-
@ 472f440f:5669301e
2025-05-20 13:01:09Marty's Bent
via me
Don't sleep on what's happening in Japan right now. We've been covering the country and the fact that they've lost control of their yield curve since late last year. After many years of making it a top priority from a monetary policy perspective, last year the Bank of Japan decided to give up on yield curve control in an attempt to reel inflation. This has sent yields for the 30-year and 40-year Japanese government bonds to levels not seen since the early 2000s in the case of the 30-year and levels never before seen for the 40-year, which was launched in 2007. With a debt to GDP ratio that has surpassed 250% and a population that is aging out with an insufficient amount of births to replace the aging workforce, it's hard to see how Japan can get out of this conundrum without some sort of economic collapse.
This puts the United States in a tough position considering the fact that Japan is one of the largest holders of U.S. Treasury bonds with more than 1,135 sats | $1.20 trillion in exposure. If things get too out of control in Japan and the yield curve continues to drift higher and inflation continues to creep higher Japan can find itself in a situation where it's a forced seller of US Treasuries as they attempt to strengthen the yen. Another aspect to consider is the fact that investors may see the higher yields on Japanese government bonds and decide to purchase them instead of US Treasuries. This is something to keep an eye on in the weeks to come. Particularly if higher rates drive a higher cost of capital, which leads to even more inflation. As producers are forced to increase their prices to ensure that they can manage their debt repayments.
It's never a good sign when the Japanese Prime Minister is coming out to proclaim that his country's financial situation is worse than Greece's, which has been a laughing stock of Europe for the better part of three decades. Japan is a very proud nation, and the fact that its Prime Minister made a statement like this should not be underappreciated.
As we noted last week, the 10-year and 30-year U.S. Treasury bonds are drifting higher as well. Earlier today, the 30-year bond yield surpassed 5%, which has been a psychological level that many have been pointed to as a critical tipping point. When you take a step back and look around the world it seems pretty clear that bond markets are sending a very strong signal. And that signal is that something is not well in the back end of the financial system.
This is even made clear when you look at the private sector, particularly at consumer debt. In late March, we warned of the growing trend of buy now, pay later schemes drifting down market as major credit card companies released charge-off data which showed charge-off rates reaching levels not seen since the 2008 great financial crisis. At the time, we could only surmise that Klarna was experiencing similar charge-off rates on the bigger-ticket items they financed and started doing deals with companies like DoorDash to finance burrito deliveries in an attempt to move down market to finance smaller ticket items with a higher potential of getting paid back. It seems like that inclination was correct as Klarna released data earlier today showing more losses on their book as consumers find it extremely hard to pay back their debts.
via NewsWire
This news hit the markets on the same day as the average rate of the 30-year mortgage in the United States rose to 7.04%. I'm not sure if you've checked lately, but real estate prices are still relatively elevated outside of a few big cities who expanded supply significantly during the COVID era as people flooded out of blue states towards red states. It's hard to imagine that many people can afford a house based off of sticker price alone, but with a 7% 30-year mortgage rate it's becoming clear that the ability of the Common Man to buy a house is simply becoming impossible.
via Lance Lambert
The mortgage rate data is not the only thing you need to look at to understand that it's becoming impossible for the Common Man of working age to buy a house. New data has recently been released that highlights That the median home buyer in 2007 was born in 1968, and the median home buyer in 2024 was born in 1968. Truly wild when you think of it. As our friend Darth Powell cheekily highlights below, we find ourselves in a situation where boomers are simply trading houses and the younger generations are becoming indentured slaves. Forever destined to rent because of the complete inability to afford to buy a house.
via Darth Powell
via Yahoo Finance
Meanwhile, Bitcoin re-approached all-time highs late this evening and looks primed for another breakout to the upside. This makes sense if you're paying attention. The high-velocity trash economy running on an obscene amount of debt in both the public and private sectors seems to be breaking at the seams. All the alarm bells are signaling that another big print is coming. And if you hope to preserve your purchasing power or, ideally, increase it as the big print approaches, the only thing that makes sense is to funnel your money into the hardest asset in the world, which is Bitcoin.
via Bitbo
Buckle up, freaks. It's gonna be a bumpy ride. Stay humble, Stack Sats.
Trump's Middle East Peace Strategy: Redefining U.S. Foreign Policy
In his recent Middle East tour, President Trump signaled what our guest Dr. Anas Alhajji calls "a major change in US policy." Trump explicitly rejected the nation-building strategies of his predecessors, contrasting the devastation in Afghanistan and Iraq with the prosperity of countries like Saudi Arabia and UAE. This marks a profound shift from both Republican and Democratic foreign policy orthodoxy. As Alhajji noted, Trump's willingness to meet with Syrian President Assad follows a historical pattern where former adversaries eventually become diplomatic partners.
"This is really one of the most important shifts in US foreign policy to say, look, sorry, we destroyed those countries because we tried to rebuild them and it was a big mistake." - Dr. Anas Alhajji
The administration's new approach emphasizes negotiation over intervention. Rather than military solutions, Trump is engaging with groups previously considered off-limits, including the Houthis, Hamas, and Iran. This pragmatic stance prioritizes economic cooperation and regional stability over ideological confrontation. The focus on trade deals and investment rather than regime change represents a fundamental reimagining of America's role in the Middle East.
Check out the full podcast here for more on the Iran nuclear situation, energy market predictions, and why AI development could create power grid challenges. Only on TFTC Studio.
Headlines of the Day
Bitcoin Soars to 100,217 sats | $106.00K While Bonds Lose 40% Since 2020 - via X
US Senate Advances Stablecoin Bill As America Embraces Bitcoin - via X
Get our new STACK SATS hat - via tftcmerch.io
Texas House Debates Bill For State-Run Bitcoin Reserve - via X
Take the First Step Off the Exchange
Bitkey is an easy, secure way to move your Bitcoin into self-custody. With simple setup and built-in recovery, it’s the perfect starting point for getting your coins off centralized platforms and into cold storage—no complexity, no middlemen.
Take control. Start with Bitkey.
Use the promo code “TFTC20” during checkout for 20% off
Ten31, the largest bitcoin-focused investor, has deployed 158,469 sats | $150.00M across 30+ companies through three funds. I am a Managing Partner at Ten31 and am very proud of the work we are doing. Learn more at ten31.vc/invest.
Final thought...
Don't let the noise consume you. Focus on making your life 1% better every day.
Get this newsletter sent to your inbox daily: https://www.tftc.io/bitcoin-brief/
Subscribe to our YouTube channels and follow us on Nostr and X:
-
@ 472f440f:5669301e
2025-05-20 02:00:54
Marty's Bent
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0Sj1sG05VQ
Here's a great presentation from our good friend nostr:nprofile1qyx8wumn8ghj7cnjvghxjmcpp4mhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mqqyz2hj3zg2g3pqwxuhg69zgjhke4pcmjmmdpnndnefqndgqjt8exwj6ee8v7 , President of The Nakamoto Institute titled Hodl for Good. He gave it earlier this year at the BitBlockBoom Conference, and I think it's something everyone reading this should take 25 minutes to watch. Especially if you find yourself wondering whether or not it's a good idea to spend bitcoin at any given point in time. Michael gives an incredible Austrian Economics 101 lesson on the importance of lowering one's time preference and fully understanding the importance of hodling bitcoin. For the uninitiated, it may seem that the hodl meme is nothing more than a call to hoard bitcoins in hopes of getting rich eventually. However, as Michael points out, there's layers to the hodl meme and the good that hodling can bring individuals and the economy overall.
The first thing one needs to do to better understand the hodl meme is to completely flip the framing that is typically thrust on bitcoiners who encourage others to hodl. Instead of ceding that hodling is a greedy or selfish action, remind people that hodling, or better known as saving, is the foundation of capital formation, from which all productive and efficient economic activity stems. Number go up technology is great and it really matters. It matters because it enables anybody leveraging that technology to accumulate capital that can then be allocated toward productive endeavors that bring value to the individual who creates them and the individual who buys them.
When one internalizes this, it enables them to turn to personal praxis and focus on minimizing present consumption while thinking of ways to maximize long-term value creation. Live below your means, stack sats, and use the time that you're buying to think about things that you want in the future. By lowering your time preference and saving in a harder money you will have the luxury of demanding higher quality goods in the future. Another way of saying this is that you will be able to reshape production by voting with your sats. Initially when you hold them off the market by saving them - signaling that the market doesn't have goods worthy of your sats - and ultimately by redeploying them into the market when you find higher quality goods that meet the standards desire.
The first part of this equation is extremely important because it sends a signal to producers that they need to increase the quality of their work. As more and more individuals decide to use bitcoin as their savings technology, the signal gets stronger. And over many cycles we should begin to see low quality cheap goods exit the market in favor of higher quality goods that provide more value and lasts longer and, therefore, make it easier for an individual to depart with their hard-earned and hard-saved sats. This is only but one aspect that Michael tries to imbue throughout his presentation.
The other is the ability to buy yourself leisure time when you lower your time preference and save more than you spend. When your savings hit a critical tipping point that gives you the luxury to sit back and experience true leisure, which Michael explains is not idleness, but the contemplative space to study, create art, refine taste, and to find what "better goods" actually are. Those who can experience true leisure while reaping the benefits of saving in a hard asset that is increasing in purchasing power significantly over the long term are those who build truly great things. Things that outlast those who build them. Great art, great monuments, great institutions were all built by men who were afforded the time to experience leisure. Partly because they were leveraging hard money as their savings and the place they stored the profits reaped from their entrepreneurial endeavors.
If you squint and look into the future a couple of decades, it isn't hard to see a reality like this manifesting. As more people begin to save in Bitcoin, the forces of supply and demand will continue to come into play. There will only ever be 21 million bitcoin, there are around 8 billion people on this planet, and as more of those 8 billion individuals decide that bitcoin is the best savings vehicle, the price of bitcoin will rise.
When the price of bitcoin rises, it makes all other goods cheaper in bitcoin terms and, again, expands the entrepreneurial opportunity. The best part about this feedback loop is that even non-holders of bitcoin benefit through higher real wages and faster tech diffusion. The individuals and business owners who decide to hodl bitcoin will bring these benefits to the world whether you decide to use bitcoin or not.
This is why it is virtuous to hodl bitcoin. The potential for good things to manifest throughout the world increase when more individuals decide to hodl bitcoin. And as Michael very eloquently points out, this does not mean that people will not spend their bitcoin. It simply means that they have standards for the things that they will spend their bitcoin on. And those standards are higher than most who are fully engrossed in the high velocity trash economy have today.
In my opinion, one of those higher causes worthy of a sats donation is nostr:nprofile1qyfhwumn8ghj7enjv4jhyetvv9uju7re0gq3uamnwvaz7tmfdemxjmrvv9nk2tt0w468v6tvd3skwefwvdhk6qpqwzc9lz2f40azl98shkjewx3pywg5e5alwqxg09ew2mdyeey0c2rqcfecft . Consider donating so they can preserve and disseminate vital information about bitcoin and its foundations.
The Shell Game: How Health Narratives May Distract from Vaccine Risks
In our recent podcast, Dr. Jack Kruse presented a concerning theory about public health messaging. He argues that figures like Casey and Callie Means are promoting food and exercise narratives as a deliberate distraction from urgent vaccine issues. While no one disputes healthy eating matters, Dr. Kruse insists that focusing on "Froot Loops and Red Dye" diverts attention from what he sees as immediate dangers of mRNA vaccines, particularly for children.
"It's gonna take you 50 years to die from processed food. But the messenger jab can drop you like Damar Hamlin." - Dr Jack Kruse
Dr. Kruse emphasized that approximately 25,000 children per month are still receiving COVID vaccines despite concerns, with 3 million doses administered since Trump's election. This "shell game," as he describes it, allows vaccines to remain on childhood schedules while public attention fixates on less immediate health threats. As host, I believe this pattern deserves our heightened scrutiny given the potential stakes for our children's wellbeing.
Check out the full podcast here for more on Big Pharma's alleged bioweapons program, the "Time Bank Account" concept, and how Bitcoin principles apply to health sovereignty.
Headlines of the Day
Aussie Judge: Bitcoin is Money, Possibly CGT-Exempt - via X
JPMorgan to Let Clients Buy Bitcoin Without Direct Custody - via X
Get our new STACK SATS hat - via tftcmerch.io
Mubadala Acquires 384,239 sats | $408.50M Stake in BlackRock Bitcoin ETF - via X
Take the First Step Off the Exchange
Bitkey is an easy, secure way to move your Bitcoin into self-custody. With simple setup and built-in recovery, it’s the perfect starting point for getting your coins off centralized platforms and into cold storage—no complexity, no middlemen.
Take control. Start with Bitkey.
Use the promo code “TFTC20” during checkout for 20% off
Ten31, the largest bitcoin-focused investor, has deployed 158,469 sats | $150.00M across 30+ companies through three funds. I am a Managing Partner at Ten31 and am very proud of the work we are doing. Learn more at ten31.vc/invest.
Final thought...
I've been walking from my house around Town Lake in Austin in the mornings and taking calls on the walk. Big fan of a walking call.
Get this newsletter sent to your inbox daily: https://www.tftc.io/bitcoin-brief/
Subscribe to our YouTube channels and follow us on Nostr and X:
-
@ 472f440f:5669301e
2025-05-16 00:18:45
Marty's Bent
It's been a pretty historic week for the United States as it pertains to geopolitical relations in the Middle East. President Trump and many members of his administration, including AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, traveled across the Middle East making deals with countries like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Syria, and others. Many are speculating that Iran may be included in some behind the scenes deal as well. This trip to the Middle East makes sense considering the fact that China is also vying for favorable relationships with those countries. The Middle East is a power player in the world, and it seems pretty clear that Donald Trump is dead set on ensuring that they choose the United States over China as the world moves towards a more multi-polar reality.
Many are calling the events of this week the Riyadh Accords. There were many deals that were struck in relation to artificial intelligence, defense, energy and direct investments in the United States. A truly prolific power play and demonstration of deal-making ability of Donald Trump, if you ask me. Though I will admit some of the numbers that were thrown out by some of the countries were a bit egregious. We shall see how everything plays out in the coming years. It will be interesting to see how China reacts to this power move by the United States.
While all this was going on, there was something happening back in the United States that many people outside of fringe corners of FinTwit are not talking about, which is the fact that the 10-year and 30-year U.S. Treasury bond yields are back on the rise. Yesterday, they surpassed the levels of mid-April that caused a market panic and are hovering back around levels that have not been seen since right before Donald Trump's inauguration.
I imagine that there isn't as much of an uproar right now because I'm pretty confident the media freakouts we were experiencing in mid-April were driven by the fact that many large hedge funds found themselves off sides of large levered basis trades. I wouldn't be surprised if those funds have decreased their leverage in those trades and bond yields being back to mid-April levels is not affecting those funds as much as they were last month. But the point stands, the 10-year and 30-year yields are significantly elevated with the 30-year approaching 5%. Regardless of the deals that are currently being made in the Middle East, the Treasury has a big problem on its hands. It still has to roll over many trillions worth of debt over over the next few years and doing so at these rates is going to be massively detrimental to fiscal deficits over the next decade. The interest expense on the debt is set to explode in the coming years.
On that note, data from the first quarter of 2025 has been released by the government and despite all the posturing by the Trump administration around DOGE and how tariffs are going to be beneficial for the U.S. economy, deficits are continuing to explode while the interest expense on the debt has definitively surpassed our annual defense budget.
via Charlie Bilello
via Mohamed Al-Erian
To make matters worse, as things are deteriorating on the fiscal side of things, the U.S. consumer is getting crushed by credit. The 90-plus day delinquency rates for credit card and auto loans are screaming higher right now.
via TXMC
One has to wonder how long all this can continue without some sort of liquidity crunch. Even though equities markets have recovered from their post-Liberation Day month long bear market, I would not be surprised if what we're witnessing is a dead cat bounce that can only be continued if the money printers are turned back on. Something's got to give, both on the fiscal side and in the private markets where the Common Man is getting crushed because he's been forced to take on insane amounts of debt to stay afloat after years of elevated levels of inflation. Add on the fact that AI has reached a state of maturity that will enable companies to replace their current meat suit workers with an army of cheap, efficient and fast digital workers and it isn't hard to see that some sort of employment crisis could be on the horizon as well.
Now is not the time to get complacent. While I do believe that the deals that are currently being made in the Middle East are probably in the best interest of the United States as the world, again, moves toward a more multi-polar reality, we are facing problems that one cannot simply wish away. They will need to be confronted. And as we've seen throughout the 21st century, the problems are usually met head-on with a money printer.
I take no pleasure in saying this because it is a bit uncouth to be gleeful to benefit from the strife of others, but it is pretty clear to me that all signs are pointing to bitcoin benefiting massively from everything that is going on. The shift towards a more multi-polar world, the runaway debt situation here in the United States, the increasing deficits, the AI job replacements and the consumer credit crisis that is currently unfolding, All will need to be "solved" by turning on the money printers to levels they've never been pushed to before.
Weird times we're living in.
China's Manufacturing Dominance: Why It Matters for the U.S.
In my recent conversation with Lyn Alden, she highlighted how China has rapidly ascended the manufacturing value chain. As Lyn pointed out, China transformed from making "sneakers and plastic trinkets" to becoming the world's largest auto exporter in just four years. This dramatic shift represents more than economic success—it's a strategic power play. China now dominates solar panel production with greater market control than OPEC has over oil and maintains near-monopoly control of rare earth elements crucial for modern technology.
"China makes like 10 times more steel than the United States does... which is relevant in ship making. It's relevant in all sorts of stuff." - Lyn Alden
Perhaps most concerning, as Lyn emphasized, is China's financial leverage. They hold substantial U.S. assets that could be strategically sold to disrupt U.S. treasury market functioning. This combination of manufacturing dominance, resource control, and financial leverage gives China significant negotiating power in any trade disputes, making our attempts to reshoring manufacturing all the more challenging.
Check out the full podcast here for more on Triffin's dilemma, Bitcoin's role in monetary transition, and the energy requirements for rebuilding America's industrial base.
Headlines of the Day
Financial Times Under Fire Over MicroStrategy Bitcoin Coverage - via X
Trump in Qatar: Historic Boeing Deal Signed - via X
Get our new STACK SATS hat - via tftcmerch.io
Johnson Backs Stock Trading Ban; Passage Chances Slim - via X
Take the First Step Off the Exchange
Bitkey is an easy, secure way to move your Bitcoin into self-custody. With simple setup and built-in recovery, it’s the perfect starting point for getting your coins off centralized platforms and into cold storage—no complexity, no middlemen.
Take control. Start with Bitkey.
Use the promo code “TFTC20” during checkout for 20% off
Ten31, the largest bitcoin-focused investor, has deployed 158,469 sats | $150.00M across 30+ companies through three funds. I am a Managing Partner at Ten31 and am very proud of the work we are doing. Learn more at ten31.vc/invest.
Final thought...
Building things of value is satisfying.
Get this newsletter sent to your inbox daily: https://www.tftc.io/bitcoin-brief/
Subscribe to our YouTube channels and follow us on Nostr and X:
-
@ 6ad3e2a3:c90b7740
2025-05-20 13:49:50
I’ve written about MSTR twice already, https://www.chrisliss.com/p/mstr and https://www.chrisliss.com/p/mstr-part-2, but I want to focus on legendary short seller James Chanos’ current trade wherein he buys bitcoin (via ETF) and shorts MSTR, in essence to “be like Mike” Saylor who sells MSTR shares at the market and uses them to add bitcoin to the company’s balance sheet. After all, if it’s good enough for Saylor, why shouldn’t everyone be doing it — shorting a company whose stock price is more than 2x its bitcoin holdings and using the proceeds to buy the bitcoin itself?
Saylor himself has said selling shares at 2x NAV (net asset value) to buy bitcoin is like selling dollars for two dollars each, and Chanos has apparently decided to get in while the getting (market cap more than 2x net asset value) is good. If the price of bitcoin moons, sending MSTR’s shares up, you are more than hedged in that event, too. At least that’s the theory.
The problem with this bet against MSTR’s mNAV, i.e., you are betting MSTR’s market cap will converge 1:1 toward its NAV in the short and medium term is this trade does not exist in a vacuum. Saylor has described how his ATM’s (at the market) sales of shares are accretive in BTC per share because of this very premium they carry. Yes, we’ll dilute your shares of the company, but because we’re getting you 2x the bitcoin per share, you are getting an ever smaller slice of an ever bigger overall pie, and the pie is growing 2x faster than your slice is reducing. (I https://www.chrisliss.com/p/mstr how this works in my first post.)
But for this accretion to continue, there must be a constant supply of “greater fools” to pony up for the infinitely printable shares which contain only half their value in underlying bitcoin. Yes, those shares will continue to accrete more BTC per share, but only if there are more fools willing to make this trade in the future. So will there be a constant supply of such “fools” to keep fueling MSTR’s mNAV multiple indefinitely?
Yes, there will be in my opinion because you have to look at the trade from the prospective fools’ perspective. Those “fools” are not trading bitcoin for MSTR, they are trading their dollars, selling other equities to raise them maybe, but in the end it’s a dollars for shares trade. They are not selling bitcoin for them.
You might object that those same dollars could buy bitcoin instead, so they are surely trading the opportunity cost of buying bitcoin for them, but if only 5-10 percent of the market (or less) is buying bitcoin itself, the bucket in which which those “fools” reside is the entire non-bitcoin-buying equity market. (And this is not considering the even larger debt market which Saylor has yet to tap in earnest.)
So for those 90-95 percent who do not and are not presently planning to own bitcoin itself, is buying MSTR a fool’s errand, so to speak? Not remotely. If MSTR shares are infinitely printable ATM, they are still less so than the dollar and other fiat currencies. And MSTR shares are backed 2:1 by bitcoin itself, while the fiat currencies are backed by absolutely nothing. So if you hold dollars or euros, trading them for MSTR shares is an errand more sage than foolish.
That’s why this trade (buying BTC and shorting MSTR) is so dangerous. Not only are there many people who won’t buy BTC buying MSTR, there are many funds and other investment entities who are only able to buy MSTR.
Do you want to get BTC at 1:1 with the 5-10 percent or MSTR backed 2:1 with the 90-95 percent. This is a bit like medical tests that have a 95 percent accuracy rate for an asymptomatic disease that only one percent of the population has. If someone tests positive, it’s more likely to be a false one than an indication he has the disease*. The accuracy rate, even at 19:1, is subservient to the size of the respective populations.
At some point this will no longer be the case, but so long as the understanding of bitcoin is not widespread, so long as the dollar is still the unit of account, the “greater fools” buying MSTR are still miles ahead of the greatest fools buying neither, and the stock price and mNAV should only increase.
. . .
One other thought: it’s more work to play defense than offense because the person on offense knows where he’s going, and the defender can only react to him once he moves. Similarly, Saylor by virtue of being the issuer of the shares knows when more will come online while Chanos and other short sellers are borrowing them to sell in reaction to Saylor’s strategy. At any given moment, Saylor can pause anytime, choosing to issue convertible debt or preferred shares with which to buy more bitcoin, and the shorts will not be given advance notice.
If the price runs, and there is no ATM that week because Saylor has stopped on a dime, so to speak, the shorts will be left having to scramble to change directions and buy the shares back to cover. Their momentum might be in the wrong direction, though, and like Allen Iverson breaking ankles with a crossover, Saylor might trigger a massive short squeeze, rocketing the share price ever higher. That’s why he actually welcomes Chanos et al trying this copycat strategy — it becomes the fuel for outsized gains.
For that reason, news that Chanos is shorting MSTR has not shaken my conviction, though there are other more pertinent https://www.chrisliss.com/p/mstr-part-2 with MSTR, of which one should be aware. And as always, do your own due diligence before investing in anything.
* To understand this, consider a population of 100,000, with one percent having a disease. That means 1,000 have it, 99,000 do not. If the test is 95 percent accurate, and everyone is tested, 950 of the 1,000 will test positive (true positives), 50 who have it will test negative (false negatives.) Of the positives, 95 percent of 99,000 (94,050) will test negative (true negatives) and five percent (4,950) will test positive (false positives). That means 4,950 out of 5,900 positives (84%) will be false.
-
@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1
2025-05-20 06:15:51
Deliberate (?) trade-offs we make for the sake of output speed.
... By sacrificing depth in my learning, I can produce substantially more work. I’m unsure if I’m at the correct balance between output quantity and depth of learning. This uncertainty is mainly fueled by a sense of urgency due to rapidly improving AI models. I don’t have time to learn everything deeply. I love learning, but given current trends, I want to maximize immediate output. I’m sacrificing some learning in classes for more time doing outside work. From a teacher’s perspective, this is obviously bad, but from my subjective standpoint, it’s unclear.
Finding the balance between learning and productivity. By trade, one cannot be productive in specific areas without first acquire the knowledge to define the processes needed to deliver. Designing the process often come on a try and fail dynamic that force us to learn from previous mistakes.
I found this little journal story fun but also little sad. Vincent's realization, one of us trading his learnings to be more productive, asking what is productivity without quality assurance?
Inevitably, parts of my brain will degenerate and fade away, so I need to consciously decide what I want to preserve or my entire brain will be gone. What skills am I NOT okay with offloading? What do I want to do myself?
Read Vincent's journal https://vvvincent.me/llms-are-making-me-dumber/
https://stacker.news/items/984361
-
@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1
2025-05-20 06:02:26
Digital Psychology ↗Wall of impact website showcase a collection of success metrics and micro case studies to create a clear, impactful visual of your brand's achievements. It also displays a Wall of love with an abundance of testimonials in one place, letting the sheer volume highlight your brand's popularity and customer satisfaction.
And like these, many others collections like Testimonial mashup that combine multiple testimonials into a fast-paced, engaging reel that highlights key moments of impact in an attention-grabbing format.
Awards and certifications of websites highlighting third-party ratings and verification to signal trust and quality through industry-recognized achievements and standards.
View them all at https://socialproofexamples.com/
https://stacker.news/items/984357
-
@ 472f440f:5669301e
2025-05-14 13:17:04
Marty's Bent
via me
It seems like every other day there's another company announced that is going public with the intent of competing with Strategy by leveraging capital markets to create financial instruments to acquire Bitcoin in a way that is accretive for shareholders. This is certainly a very interesting trend, very bullish for bitcoin in the short-term, and undoubtedly making it so bitcoin is top of mind in the mainstream. I won't pretend to know whether or not these strategies will ultimately be successful or fail in the short, medium or long term. However, one thing I do know is that the themes that interest me, both here at TFTC and in my role as Managing Partner at Ten31, are companies that are building good businesses that are efficient, have product-market-fit, generate revenues and profits and roll those profits into bitcoin.
While it seems pretty clear that Strategy has tapped into an arbitrage that exists in capital markets, it's not really that exciting. From a business perspective, it's actually pretty straightforward and simple; find where potential arbitrage opportunities exists between pools of capital looking for exposure to spot bitcoin or bitcoin's volatility but can't buy the actual asset, and provide them with products that give them access to exposure while simultaneously creating a cult-like retail following. Rinse and repeat. To the extent that this strategy is repeatable is yet to be seen. I imagine it can expand pretty rapidly. Particularly if we have a speculative fervor around companies that do this. But in the long run, I think the signal is falling back to first principles, looking for businesses that are actually providing goods and services to the broader economy - not focused on the hyper-financialized part of the economy - to provide value and create efficiencies that enable higher margins and profitability.
With this in mind, I think it's important to highlight the combined leverage that entrepreneurs have by utilizing bitcoin treasuries and AI tools that are emerging and becoming more advanced by the week. As I said in the tweet above, there's never been a better time to start a business that finds product-market fit and cash flows quickly with a team of two to three people. If you've been reading this rag over the last few weeks, you know that I've been experimenting with these AI tools and using them to make our business processes more efficient here at TFTC. I've also been using them at Ten31 to do deep research and analysis.
It has become abundantly clear to me that any founder or entrepreneur that is not utilizing the AI tools that are emerging is going to get left behind. As it stands today, all anyone has to do to get an idea from a thought in your head to the prototype stage to a minimum viable product is to hop into something like Claude or ChatGPT, have a brief conversation with an AI model that can do deep research about a particular niche that you want to provide a good service to and begin building.
Later this week, I will launch an app called Opportunity Cost in the Chrome and Firefox stores. It took me a few hours of work over the span of a week to ideate and iterate on the concept to the point where I had a working prototype that I handed off to a developer who is solving the last mile problem I have as an "idea guy" of getting the product to market. Only six months ago, accomplishing something like this would have been impossible for me. I've never written a line of code that's actually worked outside of the modded MySpace page I made back in middle school. I've always had a lot of ideas but have never been able to effectively communicate them to developers who can actually build them. With a combination of ChatGPT-03 and Replit, I was able to build an actual product that works. I'm using it in my browser today. It's pretty insane.
There are thousands of people coming to the same realization at the same time right now and going out there and building niche products very cheaply, with small teams, they are getting to market very quickly, and are amassing five figures, six figures, sometimes seven figures of MRR with extremely high profit margins. What most of these entrepreneurs have not really caught on to yet is that they should be cycling a portion - in my opinion, a large portion - of those profits into bitcoin. The combination of building a company utilizing these AI tools, getting it to market, getting revenue and profits, and turning those profits into bitcoin cannot be understated. You're going to begin seeing teams of one to ten people building businesses worth billions of dollars and they're going to need to store the value they create, any money that cannot be debased.
nostr:nprofile1qyx8wumn8ghj7cnjvghxjmcpz4mhxue69uhk2er9dchxummnw3ezumrpdejqqgy8fkmd9kmm8yp4lea2cx0g8fyz27g4ud7572j4edx2v6lz6aa23qmp5dth , one of the co-founders of Ten31, wrote about this in early 2024, bitcoin being the fourth lever of equity value growth for companies.
Bitcoin Treasury - The Fourth Lever to Equity Value Growth
We already see this theme playing out at Ten31 with some of our portfolio companies, most notably nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7etyv4hzumn0wd68ytnvv9hxgqgdwaehxw309ahx7uewd3hkcqpqex7mdykw786qxvmtuls208uyxmn0hse95rfwsarvfde5yg6wy7jqjrm2qp , which recently released some of their financials, highlighting the fact that they're extremely profitable with high margins and a relatively small team (\~75). This is extremely impressive, especially when you consider the fact that they're a global company competing with the likes of Coinbase and Block, which have each thousands of employees.
Even those who are paying attention to the developments in the AI space and how the tools can enable entrepreneurs to build faster aren't really grasping the gravity of what's at play here. Many are simply thinking of consumer apps that can be built and distributed quickly to market, but the ways in which AI can be implemented extend far beyond the digital world. Here's a great example of a company a fellow freak is building with the mindset of keeping the team small, utilizing AI tools to automate processes and quickly push profits into bitcoin.
via Cormac
Again, this is where the exciting things are happening in my mind. People leveraging new tools to solve real problems to drive real value that ultimately produce profits for entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs who decide to save those profits in bitcoin will find that the equity value growth of their companies accelerates exponentially as they provide more value, gain more traction, and increase their profits while also riding the bitcoin as it continues on its monetization phase. The compounded leverage of building a company that leverages AI tools and sweeps profits into bitcoin is going to be one of the biggest asymmetric plays of the next decade. Personally, I also see it as something that's much more fulfilling than the pure play bitcoin treasury companies that are coming to market because consumers and entrepreneurs are able to recive and provide a ton of value in the real economy.
If you're looking to stay on top of the developments in the AI space and how you can apply the tools to help build your business or create a new business, I highly recommend you follow somebody like Greg Isenberg, whose Startup Ideas Podcast has been incredibly valuable for me as I attempt to get a lay of the land of how to implement AI into my businesses.
America's Two Economies
In my recent podcast with Lyn Alden, she outlined how our trade deficits create a cycle that's reshaping America's economic geography. As Alden explained, US trade deficits pump dollars into international markets, but these dollars don't disappear - they return as investments in US financial assets. This cycle gradually depletes industrial heartlands while enriching financial centers on the coasts, creating what amounts to two separate American economies.
"We're basically constantly taking economic vibrancy out of Michigan and Ohio and rural Pennsylvania where the steel mills were... and stuffing it back into financial assets in New York and Silicon Valley." - nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytndv9kxjm3wdahxcqg5waehxw309ahx7um5wfekzarkvyhxuet5qqsw4v882mfjhq9u63j08kzyhqzqxqc8tgf740p4nxnk9jdv02u37ncdhu7e3
This pattern has persisted for over four decades, accelerating significantly since the early 1980s. Alden emphasized that while economists may argue there's still room before reaching a crisis point, the political consequences are already here. The growing divide between these two Americas has fueled populist sentiment as voters who feel left behind seek economic rebalancing, even if they can't articulate the exact mechanisms causing their hardship.
Check out the full podcast here for more on China's manufacturing dominance, Trump's tariff strategy, and the future of Bitcoin as a global reserve asset. All discussed in under 60 minutes.
Headlines of the Day
Trump's Saudi Summit: Peace and Economic Ties - via X
MSTR Edges Closer To S\&P 500 With Just 89 Trading Days Left - via X
Get our new STACK SATS hat - via tftcmerch.io
Individuals Shed 247K Bitcoin As Businesses Gain 157K - via X
Looking for the perfect video to push the smartest person you know from zero to one on bitcoin? Bitcoin, Not Crypto is a three-part master class from Parker Lewis and Dhruv Bansal that cuts through the noise—covering why 21 million was the key technical simplification that made bitcoin possible, why blockchains don’t create decentralization, and why everything else will be built on bitcoin.
Ten31, the largest bitcoin-focused investor, has deployed 144,229 sats | $150.00M across 30+ companies through three funds. I am a Managing Partner at Ten31 and am very proud of the work we are doing. Learn more at ten31.vc/invest.
Final thought...
My boys have started a game in the car where we count how many Waymos we see on the road while driving around town. Pretty crazy how innately stoked they are about that particular car.
Get this newsletter sent to your inbox daily: https://www.tftc.io/bitcoin-brief/
Subscribe to our YouTube channels and follow us on Nostr and X:
-
@ 7e538978:a5987ab6
2025-05-20 13:45:12
LNbits now has full NWC support thanks to the work of contributor @riccardobl, who has claimed two LNbits bounties for implementing Nostr Wallet Connect (NWC) support in LNbits.
LNbits can now act both as a wallet service and as a funding source using the Nostr NWC protocol (NIP-47). This opens the door to new integrations with a growing ecosystem of Nostr clients and Lightning wallets.
Two Sides of NWC Integration
The work delivered by Riccardo B comprises two separate peices of work that together implement full support for NWC:
1. LNbits as a Wallet Service
This extension allows LNbits to operate as an always-on wallet service compatible with Nostr Wallet Connect clients such as Damus, Amethyst, or any app supporting NIP-47. Users can connect these Nostr clients to their LNbits instance and create and pay Lightning invoices through it.
This turns your LNbits wallet into a backend Lightning provider for your favourite Nostr app all self-hosted.
2. NWC as a Funding Source
The second piece of work flips the relationship. With this in place, LNbits can now act as an NWC client, meaning it can be funded from any NWC wallet service. This could be another LNbits, Alby, Minibits and more.
Why This Is a Big Deal for LNbits Users
These two bounties make LNbits one of the first applications in the Lightning ecosystem to offer bidirectional NWC support — as both a service and a client. This brings benefits such as:
-
Fund any NWC-compatible app using your LNbits wallet.
-
Fund LNbits using any wallet that supports Nostr Wallet Connect.
-
Build NWC-native apps with LNbits as a backend, or power your own LNbits server using existing wallet infrastructure.
For developers, it’s a chance to build in flexible, interoperable ways. For users, it means more choice, more control, and less friction when managing Lightning payments across apps and devices.
Both of these features were developed and delivered by Riccardo B (@riccardobl), an contributor who took on and completed both LNbits bounties and was extremely helpful during the PR review process. We owe a huge thanks to Riccardo for his work here.
To try them out, read the full article detailing how NWC works with LNbits.
-
-
@ 609f186c:0aa4e8af
2025-05-16 20:57:43
Google says that Android 16 is slated to feature an optional high security mode. Cool.
Advanced Protection has a bunch of requested features that address the kinds of threats we worry about.
It's the kind of 'turn this one thing on if you face elevated risk' that we've been asking for from Google.
And likely reflects some learning after Google watched Apple 's Lockdown Mode play out. I see a lot of value in this..
Here are some features I'm excited to see play out:
The Intrusion Logging feature is interesting & is going to impose substantial cost on attackers trying to hide evidence of exploitation. Logs get e2ee encrypted into the cloud. This one is spicy.
The Offline Lock, Inactivity Reboot & USB protection will frustrate non-consensual attempts to physically grab device data.
Memory Tagging Extension is going to make a lot of attack & exploitation categories harder.
2G Network Protection & disabling Auto-connect to insecure networks are going to address categories of threat from things like IMSI catchers & hostile WiFi.
I'm curious about some other features such as:
Spam & Scam detection: Google messages feature that suggests message content awareness and some kind of scanning.
Scam detection for Phone by Google is interesting & coming later. The way it is described suggests phone conversation awareness. This also addresses a different category of threat than the stuff above. I can see it addressing a whole category of bad things that regular users (& high risk ones too!) face. Will be curious how privacy is addressed or if this done purely locally. Getting messy: Friction points? I see Google thinking these through, but I'm going to add a potential concern: what will users do when they encounter friction? Will they turn this off & forget to re-enable? We've seen users turn off iOS Lockdown Mode when they run into friction for specific websites or, say, legacy WiFi. They then forget to turn it back on. And stay vulnerable.
Bottom line: users disabling Apple's Lockdown Mode for a temporary thing & leaving it off because they forget to turn it on happens a lot. This is a serious % of users in my experience...
And should be factored into design decisions for similar modes. I feel like a good balance is a 'snooze button' or equivalent so that users can disable all/some features for a brief few minute period to do something they need to do, and then auto re-enable.
Winding up:
I'm excited to see how Android Advanced Protection plays with high risk users' experiences. I'm also super curious whether the spam/scam detection features may also be helpful to more vulnerable users (think: aging seniors)...
Niche but important:
Some users, esp. those that migrated to security & privacy-focused Android distros because of because of the absence of such a feature are clear candidates for it... But they may also voice privacy concerns around some of the screening features. Clear communication from the Google Security / Android team will be key here.
-
@ 472f440f:5669301e
2025-05-14 01:15:12
Marty's Bent
via Kevin McKernan
There's been a lot of discussion this week about Casey Means being nominated for Surgeon General of the United States and a broader overarching conversation about the effectiveness of MAHA since the inauguration and how effective it may or may not be moving forward. Many would say that President Trump won re-election due to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Nicole Shanahan deciding to reach across the aisle and join the Trump ticket, bringing with them the MAHA Moms, who are very focused on reorienting the healthcare system in the United States with a strong focus on the childhood vaccine schedule.
I'm not going to lie, this is something I'm passionate about as well, particularly after having many conversations over the years with doctors like Kevin McKernan, Dr. Jack Kruse, Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, Dr. Brooke Miller, Dr. Peter McCullough and others about the dangers of the COVID mRNA vaccines. As it stands today, I think this is the biggest elephant in the room in the world of healthcare. If you look at the data, particularly disability claims, life insurance claims, life expectancy, miscarriage rates, fertility issues and rates of turbo cancer around the world since the COVID vaccine was introduced in 2021, it seems pretty clear that there is harm being done to many of the people who have taken them.
The risk-reward ratio of the vaccines seems to be incredibly skewed towards risk over reward and children - who have proven to be least susceptible to COVID - are expected to get three COVID shots in the first year of their life if their parents follow the vaccine schedule. For some reason or another it seems that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has shied away from this topic after becoming the head of Health and Human Services within the Trump administration. This is after a multi-year campaign during which getting the vaccines removed from the market war a core part of his platform messaging.
I'm still holding out hope that sanity will prevail. The COVID mRNA vaccines will be taken off the market in a serious conversation about the crimes against humanity that unfolded during the COVID years will take place. However, we cannot depend on that outcome. We must build with the assumption in mind that that outcome may never materialize. This leads to identifying where the incentives within the system are misconstrued. One area where I think it's pretty safe to say that the incentives are misaligned is the fact that 95% of doctors work for and answer to a corporation driven by their bottom line. Instead of listening to their patients and truly caring about the outcome of each individual, doctors forced to think about the monetary outcome of the corporation they work for first.
The most pernicious way in which these misaligned incentives emerge is the way in which the hospital systems and physicians are monetarily incentivized by big pharma companies to push the COVID vaccine and other vaccines on their patients. It is important to acknowledge that we cannot be dependent on a system designed in this way to change from within. Instead, we must build a new incentive system and market structure. And obviously, if you're reading this newsletter, you know that I believe that bitcoin will play a pivotal role in realigning incentives across every industry. Healthcare just being one of them.
Bitcoiners who have identified the need to become sovereign in our monetary matters, it probably makes sense to become sovereign when it comes to our healthcare as well. This means finding doctors who operate outside the corporate controlled system and are able to offer services that align incentives with the end patient. My family utilizes a combination of CrowdHealth and a private care physician to align incentives. We've even utilized a private care physician who allowed us to pay in Bitcoin for her services for a number of years. I think this is the model. Doctors accepting hard censorship resistant money for the healthcare and advice they provide. Instead of working for a corporation looking to push pharmaceutical products on their patients so they can bolster their bottom line, work directly with patients who will pay in bitcoin, which will appreciate in value over time.
I had a lengthy discussion with Dr. Jack Kruse on the podcast earlier today discussing these topic and more. It will be released on Thursday and I highly recommend you freaks check it out once it is published. Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss it.
How the "Exorbitant Privilege" of the Dollar is Undermining Our Manufacturing Base
In my conversation with Lyn Alden, we explored America's fundamental economic contradiction. As Lyn expertly explained, maintaining the dollar's reserve currency status while attempting to reshore manufacturing presents a near-impossible challenge - what economists call Triffin's Dilemma. The world's appetite for dollars gives Americans tremendous purchasing power but simultaneously hollows out our industrial base. The overvalued dollar makes our exports less competitive, especially for lower-margin manufacturing, while our imports remain artificially strong.
"Having the reserve currency does come with a bunch of benefits, historically called an exorbitant privilege, but then it has certain costs to maintain it." - Lyn Alden
This dilemma forces America to run persistent trade deficits, as this is how dollars flow to the world. For over four decades, these deficits have accumulated, creating massive economic imbalances that can't be quickly reversed. The Trump administration's attempts to address this through tariffs showcase how difficult rebalancing has become. As Lyn warned, even if we successfully pivot toward reshoring manufacturing, we'll face difficult trade-offs: potentially giving up some reserve currency benefits to rebuild our industrial foundation. This isn't just economic theory - it's the restructuring challenge that will define America's economic future.
Check out the full podcast here for more on China's manufacturing dominance, the role of Bitcoin in monetary transitions, and energy production as the foundation for future industrial power.
Headlines of the Day
Coinbase to replace Discover in S\&P 500 on May 19 - via X
Mallers promises no rehypothecation in Strike Bitcoin loans - via X
Get our new STACK SATS hat - via tftcmerch.io
Missouri passes HB 594, eliminates Bitcoin capital gains tax - via X
The 2025 Bitcoin Policy Summit is set for June 25th—and it couldn’t come at a more important time. The Bitcoin industry is at a pivotal moment in Washington, with initiatives like the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve gaining rapid traction. Whether you’re a builder, advocate, academic, or policymaker—we want you at the table. Join us in DC to help define the future of freedom, money & innovation in the 21st century.
Ten31, the largest bitcoin-focused investor, has deployed 144,264 sats | $150.00M across 30+ companies through three funds. I am a Managing Partner at Ten31 and am very proud of the work we are doing. Learn more at ten31.vc/invest.
Final thought...
The 100+ degree days have returned to Austin, TX. Not mad about it... yet.
Get this newsletter sent to your inbox daily: https://www.tftc.io/bitcoin-brief/
Subscribe to our YouTube channels and follow us on Nostr and X:
-
@ 472f440f:5669301e
2025-05-12 23:29:50
Marty's Bent
Last week we covered the bombshell developments in the Samourai Wallet case. For those who didn't read that, last Monday the world was made aware of the fact that the SDNY was explicitly told by FinCEN that the federal regulator did not believe that Samourai Wallet was a money services business six months before arresting the co-founders of Samourai Wallet for conspiracy to launder money and illegally operating a money services business. This was an obvious overstep by the SDNY that many believed would be quickly alleviated, especially considering the fact that the Trump administration via the Department of Justice has made it clear that they do not intend to rule via prosecution.
It seems that this is not the case as the SDNY responded to a letter sent from the defense to dismiss the case by stating that they fully plan to move forward. Stating that they only sought the recommendations of FinCEN employees and did not believe that those employees' comments were indicative of FinCEN's overall views on this particular case. It's a pretty egregious abuse of power by the SDNY. I'm not sure if the particular lawyers and judges within the Southern District of New York are very passionate about preventing the use of self-custody bitcoin and products that enable bitcoiners to transact privately, or if they're simply participating in a broader meta war with the Trump administration - who has made it clear to federal judges across the country that last Fall's election will have consequences, mainly that the Executive Branch will try to effectuate the policies that President Trump campaigned on by any legal means necessary - and Samouari Wallet is simply in the middle of that meta war.
However, one thing is pretty clear to me, this is an egregious overstep of power. The interpretation of that law, as has been laid out and confirmed by FinCEN over the last decade, is pretty clear; you cannot be a money services business if you do not control the funds that people are sending to each other, which is definitely the case with Samourai Wallet. People downloaded Samourai Wallet, spun up their own private-public key pairs and initiated transactions themselves. Samourai never custodied funds or initiated transactions on behalf of their users. This is very cut and dry. Straight to the point. It should be something that anyone with more than two brain cells is able to discern pretty quickly.
It is imperative that anybody in the industry who cares about being able to hold bitcoin in self-custody, to mine bitcoin, and to send bitcoin in a peer-to-peer fashion makes some noise around this case. None of the current administration's attempts to foster innovation around bitcoin in the United States will matter if the wrong precedent is set in this case. If the SDNY is successful in prosecuting Samourai Wallet, it will mean that anybody holding Bitcoin in self-custody, running a bitcoin fold node or mining bitcoin will have to KYC all of their users and counterparts lest they be labeled a money services business that is breaking laws stemming from the Bank Secrecy Act. This will effectively make building a self-custody bitcoin wallet, running a node, or mining bitcoin in tillegal in the United States. The ability to comply with the rules that would be unleashed if this Samourai case goes the wrong way, are such that it will effectively destroy the industry overnight.
It is yet to be seen whether or not the Department of Justice will step in to publicly flog the SDNY and force them to stop pursuing this case. This is the only likely way that the case will go away at this point, so it is very important that bitcoiners who care about being able to self-custody bitcoin, mine bitcoin, or send bitcoin in a peer-to-peer fashion in the United States make it clear to the current administration and any local politicians that this is an issue that you care deeply about. If we are too complacent, there is a chance that the SDNY could completely annihilate the bitcoin industry in America despite of all of the positive momentum we're seeing from all angles at the moment.
Make some noise!
Bitcoin Adoption by Power Companies: The Next Frontier
In my recent conversation with Andrew Myers from Satoshi Energy, he shared their ambitious mission to "enable every electric power company to use bitcoin by block 1,050,000" – roughly three years from now. This strategic imperative isn't just about creating new Bitcoin users; it's about sovereignty. Andrew emphasized that getting Bitcoin into the hands of energy companies who value self-sovereignty creates a more balanced future economic landscape. The excitement was palpable as he described how several energy companies are already moving beyond simply selling power to Bitcoin miners and are beginning to invest in mining operations themselves.
"You have global commodity companies being like, 'Oh, this is another commodity – we want to invest in this, we want to own this,'" - Andrew Myers
Perhaps most fascinating was Andrew's revelation about major energy companies in Texas developing Bitcoin collateral products for power contracts – a practical application that could revolutionize how energy transactions are settled. As energy companies continue embracing Bitcoin for both operations and collateral, we're witnessing the early stages of a profound shift in how critical infrastructure interfaces with sound money. The implications for both sectors could be transformative.
Check out the full podcast here for more on remote viewing, Nikola Tesla's predictions, and the convergence of Bitcoin and AI technology. We cover everything from humanoid robots to the energy demands of next-generation computing.
Headlines of the Day
Steak n Shake to Accept Bitcoin at All Locations May 16 - via X
Facebook Plans Crypto Wallets for 3B Users, Bitcoin Impact Looms - via X
Trump Urges Americans to Buy Stocks for Economic Boom - via X
UK Drops Tariffs, U.S. Farmers Set to Reap Major Benefits - via X
Looking for the perfect video to push the smartest person you know from zero to one on bitcoin? Bitcoin, Not Crypto is a three-part master class from Parker Lewis and Dhruv Bansal that cuts through the noise—covering why 21 million was the key technical simplification that made bitcoin possible, why blockchains don’t create decentralization, and why everything else will be built on bitcoin.
Ten31, the largest bitcoin-focused investor, has deployed 145,630 sats | $150.00M across 30+ companies through three funds. I am a Managing Partner at Ten31 and am very proud of the work we are doing. Learn more at ten31.vc/invest.
Final thought...
Happy belated Mother's Day to all the moms out there.
Get this newsletter sent to your inbox daily: https://www.tftc.io/bitcoin-brief/
Subscribe to our YouTube channels and follow us on Nostr and X:
-
@ b83a28b7:35919450
2025-05-16 19:26:56
This article was originally part of the sermon of Plebchain Radio Episode 111 (May 2, 2025) that nostr:nprofile1qyxhwumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmvqyg8wumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnvv9hxgqpqtvqc82mv8cezhax5r34n4muc2c4pgjz8kaye2smj032nngg52clq7fgefr and I did with nostr:nprofile1qythwumn8ghj7ct5d3shxtnwdaehgu3wd3skuep0qyt8wumn8ghj7ct4w35zumn0wd68yvfwvdhk6tcqyzx4h2fv3n9r6hrnjtcrjw43t0g0cmmrgvjmg525rc8hexkxc0kd2rhtk62 and nostr:nprofile1qyxhwumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmvqyg8wumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnvv9hxgqpq4wxtsrj7g2jugh70pfkzjln43vgn4p7655pgky9j9w9d75u465pqahkzd0 of the nostr:nprofile1qythwumn8ghj7ct5d3shxtnwdaehgu3wd3skuep0qyt8wumn8ghj7etyv4hzumn0wd68ytnvv9hxgtcqyqwfvwrccp4j2xsuuvkwg0y6a20637t6f4cc5zzjkx030dkztt7t5hydajn
Listen to the full episode here:
<<https://fountain.fm/episode/Ln9Ej0zCZ5dEwfo8w2Ho>>
Bitcoin has always been a narrative revolution disguised as code. White paper, cypherpunk lore, pizza‑day legends - every block is a paragraph in the world’s most relentless epic. But code alone rarely converts the skeptic; it’s the camp‑fire myth that slips past the prefrontal cortex and shakes hands with the limbic system. People don’t adopt protocols first - they fall in love with protagonists.
Early adopters heard the white‑paper hymn, but most folks need characters first: a pizza‑day dreamer; a mother in a small country, crushed by the cost of remittance; a Warsaw street vendor swapping złoty for sats. When their arcs land, the brain releases a neurochemical OP_RETURN which says, “I belong in this plot.” That’s the sly roundabout orange pill: conviction smuggled inside catharsis.
That’s why, from 22–25 May in Warsaw’s Kinoteka, the Bitcoin Film Fest is loading its reels with rebellion. Each documentary, drama, and animated rabbit‑hole is a stealth wallet, zipping conviction straight into the feels of anyone still clasped within the cold claw of fiat. You come for the plot, you leave checking block heights.
Here's the clip of the sermon from the episode:
nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzpwp69zm7fewjp0vkp306adnzt7249ytxhz7mq3w5yc629u6er9zsqqsy43fwz8es2wnn65rh0udc05tumdnx5xagvzd88ptncspmesdqhygcrvpf2
-
@ c631e267:c2b78d3e
2025-05-16 18:40:18
Die zwei mächtigsten Krieger sind Geduld und Zeit. \ Leo Tolstoi
Zum Wohle unserer Gesundheit, unserer Leistungsfähigkeit und letztlich unseres Glücks ist es wichtig, die eigene Energie bewusst zu pflegen. Das gilt umso mehr für an gesellschaftlichen Themen interessierte, selbstbewusste und kritisch denkende Menschen. Denn für deren Wahrnehmung und Wohlbefinden waren und sind die rasanten, krisen- und propagandagefüllten letzten Jahre in Absurdistan eine harte Probe.
Nur wer regelmäßig Kraft tankt und Wege findet, mit den Herausforderungen umzugehen, kann eine solche Tortur überstehen, emotionale Erschöpfung vermeiden und trotz allem zufrieden sein. Dazu müssen wir erkunden, was uns Energie gibt und was sie uns raubt. Durch Selbstreflexion und Achtsamkeit finden wir sicher Dinge, die uns erfreuen und inspirieren, und andere, die uns eher stressen und belasten.
Die eigene Energie ist eng mit unserer körperlichen und mentalen Gesundheit verbunden. Methoden zur Förderung der körperlichen Gesundheit sind gut bekannt: eine ausgewogene Ernährung, regelmäßige Bewegung sowie ausreichend Schlaf und Erholung. Bei der nicht minder wichtigen emotionalen Balance wird es schon etwas komplizierter. Stress abzubauen, die eigenen Grenzen zu kennen oder solche zum Schutz zu setzen sowie die Konzentration auf Positives und Sinnvolles wären Ansätze.
Der emotionale ist auch der Bereich, über den «Energie-Räuber» bevorzugt attackieren. Das sind zum Beispiel Dinge wie Überforderung, Perfektionismus oder mangelhafte Kommunikation. Social Media gehören ganz sicher auch dazu. Sie stehlen uns nicht nur Zeit, sondern sind höchst manipulativ und erhöhen laut einer aktuellen Studie das Risiko für psychische Probleme wie Angstzustände und Depressionen.
Geben wir negativen oder gar bösen Menschen keine Macht über uns. Das Dauerfeuer der letzten Jahre mit Krisen, Konflikten und Gefahren sollte man zwar kennen, darf sich aber davon nicht runterziehen lassen. Das Ziel derartiger konzertierter Aktionen ist vor allem, unsere innere Stabilität zu zerstören, denn dann sind wir leichter zu steuern. Aber Geduld: Selbst vermeintliche «Sonnenköniginnen» wie EU-Kommissionspräsidentin von der Leyen fallen, wenn die Zeit reif ist.
Es ist wichtig, dass wir unsere ganz eigenen Bedürfnisse und Werte erkennen. Unsere Energiequellen müssen wir identifizieren und aktiv nutzen. Dazu gehören soziale Kontakte genauso wie zum Beispiel Hobbys und Leidenschaften. Umgeben wir uns mit Sinnhaftigkeit und lassen wir uns nicht die Energie rauben!
Mein Wahlspruch ist schon lange: «Was die Menschen wirklich bewegt, ist die Kultur.» Jetzt im Frühjahr beginnt hier in Andalusien die Zeit der «Ferias», jener traditionellen Volksfeste, die vor Lebensfreude sprudeln. Konzentrieren wir uns auf die schönen Dinge und auf unsere eigenen Talente – soziale Verbundenheit wird helfen, unsere innere Kraft zu stärken und zu bewahren.
[Titelbild: Pixabay]
Dieser Beitrag wurde mit dem Pareto-Client geschrieben und ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.
-
@ 472f440f:5669301e
2025-05-12 23:29:25
Marty's Bent
Last week we covered the bombshell developments in the Samourai Wallet case. For those who didn't read that, last Monday the world was made aware of the fact that the SDNY was explicitly told by FinCEN that the federal regulator did not believe that Samourai Wallet was a money services business six months before arresting the co-founders of Samourai Wallet for conspiracy to launder money and illegally operating a money services business. This was an obvious overstep by the SDNY that many believed would be quickly alleviated, especially considering the fact that the Trump administration via the Department of Justice has made it clear that they do not intend to rule via prosecution.
It seems that this is not the case as the SDNY responded to a letter sent from the defense to dismiss the case by stating that they fully plan to move forward. Stating that they only sought the recommendations of FinCEN employees and did not believe that those employees' comments were indicative of FinCEN's overall views on this particular case. It's a pretty egregious abuse of power by the SDNY. I'm not sure if the particular lawyers and judges within the Southern District of New York are very passionate about preventing the use of self-custody bitcoin and products that enable bitcoiners to transact privately, or if they're simply participating in a broader meta war with the Trump administration - who has made it clear to federal judges across the country that last Fall's election will have consequences, mainly that the Executive Branch will try to effectuate the policies that President Trump campaigned on by any legal means necessary - and Samouari Wallet is simply in the middle of that meta war.
However, one thing is pretty clear to me, this is an egregious overstep of power. The interpretation of that law, as has been laid out and confirmed by FinCEN over the last decade, is pretty clear; you cannot be a money services business if you do not control the funds that people are sending to each other, which is definitely the case with Samourai Wallet. People downloaded Samourai Wallet, spun up their own private-public key pairs and initiated transactions themselves. Samourai never custodied funds or initiated transactions on behalf of their users. This is very cut and dry. Straight to the point. It should be something that anyone with more than two brain cells is able to discern pretty quickly.
It is imperative that anybody in the industry who cares about being able to hold bitcoin in self-custody, to mine bitcoin, and to send bitcoin in a peer-to-peer fashion makes some noise around this case. None of the current administration's attempts to foster innovation around bitcoin in the United States will matter if the wrong precedent is set in this case. If the SDNY is successful in prosecuting Samourai Wallet, it will mean that anybody holding Bitcoin in self-custody, running a bitcoin fold node or mining bitcoin will have to KYC all of their users and counterparts lest they be labeled a money services business that is breaking laws stemming from the Bank Secrecy Act. This will effectively make building a self-custody bitcoin wallet, running a node, or mining bitcoin in tillegal in the United States. The ability to comply with the rules that would be unleashed if this Samourai case goes the wrong way, are such that it will effectively destroy the industry overnight.
It is yet to be seen whether or not the Department of Justice will step in to publicly flog the SDNY and force them to stop pursuing this case. This is the only likely way that the case will go away at this point, so it is very important that bitcoiners who care about being able to self-custody bitcoin, mine bitcoin, or send bitcoin in a peer-to-peer fashion in the United States make it clear to the current administration and any local politicians that this is an issue that you care deeply about. If we are too complacent, there is a chance that the SDNY could completely annihilate the bitcoin industry in America despite of all of the positive momentum we're seeing from all angles at the moment.
Make some noise!
Bitcoin Adoption by Power Companies: The Next Frontier
In my recent conversation with Andrew Myers from Satoshi Energy, he shared their ambitious mission to "enable every electric power company to use bitcoin by block 1,050,000" – roughly three years from now. This strategic imperative isn't just about creating new Bitcoin users; it's about sovereignty. Andrew emphasized that getting Bitcoin into the hands of energy companies who value self-sovereignty creates a more balanced future economic landscape. The excitement was palpable as he described how several energy companies are already moving beyond simply selling power to Bitcoin miners and are beginning to invest in mining operations themselves.
"You have global commodity companies being like, 'Oh, this is another commodity – we want to invest in this, we want to own this,'" - Andrew Myers
Perhaps most fascinating was Andrew's revelation about major energy companies in Texas developing Bitcoin collateral products for power contracts – a practical application that could revolutionize how energy transactions are settled. As energy companies continue embracing Bitcoin for both operations and collateral, we're witnessing the early stages of a profound shift in how critical infrastructure interfaces with sound money. The implications for both sectors could be transformative.
Check out the full podcast here for more on remote viewing, Nikola Tesla's predictions, and the convergence of Bitcoin and AI technology. We cover everything from humanoid robots to the energy demands of next-generation computing.
Headlines of the Day
Steak n Shake to Accept Bitcoin at All Locations May 16 - via X
Facebook Plans Crypto Wallets for 3B Users, Bitcoin Impact Looms - via X
Trump Urges Americans to Buy Stocks for Economic Boom - via X
UK Drops Tariffs, U.S. Farmers Set to Reap Major Benefits - via X
Looking for the perfect video to push the smartest person you know from zero to one on bitcoin? Bitcoin, Not Crypto is a three-part master class from Parker Lewis and Dhruv Bansal that cuts through the noise—covering why 21 million was the key technical simplification that made bitcoin possible, why blockchains don’t create decentralization, and why everything else will be built on bitcoin.
Ten31, the largest bitcoin-focused investor, has deployed 145,630 sats | $150.00M across 30+ companies through three funds. I am a Managing Partner at Ten31 and am very proud of the work we are doing. Learn more at ten31.vc/invest.
Final thought...
Happy belated Mother's Day to all the moms out there.
Get this newsletter sent to your inbox daily: https://www.tftc.io/bitcoin-brief/
Subscribe to our YouTube channels and follow us on Nostr and X:
-
@ 662f9bff:8960f6b2
2025-05-20 13:44:39
Currently, and for the last three weeks, I am in Belfast. With the situation in HK becoming ever more crazy by the day we took the opportunity to escape from Hong Kong for a bit - I escaped with V and 3 suitcases. I also have some family matters that I am giving priority to at this time. We plan to stay a few more weeks in Northern Ireland and then after some time in Belgium we will be visiting some other European locations. I do hope that HK will be a place that we can go back to - we will see...
What's happening?
Quite a few significant events have happened in the last few weeks that deserve some deeper analysis and checking than you will ever get from the media propaganda circus that is running full force at the moment. You should be in no doubt that the "Great Reset" with its supporting "Great Narrative" is in full swing.
In most of the world the C19 story has run its course - for now. Most countries seem to have have "declared victory" and "moved on". Obviously HK is an exception (nothing happened there for the last two years) and I fear they will get to experience the whole 2-year thing in the coming 3-4 months. Watch out - the politicians everywhere are looking to permanently establish the "emergency controls" as "normal" - see previous Letter for some examples in Ireland and EU.
Invasion of Ukraine has led to so many lines being crossed - to the extent that clearly things will never be the same again in our lifetime.
Why? How did we get here?
I do not claim to know all the answers but some things are fairly clear if you look with open eyes and the wisdom that previous generations and civilisations have made available to us - even if most choose to ignore it (Plato on the flaws of democracy). Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it and even those who learn will have litle choice but to go along for much of the ride.
Perhaps my notes and the links below will help you to form an educated opinion rather than the pervasive propaganda we are all being fed.
The current situation is more than 100 years in the making and much (if not most) of what you thought was true is less veracious than you could ever imagine. No doubt we could (and maybe should) go back further but let's start in 1913 when the British Government asked the public no longer to request exchange of their pounds for gold coins at the post office. This led to the issuing of War Bonds and fractional reserve accounting that allowed the Bank of England essentially to print unlimited money to fight in WW1; without this devious action they would have been constrained to act within the limits of the country's reserves and WW1 would have been shorter. Read The Fiat Standard for more details on how this happened. Around this time, and likely no coincidence, the US bankers were scheming how to get around the constitutional controls against such actions in their own country - read more in The Creature from Jekyll Island.
Following WW1, Germany was forced to pay war reparations in Gold (hard money). This led to a decade of money printing and extravagant excesses and crashes as hyperinflation set in, ending in the bankrupting of the country and the nationalism that fed WW2 - the gory details of devaluation and hyperinflation in Weimar Germany are described in When Money Dies. Meanwhile the US bankers who had been preparing since 1913 stepped in with unlimited money printing to fund WW2 and then also in their Marshal Plan to cement in place the Bretton Woods post-war agreement that made US Dollar the global reserve currency.
Decades of boom and bust followed - well explained by Ray Dalio who portrays this as perfectly normal and to be expected - unfortunately it is for soft (non-hard) money based economies. The Fourth Turning will give many additional insights to this period too as well as cycles to watch for and their cause and nature. In 1961 Eisenhower tried to warn the population in his farewell address about the "Military Industrial Complex" and many believe that Robert Kennedy's assassination in 1963 may well be not entirely unrelated.
Things came to a head in August 1971 when the countries of the world realised that the US was (contrary to all promises) printing unlimited funds to (among other things) fight the Vietnam war and so undermining the expected and required convertibility of US dollars (the currency of global trade) for Gold (hard money). A French warship heading to NY to collect France's gold was the straw that caused Nixon to default on US Debt convertibility and "close the gold window".
This in turn led to further decades of increasing financialization, further fuelled (pun intended) by the PetroDollar creation and "exorbitant priviledge" that the US obtained by having the global reserve currency - benefiting those closest to the money supply (Cantillon effect) while hollowing out the US manufacturing and eventually devastating its middle and working classes (Triffin dilemma) - Arthur Hayes describes all this and much more as well as the likely outlook in his article - Energy Canceled. Absolutely required reading or listen to Guy Swan reading it and giving his additional interpetation.
Zoltan Pozsar of Credit Suisse explains how the money system is now being reset following the events of last few weeks and his article outlines a likely way forward - Bretton Woods III. His paper is somewhat dense, heavy reading and you might prefer to listen to Luc Gromen's more conversational explainer with Marty
All of this was well known to our forefathers
The writers of the American Constitution understood the dangers of money being controlled by any elite group and they did their best to include protections in the US constitution. It did take the bankers multiple decades and puppet presidents to circumvent these but do so they did. Thomas Jefferson could not have been more clear in his warning.
" If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around(these banks) will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."
Islamic finace also recognised the dangers - you will likely be aware of the restrictions that forbid interest payments - read this interesting article from The Guardian
You will likely also be aware from schooldays that the Roman Empire collapsed because it expanded too much and the overhead became unbearable leading to the debasement of its money and inability to extract tax payments to support itself. Read more from Mises Institute. Here too, much of this will likely ring familiar.
So what can you do about it?
In theory Governments should respect Consent of the Governed and the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that "The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government".
For you to decide if and to what extent governments today are acting in line with these principles. If not, what can you do about it?
The options you have are basically - Loyalty, Voice or Exit. 1. You can be loyal and accept what you are told - 2. you may (or may not) be able to voice disagreement and 3. you may (or may not!) be able to exit. Authoritarian governments will make everything except Loyalty difficult or even impossible - if in doubt, read George Orwell 1984 - or look just around at recent events today in many countries.
I'll be happy to delve deeper into this in subsequent letters if there is interest - for now I recommend you to read Sovereign Individual. It is a long read but each chapter starts with a summary and you can read the summaries of each chapter as a first step. Also - I'm happy to discuss with you - just reach out and let me know!
For those who prefer a structured reading list, check References
That's it!
No one can be told what The Matrix is.\ You have to see it for yourself.**
Do share this newsletter with any of your friends and family who might be interested.
You can easily ask questions or discuss any topics in the newsletters in our Telegram group - click the link here to join the group.\ You can also email me at: LetterFrom@rogerprice.me
💡Enjoy the newsletters in your own language : Dutch, French, German, Serbian, Chinese Traditional & Simplified, Thai and Burmese.
-
@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9
2025-05-16 18:06:46
Bitcoin has always been rooted in freedom and resistance to authority. I get that many of you are conflicted about the US Government stacking but by design we cannot stop anyone from using bitcoin. Many have asked me for my thoughts on the matter, so let’s rip it.
Concern
One of the most glaring issues with the strategic bitcoin reserve is its foundation, built on stolen bitcoin. For those of us who value private property this is an obvious betrayal of our core principles. Rather than proof of work, the bitcoin that seeds this reserve has been taken by force. The US Government should return the bitcoin stolen from Bitfinex and the Silk Road.
Using stolen bitcoin for the reserve creates a perverse incentive. If governments see bitcoin as a valuable asset, they will ramp up efforts to confiscate more bitcoin. The precedent is a major concern, and I stand strongly against it, but it should be also noted that governments were already seizing coin before the reserve so this is not really a change in policy.
Ideally all seized bitcoin should be burned, by law. This would align incentives properly and make it less likely for the government to actively increase coin seizures. Due to the truly scarce properties of bitcoin, all burned bitcoin helps existing holders through increased purchasing power regardless. This change would be unlikely but those of us in policy circles should push for it regardless. It would be best case scenario for American bitcoiners and would create a strong foundation for the next century of American leadership.
Optimism
The entire point of bitcoin is that we can spend or save it without permission. That said, it is a massive benefit to not have one of the strongest governments in human history actively trying to ruin our lives.
Since the beginning, bitcoiners have faced horrible regulatory trends. KYC, surveillance, and legal cases have made using bitcoin and building bitcoin businesses incredibly difficult. It is incredibly important to note that over the past year that trend has reversed for the first time in a decade. A strategic bitcoin reserve is a key driver of this shift. By holding bitcoin, the strongest government in the world has signaled that it is not just a fringe technology but rather truly valuable, legitimate, and worth stacking.
This alignment of incentives changes everything. The US Government stacking proves bitcoin’s worth. The resulting purchasing power appreciation helps all of us who are holding coin and as bitcoin succeeds our government receives direct benefit. A beautiful positive feedback loop.
Realism
We are trending in the right direction. A strategic bitcoin reserve is a sign that the state sees bitcoin as an asset worth embracing rather than destroying. That said, there is a lot of work left to be done. We cannot be lulled into complacency, the time to push forward is now, and we cannot take our foot off the gas. We have a seat at the table for the first time ever. Let's make it worth it.
We must protect the right to free usage of bitcoin and other digital technologies. Freedom in the digital age must be taken and defended, through both technical and political avenues. Multiple privacy focused developers are facing long jail sentences for building tools that protect our freedom. These cases are not just legal battles. They are attacks on the soul of bitcoin. We need to rally behind them, fight for their freedom, and ensure the ethos of bitcoin survives this new era of government interest. The strategic reserve is a step in the right direction, but it is up to us to hold the line and shape the future.
-
@ 472f440f:5669301e
2025-05-12 23:29:19
Marty's Bent
Last week we covered the bombshell developments in the Samourai Wallet case. For those who didn't read that, last Monday the world was made aware of the fact that the SDNY was explicitly told by FinCEN that the federal regulator did not believe that Samourai Wallet was a money services business six months before arresting the co-founders of Samourai Wallet for conspiracy to launder money and illegally operating a money services business. This was an obvious overstep by the SDNY that many believed would be quickly alleviated, especially considering the fact that the Trump administration via the Department of Justice has made it clear that they do not intend to rule via prosecution.
It seems that this is not the case as the SDNY responded to a letter sent from the defense to dismiss the case by stating that they fully plan to move forward. Stating that they only sought the recommendations of FinCEN employees and did not believe that those employees' comments were indicative of FinCEN's overall views on this particular case. It's a pretty egregious abuse of power by the SDNY. I'm not sure if the particular lawyers and judges within the Southern District of New York are very passionate about preventing the use of self-custody bitcoin and products that enable bitcoiners to transact privately, or if they're simply participating in a broader meta war with the Trump administration - who has made it clear to federal judges across the country that last Fall's election will have consequences, mainly that the Executive Branch will try to effectuate the policies that President Trump campaigned on by any legal means necessary - and Samouari Wallet is simply in the middle of that meta war.
However, one thing is pretty clear to me, this is an egregious overstep of power. The interpretation of that law, as has been laid out and confirmed by FinCEN over the last decade, is pretty clear; you cannot be a money services business if you do not control the funds that people are sending to each other, which is definitely the case with Samourai Wallet. People downloaded Samourai Wallet, spun up their own private-public key pairs and initiated transactions themselves. Samourai never custodied funds or initiated transactions on behalf of their users. This is very cut and dry. Straight to the point. It should be something that anyone with more than two brain cells is able to discern pretty quickly.
It is imperative that anybody in the industry who cares about being able to hold bitcoin in self-custody, to mine bitcoin, and to send bitcoin in a peer-to-peer fashion makes some noise around this case. None of the current administration's attempts to foster innovation around bitcoin in the United States will matter if the wrong precedent is set in this case. If the SDNY is successful in prosecuting Samourai Wallet, it will mean that anybody holding Bitcoin in self-custody, running a bitcoin fold node or mining bitcoin will have to KYC all of their users and counterparts lest they be labeled a money services business that is breaking laws stemming from the Bank Secrecy Act. This will effectively make building a self-custody bitcoin wallet, running a node, or mining bitcoin in tillegal in the United States. The ability to comply with the rules that would be unleashed if this Samourai case goes the wrong way, are such that it will effectively destroy the industry overnight.
It is yet to be seen whether or not the Department of Justice will step in to publicly flog the SDNY and force them to stop pursuing this case. This is the only likely way that the case will go away at this point, so it is very important that bitcoiners who care about being able to self-custody bitcoin, mine bitcoin, or send bitcoin in a peer-to-peer fashion in the United States make it clear to the current administration and any local politicians that this is an issue that you care deeply about. If we are too complacent, there is a chance that the SDNY could completely annihilate the bitcoin industry in America despite of all of the positive momentum we're seeing from all angles at the moment.
Make some noise!
Bitcoin Adoption by Power Companies: The Next Frontier
In my recent conversation with Andrew Myers from Satoshi Energy, he shared their ambitious mission to "enable every electric power company to use bitcoin by block 1,050,000" – roughly three years from now. This strategic imperative isn't just about creating new Bitcoin users; it's about sovereignty. Andrew emphasized that getting Bitcoin into the hands of energy companies who value self-sovereignty creates a more balanced future economic landscape. The excitement was palpable as he described how several energy companies are already moving beyond simply selling power to Bitcoin miners and are beginning to invest in mining operations themselves.
"You have global commodity companies being like, 'Oh, this is another commodity – we want to invest in this, we want to own this,'" - Andrew Myers
Perhaps most fascinating was Andrew's revelation about major energy companies in Texas developing Bitcoin collateral products for power contracts – a practical application that could revolutionize how energy transactions are settled. As energy companies continue embracing Bitcoin for both operations and collateral, we're witnessing the early stages of a profound shift in how critical infrastructure interfaces with sound money. The implications for both sectors could be transformative.
Check out the full podcast here for more on remote viewing, Nikola Tesla's predictions, and the convergence of Bitcoin and AI technology. We cover everything from humanoid robots to the energy demands of next-generation computing.
Headlines of the Day
Steak n Shake to Accept Bitcoin at All Locations May 16 - via X
Facebook Plans Crypto Wallets for 3B Users, Bitcoin Impact Looms - via X
Trump Urges Americans to Buy Stocks for Economic Boom - via X
UK Drops Tariffs, U.S. Farmers Set to Reap Major Benefits - via X
Looking for the perfect video to push the smartest person you know from zero to one on bitcoin? Bitcoin, Not Crypto is a three-part master class from Parker Lewis and Dhruv Bansal that cuts through the noise—covering why 21 million was the key technical simplification that made bitcoin possible, why blockchains don’t create decentralization, and why everything else will be built on bitcoin.
Ten31, the largest bitcoin-focused investor, has deployed 145,630 sats | $150.00M across 30+ companies through three funds. I am a Managing Partner at Ten31 and am very proud of the work we are doing. Learn more at ten31.vc/invest.
Final thought...
Happy belated Mother's Day to all the moms out there.
Get this newsletter sent to your inbox daily: https://www.tftc.io/bitcoin-brief/
Subscribe to our YouTube channels and follow us on Nostr and X:
-
@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9
2025-03-13 19:39:28
In much of the world, it is incredibly difficult to access U.S. dollars. Local currencies are often poorly managed and riddled with corruption. Billions of people demand a more reliable alternative. While the dollar has its own issues of corruption and mismanagement, it is widely regarded as superior to the fiat currencies it competes with globally. As a result, Tether has found massive success providing low cost, low friction access to dollars. Tether claims 400 million total users, is on track to add 200 million more this year, processes 8.1 million transactions daily, and facilitates $29 billion in daily transfers. Furthermore, their estimates suggest nearly 40% of users rely on it as a savings tool rather than just a transactional currency.
Tether’s rise has made the company a financial juggernaut. Last year alone, Tether raked in over $13 billion in profit, with a lean team of less than 100 employees. Their business model is elegantly simple: hold U.S. Treasuries and collect the interest. With over $113 billion in Treasuries, Tether has turned a straightforward concept into a profit machine.
Tether’s success has resulted in many competitors eager to claim a piece of the pie. This has triggered a massive venture capital grift cycle in USD tokens, with countless projects vying to dethrone Tether. Due to Tether’s entrenched network effect, these challengers face an uphill battle with little realistic chance of success. Most educated participants in the space likely recognize this reality but seem content to perpetuate the grift, hoping to cash out by dumping their equity positions on unsuspecting buyers before they realize the reality of the situation.
Historically, Tether’s greatest vulnerability has been U.S. government intervention. For over a decade, the company operated offshore with few allies in the U.S. establishment, making it a major target for regulatory action. That dynamic has shifted recently and Tether has seized the opportunity. By actively courting U.S. government support, Tether has fortified their position. This strategic move will likely cement their status as the dominant USD token for years to come.
While undeniably a great tool for the millions of users that rely on it, Tether is not without flaws. As a centralized, trusted third party, it holds the power to freeze or seize funds at its discretion. Corporate mismanagement or deliberate malpractice could also lead to massive losses at scale. In their goal of mitigating regulatory risk, Tether has deepened ties with law enforcement, mirroring some of the concerns of potential central bank digital currencies. In practice, Tether operates as a corporate CBDC alternative, collaborating with authorities to surveil and seize funds. The company proudly touts partnerships with leading surveillance firms and its own data reveals cooperation in over 1,000 law enforcement cases, with more than $2.5 billion in funds frozen.
The global demand for Tether is undeniable and the company’s profitability reflects its unrivaled success. Tether is owned and operated by bitcoiners and will likely continue to push forward strategic goals that help the movement as a whole. Recent efforts to mitigate the threat of U.S. government enforcement will likely solidify their network effect and stifle meaningful adoption of rival USD tokens or CBDCs. Yet, for all their achievements, Tether is simply a worse form of money than bitcoin. Tether requires trust in a centralized entity, while bitcoin can be saved or spent without permission. Furthermore, Tether is tied to the value of the US Dollar which is designed to lose purchasing power over time, while bitcoin, as a truly scarce asset, is designed to increase in purchasing power with adoption. As people awaken to the risks of Tether’s control, and the benefits bitcoin provides, bitcoin adoption will likely surpass it.
-
@ 6ad3e2a3:c90b7740
2025-05-20 13:44:28
I https://www.chrisliss.com/p/mstr a few months ago with the subtitle “The Only Stock,” and I’m starting to regret it. Now, it was trading at 396 on January 20 when I posted it and 404 now (even if it dipped 40 percent to 230 or so in between), but that’s not why I regret it. I pointed out it was not investable unless you’re willing to stomach large drawdowns, and anyone who bought then could exit with a small profit now had they not panic-sold along the way.
The reason I regret it is I don’t want to make public stock predictions because it adds stress to my life. I have not sold any of my shares yet, but something I’ve noticed recently has got me thinking about it, and stock tips are like a game of telephone wherein whoever is last in the chain might find out the wrong information and too late. And while every adult has agency and is responsible for his own financial decisions, I don’t want my readers losing money on account of anything I write.
My base case is still that MSTR becomes a trillion-dollar company, destroys the performance of the S&P, the Mag-7 and virtually any other equity portfolio most people would assemble. Michael Saylor is trading an infinitely-printable asset (his shares) for humanity’s best-ever, finite-supply digital gold, and that trade should be profitable for him and his shareholders in perpetuity.
I don’t know exactly what he plans to do when that trade is no longer available to him — either because no one takes fiat currency for bitcoin anymore or because his mNAV (market-cap-to-bitcoin-holding ratio) goes below one — but that’s not my main concern, either. At that point he’ll have so much bitcoin, he’ll probably become the world’s first and largest bitcoin bank and profit by making his pristine collateral available to individuals and institutions. Even at five percent interest, half a trillion in bitcoin would yield $25B in profits every year. Even at a modest 10x valuation, the stock would more than double from here.
I am also not overly concerned with Saylor’s present amount of convertible debt which is at low or zero rates and is only https://www.strategy.com/. He’s been conservative on that front and only issuing on favorable terms. I don’t doubt Saylor’s prescience, intelligence or business sense one bit.
What got me thinking were some Twitter posts by a former Salomon Brothers trader/prophet Josh Mandell https://x.com/JoshMandell6/status/1921597739458339193 recently. In November when bitcoin was mooning after the election, he predicted that on March 14th it would close at $84,000, and if it did it would then go on an epic run up to $444,000 this cycle.
A lot of people make predictions, a few of them come true, but rarely do they come true on the dot (it closed at exactly $84K according to some exchanges) and on such a specific timeframe. Now, maybe he just got lucky, or maybe he is a skilled trader who made one good prediction, but the reason he gave for his prediction, insofar as he gave one, was not some technical chart or quantitative analysis, but a memory he had from 30 years ago that got into his mind that he couldn’t shake. He didn’t get much more specific than that, other than that he was tuned into something that if he explained fully would make too many people think he had gone insane. And then the prediction came true on the dot months later.
Now I believe in the paranormal more than the average person. I do not think things are random, and insofar as they appear that way it’s only because we have incomplete information — even a coin toss is predictable if you knew the exact force and spin that was put on the coin. I think for whatever reason, this guy is plugged into something, and while I would never invest a substantial amount of money on that belief — not only are earnestly-made prophecies often delusions or even if correct wrongly interpreted — that he sold makes me think.
He gave more substantive reasons for selling than prophecy, by the way — he seems to think Saylor’s perpetual issuance of shares ATM (at the market) to buy more bitcoin is putting too much downward pressure on the stock. Obviously, selling shares — even if to buy the world’s most pristine collateral at a 2x-plus mNAV — reduces the short-term appreciation of those shares.
His thesis seems to be that Saylor is doing this even if he would be better off letting the price appreciate more, attracting more investors, squeezing more shorts, etc because he needs to improve his credit rating to tap into the convertible debt market to the extent he has promised ($42 billion more over the next few years) at favorable terms. But in doing this, he is souring common stock investors because they are not seeing the near-term appreciation they should on their holdings.
Now this is a trivial concern if over the long haul MSTR does what it has the last couple years which is to outperform by a wide margin not only every large cap stock and the S&P but bitcoin itself. And the bigger his stack of bitcoin, the more his stock should appreciate as bitcoin goes up. But markets do not operate linearly and rationally. Should he sour prospective buyers to a great enough extent, should he attract shorts (and supply them with available shares to borrow) to a great enough extent, perhaps there might be an mNAV-crushing cascade that drives people into other bitcoin treasury companies, ETFs or bitcoin itself.
Now Saylor as first mover and by far the largest publicly-traded treasury company has a significant advantage. Institutions are far less likely to invest in size in smaller treasury companies with shorter track records, and many of them are not allowed to invest in ETFs or bitcoin at all. And even if a lot of money did go into any of those vehicles, it would only drive the value of his assets up and hence his stock price, no matter the mNAV. But Josh Mandell sold his shares prior to a weekend where bitcoin went from 102K to 104K, the US announced a deal with China, the mag-7 had a big spike (AAPL was up 6.3 percent) and then MSTR’s stock went down from 416 to 404. As I said, he is on to something.
So what’s the real long-term risk? I don’t know. Maybe there’s something about the nature of bitcoin that long-term is not really amenable to third-party custody and administration. It’s a bearer asset (“not your keys, not your coins”), and introducing counterparty risk is antithetical to its core purpose, the separation of money and state, or in this case money and bank.
With the bitcoin network you can literally “be your own bank.” To transact in digital dollars you need a bank account — or at least a stable coin one mediated by a centralized entity like Tether. You can’t hold digital dollars in your mind via some memorized seed words like you can bitcoin, accessible anywhere in the world, the ledger of which is maintained by tens of thousands of individually-run nodes. This property which democratizes value storage in the way gold did, except now you can wield your purchasing power globally, might be so antithetical to communal storage via corporation or bank that doing so is doomed to catastrophe.
We’ve already seen this happen with exchanges via FTX and Mt. Gox. Counterparty risk is one of the problems bitcoin was created to solve, so moving that risk from a fractionally reserved international banking system to corporate balance sheets still very much a part of that system is probably not the seismic advancement integral to the technology’s promise.
But this is more of a philosophical concern rather than a concrete one. To get more specific, it’s easy to imagine Coinbase, if indeed that’s where MSTR custodies its coins, gets hacked or https://www.chrisliss.com/p/soft-landing, i.e., seized by an increasingly desperate and insolvent government. Or maybe Coinbase simply doesn’t have the coins it purports like FTX, or a rogue band of employees, working on behalf of some powerful faction for “https://www.chrisliss.com/national-security-and-public-healt” executes the rug pull. Even if you deem these scenarios unlikely, they are not unfathomable.
Beyond outright counterparty malfeasance, there are other risks — what if owning common stock in an enterprise that simply holds bitcoin falls out of favor? Imagine if some new individual custody solution emerges wherein you have direct access to the coins themselves in an “even a boomer can do this” kind of way wherein there’s no compelling reason to own common stock with its junior claims to the capital stack in the event of insolvency? Why stand in line behind debt holders and preferred shares when you can invest in something that’s directly withdrawable and accessible if world events spike volatility to a systemic breaking point?
Things need not even get that rocky for this to be a concern — just the perception that they might could spook people into realizing common stock of a corporate balance sheet might be less than ideal as your custody solution.
Moreover, Saylor himself presents some risk. He could be compromised or blackmailed, he could lose his cool or get into an accident. These are low-probability scenarios, but also not unfathomable as any single point of failure is a target, especially for those factions who stand to lose unimaginable wealth and power should his speculative attack on the system succeed at scale.
Finally, even if Saylor remains free to operate as he sees fit, there is what I’d call the Icarus risk — he might be too ambitious, too hell-bent on acquiring bitcoin at all costs, too much of a maniac in service of his vision. Remember, he initially bought bitcoin during the covid crash and concomitant massive money print upon his prescient realization that businesses providing goods and services couldn’t possibly keep pace with inflation over the long haul. He was merely playing defense to preserve his capital, and now, despite his sizable lead and secured position is still throwing forward passes in the fourth quarter rather than running out the clock and securing the W.
Saylor is now arguably less a bitcoin maximalist and advocate, articulately making the case for superior money and individual sovereignty, but a corporate titan hell-bent on world domination via apex-predator-status balance sheet. When is enough enough? Many of the greatest conquerors in history pushed their empires too far until they fractured. In fact, 25 years ago MSTR was a big winner before the dot-com crash during which its stock price and most of Saylor’s fortune were wiped out when he was sued by the SEC for accounting fraud (he subsequently settled).
Now it’s possible, he learned from that experience, got up off the mat and figured out how to avoid his youthful mistakes. But it’s also possible his character is such that he will repeat it again, only this time at scale.
But as I said, my base case is MSTR is a trillion-dollar market cap, and the stock runs in parallel with bitcoin’s ascendance over the next decade. Saylor has been https://www.strategy.com/, prescient, bold and responsible so far over this iteration. I view Mandell’s concerns as valid, but similar to Wall St’s ones about AMZN’s Jeff Bezos who relentlessly ignored their insistence on profitability for a decade as he plowed every dollar into building out productive capacity and turned the company into the $2T world-dominating retail giant it is now.
Again, I haven’t (yet) sold any of my shares or even call options. But because I posted about this in January I felt I should at least follow-up with a more detailed rundown of what I take to be the risks. As always, do your own due diligence with any prospective investment.
-
@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9
2025-05-16 17:59:23
Recently we have seen a wave of high profile X accounts hacked. These attacks have exposed the fragility of the status quo security model used by modern social media platforms like X. Many users have asked if nostr fixes this, so lets dive in. How do these types of attacks translate into the world of nostr apps? For clarity, I will use X’s security model as representative of most big tech social platforms and compare it to nostr.
The Status Quo
On X, you never have full control of your account. Ultimately to use it requires permission from the company. They can suspend your account or limit your distribution. Theoretically they can even post from your account at will. An X account is tied to an email and password. Users can also opt into two factor authentication, which adds an extra layer of protection, a login code generated by an app. In theory, this setup works well, but it places a heavy burden on users. You need to create a strong, unique password and safeguard it. You also need to ensure your email account and phone number remain secure, as attackers can exploit these to reset your credentials and take over your account. Even if you do everything responsibly, there is another weak link in X infrastructure itself. The platform’s infrastructure allows accounts to be reset through its backend. This could happen maliciously by an employee or through an external attacker who compromises X’s backend. When an account is compromised, the legitimate user often gets locked out, unable to post or regain control without contacting X’s support team. That process can be slow, frustrating, and sometimes fruitless if support denies the request or cannot verify your identity. Often times support will require users to provide identification info in order to regain access, which represents a privacy risk. The centralized nature of X means you are ultimately at the mercy of the company’s systems and staff.
Nostr Requires Responsibility
Nostr flips this model radically. Users do not need permission from a company to access their account, they can generate as many accounts as they want, and cannot be easily censored. The key tradeoff here is that users have to take complete responsibility for their security. Instead of relying on a username, password, and corporate servers, nostr uses a private key as the sole credential for your account. Users generate this key and it is their responsibility to keep it safe. As long as you have your key, you can post. If someone else gets it, they can post too. It is that simple. This design has strong implications. Unlike X, there is no backend reset option. If your key is compromised or lost, there is no customer support to call. In a compromise scenario, both you and the attacker can post from the account simultaneously. Neither can lock the other out, since nostr relays simply accept whatever is signed with a valid key.
The benefit? No reliance on proprietary corporate infrastructure.. The negative? Security rests entirely on how well you protect your key.
Future Nostr Security Improvements
For many users, nostr’s standard security model, storing a private key on a phone with an encrypted cloud backup, will likely be sufficient. It is simple and reasonably secure. That said, nostr’s strength lies in its flexibility as an open protocol. Users will be able to choose between a range of security models, balancing convenience and protection based on need.
One promising option is a web of trust model for key rotation. Imagine pre-selecting a group of trusted friends. If your account is compromised, these people could collectively sign an event announcing the compromise to the network and designate a new key as your legitimate one. Apps could handle this process seamlessly in the background, notifying followers of the switch without much user interaction. This could become a popular choice for average users, but it is not without tradeoffs. It requires trust in your chosen web of trust, which might not suit power users or large organizations. It also has the issue that some apps may not recognize the key rotation properly and followers might get confused about which account is “real.”
For those needing higher security, there is the option of multisig using FROST (Flexible Round-Optimized Schnorr Threshold). In this setup, multiple keys must sign off on every action, including posting and updating a profile. A hacker with just one key could not do anything. This is likely overkill for most users due to complexity and inconvenience, but it could be a game changer for large organizations, companies, and governments. Imagine the White House nostr account requiring signatures from multiple people before a post goes live, that would be much more secure than the status quo big tech model.
Another option are hardware signers, similar to bitcoin hardware wallets. Private keys are kept on secure, offline devices, separate from the internet connected phone or computer you use to broadcast events. This drastically reduces the risk of remote hacks, as private keys never touches the internet. It can be used in combination with multisig setups for extra protection. This setup is much less convenient and probably overkill for most but could be ideal for governments, companies, or other high profile accounts.
Nostr’s security model is not perfect but is robust and versatile. Ultimately users are in control and security is their responsibility. Apps will give users multiple options to choose from and users will choose what best fits their need.
-
@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3
2025-05-20 13:39:22
https://youtu.be/US9iYJNTOkU
I had no idea Tosh was still doing anything, much less that he talks about sports.
https://stacker.news/items/984547
-
@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9
2025-02-25 03:55:08
Here’s a revised timeline of macro-level events from The Mandibles: A Family, 2029–2047 by Lionel Shriver, reimagined in a world where Bitcoin is adopted as a widely accepted form of money, altering the original narrative’s assumptions about currency collapse and economic control. In Shriver’s original story, the failure of Bitcoin is assumed amid the dominance of the bancor and the dollar’s collapse. Here, Bitcoin’s success reshapes the economic and societal trajectory, decentralizing power and challenging state-driven outcomes.
Part One: 2029–2032
-
2029 (Early Year)\ The United States faces economic strain as the dollar weakens against global shifts. However, Bitcoin, having gained traction emerges as a viable alternative. Unlike the original timeline, the bancor—a supranational currency backed by a coalition of nations—struggles to gain footing as Bitcoin’s decentralized adoption grows among individuals and businesses worldwide, undermining both the dollar and the bancor.
-
2029 (Mid-Year: The Great Renunciation)\ Treasury bonds lose value, and the government bans Bitcoin, labeling it a threat to sovereignty (mirroring the original bancor ban). However, a Bitcoin ban proves unenforceable—its decentralized nature thwarts confiscation efforts, unlike gold in the original story. Hyperinflation hits the dollar as the U.S. prints money, but Bitcoin’s fixed supply shields adopters from currency devaluation, creating a dual-economy split: dollar users suffer, while Bitcoin users thrive.
-
2029 (Late Year)\ Dollar-based inflation soars, emptying stores of goods priced in fiat currency. Meanwhile, Bitcoin transactions flourish in underground and online markets, stabilizing trade for those plugged into the bitcoin ecosystem. Traditional supply chains falter, but peer-to-peer Bitcoin networks enable local and international exchange, reducing scarcity for early adopters. The government’s gold confiscation fails to bolster the dollar, as Bitcoin’s rise renders gold less relevant.
-
2030–2031\ Crime spikes in dollar-dependent urban areas, but Bitcoin-friendly regions see less chaos, as digital wallets and smart contracts facilitate secure trade. The U.S. government doubles down on surveillance to crack down on bitcoin use. A cultural divide deepens: centralized authority weakens in Bitcoin-adopting communities, while dollar zones descend into lawlessness.
-
2032\ By this point, Bitcoin is de facto legal tender in parts of the U.S. and globally, especially in tech-savvy or libertarian-leaning regions. The federal government’s grip slips as tax collection in dollars plummets—Bitcoin’s traceability is low, and citizens evade fiat-based levies. Rural and urban Bitcoin hubs emerge, while the dollar economy remains fractured.
Time Jump: 2032–2047
- Over 15 years, Bitcoin solidifies as a global reserve currency, eroding centralized control. The U.S. government adapts, grudgingly integrating bitcoin into policy, though regional autonomy grows as Bitcoin empowers local economies.
Part Two: 2047
-
2047 (Early Year)\ The U.S. is a hybrid state: Bitcoin is legal tender alongside a diminished dollar. Taxes are lower, collected in BTC, reducing federal overreach. Bitcoin’s adoption has decentralized power nationwide. The bancor has faded, unable to compete with Bitcoin’s grassroots momentum.
-
2047 (Mid-Year)\ Travel and trade flow freely in Bitcoin zones, with no restrictive checkpoints. The dollar economy lingers in poorer areas, marked by decay, but Bitcoin’s dominance lifts overall prosperity, as its deflationary nature incentivizes saving and investment over consumption. Global supply chains rebound, powered by bitcoin enabled efficiency.
-
2047 (Late Year)\ The U.S. is a patchwork of semi-autonomous zones, united by Bitcoin’s universal acceptance rather than federal control. Resource scarcity persists due to past disruptions, but economic stability is higher than in Shriver’s original dystopia—Bitcoin’s success prevents the authoritarian slide, fostering a freer, if imperfect, society.
Key Differences
- Currency Dynamics: Bitcoin’s triumph prevents the bancor’s dominance and mitigates hyperinflation’s worst effects, offering a lifeline outside state control.
- Government Power: Centralized authority weakens as Bitcoin evades bans and taxation, shifting power to individuals and communities.
- Societal Outcome: Instead of a surveillance state, 2047 sees a decentralized, bitcoin driven world—less oppressive, though still stratified between Bitcoin haves and have-nots.
This reimagining assumes Bitcoin overcomes Shriver’s implied skepticism to become a robust, adopted currency by 2029, fundamentally altering the novel’s bleak trajectory.
-
-
@ 472f440f:5669301e
2024-12-31 04:42:00
I'm sure some of you are already tired of the discussion around the H-1B visa program that was started on Christmas Eve by Vivek Ramaswamy and escalated by Elon Musk and others as the "Silicon Valley MAGA" coalition began putting forth legal immigration policy proposals for the incoming Trump administration. Core to their policy is the expansion of the H-1B visa program so that America can "recruit the best talent in the world" to come build the American economy.
Unfortunately, as it stands today - according to the Silicon Valley cognescenti, Americans are either a.) not smart enough to fulfill the roles necessary to enable the United States to maintain its lead as economic super power of the world or b.) expect too much in compensation for the available roles. At least this is my reading from the commentary I've seen over the last week.
What seems abundantly clear to me is that the framing put forth by "Silicon Valley MAGA" crew is disingenuous and self-serving. It has been clear for awhile now that the H-1B visa program is being systematically abused to bring in cheap labor from other countries to help drive down labor costs for companies across the spectrum. Not just Silicon Valley tech companies. The system has a loophole in it and it is being exploited. Bring people to the US via H-1B visas to complete work for you at lower costs and your company's financials are likely to be better off (assuming the work being done is productive and a value add to the company). Now, this isn't to say that everyone who is in the US via an H-1B visa is here because these companies want to exploit the loophole that gives them the ability to spend less on head count. However, based off the data from the database of the H-1B visa program it is abundantly clear that the system is being taken advantage of. Egregiously and at the expense of American workers, who are most certainly not (all) "subtarded".
Herein lies the crux of the problem; companies are abusing this program to get away from the problem of Americans demanding higher wages to maintain lives of dignity in a country run by a government that is chronically addicted to debt backed by a central bank that will print money ex-nihilo and at will to monetize that debt. Americans are then being scapegoated as either "lazy", "stupid" or "delusional about their worth in the work force". A classic straw man argument that avoids the root issue at hand; the money is broken and the broken money has created perverse incentives throughout the economy while also stripping Americans of the ability to properly save the value of their labor.
We live in a high velocity trash economy that rewards grift and waste while disincentivizing hard work that is meaningful to the quality of life of the Common Man. Everything has been hyper-financialized to the point that one of the only ways to make it ahead is to speculate on the flow of capital into certain asset classes, which is often determined by the whims of central planners. Another is to build or speculate on tech "innovations" that typically materialize in the form of attention zapping apps and widgets that help people temporarily forget they live in a high-velocity trash economy.
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation and it is because they don't see a way out of the nihilistic rat race created (unknowingly to most) by the money printer.
The ability to print money out of nothing and throw it at everything creates misaligned incentives that result in the inability for the market to properly determine what is genuinely needed by the people instead of those who have learned how to game the broken system and its broken incentives.
One last point, I would be remiss not to acknowledge that many individuals in America aren't intellectually equipped to do some of the cutting edge work that may be necessary to produce the technologies and companies that will push the country forward. The high-velocity trash economy run on money printed out of nothing has completely corrupted the education system. People in the United States are literally dumber than they were five decades ago. That is a fact. But it is not only the fault of the American people themselves, but the corrupt system they have been born into that destroyed the education system with perverse incentives. And the overwhelming majority of the blame is on the system, not the people.
Even with that being said, the idea that we need to adopt a Tiger Mom mentality in the US - a culture of unrelenting devotion to studying STEM to the point that weekend sleepovers for kids are discouraged - is absolutely laughable and objectively un-American. There are plenty of incredibly intelligent, creative and driven young Americans who have contributed and will continue to contribute significantly to the American economy and they didn't need to shackle themselves to their desks to get that way. America isn't a country that was built by automatons. It's a country built by people who said, "Fuck you. Don't tell me what I can and cannot do. Watch this."
Despite the fact that a system has been erected that actively works against the average American system the American spirit lives on in the souls of many across the country. Miraculously. The American spirit is something that cannot simply be imported. It is ingrained in our culture. It is certainly beginning to dwindle as hope for a better future becomes more and more dim for the masses as the system works against them despite all their best efforts to succeed. It is imperative that we stoke the coals of the American spirit while it is still alive in those who are too stubborn to give up.
People need the ability to save their hard work in a money that cannot be debased. Opportunity cost needs to be reintroduced into the market so that things that actually add value and increase the quality of life for the Common Man are where hard money is allocated. And people need to start talking about the root of the problem more seriously instead of striking at branches with disingenuous straw man arguments.
Final thought... Ready to go surfing.
-
@ 6ad3e2a3:c90b7740
2025-05-20 13:38:04
When I was a kid, I wanted to be rich, but found the prospect of hard work tedious, pointless and soul-crushing. Instead of studying for exams, getting some job and clawing your way up the ladder, I wondered why we couldn’t just build a device that measured your brain capacity and awarded you the money you would have made had you applied yourself. Eliminate the middleman, so to speak, the useless paper pushing evoked by the word “career.”
But when you think about it, it’s not really money you’re after, as money is but purchasing power, and so it’s the things money can provide like a nice lifestyle and the peace of mind that comes from not worrying about it. And it’s not really the lifestyle or financial independence, per se, since moment to moment what’s in your bank account isn’t determining your mental state, but the feeling those things give you — a sense of expansiveness and freedom.
But if you did have such a machine, and it awarded you the money, you probably wouldn’t have that kind of expansiveness and freedom, especially if you did nothing to achieve those things. You would still feel bored, distracted and unsatisfied despite unrestricted means to travel or dine out as you saw fit. People who win the lottery, for example, tend to revert to their prior level of satisfaction in short order.
The feeling you really want then is the sense of rising to a challenge, negotiating and adapting to your environment, persevering in a state of uncertainty, tapping into your resourcefulness and creativity. It’s only while operating at the edge of your capacity you could ever be so fulfilled. In fact, in such a state the question of your satisfaction level would never come up. You wouldn’t even think to wonder about it you’d be so engrossed.
So what you really crave is a mind device that encourages you to adapt to your environment using your full creative capabilities in the present moment, so much so you realize if you do not do this, you have the sense of squandering your life in a tedious, pointless and soul-crushing way. You need to be totally stuck, without the option of turning back. In sum, you need to face reality exactly as it is, without any escape therefrom.
The measure of your mind in that case is your reality itself. The device is already with you — it’s the world you are presently creating with the consciousness you have, providing you avenues to escape, none of which are satisfactory, none that can lead to the state you truly desire. You have a choice to pursue them fruitlessly and wind up at square one, or to abandon them and attain your freedom. No matter how many times you go down a false road, you wind up at the same place until you give up on the Sisyphean task and proceed in earnest.
My childhood fantasy was real, it turns out, only I had misunderstood its meaning.
-
@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9
2025-05-16 17:51:54
In much of the world, it is incredibly difficult to access U.S. dollars. Local currencies are often poorly managed and riddled with corruption. Billions of people demand a more reliable alternative. While the dollar has its own issues of corruption and mismanagement, it is widely regarded as superior to the fiat currencies it competes with globally. As a result, Tether has found massive success providing low cost, low friction access to dollars. Tether claims 400 million total users, is on track to add 200 million more this year, processes 8.1 million transactions daily, and facilitates $29 billion in daily transfers. Furthermore, their estimates suggest nearly 40% of users rely on it as a savings tool rather than just a transactional currency.
Tether’s rise has made the company a financial juggernaut. Last year alone, Tether raked in over $13 billion in profit, with a lean team of less than 100 employees. Their business model is elegantly simple: hold U.S. Treasuries and collect the interest. With over $113 billion in Treasuries, Tether has turned a straightforward concept into a profit machine.
Tether’s success has resulted in many competitors eager to claim a piece of the pie. This has triggered a massive venture capital grift cycle in USD tokens, with countless projects vying to dethrone Tether. Due to Tether’s entrenched network effect, these challengers face an uphill battle with little realistic chance of success. Most educated participants in the space likely recognize this reality but seem content to perpetuate the grift, hoping to cash out by dumping their equity positions on unsuspecting buyers before they realize the reality of the situation.
Historically, Tether’s greatest vulnerability has been U.S. government intervention. For over a decade, the company operated offshore with few allies in the U.S. establishment, making it a major target for regulatory action. That dynamic has shifted recently and Tether has seized the opportunity. By actively courting U.S. government support, Tether has fortified their position. This strategic move will likely cement their status as the dominant USD token for years to come.
While undeniably a great tool for the millions of users that rely on it, Tether is not without flaws. As a centralized, trusted third party, it holds the power to freeze or seize funds at its discretion. Corporate mismanagement or deliberate malpractice could also lead to massive losses at scale. In their goal of mitigating regulatory risk, Tether has deepened ties with law enforcement, mirroring some of the concerns of potential central bank digital currencies. In practice, Tether operates as a corporate CBDC alternative, collaborating with authorities to surveil and seize funds. The company proudly touts partnerships with leading surveillance firms and its own data reveals cooperation in over 1,000 law enforcement cases, with more than $2.5 billion in funds frozen.
The global demand for Tether is undeniable and the company’s profitability reflects its unrivaled success. Tether is owned and operated by bitcoiners and will likely continue to push forward strategic goals that help the movement as a whole. Recent efforts to mitigate the threat of U.S. government enforcement will likely solidify their network effect and stifle meaningful adoption of rival USD tokens or CBDCs. Yet, for all their achievements, Tether is simply a worse form of money than bitcoin. Tether requires trust in a centralized entity, while bitcoin can be saved or spent without permission. Furthermore, Tether is tied to the value of the US Dollar which is designed to lose purchasing power over time, while bitcoin, as a truly scarce asset, is designed to increase in purchasing power with adoption. As people awaken to the risks of Tether’s control, and the benefits bitcoin provides, bitcoin adoption will likely surpass it.
-
@ 472f440f:5669301e
2024-12-21 00:45:10
There was a bit of a rally in stock markets today, but this was a relief rally after taking a beating throughout the week. All eyes were on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell as he took the stage on Wednesday to announce the decisions made at the most recent FOMC meeting.
The market reacted negatively to another 0.25% cut from the Federal Reserve that many considered a "hawkish cut" due to the fact that Chairman Powell articulated that it is likely that there will be less rate cuts in 2025 than were previously expected. This is likely driven by the fact that inflation, as reported by the terribly inaccurate CPI, has been coming in higher than expectations. Signaling that the Fed does not, in fact, have inflation under control. Who could have seen that coming?
Here's how the US 10Y Treasury yield reacted to the announcement:
"Not great Bob!" The US 10Y Treasury yield is something that everyone should be paying attention to over the course of the next year. Since the Fed started cutting rates in September of this year, the 10Y yield has been acting anomalously compared to how it has acted historically after Fed interest rate decisions. Since September, the market has been calling the Fed's bluff on inflation and rates have been moving in the opposite direction compared to what would be expected if the Fed had things under control. The "hawkish cut" made on Wednesday is not a great sign. The Fed is being forced to recognize that it cut "too much too fast" before actually getting inflation under control.
One has to wonder why they made such aggressive moves in September. Why the need for a much more dovish stance as quickly as they moved? Do they see something behind the scenes of the banking system that makes them believe that another liquidity crisis was on the horizon and they needed to act to prevent yet another banking crisis? Now that it is clear that inflation isn't under control and if there really was a liquidity crisis on the horizon, what are the first two quarters of 2025 going to look like? Could we find ourselves in a situation where inflation is beginning to accelerate again, there is a liquidity crisis, and the Fed is forced to rush back ZIRP and QE only to further exacerbate inflation? Couple this potential scenario with the proposed economic policy from the incoming Trump administration and it isn't hard to see that we could be in for a period of economic pain.
One can only hope that the Fed and the incoming administration have the intestinal fortitude to let the market correct appropriately, reprice, clear out the bad assets and credit that exists in the system and let the cleanse happen relatively unperturbed. That has what has been desperately needed since 2008, arguably longer.
On that note, bitcoin is going through a bull market correction this week as well. Likely incited and/or exacerbated by the turmoil in traditional markets.
Many are proclaiming that the end of this bull market is here. Don't listen to those who have been hate tweeting bitcoin all the way up this year. They've been looking for a correction to bask in schadenfreude and confirm their biases. These types of corrections are to be expected when bitcoin runs by checks notes 100% over the course of less than three months. We're approaching the end of the year, which means that people are selling to prepare for taxes (which may be happening in the stock market as well). Add to this fact that long-term holders of bitcoin have taken the most profit they have since 2018 and it probably explains the recent pull back. Can't blame the long-term holders for seeing six-figure bitcoin and deciding to bolster their cash balances.
I couldn't be more bullish on bitcoin than I am right now. The fundamentals surrounding the market couldn't be more perfect. Despite what the Trump administration may have in store for us in terms of economic policy (I agree with most of the policies he has presented), I find it hard to believe that even he and the talented team of people he has surrounded himself with can overcome the momentum of the problems that have been building up in the system for the last 16-years.
The "find safety in sats" trade is going mainstream as the market becomes more familiar with bitcoin, its properties, and the fact that it is very unlikely that it is going to die. The fervor around bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset for nation states is only picking up. And if it catches on, we will enter territory for bitcoin that was considered utterly insane only a year ago.
On that note, Nic Carter made some buzz today with a piece he wrote for Bitcoin Magazine explaining why he believes a strategic bitcoin reserve is a bad idea for the US government.
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/politics/i-dont-support-a-strategic-bitcoin-reserve-and-neither-should-you
While I agree that the signal the US government could send by acquiring a bitcoin strategic reserve could be bad for the US treasuries market, I think it comes down to strategy. The Trump administration will have to think strategically about how they acquire their Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. If they ape in, it could send the wrong message and cause everyone to dump their treasuries, which are the most popular form of collateral in the global financial system. However, there are ways to acquire bitcoin slowly but surely from here into the future that ensure that the United States gets proper exposure to the asset to protect itself from the out-of-control debt problem while also providing itself with a way out of the problem. Many of these potential strategies were discussed in two recent episodes I recorded. One with Matthew Pines from the Bitcoin Policy Institute and another with Matthew Mežinskis from Porkopolis Economics. I highly recommend you all check those out (linked below).
https://youtu.be/xyyeEqFVjBY
https://youtu.be/6vgesP9LIXk
.---
Final thought...
I am the most locked in from a focus perspective while on flights. Even with two kids under 5. Merry Christmas, Freaks!
-
@ bbb5dda0:f09e2747
2025-05-20 13:33:59
My week 19 started with a celebration of 80 years of liberation from the Germans (we love you guys now tho 🫶🏼). It feels conflicting, we're celebrating freedom, whilst cutting down those freedoms day by day more rapidly as time progresses. Should we still celebrate...?
The current path back to freedom can be mundane in the day to day but I wouldn't wanna have it any other way. These last couple weeks I've continued working on our TollGate pipelines to facilitate our release cycle, make it faster and easier to release in quick succession. There's been a lot of details to get right, because our releases are nostr based and once people start relying on the structure of the events we can't easily change it.
A TollGateOS release event now looks like this NIP-94 file metadata event:
json { "id": "a867f15ca7edc95a69e1557539a624466147584f68c62a16c47fe9bca3778312", "pubkey": "5075e61f0b048148b60105c1dd72bbeae1957336ae5824087e52efa374f8416a", "created_at": 1747475980, "kind": 1063, "tags": [ [ "url", "https://blossom.swissdash.site/9e5e8c48810a1b59cf10fa56486f311e048a0305eb58444992b6133fd19fcb3e.bin" ], [ "m", "application/octet-stream" ], [ "x", "9e5e8c48810a1b59cf10fa56486f311e048a0305eb58444992b6133fd19fcb3e" ], [ "ox", "9e5e8c48810a1b59cf10fa56486f311e048a0305eb58444992b6133fd19fcb3e" ], [ "architecture", "aarch64_cortex-a53" ], [ "device_id", "glinet_gl-mt3000" ], [ "supported_devices", "glinet,gl-mt3000 glinet,mt3000-snand" ], [ "openwrt_version", "24.10.1" ], [ "tollgate_os_version", "v0.0.2" ], [ "release_channel", "stable" ] ], "content": "TollGate OS Firmware for glinet_gl-mt3000", "sig": "1d050233428304685d202e954cb48714c800a7ca5f2d6a8d8fd657a775b9c51bf83364505311859c846e25098168a8ff309af2308712aafe634fcbdc96fcd84a" }One of the missing links was the
supported_devicestag. That is because the installer checks the device name by ssh-ing into the router and it returns theglinet,gl-mt3000which doesn't properly translate into thedevice_id, which is what's used for compiling the OS. So this helps us to do the lookups and compatibility checks in the installer.I also worked on: - getting the versioning of the tollgate-basic package's naming in line with the OpenWRT naming convention. - Rework versioning for dev builds into
[branchname].[commit_height].[commit_hash]which will show up on thedevrelease_channelreleases. - Getting an initial release of the tollgate-installer done, so we can easily flash a bunch of routers to become TollGates.Bright minds in Prague
I met up with some bright minds from the space in Prague where @cobrador and i did a workshop on turning routers into TollGates and start earning sats. As is part of building things, things break and people make us aware of issues that we wouldn't foresee. Like for some reason Minibits cashu tokens being rejected, which is likely because of the memo's but we still need to dive into that issue.
Also we released [v0.0.2] of TollGate OS, which now includes an updater feature, again for faster release cycles. Currently we're focussing on getting a v0.0.3 out quickly with fixes for the user feedback we've gathered so far!
Receipt.Cash
I also, kind of unplanned, saw an opportunity to shill Receipt.Cash. I'd made a few improvements recently and it's ready enough for reckless people to try it out ;).
|
| 
|
| |
| Payer Scans any fiat receipt & Share link with friends | Friends tap what they had, price is auto-converted to sats, then pay by Lightning or Cashu. |
If you want to try it, BE CAREFUL! It is highly experimental and you might lose your sats, no refunds!Source Code here.
-
@ 3770c235:16042bcc
2025-05-20 13:27:03
In recent years, a remarkable transformation has taken place in the way people view and utilize their homes. No longer confined to the four walls of traditional interior spaces, homeowners are increasingly turning their attention outward—toward their own backyards. The concept of outdoor living has evolved from mere patio furniture and barbecues to fully functional living environments, equipped with kitchens, entertainment systems, and even workspaces.
This growing trend is not just a design choice; it reflects changing lifestyles, shifting priorities, and a reimagining of what it means to feel at home. The rise of outdoor living is more than a fad—it's a movement, and it's here to stay.
**A Shift in Lifestyle and Values ** At the heart of the outdoor living boom is a deeper shift in how people value their time, environment, and personal space. The COVID-19 pandemic played a significant role in this evolution. Lockdowns and restrictions forced many to reassess their living situations, seeking ways to make the most of what they already had. The backyard, once overlooked, suddenly became a sanctuary—a space to breathe, gather, and escape the monotony of indoor life.
According to a 2021 study by the International Casual Furnishings Association, over 90% of Americans with outdoor living space report that it is more valuable to them than ever before, with nearly 60% saying they upgraded their outdoor spaces during the pandemic source.
This change in perception is not solely pandemic-related. There's a growing emphasis on wellness, mindfulness, and balance. People are looking to nature for inspiration and relaxation. Outdoor living spaces—be they modest balconies or expansive decks—allow homeowners to connect with nature without leaving the comfort of home.
Redefining the Backyard: From Playgrounds to Living Rooms
Traditionally, the backyard has served specific purposes—gardening, children’s play areas, maybe a grill tucked in the corner. Today, backyards are being reimagined as multi-functional extensions of the home.
-
Outdoor Kitchens and Dining Areas Once considered a luxury, outdoor kitchens have become increasingly common. With built-in grills, pizza ovens, refrigerators, sinks, and full countertops, these outdoor culinary spaces rival their indoor counterparts. The convenience of preparing and serving meals outside is matched by the social benefit: cooking becomes a shared experience.
-
Living and Lounge Areas Outdoor seating now goes far beyond foldable lawn chairs. Modular sectionals, fire pits, weather-resistant rugs, and even smart lighting have turned patios into legitimate living rooms under the sky. Some include mounted TVs, Bluetooth speakers, and retractable canopies or pergolas for all-weather comfort.
-
Work and Study Zones Remote work has blurred the boundaries between office and home. Now, it’s expanding into the outdoors. With Wi-Fi extenders, weather-protected furniture, and shade structures, backyards are becoming viable home office environments, perfect for Zoom calls with a natural backdrop.
-
Wellness Retreats From hot tubs and saunas to yoga decks and meditation gardens, outdoor spaces are being tailored to support wellness. These personal sanctuaries offer solitude and stress relief, all within the perimeter of one's property.
The Role of Technology and Innovation Modern outdoor spaces owe much of their versatility to advances in technology and materials. Weather-resistant fabrics, composite decking, solar lighting, and smart irrigation systems have all expanded what's possible in backyard design.
Smart home technology has also made its way outdoors. Lighting can be automated or voice-controlled. Outdoor speakers can be synced across zones. Even grills can be connected to apps that monitor cooking temperatures. These innovations allow outdoor living to be both luxurious and convenient, requiring minimal maintenance while offering maximum comfort.
**Economic Impact and Value Addition ** Investing in outdoor living isn't just about lifestyle—it’s also smart economics. Outdoor upgrades can significantly boost a home's resale value. A well-designed patio or outdoor kitchen can yield a return on investment (ROI) of up to 80%, according to the National Association of Realtors. In fact, data from Houzz shows that nearly 57% of homeowners are investing in their outdoor spaces specifically to increase resale value source.
This financial motivation has fueled demand for landscape architects, outdoor furniture designers, and construction professionals specializing in outdoor living projects. As a result, the industry surrounding outdoor enhancements—from pergola manufacturers to luxury fire pit designers—has seen exponential growth.
Environmental Considerations and Sustainability As outdoor living becomes more popular, so does the demand for environmentally conscious design. Homeowners are increasingly incorporating sustainable elements into their outdoor plans, including: • Native plant landscaping: Reduces water usage and supports local ecosystems. • Rainwater harvesting systems: Collect and store rain for garden irrigation. • Solar-powered lighting: Minimizes energy consumption while maximizing ambiance. • Permeable paving materials: Reduce runoff and promote groundwater recharge. Green living isn't just a buzzword—it’s influencing how people design their outdoor sanctuaries. Eco-conscious homeowners are prioritizing sustainability as much as aesthetics, ensuring their outdoor spaces are in harmony with nature, not in conflict with it.
The Social Connection
Outdoor living also taps into our basic need for connection. From summer barbecues to cozy firepit gatherings, the backyard is an ideal setting for meaningful social interactions. During a time when indoor gatherings have been restricted or limited, outdoor spaces have offered a safer, more accessible alternative.
Community ties can also be strengthened through outdoor living. In urban settings, rooftop terraces or shared gardens create communal spaces for neighbors to engage, collaborate, and unwind. For families, these outdoor extensions offer a way to spend quality time together—whether through games, meals, or simply enjoying the open air. For individuals, they provide a space to recharge, free from the digital and physical clutter of indoor life.
Customization and Personalization
One of the most appealing aspects of outdoor living is the high degree of customization available. Unlike interior spaces that may be limited by architectural constraints, outdoor areas can often be more flexible in layout and design.
Homeowners can craft outdoor environments that reflect their personalities and values: • The entertainer may opt for a bar area, ambient lighting, and surround sound. • The minimalist might choose clean lines, neutral tones, and eco-friendly materials. • The nature-lover may emphasize greenery, water features, and natural textures. DIY options also abound, allowing for creative freedom and budget-friendly upgrades. Raised garden beds, handmade furniture, repurposed materials, and vertical planters give individuals the opportunity to leave their personal mark on the space.
The Influence of Global Design Trends Outdoor living isn’t confined to North America. Around the world, cultures have long embraced outdoor spaces—from Japanese zen gardens to Mediterranean courtyards. The current global design conversation draws inspiration from a variety of traditions and climates.
Scandinavian principles of simplicity and functionality influence clean-lined, open-air designs, while tropical resorts have inspired lush, greenery-filled retreats in suburban settings. The blending of international styles enables homeowners to create outdoor spaces that are both eclectic and functional.
Looking Ahead: The Future of Outdoor Living The trajectory of outdoor living points to continued growth, innovation, and integration. Here are some trends likely to define the next decade:
- Year-Round Use With heating lamps, insulated pergolas, and all-weather furniture, outdoor spaces are becoming viable in all seasons. Expect to see more designs tailored for winter, including hot tubs, enclosed lounges, and warm lighting features.
- Outdoor Smart Hubs Technology will play an even greater role, with integrated outdoor control systems for lighting, security, irrigation, and entertainment—managed through a single device or app.
- Edible Landscaping Gardens will not only be for beauty but also for sustenance. Raised vegetable beds, fruit trees, and herb walls will become staples in functional outdoor design.
- Modular Design Portable and adaptable elements like movable walls, foldable furniture, and hybrid indoor-outdoor structures will offer more flexibility, especially in smaller spaces.
- Wellness Integration Expect an even stronger emphasis on health and well-being—cold plunge pools, outdoor gyms, meditation pods, and immersive natural soundscapes will take center stage.
Conclusion The rise of outdoor living is not just a design phenomenon—it’s a cultural shift. Homeowners are recognizing the value of outdoor spaces as extensions of their identities, routines, and dreams. Whether it's a serene garden, a vibrant entertainment hub, or a cozy work nook, the backyard is being redefined as a vital part of the home. In a world that often feels fast-paced and digitally overloaded, outdoor living offers a much-needed antidote: space to breathe, relax, connect, and thrive. It’s about more than upgrading the home—it’s about enhancing the human experience. As this trend continues to evolve, one thing is clear: the best room in the house may not be inside at all.
-
-
@ cefb08d1:f419beff
2025-05-20 13:26:14
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIydjo4B25U
The GWM Catch Up Day 2: Western Australia pushes CT to the ultimate test in all or nothing bouts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zwuqs6iTPg
Women and Men Results:
https://stacker.news/items/984538
-
@ 472f440f:5669301e
2024-12-05 08:09:23
The end of the first part of bitcoin's story has come to an end. Most of the story has yet to be written, but I feel confident in saying that reaching the $100,000 per bitcoin milestone is a clear demarcation between two distinct eras of bitcoin. Yes, we have hit the significant milestones of $1, $10, $100, $1,000, and $10,000 over the last fifteen years and they all felt significant. And they certainly were in their own right. However, hitting the "six figure" milestone feels a bit different.
One bitcoin is currently worth a respectable salary for an American citizen. Ten hunnid bands. Something that is impressive to the layman. This may not mean much to many who have been around bitcoin for some time. The idea of bitcoin hitting $100,000 was seen as a foregone conclusion for millions of people out there. Myself included. This price marker is simply an inevitability on the road to global reserve currency to us.
With that being said, it is important to put yourself in the shoes of those who have doubted bitcoin up to this point. For some reason or another, $100,000 bitcoin has been used as a price target that "will never be hit" for many of the naysayers.
"Bitcoin is a Ponzi scheme."
"Tulips."
"Governments will ban it if it hits that point."
"It can't scale."
"It will be 51% attacked."
"No one will trust bitcoin."
"It can't be the world's money."
And yet, despite all of the kvetching from the haters over the years, here we are. Sitting above $100,000. Taking a short rest at the latest checkpoint en route to the peak of the mountain. We hovered right under $100,000 for a couple of weeks. Nominally, where we stand today is much closer to where we were last week compared to where we were six months ago. But for some reason the price tipping over $100,000 has catapulted bitcoin to a new playing field. Where bitcoin stood yesterday and where it found itself six months ago seem miles below where it is today. Crossing over the event horizon of six figures forces people to think of bitcoin in a different light. Almost as if we have entered another dimension.
The last year has been filled with a lead up to this crossing over of the event horizon.
Financial institutions that have derided bitcoin for well over a decade were forced to bend the knee and offer bitcoin exposure to their clients. The mere offering of that exposure has resulted in the most successful ETFs in the history of this particular investment vehicle.
Governments around the world have been forced to reckon with the fact that bitcoin is here to stay and that they need to act accordingly. Thanks to the first mover actions taken by El Salvador and Bhutan, which have nonchalantly decided to go all in on bitcoin, others have taken notice. Will that be publicly acknowledged by the bigger governments? Probably not. But you'd be naive to think that politicians in the US seeing two very small countries making such big bets on bitcoin didn't induce at least a little bit of FOMO. Once the bitcoin FOMO seed is planted it's hard to uproot.
Combine this with the fact that it has become rather cool to be privy to the fact that the world's governments have become egregiously addicted to debt and money printing, that inflation is pervasive and inescapable, and that censorship and Orwellian control tactics are on the rise and it is easy to see why more people are more receptive to the idea of bitcoin.
All that was needed to create an all out frenzy - a slingshot effect up the S Curve of adoption - was a psychological trigger. Bitcoin crossing over six figures.
Well, here we are. The tropes against bitcoin that have been trotted out over the last sixteen years no longer have as much bite as they did in many people's eyes. Sure, there will be some butt hurt nocoiners and totalitarians who continue to trot them out, but crossing the chasm of six figure bitcoin will have an order of magnitude more people thinking, "I hear what you're saying, but reality seems to be saying something completely different. And, if I'm being honest with myself, reality is making much more sense than your screeching."
Unstoppable peer-to-peer digital cash with a hard capped supply has been around since January 3rd, 2009. December 5th, 2024 will be the day that it cemented itself as something that cannot be ignored. Part I of the bitcoin story has been written. The end of the beginning is behind us. On to Part II: the rapid monetization of bitcoin, which will cement it as the reserve currency of the world.
Final thought... I used some 2017-2020 era tactics to get into the writing mood tonight. 90210
-
@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9
2025-05-16 17:12:05
One of the most common criticisms leveled against nostr is the perceived lack of assurance when it comes to data storage. Critics argue that without a centralized authority guaranteeing that all data is preserved, important information will be lost. They also claim that running a relay will become prohibitively expensive. While there is truth to these concerns, they miss the mark. The genius of nostr lies in its flexibility, resilience, and the way it harnesses human incentives to ensure data availability in practice.
A nostr relay is simply a server that holds cryptographically verifiable signed data and makes it available to others. Relays are simple, flexible, open, and require no permission to run. Critics are right that operating a relay attempting to store all nostr data will be costly. What they miss is that most will not run all encompassing archive relays. Nostr does not rely on massive archive relays. Instead, anyone can run a relay and choose to store whatever subset of data they want. This keeps costs low and operations flexible, making relay operation accessible to all sorts of individuals and entities with varying use cases.
Critics are correct that there is no ironclad guarantee that every piece of data will always be available. Unlike bitcoin where data permanence is baked into the system at a steep cost, nostr does not promise that every random note or meme will be preserved forever. That said, in practice, any data perceived as valuable by someone will likely be stored and distributed by multiple entities. If something matters to someone, they will keep a signed copy.
Nostr is the Streisand Effect in protocol form. The Streisand effect is when an attempt to suppress information backfires, causing it to spread even further. With nostr, anyone can broadcast signed data, anyone can store it, and anyone can distribute it. Try to censor something important? Good luck. The moment it catches attention, it will be stored on relays across the globe, copied, and shared by those who find it worth keeping. Data deemed important will be replicated across servers by individuals acting in their own interest.
Nostr’s distributed nature ensures that the system does not rely on a single point of failure or a corporate overlord. Instead, it leans on the collective will of its users. The result is a network where costs stay manageable, participation is open to all, and valuable verifiable data is stored and distributed forever.
-
@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1
2025-05-16 07:51:08
Payjoin allows the sender and receiver of an on-chain payment to collaborate and create a transaction that breaks on-chain heuristics, allowing a more private transaction with ambiguous payment amount and UTXO ownership. Additionally, it can also be used for UTXO consolidation (receiver saves future fees) and batching payments (receiver can make payment(s) of their own in the process of receiving one), also known as transaction cut-through. Other than improved privacy, the rest of the benefits are typically applicable to the receiver, not the sender.
BIP-78 was the original payjoin protocol that required the receiver to run a endpoint/server (always online) in order to mediate the payjoin process. Payjoin adoption has remained pretty low, something attributed to the server & perpetual online-ness requirement. This is the motivation for payjoin v2.
The purpose of the one-pager is to analyse the protocol, and highlight the UX issues or tradeoffs it entails, so that the payjoin user flows can be appropriately designed and the tradeoffs likewise communicated. A further document on UX solutions might be needed to identify solutions and opportunities
The following observations are generally limited to individual users transacting through their mobile devices:
While users naturally want better privacy and fee-savings, they also want to minimise friction and minimise (optimise) payment time. These are universal and more immediate needs since they deal with the user experience.
Added manual steps
TL;DR v2 payjoin eliminates server & simultaneous user-liveness requirements (increasing TAM, and opportunities to payjoin, as a result) by adding manual steps.
Usually, the extent of the receiver's involvement in the transaction process is limited to sharing their address with the sender. Once they share the address/URI, they can basically forget about it. In the target scenario for v2 payjoin, the receiver must come online again (except they have no way of knowing "when") to contribute input(s) and sign the PSBT. This can be unexpected, unintuitive and a bit of a hassle.
Usually (and even with payjoin v1), the sender crafts and broadcasts the transaction in one go; meaning the user's job is done within a few seconds/minutes. With payjoin v2, they must share the original-PSBT with the receiver, and then wait for them to do their part. Once the the receiver has done that, the sender must come online to review the transaction, sign it & broadcast.
In summary,
In payjoin v1, step 3 is automated and instant, so delay 2, 3 =~ 0. As the user experiences it, the process is completed in a single session, akin to a non-payjoin transaction.
With payjoin v2, Steps 2 & 3 in the above diagram are widely spread and noticeable. These manual steps are separated by uncertain delays (more on that below) when compared to a non-payjoin transaction.
Delays
We've established that both senders and receivers must take extra manual steps to execute a payoin transaction. With payjoin v2, this process gets split into multiple sessions, since the sender and receiver are not like to be online simultaneously.
Delay 2 & 3 (see diagram above) are uncertain in nature. Most users do not open their bitcoin wallets for days or weeks! The receiver must come online before the timeout hits in order for the payjoin process to work, otherwise time is just wasted with no benefit. UX or technical solutions are needed to minimise these delays.
Delays might be exacerbated if the setup is based on hardware wallet and/or uses multisig.
Notifications or background processes
There is one major problem when we say "the user must come online to..." but in reality the user has no way of knowing there is a payjoin PSBT waiting for them. After a PSBT is sent to the relay, the opposite user would only find out about it whenever they happen to come online. Notifications and background sync processes might be necessary to minimise delays. This is absolutely essential to avert timeouts in addition to saving valuable time. Another risk is phantom payjoin stuff after the timeout is expired if receiver-side does not know it has.
Fee Savings
The following observations might be generally applicable for both original and this v2 payjoin version. Fee-savings with payjoin is a tricky topic. Of course, overall a payjoin transaction is always cheaper than 2 separate transactions, since they get to share the overhead.
Additionally, without the receiver contributing to fees, the chosen fee rate of the PSBT (at the beginning) drops, and can lead to slower confirmation. From another perspective, a sender paying with payjoin pays higher fees for similar confirmation target. This has been observed in a production wallet years back. Given that total transaction time can extend to days, the fee environment itself might change, and all this must be considered when designing the UX.
Of course, there is nothing stopping the receiver from contributing to fees, but this idea is likely entirely novel to the bitcoin ecosystem (perhaps payments ecosystem in general) and the user base. Additionally, nominally it involves the user paying fees and tolerating delays just to receive bitcoin. Without explicit incentives/features that encourage receivers to participate, payjoining might seem like an unncessary hassle.
Overall, it seems that payjoin makes UX significant tradeoffs for important privacy (and potential fee-saving) benefits. This means that the UX might have to do significant heavy-lifting, to ensure that users are not surprised, confused or frustrated when they try to transact on-chain in a privacy-friendly feature. Good, timely communication, new features for consolidation & txn-cutthrough and guided user flows seem crucial to ensure payjoin adoption and for help make on-chain privacy a reality for users.
---------------
Original document available here. Reach out at
yashrajdca@proton.me,y_a_s_h_r_a_j.70on Signal, or on reach out in Bitcoin Design discord.https://stacker.news/items/981388
-
@ 472f440f:5669301e
2024-12-03 05:11:52
Uber seed investor and executive producer of the All In podcast Jason Calacanis has been publicly sounding the alarm bell about Microstrategy's bitcoin treasury strategy and the cheer leading exhibited by the company's CEO, Michael Saylor. Calacanis believes that Microstrategy's bitcoin acquisition techniques are a Ponzi scheme waiting to implode. Going as far as to question whether or not Microstrategy is the next FTX.
Earlier today, Jason spent a section of an episode of This Week in Startups to discuss his worries about MSTR's bitcoin treasury strategy, Saylor's overt pumping of the strategy, and the fact that there are other companies like Marathon Holdings beginning to deploy similar convertible debt strategies. While I can see how this can be unnerving for many, I do think there is a fundamental misunderstanding of what Microstrategy is doing. Last week I explained the strategy in a tweet, which I'll reiterate here:
Whether you like it or not, Saylor and Microstrategy have found a way to give pools of liquidity (particularly pools with mandates to allocate to fixed income) exposure to bitcoin’s volatility via convertible notes. The converts are performing better than any other fixed income product on the market.
Other investors have noticed this and have piled into MSTR as well understanding that demand for the converts will increase and enable Microstrategy to accumulate more bitcoin. Those investors feel comfortable with the premium to mNAV MSTR is trading at because they believe the demand for a high performing fixed income product will remain high and likely increase.
Microstrategy can continue doing this until viable competition comes to market because there is no one else offering this type of bitcoin return exposure to fixed income investors at scale. Another important detail, the convertible notes have a duration of 5 years or more while bitcoin’s lowest 4-year CAGR is 26% and its 50th percentile 4-year CAGR is 91%. If you think this will continue then this is a pretty safe bet for Microstrategy and the convertible note holders.
In a world were central banks and governments have gone mad with currency debasement and debt expansion it is pretty safe to assume that bitcoin adoption will not only continue but accelerate from here. What do I think about Microstrategy accumulating this much bitcoin? It makes me a bit uneasy but there’s nothing I can do to stop it and bitcoin will survive in the long run. Even if Microstrategy blows up somehow (I don’t think this is likely). Bitcoin was designed to be anti-fragile.
This is a classic case of “don’t hate the player, hate the game”. Or better yet, join the game. After all, the only winning move is to play.
Essentially, Michael Saylor is taking a long-term bet on bitcoin's continued adoption/monetization and trying to accumulate as much as possible by issuing convertible notes with a 4+ year duration, which should increase the likelihood that Microstrategy is in the black on their bitcoin buys over time as history has shown that anyone who holds bitcoin for more than four years has performed well. This should, in turn, be reflected in their stock price, which should increase alongside bitcoin and convert the debt they've accrued into newly issued shares of MSTR. Through the process, if the strategy is executed successfully, increasing the amount of bitcoin per share for MSTR shareholders. (This is the only metric shareholders should care about in my opinion.)
Yes, this may seem crazy to many and extremely risky to most, but that is the nature of free markets. Every company takes calculated risks in an attempt to increase shareholder value. Michael Saylor and company are betting on the fact that bitcoin will continue to be adopted and are utilizing pools of capital that don't have the ability to buy bitcoin directly, but want exposure to its volatility to achieve their goals. To me it looks like a perfectly symbiotic relationship. Microstrategy is able to accumulate more bitcoin and increase their bitcoin per share while fixed income investors are able to access a product that performs well above their benchmark due to the embedded volatility of the exposure to bitcoin Microstrategy provides.
This won't be a surprise to any of you freaks, but I think it's a pretty smart bet to make. Bitcoin is almost 16-years old. It has established itself as a reserve asset for individuals, companies and countries. A reserve asset that is completely detached from the whims of central planners, transparent, predictable, scarce, and can be transmitted over the Internet. Bitcoin is an idea whose time has come. And more people are beginning to recognize this.
This is one of the beautiful aspects of the public company convertible-note-to-bitcoin strategy that Microstrategy has deployed over the last few years. They are able to harness the benefits of forces that are external to their core business to provide shareholders with value. Michael Saylor could stop buying bitcoin tomorrow and it wouldn't affect bitcoin's adoption in the medium to long-term. He continues to buy bitcoin, and encourages others to do the same, because he recognizes this.
Bitcoin is the apex predator of treasury assets for every individual, company, non-profit or government. The assets competing to be treasury assets are all centrally controlled, easily manipulable, and quickly losing favor. Earlier today, Federal Reserve Board Governor Christopher Waller came out and admitted that inflation is kicking the Fed's ass. They cannot tame it.
Waller may posture by saying that "submission is inevitable", but that doesn't make it true. There is simply too much debt and not enough dollars. The annual interest expense on the US Federal debt is now larger than our spending on national defense. The Fed, whether it wants to admit it or not, is going to have to monetize that debt via the debasement of the dollar. If you are using dollars as a treasury asset it is very important that you understand this and react accordingly by adopting a bitcoin strategy. This is what Michael Saylor is trying to make his peers in public markets understand.
Sure, his marketing tactics may seem a bit uncouth to many and the way in which he's expressing his belief through Microstrategy's accumulation strategy may seem risky, but it's hard to argue that his core thesis is flawed. Especially when you consider the fact that bitcoin has officially climbed to the strata of being seriously considered as a treasury asset for the most powerful nation state in the world. I listen to the All In podcast quite frequently and genuinely like the show. It is a good way to gain perspective on how Silicon Valley investors view the world. If I were to give Jason any advice it would be to take a step back and to apply one of the most frequently discussed topics of the last on his show, the emergence of AI and the importance of everyone to incorporate AI into their businesses and workflows as quickly as possible before they get left behind. The same mental model applies to the emergence of bitcoin as a dominant reserve asset.
It is imperative that every individual, company and government adopts a bitcoin treasury strategy if they want to be able to succeed moving forward without the inherent resistance that is introduced from storing the fruit of your labor in a money or money-like asset that does not preserve purchasing power over time. Just because Saylor has recognized this, moved aggressively to effectuate his understanding via his company's balance sheet, and vociferously markets the strategy to others doesn't mean he's wrong. As I said in my tweet last week, I personally prefer to hold actual bitcoin. That doesn't mean that Microstrategy and others haven't honed in on something unique and legitimate given their circumstances and access to certain financial tools.
Final thought... I apologize for the extended hiatus. I hit a hard wall of writer's block over the last month. I think the time away from the keyboard has been good for me and the quality of this rag moving forward.
-
@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1
2025-05-16 05:38:28
LegoGPT generates a LEGO structure from a user-provided text prompt in an end-to-end manner. Notably, our generated LEGO structure is physically stable and buildable.
Lego is something most of us knows. This is a opportuity to ask where is our creativity going? From the art of crafting figures to building blocks following our need and desires to have a machine thinking and building following step-by-step instructions to achieve an isolated goal.
Is the creative act then in the question itself, not anymore in the crafting? Are we just delegating the solution of problems, the thinking of how to respond to questions, to machines? Would it be different if delegated to other people?
Source: https://avalovelace1.github.io/LegoGPT/
https://stacker.news/items/981336
-
@ a849beb6:b327e6d2
2024-11-23 15:03:47
\ \ It was another historic week for both bitcoin and the Ten31 portfolio, as the world’s oldest, largest, most battle-tested cryptocurrency climbed to new all-time highs each day to close out the week just shy of the $100,000 mark. Along the way, bitcoin continued to accumulate institutional and regulatory wins, including the much-anticipated approval and launch of spot bitcoin ETF options and the appointment of several additional pro-bitcoin Presidential cabinet officials. The timing for this momentum was poetic, as this week marked the second anniversary of the pico-bottom of the 2022 bear market, a level that bitcoin has now hurdled to the tune of more than 6x despite the litany of bitcoin obituaries published at the time. The entirety of 2024 and especially the past month have further cemented our view that bitcoin is rapidly gaining a sense of legitimacy among institutions, fiduciaries, and governments, and we remain optimistic that this trend is set to accelerate even more into 2025.
Several Ten31 portfolio companies made exciting announcements this week that should serve to further entrench bitcoin’s institutional adoption. AnchorWatch, a first of its kind bitcoin insurance provider offering 1:1 coverage with its innovative use of bitcoin’s native properties, announced it has been designated a Lloyd’s of London Coverholder, giving the company unique, blue-chip status as it begins to write bitcoin insurance policies of up to $100 million per policy starting next month. Meanwhile, Battery Finance Founder and CEO Andrew Hohns appeared on CNBC to delve into the launch of Battery’s pioneering private credit strategy which fuses bitcoin and conventional tangible assets in a dual-collateralized structure that offers a compelling risk/return profile to both lenders and borrowers. Both companies are clearing a path for substantially greater bitcoin adoption in massive, untapped pools of capital, and Ten31 is proud to have served as lead investor for AnchorWatch’s Seed round and as exclusive capital partner for Battery.
As the world’s largest investor focused entirely on bitcoin, Ten31 has deployed nearly $150 million across two funds into more than 30 of the most promising and innovative companies in the ecosystem like AnchorWatch and Battery, and we expect 2025 to be the best year yet for both bitcoin and our portfolio. Ten31 will hold a first close for its third fund at the end of this year, and investors in that close will benefit from attractive incentives and a strong initial portfolio. Visit ten31.vc/funds to learn more and get in touch to discuss participating.\ \ Portfolio Company Spotlight
Primal is a first of its kind application for the Nostr protocol that combines a client, caching service, analytics tools, and more to address several unmet needs in the nascent Nostr ecosystem. Through the combination of its sleek client application and its caching service (built on a completely open source stack), Primal seeks to offer an end-user experience as smooth and easy as that of legacy social media platforms like Twitter and eventually many other applications, unlocking the vast potential of Nostr for the next billion people. Primal also offers an integrated wallet (powered by Strike BLACK) that substantially reduces onboarding and UX frictions for both Nostr and the lightning network while highlighting bitcoin’s unique power as internet-native, open-source money.
Selected Portfolio News
AnchorWatch announced it has achieved Llody’s Coverholder status, allowing the company to provide unique 1:1 bitcoin insurance offerings starting in December.\ \ Battery Finance Founder and CEO Andrew Hohns appeared on CNBC to delve into the company’s unique bitcoin-backed private credit strategy.
Primal launched version 2.0, a landmark update that adds a feed marketplace, robust advanced search capabilities, premium-tier offerings, and many more new features.
Debifi launched its new iOS app for Apple users seeking non-custodial bitcoin-collateralized loans.
Media
Strike Founder and CEO Jack Mallers joined Bloomberg TV to discuss the strong volumes the company has seen over the past year and the potential for a US bitcoin strategic reserve.
Primal Founder and CEO Miljan Braticevic joined The Bitcoin Podcast to discuss the rollout of Primal 2.0 and the future of Nostr.
Ten31 Managing Partner Marty Bent appeared on BlazeTV to discuss recent changes in the regulatory environment for bitcoin.
Zaprite published a customer testimonial video highlighting the popularity of its offerings across the bitcoin ecosystem.
Market Updates
Continuing its recent momentum, bitcoin reached another new all-time high this week, clocking in just below $100,000 on Friday. Bitcoin has now reached a market cap of nearly $2 trillion, putting it within 3% of the market caps of Amazon and Google.
After receiving SEC and CFTC approval over the past month, long-awaited options on spot bitcoin ETFs were fully approved and launched this week. These options should help further expand bitcoin’s institutional liquidity profile, with potentially significant implications for price action over time.
The new derivatives showed strong performance out of the gate, with volumes on options for BlackRock’s IBIT reaching nearly $2 billion on just the first day of trading despite surprisingly tight position limits for the vehicles.
Meanwhile, the underlying spot bitcoin ETF complex had yet another banner week, pulling in $3.4 billion in net inflows.
New reports suggested President-elect Donald Trump’s social media company is in advanced talks to acquire crypto trading platform Bakkt, potentially the latest indication of the incoming administration’s stance toward the broader “crypto” ecosystem.
On the macro front, US housing starts declined M/M again in October on persistently high mortgage rates and weather impacts. The metric remains well below pre-COVID levels.
Pockets of the US commercial real estate market remain challenged, as the CEO of large Florida developer Related indicated that developers need further rate cuts “badly” to maintain project viability.
US Manufacturing PMI increased slightly M/M, but has now been in contraction territory (<50) for well over two years.
The latest iteration of the University of Michigan’s popular consumer sentiment survey ticked up following this month’s election results, though so did five-year inflation expectations, which now sit comfortably north of 3%.
Regulatory Update
After weeks of speculation, the incoming Trump administration appointed hedge fund manager Scott Bessent to head up the US Treasury. Like many of Trump’s cabinet selections so far, Bessent has been a public advocate for bitcoin.
Trump also appointed Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick – another outspoken bitcoin bull – as Secretary of the Commerce Department.
Meanwhile, the Trump team is reportedly considering creating a new “crypto czar” role to sit within the administration. While it’s unclear at this point what that role would entail, one report indicated that the administration’s broader “crypto council” is expected to move forward with plans for a strategic bitcoin reserve.
Various government lawyers suggested this week that the Trump administration is likely to be less aggressive in seeking adversarial enforcement actions against bitcoin and “crypto” in general, as regulatory bodies appear poised to shift resources and focus elsewhere.
Other updates from the regulatory apparatus were also directionally positive for bitcoin, most notably FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg’s confirmation that he plans to resign from his post at the end of President Biden’s term.
Many critics have alleged Gruenberg was an architect of “Operation Chokepoint 2.0,” which has created banking headwinds for bitcoin companies over the past several years, so a change of leadership at the department is likely yet another positive for the space.
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler also officially announced he plans to resign at the start of the new administration. Gensler has been the target of much ire from the broader “crypto” space, though we expect many projects outside bitcoin may continue to struggle with questions around the Howey Test.
Overseas, a Chinese court ruled that it is not illegal for individuals to hold cryptocurrency, even though the country is still ostensibly enforcing a ban on crypto transactions.
Noteworthy
The incoming CEO of Charles Schwab – which administers over $9 trillion in client assets – suggested the platform is preparing to “get into” spot bitcoin offerings and that he “feels silly” for having waited this long. As this attitude becomes more common among traditional finance players, we continue to believe that the number of acquirers coming to market for bitcoin infrastructure capabilities will far outstrip the number of available high quality assets.
BlackRock’s 2025 Thematic Outlook notes a “renewed sense of optimism” on bitcoin among the asset manager’s client base due to macro tailwinds and the improving regulatory environment. Elsewhere, BlackRock’s head of digital assets indicated the firm does not view bitcoin as a “risk-on” asset.
MicroStrategy, which was a sub-$1 billion market cap company less than five years ago, briefly breached a $100 billion equity value this week as it continues to aggressively acquire bitcoin. The company now holds nearly 350,000 bitcoin on its balance sheet.
Notably, Allianz SE, Germany’s largest insurer, spoke for 25% of MicroStrategy’s latest $3 billion convertible note offering this week, suggesting growing appetite for bitcoin proxy exposure among more restricted pools of capital.
The ongoing meltdown of fintech middleware provider Synapse has left tens of thousands of customers with nearly 100% deposit haircuts as hundreds of millions in funds remain missing, the latest unfortunate case study in the fragility of much of the US’s legacy banking stack.
Travel
-
BitcoinMENA, Dec 9-10
-
Nashville BitDevs, Dec 10
-
Austin BitDevs, Dec 19
-
-
@ f85b9c2c:d190bcff
2025-05-20 12:51:06
Sometimes I feel like reversing time.
I miss my childhood. Honestly, who wouldn’t? Back then, life was so simple, so carefree. I had no bills to pay, no deadlines to chase, and no worries about what tomorrow might bring. All I had to do was wake up, play, eat, and maybe dodge a beating or two from Mum when I got a little too adventurous😂. Sometimes I feel like reversing time, just to relive those golden days when my biggest problem was figuring out how to sneak a piece of meat from the pot without getting caught.I remember those moments vividly. When I was little, I’d tiptoe into the kitchen, the aroma of Mum’s stew pulling me like a magnet. I’d wait for her to turn her back, then—bam!—my tiny hand would dive into the pot, snagging a juicy piece of meat. Of course, I wasn’t exactly a master thief. Mum always seemed to know. She’d catch me red-handed, and let’s just say her wooden spoon wasn’t just for cooking! I was kinda stubborn back then, so those beatings happened a lot. But I don’t steal meat anymore—grown-up me knows better. Life was different then. My only “job” was to have fun—climbing trees, chasing friends, or making up wild stories in my head. Now, adulthood feels like a never-ending to-do list. I miss the freedom, the laughter, the way problems seemed to vanish with a nap or a hug. If I could, I’d turn back the clock, even just for a day, to feel that lightness again. Childhood wasn’t perfect, but it sure felt like it.
-
@ 472f440f:5669301e
2024-11-05 04:24:47
All eyes are, unsurprisingly, on the US Presidential election. Tomorrow is the big day. I don't want to come off as preachy, however it is pretty clear to me that if you are an American citizen who cares about bitcoin and would like to live under an administration that is eager to embrace the industry as opposed to an administration that is actively hostile toward bitcoin there is only one candidate who deserves your vote; Donald J. Trump. I think he's a better candidate for other reasons, but if you've read this rag for long enough you probably already know what those are. Instead of writing a screed about why I am voting for Trump, let's highlight some things outside of the election that you should be paying attention to this week.
First up, there are two Treasury auctions; $42B of 10-Year notes tomorrow and $25B 30-Year bonds on Wednesday.
It will be interesting to see what the demand for these auctions is and how they affect rates. The long end of the yield curve has been pumping since the Fed's rate cut in the middle of September, which is the market signaling that it does not believe inflation has been appropriately tamed. Yields came down today, but as you can see from the charts things are trending in the wrong direction.
As the Treasury issues new debt at higher rates, the interest expense on that debt, naturally, drifts higher. If the long end of the yield curve doesn't come down aggressively over the course of the next year this is going to be a big problem. There are trillions of dollars worth of Treasury debt that needs the be rolled over in the next few years and it would be advantageous for the Treasury if that debt wasn't being rolled over with yields as high as they are. With the amount of debt the country has accrued in recent decades, every incremental dollar of debt that gets issued and/or rolled over at higher interest rates exacerbates the problem. We are approaching the territory of runaway exponentials, as evidenced by this chart. The growth slope gets steeper and steeper
This debt problem is the elephant in the room that needs to be addressed as quickly as possible. The national debt hit $1.2T in early 1983. It then took 26 years to 10x from $1.2T to $12T in late 2009 and has only taken another 15 years to triple from there to $36T or 30x from the arbitrary base I picked out (Q1 1983).
With this in mind, keep an eye out for these auctions tomorrow and Wednesday, where rates end at the end of trading on Wednesday, and whether or not we officially push over $36T. Regardless of who wins the election tomorrow, this is a problem that needs to be confronted. Whether or not it can be solved at all is up for debate. I don't see how what can be done to reel in this runaway train at this point. However, at the very least, we should acknowledge that we're in the realm of exponentials and have people prepare accordingly by accumulating hard assets that cannot be debased (bitcoin).
The other thing to pay attention to is the FOMC meeting on Wednesday and the announcement of the results of the meeting on Thursday. Will Jerome and the other Fed board members to keep rates where they are, cut, or raise rates? Raising rates seems to be out of the question despite the fact that many believe it would be the most prudent move considering how the long end of the yield curve reacted to the 50bps cut in September. If they decide to cut rates, by how much will they cut them? Will they slow the pace with a 25bps cut or continue at the 50bps clip established in September?
We'll find toward the end of this week. Don't lose sight of these events while the world is enthralled with the elections in the US.
I don't know about you freaks, but I couldn't feel more fortunate that bitcoin exists at a time like this. Having access to a distributed peer-to-peer digital cash system with a fixed supply during a time of incredible political divisiveness and out-of-control runaway sovereign debt feels like a Godsend.
Stay sane out there.
Final thought...
We're going to win.
-
@ 472f440f:5669301e
2024-10-16 01:57:41
Over the last four years bitcoin has, among other things, established itself as an incredible corporate treasury asset that benefits those who adopt it as such. Microstrategy is the shining example of this theme going from a company that was hovering barely above a ~$1B market cap in mid-2020 to a ~$40B market cap company holding more than 1% of the 21,000,000 bitcoin that will ever exist. Microstrategy's success has emboldened a number of other publicly trader companies to follow suit. Bitcoin as a corporate treasury asset is well on its way to becoming a standard. If you run a business that doesn't hold bitcoin on its balance sheet you are doing yourself, your customers and your shareholders a disservice.
This is a trend that has its legs under it and will accelerate moving forward. A trend that I believe will emerge this cycle is incorporating bitcoin into real estate markets. Leon Wankum has been beating the drum about this for the last few years and I had the pleasure of sitting down with him this morning to record an episode of TFTC that will be published tomorrow morning. Leon is a real estate developer in Germany and he has made it his mission to educate and warn others in real estate about the demonetization of real estate that is under way due to the fact that bitcoin exists and it provides a far superior alternative.
These are pretty stark numbers. Nothing highlights the superior monetary properties of bitcoin better than looking at a chart of the average price of a home priced in USD v. bitcoin.
Since 2016: +46% in USD -99% in BTC
Since 2020: +34% in USD -70% in BTC
The funny thing is that an overwhelming majority of the individuals who make their living in real estate markets do not understand that this is happening to them. Many think they are doing exceptionally well all things considered. Sure, there may be a bit of a slow down and price retraction due to a couple of years of relatively elevated interest rates, but don't worry! The Fed is lowering rates again and the good times are about to start back up. Nothing could be further from the truth. This trend is going to continue unabated until bitcoin is fully monetized and those is the real estate industry, particularly real estate developers and those who lend capital to developers, should seriously take the time to understand what is happening to them.
Real estate is the largest store of value asset in the world at the moment. The most common number that is thrown around for the total size of the market is $300 TRILLION. $300 TRILLION of wealth being stored in an asset that is illiquid, comes with maintenance costs, taxes, insurance premiums, and susceptible to extreme weather event, among other things. Compared to bitcoin - which is extremely liquid, saleable, divisible and hard to confiscate, real estate is a far superior asset to store your wealth in. This is something that I'm sure is well understood by many of you reading this letter.
What's less understood is the dynamics of the real estate development market over the last few years, which have been severely hindered by elevated interest rates. The higher interest rate environment coupled with the inflationary pressures that forced rates higher in the first place have put developers in a predicament; they have a higher cost of capital to start new projects with raw material prices that are still much higher than they were before the economic lock downs of 2020-2022. This has led to a scenario where it isn't advantageous to start new projects and the projects that broke ground in 2021-2023 are finding that they need to incur more debt to get their developments across the finish line.
Despite the fact that interest rates are on their way back down, it doesn't seem like the economics of these projects are going to materially improve in the short to medium-term as headline inflation begins to creep back up. Couple this with the fact that the jobs market is cratering while real wages struggle to keep up with inflation and many builders are going to find themselves in a situation where they do actually complete a development problem but their cash flow suffers because their customers can't afford the inflated rents that builders will have to charge to get a return on their outlaid capital. Many will be put in a situation where they are forced to be happy with lower rents (cash flow) or sit on the sidelines making no cash flow.
The post-1971 era that brought with it a booming real estate industry is suffering the same fate as the bond market; the generation bull market is over. Real estate prices may go up, but that will be nothing more than a mirage of wealth creation. The unit of account those prices are built on is in dollars, which are being debased at an accelerating rate. Developers, banks and borrowers need to de-risk their real estate exposure and, as Leon points out, bitcoin is the only way to do this in an effective way.
Moving forward developers will have to finance by dual collateralizing their debt with the real estate and bitcoin. In the graphic below Leon illustrates what this type of financing structure will look like. Instead of taking $10m of debt to finance a project and putting it all into materials, construction and marketing, a developer will take out a $10m loan, put $1m in bitcoin and the rest toward the development project. Over the course of the construction of the real estate project, bitcoin will sit in the credit structure and, if held for 4+ years, should increase significantly in value. Saving the builder from risk of default and providing him some optionality in terms of what he can do with the project once it's finished.
In this scenario downside risk is contained - a developer isn't pouring all of the cash into bitcoin at the beginning so the worst case scenario is that bitcoin goes to zero (highly unlikely) and they can eat the small loss and hope to make up with it via cash flows once a project is finished, while upside potential is enormous. Bitcoin is still monetizing and having exposure to the hardest monetary asset the world has ever while it's monetizing has proven to be massively beneficial.
We are still in the early days of bitcoin and this idea will likely seem absolutely insane to most Tradfi investors, but I strongly believe that developers, banks and end consumers who don't leverage this type of bitcoin structured credit will be cooked in the long-run. And those that take advantage of this type of structure first will be considered geniuses in 20 years.
There are many more nuanced benefits to this strategy; holding bitcoin allows landlords and management companies to weather ongoing maintenance costs throughout the years, those who take out mortgages dual collateralized with a house and bitcoin not only protect the equity value of their property but could see their equity values increase significantly more than others using vanilla mortgages, and builders who accumulate bitcoin in their treasuries will be able to use better raw materials when building, which leads to more valuable properties that cash flow for longer.
Again, it's going to take time for these types of structures to become commonplace in the market, but I firmly believe this cycle will be the cycle that these strategies get off the ground. In four to five years they will have a track record and after that it will be considered irresponsible not to finance real estate in this way. The banks will begin to demand it.
Final thought... Sinus congestion sucks.
-
@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1
2025-05-14 09:48:43
Just another Ecash nutsnote design is a ew template for brrr.gandlaf.com cashu tocken printing machine and honoring Ecash ideator David Lee Chaum. Despite the turn the initial project took, we would not have Ecash today without his pioneering approach in cryptography and privacy-preserving technologies.
A simple KISS (Keep It Super Simple) Ecash nutsnote delivered as SVG, nothing fancy, designed in PenPot, an open source design tool, for slides, presentations, mockups and interactive prototypes.
Here Just another Nutsnote's current state, together with some snapshots along the process. Your feedback is more than welcome.
https://design.penpot.app/#/view?file-id=749aaa04-8836-81c6-8006-0b29916ec156&page-id=749aaa04-8836-81c6-8006-0b29916ec157§ion=interactions&index=0&share-id=addba4d5-28a4-8022-8006-2ecc4316ebb2
originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/979728
-
@ 88cc134b:5ae99079
2025-05-20 12:22:03
content
nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzpkygz22lv3pdey6gr7ygmk67wjh24hdvj3t797mm6z0x3ax4erdhqqsdxy48qm3tces0tu90shwltcg20zsprejkahklwftpzyhytcf32tc9sm779
-
@ 472f440f:5669301e
2024-10-11 14:20:54
As we sprint toward the 2024 US Presidential election the case for using bitcoin as an asset to store value for the long term has never been stronger. The insanity of the incumbent power structure is being laid bare and it is becoming impossible to ignore the headwinds that the Borg faces moving forward.
Yesterday morning and earlier today it became clear that inflation is rearing its head again. Not ideal for the soft landing Jerome Powell and Yellen are signaling to the markets after the first Fed Funds rate cut in years.
It seems like the yield curve predicted this earlier this week when it inverted after a temporary normalizing period after the Fed's rate cut. Futhermore, it is becoming glaringly obvious that running historically high fiscal deficits while interest rates were at multi-decade highs was a pretty bad idea. As James Lavish points out, the data from the CBO earlier this week shows that the US federal government is running a deficit that is 13% higher than it was last year. This is at a time when real wages are still depressed, inflation is still suffocating American consumers and the private sector job market for American citizens is cratering.
Speaking of the job market, the numbers that came in yesterday were worse than expected: The effect of Hurricane Helene should certainly be taken into consideration when looking at this jobs miss. However, even with the miss we know that these numbers have been under reported for years to make the economy seem healthier than it actually is. Even with Helene's effect taken into consideration this print will likely be revised higher 3-6 months from now.
All of this points to a breaking point. A breaking point for the economy and, more importantly, a breaking point for overall confidence in the US government and its ability to operate with any semblance of fiscal responsibility. The chart that Pierre Rochard shares in the tweet at the top of this letter is the only chart that matters for anyone attempting to gauge where we find ourselves on the path to bitcoin realizing its full potential.
There is $133 TRILLION worth of value sitting in global bond markets. Bitcoin is a far superior asset to store one's wealth in. Bond markets are beholden to the whims of the actors who issue those bonds. In the case of the US Treasury market, the largest bond market in the world, the US government. And as we have pointed out above, the US government is recklessly irresponsible when it comes to issuing debt with a complete inability to pay it back on the long-term. Inflation is up, the jobs market is cratering for the native born Americans who actually pay taxes, and the push toward a multi-polar geopolitical landscape is becoming more pronounced by the day. All of this points to a long-term weakening in demand for US treasuries.
The only way out of this mess is to overtly default on this debt or inflate it away. The latter will most certainly be the route that is taken, which positions bitcoin extremely well as people seek the confines of an asset that cannot be debased because it cannot be controlled by a central authority. The levels of sovereign debt in the world are staggering. Do not let the bitcoin price consolidation of the last six months lull you into a state of complacency. Even the results of the Presidential election won't have a material effect on these dynamics. Though, a Donald Trump presidency would certainly be preferable if you prefer to see relatively sane policy enacted that would provide you with time to find safety in bitcoin. But, in regards to this sovereign debt crisis, that is the only benefit you can hope for; more time to prepare. I'll leave you with some thoughts from Porter Stansberry:
"We are about to see the final destruction of the American experiment. Every economist knows this (see below) is correct; but nobody is going to tell you about it. I’ll summarize in plan English: We are fucked.
-
Debt is growing much faster than GD and interest expense is growing much faster than debt; and the real growth in entitlement spending hasn’t even begun yet.
-
Progressive taxation means nobody will ever vote for less spending + the combined size of government employees and dependents, there’s no way for America’s actual taxpayers (about 20m people) to ever win an election, so the spending won’t stop growing and, ironically, inflation will make demands for more spending to grow.
-
Inflation undermines both economic growth and social cohesion. The purple hair man-women weirdos are only the beginning; what comes next is scapegoating jews, blacks, immigrants and a huge increase in violence/domestic terror.
Get ready America. This election has nothing to do with what’s coming. And neither Trump nor Kamala can stop it.
Our experiment in freedom and self-government died in 1971 (when all restraint on government spending was abandoned with the gold standard.) You can only live at the expense of your neighbor until he runs out of money.
And that day is here."
Final thought... I hope my tux still fits for this wedding. Enjoy your weekend, freaks.Use the code "TFTC" for 15% off
-
-
@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1
2025-05-14 06:48:45
Has the architect Greg Chasen considered it when rebuilding the house just one year before the catastrophe? Apparently not! Another of his projects was featured on the Value of Architecture as properties with design integrity.
This is a super interesting subject. The historic character, livability, and modern disaster-resistance is a triangle where you often have to pick just one or two, which leads to some tough decisions that have major impacts on families and communities. Like one of the things he mentions is that the architect completely eliminated plants from the property. That's great for fire resistance, but not so great for other things if the entire town decides to go the same route (which he does bring up later in the video). I don't think there's any objectively right answer, but definitely lots of good (and important) discussion points to be had.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbl_1qfsFXk
originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/979653
-
@ 9be6a199:6e133301
2025-05-20 12:47:14
sadfsflkjsdflkdsjfglksjdfglksdaasdfsdfsdfsdfssdsd
-
@ 472f440f:5669301e
2024-09-25 04:12:35
Last night I had the pleasure of sitting down with Caitlin Long, Founder and CEO of Custodia - a fully reserved bank providing banking services to bitcoin companies, to discuss an affidavit written by Elaine Hetrick of Silvergate Bank. Elaine is the Chief Administrative Officer of Silvergate and wrote an affidavit, a sworn testimony subject to perjury, in which she detailed the events that led to Silvergate voluntarily winding down their business and returning deposits to their customers.
This affidavit is a bombshell because it confirms speculation that Silvergate was solvent in early 2023 and wasn't shut down because of bad risk management on behalf of the bank's management team, but instead was forced to shutter its doors because the Biden Administration, with strong influence from Senator Elizabeth Warren, forced Silvergate's hand because they didn't like that they were banking digital asset companies.
For those who are a bit fuzzy on the details of the narratives that were flying around Silvergate at the time, I'll jog your memory. FTX was a customer of Silvergate's at the time their Ponzi scheme unraveled. As FTX was blowing up, everyone and their mother was scrambling to get their money out of Silvergate because they assumed that since one of the bank's largest counterparties was going bust, the bank must be in trouble too. A sane decision. Especially considering the history of systemically non-important financial institutions this century.
Unless you were paying close attention during this time, you were likely under the impression that Silvergate was a typical fractionally reserved bank that was experiencing a run that led to its inevitable demise. The media made it seem this way. The regulators made it seem this way. And one pompous short seller made it seem this way. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Here are the most important parts of the affidavit:
Silvergate had stabilized, was able to make regulatory capital requirements, and had the capability to continue to serve its customers that had kept their deposits with Silvergate Bank.
Despite this, regulators decided to turn the pressure up and essentially gave Silvergate Bank, and Signature Bank as well, an ultimatum; drastically change your business models immediately by dropping your digital asset customer base or we'll shut you down. There were no hard numbers described in Elaine's testimony, but rumors are that the regulators wanted Silvergate to quickly shrink their exposure to digital asset-related clients to less than 15% of their capital base. At the time, Silvergate's customer base was made up almost entirely of digital asset companies (99.5% to be exact).
The regulators were asking Silvergate to do something that was quite literally impossible given the circumstances. Faced with an impossible task, on March 8th of 2023 Silvergate decided to voluntarily wind down their operations and return deposits back to their customers.
Let's be very clear here, Silvergate did not lose a single penny of customer deposits due to the run on their bank. Management, understanding the volatile nature of the digital asset markets, designed their risk management and capital allocation strategies in a way that would enable them to return dollars to any customer who requested them. And that's exactly what they did when customers came to request their money. They returned EVERY SINGLE PENNY.
This begs the question, "Why did they essentially force Silvergate to shut down?" They seemed to be running a very responsible operation after all. You'd think the regulators would applaud Silvergate's vigilance in risk management on behalf of their customer base. How many banks would have been able to do the same thing if put in the same situation? Probably not many.
The answer to this question is already well known throughout the industry, but Elaine Hetrick's testimony adds some hard evidence that makes it undeniable; Elizabeth Warren, the SEC, the FDIC and the Federal Reserve have been acting in concert to unconstitutionally and extrajudicially target the bitcoin and broader digital asset industry because they do not believe that it should exist. It is a threat to their power structure. The financial system, as it is designed today, gives those who would like to centrally plan the economy and micromanage the lives of American citizens a ton of power. Bitcoin is a threat to that power and they have to do everything in their power to prevent its proliferation.
The targeting of the industry was also confirmed by the aftermath of the NYDFS and FDIC uncharacteristically taking Signature Bank behind the woodshed in the evening of Sunday, March 20th, 2023, despite the fact that Barney Frank and others at the bank were convinced they could handle withdraws come market open the next day.
Signature Bank was ultimately sold to Flagstar Bank. However, they were forced to spin out their digital asset-related accounts before doing so.
This public signaling and sudden regulatory shift made clear that, at least as of the first quarter of 2023, the Federal Bank Regulatory Agencies would not tolerate banks with significant concentrations of digital asset customers, ultimately preventing Silvergate Bank from continuing its digital asset focused business model.
Pretty damning if you ask me. Also, very frustrating and most definitely illegal.
Elizabeth Warren and her gaggle of hall monitors across alphabet soup agencies and the Federal Reserve have been on one massive, unconstitutional, power trip for the last four years. They've besmirched bitcoin and those of us working hard to ensure that the United States of America leads the way forward as bitcoin adoption continues at every turn. Good people striving to make the world a better place.
No one is a better example of this than Alan Lane, the former CEO of Silvergate Bank. I consider Alan a friend and feel supremely confident when I say that he is one of the nicest and thoughtful people I have met in this industry. A man who followed his passion to bring legitimacy and much needed banking services to an industry that the incumbents refused to touch. And he did bring legitimacy. As I explained earlier, Alan and his team understood the volatile nature of the industry and built their firm in a way that took this volatility into account. Silvergate did not fail, they were forced to shut down by Elizabeth Warren and her acolytes at the regulatory agencies.
What's worse, Warren's vendetta against bitcoin and the digital asset industry incited the largest banking crisis this country had seen since 2008. Silvergate and Signature being taken behind the woodshed put everyone on their toes and bank runs started across the country. This led to the failure of First Republic, Silicon Valley Bank and a couple of smaller banks, forced the Fed to step in with their emergency BTFP program, and burdened taxpayers with $40B in FDIC costs that needed to be absorbed as a result. If it weren't for the bailouts things would have gotten completely out of control. All because Elizabeth Warren wants to live in a world in which we are forced to use CBDCs and unable to opt-in to bitcoin.
The euthanasia of Silvergate and Signature are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Chokepoint 2.0.
Caitlin Long and Custodia have been in a years long battle with the Federal Reserve to receive a Fed master account so that they can properly serve their customers. For those who are unaware, Custodia is a full-reserve bank that exist to serve bitcoin and digital asset businesses as well as other adjacent businesses like fintechs, banks and funds. Custodia is a chartered bank and special purpose depository institution that has built custody services so that customers can hold bitcoin within their bank accounts alongside their dollar accounts.
Like Silvergate and Signature, Custodia has been singled out and unlawfully denied a master account with the Fed because the Federal Reserve doesn't want a bank like Custodia to exist. Either because they worry about the ramifications of the introduction of a full-reserve bank into a system dominated by fractional-reserve banks or they simply do not want to see bitcoin succeed. If we're being honest, it's probably a combination of the two.
Despite what we, or anyone else, thinks about the potential effect a bank like Custodia could have on the market if it's granted a master account, the Fed's actions are unconstitutional in this case as well. This was made pretty clear (but yet to be determined by a court) in an amicus brief written by Paul Clement on behalf of Custodia earlier this Summer. The Fed is actively undermining the dual-banking system that was set up in this country to enable competition between state chartered banks and the Federal Reserve system.
In the case of Custodia, the Federal Reserve is exhibiting expansive discretionary power that it has never shown before. Custodia is a state chartered special purpose depository institution in the state of Wyoming. Historically, it would be trivial for this type of state chartered bank to get a master account with the Fed. But for whatever reason (we know the reason) the Fed has been denying Custodia their right to this account for a number of years. To the point where Custodia was forced to sue the Federal Reserve and take their case to the courts.
What's interesting about the saga of Custodia and the Fed is that it has forced Custodia's legal team to dig in and highlight where the Fed is overextending its reach and acting arbitrarily. In the amicus brief that was published in July of this year, Paul Clement argues that the way Federal Reserve Bank presidents are chosen is unconstitutional when you take into consideration the fact the these Fed branch presidents are unilaterally undermining state banking laws by denying master accounts.
If they are going to unilaterally undermine state banking laws they need to be appointed by the President or an official acting on behalf of the Executive Branch. Federal Reserve Bank presidents aren't appointed by the President of the United States or any official acting with the authority of the Executive Branch. Instead, they are appointed by their boards, which are controlled by the privately held commercial banks who own them. The Federal Reserve system is clearly acting unconstitutionally when they deny Custodia from being assigned a master account.
The people in power within the federal government and the Federal Reserve system are actively targeting the bitcoin and digital asset industry, acting extrajudicially and making a mockery of the rule of law in the United States. They are completely out of control and it is important that everyone who cares about the future of bitcoin in the United States and the future of the United States more broadly (even if you don't like bitcoin) speaks out and fights against these totalitarians as vehemently as possible. What they are doing is wrong. It's unconstitutional. And it is putting the future of our country at risk.
If the federal government, the regulators and the Federal Reserve do not get out of the way and let law abiding citizens build the businesses they want and associate with businesses they want, those businesses will go elsewhere and the United States will be set back generations as a result.
It's time to put these people in their place and let it be known that freedom will reign supreme in the Land of the Free. Fight!
Final thought... I promised Parker Lewis that I would do cross fit on Friday morning and I'm using today's final thought as an accountability tool.
-
@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1
2025-05-14 06:12:19
We asked members of the design community to choose an artifact that embodies craft—something that speaks to their understanding of what it means to make with intention. Here’s what they shared.
A vintage puzzle box, a perfectly tuned guitar, an AI-powered poetry camera. A daiquiri mixed with precision. A spreadsheet that still haunts muscle memory. Each artifact tells a story: not just about the thing itself, but about the choices of the creator behind it. What to refine, what to leave raw. When to push forward, when to let go. Whether built to last for generations or designed to delight in a fleeting moment, the common thread is that great craft doesn’t happen by accident. It’s made.
On the application of craft
Even the most experienced makers can benefit from building structure and intention into their practice. From sharpening your storytelling to designing quality products, these pieces offer practical ways to uplevel your craft.
Read more at https://www.figma.com/blog/craft-artifacts/
originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/979644
-
@ 472f440f:5669301e
2024-09-23 22:33:24
While most of the world is focused on the lead up to the Presidential election here in the US and louder war drums being beat across the world, the number of bullish developments that are stacking up for bitcoin is increasing rapidly. These developments deserve the OG Marty's Bent smorgasbord treatments, so here are the things that have caught my attention over the last week in no particular order.
The First Ark Transactions on Bitcoin Mainnet
I had the pleasure of participating in a demo of Second's Ark protocol implementation. For those who are unaware, Ark is a new layer-two protocol solution for making off-chain bitcoin payments. Unlike the lightning network, Ark doesn't depend on liquidity channels to facilitate payments. Within the lightning network two counterparties share UTXOs within a channel to move sats back and forth, nodes connect to many different channels to create a network effect that increases the chance of payments getting routed successfully, and node operators manage their channel liquidity as channel imbalances emerge.
Ark is similar in the sense that it also leverages a shared UTXO model. However, instead of having one-to-one channels that come with liquidity management issues, Ark enables a large amount of individuals to share UTXOs, which are managed by an Ark Service Provider (ASP). The ASP is a central party within the protocol, but it is a central party that does not custody UTXOs. It only coordinates the transfer of sats between Ark "rounds". Users have the ability to unilaterally exit the second-layer protocol whenever they deem necessary by broadcasting a Virtual UTXO (vtxo) transaction.
This may seem daunting and complicated. All you need to know is that there is now an new way to make off-chain bitcoin payments that are fast and relatively cheap and it is possible today. As it stands today, Ark has some scaling limitations that can be solved if covenants get merged into the bitcoin protocol, which would significantly reduce the data requirements for signing this type of transaction.
It should also be noted that Ark isn't here to replace the lightning network. It can help serve different use cases and, at the same time, significantly improve the UX of the lightning network. Particularly channel management. The progression of the Ark protocol is a welcomed development. I look forward to following what's going on with Ark as the protocol matures.
The Kingdom of Bhutan is Stacking A LOT of Sats
We were made aware of the fact that the Kingdom of Bhutan, a small country in the Himalayas with a population less than 1,000,000 people, was mining bitcoin in early 2023 when their sovereign wealth fund was doxxed in the bankruptcy proceedings of BlockFi and Celsius. Don't look now, but Bhutan has been doxxed again, this time by the chain surveillance firm Arkham, which is reporting that the nation currently holds more than 13,000 bitcoin, which is nearly 1/3 of its GDP. Driven predominately by its mining operations, which have expanded significantly over the last two years in an attempt to monetize the country's excess hydroelectric power.
While we're not big fans of doxxing here at TFTC, we are fans of the game theory of bitcoin playing out in front of our eyes. And the Kingdom of Bhutan is a shining example of the game theory bitcoiners have been talking about for 15 years playing out perfectly.
Bitcoin is a very thorny topic for individuals at every layer of society. At the individual layer, people have to independently decide that bitcoin is a better money and they have to actively decide to store their wealth in it instead of other assets. For companies, the decision to use bitcoin as the preferred savings vehicle is even harder because most businesses have multiple stakeholders that need to align on a decision before making it. When you move up to the nation state level, the complexity of making the decision to add bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset gets even harder. Many more people and different branches of government need to agree and pass bills (in most cases) before bitcoin can ever make it into a nation's treasury asset mix.
It has long been said within bitcoin circles that individuals who have the ability to think independently, companies that have a lean corporate structure, and nation states with little to lose will be the first movers into bitcoin. And they will benefit massively over the long-run for being early.
If you're an individual reading this who is using bitcoin as their money of choice, you are one of these early movers. Microstrategy under Michael Saylor, who has the ability to make somewhat unilateral decisions due to the company's share structure, is an early move. And, Bhutan, a small nation in the Himalaya mountains with a sovereign wealth fund that seems to have the ability to take risk, is an early mover. With little to lose and greatness to gain, Bhutan is giving other small nation states the playbook for leap frogging the competition in the digital age. Stack a shit ton of bitcoin on the DL, hold on to it for a considerable amount of time, and wake up one day as an economic powerhouse.
The Fed Cuts Rates by 50 Basis Points
I'm sure all of you are well aware at this point. Last week the Federal Reserve made it's first rate cuts in over four years when it cut the fed funds target rate by 0.50% to 4.75-5.00%. With the economy reeling despite what the official government and mainstream narrative may try to make you believe, Jerome Powell and crew have decided it is time to ease up on their monetary policy.
Put another way, inflation is likely to come back with a vengeance as easy money begins to reenter the economy. To be clear, a lower fed funds rate doesn't technically necessitate that newly printed dollars enter the economy like they have over the last 15 years via operations like quantitative easing. However, one has to imagine that the Fed sees some sort of liquidity crisis on the horizon that requires them to begin cutting rates. And not only cutting, but cutting at a pace that was very low probability only a couple of months ago. The consensus in the middle of the Summer was that the Fed would begin lowering rates with a modest 25bps cut this month. They doubled that.
It's probably safe to assume that something is approaching a breaking point on the back end of the financial system. One only has to look at record high credit card debt, record low savings rates, the state of the job market for native born Americans, and the continued turn over of commercial real estate markets to see that not all is well in the American economy. Your Uncle Marty's spidey senses are signaling that a liquidity crunch is likely lurking around the corner. When it does rear its ugly head, you can expect quantitative easing to make a big come back.
When money printer goes brrr, bitcoin goes berserk.
It seems that the Treasury's move over the last 18-months of over-indexing on the front end of the curve during their auctions is already having an expansionary effect on M2 as it has officially entered expansion territory for the first time since 2022. Hold on to your butts, freaks.
Bitcoin's fundamentals are only getting stronger as time goes on. This is evidenced by continued improvement to the protocol stack via second layer protocols, continued adoption by reputable actors like the Kingdom of Bhutan, and the continued mismanagement of the fiat monetary system.
The price of bitcoin has been range bound since the Spring and it has lulled the market into a state of boredom. Enjoy the boring period while it lasts. All signs are pointing to a bitcoin bull run the likes of which the world hasn't seen before. There is a lot of tinder, it is extremely dry, and there are flame throwers on the horizon.
Final thought... Nothing makes me happier than meeting someone who gets value from this newsletter or the podcasts in the wild. Love you, freaks.
-
@ 9be6a199:6e133301
2025-05-20 12:46:43
sadfsflkjsdflkdsjfglksjdfglksdaasdfsdfsdfsdfssdsd
-
@ a296b972:e5a7a2e8
2025-05-20 12:22:00
Die Natur strebt nach einem Gleichgewicht durch Ausgleich von nicht zueinander passenden Verhältnissen. Die Gesellschaft ist ein sozialer Organismus, der ebenso nach Ausgleich und einer Stimmigkeit der Verhältnisse strebt. Das sind Naturgesetze, die keine Regierung auf Dauer imstande ist, außer Kraft zu setzen.
Weder oppositionelle Kräfte, noch Kräfte innerhalb des Souveräns haben die Absicht, die Demokratie abzuschaffen. Es geht vielmehr darum, sie wieder in der Form herzustellen, in der sie ihren Namen auch verdient. Dazu gehört, dass alle Macht vom Volke ausgeht, was derzeit nicht der Fall ist.
Ein durch den Staat vorgegebenes Bildungssystem hat Menschen vor allem zu gefügigen Rädchen im Wirtschaftsgetriebe und nicht zu alles kritisch hinterfragenden Bürgern erzogen, die ständig der Regierung auf die Finger schauen.
Wenn die Bürger, der Souverän, eine Regierung immer mehr „machen lässt“ und glaubt, es sei genug, alle 4 Jahre sein Wahl-Kreuzchen zu machen, entfernt er sich immer mehr von der Kontrolle der durch ihn beauftragten Vertreter, und diese entfernen sich so immer mehr vom Alltag der Bürger.
Zu wenig Gegenrede des Souveräns führt zu immer mehr Übermut der Regierung, die sich immer sicherer wird, mit jedem Unsinn durchzukommen.
Ist dann die Schmerzgrenze des Souveräns erreicht, beginnt er, die Opposition zu stärken. In einer funktionierenden Demokratie würde das dazu führen, dass die Opposition die Regierung bildet, die dann die Chance hat, Fehlentwicklungen abzustellen und ausgleichend tätig zu werden.
Derzeit findet sowohl beim Souverän, als auch bei den Parteien, die bisher Regierungen zusammengestellt haben, ein Erwachen statt.
Da die ehemaligen Volks-Parteien unbedingt an der Macht festhalten wollen, seitens des Souveräns auf zu wenig Widerstand stoßen, wird mit der Macht, einer Demokratie nicht würdig, umgegangen. Dem sollte dringend Einhalt geboten werden.
Der Missbrauch äußert sich in brutalen (Lieblingswort der Ex-Außen-Dings) Einschränkungen der Grundrechte (Corona-Zeit), in der Einschränkung der Meinungsfreiheit (D S A), in Tendenzen zunehmender Kontrolle und Überwachung, Förderung von Denunzianten-Portalen, Kapern des öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunks, Förderung von NGOs, die als Sprechpuppen genutzt werden. Besetzt von Menschen, die entweder tatsächlich überzeugt sind von dem, was sie ideologisch vertreten, oder die über Charaktereigenschaften verfügen, die noch sehr viel Optimierungspotenzial in sich bergen. Gepaart mit fachlicher Inkompetenz ist das ein gefährlicher Cocktail.
Erst jüngst sogar durch Ausreiseverbote, wie in einem Staat, mit dem man das derzeitige Deutschland nicht vergleichen darf. So groß ist inzwischen schon die Angst geworden, die Kontrolle über die Macht zu verlieren. Alles, was an Kritik geäußert werden will, gilt als Delegitimierung des Staates. Auf keinen Fall darf sie im Ausland geäußert werden, damit es ja nichts davon mitbekommt, was in Deutschland abgeht. Das ist so wie ein Kind, dass sich die Hände vor die Augen hält und meint, es würde nicht gesehen werden.
Die Regierung ist übergriffig geworden. Je lauter sie Demokratie schreit, desto totalitärer wird sie.
Durch fehlende Kontrolle des Souveräns sind charakterlich und fachlich ungeeignete Personen in die Politik gelangt, deren ständige Überforderung dazu führt, dass sich deren Entscheidungen immer weiter von der Lebensrealität des Souveräns entfernen.
Bislang haben rund 25% des Souveräns diese Schieflage erkannt und wollen einer Opposition, die so stark geworden ist, weil die Alt-Parteien über Jahre Fehler an Fehler aneinandergereiht haben, die Gelegenheit geben, diese Fehler zu beheben und auszugleichen. Offen bleibt die Frage, ob sie dazu wirklich in der Lage sind, oder ob die Gefahr besteht, dass sie von einem möglicherweise grundsätzlich kranken System vereinnahmt werden.
Da es seitens der Alt-Parteien keine Einsicht gibt, dass sie in der Regierung nicht mehr den Willen des Souveräns vertreten, derzeit auch besonders gut zu sehen an dem Friedenswillen des Souveräns im Vergleich zur Kriegstreiberei der Regierung, bleibt nur, der Opposition zumindest die Chance zu geben, es besser zu machen und den Willen des Souveräns umzusetzen. Gelänge das nicht, ist die Demokratie, wie wir sie bislang verstanden haben, gescheitert.
Eine daraus resultierende Staatsform stünde dem Freiheitsgedanken diametral gegenüber.
Die Verteidigung von Unseredemokratie seitens der Regierung entlarvt das eigentliche, was damit gemeint ist, nämlich die Erhaltung der eigenen Macht, verbunden mit allen Vorzügen und Privilegien. Sie richtet sich gegen das eigene Volk, das mit einer ganz normal funktionierenden Demokratie schon sehr zufrieden wäre. Unseredemokratie ist nicht unsere Demokratie!
In Anlehnung an die berühmt gewordene Lüge Walter Ulbrichs: „Niemand hat die Absicht eine Mauer zu errichten“, hat derzeit niemand die Absicht, die sogenannte Brandmauer einzureißen, bzw. sie so lange stehen zu lassen, wie es eben geht, um die herrschenden Machtverhältnisse so lange wie möglich aufrechtzuerhalten. Die Geschichte hat jedoch zum Glück gezeigt, dass selbst eine Berliner Mauer nicht ewig hält.
Wie sich aus dem absurd-lächerlichen Gutachten, einer der Regierung gegenüber weisungsgebundenen Behörde herausgestellt hat, gibt es keinerlei Anzeichen dafür, dass die Opposition die demokratische Grundordnung weder gefährden noch beseitigen will.
Da die ehemaligen Volksparteien augenscheinlich nicht in der Lage sind, politische, wirtschaftliche und gesellschaftliche Verhältnisse zum Wohle des Deutschen Volkes herzustellen, ist der demokratische Weg, die Opposition hierzu zu ermächtigen.
Wird das weiterhin verhindert, wird der Unmut des Souveräns weiter zunehmen, und spätestens, wenn die zunehmenden Schikanen die Schmerzgrenze überschritten haben, wird der Souverän nach geeigneten Mitteln und Möglichkeiten suchen, diese Schieflage zu beheben und auszugleichen.
Derzeit stehen sich ein in der Zahl und im Befinden zunehmend unzufrieden werdender Souverän und eine immer absurdere Entscheidungen treffende Regierung im lebendigen Tauziehen um Interessen gegenüber. Je mehr Bockmist die Alt-Parteien bauen, um so stärker wird die Opposition.
Aufgrund der jetzt schon vorhandenen Anzahl wacher Bürger und der Anzahl der in der Politik Unfähigen, ist eigentlich schon jetzt klar, wer in diesem Tauziehen die größere Kraft hat und wer das „Spiel“ nach demokratischen Regeln am Ende gewinnen wird. Das ist eindeutig der Souverän. Verliert er, wider Erwarten, verliert auch die Demokratie.
Dem Souverän fehlt nur noch ein wenig mehr Selbstvertrauen und ein Bewusstsein für die Macht, über die er tatsächlich verfügt.
Je mehr absurde Entscheidungen seitens der Regierung getroffen werden, und man arbeitet ja sehr fleißig daran, besonders, wenn es um Frieden geht, desto stärker wird das Selbstbewusstsein des Souveräns werden und ein natürlicher, friedlicher Ausgleich der Schieflage kann stattfinden. Der Start der neuen Regierung war jedenfalls schon einmal sehr "Keine-4-Jahre".
Wer sich in die steile und eisglatte Abfahrtspiste Deutschlands vertiefen will, hier eine Rezension zu dem Buch „Im Taumel des Niedergangs“ von dem von mir sehr geschätzten und akribisch arbeitenden Uwe Froschauer:
https://www.manova.news/artikel/abwarts
oder
Dieser Artikel wurde mit dem Pareto-Client geschrieben
* *
(Bild von pixabay)
-
@ 472f440f:5669301e
2024-09-18 02:15:29
As I'm sure many of you are aware already, Israel executed an attack on thousands of Hezbollah members in Lebanon earlier today. At the moment, it looks like Israel successfully waged a supply chain attack on the pagers used by Hezbollah members. Intercepting the devices and placing highly explosive material on the batteries that could be triggered remotely by raising the temperature of the batteries.
To my knowledge, this is the first time an attack of this nature and of this scale has ever been waged. This is a very serious and dangerous precedent that should make anyone reading this think long and hard about the ramifications of the normalization of this type of warfare.
It's not clear to me yet whether this is exactly what happened, but this seems to be where all of the reports are pointing. And when you consider the scale of this operation, it is hard to think of alternative ways that this could have been achieved outside of corrupting the supply chain of this particular pager. Regardless, the die has been cast and remote detonation attacks in crowded civilian areas has been battle tested as an appropriate war tactic.
Not only does this set a terrible precedent for war, but it also begs the question; if they can do something like this with a relatively dumb pager, how much damage could they do with something like an iPhone? How vulnerable are the billions of people who hold smartphones in their pockets, or drive internet connected electric vehicles with lithium ion batteries? How trivial was it for Mossad to gain access to these devices and at what part of the supply chain? Now that this attack has been deemed to be "on the table" how long will it take before others begin to wage similar attacks?
War tactics and their costs are rapidly changing right before our eyes. The war between Russia and Ukraine is showing that low cost drones strapped with bombs can be very effective weapons that can do damage to military equipment worth anywhere between tens of millions to billions of dollars. The Houthi rebels have used cheap drones to completely disrupt the Suez Canal for the better part of a year. The world has only seen the tip of the iceberg in regards to how this type of technology can be used at scale to tip the leverage of power towards those with less financial resources, but a willingness to engage in kinetic conflict. Some of these drones are strapped with thermite flame throwers!
Now that new information has been brought to the market - you can turn pagers and (likely) cellular phones into a network of improvised explosive devices via a software push that increases the temperature of the devices' batteries - it is only a matter of time before others figure out how to do it and begin using these tactics themselves. War machines have never been easier and cheaper to deploy. In a world that is becoming increasingly fractured and angry, this is absolutely frightening. Asymmetric warfare as predicted in the Sovereign Individual is upon us.
As it relates to bitcoin hardware, these attacks highlight that an attack that has been long talked about in the industry but not yet exploited to the best of our knowledge is very real. Supply chain attacks, particularly on bitcoin signing devices that store private key information, have just been proven to be very possible by motivated state actors. If a nation state wanted to somehow "prove" that bitcoin is insecure or figure out a low effort way to do a mass confiscation of bitcoin all they have to do is successfully attack the supply chain of a hardware manufacturer, corrupt the devices, and let them flow to the hands of individuals who believe they are securing their bitcoin in the best way possible. The best way to mitigate this risk is to hold you bitcoin in a multi-sig wallet using a quorum of keys produced by different hardware produced by different manufacturers. Companies like Unchained make this process as seamless and possible and supply chain attacks like the one that was laid bare today highlight why these collaborative custody models are so important. Especially if you are holding a large amount of wealth in bitcoin.
This is a sad day for the world. I'll be praying for peace and sanity to prevail.
Final thought... That was a terrible loss by the Birds.
-
@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1
2025-05-14 05:56:15
Shanghai: Bus Stops Here
A new crowd-sourced transit platform allows riders to propose, vote on, and activate new bus lines in as little as three days.
From early-morning school drop-offs to seniors booking rides to the hospital, from suburban commuters seeking a faster link to the metro to families visiting ancestral graves, Shanghai is rolling out a new kind of public bus — one that’s designed by commuters, and launched only when enough riders request it.
Branded “DZ” for dingzhi, or “customized,” the system invites residents to submit proposed routes through a city-run platform. Others with similar travel needs can opt in or vote, and if demand meets the threshold — typically 15 to 20 passengers per trip — the route goes live.
More than 220 DZ routes have already launched across all 16 city districts. Through an online platform opened May 8, users enter start and end points, preferred times, and trip frequency. If approved, routes can begin running in as little as three days.
Continue reading at https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1017072
originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/979637
-
@ 472f440f:5669301e
2024-09-12 03:17:07
TAPS SIGN
"There is no industry in the world that is more ruthlessly competitive than the bitcoin mining industry."
From any angle you cut it the bitcoin mining economic landscape is absolutely BRUTAL at the moment. Hashprice is sitting right above an all time low at $0.04/TH/day. Yesterday brought with it yet another new difficulty all time high. Competition for energy resources is as fierce as it has ever been as rack space continues to be tight in the United States and hoards of AI data centers move in to scoop up as much power as possible.
To make matters worse, with current economics it doesn't really make sense to buy bitcoin mining machines at their current prices. The pay back period on machines is absurd considering where we find ourselves in the market. Adam O from Upstream Data broke it down in a tweet earlier today.
As he says, it probably makes more sense to buy used machines than new machines right now if you are looking to make back your money on a reasonable timeline. The only reasons you would buy new hardware right now is if you believe the price is going to rip in the near term (risky bet), you think hashrate is going to come off the network (risky bet), or if you have obscenely low power costs (unlikely for most).
If you have machines plugged in or are thinking about plugging them in soon you better be running firmware that enables you to run your machines more efficiently to increase margins. With current economics, I would make the argument that it is incredibly irresponsible to be running your machines using stock firmware. Especially if you are operating a miner in the public markets or are a private miner backed by investors. It is a disservice to your shareholders. This is a strategy we have been deploying at Cathedra for years now and it has helped us to survive during these trying times in the mining industry and set us up to successfully complete a strategic merger with Kungsleden at an opportune time.
On that note, this is a trend you can expect to pick up over the next six months; mergers and acquisitions. We wrote earlier this year that M&A activity would pick up after the halving began to eat into the economics of mining businesses and that is exactly what is happening. We decided to move early at Cathedra to get ahead of the curve. Since then Cleanspark announced a merger with GRIID, Riot has initiated an attempted hostile takeover of Bitfarms, Bitfarms has entered an agreement to merge with Stronghold, and Terawulf has signaled that they are open to a merger if a particular deal makes sense. On top of this, Rhodium slipped into bankruptcy last month. As margins continue to be squeezed and companies get more desperate I expect this type of consolidation to accelerate.
All signs are pointing toward more pain in the world of mining in the near term. There is nothing outside of a face ripping rally in the price of bitcoin or some unforeseen event that knocks out a material amount of hashrate that will change this reality. Especially considering the fact that Bitmain announced a new hydro model that will produce 860 TH/s at ~13 J/TH! This will be the highest hashing, most energy efficient machine to ever hit the market by a considerable margin.
Once these machines hit the market (if they haven't already via Bitmain plugging them in, which could explain new difficulty all time highs despite terrible mining conditions) every other machine on the market is going to suffer economically.
To make matters worse for everyone struggling right now, savvy energy producers are beginning to understand the benefits bitcoin mining can bring to their operational stack. Japanese energy giant TEPCO is reportedly planning to scale up their mining operations after beginning pilots in late 2022. They want to utilize the excess energy produced by renewable sources to mine bitcoin. From what I can tell, they haven't scaled up significantly yet. However, it is reasonable to believe that they will scale up and other energy producers will take notice. Pushing the industry closer to its inevitable end state; vertical integration via energy producers who have the lowest cost of production.
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. Keep hashing if you can.
Final thought...
The pets need protecting.
-
@ 9be6a199:6e133301
2025-05-20 12:46:20
sadfsflkjsdflkdsjfglksjdfglksdaasdfsdfsdfsdfs
-
@ 04c3c1a5:a94cf83d
2025-05-13 16:49:23
Testing Testing Testing
This is just a test this is just a test this is just a test This is just a test this is just a test this is just a test This is just a test this is just a test this is just a test This is just a test this is just a test this is just a test This is just a test this is just a test this is just a test This is just a test this is just a test this is just a test This is just a test this is just a test this is just a test
nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7etyv4hzumn0wd68ytnvv9hxgqg7waehxw309anx2etywvhxummnw3ezucnpdejz7ur0wp6kcctjqqspywh6ulgc0w3k6mwum97m7jkvtxh0lcjr77p9jtlc7f0d27wlxpslwvhau
| | | | | ------------------------ | - | - | | Quick'hthbdoiwenweuifier | | | | 1. Little | | |
ghtgehg
gwefjieqhf
MUCH BETTER
-
@ 91bea5cd:1df4451c
2025-05-20 12:16:57
Contexto e início
O precursor direto do avivamento foi William J. Seymour, um pregador afro-americano filho de ex-escravos, influenciado pelos ensinamentos de Charles Parham, que pregava o "batismo no Espírito Santo" com evidência do falar em línguas.
Em 1906, Seymour foi convidado para pregar em uma igreja em Los Angeles. Após ser rejeitado por alguns por sua pregação sobre o batismo com o Espírito Santo, ele começou a liderar reuniões de oração na casa da família Asberry. Em abril de 1906, durante uma dessas reuniões, os participantes começaram a experimentar manifestações intensas do Espírito Santo, incluindo glossolalia (falar em línguas), curas e profecias.
A Rua Azusa
Logo, o número de participantes cresceu tanto que foi necessário mudar para um antigo prédio da Igreja Metodista Africana Episcopal, no número 312 da Rua Azusa, no centro de Los Angeles. Esse local se tornou o epicentro do avivamento.
Características marcantes
Cultos espontâneos e fervorosos, muitas vezes sem ordem pré-definida.
Diversidade étnica e social: negros, brancos, latinos, asiáticos, ricos e pobres adoravam juntos — algo radical para os padrões da época.
Ênfase nas manifestações espirituais, como línguas, curas, visões e profecias.
Igualdade de gênero e raça no ministério, com mulheres e homens de diversas origens pregando e liderando.
Impacto
O avivamento da Rua Azusa marcou o nascimento e expansão global do pentecostalismo, hoje uma das maiores forças do cristianismo mundial. Missionários saíram de Azusa para várias partes do mundo, levando a mensagem pentecostal. Movimentos como as Assembleias de Deus e Igreja do Evangelho Quadrangular têm raízes nesse avivamento.
Tensão e Interpretação entre Reformistas e Pentecostalistas
Evangelhos e Atos
João Batista profetiza: “Ele vos batizará com o Espírito Santo e com fogo” (Mateus 3:11).
Em Atos 2, no Pentecostes, os discípulos falam em línguas e recebem poder (Atos 1:8; 2:4).
Outros episódios: Atos 10 (Casa de Cornélio) e Atos 19 (Éfeso).
Cartas Paulinas
Paulo não relaciona diretamente o “batismo com o Espírito” ao falar em línguas. Em 1 Coríntios 12:13 ele diz: “Pois em um só Espírito todos nós fomos batizados em um corpo”.
A glossolalia aparece como um dom entre outros, mas não como evidência obrigatória (1 Coríntios 12:30).
Tensão
Pentecostais veem o batismo com o Espírito como uma segunda experiência após a conversão, evidenciada por línguas. Reformados geralmente interpretam que o batismo com o Espírito ocorre na conversão e que línguas não são obrigatórias ou cessaram com os apóstolos.
Reformadores e o Batismo com o Espírito Santo
Martinho Lutero, João Calvino e outros reformadores não falavam em línguas nem davam ênfase a experiências carismáticas.
Cessacionismo: Doutrina comum entre reformados que diz que os dons sobrenaturais (línguas, profecias, curas) cessaram com a era apostólica.
Continuação (posição pentecostal): Os dons continuam hoje.
Filmes / Documentários
“Azusa Street: The Origins of Pentecostalism” (2006) – Documentário com imagens históricas e entrevistas.
“Wesley” (2009) – Biografia de John Wesley, precursor do metodismo e influência indireta no pentecostalismo.
“The Cross and the Switchblade” (1970) – História de David Wilkerson e a conversão de Nicky Cruz; enfatiza a obra do Espírito.
Série “God in America” (PBS) – Episódio sobre o pentecostalismo (não só Azusa, mas seu impacto cultural).
-
@ e5272de9:a16a102f
2024-09-10 19:13:30
What is the Grapevine?
The Grapevine enables you and your community to identify who is the most trustworthy, and in what context, to curate content, facts, and information.
In this article we present an overview of the Grapevine Worldview, a visualization tool and control panel for the management of your grapevine.
How does the grapevine work?
The construction of a Grapevine Worldview can be broken down into the following steps:
Step 1. Decide what question you want to answer or the problem you want to solve. For example: curate a directory of nostr apps. The finished product will be a ranked list, G, of items that may be pubkeys or could be something else, e.g. products from an eCommerce site.
Step 2. Select whatever sources of raw data (usually from within nostr, but in theory, could come from outside nostr) that are both 1) available to you and 2) relevant to the question or problem. (See Table: Sources of Raw Data at [1].)
Step 3. Translate each data source into a format suitable for consumption by the grapevine through the process of interpretation (see [1]).
Step 4. Crunch the numbers using the GrapeRank equations. Each purple arrow in the Worldview represents a single iteration. If the arrow loops around in a circle, iterations repeat until convergence. The finished product will be a list G of items, ranked by GrapeRank score.
Step 5: Consume the list G in whatever way you see fit. If the product is a ranked list of pubkeys, it may be used to curate a feed or you may use it as part of the curation process within other Worldviews.
The Worldview is designed to give a big picture overview of the entire above process. In this post I will walk though a simple example of a hypothetical Grapevine Worldview, designed around the problem of how to curate a list of nostr apps.
Example Worldview: Curation of Nostr Apps
The Worldview in the above figure is designed for a specific purpose: to manage a list of nostr apps. [2]
Each node G on the worldview represents a table of items, each of which is associated with a contextual GrapeRank score, calculated using the GrapeRank algorithm. The blue nodes represent tables of pubkeys, and the grey node represents a list of non-pubkey items, in this case the list of nostr apps.
Each edge (purple arrow) is associated with an array R of ratings r, each of which must follow the Grapevine Ratings format. Each R is generated from raw ratings data that can be from any source, in any format. Multiple categories of data can be merged into a single dataset R. For each R, and for each category of raw data that contributes to R, an explicit Interpretation must be provided.
If we look from left to right in the above figure, we can see information processed through the following stages:
Stage 1: Follows and mutes (raw ratings data) is used to curate G_o: a table of pubkeys that are (probably) not bots or other bad actors
Stage 2: NIP-51 lists entitled "Nostr Devs" (raw data) is used to curate G_devs. Note that authors of these lists are filtered and weighted using G_o from the previous stage.
Stage 3: Content authored by G_devs is used to curate G_nostrApps, the list of Nost Apps.
The source of potential items to initialize the list G_nostrApps is unspecified in the worldview, but one possibility would be to make use of Nostr forms, as seen at formstr.
The content used to initialized R_nostrApps used in stage 3 is also left unspecified. One possibility would be to use NIP-32 labels to endorse submitted items as belonging / not belonging on the list. Anyone could submit labels, but only pubkeys represented in G_0 or G_devs will be given a voice, and that voice will be proportional to that pubkey's influence score. The relative thickness of the two purple arrows leading to the G_nostrApps node on the right tells us that nostr developers are given a louder voice in the final curation of G_nostrApps.
Values and choices of the end-user
The Grapevine Worldview places the values and choices of the end user center stage. These choices are manifest in several ways: * the choice of raw data: what is included, what data is available but ignored * the specifics of the interpretation of each category of raw data into a list R of individual ratings r * the overall topology of the Worldview, including the choices of which G's to incorporate * the demonstrated willingness to expend computational energy on any given aspects of the above. For now, the computational energy will be trivial. At some point, the energy expenditure will have a nontrivial cost.
Summary
The Grapevine Worldview is a visual overview and a control panel for the process leading up to the curation of some category of content by your grapevine. Construction of any given worldview includes decisions on who should be trusted to curate what. These decisions may or may not be the same from one end user to another.
Each user can manage multiple Worldviews, each one of which is purposed for the curation of a given G. And the output of one Worldview, G, can be consumed by a different Worldview.
Current efforts are directed at creating an open source library for the GrapeRank equations. Next step will be back end services that partner with relays and will enable generation of G_0, the Grapevine Network of "not-bot" pubkeys. We anticipate that future work will build out the front end control panel for Worldviews, including control panels for the interpretation of additional data sources and curation of lists like nostr apps as in the example above.
Notes
[1] https://njump.me / naddr1qvzqqqr4gupzpef89h53f0fsza2ugwdc3e54nfpun5nxfqclpy79r6w8nxsk5yp0qqxnzdejx5urzwp58qcrgdp4dutxqa
[2] Currently, various lists of nostr apps are maintained, e.g. at Awesome Nostr by (Aljaz Ceru?), or at nostrapps.com by (Karnage?).
-
@ 5391098c:74403a0e
2025-05-13 16:47:48
(Textículo em prosa erudita sobre a Ideologia Anarco-Capitalista-Cristã)
https://davipinheiro.com/01-escravos-da-cara-inchada/
A cultura #Woke apropriou-se da imagem sobre a #escravidão. Quando uma pessoa aculturada imagina um #escravo, vem em sua mente a imagem de um ser humano negro, magro e flagelado. Para quem enxerga além das cortinas da mentira, vem em sua mente a imagem de um ser humano de qualquer etnia, gordo e doente.
Democracia, péssimo regime de governo assim classificado pelo seu próprio idealizador: Platão em A República, é o grito da hienas de dentes arreganhados para ampliação do regime escravocrata fomentado pelos #GlobalistasSatanistas.
Um escravo da cara inchada é todo aquele ser humano ignorante inconsciente que alimenta esse sistema em troca de intoxicantes como flúor¹, cloro, glutamato monosódico, gordura trans, corantes, conservantes, refrigerantes, bebidas alcoólicas, psicotrópicos e remédios sintomáticos, tudo embrulhado com mentiras reiteradas.
Como consequência, após os 18 anos de idade o corpo do #EscravoDaCaraInchada sucumbe à tamanha intoxicação e passa a inchar, sendo fisicamente perceptível sua condição de escravo da cara inchada tanto à olho nú quando por reconhecimento facial de qualquer pseudo inteligência artificial.
O círculo vicioso da #EscravidaoDemocratica é tão simples e tosco como o “pão e circo romano”, Mesmo assim é muito difícil para o escravo da cara inchada perceber a própria condição tamanha é sua intoxicação física e mental.
Se um Anarco-Capitalista-Cristão (#Ancapcristão) chega para um escravo da cara inchada e explica sobre esses intoxicantes como instrumento de escravização, dificilmente o escravo da cara inchada irá acreditar pois diferentemente do antigo e aposentado chicote, o novo instrumento da escravidão não dói de imediato e os próprios efeitos da intoxicação impedem-no de raciocinar com clareza.
Portanto, para que os #GlobalistasSatanistas obtivessem sucesso na democratização da escravidão, tiveram que criar um chicote químico e uma ideologia favorável. Quanto às etapas utilizadas para formação dessa ideologia no inconsciente coletivo passo a elencar as 6 grandes mentiras em ordem cronológica:
(1ª etapa) Iluminismo: distanciamento de #Deus e seus ensinamentos, criação de sociedades secretas, exacerbação do ser humano perante o criador na tentativa de projetar o ser humano como seu próprio deus, tornando-o responsável sobre os rumos naturais do planeta. Assim formou-se a base ideológica para o materialismo, ambientalismo, feminismo, controle populacional e ideologia de gêneros;
(2ª etapa) Materialismo: perda do propósito espiritual e do sentido da vida², o que passa a importar são apenas as coisas materiais, acima inclusive do próprio ser humano. A perpetuação da espécie também fica em segundo plano. Assim formou-se a base ideológica para o ambientalismo, feminismo, controle populacional e ideologia de gêneros;
(3ª etapa) Ambientalismo: redução do ser humano à mero câncer do planeta superlotado, atribuído-lhe a responsabilidade por qualquer desastre natural. Assim formou-se a base ideológica para o controle populacional e ideologia de gêneros;
(4ª etapa) Feminismo: enfraquecimento do ser humano por meio da sua divisão em duas categorias: macho e fêmea, os quais são inimigos e não cooperadores. A ideia de igualdade de gêneros é tão antagônica que beira ao conflito cognitivo³: Eles querem separar para dizer que são iguais... Ora, como não pode haver diferenças entre os gêneros se eles são fisicamente e mentalmente diferentes? Nesse diapasão, mesmo não sendo os estados nacionais os arquitetos da escravidão democrática e sim meros fantoches dos globalistas satanistas, o voto feminino foi fundamental para aprovação de leis misândricas com o fito de acelerar a destruição da base familiar do escravo da cara inchada. Importante mencionar que a base familiar dos globalistas satanistas continua sendo patriarcal. Assim formou-se a base ideológica para o controle populacional e ideologia de gêneros;
(5ª etapa) Controle Populacional: “Crescei e multiplicai-vos” é o caralho, Deus não sabe de nada (Iluminismo), o que importa é o dinheiro e filho é caro (Materialismo), para que colocar mais um ser humano nesse planeta doente e superlotado (Ambientalismo), além disso o sexo oposto é meu inimigo (Feminismo). Essa é base ideológica que antecede a ideologia de Controle Populacional, ainda reforçada pela apologia à castração, já que em todas as mídias produzidas com patrocínio oculto de capital globalista satanista tentam normalizar a castração do homem (perda da capacidade de reprodução) desde em desenhos infantis até grandes produções cinematográficas, ora em tom de humor ora em tom de tortura. Assim os escravos da cara inchada do sexo masculino perderam sua identidade, essência e desejo de ser o que são, formando-se a base ideológica para o homossexualismo, ou seja, para a ideologia de gêneros.
(6ª etapa) Ideologia de Gêneros: É a cereja do bolo para os planos do Diabo (Anjo invejoso de Deus que quer destruir a maior criação: nós). Enquanto os globalistas satanistas, dentro de sua sábia ignorância, acreditam estarem chefiando a democratização da escravidão, na verdade também não passam de meros fantoches do Anjo Caído. Com a sexta e última etapa de mentiras para extinção da humanidade (#apocalipse) posta em prática através da Ideologia de Gêneros, fecha-se o ciclo vicioso de mentiras que se auto justificam: Se #Deus não presta, o que vale são os bens materiais, o ser humano é um câncer no planeta, o sexo oposto é inimigo e ter filhos é uma péssima ideia e ser homem másculo é crime, então ser #homossexual é a melhor opção, inclusive vamos castrar os meninos antes da puberdade sem o consentimento dos pais ou mães solo. Aqui também há uma grande bifurcação do círculo vicioso de mentiras, qual seja o gritante conflito cognitivo³: Se todos os homens deixarem de ser másculos, quem vai comer os #gays afeminados? Ou se todas as mulheres deixarem de ser femininas, quem as #sapatonas irão comer? E o pior, se todos passem a ser homossexuais quem vai perpetuar a espécie? Seremos extintos no lapso temporal de apenas uma geração, pois a fraudulenta medicina moderna jamais terá a capacidade de gerar bebês de chocadeira à tempo.
É interessante enxergar que mesmo os Globalistas Satanistas, dentro de sua sábia ignorância, acreditando estarem democratizando a escravidão em benefício próprio, na verdade apenas estão fomentando o apocalipse, ou seja sua própria extinção. Também não terão qualquer lugar especial no inferno, sinônimo de mal é mentira. Portanto os #GlobalistaSatanistas são meros fantoches do #Diabo enganador, tão submissos quanto o Escravo da Cara Inchada…
Interessante também enxergar que o livre arbítrio é uma condição obrigatória para independência da criação (anjo e ser humano). Todos somos livres para escolher entre o bem e o mal, se iremos ser escravos de #Deus ou escravos do Diabo. Se assim não fosse, inexistiria criação pois seríamos mera extensão da consciência do #Criador, em outras palavras: para que exista uma criação, essa deve ter a capacidade de decisão de forma independente, o chamado livre arbítrio.
Com base nisso, temos que não cabe à nos fazer qualquer revolução, tudo está normal, a luta entre o bem e o mal sempre irá existir pois um não existe sem o outro. Nos cabe apenas escolher o lado. Nesse contexto, tenho a seguinte mensagem destinada à você para encerrar o presente Textículo Anarco-Capitalista-Cristão:
------ > Se você for um ANARCO-CAPITALISTA-CRISTÃO passe esta palavra à diante para que a verdade atinja o maior número de ignorantes inconscientes possível;
------ > Se você for um GLOBALISTA SATANISTA, vai viver sua vida, desfrutar da própria fortuna e pare de ser fantoche o Diabo, mentiram para você: não terá qualquer lugar especial quando morrer;
------ > Se você for um ESCRAVO DA CARA INCHADA e não entendeu o que eu disse, por favor me pergunte ou debata comigo, terei o prazer em lhe ajudar a enxergar a verdade. Pare de trabalhar por dinheiro fiduciário, passe a aceitar #Monero e #Bitcoin em troca do seu trabalho, pois isso é o único jeito de sermos financeiramente livres, se tiver alguma dúvida sobre #criptomoedas me pergunte e terei o prazer e ensinar. Se ainda assim você se recusa a enxergar a verdade exposta aqui, por favor aceite #Monero e #Bitcoin quando for dar o seu cú. Ou melhor, cometa suicídio, já que você é um câncer no planeta, salve a natureza.
(Davi Pinheiro)
¹ - https://davipinheiro.com/teoria-da-conspiracao-o-fluor-na-agua-e-usado-para-controlar-mentes-revista-super-interessante-editora-abril/
² - https://davipinheiro.com/qual-o-sentido-da-vida/
³ - https://davipinheiro.com/entendendo-as-referencias-cruzadas-do-pensamento/
PREZADOS AMIGOS, DIVULGUEM ESTE ARTIGO. ABAIXO SEGUE A LISTA DOS 500 BRASILEIROS MAIS ATIVOS NO NOSTR NOS ÚLTIMOS MESES PARA TODOS SEGUIREM-SE ENTRE SI E FORTALECER NOSSA COMUNIDADE DE LÍNGUA BRASILEIRA (se você não estiver na lista interaja para ser adicionado):
npub1u2e0qzjsjw9suxcdkeqrydr07xzsyx8mzp469augc0a29aeasfdq8fx67q npub1xt25e4pakq6x4w44p9kw2vlfwv4zpc9hg7xsnrq53hl0za4ag2qs09cwcs npub17hgdpn9xnt5zyxlx8pz0uuus8d23pxwr9a5vq96nw5nawx20zxnsj6fym6 npub1arnth7tuxw060c74adaf08jam6kttn24wfdse9wyg2c7waycwezqszr2mz npub1qg8j6gdwpxlntlxlkew7eu283wzx7hmj32esch42hntdpqdgrslqv024kw npub10q0axre6n3ew64pen99x0qkrh70yxfx6w3grwvkhk4kz9dp8m3ssltvs6f npub1sf2se74xlzf7f7clm3dg28npaxghdy6pguzpsut30fjpwuaxrxcsrnhr57 npub19ychr8yknmje69r645sgd8j0epx2rdgdyl7feagcnmrwkaedzffqtrcznl npub1k86zp0778x7cjng50et5z76xdwxy0tgfn5amnrwrd6mda8uln4lq78ua23 npub13src792wxm8nrhqzu555uxuktfffzcqx78s3pc9zefcdjgwvm3pqsddz4j npub1uw04lzuqx42gk0xc4m8advfmuqlz8nv7dqpuyq4gcv8r304lwvnq2m5ew2 npub1fw5wsmfdj7ykmjfn0sl9qp533y7hx96h9lvplz6pmhd9mzwn9hjqvq2rfr npub1nkenffr9eslkzplds3lwcz7xeq67w6a9qcjlfsvspj7tnhuq3kgsram48g npub1w66drr2qta67gyt7la6fgglsdvk3xx3nndsz4k5wfcal8jq0ze7sqcxdpd npub12xq6exra99hg6tuefx3yysszqudaljvy6eyxqz8tpt7038gpaqus7lfuyy npub17tvf04z759dsyecdtmk70tevla7vua9e3sr88lgnl7put97764zq708q0m npub1rzajeq88urk58nh0n7gqknr2agrx34xu4en0k8hm43fl8h2khp6sk0v3y4 npub1yspe4ly5p9dlfv4vevm0evpag8ljkaay3x3clj8gtvxlsvpwrrrs6h47mx npub107a0nwr3lsj9kdy3jdq570jzcv95y0qzuuhrvcgrpsnq2h4xsclqzy7v4g npub14reqsqss7wp06k390a547pkqrlc0w6uzelm9gpwxze7p8z8x3awsuthvzz npub18fh6flnjt9aa3jlnp5k3kd9zr6v5mlpeczhdx4qheytfyyqfpe7s2y0lzm npub1lafcm7zm35l9q06mnaqk5ykt2530ylnwm5j8xaykflppfstv6vysxg4ryf npub1s00wyzkfrjcclawx225k7wrxd74369vxdcdhy88j89yhrxssfclqulxf93 npub1rmq4kl4dfvp4kt937f9mz60ywkwv467585vnesm3ctqz9krkksrqg4ran0 npub1d7r5su48a8m5k389fd6rwy9cvhlyycmg3pl2g60q5zmgvmr3xreq098mu2 npub1r8lsve0d5yezxq52fjj90kwz76xcweyxlx9uwhsrpd6gt7uk4edscl4fdr npub19ljjj23d7fgy0gujlnh26a293p6uwawrrnpg7jlqfnhnard322gssd2rnj npub1u484zct2rxyknscgnnxrwpuk3f2j679x8tdysvxh659whv99g35saq9xjt npub1gpd868cejawju35epkayavfkqfuykt3820xe678m2vqfqj8v7ges2t4umk npub172fwxt8nnauv2c6leevl0rq4mk87c5vu4mm4fqef58xt390jqxfs6ua7vz npub1gmdrkx4lgwzyqr6krqyykg9r2kpasftuu2x98ncvs9xz9cjhfgcsxns0xz npub1sfzc94dhlkrj6m9tdkle4glyazhtajjsj9qhjv279an06nr74uvqzka6js npub18rdvxdw773852gyl4kjkr5xmg44p9l0jywdk6cq8axl3k9yh59fsu3g8aj npub167h7xtt7tkfvr9mn9d09s4u6r4l0y7rr355jpjg55lg4mpdghsasa9c47v npub1q4qjda5zm33743dd4mewnx6j049hgry7ls4nvh54clcnax3wsnzqv7c5lw npub1mjckw2qsqemdnhz7ul63vpcd79fmar49r8y7fh0tffva767yx07qq68xkn npub1ry2uv7qwu840qx4fg38zzfrl6dfgaudn6d8s7trpf3sj8nx0vaaquj5qrj npub1zqw2ymcy9txda2wzuka7yx6vlyvuwe7k2pldxpxxx660nhf65tusxzdcp6 npub1fjr0qa7rdhll7cfpgdcsz5nry2gy92u7a8gr0ku390n69865ec0qxwcral npub1wc4rc9wxl2gfzxl384g0cw3f79nrms0sfdpe02y7aasy7c3we4sqd0qywr npub19x5l76266vfen827fudaampuuupkejg9vls88hld8nv4w4sq59lsqlal37 npub1gc24vefdu60d3e3yxg8mhu52hxxpcykesk85y8mez8llj23kpehszdmu3j npub1u9ja9ymqmaw7mn9tnmrsnpx0f9j6hs59kxd9de363jvadjamzd9qg3ek4k npub1lzt7pmhvg7hl23emv22g4d7cs9jyglkqpr7lf3n8rcz0evkacg2s6n4jjf npub1p22hyejtr60rdrmjvql5k8fyv8lkq8exzw5mkkx3qcwqcu6979aqvhpqlq npub15p6p9l5upa0y0aj5nwf7lnud2regh00az9u4a4fmgyh8ukyue8kq7xuzp7 npub187dlu8g04kk8adc309vwn3lxsj63fmaty5vmdyrsvzx2fcxg70pqfszj4z npub1adfs8z9rlk6dzwm44522ge0gf367t6s6x30nrulp0xq6wsglyxssxqwyva npub1wqh4j2lvkd0fz342he0jr2d8eqrjwlqsv42azw6utqnpkrjv72xqylx32z npub1n9e2cy50jk900hdzvxt4cjhn80qwzxuer93aylhfdc76gwksr2lsqt36ww npub1styn4qvw4h4s92pcntrffm5dhe889h3hanwjpv66r4ue7gd3xutqk9hpc6 npub157v53ahyyxh4mp38v363chz9lrrw8um9m0tyhqzjujz8m4pmr42s9sk9u8 npub1alq86fku99p0rgq6s0cwwe9lsa8vdvu4d6r7d6j6cyuysf2r76hsh9tt37 npub18cvuxxvd2a6gt76etnte5vtws7a5a4xeqgt03qcs0u46nfws0vzskrnwu9 npub1mlu4qvm8j7gqamukz98l832ghgktyj0whqrxfx89625m3p30haqq5racjk npub1l8tlpvn3kka3nm2qpk96amsuy2kr5kl9eusd54fpn3yjnefrnpaq2j5t9v npub1jtnuszgjayga0pzvm3t7z9pantcnyxzacu30mhvw4dk0lkkvhxrsgvfgw5 npub1z73hklrdpa0n5z663mvnu0afxhlegpt5exmkg9u0nmd32ktqs7fq3prv27 npub1tshn5e5h0ud3l6vegwrce2er2tuhxangx4yvx4q04uheznxxgp6qg9dx2n npub136aeqeuum2t8cjgfnpxwfkgf5e8fd95h39uqkenrr6u0yl3upg9skvkfq8 npub1pkjyqg0am9qyjwg772ue4hhshaf6gwgz4psnptlg9v8lk6st2naqct3ll5 npub1kvzyrn6zvvdh9jnvfzc6e86s0zpntvg0e9f0v340e59u2rut99zsuq9fl9 npub168dqt5c8ue3uj8ynlk0lhwalnp7uy39lvzf9tm09wy3htxwmw7qq5nerj4 npub1cajs9cz6r43rmn0y8v8cgeuuj2lfhftvxcq05f8efc22hr5fnwmshx0pvw npub1uu0qk8f7xv7egc6tf9kk3mkx99u2leldgzz0trl77uymvv8n8ahqtd6309 npub1t8a7uumfmam38kal4xaakzyjccht4y5jxfs4cmlj0p768pxtwu8skh56yu npub10wlfumja930vzz4jhh9vc6t3wy8ay7thg8mt9qcptlp5leqfmazqn79ee9 npub1tx8wamjvhaqme29rujkd4v978ck8d3ud7gxa9zzqtjftpfn9p5vs27a2lg npub1e5pneqe2je07e5sk00g8urqa66eljg74t4llv4htp6vq5f8kv2zsqrtway npub1nk7gygwkcfpf9hdjhkgyqszcgwyzmcrqhd9tr7zzczkm5ga79xusmm5qjt npub1p3pna34zku4fqe9mzyvhhffladjjxcug7jn20wm5rnccpjezn4ks0zaw4u npub1j4vyl5kadajpgxh2wrnfk2wvg25jhnv78s0mrs6ckuhft9uzqe7s9wpcgc npub1hfg3tsmmp7g3u5cw6mzg0n9andehmgel6jug486eppsr0rqx4a3qlp7yfm npub1zks89kfxmxv0s4sa7rj8yyd6ld8ncsqusm993678vq9ut73hn7uqhmecsf npub1hzt3p8ap8s4nnqjhha37z5q3jdc9lfg90js0crmg8u5lncnaqpzsdn75p5 npub12em9q547gfga2tkhuzc65ufrn5h9ndu270d7xnh0nkcz2gtvq4sqwutpy3 npub12fh76ppgs5g2srtvgewe9fprdsk2y6g42wf0sg2y0ucjxqq9l0dsy5n8wl npub1arjgv76ld978cya3k6xz24nuxkuezuqrsmy73x0gaxdlu7pxv4lq8npp2g npub1zpmtwh0esa4esnc4p6rn5vhx7wcfw8z0ky8nzczj6k46drsmm47s0zzlyh npub156zse25dzgt65kq472nfkfpwgqvf6vuw8ur0s0ny7zmzw4xqd68q3p4sem npub1pwyy6rwh9smlurdmfg7yy2lce43jlv9ac7l9zay723dyfx4m649ql85u04 npub13j4jtgrm0dtsfzecx4khzz5a8ykgdd374qewewj0ksfmenps67lqz2yr8a npub1dmdlkhqnzmde0ultsq72hnn8h6gjfrkfeud4hecjg8fg8pugzctsjwqas0 npub1yqq7mwccr6wv7vmhehgh4n9kwn55r9gneydhdu6249pntguacegsjgwevp npub1u79u7zxlz2flmwpdt59xsvv5syreavzdyu9llkg07swtf24a4ayq5g0uud npub1eezyd5p7n9vse3yv5k8vh068dutpjf7d9zuk6azegeh5ypvp270qqr8fam npub1s0p3y6rvmt5m6jf6zt96kl0c80x0fy396d8h3cvtsxpqq7lf7wwsgw780n npub1kcf4p6e8k0rkjtaaghu765647z58qu0wfpgxnqptlwg2pm30skzsm2mct0 npub10uqpae32d6t4xhcgmzkc5gkna3hf9xclpzf3q6kfusz5q8j5ruqs5tdemg npub1jldq9dk8kgtlr3akv8re00znkfyzq59t0yceuu6q0tdfxzmusarsfxfunp npub1ksp960nd2vhxxp4lw7unnhujy6mknd0mpw2sh7xuj4m963a2u03qw776l8 npub188qkhpvqhne68rwu878jta5a8uh3vl4mcmfp44nppydfz0td9tqqa5h3cm npub1e008u7wmf0gppsnzupclhzh4mexp90addmdu0wu9glyk0y6msvxskyd3yq npub1crtd3zn3ek0cwne036s0xfqgs6ywuutqdcwxl5k4csv57jsmlgfsjq9039 npub1u4r4hx3y820p8g00u65tpggk2rd5qkd0d3ukt2yvgwyhcd0qvymqweyx75 npub18e7t2damcrfe60empcnye5z896wf9fk478rgrdcawvv23hqtd8es3yg772 npub1s5uqfqur0jlnp9z32ag90e9p5y60z0e8ruryun6u8gy9c38s7caqqqjxvt npub1q9fawsk02d7ffc47l92peuasy9q23ganvs00aqfagxz9rgk5g3usy92n3g npub18qhe55gump3d8ff2xzugpeaxkq6gfc498hr6at2jlsert0h9qkvqquqmve npub1cj9w34dn6nyazvhtq9srms5rf9rj4tapmqlwc5d5k3cwk34vy8dqewkvj6 npub1wvkx5ckpcxmxvc9wd0q576qssle3ed40c4z5rpetwy8fqssq8k3qdhh3yl npub1wnpc03cvexrv7tqnz4amk5zpyxw30nat3xav8nna89j92h25q53sls0g5w npub1938qus3z7jxs4u5x6gpyf7pwavnvnvrhmlfv2jqryy43qf0mdgpqlrtyfq npub1gnvha9zemx47e3paehu59ssqjkkpkc0n6ugdufmkl9ahgd3qhajs6mfs4m npub1cha5p8ytujflljhet2k34sctnqyl3n5w74wnuy7c6dvyv870twas9xnugj npub1h4d7986rjexvgaqsv8zm4s88dekkacs9uadtad6zp8n38nkdszysj45nmc npub1wcuv2wqn3uypzx7f98vavt2gqz4f4qkzm28fgj4qpwgj3yfjghks0patgl npub14hq5lgadtyy9dhvtszq46dnl0s0xwdddqr7e32rdqqhma8a4xhsspxjjzu npub17rzgm20v9hf4m2hemlau5fzepyanwd5h3zxc0wkwq7y38s3g8uqs49lrut npub1l5sgjcjruwec2y2lxd23vj34qe2kkxyqnact76tsq5kzdtcmke0s4cz0uu npub1ylw08gevzgvwasypcs2lvmssfqyt46xzgul7lwvkssm76ehgq47qrn4xxk npub13t2th7tr0uxwc8mfkkr5dqmfrg5hmmdfnfjfhs4z2xal9z6hpe9q6xn9ph npub1239p46pv99lt94yfzu4xkh4u3vqr2k7rnmcc8zz64p6m8g0mva8qcxr0hj npub1r2eehghv6syvdhezrlln25fnz90clgdkcagqw87c9r735zlnhuaq8dpvwp npub1sd5wp8ufsttwk3c575gnakufgaeg3x4f4r5d84pun9n09yr7zq8s735ezh npub18txjwp7dj9hjwk972c32sj5xmngnutguvtg2r66a3g5rgw2s88xq3799uq npub1247x2zmsp8e766cy39gkuzywfq6ea89wd6sgvuh8lywrrvzvdqtsv9573z npub1mu2tx4ue4yt7n7pymcql3agslnx0zeyt34zmmfex2g07k6ymtksq7hansc npub152wtu2y9a5wlz74v88ahls2xq0g493gz5jx0wat9vfgxqzjfzl6qdazlty npub18yyc9l68tk6zsq63wmnzf3862l3xfckds38tq44egwl5l4g0nqeszhj50p npub15rdytrwdsc62qmvsc28xhzdxs5u35utlexg3tc3mtzm23ka4hzmsthe64f npub13je2r5t0s4uszds4lc5e87n77xngluwkjt0hesduvch0vk206gcsa0d03t npub10jjcalyj6a67qfxrax2mwpmsnrlles6qhk23j0dyc76h27gag05syya4qn npub155kdyaltpxaek29wkeza9prkr0t398ayn24wlp6pg68z57s8l67qka6ly8 npub1uk5ne4u0ey8s8tg8czceg70yw9jlzvk74y804wd3vaa3ncm5l9tsl2cjqc npub1q09ysz8xhfe0x0n2y77u6xem9whtsk5hgswz7s0lrj9znn8eksqqzzpsyy npub1rm8uwmhs7s9n3jqzzd92mwwgr8gca4p9x0u8vu8m5n5eppqj88fstspqh6 npub1e8antmtxy0vs2pjd6kah99lpy44ztads4m0udpf07vauvr7larzsf76w9j npub1e0ngk7s4nygt46cpmdrc63f3mfgjcp8edxh0f8vpp6zd5hwax4qq0mykcp npub1rksqdj6tpjx4ddcyc9v3jw458u9y83hk789jqy2j8h58jusv0mgscx389d npub1q2f2nlq5kxthrcsww2zmytyzal325gsvrv0aeg8fqj54z4kyrxgsylesz9 npub100t4hmfxs467q3cwqd5f3sej9zhm2edd3kcn57hj0kag3n49geusm5zt87 npub13et8ay8ny99mygd8ymznczusrhfrhhzzs8jdlep9q98r8uway9asl62v4r npub1qeydnlt70d29q3axc3h5v3spfntl74jukw9r6zy9s8ms6a82mupqgnr2y5 npub1n9hr9s73atxmjm0muz45ghwutvf2kc00lq2fa58rm9y80mpdqxmq73mdc0 npub145cgkka2733cmxn86khjshwyxz6ahgjp0ek9gp3fc2k7y3penkqq45ccpu npub1z24p8ghllrl4jxyw8juggm3cfrpn8vvfxxsjzjj4tuaz0qfkeqkstnk760 npub1h6mtmjw2au827vs99zlykn0tdhm3hpyffjgnaq8fsvjzem430hesd3zw5p npub13u9wq6td5qvj2dajmkjplz0ytvt4j7zvuyjg6kl9xqt5wznqghvqrptnlq npub1x7j0x34k2cguw8qk07hlgtpcdd22k0p4nfmuy3sk53mw7n5p4dws97mh3q npub1rlgz4nrqjvy7skd640reu9f9ckv5gzg4dmheeuq4u9dux42t7lys88svf3 npub1j5peadcc3as7ht6tszt47z2z3rec5py39y23cemrs47czyfxddnsskqnav npub1ymjhm0kxwldyx3f599d0cjvpcwdyfw7rmruyn8m2qnfhlu8mn4mspdwhqk npub1gaqn62wk22gesxfczv4q30kg3e2f6cqzdml645rwdyas6uaz3wdqexzlgl npub1z9vh6x3h5d99wvrjxw036ehg27cc37837f7dz4lr933euzu4pt3qn5874u npub1axy5sgkdz50hqrt266cl95qp7e5n9q6qmxguj0ry6mhpmu23t80s9nvqug npub1yvjmvxh2jx07m945mf2lu4j5kswr0d63n0w6cjddj3vpkw4unp4qjarngj npub1993fqzsar7lydy6lc8sztj5pxzeckttsf7m7dzjpcfvuu44uavksdks9p7 npub16s7exzaa4le983mjvnw7jfatum0jfxqtpfk2uqdel3c4q97uqznst6hyar npub15mptsgelg8rn5tjw5ltmdy8vmglws4fulr0kaghpv7t2jj8qzjks2mecva npub1yjvs58t4tgnmn98m4y2s64jferzv77p037zmwed8wzdful29a6esyajtwa npub1ctmkhtvw7rwk425sm4mqx6ak86aama7c6z8yxczfhgkwfv2fq7xq4mcr38 npub1f9jys8kppch9sceykam7p7uecpyam7ajm87wrgnndhjtj6jlp5vqe7y207 npub1k67tmzt34d6klra3ykrhkpvu0y8g8rlzv0egpgrry0xxcauxqzestwyz59 npub1x49ytzhkslwq6680jqsng7dy79vh8alsqpapr73m3akn0qerhj3ql7s2w3 npub1m2us7cgdufhg30yw6kawugwt5slp8kh9ed88dn7q5gtq5y20f95s9s25vt npub13sdds5pcp344k5mhfch7ltc4a8737uxqw9c47wfe08kkrnm3rhssm60637 npub1qfamw8qmsekxxu8pj5kfa960sgwsc86wys84gqxkzkzld8e6hk3qtvv7kq npub1tsxemx456uadxs4nsqenmquvws53290eg2gejrhvx7w965c779mslf7pds npub1ymxlmrd2yd59g7x4uejzsgmn4xlglu0schl39m2mjx5nzfzl2hcs73hn6g npub1qd05jn0jxlzplx33xjtzstvgeus9dk9405kwqf79vu00czwyvghqf08md5 npub1n5sl69j0w6c79tut2anqf69tkfevr065kzjt4n2rv2gres3q45ysmnj5nc npub10qjw7zw8m6yq4sr53watq4u8y47eef28jsyd0tmyhyfy4pjhntgqva7d9t npub1k6n2ghwu0afld0tnl2p43q7wtu2u9hln6e89ruv9a2y5deej06dskek6xy npub1ax4szvq26em2klfqj6hr38009x6k6m7nhe2z7mq0xs4xszetxe2s6964q4 npub1645w5cevetsz2364mss575panjuaa5ffh89ax4tp6u7x0tr2xlhsc29g25 npub1ys9j7sws8vccfwjctlqu7kx2hlfmkcxmjxmdttfl29edxv6xgelqkaffe4 npub1h4fnky04vkfkyac8shhmy0fwkrhuha65c5ec2ggvv03zv7pm64ls9x5vag npub1ueenpne5qhkvr4l9rw3c2ls2f6lgm7gh7f7ssl73l5yqt7um6uwsyatgml npub1krcpj4r4gp28vswfc4gztr5gku58c2eyhll47tyz5y2hhl6jyjwqduv9mr npub125nh0nkr0czuzkpjkqvjwc7mxuuvusr4n7a3kthjyfeer70eac0qpy5lsx npub1qcr5atkc2u04wx80pdyfnnwrttrw0taaz8hst3qt573j44yzxcvqkl339x npub1x96qzppsymujfyzn4dmkl08qgcr3aw7f2tt0xlmgyudfaggeq7zsh0yghv npub1l56z85xvaplh3033l8h2x9thypamu0d2hyqnxkw0ujuntqm8asaqh99sza npub1wh30wunfpkezx5s7edqu9g0s0raeetf5dgthzm0zw7sk8wqygmjqqfljgh npub1kqd90mglkp0ltmc5eacd0claqvnayaklkvzkdhx7x84w9uavplxszvrlwd npub1ly9cmpxs5kyrhnc946rlxmyj397pvcp3606zgvh3kvukmqveaxmqgwdwct npub1papvv8nyg68m73wae3u25lvxw5wfz2htpzk7j85z8yng3xqqvntqc5n9vf npub180cvv07tjdrrgpa0j7j7tmnyl2yr6yr7l8j4s3evf6u64th6gkwsyjh6w6 npub16y2de3wvy2xgj3238r8h8g96hwtqsfm72sxcfw2t4c5xfjwnm4ms5y8uyd npub1ln4q6lzdwzxnvuv0a2gnfcxrfhwyfpcrp8tj5a403mwptq8r8clsq2znta npub1e0jya9z5wu68dzgxqeg7gal9ytgwvr63evtchv4a4wr8u5dcvs6s6vfwgm npub158dcjddhtq29ezyd3j5qyc70xyzyzujg02kcrla706fs52zcahaszql9ha npub1gayzxecnek73hm695d8tu94n2q3xnlucu9gwr2zqnql090rkautqq7ne7s npub1hvtyspm7n7nea59lhe2fdvwd0rqw7de20fl365wklsg4jsmrpwrqe6yaeh npub1hsr44v6satu5qkjcua36u8a8ng7fhh9ljv8mmnhvkf0a6407nhtq2k4ths npub18s8ym4ajt3rfwa0yn39m70k603j8a7wkhylhewzcjhtfheu8dnrqzwv677 npub1zdwjkqtwkst8y3mjj848hjh7tuqwqp7uvcfxzrl43gyx2k7pkz2s4p88cz npub1xq0pc34qq99yawjxl7rsqx7wgs4x3088tkwwle5kz3jqwf0ggyuqxx5et7 npub1dgx9jmq5sn4w96qnrgps7f5egjfpu5npnswazsaq98ryafkdjucshaaej8 npub1s6ms8dqxc4s2e6yawg20lkrpk9dxazz9qsaernpxndc2axua26rsva6lha npub19rxp2h2c96h9y79nhsu8p9yn4f79k8q76z40v8x6g0j8mcmex7jsu4whlq npub1fnvuz4rad0sc6ueflq33kj242hqe65da40zug7u5nryvjdeg0xqsl4y86t npub1e2d8f64kaxepfqncve7gy72vam3h66vmfwaqnalekv8zmh3qar4sz34p0k npub1krahyq9me8aglq54cfffylgnj0sy0q02emv9zr4csc94kz3qajxsmwu7lj npub1qn8rpsky3t8v5dn30rycfwpktwclm544nlef98tg23drgk022a4qtzekjd npub14p529xk3dmtyqp25slasulxx5p6yu2js6lz0072qu77c54cz6pesq2qsuv npub1mxlypddvhxdatdjdh2twejz7d8lkf90350f2zhzcunhmu7pgw9yq9033ss npub18lav8fkgt8424rxamvk8qq4xuy9n8mltjtgztv2w44hc5tt9vets0hcfsz npub160mrpl505fmse22eue6v23k4u4z0yyw37hpf3j73z97jtq50rapqx9q0ac npub1ve32zawsazgn9ukyr0trw4u5zk5z9ravgq9g06ml4gfzuvuzrvyq2mfzr3 npub1c0dysexhhd09e65rvmeecx0dpn6c7lq4yp99f3h4ktnr4vvrez5ql3h0y0 npub1758748kzgkp5vrt2u8vdgx462kt9f5p2x84xwljm4svadq9xc84sl9yk27 npub1rg7x6lh3zurejwnhxljdh8td2uhnhucx3jhle565eh7x94aqn03qrwrm9s npub14nefrmsdvn72qq5f3zqpdsh068ufk02e3t79ukga457p0v796chq7xrakx npub1l04nl239dn9wps24a753xq38h3wtlaa7vxmqatf9y0g6vzae6u0s27vwl8 npub1mezldzxnv6lszd7vlh60k0cqgxca7s08x5akyvln9fhz58jyfzsscyepuv npub1a76u90rr5tfdn9vf3sg574g0vftz4p5vu5r9t57c9atpwt64jkps0h4qya npub18g9zwmrdjcf6mkz7zpavmcx46r3h9ydxv2urwc9kqvha7vzght6swffxry npub12y8v5es4g8ynms5495l448977l25puf39wj9has66f7yg8xkhakqn89g0n npub1gustav0kvwh9zlz22ns7y6utwt3s2747mh5s6ja7v622tl09megq9heczp npub1t62k7smt3nad7s3rzhkrcvzlmheerk8p3qrpjwj32c9lzfmz5ksqaegpck npub1cuvc5stpvpeljeveqlk9u6tp3z3qams2w9r3s72hy0ufxudlz4fqu3x5jv npub1g8henaumhfjngrkpp7g7urz420hdzcx2hnh9grf2r7g3sxtur6es8uucpq npub187c8yedmqmss7fxtzqya4vphfkazl04lvrz7cp5xghhwzjduc4rqkcwd0t npub1vg9lk42rxugcdd4n667uy8gmvgfjp530n2307q9s93xuce3r7vzsel8885 npub1nkl720g0fuvzt4dqm5xxjet2lnm95z5fv4k3jvgz5jhnvhe2lehs98d9kr npub1l74p0yq6uzce4v4ntvvj9zcx03rc75g8gn0ajsccxzwyunv9m6tqwjlh45 npub1tl2pwveluev0jcmm973x87qt0uy20hxnyrcwefxv3nkv9kpxmzgs5pl9th npub18zhn7vrv94vy26vsf677uyxxvs29t2da492xs3xnxl45sszvh5psw9vpuv npub18z4uprsemsf4tcxdnfc8q2esk36g5rleqp6mw9ealtn2kmv8pxjswswrvz npub1wl8u4wfqsdz5m9ey0vvzh4y05mcpk2lm2xhhpw3uzs3878c2mw9sr2ksxk npub1ejp9v82302mth0k3nlanyh4zm4tskvg9yk2hp5fjun0g7uc47n0s0q07vf npub103wzz5eeegcwzrchje02m4rcxqxqtz2rauefhdshmtzd9xjxxdnqm5kd9u npub1k9mx4t56d6jsm658mmnwv7uvxl9edflkelpu4llgwrlc220d9qlqcyhueq npub10x8de2sz6apxnju8wwtqx00sjkeqj22kcjjfajsa9hj77492hkhs4g287f npub1q24ugzmm8ptkyq3gwukkl680kyftmlk3cmqu49x7yy4zuv94a3cqlhw8ld npub13xd3wejhu3xy5hmzgd0ymc9apee7ett6my4xsug5ya0z2f650n4qaf9f8z npub1vxd0dfst8ljvwva2egrpc53ve8ru78v8aaxfpravchkexmfmmu3sqnrs50 npub1nnyqvvr992hn3umzgehppzt49vhm9u4vet9zhzks4wq2a34ehv6qm6wkx8 npub1467z25r4x9xj6xgrgsk6a9gytdy0qp8xuupplxyunzfp5esk2uys4gm0a7 npub1w48530djsgja5d63k27mr8krx3xg63qvrjhczfwqgtmml4kgxw3qpcfwvj npub1ymldfnyvl2u5efjkdlqhpjruhv345qtesj9jf22paxmgj50nfxes3k4wqd npub1mqn5acr09lls33wapadkdf27t9v87h22jf53c473wzpkgld6z7hs72mwzd npub1y7yvamgvwdt6h8skh5yf5phn25yt7c6qcpclgpd0nglsy3f5uu2qu47fad npub1q5jxvccuds9wmpqhr7p770y4ewqcfr2dehqarm5alhm4hpgvrj6qtm2qhm npub17nd4yu9anyd3004pumgrtazaacujjxwzj36thtqsxskjy0r5urgqf6950x npub1k2teldhmj7d53732ekcs5ta0qpjsj9fhwc2e5ve5wljqpxht5mfstxx3qw npub1cn4t4cd78nm900qc2hhqte5aa8c9njm6qkfzw95tszufwcwtcnsq7g3vle npub12xm5ax6rqp3n9n0lwlja22lpfuwc6g63a76p5kdxuszqnn4ut2ssj2k7jn npub170d8w0jjdcjuh70lq5ppr0pcy7cfuxj6hpr00tm4et3v53j8pvrqj0chu7 npub1fs3n5u75kmtfgzzuy5ms5qexchv7kz3altj7e2uzl79ygf2nn0nsv2sdjg npub1y8hsmp2pxadwf09g22zsjla6xu8hu4qttgcwte6kwrqkv70e69zqvtfqyr npub1rtjk5n3cgdepj95wylpy4h6etg2jel3erpn8px9wxys8tuueeeushu5jyg npub1m0lr5fdjrhhwxl7dev4h7c5yvruz2vp949tun5zmulxuktcm0fusy0gg5r npub1ur6emzgy0wrg5xyvtm7khy7a3sttv4jrhpcc3px6mp2z8pkxphwsyy6kg3 npub1efyfeevwrtxnmncs8767p66wxwulm0wd85cszksw6n6uw2qtca6qzfvgyx npub154efugcrxmttmnp5cfxpnhgwglvxswsxh6d84jcj0a865a7s4jgsrrun7f npub16erzcypvccc08a6z6l6gw830zj7m743ah3gtc85rcjhfqmqjccksce7jej npub1jpxn8d3x0p8cdxvxzafpcpqwsfnvgntywhgne9w085fzu2mjjw7qldgdg0 npub165llzjv9ux2s3ezx5k6l4mzhvly9n8gyzhx5p7v4499heee4w4fsvhnu5w npub1mcgm982av268z989lv9h23f0w733wxecqhjjw5l4dvzdjgl0gu8sdss2v5 npub1z3adf0m2c2mul0vtpru4f5uzghn746xyf2udxv63de2ckcmg697qqmjnvn npub1520n32u3r68qtlw5nykxegtxkdt09rpk7h52laectc4qvdcde34s2u9qsw npub122fgydglyvhzr753e0l6k092x8h5k4ev0g9v90lpgje597srk6gs420cc3 npub1xngvle6vzkusezsxs35kgulf6s0usjxej3qvs4kczezy6q0war5sxmumdn npub16umw99z8jm5r55neprqmvlrsqzwklernxnczam2xu5q5fwjaj2kqttgcvd npub12aa8fnjcp84epqtmhtnc4w2fah9tfyrews76nd8hqltpedf4l75s5x6lg8 npub12mllp29adf2fw0eeahmseczcu3y4625qyn3v4uwfvkpzlshnmj3qs903ju npub1l8qw5av3039qhefprytlm7fg8kyyc0luy8yk2prk2l8wc38gf86qzw7nnm npub1nwrrty92erpe8th9wv4u9l9f20pqqh872kwjmejc6mu9hfnzumfqk5fua4 npub13qhkp54f8w0vgql3lqukvk9pduhef099hx0azmzupuhxevjayy9qsfg266 npub12jyfh0sy02ku5p3zg6hhfvph4zphl3y5jqfk9skaqa59z7pmfh0qqyn9mn npub1t8pha5vxkct4mlhskzz4pshvwznsma5646nmzz5gcth06mth0hfsuleyrc npub17ptx9z8mnyw2vd8as0nyh40gtvyydufme8peweh72ax9kpxrqzxqmnsxpq npub1lzh4pgufkx4xq675fujac9mmxs5zmf8ffucetgp02vep5eae3acqwez9kx npub1gnrfjvjmu3jucpmkvj6ptmdxcj766hwcrekjeuzlwtcqrqmyszvs3pr7lj npub1gazxqfx8ldqkgaldz3hlwed2h3nwzfmwavkxp3s9j36qhfzeladsmfe0a3 npub1xc5c7srsajcem7s8x0sndqsu6yqe36xzu2kdnu0cky353x6tkreqx4lsgg npub17kytlyvd28tvpz9u8z2mrr3pq503pmvtv46qskjccfch9vwqhadsregenj npub1vcq8nv3lctr8ctk2dp7h3e0su4f7gklgx4dlm2375l6u69hvuh6syj3d9l npub1v6xa5avwqkyqwzmfhu0ul4cm892txq4jnxmxsvgt5pnralqj9upsnmsnu4 npub1m986jhedeq7xxe8ukxc3dqwqzcz0ue9fra6m0t2zpvp8yezkeexscz7ena npub1yftkt6shs2fls0djxzww2nc7t96x6uxq490qw860ssfda755pc0q6emnz3 npub1rl5s8caaq8vsjfhxnmmmguxryug2f2has0kg5gzedepzle8quncqn9patu npub1ucsl4dgwslalsgje4es7jefqexlsf678wrhvu8q59e3djzgl7krqf2hnad npub1hvzkl03x7z8fews3cc5h99mxtze83rwxunre2687hcdy0zqn0cssnszrkx npub1q884swxynxp5dt467g0v3gk6t89tgd3r90pgdwcvxtlnjf2l3jtswgwvcc npub169jj88ry88e7f6cmcngcz8mu67ak6q6u2pgtcae6wa4ju00z8gts8hac60 npub1ahfkmjuzqcngqule5c4eq3cucxd65dpkp0sguzzsr2duxwlx9guq86x8en npub14xcy30kssvtpj29f40rk2kk5d2heumaxnz77ahkuejwepqngy9nsewgz0e npub13jpmntdr2k04x76f0c76syf3za42esn2nnd6kumc2cwyltmtje0se6mvqj npub1us9tzl0zc0ggfqw6348wyctck7mmh34w0hpn2rs236akusx7ltjq5s8gtq npub1eykpylvevzagq8jm8jutf2pmjnnelmyuc56a66v9g7ttcth5kfsq6vllrz npub14r294afl5jqgvj4hlfpj3dvyxenxh4vuhepn68zdurcas5r5xy2q5ydufe npub14n46ruge3mmv72xeyjw5zl4cec6dykrme78plmm0zmpnclcptqzq7kct5u npub1yvw87p6d2rmd3lqdp3c6npjhunpra9huxnl8c30rxjw8tnwd292s3jusa9 npub10agmu2vwed988jdxs8cewppw5jvk0xtvh9vdyguttuhugu930fdsdcsdp4 npub1gyu3h0kmqmecf6044q5r88vu5vtf5u6rekh9yazxrtejfexct0lq5zpudc npub1kstv7m2flm703dmufltz4l4lkm3pptl0zdqjvkx8ap3aagttkd4s8d5pa8 npub1rc56x0ek0dd303eph523g3chm0wmrs5wdk6vs0ehd0m5fn8t7y4sqra3tk npub1mlf37lk424pxrstpdhxqp04v637kjyashaj4ea73gfz86yr4gdzq3mjtav npub177xlld4katf3aardam7qpu88l0ttvyde739qcvjdjynweqnncuqqvxmfdc npub1ykfmyfwtanmhvp06wn3ggwm0gl0v5v2ftmnkmhz6swl2x4ur9udq7ld2fy npub1a5pl548ps6qdkpzpmlgkhnmh2hpntpk2gk3nee08e5spp5wzr3qqk7glwn npub19gskj4eqgjgjrwjw5zhu9rddnrqfq59slm5fa5a9crun9wm2qlyqccyh6h npub1ujxurwzpfrxsprf0urqfxpp0qpm2yrpneat4udg7e0v560nzw3asml0d9z npub1ep6wcd256kvsdxey2ylycrpvmf9wnsqvg46kzqrhuw2akxj020kqvkq9hc npub1pumdyz7qfu0suamv4nrl0vcg574dtl5mwazva6nyjxhpwc4ccxxqca3ane npub147d47sem878zwqln7k9y8y3273v29ase4r7lk5yeta62xk3t739qu5n8zd npub18jzu9qrrmhhwk57zqhfffymy7hq8vrncxnvl0sutu5y2lhr456sssgsesp npub1wmnvcv3ycqmtfsysmrnkyckja8dc9nt5sgf60rrel339v8chtgnq4p5w26 npub1tc07sk67d2rs8x90fpg9x727ulzknw7xjyk4lds7pkzauw2tqntqpzs9dq npub15h8pr8t0l6ya275k42cwwhrfu6z6vk6qydkdn55p6wn4f424s2qsasdczc npub1l0j7srkgmdwy8839st2hn8f9utlgh9vtrm04jksh8tsu32h5vpms9k7zqa npub1p9auvqfn3dtrjnwkhxdvvk6xn3tt8aa2uv4dh2af42nv9z8nh0msrjvmhp npub1lnjp9d8xz5zguufe257vtx59kgjuxxufv0fjnplwcfncvpc7vahscraxv3 npub1mhp87q9axdlwh9ac3p7drg9z764mxwe27xvxm7x704l9dykfy9xqrgmxdq npub1253ehcqxctt4ps8kjfmhqje965v8gtzn7c6gtq02c3kqvtxmsx4qv9my05 npub1gk0yyk54t6ptq5m7hygy8rvc98pq9zz5uhusz9ht6yxcpmvsr59qg5ptts npub1828ey4s37t3dlwjmgsa05zafvdlsfsa3lu5vlk5cdx0a3zppv7nq987tnk npub1h6h3jwx3fvz9sanmg5yx6rutmggsnz5t09t795yf4jk4dqsfyq3q47kcxr npub1cw2epa68jpmy384t7vn0suvd3mxnk5s02ap6fcwg0x6jqy4lhdpsfg84uq npub172g2zwq6vkerg02urweyt2daa0huavn6ghcr4gxt93lmhvnzan0snuwkc7 npub1awwrv77yu0x9rvuaq55ppntc52rhxt0w9t32zkyw2jszvmgsqnkq2f3lpm npub12p25mnqkunnhup0sk6ky0vvtq5pnkapezx8kh689dv2vl2wnp2vquyfw5s npub106yj5wlntf5els6w5cw3gwmsgh4yu7vs0lrpw4c0uzkq3rqmkkgqg7rgpe npub1a4u7yc39v6fvr48a3skz9gwdzl76hf499mk96x703nzc23mdqq2qe84e0k npub1fc72tcwhr5fhcmcczzld6femwd7d7uhqwjw8rp5w9enxj52xjqxsmpgv04 npub14h5r077z3edgts6wl2me5vk52x5se6nnhry0ldfzua872ggcxw9slkd3fd npub1xlngepdt5qz752x9423gnvj2gk92j55qsdhm7mrtmju7x36pwnxqg4sypx npub1rl9wszqmsqduzjagewq302qfadjy4mt5vw5zvm8xdamvp3d0nm3sr88s7e npub1ayvrrlpygam2ruyx2lhtkvgjc53wjd3vvvs0ysjqh3pwhryaju7qd60eq3 npub143mkh6lvtrha7w7pjw32ujkljc9ell9wpyvd707nahqy0rt62kws4wlyhl npub157rwfe8a4gffdcx5ca56q2qsvpp3z757674lkwca5ud9j9pdcnaqct6p2h npub12z3w5jynqn3pjt73kqz6wkueygrvt57qfwgxy5u5pmn0uqutdwdq5jpd8w npub1zfrc4u0dnph8flpqar5r5lv3gpn7qafhlh35zpcm8e6ex4k24snqhx69js npub1rvww8nakj7rgz59jdqlswdmvjn0cd46q2h4y00wuaquwyn383fysxlpyxt npub12knmfzy88xpc4dhuly50tlhcnar07c4pd3w9pfpd4lnssmwhvtrsgq2ez4 npub1705am22u3tep8vvdwkqex0jm9pazhmqqyxvaqzcnv76m53xed0xqeetuva npub1q0k8epddegnec4kj0j3rew9yel0jsrp82sd2new0zy3m9pcfgqas4r5yp7 npub1fcj3en06ajdm09y3twytsrnd9n7yqayt9e9xuutqdrwnqu85t6nqt7rz5p npub1jvej78jr00s94gdyct9md9x2ljtjr0jhej5c4mm7cejp39dwgu6slkmju6 npub1mp0jgd4gaj5hhw99lfwxufl0k50m398jcneqsp940sjzz32skmzqw5uuat npub13u8pyc0azav54a9gg0py5khrmd8er6ac55kvag72h43r4q8s7nnqsqsy4t npub1ajan43fcllaxc589juls8pef90cgdya0p0en38h55fal42nlgkrsvltfdv npub1pvn0tyrrrv86xpydzq6ppeyyuh3zut263m82emdfmydn37qa6x5qmh8khc npub1pfx4fj43y5j27ywgj02axnyup0eujtk3g6r4ug2n4nvfsa2kpl0qwvtah5 npub1rpx2y7u00jmsvwt8zlkztajmk3e5se89vhnswsz4suuyg4a3fx2ses6lkk npub10jhpwcdsc6mrfs8audcdds2x5txdagru9835f3drthzaumxurduq6esrnm npub1narc0ect9jf0ffnvcwg8kdqlte69yxfcxgxwaq35eygw42t3jqvq4hxv0r npub1yrffsyxk5hujkpz6mcpwhwkujqmdwswvdp4sqs2ug26zxmly45hsfpn8p0 npub10ua5vjul7d3rvvzg2psvhk36w7gpx8zn8xncqw773l4hnf0pkp4qccymjg npub14fzrwpygf69t0e9snrk2ms7ltn8u4dnvunl6d98zkrgdzf256exqa3j6rj npub1x8vkne5rx99wzup65m7gpmhmgsa80d3dscp8hafrwj70zxzkyexqttjd5x npub1643y7m94wwu30awq5djh7lkqj48evpz944yetgzhssmykkh93zlsz22hhs npub15pkupvdv7hmcjumlrx5yjmcwy2f9fl9fmsa9mx7qjlau8k59rxusq2v0ny npub15wnjy9pfx5xm9w2mjqezyhdgthw3ty4ydmnnamtmhvfmzl9x8css6kt8fs npub1saygqd4rdf8edlm3r45cexr97zndj3254lxyz9dejjlztscvndcqhcky0f npub14neap59th00w9keu9uffpal72dxyex5u7vc8pwsuqrdxes2mkrascnlukg npub1nyzep3atafwfrnq7346dmx7kjhqsrza936rnvnlkv25fzd09gxpqw3gg6v npub1chgzxyqjnvv7ryuf095cswtym37jummaqme42dfez8q25h4l734s9xdl08 npub1gp0cpreej8amtmmd4zn72hvgr4d4tgdhg3vpe0m4yxzqz7skg5eq47jmuc npub10gp3mv09aet40plum7f4pllyc8g8u4thq8mkkwymdcct3schagvq6fuh49 npub143jqpdq583jd7t4ucfkr9wzug9h3904vcng0vymyley0dx43vv8ssk2gc7 npub1z8y57drslgthaefkvya7kmqcdm9c20uutz336j9hp4frkrg32nwq9g4ju8 npub12er2cnsfzc3d5ceggpjazwx9a5cwna4atxslkwe8975lp3fuy6gs6s36tk npub1cpxjrlnhfmcclcsly5c0dvrgvl5nsctzxpp4s9f2nh4qeq50mwsq4089fc npub17dhclpvjmlkhlgkh04sc2296wj0veae79fq8dkwr5efvlz6vt79qgyqztn npub1gm7vxd6yjqsjx49ddqgyflllpjuhduqch79jlp07upsh3uf6q47qsm4xlv npub1d8h26etwdx6ws4afflra7reqwtvjsm7u8zn7jz0w5q0ah4tgx3rsga3axt npub18trgdajss33u25jvk0g2yv6lxr7s7k2dlkkku6eqq7m4hrc6aazshusdhj npub17s290m08ukaz9j3nhyuj5w2zyxtdzdqvrvsgv65c7ckcxshjrxrs6wnfhy npub1jlu3zyj7f2hacdrrmy7jpny9f7nnvuxt2flrasjtmgut90502xqqtsx4rf npub1vwcy6na4rcx6r43fqyxkhzzdvqufctnx06ywvrnajmq9p3mu27yqxy04ch npub1ea35pc7pqg2uvstspd0ljlu09t580qc942n5eevvmkrv6huchffspl8087 npub1jxl2tnvnv9gycsy64aze295c3a529lx5sfmzlktf5lxuw805g5wqew0z0n npub1l885a986vy3sj3watelhdwea74jxhy8688ju4h2c8wz2e94tcd2sl7qjy9 npub1uy7tnhwxsr0tc8eexksandgcct5wtua2xazvl2gfyy5n86p9sdvq7nwdzc npub12wm6zfgan2v2jc5tknkjsj9d64qfk6y4ggu32f9tgnu0mpuz26uqctkvly npub19hvj2zeg7ck8cj2p2az5y0gplllhgzzdu0khu5fhnpfmum5jspeqqcdjej npub1cqykgt4enf0ce9v36kjzugx94l6tp8dd5k8ktfgga9ahgs2mzess82r6sm npub1th77tvx7c3l9qgxql4grcllh9qahyfvz65ruplrf6kh0sfzuya0stmendl npub1w98zr2sevkqle6lmt7u503ewclhzs2cdq94ke4mw7kmpxy2u9y5s6fe9yy npub1c999aq8sl4fmw8an6hfj5lfhuneqc35seffqs6938hxajr2jq6rquyvp6l npub13tnrml3s46xswsk8l2p4tv8cdmnpkvrk4p32828jwce7puefc0kq8jlf2d npub126v86pztd6emjtkwxe8jj8sa8f0m9wcavsd4j0raemdxksegfg3qfaan6r npub1uz9f979gqjj0ymul0kqq79g8gtelwe6rs276jm7qnaffmn545h7suw6nhl npub165h57grx6hjw0grfcw805srfxl53ggcsl3mmhagmp7rg8x80ehasytgw9y npub1re764kr23sa6d2ld6fhukthcwgnwvsrahe92zq42kpdu3lm05sjqwjchtt npub1m0l0harjth9sses5h0r2slf7l4wws4clgt88s6n23ct2kd2xdkusf8nqjj npub1a8w23gjnfv0f0qzjpfeqg7yc5ddf4c8m8jks50l84lrv7h52jhgqq734am npub178p8fw0spjry5824n5wv96rfre8lq4r30ysyctfspzy97n3tl0nqcg5hzj npub1yhyc5znlka36gx496q2lmqhyttlef7lpkx790vjmsh2xfacdeu6q9zu2sd npub1h7mp8nd39hzxywqdl28rm2du9j2jhcarmsmakmulm6z7fc4lx6eqqaxh7q npub1dvqg5278etemtvxl59ahcey8cywrcl0krhpu8dt9s70mgwjar3jsqh5ywp npub1dpm87jq8zpgrvq2thr80chmjjrj0tww7q3hx9kq7wpzq2aayqxdq9a76um npub1l506tlst4adydg0tkshynjw6dsk5ukjvpzr67y9vas8v3nzxylssq6p0j5 npub1pe493zu4ax53pthcsfff7uehwppc9w6peashtyu972ey2szdeheqxcfk5k npub1kuxfh7e9fds89qzzzfjrh6c80d46jstqnm2q29wekyykr4mk0zvss3yn27 npub1gwx22vu2yzm8eq95nvvmgvpax04u96gq4r8rgqqf9pgsheu2lz4q429cus npub1n8ahhlw8trcpwkqdcetl5pgqvrxcfvgrtj037zlflrnqymq5f40qhnwpd9 npub1ujr9zwz8h7xtkvp4pn6aslguqvks43h8ej2z2g86snff0h4xxmuqjzcwy7 npub1vm4s0uqkydaqzt44dyt38p5spltl6637sxrfxswmr6k883f5a0ds8taxyl npub1zqvtnvxrdpg5vwh5alpx0m567092m2ltynqxlk004976tgc6syqsg9rcv4 npub1ld5xqfflwy6txghaaef2d4rnyzkvwvz2crncmtvhq93xxsqvzqtqzdx4yp npub1er2xa679095y03xlcmycgg4r93nluqpluye44h0ndxdy6k5uxcdsqwtqkf npub16jde9ylpry7pyau6svgqktdes242ynfk9snfafh8gq3r3fj5xfus44xm32 npub1zqgjtt2ayahsuxzp3cg7h8qwt6ev7phz9x02ktc0gdlwz70n23nsla0sph npub1h9c96qqmcupyvtq30d0xvp97h2cx966gz8n55cqgd24hgzvz047s6hxyd4 npub1h955atshn3faxg5r40p4achtxg3q832h0agjn24sf63tnkg5ezfq0fnr0n npub1ker60jkxmxjmft468v5wzth5757v2end6wzd4xn67jyej8taj4zsyp7tqy npub1ddjzjva20mwp9xals7v0nh3devvjewevkkrqrsglyhnwa59ctswq6kzdys npub1wtvrnst9hus9pvz3m95pusfjzq4z5zly3w4lehulh6xc8dajl60qsrjg5a npub1hl07ukzg0xk7gj6ejr5k5e6gmakt9tnu5r07f543ce6e7sa7dc0qv0kcun npub16dana9qsfpf48ccyqwvl8jlw6k5u8adly9ph76z0ftrs88lf7vtsrzlu5s npub1fyd0awkakq4aap70ual7mtlszjle9krffgwnsrkyua2frzmysd8qjj8gvg npub1saessfmtu5xwnwh60e0rwnj0e067npv6yxgc7d96algqqart056s5gkuqh npub1lylzl87mst3swjtj97j8aajyfmaqctaylgw9et5agyp3rl42y5as87k86d npub1z324cpkjv9ay5fanw7rex5847dy7h3ndvaej2hy2vmc7r8c35res3x2kje npub13zlwh0n00pja6dkw6htamu6sl8668hpgr45y5lnmnmvt92g3laysqqsatw npub1u2ukfds6k42qwufd9xd5l535lxt3g2zet9rmmlhagtjxg6t8e6asmx0w6c npub1ezeah83hkpsguazn70rmkmfwh864wdejv7h7q7tsuq46wquelelqu8fr7h npub1pvuu3ms6vlu7lmysggjuuz6ctsuyjdmy3uhlywg7jxdewvtr7rgqakhnsl npub1vny9x6jl2cmvhva8m9gq05z0vf2tar3vy72503hvuru0pxtnz2vq9v0fyg npub1s9s55cwl2m6cd5czukune4y02gecrn7m2tukj8zt4epheaqlk7wqsd753t npub1qvwpwvdvq4hckarg9ekldnvzza0shka85fk24uuh606vhg4l2grsuw808l npub15ksrns0fw4l8heral0hst3szmvpka67a94xxjcm3ddlpx7hcn7eqhwfkrd npub1zkrdvkmnx0sv7d8hyd0ma22lfvvphhd33d0qs3sg7lrtrv0xdv9sa7gy52 npub1nknxhegrddacazt8sax6cr2h0r9sht6ajmq3s82vjhg54ey2rfhsumhe3c npub107swly8y0ert2upsevqk8fqw9tvacfvuygw55qcv4s2eav6f0axslhmymt npub1a9a2l7jqqxa9mwrw034lcnuhcsncg905sl03ava49md55t4awewsvvzz87 npub1yudjcmkasasju6znprl3rpyp39xa3uk4g6sfrv3wxestqsehs3eq7z5f8r npub1cy3a6gug0t4jrl8plq393cjjxwtg6cewcuek0n0hkww4h567dnts0ft0dy npub19jxz6jynvhlwzmfyhmn5tzymdff0zuq8jkg2mq268a5045f6favswaxu2q npub1uvx00x8svjwma2zhddwpthyke6zc3rrxqg5gj8mxdjv77zvwmz2qgw603z npub1ewe3r7x8qemdh7v30gndpamgrmu0k6nu4twyt62r6ukvkvmpgkls24272j npub1deexjnst5g52wh9kmqr4hy3wzhh0gspujs2nc6m0l892rzj788uq5gcpq2 npub16qsq63pgxyw5vz6847y9w4cau0fmvhykw7uy04p50u5muulc6kwqn706mz npub12cfje6nl2nuxplcqfvhg7ljt89fmpj0n0fd24zxsukja5qm9wmtqd7y76c npub1nu0yladm9rr6wsz8w3v995gcxl88vqcdnp8uv3zp3xk978d3658s8kvmhm npub1dn5cj3n85c085yqry7wle93uhrqtkf9m2zwqgt8c233js0lt9ugsdr7zzt npub1vudm0xsx4cv3zkvvq7k5836tnkv64q0h7uudnwujr4a4l9zc2p9s0x8url npub12c68tkshmelhtrd7ye5fqg3gwttd33ly7gzxkwh2u4qt008nu7gstf7x0p npub1dc9p7jzjhj86g2uqgltq4qvnpkyfqn9r72kdlddcgyat3j05gnjsgjc8rz npub1dmqa9kg8nke7fc88p760zd8crrqupl4w5lflhgs0jgh4n3slmdjsql67zc npub13q2vzsfemle9cpxj875tz0vcwqe6r8sy05fd62jcd3xuxjeqj6ksze4xl8 npub16merj2xt59t43djfx8vf4fzhc6nd4v9hlsv8ej8xfl3327yr3vzqu8zjt4 npub15dqlghlewk84wz3pkqqvzl2w2w36f97g89ljds8x6c094nlu02vqjllm5m npub1kqnfgpzt3jxh69ma394r0azyurd6h3dehpw7lzvl0vv3n7kv4a0s3305z2 npub1g6jjgu06nctv74e96u84jux6vxm3ezncjh7tyquvm66jug02xvzqmqu08l npub1efk5xdyrs6e4lqfm7crut2ssdnhu54d9egswq6smt62v0llj37vsprp0r9 npub1j2gc7kt42rwf5q37dmm2k29rqxscdqt2vyfn0xgju32v329jfpdqmkq0xk npub15lymwv6mdpdc3j8zxf3qzq33j2lyntst9v83ukqpa0tzkdtae28sgef05j npub189ts86gs5xw5w2mcz0na5vkz4cseam7jnkjwwqswrj56v9x776lshjqa8m npub1cgf0yeja9tlkfq248l09hkf4kfjfyaup50laen46ucv8gf0puy0qlpxlh5 npub15r0z9mrt0nxzq5fzxysqusm32r9krljq8gh55xnavdyllk6gdxjsj36uc5 npub1qa0lj0jktem67zaazrvpgrf23qdcj3cw9u6j5ct55mg447tqnftshv420v npub1yxfjljjd3apsrvzlkww525jfvdsvuwcs3n23wpmy2txtsppzvmtsgxur33 npub1gv8juwhat4xkl734q684n6vvv8sn5k2dvm8a0wnckyw50zajdvhse8rd3j npub14tj8zkwatnjq4rlnruj53676thre3uss9tg8e23a6w4ewuzus60qe4qg6r npub1ylf8w68g5dkfqwjpdvsy42d2cwqnajswrhz323chsc7gnz400chqfmzdm5 npub1rhgqj4urjf5uw9y3npnvvst2hhmcdqghd26fzwgc4s5ptkq24d4s2525ja npub1lzmdnlsaysc5m040q5q8nlgmquldtxzgllegsg6z2n0engaxwp8szsswed npub1vr3860267yxktugg5q034j9xh3xjaxnlawvas6wqa5kw6zxhgcdq6u2yzr npub1q6ygq585gcs2m6egv67yv3a036jhry8zu93wk2uk68e3smdafl5q4sl54r npub1vy0g338hw6w6rn2fsv5s92nx47u6gle8v50ypxwj6k2hsj9p344s95e8r5 npub14k0ws2m8f5jfrae4a7smtmwgx0quhhl58z4rpd8hs9ar8mlx78ys0seswh npub1qahmtyz5pr385kqmvxqf0a4004cx6ncvnj2829rvjf0rs5ujanhs2ssgvv npub18wamvs6p7dslshavd24kv2gy72e5jck9lgm3f3e3f8udja3ramcqvrzg6q npub1njtezc8lznuj5ws6yvz6x324lzn2ct907s8vlwnxqph30m0gqd0qvpvr07 npub1vgppgksgzs7je6xueqqvkpn4gqmcn3nl96famz34zfhqzq286mdqqmecmx npub1w6nj3y6wsv9kfjev4jjdghsg9ajcjq2gtec4qfpmgcmkzljl4yps8r0gwq npub10l6udyczpjzg4wcer9mje4zkcf2hhus8cswhycwaxfanepc7fz6s0q7u4a npub1cwevvvcurkfg5wjtnftret2j7ldv4lg3x35sty0pm546p6jx0g8q9fa055 npub1v5t0xmnrcap5rah8cm8mrqkp0rmuv4mslrlm3ldwkr39fzy56mas7wvr3f npub1w2vm583yvalnc02ngh6rxhn4ekp8m0xysmrzr6s7ufdwmu9r9qxsqdg0ng npub14va2v0yaprmt0nn0qk7ga6jujfk6pdrfwv0kxj76a5ymp8dfdy2s5ehfdd npub1ztdt0nvu8324tg40g4ts8d6englps8w6574zyq2gkdvcrx364y0qd9x9za npub15qskvuagmaznzc3pea7vxh0890ycfzxxdx537gef5wl6cunan3tsdkld4r npub10vmwytmy0pypy2c0f5zen8auvl7ku5dnk53vaw3ddplw2fl9r9wq4hmr5r npub1crqgm8qg9kplm9rlwfj7uxdzdtanq6rfu9unkt4ckd8r7fn7q36s0az8tt npub1x7fj44hzhjdcw2jwpylllpdgeh9yqqt7fg35ucfaywnw68tctv7qntw8qu npub1rj46xc5tssyk67ma9sslqqt90d597uuqx6v7tprv8alt9enk6v0qyvgn65 npub1y9a3x4e4zf6fu2w0cyyx9r2pmm6qtzrv4sallyznflamhplz3jyq0gq7gp npub1ukm78z9nzr0vnq7nqn8tvx95htttj2f48n99n9nqlky547rwzyrqk08am8 npub1p93m0semtesnsm2fjjd0p5kwl8gpwdqsnfq920zqyhfcc3j4nddsygyk5p npub1rgtl4ay7dcnud25enknv9230r3u5dmu3h3c7mj38jamrz4g3vf8qj5cszy npub19ajcupesc6zcpt0tlg6jv2l4w6wnpx985x735445fvla4w9zqqkss69s06 npub1kpyx8lxklwtd6n496rqgu8kq2k3yh2svlzr5sz3jlxlnphc6tcwq8kllrw npub1sg3qz6633ajzfg7w9ptmk0hf8ckl9jvv4zh6ttxt39jne36wnpnqyzk3vn npub1h5e0y6r2tagu4cygnfggzcfrt4afarvcvvcgqmpzyv605g4n89nqhlf2e2 npub1n6rffa4wqh3hcuurlf298dx8j59wxkmjth87adc7ektxnmpgxwgszk7scj npub17ml9y86nfg65h68pumfkclr3ay24pcfduu06j2jfp4pz2yjcpcjqv04fu3 npub1rkz86wjvey3vgdy2pau5ulpzdmxyzq4g8xp9cd3tu6kqmzpqcppseazx4s npub1c664gerrwlc3rlm6nnm73uc2kjyd0f7zaellshxyfdrludtmcf4q3adztu npub1zp0ys9ysfyrjvuxpwhvyevgphkmluynreun7fg2jeuu9xtsjwa4shlqhhn npub1fp0w2jd6e9l6pd3akr630d8gkcn39t2vep7u3ac5265fezu2fnvqjxpa2s npub1jz8k5nl4978lnhghlzeenp3nmfyvykqw5pjp620jj5qft8vqh44qp6pjk8 npub18vay956v7zs5qtgc65mvn54v96cuvqv6j9fmu4cgfjqkt5vjuvjsc47nzf npub1kgpnq8ycudaq8d7fym033hgdarz3ktvcws8nxt7p9rnfv98j7cdqftrga8 npub10wdzfpdpgyzxj8a4xtf5dux5z8065pan7xrcjh6gd6plj39qzycssepffr npub1ew3rlwvtmxw903gnqx92zar5dcyd47pjjure7ut2wngyz003ff8q0x0frx npub18urkgk8wrf0esedp8gy57670q5qxry22yce7rwrnvvrur736p3pspy6upf npub1pp8mxtdgamg65wfvrtp56v5lnyvv2kmx45cxd5m9dgcdjqqy5ysq5qasy3 npub1y5vlh9z98stts0rc5mlufellseuwjtyaa5jhewjqugnzdwt7yvgs0ydryw npub1gcxzte5zlkncx26j68ez60fzkvtkm9e0vrwdcvsjakxf9mu9qewqlfnj5z npub1x0r5gflnk2mn6h3c70nvnywpy2j46gzqwg6k7uw6fxswyz0md9qqnhshtn npub1lc6c4ukssmuf678py7k6thmlk8c4a52l9zx4thec48ve2qmcdqys22jt95 npub1h28yvj0mj692wpwruqdhyjngcfh4la7gaygrent6a3wwqjxcah7qnt92e7 npub16g85fanyh8sq48yjfq0smqm297yw76yxlcdvjq7hkuvm7xjjhn5saads2f npub1xc2plng44tlj2smv65e53sf3uaqf56c5gajktyu8zxn2p70jrxcq230nt9 npub15l8sfm30uwns8qrcajs99narc4ex65ujt5sky4zx3dpjhnnk2szsqu40n5 npub126u9v4tqg79hxx569wyq207q68j4vn4yme8he007kqfg36va8r8s4qvqs4 npub1stv2q4hwrk6ggvw3hxju8hjakly4ev9wt5tn8gnl9cpaqt8799yqj58ygn npub18yffjalmcfn4x0x0jpj3xm8g6vdx8rp2jd4dhnpr7e3xpemxlmas9w0q8u npub1wmmlxqv8l6aks90jvnetvwkk2hqd7pmqzk8hq6v0tkjrpqdvm8tq0exs5c npub1z8v0x60ukxsk00zz5s2uqgvlg6p8dhunnz3fn6wtnw48xg7p3wvsgmnduu npub1vukz6scwfq55vqjpv3z52theg0lwkrz6kncwc3rfkczl3ukafsfqfnw368 npub1kujyqe2m5w9895kfx7agwjag0xperd0efnxzfellux0xuj5es28q09lucn npub1j3tn5wdn82tmlgvcmhtm0fwzqpwx86pdgr3538rh7asdvkas2ktsqlnxpf npub1g7tavhda0yc8857nj22feuytgxskg4dlpfyql6r2d99egajrss7ssq730z npub1fsyfqrleejgdmck8rxd64wkhdefjthu6lgm8eg99r9xxsl9hespsnmfhvv npub1mevkncsv484u9nue4apgl6ue2644x4m57y9cmztnvwpvs0tnduysg3vdsw npub1a2mj00469ng4xy87nucds99e7m5djh4pe3rpluvhcnaat48gpeysj0gy8v npub1ggfzdxa8xrrzhaut6venkrmjtw8wl25y6l0wramkc7d4dlyaflzsxxrfcq npub1f945c6sqw2d2aqktvjrjtu9uca9wdd6ua5e0a560jak90rr5ha0q3tj4cx npub1x3j34yuj6d9ln5ryuw0ncy97aa6ttc5wwyxqwvjrz7mg039t6l5qd4ewrm npub1d0jucp5jqt799kjuqxzs4cj377tew43dpcr60fzyvcltc5jemtcqryyvcy npub1m6keqpkqfp0uzxdzm2q0rdw6pzxuln98rzla0zzywwdzgcyw2rpq56p4d8 npub1p8ymvhgtsyhyqk4y35xlup20trde4pa69pxf45hdxc74zdkyhfvq3narwh npub17n7fe8p607xgzj2hzft5dsqvsus7mm3y0ceq0ta9a30s9akatq5sqh9y58 npub1he7j4yt7ad6kd07ynqk9qmhfqflw642qkjagqvn2eektqrl90fcs6dlraq npub1mryqu5cffjqpyykvmfjx3js8j0m0850v56dx24lhyqgf2uhl5npsk9xj7y npub17natddjkmse4z8frh7ysynwtzanzmvs9d76c5r53546wsnzs25gqfdeqey npub1ywcw97xsl93l0mqmdpshqx4yu507xqa8zy8p3l8vrkgkek90wm7qjhp74e npub1d9f66fpawpeyrdh9jkyccfdgut6u9ghufwly5gyttfy790mp88sqgx5v98 npub1cx5js2ma5gf7fqn7yv8sjtezvg3agfth7yyxhwywtqypkat493ksjm7yr8 npub1ykrmhyqc0mjhdf5mzuz37g3jkt5ma7v0uesmuyvhueaqs5ysfres02hqjd npub13k3ynlhc2ret9nvzamj4cgrnq9fx3uzyx8ral84tjtk5pmxqpcysdzrzgt npub1jdaa64eyuql4hd0244mp7z7n82egpmt2d79ny9avjufkpm5gz46shcdfng npub1ne99yarta29qxnsp0ssp6cpnnqmtwl8cvklenfcsg2fantuvf0zqmpxjxk npub1klwact0ar00r9uer7tzh2zq0ytx3f552tt8qavszdhvu6vpv3uzqwpkjqz npub124rja8qp7dartasr9wdh3kk78phxunzhmq8ar5ryd2anj2qwtcnsz3tuhs npub1c7kdmhhae7x40q8zq9eudgqm9wgz0q3av4nrgaqe2qqphqmqvczqhee447
-
@ 9be6a199:6e133301
2025-05-20 12:45:08
sadfsflkjsdflkdsjfglksjdfglksd
-
@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1
2025-05-13 06:32:15
You don’t have to be a type designer to appreciate what goes into the design of a letterform. In fact, even if you’re just a humble graphic designer, you should have a basic knowledge of what constructs the type you employ.
Typography, for all its concepts, expectations, implications, connotations and artistry, is, ultimately, a system. Just like a body has bones and muscles, every letterform has parts that give it shape, rhythm, and character.
If you're a creative working with type, learning the names of these parts helps you communicate clearly, better analyze your work and others, and design with precision. Everything comes down to a foundational understanding of the anatomy of the letterform and its essential component. So let’s help you with that.
Pangram Pangram Foundry is where the art of typography meets unparalleled craftsmanship. Established in 2018 by designer Mat Desjardins, Pangram Pangram has swiftly risen to become a globally recognized independent type foundry, admired and trusted by industry peers and the design community alike.
Read more about the anatomy of fonts at https://pangrampangram.com/blogs/journal/anatomy-of-the-letterform
originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/978828
-
@ 9be6a199:6e133301
2025-05-20 12:44:22
-
@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1
2025-05-13 06:21:36
Steve Jobs sent me an email saying “Great idea, thank you."
Wait, what? What was the great idea?
new guy at NeXT In October of 1991, I was a new Systems Engineer at NeXT. NeXT, of course, was the company Steve Jobs had founded after leaving Apple in 1985, and which eventually merged back into Apple in 1996. I was one of three employees in Canada, and I think NeXT had about 400 people total.
NeXTMail Mail on the NeXT Computer was pretty amazing in 1991. Multimedia! Fonts! Attachments! Sounds! It’s hard to overstate how cool that was compared to the command line email everybody was used to. Every NeXT user got this email from Steve when they started up their computer.
That message included an attachment of what NeXT called Lip Service, the crazy idea that you could embed an audio file inside an email message. Crazy.
i have an idea
NeXT automatically set everybody up with a first-initial last-name address in the usual way, so I was shayman@next.com, and the big guy was sjobs@next.com.
A few colleagues had somehow acquired cooler email aliases - single letter things, or their first name, or a nickname or an easier to spell version, or whatever. Turns out NeXT had set up some sort of form where you could request an email alias that would redirect to whatever your real email address was.
I also noticed that even though there were seven or eight people at NeXT named Steve, nobody was using the email alias steve@next.com.
So late one Friday night, two weeks into the job, I figured, naively, what the heck, nobody else seems to want it, so I filled in the form asking for steve@next.com to be forwarded to me, shayman@next.com.
In the back of my mind was a vague idea that maybe somebody would have to approve this. But no, it all got set up automatically, and …
Continue reading at https://blog.hayman.net/2025/05/06/from-steve-jobs-great-idea.html
originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/978825
-
@ e4950c93:1b99eccd
2025-05-20 11:06:09
Contenu à venir.
-
@ e5272de9:a16a102f
2024-09-08 19:21:40
The Grapevine is designed to digest raw data, no matter where you can find it. This is made possible through the process of interpretation.
Interpretation: the process of converting a source of raw data into a format suitable for consumption by the grapevine algorithm
format of Grapevine ratings
The Grapevine is designed to take as input a list of ratings that follow a specialized format, which we will refer to as Grapevine ratings.
Each rating must contain the following 4 to 6 fields: - rater - ratee - score - confidence - context (optional) - rating type (optional)
rater
The author of the rating. Often will be a pubkey or an npub, but could be username, etc.
ratee
The person, place, or thing being rated. This could be a pubkey, an event id or naddr, or a simple string, e.g. the title of a movie.
score
usually a number, but could be a boolean, an item on a list, etc.
confidence
a number between 0 and 1 (i.e. 0 and 100 percent) that represents the confidence of the rater in the score. For example: If Alice rates Bob as highly skilled in some context, and this is based on working with him for many years, she may rate him 9/10 with a confidence of 0.9 (90 percent). On the other hand, suppose she considers him worthy of a 9/10 rating, but this is based on only one brief interaction. In this case, she may rate him 9/10 but with a confidence of 0.05 (5 percent).
context
a string. This may be omitted from the table if every rating in the table or dataset is of the same context (as may often be the case).
rating type
a string that indicates the type of rating: 5 star, true or false, etc. This may be omitted from the table if every rating in the table or dataset is of the same rating type (as may often be the case).
Example interpretation: follows and mutes
A good way to bootstrap a list of nostr users minus the bots, scams, and other bad actors is to make use of the follows and mutes lists, as is done at brainstorm.
The interpretation of a follow is the following Grapevine Rating: - rater: pk_Alice - ratee: pk_Bob - score: 1 - confidence: 0.05
The interpretation of a mute is the following Grapevine Rating: - rater: pk_Alice - ratee: pk_Charlie - score: 0 - confidence: 0.1
Grapevine Ratings Tables
A list of ratings may be referred to as a Grapevine Ratings Table or a Grapevine Ratings Dataset (if in some non-table format, such as an object).
In the below example, the rating type (0 to 5 stars) and context (item quality) columns are the same for each row in the table and so are omitted.
| rater | ratee | score | confidence | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | pk_Alice | item1 | 4 | 0.5 | | pk_Bob | item1 | 5 | 0.9 | | pk_Alice | item2 | 0 | 0.1 |
Sources of Raw Data
| Some Suggested Sources of Raw Data | | --- | | follows, mutes, zaps | | kind 1 and long form notes | | NIP-51 lists | | kind 7 reactions | | NIP-32 labels | | NIP-58 badges | | nostr forms (e.g. see formstr) |
-
@ 56f27915:5fee3024
2025-05-20 11:02:41
Buchbeschreibung:\ \ Dieses Buch ist ein Appell.
Es richtet sich nicht nur an den Kopf des Lesers, sondern auch an seinen Willen.\ \ Es ist ein Appell an Volk und Leser, die Lenkung der Geschicke direkt selbst in die Hand zu nehmen. Nicht nur: "Was ist?" sondern vor allem: "Was können wir tun?" ist in diesem Buch die große Frage.\ \ Mit dem Blick auf diese Frage wird das Grundgesetz betrachtet und gezeigt, dass es absolut noch nicht der gediegene Glockenguss ist, als der es uns von "oben" immer vorgestellt wurde, sondern dass in ihm auch extrem gegenläufige, bemessen an seinen freiheitlich-demokratischen Idealen sogar als extrem verfassungs-widrig zu bezeichnende Tendenzen wirken, die heute in seine Zerstörung führen.\ \ Vor allem die unselige Übermacht des Parteienwesens und die damit verbundene systemische Entmündigung des Souveräns, des Volkes, ist das Ergebnis dieser verfassungs-widrigen Tendenzen.\ \ Es wird aber auch gezeigt, wo in den Idealen des Grundgesetzes und in den Entscheidungen der Mütter und Väter dieses Grundgesetzes die Ansatzpunkte liegen, durch die der Zerstörung des Grundgesetzes wirkungsvoll begegnet werden kann. Und diese Ansatzpunkte werden im Buch allseits zur Entfaltung gebracht.\ \ "Wer die Demokratie verteidigen will, der muss sie weiter entwickeln." Im Sinne dieses Wortes wird dem Leser ein praktikabler Weg gewiesen, auf dem er unmittelbar helfen kann, das Grundgesetz den wirkenden Zerstörungskräften zu entwinden, durch Einrichtung der direkten Bürgerbeteiligung an den entscheidenden Fragen unserer Republik die Position des Souveräns gegenüber der Parteienmacht zu stärken, Freiheitsrechte, Demokratie und Rechtsstaat auf eine wesentlich höhere Stufe als bisher zu bringen und sich durch eine verfassungs-klärende Versammlung seine Basis selbst und neu zu geben.
Buch bestellen: https://great-reset-von-unten.de/
\ Und nicht vergessen, abzustimmen! Die Zeit ist reif. Packen wir's an.\
-
@ d360efec:14907b5f
2025-05-13 00:39:56
🚀📉 #BTC วิเคราะห์ H2! พุ่งชน 105K แล้วเจอแรงขาย... จับตา FVG 100.5K เป็นจุดวัดใจ! 👀📊
จากากรวิเคราะห์ทางเทคนิคสำหรับ #Bitcoin ในกรอบเวลา H2:
สัปดาห์ที่แล้ว #BTC ได้เบรคและพุ่งขึ้นอย่างแข็งแกร่งค่ะ 📈⚡ แต่เมื่อวันจันทร์ที่ผ่านมา ราคาได้ขึ้นไปชนแนวต้านบริเวณ 105,000 ดอลลาร์ แล้วเจอแรงขายย่อตัวลงมาตลอดทั้งวันค่ะ 🧱📉
ตอนนี้ ระดับที่น่าจับตาอย่างยิ่งคือโซน H4 FVG (Fair Value Gap ในกราฟ 4 ชั่วโมง) ที่ 100,500 ดอลลาร์ ค่ะ 🎯 (FVG คือโซนที่ราคาวิ่งผ่านไปเร็วๆ และมักเป็นบริเวณที่ราคามีโอกาสกลับมาทดสอบ/เติมเต็ม)
👇 โซน FVG ที่ 100.5K นี้ ยังคงเป็น Area of Interest ที่น่าสนใจสำหรับมองหาจังหวะ Long เพื่อลุ้นการขึ้นในคลื่นลูกถัดไปค่ะ!
🤔💡 อย่างไรก็ตาม การตัดสินใจเข้า Long หรือเทรดที่บริเวณนี้ ขึ้นอยู่กับว่าราคา แสดงปฏิกิริยาอย่างไรเมื่อมาถึงโซน 100.5K นี้ เพื่อยืนยันสัญญาณสำหรับการเคลื่อนไหวที่จะขึ้นสูงกว่าเดิมค่ะ!
เฝ้าดู Price Action ที่ระดับนี้อย่างใกล้ชิดนะคะ! 📍
BTC #Bitcoin #Crypto #คริปโต #TechnicalAnalysis #Trading #FVG #FairValueGap #PriceAction #MarketAnalysis #ลงทุนคริปโต #วิเคราะห์กราฟ #TradeSetup #ข่าวคริปโต #ตลาดคริปโต
-
@ eabee230:17fc7576
2025-05-12 14:38:11
⚖️ຢ່າລືມສິ່ງທີ່ເຄີຍເກີດຂຶ້ນ ຮອດຊ່ວງທີ່ມີການປ່ຽນແປງລະບົບການເງິນຈາກລະບົບເງິນເກົ່າ ສູ່ລະບົບເງິນໃໝ່ມັນເຮັດໃຫ້ຄົນທີ່ລວຍກາຍເປັນຄົນທຸກໄດ້ເລີຍ ນ້ຳພັກນ້ຳແຮງທີ່ສະສົມມາດ້ວຍຄວາມເມື່ອຍແຕ່ບໍ່ສາມາດແລກເປັນເງິນລະບົບໃໝ່ໄດ້ທັງໝົດ ຖືກຈຳກັດຈຳນວນທີ່ກົດໝາຍວາງອອກມາໃຫ້ແລກ ເງິນທີ່ເຫຼືອນັ້ນປຽບຄືດັ່ງເສດເຈ້ຍ ເພາະມັນບໍ່ມີຢູ່ໃສຮັບອີກຕໍ່ໄປເພາະກົດໝາຍຈະນຳໃຊ້ສະກຸນໃໝ່ ປະຫວັດສາດເຮົາມີໃຫ້ເຫັນວ່າ ແລະ ເຄີຍຜ່ານມາແລ້ວຢ່າໃຫ້ຄົນລຸ້ນເຮົາຊຳ້ຮອຍເກົ່າ.
🕰️ຄົນທີ່ມີຄວາມຮູ້ ຫຼື ໃກ້ຊິດກັບແຫຼ່ງຂໍ້ມູນຂ່າວສານກໍຈະປ່ຽນເງິນທີ່ມີຢູ່ເປັນສິນສັບບໍ່ວ່າຈະເປັນທີ່ດິນ ແລະ ທອງຄຳທີ່ສາມາດຮັກສາມູນລະຄ່າໄດ້ເຮັດໃຫ້ເຂົາຍັງຮັກສາຄວາມມັ້ງຄັ້ງໃນລະບົບໃໝ່ໄດ້.
🕰️ໃຜທີ່ຕ້ອງການຈະຍ້າຍປະເທດກໍ່ຈະໃຊ້ສິ່ງທີ່ເປັນຊື່ກາງໃນການແລກປ່ຽນເປັນທີ່ຍ້ອມຮັບຫຼາຍນັ້ນກໍຄືທອງຄຳ ປ່ຽນຈາກເງິນລະບົບເກົ່າເປັນທອງຄຳເພື່ອທີ່ສາມາດປ່ຽນທອງຄຳເປັນສະກຸນເງິນທ້ອງຖິ່ນຢູ່ປະເທດປາຍທາງໄດ້.
🕰️ຈາກຜູ້ດີເມື່ອກ່ອນກາຍເປັນຄົນທຳມະດາຍ້ອນສັບສິນທີ່ມີ ບໍ່ສາມາດສົ່ງຕໍ່ສູ່ລູກຫຼານໄດ້. ການເກັບອອມເປັນສິ່ງທີ່ດີ ແຕ່ຖ້າໃຫ້ດີຕ້ອງເກັບອອມໃຫ້ຖືກບ່ອນ ຄົນທີ່ຮູ້ທັນປ່ຽນເງິນທີ່ມີຈາກລະບົບເກົ່າໄປສູ່ທອງຄຳ ເພາະທອງຄຳມັນເປັນສາກົນ.
ໃຜທີ່ເຂົ້າໃຈ ແລະ ມອງການໄກກວ່າກໍ່ສາມາດຮັກສາສິນສັບສູ່ລູກຫຼານໄດ້ ເກັບເຈ້ຍໃນປະລິມານທີ່ພໍໃຊ້ຈ່າຍ ປ່ຽນເຈ້ຍໃຫ້ເປັນສິ່ງທີ່ຮັກສາມູນລະຄ່າໄດ້ແທ້ຈິງ.🕰️ເຮົາໂຊກດີທີ່ເຄີຍມີບົດຮຽນມາແລ້ວ ເກີດຂຶ້ນຈິງໃນປະເທດເຮົາບໍ່ໄດ້ຢາກໃຫ້ທັງໝົດແຕ່ຢາກໃຫ້ສຶກສາ ແລະ ຕັ້ງຄຳຖາມວ່າທີ່ຜ່ານມາມັນເປັນແບບນີ້ແທ້ບໍ່ ເງິນທີ່ລັດຄວາມຄຸມ ເງິນປະລິມານບໍ່ຈຳກັດ ການໃຊ້ກົດໝາຍແບບບັງຄັບ. ຖ້າຄອບຄົວຫຼືຄົນໃກ້ໂຕທີ່ຍູ່ໃນຊ່ວງເຫດການນັ້ນແຕ່ຕັດສິນໃຈຜິດພາດທີ່ບໍ່ປ່ຽນເຈ້ຍເປັນສິນສັບ. ນີ້ແມ່ນໂອກາດທີ່ຈະແກ້ໄຂຂໍ້ຜິດພາດນັ້ນໂດຍຫັນມາສຶກສາເງິນແທ້ຈິງແລ້ວແມ່ນຍັງກັນແທ້ ເວລາມີຄ່າສຶກສາບິດຄອຍ.
fiatcurrency #bitcoin #gold #history #paymentsolutions #laokip #laostr
-
@ f85b9c2c:d190bcff
2025-05-20 12:41:35
Solana (SOL) is acquiring popularity in the crypto world for its speed and flexibility.It's rapidly gaining ground on established blockchains, grabbing investor interest.History Of Solana Anatoly Yakovenko, once a Qualcomm executive, formulated the concept for Solana in 2017. A town on the Southern California coast inspired the name. Yakovenko wanted a swifter, more reliable blockchain network to address the limitations of existing onesat that time. Solana is based in San Francisco, California, at the headquarters of Solana Labs. Solana was launched in March 2020, making a major step in the advancement of blockchain technology.
What Is Solana? Solana is a blockchain network built for speed and affordability.This versatility makes it useful for DeFi, NFTs, and more. Solana operates on its own independent blockchain network with SOL as its native token and infrastructure to power its operations. It functions as a self-sufficient ecosystem, independent of any other existing blockchain network.
How Does Solana Work? Unlike normal blockchains that usually rely on the Proof-of-Work mechanism, Solana uses another approach. It combines two mechanisms: 1.Proof-of-Stake: It lets operators secure the network by putting SOL tokens at stake. These operators are entrusted with adding new blocks to the blockchain and are rewarded for their contribution.
2.Proof-of-History: It helps eliminates the need for communications between operators and boosts transaction processing speed.
Conclusion The mix of these mechanisms is a key factor behind Solana’s reputation for superior speed. Of course, it uses other technical aspects that contribute to its efficiency, but PoS and PoH play a critical role.
-
@ cae03c48:2a7d6671
2025-05-20 11:00:00
Bitcoin Magazine
Ben Allen Receives Maelstrom Bitcoin Developer Grant to Advance Payjoin TechBen Allen has been named the third recipient of the Maelstrom Bitcoin Developer Grant, the family office of Arthur Hayes announced in a recent press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine. Over the next year, Allen will focus on enhancing the Payjoin Dev Kit project, a privacy-focused Bitcoin transaction tool designed to improve user anonymity and network scalability.
Payjoin, first introduced in 2019 by Nicolas Dorier in BIP 78, allows both the sender and receiver to contribute inputs to a single Bitcoin transaction. This disrupts common assumptions used by financial surveillance firms, namely the idea that multiple transaction inputs must come from a single entity. By breaking this assumption, even limited adoption of Payjoin can bolster privacy across the Bitcoin network.
“Maelstrom would like to congratulate Ben Allen on this grant,” said Arthur Hayes, Chief Investment Officer of Maelstrom. “The great thing about Payjoin, is that if only a small amount of adoption is achieved, it breaks a key assumption used by financial surveillance companies. The assumption they have is that if a Bitcoin transaction has multiple inputs, all the inputs must all belong to the same entity. Therefore, Payjoin adoption improves the privacy of even the people who don’t use it. We are excited to support Ben Allen’s work on open-source tools and software to increase Payjoin adoption.”
Allen, who will be working alongside Dan Gould, aims to expand the implementation of Payjoin so it can be integrated into more Bitcoin wallets. He acknowledged the technical complexities of the project—including the requirement for receivers to be online—but expressed optimism about overcoming these challenges.
“I’m deeply grateful to Arthur Hayes and Maelstrom for generously providing me with this grant to support my work on the Payjoin Dev Kit project,” said Allen. “With this funding, I can dedicate myself full-time to enhancing the Payjoin implementation, improving testing, and ensuring that the dev kit remains robust, well-documented, and maintainable for the future.”
Allen also emphasized the broader mission of his work: “Improving privacy for bitcoin is an area where continued improvement allows for a better experience by empowering users to control their financial data and foster greater peace of mind when using bitcoin day to day. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to Bitcoin’s privacy and scalability, and I’m looking forward to continuing to collaborate with the community to make Payjoin more widely adopted.”
Maelstrom, which is focused on supporting digital asset infrastructure, is led by Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX. Through grants like this one, the firm is investing in the foundational tools that promote a more private, scalable, and decentralized Bitcoin ecosystem.
This post Ben Allen Receives Maelstrom Bitcoin Developer Grant to Advance Payjoin Tech first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Jenna Montgomery.
-
@ cae03c48:2a7d6671
2025-05-20 10:50:37
Bitcoin Magazine
Proof of Reserves Should Be the Standard for Bitcoin Treasury Companies“The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that’s required to make it work. The central bank must be trusted not to debase the currency, but the history of fiat currencies is full of breaches of that trust. Banks must be trusted to hold our money and transfer it electronically, but they lend it out in waves of credit bubbles with barely a fraction in reserve.”
— Satoshi Nakamoto (2009)
Bitcoin was created to eliminate the need for trusted intermediaries. It replaced opaque, permissioned systems with transparency, auditability, and decentralized verification. The ethos was clear from day one: don’t trust—verify.
And yet, many of the institutions now holding Bitcoin—custodians, exchanges, ETFs, even public companies—continue to rely on trust-based assumptions, the very problem Bitcoin was designed to solve.
For Bitcoin treasury companies, this contradiction is especially glaring. These are firms that claim to operate on a Bitcoin standard—yet without verifiable Proof of Reserves (PoR), there’s no way for shareholders to know whether the Bitcoin is actually there.
The Problem: Unproven Bitcoin Is Just Another IOU
Bitcoin is designed to be verifiable—but most corporate disclosures aren’t. When companies report BTC holdings without public wallet visibility or on-chain proof, investors are left to trust balance sheets, auditors, and custodians.
That opens the door to systemic risks:
- Rehypothecation: BTC pledged or lent behind the scenes
- Custodial failure: Centralized services operating without 1:1 backing
- “Paper Bitcoin”: Multiple claims on the same BTC, echoing legacy financial opacity
The mere presence of Bitcoin on a balance sheet is not a guarantee. Without verification, it’s no different than a fiat-denominated claim—an IOU dressed up in BTC terms.
What We Learned from Gold: The Paper Problem
Bitcoin is not the first hard asset to face this challenge. The gold market offers a cautionary tale.
For decades, gold investors have dealt with “paper gold” systems—unallocated accounts, synthetic ETFs, and derivatives with little or no linkage to actual metal. These claims often outnumber real reserves many times over, leading to widespread suspicion of price distortion and systemic misrepresentation.
Most gold investors don’t own gold—they own a claim to gold. And they have no way to prove it.
Bitcoin gives us the tools to break this cycle. But only if companies choose to use them.
Bitcoin Is Built for Proof—and Companies Should Use It
Unlike legacy assets, Bitcoin is designed to make proof of ownership and solvency a native function of the asset itself. Through public key cryptography, on-chain auditability, and permissionless transparency, Bitcoin enables real-time, trust-minimized verification.
This isn’t just a technical capability—it’s a governance feature. Bitcoin allows companies to demonstrate, cryptographically and without intermediaries, that their reserves exist, are intact, and are unencumbered. No bank statements. No opaque custodial claims. Just data, on-chain.
That’s a radical shift—and it’s one that Bitcoin treasury companies are uniquely positioned to take advantage of. In doing so, they can reduce audit complexity, strengthen shareholder communication, and align their internal capital practices with the trustless architecture of the asset they’re holding.
And it’s already happening. Metaplanet, Premiere Member of Bitcoin For Corporations, publicly discloses its BTC reserve addresses and transaction history. Anyone in the world—including shareholders, analysts, and regulators—can independently verify the existence and movement of their treasury. That’s not just compliance. That’s Bitcoin, applied. View the snapshot of Metaplanet’s proof of reserves dashboard below.
Public Companies Face the Greatest Responsibility
Public companies don’t operate in a vacuum. Their disclosures shape market perception, influence investor behavior, and—especially when Bitcoin is involved—serve as a proxy for the maturity of the asset class itself.
When a publicly traded company holds Bitcoin but offers no visibility into how that Bitcoin is held or verified, it exposes itself to multiple levels of risk: legal, reputational, operational, and strategic. It undermines trust at the very moment it claims to be embracing a trustless system.
More importantly, public companies send signals. Whether they like it or not, they become de facto representatives of the Bitcoin strategy they’ve adopted. Their behavior becomes part of the playbook for others considering similar moves.
That’s why the responsibility is higher. Transparency isn’t optional for companies who lead with Bitcoin. It’s a duty. And companies that choose opacity not only take on unnecessary risk—they weaken the credibility of the entire movement.e.
What Proof of Reserves Should Actually Include
For Proof of Reserves to have real integrity, it must go beyond vague references to “custody partners” or internal assurance statements. The key is verifiability—independent, data-driven, and actionable by any shareholder or auditor.
At a minimum, Bitcoin treasury companies should provide:
- Custody model clarity: Is the company using self-custody, shared multisig, or third-party solutions? Who controls the keys, and under what governance?
- On-chain transparency: Whether through view-only wallet addresses or cryptographic attestations (like Merkle tree proofs), companies must make it possible to verify balances against public disclosures.
- Encumbrance disclosure: Reserves that are pledged, lent out, or locked in yield strategies should be disclosed clearly, with timelines and risk parameters attached.
- Routine updates: Proof should be refreshed regularly—not once per year in an audit footnote, but as part of ongoing financial communication.
- Reconciliation framework: Companies should explain how on-chain data maps to reported BTC NAV in filings or investor materials.
For boards and CFOs, this doesn’t need to introduce operational risk. Tools already exist—xpub view-only wallets, custody APIs, third-party validators—to provide assurance without compromising security. The obstacle isn’t capability. It’s willingness.
Setting the Industry Benchmark: Where Bitcoin Treasury Companies Must Lead
Bitcoin treasury companies are not just financial outliers—they are structural pioneers. Their decision to hold BTC signals not only a belief in long-term value, but a rejection of legacy capital inefficiency. That’s why they must also lead on standards of integrity.
By adopting PoR voluntarily and early, companies can position themselves as trustworthy, sophisticated, and future-ready. This will matter more as institutional capital rotates into Bitcoin, as index inclusion expands, and as regulators begin asking sharper questions about crypto asset disclosures on balance sheets.
PoR isn’t just a way to comply with future standards—it’s a way to shape them. The companies that lead now will not only avoid future scrutiny—they’ll attract capital from allocators who are seeking transparency but don’t yet know where to find it.
At BFC, we believe the market rewards clarity. Bitcoin treasury companies have a chance to bake transparency into their structure, not as an afterthought, but as a strategic differentiator.
Shareholders Must Demand It
Proof of Reserves isn’t just a company initiative—it’s a shareholder obligation. When a public company holds Bitcoin on its balance sheet, it is acting as a fiduciary for shareholder capital denominated in one of the hardest, most transparent assets in history. To accept opacity in that context is to forfeit the very advantage Bitcoin offers.
If you’re an investor in a Bitcoin treasury company and you can’t verify the Bitcoin, you don’t own a monetary reserve—you own a narrative. You’re trusting that someone else is telling the truth, rather than requiring the proof Bitcoin makes possible.
That’s not aligned with the principles of sound capital stewardship.
Institutional allocators, activist shareholders, and governance professionals have a growing role to play here. Just as proxy advisors and investor coalitions have pushed for climate disclosures, board transparency, and ESG clarity in the past decade, it’s time to apply that same rigor to Bitcoin disclosures—especially for companies who claim to operate on a Bitcoin standard.
Demand direct answers:
- Can we verify the holdings on-chain?
- Are reserves fully collateralized and unencumbered?
- Has manageme
-
@ 39cc53c9:27168656
2025-05-20 10:45:31
The new website is finally live! I put in a lot of hard work over the past months on it. I'm proud to say that it's out now and it looks pretty cool, at least to me!
Why rewrite it all?
The old kycnot.me site was built using Python with Flask about two years ago. Since then, I've gained a lot more experience with Golang and coding in general. Trying to update that old codebase, which had a lot of design flaws, would have been a bad idea. It would have been like building on an unstable foundation.
That's why I made the decision to rewrite the entire application. Initially, I chose to use SvelteKit with JavaScript. I did manage to create a stable site that looked similar to the new one, but it required Jav aScript to work. As I kept coding, I started feeling like I was repeating "the Python mistake". I was writing the app in a language I wasn't very familiar with (just like when I was learning Python at that mom ent), and I wasn't happy with the code. It felt like spaghetti code all the time.
So, I made a complete U-turn and started over, this time using Golang. While I'm not as proficient in Golang as I am in Python now, I find it to be a very enjoyable language to code with. Most aof my recent pr ojects have been written in Golang, and I'm getting the hang of it. I tried to make the best decisions I could and structure the code as well as possible. Of course, there's still room for improvement, which I'll address in future updates.
Now I have a more maintainable website that can scale much better. It uses a real database instead of a JSON file like the old site, and I can add many more features. Since I chose to go with Golang, I mad e the "tradeoff" of not using JavaScript at all, so all the rendering load falls on the server. But I believe it's a tradeoff that's worth it.
What's new
- UI/UX - I've designed a new logo and color palette for kycnot.me. I think it looks pretty cool and cypherpunk. I am not a graphic designer, but I think I did a decent work and I put a lot of thinking on it to make it pleasant!
- Point system - The new point system provides more detailed information about the listings, and can be expanded to cover additional features across all services. Anyone can request a new point!
- ToS Scrapper: I've implemented a powerful automated terms-of-service scrapper that collects all the ToS pages from the listings. It saves you from the hassle of reading the ToS by listing the lines that are suspiciously related to KYC/AML practices. This is still in development and it will improve for sure, but it works pretty fine right now!
- Search bar - The new search bar allows you to easily filter services. It performs a full-text search on the Title, Description, Category, and Tags of all the services. Looking for VPN services? Just search for "vpn"!
- Transparency - To be more transparent, all discussions about services now take place publicly on GitLab. I won't be answering any e-mails (an auto-reply will prompt to write to the corresponding Gitlab issue). This ensures that all service-related matters are publicly accessible and recorded. Additionally, there's a real-time audits page that displays database changes.
- Listing Requests - I have upgraded the request system. The new form allows you to directly request services or points without any extra steps. In the future, I plan to enable requests for specific changes to parts of the website.
- Lightweight and fast - The new site is lighter and faster than its predecessor!
- Tor and I2P - At last! kycnot.me is now officially on Tor and I2P!
How?
This rewrite has been a labor of love, in the end, I've been working on this for more than 3 months now. I don't have a team, so I work by myself on my free time, but I find great joy in helping people on their private journey with cryptocurrencies. Making it easier for individuals to use cryptocurrencies without KYC is a goal I am proud of!
If you appreciate my work, you can support me through the methods listed here. Alternatively, feel free to send me an email with a kind message!
Technical details
All the code is written in Golang, the website makes use of the chi router for the routing part. I also make use of BigCache for caching database requests. There is 0 JavaScript, so all the rendering load falls on the server, this means it needed to be efficient enough to not drawn with a few users since the old site was reporting about 2M requests per month on average (note that this are not unique users).
The database is running with mariadb, using gorm as the ORM. This is more than enough for this project. I started working with an
sqlitedatabase, but I ended up migrating to mariadb since it works better with JSON.The scraper is using chromedp combined with a series of keywords, regex and other logic. It runs every 24h and scraps all the services. You can find the scraper code here.
The frontend is written using Golang Templates for the HTML, and TailwindCSS plus DaisyUI for the CSS classes framework. I also use some plain CSS, but it's minimal.
The requests forms is the only part of the project that requires JavaScript to be enabled. It is needed for parsing some from fields that are a bit complex and for the "captcha", which is a simple Proof of Work that runs on your browser, destinated to avoid spam. For this, I use mCaptcha.
-
@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1
2025-05-11 06:23:03
Past week summary
From a Self Custody for Organizations perspective, after analyzing the existing protocols (Cerberus, 10xSecurityBTCguide and Glacier) and reading a bunch of relates articles and guides, have wrapped to the conclusion that this format it is good to have as reference. However, something else is needed. For example, a summary or a map of the whole process to provide an overview, plus a way to deliver all the information and the multy-process in a more enjoyable way. Not a job for this hackathon, but with the right collaborations I assume it's possible to: - build something that might introduce a bit more quests and gamification - provide a learning environment (with testnet funds) could also be crucial on educating those unfamiliar with bitcoin onchain dynamics.
Have been learning more and playing around practicing best accessibility practices and how it could be applied to a desktop software like Bitcoin Safe. Thanks to @johnjherzog for providing a screen recording of his first experience and @jasonb for suggesting the tools to be used. (in this case tested/testing on Windows with the Accessibility Insights app). Some insight shared have been also applied to the website, running a full accessibility check (under WCAG 2.2 ADA, and Section 508 standards) with 4 different plugins and two online tools. I recognize that not all of them works and analyze the same parameters, indeed they complement each other providing a more accurate review.
For Bitcoin Safe interface improvements, many suggestions have been shared with @andreasgriffin , including: - a new iconset, including a micro-set to display the number of confirmed blocs for each transaction - a redesigned History/Dashboard - small refinements like adding missing columns on the tables - allow the user to select which columns to be displayed - sorting of unconfirmed transactions - Defining a new style for design elements like mempool blocks and quick receive boxes You can find below some screenshots with my proposals that hopefully will be included in the next release.
Last achievement this week was to prepare the website https://Safe.BTC.pub, the container where all the outcomes f this experiment will be published. You can have a look, just consider it still WIP. Branding for the project has also been finalized and available in this penpot file https://design.penpot.app/#/workspace?team-id=cec80257-5021-8137-8005-eab60c043dd6&project-id=cec80257-5021-8137-8005-eab60c043dd8&file-id=95aea877-d515-80ac-8006-23a251886db3&page-id=132f519a-39f4-80db-8006-2a41c364a545
What's for next week
After spending most of the time learning and reading material, this coming week will be focused on deliverables. The goal as planned will be to provide: - Finalized Safe₿its brand and improve overall desktop app experience, including categorization of transactions and addresses - An accessibility report or guide for Bitcoin Safe and support to implement best practices - A first draft of the Self-Custody for Organizations guide/framework/protocol, ideally delivered through the website http://Safe.BTC.pub in written format, but also as FlowChart to help have an overview of the whole resources needed and the process itself. This will clearly define preparations and tools/hardwares needed to successfully complete the process.
To learn more about the project, you can visit: Designathon website: https://event.bitcoin.design/#project-recj4SVNLLkuWHpKq Discord channel: https://discord.com/channels/903125802726596648/1369200271632236574 Previous SN posts: https://stacker.news/items/974489/r/DeSign_r and https://stacker.news/items/974488/r/DeSign_r
Stay tuned, more will be happening this coming week
originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/977190
-
@ 472f440f:5669301e
2024-09-06 21:56:48
I had the pleasure of sitting back down with Will Reeves, Founder and CEO of Fold, on TFTC last week to discuss Fold's journey from a startup to (soon to be) a publicly listed company. I particularly liked this conversation because it was a great lens into the grit it takes to run a successful bitcoin company.
https://fountain.fm/episode/1FrspxmpK5bsoReGx73n
Building a successful company is extremely hard in its own right. Building a successful bitcoin company is significantly harder considering the fact that you're building a company in parallel with a nascent and volatile monetary asset that is monetizing in real time. Bitcoin adoption comes in waves. People flood in when the price is ripping and fade out when the price corrects and goes into a multi-year bear market before the tide comes back in. This means that your potential user base is expanding and contracting more than it would be in other industries. As a company you need to be able to absorb the incoming waves of new adopters and then capture and retain the users who stick around for the bear market.
To do this correctly, a founder and their team needs to thread many needles. First, can you assemble a team that can actually build something? Second, can you bring a product to market that people actually use because it provides value to them? Third, can you stick out against the crowd? So on and so forth. One of the most important aspects of building a bitcoin company during bitcoin's monetization phase is timing. There are many great ideas that people have in terms of companies, products and tools that can built using bitcoin. There are sci-fi futures that can be built today on bitcoin if people really wanted to.
The problem that arises is that adoption and understanding of bitcoin are at a point where, even though a functional product could be brought to market, it won't be adopted by a large number of people because there 1.) aren't enough people who would understand how to use it and 2.) for the people who do understand how to use it and could benefit from it, the universe of people they can interact with using that product is minuscule.
Timing is everything. And I think Fold nailed the timing of their product. Allowing people to passively stack sats by offering a product that enables them to go about their daily spending and get sats back instead of cash back rewards is a great first-touch bitcoin experience. Once Fold found their sticky user base and perfected their sats back experience, they began expanding their product offering to provide their users with more bitcoin services. Buy/sell bitcoin in-app, bill pay for sats back, and more. They'll eventually roll out a credit card and additional financial services. Start simple, provide something of value, nail the timing and then expand from there. That seems to be the recipe.
For any founders in the space reading this, I highly recommend you listen to the episode. Particularly for the advice Will gives about knowing when to sprint on product and when to lean into growth. Bear markets are for building and bull markets are for casting the widest net possible and capturing as many new users as possible.
At Ten31 we are extremely proud to back Fold and a number of other companies in the bitcoin space that understand the intricacies described above. We work with some of the best founders in the world. Founders who know how to eat glass with the best of them. Bitcoin can be a cruel mistress and no one knows that more intimately than the founders building bitcoin companies.
Final thought...
The NFL having a week 1 game in Brazil should get Roger Godell fired.
Enjoy your weekend, freaks.
-
@ 472f440f:5669301e
2024-09-05 22:25:15
https://x.com/parkeralewis/status/1831746160781938947 Here's a startling chart from an American staple, Walgreens. The convenience store and pharmacy chain has seen its stock price plummet by more than 67% this year and by more than 90% from its all time high, which was reached in 2015.
The combination of the COVID lock downs and the lax laws around theft that followed were materially detrimental to Walgreens business. The crux of their problem at the moment, however, is a double whammy of those disruptions in their business coupled with the "higher for longer" interest rate policy from the Fed over the last couple of years. As Tuur points out in the tweet above, Walgreens has $34B in debt, which means they definitely have significant interest rate payments they need to make on a monthly basis. Tuur also points out that Walgreens has very little cash compared to their debt obligations. Let's take a look at their balance sheet as of May of this year.
Less than $1B in cash for $34B debt with $67.56B in total liabilities. Even worse, their cash balance was drained by more than 27% over the course of the year between May 2023 and May 2024. As you may notice their total assets fell by more than 15% over the same period. This is because Walgreens understands the dire financial straits it finds itself in and has begun shutting down thousands of their locations across the country.
The recent efforts of Walgreens to sell off their assets to raise cash to pay down their debts seem to be completely ineffective as their cash balance is falling faster than their total assets, which is falling 7x faster than their total liabilities. These numbers are most definitely going to get worse as cascading sell pressure in commercial real estate markets (which is the bucket that Walgreens locations fall into) drive down the value of their assets. Leaving them with less cash to pay down their debts as time goes on. To make matters worse, it puts the institutions that lent money to Walgreens in a terrible position. How many commercial and investment banks has Walgreens tapped to fund their operations with expensive debt? How exposed to Walgreens is any individual lender? Could a default on some or all of their loans catch these financial institutions off sides? If it isn't Walgreens that pushes them off sides, how many more bad borrowers would it take to push them off sides?
As our good friend Parker Lewis points out, the only way the hemorrhaging can be stopped is if the Federal Reserve and Federal Government step in with bail outs in the form of massive liquidity injections via quantitative easing and other emergency measures. On top of this, the Fed and the Federal Government find themselves in a classic catch-22. If they let Walgreens fall into bankruptcy it could set off a domino effect that could exacerbate inflation. Riteaid, a similar retail convenience store and pharmacy chain, filed for bankruptcy last October and is still wading its way through that process. Part of that process has been shuttering many of their storefronts. One has to imagine that since Walgreens and Riteaid are having these problems, some of their other competitors must be feeling the pain as well. If enough of these convenience stores, which tens of millions of Americans depend on for everyday goods, find themselves in a position where they have to shut down their stores it could lead to a supply crunch. People will obviously not be able to get their goods from Riteaid or Walgreens and will flee to alternatives, exacerbating the stress on their supplies, which will drive prices higher.
This is a catch-22 because the only way to avoid this mad dash for consumer goods in the midst of a convenience store Armageddon is to re-introduce ZIRP and flood the market with freshly printed dollars, which will drive prices up as well.
Talk about a rock and a hard place. You better get yourself some bitcoin.
Final thought... Zach Bryan radio crushes.
-
@ 39cc53c9:27168656
2025-05-20 10:45:29
Know Your Customer is a regulation that requires companies of all sizes to verify the identity, suitability, and risks involved with maintaining a business relationship with a customer. Such procedures fit within the broader scope of anti-money laundering (AML) and counterterrorism financing (CTF) regulations.
Banks, exchanges, online business, mail providers, domain registrars... Everyone wants to know who you are before you can even opt for their service. Your personal information is flowing around the internet in the hands of "god-knows-who" and secured by "trust-me-bro military-grade encryption". Once your account is linked to your personal (and verified) identity, tracking you is just as easy as keeping logs on all these platforms.
Rights for Illusions
KYC processes aim to combat terrorist financing, money laundering, and other illicit activities. On the surface, KYC seems like a commendable initiative. I mean, who wouldn't want to halt terrorists and criminals in their tracks?
The logic behind KYC is: "If we mandate every financial service provider to identify their users, it becomes easier to pinpoint and apprehend the malicious actors."
However, terrorists and criminals are not precisely lining up to be identified. They're crafty. They may adopt false identities or find alternative strategies to continue their operations. Far from being outwitted, many times they're several steps ahead of regulations. Realistically, KYC might deter a small fraction – let's say about 1% ^1 – of these malefactors. Yet, the cost? All of us are saddled with the inconvenient process of identification just to use a service.
Under the rhetoric of "ensuring our safety", governments and institutions enact regulations that seem more out of a dystopian novel, gradually taking away our right to privacy.
To illustrate, consider a city where the mayor has rolled out facial recognition cameras in every nook and cranny. A band of criminals, intent on robbing a local store, rolls in with a stolen car, their faces obscured by masks and their bodies cloaked in all-black clothes. Once they've committed the crime and exited the city's boundaries, they switch vehicles and clothes out of the cameras' watchful eyes. The high-tech surveillance? It didn’t manage to identify or trace them. Yet, for every law-abiding citizen who merely wants to drive through the city or do some shopping, their movements and identities are constantly logged. The irony? This invasive tracking impacts all of us, just to catch the 1% ^1 of less-than-careful criminals.
KYC? Not you.
KYC creates barriers to participation in normal economic activity, to supposedly stop criminals. ^2
KYC puts barriers between many users and businesses. One of these comes from the fact that the process often requires multiple forms of identification, proof of address, and sometimes even financial records. For individuals in areas with poor record-keeping, non-recognized legal documents, or those who are unbanked, homeless or transient, obtaining these documents can be challenging, if not impossible.
For people who are not skilled with technology or just don't have access to it, there's also a barrier since KYC procedures are mostly online, leaving them inadvertently excluded.
Another barrier goes for the casual or one-time user, where they might not see the value in undergoing a rigorous KYC process, and these requirements can deter them from using the service altogether.
It also wipes some businesses out of the equation, since for smaller businesses, the costs associated with complying with KYC norms—from the actual process of gathering and submitting documents to potential delays in operations—can be prohibitive in economical and/or technical terms.
You're not welcome
Imagine a swanky new club in town with a strict "members only" sign. You hear the music, you see the lights, and you want in. You step up, ready to join, but suddenly there's a long list of criteria you must meet. After some time, you are finally checking all the boxes. But then the club rejects your membership with no clear reason why. You just weren't accepted. Frustrating, right?
This club scenario isn't too different from the fact that KYC is being used by many businesses as a convenient gatekeeping tool. A perfect excuse based on a "legal" procedure they are obliged to.
Even some exchanges may randomly use this to freeze and block funds from users, claiming these were "flagged" by a cryptic system that inspects the transactions. You are left hostage to their arbitrary decision to let you successfully pass the KYC procedure. If you choose to sidestep their invasive process, they might just hold onto your funds indefinitely.
Your identity has been stolen
KYC data has been found to be for sale on many dark net markets^3. Exchanges may have leaks or hacks, and such leaks contain very sensitive data. We're talking about the full monty: passport or ID scans, proof of address, and even those awkward selfies where you're holding up your ID next to your face. All this data is being left to the mercy of the (mostly) "trust-me-bro" security systems of such companies. Quite scary, isn't it?
As cheap as $10 for 100 documents, with discounts applying for those who buy in bulk, the personal identities of innocent users who passed KYC procedures are for sale. ^3
In short, if you have ever passed the KYC/AML process of a crypto exchange, your privacy is at risk of being compromised, or it might even have already been compromised.
(they) Know Your Coins
You may already know that Bitcoin and most cryptocurrencies have a transparent public blockchain, meaning that all data is shown unencrypted for everyone to see and recorded forever. If you link an address you own to your identity through KYC, for example, by sending an amount from a KYC exchange to it, your Bitcoin is no longer pseudonymous and can then be traced.
If, for instance, you send Bitcoin from such an identified address to another KYC'ed address (say, from a friend), everyone having access to that address-identity link information (exchanges, governments, hackers, etc.) will be able to associate that transaction and know who you are transacting with.
Conclusions
To sum up, KYC does not protect individuals; rather, it's a threat to our privacy, freedom, security and integrity. Sensible information flowing through the internet is thrown into chaos by dubious security measures. It puts borders between many potential customers and businesses, and it helps governments and companies track innocent users. That's the chaos KYC has stirred.
The criminals are using stolen identities from companies that gathered them thanks to these very same regulations that were supposed to combat them. Criminals always know how to circumvent such regulations. In the end, normal people are the most affected by these policies.
The threat that KYC poses to individuals in terms of privacy, security and freedom is not to be neglected. And if we don’t start challenging these systems and questioning their efficacy, we are just one step closer to the dystopian future that is now foreseeable.
Edited 20/03/2024 * Add reference to the 1% statement on Rights for Illusions section to an article where Chainalysis found that only 0.34% of the transaction volume with cryptocurrencies in 2023 was attributable to criminal activity ^1
-
@ 39cc53c9:27168656
2025-05-20 10:45:28
Over the past few months, I've dedicated my time to a complete rewrite of the kycnot.me website. The technology stack remains unchanged; Golang paired with TailwindCSS. However, I've made some design choices in this iteration that I believe significantly enhance the site. Particularly to backend code.
UI Improvements
You'll notice a refreshed UI that retains the original concept but has some notable enhancements. The service list view is now more visually engaging, it displays additional information in a more aesthetically pleasing manner. Both filtering and searching functionalities have been optimized for speed and user experience.
Service pages have been also redesigned to highlight key information at the top, with the KYC Level box always accessible. The display of service attributes is now more visually intuitive.
The request form, especially the Captcha, has undergone substantial improvements. The new self-made Captcha is robust, addressing the reliability issues encountered with the previous version.
Terms of Service Summarizer
A significant upgrade is the Terms of Service summarizer/reviewer, now powered by AI (GPT-4-turbo). It efficiently condenses each service's ToS, extracting and presenting critical points, including any warnings. Summaries are updated monthly, processing over 40 ToS pages via the OpenAI API using a self-crafted and thoroughly tested prompt.
Nostr Comments
I've integrated a comment section for each service using Nostr. For guidance on using this feature, visit the dedicated how-to page.
Database
The backend database has transitioned to pocketbase, an open-source Golang backend that has been a pleasure to work with. I maintain an updated fork of the Golang SDK for pocketbase at pluja/pocketbase.
Scoring
The scoring algorithm has also been refined to be more fair. Despite I had considered its removal due to the complexity it adds (it is very difficult to design a fair scoring system), some users highlighted its value, so I kept it. The updated algorithm is available open source.
Listings
Each listing has been re-evaluated, and the ones that were no longer operational were removed. New additions are included, and the backlog of pending services will be addressed progressively, since I still have access to the old database.
API
The API now offers more comprehensive data. For more details, check here.
About Page
The About page has been restructured for brevity and clarity.
Other Changes
Extensive changes have been implemented in the server-side logic, since the whole code base was re-written from the ground up. I may discuss these in a future post, but for now, I consider the current version to be just a bit beyond beta, and additional updates are planned in the coming weeks.
-
@ 9be6a199:6e133301
2025-05-20 12:24:02
test
-
@ 472f440f:5669301e
2024-09-04 22:54:11
For the last few months many people in bitcoin, myself included, have been focused on bitcoin's role as a macroeconomic asset. Bitcoin as a strategic reserve for the US government. Bitcoin as a strategic treasury asset for corporations. Bitcoin as a geopolitical hedge in a world that is trending toward a multi-polar power dynamic. This is where the focus has been. And for good reason. These trends will ultimately have a material effect on the price of bitcoin if they pick up steam.
However, with all of the focus on bitcoin as a strategic asset I think a couple of technical developments and trends have been overlooked. Particularly in the realm of second layer privacy. I'll touch on two of them in this letter; BOLT 12 invoices and the progression of ecash.
Yesterday afternoon the Strike (a company Ten31 is very proud to be backing) team released a blog post that detailed their journey to implementing BOLT 12 offers in their product stack. For those who are unaware of BOLT 12 and why it is important, in short, it is an upgrade to the lightning network that would make receiving bitcoin on the lightning network more private while also significantly improving the user experience. The current standard for invoicing people via the lightning network is BOLT 11, which forces users to create a unique invoice every time they want to receive bitcoin and comes with privacy tradeoffs for the party receiving bitcoin.
BOLT 12 brings with it route blinding which allows a receiver to publish a lightning offer to the network without revealing their node's public key. It also brings with it onion messaging, which allows users of the lightning network to communicate without a dependence on HTTP, which can be censored by a motivated state actor. On top of this, it enables users to create a static invoice that can be paid multiple times by multiple people. Think of a band putting their Venmo or Cash App QR code next to their tip jar on the stage. They'll be able to add a private lightning invoice their audience can pay to now.
https://strike.me/blog/bolt12-offers/
As it stands right now, Strike has only enabled BOLT 12 offers and there is work to do at the protocol layer of lightning and the different implementations of that protocol to get the full benefits of BOLT 12, but this is material progress that gets us closer to a significantly better user experience on the lightning network. If you read Strike's blog post you'll come to appreciate the collaboration between the teams working on these implementations and the companies implementing the protocol that is necessary to get these features live. Shout out to everyone who worked on this. Everyone who uses the lightning network will be better off when BOLT 12 is fully implemented.
Moving on. Earlier today the founder of the BTCPay Server open source project, Nicolas Dorier, published a blog post outlining his thoughts on how ecash has the potential to solve problems that many have tried to solve by launching their own blockchains in the past. The problem with trying to "blockchain the world" is that blockchains are very inefficient and only really work for one application; enabling a peer-to-peer digital cash system with no trusted third parties (i.e., bitcoin). However, the ultimate goals of the thousands of blockchain projects that spun up in bitcoin's wake are desirable. Cheap, private and instant transactions. The ability to trivially spin up private money tokens suited for very particular use cases. Overall great UX that makes it easy for people to realize the benefits of "blockchain technology".
The problem that has existed to date is that you don't need a blockchain for all of these things. In fact, having a blockchain for these things proves to be detrimental to their ultimate goals. Instead, what people really need is a protocol that gives you the granular control, privacy, instantaneous transactions and UX that anchors to bitcoin. This is exactly what Chaumian Mints bring to the bitcoin stack.
This is something that we've been screaming about for more than seven years in this rag. Now with ecash protocols like Cashu and Fedimint maturing, gaining traction and bringing products to market that highlight the power and flexibility of ecash systems, people are beginning to see the promise. It is only a matter of time before more and more people begin to realize this potential.
Another benefit of ecash protocols is the fact that they are siloed from each other. Ecash mints are permissionless; any one person or group of people can spin them up, offer their preferred services and maintain (or fail to maintain) their mints. The failure of one mint is not a systemic risk to other mints. This is very different from token projects that are spun up on blockchains. The last ten years have proven that individual token projects can prove to be systemic problems for individual blockchains (i.e., The DAO token on Ethereum). Being able to silo mints is the only way to ensure that the utility of ecash overall is actually scalable and robust.
Don't get so distracted by the bitcoin macro talk that you miss out on the incredible technical developments happening on top of and adjacent to bitcoin.
Final thought... Vibes are high.
-
@ 39cc53c9:27168656
2025-05-20 10:45:26
I'm launching a new service review section on this blog in collaboration with OrangeFren. These reviews are sponsored, yet the sponsorship does not influence the outcome of the evaluations. Reviews are done in advance, then, the service provider has the discretion to approve publication without modifications.
Sponsored reviews are independent from the kycnot.me list, being only part of the blog. The reviews have no impact on the scores of the listings or their continued presence on the list. Should any issues arise, I will not hesitate to remove any listing.
The review
WizardSwap is an instant exchange centred around privacy coins. It was launched in 2020 making it old enough to have weathered the 2021 bull run and the subsequent bearish year.
| Pros | Cons | |------|------| | Tor-friendly | Limited liquidity | | Guarantee of no KYC | Overly simplistic design | | Earn by providing liquidity | |
Rating: ★★★★★ Service Website: wizardswap.io
Liquidity
Right off the bat, we'll start off by pointing out that WizardSwap relies on its own liquidity reserves, meaning they aren't just a reseller of Binance or another exchange. They're also committed to a no-KYC policy, when asking them, they even promised they would rather refund a user their original coins, than force them to undergo any sort of verification.
On the one hand, full control over all their infrastructure gives users the most privacy and conviction about the KYC policies remaining in place.
On the other hand, this means the liquidity available for swapping isn't huge. At the time of testing we could only purchase at most about 0.73 BTC with XMR.
It's clear the team behind WizardSwap is aware of this shortfall and so they've come up with a solution unique among instant exchanges. They let you, the user, deposit any of the currencies they support into your account and earn a profit on the trades made using your liquidity.
Trading
Fees on WizardSwap are middle-of-the-pack. The normal fee is 2.2%. That's more than some exchanges that reserve the right to suddenly demand you undergo verification, yet less than half the fees on some other privacy-first exchanges. However as we mentioned in the section above you can earn almost all of that fee (2%) if you provide liquidity to WizardSwap.
It's good that with the current Bitcoin fee market their fees are constant regardless of how much, or how little, you send. This is in stark contrast with some of the alternative swap providers that will charge you a massive premium when attempting to swap small amounts of BTC away.
Test trades
Test trades are always performed without previous notice to the service provider.
During our testing we performed a few test trades and found that every single time WizardSwap immediately detected the incoming transaction and the amount we received was exactly what was quoted before depositing. The fees were inline with what WizardSwap advertises.
- Monero payment proof
- Bitcoin received
- Wizardswap TX link - it's possible that this link may cease to be valid at some point in the future.
ToS and KYC
WizardSwap does not have a Terms of Service or a Privacy Policy page, at least none that can be found by users. Instead, they offer a FAQ section where they addresses some basic questions.
The site does not mention any KYC or AML practices. It also does not specify how refunds are handled in case of failure. However, based on the FAQ section "What if I send funds after the offer expires?" it can be inferred that contacting support is necessary and network fees will be deducted from any refund.
UI & Tor
WizardSwap can be visited both via your usual browser and Tor Browser. Should you decide on the latter you'll find that the website works even with the most strict settings available in the Tor Browser (meaning no JavaScript).
However, when disabling Javascript you'll miss the live support chat, as well as automatic refreshing of the trade page. The lack of the first means that you will have no way to contact support from the trade page if anything goes wrong during your swap, although you can do so by mail.
One important thing to have in mind is that if you were to accidentally close the browser during the swap, and you did not save the swap ID or your browser history is disabled, you'll have no easy way to return to the trade. For this reason we suggest when you begin a trade to copy the url or ID to someplace safe, before sending any coins to WizardSwap.
The UI you'll be greeted by is simple, minimalist, and easy to navigate. It works well not just across browsers, but also across devices. You won't have any issues using this exchange on your phone.
Getting in touch
The team behind WizardSwap appears to be most active on X (formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/WizardSwap_io
If you have any comments or suggestions about the exchange make sure to reach out to them. In the past they've been very receptive to user feedback, for instance a few months back WizardSwap was planning on removing DeepOnion, but the community behind that project got together ^1 and after reaching out WizardSwap reversed their decision ^2.
You can also contact them via email at:
support @ wizardswap . ioDisclaimer
None of the above should be understood as investment or financial advice. The views are our own only and constitute a faithful representation of our experience in using and investigating this exchange. This review is not a guarantee of any kind on the services rendered by the exchange. Do your own research before using any service.
-
@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1
2025-05-11 05:52:56
Past week summary
From a Self Custody for Organizations perspective, after analyzing the existing protocols (Cerberus, 10xSecurityBTCguide and Glacier) and reading a bunch of relates articles and guides, have wrapped to the conclusion that this format it is good to have as reference. However, something else is needed. For example, a summary or a map of the whole process to provide an overview, plus a way to deliver all the information and the multy-process in a more enjoyable way. Not a job for this hackathon, but with the right collaborations I assume it's possible to: - build something that might introduce a bit more quests and gamification - provide a learning environment (with testnet funds) could also be crucial on educating those unfamiliar with bitcoin onchain dynamics.
Have been learning more and playing around practicing best accessibility practices and how it could be applied to a desktop software like Bitcoin Safe. Thanks to @johnjherzog for providing a screen recording of his first experience and @jasonbohio for suggesting the tools to be used. (in this case tested/testing on Windows with the Accessibility Insights app). Some insight shared have been also applied to the website, running a full accessibility check (under WCAG 2.2 ADA, and Section 508 standards) with 4 different plugins and two online tools. I recognize that not all of them works and analyze the same parameters, indeed they complement each other providing a more accurate review.
For Bitcoin Safe interface improvements, many suggestions have been shared with @andreasgriffin , including: - a new iconset, including a micro-set to display the number of confirmed blocs for each transaction - a redesigned History/Dashboard - small refinements like adding missing columns on the tables - allow the user to select which columns to be displayed - sorting of unconfirmed transactions - Defining a new style for design elements like mempool blocks and quick receive boxes You can find below some screenshots with my proposals that hopefully will be included in the next release.
Last achievement this week was to prepare the website https://Safe.BTC.pub, the container where all the outcomes f this experiment will be published. You can have a look, just consider it still WIP. Branding for the project has also been finalized and available in this penpot file https://design.penpot.app/#/workspace?team-id=cec80257-5021-8137-8005-eab60c043dd6&project-id=cec80257-5021-8137-8005-eab60c043dd8&file-id=95aea877-d515-80ac-8006-23a251886db3&page-id=132f519a-39f4-80db-8006-2a41c364a545
What's for next week
After spending most of the time learning and reading material, this coming week will be focused on deliverables. The goal as planned will be to provide: - Finalized Safe₿its brand and improve overall desktop app experience, including categorization of transactions and addresses - An accessibility report or guide for Bitcoin Safe and support to implement best practices - A first draft of the Self-Custody for Organizations guide/framework/protocol, ideally delivered through the website http://Safe.BTC.pub in written format, but also as FlowChart to help have an overview of the whole resources needed and the process itself. This will clearly define preparations and tools/hardwares needed to successfully complete the process.
To learn more about the project, you can visit: Designathon website: https://event.bitcoin.design/#project-recj4SVNLLkuWHpKq Discord channel: https://discord.com/channels/903125802726596648/1369200271632236574 Previous SN posts: https://stacker.news/items/974489/r/DeSign_r and https://stacker.news/items/974488/r/DeSign_r
Stay tuned, more will be happening this coming week
originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/977180
-
@ 39cc53c9:27168656
2025-05-20 10:45:24
Bitcoin enthusiasts frequently and correctly remark how much value it adds to Bitcoin not to have a face, a leader, or a central authority behind it. This particularity means there isn't a single person to exert control over, or a single human point of failure who could become corrupt or harmful to the project.
Because of this, it is said that no other coin can be equally valuable as Bitcoin in terms of decentralization and trustworthiness. Bitcoin is unique not just for being first, but also because of how the events behind its inception developed. This implies that, from Bitcoin onwards, any coin created would have been created by someone, consequently having an authority behind it. For this and some other reasons, some people refer to Bitcoin as "The Immaculate Conception".
While other coins may have their own unique features and advantages, they may not be able to replicate Bitcoin's community-driven nature. However, one other cryptocurrency shares a similar story of mystery behind its creation: Monero.
History of Monero
Bytecoin and CryptoNote
In March 2014, a Bitcointalk thread titled "Bytecoin. Secure, private, untraceable since 2012" was initiated by a user under the nickname "DStrange"^1^. DStrange presented Bytecoin (BCN) as a unique cryptocurrency, in operation since July 2012. Unlike Bitcoin, it employed a new algorithm known as CryptoNote.
DStrange apparently stumbled upon the Bytecoin website by chance while mining a dying bitcoin fork, and decided to create a thread on Bitcointalk^1^. This sparked curiosity among some users, who wondered how could Bytecoin remain unnoticed since its alleged launch in 2012 until then^2^.
Some time after, a user brought up the "CryptoNote v2.0" whitepaper for the first time, underlining its innovative features^4^. Authored by the pseudonymous Nicolas van Saberhagen in October 2013, the CryptoNote v2 whitepaper^5^ highlighted the traceability and privacy problems in Bitcoin. Saberhagen argued that these flaws could not be quickly fixed, suggesting it would be more efficient to start a new project rather than trying to patch the original^5^, an statement simmilar to the one from Satoshi Nakamoto^6^.
Checking with Saberhagen's digital signature, the release date of the whitepaper seemed correct, which would mean that Cryptonote (v1) was created in 2012^7^, although there's an important detail: "Signing time is from the clock on the signer's computer" ^9^.
Moreover, the whitepaper v1 contains a footnote link to a Bitcointalk post dated May 5, 2013^10^, making it impossible for the whitepaper to have been signed and released on December 12, 2012.
As the narrative developed, users discovered that a significant 80% portion of Bytecoin had been pre-mined^11^ and blockchain dates seemed to be faked to make it look like it had been operating since 2012, leading to controversy surrounding the project.
The origins of CryptoNote and Bytecoin remain mysterious, leaving suspicions of a possible scam attempt, although the whitepaper had a good amount of work and thought on it.
The fork
In April 2014, the Bitcointalk user
thankful_for_today, who had also participated in the Bytecoin thread^12^, announced plans to launch a Bytecoin fork named Bitmonero^13^.The primary motivation behind this fork was "Because there is a number of technical and marketing issues I wanted to do differently. And also because I like ideas and technology and I want it to succeed"^14^. This time Bitmonero did things different from Bytecoin: there was no premine or instamine, and no portion of the block reward went to development.
However, thankful_for_today proposed controversial changes that the community disagreed with. Johnny Mnemonic relates the events surrounding Bitmonero and thankful_for_today in a Bitcointalk comment^15^:
When thankful_for_today launched BitMonero [...] he ignored everything that was discussed and just did what he wanted. The block reward was considerably steeper than what everyone was expecting. He also moved forward with 1-minute block times despite everyone's concerns about the increase of orphan blocks. He also didn't address the tail emission concern that should've (in my opinion) been in the code at launch time. Basically, he messed everything up. Then, he disappeared.
After disappearing for a while, thankful_for_today returned to find that the community had taken over the project. Johnny Mnemonic continues:
I, and others, started working on new forks that were closer to what everyone else was hoping for. [...] it was decided that the BitMonero project should just be taken over. There were like 9 or 10 interested parties at the time if my memory is correct. We voted on IRC to drop the "bit" from BitMonero and move forward with the project. Thankful_for_today suddenly resurfaced, and wasn't happy to learn the community had assumed control of the coin. He attempted to maintain his own fork (still calling it "BitMonero") for a while, but that quickly fell into obscurity.
The unfolding of these events show us the roots of Monero. Much like Satoshi Nakamoto, the creators behind CryptoNote/Bytecoin and thankful_for_today remain a mystery^17^, having disappeared without a trace. This enigma only adds to Monero's value.
Since community took over development, believing in the project's potential and its ability to be guided in a better direction, Monero was given one of Bitcoin's most important qualities: a leaderless nature. With no single face or entity directing its path, Monero is safe from potential corruption or harm from a "central authority".
The community continued developing Monero until today. Since then, Monero has undergone a lot of technological improvements, migrations and achievements such as RingCT and RandomX. It also has developed its own Community Crowdfundinc System, conferences such as MoneroKon and Monerotopia are taking place every year, and has a very active community around it.
Monero continues to develop with goals of privacy and security first, ease of use and efficiency second. ^16^
This stands as a testament to the power of a dedicated community operating without a central figure of authority. This decentralized approach aligns with the original ethos of cryptocurrency, making Monero a prime example of community-driven innovation. For this, I thank all the people involved in Monero, that lead it to where it is today.
If you find any information that seems incorrect, unclear or any missing important events, please contact me and I will make the necessary changes.
Sources of interest
- https://forum.getmonero.org/20/general-discussion/211/history-of-monero
- https://monero.stackexchange.com/questions/852/what-is-the-origin-of-monero-and-its-relationship-to-bytecoin
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monero
- https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=583449.0
- https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=563821.0
- https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=233561
- https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=512747.0
- https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=740112.0
- https://monero.stackexchange.com/a/1024
- https://inspec2t-project.eu/cryptocurrency-with-a-focus-on-anonymity-these-facts-are-known-about-monero/
- https://medium.com/coin-story/coin-perspective-13-riccardo-spagni-69ef82907bd1
- https://www.getmonero.org/resources/about/
- https://www.wired.com/2017/01/monero-drug-dealers-cryptocurrency-choice-fire/
- https://www.monero.how/why-monero-vs-bitcoin
- https://old.reddit.com/r/Monero/comments/u8e5yr/satoshi_nakamoto_talked_about_privacy_features/
-
@ e5272de9:a16a102f
2024-08-31 20:23:59
The GrapeRank algorithm, like the PageRank algorithm, takes as input a graph, composed of nodes and edges, and composes "importance" scores for each node based on the topology of the graph. This equation is currently implemented at brainstorm and uses follows and mutes to calculate a trust score G (also called an "influence" score) in the range [0, 1] for each user in your nostr network.
This is the GrapeRank equation:
- G, c, and r in this equation are each scalars in the interval [0, 1]
- G represents the grapevine score (also called the "influence") of v, as seen from the vantage point of o
- r represents the average rating of v by o's grapevine
- c represents the degree of confidence in the average rating r
- the subscript always represents the thing (user, product, etc) being evaluated
- the superscript always represents the "observer," the point of reference from which we view and interpret the world
This is the same equation in expanded format:
- The grapevine score of v on the left, G_v, is weighted using the grapevine score (but of each w) on the right, G_w
- These calculations are iterated until all G values converge
- r^o_v (the right half) is the weighted average
- c^o_v (the left half) is the confidence in that weighted average
- The r^w_v are the ratings being averaged together; they are inferred from follows and mutes by interpreting a follow as a score of 1 (probably not a bot), a mute as a score of 0 (probably a bot)
- The c^w_r are the confidences in the r^w_v; a follow is interpreted to have a confidence of 5 percent, a mute to have a confidence of 10 percent. (These are adjustable settings at brainstorm.)
- The sum over G * c, which appears twice in the above equation, is called the "input" and is an unbounded, nonnegative scalar which represents "the amount of trusted input" that goes into the calculation
- The formula is designed so that as the input (the number of ratings from trusted sources) increases to infinity, the confidence c^o_v approaches 1 (100 percent) asymptotically. This map from input onto confidence, which employs a nonlinear equation, is necessary to ensure that G remains within the [0, 1] interval even as input increases to infinity.
- alpha is a nonnegative scalar value that determines how "quickly" the confidence c^o_v approaches 1 (100 percent) as trusted input increases. Decreasing the value for alpha makes the equation more "rigorous" because it will take more trusted input to achieve any given degree of confidence. (Alpha is another user-adjustable setting at brainstorm.)
To perform the above calculations: 1. For the "seed" user (the observer o, i.e. the logged-in user), fix average, confidence, and G (influence) to unity. These values will not change. 2. For all other users, initialize average, confidence, and influence scores to zero. 3. Iterate through all users to calculate average, confidence, and influence scores. In the first iteration, the follows of the logged-in users will obtain nonzero scores. In the second iteration, their follows will obtain nonzero scores. And so on. 4. Continue iteration until all values converge.
Intuition tells us that convergence is guaranteed by the requirement that for each rating, the rating and its associated confidence are scalar values between 0 and 1. G will therefore also always also be a number between 0 and 1. Not shown: at brainstorm and in general recommended practice, the above equation also employs a scalar value between 0 and 1 called the "attenuation factor," defaulted at 0.8 but adjustable by the user, which causes influence scores G^o_v to diminish as the number of hops between o and v increases.
Intended usage
G is designed to be used as a weight when calculating weighted averages, tallying votes, etc. It is highly effective at eliminating bots without turning into a popularity contest.
Interpretation
G^o_v is a recommendation, to you by your grapevine, that reflects in numerical form how much "attention" you should pay to pubkey v in the given context (if a context is given).
- G^o_v = 0 means that pubkey v is not worthy of your attention, because v is probably a bot
- G^o_v = 1 means that pubkey v is worthy of your full attention, because b is probably not a bot
- Values between 0 and 1 mean the grapevine isn't absolutely certain one way or another, whether because of scant information (some follows by trusted sources, but not many) or conflicting information (combination of follows and mutes)
Note that if a bad actor spins up a large number of bots and uses them to follow himself, those follows will be completely ignored, because those bots will have a zero trust score G.
Change of context
The set of ratings r can be generated from any data source, regardless of format. By selecting different ratings datasets, we can generate grapevine scores to reflect different contexts. Example: collect emoji reactions to content on Topic X and infer a fire emoji as a rating of 2, rocket as a 3, thumb down as a 0, etc. The resulting G, which will take values between 0 and 3, is now interpreted to apply only to Topic X.
Compact notation
The above equation can be written more succinctly:
where G represents the baseline grapevine score, and R represents the dataset generated from follows and mutes.
Note that we can use a different G on the left versus on the right:
The same relationship can be expressed using arrow notation:
The above relationship in arrow notation should be read to mean that the set of scores G_a are calculated using dataset R which has been authored exclusively by members represented by G_b. In other words, the ratings R are weighted using the set of scores G_b.
Note that the dataset R is generated via interpretation of preexisting content. We can use any content that we can find. There is no requirement or expectation that users will necessarily generate ratings in a format convenient for input into the grapevine. The process of "interpretation" takes care of that, by "translating" existing data into a format suitable for use by the grapevine.
Note also that grapevine scores G may refer to anything in any context: trust scores for users, quality scores for products, etc.
Concerns about convergence
If the G_a and G_b represent the same context (G_a = G_b), the relationship is said to be "recursive," and calculations are iterated until they converge.
If G_a != G_b, the relationship is not recursive, and a single iteration through each pubkey is all that is needed. This means that we can allow G_a and / or G_b to be greater than 1 with no need to worry about convergence.
Worldviews
Arrow notation allows us to link trust calculations in chains:
A graph of grapevine scores G_i linked via arrow notation is called a worldview.
For example, consider the following worldview: * G_a is the baseline nostr trust score, as described above, intended to separate bots from real users * G_b is a label applied to nostr users, intended as a label for bitcoiners (as opposed to nocoiners or shitcoiners) * G_c is a quality score applied to hardware wallets
The purpose of the above worldview is so that I can get a ranked list of hardware wallets and I can be reasonably sure that the list is curated by bitcoiners whose instincts on this topic I value more highly than the general population.
Worldviews can contain any desired number of nodes, connected by any desired number of arrows, and so can be as complex as desired.
Obviously, the construction of a worldview reflects the value system of the person who uses it, with the above worldview offered as a reflection of maximalist values and beliefs. Worldviews can be codified and submitted to the wider community. One's grapevine can even be used to select individuals who should be trusted to edit or construct worldviews.
Computational cost
The methods described above are expected to be too time consuming and computationally expensive to do all of them on the fly on the front end. Notably, the ones that are recursive. Non-recursive computations, however, can be done on the front end, provided recursive calculations have been done ahead of time and are readily available. It is anticipated that the value added by well-crafted worldviews will more than justify the requisite costs.
-
@ 39cc53c9:27168656
2025-05-20 10:45:18
“The future is there... staring back at us. Trying to make sense of the fiction we will have become.” — William Gibson.
This month is the 4th anniversary of kycnot.me. Thank you for being here.
Fifteen years ago, Satoshi Nakamoto introduced Bitcoin, a peer-to-peer electronic cash system: a decentralized currency free from government and institutional control. Nakamoto's whitepaper showed a vision for a financial system based on trustless transactions, secured by cryptography. Some time forward and KYC (Know Your Customer), AML (Anti-Money Laundering), and CTF (Counter-Terrorism Financing) regulations started to come into play.
What a paradox: to engage with a system designed for decentralization, privacy, and independence, we are forced to give away our personal details. Using Bitcoin in the economy requires revealing your identity, not just to the party you interact with, but also to third parties who must track and report the interaction. You are forced to give sensitive data to entities you don't, can't, and shouldn't trust. Information can never be kept 100% safe; there's always a risk. Information is power, who knows about you has control over you.
Information asymmetry creates imbalances of power. When entities have detailed knowledge about individuals, they can manipulate, influence, or exploit this information to their advantage. The accumulation of personal data by corporations and governments enables extensive surveillances.
Such practices, moreover, exclude individuals from traditional economic systems if their documentation doesn't meet arbitrary standards, reinforcing a dystopian divide. Small businesses are similarly burdened by the costs of implementing these regulations, hindering free market competition^1:
How will they keep this information safe? Why do they need my identity? Why do they force businesses to enforce such regulations? It's always for your safety, to protect you from the "bad". Your life is perpetually in danger: terrorists, money launderers, villains... so the government steps in to save us.
‟Hush now, baby, baby, don't you cry Mamma's gonna make all of your nightmares come true Mamma's gonna put all of her fears into you Mamma's gonna keep you right here, under her wing She won't let you fly, but she might let you sing Mamma's gonna keep baby cosy and warm” — Mother, Pink Floyd
We must resist any attack on our privacy and freedom. To do this, we must collaborate.
If you have a service, refuse to ask for KYC; find a way. Accept cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Monero. Commit to circular economies. Remove the need to go through the FIAT system. People need fiat money to use most services, but we can change that.
If you're a user, donate to and prefer using services that accept such currencies. Encourage your friends to accept cryptocurrencies as well. Boycott FIAT system to the greatest extent you possibly can.
This may sound utopian, but it can be achieved. This movement can't be stopped. Go kick the hornet's nest.
“We must defend our own privacy if we expect to have any. We must come together and create systems which allow anonymous transactions to take place. People have been defending their own privacy for centuries with whispers, darkness, envelopes, closed doors, secret handshakes, and couriers. The technologies of the past did not allow for strong privacy, but electronic technologies do.” — Eric Hughes, A Cypherpunk's Manifesto
The anniversary
Four years ago, I began exploring ways to use crypto without KYC. I bookmarked a few favorite services and thought sharing them to the world might be useful. That was the first version of kycnot.me — a simple list of about 15 services. Since then, I've added services, rewritten it three times, and improved it to what it is now.
kycnot.me has remained 100% independent and 100% open source^2 all these years. I've received offers to buy the site, all of which I have declined and will continue to decline. It has been DDoS attacked many times, but we made it through. I have also rewritten the whole site almost once per year (three times in four years).
The code and scoring algorithm are open source (contributions are welcome) and I can't arbitrarly change a service's score without adding or removing attributes, making any arbitrary alterations obvious if they were fake. You can even see the score summary for any service's score.
I'm a one-person team, dedicating my free time to this project. I hope to keep doing so for many more years. Again, thank you for being part of this.
-
@ 30611079:ecac89f8
2025-05-10 13:30:51
Um Shell Script simples para facilitar backups bip39 baseados nos números das palavras, coloque o script na mesma pasta que o arquivo contendo as palavras, passe o idioma no 1º argumento (Ex. english) e as palavras em sequência, a saída serão os números correspondentes as palavras passadas no idioma selecionado
```
!/bin/bash
Enter in correct diretory
if [ ${0%/} == $0 ]; then cd ${PWD} elif [ -e ${PWD}/${0%/} ]; then cd ${PWD}/${0%/} else cd ${0%/} fi
file="$1.txt"
index=0 numbers=() for word in "$@"; do while IFS= read -r linha; do if [[ "$linha" == "$word" ]]; then numbers+=($index) break fi ((index++)) done < "$file" index=0 done echo "${numbers[@]}" ```
Fiz para aprender um pouco de Shell Script, podem dizer se está bom e se dá para melhorar algo?
Também fiz outro que faz o processo reverso
-
@ c631e267:c2b78d3e
2025-05-10 09:50:45
Information ohne Reflexion ist geistiger Flugsand. \ Ernst Reinhardt
Der lateinische Ausdruck «Quo vadis» als Frage nach einer Entwicklung oder Ausrichtung hat biblische Wurzeln. Er wird aber auch in unserer Alltagssprache verwendet, laut Duden meist als Ausdruck von Besorgnis oder Skepsis im Sinne von: «Wohin wird das führen?»
Der Sinn und Zweck von so mancher politischen Entscheidung erschließt sich heutzutage nicht mehr so leicht, und viele Trends können uns Sorge bereiten. Das sind einerseits sehr konkrete Themen wie die zunehmende Militarisierung und die geschichtsvergessene Kriegstreiberei in Europa, deren Feindbildpflege aktuell beim Gedenken an das Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs beschämende Formen annimmt.
Auch das hohe Gut der Schweizer Neutralität scheint immer mehr in Gefahr. Die schleichende Bewegung der Eidgenossenschaft in Richtung NATO und damit weg von einer Vermittlerposition erhält auch durch den neuen Verteidigungsminister Anschub. Martin Pfister möchte eine stärkere Einbindung in die europäische Verteidigungsarchitektur, verwechselt bei der Argumentation jedoch Ursache und Wirkung.
Das Thema Gesundheit ist als Zugpferd für Geschäfte und Kontrolle offenbar schon zuverlässig etabliert. Die hauptsächlich privat finanzierte Weltgesundheitsorganisation (WHO) ist dabei durch ein Netzwerk von sogenannten «Collaborating Centres» sogar so weit in nationale Einrichtungen eingedrungen, dass man sich fragen kann, ob diese nicht von Genf aus gesteuert werden.
Das Schweizer Bundesamt für Gesundheit (BAG) übernimmt in dieser Funktion ebenso von der WHO definierte Aufgaben und Pflichten wie das deutsche Robert Koch-Institut (RKI). Gegen die Covid-«Impfung» für Schwangere, die das BAG empfiehlt, obwohl es fehlende wissenschaftliche Belege für deren Schutzwirkung einräumt, formiert sich im Tessin gerade Widerstand.
Unter dem Stichwort «Gesundheitssicherheit» werden uns die Bestrebungen verkauft, essenzielle Dienste mit einer biometrischen digitalen ID zu verknüpfen. Das dient dem Profit mit unseren Daten und führt im Ergebnis zum Verlust unserer demokratischen Freiheiten. Die deutsche elektronische Patientenakte (ePA) ist ein Element mit solchem Potenzial. Die Schweizer Bürger haben gerade ein Referendum gegen das revidierte E-ID-Gesetz erzwungen. In Thailand ist seit Anfang Mai für die Einreise eine «Digital Arrival Card» notwendig, die mit ihrer Gesundheitserklärung einen Impfpass «durch die Hintertür» befürchten lässt.
Der massive Blackout auf der iberischen Halbinsel hat vermehrt Fragen dazu aufgeworfen, wohin uns Klimawandel-Hysterie und «grüne» Energiepolitik führen werden. Meine Kollegin Wiltrud Schwetje ist dem nachgegangen und hat in mehreren Beiträgen darüber berichtet. Wenig überraschend führen interessante Spuren mal wieder zu internationalen Großbanken, Globalisten und zur EU-Kommission.
Zunehmend bedenklich ist aber ganz allgemein auch die manifestierte Spaltung unserer Gesellschaften. Angesichts der tiefen und sorgsam gepflegten Gräben fällt es inzwischen schwer, eine zukunftsfähige Perspektive zu erkennen. Umso begrüßenswerter sind Initiativen wie die Kölner Veranstaltungsreihe «Neue Visionen für die Zukunft». Diese möchte die Diskussionskultur reanimieren und dazu beitragen, dass Menschen wieder ohne Angst und ergebnisoffen über kontroverse Themen der Zeit sprechen.
Quo vadis – Wohin gehen wir also? Die Suche nach Orientierung in diesem vermeintlichen Chaos führt auch zur Reflexion über den eigenen Lebensweg. Das ist positiv insofern, als wir daraus Kraft schöpfen können. Ob derweil der neue Papst, dessen «Vorgänger» Petrus unsere Ausgangsfrage durch die christliche Legende zugeschrieben wird, dabei eine Rolle spielt, muss jede/r selbst wissen. Mir persönlich ist allein schon ein Führungsanspruch wie der des Petrusprimats der römisch-katholischen Kirche eher suspekt.
[Titelbild: Pixabay]
Dieser Beitrag wurde mit dem Pareto-Client geschrieben und ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.
-
@ 472f440f:5669301e
2024-08-28 22:34:51
nostr:note1x82zkl9knpkgk07wlhycex6una0zjscgcafzaq2pfjfq6h3tz8jqr0em9m
A lot of the problems the US is suffering from today stem from the fact that we've been managed by a political class that is economically illiterate for decades.
"Debt is only money we owe ourselves."
"We need to pass this $2 Trillion spending bill to drive down prices."
"We need to phase out reliable energy generation in favor of unreliable renewables."
"Nuclear energy is bad so we can't build anymore reactors."
"We need to bail out the banks that introduced systemic risks into our economy or the world will devolve into chaos."
"We need to lock down the economy and print trillions of dollars to pay people for staying home from work while we flatten the curve."
"A prolonged zero interest rate environment will stoke economic growth with no long-term effects."
"We need to ship all of our manufacturing over seas so that we can flood the world with dollars, make the USD the reserve currency of the world, and lower prices at home. Good middle class jobs be damned."
The list goes on and on.
The ramifications of these compounding economically illiterate policies has left the country, and the world at large, in an extremely vulnerable position. We are sitting on more than $35 TRILLION of debt on the national balance sheet with another $220 TRILLION in off balance sheet liabilities in the form of Social Security, Medicare, Medicade and other handouts the government has promised to make in the future. And, worse yet, many policies, particularly spending bills that pack in new regulations, have indirectly eroded individual freedoms.
The annual military budget increases the war machine and the military industrial complex, which then use the money they've been allocated to lobby for laws like the Patriot Act. Completely obliterating the fourth amendment in an effort to "protect the country from terrorism". I sit here and shudder at the thought of how much money has been wasted on programs like the TSA and the additional lost economic productivity that comes with people idiotically taking off their shoes and standing in a radioactive tube with their hands up while some mouth breather who couldn't guard a Pixie cup from a three year old yells at you. Let alone the potential economic activity and partnerships that are blown up with the bombs we drop using money we don't have.
The mad dash to "nEt ZeRo EmIsSiOnS" also brings along with it inflationary pressures that result in increased economic stress for the Common Man while restricting his freedoms. Nothing makes this clearer than the Orwellian "Inflation Reduction Act" that forced net zero energy transitions policies through a bill. The policies limit the options individual Americans and corporations have when it comes to utilizing the energy sources they deem most economically viable at any given point in time. An over subsidization of wind and solar and a demonization of oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear has introduced economic imbalances that are leading to a capital misallocation of epic proportions. This has, in turn, led to less reliable energy systems and overall higher energy costs.
And now the incumbent administration, now headed by Kamala Harris, is pushing for an unrealized capital gains tax that is sure to scare tens of billions of dollars worth of capital outside of the borders of the US. We touched on it when it was originally being floated last week. However, at the time it seemed like the campaign was floating a litmus test to gauge how it would be received if it became an official policy. Today it became clear that this will be an official policy if Harris gets into office and garners the necessary votes to push it through.
What's worse is the fact that one of her lead economic advisors, Bharat Rama, joined CNBC this morning to not only confirm that this is the official policy stance of the Harris campaign, but to say that people should be okay with this because they already pay an "unrealized gain tax" in the form of property taxes. Not only is it not true that property taxes are technically not unrealized gain taxes, but it's also horrible framing. Property taxes are one of the most reviled taxes that people have to pay after income taxes. No one likes paying property taxes. Especially when they look at the laughable public schooling system that they fund.
Doubling down on failed policy seems to be the modus operandi of Kamala Harris and the Marxists on her team. An unrealized gains tax is nothing more than asset confiscation by a corrupt government that has completely lost control of its finances. It will destroy the wealth of the nation. "But it will only affect people who have more than $100M. Stop talking about this, it won't affect you at all! You poor rich wannabe."
People who have attained hundreds of millions of dollars have done so because they are smart. (Most of them at least.) And they worked extremely hard to build businesses to acquire their wealth. If you think they are stupid enough to stand by and let the government swoop in and confiscate that wealth, I have a bitcoin privacy fork to sell you. They will move their money out of the country on November 6th and the Harris administration will be forced to begin lowering the threshold of who has to pay unrealized gains taxes.
$50m
$25m
$10m
$1m
$100k
They will not stop doubling down on their incompetence. These people should be laughed out of polite society and marooned on an island for floating policy as potentially dangerous to the US economy as this unrealized tax is.
This is why we bitcoin. Bitcoin gives people the ability to store their wealth in an asset that is extremely hard to confiscate if secured properly. Bitcoin gives you leverage from which to fight back against this type of overt Marxism.
Final thought... It is abnormally humid on my village by the sea for a late August day.
-
@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1
2025-05-10 05:45:52
Finale: once the industry-standard of music notation software, now a cautionary tale. In this video, I explore how it slowly lost its crown through decades of missed opportunities - eventually leading to creative collapse due to various bureaucratic intrigues, unforeseen technological changes and some of the jankiest UI/UX you've ever seen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yqaon6YHzaU
originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/976219
-
@ a93d7cd3:ae5ce5dd
2025-05-20 10:16:55
Test Nostr
-
@ e5272de9:a16a102f
2024-08-22 22:16:43
One of the highlights for me at the first day of nostriga nostriga was a panel discussion on web of trust with @Stuart Bowman, @Pip the social graph guy, @PABLOF7z, @hzrd149, and @ODELL. This to me is one of the most important topics in all of freedom tech, so I'd like to write up a few thoughts I had while they're still fresh on my mind, most of which revolve around the calculation of trust scores. Apologies if it's a bit long winded, don't seem to have the time to make it shorter.
What do we use for raw data?
There has been and on again, off again discussion during my time working in nostr over the sources of data that we should be using to calculate trust. In my mind we can think of the raw data as existing on a spectrum between two extremes. On one extreme, we have what I call proxy indicators of trust: follows, mutes, zaps, reactions, etc. People don't create this content with trust scores in mind, but we can and do use them as imperfect proxy indicators nontheless. And on the other extreme we have what I call explicit trust attestations, exemplified by the proposed NIP-77, authored by Lez, the heart and soul of which is that a fully explicit contextual trust attestation should have 3 fields: a context, a score, and a confidence. You fill in these fields, you say what you mean, and you mean what you say, leaving as little room for interpretation as possible. And then there is data that's in between these two extremes. A five star rating for a host on a couchsurfing platform or a vendor on an ecommerce site? A "superfollow" option in addition to a follow? These lie somewhere on the spectrum between proxy indicators on one end and explicit attestations of trust on the other.
During the panel today, Pablo and pippellia expressed the opinion that explicit trust attestations are not the way to go. Two reasons that I recall: first, that no one wants to put an exact number to trust; and second, that no one will update those numbers even if their assessment changes. These critiques have some merit to them. But I believe they miss the bigger picture.
The bigger picture
In the real world, there are two ways I can communicate trust: I can SHOW you, or I can TELL you. I can demonstrate trust through the actions that I take, such as following someone, or I can just straight up tell you that I trust someone in some context.
So here's the question: on nostr, which is the correct method to communicate trust? Proxy indicators, or explicit attestations? Do we SHOW or do we TELL?
My view is that we don't have to pick. We have to use all relevant and available raw data across the entire spectrum from one extreme to the other.
Each of these two options has its advantages and its disadvantages. The advantage of proxy indicators is that users issue them freely and easily, the result being that we are awash in a sea of data. The primary disadvantage of proxy indicators is that they often don't mean what we want them to mean. If Alice follows Bob, does that mean she trusts him? Maybe. Or maybe not. More often not. And what about context? Do we have any way of knowing?
So we use proxy indicators as a trust indicators because ... if it's the best or maybe even the only data we have, what else are we gonna do?
To do better, I argue that we need to give users more options when it comes to issuing explicit indicators of trust. But of course they're not going to do that without a reason. So to give them a reason, we have to figure out ahead of time how we're going to use the data once it's available. We have to know how to incorporate explicit trust indicators into our web of trust calculations. For the sake of argument, let's assume that we have a large dataset of proxy trust indicators (SHOW ME data) plus a small but nontrivial dataset with explicit trust attestations (TELL ME data). What we want to do is to pool all available relevant data together when we calculate trust scores. But how exactly do we do that? Which brings me to my next topic.
The calculation of trust scores
How are we even calculating the "web of trust scores" that we see today? Wikifreedia, Coracle, and a growing list of other clients have such scores. I wish I had seen more discussion in today's panel about HOW these calculation are performed. To the best of my knowledge, most clients use the same or a similar method: fetch my follows; fetch Bob's followers; calculate the set of users who are in both sets; and count up how many you get. Sometimes adjustments are made, usually a ding based on mutes. But usually, that's it. That's the WoT score.
I'll call this the "legacy WoT score" since it is basically the state of the art in nostr. The legacy WoT score can be a useful way to eliminate bots and bad actors. But it has a few disadvantages: it is, arguably, a bit of a popularity contest. It cannot see more than two hops away on your social graph. It's not very useful to new users who haven't yet built up their follows. And it's not clear how to use it to differentiate trust in different contexts.
It seems strange to me that so many clients use this single method to calculate WoT scores, but with relatively little discussion on the merits of this method as opposed to other methods. Or whether other methods even exist, for that matter.
Indeed, I believe there is another method to calculate trust scores that in most circumstances will turn out to be much more meaningful and useful. For the sake of this article, I will call this the "Grapevine WoT score" to distinguish it from the legacy WoT score. (Elsewhere I have used the phrase "influence score" in place of "Grapevine WoT score.")
The Grapevine method is (currently) based on follows and mutes, but calculated using a method entirely distinct from the legacy method, detailed here (where it is called simply the "influence score"). The Grapevine method has several advantages over the legacy method, but one in particular on the topic of SHOW versus TELL: the Grapevine method can take multiple distinct classes of data following distinct formats and pool them together, synthesizing and distilling them into a single Grapevine WoT score. By choosing different datasets, different scores corresponding to different contexts can be generated.
The future
So here's my prediction on how the future will play out. 1. The Grapevine method of trust score calculation is going to rely -- at first -- primarily on proxy indicators of trust (follows, mutes, zaps, reactions, etc) -- SHOW ME data -- because that’s the data that’s available to us in large quantities. 2. These contextual Grapevine scores will turn out to be surprisingly useful. 3. People will learn to game the scores by changing their behavior. 5. Consumers of trust data will gradually discover that SHOW ME data is becoming less and less reliable. 6. Authors of raw trust data will gradually learn that if they want their voices to be heard, they will need to communicate trust more explicitly. In ways that are harder to game. They will begin to move the needle ever so gradually towards TELL ME data. 7. Over time, larger datasets of TELL ME data will be available for input into Grapevine WoT scores. 8. As SHOW ME data becomes less reliable, and TELL ME data becomes more available, contextual Grapevine WoT scores will become more fine grained in terms of context and more reliable.
Of course, none of this will happen unless and until we start calculating Grapevine WoT scores and putting them to good use. To that end, several of us are working on the generation of these scores at brainSToRm. Right now, it's a slog to download the data to the browser. But we're working on improving the UX. And if you make it through the slog, you can export a NIP-51 list of the top-scoring pubkeys, minus the ones you're already following, and use them at clients like Amethyst or Coracle to generate a feed of content coming from the most highly "trusted" users whom you're not already following. A feed that is CUSTOMIZED by YOUR Grapevine.
So there you have it, my defense of explicit trust attestations.
-
@ cd17b2d6:8cc53332
2025-05-20 10:15:09
🚀 Instantly Send Spendable Flash BTC, ETH, & USDT — Fully Blockchain-Verifiable!
Welcome to the cutting edge of crypto innovation: the ultimate tool for sending spendable Flash Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and USDT transactions. Our advanced blockchain simulation technology employs 🔥 Race/Finney-style mechanisms, producing coins indistinguishable from authentic blockchain-confirmed tokens. Your transactions are instantly trackable and fully spendable for durations from 60 to 360 days!
🌐 Visit cryptoflashingtool.com for complete details.
🌟 Why Choose Our Crypto Flashing Service? Crypto Flashing is perfect for crypto enthusiasts, blockchain developers, ethical hackers, security professionals, and digital entrepreneurs looking for authenticity combined with unparalleled flexibility.
🎯 Our Crypto Flashing Features: ✅ Instant Blockchain Verification: Transactions appear completely authentic, complete with real blockchain confirmations, transaction IDs, and wallet addresses.
🔒 Maximum Security & Privacy: Fully compatible with VPNs, TOR, and proxy servers, ensuring absolute anonymity and protection.
🖥️ Easy-to-Use Software: Designed for Windows, our intuitive platform suits both beginners and experts, with detailed, step-by-step instructions provided.
📅 Customizable Flash Durations: Control your transaction lifespan precisely, from 60 to 360 days.
🔄 Universal Wallet Compatibility: Instantly flash BTC, ETH, and USDT tokens to SegWit, Legacy, or BCH32 wallets.
💱 Spendable on Top Exchanges: Flash coins seamlessly accepted on leading exchanges like Kraken and Huobi.
📊 Proven Track Record: ✅ Over 79 Billion flash transactions completed. ✅ 3000+ satisfied customers worldwide. ✅ 42 active blockchain nodes for fast, reliable transactions. 📌 Simple Step-by-Step Flashing Process: Step 1️⃣: Enter Transaction Details
Choose coin (BTC, ETH, USDT: TRC-20, ERC-20, BEP-20) Specify amount & flash duration Provide wallet address (validated automatically) Step 2️⃣: Complete Payment & Verification
Pay using the cryptocurrency you wish to flash Scan the QR code or paste the payment address Upload payment proof (transaction hash & screenshot) Step 3️⃣: Initiate Flash Transaction
Our technology simulates blockchain confirmations instantly Flash transaction appears authentic within seconds Step 4️⃣: Verify & Spend Immediately
Access your flashed crypto instantly Easily verify transactions via provided blockchain explorer links 🛡️ Why Our Technology is Trusted: 🔗 Race/Finney Attack Logic: Creates realistic blockchain headers. 🖥️ Private iNode Cluster: Guarantees fast synchronization and reliable transactions. ⏰ Live Timer System: Ensures fresh wallet addresses and transaction legitimacy. 🔍 Genuine Blockchain TX IDs: Authentic transaction IDs included with every flash ❓ Frequently Asked Questions: Is flashing secure? ✅ Yes, encrypted with full VPN/proxy support. Can I flash from multiple devices? ✅ Yes, up to 5 Windows PCs per license. Are chargebacks possible? ❌ No, flash transactions are irreversible. How long are flash coins spendable? ✅ From 60–360 days, based on your chosen plan. Verification after expiry? ❌ Transactions can’t be verified after the expiry. Support available? ✅ Yes, 24/7 support via Telegram & WhatsApp.
🔐 Transparent, Reliable & Highly Reviewed:
CryptoFlashingTool.com operates independently, providing unmatched transparency and reliability. Check out our glowing reviews on ScamAdvisor and leading crypto forums!
📲 Get in Touch Now: 📞 WhatsApp: +1 770 666 2531 ✈️ Telegram: @cryptoflashingtool
🎉 Ready to Start?
💰 Buy Flash Coins Now 🖥️ Get Your Flashing Software
Experience the smartest, safest, and most powerful crypto flashing solution on the market today!
CryptoFlashingTool.com — Flash Crypto Like a Pro.
Instantly Send Spendable Flash BTC, ETH, & USDT — Fully Blockchain-Verifiable!Welcome to the cutting edge of crypto innovation: the ultimate tool for sending spendable Flash Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and USDT transactions. Our advanced blockchain simulation technology employs
Race/Finney-style mechanisms, producing coins indistinguishable from authentic blockchain-confirmed tokens. Your transactions are instantly trackable and fully spendable for durations from 60 to 360 days!
Visit cryptoflashingtool.com for complete details.Why Choose Our Crypto Flashing Service?
Crypto Flashing is perfect for crypto enthusiasts, blockchain developers, ethical hackers, security professionals, and digital entrepreneurs looking for authenticity combined with unparalleled flexibility.
Our Crypto Flashing Features:
Instant Blockchain Verification: Transactions appear completely authentic, complete with real blockchain confirmations, transaction IDs, and wallet addresses.
Maximum Security & Privacy: Fully compatible with VPNs, TOR, and proxy servers, ensuring absolute anonymity and protection.
Easy-to-Use Software: Designed for Windows, our intuitive platform suits both beginners and experts, with detailed, step-by-step instructions provided.
Customizable Flash Durations: Control your transaction lifespan precisely, from 60 to 360 days.
Universal Wallet Compatibility: Instantly flash BTC, ETH, and USDT tokens to SegWit, Legacy, or BCH32 wallets.
Spendable on Top Exchanges: Flash coins seamlessly accepted on leading exchanges like Kraken and Huobi.Proven Track Record:
- Over 79 Billion flash transactions completed.
- 3000+ satisfied customers worldwide.
- 42 active blockchain nodes for fast, reliable transactions.
Simple Step-by-Step Flashing Process:
Step : Enter Transaction Details
- Choose coin (BTC, ETH, USDT: TRC-20, ERC-20, BEP-20)
- Specify amount & flash duration
- Provide wallet address (validated automatically)
Step : Complete Payment & Verification
- Pay using the cryptocurrency you wish to flash
- Scan the QR code or paste the payment address
- Upload payment proof (transaction hash & screenshot)
Step : Initiate Flash Transaction
- Our technology simulates blockchain confirmations instantly
- Flash transaction appears authentic within seconds
Step : Verify & Spend Immediately
- Access your flashed crypto instantly
- Easily verify transactions via provided blockchain explorer links
Why Our Technology is Trusted:
- Race/Finney Attack Logic: Creates realistic blockchain headers.
- Private iNode Cluster: Guarantees fast synchronization and reliable transactions.
- Live Timer System: Ensures fresh wallet addresses and transaction legitimacy.
- Genuine Blockchain TX IDs: Authentic transaction IDs included with every flash
Frequently Asked Questions:
- Is flashing secure?
Yes, encrypted with full VPN/proxy support.
- Can I flash from multiple devices? Yes, up to 5 Windows PCs per license.
- Are chargebacks possible? 
No, flash transactions are irreversible.
- How long are flash coins spendable? From 60–360 days, based on your chosen plan.
- Verification after expiry? Transactions can’t be verified after the expiry.Support available?
Yes, 24/7 support via Telegram & WhatsApp.
Transparent, Reliable & Highly Reviewed:CryptoFlashingTool.com operates independently, providing unmatched transparency and reliability. Check out our glowing reviews on ScamAdvisor and leading crypto forums!
Get in Touch Now:
WhatsApp: +1 770 666 2531
Telegram: @cryptoflashingtool
Ready to Start?Experience the smartest, safest, and most powerful crypto flashing solution on the market today!
CryptoFlashingTool.com — Flash Crypto Like a Pro.
-
@ b099870e:f3ba8f5d
2025-05-20 11:14:41
The fools in life want things fast and easy – money, success, attention. Boredom is their great enemy and fear. Whatever they manage to get slips through their hands as fast as it comes in. You, on the other hand, want to outlast your rivals. You are building the foundation for something that can continue to expand. To make this happen, you will have to serve an apprenticeship. You must learn early on to endure the hours of practice and drudgery, knowing that in the end all of that time will translate into a higher pleasure – mastery of a craft and of yourself. Your goal is to reach the ultimate skill level – an intuitive feel for what must come next.
Quote from The 50th Law that I'm currently reading
-
@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1
2025-05-10 05:34:46
For generations before generative text, writers have used the em dash to hop between thoughts, emotions, and ideas. Dickens shaped his morality tales with it, Woolf’s stream-of-consciousness flowed through it, Kerouac let it drive his jazz-like prose. Today, Sally Rooney threads it through her quiet truths of the heart.
But this beloved punctuation mark has become a casualty of the algorithmic age. The em dash has been so widely adopted by AI-generated text that even when used by human hands, it begs the question: was this actually written or apathetically prompted?
The battle for the soul of writing is in full swing. And the human fightback starts here. With a new punctuation mark that serves as a symbol of real pondering, genuine daydreaming, and true editorial wordsmithery. Inspired by Descartes’ belief that thinking makes us human, the am dash is a small but powerful testament that the words you’ve painstakingly and poetically pulled together are unequivocally, certifiably, and delightfully your own.
Let's reclain writig from AI—oneam dash at time.
Download the fonts:
— Aereal https://bit.ly/3EO6fo8 — Times New Human https://bit.ly/4jQTcRS
Learn more about the am dash
https://www.theamdash.com
originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/976218
-
@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1
2025-05-10 05:11:27
Consider the following two charts from A History of Clojure which detail the introduction and retention of new code by release for both Clojure and for Scala.
While this doesn't necessarily translate to library stability, it's reasonable to assume that the attitude of the Clojure maintainers will seep into the community. And that assumption is true.
Consider a typical Javascript program. What is it comprised of? Objects, objects, and more objects. Members of those objects must be either introspected or divined. Worse, it's normal to monkeypatch those objects, so the object members may (or may not) change over time.
Now, consider a typical Clojure program. What is it comprised of? Namespaces. Those namespaces contain functions and data. Functions may be dynamically generated (via macros), but it is extremely rare to "monkeypatch" a namespace. If you want to know what functions are available in a namespace, you can simply read the source file.
Continue reading https://potetm.com/devtalk/stability-by-design.html
originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/976215
-
@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9
2023-09-26 17:34:13
For years American bitcoin miners have argued for more efficient and free energy markets. It benefits everyone if our energy infrastructure is as efficient and robust as possible. Unfortunately, broken incentives have led to increased regulation throughout the sector, incentivizing less efficient energy sources such as solar and wind at the detriment of more efficient alternatives.
The result has been less reliable energy infrastructure for all Americans and increased energy costs across the board. This naturally has a direct impact on bitcoin miners: increased energy costs make them less competitive globally.
Bitcoin mining represents a global energy market that does not require permission to participate. Anyone can plug a mining computer into power and internet to get paid the current dynamic market price for their work in bitcoin. Using cellphone or satellite internet, these mines can be located anywhere in the world, sourcing the cheapest power available.
Absent of regulation, bitcoin mining naturally incentivizes the build out of highly efficient and robust energy infrastructure. Unfortunately that world does not exist and burdensome regulations remain the biggest threat for US based mining businesses. Jurisdictional arbitrage gives miners the option of moving to a friendlier country but that naturally comes with its own costs.
Enter AI. With the rapid development and release of AI tools comes the requirement of running massive datacenters for their models. Major tech companies are scrambling to secure machines, rack space, and cheap energy to run full suites of AI enabled tools and services. The most valuable and powerful tech companies in America have stumbled into an accidental alliance with bitcoin miners: THE NEED FOR CHEAP AND RELIABLE ENERGY.
Our government is corrupt. Money talks. These companies will push for energy freedom and it will greatly benefit us all.
-
@ dfc7c785:4c3c6174
2025-05-20 09:55:44
![[0B745064-2D34-4A3C-8393-AD033910E6D7.jpeg]]![[0C3FA837-E1BA-497F-8D44-9EC1CD723970.jpeg]]
-
@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1
2025-05-08 05:25:48
Safe Bits & Self Custody Tips
The journey of onboarding a user and create a bitcoin multiSig setup begins far before opening a desktop like Bitcoin Safe (BS) or any other similar application. Bitcoin Safe seems designed for families and people that want to start exploring and learning about multiSig setup. The need for such application and use of it could go much further, defining best practices for private organizations that aim to custody bitcoin in a private and anonymous way, following and enjoy the values and standards bitcoin has been built for.
Intro
Organizations and small private groups like families, family offices and solopreneurs operating on a bitcoin standard will have the need to keep track of transactions and categorize them to keep the books in order. A part of our efforts will be spent ensuring accessibility standards are in place for everyone to use Bitcoin Safe with comfort and safety.
We aim with this project to bring together the three Designathon ideas below: - Bitcoin Safe: improve its overall design and usability. - No User Left Behind: improve Bitcoin Safe accessibility. - Self-custody guidelines for organizations: How Bitcoin Safe can be used by private organization following best self-custody practices.
We are already halfway of the first week, and here below the progress made so far.
Designing an icon Set for Bitcoin Safe
One of the noticeable things when using BS is the inconsistency of the icons, not just in colors and shapes, but also the way are used. The desktop app try to have a clean design that incorporate with all OS (Win, macOS, Linux) and for this reason it's hard to define when a system default icon need to be used or if a custom one can be applied instead. The use of QT Ui framework for python apps help to respond to these questions. It also incorporates and brig up dome default settings that aren't easily overwritten.
Here below you can see the current version of BS:
Defining a more strict color palette for Bitcoin Safe was the first thing!
How much the icons affect accessibility? How they can help users to reach the right functionality? I took the challenge and, with PenPot.app, redesigned the icons based on the grid defined in the https://bitcoinicons.com/ and proposing the implementation of it to have a cleaner and more consistent look'n feel, at least for the icons now.
What's next
I personally look forward to seeing these icons implemented soon in Bitcoin Safe interface. In the meantime, we'll focus on delivering an accessibility audit and evaluate options to see how BS could be used by private organizations aiming to become financially sovereign with self-custody or more complex bitcoin multiSig setups.
One of the greatest innovations BS is bringing to us is the ability to sync the multiSig wallets, including PBST, Categories and labels, through the nostr decentralized protocol, making current key custodial services somehow obsolete. Second-coolest feature that this nostr implementation brings is the ability to have a build-in private chat that connect and enable the various signers of a multiSig to communicate and sign transactions remotely. Where have you seen something like this before?
Categories UX and redesign is also considered in this project. We'll try to understand how to better serve this functionality to you, the user, really soon.
Stay tuned!
originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/974488
-
@ 90c656ff:9383fd4e
2025-05-20 09:06:27
Since its creation in 2008, Bitcoin has been seen as a direct challenge to the traditional banking system. Developed as a decentralized alternative to fiat money, Bitcoin offers a way to store and transfer value without relying on banks, governments, or other financial institutions. This characteristic has made it a symbol of resistance against a financial system that, over time, has been marked by crises, manipulation, and restrictions imposed on citizens.
The 2008 financial crisis and the birth of Bitcoin
Bitcoin emerged in response to the 2008 financial crisis—a collapse that exposed the flaws of the global banking system. Central banks printed massive amounts of money to bail out irresponsible financial institutions, while millions of people lost their homes, savings, and jobs. In this context, Bitcoin was created as an alternative financial system, where no central authority could manipulate the economy for its own benefit.
In the first block of the Bitcoin blockchain or timechain, Satoshi Nakamoto included the following message:
“The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.”
This phrase, taken from a newspaper headline of the time, symbolizes Bitcoin’s intent to offer a financial system beyond the control of banks and governments.
- Key reasons why Bitcoin resists the banking system
01 - Decentralization: Unlike money issued by central banks, Bitcoin cannot be created or controlled by any single entity. The network of users validates transactions transparently and independently.
02 - Limited Supply: While central banks can print money without limit—causing inflation and currency devaluation—Bitcoin has a fixed supply of 21 million units, making it resistant to artificial depreciation.
03 - Censorship Resistance: Banks can freeze accounts and block transactions at any time. With Bitcoin, anyone can send and receive funds without needing permission from third parties.
04 - Self-Custody: Instead of entrusting funds to a bank, Bitcoin users can store their own coins without the risk of account freezes or bank failures.
- Conflict between banks and Bitcoin
01 - Media Attacks: Large financial institutions often label Bitcoin as risky, volatile, or useless, attempting to discourage its adoption.
02 - Regulation and Crackdowns: Some governments, influenced by the banking sector, have implemented restrictions on Bitcoin usage, making it harder to buy and sell.
03 - Creation of Centralized Alternatives: Many central banks are developing digital currencies (CBDCs) that maintain control over digital money but do not offer Bitcoin’s freedom and decentralization.
In summary, Bitcoin is not just a digital currency—it is a movement of resistance against a financial system that has repeatedly failed to protect ordinary citizens. By offering a decentralized, transparent, and censorship-resistant alternative, Bitcoin represents financial freedom and challenges the banking monopoly over money. As long as the traditional banking system continues to impose restrictions and control the flow of capital, Bitcoin will remain a symbol of independence and financial sovereignty.
Thank you very much for reading this far. I hope everything is well with you, and sending a big hug from your favorite Bitcoiner maximalist from Madeira. Long live freedom!
-
@ bd4ae3e6:1dfb81f5
2025-05-20 08:46:08
-
@ d360efec:14907b5f
2025-05-10 03:57:17
Disclaimer: * การวิเคราะห์นี้เป็นเพียงแนวทาง ไม่ใช่คำแนะนำในการซื้อขาย * การลงทุนมีความเสี่ยง ผู้ลงทุนควรตัดสินใจด้วยตนเอง
-
@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1
2025-05-08 05:08:36
Welcome back to our weekly
JABBB, Just Another Bitcoin Bubble Boom, a comics and meme contest crafted for you, creative stackers!If you'd like to learn more, check our welcome post here.
This week sticker:
Bitcoin SirYou can download the source file directly from the HereComesBitcoin website in SVG and PNG. Use this sticker around SN with the code
The task
Make sure you use this week sticker to design a comic frame or a meme, add a message that perfectly captures the sentiment of the current most hilarious takes on the Bitcoin space. You can contextualize it or not, it's up to you, you chose the message, the context and anything else that will help you submit your comic art masterpiece.
Are you a meme creator? There's space for you too: select the most similar shot from the gifts hosted on the Gif Station section and craft your best meme... Let's Jabbb!
If you enjoy designing and memeing, feel free to check out the JABBB archive and create more to spread Bitcoin awareness to the moon.
Submit each proposal on the relative thread, bounties will be distributed when enough participants submit options.
PS: you can now use HereComesBitcoin stickers to use on Stacker.News
₿e creative, have fun! :D
originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/974483
-
@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1
2025-05-07 06:56:25
Wild parrots tend to fly in flocks, but when kept as single pets, they may become lonely and bored https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHcAOlamgDc
Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-taught-pet-parrots-to-video-call-each-other-and-the-birds-loved-it-180982041/
originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/973639
-
@ bd4ae3e6:1dfb81f5
2025-05-20 08:46:06
-
@ a5142938:0ef19da3
2025-05-20 11:05:20
Content coming soon.
-
@ 98912a0b:c1f46ab6
2025-05-20 07:15:49
Jo, blomster kommer i alle farger og fasonger. Her har du to eksempler:
