@ 2e8970de:63345c7a

https://www.wsj.com/tech/europe-global-tech-race-ff910a94

https://stacker.news/items/995308

@ 91117f2b:111207d6

I still remember the day I became obsessed with photography. I was 16, and my parents gifted me a vintage camera. From that moment on, I was hooked. I spent hours clicking pictures, experimenting with lighting, and editing my shots. My friends and family would often tease me, saying I was too focused on photography, but I couldn't help it. It was my passion.

As time passed, my obsession only grew stronger. I'd wake up early, grab my camera, and head out to capture the perfect shot. I'd spend hours editing, trying to get the perfect blend of colors and lighting. My grades suffered, and my relationships began to fray, but I couldn't stop. Photography had become my everything.

One day, I landed a small gig with a local magazine. They wanted me to shoot a cover story, and I was over the moon. I poured my heart and soul into that shoot, and the results were stunning. The magazine loved my work, and soon, I was getting more assignments. My obsession had finally paid off.

But with success came the realization that my obsession had taken a toll on my life. I was exhausted, and my relationships were strained. I had to learn to balance my passion with self-care and prioritize my well-being.

Today, I'm grateful for my obsession. It taught me discipline, creativity, and perseverance. I've learned to channel my energy into constructive pursuits and make time for the people and things that matter. My obsession still drives me, but now it's a force for good.

Have you ever had an obsession that changed your life?

But sometimes obsession can be a bad thing if it reaches the stage of death. You say"i can't do without it", it is astage. You should try and look for a way out.

@ f85b9c2c:d190bcff

Never get too attached to something to the extent that you can live without it

The Weight We Pile On I’ve noticed something about myself lately—most of my worries, my sleepless nights, my tight chest—they’re born from my own hands. We cause anxiety, stress, and headaches by ourselves, don’t we? It’s a truth I can’t dodge, a mirror I can’t unsee. I cling too hard, I grip too tight, I fight for things that don’t need a fight. And in the end, I’m the one left aching, shaking, breaking. It’s not the world doing this to me—it’s me. I stack the bricks of stress, one by one, until I’m crushed beneath. I’ve learned the hard way that attachment is a thief, sneaking in to steal my peace.

The Trap of Holding Too Close I used to think love meant holding on with all my might—people, dreams, plans, tight in my sight. But oh, how that backfired, how it wired me wrong. The tighter I held, the louder the bell of stress would ring, a sting I couldn’t shake. I’d lose sleep over a job I might not get, fret over a friend who didn’t text back, or rack my brain over a future I can’t predict. Attachment became my chain, my pain, my rain. I’d pour my soul into something—someone—and when it slipped, I’d trip, I’d fall, I’d call it a loss. But was it? Or was I just too attached, too latched, too matched to something I thought I couldn’t live without?

Learning to Let Go Here’s what I’m teaching myself now: never get too attached to something to the extent you can’t live without it. It’s a rhythm I’m learning—release, breathe, ease. Life flows better when I don’t clutch. That doesn’t mean I don’t care—it means I care enough to set it free.

I think of the times I let go—a relationship that wasn’t mine to force, a goal that wasn’t my course. The headaches faded, the stress unbraided itself from my mind. I found I could live without it, thrive without it, jive without it. What’s meant for me stays; what’s not drifts away. And that’s okay—it’s a sway I can dance to.

Freedom in the Balance I’m not saying detachment is easy—it’s a battle, a rattle, a shift. But there’s freedom in it, a lightness I can’t resist. When I stop tying my worth to things—to rings, to strings, to wings—I stop the cycle of self-made misery. Anxiety shrinks when I don’t overthink. Stress unwinds when I don’t bind myself to what’s out of reach.

I’ve started asking myself: Can I live without this? If the answer’s no, I know I’ve gone too far, too deep, too steep. So, I pull back, I slack the rope, I cope with grace. Life’s too short to let my own hands choke my joy.

A Lighter Way to Live We cause anxiety, stress, and headaches by ourselves—I see it now, clear as day, bright as May. But we can stop. We can drop the load, unload the strain, regain the calm. For me, it’s about loving without owning, dreaming without drowning, living without frowning over what might slip.

I’ll hold what matters, but loosely, smoothly, coolly. Because in the end, I don’t want to be the one tying knots in my own heart. I want to live free—free from me, free to be. And that’s a rhythm worth chasing, a peace worth embracing.

@ 91117f2b:111207d6

In Nigeria, two popular swallow dishes have been vying for the top spot in the hearts (and stomachs) of food enthusiasts: Semovita and Pounded Yam. Both dishes have their loyal followers, and the debate about which one is better has been ongoing. Let's dive into the world of Nigerian cuisine and explore the characteristics of these two beloved dishes.

Semovita: The Smooth Operator

Semovita is a popular swallow made from semolina flour, which is derived from durum wheat. It's known for its smooth texture and ability to absorb flavors well. Semovita is often served with a variety of soups, including egusi, okra, and vegetable soup. Its neutral flavor makes it a versatile option for pairing with different soups.

Pounded Yam: The Classic

Pounded yam is a traditional Nigerian dish made from boiled yam that has been pounded into a smooth, stretchy dough. It's a staple in many Nigerian households and is often served with soups like egusi, okra, and efo riro. Pounded yam has a distinct texture and flavor that's hard to resist.

The Verdict

So, which one is better? The answer ultimately comes down to personal preference. If you like a smooth, neutral-tasting swallow that absorbs flavors well, Semovita might be the way to go. If you prefer a more traditional, stretchy swallow with a distinct flavor to fill your tum tum, Pounded Yam is the better option.

Tips for Enjoying Both Dishes

• Experiment with different soups to find your favorite pairing.
• Pay attention to the texture and flavor of the swallow.
• Don't be afraid to try new combinations and flavors.

Conclusion

The debate between Semovita and Pounded Yam may never be settled, but one thing is certain: both dishes are delicious and beloved in Nigerian cuisine. Whether you're a fan of Semovita or Pounded Yam, there's no denying the joy of enjoying a warm, satisfying swallow with a flavorful soup.

Which one do you prefer?

Me personally groundnut soup

@ 91117f2b:111207d6

Extroverts are often described as the life of the party, thriving in social situations and feeding off the energy of those around them. But what makes extroverts tick? Let's dive into the world of extroversion and explore the characteristics, strengths, and challenges of being an extrovert.

What is Extroversion?

Extroversion is a personality trait characterized by a tendency to focus on the outside world, drawing energy from social interactions and external stimuli. Extroverts tend to be outgoing, talkative, and sociable, often seeking out new experiences and connections.

Strengths of Extroverts

1. Social Skills: Extroverts tend to be naturally adapt at navigating social situations, building relationships, and communicating effectively.

2. Confidence: Extroverts often exude confidence and charisma, making them more likely to take risks and pursue new opportunities.

3. Networking: Extroverts tend to have large social networks, which can lead to new connections, collaborations, and career opportunities.

Challenges of Extroverts

1. Overstimulation: Extroverts can become overwhelmed by too much social stimulation, leading to burnout and exhaustion.

2. Impulsivity: Extroverts may act impulsively, speaking or acting without fully thinking through the consequences.

3. Depth vs. Breadth: Extroverts may prioritize quantity over quality in their relationships, potentially leading to shallow connections.

Famous Extroverts

1. Entertainers: Many entertainers, such as actors and musicians, are known for their extroverted personalities and charisma.

2. Leaders: Extroverted leaders, such as politicians and CEOs, often excel at inspiring and motivating others.

3. Social Media Influencers: Extroverts may thrive in the world of social media, building large followings and creating engaging content.

Embracing Extroversion

Whether you're an extrovert or know someone who is, understanding the strengths and challenges of extroversion can help you navigate social situations and build meaningful relationships. By embracing their natural tendencies and being mindful of potential pitfalls, extroverts can thrive in their personal and professional lives.

@ 91117f2b:111207d6

Just a simple short explanation of how to identify real from fake crypto currencies

The world of cryptocurrency is full of opportunities, but it's also where scammers lurk. To protect yourself, you need to know how to identify them. Some tips to guide you:

1. Be Wary of Too-Good-to-Be-True Offers

If an investment promises unusually high returns with little risk, it's likely a scam. Legitimate investments always carry some risk and work.

1. Watch Out for Phishing Scams

Scammers may try to trick you into revealing sensitive information like your wallet's private keys or login credentials. Be cautious of suspicious emails, messages, or websites.

1. Research Before Investing

Before investing in a cryptocurrency project, research the team behind it, their experience, and track record. Check for a clear whitepaper, roadmap, and strong community presence.

1. Be Cautious of Unsolicited Offers

If someone approaches you with an investment opportunity out of the blue, it's likely a scam. Legitimate opportunities are usually advertised publicly.

1. Check for Red Flags

Scammers often use poor grammar, spelling, and punctuation. They may also be pushy or aggressive. Legitimate projects usually have professional communication.

1. Don't Fall for Fake Giveaways

Scammers may promise free cryptocurrency or tokens to lure you in. Legitimate projects don't give away free crypto.

1. Use Reputable Exchanges and Wallets

Stick to well-known and reputable cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets. They have robust security measures to protect your assets.

1. Stay Informed

Stay up-to-date with the latest news and trends in cryptocurrency. Educate yourself on how to spot scams.

1. Check for Registration

Verify if the investment opportunity is registered with relevant regulatory bodies. Unregistered opportunities can be a red flag.

1. Trust Your Instincts

If something feels off, trust your instincts and avoid it. It's better to be safe than sorry.

By following these tips, you can reduce the risk of falling victim to scammers in the crypto world. Stay vigilant and protect your assets!

@ e516ecb8:1be0b167

Bitcoin was born as a middle finger to the financial establishment. Its 2008 whitepaper, penned by the enigmatic Satoshi Nakamoto, promised a peer-to-peer (P2P) electronic cash system—a decentralized rebellion against state-controlled money, sparked in the ashes of the global financial crisis. It was a cypherpunk dream: a currency free from banks, governments, and middlemen. But somewhere along the way, Bitcoin lost its soul. What was meant to be a fluid, practical currency has morphed into a clunky, expensive digital vault—a gilded cage for your wealth. Let’s unpack why Bitcoin is broken, why its fixes are flimsy, and why its rebellious spirit is fading into a state-backed shadow of its former self.

The P2P Promise: Shattered by Sky-High Fees Bitcoin’s core idea was simple: send money directly to anyone, anywhere, without a bank skimming off the top. Fast forward to today, and that vision is in tatters. Imagine you’ve got $34 in Bitcoin to send to a friend. By the time it arrives, after transaction fees, they might get a measly $2. According to data from BitInfoCharts, the average Bitcoin transaction fee in early 2025 hovers around $20–$30, with spikes as high as $60 during network congestion. For context, that’s more than the cost of a Venmo transfer or even some international wire fees.

This isn’t a one-off issue. Wallets like Guarda, Exodus, or even hardware wallets like Ledger face the same problem: Bitcoin’s base layer (Layer 1) is so congested that fees make small transactions absurdly impractical. Want to buy a $5 coffee with Bitcoin? You’d lose more in fees than the coffee’s worth. This isn’t P2P money—it’s confiscatory, inefficient, and anything but user-friendly.

Lightning Network: A Band-Aid on a Broken System Cue the Bitcoin maximalists: “But we have the Lightning Network!” Sure, Lightning was introduced as a second-layer solution to scale Bitcoin for smaller, faster transactions. It’s a network of off-chain payment channels designed to handle microtransactions with lower fees. Sounds great, right? Except it’s a patchwork fix that betrays Bitcoin’s original vision.

First, Lightning wasn’t part of Satoshi’s plan—it’s an afterthought, a kludge to address the base layer’s limitations. Second, it’s not universally adopted. According to 1ML, as of early 2025, only about 15% of Bitcoin wallets natively support Lightning. Major wallets like Coinbase Wallet and Trust Wallet still require workarounds or third-party integrations. Why? Because implementing Lightning is complex, and for most users, it involves trusting third-party nodes or custodians to route payments. So much for “be your own bank.”

Worse, running your own Lightning node requires technical know-how—think Linux commands, channel management, and constant monitoring. A 2024 survey by Bitcoin Magazine found that only 8% of Bitcoin users run their own nodes, Lightning or otherwise. For the average person, Lightning isn’t a solution; it’s a hurdle. And if you’re relying on a third party, you’re back to square one: trusting someone else with your money.

Take Adrián Bernabeu, author of Bitcoinismo, who preaches the gospel of self-custody while simultaneously hyping Lightning for micropayments. It’s a contradiction. You can’t champion “not your keys, not your crypto” while pushing a system that often requires third-party intermediaries for practical use. It’s like telling someone to live off-grid but handing them a generator that only works with a utility company’s permission.

A Gilded Cage: Bitcoin as a Store of Value So, if Bitcoin isn’t practical for payments, what’s it good for? The narrative has shifted: Bitcoin is now a “store of value,” a digital gold. Its price has soared—hitting $80,000 in late 2024, per CoinGecko—and its fixed supply of 21 million coins makes it a hedge against inflation. But this shift isn’t just about market dynamics; it’s a consequence of Bitcoin’s own flaws.

Moving Bitcoin is so expensive that it’s often smarter to hodl than to spend. Your wallet becomes an orange-tinted cage, trapping your wealth in a system where transferring value eats away at your holdings. Sure, you could wait for fees to drop, but that’s another nail in the P2P coffin. Real money doesn’t make you wait for a discount to use it. Imagine telling someone, “Hold off on buying groceries until the dollar’s transaction fees go down.” It’s absurd.

OP_RETURN and the Spam Problem: A Network Clogged with Junk Bitcoin’s blockchain isn’t just struggling with fees; it’s also drowning in digital clutter. The OP_RETURN function, meant for embedding small amounts of data (like metadata for smart contracts), has become a dumping ground for everything from NFT inscriptions to random spam. In 2023, Glassnode reported that OP_RETURN transactions accounted for nearly 20% of Bitcoin’s block space during peak periods, crowding out legitimate transactions and driving up fees.

Proposed fixes from Bitcoin Core and Knots—like limiting OP_RETURN data size or tweaking mempool rules—are more Band-Aids. They don’t address the root issue: Bitcoin’s block size limit. Capped at 1MB (or roughly 4MB with SegWit), Bitcoin can only process about 3–7 transactions per second, compared to Visa’s 24,000. Increasing the block size could ease congestion and lower fees, but Bitcoin Core developers have resisted this for years, citing concerns about centralization.

Here’s the kicker: Bitcoin Cash (BCH), a 2017 fork of Bitcoin, raised its block size to 32MB and processes transactions at a fraction of the cost. BCH’s average fee in 2025 is under $0.01, per BitInfoCharts. Bitcoin maximalists dismiss BCH as a failed experiment, but it’s hard to argue with the numbers. A larger block size reduces spam’s impact because legitimate transactions dominate. Admitting this, though, would mean conceding defeat in a years-long ideological battle. And Bitcoiners hate losing.

From Rebellion to Regulatory Lapdog Bitcoin’s cypherpunk roots are fading fast. What started as a revolt against state control is cozying up to governments. El Salvador made Bitcoin legal tender in 2021, but its state-backed Chivo wallet (built on Lightning) is riddled with bugs and usability issues, according to a 2024 Reuters report. Meanwhile, Bitcoin Core developers have lobbied for institutional adoption, with figures like Michael Saylor advocating for Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset for governments and corporations.

This is a far cry from Satoshi’s vision. A 2023 post on X revealed that Core developers met with U.S. regulators to discuss Bitcoin’s role in national reserves—a move that reeks of compromise. The same system Bitcoin was meant to disrupt is now being courted. If governments start subsidizing Bitcoin mining to protect their reserves, as some speculate, the irony will be complete: a decentralized dream bankrolled by fiat.

The Looming Threats: Quantum and Mining Woes Bitcoin’s problems don’t end with fees and politics. Quantum computing looms on the horizon. A 2024 MIT Technology Review article estimated that quantum computers capable of breaking Bitcoin’s ECDSA cryptography could emerge by 2030. This threatens “Satoshi-era” wallets—those holding early, unspent coins—potentially undermining trust in the entire blockchain.

Then there’s mining. Bitcoin’s proof-of-work system is energy-intensive, with global mining consuming 150 TWh annually, per the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index. As block rewards halve (the next halving is in 2028), miners will rely more on transaction fees. Higher fees mean even less practicality for P2P payments, locking Bitcoin further into its “digital gold” trap. If states step in to subsidize mining, as some X posts have speculated, Bitcoin’s anti-establishment ethos will be dead in the water.

The Final Irony: Paying for Freedom with Fiat Bitcoin promised to replace fiat currency, but its flaws are pushing it toward a bizarre dependency on the very system it sought to destroy. If governments subsidize mining or adopt Bitcoin as a reserve asset, we’ll be left with a bitter irony: a supposedly revolutionary asset propped up by fiat. The cypherpunk dream will have come full circle, not as a triumph, but as a compromise.

So, is Bitcoin broken? Yes. It’s a victim of its own success—too valuable to spend, too clunky to use, and too compromised to stay true to its roots. The question isn’t whether Bitcoin can be fixed; it’s whether its community has the courage to admit what’s wrong. Until then, your Bitcoin wallet remains a shiny, orange prison—a relic of a rebellion that forgot how to fight.

@ 10f7c7f7:f5683da9

Unfortunately, I’m yet to be approached by either friends or family to enquire about bitcoin, I have very few friends, and my family are generally comfortable in their fiat lives. However, I often feel the need to prepare myself if the situation arises where I’m asked and I don’t do my usual, “ah, it’s just a hat” response and say nothing about bitcoin. As a result, I’m thinking through scenarios when I get asked, maybe even asked for advice and work out how to respond to people I care about, or even people I’m less bothered about, but I really don’t want to be the asshole who says; “have fun staying poor”.  As Tuur Demeester mentioned, we need to prepare ourselves mentally for when price goes crazy, so we don’t immediate start acting up with ridiculous Lambo shaped purchases but also not realise the cash to do something that will benefit you and your loved ones. We also need to prepare ourselves for the phonecalls we may receive “wen moon”. I’m not going to suggest that anyone should or should not do anything, but I’m going to try and work some things out, so that when I’m asked, I can respond in a way that is balanced, constructive and will help the person I’m speaking to make progress in their journey.

Firstly, if they say that I’m just luck to have found bitcoin before them, there are many useful quotes that can be used as a response to this, but one of my favourites has to be from Thomas Jefferson:

“I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have”

Short, simple and to the point, while also bringing the idea back from success being related to some magical concept that some people have and some people don’t, that removes the individual’s agency to positively impact their lot in life.

After this, the next suggestion may be related to luck, but at least this can be measured; how early did you first hear about bitcoin? Obviously, there could be some factors that may be outside of one’s immediate control, such as whether your name was on the cypherpunk mailing list in late 2009. Saying this, very few individuals chose to act on the contribution of one of the unknown contributors (Satoshi Nakamoto) who suddenly appeared on the mailing list, so started directing resources towards the network at the start. Even those that did and accumulated large stockpiles in the early days may have not initially known what they had or may have simply lost what they accumulated (poor old James Howells is still trying to dig up a Welsh refuse site). There are also those infamous episodes where individuals were given bitcoin early on and didn’t understand what they had or were simply careless with the necessary information (Alex Jones once received 10k bitcoin from Max Keiser). Even more recently, Dave Portnoy purchased a significant amount of bitcoin, was walked through the whole process by Marty Bent, but later lost his keys, suggesting it is not sufficient to simply be earlier to bitcoin to benefit from it, but something else.

If the person you speak to mentions they are late, there are many opportunities to illustrate how being early may not have given a better outcome and even resulted in a negative outcome, “I lost so many bitcoins, I’m not touching that crap again”. After knowing that you once owned X number of bitcoin, to have then had to start again from zero would be a very difficult barrier to get over. James Howells may have been in a much better situation if he had never mined those early bitcoin, and arrive at the topic years later and began buying like most others, or started buying as soon as he realised what bitcoin was. To provide the counter argument, there is also a story of someone having their bitcoin seedphrase stolen from cloud storage (big respect to RMessitt), but rather than sitting back and complaining, instead began to accumulate once more, only this time with better security hygiene. While they may not have been able to reaccumulate what they had before, they are in a better position than if they had simply given up, attributing it to bad luck, rather than working hard. These examples suggest that it may not only be about being early, but also about something else that has allowed certain early adopters (such as Max Keiser), to both keep and continue accumulating bitcoin since.

This leads to a final type of early adopter, who may not have lost access to their bitcoin, but may be useful to helping explain to your friend or family, why luck nor timing are what they think they’re cracked up to be. If you had a family member or friend that you trusted, and they said they had bought some bitcoin and if you wanted, they would buy some for you, would this be a good, bad or indifferent thing to happen? If you didn’t get worried the first-time price dropped and sold, it might have worked out quite well for you financially if you held it for 4 or more years. However, unless you took this intervening time to investigate what you had bought (you’re likely a busy person if you’d been able to accumulate sufficient cash to throw a bit into bitcoin to make it worth your while), you may not know what you owned. As a result, rather than not selling when the price dipped (fingers crossed your friend would never have actually let you press the sell button), if the price rose considerably, you might sell some, and thought yourself very wise having maybe bought pre-2020, and then having made a humble 20x in late 2024.

From a dollar, pound, euro, yen perspective, this is very much a success, a good trade and positive profit, but from a bitcoin perspective, this is selling the best and buy a worse asset, this is ending up with fewer sats, but most importantly, this is not understanding why bitcoin. During the time you held (ignored or forgotten about), you would have missed the opportunity to explore what you had bought all those years before and why it might be of interest. If you had, you may have thought about exploring how to purchase some more, how to self-custody your bitcoin and any other bitcoin related skill you could develop, getting you to a point where when price rose, the idea of “cashing out” was not your immediate thought. In this final example, if you had chosen to sell all your bitcoin when the price rose, while you may have “made out like a bandit”, but you would also return yourself to your prior no-coiner state, ultimately only temporarily better off, until that fiat tended to zero. The questions can then be raised, what was missing from this lucky, early individual’s journey?

This will hopefully give your inquisitive yet naïve no-coiner friend a chance to take a step back, reflect on their earlier comments, and feel the warmth in their cheeks as they realise they are blushing slightly that they called you lucky (well, here’s hoping). If nothing else, these examples will help illustrate that neither luck nor timing is all it takes to benefit from bitcoin. The final example then illustrates that it isn’t only about owning bitcoin from when it is cheaper (in their mind, bitcoin is always undervalued) until the price reaches a higher level, there is something else that is important. For me, this something is being inquisitive to learn about what you own, to develop understanding and build sufficient conviction to be able to response calmly when someone you care about refers to bitcoin as a scam, a ponzi scheme or the currency of choice of child traffickers (that would be the US dollar). Conviction is also important for those moments when the fiat price may have fallen, as it did throughout 2022, so that rather than sell, you’ve continued to purchase more, in an attempt to offset the purchases you may be regretting that you made at the prior peak. If you have the conviction, you can also be comfortable that you will neither time the bottom, nor deploy all the dry powder at this time, but you’re still comfortable that you’re moving the product of your time and effort into an asset that you control, that over time will store value better than fiat currency. From listening to very close to 40 hours of podcasts a week (shout out to bitcoin Bugle) for the past 5 years (yep, that’s over 10k hours), much to the family’s annoyance, irrespective of the dollar value, it is better to hold bitcoin than anything else.

As a result, it is absolutely, definitely not about being lucky, don’t attribute to luck what I worked damn hard to accumulate! It is also not about being early. While the example above may have a much lower entry price than I ever had and my first purchase in April 2020 was only for £50, neither is important to where I am now. My average cost basis is now multiple times higher than this first purchase, but that is not the point, and this is what I’ll tell my friend or family if they ever ask the question. Yes, buy a little now, I’ll help you and hopefully you won’t lose it, but more importantly, try and answer the question of why someone would listen to 10k hours of podcasts about bitcoin? While trying to get an answer to this question, they may begin to realise for themselves that it is worthwhile working harder to learn about this asset and starting the save the value of your time and effort in it. If they are willing the build their own conviction about bitcoin, they will be able to realise that starting today is the earliest they’ll ever be able to start and if they do, maybe someone in the future will tell them they are early or lucky, and this whole process can begin again. The circle of being the “lucky” bitcoiner.

“There is no early or late, lucky or unlucky, there is only knowledge and those too proud to learn”

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

At Bitcoin 2025, the company unveils the Blockstream App and a strategic roadmap to accelerate adoption.

During the Bitcoin 2025 conference held in Las Vegas, Blockstream announced several updates, including a new non-custodial application and a corporate strategy structured around three operational divisions.

Introducing the Blockstream App: a new Bitcoin wallet that grows with you.

From first sats to advanced custody, it brings self-sovereignty into reach no matter where you start. Available now on Android, coming soon to iOS. pic.twitter.com/UBiNHKh8bO

— Blockstream (@Blockstream) May 29, 2025

The new Blockstream App allows users to purchase Bitcoin directly and store it in their own wallet, eliminating the need to rely on external custodians for fund management. This technological solution is built on the infrastructure of the Blockstream Green wallet. The app supports Bitcoin, Lightning, and Liquid.

The app’s design has been conceived to meet the needs of a diverse audience, the company stated. Its interface is accessible for beginners while retaining advanced functionalities for more experienced users.

It also remains compatible with advanced security features such as hardware wallet signing and air-gapped transactions via Blockstream Jade.

Corporate strategy: consumer, enterprise, and BAM

During the event, Blockstream revealed a strategic restructuring organized into three distinct operational units. This new framework aims to strengthen the company’s position within the Bitcoin economy through tailored approaches for specific markets.

The Consumer division will focus on developing products for retail users, while the Enterprise division will manage relationships with corporate clients. Blockstream Asset Management (BAM) will serve as the company’s institutional arm, specializing in Bitcoin investment products for institutional customers.

Adam Back, CEO of Blockstream, commented:

“The past year has shown clearly that Bitcoin no longer sits on the margins of the global financial system—it is rapidly becoming the foundation. Our vision is simple: the future of finance runs on Bitcoin.”

The post Blockstream launches a non-custodial app to buy Bitcoin appeared first on Atlas21.

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

Panama City Mayor Mizrachi: “Bitcoin Is Not Just Safe, It’s Prosperous”

At the 2025 Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas, the Director of Bitcoin Beach Mike Peterson, the Presidential Advisors of Building Bitcoin Country El Salvador Max & Stacy and the Mayor City of Panama Mayer Mizrachi discussed Bitcoins future in Panama.

At the beginning of the panel, Is Panama Next? El Salvador Leading The Region For Bitcoin Adoption, Mayor Mizrachi started by mentioning, “We accept Bitcoin. The city gets paid in Bitcoin, but it receives in dollars through an intermediary processing, payments processor. Bitcoin is not just safe. It’s prosperous.”

Max commented about the scammers in crypto and how El Salvador is managing it.

“We did a couple of things early on, one was to create The Bitcoin Office which will be directly reporting to the President, and then also we passed a law which will say bitcoin is money and everything else is an unregistered security,” said Max.

Mike Peterson stated, “the access of Bitcoin in Central America to do battle against the globalists that have always looked at the regionist back yard. This is intolerable and this is going to change right now.” After Mizrachi commented, “Imagine yourself in an economic block powered by El Salvador, supported by Panama and the rest will come.”

Stacy reminded everybody about El Salvador’s School system. 

“El Salvador is the first country in the world to have a comprehensive public school financial literacy education program from 7 years old,” mentioned Stacy. “These are little kids, learning financial literacy.”

Max ended the panel by saying, “the US game theory right? Because the US wants to buy a lot of Bitcoin, so if Panama wants to buy a lot of bitcoin then it helps everybody in the US. This is the beautiful expression of game theory perfectly aligned in the protocol that is changing the world that we live in. And on the street level what bitcoin does to the population is to go from a spending mentality to a saving mentality.”

You can watch the full panel discussion and the rest of the Bitcoin 2025 Conference Day 3 below:

This post Panama City Mayor Mizrachi: “Bitcoin Is Not Just Safe, It’s Prosperous” first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Oscar Zarraga Perez.

@ 47259076:570c98c4

Pense que a alma é 1kg de ouro indestrutível.

Esse ouro não pode ser adicionado ou removido, sempre será 1kg.

O ouro está completo quando todas as partes estão juntas.

Embora o ouro não possa ser destruído, ele pode ser diluído.

Tomar 1 litro de veneno pode te matar.

Mas se esse 1 litro de veneno for diluído em um lago de 1000 litros, então tu pode tomar a água desse lago sem se preocupar.

A diluição perde o poder.

O sol não queima a sua pele instantaneamente quando você entra em contato com ele.

Mas se tiver uma lupa que concentra toda a luz do sol, isso vira um laser fatal e tu vira churrasco na hora.

Quais são as coisas nas quais a alma dilui?

Várias, mas eu quero focar em espelhos negros (black mirrors).

Espelhos negros são feitos de obsidian polida, e essa obsidian é vidro natural que é majoritariamente composto de silicon.

Os astecas SABIAM que esses espelhos negros abriam portais para outras dimensões de espaço e tempo, e as mentes treinadas para isso conseguiam fazer contato com outras entidades, ter conhecimento sobre o pós vida, inferno e também dar uma olhada no futuro, tudo através de um espelho negro.

Falando assim, parece interessante, deve ser legal usar um espelho negro para obter respostas à perguntas que tanto nos afligem, não é mesmo?

ERRADO.

Essas entidades vão te dar o que você quer, mas em contrapartida vão pegar a sua alma.

Claro que elas não podem destruir a sua alma, mas podem diluir ela e assim tomar controle do seu corpo, a famosa "possessão demoníaca".

E não, não é coincidência que a Rainha Má da Branca de Neve usa um espelho para ver o futuro e obter respostas.

A Disney pegou esse conceito dos ASTECAS.

É claro que na história da Disney, eles adaptaram e usaram um espelho de prata ao invés de um espelho negro.

O espelho de prata é esse que você usa enquanto escova os seus dentes. Esse espelho é INOFENSIVO, é um espelho seguro.

Caso você queira respostas sem vender a sua alma, você precisa acessar o AKASHIC RECORDS.

Não irei falar nesse artigo como acessar o AKASHIC RECORDS, até porque eu mesmo nunca acessei ainda.

Voltando a falar sobre espelhos negros.

Aonde nós podemos encontrar esses espelhos negros? Eles são raros de encontrar?

Meu caro amigo, a tela que você está usando para ler este artigo é um espelho negro.

99.9% das telas que você vê, de celulares, computadores, tablets, cinema, etc...

Todas as telas são feitas de obsidian/silicon/espelhos negros.

Em outras palavras, quando estamos "scrollando" o celular, a nossa energia está passivamente sendo drenada de nós.

Nós estamos sobre uma hipnose global.

Como o gênio XXX Tentacion disse na sua entrevista para a rádio 103.5 The Beat: "A nova ordem mundial está vindo na forma de eletrônicos."

XXX Tentacion é o exemplo perfeito.

Ele fez músicas de qualidade além de outras coisas e disse que a mente é um imã que atrai o que nós queremos, mas se a mente estiver distraída, ou seja, diluída, não iremos atrair bosta nenhuma.

Por isso ele disse que não gostava de sair de casa pra ficar indo no shopping ou procurando o que fazer no centro da cidade, ele mesmo disse que preferia ficar em casa e pensar, e consequentemente manifestar.

Curiosamente, é exatamente isso que o Nikola Tesla e o Walter Russell falaram.

No meu caso, embora eu fique sozinho a maior parte do tempo, a minha mente fica distraída na tela do computador, e é por isso que eu não atingi o meu máximo potencial.

Olhe as pessoas na rua, todo mundo viciado em celular, até mesmo mendigo tem celular.

No mundo moderno, muita gente faz dinheiro através da internet e de telas, o que é maravilhoso.

Entretanto, não podemos deixar as telas nos controlarem.

No meu caso, pretendo só usar o computador para trabalhar e assistir filmes e o celular pra se comunicar com amigos e familiares.

No meu tempo livre, pretendo ficar sem telas.

Qual é o oposto de diluição? CONCENTRAÇÃO.

Para adquirir o poder verdadeiro, é necessário concentrar a nossa alma que foi diluída no lixo espiritual e físico.

"Eu apenas fico em casa e penso, e manifesto" - XXX Tentacion

Claro que pra manifestar não precisa ser em casa, se tu estiver sozinho na praia ou em uma floresta, funciona igual.

O que importa é não estar distraído com as coisas ao seu redor, ESPECIALMENTE espelhos negros.

Referências: Xxxtentacion Interview - The Mars Files: https://youtu.be/1GjfN8I3t-8 XXXTentacion Calls Out Drake In His First Interview After Jail!: https://youtu.be/qZkEdPAqOEM 🧐 Great Lesson on the BLACK MIRROR ⚫️: https://youtu.be/1q72bDcU2I0 Tesla Sees Evidence Radio And Light Are Sound: https://teslauniverse.com/nikola-tesla/articles/tesla-sees-evidence-radio-and-light-are-sound Livro: The Man Who Tapped the Secrets of the Universe

@ a3c6f928:d45494fb

We all want to be liked. To feel accepted. But when the need to please others overrides our own truth, we slowly lose touch with who we are. People-pleasing might wear the mask of kindness, but it often hides fear—fear of rejection, conflict, or not being enough. Real freedom begins when we stop performing for approval and start living for ourselves.

The Cost of Constant Approval-Seeking

People-pleasing isn’t generosity—it’s self-abandonment dressed as harmony. It can lead to:

Burnout and resentment

A lost sense of identity

Chronic anxiety over others’ opinions

Difficulty saying no, setting boundaries, or honoring personal needs

Why We People-Please

Often, it starts in childhood—learning to survive by adapting to what others wanted from us. We internalize the belief that love is earned by being agreeable, helpful, or invisible. But this coping mechanism eventually becomes a cage.

Signs It’s Time to Break Free

You feel drained after social interactions

You agree to things you don’t want to do, just to keep the peace

You constantly apologize—even when you’re not at fault

You struggle to express honest thoughts or emotions

Reclaiming Your Voice

1. Pause Before Saying Yes: Ask yourself—do I want this, or am I afraid to disappoint?

2. Feel the Discomfort: Letting others down may feel hard at first, but it’s a muscle that gets stronger with use.

3. Speak Your Truth: Start small—express a preference, a boundary, an opinion.

4. Remind Yourself: You are not responsible for managing others’ emotions.

5. Choose Authenticity Over Approval: Being real might cost you some people—but it will return you to yourself.

Why It’s Worth It

You weren’t born to be a mirror for other people’s expectations. You were born to embody your own truth. Freedom is being able to stand in your life and say, “This is who I am,” without shrinking, apologizing, or pretending.

---

“You are not required to set yourself on fire to keep others warm.”

Stop seeking permission. Start living aligned. That’s where real peace begins.

@ 91117f2b:111207d6

Horror films have a way of captivating audiences with their eerie atmospheres, spine-chilling plot twists, and terrifying characters. From classic monster movies to modern psychological thrillers, the horror genre has evolved over the years, offering something for every fan of fear and suspense.

The Evolution of Horror

1. Classic Monsters: Films like Dracula and Frankenstein introduced iconic creatures that continue to terrify audiences.
2. Slasher Films: Movies like Halloween and "A Nightmare on Elm Street" popularized the slasher genre, featuring masked killers and gruesome murders.
3. Supernatural Horror: Films like The "Exorcist" and "The Conjuring" explore the supernatural and paranormal, often featuring demonic possessions and haunted houses.
4. Psychological Horror: Movies like "The Shining" and "Get Out" focus on the psychological and emotional terror, often exploring themes of isolation, trauma, and social commentary.

The Appeal of Horror Films

1. Adrenaline Rush: Horror films provide an adrenaline-fueled experience, offering a thrilling escape from reality.
2. Catharsis: Watching horror films can be a way to confront and release pent-up emotions, providing a sense of catharsis.
3. Social Commentary: Many horror films offer social commentary, exploring themes like societal fears, cultural anxieties, and human nature.

Modern Horror

1. Found Footage: Films like "The Blair Witch Project" and "Paranormal Activity" popularized the found footage genre, creating a sense of realism and immediacy.
2. Anthology Films: Movies like "Creepshow and" Tales from the Darkside: The Movie" offer a collection of horror stories, often featuring different directors and styles.
3. Global Horror: Films like "The Ring" and "Let the Right One In" showcase the diversity of horror cinema, offering unique perspectives and cultural influences.

The Future of Horror

1. New Technologies: Advances in technology, such as virtual reality and augmented reality, are opening up new possibilities for horror storytelling.
2. Diverse Voices: The horror genre is becoming more diverse, with new voices and perspectives emerging in the industry.
3. Evolution of Themes: Horror films continue to evolve, exploring new themes and ideas that reflect the fears and anxieties of modern society.

Get Ready to Be Scared!

Whether you're a fan of classic monsters, supernatural horror, or psychological thrillers, the world of horror films has something to offer. So, grab some popcorn, dim the lights, and get ready to experience the thrill of fear!

@ 91117f2b:111207d6

Horror films have a way of captivating audiences with their eerie atmospheres, spine-chilling plot twists, and terrifying characters. From classic monster movies to modern psychological thrillers, the horror genre has evolved over the years, offering something for every fan of fear and suspense.

The Evolution of Horror

1. Classic Monsters: Films like Dracula and Frankenstein introduced iconic creatures that continue to terrify audiences.
2. Slasher Films: Movies like Halloween and "A Nightmare on Elm Street" popularized the slasher genre, featuring masked killers and gruesome murders.
3. Supernatural Horror: Films like The "Exorcist" and "The Conjuring" explore the supernatural and paranormal, often featuring demonic possessions and haunted houses.
4. Psychological Horror: Movies like "The Shining" and "Get Out" focus on the psychological and emotional terror, often exploring themes of isolation, trauma, and social commentary.

The Appeal of Horror Films

1. Adrenaline Rush: Horror films provide an adrenaline-fueled experience, offering a thrilling escape from reality.
2. Catharsis: Watching horror films can be a way to confront and release pent-up emotions, providing a sense of catharsis.
3. Social Commentary: Many horror films offer social commentary, exploring themes like societal fears, cultural anxieties, and human nature.

Modern Horror

1. Found Footage: Films like "The Blair Witch Project" and "Paranormal Activity" popularized the found footage genre, creating a sense of realism and immediacy.
2. Anthology Films: Movies like "Creepshow and" Tales from the Darkside: The Movie" offer a collection of horror stories, often featuring different directors and styles.
3. Global Horror: Films like "The Ring" and "Let the Right One In" showcase the diversity of horror cinema, offering unique perspectives and cultural influences.

The Future of Horror

1. New Technologies: Advances in technology, such as virtual reality and augmented reality, are opening up new possibilities for horror storytelling.
2. Diverse Voices: The horror genre is becoming more diverse, with new voices and perspectives emerging in the industry.
3. Evolution of Themes: Horror films continue to evolve, exploring new themes and ideas that reflect the fears and anxieties of modern society.

Get Ready to Be Scared!

Whether you're a fan of classic monsters, supernatural horror, or psychological thrillers, the world of horror films has something to offer. So, grab some popcorn, dim the lights, and get ready to experience the thrill of fear!

@ ce2820ce:8cf20d40

By now, most of you have probably heard Bitcoin talked about in vague and mysterious terms in the news or online. What IS it? What does it actually DO? And HOW is it actually worth anything at all?

These are big questions that involve some big answers that (for the sake of this article) I am not entirely prepared to give you, and that you are likely (in all honesty) not entirely prepared to hear. Cryptographic Hash functions, verifiable ledger transactions, store of value, proof of work, custodial vs non-custodial wallets.

What are all these things? Why do they matter, and what is it that you really NEED to understand about bitcoin?

Here we go...

In my opinion, what you need to know to feel good about bitcoin is about as much as you NEED to know about how your car starts up in the morning when you need it to, or about what's happening inside your iPhone when you tap your fingers to that illustrious screen. At its base function, assuming the machine is well built and reliable, all you need is the key, or your passcode, and a basic level of intelligence for it to do what you need it to. Not many of us really obsess over what's actually happening behind the scenes of these daily and habitual items, and not many of us should really have to, either. As long as we can trust and verify the producers of the products we are agreeing to purchase, we should let them worry about the mechanics so that we can go about our lives as intended, and with the added benefits of these items.

And so it goes for bitcoin. “But what IS it?!” is the most common way I hear people discredit the mysterious “coin” that doesn't actually exist, and that doesn't actually give you anything to hold on to. It's true, the answer is not straightforward and not exactly simple, and it involves a fair amount of nerd-speak, but not more than I would argue than is necessary for even a basic explanation of the way our current market economics, Federal Reserve, and monetary policy are functioning behind the simple exchange of cash money, not to mention credit card transactions.

How quickly I would lose you, if I have not already, to the bore of technical details and regurgitated economic theories, and so I am going to try something new, and get you to understand not what Bitcoin is, but why Bitcoin is, and what that means for the security, wealth and financial independence of our collective future.

At its very very core, the fundamental concept to understand is this one of FULL OWNERSHIP. When you own your bitcoin, and we'll go a bit deeper into that in a minute, what you own is a 12 word phrase that when entered into the network to make a transaction is the only way for the network to identify who you are. No one else has that same private key, and no one else has any way to obtain it, unless they pry it from your very hands, or manage to extract it from you by way of trickery.

We've all heard the stories of the “lost bitcoin wallet”. That person who lost their passphrase claiming to hold what could now be millions of dollars worth of bitcoin. These stories are often posited as negative features of the bitcoin network, but there are words we use for these types of people in general; irresponsible, nearsighted and dumb.

The beauty, and the apparent pariah of bitcoin is this very feature:

SELF OWNERSHIP.

When done properly, you and only you can interact or interfere with your bitcoin identity. The network is verified 1000 times over every second by a network of contributors, and as long as you hold those keys, then your bitcoin balance on the ledger is always and forever linked to you. When you decide to send that bitcoin to someone else on the network; that transaction is listed, your private key transcribed (by an enormously complicated and involved amount of computational work) onto a unified public ledger that is then verified and trusted (again by a brilliantly devised and incredibly complex computer function) to be posted as the de-facto “true” balance sheet.

Unlike any bank or credit card company of today, where a portion of every transaction, and every nefariously collected fee is sanctioned off to some private network of profiteers, the bitcoin networks fees are directly paid to the “workers” (aka miners) who run the computers (and thus pay for the electricity) to keep the network functioning. These small independent to giant mining farms all over the globe are thus given an incentive to keep up the network. Even small-time nodes can generate income for their local operations. Well, generate bitcoin, and you can decide to call that income or not!

-—

What's happening today with bitcoin is what I fear will be the death of such a beautifully crafted and functioning system. Today you can buy bitcoin easily in many mobile apps (CashApp, Coinbase, Robinhood, Venmo, and more) and watch its value go up and down in excitement or dismay. What we don't realize when we buy bitcoin this way, is that we are treating it much like we treat the rest of the money in our bank. At some basic level, the bank holding your assets has legal and/or physical control of it while in their hands. Sure, they keep your name on it, but they can block your access to accounts at their discretion. They can charge unnecessary and unexplained fees, and they can use it to invest however they like while it's theirs.

The bottom line is; If you don't own your key, you don't own your bitcoin. When you hear of exchanges like FTX going down, which claimed to be holding your crypto while they flagrantly spent it, and millions of people lost their money. Well, those irresponsible (and nearsighted, and dumb) people entrusted their assets to an irresponsible, (and corrupt, and nearsighted, and incredibly dumb) unverifiable company.

What I am saying is, it is wrong to adopt Bitcoin without adopting the core principles behind it. Self-responsibility, full ownership, trust, verification, and value based on effort (aka proof-of-work) are essential features of bitcoin's operation. We have not even mentioned (nor will we in great detail) the mathematically verifiable finite amount of bitcoin that will exist over the next century. It is sure fact. It will become scarce with time, and its value will subsequently increase. Can we be so certain of any other markets you can think of?

Everything about the bitcoin network is transparent. The original white-paper is easily accessible. The 21 million coin limit, the self-supported and self sustained network principles, all of it. The entire verified ledger is a roughly 10 Gigabyte txt file of encrypted transactions, and its duplicated and replicated all over the world by a genius system of nodes. Nodes make a profit for providing the computer power, and there is no central command, CEO or shareholders outside the system able to profit or interfere.

Unless...and this is the clincher, unless big companies start stacking up their own coiffeurs of bitcoin with their enormous buying power and then offering it out at a premium (with added transaction fees) through their own proprietary banks and apps. Unless these whales – as we like to call them – have enough weight in the market to create their own influence, and they are able to buy it up before the plebs – as we also like to call them – are able to secure their hands on it without these 3rd parties.

So anyone who has jumped on the bitcoin bandwagon, and helped make Coinbase a billion dollar public company, and let them hold your assets behind an email login and an account with them, let me tell you something, “You've been duped!”. The only way to own bitcoin is to store your bitcoin in a wallet that you own the keys to. I'm not going to teach you any more about that here, but by now you should probably get the point.

Bitcoin represents a society that trusts its individuals to have the responsibility to handle themselves accordingly. The value you hold, and the value you contribute to your community, represents your worth, and is to be valued accordingly. Everything has a value. YOU have a value, and it is much greater than any amount of money can give you, but it is also something that can be scary to hold and to be responsible for all on your own. In a society where we offload every bit of our liability and personal holdings to insurance companies and banks, bitcoin represents a shift to a world without unnecessary and energy sucking intermediaries. It also offers a world we are not used to, in which we have to educate ourselves and trust ourselves enough not be fools and to take the proper precautions to secure our assets long-term for the future. Bitcoin will grow, and it will continue to be valued. That much should be apparent at this point.

So...do what you will. I'm not here to preach, I'm just here to inform. However, I do advise against being irresponsible, nearsighted, and dumb.

Just...don't believe in systems you can't verify. Don't trust money that you don't own, and don't put your future in anyone else's hands.

If you understand that fundamental shift, you understand enough about bitcoin to put your keys in the ignition and get started. You'll just have to take it upon yourself to figure out how.

Hodl On.

- §parrow

www.primal.net/sparrow

@ 8d34bd24:414be32b

Many people today believe that the church has replaced Israel and that the promises given to Israel now apply to the church. When we say this, we are calling God a liar.

Can you imagine a groom promising to love and cherish his wife until death do they part and then saying, “I’m keeping my promise by loving and cherishing a new and different wife.”? We would never consider that man to be honest, faithful, and good. If God promised to protect and guide Israel, to have a descendant of David on the throne, and to give them the land, we can only trust Him if He fulfills these promises.

When we say the church has replaced Israel, we make two mistakes. We raise up the church beyond what is right and we put down Israel. We need to be careful because God promised Abraham:

“And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3)

and He reiterated this promise to Israel during the Exodus:

“He couches, he lies down as a lion,\ And as a lion, who dares rouse him?\ Blessed is everyone who blesses you [Israel],\ And cursed is everyone who curses you [Israel].” (Numbers 24:9) {clarification mine}

When we curse Israel or the Jews, we will be under God’s curse. Now this does not mean that every criticism of a particular action by Israel’s leaders brings a curse. Today’s nation of Israel is led by fallible men like every other nation, so there are mistakes made or corruption by particular leaders. It does, however, mean that generalizations against Israel and the Jews are wrong and of Satan.

Paul specifically warned the church against thinking they had replaced Israel in God’s blessing and love.

If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are too.

But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?

For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written,

“The Deliverer will come from Zion,\ He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.”\ “This is My covenant with them,\ When I take away their sins.” *From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers*; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable**. For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all. (Romans 11:16-32) {emphasis mine}

Paul warns that although the Jews were pruned away due to rejection of Him and gentiles were grafted into Him by faith, if we reject God’s word, we can be pruned away and if the Jews return to Jesus, they can be grafted back in. He predicts that the Jews will return. “…that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved.” He also says regarding Israel that “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” Yes, Israel rejected Jesus and was punished for doing so, but they will be called back to God and trust in their Messiah, Jesus. In the end, all the promises of God to Abraham, Jacob, David, and others regarding Israel, will be brought to complete fulfillment.

Both the Old and New Testaments talk about Israel being punished for rejecting God and their Messiah, but that, after the time of the Gentiles, they will be called back to Him.

and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. (Luke 21:24)

After Daniel had been in prayer and repentance for the sins of Israel, the angel Gabriel came with this prophecy about Israel.

“Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. (Daniel 9:24-26)

In this prophecy, the prediction of 69 weeks (literally sevens, but meaning groups of 7 years) from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem (by Artaxerxes) to the Messiah was fulfilled to the day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey on Palm Sunday.

I always thought it strange that the prophecy predicted 70 sevens and that there was the first 69 sevens (483 years), then \~2,000 years where nothing happens, and then comes the final seven — the Great Tribulation. It didn’t make sense until I realized, the 70 sevens referred to the years of Israel. The time of the gentiles intervenes between the 69th and 70th sevens. This delay happened due to Israel rejecting their Messiah.

When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” (Luke 19:41-44)

We are now in the time of the Gentiles, the church age, the intermission in the story of Israel. After the church is raptured, the story will return to Israel. The Jews (at least many of them) will finally accept their Messiah. They will suffer through the Tribulation while witnessing to the world and then God will finally fully fulfill His promises to Israel through the Millennial kingdom.

Alas! for that day is great,\ There is none like it;\ And it is the time of Jacob’s distress,\ But he will be saved from it.

‘It shall come about on that day,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘that I will break his yoke from off their neck and will tear off their bonds; and strangers will no longer make them their slaves. But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.

Fear not, O Jacob My servant,’ declares the Lord,\ ‘And do not be dismayed, O Israel;\ For behold, I will save you from afar\ And your offspring from the land of their captivity.\ And Jacob will return and will be quiet and at ease,\ And no one will make him afraid.\ For I am with you,’ declares the Lord, ‘to save you;\ For I will destroy completely all the nations where I have scattered you,\ Only I will not destroy you completely.\ But I will chasten you justly\ And will by no means leave you unpunished.’ \ (Jeremiah 30:7-11) {emphasis mine}

Jacob’s distress is the final Tribulation. The 144,000 Jewish witnesses will be saved through the whole Tribulation. Others may become saved and die a martyrs death, but they will then be brought into the millennial kingdom where the Messiah will fill the throne of David and Israel will reach from the River to the Sea.

The Jews have already been saved “from afar, and your offspring from the land of their captivity” with the recreation of Israel in 1947 and the continual return of Jews to their homeland.

God is working to fulfill His promises to Israel and His work is nearly complete.

“O Jacob My servant, do not fear,” declares the Lord, “For I am with you. For I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you, Yet I will not make a full end of you; But I will correct you properly And by no means leave you unpunished.” (Jeremiah 46:28)

God promises a “full end of all the nations where I have driven you.” Those nations and people who try to destroy Israel will be destroyed. As Christians we should love what God loves, and despite Israel’s repeated betrayals, God still loves Israel, so we should, too.

May the God of heaven give us a right view of Israel. May we see them as God sees them. May God use us to share the Gospel in such a way as to lead to a harvest of Jews for the Kingdom of God. To God be the glory!

Trust Jesus

@ 7bdef7be:784a5805

The following script try, using nak, to find out the last ten people who have followed a target_pubkey, sorted by the most recent. It's possibile to shorten search_timerange to speed up the search.

```

!/usr/bin/env fish

Target pubkey we're looking for in the tags

set target_pubkey "6e468422dfb74a5738702a8823b9b28168abab8655faacb6853cd0ee15deee93"

set current_time (date +%s) set search_timerange (math $current_time - 600) # 24 hours = 86400 seconds

set pubkeys (nak req --kind 3 -s $search_timerange wss://relay.damus.io/ wss://nos.lol/ 2>/dev/null | \ jq -r --arg target "$target_pubkey" ' select(. != null and type == "object" and has("tags")) | select(.tags[] | select(.[0] == "p" and .[1] == $target)) | .pubkey ' | sort -u)

if test -z "$pubkeys" exit 1 end

set all_events "" set extended_search_timerange (math $current_time - 31536000) # One year

for pubkey in $pubkeys echo "Checking $pubkey" set events (nak req --author $pubkey -l 5 -k 3 -s $extended_search_timerange wss://relay.damus.io wss://nos.lol 2>/dev/null | \ jq -c --arg target "$target_pubkey" ' select(. != null and type == "object" and has("tags")) | select(.tags[][] == $target) ' 2>/dev/null)

set count (echo "$events" | jq -s 'length')

if test "$count" -eq 1
    set all_events $all_events $events
end

end

if test -n "$all_events" echo -e "Last people following $target_pubkey:" echo -e ""

set sorted_events (printf "%s\n" $all_events | jq -r -s '
unique_by(.id) |
sort_by(-.created_at) |
.[] | @json
')

for event in $sorted_events
    set npub (echo $event | jq -r '.pubkey' | nak encode npub)
    set created_at (echo $event | jq -r '.created_at')
    if test (uname) = "Darwin"
        set follow_date (date -r "$created_at" "+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M")
    else
        set follow_date (date -d @"$created_at" "+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M")
    end
    echo "$follow_date - $npub"
end

end ```

@ 975e4ad5:8d4847ce

Inflation vs. Deflation: What’s the Difference?

Today, we use fiat currencies—dollars, euros, or leva—issued by governments and central banks that can print money without limit. This leads to inflation, a decrease in the purchasing power of money because the money supply grows faster than the goods and services in the economy. The result? Prices for everything—from bread to cars—rise over time.

Bitcoin, unlike fiat money, has a hard cap of 21 million coins, set to be fully “mined” by 2140. This means the money supply is fixed and can’t be arbitrarily increased. In such a system, as technology improves production and the economy grows, the amount of goods and services increases, but the money supply stays the same. The result is deflation—prices fall because the same amount of money is chasing more goods.

The Bread Example

Take bread as an example. Fifty years ago, making bread required a lot of manual labor—kneading, shaping, baking. Today, machines handle most of the process, from mixing dough to packaging. Production is faster, more efficient, and requires fewer workers. Logically, bread should be cheaper, right? Yet, its price has risen from, say, 20 cents decades ago to $1 today. Why? Because inflation, driven by printing more money, outpaces the cost savings from technology. In a Bitcoin standard, those same technological advancements would lead to cheaper bread since there’s no excess money “diluting” purchasing power.

Wages in a Deflationary World

Now, picture your boss saying, “We’re cutting your salary this year.” Sounds like a nightmare, doesn’t it? In today’s world, we expect wage increases to “keep up” with inflation. But in a deflationary world, where prices are falling, a lower salary isn’t a problem. If bread, rent, and clothes get cheaper, you can buy more with less money. For example, if your salary drops from $2,000 to $1,800 but bread falls from $1 to $0.75, your real purchasing power actually increases. It’s a radically different mindset, but it makes sense in a world with a fixed currency.

Why Is This So Hard to Grasp?

The idea of falling prices and wages feels alien because we were born into an inflationary world. From childhood, we’ve seen the cost of everything—food, housing, even coffee at our favorite café—steadily rise. Inflation is so ingrained that we assume prices must go up. But this isn’t a natural law; it’s a consequence of the fiat system. A century ago, when gold backed currencies, prices often stayed stable or even fell as technology advanced. A Bitcoin standard would bring us back to that dynamic.

What Else Should We Know?

A deflationary world brings other fascinating changes. People would save more because their money would be worth more tomorrow. Today, inflation erodes savings, pushing us to spend or invest quickly. In a Bitcoin standard, we’d value the future more since our savings would grow in real value. But there are challenges too—deflation might discourage risky investments because people prefer holding money over spending it on uncertain ventures.

Moreover, a Bitcoin standard reshapes how we think about debt. Today, we take loans knowing tomorrow’s money will be worth less, making repayment easier. In a deflationary world, debts become heavier because you’d owe more real value tomorrow. This could make us more cautious and responsible with borrowing.

A Bitcoin standard invites us to rethink the economy we grew up in. Falling prices and stagnant or declining wages sound like a fantasy, but they’re the logical outcome of a currency with a fixed supply. Technology will keep making life easier and more efficient, and in a world without inflation, this would translate to lower prices and greater purchasing power. Maybe it’s time we stop taking inflation for granted and imagine a world where our money grows more valuable over time.

@ cbaa0c82:e9313245

TheWholeGrain - #May2025

Last May, during our first year of releasing content we created and awarded our first badge on NOSTR. It was the first minting of the Official Fan Badge. We wanted to do it again a year later!

As Bread and Toast moves along we want to be able to recognize the fans who motivate us to keep sharing our journey and all of our adventures!

Our first Sunday Single of May 2025 was a tribute to all the fans we currently have because there is nothing quite like a good fan! As previously mentioned, we also released the second minting of the Official Fan Badge! Thank you to everyone who follows, zaps, reacts, and comments on all of the notes posted to NOSTR by Bread and Toast!

Even more incredible than that was the announcement of the Yarn Buddy! A yarn based plushie of Bread handcrafted by the one and only Yarnlady! The announcement was made on May 19th, and it is without a doubt our best merchandise product so far! https://i.nostr.build/cscbHW6oWqVtxmyT.png Learn more about the Yarn Buddy below.

Sunday Singles - May 2025 2025-05-04 | Sunday Single 91 Title: A Good Fan We cannot say this enough... We love our fans! https://i.nostr.build/h6KzGz8kleYdmQxM.png

2025-05-11 | Sunday Single 92 Title: Hang Gliding Bread loves the thrill of flying through the air https://i.nostr.build/JCA656iy7L9bDLYF.png

2025-05-18 | Sunday Single 93 Title: String Theory Bread stumbled upon a spool of yarn and got an idea. It might knot be what you expected... Yarn't gonna believe what's coming next! https://i.nostr.build/mazQZkGKwzUz1O3O.png

2025-05-25 | Sunday Single 94 Hot Air Balloon Sometimes Bread and End-Piece claim Toast is full of hot air so why not put it to some use! https://i.nostr.build/1VIeBl2rW7aVD6Hb.png

Adventure Series: Questline The effects of the darkness of the forest begin to become stronger as Toast and End-Piece lose sight of Bread and the light of the magical staff.

Artist: Dakota Jernigan (The Bitcoin Painter) Writer: Daniel David (dan 🍞)

2025-05-06 | Questline 009 - Pitch Black Due to their hesitation, Toast and End-Piece lose sight of their leader's magical light... They try to stay close to one another for their own safety, but no one ever feels safe in the pitch black darkness of the forest. https://i.nostr.build/Kre0BR4ylKShhTLE.png

2025-05-20 | Questline 010 - A Light in the Dark With a magical staff lighting the way Bread keeps a quick pace in order to get through the forest as quick as possible. However, Bread begins to notice all the webs that surround the trees. With sudden concern for fellow comrades Bread turns around surprised to realize that they are no longer even there. https://i.nostr.build/KsyReXgigDlLxiLr.png

Other Content Released in May 2025 2025-05-07 | Toast's Comic Collection Title: Jugbread #13 Everyone knows Toastie’s best friend, Jugbread Jones! https://i.nostr.build/TM3fpLyVkB7PcRuK.png

2025-05-14 | Concept Art Title: Cat Attack! At some point the characters are going to face perilous challenges in the world. For example, the characters could easily come across a cat that would be quick to attack them! https://i.nostr.build/19t1GYXvmXbKUO0q.png

2025-05-21 | Bitcoin Art Title: Nodes Block Height: 897690 Every slice of bread is like an individual using the network! https://i.nostr.build/3MvvAP9RaAd7ZPwt.png

Additions to The Bakery in May 2025 We had one addition to The Bakery this past month from Dessert Dave! He says it's desert, but we'd prefer dessert. Check it out!

2025-05-17 | npub1mgvmt553uphdpxa9gk79xejq3hyzh2xfa8uh6vh236nq78mvh74q8tr9yd https://r2.primal.net/cache/c/16/80/c16806be2aa6ee9b61e5da3a291d858fb58d09598927feecf25de44c537a5a86.jpg

New Nostr Badges 2025-05-19 | Merchandise Supporter - Yarn Buddy https://i.nostr.build/U8sxNZIRHQCIgpi4.png

2025-05-20 | Official Yarn Maker https://i.nostr.build/ADe8HYeMEIQjufxM.png

2025-05-20 | Official Fan Badge 2025 https://i.nostr.build/1pEnSnW4g7nv4is7.png

Merchandise Announcement Bread and Toast made an announcement this past month on May 19th after a Sunday Single that was secretly a tease of the release with the Yarn Buddy (Limited Supply). The Yarn Buddy was made in collaboration with Yarnlady, a skilled yarn weaver who is a master of her craft. https://i.nostr.build/L5Mh74eGiB8sO1VG.png

If you are interested in purchasing the Yarn Buddy contact us by email at store@breadandtoast.com with "Yarn Buddy" in the subject line! There are only 10 in total available.

Thank you for checking out the ninth issue of The Whole Grain. The Whole Grain is released near the beginning of every month and covers all of the content released by Bread and Toast in the previous month. For all of Bread and Toast's content visit BreadandToast.com!

If you read this then you must be our biggest fan! Bread, Toast, and End-Piece

BreadandToast #SundaySingle #Questline #ToastsComicCollection #ConceptArt #BitcoinArt #Merchandise #Bread #Toast #EndPiece #Artstr #Comic #Cartoon #NostrOnly #🍞 #🖼️

List of nPubs Mentioned: Yarnlady: npub1hgvtv4zn2l8l3ef34n87r4sf5s00xq3lhgr3mvwt7kn8gjxpjprqc89jnv

The Bitcoin Painter: npub1tx5ccpregnm9afq0xaj42hh93xl4qd3lfa7u74v5cdvyhwcnlanqplhd8g

Desert Dave: npub1mgvmt553uphdpxa9gk79xejq3hyzh2xfa8uh6vh236nq78mvh74q8tr9yd

dan 🍞: npub16e3vzr7dk2uepjcnl85nfare3kdapxge08gr42s99n9kg7xs8xhs90y9v6

@ c9badfea:610f861a

1. Install Feeder (it's free and open source)
2. Discover RSS feeds from various sources (see links below)
3. Copy the Feed URL
4. Open Feeder, tap the ⁞ icon, and choose Add Feed
5. Paste the Feed URL and tap Search
6. Select the found RSS feed item
7. Scroll down and tap OK

Some Sources

• Podcast Index
• RSS Finder
• Feedspot

ℹ️ You can also use YouTube channel URLs as feeds

@ 7bdef7be:784a5805

We value sovereignty, privacy and security when accessing online content, using several tools to achieve this, like open protocols, open OSes, open software products, Tor and VPNs.

The problem

Talking about our social presence, we can manually build up our follower list (social graph), pick a Nostr client that is respectful of our preferences on what to show and how, but with the standard following mechanism, our main feed is public, so everyone can actually snoop what we are interested in, and what is supposable that we read daily.

The solution

Nostr has a simple solution for this necessity: encrypted lists. Lists are what they appear, a collection of people or interests (but they can also group much other stuff, see NIP-51). So we can create lists with contacts that we don't have in our main social graph; these lists can be used primarily to create dedicated feeds, but they could have other uses, for example, related to monitoring. The interesting thing about lists is that they can also be encrypted, so unlike the basic following list, which is always public, we can hide the lists' content from others. The implications are obvious: we can not only have a more organized way to browse content, but it is also really private one.

One might wonder what use can really be made of private lists; here are some examples:

• Browse “can't miss” content from users I consider a priority;
• Supervise competitors or adversarial parts;
• Monitor sensible topics (tags);
• Following someone without being publicly associated with them, as this may be undesirable;

The benefits in terms of privacy as usual are not only related to the casual, or programmatic, observer, but are also evident when we think of how many bots scan our actions to profile us.

The current state

Unfortunately, lists are not widely supported by Nostr clients, and encrypted support is a rarity. Often the excuse to not implement them is that they are harder to develop, since they require managing the encryption stuff (NIP-44). Nevertheless, developers have an easier option to start offering private lists: give the user the possibility to simply mark them as local-only, and never push them to the relays. Even if the user misses the sync feature, this is sufficient to create a private environment.

To date, as far as I know, the best client with list management is Gossip, which permits to manage both encrypted and local-only lists.

Beg your Nostr client to implement private lists!

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

The Debt Train Has No Brakes: Lyn Alden Makes the Case for BTC at Bitcoin 2025

“Nothing stops this train,” Lyn Alden initially stated at Bitcoin 2025, walking the audience through a data-rich presentation that made one thing clear: the U.S. fiscal system is out of control—and Bitcoin is more necessary than ever. 

Her first chart, sourced from the Federal Reserve’s FRED database, displayed a stark decoupling: the unemployment rate is down, yet the fiscal deficit has surged past 7% of GDP. “This started around 2017, went into overdrive during the pandemic, and hasn’t corrected,” Alden said. “That’s not normal. We’re in a new era.” 

She didn’t mince words. “Nothing stops this train because there are no brakes attached to it anymore. The brakes are heavily impaired.

Why should Bitcoiners care? Because, as Alden explained, “it matters for asset prices—especially anything scarce.” She displayed a gold vs. real rates chart that showed gold soaring as real interest rates plunged. “Five years ago, most would have said Bitcoin couldn’t thrive in a high-rate environment. Yet here we are—Bitcoin over $100K, gold at new highs, and banks breaking under pressure.”

Next came what she called “The Turning Point”—a side-by-side showing how public debt growth overtook private sector debt post-2008, flipping a decades-long norm. “This is inflationary, persistent, and it means the Fed can’t slow things down anymore.” 

Another chart revealed why rising interest rates are now accelerating the deficit. “They’ve lost their brakes. Raising rates just makes the federal interest bill explode faster than it slows bank lending.”

Alden called it a ponzi: “The system is built on constant growth. Like a shark, it dies if it stops swimming.”

Her slide showed a relentless rise in total debt versus base money—except for a jolt in 2008, and again after 2020. “This isn’t going backward. Ever.” 

So why Bitcoin? “Because it’s the opposite. Scarce, decentralized, and mathematically capped,” Alden concluded. “There are two reasons nothing stops this train: math and human nature. Bitcoin is the mirror of this system—and the best protection from it.” 

You can watch the full panel discussion and the rest of the Bitcoin 2025 Conference Day 3 below:

This post The Debt Train Has No Brakes: Lyn Alden Makes the Case for BTC at Bitcoin 2025 first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Jenna Montgomery.

@ 7bdef7be:784a5805

I wrote Oracolo (see the announcement below) because I was brainstorming about Nostr "long format" and thinking about how to promote it. There seems to be little love for this format, why?
Long posts should have interesting value because the author usually put effort into them, and are produced for a long-term fruition. In the end, blogging was one of the most productive strands on the web, and still holds considerable importance.

But in standard (kind-1) social clients they are rather hidden. I think many people don't even know they exist, they probably intuit something just because they see a particular formatting. This is quite evident if you compare the responses/zaps/reactions of the short notes with the long ones, the latter have far fewer interactions, a fact that I read as less exposure to readers.

Interlude: don't know what this "long format" stuff is?
Check https://habla.news or https://highlighter.com

I think the situation can be largely improved with some adjustments in kind-1 clients:

• Add a tab/section to the user's profile, next to the usual posts/responses, that lists only the long format notes;
• Highlight/pinning recent long notes in the user's profile to give them visibility; the user picture could also have a special mark that alerts about fresh content available;
• In the feed show the preview of long notes with a special design, and allow the user to read them in a separate/immersive view (or just link to njump.me);
• In an appropriate context (es. at the footer of a long note) invite the user to discover long format and post his own content;
• Offer a filtered feed that display only long format notes;

Finally, we should probably also evaluate and agree on a new labeling in clients, because “long notes” is self-explanatory but also a bit confusing next to "plain notes”. Perhaps “articles” might be a better term.

If clients bring more interaction on articles, content creators are naturally incentivized to invest their time in this area, thus increasing the production of in-depth content that may be of interest even to those who are not as involved in social media dynamics.

Memo for kind-1 clients: interoperability is our superpower and currently your are the main entrance to Nostr, so don't be fearful or lazy, please embrace it.

nostr:nevent1qqsrrcl7sfaxd505lyezj7u54tpdg93x0swpcpe0xj5adax5l6xz3yspzamhxue69uhky6t5vdhkjmn9wgh8xmmrd9skctcpr3mhxue69uhkxmm4de68y6t9wvhxv6tpw34xze3wvdhk6tcppemhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mp0aagyzp

nostrdesign

@ 4c96d763:80c3ee30

Changes

pushed to notedeck:refs/heads/master

@ 0970cf17:135aa040

{"pattern":{"kick":[true,false,true,false,true,false,true,false,true,false,true,false,true,false,true,false],"snare":[false,true,false,true,false,true,false,true,false,true,false,true,false,true,false,true],"hihat":[true,false,true,true,false,false,true,true,false,false,true,true,false,false,true,true],"openhat":[true,false,false,true,false,false,false,false,true,false,false,true,false,false,true,false],"crash":[false,false,true,false,false,false,true,false,false,false,false,true,false,false,true,false],"ride":[false,false,true,false,false,false,false,true,false,false,false,true,false,false,true,false],"tom1":[false,true,false,false,true,false,false,true,false,false,true,false,true,false,true,false],"tom2":[true,false,false,false,true,false,false,false,false,true,false,true,false,false,true,false]},"bpm":220,"swing":0,"timeSignature":"4/4","drumKit":"standard","timestamp":1748716320785}

@ 3a7c74bb:bbdd5960

• The Foundation (12th Century)

The territory that would become Portugal was originally part of the Kingdom of León and Castile. But in 1128, the young nobleman Afonso Henriques confronted his own mother at the Battle of São Mamede, taking control of the County of Portugal (Condado Portucalense).

In 1139, after winning the Battle of Ourique, he declared himself King of Portugal. Independence was recognized in 1143 by the King of León and confirmed by the Pope in 1179.

• Expansion and the discoveries (14th–16th Centuries)

In the following centuries, Portugal consolidated its territory and set out to sea. The 15th century marked the beginning of the Portuguese Discoveries:

🚢 1419–1420 – Discovery of Madeira and the Azores 🚢 1488 – Bartolomeu Dias rounds the Cape of Good Hope 🚢 1498 – Vasco da Gama reaches India 🚢 1500 – Pedro Álvares Cabral discovers Brazil

During this period, Portugal created a vast maritime empire with colonies in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania.

• Iberian Union and the restoration (1580–1640)

In 1580, after a dynastic crisis caused by the death of King Sebastian, Portugal came under Spanish rule in what is known as the Iberian Union. For 60 years, the Spanish kings ruled Portugal until, in 1640, a revolt led by John IV restored Portuguese independence.

• The decline of the Empire and the 1755 earthquake

The 18th century was marked by the Lisbon earthquake of 1755, one of the greatest disasters of its time, which destroyed much of the capital. The Marquis of Pombal led the country’s reconstruction and modernization.

The empire began to weaken, culminating in the independence of Brazil in 1822.

• Wars, republic, and dictatorship (19th–20th Centuries)

Portugal faced internal crises and took part in World War I. In 1910, the monarchy fell and the Portuguese Republic was proclaimed.

In the 20th century, the country lived under the Estado Novo dictatorship (1933–1974), led by António de Oliveira Salazar. In 1974, the Carnation Revolution brought democracy, and the following year, the last African colonies gained independence.

• Modern Portugal (21st Century)

In 1986, Portugal joined the European Union, marking a period of growth and modernization. Today, it is a democratic country with a rich culture and a history that continues to inspire the world.

• And what about the islands?

The Autonomous Regions of Madeira and the Azores play a fundamental role in Portuguese identity. Discovered in the 15th century, they have been part of Portugal ever since and have their own regional governments.

Madeira is known for its wine and stunning landscapes, while the Azores are famous for their volcanic nature and unique culture.

Thank you very much for reading this far. I hope everything is well with you, and sending a big hug from your favorite writer from Madeira. Long live freedom!

@ 005bc4de:ef11e1a2

Succotash: the connection game

Succotash is a simple "connection game" like Hex or Tak. Would love to hear any feedback.

You can take a look or play at https://succotash.vercel.app

Below is "the story"...

---

Serendipity: the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.

The past few days, a delightful series of events occurred and I ended up with Succotash, the game.

You can read about how it started at the Succotash announcement on Hive, but here's the lowdown:

• It began with a photo. One day, my wife lined up our little tomatoes on the counter, I snapped a pic, and put it on Nostr and it was auto-bridged over to Hive. This simple note sparked something unexpected.

• On Hive, @sherah suggested the that photo looked like a game. That gave me an itch. Could moving tomatoes on a grid make a game?
• There are lots of "connection games" where you try to connect your side to your opponent's side. Could I make a simple game?
• I drew a 5 x 5 grid of dots on paper. I had some dry corn kernels and beans nearby, so I placed them on the paper and started moving them around.

• A Hawaiian girl nearby saw what I was doing and looked at me with a very puzzled look. "It's a game. Want to play it?" We gave Succotash the first ever test run. Later that day, my wife and I sat down on the floor and played the game again. It seemed fun enough.
• I posted the announcement on Hive.
• After some suggestions in the comments about adding an element of randomization with a dice roll, I began to build an online version. The initial version 0.0.1 looked like this:

Playing the game, I wanted absolutely wanted the simplicity of corn and beans on paper. But, I felt another element was needed for game play. Plus, I wanted tomatoes. So, I added the chance to earn a sixth player piece, a "Tomato." If you move into both corners of your opponent's home, you earn a sixth game piece. Your Tomato pops into the center square and then you play normally with six pieces.

I'm really pleased with the digital version. The game is only one html file and can actually be downloaded and played offline. But, truth be told, I still prefer the real corn and beans on paper. My wife agrees.

Why "Succotash"?

At first, I wanted a tomato-themed name, but since I was using using corn and beans, "Succotash" seemed perfect - it's a dish that combines corn, beans, and vegetables. I considered calling it the "Texas Caviar Game" (since that recipe has tomatoes along with corn and beans, and because it's delicious), but "Succotash" just sounds more fun. Plus, adding tomatoes to succotash sounds yummy as well.

Keeping It Simple

A big goal was to keep the game simple. All you need is:

• A 5 x 5 grid
• 5 pieces of something and 5 pieces of something else (well, if you play with the tomatoes added, 6 of each)

Starting out, I used corn kernels and beans. But, you could use anything: bottle caps and coins, pieces of paper and paper clips, just five of anything (or 6 with the tomatoes). There is even a way to implement the randomization of an attack, with or without dice, see the Rules. I really like that this game could literally be played in the sand with sticks and stones, like we used to do as kids.

"Wow, I can't believe my little comment helped make this game real... Tomatoes, beans, and corn making a game is just the coolest thing." - sherah

Serendipity sometimes leads to wonderful, organic, and fun creations.

Succotash is open source on GitHub at https://github.com/crrdlx/succotash

Play Succotash online at https://succotash.vercel.app (or play with corn and beans on paper!). If you play, there may be glitches. Likely, there are and suggestions are welcome. Maybe the game will morph a bit further. Either way, I'd love any feedback.

Credits:

• My wife - lining up tomatoes and testing, and for being a good sport while I changed the rules on the fly.
• sherah - the idea of a game.
• Hawaiian girl - curious enough to play the game with me.
• kenny-crane - game play and testing.
• Made with ❤️ by @crrdlx.

Play Succotash online at https://succotash.vercel.app

@ 90c656ff:9383fd4e

Since its launch in 2009, Bitcoin has attracted the attention of a wide range of investors and visionaries who believe in its potential to revolutionize the global financial system. Over the years, several figures have stood out within the movement—either as pioneers who helped build it or as investors who bet on its future. These individuals have played crucial roles in Bitcoin's development, its growing adoption, and its legitimacy in financial markets.

• Satoshi Nakamoto

The most significant Bitcoin pioneer is undoubtedly its creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. Although the name is a pseudonym, Nakamoto's contribution to the creation and launch of Bitcoin was foundational. In 2008, Nakamoto published the famous whitepaper "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System," outlining the concept of a decentralized digital currency that could operate without the need for a central authority like a bank. In 2009, he released the Bitcoin software and mined the first block of the blockchain—the “genesis block.”

Nakamoto remained a mysterious figure and gradually withdrew from public involvement around 2011, leaving the project in the hands of a growing community of developers. Though his identity remains unknown, his impact on ushering in a new digital era is undeniable.

• Hal Finney

Hal Finney was one of Nakamoto’s earliest collaborators and is widely known as the first person to receive a Bitcoin transaction. In January 2009, he received 10 bitcoins from Nakamoto as part of an early test, becoming one of the first believers in the project. Finney, a respected programmer and cryptography expert, played a vital role in Bitcoin’s early technical development and helped promote it within the digital privacy community.

He was a dedicated advocate for decentralized technologies and supported Bitcoin until his death in 2014. Finney is remembered as a key pioneer of digital currency.

• Roger Ver

Known as “Bitcoin Jesus,” Roger Ver was one of the first investors and outspoken advocates for Bitcoin. Captivated by the idea of decentralized money, Ver made early investments in various Bitcoin-related startups and projects. He quickly recognized Bitcoin’s disruptive potential and became a leading voice promoting its adoption as a payment method and financial tool.

Ver was instrumental in creating companies and initiatives that supported Bitcoin's early ecosystem. Although he later became a controversial figure—due to his advocacy for Bitcoin Cash as an alternative to the original Bitcoin blockchain—his contributions to Bitcoin's early popularity remain significant.

• Tim Draper

Tim Draper is one of the most prominent venture capitalists in the Bitcoin space. In 2014, he famously purchased nearly 30,000 bitcoins from a U.S. government auction, following the shutdown of the Silk Road marketplace. Draper paid approximately $19 million for the coins and has since become a public advocate for Bitcoin as a viable alternative to fiat currencies.

As the founder of Draper Associates, he is known for his long-term vision and conviction in the potential of cryptocurrencies. Draper frequently promotes Bitcoin as a tool for democratizing finance and anticipates its mass adoption in the coming years.

• Michael Saylor

Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy, is a leading figure in institutional Bitcoin adoption. In 2020, he made headlines by purchasing over 100,000 bitcoins for his company—making MicroStrategy the first publicly traded company to adopt Bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset. Saylor has since become a vocal proponent of Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation and a superior store of value compared to fiat money.

His bold move has helped legitimize Bitcoin in the corporate world and inspired other companies to follow suit. Saylor continues to assert that Bitcoin is the future of finance and that MicroStrategy’s strategy serves as a model for corporate treasury management in the digital age.

In summary, the pioneers and investors who helped grow and promote Bitcoin have played essential roles in the evolution of this disruptive technology. From the enigmatic Satoshi Nakamoto to key figures like Hal Finney, Roger Ver, Tim Draper, and Michael Saylor, Bitcoin has been shaped by individuals with a unique vision for the future of money and financial freedom. Through their belief and perseverance, they helped lay the foundation for Bitcoin’s global adoption—transforming it from a radical idea into a revolutionary force in the financial system. While Bitcoin’s future will depend on its continued innovation and broader adoption, the contributions of these early leaders are undeniable.

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!

@ 8c7778fc:7689822c

Trong thời đại mà tài chính cá nhân ngày càng trở nên phức tạp, việc kiểm soát chi tiêu và đầu tư hiệu quả đòi hỏi mỗi người phải trang bị cho mình tư duy quản lý thông minh và khoa học. VN78, tuy nổi bật với vai trò là nền tảng giải trí trực tuyến, lại mang đến một giá trị khác biệt: góp phần xây dựng tư duy tài chính bền vững cho người dùng. Mỗi hoạt động tại VN78 – từ lựa chọn trò chơi, cân nhắc đặt cược, đến quản lý quỹ thưởng – đều yêu cầu người chơi phải đưa ra quyết định dựa trên tính toán, giới hạn và chiến lược. Đây chính là cơ hội để luyện tập kỹ năng phân bổ nguồn lực, quản lý rủi ro và xác định mục tiêu dài hạn trong bối cảnh giải trí có kiểm soát. Người tham gia VN78 thường xuyên được nhắc nhở về giới hạn cá nhân, nguyên tắc chơi có trách nhiệm, và cách tối ưu hóa lợi nhuận mà không đánh mất sự an toàn về mặt tài chính. Qua đó, VN78 không chỉ là sân chơi may rủi, mà còn là nơi hình thành lối sống tài chính chủ động, giúp người dùng nhận thức rõ hơn về giá trị của đồng tiền và cách đầu tư hiệu quả vào những trải nghiệm có ích.

Bên cạnh việc thúc đẩy tư duy tài chính cá nhân, vn78 còn xây dựng một môi trường quản lý thời gian đáng học hỏi. Một trong những thử thách lớn của người hiện đại là làm chủ thời gian – tài nguyên hữu hạn nhưng dễ bị lãng phí. Các tính năng chơi thông minh trên VN78 như giới hạn thời gian, nhắc nhở đặt cược có kiểm soát, hay bảng theo dõi lịch sử hoạt động, đều giúp người chơi hiểu rõ hơn về nhịp độ sử dụng thời gian của bản thân. Điều này tạo điều kiện để họ xây dựng thói quen kiểm soát thời lượng giải trí, không để ảnh hưởng đến công việc hay đời sống cá nhân. VN78 luôn truyền tải thông điệp rõ ràng: chơi là để giải trí, thư giãn và làm giàu tinh thần – nhưng mọi thứ phải nằm trong sự chủ động của người chơi. Bằng việc cung cấp công cụ theo dõi, cảnh báo và thống kê thời gian sử dụng, VN78 giúp người dùng rèn luyện tính kỷ luật và biết cân đối giữa vui chơi và trách nhiệm cuộc sống, từ đó định hình nên phong cách sống hiện đại, hiệu quả và lành mạnh hơn mỗi ngày.

Không dừng lại ở tư duy tài chính và quản lý thời gian, VN78 còn đồng hành cùng người dùng trong việc nâng cao ý thức về giá trị bền vững của trải nghiệm sống. Với các chương trình khuyến mãi thiết kế thông minh, chính sách thưởng linh hoạt theo hành vi chơi có trách nhiệm và chu kỳ nạp – rút rõ ràng, nền tảng này khuyến khích người dùng quay lại không phải vì cảm giác may rủi, mà vì sự ổn định, minh bạch và giá trị dài hạn mà họ nhận được. Việc xây dựng hệ sinh thái tích hợp nhiều tiện ích như ứng dụng di động, hỗ trợ trực tuyến 24/7, nạp rút qua ví điện tử và ngân hàng uy tín khiến VN78 trở thành một phần trong thói quen tiêu dùng số hiện đại. Đây không chỉ là nơi mang lại giải trí, mà còn là công cụ hỗ trợ người dùng học cách đánh giá giá trị của mỗi lựa chọn – từ thời gian, tiền bạc đến mức độ cam kết cá nhân. Khi tư duy bền vững và thái độ sống có trách nhiệm được khuyến khích từ những trải nghiệm nhỏ nhất như vậy, VN78 đã và đang góp phần hình thành một thế hệ người dùng mới – chủ động, tỉnh táo và thông minh hơn trong mọi quyết định cuộc sống.

@ 90c656ff:9383fd4e

Since its creation, Bitcoin has been one of the most hotly debated assets in the financial world—both by passionate supporters and skeptics. Its extreme volatility and the impact it has had on the traditional financial system have made it a constant subject of speculation. Over time, Bitcoin’s adoption has grown, sparking ongoing discussions about its future—both in terms of price and integration into the global financial system. In this context, multiple scenarios have been proposed, ranging from optimistic to cautious, depending on factors like regulation, institutional adoption, and technological innovation.

Bitcoin’s price: forecasts and influencing factors

01 - Institutional Adoption: The growing use of Bitcoin by major companies and institutional investors has been seen as a bullish driver. Companies like Tesla, MicroStrategy, and Square have added Bitcoin to their balance sheets, boosting confidence in it as a store of value. As more businesses follow suit, demand for Bitcoin could increase, pushing the price upward.

02 - Government Regulation: How governments respond to Bitcoin is one of the biggest sources of uncertainty. Heavy-handed regulation could restrict access and dampen interest, while a more favorable approach could boost adoption and support price growth. Countries like El Salvador have shown positive trends by adopting Bitcoin as legal tender, though in many others, regulation remains a significant challenge.

03 - Limited Supply: With a maximum supply of 21 million coins, Bitcoin is immune to inflationary money printing. This scarcity makes it especially attractive as a store of value, particularly during times of global economic uncertainty, potentially supporting long-term price appreciation.

04 - Technology and Scalability: Innovations like the Lightning Network and Taproot, aimed at improving scalability and transaction efficiency, could help increase Bitcoin's utility—making it more accessible for daily use and positively impacting its market value.

Global adoption of Bitcoin: The path toward financial inclusion

Bitcoin adoption is rising globally, especially in regions where traditional financial systems are inefficient or inaccessible. Countries facing economic instability, such as those plagued by high inflation or currency crises, are increasingly viewing Bitcoin as a viable alternative. Financial inclusion is a key driver of this adoption, as Bitcoin offers financial services to people excluded from the traditional banking sector.

01 - Emerging Markets: In countries like Brazil, Argentina, Nigeria, and others, demand for Bitcoin has grown as people seek to protect their assets from the devaluation of local currencies. In these regions, Bitcoin functions as both a store of value and a medium of exchange free from central authority control.

02 - Adoption by Governments and Businesses: As more companies and even governments embrace Bitcoin, its integration into the global economy could accelerate. El Salvador, for example, has shown it’s possible to adopt Bitcoin as an official currency, while more businesses are accepting it as a payment method—further legitimizing its role in global commerce.

03 - Education and Accessibility: As more people understand how Bitcoin works and appreciate its advantages—such as security, privacy, and financial freedom—adoption is likely to grow. Easier-to-use exchanges and improved wallet interfaces are making it simpler for everyday users to access and use Bitcoin.

Future scenarios: Optimism or caution?

Bitcoin's future remains uncertain, but several possible outcomes are taking shape. The optimistic scenario foresees greater price appreciation and widespread global adoption, driven by technological innovation, increased institutional trust, and the search for a decentralized alternative to the traditional financial system. In this case, Bitcoin could become a widely accepted form of payment and a global store of value, with prices reaching new all-time highs.

On the other hand, the more cautious scenario suggests that obstacles like government regulation, competition from other digital currencies, and potential technical shortcomings could prevent Bitcoin from becoming central to the financial system. Furthermore, price volatility could deter those seeking stability and security.

In summary, predictions about Bitcoin’s price and global adoption are undeniably complex and influenced by a wide range of factors. Bitcoin’s future will depend on how society, governments, and businesses respond to this new form of money. While the potential for appreciation is significant, the risks and volatility involved cannot be ignored. As global adoption increases and technology continues to evolve, it will be essential to closely monitor the developments shaping Bitcoin’s role in the global financial landscape.

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!

@ 84b0c46a:417782f5

5/24 nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzpvly86xv0ekl7gar8kfp8glfztvftvwrusjsys8qexwmal3sdz6lqywhwumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnrdakhq6tvv5kk2unjdaezumn9wsq3wamnwvaz7tmwdaehgu3wd968gctwd4hjumt9dcqs6amnwvaz7tmev9382tndv5qjqamnwvaz7tmjv4kxz7fddfczumn0wd68ytnhd9ex2erwv46zu6nsqywhwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnwdaehgu3wwa5hyetydejhgtn2wqq3zamnwvaz7tmwveex2mrp0yhxzursqyfhwumn8ghj7am0wshxummnw3ezumn9wsqzqxk47yl7vwqu0yrv4fljymp4m2vf0gtesmel4cgg638h82rt4hdn6yyejn

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こていたんさんのアイコン

5/25 nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzqnza2du6qe3nnjy0dcgpu0kmr7awunk78m4rtl7x78rxfvay8qlwqyxhwumn8ghj77tpvf6jumt9qys8wumn8ghj7un9d3shjtt2wqhxummnw3ezuamfwfjkgmn9wshx5uqpr4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnhd9ex2erwv46zu6nsqyghwumn8ghj7mnxwfjkccte9eshquqpzdmhxue69uhhwmm59ehx7um5wghxuet5qqs0ku3qs4zskmclvtqm0lt707jwn2ylz9v2xj2qakznyp86j4p7fzqd85kfq

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5/26 nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzpq4np5cygstsu65vsx0ggphrv23kj4z553sh39xwyur08pqvdsqrqyxhwumn8ghj77tpvf6jumt9qywhwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnwdaehgu3wwa5hyetydejhgtn2wqq3vamnwvaz7tmnv4shycmg9ehx7ueww3hkgcteqqspk6e9e9wph23lt7xumuuu90rayzcswp3gz96c3w25raq9r9agw5cnfgve5

nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzpp9sc34tdxdvxh4jeg5xgu9ctcypmvsg0n00vwfjydkrjaqh0qh4qyxhwumn8ghj77tpvf6jumt9qywhwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnwdaehgu3wwa5hyetydejhgtn2wqq3vamnwvaz7tmnv4shycmg9ehx7ueww3hkgcteqqsfnspcp9yqu989mnnpwj9tphrrj05268vjkwwmx7jcus4mn7erqngl94f9y

nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzpp9sc34tdxdvxh4jeg5xgu9ctcypmvsg0n00vwfjydkrjaqh0qh4qyxhwumn8ghj77tpvf6jumt9qywhwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnwdaehgu3wwa5hyetydejhgtn2wqq3vamnwvaz7tmnv4shycmg9ehx7ueww3hkgcteqqs84x0ws9myccv29kf99jkuwqh8rj9ws23kn5s9yyl0scz67m97z2g7rq7z5

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nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzpvly86xv0ekl7gar8kfp8glfztvftvwrusjsys8qexwmal3sdz6lqyxhwumn8ghj77tpvf6jumt9qys8wumn8ghj7un9d3shjtt2wqhxummnw3ezuamfwfjkgmn9wshx5uqpr4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnhd9ex2erwv46zu6nsqyghwumn8ghj7mnxwfjkccte9eshquqpzdmhxue69uhhwmm59ehx7um5wghxuet5qqs0x6pgm96r70y8836l0d5ajj6nrlq6p5fz06wdu26fkpg3gznctscf5ggxn

5/27 nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzqxlwemj4760tc2ysgqmqdu5tt68th2er6gn8xrsjkjlhvtff6gtzqyt8wumn8ghj7um9v9exx6pwdehhxtn5dajxz7gpzemhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzv9hxgqpqlq0lp52xg7uv4wwzuqy9yhtmcpy5v8ad8v7ft9xcwkdncd97h66q0wmawu

nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzpq4np5cygstsu65vsx0ggphrv23kj4z553sh39xwyur08pqvdsqrqyt8wumn8ghj7um9v9exx6pwdehhxtn5dajxz7gpzemhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzv9hxgqpqpt2wncdxkptxyhj025vd53vjpxz3hjs452px7y8g6gzsxmnfw2fsp2rv0k

KAZもさん nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzpvly86xv0ekl7gar8kfp8glfztvftvwrusjsys8qexwmal3sdz6lqywhwumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnrdakhq6tvv5kk2unjdaezumn9wsq3wamnwvaz7tmwdaehgu3wd968gctwd4hjumt9dcqs6amnwvaz7tmev9382tndv5qjqamnwvaz7tmjv4kxz7fddfczumn0wd68ytnhd9ex2erwv46zu6nsqywhwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnwdaehgu3wwa5hyetydejhgtn2wqq3zamnwvaz7tmwveex2mrp0yhxzursqyfhwumn8ghj7am0wshxummnw3ezumn9wsqzpk3nll8rr3sj6adsrfrlgjpj4cyn2sg9rmlz9m2djwk5zp2ku80czfr460

5/28 kaijiさん nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzpvly86xv0ekl7gar8kfp8glfztvftvwrusjsys8qexwmal3sdz6lqyxhwumn8ghj77tpvf6jumt9qywhwumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnrdakhq6tvv5kk2unjdaezumn9wsqjqamnwvaz7tmjv4kxz7fddfczumn0wd68ytnhd9ex2erwv46zu6nsqywhwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnwdaehgu3wwa5hyetydejhgtn2wqq3zamnwvaz7tmwveex2mrp0yhxzursqythwumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnfw36xzmndduhx6etwqyfhwumn8ghj7am0wshxummnw3ezumn9wsqzpt7w33qv7tlywj0wphremkdft6dpnv3z8mvw0t2pdxcgvlzw6sathjmz0v

マルフォイ nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzpvly86xv0ekl7gar8kfp8glfztvftvwrusjsys8qexwmal3sdz6lqyw8wumn8ghj7umjw3ex2mrp0yhxxttnw3jkcmrpwghxuet5qyxhwumn8ghj77tpvf6jumt9qys8wumn8ghj7un9d3shjtt2wqhxummnw3ezuamfwfjkgmn9wshx5uqpr4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnhd9ex2erwv46zu6nsqyghwumn8ghj7mnxwfjkccte9eshquqpzdmhxue69uhhwmm59ehx7um5wghxuet5qqs8r0frcfwqkgpefhd0knjurekna8ztnq69432f3k00wccd0vcrl5c6qr3gh

5/29 nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzqrec47eremps2u8wvnu6f2sfjg5njhkrxuw9l6r8uzwfzy2gqq2aqyxhwumn8ghj77tpvf6jumt9qywhwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnwdaehgu3wwa5hyetydejhgtn2wqq3vamnwvaz7tmjv4kxz7fwdehhxarj9e3xzmnyqqsp2c6xh22lfj2ccy95lqu584hfpfz0ds7w2llnf4sv2qs445yqcgqmgwq57

nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzphu0pfjqc0lap83f8xv6e73en5zhfjzsrlx6hnk22pewugzhmpa9qyt8wumn8ghj7um9v9exx6pwdehhxtn5dajxz7gpzemhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzv9hxgqpqt43r3wtjkr5ezxay6dh7jq94nelduvsk07w5ufxrver5f6jfggksakz9e8

nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzqyqmxrhg3sn6z00x30mu3srrdr4ru05rweq4jhqcvat805v2g6j9qyxhwumn8ghj77tpvf6jumt9qywhwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnwdaehgu3wwa5hyetydejhgtn2wqqjqamnwvaz7tmjv4kxz7fddfczumn0wd68ytnhd9ex2erwv46zu6nsqyghwumn8ghj7mnxwfjkccte9eshquqpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0wd68ytnsw43qzymhwden5te0wahhgtnwdaehgu3wdejhgqpqn6n7xrrmk40ucmh9m5ktae58xjqz6h7epj6mcffpcmuhgpysvv6snh5vf5

nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzpk28l9nyyf4av8f8j8jhh8k60mt2sc643ux2td3n547kvk4lrsglqyt8wumn8ghj7um9v9exx6pwdehhxtn5dajxz7gpzemhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzv9hxgqpq6gv8avhe93ypvypd66rmn34760s3sldj3x2cz5w4yu2xy9z8tt2qadd7kl

nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzpk28l9nyyf4av8f8j8jhh8k60mt2sc643ux2td3n547kvk4lrsglqyt8wumn8ghj7um9v9exx6pwdehhxtn5dajxz7gpzemhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzv9hxgqpqn2pfqkgcfk3cdhtvkqqlfycsy2j2xe6c6jz8gzfxlnddnq8jq6vqecuvwy

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5/30 nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzp54kkqfyshkxm078mpzygmfxpqfq6fwu2njry424strce6dmvhwyqqstc5jak2vax4uejyrmu2td3w0spv6k4mds9sfwqtvmh0hwaa3eststwmtzt

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@ 90c656ff:9383fd4e

With the growing digitalization of money, governments around the world have begun developing Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) in response to the rising popularity of Bitcoin. While Bitcoin represents a decentralized and censorship-resistant financial system, CBDCs are digital versions of fiat currencies, directly controlled by central banks. This emerging competition could shape the future of money and define the balance between financial freedom and state control.

Key differences between Bitcoin and CBDCs

Bitcoin and CBDCs differ in nearly every fundamental aspect:

01 - Centralization vs Decentralization: Bitcoin operates on a decentralized network where no government or entity can change the rules or censor transactions. CBDCs, on the other hand, are issued and managed by central banks, enabling greater control over the circulation and use of money.

02 - Fixed Supply vs Controlled Inflation: Bitcoin has a fixed supply of 21 million units, making it a scarce and deflationary asset. CBDCs can be issued without limits, much like traditional fiat currencies, and are subject to inflationary monetary policies.

03 - Privacy vs Surveillance: Bitcoin allows pseudonymous transactions, ensuring a certain degree of financial privacy. CBDCs may be designed to track every transaction, enabling full governmental oversight—and potentially, control over how citizens spend their money.

04 - Censorship Resistance vs State Control: Bitcoin enables anyone to transact without needing third-party approval. CBDCs, being centralized, could be used by governments to restrict undesirable transactions or even freeze funds at the press of a button.

What are governments aiming for with CBDCs?

The introduction of CBDCs is often promoted with benefits such as:

01 - Greater efficiency in financial transactions by removing intermediaries and reducing banking costs.

02 - Easier implementation of economic policies, such as direct stimulus payments or automated taxation.

03 - Enhanced ability to combat illegal activities through real-time transaction tracking.

However, these justifications raise serious concerns about the erosion of financial privacy and the expansion of government power over the monetary system.

Bitcoin as an alternative to CBDCs

The rise of CBDCs may, in fact, reinforce Bitcoin’s position as the true alternative to state-controlled money. As citizens become aware of the risks associated with a fully centralized financial system, demand for a decentralized, censorship-resistant asset like Bitcoin may increase.

01 - Protection from state control: Bitcoin empowers users with full sovereignty over their money, free from arbitrary freezes or confiscations.

02 - Preservation of financial privacy: Unlike CBDCs, which may monitor every transaction, Bitcoin offers a level of anonymity that shields individuals from excessive surveillance.

03 - Store of value against inflation: While governments can endlessly issue CBDCs, Bitcoin’s guaranteed scarcity positions it as a hedge against irresponsible monetary policy.

In summary, the competition between Bitcoin and CBDCs is set to become one of the defining financial battles of the future. As governments seek to reinforce their control through centralized digital currencies, Bitcoin remains the leading option for those who value financial independence and protection from state surveillance. The choice between a free, decentralized financial system and a monitored, government-controlled one may determine the course of the digital economy for decades to come.

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!

@ 9c9d2765:16f8c2c2

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE

“Ladies and gentlemen,” James began, his voice firm but serene, “we have reached a stage where the name JP Enterprises must stand not only for affluence and innovation but also for responsibility and reinvention.”

The team leaned in, captivated by his tone.

“I’ve given this much thought,” he continued, “and it’s time we invested not just in profitable ventures but in communities especially those that raised men like me.”

Whispers of approval circled the room. James unfolded a series of blueprints and documents, revealing a new initiative named The Phoenix Foundation, a massive philanthropic wing of JP Enterprises aimed at funding education, rebuilding impoverished neighborhoods, and providing mentorship for underprivileged youth.

“This isn’t charity,” James clarified. “This is legacy.”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, Mark and Helen were dealing with the crushing weight of public disgrace. Their failed scheme had made headlines. Investors withdrew, associates distanced themselves, and even loyal allies now whispered behind their backs.

Helen slammed a newspaper onto the glass table in frustration. “They’ve blacklisted us from another tender. Mark, we’re becoming irrelevant!”

Mark, who had been pacing the room like a caged animal, finally stopped. “It’s not over. We still have leverage somewhere. James isn’t invincible.”

Helen scoffed. “Tell that to the world. They worship the ground he walks on. You think you can bring down a man who rose from being a street outcast to owning the city’s largest enterprise?”

Mark’s eyes darkened. “He bleeds, Helen. Everyone has a weak spot. We just haven’t found him yet.”

But even as their desperation festered, James was rising even higher. A televised interview had been scheduled where he would unveil The Phoenix Foundation. The nation watched eagerly. Sitting on a minimalist stage, flanked by banners of the foundation’s vision, James spoke from the heart.

“I know what it means to be invisible,” he said. “I know what hunger, shame, and rejection feel like. I’ve lived it. But I also know the power of one opportunity, one person who believes in you. Through this foundation, I want to be that person for thousands.”

The applause was thunderous, not only from the live audience but from homes, offices, and schools where people were inspired by his journey.

The days following the televised launch of The Phoenix Foundation brought waves of admiration and support from across the country. Letters of gratitude flooded JP Enterprises from parents whose children now had access to scholarships, to small business owners revitalized by community grants. James, once shunned and dismissed, was now a symbol of unshakable strength, resilience, and grace under fire.

But in the shadows, the remnants of Mark and Helen’s influence continued to decay.

With the media fixated on James’s rise and the overwhelming success of the foundation, Helen had become a recluse, seldom leaving her estate. The curtains were always drawn, the halls eerily quiet, and every incoming call was a potential threat to her already-battered reputation. Her once-prized social invitations had vanished, and even her closest acquaintances now found convenient excuses to avoid her.

One afternoon, as she sat on her leather chaise, surrounded by unopened letters and wilting orchids, her phone buzzed. It was Mark.

"We need to talk," his voice came through, rough and urgent.

"Unless you’ve figured out a way to reverse time or erase James from existence, I’m not interested," she replied dryly, her voice thick with exhaustion.

"I’ve been digging into his foundation. There might be something," he said, the faintest glimmer of his former arrogance returning.

Helen raised a skeptical brow. "You mean the only project that has made him a national hero overnight? Do enlighten me."

Mark hesitated for a moment, then spoke. "I have a contact. Someone who worked closely with James during his street days. She claims there's more to his story, something about a deal gone wrong before Ray Enterprises even noticed him."

Helen’s eyes narrowed. "You better not be chasing another ghost story, Mark. We’ve lost everything playing that game."

Meanwhile, back at JP Enterprises, James was unaware of the new whispers trailing behind him. His focus remained undivided, channeling his efforts into real progress. He visited schools sponsored by the foundation, shook hands with young entrepreneurs, and held intimate town hall meetings to listen to citizens’ concerns. His sincerity was unmistakable.

One evening, as he stood at the balcony of his high-rise office, looking over the city he once roamed as a stranger, his uncle Charles joined him.

"You’ve come a long way, James," Charles said, resting a firm hand on his shoulder. "Your father may have doubted you once, but now he sees what we always knew: you're more than capable of carrying this legacy."

James nodded slowly. "It’s not about the legacy anymore, Uncle. It’s about changing lives. If we succeed, JP Enterprises won’t just be remembered for profit margins, it'll be remembered for its heart."

And indeed, that heart had begun to beat in places once forgotten.

"Sir, there's something you might want to take a look at," James's personal assistant said as she stepped into his office, holding a manila folder with both hands.

James looked up from his tablet, where he had been reviewing the upcoming development plans for The Phoenix Foundation outreach program in rural districts. "Is it urgent?"

Tracy’s expression was uneasy. "I believe so. It slipped into the front reception without a name. Just labeled ‘To the President, Personal.’ We scanned the documents. They’re… sensitive."

James gestured for her to bring it over. He leaned back in his chair as she placed the folder before him and stepped away. Slowly, he opened it, revealing a series of photographs, transcripts, and one shocking email thread. His eyes narrowed as he scanned the contents. There it was detailed records of recent communications between Mark and a former government contractor, outlining a clandestine attempt to discredit The Phoenix Foundation by faking embezzlement allegations.

"So they haven’t learned their lesson," James muttered to himself, his jaw tightening.

Tracy, standing silently nearby, asked cautiously, "Should I inform legal?"

"Not yet," he replied, standing and pacing toward the window. "Let them think they still have the upper hand. We’ll collect more. I want this to be their final mistake, not just another slap on the wrist."

From the 39th floor, the skyline shimmered in the twilight. But beneath the golden hues of the sunset, darkness moved silently, calculating its next step.

Across town, in an upscale but dimly lit lounge, Mark and Helen sat across from each other, their faces drawn and wary. They were meeting a woman known only as "Seraphina," a discreet broker of information and, when needed, scandal.

@ cefb08d1:f419beff

The Agama Lizard live in small social groups consisting of a dominant male and several subordinate males and females.

The agama is a genus of lizards that lives throughout sub-Saharan Africa. There are more than 40 recognized species within this genus, the common agama or red-headed agama lizard will be the main focus unless otherwise mentioned. There are plenty of interesting facts to learn about the identification, habitat, reproduction, and behavioral adaptations of the African Agama lizard. Many people enjoy keeping them as exotic pets. Because of their relatively docile nature, they can get used to people handling them with enough time.

3 Agama Lizard Facts! -The large front teeth and powerful jaws are adaptations to help them eat large, hard prey. -Males initiate courtship by bobbing their heads up and down. This has given it the alternative name of koggelmander, or “little mocking man,” in the South African Afrikaans language. -The agama’s colors will suddenly become brighter when it’s alarmed or agitated in some manner.

https://stacker.news/items/995033

@ 06639a38:655f8f71

Nostr-PHP

All commits on the main branch between 19-05 and 25-05: https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-php/commits/main/?since=2025-05-19&until=2025-05-25 

• Merged PR #95 finish implementing methods Relay and RelaySet
• Merged PR #90 implementing NIP-17 private direct messages

• Made some progress on the persistentConnection class for fetching messages from a relay in runtime (realtime)

New release: 1.8.0

What's Changed

• feat: Implement NIP-05 lookups by @dsbaars in https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-php/pull/89
• NIP 44 implementation fix and test improvements by @dsbaars in https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-php/pull/88
• remove CLI tool from library - https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-p… by @Sebastix in https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-php/pull/93
• Add extra metadata fields for profile by @dsbaars in https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-php/pull/94
• Finish implementing methods Relay and RelaySet by @dsbaars in https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-php/pull/95
• Implement NIP-17 Private Direct Messages by @dsbaars in https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-php/pull/90

Full changelog: https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-php/compare/1.7.1...1.8.0 
Link: https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-php/releases/tag/1.8.0

@ 2dd9250b:6e928072

Durante a década de 1990, houve o aumento da globalização da economia, determinando a adição do fluxo internacional de capitais, de produtos e serviços. Este fenômeno levou a uma interdependência maior entre as economias dos países. Justamente por causa da possibilidade de que um eventual colapso econômico em um país resulte no contágio dos demais. Diante disso, aumentou a preocupação com os riscos incentivando a utilização de sofisticados modelos e estratégias de avaliação de gestão de risco.

Na década, ganharam destaque ainda os graves problemas financeiros enfrentados, entre outros, pelo banco inglês Barings Bank, e pelo fundo de investimento norte-americano Long Term Capital Management.

Outro grande destaque foi a fraude superior a US$ 7 bilhões sofrida pelo banco Société Generale em Janeiro de 2008.

O Barings Bank é um banco inglês que faliu em 1995 em razão de operações financeiras irregulares e mal-sucedidas realizadas pelo seu principal operador de mercado. O rombo da instituição foi superior à US$ 1,3 Bilhão e causado por uma aposta equivocada no desempenho futuro no índice de ações no Japão. Na realidade, o mercado acionário japonês caiu mais de 15% na época, determinando a falência do banco. O Baring Bank foi vendido a um grupo financeiro holandês (ING) pelo valor simbólico de uma libra esterlina.

O Long Term Capital Management era um fundo de investimento de que perdeu em 1998 mais de US$ 4,6 bilhões em operações nos mercados financeiros internacionais. O LTCM foi socorrido pelo Banco Central dos Estados Unidos (Federal Reserve ), que coordenou uma operação de socorro financeiro à instituição. A justificativa do Banco Central para esta decisão era "o receio das possíveis consequências mundiais da falência do fundo de investimento".

O banco francês Société Generale informou, em janeiro de 2008, uma perda de US$ 7,16 bilhões determinadas por fraudes efetuadas por um operador do mercado financeiro. Segundo revelou a instituição, o operador assumiu posições no mercado sem o conhecimento da direção do banco. A instituição teve que recorrer a uma urgente captação de recursos no mercado próxima a US$ 5,0 bilhões.

E finalmente chegamos ao caso mais problemático da era das finanças modernas anterior ao Bitcoin, o caso Lehman Brothers.

O Lehman Brothers era o 4° maior de investimentos dos EUA quando pediu concordata em 15/09/2008 com dívidas que superavam inacreditáveis US$ 600 bilhões.

Não se tinha contas correntes ou talão de cheques do Lehman Brothers. Era um banco especializado em investimentos e complexas operações financeiras. Havia feito pesados investimentos em empréstimos a juros fixos no famigerado mercado subprime, e o crédito imobiliário voltado a pessoas consideradas de forte risco de inadimplência.

Com essa carteira de investimentos que valia bem menos que o estimado e o acúmulo de projetos financeiros, minou a confiança dos investidores na instituição de 158 anos. Suas ações passaram de US$ 80 a menos de US$ 4. Acumulando fracassos nas negociações para levantar fundos; a instituição de cerca de 25 mil funcionários entrou em concordata.

O Federal Reserve resgatou algumas instituições financeiras grandes e tradicionais norte-americanas como a seguradora AIG no meio da crise. O Fed injetou um capital de US$ 182, 3 bilhões no American International Group (AIG).

Foi exatamente essa decisão do Fed em salvar alguns bancos e deixar quebrar outros, que causou insegurança por parte dos clientes. E os clientes ficaram insatisfeitos tanto com os bancos de investimentos quanto com as agências de classificação de risco, como a Standard & Poor's que tinha dado uma nota alta para o Lehman Brothers no mesmo dia em que ele quebrou.

E essa foi uma das razões pelo qual o Bitcoin foi criado. Satoshi Nakamoto entendeu que as pessoas não estavam mais confiando nem no Governo, nem nos Bancos Privados que o Governo federal restagatava quando eles quebravam e isso prejudicou muita gente. Tanto que o “hash” do Genesis Block contém o título do artigo “Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks” (Chanceler à beira de segundo resgate para bancos, em português) da edição britânica do The Times.

Esse texto foi parcialmente editado do texto de ASSAF Neto, CAF (2014).

@ 127d3bf5:466f416f

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

"Permission to fight (against disbelievers) is given to those (believers) who are fought against, because they have been wronged and surely, Allah is Able to give them (believers) victory" [Quran 22:39]

"Those who believe, fight in the Cause of Allah, and those who disbelieve, fight in the cause of Taghut (anything worshipped other than Allah e.g. Satan). So fight you against the friends of Satan; ever feeble is indeed the plot of Satan."[Quran 4:76]

Some American writers have published articles under the title 'On what basis are we fighting?' These articles have generated a number of responses, some of which adhered to the truth and were based on Islamic Law, and others which have not. Here we wanted to outline the truth - as an explanation and warning - hoping for Allah's reward, seeking success and support from Him.

While seeking Allah's help, we form our reply based on two questions directed at the Americans:

(Q1) Why are we fighting and opposing you?\ (Q2) What are we calling you to, and what do we want from you?

As for the first question: Why are we fighting and opposing you? The answer is very simple:

(1) Because you attacked us and continue to attack us.

a) You attacked us in Palestine:

(i) Palestine, which has sunk under military occupation for more than 80 years. The British handed over Palestine, with your help and your support, to the Jews, who have occupied it for more than 50 years; years overflowing with oppression, tyranny, crimes, killing, expulsion, destruction and devastation. The creation and continuation of Israel is one of the greatest crimes, and you are the leaders of its criminals. And of course there is no need to explain and prove the degree of American support for Israel. The creation of Israel is a crime which must be erased. Each and every person whose hands have become polluted in the contribution towards this crime must pay its*price, and pay for it heavily.

(ii) It brings us both laughter and tears to see that you have not yet tired of repeating your fabricated lies that the Jews have a historical right to Palestine, as it was promised to them in the Torah. Anyone who disputes with them on this alleged fact is accused of anti-semitism. This is one of the most fallacious, widely-circulated fabrications in history. The people of Palestine are pure Arabs and original Semites. It is the Muslims who are the inheritors of Moses (peace be upon him) and the inheritors of the real Torah that has not been changed. Muslims believe in all of the Prophets, including Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon them all. If the followers of Moses have been promised a right to Palestine in the Torah, then the Muslims are the most worthy nation of this.

When the Muslims conquered Palestine and drove out the Romans, Palestine and Jerusalem returned to Islaam, the religion of all the Prophets peace be upon them. Therefore, the call to a historical right to Palestine cannot be raised against the Islamic Ummah that believes in all the Prophets of Allah (peace and blessings be upon them) - and we make no distinction between them.

(iii) The blood pouring out of Palestine must be equally revenged. You must know that the Palestinians do not cry alone; their women are not widowed alone; their sons are not orphaned alone.

(b) You attacked us in Somalia; you supported the Russian atrocities against us in Chechnya, the Indian oppression against us in Kashmir, and the Jewish aggression against us in Lebanon.

(c) Under your supervision, consent and orders, the governments of our countries which act as your agents, attack us on a daily basis;

(i) These governments prevent our people from establishing the Islamic Shariah, using violence and lies to do so.

(ii) These governments give us a taste of humiliation, and places us in a large prison of fear and subdual.

(iii) These governments steal our Ummah's wealth and sell them to you at a paltry price.

(iv) These governments have surrendered to the Jews, and handed them most of Palestine, acknowledging the existence of their state over the dismembered limbs of their own people.

(v) The removal of these governments is an obligation upon us, and a necessary step to free the Ummah, to make the Shariah the supreme law and to regain Palestine. And our fight against these governments is not separate from out fight against you.

(d) You steal our wealth and oil at paltry prices because of you international influence and military threats. This theft is indeed the biggest theft ever witnessed by mankind in the history of the world.

(e) Your forces occupy our countries; you spread your military bases throughout them; you corrupt our lands, and you besiege our sanctities, to protect the security of the Jews and to ensure the continuity of your pillage of our treasures.

(f) You have starved the Muslims of Iraq, where children die every day. It is a wonder that more than 1.5 million Iraqi children have died as a result of your sanctions, and you did not show concern. Yet when 3000 of your people died, the entire world rises and has not yet sat down.

(g) You have supported the Jews in their idea that Jerusalem is their eternal capital, and agreed to move your embassy there. With your help and under your protection, the Israelis are planning to destroy the Al-Aqsa mosque. Under the protection of your weapons, Sharon entered the Al-Aqsa mosque, to pollute it as a preparation to capture and destroy it.

(2) These tragedies and calamities are only a few examples of your oppression and aggression against us. It is commanded by our religion and intellect that the oppressed have a right to return the aggression. Do not await anything from us but Jihad, resistance and revenge. Is it in any way rational to expect that after America has attacked us for more than half a century, that we will then leave her to live in security and peace?!!

(3) You may then dispute that all the above does not justify aggression against civilians, for crimes they did not commit and offenses in which they did not partake:

(a) This argument contradicts your continuous repetition that America is the land of freedom, and its leaders in this world. Therefore, the American people are the ones who choose their government by way of their own free will; a choice which stems from their agreement to its policies. Thus the American people have chosen, consented to, and affirmed their support for the Israeli oppression of the Palestinians, the occupation and usurpation of their land, and its continuous killing, torture, punishment and expulsion of the Palestinians. The American people have the ability and choice to refuse the policies of their Government and even to change it if they want.

(b) The American people are the ones who pay the taxes which fund the planes that bomb us in Afghanistan, the tanks that strike and destroy our homes in Palestine, the armies which occupy our lands in the Arabian Gulf, and the fleets which ensure the blockade of Iraq. These tax dollars are given to Israel for it to continue to attack us and penetrate our lands. So the American people are the ones who fund the attacks against us, and they are the ones who oversee the expenditure of these monies in the way they wish, through their elected candidates.

(c) Also the American army is part of the American people. It is this very same people who are shamelessly helping the Jews fight against us.

(d) The American people are the ones who employ both their men and their women in the American Forces which attack us.

(e) This is why the American people cannot be not innocent of all the crimes committed by the Americans and Jews against us.

(f) Allah, the Almighty, legislated the permission and the option to take revenge. Thus, if we are attacked, then we have the right to attack back. Whoever has destroyed our villages and towns, then we have the right to destroy their villages and towns. Whoever has stolen our wealth, then we have the right to destroy their economy. And whoever has killed our civilians, then we have the right to kill theirs.

The American Government and press still refuses to answer the question:

Why did they attack us in New York and Washington?

If Sharon is a man of peace in the eyes of Bush, then we are also men of peace!!! America does not understand the language of manners and principles, so we are addressing it using the language it understands.

(Q2) As for the second question that we want to answer: What are we calling you to, and what do we want from you?

(1) The first thing that we are calling you to is Islam.

(a) The religion of the Unification of God; of freedom from associating partners with Him, and rejection of this; of complete love of Him, the Exalted; of complete submission to His Laws; and of the discarding of all the opinions, orders, theories and religions which contradict with the religion He sent down to His Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Islam is the religion of all the prophets, and makes no distinction between them - peace be upon them all.

It is to this religion that we call you; the seal of all the previous religions. It is the religion of Unification of God, sincerity, the best of manners, righteousness, mercy, honour, purity, and piety. It is the religion of showing kindness to others, establishing justice between them, granting them their rights, and defending the oppressed and the persecuted. It is the religion of enjoining the good and forbidding the evil with the hand, tongue and heart. It is the religion of Jihad in the way of Allah so that Allah's Word and religion reign Supreme. And it is the religion of unity and agreement on the obedience to Allah, and total equality between all people, without regarding their colour, sex, or language.

(b) It is the religion whose book - the Quran - will remained preserved and unchanged, after the other Divine books and messages have been changed. The Quran is the miracle until the Day of Judgment. Allah has challenged anyone to bring a book like the Quran or even ten verses like it.

(2) The second thing we call you to, is to stop your oppression, lies, immorality and debauchery that has spread among you.

(a) We call you to be a people of manners, principles, honour, and purity; to reject the immoral acts of fornication, homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling's, and trading with interest.

We call you to all of this that you may be freed from that which you have become caught up in; that you may be freed from the deceptive lies that you are a great nation, that your leaders spread amongst you to conceal from you the despicable state to which you have reached.

(b) It is saddening to tell you that you are the worst civilization witnessed by the history of mankind:

(i) You are the nation who, rather than ruling by the Shariah of Allah in its Constitution and Laws, choose to invent your own laws as you will and desire. You separate religion from your policies, contradicting the pure nature which affirms Absolute Authority to the Lord and your Creator. You flee from the embarrassing question posed to you: How is it possible for Allah the Almighty to create His creation, grant them power over all the creatures and land, grant them all the amenities of life, and then deny them that which they are most in need of: knowledge of the laws which govern their lives?

(ii) You are the nation that permits Usury, which has been forbidden by all the religions. Yet you build your economy and investments on Usury. As a result of this, in all its different forms and guises, the Jews have taken control of your economy, through which they have then taken control of your media, and now control all aspects of your life making you their servants and achieving their aims at your expense; precisely what Benjamin Franklin warned you against.

(iii) You are a nation that permits the production, trading and usage of intoxicants. You also permit drugs, and only forbid the trade of them, even though your nation is the largest consumer of them.

(iv) You are a nation that permits acts of immorality, and you consider them to be pillars of personal freedom. You have continued to sink down this abyss from level to level until incest has spread amongst you, in the face of which neither your sense of honour nor your laws object.

Who can forget your President Clinton's immoral acts committed in the official Oval office? After that you did not even bring him to account, other than that he 'made a mistake', after which everything passed with no punishment. Is there a worse kind of event for which your name will go down in history and remembered by nations?

(v) You are a nation that permits gambling in its all forms. The companies practice this as well, resulting in the investments becoming active and the criminals becoming rich.

(vi) You are a nation that exploits women like consumer products or advertising tools calling upon customers to purchase them. You use women to serve passengers, visitors, and strangers to increase your profit margins. You then rant that you support the liberation of women.

(vii) You are a nation that practices the trade of sex in all its forms, directly and indirectly. Giant corporations and establishments are established on this, under the name of art, entertainment, tourism and freedom, and other deceptive names you attribute to it.

(viii) And because of all this, you have been described in history as a nation that spreads diseases that were unknown to man in the past. Go ahead and boast to the nations of man, that you brought them AIDS as a Satanic American Invention.

(xi) You have destroyed nature with your industrial waste and gases more than any other nation in history. Despite this, you refuse to sign the Kyoto agreement so that you can secure the profit of your greedy companies and*industries.

(x) Your law is the law of the rich and wealthy people, who hold sway in their political parties, and fund their election campaigns with their gifts. Behind them stand the Jews, who control your policies, media and economy.

(xi) That which you are singled out for in the history of mankind, is that you have used your force to destroy mankind more than any other nation in history; not to defend principles and values, but to hasten to secure your interests and profits. You who dropped a nuclear bomb on Japan, even though Japan was ready to negotiate an end to the war. How many acts of oppression, tyranny and injustice have you carried out, O callers to freedom?

(xii) Let us not forget one of your major characteristics: your duality in both manners and values; your hypocrisy in manners and principles. All*manners, principles and values have two scales: one for you and one for the others.

(a)The freedom and democracy that you call to is for yourselves and for white race only; as for the rest of the world, you impose upon them your monstrous, destructive policies and Governments, which you call the 'American friends'. Yet you prevent them from establishing democracies. When the Islamic party in Algeria wanted to practice democracy and they won the election, you unleashed your agents in the Algerian army onto them, and to attack them with tanks and guns, to imprison them and torture them - a new lesson from the 'American book of democracy'!!!

(b)Your policy on prohibiting and forcibly removing weapons of mass destruction to ensure world peace: it only applies to those countries which you do not permit to possess such weapons. As for the countries you consent to, such as Israel, then they are allowed to keep and use such weapons to defend their security. Anyone else who you suspect might be manufacturing or keeping these kinds of weapons, you call them criminals and you take military action against them.

(c)You are the last ones to respect the resolutions and policies of International Law, yet you claim to want to selectively punish anyone else who does the same. Israel has for more than 50 years been pushing UN resolutions and rules against the wall with the full support of America.

(d)As for the war criminals which you censure and form criminal courts for - you shamelessly ask that your own are granted immunity!! However, history will not forget the war crimes that you committed against the Muslims and the rest of the world; those you have killed in Japan, Afghanistan, Somalia, Lebanon and Iraq will remain a shame that you will never be able to escape. It will suffice to remind you of your latest war crimes in Afghanistan, in which densely populated innocent civilian villages were destroyed, bombs were dropped on mosques causing the roof of the mosque to come crashing down on the heads of the Muslims praying inside. You are the ones who broke the agreement with the Mujahideen when they left Qunduz, bombing them in Jangi fort, and killing more than 1,000 of your prisoners through suffocation and thirst. Allah alone knows how many people have died by torture at the hands of you and your agents. Your planes remain in the Afghan skies, looking for anyone remotely suspicious.

(e)You have claimed to be the vanguards of Human Rights, and your Ministry of Foreign affairs issues annual reports containing statistics of those countries that violate any Human Rights. However, all these things vanished when the Mujahideen hit you, and you then implemented the methods of the same documented governments that you used to curse. In America, you captured thousands the Muslims and Arabs, took them into custody with neither reason, court trial, nor even disclosing their names. You issued newer, harsher laws.

What happens in Guatanamo is a historical embarrassment to America and its values, and it screams into your faces - you hypocrites, "What is the value of your signature on any agreement or treaty?"

(3) What we call you to thirdly is to take an honest stance with yourselves - and I doubt you will do so - to discover that you are a nation without principles or manners, and that the values and principles to you are something which you merely demand from others, not that which you yourself must adhere to.

(4) We also advise you to stop supporting Israel, and to end your support of the Indians in Kashmir, the Russians against the Chechens and to also cease supporting the Manila Government against the Muslims in Southern Philippines.

(5) We also advise you to pack your luggage and get out of our lands. We desire for your goodness, guidance, and righteousness, so do not force us to send you back as cargo in coffins.

(6) Sixthly, we call upon you to end your support of the corrupt leaders in our countries. Do not interfere in our politics and method of education. Leave us alone, or else expect us in New York and Washington.

(7) We also call you to deal with us and interact with us on the basis of mutual interests and benefits, rather than the policies of sub dual, theft and occupation, and not to continue your policy of supporting the Jews because this will result in more disasters for you.

If you fail to respond to all these conditions, then prepare for fight with the Islamic Nation. The Nation of Monotheism, that puts complete trust on Allah and fears none other than Him. The Nation which is addressed by its Quran with the words: "Do you fear them? Allah has more right that you should fear Him if you are believers. Fight against them so that Allah will punish them by your hands and disgrace them and give you victory over them and heal the breasts of believing people. And remove the anger of their (believers') hearts. Allah accepts the repentance of whom He wills. Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise." [Quran9:13-1]

The Nation of honour and respect:

"But honour, power and glory belong to Allah, and to His Messenger (Muhammad- peace be upon him) and to the believers." [Quran 63:8]

"So do not become weak (against your enemy), nor be sad, and you will be*superior ( in victory )if you are indeed (true) believers" [Quran 3:139]

The Nation of Martyrdom; the Nation that desires death more than you desire life:

"Think not of those who are killed in the way of Allah as dead. Nay, they are alive with their Lord, and they are being provided for. They rejoice in what Allah has bestowed upon them from His bounty and rejoice for the sake of those who have not yet joined them, but are left behind (not yet martyred) that on them no fear shall come, nor shall they grieve. They rejoice in a grace and a bounty from Allah, and that Allah will not waste the reward of the believers." [Quran 3:169-171]

The Nation of victory and success that Allah has promised:

"It is He Who has sent His Messenger (Muhammad peace be upon him) with guidance and the religion of truth (Islam), to make it victorious over all other religions even though the Polytheists hate it." [Quran 61:9]

"Allah has decreed that 'Verily it is I and My Messengers who shall be victorious.' Verily Allah is All-Powerful, All-Mighty." [Quran 58:21]

The Islamic Nation that was able to dismiss and destroy the previous evil Empires like yourself; the Nation that rejects your attacks, wishes to remove your evils, and is prepared to fight you. You are well aware that the Islamic Nation, from the very core of its soul, despises your haughtiness and arrogance.

If the Americans refuse to listen to our advice and the goodness, guidance and righteousness that we call them to, then be aware that you will lose this Crusade Bush began, just like the other previous Crusades in which you were humiliated by the hands of the Mujahideen, fleeing to your home in great silence and disgrace. If the Americans do not respond, then their fate will be that of the Soviets who fled from Afghanistan to deal with their military defeat, political breakup, ideological downfall, and economic bankruptcy.

This is our message to the Americans, as an answer to theirs. Do they now know why we fight them and over which form of ignorance, by the permission of Allah, we shall be victorious?

@ 21335073:a244b1ad

The other day, I had the privilege of sitting down with one of my favorite living artists. Our conversation was so captivating that I felt compelled to share it. I’m leaving his name out for privacy.

Since our last meeting, I’d watched a documentary about his life, one he’d helped create. I told him how much I admired his openness in it. There’s something strange about knowing intimate details of someone’s life when they know so little about yours—it’s almost like I knew him too well for the kind of relationship we have.

He paused, then said quietly, with a shy grin, that watching the documentary made him realize how “odd and eccentric” he is. I laughed and told him he’s probably the sanest person I know. Because he’s lived fully, chasing love, passion, and purpose with hardly any regrets. He’s truly lived.

Today, I turn 44, and I’ll admit I’m a bit eccentric myself. I think I came into the world this way. I’ve made mistakes along the way, but I carry few regrets. Every misstep taught me something. And as I age, I’m not interested in blending in with the world—I’ll probably just lean further into my own brand of “weird.” I want to live life to the brim. The older I get, the more I see that the “normal” folks often seem less grounded than the eccentric artists who dare to live boldly. Life’s too short to just exist, actually live.

I’m not saying to be strange just for the sake of it. But I’ve seen what the crowd celebrates, and I’m not impressed. Forge your own path, even if it feels lonely or unpopular at times.

It’s easy to scroll through the news and feel discouraged. But actually, this is one of the most incredible times to be alive! I wake up every day grateful to be here, now. The future is bursting with possibility—I can feel it.

So, to my fellow weirdos on nostr: stay bold. Keep dreaming, keep pushing, no matter what’s trending. Stay wild enough to believe in a free internet for all. Freedom is radical—hold it tight. Live with the soul of an artist and the grit of a fighter. Thanks for inspiring me and so many others to keep hoping. Thank you all for making the last year of my life so special.

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

Bitcoin surpasses gold in the United States: 50 million holders and a dominant role in the global market.

According to a new report by River, for the first time in history, the number of Americans owning bitcoin has surpassed that of gold holders. The analysis reveals that approximately 50 million U.S. citizens currently own the cryptocurrency, while gold owners number 37 million. In fact, 14.3% of Americans own bitcoin, the highest percentage of holders worldwide.

Source: River

The report highlights that 40% of all Bitcoin-focused companies are based in the United States, consolidating America’s dominant position in the sector. Additionally, 40.5% of Bitcoin holders are men aged 31 to 35, followed by 35.9% of men aged 41 to 45. In contrast, only 13.4% of holders are women.

Source: River

Notably, U.S. companies hold 94.8% of all bitcoins owned by publicly traded companies worldwide. According to the report, recent regulatory changes in the U.S. have made the asset more accessible through financial products such as spot ETFs.

The document also shows that American investors increasingly view the cryptocurrency as protection against fiscal instability and inflation, appreciating its limited supply and decentralized governance model.

For River, Bitcoin offers significant practical advantages over gold in the modern digital era. Its ease of custody, cross-border transfer, and liquidity make the cryptocurrency an attractive option for both individual and institutional investors, the report suggests.

The post USA: 50 million Americans own bitcoin appeared first on Atlas21.

@ 51bbb15e:b77a2290

Yeah, I’m sure everything in the file is legit. 👍 Let’s review the guard witness testimony…Oh wait, they weren’t at their posts despite 24/7 survellience instructions after another Epstein “suicide” attempt two weeks earlier. Well, at least the video of the suicide is in the file? Oh wait, a techical glitch. Damn those coincidences!

At this point, the Trump administration has zero credibility with me on anything related to the Epstein case and his clients. I still suspect the administration is using the Epstein files as leverage to keep a lot of RINOs in line, whereas they’d be sabotaging his agenda at every turn otherwise. However, I just don’t believe in ends-justify-the-means thinking. It’s led almost all of DC to toss out every bit of the values they might once have had.

@ 9c9d2765:16f8c2c2

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR

One evening, as the amber light of sunset poured through the massive windows of his penthouse, James sat quietly with a leather-bound journal in hand. It was filled with handwritten notes, sketches of business concepts, and scribbled affirmations from the years he spent in isolation.

Each page was a memory. A scar. A vow.

There, in solitude, his thoughts returned to the past not with bitterness, but with clarity. He remembered the cold nights behind Ray Enterprises, the condescending glares, the endless humiliation. Yet, in those moments of degradation, a fire had been lit within him a fire that now fueled empires.

Suddenly, his phone vibrated. A message from his father.

“Proud of you, son. Your mother and I would love to have dinner this weekend with just the three of us.”

James smiled faintly. The wound of abandonment hadn’t fully healed, but the gesture was a stitch in the fabric of reconciliation.

He replied simply, “I’ll be there.”

Downstairs in the JP lobby, a woman in her sixties entered hesitantly. Her clothes were modest but clean, and her eyes scanned the space with nervous curiosity. The receptionist greeted her with a polite smile.

“Good evening, ma’am. Do you have an appointment?”

“No,” she said softly, her hands wringing the strap of her purse. “I don’t. But… Can you tell Mr. James that Clara is here? He might remember that I used to give him leftover bread from my shop… when he had nowhere to go.”

The receptionist looked surprised but composed. “Please have a seat. Let me reach out to him.”

Moments later, James was informed. His heart caught for a second.

Clara.

He remembered her clearly as one of the few who had shown him kindness when the world turned its back. Without hesitation, he descended to the lobby.

As the elevator doors slid open, their eyes met. Clara gasped, tears already forming. “You’ve grown into such a fine man,” she whispered.

James walked up to her, gently took her hand, and with a voice rich in emotion said, “You fed me when I was invisible to the world. You gave me more than bread you gave me dignity. Thank you.”

He led her into his private lounge, offering tea and a warm meal, listening to her speak of her late husband, her children, and the small bakery she still ran despite her age.

Before she left, James handed her an envelope.

“I’d like to invest in your bakery,” he said. “Not for business just because every child in this city deserves to taste the kindness I received from you.”

Clara’s hands trembled as she opened the envelope, eyes widening at the check inside.

“Sir, there’s someone waiting in the executive lounge… says she knows you,” Rita informed James softly as she stepped into his office.

James, seated behind his grand mahogany desk, looked up with a faint furrow between his brows. “Who is it this time?” he asked, his voice calm but tired. It had been a long day of meetings, legal signings, and strategic calls.

“She gave her name as Olivia. Said she knew you... back when things were hard.”

James’s breath hitched momentarily. That name wasn't one he had heard in years. Slowly, he rose from his chair, buttoning his jacket with deliberate poise. “Send her in,” he said, his voice unreadable.

Moments later, the door opened and in walked Olivia slender, worn by time, but still carrying the same fiery glint in her eyes. She looked around the opulent office, her gaze settling on James.

“You’ve changed,” she said, almost in awe. “But those eyes… still the same.”

James didn’t speak for a moment. He merely gestured for her to sit, though he remained standing. “Why are you here, Olivia?”

She hesitated, then dropped her bag onto the seat and looked at him with measured defiance. “Because I wanted to see for myself. To see if it was true. That the man who once cleaned floors for my father now owns one of the most powerful corporations in the country.”

James chuckled softly, though there was no humor in it. “Funny how life works, isn’t it?”

She looked down, biting her lower lip. “I was young. Naive. Cruel, even. I regret what I said to you… how I treated you.”

“You don’t need to apologize,” James said, walking to the window and staring out at the golden cityscape. “Back then, your scorn was just one of many. It built me. Sharpened me.”

A long silence passed between them, heavy but not hostile.

“Are you happy?” she finally asked, voice softer now.

James turned to her slowly, his gaze steady. “Happiness is fleeting. But peace? I’ve found some. Purpose, too.”

She stood, eyes glossy. “I wanted to say I’m proud of you… and maybe, to ask if there’s a chance to start again. As friends. Nothing more.”

James studied her for a moment before nodding slightly. “Friendship... I can afford that now.”

They exchanged no handshake, no hug, just a mutual understanding. Olivia left quietly, and as the door closed, James sighed.

Outside his office, the world buzzed, phones rang, executives walked briskly past, deals were being sealed. But in that quiet moment, James returned to his desk, pulled out the photo of his younger self tucked into the drawer, and stared at it.

As the days passed, the wind of change blew steadily across the corridors of JP Enterprises. The company’s reputation had not only recovered from the smear campaign instigated by Mark and Helen but had soared beyond expectation. The public, once skeptical, now admired James even more for his composure under pressure and his resilience amidst controversy.

Within the elegantly marbled boardroom of JP Enterprises, James convened a confidential meeting with his top executives and legal team. The atmosphere was laced with anticipation and reverence.

@ d37c9ef4:7fe34241

Em um cenário digital cada vez mais dinâmico e competitivo, plataformas de entretenimento online precisam se destacar oferecendo inovação, confiança e uma experiência marcante para seus usuários. É exatamente isso que a 73BET entrega. Com uma interface moderna, ampla gama de jogos e suporte de qualidade, a plataforma tem conquistado a preferência de jogadores brasileiros que buscam emoção, segurança e praticidade em um só lugar.

Conheça a 73BET: Simples, Rápida e Confiável A 73BET foi desenvolvida com o objetivo de proporcionar uma experiência fluida e satisfatória, tanto para iniciantes quanto para jogadores mais experientes. Seu site conta com um design intuitivo, responsivo e fácil de navegar, seja pelo computador ou dispositivo móvel. Além disso, o processo de cadastro é simples e rápido, permitindo que os usuários comecem a jogar em poucos minutos.

A plataforma é totalmente adaptada às necessidades do público brasileiro, oferecendo suporte em português, métodos de pagamento populares no país (como PIX e transferências bancárias) e promoções exclusivas pensadas para o jogador local. Tudo isso contribui para uma experiência mais confortável e personalizada.

Jogos para Todos os Gostos A variedade de jogos é um dos grandes diferenciais da 73BET. O catálogo é extenso e abrange desde os clássicos jogos de mesa até opções mais modernas com gráficos de última geração. Entre os principais destaques estão:

Slots Online (Caça-níqueis): Com centenas de títulos disponíveis, os jogos de slot da 73BET oferecem temas variados, bônus envolventes e jogabilidade dinâmica. É possível encontrar desde opções simples até máquinas com jackpots progressivos.

Jogos ao Vivo: Para quem busca interatividade, os jogos com crupiês ao vivo são uma excelente escolha. Eles proporcionam uma atmosfera imersiva e realista, onde o jogador pode acompanhar todas as ações em tempo real.

Jogos de Cartas e Mesa: Clássicos como poker, blackjack e roleta também marcam presença na plataforma, em diferentes versões para agradar todos os perfis de jogadores.

Apostas Esportivas: A 73BET também oferece um ambiente completo para quem gosta de esportes. Com cotações competitivas e cobertura de eventos nacionais e internacionais, é possível apostar em futebol, basquete, tênis e muito mais.

Experiência do Jogador: Suporte, Segurança e Recompensas Além da variedade de jogos, a 73BET se preocupa com a experiência completa do usuário. O suporte ao cliente é ágil e funciona 24 horas por dia, garantindo que qualquer dúvida ou problema seja resolvido com rapidez e eficiência.

A segurança também é um pilar fundamental da plataforma. A 73BET utiliza tecnologias avançadas de criptografia para proteger os dados dos usuários, além de contar com políticas claras de privacidade e jogo responsável.

Outro grande atrativo são os bônus e promoções. A plataforma oferece recompensas frequentes, como bônus de boas-vindas, cashback, giros grátis e campanhas sazonais. Esses incentivos tornam a jornada do jogador ainda mais emocionante e vantajosa.

Conclusão: Por que Escolher a 73BET? A 73BET se consolidou como uma das plataformas de entretenimento online mais completas e confiáveis do Brasil. Sua proposta é clara: oferecer diversão de qualidade, segurança nas transações e um atendimento que coloca o jogador em primeiro lugar.

Se você está procurando uma experiência diferenciada, com jogos variados, promoções imperdíveis e um ambiente seguro, a 73BET é a escolha ideal. Cadastre-se hoje mesmo e descubra por que milhares de brasileiros já estão aproveitando tudo o que essa plataforma tem a oferecer.

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce Says “We Can’t Ignore It” in Bitcoin 2025 Fireside Talk 

At the Bitcoin 2025 Conference this morning, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissioner Hester Peirce took the stage with Fold’s General Counsel Hailey Lennon for a fireside chat that pulled no punches.

Opening with a question about enforcement priorities since the change in administration, Lennon asked, “What are the current enforcement priorities, if any, in the digital asset space?” Peirce acknowledged the public’s frustration: “Some people have taken the fact that we haven’t moved forward with a ton of these cases as inaction—but there’s a lot to digest.” She stressed that the agency is actively bringing in outside perspectives, stating, “That’s really the way to get to good rules.” 

A core theme of the conversation was regulatory uncertainty. “One complaint I’ve had,” Peirce said, “is that in an environment of regulatory uncertainty, it’s much harder to identify bad actors—and it gives them more room to operate. Meanwhile, it pushes legitimate actors out of the U.S. or out of the industry entirely. We need to create a good environment for the good actors and a bad one for the bad actors.” 

Peirce also addressed her recent tweet hinting at disclosure requirements for projects potentially considered securities. 

Here's what the Crypto Task Force has been doing and some things we're thinking about: https://t.co/YHXAYhr23P

— Hester Peirce (@HesterPeirce) May 19, 2025

When asked about the explosion of memecoins and speculative tokens, Peirce didn’t hold back: “If you’re expecting to buy a memecoin and become a billionaire—buyer beware. Be an adult. If you want to speculate, go for it, but if something goes wrong, don’t come complaining to the government.” This confirms the value, and security of Bitcoin. 

She emphasized the importance of community participation, noting that “government works for the people,” and encouraged attendees to weigh in on issues like surveillance and financial freedom. “In the United States, we are all about freedom. Freedom to innovate. Your voices are so important for helping us think through these issues.” 

Peirce’s remarks echo the statements that JD Vance touched on yesterday during his speech at the Bitcoin 2025 Conference. They both emphasized that we, the American people, have the power to transform the traditional financial system, and fuel Bitcoin. 

Discussing Bitcoin’s growing presence in traditional finance, Lennon asked whether the SEC is prepared for that convergence. Peirce replied, “We can’t ignore it. When people are free to use something, it will eventually be incorporated into traditional financial products. We need to think about how it interacts with our regulatory framework—but the key is preserving people’s ability to transfer value on their own terms.”

Looking ahead, Peirce left attendees with a powerful reminder: “You don’t have to wait for the government. Demand transparency. Learn from failures. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and do better next time.” 

You can watch the full panel discussion and the rest of the Bitcoin 2025 Conference Day 3 below:

This post SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce Says “We Can’t Ignore It” in Bitcoin 2025 Fireside Talk  first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Jenna Montgomery.

@ c9badfea:610f861a

1. Install Sky Map (it's free and open source)
2. Launch the app and tap Accept, then tap OK
3. When asked to access the device's location, tap While Using The App
4. Tap somewhere on the screen to activate the menu, then tap ⁝ and select Settings
5. Disable Send Usage Statistics
6. Return to the main screen and enjoy stargazing!

ℹ️ Use the 🔍 icon in the upper toolbar to search for a specific celestial body, or tap the 👁️ icon to activate night mode

@ 9223d2fa:b57e3de7

12,600 steps

@ d37c9ef4:7fe34241

O universo do entretenimento digital tem crescido de forma acelerada nos últimos anos, e o Brasil se destaca como um dos mercados mais promissores da América Latina. Em meio a esse cenário, surge a plataforma BR2024, uma nova opção que está conquistando os jogadores brasileiros com sua proposta inovadora, interface moderna e variedade de jogos eletrizantes.

Conheça a Plataforma BR2024 Lançada com o objetivo de oferecer uma experiência diferenciada para o público brasileiro, a BR2024 combina tecnologia de ponta com um ambiente seguro e acessível. A plataforma foi totalmente desenvolvida pensando nas preferências locais, o que fica evidente já na interface, que é intuitiva, rápida e disponível em português.

O registro é simples e rápido, permitindo que novos usuários criem suas contas em poucos minutos. Além disso, a BR2024 se destaca pelo suporte ao cliente eficiente, com atendimento em tempo real e diversas opções de contato, incluindo chat ao vivo e e-mail.

Jogos para Todos os Gostos Um dos grandes destaques da BR2024 é a sua vasta seleção de jogos, que atende tanto os iniciantes quanto os jogadores mais experientes. Desde os clássicos jogos de cartas até opções modernas com gráficos de última geração, há sempre algo novo para explorar.

Entre os títulos mais populares, estão as roletas virtuais, jogos de dados, máquinas de giro (também conhecidas como slots), além de modalidades com dealers ao vivo — onde o jogador pode interagir com apresentadores reais, criando uma sensação muito próxima da experiência física. Há também seções dedicadas a jogos temáticos e sazonais, ideais para quem gosta de novidades.

Além disso, BR2024 firma parcerias com fornecedores de software de renome internacional, o que garante qualidade visual, jogabilidade fluida e resultados justos, auditados por empresas independentes.

Experiência Imersiva para o Jogador Brasileiro O que realmente diferencia a BR2024 de outras plataformas é o foco total na experiência do usuário. Desde o momento do login até o momento da vitória, tudo é pensado para que o jogador tenha conforto, confiança e diversão.

A plataforma oferece bônus generosos para novos membros, promoções regulares para usuários ativos e um sistema de fidelidade onde o jogador acumula pontos e pode trocar por vantagens exclusivas. Além disso, os métodos de pagamento são variados e incluem opções muito utilizadas no Brasil, como PIX, boleto bancário e carteiras digitais.

Outro ponto que chama a atenção é a compatibilidade com dispositivos móveis. A BR2024 funciona perfeitamente em smartphones e tablets, permitindo que o jogador se divirta a qualquer hora e em qualquer lugar, sem perder qualidade de imagem ou desempenho.

Conclusão A BR2024 chega ao mercado com uma proposta sólida e diferenciada. Com uma plataforma moderna, ampla variedade de jogos e foco total na experiência do usuário, ela se estabelece como uma das principais opções de entretenimento online para brasileiros em 2024. Se você busca diversão, segurança e inovação em um só lugar, vale a pena explorar tudo o que a BR2024 tem a oferecer.

@ cb4352cd:a16422d7

The Beyond Banking Conference was truly legendary. This groundbreaking event brought together over 200,000 participants from across the globe and set a new Guinness World Record. From the opening moments, it was clear this was more than just another blockchain event — it was a celebration of the future of finance.

💡 Global Impact and Diversity
The conference was streamed in eight languages, underscoring its universal appeal. Top speakers shared insights on how decentralized finance, AI, and emerging technologies are reshaping the financial landscape.

🎤 Inspiring Voices and Thought-Provoking Discussions
From deep dives into the future of DeFi to conversations about Web3 adoption, attendees gained valuable insights and a renewed sense of optimism. The energy and enthusiasm of the speakers sparked engaging discussions and set the tone for the industry’s next chapter.

🎁 Exciting Giveaways and the Ferrari Raffle
Adding to the excitement were thrilling giveaways, including raffle tickets for the Super Prize — a Ferrari. The grand raffle will take place on June 14th, promising participants a shot at winning this iconic supercar and capping off an unforgettable experience.

🏆 A Guinness World Record and a New Chapter in Web3
The event’s standout moment was the official announcement of a new Guinness World Record. This milestone will be formally recognized on June 14th, further solidifying the event’s place in Web3 history.

🙏 A Heartfelt Thank You
A sincere thank you goes out to all participants, speakers, the charismatic host, and the hardworking team behind the scenes. None of this would have been possible without the shared enthusiasm and unwavering support of the community.

https://t.me/deobank_conference_bot

The Beyond Banking Conference wasn’t just an event — it was a powerful testament to the innovative spirit and determination of the Web3 community. 🚀

@ 55b2e558:31b7679d

Moving out of a rental property can be stressful, especially when your bond is on the line. Between packing boxes and organizing your next place, the last thing you want to worry about is cleaning. That’s where we come in – the End of Lease Experts, delivering Spotless Move Outs that help you get your bond back, stress-free.

Why End of Lease Cleaning Matters When your lease ends, most real estate agents and landlords expect the property to be returned in the same – or better – condition than when you moved in. Missed spots, stained carpets, or dusty vents can result in a portion (or all) of your bond being withheld. A thorough, professional clean isn’t just recommended – it’s often required.

What Makes Us the Experts? At Brisbane Carpet Cleanere we specialize in bond cleaning and end-of-lease cleans that tick every box on your property manager’s checklist. Our trained cleaners use advanced equipment and eco-friendly products to ensure every surface shines. We’re not just surface cleaners – we get into the nooks, crannies, and forgotten corners too.

Our Comprehensive End-of-Lease Cleaning Includes: Full kitchen clean, including oven, stove, and range hood

Bathroom scrubbing, including tiles and grout

Wall spot cleaning and mark removal

Interior window and track cleaning

Carpet vacuuming and optional steam cleaning

Skirting boards, light fittings, and ceiling fans

Garage and outdoor area sweep (optional)

Bond Back Guarantee We’re so confident in the quality of our work that we offer a Bond Back Guarantee. If your agent or landlord isn’t satisfied, we’ll come back and clean for free. Our goal is simple: leave no trace behind so you can move out with peace of mind.

Save Time. Reduce Stress. Get Results. Hiring professional end-of-lease cleaners is an investment in peace of mind. Not only do you save hours of work, but you also increase your chances of getting your full bond back – without the hassle of re-cleans or disputes.

Whether you're in Brisbane or the surrounding suburbs, let us take the pressure off your move with a cleaning service that’s fast, affordable, and spotless.

Ready for a Hassle-Free Move? Call us- 0731529574 today or book online to schedule your End of Lease Clean. End of Lease Experts – Spotless Move Outs. Bond Back Guaranteed.

@ 123e53ec:df7e2608

Qu'est-ce que le Cyber-Mawonaj ?

Le Cyber-Mawonaj, c'est l'auto-défense numérique enracinée dans nos cultures afro-caribéennes. C'est refuser la plantation numérique des GAFAM pour cultiver nos propres jardins numériques libres.

Comme nos ancêtres marrons ont fui l'esclavage pour créer des communautés autonomes dans les mornes, nous fuyons la surveillance et l'exploitation des géants du web pour bâtir nos propres espaces.

Pourquoi maintenant ?

Nos données sont le nouveau sucre. Nos vies numériques, les nouvelles plantations. Facebook nous surveille. Google nous profile. Amazon nous exploite.

Pendant ce temps, la Guadeloupe vieillit, sa jeunesse fuit, son économie stagne. Nous devons créer MAINTENANT les outils de notre émancipation numérique et économique.

Nos valeurs

LIBERTÉ - Logiciels libres, données libres, esprits libres AUTONOMIE - Héberger nos services, contrôler nos outils SOLIDARITÉ - Partager les savoirs, mutualiser les ressources CULTURE - Ancrer la tech dans nos langues, nos récits, nos luttes SOBRIÉTÉ - Respecter la terre, économiser l'énergie

Notre vision

Imaginez une Guadeloupe où : - Chaque association a son cloud souverain - Chaque jeune apprend à coder en créole - Chaque entreprise utilise des outils libres - Chaque citoyen contrôle ses données

Ce n'est pas une utopie. C'est un projet.

L'appel

Rejoignez le Cyber-Mawonaj si vous êtes : - Fatigués de nourrir les algorithmes des autres - Prêts à apprendre et partager - Déterminés à construire notre souveraineté numérique

Comment ?

1. Apprenez - Formations aux outils libres
2. Créez - Vos propres services et contenus
3. Partagez - Vos savoirs et ressources
4. Connectez - Via le Fediverse, pas Facebook

Premier pas

Arrêtez de scroller. Commencez à construire.

https://o-k-i.net/

Fediverse : https://bokantaj.o-k-i.net/@sucupira https://gade.o-k-i.net/a/dkxone/video-channels https://www.tiktok.com/@cyber_mawonaj https://www.instagram.com/cyber_mawonaj/

---

"Nèg mawon ka kouri, men sé pou viv lib" (Le nègre marron court, mais c'est pour vivre libre)

CyberMawonaj #Guadeloupe #LogicielLibre

@ 4d41a7cb:7d3633cc

Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, registered his birthday as April 5, 1975, on his P2P Foundation profile. Many think that he chose this date because on that same day in 1933, the United States government confiscated the gold of the American people. Whether this was on purpose or not, what happened in this day is very important to understand how do we ended up here.

In 1933, as expressed in Roosevelt’s Executive Orders 6073, 6102, and 6260, the United States first declared bankruptcy. The bankrupt U.S. went into receivership in 1933. America was turned over via receivership and reorganization in favor of its creditors. These creditors, the International Bankers, from the beginning stated their intent, which was to plunder, bankrupt, conquer and enslave America and return it to its colonial status.1

As one of his first acts as President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared a “Banking Emergency” to bail out the Federal Reserve Bank, which had embezzled this country’s gold supply. The Congress gave the President dictatorial powers under the “War Powers Act of 1917” (amended 1933), written, by the way, by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.2

This day marked the official abandonment of the American Constitution, law and real money. Today, 92 years after this event, most of the people living today have never had any real money or paid for anything using real money; unless they used Bitcoin...

There could be no bankruptcy if there was not a private central bank lending paper currency to the government at interest, so we must start from 1913, when the Federal Reserve was created: a non-federal private bank with no reserves and the monopoly of issuing debt based paper currency in unlimited amounts and lending it to the government at interest by buying treasury bills. The fact that this currency is lent into existence at interest makes the debt mathematically impossible to be repaid; it can only be refinanced or defaulted.

Between 1929 and 1933, the Federal Reserve Bank reduced the currency supply by 33%, thereby creating the Great Depression, bankrupting the US government, stealing the Americans’ gold supply, and officially ending the gold standard. Since then the US dollar (money) was replaced with Federal Reserve Notes (debt). This was also the end of the Republican form of government and the beginning of a socialist mob rule democracy (Fascism).

“Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power.” — Benito Mussolini 

The United States government has been bankrupt since 1933, since it defaulted on its gold bonds. This type of bond existed until 1933, when the U.S. monetary system abandoned the gold standard. 3 From this year the government has been totally controlled by the International bankers and used as a tool to spread and maintain their power worldwide.

Many people think that the gold standard was abandoned in 1971, but this is not true; in fact, this happened in 1933 when the US dollar was replaced by Federal Reserve Notes that are 100% debt-based fiat paper currency.

The year 1933 in the United States marked:

• The end of the Republican form of government and the beginning of American Fascism
• The end of the United States dollar and its replacement by Federal Reserve Notes
• The abandonment of common law and replacement with military admiralty law
• The takeover of the United States government by International bankers
• A massive gold theft and the end of the US gold standard
• The exchange of rights with privileges and licenses
• The United States government bankruptcy

The next shameful event in our history which still plagues us to this day was the “War Powers Act of 1933.” This Act permitted President Roosevelt to make law in the form of Executive Order, bypass Congress and create his socialist state. We (citizens of this country) were ever after to be considered enemies of the United States who must be licensed to engage in any commercial activity. With the aid of the Federal Reserve (the same people who created the Depression), the President confiscated our gold and silver coin and replaced it with worthless pieces of paper and a debt system that will eventually destroy this great country. Our land and our labor were pledged to the Federal Reserve Bank, Inc., as collateral for a debt system that could never be paid.4

“Emergency Powers” means any form of military style government, martial law, or martial rule. Martial law and martial rule are not the same.

United States Congressional Record March 17, 1993 Vol. #33, page H- 1303, Congressman James Traficant, Jr. (Ohio) addressing the House:

“Mr. Speaker, we are here now in chapter 11. Members of Congress are official trustees presiding over the greatest reorganization of any Bankrupt entity in world history, the U.S. Government. We are setting forth, hopefully, a blueprint for our future”

“There are some who say it is a coroner’s report that will lead to our demise. It is an established fact that the United States Federal Government has been dissolved by the Emergency Banking Act, March 9, 1933, 48 Stat. 1, Public Law 89-719; dered by President Roosevelt, being bankrupt and insolvent. H.J.R. 192, 73rd Congress in session June 5, 1933 – Joint Resolution To Suspend The Gold Standard and Abrogate the Gold Clause dissolved the Sovereign Authority of the United States and the official capacities of all United States Governmental Offices, Officers, and Departments and is further evidence that the United States Federal Government exists today in name only” **“The receivers of the United States Bankruptcy are the International Bankers, via the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund”

“All United States Offices, Officials, and Departments are now operating within a de facto status in name only under Emergency War Powers. With the Constitutional Republican form of Government now dissolved, the receivers of the Bankruptcy have adopted a new form of government for the United States. This new form of government is known as a Democracy, being an established Socialist/Communist order under a new governor for America. This act was instituted and established by transferring and/or placing the Office of the Secretary of Treasury to that of the Governor of the International Monetary Fund. Public Law 94-564, page 8, Section H.R. 13955 read in part:”

“The U.S. Secretary of Treasury receives no compensation for representing the United States.”

The American Spirit

The intention of the founding fathers of the United States was to create a constitutional republic to protect natural human rights and escape from the tyrannical English monarchy and its usurious Bank of England's monetary system. They created an honest monetary system based on gold and silver (United State Dollar) and got rid of nobility titles, creating equality under the law.

Section 10 of the American Constitution says:

No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Let­ters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make anything but gold and silver Coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts; or grant any title of nobility.

The United States Dollar (1792-1933)

A dollar is a measure of weight defined by the Coinage Act of 1792 and 1900, which specifies a certain quantity—24.8 grains of gold or 371.25 grains of silver (from 1792 to 1900) when the American dollar was based on a bimetallic standard.

The Gold Standard Act of 1900 formally placed the United States on the gold standard, setting the value of one dollar at 25.8 grams of 90% pure gold, which fixed the price of gold at $20.67 per troy ounce. This standard was totally abandoned in 1933.

Gold and silver were such powerful money during the founding of the United States of America that the founding fathers declared that only gold or silver coins could be “money” in America.

But since the greedy bankers cannot profit from honest money they cannot print, they replaced the money with paper debt instruments. And by doing this, they have effectively enslaved the American people until today. My definition of modern slavery is working for a currency that someone else can create at no cost or effort. What's worse is that they even demand to be paid back and with interest!

Federal Reserve Notes (1913-present)

Federal Reserve Notes are not real money. Money that has metallic or other intrinsic value, as distinguished from paper currency, checks, and drafts.

Federal Reserve Notes (FRNs) are a legal fiction. An assumption that something is true even though it may be untrue. 5 The assumption that they are money, when in fact they are the opposite of money: debt or paper currency.

Paper money. Paper documents that circu­late as currency; bills drawn by a government against its own credit. 6 Like Goldsmiths' notes. Hist. Bankers' cash notes: promissory notes given by bankers to customers as acknowledgments of the receipt of mon­ey. • This term derives from the London banking business, which originally was transacted by goldsmiths.7

These notes were scientifically designed to bankrupt the government and slave the American people, as Alfred Owen Crozier warned one year before the bill for the creation of the FED was passed through Congress (1912):

If Congress yields and authorizes a private central bank as proposed by the pending bill, the end when the bubble bursts will be universal ruin and national bankruptcy.

Unfortunately, the bill was passed in 1913, and this private bank started printing a new currency different from the US dollar creating the great depression and effectible bankrupting the government like Alfred warned 20 years before.

Alfred also warned:

Thus the way is opened for an unlimited inflation of corporate paper currency issued by a mere private corporation with relatively small net assets and no government guarantee, every dollar supposed to be redeemable in gold, but with not a single dollar of gold necessarily held in the reserves of such corporation to accomplish such redemption.

Differently from what's commonly believed Federal Reserve Notes (FRNs) were never really “backed” by gold; they were never supposed to be hard currency. Currency backed by re­serves, esp. gold and silver reserves.

The United States government defaulted on its gold clauses, calling for payment in gold. This marked the end of the gold standard. A monetary system in which currency is convertible into its legal equivalent in gold or gold coin.

Since then we have been under a paper standard, where we use fake money as tender for payments. Paper standard. A monetary system based en­tirely on paper; a system of currency that is not convertible into gold or other precious metal.

People traded their coupons as money or “currency.” Currency is not money but a money substitute. Redeemable currency must promise to pay a dollar equivalent in gold or silver money. Federal Reserve Notes (FRNs) make no such promises and are not “money.” A Federal Reserve Note is a debt obligation of the federal United States government, not “money.” The federal United States government and the U.S. Congress were not and have never been authorized by the Constitution of the United States of America to issue currency of any kind, but only lawful money—gold and silver coin.8

A bona fide note can be used in a financial transaction to discharge the debt only because it is an unconditional promise to pay by the issuer to the bearer. Is a Federal Reserve Note a contract note, an unconditional promise to pay? At one time the Federal Reserve issued bona fide contractual notes and certificates, redeemable in gold and silver coin. Most people never saw or comprehended the contract. It went largely unread because the Federal Reserve very cunningly hid the contract on the face of the note by breaking it up into five separate lines of text with a significantly different typeface for each line and placing the president’s picture right in the middle of it. They even used the old attorney’s ruse of obscuring the most important text in fine print! Over time, the terms and conditions of the contract were diluted until eventually they literally became an I.O.U. for nothing.

FEDERAL RESERVE NOTE

• THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR ALL DEBT, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE, AND IT IS REDEEMABLE IN LAWFUL MONEY AT THE UNITED STATES TREASURY OR ANY FEDERAL RESERVE BANK.

• DATE: SERIES OF 1934

• WILL PAY TO THE BEARER ON DEMAND: ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS

• TREASURER OF THE UNITED STATES SIGNATURE

• SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY SIGNATURE

Nowadays FRNs say "This note is legal tender for all debts public and private" it tender debt but it does not pay the bearer on demand. It value was stolen by a counterfeiting technique commonly know as inflation.

One hundred dollars (SERIES OF 1934) will be 2480 grains of gold, or 159.4 grams, or 5.1249 troy ounces. Today one troy ounce is priced around $3,000 federal reserve notes. 5.1249 X 3,000 = $15,375 actual FRNs.

A $100 FRN bill today will buy 0.65% of a real gold $100 dollar certificate. That’s a -99.35% loss of purchasing power in the last 91 years.

FRNs savers have been rugged pulled!

Gold bugs where the winners...

But Bitcoin is even better...

Happy birthday Satoshi! April 5 will be forever remembered.

Satoshi... The man, the myth, the Legend...

@ 88cc134b:5ae99079

Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3... edit

@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9

This piece is the first in a series that will focus on things I think are a priority if your focus is similar to mine: building a strong family and safeguarding their future.

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Choosing the ideal place to raise a family is one of the most significant decisions you will ever make. For simplicity sake I will break down my thought process into key factors: strong property rights, the ability to grow your own food, access to fresh water, the freedom to own and train with guns, and a dependable community.

A Jurisdiction with Strong Property Rights

Strong property rights are essential and allow you to build on a solid foundation that is less likely to break underneath you. Regions with a history of limited government and clear legal protections for landowners are ideal. Personally I think the US is the single best option globally, but within the US there is a wide difference between which state you choose. Choose carefully and thoughtfully, think long term. Obviously if you are not American this is not a realistic option for you, there are other solid options available especially if your family has mobility. I understand many do not have this capability to easily move, consider that your first priority, making movement and jurisdiction choice possible in the first place.

Abundant Access to Fresh Water

Water is life. I cannot overstate the importance of living somewhere with reliable, clean, and abundant freshwater. Some regions face water scarcity or heavy regulations on usage, so prioritizing a place where water is plentiful and your rights to it are protected is critical. Ideally you should have well access so you are not tied to municipal water supplies. In times of crisis or chaos well water cannot be easily shutoff or disrupted. If you live in an area that is drought prone, you are one drought away from societal chaos. Not enough people appreciate this simple fact.

Grow Your Own Food

A location with fertile soil, a favorable climate, and enough space for a small homestead or at the very least a garden is key. In stable times, a small homestead provides good food and important education for your family. In times of chaos your family being able to grow and raise healthy food provides a level of self sufficiency that many others will lack. Look for areas with minimal restrictions, good weather, and a culture that supports local farming.

Guns

The ability to defend your family is fundamental. A location where you can legally and easily own guns is a must. Look for places with a strong gun culture and a political history of protecting those rights. Owning one or two guns is not enough and without proper training they will be a liability rather than a benefit. Get comfortable and proficient. Never stop improving your skills. If the time comes that you must use a gun to defend your family, the skills must be instinct. Practice. Practice. Practice.

A Strong Community You Can Depend On

No one thrives alone. A ride or die community that rallies together in tough times is invaluable. Seek out a place where people know their neighbors, share similar values, and are quick to lend a hand. Lead by example and become a good neighbor, people will naturally respond in kind. Small towns are ideal, if possible, but living outside of a major city can be a solid balance in terms of work opportunities and family security.

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Let me know if you found this helpful. My plan is to break down how I think about these five key subjects in future posts.

@ cefb08d1:f419beff

https://stacker.news/items/995022

@ ec9bd746:df11a9d0

🌍 Time Window:

🕘 When: Every even week on Sunday at 9:00 PM CET
🗺️ Where: https://cornychat.com/eurocorn

Start: 21:00 CET (Prague, UTC+1)
End: approx. 02:00 CET (Prague, UTC+1, next day)
Duration: usually 5+ hours.

| Region | Local Time Window | Convenience Level | |-----------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------| | Europe (CET, Prague) 🇨🇿🇩🇪 | 21:00–02:00 CET | ✅ Very Good; evening & night | | East Coast North America (EST) 🇺🇸🇨🇦 | 15:00–20:00 EST | ✅ Very Good; afternoon & early evening | | West Coast North America (PST) 🇺🇸🇨🇦 | 12:00–17:00 PST | ✅ Very Good; midday & afternoon | | Central America (CST) 🇲🇽🇨🇷🇬🇹 | 14:00–19:00 CST | ✅ Very Good; afternoon & evening | | South America West (Peru/Colombia PET/COT) 🇵🇪🇨🇴 | 15:00–20:00 PET/COT | ✅ Very Good; afternoon & evening | | South America East (Brazil/Argentina/Chile, BRT/ART/CLST) 🇧🇷🇦🇷🇨🇱 | 17:00–22:00 BRT/ART/CLST | ✅ Very Good; early evening | | United Kingdom/Ireland (GMT) 🇬🇧🇮🇪 | 20:00–01:00 GMT | ✅ Very Good; evening hours (midnight convenient) | | Eastern Europe (EET) 🇷🇴🇬🇷🇺🇦 | 22:00–03:00 EET | ✅ Good; late evening & early night (slightly late) | | Africa (South Africa, SAST) 🇿🇦 | 22:00–03:00 SAST | ✅ Good; late evening & overnight (late-night common) | | New Zealand (NZDT) 🇳🇿 | 09:00–14:00 NZDT (next day) | ✅ Good; weekday morning & afternoon | | Australia (AEDT, Sydney) 🇦🇺 | 07:00–12:00 AEDT (next day) | ✅ Good; weekday morning to noon | | East Africa (Kenya, EAT) 🇰🇪 | 23:00–04:00 EAT | ⚠️ Slightly late (night hours; late night common) | | Russia (Moscow, MSK) 🇷🇺 | 23:00–04:00 MSK | ⚠️ Slightly late (join at start is fine, very late night) | | Middle East (UAE, GST) 🇦🇪🇴🇲 | 00:00–05:00 GST (next day) | ⚠️ Late night start (midnight & early morning, but shorter attendance plausible)| | Japan/Korea (JST/KST) 🇯🇵🇰🇷 | 05:00–10:00 JST/KST (next day) | ⚠️ Early; convenient joining from ~07:00 onwards possible | | China (Beijing, CST) 🇨🇳 | 04:00–09:00 CST (next day) | ❌ Challenging; very early morning start (better ~07:00 onwards) | | India (IST) 🇮🇳 | 01:30–06:30 IST (next day) | ❌ Very challenging; overnight timing typically difficult|

---

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

CEO Paolo Ardoino Said, “Tether Will Be the Biggest Bitcoin Miner in the World”

Today, at the 2025 Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas, the CEO of Tether Paolo Ardoino talked about the investments, inventions and Bitcoin mining of Tether.

Paolo Ardoino began his speech by saying, “last year we made $13 billion in profit. We keep a $120 billion blast in US treasuries as of now. We have committed to bring re-invest a lot into Bitcoin. We now have more than 100,000 Bitcoin that we own as a company.”

JUST IN: Tether announces it owns over 100,000 #Bitcoin and more than 50 tons of gold. pic.twitter.com/0Ja83hCs1H

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) May 29, 2025

“Bitcoin is perfect, gold is imperfect,” said Paolo

Ardoino explained a little of their history with Bitcoin. “We are a company that was born with Bitcoin,” stated. ”We are all Bitcoiners at heart. Everyone in our company loves Bitcoin.”

El Salvador has been a supporter of Bitcoin and Paolo mentioned, “we have our headquarters in El Salvador, the original Bitcoin country. We support el Salvador.”

During his speech, he made a big announcement of Tether becoming the biggest Bitcoin miner in the world. 

“We invested 2 billion in energy production and bitcoin mining actually is a bit more than that. Something that we have been very shy to say, but I think that it’s very realistic that by the end of the year, Tether will be the biggest Bitcoin miner in the world, even including all the public companies.”

Ardoino mentioned their new AI system made for society and not for corporations. 

“I want my AI agent to have a non-custodial wallet, so I can grant him some money. The money is kept by the AI agent and the AI agent will work for me. Will not work under the rules and conditions of someone else,” announced Ardoino. “We have announced our AI platform recently. It’s called QVAC.”

Closing, Ardoino talked about their investment with Rumble and their new project. He stated, “we are collaborating to launch a Rumble Wallet that will be Bitcoin first and a little bit of stable coins wallet for the people.”

This post CEO Paolo Ardoino Said, “Tether Will Be the Biggest Bitcoin Miner in the World” first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Oscar Zarraga Perez.

@ c066aac5:6a41a034

I’m drawn to extremities in art. The louder, the bolder, the more outrageous, the better. Bold art takes me out of the mundane into a whole new world where anything and everything is possible. Having grown up in the safety of the suburban midwest, I was a bit of a rebellious soul in search of the satiation that only came from the consumption of the outrageous. My inclination to find bold art draws me to NOSTR, because I believe NOSTR can be the place where the next generation of artistic pioneers go to express themselves. I also believe that as much as we are able, were should invite them to come create here.

My Background: A Small Side Story

My father was a professional gamer in the 80s, back when there was no money or glory in the avocation. He did get a bit of spotlight though after the fact: in the mid 2000’s there were a few parties making documentaries about that era of gaming as well as current arcade events (namely 2007’sChasing GhostsandThe King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters). As a result of these documentaries, there was a revival in the arcade gaming scene. My family attended events related to the documentaries or arcade gaming and I became exposed to a lot of things I wouldn’t have been able to find. The producer ofThe King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters had previously made a documentary calledNew York Dollwhich was centered around the life of bassist Arthur Kane. My 12 year old mind was blown: The New York Dolls were a glam-punk sensation dressed in drag. The music was from another planet. Johnny Thunders’ guitar playing was like Chuck Berry with more distortion and less filter. Later on I got to meet the Galaga record holder at the time, Phil Day, in Ottumwa Iowa. Phil is an Australian man of high intellect and good taste. He exposed me to great creators such as Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Shakespeare, Lou Reed, artists who created things that I had previously found inconceivable.

I believe this time period informed my current tastes and interests, but regrettably I think it also put coals on the fire of rebellion within. I stopped taking my parents and siblings seriously, the Christian faith of my family (which I now hold dearly to) seemed like a mundane sham, and I felt I couldn’t fit in with most people because of my avant-garde tastes. So I write this with the caveat that there should be a way to encourage these tastes in children without letting them walk down the wrong path. There is nothing inherently wrong with bold art, but I’d advise parents to carefully find ways to cultivate their children’s tastes without completely shutting them down and pushing them away as a result. My parents were very loving and patient during this time; I thank God for that.

With that out of the way, lets dive in to some bold artists:

Nicolas Cage: Actor

There is an excellent video by Wisecrack on Nicolas Cage that explains him better than I will, which I will linkhere. Nicolas Cage rejects the idea that good acting is tied to mere realism; all of his larger than life acting decisions are deliberate choices. When that clicked for me, I immediately realized the man is a genius. He borrows from Kabuki and German Expressionism, art forms that rely on exaggeration to get the message across. He has even created his own acting style, which he calls Nouveau Shamanic. He augments his imagination to go from acting to being. Rather than using the old hat of method acting, he transports himself to a new world mentally. The projects he chooses to partake in are based on his own interests or what he considers would be a challenge (making a bad script good for example). Thus it doesn’t matter how the end result comes out; he has already achieved his goal as an artist. Because of this and because certain directors don’t know how to use his talents, he has a noticeable amount of duds in his filmography. Dig around the duds, you’ll find some pure gold. I’d personally recommend the filmsPig, Joe, Renfield, and his Christmas film The Family Man.

Nick Cave: Songwriter

What a wild career this man has had! From the apocalyptic mayhem of his band The Birthday Party to the pensive atmosphere of his albumGhosteen, it seems like Nick Cave has tried everything. I think his secret sauce is that he’s always working. He maintains an excellent newsletter calledThe Red Hand Files, he has written screenplays such asLawless, he has written books, he has made great film scores such asThe Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, the man is religiously prolific. I believe that one of the reasons he is prolific is that he’s not afraid to experiment. If he has an idea, he follows it through to completion. From the albumMurder Ballads(which is comprised of what the title suggests) to his rejected sequel toGladiator(Gladiator: Christ Killer), he doesn’t seem to be afraid to take anything on. This has led to some over the top works as well as some deeply personal works. Albums likeSkeleton TreeandGhosteenwere journeys through the grief of his son’s death. The Boatman’s Callis arguably a better break-up album than anything Taylor Swift has put out. He’s not afraid to be outrageous, he’s not afraid to offend, but most importantly he’s not afraid to be himself. Works I’d recommend include The Birthday Party’sLive 1981-82, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’The Boatman’s Call, and the filmLawless.

Jim Jarmusch: Director

I consider Jim’s films to be bold almost in an ironic sense: his works are bold in that they are, for the most part, anti-sensational. He has a rule that if his screenplays are criticized for a lack of action, he makes them even less eventful. Even with sensational settings his films feel very close to reality, and they demonstrate the beauty of everyday life. That's what is bold about his art to me: making the sensational grounded in reality while making everyday reality all the more special. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai is about a modern-day African-American hitman who strictly follows the rules of the ancient Samurai, yet one can resonate with the humanity of a seemingly absurd character. Only Lovers Left Aliveis a vampire love story, but in the middle of a vampire romance one can see their their own relationships in a new deeply human light. Jim’s work reminds me that art reflects life, and that there is sacred beauty in seemingly mundane everyday life. I personally recommend his filmsPaterson,Down by Law, andCoffee and Cigarettes.

NOSTR: We Need Bold Art

NOSTR is in my opinion a path to a better future. In a world creeping slowly towards everything apps, I hope that the protocol where the individual owns their data wins over everything else. I love freedom and sovereignty. If NOSTR is going to win the race of everything apps, we need more than Bitcoin content. We need more than shirtless bros paying for bananas in foreign countries and exercising with girls who have seductive accents. Common people cannot see themselves in such a world. NOSTR needs to catch the attention of everyday people. I don’t believe that this can be accomplished merely by introducing more broadly relevant content; people are searching for content that speaks to them. I believe that NOSTR can and should attract artists of all kinds because NOSTR is one of the few places on the internet where artists can express themselves fearlessly. Getting zaps from NOSTR’s value-for-value ecosystem has far less friction than crowdfunding a creative project or pitching investors that will irreversibly modify an artist’s vision. Having a place where one can post their works without fear of censorship should be extremely enticing. Having a place where one can connect with fellow humans directly as opposed to a sea of bots should seem like the obvious solution. If NOSTR can become a safe haven for artists to express themselves and spread their work, I believe that everyday people will follow. The banker whose stressful job weighs on them will suddenly find joy with an original meme made by a great visual comedian. The programmer for a healthcare company who is drowning in hopeless mundanity could suddenly find a new lust for life by hearing the song of a musician who isn’t afraid to crowdfund their their next project by putting their lighting address on the streets of the internet. The excel guru who loves independent film may find that NOSTR is the best way to support non corporate movies. My closing statement: continue to encourage the artists in your life as I’m sure you have been, but while you’re at it give them the purple pill. You may very well be a part of building a better future.

@ da0b9bc3:4e30a4a9

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@ 502ab02a:a2860397

ย้อนกลับไปเมื่อปี 2015 ในเมืองเบิร์กลีย์ รัฐแคลิฟอร์เนีย มีนักชีววิทยาเชิงวิศวกรรมชื่อ Dr. Uma Valeti ผู้เป็นทั้งนักวิจัยโรคหัวใจและอดีตศัลยแพทย์หัวใจ เกิดแนวคิดที่ไม่ธรรมดาว่า "เขาจะสร้างเนื้อในห้องแล็บ เหมือนที่เราสร้างหัวใจเทียมในโรงพยาบาล" นั่นคือการสร้างเนื้อโดยไม่ต้องฆ่าสัตว์เลยแม้แต่ตัวเดียว เขาไม่ได้เพ้อฝันแบบลอยๆ เพราะเขาเองเป็นคนอินเดียที่เติบโตมาในครอบครัวมังสวิรัติ แต่กลับทำงานในวงการแพทย์ที่เกี่ยวข้องกับการปลูกถ่ายอวัยวะอยู่หลายปี และวันหนึ่ง เขาเห็นความเชื่อมโยงบางอย่างระหว่างเซลล์กล้ามเนื้อของหัวใจกับกล้ามเนื้อของเนื้อสัตว์

Valeti มองเห็นปัญหาจากอุตสาหกรรมปศุสัตว์ในแง่มลพิษ การใช้ทรัพยากร และความโหดร้ายของระบบผลิตอาหารในโลกยุคใหม่ แนวคิดนี้กลายเป็นจริงเมื่อเขาร่วมก่อตั้งบริษัท Memphis Meats ขึ้นในปีนั้น พร้อมกับเพื่อนร่วมอุดมการณ์อีกสองคน ได้แก่ Nicholas Genovese นักวิจัยด้านสเต็มเซลล์ และ Will Clem นักวิทยาศาสตร์ผู้เชี่ยวชาญด้านวิศวกรรมชีวภาพผู้เคยมีประสบการณ์จากการเปิดร้านบาร์บีคิวของตัวเอง ความฝันของพวกเขาคือการสร้าง "เนื้อแท้" ที่ไม่ต้องใช้ฟาร์ม ไม่ต้องฆ่าสัตว์ และไม่ต้องพึ่งทรัพยากรธรรมชาติอย่างมหาศาลแบบระบบปศุสัตว์ทั่วไป โดยนำเซลล์กล้ามเนื้อจากสัตว์มาเพาะเลี้ยงในห้องปฏิบัติการ แล้วกระตุ้นให้เติบโตด้วยสารอาหาร สารกระตุ้นการเจริญเติบโต และโครงสร้างที่เลียนแบบเนื้อเยื่อจริง ผลลัพธ์ที่ได้คือเนื้อไก่ เนื้อวัว และเนื้อหมู ที่หน้าตา กลิ่น และรสชาติเหมือนเนื้อที่ผู้คนคุ้นเคย แต่อยู่ในจานโดยไม่ต้องผ่านชีวิตสัตว์แม้แต่ชีวิตเดียว

เทคโนโลยีที่ Memphis Meats ใช้คือการเก็บเซลล์ต้นกำเนิดกล้ามเนื้อ (muscle stem cells) จากสัตว์ แล้วนำมาบ่มเพาะในห้องแล็บในสภาพแวดล้อมที่เหมาะสม ด้วยอาหารเหลวที่มีสารอาหารครบถ้วน เซลล์เหล่านั้นจะเจริญเติบโต แบ่งตัว และก่อตัวเป็นกล้ามเนื้อที่เหมือนกับเนื้อจริงทุกประการ การทดลองแรกประสบผลสำเร็จในปี 2016 เมื่อพวกเขาสร้างลูกชิ้นเนื้อวัวเพาะเลี้ยงได้เป็นครั้งแรกของโลก แม้ราคาจะสูงถึง 18,000 ดอลลาร์ต่อปอนด์ก็ตาม แต่สิ่งนี้คือการประกาศว่า "ของจริง" มาแล้ว

ความสำเร็จนี้ดึงดูดทั้งสายตาของโลก และเงินทุนจากบริษัทยักษ์ใหญ่ หนึ่งในผู้ลงทุนรายแรกคือ Tyson Foods บริษัทเนื้อสัตว์รายใหญ่ของอเมริกา ตามมาด้วย Bill Gates, Richard Branson และ Cargill ซึ่งต่างเห็นตรงกันว่านี่คือทิศทางใหม่ของอุตสาหกรรมอาหารโลก แต่การที่บริษัทเนื้อสัตว์ใหญ่ๆ เข้ามาร่วมลงทุน กลับสร้างคำถามถึงความจริงใจหรือการวางหมากล่วงหน้าเพื่อควบคุมอนาคตของอาหารในรูปแบบใหม่

เม็ดเงินจากภาคเอกชนไหลเข้ามาไม่ขาดสาย รวมถึงการสนับสนุนเชิงนโยบายจากหน่วยงานรัฐบาลสหรัฐฯ ที่เริ่มวางกรอบกำกับดูแลอาหารเพาะเลี้ยงอย่างจริงจัง ทว่าเบื้องหลังภาพฝันของเนื้ออนาคตนั้นก็มีมุมที่ต้องจับตามอง เพราะแม้จะใช้คำว่า “ปลอดภัย” และ “ยั่งยืน” เป็นหัวใจหลักในการสื่อสาร แต่องค์ประกอบหลายประการในกระบวนการผลิต เช่น เซรั่มจากเลือดวัว (FBS) ที่ยังใช้ในบางเฟสของการทดลอง หรือการเพาะเลี้ยงในสารอาหารสังเคราะห์ที่ต้องอาศัยเทคโนโลยีขั้นสูง ล้วนเป็นเรื่องที่ห่างไกลจากคำว่า "ธรรมชาติ" ไปมากโข

เมื่อเข้าสู่ปี 2021 บริษัท Memphis Meats ได้เปลี่ยนชื่อใหม่เป็น Upside Foods พร้อมกับการขยับสถานะจากสตาร์ตอัปมาเป็นผู้นำในตลาดเนื้อเพาะเลี้ยงอย่างเต็มตัว พร้อมกับเปลี่ยนโลโก้และทิศทางแบรนด์จากภาพลักษณ์นักวิทยาศาสตร์มาสู่แบรนด์ที่เข้าถึงผู้บริโภคมากขึ้น เน้นความยั่งยืน ความเป็นมิตรกับสัตว์ และวิธีการผลิตที่ "ชนะใจ" คนรุ่นใหม่ การเปลี่ยนชื่อครั้งนี้ไม่ใช่เพียงกลยุทธ์ด้านแบรนดิ้ง แต่สะท้อนถึงความทะเยอทะยานที่ต้องการให้ผู้บริโภคมองอาหารในมุมใหม่ ไม่ใช่สิ่งที่มาจากฟาร์ม แต่เป็นสิ่งที่มาจากการออกแบบ วิศวกรรม และนวัตกรรม

บริษัทเปิดโรงงานเชิงพาณิชย์แห่งแรกในปี 2022 ที่เมือง Emeryville แคลิฟอร์เนีย ชื่อว่า EPIC (Engineering, Production and Innovation Center) ซึ่งสามารถผลิตเนื้อไก่เพาะเลี้ยงในปริมาณมากได้จริง เพื่อรองรับการผลิตเชิงพาณิชย์ในอนาคต พร้อมกับสร้างความร่วมมือกับภาครัฐเพื่อเร่งให้ผลิตภัณฑ์ผ่านมาตรฐานความปลอดภัยของ FDA และ USDA

สิ่งที่น่าสนใจยิ่งกว่านั้นคือ ความร่วมมือระหว่าง Upside Foods กับหน่วยงานรัฐ เช่น FDA และ USDA เพื่อผลักดันให้ผลิตภัณฑ์เนื้อเพาะเลี้ยงได้รับอนุญาตวางขายในตลาดอเมริกา ซึ่งกลายเป็นจริงในกลางปี 2023 เมื่อ Upside Foods และ Good Meat ได้รับไฟเขียวอย่างเป็นทางการจาก FDA ให้สามารถวางจำหน่ายเนื้อไก่เพาะเลี้ยงแก่ผู้บริโภคได้

ความสัมพันธ์ระหว่าง Upside Foods กับรัฐบาลนั้นน่าสนใจไม่น้อย เพราะนี่คือครั้งแรกในประวัติศาสตร์ที่หน่วยงานรัฐของสหรัฐฯ อย่าง FDA อนุมัติการบริโภคเนื้อสัตว์เพาะเลี้ยงจากห้องแล็บเมื่อเดือนพฤศจิกายน 2022 โดยระบุว่า “ไม่มีข้อกังวลทางความปลอดภัย” แม้จะยังไม่มีข้อมูลเปิดเผยครบทุกขั้นตอนของกระบวนการผลิตอย่างโปร่งใสก็ตาม การอนุมัติครั้งนี้จึงเป็นได้ทั้งจุดเริ่มต้นของการปฏิวัติอาหาร หรือจุดเริ่มต้นของการสร้างอำนาจผูกขาดของบริษัทที่ครอบครองสิทธิบัตรเทคโนโลยีเพาะเลี้ยงเนื้อ เพราะในอนาคตอันใกล้ ถ้าอาหารทุกอย่างต้องผ่านระบบแล็บ ผ่านเทคโนโลยีเฉพาะ และผ่านลิขสิทธิ์เฉพาะ ประชาชนก็จะไม่มีวันเป็นเจ้าของอาหารได้อีกต่อไป

แต่มากกว่าความสำเร็จด้านเทคโนโลยีคือคำถามที่ลึกซึ้งยิ่งกว่า ว่าการผลิตอาหารในห้องแล็บเช่นนี้ ทำให้เกษตรกรรายย่อยหมดสิทธิ์ในการผลิตเนื้อหรือไม่? เพราะเทคโนโลยีระดับสูงนี้ต้องใช้เครื่องมือ ห้องปฏิบัติการ และต้นทุนที่เกษตรกรธรรมดาไม่สามารถเข้าถึงได้ และสุดท้ายแล้ว ผู้บริโภคต้องซื้อเนื้อจากบริษัทยักษ์ใหญ่เท่านั้น โลกใหม่ของอาหารกำลังผลักมนุษย์ให้เป็นเพียงผู้ซื้อ ไม่ใช่ผู้ผลิตอีกต่อไป

แน่นอนว่า Upside Foods อาจไม่ได้ตั้งใจผูกขาดตั้งแต่แรก แต่เมื่อเงินทุน เบื้องหลัง และการอนุญาตจากรัฐ เริ่มขับเคลื่อนไปในทิศทางเดียวกัน มันก็ไม่ต่างอะไรจากการร่างระบบเศรษฐกิจอาหารขึ้นใหม่ โดยมีศูนย์กลางอยู่ที่ห้องแล็บ ไม่ใช่ทุ่งหญ้า การเปลี่ยนแปลงนี้จึงไม่ใช่แค่เรื่องของนวัตกรรมเทคโนโลยี แต่คือการเปลี่ยนแปลงโครงสร้างความสัมพันธ์ระหว่างมนุษย์กับอาหารอย่างสิ้นเชิง และนั่นคือสิ่งที่เฮียอยากให้เพื่อนๆได้คิดก่อนกลืนคำแรกลงไป

สิ่งที่น่าคิดนั้นก็คือ ในโลกที่อาหารกลายเป็นสินทรัพย์ปัญญาแทนที่จะเป็นสิทธิพื้นฐาน การจะปลูก เลี้ยง หรือแลกเปลี่ยนอาหารอาจกลายเป็นเรื่องผิดกฎหมาย และเกษตรกรอาจเหลือบทบาทเพียงคนเฝ้าเครื่องจักรให้กับบริษัทข้ามชาติที่ถือสิทธิบัตรเนื้อ ความฝันที่สวยงามของเนื้อที่ปลอดการฆ่า จึงควรถูกตรวจสอบด้วยสายตาที่เปิดกว้างแต่ไม่ไร้เดียงสา เพราะอนาคตของอาหารนั้น ไม่ใช่แค่เรื่องบนโต๊ะอาหาร แต่เป็นเรื่องของอำนาจ ความเป็นเจ้าของ และสิทธิของประชาชนในฐานะมนุษย์ผู้มีชีวิตบนโลกใบนี้ #pirateketo #กูต้องรู้มั๊ย #ม้วนหางสิลูก #siamstr

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

The company unveils a service to generate returns from the Lightning Network while maintaining full control over one’s bitcoin.

Amboss, a company dedicated to developing the Lightning Network ecosystem, has announced the launch of Rails, a platform that enables users to earn yields on their bitcoin while retaining complete custody.

Rails stands out as the first fully self-custodial yield-generation service built specifically for the Lightning Network. Users can act as Liquidity Providers (LPs) while maintaining full control over their funds, contributing at the same time to improving the performance and scalability of the Lightning Network.

The service leverages Amboss’ AI infrastructure to optimize the speed, reliability, and capacity of Lightning transactions.

How it works

Rails’ yield-generation mechanism is based on two main activities:

• Payment routing: users earn fees by facilitating payment routing through the Lightning Network;
• Liquidity leasing: by providing liquidity to other participants in the LN network.

Although returns are not guaranteed, the performance demonstrated by companies like Block is notable. During the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas, Miles Suter of Block revealed that their routing node is generating a 9.7% APR on deposited bitcoin while maintaining control over private keys.

Strategic partnerships

Amboss has entered into partnerships with CoinCorner and Flux to launch Rails. CoinCorner has integrated the service into its exchange and payment platforms, while Flux aims to expand the Lightning Network’s role in global payments.

David Boylan, CFO of CoinCorner, stated:

“Rails offers a practical way for businesses like ours to participate in the Lightning Network’s growth. We’ve been using the Lightning Network for years, and Rails provides a structured approach to engaging with its economy, particularly through liquidity leasing and payment routing.”

Two complementary solutions

Rails offers two distinct services:

• Rails LP: designed for businesses with bitcoin treasuries, custodians, and high-net-worth individuals, with a minimum commitment of 1 BTC for one year;
• Liquidity subscriptions: aimed at businesses accepting bitcoin payments, with fees starting from 0.5%.

Jesse Shrader, co-founder and CEO of Amboss, commented:

“Rails is a transformative force for the Lightning Network. It’s not just about yield — it’s about enabling businesses to strengthen the network while earning on their bitcoins. This is a critical step in bitcoin’s evolution as a global medium of exchange.”

The post Amboss launches Rails: a service to earn yields from the Lightning Network appeared first on Atlas21.

@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9

Capitalism is the most effective system for scaling innovation. The pursuit of profit is an incredibly powerful human incentive. Most major improvements to human society and quality of life have resulted from this base incentive. Market competition often results in the best outcomes for all.

That said, some projects can never be monetized. They are open in nature and a business model would centralize control. Open protocols like bitcoin and nostr are not owned by anyone and if they were it would destroy the key value propositions they provide. No single entity can or should control their use. Anyone can build on them without permission.

As a result, open protocols must depend on donation based grant funding from the people and organizations that rely on them. This model works but it is slow and uncertain, a grind where sustainability is never fully reached but rather constantly sought. As someone who has been incredibly active in the open source grant funding space, I do not think people truly appreciate how difficult it is to raise charitable money and deploy it efficiently.

Projects that can be monetized should be. Profitability is a super power. When a business can generate revenue, it taps into a self sustaining cycle. Profit fuels growth and development while providing projects independence and agency. This flywheel effect is why companies like Google, Amazon, and Apple have scaled to global dominance. The profit incentive aligns human effort with efficiency. Businesses must innovate, cut waste, and deliver value to survive.

Contrast this with non monetized projects. Without profit, they lean on external support, which can dry up or shift with donor priorities. A profit driven model, on the other hand, is inherently leaner and more adaptable. It is not charity but survival. When survival is tied to delivering what people want, scale follows naturally.

The real magic happens when profitable, sustainable businesses are built on top of open protocols and software. Consider the many startups building on open source software stacks, such as Start9, Mempool, and Primal, offering premium services on top of the open source software they build out and maintain. Think of companies like Block or Strike, which leverage bitcoin’s open protocol to offer their services on top. These businesses amplify the open software and protocols they build on, driving adoption and improvement at a pace donations alone could never match.

When you combine open software and protocols with profit driven business the result are lean, sustainable companies that grow faster and serve more people than either could alone. Bitcoin’s network, for instance, benefits from businesses that profit off its existence, while nostr will expand as developers monetize apps built on the protocol.

Capitalism scales best because competition results in efficiency. Donation funded protocols and software lay the groundwork, while market driven businesses build on top. The profit incentive acts as a filter, ensuring resources flow to what works, while open systems keep the playing field accessible, empowering users and builders. Together, they create a flywheel of innovation, growth, and global benefit.

@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9

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.

@ 34f1ddab:2ca0cf7c

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Act fast and secure your digital assets with cryptrecver.com.Losing access to your cryptocurrency can feel like losing a part of your future. Whether it’s due to a forgotten password, a damaged seed backup, or a simple mistake in a transfer, the stress can be overwhelming. Fortunately, cryptrecver.com is here to assist! With our expert-led recovery services, you can safely and swiftly reclaim your lost Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

# Why Trust Crypt Recver? 🤝

🛠️ Expert Recovery Solutions\ At Crypt Recver, we specialize in addressing complex wallet-related issues. Our skilled engineers have the tools and expertise to handle:

• Partially lost or forgotten seed phrases
• Extracting funds from outdated or invalid wallet addresses
• Recovering data from damaged hardware wallets
• Restoring coins from old or unsupported wallet formats

You’re not just getting a service; you’re gaining a partner in your cryptocurrency journey.

🚀 Fast and Efficient Recovery\ We understand that time is crucial in crypto recovery. Our optimized systems enable you to regain access to your funds quickly, focusing on speed without compromising security. With a success rate of over 90%, you can rely on us to act swiftly on your behalf.

🔒 Privacy is Our Priority\ Your confidentiality is essential. Every recovery session is conducted with the utmost care, ensuring all processes are encrypted and confidential. You can rest assured that your sensitive information remains private.

💻 Advanced Technology\ Our proprietary tools and brute-force optimization techniques maximize recovery efficiency. Regardless of how challenging your case may be, our technology is designed to give you the best chance at retrieving your crypto.

Our Recovery Services Include: 📈

• Bitcoin Recovery: Lost access to your Bitcoin wallet? We help recover lost wallets, private keys, and passphrases.
• Transaction Recovery: Mistakes happen — whether it’s an incorrect wallet address or a lost password, let us manage the recovery.
• Cold Wallet Restoration: If your cold wallet is failing, we can safely extract your assets and migrate them into a secure new wallet.
• Private Key Generation: Lost your private key? Our experts can help you regain control using advanced methods while ensuring your privacy.

⚠️ What We Don’t Do\ While we can handle many scenarios, some limitations exist. For instance, we cannot recover funds stored in custodial wallets or cases where there is a complete loss of four or more seed words without partial information available. We are transparent about what’s possible, so you know what to expect

# Don’t Let Lost Crypto Hold You Back!

Did you know that between 3 to 3.4 million BTC — nearly 20% of the total supply — are estimated to be permanently lost? Don’t become part of that statistic! Whether it’s due to a forgotten password, sending funds to the wrong address, or damaged drives, we can help you navigate these challenges

🛡️ Real-Time Dust Attack Protection\ Our services extend beyond recovery. We offer dust attack protection, keeping your activity anonymous and your funds secure, shielding your identity from unwanted tracking, ransomware, and phishing attempts.

🎉 Start Your Recovery Journey Today!\ Ready to reclaim your lost crypto? Don’t wait until it’s too late!\ 👉 cryptrecver.com

📞 Need Immediate Assistance? Connect with Us!\ For real-time support or questions, reach out to our dedicated team on:\ ✉️ Telegram: t.me/crypptrcver\ 💬 WhatsApp: +1(941)317–1821

Crypt Recver is your trusted partner in cryptocurrency recovery. Let us turn your challenges into victories. Don’t hesitate — your crypto future starts now! 🚀✨

Act fast and secure your digital assets with cryptrecver.com.

@ 4fa5d1c4:fd6c6e41

Im Rahmen unseres Workshops möchte ich auf zwei inspirierende Beiträge von Frau Schütze hinweisen und dich einladen, deren Ansätze für die religionsbezogene Bildung weiterzudenken. Die beiden Ausgangspunkte sind:

1. Werkstattbericht: KI-Bilder im Ethik/Philosophie-Unterricht\ In diesem Beitrag beschreibt Frau Schütze, wie sie mithilfe verschiedener KI-Modelle (Midjourney, DALL·E, Ideogram.ai) Bilder generiert, um Schülerinnen und Schüler zum Nachdenken über philosophische und ethische Theorien anzuregen. So wurden zum Beispiel KI-Bilder erstellt, die eine Glückstheorie illustrieren, oder symbolische Darstellungen zum ontologischen und kosmologischen Gottesbeweis (etwa das „größte denkbare Wesen“ bzw. den Laplaceschen Dämon). Dabei erfahren die Lernenden nicht nur einen visuellen Zugang zu abstrakten Gedankenexperimenten, sondern reflektieren zugleich die Grenzen und Tücken von KI-gestützter Bildbeschreibung und -verarbeitung.\ https://frauschuetze.de/?p=7946

2. Rollenkarten Moralphilosophie / angewandte Ethik\ Hier stellt Frau Schütze Rollenkarten vor, die sie für den Oberstufenunterricht entwickelt hat, um Diskussionen zur angewandten Ethik zu strukturieren. Die Karten enthalten Porträts wichtiger Moralphilosophinnen (z. B. Diogenes, Spaemann) und weitere Rollen wie Hinterfragerinnen oder Zweifler*innen, die sich schnell in Fallanalysen, Fishbowl-Formate oder Philosophencafés einbringen lassen. Die Porträts wurden ebenfalls mit Midjourney erstellt, wobei die Prompts konkret beschreiben, wie die Figuren dargestellt werden sollen (z. B. „xxx as a character in a fantasy story, portrait“).\ https://frauschuetze.de/?p=7640

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Übertragung auf die religionsbezogene Bildung

Für religionsbezogene Bildungsszenarien eröffnen sich hier viele spannende Möglichkeiten. Im Folgenden findest du ein paar Ideenimpulse, wie du KI-Bilder und Rollenkarten gezielt einsetzen kannst, um religiöse Fragen, Traditionen und Identitäten in den Mittelpunkt zu rücken:

1. KI-Bilder zur Visualisierung religiöser Konzepte

2. Symbolik und Ikonographie erschließen\ Nutze KI-Modelle, um die Symbolwelten verschiedener Religionen (z. B. Christentum, Islam, Buddhismus, Hinduismus) visuell zu erkunden. Überlege: Wie lässt sich das Kreuz in unterschiedlichen Stilrichtungen (klassisch, modern, abstrakt) darstellen? Welche Bildwelten entstehen, wenn du nach einer fusionierten Ikonographie fragst, die christliche, buddhistische und indigene Symbole kombiniert? Durch den kreativen Prozess mit KI lernst du, welche Metaphern und Traditionen hinter religiösen Zeichen stehen und wie sie – bewusst oder unbewusst – von Algorithmen interpretiert werden. Dabei kannst du auch die Grenzen von KI thematisieren: Welche Vorurteile oder Fehldeutungen schleichen sich in die Bildgenerierung ein, wenn religiöse Themen verarbeitet werden?

3. Gedankenexperimente zu Gott und Transzendenz\ Analog zu den KI-Bildern für Gottesbeweise könntest du Aufgaben stellen wie:

   1. „Erstelle ein KI-Bild, das die Idee von Theodizee visuell darstellt.“

   2. „Lass die KI eine Szene generieren, in der gläubige und atheistische Perspektiven im Dialog stehen.“\ Anschließend diskutierst du mit der Gruppe, inwiefern die Bilder die jeweiligen Konzepte treffend abbilden oder eher stereotyp und eindimensional bleiben. Auf diese Weise vermittelst du nicht nur Content-Wissen, sondern entwickel auch die Medienkompetenz, indem du Fragen nach Intention, Deutungshoheit und algorithmischer Verzerrung aufwirfst.

4. Rollenkarten für religiöse Perspektiven und Diskussionsformate

5. Personen aus religiösen Traditionen als Rollen\ Statt ausschließlich Moralphilosophinnen zu berücksichtigen, kannst du Rollenkarten mit Porträts von Religionsstifterinnen (z. B. Jesus von Nazareth, Maria, Mohammed, Buddha, Krishna), Reformern (Martin Luther, Savonarola) oder zeitgenössischen Theolog*innen (z. B. Dorothee Sölle) gestalten. Die KI-gestützten Bilder können dabei in unterschiedlichen künstlerischen Stilrichtungen entstehen – von historischer Malerei bis hin zu zeitgenössischer Street-Art-Adaption. Jede Rolle enthält einen kurzen Steckbrief mit zentralen Glaubensvorstellungen, biografischen Eckpunkten und einem charakteristischen Argument oder Zitat. So kannst du die Lernenden in Rollendebatten schicken, etwa:

   • „Wie würde Luther heute auf die Klimakrise blicken?“

   • „Welche theologische Argumentation könnte Dorothee Sölle zum Thema Gewaltlosigkeit einbringen?“

6. Szenarien für kontroverse Debatten

   1. Religiöse Vielfalt versus Säkularismus\ Verteilt Karten, in denen Rollen wie „konservativer Christ“, „liberaler Muslim“, „selbstbewusste/r Konfessionslose/r“, „Theologieprofessor/in“ oder „politische/r Aktivist/in“ eingenommen werden. Die KI-Porträts unterstützen die Visualisierung, verleihen den Rollen ein Gesicht und erleichtern das Einfühlen in andere Perspektiven.

7. Interaktive Formate im Religionsunterricht

8. Glaubenscafé (analog zum Philosophencafé)\ In Kleingruppen diskutiert ihr verschiedene Glaubenspositionen. KI-Bilder dienen als Ausgangspunkt: Ein Bild, das etwa die Drei-Tage-Phase von Tod und Auferstehung Jesu künstlerisch darstellt, oder ein generiertes Motiv zu einem hinduistischen Fest (z. B. Holi), wird an die Wand projiziert. Anschließend reflektiert ihr gemeinsam: Welche Emotionen, Symbole, Bedeutungen nehmt ihr wahr? Danach schlüpft ihr in Rollenkarten (z. B. theologische/r Fachreferent/in, Religionskritiker/in, Gemeindemitglied) und erarbeitet Positionen, die ihr in einem moderierten Glaubenscafé präsentiert.

9. Fishbowl-Diskussionen\ Nutzt Rollenkarten zu religionsspezifischen Rollen (z. B. Rabbiner/in, Pfarrerin, Atheist/in, Kleriker/in einer traditionellen Religion, spirituelle/r Influencer/in) für eine Fishbowl-Diskussion zum Thema „Sinnsuche in der Postmoderne“. Die KI-Bilder dienen zu Beginn als visuelle Reize: „Welche Elemente im Bild sprechen für Spiritualität, welche eher für Skepsis?“ So wird die Distanz zwischen digitaler Darstellung und gelebter religiöser Erfahrung erlebbar.

10. Methodische Hinweise und Reflexion

11. Prompt-Kompetenz schulen\ Wie schon im Ethikunterricht festgestellt, erfordert das präzise Beschreiben von Bildwünschen viel Übung. Die Lernenden lernen, welche Schlüsselbegriffe notwendig sind und wie kulturelle Vorannahmen in Prompts stecken bleiben. Im religionspädagogischen Kontext könnt ihr dies gezielt thematisieren: Wie formuliert man z. B. den Prompt „Stelle eine friedvolle interreligiöse Konferenz zwischen Christentum, Islam und Judentum dar“ so, dass keine Stereotype reproduziert werden?

12. Ethik des Bilderzeugens\ Diskutiert gemeinsam, inwiefern KI-Bilder beim Umgang mit heiklen religiösen Themen (z. B. Darstellungen des Propheten Mohammed im Islam) kulturelle oder religiöse Grenzen überschreiten können. Legt zusammen ethische Leitlinien fest, bevor ihr KI zur Bildproduktion nutzt: Welche religiösen Bilder sind "sakrosankt", welche dürfen manipuliert werden und was bedeutet das für Religionsfreiheit und Respekt?

13. Reflexion über Urheberrecht und OER\ Wie Frau Schütze in den Rollenkarten-Anleitungen betont, sind ihre Materialien unter CC-BY-Lizenz verfügbar. Erörtert, was es bedeutet, religiöse Bild- und Textmaterialien unter Open-Content-Lizenzen zu verwenden und welche Implikationen das für Schule, Gemeinde und Zivilgesellschaft hat. Das sensibilisiert für Fragen von Teilhabe und Gemeineigentum im digitalen Raum.

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Einladung zum Weiterdenken

Ich lade dich herzlich ein, die vorgestellten Methoden und Materialien in eigenen Projekten auszuprobieren und weiterzuentwickeln. Diskutiere in Kleingruppen oder in einer offenen Runde:

• Welche religiösen Themen lassen sich besonders gut mit KI-Bildern visualisieren?\ Beispiele: Zehn Gebote, Fastenrituale, Schöpfungsmythen, Visionen von Heiligen oder Heiligenschauen. Welche Prompts würdest du verwenden, um diese Szenen zu erzeugen?

• Wie könnten Rollenkarten zu spezifischen religiösen Traditionen aussehen?\ Entwickle gemeinsam mit anderen kurze Steckbriefe und Bildprompts für Rollen wie „Sufi-Derwisch“, „Gottesleugner/in der Aufklärung“, „Ökumenische/r Pastor/in“, „Religionspädagog*in“, „Katholischer Laienbruder“ oder „Jüdische Rabbinerin“. Achte dabei auf unterschiedliche religiöse Sichtweisen und Geschlechterperspektiven.

• Welche Herausforderungen ergeben sich beim Einsatz von KI-Bildern im Religionsunterricht?\ Erörtert mögliche Missverständnisse, kulturelle Fehlinterpretationen oder ethische Konflikte (z. B. pietätslose Darstellungen von Figuren, die in bestimmten Glaubensgemeinschaften als heilig gelten). Entwickelt gemeinsam Kriterien oder einen Leitfaden, um solche Risiken zu minimieren.

• Wie lassen sich interreligiöse Dialoge durch digitale Methoden fördern?\ Gebt Impulse, wie man mit KI-Bildern und Rollenkarten einen „virtuellen Tempelraum“ gestalten kann, in dem Symbole unterschiedlicher Religionen nebeneinanderstehen und zu Dialog anregen. Welche Fragen stellen sich dabei hinsichtlich Toleranz, Respekt und theologischer Pluralität?

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Zusammenfassung und Ausblick

Die beiden Beiträge von Frau Schütze bieten hervorragende Grundlagen, um im religionsbezogenen Unterricht visuelle und interaktive Zugänge zu schaffen. Durch KI-Bilder gewinnen die Teilnehmenden neue Zugänge zu Symbolik, Theodizee und Gottesvorstellungen, während Rollenkarten Dialogkompetenz und Empathie für unterschiedliche religiöse Perspektiven stärken. Diese Ideenimpulse sollen dich ermutigen, die Methoden selbst zu erproben und weiterzuentwickeln. Im digitalen Zeitalter können wir so das gemeinsame Lernen und interkulturelle Verständnis gerade im sensiblen Feld der Religionsbildung bereichern.

Ich freue mich auf deine kreativen Umsetzungen und den Austausch über Erfahrungen, Herausforderungen und Fortschritte in diesem spannenden Feld!Antworte gerne auf diesen Beitrag und kommentiere mit deinen Gedanken und Assoziationen oder poste selbst etwas als Impuls, das andere anregt und weiterverwendet werden darf mit dem Hashtag #relilab.\ \ Template: Avery Re https://opengameart.org/content/trading-card-template unter der Lizenz CC-by https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.de / Einige Texte und Bezeichnungen von Frank Schlegel https://digitaldurstig.de/rollenkarten/ unter der Lizenz CC-by-SA 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.de\ Lizenz: cc-by-sa 4.0 / frauschuetze.de / Juli 2023

@ bf95e1a4:ebdcc848

This is a part of the Bitcoin Infinity Academy course on Knut Svanholm's book Bitcoin: Sovereignty Through Mathematics. For more information, check out our Geyser page!

A New Form of Life

It’s not easy to define the properties that would deem an entity a new form of life. There’s no consensus among scientists or nations regarding the definition of what a life form is. This is one of the main hurdles when it comes to defining artificial or synthetic life. How does one know when life has been created if there’s no clear definition of what life actually is? One popular definition of life is that a living organism is an open system that maintains homeostasis, is composed of cells, has a life cycle, undergoes metabolism, can grow, adapt to its environment, respond to stimuli, reproduce, and evolve. Could Bitcoin fit into this description? In order to find out, we need to dissect both this definition of life and the basic properties of the Bitcoin network.

Bitcoin is quite clearly an open system, but what does it mean for an organism to maintain homeostasis? Homeostasis is the tendency towards a relatively stable equilibrium between interdependent elements, especially (but not limited to) as maintained by physiological processes. The first part of that sentence perfectly describes what Bitcoin does. The equilibrium is the consensus between the nodes, which act as interdependent elements. One could even argue that they actually are maintained by physiological processes since each node’s decisions are ultimately made by human brains and not software, but for now, we’ll examine Bitcoin as a life form from a non-meta-argument perspective. The next part of the definition is that life is made up of cells, which the Bitcoin network also arguably is, especially if you count nodes as cells.

A life cycle is defined as a “series of changes in form that an organism undergoes, returning to the starting state,” according to Wikipedia. The life cycle of the Bitcoin network is still unclear, but it seems unlikely that it will ever return to its starting state. What is more likely is that while we have witnessed its birth, it is highly unlikely that any human alive today will outlive the network, so we won’t have any way of knowing. This is not unheard of in nature either however. A species of fungi called Armillaria Ostoyae, or the Humongous Fungus, in the Blue Mountains of Oregon, is one of the largest and oldest organisms ever known to man. This mushroom network is estimated to be between 2500 and 8500 years old based on its current growth rate. No one knows what its life cycle looks like in perfect detail.

The three main purposes of metabolism in a living body are the conversion of food to energy to run cellular processes, the conversion of food into bodily building blocks, and the elimination of nitrogenous wastes. Bitcoin’s metabolism works in a similar manner. Bitcoin feeds on electricity, and its cellular processes are its transactions. Its body has its own building blocks, literal blocks, that are added to its body, the blockchain, roughly every ten minutes. Malicious blocks are considered waste and are thus eliminated by the system. Bitcoin grows and adapts to its environment organically, exemplified lately by the development of the Lightning Network and other Layer 2 scaling solutions. It responds to external stimuli by showing a more and more ironclad resistance to change while still responding well to sufficiently clever improvement proposals. Like the Armillaria Ostoyae, Bitcoin grows rather than reproduces, and it evolves over time by adopting good ideas and rejecting bad ones.

The notion of Bitcoin as a life form may sound far-fetched and even a bit silly, even though a lot of its properties fit the bill. What we do know about it is that it is very unlikely to go away or stop functioning in the foreseeable future. Whether or not Bitcoin is alive is up for debate, but it can’t be killed, and that ought to mean something. We should study it carefully and try to be as unbiased and humble as possible when drawing conclusions about it.

Speaking of fungi, one of the most important aspects of money is its fungibility. Fungibility goes hand-in-hand with privacy and censorship resistance. If certain Bitcoin addresses were to end up on a government's blacklist, they’d end up becoming less valuable than their not yet blacklisted neighbors. Look at what happened to the Indian Rupee bills that were banned overnight by the Indian government in late 2017 in order to “fight corruption.” They’re still in use, but only worth about 70% of the value they held when they were considered “legal tender”. If Bitcoin transactions can’t be private, they won’t be fungible. This would reduce Bitcoin’s monetary capability. We’re at a point in history where Bitcoin transactions can be completely private, but only a select few people know how to ensure that they really are. This is arguably Bitcoin’s greatest flaw and a very real hurdle on the way to mainstream adoption.

So, how many privacy measures does the average user need to take? Just as when it comes to storage, it depends on the user’s knowledge level. Most users should probably be more careful than they are right now, but there’s little reason to be paranoid. It’s still very hard to prove that a specific transaction was made by a specific user. The whole ordeal is somewhat akin to the fight against the BitTorrent network ten years ago. The copyright lobby found different means of scaring off users in different parts of the world, banning websites, prosecuting providers, and so on, but the network itself is still thriving, and torrent files are as accessible as they ever were. A lot of heads will probably have to roll before Bitcoin is accepted everywhere, but just like they couldn’t fight filesharing, governments won’t be able to fight Bitcoin. Even the policymakers will understand the advantages of Bitcoin usage sooner or later. The word later is key here. If you want to be absolutely sure that what you do with your Bitcoin is legal, private, or worthwhile, just wait. Wait out the storm, and don’t use them until they’re fully acceptable everywhere. They’ll be worth a lot more, and you’ll have a lot more options in general. Remember, HODLing is using.

One of the greatest hidden perks of Bitcoin adoption is that it forces people to think for themselves. First, it forces the user to think about computer security. In order to store your Bitcoins safely, you have to know what you’re doing, what software and hardware you can trust, etc. It is virtually impossible to do anything online without trusting any third party. Every piece of hardware and software inside and in between each of the two computers communicating could potentially be corrupt. In Bitcoin, the cautious user will be rewarded, and the reckless user will be punished eventually. This is also true for Bitcoin’s on- and off-ramps, and the less cautious user is always more likely to end up in legal trouble. The coming tsunami that is hyperbitcoinization is scary, but a skilled surfer can expect the ride of his lifetime.

About the Bitcoin Infinity Academy

The Bitcoin Infinity Academy is an educational project built around Knut Svanholm’s books about Bitcoin and Austrian Economics. Each week, a whole chapter from one of the books is released for free on Highlighter, accompanied by a video in which Knut and Luke de Wolf discuss that chapter’s ideas. You can join the discussions by signing up for one of the courses on our Geyser page. Signed books, monthly calls, and lots of other benefits are also available.

@ b83a28b7:35919450

This article was originally part of the sermon of Plebchain Radio Episode 110 (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>

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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

@ b1ddb4d7:471244e7

Custodial Lightning wallets allow users to transact without managing private keys or channel liquidity. The provider handles technical complexities, but this convenience comes with critical trade-offs:

• You don’t control your keys: The custodian holds your bitcoin.
• Centralized points of failure: Servers can be hacked or shut down.
• Surveillance risks: Providers track transaction metadata.

Key Risks of Custodial Lightning Wallets

*1. Hacks and Exit Scams*

Custodians centralize large amounts of bitcoin, attracting hackers:

• Nearly $2.2 billion worth of funds were stolen from hacks in 2024.
• Lightning custodians suffered breaches, losing user funds.

Unlike non-custodial wallets, victims have no recourse since they don’t hold keys.

*2. Censorship and Account Freezes*

Custodians comply with regulators, risking fund seizures:

• Strike (a custodial Lightning app) froze accounts of users in sanctioned regions.
• A U.K. court in 2020 ordered Bitfinex to freeze bitcoin worth $860,000 after the exchange and blockchain sleuthing firm Chainalysis traced the funds to a ransomware payment.

*3. Privacy Erosion*

Custodians log user activity, exposing sensitive data:

• Transaction amounts, receiver addresses, and IPs are recorded.

*4. Service Downtime*

Centralized infrastructure risks outages.

*5. Inflation of Lightning Network Centralization*

Custodians dominate liquidity, weakening network resilience:

• At the moment, 10% of the nodes on Lightning control 80% of the liquidity.
• This centralization contradicts bitcoin’s decentralized ethos.

How to Switch to Self-Custodial Lightning Wallets

Migrating from custodial services is straightforward:

*1. Choose a Non-Custodial Wallet*

Opt for wallets that let you control keys and channels:

• Flash: The self-custodial tool that lets you own your keys, control your coins, and transact instantly.
• Breez Wallet : Non-custodial, POS integrations.
• Core Lightning : Advanced, for self-hosted node operators.

*2. Transfer Funds Securely*

• Withdraw funds from your custodial wallet to a bitcoin on-chain address.
• Send bitcoin to your non-custodial Lightning wallet.

*3. Set Up Channel Backups*

Use tools like Static Channel Backups (SCB) to recover channels if needed.

*4. Best Practices*

• Enable Tor: Mask your IP (e.g., Breez’s built-in Tor support).
• Verify Receiving Addresses: Avoid phishing scams.
• Regularly Rebalance Channels: Use tools like Lightning Pool for liquidity.

Why Self-Custodial Lightning Matters

• Self-custody: Control your keys and funds.
• Censorship resistance: No third party can block transactions.
• Network health: Decentralized liquidity strengthens Lightning.

Self-custodial wallets now rival custodial ease.

Custodial Lightning wallets sacrifice security for convenience, putting users at risk of hacks, surveillance, and frozen funds. As bitcoin adoption grows, so does the urgency to embrace self-custodial solutions.

Take action today:

1. Withdraw custodial funds to a hardware wallet.
2. Migrate to a self-custodial Lightning wallet.
3. Educate others on the risks of custodial control.

The Lightning Network’s potential hinges on decentralization—don’t let custodians become its Achilles’ heel.

@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9

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.

@ 9ca447d2:fbf5a36d

Adam O’Brien, Founder and CEO of Bitcoin Well, discovered Bitcoin in 2013 during its early days as what he describes as “hilarious internet money.”

Today, he leads a publicly traded Canadian company that’s redefining how people interact with this magic internet money, all while navigating a financial system that has personally debanked him and even his uninvolved loved ones.

“I had a terrible experience trying to buy bitcoin in 2013,” O’Brien explains. “Now of course today there are platforms like Bitcoin Well and many others that allow you to buy bitcoin with ease online, but in 2013 that wasn’t the case.”

This frustrating experience sparked the entrepreneurial question that would shape his future: “There must be a better way.”

With a background in restaurant management and customer service, O’Brien started small, meeting people locally in Edmonton, Canada to sell them bitcoin.

Soon after, he purchased and deployed Alberta’s first bitcoin ATM. The business grew organically, with a second machine following, then a third. Before long, Bitcoin Well had become one of Canada’s largest bitcoin ATM operators.

Today, Bitcoin Well operates approximately 160 bitcoin ATMs across Canada. While they’re no longer deploying new machines, these ATMs provide a crucial service that O’Brien is particularly proud of:

“In Canada, you can actually buy bitcoin up to $1,000 without giving your identity to Bitcoin Well. We’re the only platform in the country that is able to offer that service, which is fully legal, fully above board.”

Bitcoin Well has a fleet of over 170 bitcoin ATMs across Canada

The Pivot to Freedom

In 2020, O’Brien’s vision for the company evolved. What began as a mission for Bitcoin accessibility transformed into something deeper: a quest for financial freedom.

“I’m debanked across Canada. I don’t have my bank, even my wife has lost her bank accounts because of my work,” O’Brien revealed. “She’s not involved with the business at all. She’s a stay-at-home mother to our four kids, and she’s unbanked from the majority of the banks in Canada.”

This personal experience crystallized a troubling reality: “It became very clear to me that my money in the banking system was always going to be subject to how much I play by the rules.”

For someone self-described as “freedom-focused” and “freedom-minded,” this realization prompted a strategic shift. Bitcoin Well began developing its online platform, the Bitcoin portal, allowing users to buy, sell, and actually use bitcoin to replace traditional banking functions. O’Brien explains:

“The goal here is that we can be a conduit between the legacy financial system you know, and how you pay your bills, your rent, your power, credit card and phone bills and all that stuff  without having to have money in what I would call a captured fiat account.”

He summarizes the company’s North Star simply: “Allow people to replace their bank with bitcoin in self-custody.”

Living the Mission

O’Brien doesn’t just preach Bitcoin independence, he lives it. Debanked across Canada, he relies on Bitcoin Well’s services for his daily financial needs.

“I’ve got a normal American Express, but I pay that off with Bitcoin at the end of the month,” he shares. “In Canada, we’ve got the equivalent of Venmo, it’s called Interac e-Transfer. I can send an Interac e-Transfer to anyone in the country from bitcoin in self-custody.”

This allows him to navigate everyday situations where merchants don’t accept bitcoin directly.

“It’s spring right now. I’ve got a little property. The guy comes and picks up our rakes and trims the trees and all this stuff, and I pay him. He doesn’t want to accept bitcoin, but I’m able to pay in bitcoin, and he gets the money that he wants.”

In the U.S., Bitcoin Well customers can have their paychecks deposited with a designated portion automatically converted to sats and sent directly to self-custody, allowing clients to stack sats sovereignly without having to think much about it.

With Bitcoin Well you can set up automatic DCA

Building the Right Team

The journey hasn’t been without challenges. O’Brien candidly describes how rapid growth in 2021 led to hiring missteps.

“We scaled so fast I kind of lost control of hiring practice and culture, and we ended up with people that I felt like we had to almost convince of the mission,” he admits.

“Some of them weren’t convinced…they were just there because of the job, or they didn’t really understand the need for the freedom that I speak about every single day.”

After scaling back from that hiring spree, the company refocused on building a team aligned with its core values, emphasizing “hiring Bitcoiners really.”

The result has been transformative: “It’s so much fun having a team that is mission-focused and aligned on our mission to enable independence. Having everyone aligned and kind of running towards that mission is pretty special.”

This alignment creates a powerful filter for decision-making: “When we have a decision to make, it’s like, well, which one enables more independence? And usually there’s a pretty obvious answer. So we’re able to make very fast decisions that help the business and help the mission.”

Raising the Next Generation

Beyond building Bitcoin Well, O’Brien and his wife are raising four children with intention. The family is transitioning to homeschooling next year, allowing them to travel to Bitcoin conferences together while teaching their children to question everything.

“If you don’t indoctrinate your kids, the state will do it for you,” O’Brien states firmly. It’s a fair point, as indoctrination usually comes with a negative connotation, but it should not, since everyone gets indoctrinated with something.

It’s up to parents to decide what their kids are going to be indoctrinated with, and as parents, the O’Briens have chosen to actively shape their children’s worldview rather than defaulting to institutional influences.

Their approach combines Bitcoin principles with biblical values, with a heavy emphasis on lowering time preference. Something O’Brien notes is “10, 20, 30, 50 times more important” with children, though admittedly “way harder.”

“I think Bitcoiners more than anyone understand the need for generational thinking,” he observes.

“I’m so bullish on the amount of Bitcoiners that have more kids or that want to have more kids and that are actually excited to have kids compared to some of my fiat friends that are like, ‘Oh, it’s too expensive and I want to party.’ It’s like, man, you’re just missing the point.”

A Call to Support Bitcoin-Only Businesses

One of O’Brien’s most passionate messages is a call to action for fellow Bitcoiners: support businesses that align with your values.

“I want to call people to support businesses that are actually making steps towards the change they want to see in the world,” he urges. “If I hear one more Bitcoin maxi tell me that they’re using Kraken or Coinbase because it’s cheaper — why do you support the casinos?”

He expresses concern about the future if Bitcoin-only companies struggle to survive: “It would be very sad if all the Bitcoin-only and non-custodial businesses went out of business. That would make it very hard for me to feel comfortable onboarding my no-coiner friends.”

His message to Bitcoiners is clear: “A call out to all my fellow Bitcoiners to support and use the platform that they want to see their kids use.”

Bitcoin Well (TSX.V: BTCW, OTCQB: BCNWF) continues to build infrastructure for those who want to use Bitcoin daily while maintaining self-custody. For O’Brien, the mission is simple but powerful: enable independence and give people the freedom to control their own financial destiny.

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

Until the cookie I just ate, today was a pretty stellar day: slept well, ate well, fasted, did some physically demanding yard work in the hot Sun, walked the dog a few times.

How did the stackers do today on maintaining their ~HealthAndFitness?

https://stacker.news/items/994882

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

For about three years, we had a bedtime routine that worked very well and a kid that slept clear through the night in her own room.

For the past two years, bedtime has been a struggle. We made various adjustments, but they were never more than short-term bandages. Nighttime almost always turned into a battle of wills.

So, we gave up. No more bedtime. We go to bed when we're tired, or when the kid asks us to read to her. She usually wants to sleep in our room, which we only let her do if she's being quiet and trying to sleep, otherwise it's off to her own room. Being loud and wild in our room late into the night had been our breaking point.

The results aren't ideal, but the struggles are much reduced and she's sleeping in her room more often, because it's where she can stay awake if she wants.

What are some standard parenting practices that you've just abandoned entirely?

https://stacker.news/items/994865

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

The Bitcoin Conference 2025 – Day 3

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This post The Bitcoin Conference 2025 – Day 3 first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Bitcoin Magazine.

@ 629c4a12:f822cc1a

I’ve always been drawn to minimalism. There’s a certain peace that comes from stripping away the unnecessary, decluttering both physical and mental spaces. Yet, when it comes to finances, I’ve found myself tangled in complexity. As an ‘optimizer,’ I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about investments, managing risk, and endlessly tinkering with my portfolio. This preoccupation contradicts the minimalist principles I try to live by.

It seems absurd to me that the financial world has become so complicated that we need money managers to simply preserve the value of our money. If investing is so intricate that the average person must hire professionals just to preserve (let alone grow) the value of their savings, then something is fundamentally wrong.

For the past five years, I’ve immersed myself in the history and mechanics of financial systems. The deeper I delved, the clearer it became: Bitcoin is a force of minimalism in an increasingly financialized and complex world.

The Clutter of Modern Finance

Our financial system has become bloated with complexity. The hyper-securitization of assets has created an environment filled with financial clutter. Derivatives, for example, represent layers upon layers of financial engineering, often so convoluted that even experts struggle to understand them fully.

More troubling is the way nearly everything of value has been financialized. Real estate and art, two things that should embody personal value and cultural significance, have been transformed into mere asset classes. They are bought, sold, and speculated upon not for their intrinsic qualities but as instruments in the game of wealth preservation.

But why has this happened? It’s actually quite simple: our money is constantly losing value. The dollar, for example, debases at a rate of around 7% per year. Holding cash feels like holding melting ice, so it’s only natural for people to seek out scarce assets to preserve their wealth. The Never-Ending Game of Diversification

This pursuit of scarce assets sets off a complex game—a game that forces people to diversify endlessly:

• Equities
• Bonds
• Real Estate
• Commodities
• Art
• Collectibles

We’re told to spread our investments across these asset classes to mitigate risk and preserve our hard-earned money. Those who can afford to hire money managers generally fare better in this game, as they have access to expertise and strategies designed to navigate this maze of complexity.

Ironically, this system creates an incentive for more complexity. The more convoluted the financial landscape becomes, the more we need money managers, and the more entrenched this cycle of financialization and securitization becomes. It’s a force of ever-increasing entropy—quite the opposite of minimalism.

Bitcoin: Simplicity in a Complex World

In the midst of this financial chaos, Bitcoin emerges as a beacon of simplicity. It offers a way out of the clutter, a chance to reclaim financial minimalism. Bitcoin embodies the concept of scarcity with a rare kind of perfection: there will only ever be 21 million Bitcoins. No more.

This scarcity makes Bitcoin the perfect savings technology. Unlike traditional currencies, no one can debase your holdings. You don’t need to chase after real estate, art, or other assets to preserve your wealth. You don’t need to constantly diversify and rebalance a portfolio to stay ahead of inflation. Bitcoin’s scarcity gives you a way to hold your wealth securely, without the need for endless tinkering.

I’m not blind to Bitcoin’s short-term price volatility. However, it’s crucial to understand that we’re still in the early stages of adoption. As more people embrace this perfect form of scarcity, Bitcoin’s qualities as savings technology will express itself.

Bitcoin has the potential to de-financialize the housing market. It can de-financialize art.

Ultimately, Bitcoin has the power to replace those aspects of our lives that currently serve as proxies for scarcity.

A Minimalist Approach to Wealth

Bitcoin allows us to step off the treadmill of constant financial optimization. It offers a simpler way to safeguard the fruits of our labor. Rather than spending our time, energy, and attention on navigating a complex financial system, we can focus on what truly matters: living a meaningful life.

By embracing Bitcoin, we embrace a minimalist approach to wealth. We reject the idea that we must play a never-ending game of diversification to maintain our standard of living. Instead, we adopt a simple, elegant solution that aligns with the principles of minimalism.

Conclusion

In a world that grows more financially cluttered by the day, Bitcoin stands as a path to financial minimalism. It frees us from the complexities of traditional finance, allowing us to preserve our wealth without the need for constant vigilance and management.

By embodying scarcity and simplicity, Bitcoin gives us a way to reclaim our time and energy. It’s not just a financial tool; it’s a way to simplify our lives, to step back from the chaos, and to focus on what truly matters

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

Ark Labs Launches Arkade, a New Native Operating System Using Bitcoin

Ark Labs has officially launched Arkade, a Bitcoin-native execution layer designed to unlock programmable financial applications using Bitcoin as it exists today. The announcement comes after a $2.5 million pre-seed funding round in August 2024, led by Tim Draper with support from Fulgur Ventures and Axiom. 

Arkade aims to create a new way to build directly on Bitcoin, letting developers build fast and scalable apps—without needing sidechains, wrapped tokens, or any changes to the core Bitcoin protocol. 

“Bitcoin is the world’s hardest, most secure asset, but it remains largely static,” said Marco Argentieri, CEO of Ark Labs. “Arkade virtualizes Bitcoin’s transaction layer, transforming it into a dynamic financial platform where operations happen instantly, programmability is unlocked, and users maintain full control of their assets throughout.” 

Arkade is currently being tested on the Bitcoin network with early partners like Tether, Boltz, Breez, and Mempool.space already on board. Arkade maintains Bitcoin’s core security model and avoids alternatives like wrapped tokens or new consensus mechanisms. 

Tim Draper, founder and managing partner of Draper Associates, noted: “Bitcoin is fast emerging as the world’s premier digital asset. Arkade’s virtualization approach finally brings the programmability Bitcoin needs to transform from a store of value into a permissionless financial system.”

Ark Labs says demand has been strong since January, with multiple projects requesting integration. The company plans to expand Arkade’s toolkit in the coming months, with support for BTC-collateralized lending, staking primitives, and multi-asset transactions. The launch is scheduled for Q3 2025. 

“Bitcoin has always had to balance the desire to scale transaction throughput and complexity with conservatism regarding upgrades,” said Allen Farrington, General Partner at Axiom. “With this exceptionally high bar for worthwhile innovation, and amidst a sea of noise, Ark Labs is bringing to market what may prove to be the most important technical breakthrough in the space since the Lightning Network.” 

You can watch the full keynote below.

This post Ark Labs Launches Arkade, a New Native Operating System Using Bitcoin first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Jenna Montgomery.

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

After @denlillaapan's post yesterday, I want to light a little fire under the stackers to step up their game.

So, I'm offering prizes for the top stackers in June (as judged by SN's "value" metric). At the end of the month, I'll award prizes as follows:

1st Place - 10k sats 2nd Place - 9k sats 3rd Place - 8k sats 4th Place - 7k sats 5th Place - 6k sats 6th Place - 5k sats 7th Place - 4k sats 8th Place - 3k sats 9th Place - 2k sats 10th Place - 1k sats

Winnings will be zapped to a post or comment of your choice.

Zap well!

@remindme in 1 month

https://stacker.news/items/994811

@ 58537364:705b4b85

ความสุขทางโลก ลัทธิสุขนิยมยกย่อง แต่ลัทธิทรมานตนประณาม หากไม่มองว่ากามสุขเป็นพรจากพระผู้เป็นเจ้า คนก็มักมองว่ากามสุขเป็นเครื่องลวงล่อของซาตาน ในเรื่องนี้พระพุทธศาสนาเลือกเดินสายกลาง โดยสอนว่าเราควรทำความเข้าใจกามสุขให้แจ่มแจ้ง ทั้งในแง่เสน่ห์เย้ายวน ข้อจำกัดและข้อบกพร่องทั้งหลาย

เพื่อให้เข้าใจกามสุขอย่างแจ่มแจ้ง เราอาจตั้งคำถามดังนี้: กามสุขสนองตอบความต้องการทางจิตใจแบบใดได้บ้าง และไม่อาจตอบสนองความต้องการแบบใดได้ เพราะเหตุใด

ความต้องการในส่วนที่กามสุขไม่อาจตอบสนองได้ เราควรปฏิบัติอย่างไร

เราหลงเพลิดเพลินและยึดติดในกามสุขมากเพียงใด และกามสุขมีอิทธิพลเหนือจิตใจเราเพียงใด

เราเคยทำหรือพูดสิ่งที่ไม่ถูกต้องเนื่องด้วยปรารถนาในกามสุขหรือไม่

เราเคยเบียดเบียนผู้อื่นเนื่องด้วยปรารถนาในกามสุขหรือไม่

บ่อยครั้งเพียงใดที่สุขทางโลกสร้างความผิดหวังให้เรา

ความคาดหวังมีผลกระทบอย่างไรต่อความสุขทางโลก การทำอะไรซ้ำๆ และความเคยชินส่งผลต่อความสุขทางโลกอย่างไร

เรารู้สึกอย่างไร ยามไม่ได้กามสุขที่เราปรารถนา

กามสุขมีความเกี่ยวข้องกับความซึมเศร้าหรือไม่ กับความวิตกกังวลด้วยหรือไม่

เรารู้สึกอย่างไร เมื่อนึกถึงอนาคตว่า จะต้องพลัดพรากจากสุขทางโลก เนื่องด้วยความเจ็บไข้ ความแก่ และความตาย

การพลัดพรากจากความสุขทางโลกรู้สึกอย่างไรบ้าง

เราตั้งคำถามได้มากมาย และยังตั้งคำถามได้มากไปกว่านี้
หลักสำคัญ คือ ยิ่งเห็นชัดแจ้งในกามสุข เราจะยิ่งเกิดปัญญาและเข้าถึงความสงบมากขึ้น

ธรรมะคำสอน โดย พระอาจารย์ชยสาโร แปลถอดความ โดย ปิยสีโลภิกขุ

@ 5fbec235:ff265c2a

Safety as a Community Creation

I quickly learned that Japan is known for being one of the safest countries in the world—yes, I didn't even realize that until I arrived there. But understanding safety as a statistic is different from witnessing it as a lived reality.

One of the most striking signals of this safety was watching first graders take themselves to school on public transportation in Tokyo. These tiny humans, navigating one of the world's largest cities completely independently. In contrast, my Chicago suburban hometown requires parents to wait at the bus stop for children of that same age, even if their house is just across the street.

I witnessed nearly everyone glued to their phones while out in public. Literally dozens of heads planted facedown into their palms while crossing major intersections. While that's not a trait I admire, it reflects the absolute safety every citizen must feel to be able to walk around like that. Similarly, Tokyo is definitely the place where you can show off designer fashion trends if you can afford to do so. While the style is far more modest and homogenous than here in the USA, expensive fashion statements are still blatantly made in the many high-trafficked districts of the mega city.

The contrast hit me viscerally when I remembered my friend's experience in São Paulo a few years ago. During a short three-mile run, while he was checking Google Maps, he was nearly mugged by a thief on a motorbike. The difference was unmistakable. Take heed of all warnings to not use a smart phone in the streets of Sào Paulo. Tokyo however - accidentally leave your phone at the Izakaya? Don't be surprised if it is personally returned to you by the owner of the Izakaya with a note thanking you once again for your earlier patronage.

Community M and the Dissolution of Transactional Relationships

While in Japan, I was invited to spend the weekend in an exclusive, members-only community nestled along a river flowing down from the mountains—remarkably, all still within Tokyo Prefecture. It felt like a hidden gem: only 5% of the prefecture consists of this kind of natural landscape, and I never would have discovered it without that special invitation.

There, I participated in a unique Bonsai class led by a woman who has been cultivating Bonsai her entire career. I also shared meals, nature walks, and sauna sessions with other community members. It was an eventful weekend, meeting and integrating with an entirely unique culture. The weekend felt truly memorable, special, everlasting—essentially boiled down to a priceless experience.

It's an experience I will remember and appreciate more than the time I've spent in several corporate luxury hotels. Don't get me wrong, corporate luxury hotels are very nice. Their amenities are much more comfortable than anything Community M could offer me. They feel safe, and they make me feel just a little bit entitled—in the sense that "I'm spending A LOT of money with the company that keeps you employed... so are you working for me to the maximum of our mutual expectations?" That's certainly okay. The hotel is offering a service and I am paying for it. Ultimately, it is indeed a mutually valuable transaction everyone is happy with.

But that time spent with Community M was something different. The amount of money I could have spent with them didn't matter. Friendships were formed over shared interests and probably genuine interest and curiosity in each other's cultures. Those values get washed away when the power dynamic shifts too much toward a monetary transaction—service in exchange for cash.

This experience crystallized something I'd been feeling but couldn't articulate: the difference between being served and being welcomed. In transactional relationships, your value is determined by your purchasing power. In genuine community, your value comes from your participation, your curiosity, your willingness to share and receive.

What Online Communities Could Become

What should online communities of the future look like? I think an amazing community could pull some of the best traits of American and Japanese culture. Reliance on oneself and personal responsibility is incredibly important. But as communities grow, it becomes so much harder to exercise personal interests without feeling like I'm "barging in" or something. I've never felt compelled to become the center of attention. What gets me excited is seeing people come together and being their best selves naturally and organically around one another, without any single person being too much "the center."

The way I see a lot of online communities advertised today is less desirable to me. It often looks like there's an influencer selling something and inviting all their followers to join "the community." This replicates the same extractive, transactional dynamics I experienced in luxury hotels, just digitally.

I left Japan with a sense of respect for what's possible when people come together under a shared understanding of a few basic human principles. The most obvious one being a sense of shared responsibility to look out for one another, thereby providing safety for all—a large, functional neighborhood watch, so to say. In Japan, I got the sense that the means to provide general well-being through shared responsibility is far greater than the more exclusive reliance on oneself and distrust of others that often appears in large American cities.

The Internet as Unsafe Territory

When thinking of safety and shared responsibility, the internet today is more like New York City than Tokyo. It's not safe for children, and outsourcing our own responsibility for maintaining safety to centralized, profit-seeking organizations makes no sense. These platforms have the undisputed goal of extracting value from the very communities they attempt to serve.

Current online communities are built backwards. Instead of communities creating tools for themselves, external platforms create tools to extract value from communities. The power dynamic is fundamentally extractive rather than generative.

Communities Building for Themselves

Eve will allow us to build intranets that are safer than anything YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, or any other platform could ever provide because they'll be built by communities, not for-profit organizations seeking to extract value. All applications will be open source, therefore all algorithms will be open source, thereby empowering everyone to exercise their shared responsibilities for maintaining safe, prosperous communities.

Communities will be enabled to create applications that deliver unique experiences specific to their rules and guidelines. Compare it to my Bonsai class. Someday there may be a Japan-oriented community where Bonsai masterclasses and other Bonsai-related services and products are offered. Communities won't be as dependent on platforms. Because of the open-source standard, more tradespeople will be enabled to quickly build whatever the community deems necessary. Communities will be in full control and not reliant on any one platform, nor any one person to maintain the community.

What I experienced in that members-only community by the river was a space where relationships form around shared interests and genuine curiosity - where the community itself determines its needs and builds its tools, where safety emerges from collective responsibility rather than external enforcement. In our digital age of abundance - I see a very real future where communities are enabled to free themselves from irrelevant distractions and build what they need to achieve both individual and collective prosperity.

@ e3ba5e1a:5e433365

My favorite line in any Marvel movie ever is in “Captain America.” After Captain America launches seemingly a hopeless assault on Red Skull’s base and is captured, we get this line:

“Arrogance may not be a uniquely American trait, but I must say, you do it better than anyone.”

Yesterday, I came across a comment on the song Devil Went Down to Georgia that had a very similar feel to it:

America has seemingly always been arrogant, in a uniquely American way. Manifest Destiny, for instance. The rest of the world is aware of this arrogance, and mocks Americans for it. A central point in modern US politics is the deriding of racist, nationalist, supremacist Americans.

That’s not what I see. I see American Arrogance as not only a beautiful statement about what it means to be American. I see it as an ode to the greatness of humanity in its purest form.

For most countries, saying “our nation is the greatest” is, in fact, twinged with some level of racism. I still don’t have a problem with it. Every group of people should be allowed to feel pride in their accomplishments. The destruction of the human spirit since the end of World War 2, where greatness has become a sin and weakness a virtue, has crushed the ability of people worldwide to strive for excellence.

But I digress. The fears of racism and nationalism at least have a grain of truth when applied to other nations on the planet. But not to America.

That’s because the definition of America, and the prototype of an American, has nothing to do with race. The definition of Americanism is freedom. The founding of America is based purely on liberty. On the God-given rights of every person to live life the way they see fit.

American Arrogance is not a statement of racial superiority. It’s barely a statement of national superiority (though it absolutely is). To me, when an American comments on the greatness of America, it’s a statement about freedom. Freedom will always unlock the greatness inherent in any group of people. Americans are definitionally better than everyone else, because Americans are freer than everyone else. (Or, at least, that’s how it should be.)

In Devil Went Down to Georgia, Johnny is approached by the devil himself. He is challenged to a ridiculously lopsided bet: a golden fiddle versus his immortal soul. He acknowledges the sin in accepting such a proposal. And yet he says, “God, I know you told me not to do this. But I can’t stand the affront to my honor. I am the greatest. The devil has nothing on me. So God, I’m gonna sin, but I’m also gonna win.”

Libertas magnitudo est

@ 0fa80bd3:ea7325de

"Degeneration" or "Вырождение" ![[photo_2025-01-29 23.23.15.jpeg]]

A once-functional object, now eroded by time and human intervention, stripped of its original purpose. Layers of presence accumulate—marks, alterations, traces of intent—until the very essence is obscured. Restoration is paradoxical: to reclaim, one must erase. Yet erasure is an impossibility, for to remove these imprints is to deny the existence of those who shaped them.

The work stands as a meditation on entropy, memory, and the irreversible dialogue between creation and decay.

@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9

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.

@ 0fa80bd3:ea7325de

Lyn Alden - биткойн евангелист или евангелистка, я пока не понял npub1a2cww4kn9wqte4ry70vyfwqyqvpswksna27rtxd8vty6c74era8sdcw83a

Thomas Pacchia - PubKey owner - X - @tpacchia npub1xy6exlg37pw84cpyj05c2pdgv86hr25cxn0g7aa8g8a6v97mhduqeuhgpl

calvadev - Shopstr npub16dhgpql60vmd4mnydjut87vla23a38j689jssaqlqqlzrtqtd0kqex0nkq

Calle - Cashu founder npub12rv5lskctqxxs2c8rf2zlzc7xx3qpvzs3w4etgemauy9thegr43sf485vg

Джек Дорси npub1sg6plzptd64u62a878hep2kev88swjh3tw00gjsfl8f237lmu63q0uf63m

21 ideas npub1lm3f47nzyf0rjp6fsl4qlnkmzed4uj4h2gnf2vhe3l3mrj85vqks6z3c7l

Много адресов. Хз кто надо сортировать https://github.com/aitechguy/nostr-address-book

ФиатДжеф - создатель Ностр - https://github.com/fiatjaf npub180cvv07tjdrrgpa0j7j7tmnyl2yr6yr7l8j4s3evf6u64th6gkwsyjh6w6

EVAN KALOUDIS Zues wallet npub19kv88vjm7tw6v9qksn2y6h4hdt6e79nh3zjcud36k9n3lmlwsleqwte2qd

Программер Коди https://github.com/CodyTseng/nostr-relay npub1syjmjy0dp62dhccq3g97fr87tngvpvzey08llyt6ul58m2zqpzps9wf6wl

Anna Chekhovich - Managing Bitcoin at The Anti-Corruption Foundation https://x.com/AnyaChekhovich npub1y2st7rp54277hyd2usw6shy3kxprnmpvhkezmldp7vhl7hp920aq9cfyr7

@ a10260a2:caa23e3e

Last Updated: May 31, 2025

First off, big shoutout to Coinos for having support for adding a memo to BOLT12 offers. This provides a solid alternative for the pleb who wants to support mining decentralization but doesn’t want to set up a CLN node and pay thousands of sats for a channel only to get little rewards. This is the case for most of us who only have a miner or two (e.g. a Bitaxe and/or an S9).

Before we get into setting up Lightning payouts, you’ll want to have your miner configured to mine with OCEAN of course. You’ll also want to make sure that the bitcoin address you use is from a wallet that supports signing messages.

These are the ones listed in the OCEAN docs:

• Bitcoin Knots/Bitcoin Core
• Coldcard
• Electrum
• LND (Command Line)
• Seedsigner
• Sparrow
• Specter
• Trezor

I checked one of my favorite, user-friendly wallets — Blue Wallet — and it happens to support signing messages as well.

Just tap the three dots on the upper right and you’ll see the “Sign/Verify Message” button at the bottom.

Update [January 18]: You can now use Coinos to sign by going to https://coinos.io/sign

The trick here is to not refresh the page. In other words, when you're logged in to your Coinos account, go to the URL and use the legacy address (starts with a "1") that's displayed to configure your miner(s). If you refresh the page, you're going to get a new address which will cause the signing to fail later on. Remember, keep the tab open and don't refresh the page.

Whichever wallet you choose, generate a receive address to use when configuring your miner (it’ll also be your OCEAN username).

Here’s how it looks on the Bitaxe (AxeOS)…

And the Antminer S9 (Braiins OS).

NOTE: There’s a slight difference in the URL format between the two apps. Other than that, the username will be your bitcoin address followed by the optional “.” + the nickname for your machine.

You can find more details on OCEAN’s get started page.

---

Alright, now that your miner is pointed at OCEAN. Let’s configure Lightning payouts!

Generating the BOLT12 Offer

In the Coinos app, go to Receive > Bolt 12. This should be opened in another tab from the one we're using to sign the the configuration message.

Tap “Set memo” and set it to “OCEAN Payouts for [insert your bitcoin address]” (this text is case-sensitive). Use the same bitcoin address you used above to configure your miner(s).

After tapping OK, copy the BOLT12 offer (it should start with “lno”) and proceed to the next step.

Generating the Configuration Message

Navigate to the My Stats page by searching for your OCEAN Bitcoin address.

The click the Configuration link next to Next Block to access the configuration form.

Paste the BOLT12 offer here, update the block height to latest, click GENERATE, and copy the generated unsigned message.

Signing the Configuration Message

To sign the generated message, go back to Blue Wallet and use the signing function. Paste the configuration message in the Message field, tap Sign, and copy the signed message that’s generated.

If you're using Coinos to sign, return to the page that you kept open (and didn't refresh) and do the same. Paste the configuration message, click submit, and copy the signed message.

Submitting the Signed Message

Once signed, copy the signature, paste it in the OCEAN configuration form, and click CONFIRM.

If all goes well, you should see a confirmation that the configuration was successful. Congrats! 🎉

All you gotta do now is sit back, relax, and wait for a block to be found…

Or you can look into setting up DATUM. 😎

@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9

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.

@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9

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.

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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.

@ a19caaa8:88985eaf

• 音楽ヨシ
• ビジュヨシ
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@ 6be5cc06:5259daf0

Bitcoin: Um sistema de dinheiro eletrônico direto entre pessoas.

Satoshi Nakamoto
satoshin@gmx.com
www.bitcoin.org

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Resumo

O Bitcoin é uma forma de dinheiro digital que permite pagamentos diretos entre pessoas, sem a necessidade de um banco ou instituição financeira. Ele resolve um problema chamado gasto duplo, que ocorre quando alguém tenta gastar o mesmo dinheiro duas vezes. Para evitar isso, o Bitcoin usa uma rede descentralizada onde todos trabalham juntos para verificar e registrar as transações.

As transações são registradas em um livro público chamado blockchain, protegido por uma técnica chamada Prova de Trabalho. Essa técnica cria uma cadeia de registros que não pode ser alterada sem refazer todo o trabalho já feito. Essa cadeia é mantida pelos computadores que participam da rede, e a mais longa é considerada a verdadeira.

Enquanto a maior parte do poder computacional da rede for controlada por participantes honestos, o sistema continuará funcionando de forma segura. A rede é flexível, permitindo que qualquer pessoa entre ou saia a qualquer momento, sempre confiando na cadeia mais longa como prova do que aconteceu.

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1. Introdução

Hoje, quase todos os pagamentos feitos pela internet dependem de bancos ou empresas como processadores de pagamento (cartões de crédito, por exemplo) para funcionar. Embora esse sistema seja útil, ele tem problemas importantes porque é baseado em confiança.

Primeiro, essas empresas podem reverter pagamentos, o que é útil em caso de erros, mas cria custos e incertezas. Isso faz com que pequenas transações, como pagar centavos por um serviço, se tornem inviáveis. Além disso, os comerciantes são obrigados a desconfiar dos clientes, pedindo informações extras e aceitando fraudes como algo inevitável.

Esses problemas não existem no dinheiro físico, como o papel-moeda, onde o pagamento é final e direto entre as partes. No entanto, não temos como enviar dinheiro físico pela internet sem depender de um intermediário confiável.

O que precisamos é de um sistema de pagamento eletrônico baseado em provas matemáticas, não em confiança. Esse sistema permitiria que qualquer pessoa enviasse dinheiro diretamente para outra, sem depender de bancos ou processadores de pagamento. Além disso, as transações seriam irreversíveis, protegendo vendedores contra fraudes, mas mantendo a possibilidade de soluções para disputas legítimas.

Neste documento, apresentamos o Bitcoin, que resolve o problema do gasto duplo usando uma rede descentralizada. Essa rede cria um registro público e protegido por cálculos matemáticos, que garante a ordem das transações. Enquanto a maior parte da rede for controlada por pessoas honestas, o sistema será seguro contra ataques.

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2. Transações

Para entender como funciona o Bitcoin, é importante saber como as transações são realizadas. Imagine que você quer transferir uma "moeda digital" para outra pessoa. No sistema do Bitcoin, essa "moeda" é representada por uma sequência de registros que mostram quem é o atual dono. Para transferi-la, você adiciona um novo registro comprovando que agora ela pertence ao próximo dono. Esse registro é protegido por um tipo especial de assinatura digital.

O que é uma assinatura digital?

Uma assinatura digital é como uma senha secreta, mas muito mais segura. No Bitcoin, cada usuário tem duas chaves: uma "chave privada", que é secreta e serve para criar a assinatura, e uma "chave pública", que pode ser compartilhada com todos e é usada para verificar se a assinatura é válida. Quando você transfere uma moeda, usa sua chave privada para assinar a transação, provando que você é o dono. A próxima pessoa pode usar sua chave pública para confirmar isso.

Como funciona na prática?

Cada "moeda" no Bitcoin é, na verdade, uma cadeia de assinaturas digitais. Vamos imaginar o seguinte cenário:

1. A moeda está com o Dono 0 (você). Para transferi-la ao Dono 1, você assina digitalmente a transação com sua chave privada. Essa assinatura inclui o código da transação anterior (chamado de "hash") e a chave pública do Dono 1.
2. Quando o Dono 1 quiser transferir a moeda ao Dono 2, ele assinará a transação seguinte com sua própria chave privada, incluindo também o hash da transação anterior e a chave pública do Dono 2.
3. Esse processo continua, formando uma "cadeia" de transações. Qualquer pessoa pode verificar essa cadeia para confirmar quem é o atual dono da moeda.

Resolvendo o problema do gasto duplo

Um grande desafio com moedas digitais é o "gasto duplo", que é quando uma mesma moeda é usada em mais de uma transação. Para evitar isso, muitos sistemas antigos dependiam de uma entidade central confiável, como uma casa da moeda, que verificava todas as transações. No entanto, isso criava um ponto único de falha e centralizava o controle do dinheiro.

O Bitcoin resolve esse problema de forma inovadora: ele usa uma rede descentralizada onde todos os participantes (os "nós") têm acesso a um registro completo de todas as transações. Cada nó verifica se as transações são válidas e se a moeda não foi gasta duas vezes. Quando a maioria dos nós concorda com a validade de uma transação, ela é registrada permanentemente na blockchain.

Por que isso é importante?

Essa solução elimina a necessidade de confiar em uma única entidade para gerenciar o dinheiro, permitindo que qualquer pessoa no mundo use o Bitcoin sem precisar de permissão de terceiros. Além disso, ela garante que o sistema seja seguro e resistente a fraudes.

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3. Servidor Timestamp

Para assegurar que as transações sejam realizadas de forma segura e transparente, o sistema Bitcoin utiliza algo chamado de "servidor de registro de tempo" (timestamp). Esse servidor funciona como um registro público que organiza as transações em uma ordem específica.

Ele faz isso agrupando várias transações em blocos e criando um código único chamado "hash". Esse hash é como uma impressão digital que representa todo o conteúdo do bloco. O hash de cada bloco é amplamente divulgado, como se fosse publicado em um jornal ou em um fórum público.

Esse processo garante que cada bloco de transações tenha um registro de quando foi criado e que ele existia naquele momento. Além disso, cada novo bloco criado contém o hash do bloco anterior, formando uma cadeia contínua de blocos conectados — conhecida como blockchain.

Com isso, se alguém tentar alterar qualquer informação em um bloco anterior, o hash desse bloco mudará e não corresponderá ao hash armazenado no bloco seguinte. Essa característica torna a cadeia muito segura, pois qualquer tentativa de fraude seria imediatamente detectada.

O sistema de timestamps é essencial para provar a ordem cronológica das transações e garantir que cada uma delas seja única e autêntica. Dessa forma, ele reforça a segurança e a confiança na rede Bitcoin.

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4. Prova-de-Trabalho

Para implementar o registro de tempo distribuído no sistema Bitcoin, utilizamos um mecanismo chamado prova-de-trabalho. Esse sistema é semelhante ao Hashcash, desenvolvido por Adam Back, e baseia-se na criação de um código único, o "hash", por meio de um processo computacionalmente exigente.

A prova-de-trabalho envolve encontrar um valor especial que, quando processado junto com as informações do bloco, gere um hash que comece com uma quantidade específica de zeros. Esse valor especial é chamado de "nonce". Encontrar o nonce correto exige um esforço significativo do computador, porque envolve tentativas repetidas até que a condição seja satisfeita.

Esse processo é importante porque torna extremamente difícil alterar qualquer informação registrada em um bloco. Se alguém tentar mudar algo em um bloco, seria necessário refazer o trabalho de computação não apenas para aquele bloco, mas também para todos os blocos que vêm depois dele. Isso garante a segurança e a imutabilidade da blockchain.

A prova-de-trabalho também resolve o problema de decidir qual cadeia de blocos é a válida quando há múltiplas cadeias competindo. A decisão é feita pela cadeia mais longa, pois ela representa o maior esforço computacional já realizado. Isso impede que qualquer indivíduo ou grupo controle a rede, desde que a maioria do poder de processamento seja mantida por participantes honestos.

Para garantir que o sistema permaneça eficiente e equilibrado, a dificuldade da prova-de-trabalho é ajustada automaticamente ao longo do tempo. Se novos blocos estiverem sendo gerados rapidamente, a dificuldade aumenta; se estiverem sendo gerados muito lentamente, a dificuldade diminui. Esse ajuste assegura que novos blocos sejam criados aproximadamente a cada 10 minutos, mantendo o sistema estável e funcional.

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5. Rede

A rede Bitcoin é o coração do sistema e funciona de maneira distribuída, conectando vários participantes (ou nós) para garantir o registro e a validação das transações. Os passos para operar essa rede são:

1. Transmissão de Transações: Quando alguém realiza uma nova transação, ela é enviada para todos os nós da rede. Isso é feito para garantir que todos estejam cientes da operação e possam validá-la.

2. Coleta de Transações em Blocos: Cada nó agrupa as novas transações recebidas em um "bloco". Este bloco será preparado para ser adicionado à cadeia de blocos (a blockchain).

3. Prova-de-Trabalho: Os nós competem para resolver a prova-de-trabalho do bloco, utilizando poder computacional para encontrar um hash válido. Esse processo é como resolver um quebra-cabeça matemático difícil.

4. Envio do Bloco Resolvido: Quando um nó encontra a solução para o bloco (a prova-de-trabalho), ele compartilha esse bloco com todos os outros nós na rede.

5. Validação do Bloco: Cada nó verifica o bloco recebido para garantir que todas as transações nele contidas sejam válidas e que nenhuma moeda tenha sido gasta duas vezes. Apenas blocos válidos são aceitos.

6. Construção do Próximo Bloco: Os nós que aceitaram o bloco começam a trabalhar na criação do próximo bloco, utilizando o hash do bloco aceito como base (hash anterior). Isso mantém a continuidade da cadeia.

Resolução de Conflitos e Escolha da Cadeia Mais Longa

Os nós sempre priorizam a cadeia mais longa, pois ela representa o maior esforço computacional já realizado, garantindo maior segurança. Se dois blocos diferentes forem compartilhados simultaneamente, os nós trabalharão no primeiro bloco recebido, mas guardarão o outro como uma alternativa. Caso o segundo bloco eventualmente forme uma cadeia mais longa (ou seja, tenha mais blocos subsequentes), os nós mudarão para essa nova cadeia.

Tolerância a Falhas

A rede é robusta e pode lidar com mensagens que não chegam a todos os nós. Uma transação não precisa alcançar todos os nós de imediato; basta que chegue a um número suficiente deles para ser incluída em um bloco. Da mesma forma, se um nó não receber um bloco em tempo hábil, ele pode solicitá-lo ao perceber que está faltando quando o próximo bloco é recebido.

Esse mecanismo descentralizado permite que a rede Bitcoin funcione de maneira segura, confiável e resiliente, sem depender de uma autoridade central.

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6. Incentivo

O incentivo é um dos pilares fundamentais que sustenta o funcionamento da rede Bitcoin, garantindo que os participantes (nós) continuem operando de forma honesta e contribuindo com recursos computacionais. Ele é estruturado em duas partes principais: a recompensa por mineração e as taxas de transação.

Recompensa por Mineração

Por convenção, o primeiro registro em cada bloco é uma transação especial que cria novas moedas e as atribui ao criador do bloco. Essa recompensa incentiva os mineradores a dedicarem poder computacional para apoiar a rede. Como não há uma autoridade central para emitir moedas, essa é a maneira pela qual novas moedas entram em circulação. Esse processo pode ser comparado ao trabalho de garimpeiros, que utilizam recursos para colocar mais ouro em circulação. No caso do Bitcoin, o "recurso" consiste no tempo de CPU e na energia elétrica consumida para resolver a prova-de-trabalho.

Taxas de Transação

Além da recompensa por mineração, os mineradores também podem ser incentivados pelas taxas de transação. Se uma transação utiliza menos valor de saída do que o valor de entrada, a diferença é tratada como uma taxa, que é adicionada à recompensa do bloco contendo essa transação. Com o passar do tempo e à medida que o número de moedas em circulação atinge o limite predeterminado, essas taxas de transação se tornam a principal fonte de incentivo, substituindo gradualmente a emissão de novas moedas. Isso permite que o sistema opere sem inflação, uma vez que o número total de moedas permanece fixo.

Incentivo à Honestidade

O design do incentivo também busca garantir que os participantes da rede mantenham um comportamento honesto. Para um atacante que consiga reunir mais poder computacional do que o restante da rede, ele enfrentaria duas escolhas:

1. Usar esse poder para fraudar o sistema, como reverter transações e roubar pagamentos.
2. Seguir as regras do sistema, criando novos blocos e recebendo recompensas legítimas.

A lógica econômica favorece a segunda opção, pois um comportamento desonesto prejudicaria a confiança no sistema, diminuindo o valor de todas as moedas, incluindo aquelas que o próprio atacante possui. Jogar dentro das regras não apenas maximiza o retorno financeiro, mas também preserva a validade e a integridade do sistema.

Esse mecanismo garante que os incentivos econômicos estejam alinhados com o objetivo de manter a rede segura, descentralizada e funcional ao longo do tempo.

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7. Recuperação do Espaço em Disco

Depois que uma moeda passa a estar protegida por muitos blocos na cadeia, as informações sobre as transações antigas que a geraram podem ser descartadas para economizar espaço em disco. Para que isso seja possível sem comprometer a segurança, as transações são organizadas em uma estrutura chamada "árvore de Merkle". Essa árvore funciona como um resumo das transações: em vez de armazenar todas elas, guarda apenas um "hash raiz", que é como uma assinatura compacta que representa todo o grupo de transações.

Os blocos antigos podem, então, ser simplificados, removendo as partes desnecessárias dessa árvore. Apenas a raiz do hash precisa ser mantida no cabeçalho do bloco, garantindo que a integridade dos dados seja preservada, mesmo que detalhes específicos sejam descartados.

Para exemplificar: imagine que você tenha vários recibos de compra. Em vez de guardar todos os recibos, você cria um documento e lista apenas o valor total de cada um. Mesmo que os recibos originais sejam descartados, ainda é possível verificar a soma com base nos valores armazenados.

Além disso, o espaço ocupado pelos blocos em si é muito pequeno. Cada bloco sem transações ocupa apenas cerca de 80 bytes. Isso significa que, mesmo com blocos sendo gerados a cada 10 minutos, o crescimento anual em espaço necessário é insignificante: apenas 4,2 MB por ano. Com a capacidade de armazenamento dos computadores crescendo a cada ano, esse espaço continuará sendo trivial, garantindo que a rede possa operar de forma eficiente sem problemas de armazenamento, mesmo a longo prazo.

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8. Verificação de Pagamento Simplificada

É possível confirmar pagamentos sem a necessidade de operar um nó completo da rede. Para isso, o usuário precisa apenas de uma cópia dos cabeçalhos dos blocos da cadeia mais longa (ou seja, a cadeia com maior esforço de trabalho acumulado). Ele pode verificar a validade de uma transação ao consultar os nós da rede até obter a confirmação de que tem a cadeia mais longa. Para isso, utiliza-se o ramo Merkle, que conecta a transação ao bloco em que ela foi registrada.

Entretanto, o método simplificado possui limitações: ele não pode confirmar uma transação isoladamente, mas sim assegurar que ela ocupa um lugar específico na cadeia mais longa. Dessa forma, se um nó da rede aprova a transação, os blocos subsequentes reforçam essa aceitação.

A verificação simplificada é confiável enquanto a maioria dos nós da rede for honesta. Contudo, ela se torna vulnerável caso a rede seja dominada por um invasor. Nesse cenário, um atacante poderia fabricar transações fraudulentas que enganariam o usuário temporariamente até que o invasor obtivesse controle completo da rede.

Uma estratégia para mitigar esse risco é configurar alertas nos softwares de nós completos. Esses alertas identificam blocos inválidos, sugerindo ao usuário baixar o bloco completo para confirmar qualquer inconsistência. Para maior segurança, empresas que realizam pagamentos frequentes podem preferir operar seus próprios nós, reduzindo riscos e permitindo uma verificação mais direta e confiável.

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9. Combinando e Dividindo Valor

No sistema Bitcoin, cada unidade de valor é tratada como uma "moeda" individual, mas gerenciar cada centavo como uma transação separada seria impraticável. Para resolver isso, o Bitcoin permite que valores sejam combinados ou divididos em transações, facilitando pagamentos de qualquer valor.

Entradas e Saídas

Cada transação no Bitcoin é composta por:

• Entradas: Representam os valores recebidos em transações anteriores.
• Saídas: Correspondem aos valores enviados, divididos entre os destinatários e, eventualmente, o troco para o remetente.

Normalmente, uma transação contém:

• Uma única entrada com valor suficiente para cobrir o pagamento.
• Ou várias entradas combinadas para atingir o valor necessário.

O valor total das saídas nunca excede o das entradas, e a diferença (se houver) pode ser retornada ao remetente como troco.

Exemplo Prático

Imagine que você tem duas entradas:

1. 0,03 BTC
2. 0,07 BTC

Se deseja enviar 0,08 BTC para alguém, a transação terá:

• Entrada: As duas entradas combinadas (0,03 + 0,07 BTC = 0,10 BTC).
• Saídas: Uma para o destinatário (0,08 BTC) e outra como troco para você (0,02 BTC).

Essa flexibilidade permite que o sistema funcione sem precisar manipular cada unidade mínima individualmente.

Difusão e Simplificação

A difusão de transações, onde uma depende de várias anteriores e assim por diante, não representa um problema. Não é necessário armazenar ou verificar o histórico completo de uma transação para utilizá-la, já que o registro na blockchain garante sua integridade.

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10. Privacidade

O modelo bancário tradicional oferece um certo nível de privacidade, limitando o acesso às informações financeiras apenas às partes envolvidas e a um terceiro confiável (como bancos ou instituições financeiras). No entanto, o Bitcoin opera de forma diferente, pois todas as transações são publicamente registradas na blockchain. Apesar disso, a privacidade pode ser mantida utilizando chaves públicas anônimas, que desvinculam diretamente as transações das identidades das partes envolvidas.

Fluxo de Informação

• No modelo tradicional, as transações passam por um terceiro confiável que conhece tanto o remetente quanto o destinatário.
• No Bitcoin, as transações são anunciadas publicamente, mas sem revelar diretamente as identidades das partes. Isso é comparável a dados divulgados por bolsas de valores, onde informações como o tempo e o tamanho das negociações (a "fita") são públicas, mas as identidades das partes não.

Protegendo a Privacidade

Para aumentar a privacidade no Bitcoin, são adotadas as seguintes práticas:

1. Chaves Públicas Anônimas: Cada transação utiliza um par de chaves diferentes, dificultando a associação com um proprietário único.
2. Prevenção de Ligação: Ao usar chaves novas para cada transação, reduz-se a possibilidade de links evidentes entre múltiplas transações realizadas pelo mesmo usuário.

Riscos de Ligação

Embora a privacidade seja fortalecida, alguns riscos permanecem:

• Transações multi-entrada podem revelar que todas as entradas pertencem ao mesmo proprietário, caso sejam necessárias para somar o valor total.
• O proprietário da chave pode ser identificado indiretamente por transações anteriores que estejam conectadas.

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11. Cálculos

Imagine que temos um sistema onde as pessoas (ou computadores) competem para adicionar informações novas (blocos) a um grande registro público (a cadeia de blocos ou blockchain). Este registro é como um livro contábil compartilhado, onde todos podem verificar o que está escrito.

Agora, vamos pensar em um cenário: um atacante quer enganar o sistema. Ele quer mudar informações já registradas para beneficiar a si mesmo, por exemplo, desfazendo um pagamento que já fez. Para isso, ele precisa criar uma versão alternativa do livro contábil (a cadeia de blocos dele) e convencer todos os outros participantes de que essa versão é a verdadeira.

Mas isso é extremamente difícil.

Como o Ataque Funciona

Quando um novo bloco é adicionado à cadeia, ele depende de cálculos complexos que levam tempo e esforço. Esses cálculos são como um grande quebra-cabeça que precisa ser resolvido.

• Os “bons jogadores” (nós honestos) estão sempre trabalhando juntos para resolver esses quebra-cabeças e adicionar novos blocos à cadeia verdadeira.
• O atacante, por outro lado, precisa resolver quebra-cabeças sozinho, tentando “alcançar” a cadeia honesta para que sua versão alternativa pareça válida.

Se a cadeia honesta já está vários blocos à frente, o atacante começa em desvantagem, e o sistema está projetado para que a dificuldade de alcançá-los aumente rapidamente.

A Corrida Entre Cadeias

Você pode imaginar isso como uma corrida. A cada bloco novo que os jogadores honestos adicionam à cadeia verdadeira, eles se distanciam mais do atacante. Para vencer, o atacante teria que resolver os quebra-cabeças mais rápido que todos os outros jogadores honestos juntos.

Suponha que:

• A rede honesta tem 80% do poder computacional (ou seja, resolve 8 de cada 10 quebra-cabeças).
• O atacante tem 20% do poder computacional (ou seja, resolve 2 de cada 10 quebra-cabeças).

Cada vez que a rede honesta adiciona um bloco, o atacante tem que "correr atrás" e resolver mais quebra-cabeças para alcançar.

Por Que o Ataque Fica Cada Vez Mais Improvável?

Vamos usar uma fórmula simples para mostrar como as chances de sucesso do atacante diminuem conforme ele precisa "alcançar" mais blocos:

P = (q/p)^z

• q é o poder computacional do atacante (20%, ou 0,2).
• p é o poder computacional da rede honesta (80%, ou 0,8).
• z é a diferença de blocos entre a cadeia honesta e a cadeia do atacante.

Se o atacante está 5 blocos atrás (z = 5):

P = (0,2 / 0,8)^5 = (0,25)^5 = 0,00098, (ou, 0,098%)

Isso significa que o atacante tem menos de 0,1% de chance de sucesso — ou seja, é muito improvável.

Se ele estiver 10 blocos atrás (z = 10):

P = (0,2 / 0,8)^10 = (0,25)^10 = 0,000000095, (ou, 0,0000095%).

Neste caso, as chances de sucesso são praticamente nulas.

Um Exemplo Simples

Se você jogar uma moeda, a chance de cair “cara” é de 50%. Mas se precisar de 10 caras seguidas, sua chance já é bem menor. Se precisar de 20 caras seguidas, é quase impossível.

No caso do Bitcoin, o atacante precisa de muito mais do que 20 caras seguidas. Ele precisa resolver quebra-cabeças extremamente difíceis e alcançar os jogadores honestos que estão sempre à frente. Isso faz com que o ataque seja inviável na prática.

Por Que Tudo Isso é Seguro?

• A probabilidade de sucesso do atacante diminui exponencialmente. Isso significa que, quanto mais tempo passa, menor é a chance de ele conseguir enganar o sistema.
• A cadeia verdadeira (honesta) está protegida pela força da rede. Cada novo bloco que os jogadores honestos adicionam à cadeia torna mais difícil para o atacante alcançar.

E Se o Atacante Tentar Continuar?

O atacante poderia continuar tentando indefinidamente, mas ele estaria gastando muito tempo e energia sem conseguir nada. Enquanto isso, os jogadores honestos estão sempre adicionando novos blocos, tornando o trabalho do atacante ainda mais inútil.

Assim, o sistema garante que a cadeia verdadeira seja extremamente segura e que ataques sejam, na prática, impossíveis de ter sucesso.

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12. Conclusão

Propusemos um sistema de transações eletrônicas que elimina a necessidade de confiança, baseando-se em assinaturas digitais e em uma rede peer-to-peer que utiliza prova de trabalho. Isso resolve o problema do gasto duplo, criando um histórico público de transações imutável, desde que a maioria do poder computacional permaneça sob controle dos participantes honestos. A rede funciona de forma simples e descentralizada, com nós independentes que não precisam de identificação ou coordenação direta. Eles entram e saem livremente, aceitando a cadeia de prova de trabalho como registro do que ocorreu durante sua ausência. As decisões são tomadas por meio do poder de CPU, validando blocos legítimos, estendendo a cadeia e rejeitando os inválidos. Com este mecanismo de consenso, todas as regras e incentivos necessários para o funcionamento seguro e eficiente do sistema são garantidos.

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Faça o download do whitepaper original em português: https://bitcoin.org/files/bitcoin-paper/bitcoin_pt_br.pdf

@ c1e9ab3a:9cb56b43

1. Introduction

Over the last 250 years the world’s appetite for energy has soared along an unmistakably exponential trajectory, transforming societies and economies alike. After a half‑century of relative deceleration, a new mix of technological, demographic and political forces now hints at an impending catch‑up phase that could push demand back onto its centuries‑long growth curve. This post knits together the history, the numbers and the newest policy signals to explore what that rebound might look like—and how Gen‑4 nuclear power could meet it.

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2. The Long Exponential: 1750 – 1975

Early industrialisation replaced muscle, wood and water with coal‑fired steam, pushing global primary energy use from a few exajoules per year in 1750 to roughly 60 EJ by 1900 and 250 EJ by 1975. Over that span aggregate consumption doubled roughly every 25–35 years, equivalent to a long‑run compound growth rate of ~3 % yr‑¹. Per‑capita use climbed even faster in industrialised economies as factories, railways and electric lighting spread.

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3. 1975 – 2025: The Great Slowdown

3.1 Efficiency & Structural Change

• Oil shocks (1973, 1979) and volatile prices pushed OECD economies to squeeze more GDP from each joule.
• Services displaced heavy industry in rich countries, trimming energy intensity.
• Refrigerators, motors and vehicles became dramatically more efficient.

3.2 Policy & Technology

• The Inflation Reduction Act (U.S.) now layers zero‑emission production credits and technology‑neutral tax incentives on top of existing nuclear PTCs citeturn1search0turn1search2.
• The EU’s Net‑Zero Industry Act aims to streamline siting and finance for “net‑zero technologies”, explicitly naming advanced nuclear citeturn0search1.

3.3 Result

Global primary energy in 2024 stands near 600 EJ (≈ 167 000 TWh)—still growing, but the line has flattened versus the pre‑1975 exponential.

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4. Population & Per‑Capita Demand

World population tripled between 1950 and today, yet total energy use grew roughly six‑fold. The imbalance reflects rising living standards and electrification. Looking ahead, the UN projects population to plateau near 10.4 billion in the 2080s, but per‑capita demand is poised to climb as the Global South industrialises.

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5. The Policy Pivot of 2023‑2025

| Region | Signal | Year | Implication | |--------|--------|------|-------------| | COP 28 Declaration | 20+ nations pledge to triple nuclear capacity by 2050 | 2023 | High‑level political cover for rapid nuclear build‑out citeturn0search2 | | Europe | Post‑crisis sentiment shifts; blackout in Iberia re‑opens nuclear debate | 2025 | Spain, Germany, Switzerland and others revisit phase‑outs citeturn0news63 | | United States | TVA submits first SMR construction permit; NRC advances BWRX‑300 review | 2025 | Regulatory pathway for fleet deployment citeturn1search9turn1search1 | | Global Strategy Report | “Six Dimensions for Success” playbook for new nuclear entrants | 2025 | Practical roadmap for emerging economies citeturn0search0 | | U.S. Congress | Proposed cuts to DOE loan office threaten build‑out pace | 2025 | Finance bottleneck remains a risk citeturn1news28 |

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6. The Catch‑Up Scenario

Suppose the recent 50‑year pause ends in 2025, and total energy demand returns to a midpoint historical doubling period of 12.5 years (the average of the 10–15 year rebound window).

6.1 Consumption Trajectory

| Year | Doublings since 2024 | Demand (TWh) | |------|----------------------|--------------| | 2024 | 0 | 167 000 | | 2037 | 1 | 334 000 | | 2050 | 2 | 668 000 | | 2062 | 3 | 1 336 000 |

(Table ignores efficiency gains from electrification for a conservative, supply‑side sizing.)

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7. Nuclear‑Only Supply Model

7.1 Reactor Math

• 1 GWᵉ Gen‑4 reactor → 8.76 TWh yr‑¹ at 100 % capacity factor.
• 2062 requirement: 1 336 000 TWh yr‑¹ → ≈ 152 500 reactors in steady state.
• Build rate (2025‑2062, linear deployment):
  152 500 ÷ 38 years ≈ 4 000 reactors per year globally.

(Down from the earlier 5 000 yr‑¹ estimate because the deployment window now stretches 38 years instead of 30.)

7.2 Policy Benchmarks

• COP 28 triple target translates to +780 GW (if baseline 2020 ≈ 390 GW). That is <100 1 GW units per year—two orders of magnitude lower than the theoretical catch‑up requirement, highlighting just how aggressive our thought experiment is.

7.3 Distributed vs Grid‑Centric

Small Modular Reactors (300 MW class) can be sited on retiring coal plants, using existing grid interconnects and cooling, vastly reducing new transmission needs. Ultra‑large “gigawatt corridors” become optional rather than mandatory, though meshed regional grids still improve resilience and market liquidity.

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8. Challenges & Unknowns

1. Finance: Even with IRA‑style credits, first‑of‑a‑kind Gen‑4 builds carry high cost of capital.
2. Supply Chain: 4 000 reactors a year means a reactor‑grade steel output roughly 20× today’s level.
3. Waste & Public Trust: Advanced reactors can burn actinides, but geologic repositories remain essential.
4. Workforce: Nuclear engineers, welders and regulators are already in short supply.
5. Competing Technologies: Cheap renewables + storage and prospective fusion could displace part of the projected load.

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9. Conclusions

Recent policy shifts—from Europe’s Net‑Zero Industry Act to the COP 28 nuclear declaration—signal that governments once again see nuclear energy as indispensable to deep decarbonisation. Yet meeting an exponential catch‑up in demand would require deployment rates an order of magnitude beyond today’s commitments, testing manufacturing capacity, finance and political resolve.

Whether the future follows the modest path now embedded in policy or the steeper curve sketched here, two convictions stand out:

• Electrification will dominate new energy demand.
• Scalable, dispatchable low‑carbon generation—likely including large fleets of Gen‑4 fission plants—must fill much of that gap if net‑zero targets are to remain credible.

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Last updated 1 June 2025.

@ 472f440f:5669301e

Marty's Bent

Sorry for the lack of writing over the last week. As many of you may already know, I was in Las Vegas, Nevada for the Bitcoin 2025 conference. It was my first time in Las Vegas. I had successfully avoided Sin City for the first 34 years of my life. But when duty calls, you have to make some personal concessions.

Despite what many say about this particular conference and the spectacle that it has become, I will say that having attended every single one of Bitcoin Magazine's conferences since 2019, I thoroughly enjoy these events, even if I don't agree with all the content. Being able to congregate with others in the industry who have been working extremely hard to push Bitcoin forward, all of whom I view as kindred spirits who have also dedicated their lives to making the world a better place. There's nothing better than getting together, seeing each other in person, shaking hands, giving hugs, catching up and reflecting on how much things have changed over the years while also focusing on the opportunities that lie ahead.

I think out of all the Bitcoin magazine conferences I've been to, this was certainly my favorite. If only because it has become abundantly clear that Bitcoin is here to stay. Many powerful, influential, and competent people have identified Bitcoin as an asset and monetary network that will play a large part in human society moving forward. And more importantly, Bitcoin is proving to work far better than anybody not paying attention expected. While at the same time, the fiat system is in woeful disrepair at the same time.

As a matter of reflection and surfacing signal for you freaks, here are the presentations and things that happened that I think were the most impactful.

Miles Suter's Block Presentation

https://youtu.be/iUXomXuXcuA

This presentation was awesome for many reasons, one of which being that we often forget just how dedicated Block, as an organization with many companies - including Cash App, Square, the open source organization known as Spiral and more recently, BitKey and Proto - has been to bitcoin over the last eight years. They've worked methodically to make Bitcoin a first-class citizen in their business operations and slowly but surely have built an incredibly integrated experience across their brands. The two big announcements from Block during the conference were the enablement of Bitcoin payments in Square point-of-sale systems and the amount of revenue they're making on their Lightning node, c=, from routing payments.

Right now, the Bitcoin payments and point of sale systems is in beta with many merchants testing it out for the next six months, but it will be available for all 4 million square merchants in 2026. This is something that many bitcoiners have been waiting for for many years now, and it is incredible to see that they finally brought it across the line. Merchants will have the ability to accept bitcoin payments and either convert every payment into fiat automatically, convert a portion of the bitcoin payment into fiat to keep the rest in sats, or simply keep all of the bitcoin they receive via payments in sats. This is an incredible addition to what Square has already built, which is the ability of their merchants to sweep a portion of their revenues into bitcoin if they desire. Square is focused on building a vertically integrated suite of bitcoin products for merchants that includes the ability to buy bitcoin, receive bitcoin, and eventually leverage financial services using bitcoin as collateral so that they can reinvest in and expand their businesses.

via Ryan Gentry

What went a bit underappreciated in the crowd was the routing node revenue that c= is producing, \~9.7% annualized. This is a massive validation of something that many bitcoiners have been talking about for quite some time, which is the ability to produce "yield" on bitcoin in a way that reduces risk significantly. Locking up bitcoin in a 2-of-2 multisig within Lightning channels and operating a Lightning routing node has been long talked about as one of the ways to produce more bitcoin with your bitcoin in a way that minimizes the threat of loss.

It seems that c= has found a way to do this at scale and is doing it successfully. 10% yield on bitcoin locked in Lightning channels is nothing to joke about. And as you can see from the chart above in the grainy picture taken by Ryan Gentry of Lightning Labs, this routing node "yield" is producing more return on capital than many of the most popular staking and DeFi protocols.

This is a strong signal to the rest of the market that this can be done. It may take economies of scale and a high degree of technical competency today. But this is incredibly promising for the future of earning bitcoin by providing valuable goods and services to the market of Bitcoiners. In this case, facilitating relatively cheap and instantly settled payments over the Lightning Network.

Saifedean Ammous' Bitcoin and Tether Presentation

https://youtu.be/SFUiGTayVL8

This was one of the best presentations at the conference. Saifedean Ammous is a friend, he has been an incredible influence on my personal bitcoin journey, and I feel comfortable in saying he's been a strong influence on the journey of hundreds of thousands, at least, if not millions of people as they've attempted to understand bitcoin.

This presentation is a bit spicy because it puts a pin in the balloon of hopium that stablecoins like Tether are mechanisms that could bail out the market for US Treasuries in the medium to long-term if they take enough market share. As one always should do, Saif ran the numbers and clearly illustrates that even in the most optimistic case, Tether's impact on the market for treasuries, their interest rates, and curbing the growth of the debt held by the US federal government will be minimal at best.

One of the most interesting things that Saif points out that I'm a bit embarrassed I didn't recognize before is that much of the demand for Tether that we're seeing these days is replacement demand for treasuries. Meaning that many people who are turning to Tether, particularly in countries that have experienced hyperinflationary events, are using Tether as a substitute for their currencies, which are operated by central banks likely buying U.S. treasuries to support their monetary systems. The net effect of Tether buying those treasuries is zero for this particular user archetype.

Saif goes on to explain that if anything, Tether is a weapon against the US Treasury system when you consider that they're storing a large portion of the stablecoin backing in Treasuries and then using the yields produced by those Treasuries to buy bitcoin. Slowly but surely over time bitcoin as a percentage of their overall backing of Tether has grown quite significantly starting at 0% and approaching 10% today. It isn't hard to imagine that at some point within the next decade, Bitcoin could be the dominant reserve asset backing tethers and, as a result, Tether could be pegged to bitcoin eventually.

It's a fascinating take on Tether that I've never heard before.

Nothing Stops this Train from Lyn Alden

https://youtu.be/Giuzcd4oxIk

Lyn's been saying it loudly for quite some time now; "Nothing stops this train." She's even been on our podcast to explain why she believes this many times over the last five years. However, I don't think there is one piece of content out there that consolidates her thesis of why nothing stops the train of fiscal irresponsibility and unfettered debt expansion and why that's good for bitcoin than the presentation she gave at the conference. Definitely give this one a watch when you get a chance if you haven't already.

Overall, it was a great week in Vegas and I think it's safe to say that bitcoin has gone mainstream. Whether or not people who have been in the bitcoin industry and community for a while are okay with does not really matter. It's happening and all we can do is ride the wave as more and more people come to recognize the value prop of bitcoin and the social clout they can gain from supporting it. Our job here at TFTC is to help you discern the signal from the noise, continue to champion the self-sovereign usage of bitcoin and keep you abreast of developments in the space as they manifest.

Buckle up. Things are only going to get weirder from here on out.

Bitcoin's Mathematical Destiny

Sean Bill and Adam Back make a compelling case for Bitcoin's inevitable march toward $1 million. Sean points out that Bitcoin represents just a tiny fraction—2 trillion out of 900 trillion—of total financial assets, calling it a "tiny orange dot" on their presentation to Texas pensions. He emphasizes that reaching parity with gold alone would deliver a 10x return from current levels. Adam highlights the mathematical impossibility of current prices, noting that ETF buyers are absorbing 500,000 BTC annually while only 165,000 new coins are mined.

"Who's selling at these prices? It doesn't quite add up to me." - Adam Back

The institutional wave is just beginning. Sean revealed that while 50% of hedge fund managers personally own Bitcoin, only 3% have allocated institutional funds. Combined with emerging demand from nation states and corporate treasuries meeting Bitcoin's fixed supply, the price trajectory seems clear. Both guests stressed the importance of staying invested—missing just the 12 best performing days each year would turn Bitcoin into a losing investment.

Check out the full podcast here for more on pensions allocating to Bitcoin, cypherpunk banking, and commodity trading insights.

Headlines of the Day

Panama Canal Eyes Bitcoin for Payment Option - via X

U.S. Warns of Imminent Chinese Threat to Taiwan - via X

Get our new STACK SATS hat - via tftcmerch.io

Saylor's Bitcoin Strategy Explodes Globally Amid Doubt - via CNBC

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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.

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Final thought...

Moving is the least fun part of the human experience.

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

@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9

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.

@ a296b972:e5a7a2e8

Wird hier gerade eine Hollywood-Show vor unseren Augen aufgeführt?

Trump tut oft so, als ob die USA erst mit seiner zweiten Präsidentschaft zu existieren begonnen haben. Die Suppe, die ihm die Biden-Regierung eingebrockt hat auszulöffeln, gehört zur Übernahme der Amtsgeschäfte. Ist es wahrscheinlich, dass die Vorbereitungen für den Stellvertreterkrieg zwischen den USA und Russland, auf dem Rücken der Ukrainer, erst mit der Biden-Administration angefangen haben, oder schon früher?

Nicht vergessen: Als dominierende Kraft in der NATO sind die USA maßgeblich für die Provokation Russlands durch die NATO-Osterweiterung verantwortlich.

Jetzt, wo man, wie in anderen „demokratiebringenden Einmärschen“ vorher auch schon, erkannt hat, dass man wieder mal gescheitert ist, versuchen sich die USA einen schlanken Fuß zu machen? Wollen sie sich gesichtswahrend aus der Affaire ziehen und Europa den schwarzen Peter zuschieben? Am Ende hieße es dann möglicherweise: Wir haben ja alles versucht, uns für eine Befriedung in der Ukraine einzusetzen, aber ihr Europäer wolltet ja nicht. Jetzt seht selber zu, wie ihr damit fertig werdet. Schon lange vor dem Ukraine-Krieg gab es Stimmen, die sagten, dass wenn es einmal darauf ankommt, werden die USA Europa fallen lassen, wie eine heiße Kartoffel.

Trump deutet an, eine große Zahl der Besatzungstruppen in Europa, besonders präsent in Deutschland, abziehen zu wollen. Gleichzeitig ist die geplante Stationierung von Hyperschallraketen namens „Dark Eagle“ in 2026 noch nicht zurückgenommen worden. Das wäre ein klares Signal einer vertrauensbildenden Maßnahme. Trump könnte in Wiesbaden das Licht ausmachen. Auch das wäre Russland gegenüber, ein klares Zeichen zum festen Willen einer Deeskalation.

Wie geht es mit den rund 800 weltweiten US-Basen weiter? Gibt es hier Pläne, sich zurückzuziehen?

Trump könnte veranlassen, dass Starlink abgeschaltet würde, ein Anruf bei Musk genügte, dann wäre die Ukraine blind. Warum tut er das nicht, um den Krieg schneller zu beenden?

Warum fließen von Deutschland finanzielle Mittel in die Ukraine, um den Betrieb von Starlink weiter aufrechtzuerhalten?

All das könnten klare Zeichen Richtung Russland sein, die es beruhigen und das territoriale Sicherheitsgefühl des Landes wiederherstellen würde.

Wusste Trump nichts von der Auslagerung der Bio-Waffen-Labore in die Ukraine?

Haben die zahlreichen Executive Orders, so gut sie auch sein mögen, nicht auch den Charme von Autokratie oder sogar schon Diktatur? Sind diese in einer Ausnahmesituation gerechtfertigt? Dann wären die Ermächtigungsgesetze bei der Machtübernahme in Deutschland es auch gewesen. Sie geschahen aus der Sicht der Verantwortlichen ja auch in bester Absicht. Das kann doch eigentlich nicht sein. Oder kann man beides nicht miteinander vergleichen?

Wie passt das alles zusammen?

Im Juni gibt es ein NATO-Treffen. Wird Trump dort den Austritt aus der NATO verkünden?

Vorher macht Merz seinen Antrittsbesuch bei Trump. Gibt es eine saftige Ohrfeige, entlässt Trump Deutschland in die Volljährigkeit, oder erklärt Trump Deutschland zu seinem stärksten und verlässlichsten Partner in Europa? Man muss mit allem rechnen.

Durch seine Rede auf der Sicherheitskonferenz in München, bemängelte Vance unter anderem die Meinungsfreiheit in Deutschland. Ist das wirkliche Meinungsfreiheit, wenn diese derzeit in den USA vor allem in den Händen von Musk liegt?

Vance sah auch eine Gefahr für die Demokratie in Deutschland durch die Brandmauer gegen die Opposition. Es ist offensichtlich, dass Trump konservative Kräfte und somit die Opposition in Deutschland unterstützt und stärkt. Die Opposition steht jedoch auch zur NATO und ist für eine angemessene Verteidigungsfähigkeit. Keine Überlegungen, ob die Neutralität für Deutschland nicht ebenfalls eine Alternative wäre. Besteht hier nicht eine Gefahr, denn es ist nicht das erste Mal, dass die USA in einem anderen Land Kräfte unterstützen, von denen sie der Meinung sind, dass sie der Demokratisierung dienen. Hier gibt es Beispiele dafür, dass der Schuss auch nach hinten losgehen kann. Dieses Mal mag es ja vielleicht in die richtige Richtung gehen, doch wer garantiert das? Am Ende zeigt es jedoch vor allem, dass Deutschland nur ein Spielball ganz anderer Kräfte ist, und aus sich heraus nicht in der Lage, vernunftbegabte, eigene Entscheidungen zu treffen. Und werden Entscheidungen getroffen, dann gehen sie in die falsche Richtung. Deutschland darf nicht stärkste Kraft in Europa werden, schon allein aufgrund seiner eigenen Geschichte nicht.

Und die, die die durchaus vorhandenen mahnenden Stimmen in Deutschland unterstützen müssten, die tun es (noch) nicht. In der Tat muss der Wandel von unten nach oben erfolgen, durch den Souverän, weil es mehr als genug Beweise dafür gibt, dass die politische Klasse weder willens noch dazu in der Lage ist, wieder freiheitlich-demokratische Verhältnisse herzustellen, auch, wenn sie ständig gebetsmühlenartig betont, dass sie Unseredemokratie mit allen Mitteln schützen will. Mittlerweile ist die Lage schon so pervers, dass man sich förmlich einen tagelangen Blackout, Benzinpreise von 5,00 Euro den Liter, exorbitant hohe Heiz- und Lebenshaltungskosten herbeiwünscht, damit dieses derzeit leider enttäuschende, bräsige Volk endlich den Irren in Berlin deutlich zu verstehen gibt, dass es so nicht weitergehen kann.

Herr Pistorius scheint der Ansicht zu sein, dass, wenn er das Wort Diplomatie in den Mund nimmt, er augenblicklich an Zungenkrebs erkrankt. Nein, Herr Pistorius, wir müssen nicht kriegstüchtig werden, wir müssen nicht nur friedensfähig werden, sondern friedensliebend durch eine vernunftbegabte deutsche Politik sein, kapieren Sie das endlich! Und diese Friedensliebe muss in die Welt hinausposaunt werden, als Zeichen, dass Deutschland aus seiner Geschichte gelernt hat (wenn es denn so wäre).

Und Frieden durch Krieg schaffen zu wollen, ist und bleibt bekloppt!

Und Merz, verkündet stolz die Stationierung einer Brigade in Litauen, direkt an der russischen Grenze. Es scheint ihm Vergnügen zu bereiten, den Bären an der Tatze zu kitzeln. So lange, bis er die Krallen zeigt, weil es ihm zu viel wird. In Litauen selbst scheint es seit Ende des 2. Weltkrieges noch bis heute eine beträchtliche Anzahl von ewig Gestrigen zu geben, genauso, wie in der Ukraine. Wie passt das zusammen?

Oder soll gar am Ende doch noch der Morgenthau-Plan umgesetzt werden? Anzeichen dafür gibt es.

Was, Herr Trump, ist jetzt mit den Goldreserven in Fort Knox? Sind sie noch da, oder nicht? Was ist mit den deutschen Goldreserven? Die sieht Deutschland wahrscheinlich nie wieder, weil sie mit den jahrzehntelangen Kosten für den US-NATO-Schutz verrechnet werden. Und am Ende würde wahrscheinlich sogar noch ein Saldo zu Ungunsten Deutschlands übrigbleiben.

Ja, es sind viele Baustellen begonnen worden und es gibt immer noch sehr starke Kräfte in den USA, die das Aufräumen verhindern wollen:

Weniger Zucker, keine künstlichen Zusatzstoffe in Lebensmitteln, zusatzfreies Wasser, alles schön und gut. Was nutzt es, wenn die Amis sich wieder gesünder ernähren können, die Fettleibigkeit zurückgeht und viele am Ende dann doch an den Folgen der Spritze zugrunde gehen.  Ein offizielles, nationales, sofortiges Verbot der mRNA-Vergiftung gibt es immer noch nicht. Und auch keine laufende Aufarbeitung und Aufklärung von alleroberster Stelle. Kennedy tut was er kann, aber das reicht noch nicht.

Wer sind die Hintermänner der Wettermanipulation, die derzeit teilweise geahndet werden? Irgendjemand muss den Auftrag dazu geben, wo wird das Zeug hergestellt, wer mischt es dem Flugbenzin bei, was wissen die Flugkapitäne, wenn es denn so ist?

Wird eine Grand Jury vorbereitet, in denen die von Biden am letzten Tag begnadigten Personen, inklusive ihm selbst, zur Rechenschaft gezogen werden? Wo ist das US-amerikanische Nürnberg 2.0 für alle, die an dem Spritzen-Verbrechen beteiligt gewesen sind?

Was ist mit den Kinderschändern? Können die fliehen, wohin? Oder landen die allesamt auf dem elektrischen Stuhl, wo sie hingehören würden? Auch, wenn man grundsätzlich gegen die Todesstrafe ist, in diesem Fall könnte man doch mal eine Ausnahme machen, falls Guantanamo zu voll würde. Sich in teuflischer Art auf verschiedene Weise an Kindern zu vergehen, ist das widerlichste, abscheulichste, menschenverachtendste, das sich ein normaler Mensch überhaupt nur vorstellen kann. Und gleich danach kommt die weltweite, satanische mRNA-Vergiftung.

Was sollen die Friedensgespräche zwischen Russland und der Ukraine in Istanbul? Wie der durch die NATO-Osterweiterung von den USA angezettelte Krieg in der Ukraine, so wäre es jetzt auch die Pflicht der USA, dieses grandiose Deppenstück mit unzähligen Toten und Verstümmelten auch wieder zu beenden. Und das geht nur zwischen den USA und Russland. Die Ukraine hat dabei wenig bis gar nichts zu melden, genau so wenig, wie Europa, und schon gar nicht Möchte-Gernegroß-Deutschland.

Ist das ein Hinhaltetaktik?

Klar war, dass Trump den Krieg in der Ukraine nicht in 24 Stunden beenden konnte. Wurde Europa die Gelegenheit gegeben, ein Bündnis der Willigen aufzustellen, dass verzweifelt aber erfolglos versucht, einen Keil in die Friedensverhandlungen zu treiben? Soll damit das wahre Gesicht von Großbritannien, Frankreich und Deutschland augenscheinlich werden? Steckt ein Plan dahinter, aber welcher?

Welche Möglichkeiten hätte Trump, die Europäische Union, als Handlanger des Deep States und der NATO, mit einer Überdosis der von der EU-Kommissarin per SMS bestellten Haarspray-Dosen zu ersticken, damit eine für alle einträgliche Neuauflage der Europäischen Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft selbständiger Nationalstaaten wiederauferstehen kann? Damit Gurken und Bananen wieder krumm sein dürfen, und die Sommerzeit, unnötig wie ein Loch im Kopf, endlich wieder abgeschafft wird, weil keiner sie will und weil sie nichts bringt. Das sind nur die harmlosesten Beispiele. Dieses nicht demokratisch gewählte Bürokratie-Monster mit europäischem Herrschaftsanspruch, Militärphantasien und diktatorischen Gleichmachungsgedanken gehört aufgelöst, und die agierenden Handlanger in ihm dürfen nie wieder politische Verantwortung übertragen bekommen.

Es ist richtig, wenn es Stimmen gibt, die sagen, die Veränderung der politischen Verhältnisse muss von der Graswurzel aus erfolgen, weil man erkennen muss, dass das ganze System vergiftet ist. Die USA waren genau so wenig jemals unser Freund, wie Russland unser Feind ist. Es ging und geht immer nur um Interessen, nicht um Nächstenliebe. Wie viele Generationen und ein anderes Bildungssystem braucht es, bis die Menschen das verstehen?

Trump hat schon mehrmals angekündigt, dass „nächste Woche“ Großes geschehen wird. Bisher heiße Luft, oder ist da etwas verkündet worden, dass man nicht mitbekommen hat?

Trump ist nicht der Retter der Welt! Mit dem Projekt Warp-Speed geht es jetzt weiter mit Stargate. Hier sollen 500 Milliarden Dollar in die mRNA-Forschung zur Bekämpfung von Krebs und in die KI-Infrastruktur bereitgestellt werden. Welche Rolle spielen Thiel mit Palantir und Musk mit Neurolink und weitere Tech-Giganten? Digitale Identitäten sollen die illegalen Einwanderer abhalten, zum Schutz der eigenen Bevölkerung. Wer sagt denn, dass hier nicht ein totaler Überwachungsstaat installiert werden soll? Man muss Speck in die Mausefalle legen, damit die Maus darauf hereinfällt. Und dann – schnappt sie zu! Vieles, was aus den USA kommt, hört sich erst einmal befreiend an. Basiert das wirklich auf humanen Prinzipien, oder sind am Ende auch hier nur Interessen, wie überall, die treibende Kraft?

Die USA sind keine lupenreine Demokratie, genauso wenig wie Russland, denn am Ende zählt, wer das meiste Geld zusammenbekommen hat, um an die Macht zu kommen. Das ist wohl eher eine "Moneykratie", eine Geldherrschaft. Einmal sind es die Demokraten, ein anderes Mal sind es die Republikaner. Am Ende ziehen immer diejenigen die Strippen, die dahinterstehen, die man nicht sieht, die Einser, die aus den vielen Nullen eine Tausend machen, damit sie ihre Macht entfalten können. Wer entscheidet denn, wer die guten Reichen und wer die bösen Reichen sind? Am Ende verdirbt Geld und Macht bei allen den Charakter. Und was die sogenannten Philanthropen anrichten können, hat man ja in vollen Zügen „genießen“ dürfen. Raus aus der WHO, ein richtiger Schritt der USA und Argentiniens. Und was ist mit den anderen Staaten? Auch hier tut sich Deutschland wieder einmal in besonders unangenehmer Weise durch zusätzliche Geldspritzen hervor.

Wir sollten endlich innerhalb unserer Menschheitsentwicklung erwachsen werden, uns von dem Gedanken verabschieden und uns darauf verlassen, dass Mama und Papa es schon richten werden. Mit wirklicher Freiheit umzugehen, muss gelernt sein. Wir müssen aus der Freiheits-Simulation aufwachen. Das macht vielen Angst, weil Freiheit mit Selbstverantwortung, Selbstermächtigung und Selbstdenken zu tun hat. Die Auswahl in einem 5 Meter langen Joghurt-Regal hat nichts mit Freiheit zu tun!

Bisher wurden wir in den sogenannten Demokratien darauf hin konditioniert, dass wir unser Kreuzchen machen, damit wir jemanden haben, auf den wir schimpfen können: Die da oben! Und die da oben, interessiert das einen feuchten Kehricht. Das muss aufhören!

Wir müssen unser Schicksal und Wohlergehen endlich selbst in die Hand nehmen.

Alle Systeme, und klingen sie noch so verlockend, dienen der Steuerung und Lenkung von Massen, weil einige Wenige glauben zu wissen, was gut für uns ist. Dabei sollten wir das doch selbst am allerbesten wissen. Dazu gehört vor allem die Freiheit, die kein System wirklich zulassen kann, auch die USA nicht, weil das den absoluten Machtverlust für es bedeuten würde.

Selbst, wenn sich unter dem Vorangegangenen, Wirres für den Leser befinden sollte, es sind eigene Gedanken und eine Meinung, die immer noch besser ist, als die vorbereiteten, geschälten Apfelscheite von einem Tellerchen aufzunehmen, gedankenlos in den Mund zu stecken, leicht durchzukauen und herunterzuschlucken, so, wie es bei denen, die immer noch vor dem Fernseher hocken und glauben, was ihnen da vorgelogen wird, der Fall ist.

Insasse der Freiluft-Irrenanstalt, bediene Dich Deines eigenen Verstandes und heile Dich selbst von der Massenpsychose, in die man Dich durch jahrelange Gehirnwäsche getrieben hat. Schock den Staat, denke selbst!

@ fd208ee8:0fd927c1

I just read this, and found it enlightening.

Jung... notes that intelligence can be seen as problem solving at an everyday level..., whereas creativity may represent problem solving for less common issues

Other studies have used metaphor creation as a creativity measure instead of divergent thinking and a spectrum of CHC components instead of just g and have found much higher relationships between creativity and intelligence than past studies

https://www.mdpi.com/2079-3200/3/3/59

I'm unusually intelligent (Who isn't?), but I'm much more creative, than intelligent, and I think that confuses people. The ability to apply intelligence, to solve completely novel problems, on the fly, is something IQ tests don't even claim to measure. They just claim a correlation.

Creativity requires taking wild, mental leaps out into nothingness; simply trusting that your brain will land you safely. And this is why I've been at the forefront of massive innovation, over and over, but never got rich off of it.

I'm a starving autist.

Zaps are the first time I've ever made money directly, for solving novel problems. Companies don't do this because there is a span of time between providing a solution and the solution being implemented, and the person building the implementation (or their boss) receives all the credit for the existence of the solution. At best, you can hope to get pawned off with a small bonus.

Nobody can remember who came up with the solution, originally, and that person might not even be there, anymore, and probably never filed a patent, and may have no idea that their idea has even been built. They just run across it, later, in a tech magazine or museum, and say, "Well, will you look at that! Someone actually went and built it! Isn't that nice!"

Universities at least had the idea of cementing novel solutions in academic papers, but that: 1) only works if you're an academic, and at a university, 2) is an incredibly slow process, not appropriate for a truly innovative field, 3) leads to manifestations of perverse incentives and biased research frameworks, coming from 'publish or perish' policies.

But I think long-form notes and zaps solve for this problem. #Alexandria, especially, is being built to cater to this long-suffering class of chronic underachievers. It leaves a written, public, time-stamped record of Clever Ideas We Have Had.

Because they are clever, the ideas. And we have had them.

@ 84b0c46a:417782f5

MAKIMONO

Simple Long Form Content Editor (NIP-23)

機能

• nostr:npub1sjcvg64knxkrt6ev52rywzu9uzqakgy8ehhk8yezxmpewsthst6sw3jqcw や、 nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzq4jsz7zew5j7jr4pdfxh483nwq9vyw9ph6wm706sjwrzj2we58nqqyxhwumn8ghj77tpvf6jumt9qys8wumn8ghj7un9d3shjtt2wqhxummnw3ezuamfwfjkgmn9wshx5uqpr4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnhd9ex2erwv46zu6nsqyxhwumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmvqqsgcn99jyn5tevxz5zxsrkd7h0sx8fwnqztula423xh83j9wau7cms3vg9c7 のようにnostr:要素を挿入できる （メニューのNアイコンから挿入またはnostr:note～～のように手動で入力）

• :monoice:のようにカスタム絵文字を挿入できる(メニューの🙂アイコンから)

:monopaca_kao:

:kubipaca_karada:

• 新規記事作成と、既存記事の修正ができる

やることやったこと

• [x] nostr:を投稿するときにtagにいれる

• [x] 画像をアップロードできるようにする（NIP-96） できる

• [x] 投稿しましたログとかをトースト的なやつでだすようにする
• [ ] レイアウトを整える
• [ ] あとなんか

test

nostr:naddr1qvzqqqr4gupzpp9sc34tdxdvxh4jeg5xgu9ctcypmvsg0n00vwfjydkrjaqh0qh4qqxnzde58q6njvpkxqersv3ejxw9x9

@ 4fe14ef2:f51992ec

Let's support Bitcoin merchants! I'd love to hear some of your latest Lightning purchases and interesting products you bought. Feel free to include links to the shops or businesses you bought from.

Who else has a recent purchase they’re excited about? Bonus sats if you found a killer deal! ⚡

If you missed our last thread, here are some of the items stackers recently spent and zap on.

Share and repost: X: https://x.com/AGORA_SN/status/1929136854227407134 N: https://njump.me/note1vu0svge6kazrq8chac7we30jmzdx202ukzmc80ktapr27wgjkghqm7ugwy

https://stacker.news/items/994315

@ 2b998b04:86727e47

This isn’t a comfortable post to write. I first composed it on Thursday night, May 29, 2025, just after the Bitcoin2025 conference — but I needed a few days to sit with it before posting.

Because freedom, if it means anything, has to include tension — not just agreement.

Four names kept surfacing in conversations on Nostr and at the Bitcoin2025 conference: President Donald Trump, Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden (who gave the keynote at Bitcoin2024), and Ross Ulbricht.

I believe in truth. I believe in moral boundaries.\ And I believe people are made in the image of God — with dignity that can’t be erased by their choices.

So let me be honest: I disagree with the transgender lifestyle on a moral and theological level.

But I believe Chelsea Manning deserved to be freed after exposing military wrongdoing.

I’m conflicted about Edward Snowden.\ I don’t see him as a hero — but I don’t believe he’s a traitor either.\ The truth, as is so often the case, is far more complicated.

Snowden revealed the scale of warrantless surveillance against Americans. He helped expose a shadow system of data collection and control. That matters.\ But in doing so, he may also have endangered lives — disclosing classified intelligence in a way that potentially compromised undercover agents and global operations.

He’s also been largely silent during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and that raises hard questions.\ What truths go unspoken when your safety depends on a state with its own authoritarian tendencies?

Still — I’m grateful for what he did.\ I’ve never met him, but I think we could’ve been friends in another world.\ I can like someone very much and still disagree with them about what they did.\ That’s not weakness. That’s human.

And Ross Ulbricht?

I don’t think he’s entirely without fault.\ But I do believe his original sentence — two life sentences without parole — was a gross miscarriage of justice.\ His recent pardon by President Trump corrected something our courts never did.\ I admire Ross. And like with Snowden, I can hold that admiration even while acknowledging complexity.

I say this as someone who voted for Trump and agrees with many of his stances.\ I believe in strong, secure borders.\ But I also believe we need a more compassionate and streamlined process for immigration and asylum.\ Security and mercy are not opposites — we can pursue both.

But I’ll also say this:

I’m troubled by some of the recent moves Trump has made.\ The promotion of meme coins by Trump feels flippant and off-base when so many Americans are struggling to understand real monetary sovereignty.

Even more disturbing are reports that his administration contracted with companies like Palantir to build a vast data infrastructure — the kind that could be used to track, profile, and suppress U.S. citizens1.

That’s a betrayal of the very freedom we claim to defend.\ And it reveals a deeper conflict I can’t ignore:\ How can we champion liberty with one hand while constructing surveillance tools with the other?

This isn’t about party.\ It’s about principle.

And if I’m honest, the one thing that’s hardest for me to tolerate — in myself or in others — is hypocrisy.\ Not disagreement. Not even failure.\ But posturing. Pretending. Saying one thing and doing another.\ That’s what corrodes trust — in politics, in faith, in freedom itself.

Because if your definition of freedom only includes people who think, live, or vote like you —\ it’s not freedom. It’s favoritism.

Bitcoin reminds me of a better standard.\ It doesn’t care about your politics, background, beliefs, or identity.\ It’s borderless. Neutral. Permissionless.\ It just works — for everyone.

Bitcoin gives us a glimpse of a freer world — not perfect, but principled.\ A world where disagreement isn’t a threat, and dignity isn’t earned.\ That’s the kind of future worth building — not with slogans, but with truth, grace, and work that lasts.

Zap me if this resonates.\ Push back if it doesn’t — that’s freedom too.

---

✍️ Acknowledgment

This piece was shaped with help from Dr. C (ChatGPT) to organize and clarify ideas, but the heart of it — the desire to seek truth over comfort, and to honor people over posture — comes from a deeper place.\ Any wisdom here I credit to the Holy Spirit, who leads us into all truth (John 16:13) and continues to stir the courage to speak it — even when it's uncomfortable.

---

📘 Footnote

Reporting confirms that the Trump administration contracted Palantir Technologies to develop large-scale federal data platforms consolidating personal information from the IRS, Social Security Administration, immigration systems, and more. Palantir also secured a $30 million contract to build “ImmigrationOS,” a surveillance tool for ICE. These systems raise serious concerns among civil liberties advocates. See:

• [Economic Times: Palantir to create vast federal data platform](https://tinyurl.com/22bdv72d)

• [Immigration Policy Tracking Project: $30 million for ImmigrationOS\(https://tinyurl.com/2686bgvy)

@ d360efec:14907b5f

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

We have our finalists: - Indiana (4) @ OKC (1)

Pick one team to win the finals and one player to win Finals MVP.

Scoring this round is 8 points + seed value for picking a winner and 8 points for picking the Finals MVP. The maximum points this round are 20.

Current Scores | Stacker | Points | |----------|-------| | @Undisciplined | 44| | @gnilma | 40| | @grayruby | 32 | | @Carresan | 30| | @fishious | 25| | @WeAreAllSatoshi | 24| | @BlokchainB | 19 | | @Coinsreporter | 19 | | @Car | 14 |@Slestak_Jack| 0 |

SGA and Siakam were the Conference Finals MVPs

Most of the stackers can still catch me, but only if something unexpected happens. Good luck!

I believe I said the prize is 10k. I'll double check that in the event I don't win.

https://stacker.news/items/994522

@ 9ca447d2:fbf5a36d

Adam O’Brien, Founder and CEO of Bitcoin Well, discovered Bitcoin in 2013 during its early days as what he describes as “hilarious internet money.”

Today, he leads a publicly traded Canadian company that’s redefining how people interact with this magic internet money, all while navigating a financial system that has personally debanked him and even his uninvolved loved ones.

“I had a terrible experience trying to buy bitcoin in 2013,” O’Brien explains. “Now of course today there are platforms like Bitcoin Well and many others that allow you to buy bitcoin with ease online, but in 2013 that wasn’t the case.”

This frustrating experience sparked the entrepreneurial question that would shape his future: “There must be a better way.”

With a background in restaurant management and customer service, O’Brien started small, meeting people locally in Edmonton, Canada to sell them bitcoin.

Soon after, he purchased and deployed Alberta’s first bitcoin ATM. The business grew organically, with a second machine following, then a third. Before long, Bitcoin Well had become one of Canada’s largest bitcoin ATM operators.

Today, Bitcoin Well operates approximately 160 bitcoin ATMs across Canada. While they’re no longer deploying new machines, these ATMs provide a crucial service that O’Brien is particularly proud of:

“In Canada, you can actually buy bitcoin up to $1,000 without giving your identity to Bitcoin Well. We’re the only platform in the country that is able to offer that service, which is fully legal, fully above board.”

Bitcoin Well has a fleet of over 170 bitcoin ATMs across Canada

The Pivot to Freedom

In 2020, O’Brien’s vision for the company evolved. What began as a mission for Bitcoin accessibility transformed into something deeper: a quest for financial freedom.

“I’m debanked across Canada. I don’t have my bank, even my wife has lost her bank accounts because of my work,” O’Brien revealed. “She’s not involved with the business at all. She’s a stay-at-home mother to our four kids, and she’s unbanked from the majority of the banks in Canada.”

This personal experience crystallized a troubling reality: “It became very clear to me that my money in the banking system was always going to be subject to how much I play by the rules.”

For someone self-described as “freedom-focused” and “freedom-minded,” this realization prompted a strategic shift. Bitcoin Well began developing its online platform, the Bitcoin portal, allowing users to buy, sell, and actually use bitcoin to replace traditional banking functions. O’Brien explains:

“The goal here is that we can be a conduit between the legacy financial system you know, and how you pay your bills, your rent, your power, credit card and phone bills and all that stuff  without having to have money in what I would call a captured fiat account.”

He summarizes the company’s North Star simply: “Allow people to replace their bank with bitcoin in self-custody.”

Living the Mission

O’Brien doesn’t just preach Bitcoin independence, he lives it. Debanked across Canada, he relies on Bitcoin Well’s services for his daily financial needs.

“I’ve got a normal American Express, but I pay that off with Bitcoin at the end of the month,” he shares. “In Canada, we’ve got the equivalent of Venmo, it’s called Interac e-Transfer. I can send an Interac e-Transfer to anyone in the country from bitcoin in self-custody.”

This allows him to navigate everyday situations where merchants don’t accept bitcoin directly.

“It’s spring right now. I’ve got a little property. The guy comes and picks up our rakes and trims the trees and all this stuff, and I pay him. He doesn’t want to accept bitcoin, but I’m able to pay in bitcoin, and he gets the money that he wants.”

In the U.S., Bitcoin Well customers can have their paychecks deposited with a designated portion automatically converted to sats and sent directly to self-custody, allowing clients to stack sats sovereignly without having to think much about it.

With Bitcoin Well you can set up automatic DCA

Building the Right Team

The journey hasn’t been without challenges. O’Brien candidly describes how rapid growth in 2021 led to hiring missteps.

“We scaled so fast I kind of lost control of hiring practice and culture, and we ended up with people that I felt like we had to almost convince of the mission,” he admits.

“Some of them weren’t convinced…they were just there because of the job, or they didn’t really understand the need for the freedom that I speak about every single day.”

After scaling back from that hiring spree, the company refocused on building a team aligned with its core values, emphasizing “hiring Bitcoiners really.”

The result has been transformative: “It’s so much fun having a team that is mission-focused and aligned on our mission to enable independence. Having everyone aligned and kind of running towards that mission is pretty special.”

This alignment creates a powerful filter for decision-making: “When we have a decision to make, it’s like, well, which one enables more independence? And usually there’s a pretty obvious answer. So we’re able to make very fast decisions that help the business and help the mission.”

Raising the Next Generation

Beyond building Bitcoin Well, O’Brien and his wife are raising four children with intention. The family is transitioning to homeschooling next year, allowing them to travel to Bitcoin conferences together while teaching their children to question everything.

“If you don’t indoctrinate your kids, the state will do it for you,” O’Brien states firmly. It’s a fair point, as indoctrination usually comes with a negative connotation, but it should not, since everyone gets indoctrinated with something.

It’s up to parents to decide what their kids are going to be indoctrinated with, and as parents, the O’Briens have chosen to actively shape their children’s worldview rather than defaulting to institutional influences.

Their approach combines Bitcoin principles with biblical values, with a heavy emphasis on lowering time preference. Something O’Brien notes is “10, 20, 30, 50 times more important” with children, though admittedly “way harder.”

“I think Bitcoiners more than anyone understand the need for generational thinking,” he observes.

“I’m so bullish on the amount of Bitcoiners that have more kids or that want to have more kids and that are actually excited to have kids compared to some of my fiat friends that are like, ‘Oh, it’s too expensive and I want to party.’ It’s like, man, you’re just missing the point.”

A Call to Support Bitcoin-Only Businesses

One of O’Brien’s most passionate messages is a call to action for fellow Bitcoiners: support businesses that align with your values.

“I want to call people to support businesses that are actually making steps towards the change they want to see in the world,” he urges. “If I hear one more Bitcoin maxi tell me that they’re using Kraken or Coinbase because it’s cheaper — why do you support the casinos?”

He expresses concern about the future if Bitcoin-only companies struggle to survive: “It would be very sad if all the Bitcoin-only and non-custodial businesses went out of business. That would make it very hard for me to feel comfortable onboarding my no-coiner friends.”

His message to Bitcoiners is clear: “A call out to all my fellow Bitcoiners to support and use the platform that they want to see their kids use.”

Bitcoin Well (TSX.V: BTCW, OTCQB: BCNWF) continues to build infrastructure for those who want to use Bitcoin daily while maintaining self-custody. For O’Brien, the mission is simple but powerful: enable independence and give people the freedom to control their own financial destiny.

@ 8c7778fc:7689822c

Trong bối cảnh nền kinh tế số đang trở thành động lực cốt lõi cho sự phát triển bền vững tại Việt Nam, VNWIN nổi lên không chỉ là một nền tảng trực tuyến về giải trí mà còn là một mắt xích quan trọng đóng góp vào sự chuyển đổi số quốc gia. Với nền tảng công nghệ vững chắc, quy trình vận hành hiện đại và khả năng tích hợp hệ thống linh hoạt, VNWIN đã và đang tạo ra một không gian số toàn diện, nơi người dùng không chỉ tham gia vào các hoạt động trực tuyến mà còn được tiếp cận với một mô hình kinh doanh thông minh. Nhờ áp dụng các công nghệ tiên tiến như AI, Big Data và bảo mật đa tầng, VNWIN không chỉ đảm bảo an toàn thông tin tuyệt đối mà còn tối ưu trải nghiệm người dùng theo từng nhu cầu cụ thể. Điều này không chỉ giúp nâng cao hiệu quả hoạt động nội bộ mà còn mang đến những giá trị gia tăng thực tế cho nền kinh tế, khi số lượng lớn người dùng VNWIN mỗi ngày đều tương tác, giao dịch và tiêu dùng thông qua nền tảng. Đặc biệt, việc tích cực tuân thủ các tiêu chuẩn pháp lý về thương mại điện tử cũng là điểm cộng lớn giúp VNWIN ngày càng khẳng định vai trò trong sự phát triển chung của hạ tầng kinh tế số Việt Nam.

Bên cạnh yếu tố công nghệ, VNWIN còn nổi bật nhờ khả năng xây dựng cộng đồng trực tuyến lành mạnh và có tính kết nối cao. Hệ sinh thái người dùng của VNWIN không chỉ dừng lại ở việc cung cấp sản phẩm mà còn liên tục mở rộng qua các chương trình tương tác cộng đồng, chăm sóc khách hàng chuyên sâu và các hoạt động trải nghiệm mang tính giáo dục về an toàn công nghệ số. Trong khi nhiều nền tảng số khác chỉ chú trọng vào lượt truy cập, VNWIN lại đầu tư vào chất lượng tương tác với người dùng, giúp tăng sự trung thành và độ tin cậy thương hiệu. Thông qua các kênh hỗ trợ như chat trực tuyến, hotline, email và mạng xã hội, người dùng VNWIN luôn nhận được sự hỗ trợ tận tình, nhanh chóng, thể hiện rõ cam kết đồng hành của doanh nghiệp với khách hàng. Ngoài ra, VNWIN cũng thường xuyên tổ chức các chương trình khuyến mãi, ưu đãi hấp dẫn và hoạt động tặng thưởng, nhằm kích thích hoạt động thương mại trong cộng đồng người dùng, tạo nên một chuỗi giá trị khép kín vừa phục vụ mục tiêu kinh doanh vừa thúc đẩy phát triển tiêu dùng nội địa. Việc người chơi quay lại sử dụng dịch vụ không chỉ đơn thuần vì giải trí mà còn bởi niềm tin vào hệ sinh thái số mà VNWIN đang kiến tạo mỗi ngày.

Không dừng lại ở việc phát triển nền tảng và xây dựng cộng đồng, VNWIN còn chủ động mở rộng ảnh hưởng thông qua các hoạt động hợp tác chiến lược với các đối tác công nghệ, tài chính và giáo dục. Sự kết nối đa ngành này không chỉ mở rộng quy mô hoạt động mà còn giúp VNWIN tăng cường tính đa dạng trong dịch vụ, tạo ra nhiều lựa chọn hơn cho người dùng. Bên cạnh đó, VNWIN cũng thể hiện vai trò tiên phong trong việc thúc đẩy nhận thức xã hội về lợi ích của nền kinh tế số thông qua các chiến dịch truyền thông tích cực, các dự án chia sẻ kiến thức công nghệ đến cộng đồng và các chương trình hỗ trợ thanh toán không tiền mặt. Đây chính là biểu hiện rõ ràng nhất cho cam kết phát triển bền vững, đưa công nghệ vào cuộc sống một cách hiệu quả, minh bạch và có trách nhiệm. Với định hướng phát triển lấy người dùng làm trung tâm, cùng chiến lược dài hạn trong việc đồng hành cùng nền kinh tế số Việt Nam, VNWIN đang khẳng định vị thế không thể thay thế trong hành trình số hóa toàn diện của quốc gia.

@ bf47c19e:c3d2573b

U ovoj sekciji pratićemo cene raznih dobara i usluga, a pre svega nekretnina, prosečne srpske plate, goriva, deviznih i zlatnih rezervi Srbije u odnosu na Bitkoin. Iz priloženih grafikona može se videti da sve vremenom gubi vrednost, odnosno postaje jeftinije u odnosu na BTC.

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Cene nekretnina u Republici Srbiji izražene kroz Bitkoin (kompletni grafikoni)

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Visina prosečne zarade u Republici Srbiji, cene goriva, dinarska i devizna štednja stanovništva, devizne i zlatne rezerve Srbije - izraženo kroz Bitkoin (kompletni grafikoni)

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Prosečna cena m2 stana u Gradu Beogradu izražena kroz BTC

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Prosečna cena m2 stana u "Beogradu na vodi" izražena kroz BTC

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Prosečna cena m2 stana u Novom Sadu izražena kroz BTC

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Prosečna cena m2 stana u Nišu izražena kroz BTC

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Prosečna cena m2 stana u Kragujevcu izražena kroz BTC

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Prosečna zarada u Republici Srbiji izražena kroz BTC

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Cena goriva 'Evro Premium BMB 95' izražena kroz BTC

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Cena goriva 'Evro Dizel' izražena kroz BTC

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Javni dug Republike Srbije izražen kroz BTC & EUR

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Dinarska štednja stanovništva kod banaka izražena kroz BTC

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Devizna štednja stanovništva kod banaka izražena kroz BTC

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Devizne rezerve Republike Srbije izražene kroz BTC

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Zlatne rezerve Republike Srbije izražene kroz BTC

@ 3c7dc2c5:805642a8

🧠Quote(s) of the week:

Fred Krueger: 'Generally, people overanalyze too much. Bitcoin is amazing tech. It works. It has been the top-performing asset in 13 of the last 15 years. Stop with the analysis. Buy it. Don't trade it. Don't look for "entry points". And don't do a 1% allocation either. Grow a pair.'

🧡Bitcoin news🧡

Money. Time. Energy. You only get to pick two… Unless you’re a Bitcoiner. https://i.ibb.co/1Gw9BJdB/Gqspxqd-Xg-AAw03e.jpg

On the 19th of May.

➡️ El Salvador is $357 million in profit on Bitcoin holdings.

➡️Metaplanet ended Monday as Japan's 9th most traded stock, with ¥61.69B ( $425M) daily volume, surpassing Toyota, SoftBank, and Nintendo.

➡️Circle $USDC in "informal talks" to sell itself to Coinbase or Ripple, Fortune reports. WhalePanda: "Imagine running a $60 billion stablecoin in such an incompetent way you can't even turn a decent profit and desperately have to sell."

➡️Panama introduces a bill to allow citizens to buy, sell, and accept Bitcoin freely anywhere in the country.

On the 20th of May:

➡️https://i.ibb.co/v61tLVTc/Grk-OL6x-Ws-AAIGum.jpg

Tick Tock next block, but it seems like we are right on schedule. Bitcoin is doing exactly what it was designed to do.

➡️BTC just hit a new ATH in Argentina Weak currencies first. Then all of them.

➡️ThumzUp Media officially files to raise $500m to buy Bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset.

➡️Indonesian fintech DigiAsia's stock surges over 90% after announcing plans to raise $100M for a Bitcoin treasury.

➡️River: America’s story began with sound money. Hard-working Americans saved their wealth in gold-backed money. Today, Bitcoin carries that torch forward.

https://i.ibb.co/zTFLqMjC/Grpd4lm-WAAAq-W7m.png

Insane stat! Bitcoin is now the people's money. Imagine the price when nation-states get on board.

The US government is outpacing global rivals like China by embracing Bitcoin. The federal government's Bitcoin holdings now represent twice its global market share of gold reserves.

Worth the read: https://blog.river.com/american-bitcoin-advantage/

'In this report, you'll learn about: - Why Bitcoin is an underestimated pillar of American dominance. - America’s lead in Bitcoin businesses, institutions, development, and policy. - Bitcoin's emergence as America’s reserve asset.'

Ergo: America is the dominant Bitcoin player in just about every dimension: investment, government reserves, development, institutional embrace, supportive policy, and mining.

➡️Texas Bitcoin Reserve bill SB 21 will be considered on the second reading in the House this morning. Note: the Texas Constitution requires that second and third readings be conducted on separate days. If it passes today, then the final vote could be tomorrow

➡️Bitcoin accumulation trends signal bullishness with smallholders (<1 BTC) accelerating accumulation (score ~0.55), and whales (100-10K BTC) aggressively buying. Source: Glassnode

➡️French company The Blockchain Group raises €8.6 million to buy more Bitcoin. Press release

➡️Chinese printer manufacturer Procolored unknowingly distributed Bitcoin-stealing malware through its official device drivers, resulting in 9.3 BTC ($950K) stolen from users.

https://x.com/MistTrack_io/status/1924411803540590728

➡️Bitmine launches its Bitcoin Treasury Advisory Practice with a $4M deal, including $3.2M for leasing 3K Bitcoin miners and an $800K consulting agreement

➡️Bitcoin's correlation to gold is at its lowest since February 2025, per Glassnode data.

➡️UK-listed Smarter Web Company adds 16.42 BTC to its treasury at an average price of $104,202. Total Holdings: 35.62 BTC The Smarter Web Company is stacking with conviction—building a treasury designed for the long term.

On the 21st of May:

➡️Vivek's Strive Asset Management looking to buy up to 75,000 Bitcoin from Mt. Gox claims at a discount to build a Bitcoin treasury.

➡️Bitcoin is $1k from an all-time high and the Google Trends chart looks like this. https://i.ibb.co/qYLb7j6C/Gra6-BSd-Xo-AATN2-A.jpg

On the 22nd of May:

Happy Pizza Day! 15 years ago today Laszlo Hanyecz bought 2 pizzas for 10,000 Bitcoin. That Bitcoin is now worth $1.2 BILLION.

Will Baxter: "But how did he get that much bitcoin? Well, there’s a lot more to Laszlo's story than those pizzas. Here are four facts about him most people don’t know (the last one blew my mind): 1. Laszlo, a Mac developer, discovered bitcoin in 2010. After realizing that Bitcoin only ran on Windows, he took it upon himself to port it to Mac OS. He built and released the first bitcoin client for Mac making it accessible to more users. 2. In its earliest days, bitcoin could be mined with just a CPU, something that every computer has. But Laszlo had other plans. In mid-2010, he released a solution that would allow users to mine with their GPUs. Laszlo is single-handedly responsible for ushering in the era of GPU mining which massively increased Bitcoin’s total hashrate. 3. By being one of the early adopters of GPU mining, Laszlo enjoyed a massive jump in mining efficiency and hashrate, which meant that he was able to mine a lot of blocks. In total, Laszlo’s Bitcoin wallets received more than 80,000 BTC over the first few months of the GPU mining era. It’s estimated that Laszlo mined well over 100,000 BTC in Bitcoin’s early days. 4. Laszlo has single-handedly mined more Bitcoin than any publicly listed Bitcoin mining company. As an example, MARA, the largest publicly traded Bitcoin miner by market capitalization, has mined an estimated 48,000 BTC since 2018. Laszlo and his GPUs managed to mine more than twice that amount! Incredible.

➡️Pizza slice inscribed on the Bitcoin blockchain forever! Block #897813

➡️Strategy: 'Bitcoin Pizza Day at Strategy. Paid for with USD.'

Kinda disgusting. The largest Bitcoin Treasury Company is not even able to pay for pizza in Bitcoin on Bitcoin Pizza Day? Why did they even bother to buy pizza today? They show zero understanding of the meaning of Pizza Day and Bitcoin history.

Plebs all around the world are celebrating Pizza Day by "spend and replace" Bitcoin for some lovely pizzas. What is Saylor doing? He decides to use his giant megaphone to stomp all over it. "Pay with Dollars. Eat the Pizza. Keep the Bitcoin." That post rubbed me the wrong way. That’s because they are not bullish on the payment use case of Bitcoin. I have been saying all the time: that he has an agenda against the medium of exchange. This is plausible as Saylor never minced words as far as I know. His model is HODL. Spending would contradict.

Not sure if I am overreacting because of store of value for several more years will eventually lead to a Medium of Exchange Bitcoin world.

As you might already know I am not particularly a fan of the whole Bitcoin treasury - public companies.

Read the following thread why, an excellent thread on the risks of Bitcoin treasury companies by a bitcoiner.

https://x.com/lowstrife/status/1925717037915005357

➡️For the first time in history, Bitcoin is now trading above $111,000 and just surpassed $2.2 TRILLION in market cap for the first time in history. $3 Billion worth of Bitcoin shorts to be liquidated at $120,000 Small, tiny reminder. In 2021 dollars, Bitcoin hasn’t broken $100K yet. We need to hit $118K to meet that milestone. Celebrating $1 million (eventually) might not be as much fun as you think.

➡️H100 Group buys 4.39 BTC and becomes Sweden's first publicly listed #Bitcoin treasury company. After announcing its first Bitcoin purchase shares surged 37%. A small stack, big signal.

➡️Bitcoin has now surpassed both Amazon and Google to become the 5th largest asset in the world, and Bitcoin just surpassed the Taiwan Dollar and is now the 8 largest currency in the world. Nothing stops this train. https://i.ibb.co/Jj11QjkL/Grk-Ume-KXs-AAm-Xp6.jpg

➡️Michael Saylor's 'Strategy' now has a $23.8 billion unrealized profit on its Bitcoin portfolio. Meanwhile, Strategy is to sell up to $2.1 billion of 10% preferred stock.

➡️'Traditional finance consensus: "What's the use case for BTC?" Allowing Millennials to afford a home despite Boomer policymakers actively pursuing policies to prevent them from doing so Median US home price, price in BTC, 2020-today IMO, this chart is going <1 in coming yrs.' - Luke Gromen https://i.ibb.co/tpCk7HD2/Grka1-Ld-Wc-AAo-IQn.jpg

Just to give you one more perspective on this topic:

➡️Joe Consorti: US real estate has been in a 15-year bull market. But guess what? Priced in bitcoin, the average US home price has dropped from ~3 million BTC to just 4.38 BTC in 15 years. All assets are deflationary in Bitcoin terms. https://i.ibb.co/m5Nk2Yq2/Grk9d92-XUAAAwz-H.jpg

➡️Taiwanese Legislator has proposed a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve at 0.1% of GDP = $780m

➡️Chinese automaker Jiuzi Holdings to buy 1,000 Bitcoin for treasury.

➡️ 'Singapore's Genius Group buys another 24.5 Bitcoin. Now holds 85.5 Bitcoin, 1,000 BTC target confirmed.' - Bitcoin Archive

➡️Standard Chartered expects Bitcoin to hit: - Q2: $120,000 by the end of Q2 - Q4: $200,000 by late 2025 - 2028: $500,000

➡️On-Chain college: 'New ATH for Bitcoin yet realized profit is significantly lower than the last two local tops and prior cycle tops. HIGHER' https://i.ibb.co/ch0HWwWx/Grjx-GHVWo-AAd7-Wt.jpg

Not sure about that. Could be a double top.

On the 23rd of May:

➡️The Blockchain Group confirms the acquisition of 227 BTC for ~€21.2 million, the holding of a total of 847 BTC, and a ‘BTC Yield’ of 861.0% YTD Press release.

➡️The 8th largest economy in the world will start to buy Bitcoin. No one is bullish enough! Governor Abbot to sign Bitcoin Reserve bill into law! Texas to become the 3rd US state to enact an SBR!

➡️Publicly traded The Smarter Web Company bought 23.09 Bitcoin for £1.85 million for its treasury.

➡️For the love of god. Delate Coinbase or any other shitcoin casino/exchange (for example here in the Netherlands Bitvavo) and cold-Storage your Bitcoin and don’t touch them.

https://i.ibb.co/y3BmmNt/Grp-TDv-BWk-AAs7-Gh.jpg

Not your keys, not your coins.

➡️'The Russian Bitcoin mining sector now ranks first in growth rates and second in mining volume globally. The country's largest Bitcoin miners, BitRiver and Intelion, controlling over 50% of the market, generated $200M in revenue for FY2024, per RBC.' -Bitcoin News

➡️Alex Gladstein: 'Absolutely crazy Hundreds of millions of people saw their wage and savings technology lose 15%, 30%, 50%, 75%, even 90% (!) of its value last year Fiat is broken, time for a Plan ₿' https://i.ibb.co/hRZwFsPJ/Gro-s-KJXUAAh97-M.jpg

➡️Bitwise predicts nation-states and institutions will hold 4,269,000 BTC—worth $426.9B. https://i.ibb.co/RkVDmGLg/Gro6wb-VX0-AAHCT0.jpg

➡️'Metaplanet is now the #4 most traded stock in Japan, moving nearly $1B in a day—just a year after adopting #Bitcoin. From obscurity to 300x returns, this is what happens when a company runs on hard money.' -Bitcoin for Corporation

➡️TFTC: "Scammers are mailing fake "Ledger Security" letters demanding wallet validation via QR code. They spoof official branding and ask users to visit fraudulent sites."

https://i.ibb.co/nNg0JgX6/Grpd0o-BWc-AI3-Yj-Y.jpg

On the 24th of May:

➡️Bitcoin has the same number of users as the Internet had in 1999. https://i.ibb.co/1frYh4Z7/Gru2-J3-UW8-AA-05y.jpg

Now talking about that Bitcoin Adoption S-curve...

➡️Thomas Fahrer: 'Holding Bitcoin means getting rich while feeling frustrated 90% of the time. Deflationary money - designed to increase in value - forever. It's difficult for the human mind to comprehend. Most still don't get it.' https://i.ibb.co/9HwPkxK3/Grwpw-W0-W0-AEc-PSb.jpg

On the 25th of May:

➡️Pakistan allocates 2,000mw of electricity to Bitcoin mining and Ai - Bloomberg Daniel Batten: Pakistan announced 2000 MW for Bitcoin mining & AI. That's potentially ~17,000 BTC per year for an SBR. Plus, India will now have to follow. Game theory playing out. *Assuming that 50% of this is for Bitcoin mining, using latest-gen machines, 95% uptime, network hashrate is on average 1200 EH/s by the time they are complete

➡️Normally, I would write this in the segment below 🌎Macro/Geopolitics... "First signpost: DOGE failed to reduce the deficit.

Second signpost: Pushing for SLR changes to boost demand for Treasuries from domestic banks.

Third signpost: Pushing for legislation to boost demand for Treasuries from stablecoin issuers.

Fourth signpost: New spending bill estimated to increase deficit by 33% by 2027.

Fifth signpost: Bessent: "We'll grow GDP faster than the debt to stabilize debt-to-GDP."

Read below (segment 🌎Macro/Geopolitics) his full statement and my view on it.

TL;DR: Keep spending. Pass new laws and tweak regs to suppress long-end yields. Boost nominal GDP (mostly via inflation). Debase the currency. Bondholders and cash savers lose in real terms. Got Bitcoin?" -Sam Callahan

➡️Sminston With: 'There is a myth that 100% of the returns in Bitcoin only happen if you buy at the bottoms and then sell at the tops during one of the cycles. Power law quantile analysis shows otherwise; in fact, there are nearly identical growth rates (CAGR) whether you buy/sell at the bottoms (support) or around the middle (median) 52% vs 53% as of this year! Whichever trendline is followed, even if you only trade at the bottoms, the compounded annual returns of Bitcoin will be >7x of what you'd ever expect from the S&P. Ignore or try to time Bitcoin at your own risk!' https://i.ibb.co/5QHQHqF/Grzig5-BWIAAy9-Jb.jpg

On the 26th of May:

➡️Bitcoin made another weekly record close at $109,004.

➡️When BlackRock holds 1M Bitcoin and the price hits $1M... They’ll be earning $2.5B a year in fees. Every year. Forever.

➡️Florida proposes eliminating Capital Gains Tax on Bitcoin. If passed, it would make Florida the first U.S. state to offer this kind of tax relief.

➡️Strategy acquires 4,020 BTC for $427.1 million at $106,237 per Bitcoin. They now HODL 580,250 BTC acquired for $40.61 billion at $69,979 per Bitcoin.

💸Traditional Finance / Macro:

Jeroen Blokland: U.S. vs. Eurozone in the digital money age!

https://i.ibb.co/dJ3085qm/Grko80y-WMAATw-V1.jpg

On the 20th of May:

👉🏽TKL: 'Retail investors are piling into stocks: Individual investors bought a net $4.1 BILLION in US stocks on Monday between 9:30 AM and 12:30 PM ET, the biggest buy on record. This surpassed the previous high by over $1 BILLION, according to JPMorgan data. Retail investors also broke the $4 billion buying threshold by noon ET for the first time in history. Additionally, retail accounted for a record 36% of the trading volume yesterday, exceeding the previous record set in late April. This supported the S&P 500's rapid recovery from a -1.1% decline at the beginning of Monday’s session into positive territory by the close. Retail investors are driving the market.'

https://i.ibb.co/HTM721rw/Gr-Zot-Th-XMAAl-EB.jpg

To provide you with another example of why retail is driving this market. Institutional investors remain bearish of US stocks:

A net 38% of institutional investors were underweight US equities in early May, the lowest since May 2023, according to BofA. Outside of 2023, this marks the lowest allocation since the lead-up to 2008. Over the last 5 months, this percentage has fallen by ~70 points, the biggest drop on record. The difference between the proportion of investors being overweight in the Eurozone versus US equities hit a net ~75%, the highest since October 2017. By comparison, 4 months ago, the net percentage was -62 points, the lowest since 2012.

The sentiment shift among professional investors has been historic. Institutions dump U.S. stocks and flock to the Eurozone. Institutions bailing on US stocks while retail piles in - smells like a correction brewing.

🏦Banks:

On the 21st of May:

👉🏽The Federal Reserve has experienced its first back-to-back annual losses since 1915, totaling $192 billion in 2023 and 2024. The most expensive “expertise” in history.

https://i.ibb.co/zzPHp40/Gr-Xx-Hsy-WUAARd-IV.jpg

On the 23rd of May:

👉🏽'U.S. Banks U.S. Banks are currently facing $482 Billion in unrealized losses, an increase of 33% from the prior quarter. With rates now skyrocketing, these losses are going to increase. Banks, particularly small banks, are ( potentially) in trouble!!' - Barchart https://i.ibb.co/1FHmTBc/Grm-GA3-OWMAAro5k.jpg

🌎Macro/Geopolitics:

1 bar of gold

= 1 house (1975) 1 bar of gold

= 1 house (2025) Do you get it yet?

https://i.ibb.co/tTM7Kw0n/Gr-W8b-K0b-AAQvu-He.jpg

Got Bitcoin?

On the 19th of May:

👉🏽 TKL: "Risky debt issuance has stalled in the US: Low-rated US corporations have issued less than $1 billion in bonds in April, the lowest in at least 4 years. At the same time, leveraged loan issuances have reached $13 billion. High-yield corporate bonds and leveraged loan issuances are ~10 TIMES lower than during the same period last year. Leveraged loans are typically used to finance M&A, refinance debt, or general business activity, all of which are slowing down." Seems like uncertainty is really affecting everything.

👉🏽'US Treasuries are selling off: The 30-year Treasury yield surpassed 5%, for the first time since November 2023. It is now trading at the 2nd-highest level in 18 YEARS. Investors are signaling that the US public debt CRISIS is heading to a turning point.' -Global Markets Investor

👉🏽The stupidity of EU leaders knows no limits.

https://i.ibb.co/gCpMxsH/Gr-Txm-P1-Ww-AAALx-L.jpg

'Russia pumps gas 3.000 km from frozen Siberia to China through a Gazprom-owned pipeline. Meanwhile, massive Chinese LNG tankers, too enormous for the Suez Canal, sail the long route around the Cape of Good Hope just to supply Europe,filling the gap left by Russia’s fading influence. And now? Russian gas costs three times more.'

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/09/european-imports-of-liquefied-natural-gas-from-russia-at-record-levels

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/24/eu-spends-more-russian-oil-gas-than-financial-aid-ukraine-report

👉🏽Klarna losses widen as more users miss payments; 100 million now on platform — FT “The fintech, which offers interest-free consumer loans to allow customers to make retail purchases, on Monday reported a net loss of $99mn for the three months to March, up from $47mn a year earlier.” https://www.ft.com/content/6c4bf393-c80b-42b7-993a-35270143f688 https://i.ibb.co/prsJNdB2/Gr-Y6-WTQXs-AAPu-Tr.png

Funny how they never learn that unsecured debt to subprime holders is a bad idea. Buy now pay later was a model destined to fail because those least capable of repaying the loans are the very people borrowing it. "100M people using Klarna and they're losing money because broke people keep defaulting on burritos"

On the 20th of May:

👉🏽As mentioned in my previous Bitcoin & Macro recap. Japan’s Prime Minister Ishiba called the current bond market situation in Japan “worse than Greece.” Shocking (not!), falling demand for long bonds in a country with a debt-to-GDP ratio of 216%.

Admitting that you’re situation is worse than Greece should horrify people. "Japan's bond market is imploding: Japan's 30Y Government Bond Yield has officially surged to its highest level in history, at 3.15%. For decades, Japan was known for low long-term interest rates. Now, they are dealing with high inflation, a shifting policy outlook, and a whopping 260% debt-to-GDP ratio. On top of this, Japan holds $1.1 TRILLION worth of US debt, making it the largest foreign holder of US debt." -TKL

This is not just about Japan. It’s a signal that the global debt machine is approaching its structural limits and that the next liquidity cycle may not be voluntary, but forced by sovereign fragility.

Read the following thread:

https://x.com/onechancefreedm/status/1924831549683298535

Remember:

1990: Japan has a goal of bringing prices down.

2012: Japan has a goal of getting prices up.

"History tells us that deflation [and inflation] has a habit of getting out of control."

👉🏽Gold prices extend gains to +5% since their May 15th low and near $3,300/oz as markets price-in uncertainty. Gold and Bitcoin are becoming the ONLY global safe-havens.

Talking about gold. China’s gold ETF inflows have more than doubled in the last 12 months, fueling a 38% surge in gold prices. From retail to the central bank—China has never bought more gold.

https://i.ibb.co/kVHh27vz/Gr-YB3-Wj-XUAAiai-W.jpg

On the 21st of May:

👉🏽For the Dutch followers/readers: The renovation of the Binnenhof is more than twice as expensive as the reconstruction of the Notre-Dame… and it costs more than the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa…A typical case of being royally screwed over with other people's money (our tax money!)

👉🏽And yet another manufacturer driven out of the country by ridiculous climate and energy policies. Paint producer AkzoNobel is closing factories in the Netherlands and Belgium; 276 jobs cut.

They now will produce their products, partly, in France (Pamiers). That’s where they’ll continue production — with cheap and reliable nuclear energy.

Source: https://archive.ph/4nVyg

On the 22nd of March:

👉🏽TKL: "The decline in value of fiat currencies against gold has been truly remarkable: Since 1971, the US Dollar has lost 98.94% of its value against gold, the second-largest fall among major currencies. During the same period, the British Pound has declined 99.42%. The Euro would have lost 98.76% if it existed since 1971. Furthermore, the Japanese Yen and Swiss Franc have dropped 97.47% and 94.85%, respectively. Meanwhile, gold prices in US Dollar terms are up ~1,000% during this period. Gold remains a hedge against currency debasement." Wrong, Bitcoin is the hedge against currency debasement. Just look at the Bitcoin/Gold chart. I prefer 'digital' gold. Voltaire famously said, 'Fiat currency always eventually returns to its intrinsic value--zero.

On the 23rd of May:

👉🏽Trump recommends a 50% tariff on products imported from the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025. TKL: 'The trade war is back just as the 10Y Note Yield crosses above 4.60%. This morning, President Trump threatened 25% tariffs on Apple, $AAPL, and 50% tariffs on the EU beginning June 1st. Now, yields are pulling back sharply as recession worries resurface. The drop in yields on this announcement will only give MORE of a reason for President Trump to prolong the trade war. As we have said MULTIPLE times, a trade war accomplishes all of Trump's economic goals at once. Trump wants lower rates, the Fed won't cut, so he will get them the hard way.'

👉🏽US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent: "We can both grow the economy and control the debt. What is important is that the economy grows faster than the debt. If we change the growth trajectory of the country, of the economy, then we will stabilize our finances and grow our way out of this." “We can grow our way out of this” RIP Fiscal Austerity, 2025-2025 lmao!

Notice how it’s shifted from “we’re going to cut spending” to “we’re going to grow our way out” regarding our debt burden. Bessent knows it’s cooked, hence why he stopped talking about yields. It is kinda delusional to think we are going to grow the economy fast enough to accomplish this when the budget deficit is over 6% of GDP.

Translation: they are unable to meaningfully reduce the debt. US government debt will continue to grow. They will be forced to print eventually. Your purchasing power will continue to fall. Got Bitcoin?

Just to give you one more example:

👉🏽'The national debt has grown under every U.S. president, regardless of political party, for decades. And that is set to continue during President Donald Trump’s second term. Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE”) initially promised to cut $2 trillion in wasteful spending, but have since admitted this figure is likely to total a couple hundred billion bucks at best. Meanwhile, the president is pushing Congress to pass his “big, beautiful bill,” which is expected to add trillions in new deficit spending over the next several years. Make no mistake… the spending will never stop.' - Porter Stansberry

https://i.ibb.co/8k4LNg2/Grlug-NNX0-AAQnw-T.jpg

U.S. National Debt:

1970: $371B

1980: $908B

1990: $3.2T

2000: $5.7T

2010: $13.6T

2020: $26.9T

You can't fix this with votes. Maybe Bitcoin can stop this train? It can also incentivize governments to spend responsibly and manage budgets with discipline. One thing I do know is that you’re not voting your way out of this chart.

On the 24th of May:

👉🏽'The Bank of Japan owns 52.0% of all domestic government bonds. By comparison, life insurers, banks, and pension funds hold 13.4%, 9.8%, and 8.9%, respectively. According to Bloomberg, the Japanese government now holds $7.8 trillion of debt. This makes the Japanese government the third most indebted government in the world, behind the US and China. Furthermore, the Bank of Japan holds a whopping $4.1 trillion of government bonds on its balance sheet. Japan needs a major restructuring.' -TKL

Just to make it even worse...

👉🏽'Prices in Japan are soaring: The cost of rice jumped +98.4% year-over-year in April, posting the biggest monthly jump since 1971. This is an acceleration from the +92.1% surge recorded in March. Energy prices rose +9.3% after the March phaseout of Japanese government subsidies for gas and electricity. As a result, Japan's inflation CPI excluding fresh food rose by +3.5% from the previous year, up from a +3.2% gain in March. This marks the 5th consecutive monthly reading at 3%+. Meanwhile, Japan's economy shrank by -0.7% in Q1 2025, the first decline since Q1 2024. Japan has entered stagflation.' -TKL

👉🏽Birth rates are plummeting in a lot of countries. Population collapse is the greatest threat to civilization.

https://i.ibb.co/3Yfqq0N1/Gruztgo-XIAISc7-A.jpg

Question: How sustainable are the government debts with the population decline, like in Japan and Europe?

Grok: Population decline in Japan and Europe strains government debt sustainability. Japan's debt, at 245% of GDP, faces pressure from an aging population, with social spending projected to hit 24% of GDP by 2040. Europe's debt varies, with Greece at 163.6% and Italy at 137%, while aging reduces tax bases. Immigration and productivity boosts could help, but their impact is uncertain. Japan's domestic debt ownership offers some stability, while EU fiscal rules aid Europe. Outcomes depend on policy execution and economic conditions.

On the 26th of May:

👉🏽Cheap energy = abundance One population is so brainwashed they choose poverty. Michael A. Arouet: Can someone please explain the logic behind Germany closing its perfectly fine nuclear power plants, and deindustrialising?

https://i.ibb.co/tTwkmhcB/Gr3-IWgk-Ww-AAVz-Y3.jpg

👉🏽'The US budget deficit has averaged 9% of GDP over the last 5 years. Over the last 12 months alone, the budget gap has hit 7% of GDP. This is even higher than during the 2001 or the 1980s recessions. This comes as the US government spent a whopping $7.1 trillion over the last year, an equivalent of 24% of GDP. The government is now running larger deficits than during an average economic downturn. What happens if the US economy enters a recession?' -TKL

https://i.ibb.co/tT5nF67J/Gr5kcw-QWc-AAQ7q-R.jpg

🎁If you have made it this far, I would like to give you a little gift, well, in this case, two gifts:

May 2025 Newsletter: A Trade Breakdown

This newsletter issue breaks down the recent trade breakdown (sorry for the pun) and explores some of the nuances of why realigning the global balance of trade is both popular and extremely difficult to do.

https://www.lynalden.com/may-2025-newsletter/

Credit: I have used multiple sources!

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

Use the code SE3997

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

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Do you think this post is helpful to you?

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

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⭐ Many thanks⭐

Felipe - Bitcoin Friday!

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@ 87730827:746b7d35

Original: https://techreport.com/crypto-news/brazil-central-bank-ban-monero-stablecoins/

Brazilian’s Central Bank Will Ban Monero and Algorithmic Stablecoins in the Country

Brazil proposes crypto regulations banning Monero and algorithmic stablecoins and enforcing strict compliance for exchanges.

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The Central Bank of Brazil has proposed regulations prohibiting privacy-centric cryptocurrencies like Monero.
• The regulations categorize exchanges into intermediaries, custodians, and brokers, each with specific capital requirements and compliance standards.
• While the proposed rules apply to cryptocurrencies, certain digital assets like non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are still ‘deregulated’ in Brazil.

In a Notice of Participation announcement, the Brazilian Central Bank (BCB) outlines regulations for virtual asset service providers (VASPs) operating in the country.

In the document, the Brazilian regulator specifies that privacy-focused coins, such as Monero, must be excluded from all digital asset companies that intend to operate in Brazil.

Let’s unpack what effect these regulations will have.

Brazil’s Crackdown on Crypto Fraud

If the BCB’s current rule is approved, exchanges dealing with coins that provide anonymity must delist these currencies or prevent Brazilians from accessing and operating these assets.

The Central Bank argues that currencies like Monero make it difficult and even prevent the identification of users, thus creating problems in complying with international AML obligations and policies to prevent the financing of terrorism.

According to the Central Bank of Brazil, the bans aim to prevent criminals from using digital assets to launder money. In Brazil, organized criminal syndicates such as the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho have been increasingly using digital assets for money laundering and foreign remittances.

… restriction on the supply of virtual assets that contain characteristics of fragility, insecurity or risks that favor fraud or crime, such as virtual assets designed to favor money laundering and terrorist financing practices by facilitating anonymity or difficulty identification of the holder.

– Notice of Participation

The Central Bank has identified that removing algorithmic stablecoins is essential to guarantee the safety of users’ funds and avoid events such as when Terraform Labs’ entire ecosystem collapsed, losing billions of investors’ dollars.

The Central Bank also wants to control all digital assets traded by companies in Brazil. According to the current proposal, the national regulator will have the power to ask platforms to remove certain listed assets if it considers that they do not meet local regulations.

However, the regulations will not include NFTs, real-world asset (RWA) tokens, RWA tokens classified as securities, and tokenized movable or real estate assets. These assets are still ‘deregulated’ in Brazil.

Monero: What Is It and Why Is Brazil Banning It?

Monero ($XMR) is a cryptocurrency that uses a protocol called CryptoNote. It launched in 2013 and ‘erases’ transaction data, preventing the sender and recipient addresses from being publicly known. The Monero network is based on a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism, which incentivizes miners to add blocks to the blockchain. 

Like Brazil, other nations are banning Monero in search of regulatory compliance. Recently, Dubai’s new digital asset rules prohibited the issuance of activities related to anonymity-enhancing cryptocurrencies such as $XMR.

Furthermore, exchanges such as Binance have already announced they will delist Monero on their global platforms due to its anonymity features. Kraken did the same, removing Monero for their European-based users to comply with MiCA regulations.

Data from Chainalysis shows that Brazil is the seventh-largest Bitcoin market in the world.

In Latin America, Brazil is the largest market for digital assets. Globally, it leads in the innovation of RWA tokens, with several companies already trading this type of asset.

In Closing

Following other nations, Brazil’s regulatory proposals aim to combat illicit activities such as money laundering and terrorism financing.

Will the BCB’s move safeguard people’s digital assets while also stimulating growth and innovation in the crypto ecosystem? Only time will tell.

References

Cassio Gusson is a journalist passionate about technology, cryptocurrencies, and the nuances of human nature. With a career spanning roles as Senior Crypto Journalist at CriptoFacil and Head of News at CoinTelegraph, he offers exclusive insights on South America’s crypto landscape. A graduate in Communication from Faccamp and a post-graduate in Globalization and Culture from FESPSP, Cassio explores the intersection of governance, decentralization, and the evolution of global systems.

View all articles by Cassio Gusson