird sich an dieser Stelle bestätigt fühlen: Ja, so war es damals. Ein Maximum im Sterbegeschehen – wegen der Pandemie. Oder etwa nicht?

2020: Ein historisches Minimum?

Tauchen wir in die Rohdaten des Statistischen Bundesamtes ein. Die Tabellen, die das Amt seit Jahrzehnten verlässlich veröffentlicht, nennen sich Sterbetafeln. Diese werden jährlich bereitgestellt und stehen auf der Website des Bundesamtes zum Download bereit. Ein erster Blick in die Sterbetafeln mag den Laien abschrecken, doch mit einer kurzen Erklärung wird alles verständlich. Wir gehen schrittweise vor.

Nehmen wir die Sterbetafel des Jahres 2017. Sie enthält zwei große Tabellen – eine für Männer und eine für Frauen. Jede Zeile der Tabelle steht für einen Jahrgang, zum Beispiel zeigt die Zeile 79 die Daten der 79-jährigen Männer. Besonders wichtig ist nun die zweite Spalte, in der der Wert 0,05 eingetragen ist. Das bedeutet, dass 5 Prozent der 79-jährigen Männer im Jahr 2017 verstorben sind. Das ist die wichtige Kennzahl. Wenn wir diesen exakten Wert, den man auch als Sterberate bezeichnet, nun in ein Säulendiagramm eintragen, erhalten wir eine leicht verständliche visuelle Darstellung (Grafik 1).

Es ist wichtig zu betonen, dass dieser Wert weder ein Schätzwert noch eine Modellrechnung oder Prognose ist, sondern ein exakter Messwert, basierend auf einer zuverlässigen Zählung. Sterberaten (für die Fachleute auch Sterbewahrscheinlichkeiten qx) sind seit Johann Peter Süßmilch (1707–1767) der Goldstandard der Sterbestatistik. Jeder Aktuar wird das bestätigen. Fügen wir nun die Sterberaten der 79-jährigen Männer aus den Jahren davor und danach hinzu, um das Gesamtbild zu sehen (Grafik 2). Und nun die entscheidende Frage: Zeigt das Jahr 2020 ein Maximum oder ein Minimum?

Ein kritischer Leser könnte vermuten, dass die 79-jährigen Männer eine Ausnahme darstellen und andere Jahrgänge im Jahr 2020 ein Maximum zeigen würden. Doch das trifft nicht zu. Kein einziger Jahrgang verzeichnete im Jahr 2020 ein Maximum. Im Gegenteil: Auch die 1-Jährigen, 2-Jährigen, 3-Jährigen, 9-Jährigen, 10-Jährigen, 15-Jährigen, 18-Jährigen und viele weitere männliche Jahrgänge hatten ihr Minimum im Jahr 2020. Dasselbe gilt bei den Frauen. Insgesamt hatten 31 Jahrgänge ihr Minimum im Jahr 2020. Wenn wir schließlich alle Jahrgänge in einer einzigen Grafik zusammenfassen, ergibt sich ein klares Bild: Das Minimum im Sterbegeschehen lag im Jahr 2020 (Grafik 3).

Ein kritischer Leser könnte nun wiederum vermuten, dass es innerhalb des Jahres 2020 möglicherweise starke Ausschläge nach oben bei einzelnen Jahrgängen gegeben haben könnte, die später durch Ausschläge nach unten ausgeglichen wurden – und dass diese Schwankungen in der jährlichen Übersicht nicht sichtbar sind. Doch auch das trifft nicht zu. Ein Blick auf die wöchentlichen Sterberaten zeigt, dass die ersten acht Monate der Pandemie keine nennenswerten Auffälligkeiten aufweisen. Es bleibt dabei: Die Rohdaten des Statistischen Bundesamtes bestätigen zweifelsfrei, dass die ersten acht Monate der Pandemie das historische Minimum im Sterbegeschehen darstellen. (Für die Fachleute sei angemerkt, dass im gleichen Zeitraum die Lebenserwartung die historischen Höchststände erreicht hatte – Grafik 4.)

So konstruierte das Amt aus einem Minimum ein Maximum:

Zur Erinnerung: Die Rohdaten des Statistischen Bundesamtes, die in den jährlichen Sterbetafeln zweifelsfrei dokumentiert sind, zeigen für das Jahr 2020 eindeutig ein Minimum im Sterbegeschehen. Aus diesen »in Stein gemeißelten« Zahlen ein Maximum zu »konstruieren«, ohne die Rohdaten selbst zu verändern, scheint auf den ersten Blick eine unlösbare Aufgabe. Jeder Student würde an einer solchen Herausforderung scheitern. Doch das Statistische Bundesamt hat einen kreativen Weg gefunden - ein Meisterstück gezielter Manipulation. In fünf Schritten zeigt sich, wie diese Täuschung der Öffentlichkeit umgesetzt wurde:

(1) Ignorieren der Sterberaten: Die präzisen, objektiven und leicht verständlichen Sterberaten aus den eigenen Sterbetafeln wurden konsequent ignoriert und verschwiegen. Diese Daten widersprachen dem gewünschten Narrativ und wurden daher gezielt ausgeklammert.

(2) Fokus auf absolute Todeszahlen: Die Aufmerksamkeit wurde stattdessen auf die absolute Zahl der Todesfälle gelenkt. Diese wirkt allein durch ihre schiere Größe dramatisch und emotionalisiert die Diskussion. Ein entscheidender Faktor wurde dabei ignoriert: Die absolute Zahl der Todesfälle steigt aufgrund der demografischen Entwicklung jedes Jahr an. Viele Menschen verstehen diesen Zusammenhang nicht und verbinden die steigenden Zahlen fälschlicherweise mit der vermeintlichen Pandemie.

(3) Einführung der Übersterblichkeit als neue Kennzahl: Erst ab Beginn der „Pandemie“ wurde die Kennzahl "Übersterblichkeit" eingeführt – und dies mit einer fragwürdigen Methode, die systematisch überhöhte Werte lieferte. Diese Kennzahl wurde regelmäßig, oft monatlich oder sogar wöchentlich, berechnet und diente als ständige Grundlage für alarmierende Schlagzeilen.

(4) Intensive Öffentlichkeitsarbeit: Durch eine breit angelegte Kampagne wurden die manipulativen Kennzahlen gezielt in den Fokus gerückt. Pressemitteilungen, Podcasts und öffentliche Auftritte konzentrierten sich fast ausschließlich auf die absoluten Todeszahlen und die Übersterblichkeit. Ziel war es, den Eindruck einer dramatischen Situation in der Öffentlichkeit zu verstärken.

(5) Bekämpfen kritischer Stimmen: Kritiker, die die Schwächen und manipulativen Aspekte dieser Methoden aufdeckten, wurden systematisch diskreditiert. Ihre Glaubwürdigkeit und Kompetenz wurden öffentlich infrage gestellt, um das sorgsam konstruierte Narrativ zu schützen.

Ohne diesen begleitenden Statistik-Betrug wäre das gesamte Pandemie-Theater meiner Meinung nach nicht möglich gewesen. Wer aus einem faktischen Minimum ein scheinbares Maximum "erschafft", handelt betrügerisch. Die Folgen dieses Betruges sind gravierend. Denken wir an die Angst, die in der Bevölkerung geschürt wurde – die Angst, bald sterben zu müssen. Denken wir an Masken, Abstandsregeln, isolierte ältere Menschen, Kinderimpfungen und all die Maßnahmen, die unter anderem auf diese falsche Statistik zurückgehen.

Wollen wir Bürger uns das gefallen lassen?

Wenn wir als Bürger zulassen, dass ein derart offensichtlicher und nachprüfbarer Täuschungsversuch ohne Konsequenzen bleibt, dann gefährdet das nicht nur die Integrität unserer Institutionen – es untergräbt das Fundament unserer Gesellschaft. In der DDR feierte man öffentlich Planerfüllung und Übererfüllung, während die Regale leer blieben. Damals wusste jeder: Statistik war ein Propagandainstrument. Niemand traute den Zahlen, die das Staatsfernsehen verkündete.

Während der Pandemie war es anders. Die Menschen vertrauten den Mitteilungen des Statistischen Bundesamtes und des RKI – blind. Die Enthüllungen durch den "RKI-Leak" haben gezeigt, dass auch das Robert-Koch-Institut nicht der Wissenschaft, sondern den Weisungen des Gesundheitsministers und militärischen Vorgaben folgte. Warum sollte es beim Statistischen Bundesamt anders gewesen sein? Diese Behörde ist dem Innenministerium unterstellt und somit ebenfalls weisungsgebunden.

Die Beweise für Täuschung liegen offen zutage. Es braucht keinen Whistleblower, keine geheimen Enthüllungen: Die Rohdaten des Statistischen Bundesamtes sprechen für sich. Sie sind öffentlich einsehbar – klar und unmissverständlich. Die Daten, die Tabellen, die Veröffentlichungen des Amtes selbst – sie sind die Anklageschrift. Sie zeigen, was wirklich war. Nicht mehr und nicht weniger.

Und wir? Was tun wir? Schweigen wir? Oder fordern wir endlich ein, was unser Recht ist? Wir Bürger dürfen das nicht hinnehmen. Es ist Zeit, unsere Behörden zur Rechenschaft zu ziehen. Diese Institutionen arbeiten nicht für sich – sie arbeiten für uns. Wir finanzieren sie, und wir haben das Recht, Transparenz und Verantwortung einzufordern. Manipulationen wie diese müssen aufgearbeitet werden und dürfen nie wieder geschehen. Die Strukturen, die solche Fehlentwicklungen in unseren Behörden ermöglicht haben, müssen offengelegt werden. Denn eine Demokratie lebt von Vertrauen – und Vertrauen muss verdient werden. Jeden Tag aufs Neue.

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MARCEL BARZ, Jahrgang 1975, war Offizier der Bundeswehr und studierte Wirtschafts- und Organisationswissenschaften sowie Wirtschaftsinformatik. Er war Gründer und Geschäftsführer einer Softwarefirma, die sich auf Datenanalyse und Softwareentwicklung spezialisiert hatte. Im August 2021 veröffentlichte Barz den Videovortrag »Die Pandemie in den Rohdaten«, der über eine Million Aufrufe erzielte. Seitdem macht er als "Erbsenzähler" auf Widersprüche in amtlichen Statistiken aufmerksam.

@ bc8a4b4f:112ce9c4

El Mirador San Nicolás es el espacio correcto para iniciar la previa al tour por Granada, en España. Con un par de flamencos cantando con una buena guitarra acústica, se armoniza la experiencia de mi primer atardecer en la ciudad y para todos los turistas que estamos en pleno diciembre, frente a la cordillera de Sierra Nevada.

El Mirador San Nicolás es el espacio correcto para iniciar la previa al tour por Granada, en España. Con un par de flamencos cantando con una buena guitarra acústica, se armoniza la experiencia de mi primer atardecer en la ciudad y para todos los turistas que estamos en pleno diciembre, frente a la cordillera de Sierra Nevada.

\ Recordemos que Granada fue habitada en sus tiempos mozos por los árabes en el siglo VIII, durante la conquista musulmana de la Península Ibérica. Tras la fragmentación del Califato de Córdoba, en 1238, Muhammad I fundó la dinastía nazarí, dando inicio a uno de los períodos más destacados de la ciudad.

Durante la dominación nazarí, Granada floreció como un centro cultural, económico y artístico. Se construyó la majestuosa Alhambra, un espectáculo arquitectónico e ingenieril que simboliza la cumbre del arte islámico en España. Además, la ciudad destacó por ser un cosmo religioso, siendo hogar de comunidades musulmanas, cristianas y judías.

Fue así que en la reconquista, en 1492, los Reyes Católicos, Isabel y Fernando, pusieron fin a casi 800 años de dominio musulmán en la región, que incluyó la expulsión de judíos y musulmanes o su conversión al cristianismo. Aunque el dominio musulmán terminó, su legado perdura de manera viva en la ciudad con la arquitectura, la gastronomía y la cultura de Granada. La Alhambra, el Generalife y el Albaicín son testigos vivos de este pasado glorioso y constituyen un patrimonio invaluable que atrae a millones de visitantes de todo el mundo.

Ya cayendo la noche, bajando por el Albaicín, se aprecian las calles estrechas y de adoquines, con distintas puertas interesantes y entradas que hacen vivir la experiencia de un autóctono barrio árabe. Entre medio, el Balcón de San Nicolás, que te invita a ser parte del espectáculo que es ver la Alhambra de noche, que desde afuera son la invitación perfecta para disfrutar con café o un buen trago, esa postal que parece pintada por algún artista desconocido del 1.900.

Mezquita Mayor de Granada. Café en el Balcón San Nicolás. Luego del café y con un poco de calor en el cuerpo, continúa la caminata camino al centro hasta donde vas encontrando por el camino una serie de vestigios del mundo árabe que permiten reforzar que Granada seguirá siendo centro del reino nazarí. Su arquitectura es un recuerdo vivo y un encuentro con los particulares mercados que ofrecen menaje, lámparas, zapatillas y una serie de artículos que me transportan a oriente, incluyendo centros de estudios que me instan a querer volver.

Finalmente, logro llegar al centro de Granada y como bien escribió Federico García Lorca, orgulloso Granadino; «Granada está indefensa ante la gente, porque ante los halagos, nada ni nadie tiene modo de defenderse», y esta es tan solo la primera parte de un viaje en el tiempo y espacio en la grandiosa España.

Continuará…Recordemos que Granada fue habitada en sus tiempos mozos por los árabes en el siglo VIII, durante la conquista musulmana de la Península Ibérica. Tras la fragmentación del Califato de Córdoba, en 1238, Muhammad I fundó la dinastía nazarí, dando inicio a uno de los períodos más destacados de la ciudad.

Durante la dominación nazarí, Granada floreció como un centro cultural, económico y artístico. Se construyó la majestuosa Alhambra, un espectáculo arquitectónico e ingenieril que simboliza la cumbre del arte islámico en España. Además, la ciudad destacó por ser un cosmo religioso, siendo hogar de comunidades musulmanas, cristianas y judías.

Fue así que en la reconquista, en 1492, los Reyes Católicos, Isabel y Fernando, pusieron fin a casi 800 años de dominio musulmán en la región, que incluyó la expulsión de judíos y musulmanes o su conversión al cristianismo.

Aunque el dominio musulmán terminó, su legado perdura de manera viva en la ciudad con la arquitectura, la gastronomía y la cultura de Granada. La Alhambra, el Generalife y el Albaicín son testigos vivos de este pasado glorioso y constituyen un patrimonio invaluable que atrae a millones de visitantes de todo el mundo.

Ya cayendo la noche, bajando por el Albaicín, se aprecian las calles estrechas y de adoquines, con distintas puertas interesantes y entradas que hacen vivir la experiencia de un autóctono barrio árabe. Entre medio, el Balcón de San Nicolás, que te invita a ser parte del espectáculo que es ver la Alhambra de noche, que desde afuera son la invitación perfecta para disfrutar con café o un buen trago, esa postal que parece pintada por algún artista desconocido del 1.900.

Luego del café y con un poco de calor en el cuerpo, continúa la caminata camino al centro hasta donde vas encontrando por el camino una serie de vestigios del mundo árabe que permiten reforzar que Granada seguirá siendo centro del reino nazarí. Su arquitectura es un recuerdo vivo y un encuentro con los particulares mercados que ofrecen menaje, lámparas, zapatillas y una serie de artículos que me transportan a oriente, incluyendo centros de estudios que me instan a querer volver.

Finalmente, logro llegar al centro de Granada y como bien escribió Federico García Lorca, orgulloso Granadino; «Granada está indefensa ante la gente, porque ante los halagos, nada ni nadie tiene modo de defenderse», y esta es tan solo la primera parte de un viaje en el tiempo y espacio en la grandiosa España.

Continuará…

@ b2caa9b3:9eab0fb5

The year had barely begun when we, a group of four from the hostel, decided to explore Moshi's Uhuru Park. Located conveniently in the city center, it was just a short walk away, making it an easy and inviting destination.

A Stroll Through Uhuru Park

We entered through the main gate and began to wander around the park. The first area we encountered was small buildings with stores, restaurants, and a cozy beer garden. After some browsing, we ventured further into the heart of the park and stumbled upon a playground. It was a bit run-down — a place I wouldn’t let my kids play, especially not on the slide — but that didn’t stop us. As adults, we unleashed our inner children, playing on the equipment and snapping countless photos.

In the middle of our playground adventure, we spotted a tree with a ladder and a sign requesting payment to use the playground. Surprisingly, they accepted Mastercard and Visa! Yet, given the state of the equipment, I couldn’t imagine parents willingly paying for such a risky setup.

Unexpected Sights and Big Discoveries

As we moved on, the park began to reveal its quirky charm. We admired creatively maintained corners and came across a unique “Christmas tree”. Unlike traditional evergreens, this local tree earned its festive name because it only blooms during the holiday season. Nearby, we marveled at massive termite hills — some taller than me — that left me feeling small. While I was curious, I didn’t dig around to confirm if any termites were home.

A Smoothie Haven: The Wishing Tree

We eventually reached a cluster of houses within the park. One spot stood out to me — The Wishing Tree. I’d discovered it one evening during a failed attempt to attend a BBQ festival when the police turned me away. The Wishing Tree seemed like an oasis, but it was closed at night, so I promised myself I’d return.

That day, I kept my promise. The Wishing Tree lived up to its name, offering a serene, green space with soft music perfect for meditation. The smoothies were freshly made, organic, and worth the wait. With my first sip, I was blown away — absolutely delicious, even if a bit pricey. We lingered there, savoring every moment and every drop.

Chipsiei and Colonial Echoes

After leaving the oasis, we wandered back to the beer garden. One of my companions, a man from Switzerland, ordered Chipsiei. It’s a local dish of fries and eggs, with “Ei” (the German word for egg) being a linguistic remnant of Tanzania’s time as German East Africa. Traces of this colonial past still linger in buildings, language, and even some food traditions.

I opted for a beer with lemon, similar to a Radler, while others chose soda or beer. After finishing our drinks, we continued our walk, eventually passing the bus station. Here, the Swiss traveler bought a ticket for his next destination, though not without encountering the infamous “mzungu price” — a common overcharge for foreigners. Despite having the correct price from the internet, he couldn’t negotiate it down.

A Market Adventure

Back at the hostel, I decided to visit the market, and the Swiss man joined me. I needed bananas, while he sought natural baobab fruit. Unlike the colored and sugary versions sold on the street, market baobab is organic and white. It was the perfect place to find fresh, unaltered produce.

Wrapping Up the Day

After the market, we returned to the hostel to relax at the bar, reflecting on our day. While writing this, I realized I captured so many interesting photos. I’ll share a few here and save the rest for my upcoming online gallery — stay tuned for updates!

Moving On

Tomorrow, I’ll check out and continue my journey through Africa. After nearly two months in Moshi, my foot has healed, and it’s time to move forward. Along the way, I’ll need to replace my GoPro battery (the old one blew up) and get a power bank after my Google Pixel met its end with a faulty one. I also need to pick up a hat to protect myself from the increasingly harsh sun and maybe a sheet to use as a multi sheet (Towel, Beach Towel and other things).

The road ahead promises new adventures, stories, and photos. Stay tuned to follow my travels as I explore more of this beautiful continent!

@ 6bae33c8:607272e8

It was a so-so year for me. I won one Beat Chris Liss league, didn’t cash in the other two or the Primetime. I got bounced in the first round of the Steak League playoffs and finished as a self buyer. I didn’t make the Dynasty League playoffs (even though I had the fourth most points and would have won the league based on my scores in the playoffs), and I didn’t do anything in Survivor or Circa Millions. It certainly could have been better.

Had I known in August what I know now, here’s what I would have done:

1.12 Saquon Barkley — This is chalk here, but I love older running backs this year, and Saquon should go off on the Eagles. No, I’m not worried that Jalen Hurts might score 14 rushing TDs in 15 games.

2.1 Jahmyr Gibbs — Also chalk, but I want to build a RB-heavy foundation with all these zero-RB midwits. You love your Tyreek Hill-Jaylen Waddle build? Sidebet?

3.1 Derrick Henry — Whew, glad he fell to me. I love starting out with three straight RBs, so nutless monkeys can criticize my poor draft structure!

4.12 Josh Allen — I like to get a stud QB early, you guys can wait on Kirk Cousins and Caleb Williams if you want.

5.1 Lamar Jackson — I know it’s early to double up, but I don’t want anyone snagging this value from me. Always punish the room even if it costs you! Sidebets anyone?

6.12 Brian Thomas — Receiver is definitely a position you can piece together if you know what you’re doing, and with Thomas I have an every week starter no matter how bad the quarterback play in Jacksonville.

7.1 Courtland Sutton — I want to buy into the Sean Payton Denver passing game. Russell Wilson, not Payton, was the problem, and Bo Nix is a stud.

8.12 Jordan Addison — I expect Sam Darnold to unlock Addison this year.

9.1 Brock Bowers — He’s no Kyle Pitts (who you took in Round 6), that’s for sure.

10.12 Rashid Shaheed — He’s liable to get hurt, but I need some early-season WR production from someone, and he’s better than Chris Olave.

11.1 Bucky Irving — I’m too thin at RB, needed some depth.

12.12 Jalen McMillan — In case I need some WR depth for the stretch run.

13.1 Adam Thielen — If a white receiver is still in the league at 34, he must be doing something right!

14.12 Cowboys Kicker — Always be the first to take the obvious stud kicker.

15.1 Broncos Defense — beasts.

16.12 Vikings Defense — beasts.

17.1 Steelers Kicker — Always draft a second stud kicker to back up your first one.

18.12 Zach Ertz — Need some TE depth, and Ertz could be useful in my Week 17 title game.

19.1 Jonnu Smith — You can never have too much TE depth. Controversial take: Smith will outproduce Waddle and Hill this year.

20.12 Sam Darnold — Who knows? He could be useful in the playoffs.

This obviously isn’t the ideal team, but it would win every league and generate plenty of action in side bets too.

And here’s some September 3-5 ADP to show this build was possible: