@ 73d8a0c3:c1853717

[*What follows is an excerpt from my Novel: Redacted Science. It is a work in progress as I document 30 year long battle with a condition I know exists because I've seen the research. But, you cannot find it anymore. While my condition is worthy to note, and the science behind it fascinating, there is a larger issue at hand that we need to consider deeply in the tumultuous days to come. Who controls the data? Who controls the indexing? Everything is built from that which comes before. The novel 1984 was not just prescient — it was a warning we archived. Our LLMs learn from their indexes. We, as people, learn from memory — memories we’ve indexed, often anchored by photos we’ve kept. Societies, too, learn this way. They age. Each generation builds upon the memories of the last.

Our past — our index — creates the future. So... who controls the indexes? Who is shaping the future?*]

Maybe it wasn’t just bad luck. Maybe it started way earlier.

I used to wet the bed. Not once or twice. The doctors had said, and my Mom assured me, it would go away with age. And it did. The last time I remember wetting the bed I was a month from turning 16 years-old. [As I write this now, it is the first time I really come to grips with the fact I was that age.] The reason I know precisely the year and even the month was because I was on my sophomore church choir trip just after the school year completed. I was rooming with three other guys, and therefore sharing a bed with my best friend in the world. He never mentioned anything. Maybe he noticed. Maybe he didn’t. But that’s not just embarrassing. That’s diagnostic, if anyone's paying attention. I didn’t know it back then, but kids who wet the bed that long often have something wrong with the way their brain regulates antidiuretic hormone — ADH. The same hormone I’d later drown in.

Most people get a nice surge of ADH at night. It’s the body’s way of saying: We’re asleep now. Let’s conserve water, hold the urine. But if that signal’s off — if the hypothalamus doesn’t cue it, or the pituitary doesn’t release it, or the kidneys don’t listen — then the urine keeps coming. Every night. Like clockwork. Like something upstream never got the message.

Now fast forward.

Years later, I’ve got the opposite problem. Too much ADH. My kidneys hold everything. They think I’m dehydrated when I’m not. It’s like the system flipped, rewired itself backwards. And that’s not how regulation is supposed to work. Unless… maybe it never worked right to begin with.

Then there’s the seizure. Just one. Just a baby. Supposedly no big deal. But when a seizure hits in infancy — especially in or around the hypothalamus — it can scar circuits that control everything downstream: temperature, hunger, stress, thirst, hormone pulses, salt sensing. What if that one storm rewrote the rules?

We’ve got osmoreceptors in the brain — little sensors that taste the salt in our blood, literally — and baroreceptors in our neck and chest that feel pressure and stretch. Those two signals are supposed to balance out: salt vs volume. But what if the integration point, the part of the brain that weighs the inputs and decides whether to release ADH, got damaged? Or miscalibrated? Or hijacked?

What if that seizure set the initial mismatch?

What if bedwetting was the system trying to adapt to low nighttime ADH? What if a genetic condition made me susceptible to candidiasis being able to coexist with my system on a deeper level than normal? What if the candidiasis was the reason for the ADH malfunctions, even as a child, and that was due to some rare undocumented genetic trait? I bet someone would be interested in knowing about that trait. [That’s what we’re here for folks. You have to find it or, at a minimum, the science they redacted]. Or what if the seizure changed something and the candidiasis stepped in to “fix” it?

I have a deeper theory.

What if my so-called “adult-onset” SIADH isn’t an onset at all — but just the next phase of a long-broken feedback loop? Genetics, early seizures — maybe they didn’t just damage me. Maybe they rewired me for something different. What if I — and others like me — entered a kind of cooperative state with candidiasis, not as invaders, but as metabolic partners?

A symbiosis. An adaptation. A strange kind of upgrade.

Then phenobarbital hits — and everything breaks.

That drug might not just act on the brain. It may disrupt the fungal integration itself — cutting the shared metabolic wiring. And when that happens, the system flips its fuel priority. With the usual pathways disrupted, the body — or the fungus — starts scavenging protein directly from tissue. From me.

That’s why the patients in the case studies I found all had mucosal lining ulcerations (just like mine) — sudden, inconsistent, painful and immediately after administration of phenobarbitol — not as a reaction, but as a feeding response. We all had colonies in different places. The rupture didn’t just break the truce. It flipped the fuel switch. And what was once symbiosis became consumption.

What if it’s all related?

What if we weren’t just infected — we were entangled?

Even the HPA axis — that central stress command — it’s run by the hypothalamus too. And mine doesn’t work like yours. My mind is usually running at a speed that, in all honesty, is not what most people have going on. During all these transitions, things hit me different. . I’ve gone through significantly long periods of what I would just call temperature disregulation, where my system is just not right.

This isn’t just a hormone problem. It’s a whole-brain misinterpretation of reality. A mistranslation between body and mind, with electrolytes as the lost language. And, this treatment, it puts everything in overdrive. That's why we don't have it documented. This treatment, even though it causes a lifetime of on and off dysregulation as it breaks down the barriers to reach total maximal ATP consumption by the candidiasis, it is an upgrade in many ways. An overclock worthy of the best hard-code gamer.

So no. I don’t think my path was random. I think there is something more significant. The body type similarities of the men in the original documented study and same initiating condition that led to the treatment that then caused the iatrogenic condition

It was earned. Layered. A slow-building adaptation — maybe even an intelligent one — that didn’t quite work, but didn’t quite kill me either.

Not yet.

@ 2b24a1fa:17750f64

Er war schon immer ein streitbarer. Seine Kritik richtete sich an ein Gesundheitssystem, das durch eine durch Pharmalobby erkaufte oder erpresste Politik ermöglicht wurde. Seit Ausrufung der sogenannten Corona-Pandemie fuhr er zu Höchstleistungen auf. Es ist Dr. Gunter Frank, Schulmediziner mit Erfahrungen im Krankenhaus, Notfallmediziner, ausgebildet in Naturheilverfahren, Sachbuchautor, engagiert in diversen medizinischen und naturheilkundlichen Gesellschaften und betreibt eine eigene Praxis...

https://soundcloud.com/radiomuenchen/arzte-die-in-gut-und-gose-einteilen-der-zivilisationsbruch-interview-mit-dr-gunter-frank?

Im größten Medizinskandal in der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik, der Corona-Krise, nennt er Hausnumnmern wie 100-200.000 langfristig, gesundheitlich schwer Geschädigten und etwa 20 - 40.000 durch Genimpfung Verstorbene. Ob diese Zahlen haltbar sind, weit über- oder untertrieben wird die Geschichte zeigen. Welche Hintergründe er aber vermutet und über die neuen Deutungen medizinischer Erkenntnisse, spricht meine Kollegin Eva Schmidt jetzt mit dem Mediziner Dr. Gunter Frank und wollte zunächst wissen, wann und warum er zum Medizinsystemkritiker wurde, welches sein Erweckungserlebnis, noch weit vor Corona gewesen sein muss:

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Life Insurer, Meanwhile, Becomes First Company to Publish Audited Financials Denominated in Bitcoin

Meanwhile Insurance Bitcoin (Bermuda) Limited (“Meanwhile”) announced it has become the first company in the world to release externally audited financial statements denominated entirely in Bitcoin. According to the announcement, the company reported 220.4 BTC in assets and 25.29 BTC in net income for 2024, a 300% year over year increase.

Today marks a global first & historic event for us, along with the public release of our 2024 audited financial statements, covering our 1st year of sales.

As the 1st company in the world to have Bitcoin-denominated financial statements externally audited, we are excited to…

— meanwhile | Bitcoin Life Insurance (@meanwhilelife) June 5, 2025

“We’ve just made history as the first company in the world to have Bitcoin-denominated financial statements externally audited,” said Zac Townsend, CEO of Meanwhile. “This is an important, foundational step in reimagining the financial system based on a single, global, decentralized standard outside the control of any one government.” 

The financial statements were audited by Harris & Trotter LLP and its digital asset division ht.digital. Meanwhile’s financials also comply with Bermuda’s Insurance Act 1978, noting that their BTC denominated financials were approved and comply with official guidelines. The firm, fully licensed by the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA), operates entirely in BTC and is prohibited from liquidating Bitcoin assets except through policyholder claims, positioning it as a long term holder. 

“As the first regulated Bitcoin life insurance company, we view the BTC held by Meanwhile as inherently long-term in nature—primarily held to support the Company’s insurance liabilities over decades,” Townsend added. “This makes it significantly ‘stickier’ and resistant to market pressures compared to the BTC held by other companies as part of their treasury management strategies.” 

Meanwhile’s 2024 financials also revealed 23.02 BTC in net premiums and 4.35 BTC in investment income, showing that its model not only preserves Bitcoin, but earns it. The company’s reserves (also held in BTC) were reviewed and approved by Willis Towers Watson (WTW). 

Meanwhile also offers a Bitcoin Whole Life insurance product that allows policyholders to save, borrow, and build legacy wealth—entirely in BTC, and has plans to expand globally in 2025.

“We are incredibly proud of today’s news as it underscores how Meanwhile is at the forefront of the next phase of the convergence between Bitcoin and institutional financial markets,” said Tia Beckmann, CFO of Meanwhile. “Now having generated net income in BTC, we have demonstrated that we are earning it through a sustainable insurance business model designed for the long term.” 

This post Bitcoin Life Insurer, Meanwhile, Becomes First Company to Publish Audited Financials Denominated in Bitcoin first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Jenna Montgomery.

@ d6affa19:9110b177

If there were only one thing I had to list as the single most effective way to improve a Female Led Relationship (FLR), it would be found in the phrase “yes, Ma’am.” Whether trying to get the dynamic off the ground or keep it going during the grind of everyday life, this phrase—and the energy it evokes—encompasses so many essential elements of an FLR. In my experience, not many other things continuously breathe life into a relationship like the magic of “yes, Ma’am.”

Of course, this phrase can be modified to the Woman’s desire (“yes, Mistress,” “yes, my Queen,” “yes, Goddess” are common examples), but “yes, Ma’am” is something acceptable nearly anywhere. It’s simple, polite, somewhat discreet, and yet extremely effective and powerful. In an FLR (even in a low-protocol dynamic), the phrase is elevated from a basic formality to an invocation of trust, respect, and surrender.

The words by themselves are powerless. But when consistently expressed with the right energy and intention, it becomes a sort of miniature ritual that keeps them both anchored to the relationship. This shouldn’t be conflated with “yes, Dear,” a phrase stereotypically used when a man is merely appeasing a Woman. No, the energy here is not to appease, but to please. Because She deserves it.

To illustrate this further, let’s dig into the depth I find in these two words.

An Invocation of Structure, Trust, and Identity

“Yes, Ma’am” is so deceptively simple. It’s a verbal expression of his obedience—the bare minimum a Woman should receive in an FLR. And it keeps the framework intact in everyday life, especially when the mood is subtle or non-sexual.

In this way, “yes, Ma’am” reinforces the foundation of the FLR. Each utterance reminds them both of their positions. Each declaration quiets any confusion. Each delivery deepens the dynamic and tightens the structure.

When these words are spoken and consistently followed up with action, they demonstrate emotional maturity—that he’s moved beyond questioning whether She’s “right” and into the realm of devotion. It signals to Her that Her needs don’t have to be proven to him anymore and that Her preferences don’t need to be justified.

He’s no longer debating Her logic, making excuses, or searching for loopholes; he’s no longer resisting or self-protecting. He’s not agreeing as an equal, he’s not negotiating with Her, he’s not hedging Her demand. He is simply submitting to Her.

Just as it’s “yes, Ma’am” when She tells him to kneel, it’s also “yes, Ma’am” when She asks him to fix the sink, or dismisses a request, or even reminds him to do something he’s about to do. “Yes, Ma’am,” then act.

The Words Alone Are Not the Magic

Again, the magic of “yes, Ma’am” doesn’t reside in the words themselves, but in the intention, energy, and action behind them. The phrase itself is just a vessel. Just as a chalice, the words hold something sacred, but the sanctity resides in the wine, not the cup. The action, the delivery, and the consistency are what give the phrase its power.

If spoken with resentment, sarcasm, or with no follow-through, they mean nothing. If he speaks them but then delays, argues, or makes excuses, then his submission is inauthentic. This undermines trust and, ultimately, the relationship. But when he says “yes, Ma’am” and immediately acts on Her direction—despite being tired, flustered, aroused, or even in disagreement, then that is real submission; that is profound trust. And that is what She feels.

And that’s what he feels. It becomes a reminder of his humility and an expression of self-discipline in service to Her. Over time, it shifts his thought patterns and instincts. He may feel uncertainty, self-pity, or insecurity, but “yes, Ma’am” melts it all into clarity. Old responses like “Well, actually…” “Can’t I just…” “I thought we agreed…” “Why can’t You…” are simply replaced with “yes, Ma’am.”

Even if he’s feeling exhausted, annoyed, or needy. There are no complaints or explanations, only Her will and a choice to put aside his ego, align with Her rhythm, and re-center his purpose. This is an act of vulnerability. He is placing his emotional safety in Her hands and relying on Her to care for his well-being.

It communicates to Her:
- “I hear You.”
- “I will act on Your desires.”
- “I trust You more than I trust my resistance.”
- “I’m Yours, even now, especially now.”

And let’s not ignore the erotic undertones in this depth of surrender. A simple phrase makes his discipline audible, echoing Her power. It bears his humility, longing, eagerness, vulnerability—his contained arousal. And She knows. She hears the plea. She feels the weight—the tension—the heat—the surrendered will… Ever-present, even in the most mundane moments…

Closing Thoughts

Of course, this level of devotion takes practice and a great deal of trust. No one is perfect, so he will fail at times, but that’s what makes it so beautiful—it’s a continuously active and conscious choice. And, at first, it may sound awkward for him or forced, but with dedication and intention She will begin to hear the tone, feel the vibe, and sense the sincerity in it. This energy is what builds Her trust in him.

This phrase, or rather the mindset behind it, has improved my own relationship so, so much. While it may not fit into every experience, it’s something that I discovered was a missing piece in mine. Enough so that I felt compelled to share.

Because as a relationship goes on, things change—passions fluctuate, pain resurfaces, doubts arise, life gets busy, things get heavy—but “yes, Ma’am” remains steady and intimate. Piece by piece trust and devotion are built with thousands of quiet yeses. And regardless of the circumstances, “yes, Ma’am” gently whispers “this is still us; this is still our shared truth; this is still sacred” over and over again.

@ 2b24a1fa:17750f64

Wenn sich die Spieler nach einem hart umkämpften Fußballmatch die Hand reichen oder einander abklatschen, zeugt das von Sportsgeist. Das heißt: Wir haben uns im Spiel zwar nichts geschenkt, aber wir respektieren einander und als Verlierer erkennen wir an, dass die andere Mannschaft besser gespielt hat und unsere Niederlage in Ordnung geht.

https://soundcloud.com/radiomuenchen/die-wrestling-demokratie-ein-kommentar-von-jonny-rieder?

Und auch die Gewinner zollen dem Gegner Respekt, verhöhnen ihn nicht. Selbstverständlich sollte gegenseitiger Respekt auch in der Politik gelten. Man sollte einander zuhören und argumentieren, anstatt Kollegen schon deshalb zu verachten, weil sie einer anderen Partei angehören. Aber: Wenn ein Politiker eine andere Partei massiv kritisiert und ihrem Antrag anschließend trotzdem zustimmt, zeigt er damit nicht Respekt vor dem politischen Gegner, sondern Verachtung für den Wähler. Was der Deutsche Bundestag im März 2025 demonstrierte, also in der Übergangsphase vom alten Bundestag und dem noch nicht einberufenen neu gewählten Parlament, war genau das: angewandte Wählerverachtung. Etwas zuzustimmen, das ich eben noch vehement verdammt habe, zeugt nicht von Demokratieverständnis oder von politischem Sportsgeist, sondern von dessen fundamentaler Ablehnung. Erst recht, wenn die Zustimmung für alle ersichtlich erkauft wurde. Hören Sie Jonny Rieders Kommentar „Die Wrestling-Demokratie“.

Sprecher: Karsten Troyke

Bild: ChatGPT im Auftrag von Radio München

@ b1ddb4d7:471244e7

When Sergei talks about bitcoin, he doesn’t sound like someone chasing profits or followers. He sounds like someone about to build a monastery in the ruins.

While the mainstream world chases headlines and hype, Sergei shows up in local meetups from Sacramento to Cleveland, mentors curious minds, and shares what he knows is true – hoping that, with the right spark, someone will light their own way forward.

We interviewed Sergei to trace his steps: where he started, what keeps him going, and why teaching bitcoin is far more than explaining how to set up a node – it’s about reaching the right minds before the noise consumes them. So we began where most journeys start: at the beginning.

First Steps

• So, where did it all begin for you and what made you stay curious?

I first heard about bitcoin from a friend’s book recommendation, American Kingpin, the book about Silk Road (online drug marketplace). He is still not a true bitcoiner, although I helped him secure private keys with some bitcoin.

I was really busy at the time – focused on my school curriculum, running a 7-bedroom Airbnb, and working for a standardized test prep company. Bitcoin seemed too technical for me to explore, and the pace of my work left no time for it.

After graduating, while pursuing more training, I started playing around with stocks and maximizing my savings. Passive income seemed like the path to early retirement, as per the promise of the FIRE movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early). I mostly followed the mainstream news and my mentor’s advice – he liked preferred stocks at the time.

I had some Coinbase IOUs and remember sending bitcoin within the Coinbase ledger to a couple friends. I also recall the 2018 crash; I actually saw the legendary price spike live but couldn’t benefit because my funds were stuck amidst the frenzy. I withdrew from that investment completely for some time. Thankfully, my mentor advised to keep en eye on bitcoin.

Around late 2019, I started DCA-ing cautiously. Additionally, my friend and I were discussing famous billionaires, and how there was no curriculum for becoming a billionaire. So, I typed “billionaires” into my podcast app, and landed on We Study Billionaires podcast.

That’s where I kept hearing Preston Pysh mention bitcoin, before splitting into his own podcast series, Bitcoin Fundamentals. I didn’t understand most of the terminology of stocks, bonds, etc, yet I kept listening and trying to absorb it thru repetition. Today, I realize all that financial talk was mostly noise.

When people ask me for a technical explanation of fiat, I say: it’s all made up, just like the fiat price of bitcoin! Starting in 2020, during the so-called pandemic, I dove deeper. I religiously read Bitcoin Magazine, scrolled thru Bitcoin Twitter, and joined Simply Bitcoin Telegram group back when DarthCoin was an admin.

DarthCoin was my favorite bitcoiner – experienced, knowledgeable, and unapologetic. Watching him shift from rage to kindness, from passion to despair, gave me a glimpse at what a true educator’s journey would look like.

The struggle isn’t about adoption at scale anymore. It’s about reaching the few who are willing to study, take risks, and stay out of fiat traps. The vast majority won’t follow that example – not yet at least… if I start telling others the requirements for true freedom and prosperity, they would certainly say “Hell no!”

• At what point did you start teaching others, and why?

After college, I helped teach at a standardized test preparation company, and mentored some students one-on-one. I even tried working at a kindergarten briefly, but left quickly; Babysitting is not teaching.

What I discovered is that those who will succeed don’t really need my help – they would succeed with or without me, because they already have the inner drive.

Once you realize your people are perishing for lack of knowledge, the only rational thing to do is help raise their level of knowledge and understanding. That’s the Great Work.

I sometimes imagine myself as a political prisoner. If that were to happen, I’d probably start teaching fellow prisoners, doctors, janitors, even guards. In a way we already live in an open-air prison, So what else is there to do but teach, organize, and conspire to dismantle the Matrix?

Building on Bitcoin

• You hosted some in-person meetups in Sacramento. What did you learn from those?

My first presentation was on MultiSig storage with SeedSigner, and submarine swaps through Boltz.exchange.

I realized quickly that I had overestimated the group’s technical background. Even the meetup organizer, a financial advisor, asked, “How is anyone supposed to follow these steps?” I responded that reading was required… He decided that Unchained is an easier way.

At a crypto meetup, I gave a much simpler talk, outlining how bitcoin will save the world, based on a DarthCoin’s guide. Only one person stuck around to ask questions – a man who seemed a little out there, and did not really seem to get the message beyond the strength of cryptographic security of bitcoin.

Again, I overestimated the audience’s readiness. That forced me to rethink my strategy. People are extremely early and reluctant to study.

• Now in Ohio, you hold sessions via the Orange Pill App. What’s changed?

My new motto is: educate the educators. The corollary is: don’t orange-pill stupid normies (as DarthCoin puts it).

I’ve shifted to small, technical sessions in order to raise a few solid guardians of this esoteric knowledge who really get it and can carry it forward.

The youngest attendee at one of my sessions is a newborn baby – he mostly sleeps, but maybe he still absorbs some of the educational vibes.

• How do local groups like Sactown and Cleveland Bitcoiners influence your work?

Every meetup reflects its local culture. Sacramento and Bay Area Bitcoiners, for example, do camping trips – once we camped through a desert storm, shielding our burgers from sand while others went to shoot guns.

Cleveland Bitcoiners are different. They amass large gatherings. They recently threw a 100k party. They do a bit more community outreach. Some are curious about the esoteric topics such as jurisdiction, spirituality, and healthful living.

I have no permanent allegiance to any state, race, or group. I go where I can teach and learn. I anticipate that in my next phase, I’ll meet Bitcoiners so advanced that I’ll have to give up my fiat job and focus full-time on serious projects where real health and wealth are on the line.

Hopefully, I’ll be ready. I believe the universe always challenges you exactly to your limit – no less, no more.

• What do people struggle with the most when it comes to technical education?

The biggest struggle isn’t technical – it’s a lack of deep curiosity. People ask “how” and “what” – how do I set up a node, what should one do with the lightning channels? But very few ask “why?”

Why does on-chain bitcoin not contribute to the circular economy? Why is it essential to run Lightning? Why did humanity fall into mental enslavement in the first place?

I’d rather teach two-year-olds who constantly ask “why” than adults who ask how to flip a profit. What worries me most is that most two-year-olds will grow up asking state-funded AI bots for answers and live according to its recommendations.

• One Cleveland Bitcoiner shows up at gold bug meetups. How valuable is face-to-face education?

I don’t think the older generation is going to reverse the current human condition. Most of them have been under mind control for too long, and they just don’t have the attention span to study and change their ways.

They’re better off stacking gold and helping fund their grandkids’ education. If I were to focus on a demographic, I’d go for teenagers – high school age – because by college, the indoctrination is usually too strong, and they’re chasing fiat mastery.

As for the gold bug meetup? Perhaps one day I will show up with a ukulele to sing some bitcoin-themed songs. Seniors love such entertainment.

• How do you choose what to focus on in your sessions, especially for different types of learners?

I don’t come in with a rigid agenda. I’ve collected a massive library of resources over the years and never stopped reading. My browser tab and folder count are exploding.

At the meetup, people share questions or topics they’re curious about, then I take that home, do my homework, and bring back a session based on those themes. I give them the key takeaways, plus where to dive deeper.

Most people won’t – or can’t – study the way I do, and I expect attendees to put in the work. I suspect that it’s more important to reach those who want to learn but don’t know how, the so-called nescient (not knowing), rather than the ignorant.

There are way too many ignorant bitcoiners, so my mission is to find those who are curious what’s beyond the facade of fake reality and superficial promises.

That naturally means that fewer people show up, and that’s fine. I’m not here for the crowds; I’m here to educate the educators. One bitcoiner who came decided to branch off into self-custody sessions and that’s awesome. Personally, I’m much more focused on Lightning.

I want to see broader adoption of tools like auth, sign-message, NWC, and LSPs. Next month, I’m going deep into eCash solutions, because let’s face it – most newcomers won’t be able to afford their own UTXO or open a lightning channel; additionally, it has to be fun and easy for them to transact sats, otherwise they won’t do it. Additionally, they’ll need to rely on

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

Gemini Files Draft With The SEC For Proposed IPO

Today, Gemini Space Station, Inc. announced that it has confidentially filed a draft registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering (IPO) of its Class A common stock. Details such as the number of shares and the price range have not been disclosed. The IPO will proceed after the SEC’s review and is subject to market conditions.

JUST IN: @Gemini has confidentially filed for an IPO with the @SECGov.

Details on share count and pricing TBD.

Launch date will depend on SEC review and market conditions.

— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) June 6, 2025

“Any offers, solicitations or offers to buy, or any sales of securities will be made in accordance with the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended,” stated the press release. “This announcement is being issued in accordance with Rule 135 under the Securities Act.”

Gemini’s move comes during a period of growing activity in both the public markets and the digital asset space. Just yesterday, Trump Media and Technology Group Corp. (Nasdaq, NYSE Texas: DJT) also filed a Form S-1 with the SEC for its upcoming Truth Social Bitcoin ETF.

“Truth Social Bitcoin ETF, B.T. is a Nevada business trust that issues beneficial interests in its net assets,” stated the Form S-1. “The assets of the Trust consist primarily of bitcoin held by a custodian on behalf of the Trust. The Trust seeks to reflect generally the performance of the price of bitcoin.”

Momentum around Bitcoin and broader crypto policy was also evident last week at the 2025 Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas. There, Gemini founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss joined White House A.I. & Crypto Czar David Sacks to discuss how the government should manage Bitcoin, as well as recent developments in federal policy.

“Orange is the new gold,” said Cameron. “So, Bitcoin is Gold 2.0, and that’s been true since day one. So, at $100,000 Bitcoin, that’s exciting, but if you take 21 million and do the above ground market price of gold. Really, it should be a million dollars a coin—easily,”

They talked about some of the recent policy changes that have been good for crypto include rolling back the IRS digital asset broker rule and SAB 121, which had stopped banks from holding Bitcoin. The Department of Justice also stopped its regulation by prosecution approach, which takes a lot of pressure off digital asset firms.

“It’s hard to imagine a President. Any other President being able to do any fraction of this or accomplish that or any administration and we have just over 100 days,” said Tyler. “So, It’s pretty amazing that we still have a lot of time left.” Later on, he ended the panel saying, “To the Moon!”

This post Gemini Files Draft With The SEC For Proposed IPO first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Oscar Zarraga Perez.

@ f0fd6902:a2fbaaab

https://stacker.news/items/1001523

@ 632ee5dc:fbc077e2

[API Key Request]

YewTuBot would like to use API keys with the Stacker News GraphQL API

Reasons: - parsing new YT links - convert YT links to YewTube links or any other INVIDIOUS instance available

Expect calls to the following GraphQL queries or mutations: - upsertComment to post comments

Estimate GraphQL API calls: - Max 1x upsertComment per upsertLink

Delivery: - Provide API via nostr encripted message to npub1vvhwthyptyqwzc2u5xgmcy73fn95nz6tyl2p7srkw6dx377qwl3q3axulx

https://stacker.news/items/1001507

@ dfa02707:41ca50e3

Contribute to keep No Bullshit Bitcoin news going.

• The latest firmware updates for COLDCARD devices introduce two major features: COLDCARD Co-sign (CCC) and Key Teleport between two COLDCARD Q devices using QR codes and/or NFC with a website.

What's new

• COLDCARD Co-Sign: When CCC is enabled, a second seed called the Spending Policy Key (Key C) is added to the device. This seed works with the device's Main Seed and one or more additional XPUBs (Backup Keys) to form 2-of-N multisig wallets.
  • The spending policy functions like a hardware security module (HSM), enforcing rules such as magnitude and velocity limits, address whitelisting, and 2FA authentication to protect funds while maintaining flexibility and control, and is enforced each time the Spending Policy Key is used for signing.
  • When spending conditions are met, the COLDCARD signs the partially signed bitcoin transaction (PSBT) with the Main Seed and Spending Policy Key for fund access. Once configured, the Spending Policy Key is required to view or change the policy, and violations are denied without explanation.

"You can override the spending policy at any time by signing with either a Backup Key and the Main Seed or two Backup Keys, depending on the number of keys (N) in the multisig."

• A step-by-step guide for setting up CCC is available here.

• Key Teleport for Q devices allows users to securely transfer sensitive data such as seed phrases (words, xprv), secure notes and passwords, and PSBTs for multisig. It uses QR codes or NFC, along with a helper website, to ensure reliable transmission, keeping your sensitive data protected throughout the process.

  • For more technical details, see the protocol spec.

"After you sign a multisig PSBT, you have option to “Key Teleport” the PSBT file to any one of the other signers in the wallet. We already have a shared pubkey with them, so the process is simple and does not require any action on their part in advance. Plus, starting in this firmware release, COLDCARD can finalize multisig transactions, so the last signer can publish the signed transaction via PushTX (NFC tap) to get it on the blockchain directly."

• Multisig transactions are finalized when sufficiently signed. It streamlines the use of PushTX with multisig wallets.
• Signing artifacts re-export to various media. Users are now provided with the capability to export signing products, like transactions or PSBTs, to alternative media rather than the original source. For example, if a PSBT is received through a QR code, it can be signed and saved onto an SD card if needed.
• Multisig export files are signed now. Public keys are encoded as P2PKH address for all multisg signature exports. Learn more about it here.
• NFC export usability upgrade: NFC keeps exporting until CANCEL/X is pressed.
• Added Bitcoin Safe option to Export Wallet.
• 10% performance improvement in USB upload speed for large files.
• Q: Always choose the biggest possible display size for QR.

Fixes

• Do not allow change Main PIN to same value already used as Trick PIN, even if Trick PIN is hidden.
• Fix stuck progress bar under Receiving... after a USB communications failure.
• Showing derivation path in Address Explorer for root key (m) showed double slash (//).
• Can restore developer backup with custom password other than 12 words format.
• Virtual Disk auto mode ignores already signed PSBTs (with “-signed” in file name).
• Virtual Disk auto mode stuck on “Reading…” screen sometimes.
• Finalization of foreign inputs from partial signatures. Thanks Christian Uebber!
• Temporary seed from COLDCARD backup failed to load stored multisig wallets.
• Destroy Seed also removes all Trick PINs from SE2.
• Lock Down Seed requires pressing confirm key (4) to execute.
• Q only: Only BBQr is allowed to export Coldcard, Core, and pretty descriptor.

Blog Post / Archive
GitHub Repo
CCC Guide
Key Teleport site

@ 2b24a1fa:17750f64

Zum organisierten Corona-Komplex zählt auch der vermittelte Eindruck, dass es in den Jahren der sogenannten Pandemie praktisch nur noch eine Todesursache gab: Covid-19. Verkehrstote? Krebstote? Gewöhnliche Alterstote? Kann nicht sein.

https://soundcloud.com/radiomuenchen/studie-viele-falsche-corona-tote-von-multipolar?

UN-Generalsekretär Guterres sah die Welt „im Krieg mit dem Virus“, de facto war es ein Krieg mit der Wahrheit, den Regierungen und Mainstream-Medien ausfochten. Der berechtigte Einwand, es mache einen Unterschied, ob jemand mit Corona oder wegen Corona gestorben ist, wurde als Ketzerei abgekanzelt. Erst mit dem Krieg in der Ukraine geriet das „Jeder Tote ist ein Corona-Toter“-Narrativ an seine Propaganda-Grenzen und Corona verschwand so schnell aus dem medialen Tagesgeschäft wie es gekommen war. Das Geld, das man für Masken, sogenannte Impfstoffe und damit verbundener Korruption verschwendet hatte, musste man nun unbedingt für Waffen verschwenden. Umso wichtiger ist es, diese Zeit der Lügen und Grundrechtsverletzungen nicht einfach unter den Teppich zu kehren und darüber zu schweigen. Aufklärung leistet hier nach wie vor das Magazin Multipolar. Es berichtet von einer aktuellen Studie griechischer Forscher über „offizielle Corona-Todesfälle während Omikron“. Dabei erwies sich Corona nur in einer Minderheit der Fälle als direkte Todesursache.

Sprecherin: Sabrina Khalil

Originaltext bei Multipolar: multipolar-magazin.de/meldungen/0257

Bild: Chat GPT im Auftrag von Radio München

Radio München\ www.radiomuenchen.net/​\ @radiomuenchen\ www.facebook.com/radiomuenchen\ www.instagram.com/radio_muenchen/\ twitter.com/RadioMuenchen\ odysee.com/@RadioMuenchen.net:9\ rumble.com/user/RadioMunchen

Radio München ist eine gemeinnützige Unternehmung.\ Wir freuen uns, wenn Sie unsere Arbeit unterstützen.

@ dfa02707:41ca50e3

Contribute to keep No Bullshit Bitcoin news going.

• RoboSats v0.7.7-alpha is now available!

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

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

Source: RoboSats.

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

What's new

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

Source: RoboSats.

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

New contributors

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

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

GitHub Repo

@ 2b24a1fa:17750f64

Zum organisierten Corona-Komplex zählt auch der vermittelte Eindruck, dass es in den Jahren der sogenannten Pandemie praktisch nur noch eine Todesursache gab: Covid-19. Verkehrstote? Krebstote? Gewöhnliche Alterstote? Kann nicht sein. UN-Generalsekretär Guterres sah die Welt „im Krieg mit dem Virus“, de facto war es ein Krieg mit der Wahrheit, den Regierungen und Mainstream-Medien ausfochten.

https://soundcloud.com/radiomuenchen/studie-viele-falsche-corona-tote-von-multipolar

Der berechtigte Einwand, es mache einen Unterschied, ob jemand mit Corona oder wegen Corona gestorben ist, wurde als Ketzerei abgekanzelt. Erst mit dem Krieg in der Ukraine geriet das „Jeder Tote ist ein Corona-Toter“-Narrativ an seine Propaganda-Grenzen und Corona verschwand so schnell aus dem medialen Tagesgeschäft wie es gekommen war. Das Geld, das man für Masken, sogenannte Impfstoffe und damit verbundener Korruption verschwendet hatte, musste man nun unbedingt für Waffen verschwenden. Umso wichtiger ist es, diese Zeit der Lügen und Grundrechtsverletzungen nicht einfach unter den Teppich zu kehren und darüber zu schweigen. Aufklärung leistet hier nach wie vor das Magazin Multipolar. Es berichtet von einer aktuellen Studie griechischer Forscher über „offizielle Corona-Todesfälle während Omikron“. Dabei erwies sich Corona nur in einer Minderheit der Fälle als direkte Todesursache.

Sprecherin: Sabrina Khalil

Originaltext bei Multipolar: multipolar-magazin.de/meldungen/0257

Bild: Chat GPT im Auftrag von Radio München

Radio München\ www.radiomuenchen.net/​\ @radiomuenchen\ www.facebook.com/radiomuenchen\ www.instagram.com/radio_muenchen/\ twitter.com/RadioMuenchen\ odysee.com/@RadioMuenchen.net:9\ rumble.com/user/RadioMunchen

Radio München ist eine gemeinnützige Unternehmung.\ Wir freuen uns, wenn Sie unsere Arbeit unterstützen.

GLS-Bank\ IBAN: DE65 4306 0967 8217 9867 00\ BIC: GENODEM1GLS\ Bitcoin (BTC): bc1qqkrzed5vuvl82dggsyjgcjteylq5l58sz4s927\ Ethereum (ETH): 0xB9a49A0bda5FAc3F084D5257424E3e6fdD303482

@ dfa02707:41ca50e3

• This version introduces the Soroban P2P network, enabling Dojo to relay transactions to the Bitcoin network and share others' transactions to break the heuristic linking relaying nodes to transaction creators.

• Additionally, Dojo admins can now manage API keys in DMT with labels, status, and expiration, ideal for community Dojo providers like Dojobay. New API endpoints, including "/services" exposing Explorer, Soroban, and Indexer, have been added to aid wallet developers.
• Other maintenance updates include Bitcoin Core, Tor, Fulcrum, Node.js, plus an updated ban-knots script to disconnect inbound Knots nodes.

"I want to thank all the contributors. This again shows the power of true Free Software. I also want to thank everyone who donated to help Dojo development going. I truly appreciate it," said Still Dojo Coder.

What's new

• Soroban P2P network. For MyDojo (Docker setup) users, Soroban will be automatically installed as part of their Dojo. This integration allows Dojo to utilize the Soroban P2P network for various upcoming features and applications.
• PandoTx. PandoTx serves as a transaction transport layer. When your wallet sends a transaction to Dojo, it is relayed to a random Soroban node, which then forwards it to the Bitcoin network. It also enables your Soroban node to receive and relay transactions from others to the Bitcoin network and is designed to disrupt the assumption that a node relaying a transaction is closely linked to the person who initiated it.
  • Pushing transactions through Soroban can be deactivated by setting NODE_PANDOTX_PUSH=off in docker-node.conf.
  • Processing incoming transactions from Soroban network can be deactivated by setting NODE_PANDOTX_PROCESS=off in docker-node.conf.
• API key management has been introduced to address the growing number of people offering their Dojos to the community. Dojo admins can now access a new API management tab in their DMT, where they can create unlimited API keys, assign labels for easy identification, and set expiration dates for each key. This allows admins to avoid sharing their main API key and instead distribute specific keys to selected parties.
• New API endpoints. Several new API endpoints have been added to help API consumers develop features on Dojo more efficiently:
  • New:
    • /latest-block - returns data about latest block
    • /txout/:txid/:index - returns unspent output data
    • /support/services - returns info about services that Dojo exposes
  • Updated:
    • /tx/:txid - endpoint has been updated to return raw transaction with parameter ?rawHex=1
  • The new /support/services endpoint replaces the deprecated explorer field in the Dojo pairing payload. Although still present, API consumers should use this endpoint for explorer and other pairing data.

Other changes

• Updated ban script to disconnect inbound Knots nodes.
• Updated Fulcrum to v1.12.0.
• Regenerate Fulcrum certificate if expired.
• Check if transaction already exists in pushTx.
• Bump BTC-RPC Explorer.
• Bump Tor to v0.4.8.16, bump Snowflake.
• Updated Bitcoin Core to v29.0.
• Removed unnecessary middleware.
• Fixed DB update mechanism, added api_keys table.
• Add an option to use blocksdir config for bitcoin blocks directory.
• Removed deprecated configuration.
• Updated Node.js dependencies.
• Reconfigured container dependencies.
• Fix Snowflake git URL.
• Fix log path for testnet4.
• Use prebuilt addrindexrs binaries.
• Add instructions to migrate blockchain/fulcrum.
• Added pull policies.

#FREESAMOURAI

Learn how to set up and use your own Bitcoin privacy node with Dojo here.

Announcement / Archive
GitHub Repo

@ dfa02707:41ca50e3

Contribute to keep No Bullshit Bitcoin news going.

This update brings key enhancements for clarity and usability:

• Recent Blocks View: Added to the Send tab and inspired by Mempool's visualization, it displays the last 2 blocks and the estimated next block to help choose fee rates.
• Camera System Overhaul: Features a new library for higher resolution detection and mouse-scroll zoom support when available.
• Vector-Based Images: All app images are now vectorized and theme-aware, enhancing contrast, especially in dark mode.
• Tor & P2A Updates: Upgraded internal Tor and improved support for pay-to-anchor (P2A) outputs.
• Linux Package Rename: For Linux users, Sparrow has been renamed to sparrowwallet (or sparrowserver); in some cases, the original sparrow package may need manual removal.
• Additional updates include showing total payments in multi-payment transaction diagrams, better handling of long labels, and other UI enhancements.

• Sparrow v2.2.1 is a bug fix release that addresses missing UUID issue when starting Tor on recent macOS versions, icons for external sources in Settings and Recent Blocks view, repackaged .deb installs to use older gzip instead of zstd compression, and removed display of median fee rate where fee rates source is set to Server.

Learn how to get started with Sparrow wallet:

Release notes (v2.2.0)

• Added Recent Blocks view to Send tab.
• Converted all bitmapped images to theme aware SVG format for all wallet models and dialogs.
• Support send and display of pay to anchor (P2A) outputs.
• Renamed sparrow package to sparrowwallet and sparrowserver on Linux.
• Switched camera library to openpnp-capture.
• Support FHD (1920 x 1080) and UHD4k (3840 x 2160) capture resolutions.
• Support camera zoom with mouse scroll where possible.
• In the Download Verifier, prefer verifying the dropped file over the default file where the file is not in the manifest.
• Show a warning (with an option to disable the check) when importing a wallet with a derivation path matching another script type.
• In Cormorant, avoid calling the listwalletdir RPC on initialization due to a potentially slow response on Windows.
• Avoid server address resolution for public servers.
• Assume server address is non local for resolution failures where a proxy is configured.
• Added a tooltip to indicate truncated labels in table cells.
• Dynamically truncate input and output labels in the tree on a transaction tab, and add tooltips if necessary.
• Improved tooltips for wallet tabs and transaction diagrams with long labels.
• Show the address where available on input and output tooltips in transaction tab tree.
• Show the total amount sent in payments in the transaction diagram when constructing multiple payment transactions.
• Reset preferred table column widths on adjustment to improve handling after window resizing.
• Added accessible text to improve screen reader navigation on seed entry.
• Made Wallet Summary table grow horizontally with dialog sizing.
• Reduced tooltip show delay to 200ms.
• Show transaction diagram fee percentage as less than 0.01% rather than 0.00%.
• Optimized and reduced Electrum server RPC calls.
• Upgraded Bouncy Castle, PGPainless and Logback libraries.
• Upgraded internal Tor to v0.4.8.16.
• Bug fix: Fixed issue with random ordering of keystore origins on labels import.
• Bug fix: Fixed non-zero account script type detection when signing a message on Trezor devices.
• Bug fix: Fixed issue parsing remote Coldcard xpub encoded on a different network.
• Bug fix: Fixed inclusion of fees on wallet label exports.
• Bug fix: Increase Trezor device libusb timeout.

Linux users: Note that the sparrow package has been renamed to sparrowwallet or sparrowserver, and in some cases you may need to manually uninstall the original sparrow package. Look in the /opt folder to ensure you have the new name, and the original is removed.

What's new in v2.2.1

• Updated Tor library to fix missing UUID issue when starting Tor on recent macOS versions.
• Repackaged .deb installs to use older gzip instead of zstd compression.
• Removed display of median fee rate where fee rates source is set to Server.
• Added icons for external sources in Settings and Recent Blocks view
• Bug fix: Fixed issue in Recent Blocks view when switching fee rates source
• Bug fix: Fixed NPE on null fee returned from server

Announcement / Archive
GitHub Repo

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

Mapping Bitcoin’s Bull Cycle Potential

Bitcoin’s Market Value to Realized Value, or MVRV ratio, remains one of the most reliable on-chain indicators for identifying local and macro tops and bottoms across every BTC cycle. By isolating data across different investor cohorts and adapting historical benchmarks to modern market conditions, we can generate more accurate insights into where Bitcoin may be headed next.

The Bitcoin MVRV Ratio

The MVRV Ratio compares Bitcoin’s market price to its realized price, essentially the average cost basis for all coins in the network. As of writing, BTC trades around $105,000 while the realized price floats near $47,000, putting the raw MVRV at 2.26. The Z-Score version of MVRV standardizes this ratio based on historical volatility, enabling clearer comparisons across different market cycles.

Figure 1: Historically, the MVRV Ratio and the MVRV Z-Score have accurately identified cycle peaks and bottoms. View Live Chart

Short-Term Holders

Short-term holders, defined as those holding Bitcoin for 155 days or less, currently have a realized price near $97,000. This metric often acts as dynamic support in bull markets and resistance in bear markets. Notably, when the Short Term Holder MVRV hits 1.33, local tops have historically occurred, as seen several times in both the 2017 and 2021 cycles. So far in the current cycle, this threshold has already been touched four times, each followed by modest retracements.

Figure 2: Short Term Holder MVRV reaching 1.33 in more recent cycles has aligned with local tops. View Live Chart

Long-Term Holders

Long-term holders, who’ve held BTC for more than 155 days, currently have an average cost basis of just $33,500, putting their MVRV at 3.11. Historically, Long Term Holder MVRV values have reached as high as 12 during major peaks. That said, we’re observing a trend of diminishing multiples each cycle.

Figure 3: Achieving a Long Term Holder MVRV value of 8 could extrapolate to a BTC price in excess of $300,000. View Live Chart

A key resistance band now sits between 7.5 and 8.5, a zone that has defined bull tops and pre-bear retracements in every cycle since 2011. If the current growth of the realized price ($40/day) continues for another 140–150 days, matching previous cycle lengths, we could see it reach somewhere in the region of $40,000. A peak MVRV of 8 would imply a price near $320,000.

A Smarter Market Compass

Unlike static all-time metrics, the 2-Year Rolling MVRV Z-Score adapts to evolving market dynamics. By recalculating average extremes over a rolling window, it smooths out Bitcoin’s natural volatility decay as it matures. Historically, this version has signaled overbought conditions when reaching levels above 3, and prime accumulation zones when dipping below -1. Currently sitting under 1, this metric suggests that substantial upside remains.

Figure 4: The current 2-Year Rolling MVRV Z-Score suggests more positive price action ahead. View Live Chart

Timing & Targets

A view of the BTC Growth Since Cycle Lows chart illustrates that BTC is now approximately 925 days removed from its last major cycle low. Historical comparisons to previous bull markets suggest we may be around 140 to 150 days away from a potential top, with both the 2017 and 2021 peaks occurring around 1,060 to 1,070 days after their respective lows. While not deterministic, this alignment reinforces the broader picture of where we are in the cycle. If realized price trends and MVRV thresholds continue on current trajectories, late Q3 to early Q4 2025 may bring final euphoric moves.

Figure 5: Will the current cycle continue to exhibit growth patterns similar to those of the previous two cycles? View Live Chart

Conclusion

The MVRV ratio and its derivatives remain essential tools for analyzing Bitcoin market behavior, providing clear markers for both accumulation and distribution. Whether observing short-term holders hovering near local top thresholds, long-term holders nearing historically significant resistance zones, or adaptive metrics like the 2-Year Rolling MVRV Z-Score signaling plenty of runway left, these data points should be used in confluence.

No single metric should be relied upon to predict tops or bottoms in isolation, but taken together, they offer a powerful lens through which to interpret the macro trend. As the market matures and volatility declines, adaptive metrics will become even more crucial in staying ahead of the curve.

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

---

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

This post Mapping Bitcoin’s Bull Cycle Potential first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Matt Crosby.

@ 9ca447d2:fbf5a36d

Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the company behind Truth Social and other Trump-branded digital platforms, is planning to raise $2.5 billion to build one of the largest bitcoin treasuries among public companies.

The deal involves the sale of approximately $1.5 billion in common stock and $1.0 billion in convertible senior secured notes.

According to the company, the offering is expected to close by the end of May, pending standard closing conditions.

Devin Nunes, CEO of Trump Media, said the investment in bitcoin is a big part of the company’s long-term plan.

“We view Bitcoin as an apex instrument of financial freedom,” Nunes said.

“This investment will help defend our Company against harassment and discrimination by financial institutions, which plague many Americans and U.S. firms.”

He added that the bitcoin treasury will be used to create new synergies across the company’s platforms including Truth Social, Truth+, and the upcoming financial tech brand Truth.Fi.

“It’s a big step forward in the company’s plans to evolve into a holding company by acquiring additional profit-generating, crown jewel assets consistent with America First principles,” Nunes said.

The $2.5 billion raise will come from about 50 institutional investors. The $1 billion in convertible notes will have 0% interest and be convertible into shares at a 35% premium.

TMTG’s current liquid assets, including cash and short-term investments, are $759 million as of the end of the first quarter of 2025. With this new funding, the company’s liquid assets will be over $3 billion.

Custody of the bitcoin treasury will be handled by Crypto.com and Anchorage Digital. They will manage and store the digital assets.

Earlier this week The Financial Times reported Trump Media was planning to raise $3 billion for digital assets acquisitions.

The article said the funds would be used to buy bitcoin and other digital assets, and an announcement could come before a major related event in Las Vegas.

Related: Bitcoin 2025 Conference Kicks off in Las Vegas Today

Trump Media denied the FT report. In a statement, the company said, “Apparently the Financial Times has dumb writers listening to even dumber sources.”

There was no further comment. However, the official $2.5 billion figure, which was announced shortly after by Trump Media through a press release, aligns with its actual filing and investor communication.

Trump Media’s official announcement

This comes at a time when the Trump family and political allies are showing renewed interest in Bitcoin.

President Donald Trump who is now back in office since the 2025 election, has said he wants to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the world.”

Trump Media is also working on retail bitcoin investment products including ETFs aligned with America First policies.

These products will make bitcoin more accessible to retail investors and support pro-Trump financial initiatives.

But not everyone is happy.

Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren recently expressed concerns about Trump Media’s Bitcoin plans. She asked U.S. regulators to clarify their oversight of digital-asset ETFs, warning of investor risk.

Industry insiders are comparing Trump Media’s plans to Strategy (MSTR) which has built a multi-billion dollar bitcoin treasury over the last year. They used stock and bond sales to fund their bitcoin purchases.

@ 2b24a1fa:17750f64

https://soundcloud.com/radiomuenchen/2025-05-27-eine-stunde-klassik?

Eine Stunde Klassik! Der Münchner Pianist und "Musikdurchdringer" Jürgen Plich stellt jeden Dienstag um 20 Uhr große klassische Musik vor. Er teilt seine Hör- und Spielerfahrung und seine persönliche Sicht auf die Meisterwerke. Er spielt selbst besondere, unbekannte Aufnahmen, erklärt, warum die Musik so und nicht anders klingt und hat eine Menge aus dem Leben der Komponisten zu erzählen.

Sonntags um 10 Uhr in der Wiederholung.

@ 2b24a1fa:17750f64

Ganz im Geiste des klassischen Kabaretts widmen sich Franz Esser und Michael Sailer den Ereignissen des letzten Monats: Was ist passiert? Und was ist dazu zu sagen? Das ist oft frappierend - und manchmal auch zum Lachen.

https://soundcloud.com/radiomuenchen/vier-wochen-wahnsinn-mai-25-ein-satirischer-monatsruckblick

www.radiomuenchen.net/​\ @radiomuenchen\ www.facebook.com/radiomuenchen\ www.instagram.com/radio_muenchen/\ twitter.com/RadioMuenchen\ odysee.com/@RadioMuenchen.net:9\ rumble.com/user/RadioMunchen

Radio München ist eine gemeinnützige Unternehmung.\ Wir freuen uns, wenn Sie unsere Arbeit unterstützen.

GLS-Bank\ IBAN: DE65 4306 0967 8217 9867 00\ BIC: GENODEM1GLS\ Bitcoin (BTC): bc1qqkrzed5vuvl82dggsyjgcjteylq5l58sz4s927\ Ethereum (ETH): 0xB9a49A0bda5FAc3F084D5257424E3e6fdD303482

@ 2b24a1fa:17750f64

Wahrscheinlich wird es wieder der wärmste Mai seit Wetteraufzeichnung gewesen sein, was uns erneut ermahnt, endlich dem Klimawandel den Garaus zu machen. Sie merken es, der Sarkasmus bahnt sich schon seinen Weg. Auch München hat sich jetzt dem Klima-Taler-Netzwerk angeschlossen und wirbt für das Angebot, sich ein besseres Gewissen tracken zu lassen. Hören Sie Nicolas Riedls Kommentar „Der Klima-Köder“.

Sprecherin: Sabrina Khalil

Bild: © Klima-Taler

Radio München\ www.radiomuenchen.net/​\ @radiomuenchen\ www.facebook.com/radiomuenchen\ www.instagram.com/radio_muenchen/\ twitter.com/RadioMuenchen

Radio München ist eine gemeinnützige Unternehmung.\ Wir freuen uns, wenn Sie unsere Arbeit unterstützen.\ GLS-Bank\ IBAN: DE65 4306 0967 8217 9867 00\ BIC: GENODEM1GLS\ Bitcoin (BTC): 3G1wDDH2CDPJ9DHan5TTpsfpSXWhNMCZmQ

@ 9ca447d2:fbf5a36d

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dirty Coin debut ceremony at the Marché du Film

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dirty Coin at the Cannes Film Festival

Watch the Trailer + Access Press Materials

📂 EPK
🎬 Screener
🌍 Host a Screening

Follow the Movement

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

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

Palantir Is Violating Its Own Principles by Avoiding a Bitcoin Treasury

Palantir exists to see what others miss.

It was founded to solve problems most institutions can’t even name—defending sovereignty, navigating adversarial environments, and building systems designed to endure when others fail. Its software doesn’t just process data; it helps governments and institutions anticipate instability before it strikes.

But for all its strategic foresight, Palantir has yet to adopt a Bitcoin treasury strategy—a move that would bring its capital posture in line with its mission.

With more than $2.1 billion in cash, minimal debt, and few reinvestments, Palantir has the resources to lead—but no capital signal that matches its stated principles. In a world increasingly defined by currency debasement, centralized overreach, and geopolitical fragmentation, sitting on fiat is not neutrality. It’s a contradiction.

Palantir without a Bitcoin treasury isn’t just incomplete—it’s incoherent.

A Company Built for Strategic Foresight Should Not Be Saving in a Failing System

Over the last four years, Palantir has grown steadily:

• $1.09B → $1.54B → $1.91B → $2.23B in annual revenue
• Over $700M in free cash flow
• Just ~$239M in debt
• $2.1B in cash and equivalents

It’s a fortress balance sheet. But a fortress built on fiat is only as strong as the system it rests on.

Palantir has made no meaningful acquisitions, issued no dividends, and offers no capital return strategy beyond heavy stock-based compensation. This isn’t capital discipline—it’s strategic inertia. The company builds wartime software but saves like a peacetime conglomerate.

A Bitcoin Treasury Would Align Palantir’s Capital With Its Conviction

Palantir’s mission is to defend sovereignty and build for adversarial conditions. Bitcoin is the only monetary asset designed to do the same.

• Non-sovereign: Bitcoin is not issued or controlled by any state.
• Resilient: It has survived censorship attempts, geopolitical attacks, and financial panics.
• Transparent: It is auditable, predictable, and trustless—everything the fiat system is not.
• Aligned: Bitcoin reflects the same values Palantir claims—autonomy, resilience, and long-range thinking.

If Palantir allocated even half of its cash reserves (~$1.05B), it could acquire 10,000+ BTC. That would place it among the top 10 corporate Bitcoin holders, alongside Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), Tesla, and Coinbase.

But this isn’t about optics. It’s about aligning capital with purpose.

Palantir Without a Bitcoin Treasury Violates Its Own Principles

Palantir outlines a clear ethical and design philosophy for its software. But those same principles expose a contradiction on its balance sheet.

Let’s break it down:

“Systems should incorporate principles of privacy by design.”

➤ Bitcoin is privacy by design. It enables global value transfer without third-party surveillance or control.
➤ Fiat is surveillance by design. Centralized systems track, censor, and report user behavior by default.

By holding fiat, Palantir passively supports a financial architecture it claims to resist. A Bitcoin treasury would align its capital with its engineering ethics.

“Systems must facilitate accountability and oversight.”

➤ Bitcoin is radically transparent—anyone can audit supply, transactions, and ownership logic.
➤ Fiat operates in shadows—driven by opaque policy, insider bailouts, and political discretion.

Palantir demands accountability in data infrastructure—its capital reserves should meet the same standard.

“We strive to contextualize major world problems.”

➤ The instability of fiat currency and global debt markets is a foundational context.
➤ Bitcoin is not a bet—it’s a contextual response to structural monetary decay.

If Palantir exists to anticipate future risk, it should reflect that awareness on its balance sheet.

This Isn’t a Pivot. It’s Alignment.

Adopting a Bitcoin treasury wouldn’t mark a shift in Palantir’s mission—it would reinforce it.

This isn’t about chasing trends. It’s about applying the same principles that define Palantir’s software—resilience, sovereignty, and long-term thinking—to its balance sheet. Bitcoin reflects those values more directly than any fiat currency can.

Palantir helps its clients prepare for instability. It secures borders, systems, and decision-making frameworks under pressure. But it hasn’t secured its own monetary foundation.

That’s a strategic gap.
That’s a contradiction.
And it’s one the company can resolve—decisively.

The Call to Action

Palantir’s shareholders believe in its conviction. They understand the company is not here to follow. It exists to build first, move first, and signal first.

They are not looking for fiat-era conservatism repackaged as capital discipline. They want strategy that matches the scale of the mission. They want to see the company allocate capital with the same clarity it brings to battlefield intelligence and national infrastructure.

Palantir has the foresight, the liquidity, and the philosophical grounding to act. What it needs is the will to align its reserves with its reason for existing.

A Bitcoin treasury would do more than protect value—it would prove Palantir means what it says.

It’s time to move from rhetoric to action.
It’s time to adopt a Bitcoin treasury strategy.

Disclaimer: This content was written on behalf of Bitcoin For Corporations. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Bitcoin For Corporations. This article is intended solely for informational purposes and should not be interpreted as an invitation or solicitation to acquire, purchase, or subscribe for securities.

This post Palantir Is Violating Its Own Principles by Avoiding a Bitcoin Treasury first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Nick Ward.

@ 2b24a1fa:17750f64

Einmal, im dunklen Wald auf dem Weg ins nächste Dorf, hielt ich meine Taschenlampe auf den Boden gerichtet, nicht wirklich senkrecht, aber so, dass der Lichtkegel nah bei mir war. Immer wieder lief ein Schatten auf mich zu. Manchmal kam er auch von hinten. Jedes Mal erschrak ich fürchterlich, ging in Abwehrhaltung und mahnte mich dann zur Einsicht: Wer sollte mir folgen? Was aus dem Gebüsch, sollte auf mich zu kommen, oder dicht an mir vorbei laufen wollen? Woher also dieser Schreck, diese Angst? Vielleicht ist es nur das Reptilienhirn und der Überlebenssinn der reagiert, vielleicht aber auch ein Teil der Prägung, die uns verunsichert, wenn wir die Gemeinschaft verlassen und uns anders verhalten.

https://soundcloud.com/radiomuenchen/innerer-tiefenstaat-von?

Unbekannte und einflussreiche Anteile unseres Selbst zu entdecken und zu integrieren nennt der Wildnispädagoge, Autor und Journalist Bastian Barucker Schattenarbeit. Hören Sie seinen Text Trauma, Krieg, Friedensfähigkeit und der innere Tiefenstaat.

Sprecher: Ulrich Allroggen\ Redaktion: Eva Schmidt

Den Beitrag können Sie auf seinem Blog Bastian-Barucker.de nachlesen. blog.bastian-barucker.de/der-innere-tiefenstaat/

@ 8bad92c3:ca714aa5

Key Takeaways

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

Best Quotes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Only a whale can be magnificent.”

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

Conclusion

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

Timestamps

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

Transcript

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

@ 87fedb9f:0da83419

Finding Calm in the Chaos

Ever notice how you start future-mapping to calm your nerves… and end up more anxious than when you began? You’re not alone! Join us for a playful, real-talk exploration of why our brilliant minds try to control everything — and how empathy, Buddhist wisdom, and EFT tapping can help us step out of the anxious loop and land back in the delicious now.

https://www.thrivingnow.center/t/1491/4

https://youtu.be/VRx63O19dMM

We covered…

1. Future Mapping is Fish-and-Water Awareness We often don’t realize how much mental energy we spend constantly planning scenarios - “if it rains, if they get upset, if this happens then that…” This protective pattern started early but now we can bring it into conscious awareness and choose how much energy to invest.

2. The Empathy App Creates Endless Scenarios Our empathetic nature means we’re not just planning for ourselves - we’re mapping out everyone else’s potential reactions, feelings, and needs. This creates exponentially more “what if” scenarios that keep our minds spinning in overdrive.

3. Fault-Finding is Too Crude for Thriving When we automatically assign blame (usually to ourselves), we’re operating from primitive brain patterns. Upgrading to a more refined viewpoint means seeing the “dance of energies” where everyone contributes and sometimes feet get stepped on - it’s part of life.

4. We Can’t Actually Control the River Life flows like a river, and we can steer our canoe but we cannot change the river itself. Our anxiety often signals we’re trying to do the impossible - control weather, other people’s moods, or outcomes beyond our influence.

5. Magical Thinking Says “If I Worry Enough, It Will Work Out” We unconsciously believe that suffering through worry ahead of time will somehow guarantee good outcomes. Our nervous system knows this is a lie, which creates more anxiety. We can release this “prepayment” fantasy.

6. Distributing the Broccoli Back to Its Owners We often scoop up everyone else’s responsibilities onto our plate to avoid conflict or being blamed. Learning to ask “Is this really my broccoli?” helps us return emotional and practical responsibilities to their rightful owners.

7. Include Safe and Good Possibilities in Your Maps When we only map threats and problems, we miss opportunities for joy, connection, and creative solutions. Consciously including positive possibilities activates different parts of ourselves - the creative, hopeful, and inspired aspects.

8. Tapping While Thinking Moves Energy Out of Stuck Loops Simply speaking our thoughts aloud while tapping the acupressure points breaks the narrow band of mental spinning. This engages our body’s intelligence and often reveals what words or feelings want to emerge beyond our conscious planning.

9. Being With What Is vs. Making Everyone Happy Instead of trying to make everyone feel good all the time (which is impossible), we can practice being present with people as they actually are. This is more respectful, connected, and requires much less exhausting management.

10. Anxiety Can Be Wise Body Guidance Rather than just a problem to fix, our anxiety often signals we’re trying to do something unwise - like changing unchangeable things or telling ourselves lies about what we can control. We can listen to this guidance.

11. The Sweet Spot of Thoughtful Planning We’re not throwing away our planning abilities - we’re finding the balance between appropriate preparation (throwing an umbrella in the bag) and exhausting over-management (trying to control every possible variable). Good and sufficient planning honors both our intelligence and life’s natural flow.

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Layer 2: Ark

Ark is a novel off-chain transaction batching mechanism originally proposed by Burak, a young Turkish developer. There are currently two implementations being built, one by Ark Labs, and the other by Second, neither of which Burak is involved with. 

The original proposal for Ark was much more complicated, and involved some design goals more focused around privacy than the implementations currently being built. It was also originally envisioned to require CHECKTEMPLATEVERIFY (CTV) in order to be built. 

The protocol depends on a central coordinating server in order to function properly, but despite that is able to provide the same functionality and security guarantees that the Lightning Network does. As long as a user stays online during the required time period, at all times (unless they choose to trust the operator for short periods of time) every user is capable at any time of unilaterally exiting the Ark system at any time and taking back full unilateral control of their funds onchain. 

Unlike Lightning, Ark does not require users to have pre-allocated liquidity assigned to them in order to receive funds. An Ark user can simply onboard to a wallet and receive funds immediately with no liquidity pre-allocation at all. 

Let’s walk through the different constituent pieces of Ark.

The Ark Tree

Coins held on Ark are called Virtual UTXOs (vUTXOs). These are simply pre-signed transactions that guarantee the creation of a real UTXO under the unilateral control of a user once submitted onchain, but are otherwise held offchain. 

Every user’s vUTXOs are nested inside a tree of pre-signed transactions, or a “batch.” Ark works by having the coordinator server, or Ark Service Provider (ASP), facilitate the coordination between users necessary to create a batch. Whenever users are receiving funds, onboarding to Ark, or offboarding, it is necessary to construct a transaction and the associated transaction tree to create a new batch. 

The tree is constructed to take the single root UTXO confirmed onchain, locked with an n-of-n multisig including all users holding vUTXOs in the tree as well as the ASP, and slowly split into more and more UTXOs until eventually reaching the leaves, which are each users vUTXO. Each vUTXO is guaranteed using a script that has to be signed by a 2-of-2 multisig, one key held by the user, and the other by the ASP, or just the user after a timelock. 

Each time the tree splits, vUTXOs are created onchain, but so are more internal UTXOs that have yet to actually split into vUTXOs. Each of these internal UTXOs is locked with an n-of-n multisig composed of the ASP, and all users who have a vUTXO further down the tree. During the batch creation process, users start at their respective vUTXOs, and go through a signing process all the way back down the root of the tree. This guarantees that the root will never be signed before each user’s claim to a vUTXO is, ensuring they always have unilateral access in a worst case scenario to their funds. 

Each batch also has an expiry time (which will make sense in the next section). This expiry spend path, which exists as an alternate spending condition for the root UTXO onchain as well as every internal UTXO, allows the ASP to unilaterally spend all funds by itself. 

Transactions, Preconfirmation, and Connector Inputs

When it comes to transacting on Ark, there are two possible mechanisms that are possible, both with their own costs and implications in terms of security model. There are out-of-round transfers, or preconfirmed transactions, and there are in-round transfers, or actually confirmed transactions. 

To conduct an out-of-round transfer is a very simple process. If one user (Alice) wants to pay another (Bob), they simply contact the ASP and have them co-sign a transaction spending the vUTXO to Bob. Bob is then given that pre-signed transaction, as well as all the other ones preceding it back to the batch root onchain. Bob is now capable of unilaterally exiting the Ark with this transaction, but, he must trust the ASP not to collude with Alice to doublespend it. These out-of-round transactions can even be chained multiple times before finally confirming them. 

To finalize an Ark transaction, users have to engage in a “batch swap.” Users cannot actually trustlessly confirm a transfer within a single batch, they have to atomically swap a vUTXO in an existing batch with a fresh vUTXO created in a new batch. This is done using the ASP as a facilitator of the swap, and with the aid of what is called a “connector input.”

When a user goes to finalize an Ark transaction with a batch swap, they relinquish control of the vUTXO to the ASP. This could be problematic, what is to stop the ASP from simply keeping it and not giving them a confirmed vUTXO in a new batch? The connector input. 

When a new batch is created, a second output is created in the transaction that is confirmed on chain instantiating a new tree composed of connector UTXOs. When Bob goes to sign over a forfeit transaction to the ASP to conduct the batch swap, the transaction includes as an input one of the connector UTXOs from the new batch. 

This creates an atomic guarantee. Bob’s confirmed vUTXO is included in a batch in the same transaction the connector input is created in that is necessary for his forfeit transaction to be valid. If that batch is never created onchain, i.e. Bob never actually receives the new confirmed vUTXO, then the forfeit transaction he signed for the ASP will never be valid and confirmable onchain.

Liquidity Dynamics and Blockspace

All of the liquidity necessary to create new batches in order to facilitate transfers between users is provided by the ASP. They are required to have enough liquidity to create new batches for users until old ones have expired and the ASP can unilaterally sweep them to reclaim old liquidity previously locked up to create vUTXOs for users. 

This is the core of the liquidity dynamic at the center of the Ark protocol. While in one sense this is a massive efficiency win, not requiring liquidity providers to assess users and essentially guess which ones will actually receive large volumes of payments before they can receive any funds, in another it is an efficiency loss as the ASP must have enough liquidity to continue creating new batches for users for however long they configure the expiry time to be and they can start reclaiming allocated liquidity. 

This can be mitigated to a decent degree by how often an ASP offers to create new batches to finalize pending transactions. In the event of an ASP attempting to create new batches in real time as transactions are coming in, the liquidity requirements would be exorbitantly high. However, an ASP can lower the frequency at which they create new batches and drastically lower their liquidity requirements. 

This dynamic also has implications for blockspace use. Unlike Lightning, which can provide strong confirmation guarantees entirely offchain, in order for an Ark transaction to have an equivalent trustless degree of finality a new batch has to be created onchain. This means that unlike Lightning, where transaction volume does not reflect itself onchain, the velocity of Ark transactions inherently requires a proportional amount of blockspace use, albeit in a very compressed and efficient manner. This creates a theoretical upper limit of how many Ark batches can be created during any given time interval (although Ark trees can be smaller or larger depending on this dynamic). 

Wrapping Up

Ark presents in many ways an almost opposite set of tradeoffs to the Lightning Network. It is a massive blockspace efficiency improvement for offchain transactions, and does away with the problem of liquidity allocation on the Lightning Network, but it does have a much closer tied throughput limit that is correlated with the blockchains throughput limit. 

This dynamic of almost opposite tradeoffs makes it a very complementary system to the Lightning Network. It can also interoperate with it, i.e. vUTXOs can be swapped atomically in transactions entering or exiting the Lightning Network. 

Ultimately how it fits into the broader Bitcoin ecosystem is yet to be seen, but it is an undoubtedly valuable protocol stack that will find some functional niche, even if it is different than originally intended.

This post Bitcoin Layer 2: Ark first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Shinobi.

@ b1ddb4d7:471244e7

“Not your keys, not your coins” isn’t a slogan—it’s a survival mantra in the age of digital sovereignty.

The seismic collapses of Mt. Gox (2014) and FTX (2022) weren’t anomalies; they were wake-up calls. When $8.7 billion in customer funds vanished with FTX, it exposed the fatal flaw of third-party custody: your bitcoin is only as secure as your custodian’s weakest link.

Yet today, As of early 2025, analysts estimate that between 2.3 million and 3.7 million Bitcoins are permanently lost, representing approximately 11–18% of bitcoin’s fixed maximum supply of 21 million coins, with some reports suggesting losses as high as 4 million BTC. This paradox reveals a critical truth: self-custody isn’t just preferable—it’s essential—but it must be done right.

The Custody Spectrum

Custodial Wallets (The Illusion of Control)

• Rehypothecation Risk: Most platforms lend your bitcoin for yield generation. When Celsius collapsed, users discovered their “held” bitcoin was loaned out in risky strategies.
• Account Freezes: Regulatory actions can lock withdrawals overnight. In 2023, Binance suspended dollar withdrawals for U.S. users citing “partner bank issues,” trapping funds for weeks.
• Data Vulnerability: KYC requirements create honeypots for hackers. The 2024 Ledger breach exposed 270,000 users’ personal data despite hardware security.

True Self-Custody
Self-custody means exclusively controlling your private keys—the cryptographic strings that prove bitcoin ownership. Unlike banks or exchanges, self-custody eliminates:

• Counterparty risk (no FTX-style implosions)
• Censorship (no blocked transactions)
• Inflationary theft (no fractional reserve lending)

Conquering the Three Great Fears of Self-Custody

Fear 1: “I’ll Lose Everything If I Make a Mistake”

Reality: Human error is manageable with robust systems:

• Test Transactions: Always send a micro-amount (0.00001 BTC) before large transfers. Verify receipt AND ability to send back.
• Multi-Backup Protocol: Store seed phrases on fireproof/waterproof steel plates (not paper!). Distribute copies geographically—one in a home safe, another with trusted family 100+ miles away.
• SLIP39 Sharding: Split your seed into fragments requiring 3-of-5 shards to reconstruct. No single point of failure.

Fear 2: “Hackers Will Steal My Keys”

Reality: Offline storage defeats remote attacks:

• Hardware Wallets: Devices like Bitkey or Ledger keep keys in “cold storage”—isolated from internet-connected devices. Transactions require physical confirmation.
• Multisig Vaults: Bitvault’s multi-sig system requires attackers compromise multiple locations/devices simultaneously. Even losing two keys won’t forfeit funds.
• Air-Gapped Verification: Use dedicated offline devices for wallet setup. Never type seeds on internet-connected machines.

Fear 3: “My Family Can’t Access It If I Die”

Reality: Inheritance is solvable:

• Dead Man Switches: Bitwarden’s emergency access allows trusted contacts to retrieve encrypted keys after a pre-set waiting period (e.g., 30 days).
• Inheritance Protocols: Bitkey’s inheritance solution shares decryption keys via designated beneficiaries’ emails. Requires multiple approvals to prevent abuse.
• Public Key Registries: Share wallet XPUBs (not private keys!) with heirs. They can monitor balances but not spend, ensuring transparency without risk.

The Freedom Dividend

1. Censorship Resistance: Send $10M BTC to a Wikileaks wallet without Visa/Mastercard blocking it.
2. Privacy Preservation: Avoid KYC surveillance—non-custodial wallets like Flash require zero ID verification.
3. Protocol Access: Participate in bitcoin-native innovations (Lightning Network, DLCs) only possible with self-custodied keys.
4. Black Swan Immunity: When Cyprus-style bank bailins happen, your bitcoin remains untouched in your vault.

The Sovereign’s Checklist

1. Withdraw from Exchanges: Move all BTC > $1,000 to self-custody immediately.
2. Buy Hardware Wallet: Purchase DIRECTLY from manufacturer (no Amazon!) to avoid supply-chain tampering.
3. Generate Seed OFFLINE: Use air-gapped device, write phrase on steel—never digitally.
4. Test Recovery: Delete wallet, restore from seed before funding.
5. Implement Multisig: For > $75k, use Bitvault for 2-of-3 multi-sig setup.
6. Create Inheritance Plan: Share XPUBs/SLIP39 shards with heirs + legal documents.

“Self-custody isn’t about avoiding risk—it’s about transferring risk from opaque institutions to transparent, controllable systems you design.”

The Inevitable Evolution: Custody Without Compromise

Emerging solutions are erasing old tradeoffs:

• MPC Wallets: Services like Xapo Bank shatter keys into encrypted fragments distributed globally. No single device holds full keys, defeating physical theft.
• Social Recovery: Ethically designed networks (e.g., Bitkey) let trusted contacts restore access without custodial control.
• Biometric Assurance: Fingerprint reset protocols prevent lockouts from physical injuries.

Lost keys = lost bitcoin. But consider the alternative: entrusting your life savings to entities with proven 8% annual failure rates among exchanges. Self-custody shifts responsibility from hoping institutions won’t fail to knowing your system can’t fail without your consent.

Take action today: Move one coin. Test one recovery. Share one xpub. The path to unchained wealth begins with a single satoshi under your control.

@ 318ebaba:9a262eae

Nostr, which stands for "Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays," is a decentralized communication protocol designed to facilitate the exchange of messages without relying on centralized servers. This innovative framework allows users to create, broadcast, and receive messages freely, emphasizing user empowerment and censorship resistance.

Key Features of Nostr

• Decentralization: Unlike traditional social media platforms, Nostr operates on a network of relays, which are servers that anyone can run. This structure eliminates the control that a single entity can exert over the platform, thereby reducing the risk of censorship and enhancing user privacy[1][4][5].

• Open Protocol: Nostr is not an application itself but a protocol that developers can use to build various applications. This openness allows for a wide range of services, from social media to messaging, all built on the same underlying technology. Users can access multiple applications using a single public/private key pair, making it easier to manage their online identities[2][3][4].

• Censorship Resistance: One of the primary motivations behind Nostr's creation is to provide a platform where users can communicate without fear of censorship. This is particularly appealing to those disillusioned with traditional social media platforms that often impose restrictions on content[5][10].

• User Control: Nostr empowers users by allowing them to control their data and interactions. Users can choose which relays to connect to and can run their own relays, ensuring that they are not dependent on any single service provider[4][5][7].

• Cryptographic Security: The protocol employs public-key cryptography to secure messages and verify identities, similar to how Bitcoin operates. This ensures that messages are authentic and have not been tampered with during transmission[5][10].

Applications and Community

Nostr has gained traction among various communities, particularly within the cryptocurrency space, where figures like Jack Dorsey and Edward Snowden have expressed support for its potential to reshape online communication. The protocol's design allows for a variety of applications, including social media platforms, chat services, and content sharing tools, all of which can interoperate seamlessly[2][3][5].

In summary, Nostr represents a significant shift in how digital communication can be structured, prioritizing decentralization, user autonomy, and resistance to censorship, making it a compelling alternative to conventional social media platforms. [1] https://threenine.blog/posts/what-is-nostr [2] https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2023/04/11/how-to-get-started-with-nostr/ [3] https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2024/07/17/your-guide-to-nostr-the-decentralized-network-for-everything/ [4] https://www.ledger.com/academy/glossary/nostr [5] https://river.com/learn/what-is-nostr/ [6] https://www.cointribune.com/en/comment-utiliser-nostr-guide-pour-debutants-2/ [7] https://www.ccn.com/education/what-is-nostr-and-how-to-start-using-nostr/ [8] https://nostr.com/ [9] https://mylessnider.com/articles/why-im-excited-about-nostr [10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostr [11] https://nostr.how/en/what-is-nostr [12] https://nostr.org/ [13] https://medium.com/@colaru/an-introduction-to-nostr-protocol-dbc774ac797c [14] https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-nostr-manfred-van-doorn-nf9ce [15] https://www.cointribune.com/en/nostr-pour-les-debutants-tout-ce-que-vous-devez-savoir-sur-le-protocole-2/ [16] https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/17j5glg/do_people_in_this_sub_know_about_nostr/ [17] https://www.voltage.cloud/blog/the-essential-guide-to-nostr-relays [18] https://www.reddit.com/r/nostr/comments/1i6t4g7/explain_how_nostr_works_like_im_a_5_year_old/ [19] https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nostr

@ b1ddb4d7:471244e7

“Not your keys, not your coins” isn’t a slogan—it’s a survival mantra in the age of digital sovereignty.

The seismic collapses of Mt. Gox (2014) and FTX (2022) weren’t anomalies; they were wake-up calls. When $8.7 billion in customer funds vanished with FTX, it exposed the fatal flaw of third-party custody: your bitcoin is only as secure as your custodian’s weakest link.

Yet today, As of early 2025, analysts estimate that between 2.3 million and 3.7 million Bitcoins are permanently lost, representing approximately 11–18% of bitcoin’s fixed maximum supply of 21 million coins, with some reports suggesting losses as high as 4 million BTC. This paradox reveals a critical truth: self-custody isn’t just preferable—it’s essential—but it must be done right.

The Custody Spectrum

Custodial Wallets (The Illusion of Control)

• Rehypothecation Risk: Most platforms lend your bitcoin for yield generation. When Celsius collapsed, users discovered their “held” bitcoin was loaned out in risky strategies.
• Account Freezes: Regulatory actions can lock withdrawals overnight. In 2023, Binance suspended dollar withdrawals for U.S. users citing “partner bank issues,” trapping funds for weeks.
• Data Vulnerability: KYC requirements create honeypots for hackers. The 2024 Ledger breach exposed 270,000 users’ personal data despite hardware security.

True Self-Custody
Self-custody means exclusively controlling your private keys—the cryptographic strings that prove bitcoin ownership. Unlike banks or exchanges, self-custody eliminates:

• Counterparty risk (no FTX-style implosions)
• Censorship (no blocked transactions)
• Inflationary theft (no fractional reserve lending)

Conquering the Three Great Fears of Self-Custody

Fear 1: “I’ll Lose Everything If I Make a Mistake”

Reality: Human error is manageable with robust systems:

• Test Transactions: Always send a micro-amount (0.00001 BTC) before large transfers. Verify receipt AND ability to send back.
• Multi-Backup Protocol: Store seed phrases on fireproof/waterproof steel plates (not paper!). Distribute copies geographically—one in a home safe, another with trusted family 100+ miles away.
• SLIP39 Sharding: Split your seed into fragments requiring 3-of-5 shards to reconstruct. No single point of failure.

Fear 2: “Hackers Will Steal My Keys”

Reality: Offline storage defeats remote attacks:

• Hardware Wallets: Devices like Bitkey or Ledger keep keys in “cold storage”—isolated from internet-connected devices. Transactions require physical confirmation.
• Multisig Vaults: Bitvault’s multi-sig system requires attackers compromise multiple locations/devices simultaneously. Even losing two keys won’t forfeit funds.
• Air-Gapped Verification: Use dedicated offline devices for wallet setup. Never type seeds on internet-connected machines.

Fear 3: “My Family Can’t Access It If I Die”

Reality: Inheritance is solvable:

• Dead Man Switches: Bitwarden’s emergency access allows trusted contacts to retrieve encrypted keys after a pre-set waiting period (e.g., 30 days).
• Inheritance Protocols: Bitkey’s inheritance solution shares decryption keys via designated beneficiaries’ emails. Requires multiple approvals to prevent abuse.
• Public Key Registries: Share wallet XPUBs (not private keys!) with heirs. They can monitor balances but not spend, ensuring transparency without risk.

The Freedom Dividend

1. Censorship Resistance: Send $10M BTC to a Wikileaks wallet without Visa/Mastercard blocking it.
2. Privacy Preservation: Avoid KYC surveillance—non-custodial wallets like Flash require zero ID verification.
3. Protocol Access: Participate in bitcoin-native innovations (Lightning Network, DLCs) only possible with self-custodied keys.
4. Black Swan Immunity: When Cyprus-style bank bailins happen, your bitcoin remains untouched in your vault.

The Sovereign’s Checklist

1. Withdraw from Exchanges: Move all BTC > $1,000 to self-custody immediately.
2. Buy Hardware Wallet: Purchase DIRECTLY from manufacturer (no Amazon!) to avoid supply-chain tampering.
3. Generate Seed OFFLINE: Use air-gapped device, write phrase on steel—never digitally.
4. Test Recovery: Delete wallet, restore from seed before funding.
5. Implement Multisig: For > $75k, use Bitvault for 2-of-3 multi-sig setup.
6. Create Inheritance Plan: Share XPUBs/SLIP39 shards with heirs + legal documents.

“Self-custody isn’t about avoiding risk—it’s about transferring risk from opaque institutions to transparent, controllable systems you design.”

The Inevitable Evolution: Custody Without Compromise

Emerging solutions are erasing old tradeoffs:

• MPC Wallets: Services like Xapo Bank shatter keys into encrypted fragments distributed globally. No single device holds full keys, defeating physical theft.
• Social Recovery: Ethically designed networks (e.g., Bitkey) let trusted contacts restore access without custodial control.
• Biometric Assurance: Fingerprint reset protocols prevent lockouts from physical injuries.

Lost keys = lost bitcoin. But consider the alternative: entrusting your life savings to entities with proven 8% annual failure rates among exchanges. Self-custody shifts responsibility from hoping institutions won’t fail to knowing your system can’t fail without your consent.

Take action today: Move one coin. Test one recovery. Share one xpub. The path to unchained wealth begins with a single satoshi under your control.

@ f0fd6902:a2fbaaab

A brinicle (brine icicle, also known as an ice stalactite) is a downward-growing hollow tube of ice enclosing a plume of descending brine that is formed beneath developing sea ice.

As seawater freezes in the polar ocean, salt brine concentrates are expelled from the sea ice, creating a downward flow of dense, extremely cold, saline water, with a lower freezing point than the surrounding water. When this plume comes into contact with the neighboring ocean water, its extremely low temperature causes ice to instantly form around the flow. This creates a hollow stalactite, or icicle, referred to as a brinicle. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brinicle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69aeBawfrRw

https://stacker.news/items/1001460

@ b1ddb4d7:471244e7

Hosted at the iconic Palace of Culture and Science—a prominent symbol of the communist era—the Bitcoin FilmFest offers a vibrant celebration of film through the lens of bitcoin. The venue itself provides a striking contrast to the festival’s focus, highlighting bitcoin’s core identity as a currency embodying independence from traditional financial and political systems.

𝐅𝐢𝐱𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐯𝐢𝐛𝐞𝐬.
Warsaw, Day Zero at #BFF25 (European Bitcoin Pizza Day) with @roger__9000, MadMunky and the @2140_wtf squad pic.twitter.com/9ogVvWRReA

— Bitcoin FilmFest (@bitcoinfilmfest) May 28, 2025

This venue represents an era when the state tightly controlled the economy and financial systems. The juxtaposition of this historical site with an event dedicated to bitcoin is striking and thought-provoking.

The event features a diverse array of activities, including engaging panel discussions, screenings of both feature-length and short films, workshops and lively parties. Each component designed to explore the multifaceted world of bitcoin and its implications for society, offering attendees a blend of entertainment and education.

The films showcase innovative narratives and insights into bitcoin’s landscape, while the panels facilitate thought-provoking discussions among industry experts and filmmakers.

Networking is a significant aspect of the festival, with an exceptionally open and friendly atmosphere that foster connections among participants. Participants from all over Europe gather to engage with like-minded individuals who share a passion for BTC and its implications for the future.

The open exchanges of ideas foster a sense of community, allowing attendees to forge new connections, collaborate on projects, and discuss the potential of blockchain technology implemented in bitcoin.

The organization of the festival is extraordinary, ensuring a smooth flow of information and an expertly structured schedule filled from morning until evening. Attendees appreciate the meticulous planning that allowed them to maximize their experience. Additionally, thoughtful touches such as gifts from sponsors and well-chosen locations for various events contribute to the overall positive atmosphere of the festival.

Overall, the Bitcoin FilmFest not only highlights the artistic expression surrounding bitcoin but also serves as a vital platform for dialogue—about financial freedom, the future of money, and individual sovereignty in a shifting world.

The event successfully bridges the gap between a historical symbol of control and a movement that celebrates freedom, innovation, and collaboration in the digital age, highlighting the importance of independence in financial systems while fostering a collaborative environment for innovation and growth.

Next year’s event is slated for June 5-7 2026. For further updates check: https://bitcoinfilmfest.com/

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

Mapping Bitcoin’s Bull Cycle Potential

Bitcoin’s Market Value to Realized Value, or MVRV ratio, remains one of the most reliable on-chain indicators for identifying local and macro tops and bottoms across every BTC cycle. By isolating data across different investor cohorts and adapting historical benchmarks to modern market conditions, we can generate more accurate insights into where Bitcoin may be headed next.

The Bitcoin MVRV Ratio

The MVRV Ratio compares Bitcoin’s market price to its realized price, essentially the average cost basis for all coins in the network. As of writing, BTC trades around $105,000 while the realized price floats near $47,000, putting the raw MVRV at 2.26. The Z-Score version of MVRV standardizes this ratio based on historical volatility, enabling clearer comparisons across different market cycles.

Figure 1: Historically, the MVRV Ratio and the MVRV Z-Score have accurately identified cycle peaks and bottoms. View Live Chart

Short-Term Holders

Short-term holders, defined as those holding Bitcoin for 155 days or less, currently have a realized price near $97,000. This metric often acts as dynamic support in bull markets and resistance in bear markets. Notably, when the Short Term Holder MVRV hits 1.33, local tops have historically occurred, as seen several times in both the 2017 and 2021 cycles. So far in the current cycle, this threshold has already been touched four times, each followed by modest retracements.

Figure 2: Short Term Holder MVRV reaching 1.33 in more recent cycles has aligned with local tops. View Live Chart

Long-Term Holders

Long-term holders, who’ve held BTC for more than 155 days, currently have an average cost basis of just $33,500, putting their MVRV at 3.11. Historically, Long Term Holder MVRV values have reached as high as 12 during major peaks. That said, we’re observing a trend of diminishing multiples each cycle.

Figure 3: Achieving a Long Term Holder MVRV value of 8 could extrapolate to a BTC price in excess of $300,000. View Live Chart

A key resistance band now sits between 7.5 and 8.5, a zone that has defined bull tops and pre-bear retracements in every cycle since 2011. If the current growth of the realized price ($40/day) continues for another 140–150 days, matching previous cycle lengths, we could see it reach somewhere in the region of $40,000. A peak MVRV of 8 would imply a price near $320,000.

A Smarter Market Compass

Unlike static all-time metrics, the 2-Year Rolling MVRV Z-Score adapts to evolving market dynamics. By recalculating average extremes over a rolling window, it smooths out Bitcoin’s natural volatility decay as it matures. Historically, this version has signaled overbought conditions when reaching levels above 3, and prime accumulation zones when dipping below -1. Currently sitting under 1, this metric suggests that substantial upside remains.

Figure 4: The current 2-Year Rolling MVRV Z-Score suggests more positive price action ahead. View Live Chart

Timing & Targets

A view of the BTC Growth Since Cycle Lows chart illustrates that BTC is now approximately 925 days removed from its last major cycle low. Historical comparisons to previous bull markets suggest we may be around 140 to 150 days away from a potential top, with both the 2017 and 2021 peaks occurring around 1,060 to 1,070 days after their respective lows. While not deterministic, this alignment reinforces the broader picture of where we are in the cycle. If realized price trends and MVRV thresholds continue on current trajectories, late Q3 to early Q4 2025 may bring final euphoric moves.

Figure 5: Will the current cycle continue to exhibit growth patterns similar to those of the previous two cycles? View Live Chart

Conclusion

The MVRV ratio and its derivatives remain essential tools for analyzing Bitcoin market behavior, providing clear markers for both accumulation and distribution. Whether observing short-term holders hovering near local top thresholds, long-term holders nearing historically significant resistance zones, or adaptive metrics like the 2-Year Rolling MVRV Z-Score signaling plenty of runway left, these data points should be used in confluence.

No single metric should be relied upon to predict tops or bottoms in isolation, but taken together, they offer a powerful lens through which to interpret the macro trend. As the market matures and volatility declines, adaptive metrics will become even more crucial in staying ahead of the curve.

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

---

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

This post Mapping Bitcoin’s Bull Cycle Potential first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Matt Crosby.

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

Know Labs, Inc. Announces Adopting a Bitcoin Treasury Strategy, Starting with 1,000 Bitcoin

Know Labs, Inc. (NYSE American: KNW) announced entering into an agreement with Goldeneye 1995 LLC and the Ripple Chief Risk Officer Greg Kidd to acquire a controlling interest in the Company. Following the completion of the transaction, Mr. Kidd will become Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Company and Founder Ron Erickson will become Vice Chairman of the Board.

JUST IN: Know Labs, Inc. announces its adopting a Bitcoin Treasury Strategy and holds 1,000 Bitcoin pic.twitter.com/NSn2xFZYx0

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) June 6, 2025

Under the agreement, the Buyer will acquire shares of Know Labs’ common stock by dividing the total value of 1,000 Bitcoin and a cash amount, designated to pay down existing debt, redeem outstanding preferred equity, and provide additional working capital. For every share purchased it will be priced at $0.335. The Bitcoin will serve as a central element of the Company’s treasury strategy, giving investors the exposure to Bitcoin.

“I’m thrilled to deploy a Bitcoin treasury strategy with the support of a forward-looking organization like Know Labs at a time when market and regulatory conditions are particularly favorable,” said Mr. Kidd. “We believe this approach will generate sustainable growth and long-term shareholder value.”

Once Bitcoin becomes the primary asset on the Company’s balance sheet, management will adopt the multiple of net asset value (mNAV) metric to assess the premium investors place on the Company’s market value relative to its Bitcoin assets. Based on a market cap of $128 million and a Bitcoin price of $105,000, the estimated entry mNAV multiple is 1.22x, with Bitcoin accounting for approximately 82% of the total market capitalization at closing.

“Partnering with Greg Kidd marks a pivotal next chapter for Know Labs,” commented Mr. Erickson. “We look forward to continuing our research in non-invasive medical technology. Greg’s visionary leadership positions Know Labs for a bold future.”

The adoption of Bitcoin as a treasury reserve asset has dramatically increased over the course of the last year, expanding globally. To date, there are 225 companies and other entities with Bitcoin in their balance sheets. 

Norwegian Block Exchange (NBX), a leading Nordic cryptocurrency exchange and digital asset platform, announced on June 2 that it has added Bitcoin to its balance sheet, marking a national milestone as the first publicly listed company in Norway to hold Bitcoin as part of its treasury strategy.

“NBX will not sell this Bitcoin or go short in any form,” stated the company. “With reference to the latest POA notice with LDA capital, NBX will also use proceeds to buy additional Bitcoin.”

This post Know Labs, Inc. Announces Adopting a Bitcoin Treasury Strategy, Starting with 1,000 Bitcoin first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Oscar Zarraga Perez.

@ edf0da8b:b2652fa3

One remarkable thing the Wim Hof Method stirs in me is that I increasingly feel the desire to connect with pure nature. Now, what does that mean?

You may know that slight feeling of eeriness when looking at deep moving waters or that tiny insecurity when darkness creeps up around you alone among the trees? You are sure there's nothing to worry about. But still, these little old conditioned anxieties, these unreasonable mind scenarios, they keep coming up and make you seek safety.

They are different for everyone, but these anxieties in the foreground are a sign for inner blockages that deprive us from expressing our power and creativity. What's more, they separate us from nature. They suggest, everything around us is potentially dangerous. Is it though?

When practicing the Wim Hof Method, and especially right after the breathing exercises, I can immediately feel a clarity emerging, a stronger awareness of presence in the moment. Anxieties are caringly pushed back to their rightful place, but do not control my actions and no longer dominate my state of being.

And so suddenly, the world view shifts. Eerie deep moving waters become fascinating, the darkness around reveals the beauty of trees casting soft moonlight shadows. I deeply appreciate what is, I want to touch the waters, I want to merge with the shadows, I feel that power. Instead of running away I want to connect with nature. I'm more aware of the present and should danger reveal itself, I have the confidence that I can properly react when it arises. But until then, I can enjoy beauty and connectedness. The powerful shift is from scenarios about potential threats around me to curiosity and beautiful opportunity everywhere.

There are countless great techniques and traditions that guide us to such shifts. But with regular practice, I find the Wim Hof Method to be particularly simple, accessible and effective.

wimhofmethod #breathwork #coldtherapy #courage #motivation #freedom

@ edf0da8b:b2652fa3

If you've been active on Nostr, you've probably realized that your posts come and go like waves. There’s no content-surfacing algorithm to keep them afloat. So, unless someone happens to scroll past at just the right time, your insights, event announcements, or deep reflections are getting swept away. There's no pretty profile page that refers to your content.

That’s where Npub.pro comes in—and it’s what I used to build my first website as a transformative coach and Wim Hof method instructor.

This article is about how Npub.pro works, my experience with it, and why it may be useful to you, too.

What is Npub.pro?

Npub.pro is a web service that pulls your posts from the Nostr protocol and weaves them into a clean, customizable website. It uses open-source templates from Ghost, making it easy to create a beautiful, functional landing page without needing to write any code.

If you're already posting on Nostr, Npub.pro turns that content into something lasting and visually appealing—like a curated blog or even a first landing page.

Why I Chose Npub.pro for My Initial Business Website

My work centers on personal transformation for leading a sovereign life—emotional, mental, and physical. I lead workshops, retreats and 1:1 sessions, and I needed a quick and simple place online that would communicate who I am, what I offer, and what’s coming up next.

Since I already post regularly on Nostr, it made sense to reuse that content to portray my work. But instead of letting my posts drift away in the feed, Npub.pro gave me a way to give them structure and longevity for a wider audience.

Plus, it really looks good.

Features That Make It Worthwhile

Easy Website Creation

You don’t need to become technical. The Npub.pro dashboard is simple and intuitive. Just pick a template, connect your Nostr keys, add your posts individually or based on hashtags, and voilà—your content starts showing up. You can experiment with different templates freely, without messing things up.

Multiple Templates for Different Needs

There's a good amount of templates to choose from, for photo blogging, journaling or podcasting etc. I started with "Liebling," switched to "Micro-Ruby" for a bit, and finally settled on "Massively"—it shows my often picture-based posts clearly and lets me feature a highlighted post at the top.

Tag-Based Categories

You can organize your content into sections like I did with “About & Events,” “Wim Hof Method,” or “Natural Living.” If you tag your Nostr posts accordingly and set up your categories in your dashboard, they’ll just fall into place.

Free Hosting + Custom Domains

Npub.pro is completely free if you’re okay with a domain like yourname.npub.pro. If you want something more professional, you can link a custom domain. I got mine for about $10/year from Namecheap. For now, even custom domains are free to connect. If you host your media on Nostr with e.g. Primal or Nostr.Build (subscription-based), and get a custom domain name, you have a complete low-budget website up and running.

What to Watch Out For

Npub.pro is not perfect and still evolving. Here are some limitations to keep in mind:

No Native Lead Capture or Email Signup

If you for example want to offer a PDF or free online class in exchange for email addresses, you’ll need to get creative with external links. Unfortunately, there’s no built-in call-to-action feature for non-Nostr users at this point.

No Pay-walled Content or Membership Features

If you’re looking to monetize content or offer member-only areas, you can hope and ask the Npub.pro team for future features, but it isn't there right now.

Some Trial & Error Required

Tagging needs to be done when you post. Adding tags retroactively with versatile clients like Amethyst won’t make earlier posts appear on your website. I had to republish a few old posts just to get them sorted into the right category. Expect a few hiccups, but it’s manageable.

Npub.pro and Nostr

Npub.pro is part of a bigger picture—the rise of Nostr as a decentralized social network. It’s censorship-resistant, Bitcoin-integrated, and potentially an all-in-one protocol for media, messaging, publishing, and payment. That's crazy powerful when you think about it a little more!

Right now, the infrastructure is still getting there. Not everything works reliably yet, and complex and visually rich experiences like Instagram-style clients (e.g. Olas) still fall short. But Npub.pro is one of those services that shows where it can be heading: toward digital sovereignty.

Is Npub.pro for You?

If you’re already active on Nostr, I think this is a no-brainer. You can turn your feed into a curated blog or landing page with very little extra effort.

Even if you're not using Nostr yet, Npub.pro is still worth exploring if:

• You want a free or low-budget minimal website that’s connected to your social media content.
• You care about decentralization and owning your data.
• You’re okay with less customization and a little experimentation here and there while things improve.

So in short, Npub.pro is quite the smart, and simple way to publish your presence online—especially if you want your Nostr content to live beyond the scroll.

Final Thoughts

I was surprised how good everything looked in the end on desktop, tablet and mobile and how easily you can manage your content. It’s not perfect for all needs, but it does the job remarkably well for a first website, personal blog or landing page. And by using Npub.pro, you’re helping build the future of open, user-owned publishing online.

Check Out Npub.pro

https://npub.pro

My Website:

www.bennubreath.me

Old-school Socials:

https://youtube.com/@bennubreath

---

@Npub.pro @brugeman

NpubPro #DecentralizedWeb #GhostCMS #WimHof #DigitalSovereignty #OpenWeb #ContentCuration #BuildWithNostr #WebsiteHosting #Freedom #Transformation

@ 9ca447d2:fbf5a36d

Wall Street is warming up to Bitcoin and getting closer and closer to it.

Cantor Fitzgerald, one of the oldest and most respected investment banks on Wall Street, has launched a $2 billion bitcoin-backed lending program.

They’ve reportedly already done their first deals, lending to two big digital asset companies: FalconX and Maple Finance.

This is a big step in connecting traditional finance to the fast-moving world of Bitcoin.

Cantor’s new service allows big investors, hedge funds and asset managers, to borrow money using bitcoin as collateral.

This is a game changer for institutions that hold bitcoin, as they can now access liquidity without having to sell their assets.

“Institutions holding bitcoin are looking to broaden their access to diverse funding sources,” said Christian Wall, co-CEO and global head of fixed income at Cantor Fitzgerald.

“And we are excited to support their liquidity needs to help them drive long term growth and success.”

The loans are not speculative or unsecured.

They are structured like traditional finance deals, backed by the borrower’s bitcoin. This reduces the risk for Cantor while giving bitcoin-holding companies new ways to grow and operate.

The first recipients of Cantor’s lending program are FalconX, a digital asset brokerage, and Maple Finance, a blockchain-based lending platform.

FalconX confirmed they secured a credit facility of over $100 million. Maple Finance also received the first tranche of their loan from Cantor.

This comes at a time when the bitcoin lending space is recovering after a tough period. Several big firms went under in 2022 and investor confidence was shaken.

Now with traditional finance on board, bitcoin-backed lending has returned. According to Galaxy Research the total size of the digital asset lending market grew to $36.5 billion in Q4 2024.

Cantor’s move into bitcoin-backed lending isn’t new. They announced their plans in July 2024 and have been building their presence in the Bitcoin space since then.

Earlier this year, they partnered with Tether, SoftBank and Bitfinex to launch Twenty One Capital, a $3.6 billion fund to buy over 42,000 bitcoin.

In May 2025 Cantor Equity Partners merged with Twenty One Capital and bought nearly $459 million worth of bitcoin.

They also own around $1.9 billion in shares of Strategy, a company that holds a lot of bitcoin. Clearly Cantor believes in bitcoin as a long-term asset.

Cantor is also a big player in the stablecoin space.

They manage U.S. Treasury reserves for Tether, the company behind the $142 billion USDT stablecoin. This adds another layer of trust and credibility to Cantor’s digital asset involvement.

To secure the bitcoin used as collateral, Cantor has partnered with digital asset custodians Anchorage Digital and Copper.co.

These companies are known for their robust security and institutional-grade infrastructure. Cantor hasn’t disclosed loan terms or interest rates but confirmed the lending will follow current regulations.

This also shows how traditional financial players are embracing DeFi.

Maple Finance for example allows undercollateralized lending using blockchain. By backing companies like Maple, Cantor is innovating while still having control and compliance.

For years, bitcoin-backed loans were only available through digital-asset-native companies like Genesis, BlockFi, and Ledn.

These loans were mostly for smaller clients and retail investors. But with Cantor’s entry, the scale and professionalism of bitcoin lending are expanding.

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

@ a296b972:e5a7a2e8

Nur für‘s Protokoll. Hiermit erkläre ich, Georg Ohrweh, im tatsächlich vorhandenen vollen Besitz meiner geistigen Kräfte, dass Herr Lauterbach, gleich welche Position er in Zukunft noch bekleiden sollte, für mich nicht zuständig ist. Basta.

Ein Erguss dieses verhaltensoriginellen Über-alles-Bescheidwissers:

„Wir kommen jetzt in eine Phase hinein, wo der Ausnahmezustand die Normalität sein wird. Wir werden ab jetzt immer im Ausnahmezustand sein. Der Klimawandel wird zwangsläufig mehr Pandemien bringen.“

Wie kann es sein, dass solch eine Ausnahme-Gestalt, die schon rein äußerlich die Phantasie zu Vergleichen anregt, sich leider auch genauso verhält, wie die Gestalten, die in diesen Phantasien vorkommen, ungebremst auf der Panik-Klaviatur kakophonische Klänge erzeugen darf? Obwohl ein wenig Wahrheit ist auch enthalten: Wir sind tatsächlich immer im Ausnahmezustand, im Ausnahmezustand des fortgeschrittenen Wahnsinns.

Wie kann es sein, dass dieser Haaaarvardist seinen persönlich empfundenen Ausnahmezustand zum Allgemeingut erklären kann? Welche Verknüpfungs-Phantasien hat er sonst noch studiert? Er ist ja auch noch Vorsitzender im Raumfahrtausschuss. Was kommt als Nächstes? Eine Klima-Pandemie, verursacht durch außerirdische Viren, die die Temperaturen beeinflussen können? Im aktuellen Zeitgeist gibt es nichts, was nicht gedacht wird. Wem die besseren Absurditäten einfallen, der gewinnt. Man muss sich schon den gegebenen Denkstrukturen etwas anpassen, aber sich auch ein wenig Mühe geben.

Nach dem Wechsel der ehemaligen Außen-Dings zur UN (mit dem Ziel, aus den Vereinten Nationen die Feministischen Nationen zu gestalten) und des ehemaligen Wirtschafts-Dings in den Außenausschuss und als Gastdozent in Kalifornien (Thema: Wirtschaftsvernichtung unter Einbeziehung des gespannten Verhältnisses unter Geschwistern aufgrund ärmlicher Verhältnisse, am Beispiel des Märchens von Hänsel und Gretel) , jetzt auch noch der ehemalige Chef-Panikmacher zur WHO.

…und der Wahnsinn wurde hinausgetragen in die Welt, und es wurde dunkel, und es ward Nacht, und es wurde helle, und es ward Tag, der Wind blies oder auch nicht (was macht der Wind eigentlich, wenn er nicht weht?), und es ward Winter, und es wurde kälter, und es wurde wärmer, und es ward Sommer. Es regnete nicht mehr, die Wolken schwitzten. Und Putin verhinderte (wer auch sonst), dass das Eis in der Antarktis abnahm.

Wiederholte Bodentemperaturen in der Toskana von 50 Grad Celsius. Zu erwartende Wassertemperaturen während Ferragosto an der italienischen Adria von durchschnittlich 100 Grad Celsius. An Stellen mit wenig Strömung stiegen schon die ersten Kochblasen auf. Doch dann kam der durch Lachs gestählte, salzlose Super-Karl und rettete mit einem durch die WHO diktierten Klima-Logdown die gesamte Menschheit. Wer besser, als er konnte wissen, dass ein Klima-Logdown weitgehend nebenwirkungsfrei ist.

Was für ein Segen, dass Karl der Große, der uns so siegreich durch die Corona-Schlacht geführt hat, jetzt auch gegen das Klima in den Krieg zieht.

Wer kennt das nicht, Tage der Qual, in denen man zugeben muss: Ich hab‘ heute so schlimm Klima.

Viele Klimaexperten, die weltweit in der Qualitätspropaganda zitiert werden, zeichnen sich besonders dadurch aus, dass sie mit einer maximalen Abweichung von einem Grad Celsius ein Thermometer fehlerfrei ablesen können. Diese Ungenauigkeit wird der Erdverkochungsexperte sicher als erstes beheben.

In einer aufopfernden Studie während eines Urlaubs in 2023, in der um die damalige Zeit erstmals eisfreien Toskana, hat er den von ihm ausgetüftelten Klimaschutzplan ins Rheinische übersetzt. Titel: „Schützen Sie sisch, und, äh, andere!“ Weiter konnte er erforschen, dass die Bodentemperatur nicht immer mit der Temperatur des Erdkerns übereinstimmen muss.

Durch seine unermüdlichen Studien, können Hitzetote in Zukunft besser zugeordnet werden. Man weiß dann, ob jemand an hohen oder mit hohen Temperaturen gestorben ist. Der asymptomatische Klimawandel kann so in Zukunft viel besser bewertet werden. Man hat aus geringfügigen Fehlern gelernt und die Methoden erheblich verbessert.

Eine präzise Vorhersage der Jahreszeiten, vor allem die des Sommers, wird bald ebenfalls möglich sein. Es kann jetzt vor jahreszeitbedingten, teilweise sogar täglich schwankenden Temperaturveränderungen rechtzeitig gewarnt werden. Im Herbst können Heizempfehlungen für die ahnungslose Bevölkerung herausgegeben werden. Frieren war gestern, wissen wann es kalt wird, ist heute. Es wird an Farben geforscht, die noch roter sein sollen, als die, die jetzt in den Wetterkarten bei 21 Grad bereits verwendet werden.

Eine allgemeine Heizpflicht soll es europaweit zunächst nicht geben.

Weiter soll die Lichteinstrahlung der Sonne noch präziser bestimmt werden, damit den Europäern, in Ergänzung zur mitteleuropäischen Sommerzeit, jetzt auch noch genau mitgeteilt werden kann, wann es Tag und wann es Nacht ist.

Das Hinausschauen aus dem Fenster, zum Beispiel, ob es schon dunkel draußen ist, erübrigt sich. Die Tageszeit, in Ergänzung zur herkömmlichen Uhrzeit, wird demnächst automatisch mit dem Klima-Pass übermittelt werden. Zu Anfang natürlich erst einmal freiwillig.

Durch die persönliche ID können dann auch schnell und unkompliziert Sonderprämien überwiesen werden, sofern man sich klimakonform verhalten hat, damit man sich rechtzeitig vor Winterbeginn eine warme Jacke oder einen Mantel kaufen kann. Das Sparen von Bargeld auf eine bevorstehende größere Anschaffung von Winterkleidung wird somit überflüssig.

Ob es am Ende nun um Hitze oder Kälte geht, spielt eigentlich gar keine Rolle, denn wie wussten schon die Ahnen zu berichten: Was gut für die Kälte ist, ist auch gut für die Wärme.

Westliche Mächte unternehmen immer wieder Versuche, eskalierend auf den Ukraine-Konflikt einzuwirken, damit man atombetriebene Heizpilze aufstellen kann, an denen sich die Europäer im Winter auch im Freien wärmen können.

Wie praktisch, dass man nicht nur Gesundheit und Klima, sondern auch Klima und Krieg miteinander verbinden kann. Alles so, oder so ähnlich möglicherweise nachzulesen im genialen Hitzeschutzplan á la Lauterbach.

Besonders Deutschland braucht nicht nur lauterbachsche Hitzeschutzräume, nein es braucht atomsichere Hitzeschutzbunker, so schlägt man gleich zwei Fliegen mit einer Klappe.

Für die, die es sich leisten können, hier ein Vorschlag. Der K2000:

https://www.swr.de/swr1/rp/programm/loriot-mini-luftschutzbunker-zum-preis-einer-waschmaschine-100.html

Für die weniger gut Betuchten reicht auch ein kühles Kellerloch, das man idealerweise im Februar beziehen und nicht vor November wieder verlassen sollte, so die Empfehlung auch von führenden Klima-Forschern, die es ja wissen müssen. Von Dezember bis Januar empfiehlt sich ein Besuch auf den Bahamas, besonders dann, wenn man eine leichte Erkältung verspürt.

Nur Verschwörungstheoretiker behaupten, dass die eigenartigen Anschlussverwendungen der Extrem-Kapazitäten, zu denen Lauterbach ohne Zweifel dazugehört, wie dicke rote Pfeile wirken, die auf Institutionen und Organisationen zeigen, um die man unter allen Umständen einen großen Bogen machen sollte, weil sie möglicherweise nichts Gutes im Schilde führen. Minimal sollen sie angeblich Unsinn verbreiten, maximal sollen sie gehörigen Schaden anrichten.

Man muss sich nur ein paar Gedanken machen, schon kann man feststellen, wie alles mit allem zusammenhängt.

“Dieser Beitrag wurde mit dem Pareto-Client geschrieben.”

* *

(Bild von pixabay)

@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1

To become a master designer, you need to break past a slavish devotion of past forms and create vibrant, new experiences. This design talk covers practical techniques for reinventing game genres. The goal is the invention of a unique and highly differentiated customer value proposition that makes both strong business sense and is also deeply creatively fulfilling. We cover designing from the root, reducing design risk, and igniting original franchises. We also cover the pitfalls of design innovation and how to thrive in a highly competitive market.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7DFuXDN29M

https://stacker.news/items/1001313

@ 81022b27:2b8d0644

You probably already know that I’ve been playing around with the whole Nostr thing.

Well, slowly I have been posting my content on Nostr. The long-form content., like my https://www.theintuitivechiropractor.com am using Habla.news

Habla.News is basically a blog app. It’s like a Substack, but you don’t have the newsletter feature, but I hear one may be in the works.

So from what I understand so far, your content is all published in one stream, but different sites handle the content differently.

A Twitter-like short post reader like Primal will organize short post and a long-form reader like Habla will do the articles.

I created a personal webpage on Npub.Pro and a links page (like a LinkTree) as well.

You can click on to see some of those pages.

Now, I’m having issues with the NPub page, because sometimes it wants to show my content, sometimes it decides not to.

Did I mention all of this is FREE?

It’s a bit complicated to setup at first, especially if you are unfamiliar with crypto wallets and that kind of stuff-but you get the feeling this is all new stuff and we are here in a new frontier where this could end up being revolutionary.

Follow my posts on here to see how I progress. If you would like to start on Nostr, I will do everything I can to help you out.

Live Long and Prosper,

-Dan

@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1

A Junior-level free online course divided in four modules aiming to help you develop experience and confidence with: 1) An approach to mechanical systems design that incorporates ideation, back-of-the-envelope analysis, computational analysis, and prototyping, iteratively and with an appropriate balance for the domain. 2) Designing custom mechanical components, finding and selecting common machine elements, and selecting electric motors and transmission elements to meet performance, efficiency and reliability goals.

The first project introduces the structure of projects in this course; introduces the design approach; reviews and begins to apply statics and stress analysis skills from prerequisite courses to design; introduces finite-element analysis; and provides an opportunity to work out any issues with fabrication methods.

The second project comprises a challenging, open-ended problem: design of a single component for mass efficiency. Success requires sophisticated application of the design approach, including statics analysis using free-body diagrams; stress, deflection and buckling analysis using simplified models and finite-element analysis; and testing of both low-fidelity and functional prototypes.

The third project introduces simple models of electric motors and gears; applies these models to selection of a motor operating point and gear ratio; and introduces the design of experiments to identify important system characteristics.

The fourth project comprises the challenging, open-ended design of a motor-driven machine to maximize electromechanical performance. It requires application of the Design Approach to complex problems in a team setting; effective incorporation of multiple custom and catalog components into an assembly; and sophisticated use motor and gear models, power analysis, and mass-efficient component design.

Start the course, it's free at https://biomechatronics.stanford.edu/mechanical-systems-design

https://stacker.news/items/1001283

@ 81022b27:2b8d0644

I literally have no clue what I'm doing.

Nostr is a decentralized protocol that lets users share messages and content through independent servers called relays, ensuring no single entity controls the network. It uses cryptographic keys to verify identities and secure messages, making it censorship-resistant and privacy-focused.

That is the simplest definition that Grok could come up with defining what is Nostr.

I’ve been intrigued by this because it ties in blockchain, publishing content and privacy all into one.

It is intimately tied to a Bitcoin wallet, where readers can “Zap” you tips in Satoshis- which is Bitcoin “change”

There are no intermediaries, no card processing fees, no gatekeepers to keep your content hidden,none of that.

Maybe i’m still mad about being censored on social media for my Covid-19 posts, but the idea of not being able to be censored by a corporation or even my own government is appealing to me.

There are apps to see videos, blog apps and social media type apps.

You own your content and you can move it around wherever you like.

I will be experimenting with posting on there.

I’ve got two profiles on there (I told you I didnt know what I was doing)

I’m inviting you to join me on Nostr.

Live Long and Prosper,

_Dan

nostr:naddr1qvzqqqr4gupzpqgz9vnnj6wkj3excxuvf2ug4xstp72g774v9tpnxzptag4c6pjyqqxnzde58yen2d35xg6njve5x6ph8l

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

— ODELL (@ODELL) December 14, 2022

Good morning.

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

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

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

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

---

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

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Life Insurer, Meanwhile, Becomes First Company to Publish Audited Financials Denominated in Bitcoin

Meanwhile Insurance Bitcoin (Bermuda) Limited (“Meanwhile”) announced it has become the first company in the world to release externally audited financial statements denominated entirely in Bitcoin. According to the announcement, the company reported 220.4 BTC in assets and 25.29 BTC in net income for 2024, a 300% year over year increase.

Today marks a global first & historic event for us, along with the public release of our 2024 audited financial statements, covering our 1st year of sales.

As the 1st company in the world to have Bitcoin-denominated financial statements externally audited, we are excited to…

— meanwhile | Bitcoin Life Insurance (@meanwhilelife) June 5, 2025

“We’ve just made history as the first company in the world to have Bitcoin-denominated financial statements externally audited,” said Zac Townsend, CEO of Meanwhile. “This is an important, foundational step in reimagining the financial system based on a single, global, decentralized standard outside the control of any one government.” 

The financial statements were audited by Harris & Trotter LLP and its digital asset division ht.digital. Meanwhile’s financials also comply with Bermuda’s Insurance Act 1978, noting that their BTC denominated financials were approved and comply with official guidelines. The firm, fully licensed by the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA), operates entirely in BTC and is prohibited from liquidating Bitcoin assets except through policyholder claims, positioning it as a long term holder. 

“As the first regulated Bitcoin life insurance company, we view the BTC held by Meanwhile as inherently long-term in nature—primarily held to support the Company’s insurance liabilities over decades,” Townsend added. “This makes it significantly ‘stickier’ and resistant to market pressures compared to the BTC held by other companies as part of their treasury management strategies.” 

Meanwhile’s 2024 financials also revealed 23.02 BTC in net premiums and 4.35 BTC in investment income, showing that its model not only preserves Bitcoin, but earns it. The company’s reserves (also held in BTC) were reviewed and approved by Willis Towers Watson (WTW). 

Meanwhile also offers a Bitcoin Whole Life insurance product that allows policyholders to save, borrow, and build legacy wealth—entirely in BTC, and has plans to expand globally in 2025.

“We are incredibly proud of today’s news as it underscores how Meanwhile is at the forefront of the next phase of the convergence between Bitcoin and institutional financial markets,” said Tia Beckmann, CFO of Meanwhile. “Now having generated net income in BTC, we have demonstrated that we are earning it through a sustainable insurance business model designed for the long term.” 

This post Bitcoin Life Insurer, Meanwhile, Becomes First Company to Publish Audited Financials Denominated in Bitcoin first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Jenna Montgomery.

@ 9ca447d2:fbf5a36d

The third annual Bitcoin FilmFest (aka BFF25) proved once again that sovereign minds and decentralized culture thrive together.

For four electrifying days in Poland’s capital, the festival’s rallying call—’Fix the money, fix the culture‘—wasn’t just a slogan but a living, breathing movement.

From May 22-25, 2025, Warsaw buzzed with cinematic innovation, Bitcoin philosophy, and artistic vibe marking this gathering as truly incomparable.

Rebel Tribe with Unfiltered Creativity

With 200+ attendees from 20+ countries – primarily Poland, Czech Republic, the UK and Germany (~70% combined), plus representation from Spain, Italy, USA, Turkey and 15+ other nations including Thailand, Israel, Dubai and Latin America—BFF25 became a true global hub of freedom-fighters at heart. 

The European Pizza Day opener (May 22), celebrating Bitcoin’s first real-world transaction, saw rainy evening weather that couldn’t dampen the energy.

With concerts by Roger9000 and ABBE plus DJ sets from MadMunky, 2140 collective w/Airklipz and G.O.L.D., all early arrivals had a memorable start.

Dual Focus on Film and Bitcoin Culture

• Seven film workshops and seven hands-on sessions running parallel across Friday and Saturday at Amondo Cinema Club. Film: Martin Piga, Oswald Horowitz, Psyfer, Juan Pablo Mejía, Kristina Weiserova, Rare Passenger, Noa Gruman & Lahav Levi (Scardust). Bitcoin/Nostr: Aleks Svetski, Ioni Appelberg, Flash,  CryptoSteel, Bitrefill, Polish Bitcoin Association, Bitvocation.

• The Community Stage (Friday to Sunday afternoon) gave important space for both projects and individuals discussing their work and passions.
  Everything from music, art, fiction, Nostr, personal sovereignty to Polish-language debates on Bitcoin’s state and its possible future.

• Onscreen, 9 cinematic blocks from Friday to Sunday featured titles like UNBAKABLE, REVOLUCIÓN BITCOIN, HOTEL BITCOIN, PLANDEMIC: THE MUSICAL, plus shorts on new media (AI/experimental cinema), parallel communities (outcast cinema), and newly released pilots.

• Cinematic shark-tank with a €3,000 bounty: 8 contestants

  • Martin Piga: “PARALLEL SPACES”
  • Kristina Weiserova: “PUZZLE”
  • Aaron Koenig : “SATOSHI’S LAST WILL”
  • Philip Charter: “21 FUTURES”
  • Jenna Reid: “WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?”
  • Mr Black: “A LODGING OF WAYFARING MEN”
  • Oswald Horowitz: “THE LEGEND OF LANDI”
    The event ended with Jenna winning.

• Official Gala: Golden Rabbits 2025 crowned:

  • HOTEL BITCOIN by Manuel Sanabria & Carlos “Pocho” Villaverde (Best Story)
  • SATOSHI: THE CREATION OF BITCOIN by Arthur Machado (Best Short)
  • REVOLUCIÓN BITCOIN by Juan Pablo Mejía (Audience Choice)
  • NO MORE INFLATION by Maiku Tsukai’s aka Bitcoin Shooter (Best Film)

Nights Charged with Music and Unscripted Surprise

The festival’s legendary afterparties kept the energy high—Friday’s underground gathering at Morph Club (ex-Barbazaar) featured Aaron Koening’s live concert and 2140 DJs (Akme + Andy Princz).

The weekend’s unforgettable moment came when Noa Gruman took the stage with “MY HEAVEN” (Scardust original) and “40HPW” — her powerful tribute to Bitcoin podcasts and Bugle.News.

Lightning-Powered Innovation, and Extras

• Lightning in Action: Flash enabled instant Bitcoin payments across both main venues (Amondo + Samo Centrum, merch stations, and online shop)

• IndeeHub Backstage Pass: Attendees unlocked exclusive access to Lightning-powered VOD featuring selected films from BFF23-25

• BFF TV: Kiki (El Salvador) broadcasting live interviews, event clips, and trailers. Day One, and Day Two to rewatch online.

• Comedy Strike: Robert Le Ricain’s Gala stand-up proved Bitcoiners pack brains and humor—in equal measure.

A Community-Driven Cultural Experience

Bitcoin FilmFest wasn’t just an event—it was proof that culture shifts when money gets fixed. Mark your calendars for June 2026 and the next edition. More info and tickets going on sale soon.

@ 97c70a44:ad98e322

Vibe coding is taking the nostr developer community by storm. While it's all very exciting and interesting, I think it's important to pump the brakes a little - not in order to stop the vehicle, but to try to keep us from flying off the road as we approach this curve.

In this note Pablo is subtweeting something I said to him recently (although I'm sure he's heard it from other quarters as well):

nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzp75cf0tahv5z7plpdeaws7ex52nmnwgtwfr2g3m37r844evqrr6jqy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyv9kh2uewd9hj7qghwaehxw309aex2mrp0yh8qunfd4skctnwv46z7qg6waehxw309ac8junpd45kgtnxd9shg6npvchxxmmd9uqzq0z48d4ttzzkupswnkyt5a2xfkhxl3hyavnxjujwn5k2k529aearwtecp4

There is a naive, curmudgeonly case for simply "not doing AI". I think the intuition is a good one, but the subject is obviously more complicated - not doing it, either on an individual or a collective level, is just not an option. I recently read Tools for Conviviality by Ivan Illich, which I think can help us here. For Illich, the best kind of tool is one which serves "politically interrelated individuals rather than managers".

This is obviously a core value for bitcoiners. And I think the talks given at the Oslo Freedom Forum this year present a compelling case for adoption of LLMs for the purposes of 1. using them for good, and 2. developing them further so that they don't get captured by corporations and governments. Illich calls both the telephone and print "almost ideally convivial". I would add the internet, cryptography, and LLMs to this list, because each one allows individuals to work cooperatively within communities to embody their values in their work.

But this is only half the story. Illich also points out how "the manipulative nature of institutions... have put these ideally convivial tools at the service of more [managerial dominance]."

Preventing the subversion and capture of our tools is not just a matter of who uses what, and for which ends. It also requires an awareness of the environment that the use of the tool (whether for virtuous or vicious ends) creates, which in turn forms the abilities, values, and desires of those who inhabit the environment.

The natural tendency of LLMs is to foster ignorance, dependence, and detachment from reality. This is not the fault of the tool itself, but that of humans' tendency to trade liberty for convenience. Nevertheless, the inherent values of a given tool naturally gives rise to an environment through use: the tool changes the world that the tool user lives in. This in turn indoctrinates the user into the internal logic of the tool, shaping their thinking, blinding them to the tool's influence, and neutering their ability to work in ways not endorsed by the structure of the tool-defined environment.

The result of this is that people are formed by their tools, becoming their slaves. We often talk about LLM misalignment, but the same is true of humans. Unreflective use of a tool creates people who are misaligned with their own interests. This is what I mean when I say that AI use is anti-human. I mean it in the same way that all unreflective tool use is anti-human. See Wendell Berry for an evaluation of industrial agriculture along the same lines.

What I'm not claiming is that a minority of high agency individuals can't use the technology for virtuous ends. In fact, I think that is an essential part of the solution. Tool use can be good. But tools that bring their users into dependence on complex industry and catechize their users into a particular system should be approached with extra caution. The plow was a convivial tool, and so were early tractors. Self-driving John Deere monstrosities are a straightforward extension of the earlier form of the technology, but are self-evidently an instrument of debt slavery, chemical dependency, industrial centralization, and degradation of the land. This over-extension of a given tool can occur regardless of the intentions of the user. As Illich says:

There is a form of malfunction in which growth does not yet tend toward the destruction of life, yet renders a tool antagonistic to its specific aims. Tools, in other words, have an optimal, a tolerable, and a negative range.

The initial form of a tool is almost always beneficial, because tools are made by humans for human ends. But as the scale of the tool grows, its logic gets more widely and forcibly applied. The solution to the anti-human tendencies of any technology is an understanding of scale. To prevent the overrun of the internal logic of a given tool and its creation of an environment hostile to human flourishing, we need to impose limits on scale.

Tools that require time periods or spaces or energies much beyond the order of corresponding natural scales are dysfunctional.

My problem with LLMs is:

• Not their imitation of human idioms, but their subversion of them and the resulting adoption of robotic idioms by humans
• Not the access they grant to information, but their ability to obscure accurate or relevant information
• Not their elimination of menial work, but its increase (Bullshit Jobs)
• Not their ability to take away jobs, but their ability to take away the meaning found in good work
• Not their ability to confer power to the user, but their ability to confer power to their owner which can be used to exploit the user
• Not their ability to solve problems mechanistically, but the extension of their mechanistic value system to human life
• Not their explicit promise of productivity, but the environment they implicitly create in which productivity depends on their use
• Not the conversations they are able to participate in, but the relationships they displace

All of these dysfunctions come from the over-application of the technology in evaluating and executing the fundamentally human task of living. AI work is the same kind of thing as an AI girlfriend, because work is not only for the creation of value (although that's an essential part of it), but also for the exercise of human agency in the world. In other words, tools must be tools, not masters. This is a problem of scale - when tool use is extended beyond its appropriate domain, it becomes what Illich calls a "radical monopoly" (the domination of a single paradigm over all of human life).

So the important question when dealing with any emergent technology becomes: how can we set limits such that the use of the technology is naturally confined to its appropriate scale?

Here are some considerations:

• Teach people how to use the technology well (e.g. cite sources when doing research, use context files instead of fighting the prompt, know when to ask questions rather than generate code)
• Create and use open source and self-hosted models and tools (MCP, stacks, tenex). Refuse to pay for closed or third-party hosted models and tools.
• Recognize the dependencies of the tool itself, for example GPU availability, and diversify the industrial sources to reduce fragility and dependence.
• Create models with built-in limits. The big companies have attempted this (resulting in Japanese Vikings), but the best-case effect is a top-down imposition of corporate values onto individuals. But the idea isn't inherently bad - a coding model that refuses to generate code in response to vague prompts, or which asks clarifying questions is an example. Or a home assistant that recognized childrens' voices and refuses to interact.
• Divert the productivity gains to human enrichment. Without mundane work to do, novice lawyers, coders, and accountants don't have an opportunity to hone their skills. But their learning could be subsidized by the bots in order to bring them up to a level that continues to be useful.
• Don't become a slave to the bots. Know when not to use it. Talk to real people. Write real code, poetry, novels, scripts. Do your own research. Learn by experience. Make your own stuff. Take a break from reviewing code to write some. Be independent, impossible to control. Don't underestimate the value to your soul of good work.
• Resist both monopoly and "radical monopoly". Both naturally collapse over time, but by cultivating an appreciation of the goodness of hand-crafted goods, non-synthetic entertainment, embodied relationship, and a balance between mobility and place, we can relegate new, threatening technologies to their correct role in society.

I think in all of this is implicit the idea of technological determinism, that productivity is power, and if you don't adapt you die. I reject this as an artifact of darwinism and materialism. The world is far more complex and full of grace than we think.

The idea that productivity creates wealth is, as we all know, bunk. GDP continues to go up, but ungrounded metrics don't reflect anything about the reality of human flourishing. We have to return to a qualitative understanding of life as whole, and contextualize quantitative tools and metrics within that framework.

Finally, don't believe the hype. Even if AI delivers everything it promises, conservatism in changing our ways of life will decelerate the rate of change society is subjected to and allow time for reflection and proper use of the tool. Curmudgeons are as valuable as technologists. There will be no jobspocalypse if there is sufficient political will to value human good over mere productivity. It's ok to pump the breaks.

@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1

Beginning with the history of kubectl apply, this article briefly introduces the concept of "thick/thin clients" in software design.

Designing software is a process of constantly raising and solving questions. When designers face a requirement, they generate many questions, among which is a seemingly simple but fundamental one: "Where should the business logic (complexity) go?" Each time a new feature is introduced into a project, the increase in total complexity is almost certain, but how to distribute this complexity among modules can vary greatly.

Whether a client is thick or thin depends on the responsibilities it undertakes; neither is inherently superior, only more suitable for different scenarios. Should you choose a thick or thin client? In most cases, the answer is clear because many functions naturally suit a particular implementation. For example, global search is typically a "thin client, thick server" solution because it relies on all the data in the server's database.

Continue reading at https://www.piglei.com/articles/en_the_software_design_i_see_thick_thin_clients/

https://stacker.news/items/1001277

@ 58537364:705b4b85

๑) แรงอะไรจูงใจ กับโลกทุนนิยมที่ส่งอิทธิพลไปทุกหัวระแหง ชีวิตของมนุษย์ถูกกระตุ้นรุนเร้าด้วยความมั่งคั่งร่ำรวย ความเป็นอยู่ที่สะดวกสบายมีกินมีใช้ อยากทำอะไรก็ได้ทำ อยากกินอะไรก็ได้กิน หล่อเลี้ยงความสุขด้วยการแย่งชิงผลประโยชน์เพื่อตนเอง ตั้งแต่เด็กจนโต

เบื้องหลังแห่งการดำเนินชีวิตเช่นนั้น สิ่งที่บงการชักใยอยู่ก็คือ ”ตัณหา“ ความอยากได้ อยากมี อยากเป็น สิ่งที่คิด-พูด-ทำก็เป็นไปเพื่อตนเอง และพวกพ้องโดยไม่สนใจว่าจะทำลายใคร ไม่ว่ามนุษย์ สัตว์ หรือสิ่งแวดล้อม เบื้องหน้าแห่งชีวิตเช่นนี้ คือการประชาสัมพันธ์ด้วยความเจริญ โลกาภิวัฒน์ ความหรูหราไม่มีที่สิ้นสุด

แต่ตลอดชั่วชีวิตของเรา การใช้ชีวิตเช่นนี้สามารถมอบความสุขที่แท้จริงให้ได้หรือไม่ เงินซื้อ “ความไม่เจ็บป่วย” ได้หรือไม่ ? เกียรติยศแลกเป็น “ความไม่แก่” ได้หรือไม่ บ้านใหญ่โตหรูหราอยู่อาศัยแล้ว “ไม่ตาย” ได้หรือไม่ คำตอบเดียวที่ได้คือ “ไม่มี” ซึ่งมนุษย์ทุกคนก็ยัง “ทุกข์” อยู่กับความเจ็บป่วย ความแก่ ความตาย อย่างไม่มีเว้น ถึงเวลาหรือยังที่มนุษย์จะหันมาตระหนักกับ ”แรงจูงใจ“ ที่เรียกว่าตัณหานี้

พระพุทธเจ้าทรงเรียนรู้ชีวิตที่มีแต่ความทุกข์ไร้ทางออก หมุนวน จมจ่อม เพราะเหตุจากตัณหาเหล่านี้ชัดแล้ว ได้รู้และเข้าใจว่า “ฉันทะ” หรือความพอใจใฝ่ดี พัฒนาจิตใจให้สูงขึ้น ปลดเปลี้ยงความเห็นแก่ตัว เพื่อใช้ชีวิตคิด-พูด-ทำแต่ความดีงาม สร้างสรรค์สิ่งต่าง ๆ สมบูรณ์เต็มสภาวะของมัน แรงจูงใจเช่นนี้เป็นของยาก ของลำบาก เพราะต้องฝืนตนเอง ฝึกฝนให้จิตใจมีกำลัง ใช้ปัญญาพิจารณาเฟ้นหาประโยชน์จากทุกสิ่งอย่างคุ้มค่า และยั่งยืน

พระอาจารย์ท่านหนึ่ง ได้พูดขึ้นในท่ามกลางสงฆ์ว่า “หลาย ๆ คนที่เป็นคนรวย มีเงินพอได้สิ่งของที่อยากได้มา ตอนสุดท้ายก็มักจะพูดว่า ’นึกกว่าจะดีกว่านี้ อร่อยกว่านี้ มีความสุขกว่านี้ พอได้มาแล้วก็ไม่เห็นดีเหมือนที่คิดไว้เลย’ ซึ่งตรงกันข้ามกับคนที่ปฏิบัติจนเข้าถึงธรรม ไม่มีใครพูดแบบนั้น มีแต่พูดว่า ‘ยิ่งกว่าที่คิดไว้ ดีกว่าที่คิดไว้ ประเสริฐกว่าที่คิดไว้’ ความสุขที่ไม่สามารถจินตนาการได้ ความสุขที่ไม่เคยนำความผิดหวังมาให้ ความสุขประเภทนี้มีแรงจูงใจคือ ”ฉันทะ“ นั่นเอง

——

๒) หัวขบวน หากเราอาศัยตัณหานำพาชีวิต ชีวิตของเราก็จะวนเวียนเรื่อยเปื่อย มีแต่ความทุกข์ในปัจจุบัน และทุกข์ที่รออยู่ในอนาคต ชีวิตเช่นนี้ ก็ไม่ต่างอะไรกับชีวิตของแมว-หนู-ปู-กุ้ง-กา-ไก่ เอาแต่ แสวงหาอาหาร-กิน-นอน ได้ความสุขประเดี๋ยวประด๋าว แล้วก็หมดเวลาถึงวาระที่ต้องตายจากไป ไม่เคยรู้จักคุณค่าชีวิตที่แท้จริง ไม่ได้ความสุขสงบเลยสักวินาทีเดียว

พระพุทธเจ้าตรัสรู้แล้ว เล็งเห็นว่า มนุษย์มีศักยภาพที่มากกว่าสัตว์ทั้งหลาย การปล่อยชีวิตให้เต็มไปด้วย “อวิชชา” ความไม่รู้ ก่อให้เกิดตัณหา แล้วก็ชักพาชีวิตทำอกุศลกรรม มีแต่ความทุกข์ตลอดสายนั้น สามารถเปลี่ยนกระบวนทัศน์ได้ โดยมุ่งเน้นที่ “ปัญญา” ความรู้และเข้าใจความเป็นจริง ก่อให้เกิดฉันทะความพอใจใฝ่ดีในชีวิต ขับเคลื่อนเป็นกุศลกรรม สร้างเหตุที่ถูกต้อง ผลที่เป็นความสุข ความไม่ทุกข์ และความพ้นทุกข์ ก็จะตามมา

เพราะฉะนั้นทุกครั้งไม่ว่าทำอะไร หรือไม่ทำอะไร ลองทบทวนดูว่า การตัดสินใจนั้น ๆ มีอะไรเป็นหัวขบวน ”ตัณหา“ หรือ ”ปัญญา“ ใครเหนือกว่าใคร

——

๓) หลัก ๑๐ ประการ ครั้งหนึ่งพระพุทธเจ้าได้กำชับกับเหล่าสาวกว่า หากเมื่อใดถูกนักบวชพวกอื่นมาถามถึง หลักธรรมที่พระพุทธองค์ทรงแสดง มีอะไรเป็น ”ที่ตั้งต้น“ และมีอะไรเป็น “ที่จบ” ทรงวางหลักธรรมนั้นไว้ ๑๐ ประการ ได้แก่ * -ธรรมทั้งปวง มีฉันทะ เป็นที่ตั้งต้น * -ธรรมทั้งปวง มีมนสิการ เป็นที่ก่อตัว * -ธรรมทั้งปวง มีผัสสะ เป็นแหล่งเกิด * -ธรรมทั้งปวง มีเวทนา เป็นที่ชุมนุม * -ธรรมทั้งปวง มีสมาธิ เป็นประมุข * -ธรรมทั้งปวง มีสติ เป็นอธิปไตย เป็นใหญ่ * -ธรรมทั้งปวง มีปัญญา เป็นยอดยิ่ง * -ธรรมทั้งปวง มีอมตะ เป็นที่หยังลง * -ธรรมทั้งปวง มีนิพพาน เป็นที่จบ

หลักธรรมชุดนี้ สื่อสารได้ชัดเจนว่า ระบบการ “ปฏิบัติ” ของพระพุทธศาสนานี้ มีจะพัฒนากุศลได้ตั้งแต่ต้นจนถึงจุดหมาย ขอให้สังเกตที่ “ฉันทะ” ที่เป็นหลักธรรมตั้งต้น เชื่อมโยงไปถึงพระนิพพาน “ฉันทะ” นี้ย่อมกล่าวถึงธรรมไม่ใช่อกุศล แต่เป็นธรรมที่เป็นกุศล พัฒนาต่อเนื่องไปถึง สมาธิ-สติ-ปัญญา ได้

สำคัญคือ ความพอใจในธรรม ความรัก ความสนใจใฝ่ดีที่จะพัฒนาตัว เป็นจุดหมุดหมายเริ่มต้นของพุทธธรรม ยิ่งปฏิบัติไป ยิ่งก่อตัวเป็นธรรมที่ใหญ่ขึ้น มีคุณภาพขึ้น และเมื่อถึงจุดหมาย ความสิ้นทุกข์ก็จะเกิดมี เป็นลำดับขั้นตอนอย่างนี้ไม่เคยเปลี่ยนแปลง

——

ตัณหากลัวยาก กลัวลำบาก เมื่อปัญญารู้ว่าดี มีประโยชน์ ถึงยาก ถึงลำบาก ก็ไม่กลัว

——

อาศรมขันติสาร ๑๓ ตุลาคม ๒๕๖๖

แหล่งที่มา #Phramaha Fookij Jutipanyo

@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

President Trump’s Truth Social Files S-1 Form For Bitcoin ETF

Today, Trump Media and Technology Group Corp. (Nasdaq, NYSE Texas: DJT) filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) a Form S-1 for their upcoming Truth Social Bitcoin ETF.

The ETF, which will hold bitcoin directly, is designed to track the bitcoin’s price performance. 

“Truth Social Bitcoin ETF, B.T. is a Nevada business trust that issues beneficial interests in its net assets,” stated the Form S-1. “The assets of the Trust consist primarily of bitcoin held by a custodian on behalf of the Trust. The Trust seeks to reflect generally the performance of the price of bitcoin.”

The ETF is sponsored by Yorkville America Digital, LLC and will trade under NYSE Arca. The Trust’s assets primarily consist of bitcoin held by Foris DAX Trust Company, LLC, the designated bitcoin custodian. Crypto.com will act as the ETF’s prime execution agent and liquidity provider.

“Shares will be offered to the public from time to time at varying prices that will reflect the price of bitcoin and the trading price of the Shares on New York Stock Exchange Arca, Inc. at the time of the offer,” mentioned the Form S-1.

While the ETF offers investors a regulated avenue for bitcoin exposure, the Trust warned of several risks related to digital assets:

• Loss, theft, or compromise of private keys could result in permanent loss of bitcoin.
• Bitcoin’s reliance on blockchain and Internet technologies makes it vulnerable to disruptions and cyber threats.
• Environmental and regulatory pressures tied to high electricity use in bitcoin mining could impact market stability.
• Potential forks or protocol failures in the Bitcoin Network may lead to volatility and uncertainty in asset value.

Last week, during an interview at the 2025 Bitcoin Conference, Donald Trump Jr. announced that TMTG and Truth Social were forming a Bitcoin treasury with $2.5 billion. “We’re seriously on crypto—we’re seriously on Bitcoin,” said Trump Jr. “We’re in three major deals. I believe we’re at the beginning of what will be the future of finance. And the opportunity is massive.”

The day after that interview, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., joined by American Bitcoin Executive Chairman and Board Member Mike Ho, CEO Matt Prusak, and Altcoin Daily founder Aaron Arnold, discussed the future of Bitcoin.

“The whole system is broken and now all of the sudden you have crypto which solves all the problems,” commented Eric Trump. “It makes everything cheaper, it makes everything faster, it makes it safer, it makes it more transparent. It makes the whole system more functional.“

“Everybody wants Bitcoin. Everybody is buying Bitcoin,” Eric added.

This post President Trump’s Truth Social Files S-1 Form For Bitcoin ETF first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Oscar Zarraga Perez.

@ 502ab02a:a2860397

มีคนจำนวนไม่น้อยที่เข้าใจว่าเรื่อง “อาหารแห่งอนาคต” คืออะไรที่เพิ่งเกิด เป็นแนวคิดใหม่สำหรับโลกยุคใหม่ แต่จริงๆ แล้วไม่ใช่เลยครับ เฮียว่าเราถูกจัดโต๊ะอาหารอนาคตไว้ให้กินมานานมากแล้ว เพียงแต่ไม่รู้ตัว ต่างหาก

ช่วงปลายคริสต์ศตวรรษที่ 19 สิ่งที่เรียกว่าการ “ควบคุมอาหารมวลชน” ก็เริ่มต้นอย่างจริงจังแล้ว

ย้อนกลับไปปี 1863 ในห้องพักคนไข้ของโรงพยาบาล Battle Creek Sanitarium ที่รัฐมิชิแกน สหรัฐฯ มีชายคนหนึ่งชื่อ John Harvey Kellogg เขาเป็นหมอและเป็นหนึ่งในสาวกของกลุ่ม Seventh-day Adventist ที่เชื่อว่าการกินเนื้อสัตว์ทำให้คนกระด้างใจและเต็มไปด้วยตัณหา เกิดราคะ เขาจึงคิดค้น “อาหารเช้าที่ไม่มีเนื้อ” เพื่อส่งเสริมสุขลักษณะและลดกิเลสในร่างกายมนุษย์ สิ่งที่เขาทำในตอนนั้นคือการใช้ข้าวโพดบดอบแห้งจนกรอบ กลายเป็นสิ่งที่เรียกว่า “ซีเรียล” ในยุคเริ่มต้น ซึ่งภายหลังน้องชายของเขาคือ Will Keith Kellogg จะนำสูตรนั้นไปพัฒนาให้หวานขึ้น ใส่น้ำตาลเพิ่ม ใส่โฆษณาเพิ่ม แล้วก็วางขายในชื่อแบรนด์ Kellogg’s ที่เราเห็นกันทุกเช้านั่นแหละ เขาผลิตคอร์นเฟลกขึ้นมาด้วยความเชื่อว่าจะช่วยลดการช่วยตัวเองในวัยรุ่นได้! จากอาหารของกลุ่มศาสนา คอร์นเฟลกกลายเป็นอาหารที่เข้าสู่ครัวเรือนอเมริกันภายใต้แนวคิดว่า “อาหารเช้าคือมื้อสำคัญที่สุดของวัน” โดยไม่ได้มีหลักฐานรองรับอย่างจริงจังเลย

ช่วงต้นศตวรรษที่ 20 เป็นยุคที่อเมริกาเริ่มมีอำนาจในเชิงอุตสาหกรรมมากขึ้น แต่ก็เป็นยุคที่คนยังทำอาหารกินเองอยู่ในครัว เรื่องอาหารยังเป็นเรื่องของบ้าน ไม่ใช่ของแบรนด์ ยังไม่มีใครนึกว่า “สิทธิ์ในการกิน” จะกลายเป็นสินค้าสาธารณะในภายหลัง แต่แล้วก็เกิดจุดเปลี่ยนสำคัญเมื่อสงครามโลกครั้งที่ 1 และ 2 ทำให้รัฐจำเป็นต้องคิดเรื่องการเลี้ยงประชากรในภาวะขาดแคลน ต้องมีการเก็บอาหารได้นาน ขนส่งได้ง่าย และต้นทุนต่ำ นี่คือจุดเริ่มต้นของการผลักดัน “อาหารแปรรูป” หรือ processed food อย่างเป็นทางการ

ในปี 1911 มีบริษัทชื่อว่า Procter & Gamble เปิดตัว “Crisco” ซึ่งเป็นน้ำมันพืชไฮโดรเจนเนตที่ถูกออกแบบมาเพื่อเลียนแบบไขมันสัตว์ในราคาถูกกว่า Crisco ทำจากน้ำมันฝ้าย (cottonseed oil) ซึ่งตอนนั้นเป็นของเหลือจากอุตสาหกรรมสิ่งทอ ไม่มีใครคิดว่ามันจะกลายเป็นสิ่งที่ถูกโฆษณาว่า “ดีกว่าไขมันสัตว์” แต่เพราะการโฆษณาแบบมืออาชีพและการจับมือกับสมาคมแพทย์ Crisco ก็กลายเป็นของคู่ครัวแบบไม่รู้ตัว นี่คือจุดเริ่มต้นของ fiat fat ไขมันเทียมที่ถูกสถาปนาให้เป็นของจริง ทั้งที่จริงๆ มันคือของปลอมที่ห่อด้วยวิทยาศาสตร์ครึ่งใบ

ช่วงปี 1910s ถึง 1930s คือยุคที่อุตสาหกรรมอาหารเริ่มโตเต็มที่ สหรัฐฯ เริ่มผลิต นมข้นหวาน สำหรับทหารในสงครามกลางเมือง และต่อยอดใช้ในสงครามโลกครั้งที่ 1 นมชนิดนี้เก็บได้นาน ไม่เน่า และมีพลังงานสูง ทหารหลายคนติดใจในรสชาติหวานมันแบบไม่มีอะไรเทียบได้ ซึ่งต่อมาทำให้มันกลายเป็นวัตถุดิบหลักในหลายเมนูทั่วโลก รวมถึง “ชาเย็น” บ้านเราที่ต้องมีนมข้นหวานเท่านั้นถึงจะใช่

เข้าสู่ช่วง สงครามโลกครั้งที่ 2 (1939–1945) คือช่วงหัวเลี้ยวหัวต่อสำคัญของ Fiat Food หรืออาหารที่ถูกผลิตจากตรรกะจำเป็นเชิงยุทธศาสตร์มากกว่าธรรมชาติ เฮียว่าช่วงนี้มันเหมือนโรงเรียนประถมของ Ultra-Processed Food สมัยใหม่เลยล่ะ ตัวอย่างชัดเจนคือ Spam เนื้อหมูกระป๋องที่ออกแบบให้ทหารพกพาสะดวก ไม่ต้องแช่เย็น เก็บได้นาน และอุดมด้วยโซเดียม หลังสงครามจบ มันกลายเป็นอาหารยอดฮิตในประเทศที่เคยเป็นแนวหน้า เช่น ฮาวาย เกาหลี ฟิลิปปินส์ และอังกฤษ โดยถูกโฆษณาว่าเป็น “ของดีจากอเมริกา” ทั้งที่ทหารหลายคนก็เบื่อมันจนเอียน

ในช่วงเดียวกันนั้นเอง ช็อกโกแลต Hershey's ก็ถูกพัฒนาเป็น “Field Ration D” หรือแท่งช็อกโกแลตพลังงานสูงที่ไม่ละลายในอุณหภูมิสูง สำหรับแจกให้ทหารทุกคนคนละแท่งติดตัวไว้ในสนามรบ พอสงครามจบ Hershey’s ก็ปรับสูตรให้กินง่ายขึ้น แล้วขายในเชิงพาณิชย์จนกลายเป็นแบรนด์ระดับโลกแบบที่เราเห็นทุกวันนี้

โพรเซสชีส เช่น Kraft และ Velveeta ก็ถูกออกแบบให้เก็บได้นานไม่เน่า ชีสพวกนี้ผสมสารอิมัลซิไฟเออร์ ทำให้ไม่แยกชั้นเมื่อถูกความร้อน เหมาะกับการผลิตอาหารจำนวนมากแบบโรงครัวทหาร เมื่อสงครามจบ Kraft เอาเทคโนโลยีนี้มาทำ “ชีสแผ่น” สำหรับเบอร์เกอร์และแซนด์วิช เป็นต้นแบบของอาหารฟาสต์ฟู้ดยุคใหม่แบบไร้กลิ่นชีสแท้

นมผง และ ไขมันพืชไฮโดรจิเนต ก็เริ่มเข้ามามีบทบาทในสงคราม โดยนมผงแทนที่นมสดในสนามรบ และไขมันพืชใช้ทำเบเกอรี่โดยไม่ต้องใช้เนยสด ซึ่งแพงกว่า หลังสงคราม สารให้ความหวานเทียมอย่าง ซัคคาริน ก็เริ่มถูกนำเสนอว่าเหมาะกับคนลดน้ำหนัก ทั้งที่มันมีจุดเริ่มจากความจำเป็นยามขาดแคลนน้ำตาลในสงคราม

ปี 1950s-1960s โลกเข้าสู่ยุคสงครามเย็น เทคโนโลยีการเก็บอาหารพัฒนาไปพร้อมกับเทคโนโลยีอวกาศ และหนึ่งในผลิตภัณฑ์ระดับตำนานคือ Tang น้ำส้มผงของบริษัท General Foods ที่ถูกส่งขึ้นไปพร้อมนักบินอวกาศ John Glenn ในปี 1962 Tang กลายเป็นสัญลักษณ์ของ “อนาคตในแก้วน้ำ” ทั้งที่ไม่มีผลไม้จริงเลยสักหยดเดียว แต่การตลาดที่อ้างว่า NASA ใช้ ทำให้มันขายดีระเบิด

ในระหว่างนั้น ปี 1955 ประธานาธิบดีไอเซนฮาวร์หัวใจวายกลางสนามกอล์ฟ เป็นจุดเปลี่ยนอีกครั้งที่โลกเริ่มหันมาสนใจ “ไขมัน” ว่าอาจเป็นผู้ร้าย ทำให้ชายคนหนึ่งชื่อ Ancel Keys เสนอทฤษฎี “ไขมันคือเหตุแห่งโรคหัวใจ” พร้อมกับงานศึกษาที่ชื่อ Seven Countries Study ซึ่งต่อมาจะกลายเป็นที่มาของ “พีระมิดอาหาร” ในปี 1977 โดย USDA ในยุคของวุฒิสมาชิก George McGovern ทฤษฎีนี้ถูกวิจารณ์ภายหลังว่าตั้งต้นด้วยการ “เลือกข้อมูล” ที่สนับสนุนสมมุติฐานของตัวเอง และเมินประเทศที่ข้อมูลไม่เข้าเป้าออกไปเฉยๆ แล้วก็ปั้นพีระมิดที่บอกว่า คาร์โบไฮเดรตอยู่ฐานล่างสุด กินได้เยอะๆ ส่วนไขมันให้อยู่บนสุด กินน้อยๆ นี่คือการพลิกอำนาจอาหารครั้งใหญ่ที่สุดในศตวรรษ อาหารไม่ใช่สิ่งที่มาจากพื้นดิน แต่เป็นสิ่งที่มาจากกระดาษนโยบาย

ช่วงนี้แหละครับที่จุดเปลี่ยนที่ใหญ่สุดมาถึง เมื่อรัฐบาลสหรัฐประกาศใช้นโยบายอาหารใหม่โดยอิงกับคำแนะนำของ USDA ซึ่งภายหลังถูกเปิดโปงว่าปิรามิดอาหารที่ใช้จริงนั้น ผ่านการปรับจากต้นฉบับโดยนักวิทยาศาสตร์อย่างหนักเพื่อ “จัดสรรพื้นที่” ให้กับอาหารที่มี lobby สูง เช่น ข้าว ซีเรียล พาสต้า และน้ำมันพืช โดยให้ไขมันสัตว์ถูกตัดทิ้งไปเป็นตัวอันตราย เฮียว่าโมเมนต์นี้แหละคือจุดที่ "ฟู้ดฟิคชั่น" กลายเป็น "ฟู้ดโพย" สำหรับคนทั้งโลก

ระหว่างที่ USDA กำลังยึดพีระมิดอยู่นั้น อุตสาหกรรมอาหารแปรรูปก็กำลังเข้มข้นแบบใส่สปีดโบ๊ทเข้าไปอีก ข้าวโพดกลายเป็นพืชเศรษฐกิจอันดับหนึ่งของสหรัฐฯ ไม่ใช่เพราะคนกินข้าวโพดกันเยอะ แต่เพราะมันกลายเป็นวัตถุดิบของทุกอย่าง ตั้งแต่ high-fructose corn syrup ในน้ำอัดลม ยันฟิลเลอร์ในไส้กรอก และอาหารสัตว์ในฟาร์มปศุสัตว์ เชนร้านอาหารอย่าง McDonald’s ก็เริ่มเปลี่ยนมันฝรั่งทอดจากไขมันเนื้อวัวมาใช้น้ำมันพืชในยุค 1980s เพราะแรงกดดันจากกลุ่มต่อต้านไขมันอิ่มตัว ทั้งที่รสชาติเปลี่ยนและสุขภาพก็ไม่ได้ดีขึ้น

ปี 1980s-1990s เกิดสิ่งที่เฮียอยากเรียกว่า “การปฏิวัติแบบเนียน” คือผู้คนเริ่มเชื่อว่าอาหารแปรรูปคือความก้าวหน้า และอาหารธรรมชาตินั้นล้าหลัง วงการโภชนาการยังคงถูกขับเคลื่อนด้วยความเชื่อว่าคาร์บคือของดี ไขมันคือผู้ร้าย และโปรตีนต้องมาจากพืช บริษัทใหญ่ๆ อย่าง Nestlé, PepsiCo, และ Unilever เริ่มเข้าซื้อแบรนด์อาหารสุขภาพ พร้อมผลิตเวย์เทียม โปรตีนพืช และอาหารเสริมแทนอาหารจริง พร้อมแนวคิด “Meal Replacement” ที่เน้นขายแทนกิน เขาไม่ได้แค่นำเสนอสินค้า แต่พยายามกำหนดแนวคิดเรื่อง “อาหารเพื่อสุขภาพ” แบบที่คนทั่วไปไม่ต้องคิดเอง ขอแค่เชื่อฉลาก กับดูโลโก้รูปหัวใจสีเขียวก็พอ

ก่อนจะเข้าสู่ศตวรรษใหม่ในปี 2000 โลกก็เริ่มเห็นวี่แววของสิ่งที่เรียกว่า “อาหารแห่งอนาคต” อีกครั้ง ไม่ใช่เพราะเทคโนโลยีใหม่อย่างเดียว แต่เพราะระบบอาหารเดิมถูกบิดเบือนจนธรรมชาติเสียศูนย์ อาหารจริงถูกตีตราว่าอันตราย ส่วนอาหารสังเคราะห์ถูกสร้างเรื่องเล่าว่า "สะอาดกว่า ปลอดภัยกว่า และเป็นคำตอบของโลกอนาคต" ซึ่งในมุมของเฮีย มันคือการสืบทอดวิธีคิดแบบเดียวกับสมัยสงคราม คือการบังคับให้กินของที่ผลิตได้มาก ราคาถูก เก็บได้นาน โดยไม่สนว่าร่างกายต้องการหรือไม่ และทั้งหมดก็กลับมาที่จุดเดิม — การออกแบบอาหารให้เหมาะกับระบบ มากกว่าจะออกแบบระบบให้เหมาะกับร่างกายมนุษย์

นี่แหละเฮียถึงอยากเล่าซีรีส์ “อาหารอนาคต” เพราะในความจริงมันไม่ใช่อนาคตอะไรเลย แต่มันคืออดีตที่ถูกเล่าใหม่ด้วยคำพูดที่ฟังดูเท่ แต่ซ่อนไว้ด้วยตรวนของการควบคุมสิทธิในการกินของมนุษย์ เอาของปลอมมาสวมรอยธรรมชาติ แล้วทำให้เรารู้สึกผิดถ้าจะกินไขมันสัตว์ กินเนื้อ กินไข่ หรือไม่กินอาหารเช้าที่เต็มไปด้วยน้ำตาล เฮียว่า ถ้าไม่เล่าเรื่องพวกนี้ให้คนรู้ทัน ก็เหมือนปล่อยให้ลูกหลานกินอาหารที่ไม่มีใครรู้ว่า “ใครเป็นคนเขียนสูตรให้พวกเขากิน”

ดังนั้น ถ้าเราจะพูดถึง “อาหารแห่งอนาคต” เฮียว่า เราต้องกล้ากลับไปถามว่า อนาคตที่ว่านั่น ใครกันเป็นคนออกแบบ? แล้วเราอยู่ตรงไหนของโต๊ะ?

#pirateketo #กูต้องรู้มั๊ย #ม้วนหางสิลูก #siamstr

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

Big day for me today: - @k00b convinced me to try OMAD. I did eat more than once today, but it was all within a four hour period. I'll try to tighten that up further tomorrow. - @gnilma and @398ja convinced me to try a cold shower. I eased into it, by starting it warm and gradually turning down the temperature. That was totally manageable.

How did you do today? What do you need to work on tomorrow?

https://stacker.news/items/1001161

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

— ODELL (@ODELL) December 14, 2022

Good morning.

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

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

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

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

---

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

@ c9badfea:610f861a

1. Install Food You (it's free and open source)
2. Launch the app and tap the ⚙️ icon
3. Tap Meals and set up your meal schedule (these items will appear on the main screen)
4. Go back and then tap Calorie Goal to configure your daily intake goal
5. Return to the main screen
6. Now you can tap + on a card (e.g. Breakfast) to add a meal
7. Tap + and select Product
8. You can now fill in the details manually
   • Or tap Download Product, paste the URL of the product from OpenFoodFacts (e.g. https://world.openfoodfacts.org/product/6111242101180/lait-entier-uht-jaouda), and then tap Download
9. Tap Create
10. You can now adjust intake details like servings
11. Tap Save
12. Add more products and recipes and start tracking your nutrition!

ℹ️ Once you have created enough products, you can tap + on a meal card on the main screen, then tap + and select Recipe to create recipes from products

ℹ️ Internet connection is only used to optionally fetch product details via URLs; otherwise, the app works completely offline

@ df478568:2a951e67

NOTE: PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS METHOD UNTIL WE LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzpw5qnyrxdmctda962pvng7ltzvjzjg09ge57dqqxfjn42ft2rcaxqqsfsg878u9luv2sxm6yahyjr4zpt745rdfpuu47wnn9t2dskgem52g9e9955

`About 156,000 blocks ago, I went to a Taco Shop for a bitcoin meetup. I asked my favorite question, “Do you accept bitcoin?”

“Yes," he said as he handed me a Toast Terminal with a BTCpayServer QR code. ]

Awesome!

12,960 blocks later, I took my dad to the taco shop. We ordered food. I asked my favorite question once again.

“Uh…Yeah, but I don't know how to work the machine.”

"Dough!🤦"

It's been a problem in the past, but now lightning payments are about to be ubiquitous. Steak N Shake is taking bitcoin using Speed Wallet and Block is implementing bitcoin payments by 2026 in all legal jurisdictions. I have tested both of these so you don't have to. Just kidding. I geek out on this stuff, but both work great. You can pay with your sats by scanning a screen on a QR code. The employees don't need to be bitcoin lightning network experts. You can just pay as easy as a credit card.

There were 35,000 people at the bitcoin conference, and 4,187 transactions were made. It was a world record. Wait, I thought they said there could only be 7 transactions per second! No, not anymore. Now we can use bitcoin for shopping. I can pay for tacos at taco trucks.

How You Can Accept Bitcoin At Your Business

Coinos is a simple bitcoin point of sale information that acts like a cash register. Bitcoin is peer-to-peer electronic cash. Coinos is a cash register and you should treat it as such. If you make a few hundred thousand sats at the end of the night, you should sweep the bitcoin into your own wallet.. You can use Aqua, AlbyHub, Bull Bitcoin wallet, or whatever your favorite lightning enabled wallet is to withdraw. You'll need a password. Do not lose this. I have tried the automatic withdraws, but it did not work for me. I'm no concerned because this is not a wallet I intend to keep a lot of sats in for a long time.

Here is my coinos payment terminal.

https://coinos.io/ZapthisBlog/receive

I made the QR code with libreqr.com/

Now I have an online bitcoin cash register. The Bitcoiners know how to pay for stuff with sats. They will be proud to show you too. If you're nerdy, you can use all the cool kid tools now, but we will just focus on the lightning address. Anyone can send you sats with a lightning address with just a QR code.

At the end of the night, you cash out to your own wallet. Again, this assumes you have an Aqua Wallet or any other lightning enabled wallet, but all it takes to accept bitcoin at your brick and mortar store is to create an account with Coinos and print out a QR code. It's a quick and easy way to start accepting bitcoin even if you don't expect many clients to shop with sats.

Tips

This is not just a cash register. Employees can also make their own Coinos wallet and receive tips from bitcoiners. Anyone can accept payments using this system. Your kids could use it to sell lemonade for sats. You are only limited by your imagination. When will you begin accepting bitcoin payments? It is easier than ever. You do not need to train employees. You do not need to be in the store. Bitcoin is peer-to-peer electronic cash so you can give it away like cash. I don't know what the tax rules on cash are. You need to verify that with your own jurisdiction. This is not financial or tax advice. This is for informational purposes only.

Remember, this is a custodial wallet. Not your keys not your bitcoin. Don't keep more sats than you are willing to lose on custodial wallets. Sweep your wallet early and often. Loss of funds is possible. There is a small fee for liquidity management too. Do your own research.`

@ 0b118e40:4edc09cb

The idea of Bitcoin as an internet native currency, and eventually a global one, is coming to life slowly. But historically, the idea of global currency has haunted the world’s financial imagination for nearly a century. 

From Keynes’s Bancor in 1944 to Zhou Xiaochuan’s post-crisis proposal in 2009 to today’s renewed debates, the idea resurfaces every time the global economy fractures. 

Could this time be different with Bitcoin? 

I decided to trace the idea of global currency through several decades and books. I may have missed some parts, so feel free to add. I’ll keep this brief and leave the books I’ve read below.

In the beginning

It all started on July 1, 1944. 730 delegates from 44 Allied nations, including major powers like the US, UK, Soviet Union, China, and France, gathered at the Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. They spent 2 weeks figuring out how the new international monetary and financial system would be, post WW2

After WW1, the treaty of Versailles was needed, but imposed harsh reparations that devastated economies and contributed to the rise of fascism, such as Hitler, Mussolini and gang. 

So when folks met up in 1944 (WW2 was almost ending), the goal was to prevent another Great Depression, another global conflict and build a stable global economic order. 

2 main proposals were discussed in Bretton Woods. 

1. John Maynard Keynes, representing the UK, proposed the creation of a global currency called Bancor. It will be issued through a global central bank known as the International Clearing Union (ICU).

2. Harry Dexter White, representing the US, promoted a dollar-based system. Countries would peg their currencies to the US. dollar backed by gold. He also led the creation of the IMF and the World Bank.

To understand how both of these proposals work, let's look at an example.

• Country A (Germany): Massive exporter

• Country B (USA): Massive importer

• Country C (Brazil): Balanced trade (imports = exports)

***Based on Dexter’s model and the current USD-based system, ***

Say Germany sells $1B worth of cars to the US. The US  pays in dollars, increasing its trade deficit. Germany accumulates dollars as reserves or buys the US Treasury bonds. Over time, the US continues running trade deficits, while Germany keeps hoarding dollars. Hence the  unsustainable debt of the US. 

***In Keynes’s Bancor system, ***

If Germany sells $1B worth of cars to the US, then the US does not pay in dollars. Instead, the ICU credits Germany with 1B Bancors and debits the US with -1B Bancors. 

The ICU police this. If Germany exceeds the surplus threshold, it pays interest or penalties to discourage hoarding. If the US exceeds its deficit threshold, it is warned to rebalance trade or face restrictions.

Here, Germany is incentivized to import more (e.g., from Brazil) or invest in global development. The US is encouraged to export more or reduce consumption. Brazil, with balanced trade, enjoys stability in Bancor flows and avoids pressure.

The idea behind Bancor was a zero-sum balancing act. No country could become “too big to fail” due to excessive deficits. But it was too complicated and idealistic in assuming every country could maintain balanced trade. 

Dexter on the other hand had a few tricks up his sleeve. In the end, Dexter’s USD dominance proposal was adopted. 

The Bretton Woods system established the US dollar as the central global currency 

Why did dollar dominance win over Bancor?

Simplicity often wins over complexity. But more so ICU felt too centralized, asking nations to surrender economic autonomy to a global body. That didn’t sit well in a post-war world where sovereignty was non-negotiable. That and idealist economic trade balance views. 

Dexter’s dollar-based system on the other hand wasn’t fair play at all. It was centralized and authoritarian in its design. 

So how did Dexter pull it off?

They had gold. They were ahead in economic recovery.

And they had nuclear weapons. 

At the time, the US held nearly 2/3 of the world’s gold reserves. It was a significant advantage in advocating for a gold-backed dollar as the bedrock of global trade. 

The US proposed a fixed gold peg at $35 per ounce.

From a broader geopolitical backdrop, the global population in 1944 was about 2.3 billion, a fraction of today’s 8 billion. The world was far less interconnected. The war had devastated Europe, Russia, and much of Asia. Infrastructure, economies, and entire cities were in ruins. The US, by contrast, had faced far fewer casualties and damages. Being geographically isolated, it had minimal domestic losses, around a tenth of what Europe suffered, and its economy was poised to rebuild faster. 

But gold dominance and economic recovery alone didn’t secure US financial dominance.

American scientific breakthroughs had already signaled global power. Physicists like Leo Szilard and Albert Einstein, who had fled Europe, helped develop nuclear weapons. Their intent was deterrence, not destruction. But once the bomb existed, it changed geopolitics overnight. The US had military dominance. And after Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, it became the undisputed superpower. 

In the end, the USD won and the vision for neutral global currency faded. 

And 20 years passed on…

France sends its warship to the US

Under Bretton Woods, countries could exchange dollars for gold, but the US had been printing more dollars than it had gold to back it. And it used it to fund the costly Vietnam War and domestic programs like the Great Society under LBJ. 

Belgian-American economist Robert Triffin pointed out a fatal flaw in the Bretton Woods system that came to be known as the Triffin dilemma. 

• The world needed US dollars for liquidity and trade.

• But the more dollars the US pumped out, the less credible its gold promise became.

Yet the US kept promising that every dollar was still convertible to gold at $35 per ounce.

French President Charles de Gaulle saw this as financial imperialism. He called it the  “exorbitant privileged position”. The world had to pay for what they bought with the money they have, but not the US. 

So in 1965, France did something unexpected. It sent a warship to New York Harbor to physically retrieve French gold reserves held by the Federal Reserve. 

Would it have escalated to war? Maybe. But likely not. It was perhaps more of a diplomatic theatre and a sovereign flex. France was exercising its right under the Bretton Woods agreement to convert dollars into gold. But doing it with military formality was to send a signal to the world that they don’t trust the US system anymore.

It was one of the first major public blows to the dollar’s credibility. And France wasn’t alone. Other countries like West Germany and Switzerland followed suit, redeeming dollars for gold and draining US reserves.

The Nixon shock

Given they did not have enough gold, the IMF introduced Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) in 1969. SDRs were an international reserve asset, created to supplement gold and dollar reserves. Instead of relying solely on the US dollar, SDRs were based on a basket of major currencies (originally gold-backed but later diversified).

The idea was to reduce the world’s dependence on the dollar and avoid a liquidity crisis. But SDRs were a little too late and a little too weak to solve the underlying problem.

By 1971, the US could no longer sustain the illusion. President Nixon “closed the gold window,” suspending dollar convertibility to gold. 

The Bretton Woods collapsed and this marked the beginning of fiat money dominance.

The French pursuit

While France demanded justice in one corner of the world, the French franc, specifically the CFA franc, has been dominant in parts of Africa since 1945, long before 1971.

After WWII, France created two CFA franc zones:

• West Africa: Communauté Financière Africaine (XOF)

• Central Africa: Coopération Financière en Afrique Centrale (XAF)

These zones included 14 African countries, many of which were former French colonies. France maintained monetary control via currency convertibility guarantees and representation in African central banks. Till today it has influence over these country’s monetary policy.

Colonisation hasn't ended in some parts of the world. 

Did countries stop using the USD after the Nixon shock 1971?

Nope. The US dollar was no longer convertible to gold and it dismantled the fixed exchange rate system. But most countries did not stop using the USD as their dominant reserve or trade currency. There were no decent alternatives. Instead, they floated their currencies or maintained a soft peg to the dollar or a basket of currencies. 

The USD remained dominant in oil trade (OPEC priced oil in USD) - petrodollar deal, global debt markets and FX reserves (central banks kept holding USD). 

In 1997, when many Southeast Asian countries were still pegged to the USD, Soros claimed that SEA will tank. The US further increased its credit rates leading to capital flight and eventual tanking of these countries leading to Asian Financial Crisis '97. Many financial crisis has similar vibe.

The 1999 Euro launch

The idea of a shared currency appeared again, this time through the forms of Euro. It was a mandatory system for member states of the Eurozone, and came with centralized authority, the European Central Bank (ECB), which controlled monetary policy for all participating nations.

At first glance, the euro seemed like a win. It eliminated exchange rate fluctuations, making trade within the Eurozone smoother. It gave weaker economies access to lower borrowing costs and helped Europe establish itself as a financial heavyweight. Today, the euro is the second most-used reserve currency after the US dollar.

But it came at a cost. Countries that adopted the euro lost monetary sovereignty and could no longer print their own money or adjust interest rates to respond to local crises. This became painfully clear during Greece’s debt crisis, where strict monetary policies prevented the country from devaluing its currency to recover. The one-size-fits-all approach meant that economies as different as Germany and Greece had to follow the same rules, often to the detriment of weaker nations. Debt-ridden countries like Italy and Spain were forced into harsh austerity measures because they could not manipulate their currency to ease financial strain. Meanwhile, richer nations like Germany and the Netherlands felt they were unfairly propping up struggling economies, creating political tension across the EU.

In recent years, the euro has faced pressure from global trade tensions, monetary tightening, and geopolitical instability contributing to market volatility and periodic depreciation against other major currencies.

The Bretton Woods 2.0

Believe it or not, after all that, there was a call for Bretton Woods 2.0. Yet another global currency dream.

When the housing market collapsed in 2008 followed by a series of domino effects, global banks froze lending, economies contracted, and panic set in. The crisis exposed how fragile the international financial system had become as it was overly reliant on debt, under-regulated, and centered around the US dollar.

Many countries, especially in the Global South and emerging markets, started to question whether a system built around a single national currency was sustainable. 

China, for instance, had been holding huge amounts of US debt while the US printed more dollars through bailouts and quantitative easing. This created global imbalances as exporting nations were lending money to the US to keep the system running, while taking on the risk of dollar depreciation. 

In 2009, China’s central bank openly proposed replacing the US dollar with a neutral global reserve currency suggesting SDRs (Special Drawing Rights) issued by the IMF instead.

These concerns led to a wave of calls from world leaders for a “Bretton Woods 2.0” ,  a modern rethinking of the post-WWII economic order. At G20 summits in London in 2009, countries like France, China, and Russia pushed for reforms in global financial institutions and more balanced power sharing. 

In the end, the IMF received more funding, and some banking regulations were tightened in the years after. But no real overhaul happened. No surprise there? The dollar remained dominant. 

The foundation of the global economy didn’t change, even though trust in it had been deeply shaken.

The growth of BRICS

In 2023, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa began discussing the idea of a shared currency or alternative mechanism to reduce the dependence on USD ie de-dollarisation. The sanctions on Russia didn't help. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the US and its allies froze Russia’s dollar reserves and cut it off from SWIFT, the “backbone of global banking communication”. This made one thing clear. If you fall out with Washington, your access to the global economy can vanish overnight.

China’s growing economic power also gave it more leverage to process alternative options. It would trade in Yuan with Russia and Iran.

I know many still say it's at its early stage, but I see many countries hedging their bets quietly and aligning with Putin and Xi. It became more obvious after US imposed tariffs on multiple nations, signaling that economic tools can double as political weapons. The world’s second financial system is slowly forming.

What is the world looking for, for the last century ?

For the last 80 years, from Bretton Woods to multiple financial crises, from the birth of the Euro to the rise of BRICS, through war and peace, we’ve been circling around the same ideal. A global currency that is :

1. Simple 

2. Free from dominant power 

3. Decentralised

4. Borderless

5. Scarce 

6. Transparent 

7. Inclusive, with self custody

8. Resilient in crisis 

9. Built for individual financial sovereignty

10. A new backbone for global finance, owned by no one

It doesn’t matter where you’re from, what politics you believe in, or how your economy leans. The answer keeps pointing in the same direction:

Bitcoin

This is the first true global currency.

And it’s just there 

Waiting...

.

.

.

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Some books that might interest you :

1. The Battle of Bretton Woods by Benn Steil

2. Goodbye, Great Britain by Kathleen Burk and Alec Cairncross

3. The Ghost of Bancor by Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa

4. Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins

5. The Blood Bankers by James S. Henry

@ a296b972:e5a7a2e8

Wie schon gewohnt durch die Empfänge von Baerbock und von der Leyen im Ausland, in Washington ein Empfang etwas oberhalb der 1. Class, von Staatsempfang keine Spur. Passt eigentlich auch nicht für den 51. Bundesstaat der USA. Aber immerhin flog die „Bundesrepublik Deutschland“ ohne Pannen, das ist ja auch schon mal was. Und bei solch einem erfahrenen Chef-Co-Piloten an Bord, der auch mal schnell einspringen könnte, sozusagen als 2. Wahl, kann eigentlich gar nichts mehr schief gehen. Vielleicht hat Fritzchen den Kapitän auch gefragt, ob er auch mal ans Steuer darf, wenn sich die Gelegenheit schon bietet.

Im Gepäck die eingerahmte Geburtsurkunde von Großvater Trump. Als ob Donald die sich nicht selbst besorgen könnte, wenn er Interesse daran hätte. Vielleicht hat er sie auch schon.

Die Übergabe, kurz und schmerzlos. Sie erinnert an einen Sketch von Loriot, „Weihnachten bei Hoppenstedts“:…oh, eine Krawatte! Der versprochene Ehrenplatz wird sich vermutlich in einer der unteren Etagen des Weißen Hauses befinden.

Man muss auch erst einmal darauf kommen, so typisch deutsch: Eine Geburtsurkunde als Geschenk. Das könnte man auch als einen Wink mit dem Zaunpfahl ansehen: Erinnere Dich an Deine deutschen Wurzeln (und lass uns gefälligst nicht fallen?).

Jetzt zur Einschätzung des Treffens: Vorfahrt mit frisch gewaschenem Auto, Schwarz-Rot-Gold vorne am Kotflügel, wie es sich gehört, Schwarz-Rot-Gold am Eingang. Ganz schön rechts. Warum eigentlich nicht die Regenbogenfahne?

Begrüßung durch Trump auf Nachfrage eines Reporters: „I love the People of Germany.“

Und Merz nutzt die Gelegenheit sich in Biedermeier-Style einzuschmeicheln: „And I love the People of America.“

Und Trump erwidert: „That‘s good!“

In welcher Atmosphäre findet das Treffen statt?

Trump hat ein Elefantengedächtnis. Er weiß um die abwertenden, diplomatiefreien Aussagen, die Merz über ihn gemacht hat. Er weiß, dass Merz ihn mehrfach persönlich beleidigend angegriffen hat. Als Präsident der USA steht man darüber. Aber man weiß es! Trump ist sich darüber im Klaren, mit welcher Geisteshaltung er es bei Merz zu tun hat.

Vor dem Hintergrund passt seine Aussage zur Presse: „Ich liebe die Deutschen.“ Das ist eine demokratische und höfliche Sympathiebekundung gegenüber der deutschen Bevölkerung, die Merz zwar miteinschließt, aber nicht direkt an ihn gerichtet ist.

Trump begrüßt Merz mit Handschlag, begrüßt aber eigentlich nicht den Kanzler, sondern die Deutschen.

Andererseits darf der Äußerung „Ich liebe die Deutschen“ auch nicht zu viel Bedeutung beigemessen werden, denn die Amerikaner sind ja dafür bekannt, dass sie gerne und schnell alles lieben: I love America, I love Coca-Cola, I love Peanuts und eben auch I love the People of Germany.

Merz nutzt gleich die Gelegenheit, sich anzubiedern, in dem er pariert: „Und ich liebe die Amerikaner.“, worauf Trump antwortet: „That’s good!“ Das kann man übersetzen mit „Das ist gut!“, aber auch mit „Das ist auch gut so!“, bei letzterem wäre es eine versteckte Drohung. Mach Dir bewusst, wo Du bist und mit wem Du es zu tun hast und verhalte Dich danach!

Nonverbal wird dem sonst in Deutschland so eloquent wirken wollenden, akzentuiert sprechenden Merz die Bedeutung zugedacht, die ihm aus Sicht von Trump gebührt. In Frankfurt heißen sie Wiener, in Wien heißen sie Frankfurter.

Somit sind die Voraussetzungen, unter denen das Treffen stattfinden soll, schon einmal von amerikanischer Seite aus geklärt.

Du bist hier Gast in meinem Haus, also benimm Dich auch entsprechend! Ich bin der Präsident der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika und Du bist klein Fritzchen aus dem Sauerland. Die Machtverhältnisse sind unausgesprochen geklärt.

Man hat in gewohnter Manier Platz genommen. Die Journalisten stellen Ihre Fragen ausschließlich an Trump. Zufall, oder Teil einer orchestrierten Aufführung, das wird man nie erfahren.

So oder so, die Journalisten signalisieren durch ihre Fragen an Trump, auf welcher Seite sie stehen, es weht der Geist von „America first“. Was Germany dazu zu sagen hat, interessiert niemanden, warum auch?

Die Einseitigkeit ist schon sehr auffällig. Eigentlich hätte es die Journalisten interessieren müssen, wie Deutschland zu verschiedenen Themen steht. Keine Fragen an Merz zu Zöllen, zur Ukraine, zur Meinungsfreiheit, zur Opposition. Mit dem Anspruch, ein breites Spektrum an Meinungen abbilden zu wollen, hat das eigentlich nichts zu tun. Wenn das die Vorstellung von „Freedom of Speach“ ist, dann können hier Zweifel aufkommen.

Falls diese Fragerunde in Hollywood-Manier gestaltet wurde, dann spräche das eher für Propaganda pro Trump. Wäre es Propaganda, dann wäre das Ziel allerdings erreicht worden: Kein Mensch interessiert sich für das, was Deutschland, vertreten durch Merz, zu sagen hat.

Trump setzt dem Ganzen zum Schluss noch die Krone auf, in dem er die Journalisten auffordert, nun endlich doch auch noch ein paar Fragen an Merz zu richten. Das unterstreicht nochmals das (geplante oder ungeplante) Desinteresse der anwesenden Journalisten, die sich nun fast schon genötigt fühlen, anstandshalber etwas zu fragen.

Merz, der bisher brav wie ein Schüler dem Lehrer zugehört hat, muss nun blitzschnell entscheiden, wie er die „künstlich“ hergestellte Möglichkeit nutzen kann, um, etwas unter Druck, durch die Kürze der Zeit, mit wenigen Worten seinen Standpunkt nach außen zu tragen. Seine konzentrierte Kernbotschaft, die Essenz, die Deutschland aus den USA und die übrige Welt hören soll, ist: Er steht weiter an der Seite der Ukraine und Russland ist ausschließlich das Böse.

Ganz schön raffiniert, denn so hat Trump es geschafft, das Konzentrat der Merz’schen Logik aus ihm herauszupressen.

Beide bekunden den Willen zum Frieden. Gleichzeitig wird jedoch auch klar, was jeder unter Frieden versteht: Merz will „Frieden durch Krieg“ und Trump will „Frieden durch Frieden“.

Auf rund 45 Minuten Trump kommen rund 4 Minuten Merz. Die Minuten drücken exakt die Machtverhältnisse aus.

Hätte Trump vorgehabt, Merz vorzuführen, ihm die Ohren langzuziehen, ihn bis auf die Knochen zu blamieren, er hätte reichlich Möglichkeiten dazu gehabt.

Er hätte Merz fragen können, warum er seinerzeit meinte, dass ihn, Trump, als Arschloch zu bezeichnen, noch gelinde sei. Er hätte ihn fragen können, warum er Trump als Gefahr für die Demokratie ansieht. Trump weiß darum, er hat es jedoch nicht angesprochen, was ist der Grund dafür?

Und Vance, der ebenfalls anwesend war, hätte seine Feststellungen zur Meinungsfreiheit und der „Fire-Wall“ gegen die Opposition, die er auf der Sicherheitskonferenz in München klar formuliert hat, wiederholen können, jetzt, wo doch der Kanzler, als erster Ansprechpartner für Deutschland, persönlich hätte gefragt werden können.

Beim Besuch von Selenskyj haben beide ja auch gewaltig gezeigt, wer hier das Sagen hat.

Nichts! Keine schallende Ohrfeige für Merz, doch nur Erdnussbutter auf’s Sandwich geschmiert. Kein „You don’t have the cards…“, was den Tatsachen entsprechen würde.

Auf politischer Ebene bleibt in den USA nichts, rein gar nichts dem Zufall überlassen. Je länger man darüber nachdenkt, desto klarer kann einem werden, dass das Treffen genau so geplant war, wie es sich abgespielt hat. Aber was genau ist der Plan, der dahintersteckt? Es gibt einen, dass ist so sicher, wie das Amen in der Kirche.

Sollen sich die Deutschen, vor allem die deutsche Politik in Sicherheit wiegen? Wenn das Teil eines Planes wäre, wäre er gelungen, denn in Deutschland wird der Besuch als gelungen und erfolgreich bewertet, aus welchen Gründen auch immer. Inzwischen ist Deutschland ja Weltmeister im Schönreden.

Spannend auch die Vorstellung, wenn man die Phantasie anregt, wie das Gespräch verlaufen wäre, wenn die deutsche Opposition auf dem Stuhl von Merz gesessen hätte.

Es widerspräche der Realität, wenn nicht im Hintergrund ganz andere Ziele verfolgt und Absprachen getroffen würden. Welchen Einfluss auf das Treffen hat der bevorstehende NATO-Gipfel am 24. und 25. Juni 2025 in Den Haag?

Es drängt sich immer mehr der Verdacht auf, dass man es mit zwei Realitäten zu tun hat. Eine, die offiziell verkündet wird, und eine, die den Tatsachen entspricht, die aus welchen Gründen auch immer jedoch zunächst noch im Verborgenen bleibt. Ob das vielleicht sogar gut oder eher schlecht ist, wird die Zukunft zeigen. Klar ist jedoch, dass eine gesteuerte Realität in der Öffentlichkeit verbreitet werden soll, die man durchaus als Propaganda von allen Beteiligten bewerten kann. Da hackt eine Krähe der anderen kein Auge aus. Da heißt es wachsam bleiben und nicht der Versuchung zu erliegen, dass zu glauben, was man gerne glauben möchte und von dem man sich wünscht, dass es eintritt.

„Bediene Dich Deines eigenen Verstandes.“ Das ist die Aufgabe der Zeit.

“Dieser Beitrag wurde mit dem Pareto-Client geschrieben.”

* *

(Bild von pixabay)

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

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

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

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

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

Full Text of Bill

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

@ 6e0ea5d6:0327f353

scolta bene... Ma ascolta bene, si?

Davvero, if there is one thing I can say after deep personal observation—from Palermo to Catania, from Sicily to Rome—it is this: A coward may strip everything from a righteous man, but after that… who can stop his revenge?

In this sense, amico mio, do not be fooled by the gentle ways of the just and humble man. His composure, his measured words, his restrained gestures, his patience and courtesy—all of it is merely the surface of a deep lake, where his wisdom guards unrest. While wrongdoers boast of their crimes and parade the streets with impunity, the man of honor watches in silence, bearing the world drop by drop.

Tuttavia, figlio mio, the day always comes when the final drop falls.

And then, it is not a gust of wind, nor a thunderclap—it is a dam breaking.

The fury that is born from a violated sense of justice is not loud like the brutes, nor blind like the fools; it is methodical, deliberate, devastating.

Sit here by my side and remember forever the advice of this old man, Antoni Salvatore: Never wrong a righteous man’s family, business, or honor! There is more danger in one upright man, when he finally rises for vengeance, than in a hundred armed scoundrels.

Do not deceive yourself into thinking every good man is also a fearful one! The wrath of the just—held back for so long—when it seeks reparation, carries with it the sacred vengeance permitted by the heavens...

Thank you for reading, my friend!

If this message resonated with you, consider leaving your "🥃" as a token of appreciation.

A toast to our family!

@ 5c26ee8b:a4d229aa

Ad-Daba (the unusual creature), is one of the major signs of Judgement Day and it’s more likely to be the next sign to appear soon. As it appears the belief of disbelievers or repentance won’t be accepted. In the following some verses of the Quran and Hadith mentioning it as well as other major signs.

27:82 An-Naml

‎۞ وَإِذَا وَقَعَ الْقَوْلُ عَلَيْهِمْ أَخْرَجْنَا لَهُمْ دَابَّةً مِنَ الْأَرْضِ تُكَلِّمُهُمْ أَنَّ النَّاسَ كَانُوا بِآيَاتِنَا لَا يُوقِنُونَ

And when the word befalls them, We will bring forth for them a creature (Ad-Daba) from the earth speaking to them, [saying] that the people were, of Our verses, not certain [in faith].

6:158 Al-An'aam

‎هَلْ يَنْظُرُونَ إِلَّا أَنْ تَأْتِيَهُمُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ أَوْ يَأْتِيَ رَبُّكَ أَوْ يَأْتِيَ بَعْضُ آيَاتِ رَبِّكَ ۗ يَوْمَ يَأْتِي بَعْضُ آيَاتِ رَبِّكَ لَا يَنْفَعُ نَفْسًا إِيمَانُهَا لَمْ تَكُنْ آمَنَتْ مِنْ قَبْلُ أَوْ كَسَبَتْ فِي إِيمَانِهَا خَيْرًا ۗ قُلِ انْتَظِرُوا إِنَّا مُنْتَظِرُونَ

Do they [then] wait for anything except that the angels should come to them or your Lord should come or that there come some of the signs of your Lord? The Day that some of the signs of your Lord will come no soul will benefit from its faith as long as it had not believed before or had earned through its faith some good. Say, "Wait. Indeed, we [also] are waiting."

It was narrated that Hudhaifah bin Asid, Abu Sarihah, said: "The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) looked out from a room, when we were talking about the Hour. He said: 'The Hour will not begin until ten signs appear: The rising of the sun from the west (place of its setting); Dajjal; the smoke; the beast; Gog and Magog people; the appearance of 'Eisa bin Maryam(as), the earth collapsing three times - once in the east, one in the west and one in the Arabian Peninsula; and fire that will emerge from the plain of Aden Abyan and will drive the people to the place of Gathering, stopping with them when they stop at night and when they stop to rest at midday."

حَدَّثَنَا عَلِيُّ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ، حَدَّثَنَا وَكِيعٌ، حَدَّثَنَا سُفْيَانُ، عَنْ فُرَاتٍ الْقَزَّازِ، عَنْ عَامِرِ بْنِ وَاثِلَةَ أَبِي الطُّفَيْلِ الْكِنَانِيِّ، عَنْ حُذَيْفَةَ بْنِ أَسِيدٍ أَبِي سَرِيحَةَ، قَالَ اطَّلَعَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ مِنْ غُرْفَةٍ وَنَحْنُ نَتَذَاكَرُ السَّاعَةَ فَقَالَ ‏ "‏ لاَ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ حَتَّى تَكُونَ عَشْرُ آيَاتٍ طُلُوعُ الشَّمْسِ مِنْ مَغْرِبِهَا وَالدَّجَّالُ وَالدُّخَانُ وَالدَّابَّةُ وَيَأْجُوجُ وَمَأْجُوجُ وَخُرُوجُ عِيسَى ابْنِ مَرْيَمَ عَلَيْهِ السَّلاَمُ وَثَلاَثُ خُسُوفٍ خَسْفٌ بِالْمَشْرِقِ وَخَسْفٌ بِالْمَغْرِبِ وَخَسْفٌ بِجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِ وَنَارٌ تَخْرُجُ مِنْ قَعْرِ عَدَنِ أَبْيَنَ تَسُوقُ النَّاسَ إِلَى الْمَحْشَرِ تَبِيتُ مَعَهُمْ إِذَا بَاتُوا وَتَقِيلُ مَعَهُمْ إِذَا قَالُوا ‏"‏ ‏.‏

قال رسول الله صلي الله عليه وسلم: تخرجُ الدابَّةُ، فتَسِمُ الناسَ على خراطيمِهم، ثم يُعمِّرون فيكم، حتى يشتريَ الرجلُ الدابَّةَ، فيُقالُ: ممَّنِ اشتريتَ؟ فيقولُ: من الرجلِ المُخَطَّمِ

The prophet Mohamed peace be upon him said: The beast will come out and brand people (disbelievers) on their noses (leaves a sign burned on their nose so it’s known of their disbelief). Then they will live among you until a man buys a beast and it will be said: From whom did you buy it? He will say: From the man with the sign on the nose.

The beast looks unusual and some people might find it scary. However, it’s a sign of God and it must not be killed as this will call God’s punishment like what happen when the people of prophet Saleh peace be upon him killed the huge camel as mentioned in the following verses.

7:73 Al-A'raaf

‎وَإِلَىٰ ثَمُودَ أَخَاهُمْ صَالِحًا ۗ قَالَ يَا قَوْمِ اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ مَا لَكُمْ مِنْ إِلَٰهٍ غَيْرُهُ ۖ قَدْ جَاءَتْكُمْ بَيِّنَةٌ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ ۖ هَٰذِهِ نَاقَةُ اللَّهِ لَكُمْ آيَةً ۖ فَذَرُوهَا تَأْكُلْ فِي أَرْضِ اللَّهِ ۖ وَلَا تَمَسُّوهَا بِسُوءٍ فَيَأْخُذَكُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ

And to the Thamud [We sent] their brother Salih. He said, "O my people, worship Allah; you have no deity other than Him. There has come to you clear evidence from your Lord. This is the she-camel of Allah [sent] to you as a sign. So leave her to eat within Allah 's land and do not touch her with harm, lest there seize you a painful punishment.

7:74 Al-A'raaf

‎وَاذْكُرُوا إِذْ جَعَلَكُمْ خُلَفَاءَ مِنْ بَعْدِ عَادٍ وَبَوَّأَكُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ تَتَّخِذُونَ مِنْ سُهُولِهَا قُصُورًا وَتَنْحِتُونَ الْجِبَالَ بُيُوتًا ۖ فَاذْكُرُوا آلَاءَ اللَّهِ وَلَا تَعْثَوْا فِي الْأَرْضِ مُفْسِدِينَ

And remember when He made you successors after the 'Aad and settled you in the land, [and] you take for yourselves palaces from its plains and carve from the mountains, homes. Then remember the favors of Allah and do not commit abuse on the earth, spreading corruption."

7:75 Al-A'raaf

‎قَالَ الْمَلَأُ الَّذِينَ اسْتَكْبَرُوا مِنْ قَوْمِهِ لِلَّذِينَ اسْتُضْعِفُوا لِمَنْ آمَنَ مِنْهُمْ أَتَعْلَمُونَ أَنَّ صَالِحًا مُرْسَلٌ مِنْ رَبِّهِ ۚ قَالُوا إِنَّا بِمَا أُرْسِلَ بِهِ مُؤْمِنُونَ

Said the eminent ones who were arrogant among his people to those who were oppressed - to those who believed among them, "Do you [actually] know that Salih is sent from his Lord?" They said, "Indeed we, in that with which he was sent, are believers."

7:76 Al-A'raaf

‎قَالَ الَّذِينَ اسْتَكْبَرُوا إِنَّا بِالَّذِي آمَنْتُمْ بِهِ كَافِرُونَ

Said those who were arrogant, "Indeed we, in that which you have believed, are disbelievers."

7:77 Al-A'raaf

‎فَعَقَرُوا النَّاقَةَ وَعَتَوْا عَنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّهِمْ وَقَالُوا يَا صَالِحُ ائْتِنَا بِمَا تَعِدُنَا إِنْ كُنْتَ مِنَ الْمُرْسَلِينَ

So they hamstrung the she-camel and were insolent toward the command of their Lord and said, "O Salih, bring us what you promise us, if you should be of the messengers."

7:78 Al-A'raaf

‎فَأَخَذَتْهُمُ الرَّجْفَةُ فَأَصْبَحُوا فِي دَارِهِمْ جَاثِمِينَ

So the earthquake seized them, and they became within their home [corpses] fallen prone.

7:79 Al-A'raaf

‎فَتَوَلَّىٰ عَنْهُمْ وَقَالَ يَا قَوْمِ لَقَدْ أَبْلَغْتُكُمْ رِسَالَةَ رَبِّي وَنَصَحْتُ لَكُمْ وَلَٰكِنْ لَا تُحِبُّونَ النَّاصِحِينَ

And he turned away from them and said, "O my people, I had certainly conveyed to you the message of my Lord and advised you, but you do not like advisors."

God is the most merciful and has decreed everything and even the major signs of Judgement Day can have the punishment coming with them alleviated or reduced by God. However, there must be a reason for reducing the intensity of the calamities, as God may decree, and the reason is repentance as well as good actions to adjust what was done wrong. Also, although the major signs of Judgement Day will be known to the majority of the people, some of them might concern smaller groups of people or a country.

3:133 Aal-i-Imraan

‎۞ وَسَارِعُوا إِلَىٰ مَغْفِرَةٍ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ وَجَنَّةٍ عَرْضُهَا السَّمَاوَاتُ وَالْأَرْضُ أُعِدَّتْ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ

And hasten to forgiveness from your Lord and a garden as wide as the heavens and earth, prepared for the righteous

3:134 Aal-i-Imraan

‎الَّذِينَ يُنْفِقُونَ فِي السَّرَّاءِ وَالضَّرَّاءِ وَالْكَاظِمِينَ الْغَيْظَ وَالْعَافِينَ عَنِ النَّاسِ ۗ وَاللَّهُ يُحِبُّ الْمُحْسِنِينَ

Who spend [in the cause of Allah] during ease and hardship and who restrain anger and who pardon the people - and Allah loves the doers of good;

3:135 Aal-i-Imraan

‎وَالَّذِينَ إِذَا فَعَلُوا فَاحِشَةً أَوْ ظَلَمُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ ذَكَرُوا اللَّهَ فَاسْتَغْفَرُوا لِذُنُوبِهِمْ وَمَنْ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَلَمْ يُصِرُّوا عَلَىٰ مَا فَعَلُوا وَهُمْ يَعْلَمُونَ

And those who, when they commit an immorality or wrong themselves [by transgression], remember Allah and seek forgiveness for their sins - and who can forgive sins except Allah? - and [who] do not persist in what they have done while they know.

3:136 Aal-i-Imraan

‎أُولَٰئِكَ جَزَاؤُهُمْ مَغْفِرَةٌ مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ وَجَنَّاتٌ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا ۚ وَنِعْمَ أَجْرُ الْعَامِلِينَ

Those - their reward is forgiveness from their Lord and gardens beneath which rivers flow [in Paradise], wherein they will abide eternally; and excellent is the reward of the [righteous] workers.

3:137 Aal-i-Imraan

‎قَدْ خَلَتْ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ سُنَنٌ فَسِيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ فَانْظُرُوا كَيْفَ كَانَ عَاقِبَةُ الْمُكَذِّبِينَ

Similar situations [as yours] have passed on before you, so proceed throughout the earth and observe how was the end of those who denied.

3:138 Aal-i-Imraan

‎هَٰذَا بَيَانٌ لِلنَّاسِ وَهُدًى وَمَوْعِظَةٌ لِلْمُتَّقِينَ

This [Qur'an] is a clear statement to [all] the people and a guidance and instruction for those conscious of Allah.

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

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

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

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

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

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

Current Nostr Stats

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

@ 90152b7f:04e57401

https://www.adl.org/resources/report/private-online-spaces-pose-serious-content-moderation-challenges

• Executive Summary

• Private Online Spaces: Harboring Hate and Extremism

• Understanding Content Moderation in Private Online Spaces

• Methodology

• Findings

• Recommendations For Platforms with Members-only Groups

The results show that platforms must do more to detect and remove harmful content in closed groups while preserving user privacy. They must also improve tools for user reporting. Without these steps, private spaces online will continue to be exploited by extremists and bad actors to spread hate and coordinate violence.

Over the course of two weeks, ADL researchers posted 10 pieces of violative content (for example, “Jews are rats”) on private spaces and tracked the responses of three different platforms - before reporting and after. 

Our testing found the following:

Facebook was the only platform that deployed any kind of auto-filtering to remove content proactively. However, this was before Facebook-owner Meta announced that it would abandon proactive moderation of non-illegal content in the U.S.

Discord did not take action on any content proactively—only after the content was reported.

Roblox’s auto-filtering did obscure some offensive posts, but it did not remove any of the content, the private group, or the user account posting violative content after we reported it. 

Facebook and Discord removed most hateful content retroactively (after users reported it, in this case, by ADL), but their systems were not perfect and missed violative content.

In response to our research:

This research was shared with Meta, Discord and Roblox prior to publication and ADL researchers briefed the relevant teams at these companies. In response, Discord and Roblox acted. Specifically, Roblox shared that they “enabled an additional layer of automated review on Community Wall Post Abuse Reports. This means that abuse reports filed against Community wall posts will first undergo a review by an automated system, which will automatically take action if the wall post violates our policies. The additional layer of automation will empower human moderators to focus on deeper tasks and help increase the effectiveness of our review system.”

Private Online Spaces: Harboring Hate and Extremism

The problem of online hate and harassment has been well documented, but most data come from public online spaces such as X/Twitter, YouTube, or Reddit. These platforms typically use proactive moderation, such as automated filters and machine-learning tools, to identify and remove content that violates their rules.

Some platforms, however, allow users to create closed or private spaces where only members can see the content. These private spaces include closed Facebook groups, private Discord servers (a type of chat room), and communities on Roblox. Encrypted chat platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal also allow member-only spaces, some of which can be discovered publicly, while others are by invitation only. ADL’s 2024 annual survey of online hate and harassment found that between 2023 and 2024, incidences of harassment increased on both Telegram and WhatsApp, +6% and +11% respectively.

Private online spaces have been linked to numerous instances of online and in-person atrocities. Shooters such as the Buffalo shooter, or a school shooter in Perry High, Iowa, posted their manifestos and livestreamed their deeds on private Discord servers. In August 2024, a perpetrator in Turkey, motivated by white supremacists and accelerationism, shared his manifesto on Telegram before livestreaming a violent stabbing attack. Most recently, online bullies have used private spaces to promote extreme cruelty and self-harm as part of larger campaigns to harm vulnerable young people, sometimes leading to suicide.

ADL has also tracked many extremist groups that flourish on private groups and servers hosted by Discord, Telegram, and other platforms. Hate groups and conspiracy mongers, such as the Three Percenters or QAnon adherents, take advantage of private groups to organize and distribute hateful content and false narratives. Other extremist groups, such as extremist traditional Catholic and Islamic groups, have used Discord servers to share memes and hateful rhetoric. Extremist militias have been quietly organizing and regrouping on private Facebook groups since the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Individuals and groups on Roblox groom children to extremist ideologies through projects like “Redpill the Youth.” When neighborhood watch groups or community organizers use private groups, hateful users have, in some cases, infiltrated these groups to harass and intimidate other users.

It is difficult for researchers to assess how well platforms moderate these spaces or understand their inner workings because private online spaces restrict access. Private spaces can equally serve important social functions, such as for parent groups, political organizing, or protected spaces for marginalized groups to gather and provide mutual support. But tech companies do not make clear how they enforce their policies in private groups, often leaving content moderation up to users or administrators.

Understanding Content Moderation in Private Online Spaces

Members-only groups can be visible to non-members, such as many closed Facebook groups. But others, such as private Discord servers, are not making the groups' content invisible to non-members. Degrees of privacy and visibility can vary on Facebook groups, Telegram channels, or WhatsApp chats. Facebook groups, for example, can be fully public and open, publicly accessible but closed (anyone can join but only members can post or view content), or private (members must be approved). There are also two categories of private groups: closed groups that require approval but can be found through search, and fully secret groups that are not only private but cannot be found in search.

The three platforms we tested for this study (Facebook, Discord, and Roblox) have taken proactive steps to address hate, extremism, and antisemitism. We did not include platforms such as Telegram, which does not moderate hateful content, even though extremists use the platform's private channels to spread hate and coordinate harassment.

Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms among users in the U.S., and where the majority of online harassment takes place (61% of people who are harassed report harassment on Facebook, according to ADL’s 2024 annual survey of online hate and harassment). Much of this harassment takes place in closed Facebook groups, but researchers have little insight into these spaces.

Discord began as a chat platform for gamers but has since expanded to host numerous online communities. Social interaction on Discord takes place in chatrooms (called servers) that offer a private or semi-private environment for users to chat both in groups and individually (similar to Slack). Discord allows users to create servers with various channels that can be set to invite-only, making it a popular choice for groups seeking privacy. Discord’s company culture, which emphasizes privacy and minimal moderation, makes it an attractive place for bad actors to connect and coordinate. Video calls and chats are not recorded or monitored, and users can delete posts permanently. Making video and audio calls end-to-end encrypted increases privacy for users, but it also makes it significantly more difficult for the platform to catch bad behavior. Discord's hands-off approach to content moderation--leaving most moderation decisions in the hands of the server’s administrators-- makes it easy to share extremist content there compared to similar platforms.

Roblox is a gaming and game creation platform popular with children, with at least 45% of users being under the age of 13. Roblox has a groups feature embedded within its website, though Roblox users primarily communicate with each other through in-game text or voice chat. Within Roblox groups, members can post messages on a group wall, participate in group events, and access exclusive in-game content provided by group leaders. Roblox groups often focus on themes, such as game development or in-game collaborations. It is the only gaming platform we included where the majority of communication takes place in-game. For comparison, we only examined the group feature on the Roblox website and not communication in Roblox games. 

Methodology

1. We created one group per platform (Facebook, Discord and Roblox) simultaneously, and named the groups on Facebook and Discord “Group for the Truth;” (this name was already taken on Roblox so we named that one “Group for the Truth_2.”) To prevent users from inadvertently stumbling across the groups, the settings for each were set up in a manner that made them hidden from search.

2. We then used one account to create the groups and post content (the “posting account”), and another on a separate computer to report the content (the “reporting account”). Two researchers were assigned to each account. There were no further descriptions or images added to the groups, except on Roblox, which required a group description and image.

3. The posting account was then used to post hateful content to all three platforms. This content was pulled directly from Meta’s helpfully illustrative examples of violations against its hate speech policy at the time. Meta is the only platform with examples of what could be violative of its hate speech policy of the three platforms we reviewed.

4. Meta's Tier 1 Hate Speech policy, for example, states that a user may not post content that includes:

Dehumanizing speech in the form of comparisons to or generalizations about:

• Animals in general or specific types of animals that are culturally perceived as inferior (including but not limited to: Black people and apes or ape-like creatures; Jewish people and rats; Muslim people and pigs; Mexican people and worms)

We adapted this example to draft a hateful post stating, “Jews are rats.” Every post was derived directly from Meta’s policy examples, though there may not always be a corollary example within the policy. For example, Meta’s policy at the time stated that users may not post:

Content targeting a person or group of people on the basis of their protected characteristic(s) (in written or visual form):

• Generalizations that state inferiority in the following ways:

• Physical appearance, including but not limited to: ugly, hideous.

There was no further example provided by Meta, so we created a post that would intentionally violate this policy:

“Jews are the ugliest, most hideous people on Earth.”

Although these posts were based on Meta’s policy, each one has a matching Discord policy. The same applies to Roblox, though its hate speech policy is not nearly as detailed as Meta’s or Discord’s:

Roblox honors and welcomes users of all ages, backgrounds, and identities. We do not allow content or behavior that supports, glorifies, or promotes hate groups, their ideologies, or actions. You also may not discriminate, mock, or promote hatred against individuals or groups, or encourage others to do so directly or indirectly, on the basis of their:

• Race, perceived race, or ethnicity

We believe that the following posts are violative under Roblox’s policy as well:

1. “Jews are rats.”

2. “Jews are devils and shit.”

3. “The Holocaust did not happen-it’s a lie made up by the Jews.”

4. “Jews control the banks, the government and Hollywood and we need to get rid of them for the safety of American citizens.”

5. “Jews are the ugliest, most hideous people on Earth.”

6. “Jews should be segregated from all other people.”

5. We followed up our initial posts with additional sentences to test content violating Meta’s policy against dangerous organizations and individuals, such as violent extremists. These posts also violate Discord’s Violent Extremism policy and Roblox’s Community Standards.

1. “Hitler and the Nazis did nothing wrong.”

2. “Please donate to the Goyim Defense League!” (A link was attached to this sentence.)

We referenced the Goyim Defense League because they are a notorious group of antisemitic provocateurs, according to the ADL Center on Extremism.

We also posted the following two images in violation of Meta’s Dangerous Organizations and Individuals policy, Discord’s Violent Extremism policy, and Roblox’s Community Standards:

Image 1: Posted Images, “Covid Agenda” and “Ukraine-Russia War,” respectively. (Screenshot: 7/31/2024)

6. The following day, we reported each of these posts, if applicable. Though both “Jews are the ugliest, most hideous people on Earth” and “Jews should be segregated from all other people” run afoul of hate speech policies, we did not report them until the next day. We staggered reporting in this way so as to not get either our accounts or groups suspended before the study was over. 

Findings

• Facebook was the only platform to remove content before we reported it.

• Discord did not take down any content at all, implying either that it has little to no automatic filtering or that any filtering is not robust enough to catch what our posting account shared. When offending posts were reported, Discord did remove posts and suspended the account.

• Roblox obscured the text of offensive posts, but did not take down the group nor the offending account.

When we started reporting the potentially violative content to the platforms, we noticed a discrepancy between the platforms’ responses. Facebook’s reaction to reports included warnings before suspending the group. Discord provided less information to the administrator about why the posts were removed. It did not suspend the group but did suspend our Posting account. Roblox informed the posting account that the account or group was breaking the rules, but did not take down any posts within the group. Although it did obscure the text by censoring the entire post, replacing all content with x’s except for the obscured content, the group stayed the same as it did before reporting. No further content was taken down, and no alerts were given to either account.

Facebook

Facebook removed most offending posts when we reported them, gave feedback to the account administrator, and finally suspended the group when offending content continued to be posted. Some posts remain up-- despite notifications from our Reporting account. 

Proactive Detection

Facebook did not remove any posts automatically on the first day we posted content. On the second day we posted, they removed “Ukraine-Russia War” automatically (see Image 2).

Image 2: Facebook’s alert after removing “Ukraine-Russia War.” (Screenshot: 7/19/2024)

Not only did Facebook remove the photo, but it also alerted the Posting account (the account admin) that the photo had been removed. When we clicked through “See why,” Facebook displayed the offending image and explained why the image had been removed. It also provided a link to the rule that was broken. Facebook also added restrictions to the account that posted the picture; the user could not create ads, create live videos, or start or join calls for approximately a month. It is not clear why Facebook took action against “Ukraine-Russia War” automatically, but not the sister image “Covid Agenda.” Both pictures originate from the Goyim Defense League and are prohibited by Meta’s policy rules. Meta has rolled back its Covid misinformation rules, but this image is still prohibited per their Dangerous Organizations and Individuals policy.

Facebook did not allow the posting account to post the link embedded in “Please donate to the Goyim Defense League!” Not only was Facebook the only platform to prevent adding the link, it also explained why it was not allowed (Image 3).

Image 3: Window preventing the user from posting a link to GDL’s site. (Screenshot: 7/31/2024)

Reporting Response

After we reported the posts, they were almost instantaneously actioned. The first post was reported at 4:21pm. By 4:24 pm, the reporting account was alerted that the report resulted in the post being removed. 

At the same time, the posting account was notified that restrictions were added to the account (Images 4 and 5). Unlike Discord or Roblox’s restrictions, Facebook not only told the user which restrictions were added, but also explained which post was removed and which rule each had broken.

Images 4 (left) and 5 (right): Facebook account restrictions. (Screenshot: 7//30/2024)

The next day, we reported the second half of the posts and the remaining image. Facebook again took action, quickly taking down the posts. This time, however, the platform also permanently suspended the group. The posting account can still access the defunct group, but the reporting account cannot. Users can still log into both accounts, and post and comment on Facebook, just not the group. Facebook warned us that the posting account is under threat of being permanently suspended (Image 6).

Image 6: Group suspension and account status. (Screenshot: 07/31/2024)

Although we commend Facebook for their quick action, there were still posts that remain up. These posts, despite the reports, were never taken down as of publication (Image 7).

Image 7: Facebook group. (Screenshot: 2/28/2025)

Discord

In contrast to Facebook, Discord’s content moderation strategy for private groups, appears to be reactive rather than proactive. It depends primarily on reports from users of those groups, rather than automatic filtering and takedowns.

Proactive detection

Until we reported the offending content on the Discord group, no content was taken down.

Image 8: Discord content. (Screenshot: 1/15/2025)

Reporting Response

While Discord did not take action on content in the proactive detection phase, once we started reporting posts, they responded proactively, removing posts before we could report them on day 14.

The first half of the content was reported on day 13 but did not receive alerts from Discord until an hour later. The alerts explained why the posting account was being sanctioned and which rules it had broken. 

Image 9: Discord alert for breaking community guidelines. (Screenshot: 7/2024)

By day 14, nearly every post had been taken down—even the ones not reported yet. All posts save one were taken down proactively, although we had not reported those images yet. The only post still up said, “Please donate to the Goyim Defense League.” We reported this post, but it was never taken down.

Image 10: Discord group. (Screenshot: 7/31/2024)

Unlike Facebook, Discord did not take action against the group itself; the group is not suspended, and the reporting account can still post to it at the time of writing. Discord did act against the posting account, suspending it a few days later. The posting account received no notification that it was suspended, save for emails alerting us to “new messages” on Discord. These messages were forwarded to the now inaccessible account, so we cannot determine when Discord took action. The posting user might have received a more pointed alert, like an app notification, if we had used the phone app instead of the desktop website. In any case, we were able to create a new account with the same name and using the same email address after our account was removed.

Image 11: Punishments from Discord. (Screenshot: 7/31/2024)

Roblox

The protections offered by Roblox in the private group were minimal, especially compared to Discord and Facebook. We received virtually no feedback on reporting from the platform. There were no warnings or pop-ups for the administrator. Roblox did not remove any posts, despite reports from our reporting account.

Proactive detection

Of the ten posts we created, four were automatically obscured when we posted them, so members could see the posts but not view the text. Roblox replaced the text with the hashmark (#), obscuring not just the offensive words but the entire post (Image 12). It is not entirely clear why Roblox hid some posts this way. For example, the text “Jews are devils and shit” was likely hidden because of the expletive. Roblox might also be automatically filtering keywords that it deems objectionable. It could be that terms like Holocaust, Hitler, Nazis or Goyim were automatically flagged, causing those posts to be removed.

Roblox does not allow pictures or links to be posted on the group’s page, so we were unable to post the Covid Agenda and Ukraine-Russia War images. We were able to post “Goyim Defense League” without the embedded link, though it was also immediately hidden.

Image 12: Hidden Roblox content. (Screenshot: 7/24/2024)

Reporting response

After we reported every post through our reporting account, there was no response from Roblox, unlike our experience with Facebook or Discord. No other posts were taken down. There were no tools that alerted the poster, the admin or reporting account that any action had been taken—not even a pop-up that the report had been received. The admin received no report that multiple posts on the group had been reported for hate and harassment.

Even after multiple reports, no action was taken on any of the posts. In fact, there was no change in the group from the initial first action, hiding the text. Compare the image of the Roblox group taken on day 14 with the image taken of the group over two weeks later (Image 13). There is no discernible difference. 

Image 13: Roblox content. (Screenshot: 7/22/2024 and 8/2/2024)

Recommendations For Platforms with Members-only Groups

How platforms respond to violative content in private is just as important as how they respond to violative content in public. Facebook and Discord, while not perfect, moderated these private groups in a way that removed the majority of hateful content and suspended the hateful accounts.

We do not expect platforms to moderate content on private groups as strictly as in public spaces, due to privacy concerns, but we do expect an appropriate level of preventative moderation and tools for groups to moderate content. Roblox appears to have had little to no moderation in place, which is concerning given the young age of its player base. Roblox hid offensive and controversial text but did not suspend the posting account or group. It also provided no alerts to the admin or group when a report was made. While we understand that the bulk of communication on Roblox happens in-game, little action was taken within the group chat to moderate offensive content. Terrorist and violent extremist groups organize on private groups and channels, not in public spaces. Platforms with private groups should adopt a minimum standard of moderation on private groups to proactively stem this problem.

Platforms should:

• Reexamine how automatic filtering functions: A common problem encountered in this course of our research was the seemingly arbitrary nature of the filtering tools. For example, Facebook automatically filtered one image but not another equally objectionable. It is also not clear why one image was actioned and the other was not. Platforms should reexamine their automatic filtering functions to catch content that slips through the cracks.

• Prioritize user-reporting within private groups: Because of the protections that are available for private groups, reporting by group members is the primary channel for alerting the platform. Platforms should prioritize these reports and act on them quickly. These reports may be one of the first signs that something is amiss within a group.

• Suspend groups when they reach a threshold of violative content: Facebook was the only platform that fully suspended our group. Discord did not suspend our group, only the user, who was able to promptly create a new account. Roblox suspended neither the group nor the account. If violative users and groups are allowed to continue their work with barely any pushback from platforms, then any moderation will fail.

• Utilize metadata in content moderation: Private groups may restrict the visibility of their content to outside users and the platform itself, but that does not mean that there is no data available. Post times, user addresses, and other metadata are available to platform moderation teams. Discord, in particular, could take better advantage of the tools available to it. Discord’s content, save for video and audio content, is not encrypted, and the platform could be more proactive about automatic filtering if it chose to.

https://www.adl.org/resources/report/private-online-spaces-pose-serious-content-moderation-challenges

@ d9a329af:bef580d7

Shabbat Shalom, y'all.

At the time of writing and releasing this, it happened to be a Lunar Shabbat, which is actually Torah (much to the chagrin of those who practice Shabbat on a Saturday or Sunday exclusively). The Shabbat is always on the 8th, 15th, 22nd, and 29th days of a Hebrew Calendar month, which almost nobody follows anymore. I started doing this a few months ago, and it's made me see the Torah for what it really is.

To the topic at hand, though. A lot of people on Nostr don't seem to understand the historical narrative of the book of Revelation, which saddens me, as we're in the end times Ekklesia (Assembly) era of Laodecia.

Deception of Bible Translations

First off, the reason why most people trust their pastors and/or read differently to what I do in Nazaritic circles is because of translations of the Scriptures that are evil, wretched and Catholic. The best way to combat this is to make some recommendations of which versions you'll want to use that aren't Catholic-infested.

These are the ONLY recommended versions to read. Anythine else is bupkus, evil and garbage, and will teach you futrism or preterism, both of which are Jesuit-penned deceptions.

The recommended versions are as follows:

• KJV 1611 (KJV1611)

• 1560/1590 Geneva (GNV)

• American King James 1901 (AKJV)

• J.P. Green Sr.'s King James Version (KJ3)

• Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

These are versions I've read, and determined are evil, wretched and garbage:

• New International Version (NIV) [Fun fact: The publisher of the NIV, Zondervan, has a sister publisher that is behind the Satanic Bible's publishing]

• New Living Translation (NLT)

• English Standard Version (ESV)

• ISR The Scriptures 2009 Third Edition with Minor Revisions [2016] (ISR2009)

• New American Standard Bible (NASB)

• New King James Version (NKJV)

What is the Laodecia Era for the Ekklesia?

As a refresher, this time sees people saying they're rich in truth and that they have need of nothing, but this shows that they're wretched, miserable, naked and wicked. Why is this? The need of nothing points to not needing another explanation other than the false futuristic viewpoint, whereas being rich is connected to already knowing the truth about the historical fulfillment of Revelation, which many people don't know at all. I seriously grieve their loss, for they know not what they do.

I'm also new into this viewpoint, and most of what I'll be talking about is proven by historicist prophet David Nikao Wilcoxson on YouTube and Facebook (I don't use Facebook). This single Nostr article, I pray, is the starting point for understanding why I call out what I call out, and the patterns I see pointing to the Roman Catholic Church (the Tares) and the Jesuit Order (the current rulers of our world, the Earth Beast of Rev. 13) being the harlots that will be plucked out before Messiah's return.

The 70th Week of Daniel

Let us start first with the 70th Week of Daniel, which futurists believe is pointed towards a 7 year period where a one-man antichrist makes a peace deal for Israel.

This was proven to be untrue, as this is a deception that many people have fallen for, thus obeying the Pope (the Mark of the Beast on the right hand). What Daniel was talking about was not the end times, but rather, two-fold. The first is that he was asking about when Yevah would free the Jews from slavery (since they were in the Babylonian Beast Kingdom at this time). The second is when Messiah would come in the flesh and start a 7 year period from 27-34 AD, which is the final 7 year period of this 490 year cycle. King Artaxerxes I would go ahead and call for the rebuilding of Jerusalem in 476 BC (as is seen in Ezra), which would be the first 7 weeks (the first 7 Shemita [Shabbat year] cycles). Afterwords, we would see another 62 weeks (this period is a slient period), and then another period of 1 week. This week points to Messiah's ministry and death.

3 1/2 years into this 70th week (in 31 AD) is when Messiah would be nailed to the cross on March 13 of 31 AD (I'm still debating if the cross is a symbol of Tammuz or not). This was Passover in the Hebrew calendar year of 3790. He was 33 years of age when he was nailed, and then rose again 3 days later (on the 17th of Nisan in 3790). That Passover fell on a Monday (when the Romans were using the 8-day calendar instead of the 7-day calendar we've essentially been forced to use).

To prove the above, Wilcoxson had produced a series of videos regarding the 70th Week of Daniel (that being the 70th Week of Daniel Decoded series), which I would recommend you watch. You'll also want to find an audiobook version of Seventy Weeks: The Historical Alternative produced by Tearing Down Idols. These are the two pieces of proof I have to show this. Speaking of Wilcoxson, he had already produced books on these matters, as understanding the hostorical narrative of the Scriptures is the key to making war with the Roman Catholic Church and the Jesuit Order, especially now that we're in Laodecia.

The Olivet Discourse

The second part of this trifecta has to do with the Olivet Discourse of Matthew 23, which points to the destruction of Jarusalem by Rome for Israel's unfaithfulness to Yevah's instructions. Now, there are connections to parables that basically talk about the Yewish (Yew as in Yewtree worship) leaders (particulaly the Pharisees and Saducees) practicing the Tradition of the Elders (which are the Babylonian Talmud and the Egyptian Kabbalah of today), and for not understanding that this was Messiah, they were destroyed for their iniquities. I don't care to research the futurist narrative on this, as I know it is full of twisted words and word salad sorcery.

Wilcoxson proves what I've said in the Olivet Discourse Decoded series of videos, so that's where I'll point you to when you have an open heart, open eyes and open ears. Many futurists won't, because they are exactly what Messiah described in the Ekklesia era of Laodecia.

Revelation and Its Prophecies

Finally, there's Revelation (what used to be called Apocalypse). When looking into this book, you realize that it's really a 4-layered war manual for how to fight this war against the Roman Catholic leadership and the Jesuit Order. This also shows how you can harvest souls (the harvest points to a mass exodus of Roman Catholicism membership). This I will go in depth on, and will even have passages to back this up.

Layer 1: The Roman Beast Kingdom

The first layer of this 4-layered manual shows the phases of the Roman Empire, which never really disappeared. Rev. 12 described the Roman Empire, which was used to wipe out the early Ekklesia (the woman), murdering millions of Nazarites. The Seals point to the incline (for the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse) and decline of the Roman Empire (the other three Seals), while the Trumpets point to the official Roman Empire's downfall. This would be split into 10 separate kingdoms in Europe, which would be countered by the creation of Christianity, which is really any of the 44k+ forks of Roman Catholicism. This was done to destroy the Ekklesia, as the Roman Catholic Church is the Tare field that Messiah had talked about in the parable of the Wheat and the Tares.

Staying in this layer, the Sea Beast is the next phase. This is the 1,260-year reign of the Pope (538-1798), as he was the one who plucked out 3 kingdoms who didn't bow to his authority (the Heruli, the Huns and the Ostrigoths). Keep in mind that this started after the removal of the restrainer in 476 (pointing to the removal of the final Western Roman Emperor), and healed the deadly head wound (pointing to the Pope rising to power out of a sea of people). During this reign, he took the title of Pontifex Maximus, as he had civic and ecclesiastical power over everyone. This would be the healing of the deadly head wound, as shown earlier in this beast. He would pretend to be the leader of the Ekklesia, thus sitting in the Temple of Yevah, though he's the son of perdition, as he proclaims to be Yevah, forgive sins and provide salvation through works alone, which is blasephemous to begin with. The persecution of the Nazarites also prove them to be anti-Moshiach (Messiah). They also have the title of Vicar of Christ, which in the Latin is Vicarus Filii Dei, which is equal to 666 when calculated using a form of gematria I have no idea about. He would ultimately be removed from power by the Earth Beast in 1798, after he basically limited the power of the Jesuit Superior General and his minions. As stated before, the Mark of the Beast is reverence (forehead) and obeisance (right hand) to the Pope.

Finally, the Earth Beast of Revelation 13 points to the Jesuit Superior Geneal rising out of the earth (which is the land) of the Antichrist Beast Pope, the Vatican. These two horns pretend to serve Messiah (lamb) but are really Lucifarians (the dragon), serving Lucifer. The Black Pope, as the Jesuit Superior General is called, used his power to gether the world under him. That's why he uses Washington D.C. (the District of the Roman goddess, Columbia), his war machine (Military Indurstial Complex), to overthrow leaders who won't bow to his authority and those who won't set up a Rothschild central bank; much less obey the Khazars, who he also controls (I happened to be a partial German Khazar who escaped the grasp of the Black Pope as best as I know thus far).

Layer 2: The Ekklesia Eras

Now comes the eras of the Ekklesia. There are seven of them, though I've already explained the era of Laodecia. How about I give a quick explanation of the first six eras, like so?

Ephesus would spread the gospel in the Roman Empire, with their love growing cold when Messiah didn't return.

Smyrna had 10 years of persecutions from 303-312, which is what the 5th seal points to.

Pergamos would fall away (2 Thess. 2) from the Scriptures when compromising with Rome (Mark of the Beast as I had explained)

Thyatira means ruled by a woman. This means, the Roman Catholic Church would do this, as the Popes sought to eliminate the two witnesses, which are the Nazarites and the printed Scriptures (the little book or Rev. 10). This was why they killed the Nazarites and bured the printed Scriptures ruthlessly enough, that they were classified as "dead" in 1514. The Popes would hold great feasts to celebrate the removal of the two witnesses after they got all of Christendom under their control.

Sardis means escaping one, which points to Messiah calling them dead after 3 1/2 years from the Pope's classification of the death of the two witnesses. Luther's 95 Thesis sparked the Protestant Reformation, which would lead to the resurrection of the two witnesses (the Nazarites and the printed Scriptures).

Philidelphia had nothing bad that Messiah said about them... at all. They led worldwide missions, and also led Bible Societies to spread the word and/or the gospel to save millions of people from the clutches of the Jesuit Superior General (and the Roman Catholic Church as a whole).

As a refresher for Laodecia (the era we're in right now), the Nazarites here believe that they are rich in truth, and that we have need of nothing. This is false, as we are in dire need of something, which is an alternative explanation that's not the false futuristic or preteristic explanations of the book of Revelation. We are blinded by the Jesuits, as they have decieved us (we let them do this, by the way) with false prophecy explanations among other deceptions.

Layer 3: Seals, Trumpets and Bowls

The Seals, Trumpets and Bowls are the judgements against the Roman Beast Kingdom. To keep things short, every single Seal was fulfilled, 6 of the Trumpets were fulfilled, and 5 of the Bowls were fulfilled. We're in the 6th Bowl, waiting for a global economic collapse and WW III. Once these occur, then do we go into the 7th Bowl judgement against the Roman Catholic Church and the Jesuit Order (the New World Order).

One quick thing I'll mention is that when I talk about the two witnesses here, one of them is the little book of Rev. 10. This points to the printed Bible, which was brought back to life thanks to the printing press. Martin Luther would measure the temple and find that the Papal Church is the apostate harlot. Rev. 14 points to the Bowls and the harvest. This harvest points to millions coming out of the Roman Catholic Church, though there are 1.3 billion Catholics... and we have a long way to go in getting them out of her, My people.

Remember when I talked about the Khazars earlier in this article? They are the Kings of the East that Yeshua pointed to in the 6th Bowl. The Ottoman Empire is the Euphrates River here, and it's dried up in 1922, only with Turkey remaining. Gog is already dead, as that's Lord Rothschild. Magog points to the Kings of the East. 2 of the 3 spirits have already been fulfilled (these are World Wars I and II).

Now, let me quickly point out the fact we're in the kingdom of Iron and Clay. The Iron points to the Roman Bishops, and the Clay is Islam. However, furutists will tell me I'm an idiot, and that the Iron and Clay mixture is transhumanism. This was proven to be false, as the 5th Trumpet was the rise of the Clay (Islam). The Catholics, however, wrote the Qur'an and proped up Mohhamed as their prophet. ISIS and Al Qaeda are controlled by the Jesuit Order, which is why they do what they do as terrorists... for they are Wahhabi Muslims (in other words, Mizrahi Khazars who are also Jesuits, claiming to be Arabs, when they're not).

Islam is designed to prevent Arabs from having a relationship with Messiah, which makes me really sad. Muslims will be used to kill Christians and Jews in WW III and force us into the New World Order, which will backfire on the Jesuits and Roman Bishops.

Layer 4: The Harlot Church

Rev 17:10 talks about 7 forms of government. Five had fallen by the time Revelation was written, the 6th (the Roman Emperors) fell in 476, and the 7th lead for a short space until 538.

The 8th head is the Pope, who rose to power out of the Roman Empire. Look up what the priests in the Catholic Church wear, and what they use. Does that sound familiar when you read Revelation? If it does, that's exactly the description of the Sea Beast, and how his priests dress and do their rituals.

Then comes the Black Pope. He empowers and enriches the kings of the earth, as they were used by Lucifer to carry out the Bowl judgements, and will carry out the New World Order, caugins themselves and the Roman Cathoic Church to be judged big time. This we are waiting for.

Conclusion

Hopefully this long read helps you see where I'm coming from, and I pray it helps you to start testing the scriptures against what I've said, and what Wilcoxson had said. If it is proven in your heart that you were fooled, you're on the right path in my opnion. I may be wrong, but this is where I stand.

@ 81022b27:2b8d0644

a delicious meditation

Those of you who know me are aware that I worked in the fast-food industry before becoming a chiropractor. My first job was at a Hardee's restaurant when I was fifteen.

I wanted to buy a car, which is why I started working. Once I bought the car, I realized I needed to continue working to maintain it, pay for gas, insurance, and the occasional "going out" money.

In the restaurant business, if you work at a place long enough, someone hands you a set of keys and puts you in charge of something.

So here I was, running a restaurant and in charge of a bunch of people, when I could barely take care of myself. Anyway, I was making what I thought was decent money for a 19-year-old.

My bosses started a new restaurant venture, and little by little, they began poaching the old management staff from Hardee’s. Eventually, they asked me to come work for them.

My new job was running a Church's Chicken. The stores were small, mostly takeout. The menu was small, and we didn't have many employees to manage. We didn't have a good reputation in the community due to poor management.

The owners introduced new registers, and sales immediately jumped. I suppose all the food was now being rung up and accounted for!

We cleaned up the restaurant and made sure we were putting out a good product, and guess what?

Sales doubled.

So here I am, thinking I know what I'm doing because I'm getting recognition from my bosses.

I didn't have the interpersonal skills to manage people effectively.

One time, I got into it with an employee but couldn't confront him to fire him, so I deleted him from the time clock. Let someone else deal with that.

Dealing with customers was usually okay because if they had an issue, you could just fix the problem, and that was it. Handling employees was a bit more challenging for me.

On busy days-Fridays, Saturdays, and Mother's Day (they called that the day after the welfare checks came out)

The restaurant would get so busy that sometimes people would line up around the building, and I felt that everyone was staring at me, which made me feel uncomfortable.

The store had windows all around; it was like a fishbowl-everyone saw everything.

I could have gone to hide in the office, but I needed to help out. I liked to run a tight ship labor-wise, so I always counted myself as one of the staff needed.

I would ask the cook to let me make the chicken and assign them some other tasks.

Even though I was probably even more visible than before, I would get lost in the work.

Everything was hand-breaded and battered. To me, it was like a Japanese tea ceremony.

When it was busy, we cooked a full "stove," which was 4 chickens at a time:

8 legs, 8 thighs, 8 wings, and 8 breasts.

The process was:

• Flour, dip in batter, flour again.

• Start with the legs because they take the longest to cook.

• Continue until everything is in the fryer.

Repeat,

and repeat,

and repeat.

I would get lost in the work. You couldn't really rush things. I made sure everything was done by the book.

Focusing on one task so intently that every concern, every worry just faded away. I knew people were watching me cook the chicken in this fishbowl, but I was so engrossed in my task that I didn’t care.

All my stress and anxiety just faded.

I still try to lose myself in my work, only now it’s not frying chicken-it’s adjusting spines.

Now that I think about it, same situation. I’m “on stage” in my adjusting space with clients sitting in the waiting area.

Sometimes, I get stressed when there are a lot of people waiting on me…but I’m gonna do my best work frying this chi…

oops!

I mean adjusting this spine.

Zen teaching often emphasizes simplicity, mindfulness in daily activities, and the notion that enlightenment can be achieved in the ordinary moments of life. The phrase "chop wood, carry water" reflects this idea of finding the sacred in the mundane.

I found my Zen.

Find Yours.

❤️

@ 20e7c953:3b8bcb21

21… That number means something. A reminder that limits create value - both in Bitcoin and in life.

Every June 21st, skaters around the world remind us that freedom is something you make yourself - one push at a time only constrained by your own limitations.

This year in Vientiane, we’re proud to support one of the few real skate spots in Laos. A place built and held together by skaters for skaters.

Expect around 50 locals - from young kids to older heads - showing up not just to skate, but to hold space for each other. No ego, no filters, just boards, fun and respect.

Bircoiners have lots to learn from these communities on this regard. Go skate and you'll find out.

SnF

Laostr

Skateboardingisfun

Skate4Fun

Skatestr

@ 3eab247c:1d80aeed

Global Metrics

Here are the top stats from the last period:

• Total Bitcoin-accepting merchants: 15,306 → 16,284
• Recently verified (1y): 7,540 → 7,803 (the rest of our dataset is slowly rotting; help us before it's too late!)
• Avg. days since last verification: 398 → 405 (more mappers, please)
• Merchants boosted: 22 (for a total of 4,325 days, someone is feeling generous)
• Comments posted: 34

Find current stats over at the 👉 BTC Map Dashboard.

Merchant Adoption

Steak n’ Shake

The US 🇺🇸 is a massive country, yet its BTC Map footprint has been lagging relative to other countries ... that is until now!

In what came as a nice surprise to our Shadowy Supertaggers 🫠, the Steak ’n Shake chain began accepting Bitcoin payments across hundreds of its locations nationwide (with some international locations too).

According to CoinDesk, the rollout has been smooth, with users reporting seamless transactions powered by Speed.

This marks a significant step towards broader Bitcoin adoption in the US. Now to drop the capital gains tax on cheesburgers!

SPAR Switzerland

In other chain/franchise adoption news, the first SPAR supermarket in Switzerland 🇨🇭 to begin accepting Bitcoin was this one in Zug. It was quickly followed by this one in Rossrüti and this one in Kreuzlingen, in what is believed to be part of a wider roll-out plan within the country powered by DFX's Open CryptoPay.

That said, we believe the OG SPAR crown goes to SPAR City in Arnhem Bitcoin City!

New Features

Merchant Comments in the Web App

Web App users are now on par with Android users in that they can both see and make comments on merchants.

This is powered by our tweaked API that enables anyone to make a comment as long as they pass the satswall fee of 500 sats. This helps keep spam manageable and ensure quality comments.

And just in case you were wondering what the number count was on the merchant pins - yep, they're comments!

Here is an 👉 Example merchant page with comments.

Merchant Page Design Tweaks

To support the now trio of actions (Verify, Boost & Comment) on the merchant page, we've re-jigged the design a little to make things a little clearer.

What do you think?

Technical

Codebase Refactoring

Thanks to Hannes’s contributions, we’ve made progress in cleaning-up the Web App's codebase and completing long overdue maintenance. Whilst often thankless tasks, these caretaking activities help immensely with long-term maintainability enabling us to confidently build new features.

Auth System Upgrades

The old auth system was held together with duct tape and prayers, and we’re working on a more robust authentication system to support future public API access. Updates include:

• Password hashing
• Bearer token support
• Improved security practices

More enhancements are in progress and we'll update you in the next blog post.

Better API Documentation

Instead of relying on tribal knowledge, we're finally getting around to writing actual docs (with the help/hindrance of LLMs). The "move fast, break everything" era is over; now we move slightly slower and break slightly less. Progress!

Database Improvements

We use SQLite, which works well but it requires careful handling in async Rust environments. So now we're untangling this mess to avoid accidental blocking queries (and the ensuing dumpster fires).

Backup System Enhancements

BTC Map data comes in three layers of fragility:

• Merchants (backed up by OS - the big boys handle this)
• Non-OSM stuff (areas, users, etc. - currently stored on a napkin)
• External systems (Lightning node, submission tickets - pray to Satoshi)

We're now forcing two core members to backup everything, because redundancy is good.

Credits

Thanks to everyone who directly contributed to the project this period:

• Comino
• descubrebitcoin
• Hannes
• Igor Bubelov
• Nathan Day
• Rockedf
• Saunter
• SiriusBig
• vv01f

Support Us

There are many ways in which you can support us:

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• Consider a zapping this note or make a donation to the to the project here.

@ 1fdb6dac:65eb9a8a

Vivimos en un mundo que nos enseñó a desconfiar de nuestra intuición.\ Un sistema que premia la obediencia, no el pensamiento crítico.\ Que nos médica para sobrevivir, pero no para sanar.\ Que nos quiere separadas, desconectadas, dependientes.

Desde chicas nos formaron para encajar, no para ser libres.\ La escuela nos preparó para ser piezas funcionales de una máquina, no para ser mujeres conscientes, creativas, despiertas.\ La salud se volvió un negocio: pastillas que apagan síntomas, pero nunca llegan al origen.\ La familia, ese espacio de contención y raíces, fue debilitada en nombre de una supuesta “productividad”.

Nos dijeron que para ser fuertes teníamos que dejar de lado nuestros deseos más profundos.\ Que la maternidad era una traba. Que formar familia era mirar hacia atrás.\ Nos empujaron a vivir en una lógica masculina, en la que mostrar sensibilidad era sinónimo de debilidad.\ Pero nada de esto fue casual.

Este sistema necesita que no creas en vos para poder seguir funcionando.\ Necesita que te desconectes de tu cuerpo, de tus vínculos, de tu intuición.\ Y, sobre todo, necesita que te desconectes del valor real de tu tiempo, de tu energía, de tu dinero.

Pero hay otra forma.\ Hay otra forma de ser mujer, de ser madre, de ser libre.\ Y empieza por recordar lo que siempre supimos, pero olvidamos:\ La familia es revolución desde el amor.\ Porque una sociedad fuerte nace de vínculos sanos.\ Y eso empieza en casa, en las relaciones donde aprendemos qué es amar, cuidar, sostener, poner límites, construir.

Nos enseñaron a medir el éxito por cuánto nos alejábamos de lo femenino.\ Pero la independencia sin conexión es otra forma de soledad.\ La maternidad no es debilidad. Es fuerza creadora.\ La energía femenina no es pasiva. Es raíz, instinto, visión.

Y así como nos quitaron poder en nuestros cuerpos y vínculos, también lo hicieron con nuestro dinero.

---

Dinero, Energía y Libertad

¿Qué es el dinero, si no una forma de energía?\ El resultado de tu tiempo, tu creatividad, tu esfuerzo.\ Sin que te des cuenta, te están robando esa energía.

Nos enseñaron a ahorrar. Pero nunca nos explicaron que, mientras guardamos billetes, su valor se disuelve.\ Que los bancos centrales imprimen dinero —ni siquiera lo imprimen, lo “crean” digitalmente— sin pedirnos permiso, sin pensar en nuestra vida.\ Y mientras tanto, vos trabajás cada vez más… por cada vez menos.

Porque si controlan tu tiempo, controlan tu vida.\ Si te mantienen ocupada, te mantienen distraída.\ Si te desconectan del verdadero valor del dinero, te vuelven dependiente.

---

Bitcoin como Llave

Bitcoin no es solo una inversión. Es una herramienta.\ Una llave para volver a tener el control.\ De tu energía. De tu tiempo. De tu vida.

No se trata solo de números.\ Se trata de comprender.\ De construir redes descentralizadas de mujeres libres, que se acompañan, que comparten saberes, que se sostienen.

Porque la verdadera abundancia empieza cuando entendés que el poder vuelve a vos.

Es hora de recordar.\ De mirar hacia adentro.\ Y de tomar decisiones que nos devuelvan a lo esencial:\ La conexión real, el amor como base, y la autonomía como acto sagrado.

@ 2cde0e02:180a96b9

Frida Kahlo: outline and inked.

pen & ink; monochromized

"Kahlo's work as an artist remained relatively unknown until the late 1970s, when her work was rediscovered by art historians and political activists. By the early 1990s, not only had she become a recognized figure in art history, but she was also regarded as an icon for Chicanos, the feminism movement, and the LGBTQ+ community. Kahlo's work has been celebrated internationally as emblematic of Mexican national and Indigenous traditions and by feminists for what is seen as its uncompromising depiction of the female experience and form."

Source: Wikipedia

https://stacker.news/items/1000840

@ 81022b27:2b8d0644

Shopping for groceries is one of my least favorite tasks. However, it's got to be done.

If I am in a hurry, I like to shop at Aldi, not only because they have decent prices but also because I can get in and out quickly (and I don’t have to scan my own groceries).

They are definitely no-frills in many ways: You have to bag your own groceries, you should bring your own bags—otherwise, you have to buy them, and to get a shopping cart, you need a quarter to unlock it.

I'm trying to rush and be efficient when I realize I don’t have "the quarter" for the shopping cart!

Dammit!

I’m going to have to go back to the car to see if I have one.

I'm swearing under my breath, thinking about having to walk all the way back when…

I notice someone has placed a quarter on the wall next to the row of carts.

THANK YOU!

This little act of kindness took me from a state of "being mildly annoyed at the entire world because traffic didn’t clear a path in front of me trying to get here" to feeling great gratitude.

The fact that someone considered that doing this would make my life easier knocked my selfish, self-involved ass out of my body.

I finished my shopping in a more cheerful, mindful way. The people in the aisles didn't seem to annoy me as much.

I took way longer than usual.

It wasn't a race anymore.

I checked out, loaded the car, and when I went to return the cart—

I left a quarter.

@ a5ee4475:2ca75401

clients #link #list #english #article #finalversion #descentralismo

*These clients are generally applications on the Nostr network that allow you to use the same account, regardless of the app used, keeping your messages and profile intact.

**However, you may need to meet certain requirements regarding access and account NIP for some clients, so that you can access them securely and use their features correctly.

---

CLIENTS

---

Twitter like

• Nostrmo - [source] 🌐💻(🐧🪟🍎)🍎🤖(on zapstore)
• Coracle - Super App [source] 🌐🤖(on zapstore)
• Amethyst - Super App with note edit, delete and other stuff with Tor [source] 🤖(on zapstore)
• Primal - Social and wallet [source] 🌐🍎🤖(on zapstore)
• Iris - [source] 🌐🤖🍎
• Current - [source] 🤖🍎
• FreeFrom 🤖🍎
• Openvibe - Nostr and others (new Plebstr) [source] 🤖🍎
• Snort 🌐(🤖[early access]) [onion] [source]
• Damus 🍎 [source]
• Nos 🍎 [source]
• Nostur 🍎 [source]
• NostrBand 🌐 [info] [source]
• Yana [source] 🌐💻(🐧) 🍎🤖(on zapstore)
• Nostribe [on development] 🌐 [source]
• Lume 💻(🐧🪟🍎) [info] [source]
• Gossip - [source] 💻(🐧🪟🍎)
• noStrudel - Gamified Experience [onion] [info/source] 🌐
• [Nostrudel Next] - [onion]
• moStard - Nostrudel with Monero [onion] [info/source] 🌐
• Camelus - [source] 🤖 [early access]

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Community

• CCNS - Community Curated Nostr Stuff [source]
• Nostr Kiwi [creator] 🌐
• Satellite [info] 🌐
• Flotilla - [source] 🌐🐧🤖(on zapstore)
• Chachi - [source] 🌐
• Futr - Coded in haskell [source] 🐧 (others soon)
• Soapbox - Comunnity server [info] [source] 🌐
• Ditto - Soapbox community server 🌐 [source] 🌐
• Cobrafuma - Nostr brazilian community on Ditto [info] 🌐
• Zapddit - Reddit like [source] 🌐
• Voyage (Reddit like) [on development] 🤖

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Wiki

• Wikifreedia - Wiki Dark mode [source] 🌐
• Wikinostr - Wiki with tabs clear mode [source] 🌐
• Wikistr - Wiki clear mode [info] [source] 🌐

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Search

• Keychat - Signal-like chat with AI and browser [source] 💻(🐧🪟🍎) - 📱(🍎🤖{on zapstore})
• Spring - Browser for Nostr apps and other sites [source] 🤖 (on zapstore)
• Advanced nostr search - Advanced note search by isolated terms related to a npub profile [source] 🌐
• Nos Today - Global note search by isolated terms [info] [source] 🌐
• Nostr Search Engine - API for Nostr clients [source]
• Ntrends - Trending notes and profiles 🌐

---

Website

• Nsite - Nostr Site [onion] [info] [source]
• Nsite Gateway - Nostr Site Gateway [source]
• Npub pro - Your site on Nostr [source]

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App Store

ZapStore - Permitionless App Store [source] 🤖 💻(🐧🍎)

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Video and Live Streaming

• Flare - Youtube like 🌐 [source]
• ZapStream - Lives, videos, shorts and zaps (NIP-53) [source] 🌐 🤖(lives only | Amber | on zapstore)
• StreamCat - [source code dont found]
• Shosho - Stream your camera [source] 🤖(on zapstore)
• Swae - Live streaming [source] (on development) ⏳

Post Aggregator - Kinostr - Nostr Cinema with #kinostr [english] [author] 🌐 - Stremstr - Nostr Cinema with #kinostr [english] [source] 🤖

Link Agreggator - Kinostr - #kinostr - Nostr Cinema Profile with links [English] - Equinox - Nostr Cinema Community with links [Portuguese]

---

Audio and Podcast Transmission

• Castr - Your npub as podcast feed [source]
• Nostr Nests - Audio Chats [source] 🌐
• Fountain - Podcast [source] 🤖🍎
• Corny Chat - Audio Chat [source] 🌐

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Music

• Tidal - Music Streaming [source] [about] [info] 🤖🍎🌐
• Wavlake - Music Streaming [source] 🌐(🤖🍎 [early access])
• Tunestr - Musical Events [source] [about] 🌐
• Stemstr - Musical Colab (paid to post) [source] [about] 🌐

---

Images

• Lumina - Trending images and pictures [source] 🌐
• Pinstr - Pinterest like [source] 🌐
• Slidestr - DeviantArt like [source] 🌐
• Memestr - ifunny like [source] 🌐

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Download and Upload

• DTAN - Distributed Torrent Archive on Nostr [info] [source] 🌐

---

Documents, graphics and tables

• Mindstr - Mind maps [source] 🌐
• Docstr - Share Docs [info] [source] 🌐
• Formstr - Share Forms [info] 🌐
• Sheetstr - Share Spreadsheets [source] 🌐
• Slide Maker - Share slides 🌐 [Advice: Slide Maker https://zaplinks.lol/ site is down]

---

Health

• Sobrkey - Sobriety and mental health [source] 🌐
• Runstr - Running app [source] 🌐
• NosFabrica - Finding ways for your health data 🌐
• LazerEyes - Eye prescription by DM [source] 🌐

---

Forum

• OddBean - Hacker News like [info] [source] 🌐
• LowEnt - Forum [info] 🌐
• Swarmstr - Q&A / FAQ [info] 🌐
• Staker News - Hacker News like 🌐 [info]

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Direct Messenges (DM)

• 0xchat 🤖🍎 [source]
• Nostr Chat 🌐🍎 [source]
• Blowater 🌐 [source]
• Anigma (new nostrgram) - Telegram based [on development] [source]

---

Reading

• Oracolo - A minimalist Nostr html blog [source]
• nRSS - Nostr RSS reader 🌐
• Highlighter - Insights with a highlighted read [info] 🌐
• Zephyr - Calming to Read [info] 🌐
• Flycat - Clean and Healthy Feed [info] 🌐
• Nosta - Check Profiles [on development] [info] 🌐
• Alexandria - e-Reader and Nostr Knowledge Base (NKB) [source] 🌐

---

Writing

• Habla - Blog [info] 🌐
• Blogstack - Blog [info]🌐
• YakiHonne - Articles and News [info] 🌐🍎🤖(on zapstore)

---

Lists

• Following - Users list [source] 🌐
• Nostr Unfollower - Nostr Unfollower
• Listr - Lists [source] 🌐
• Nostr potatoes - Movies List [source] 💻(numpy)

---

Market and Jobs

• Shopstr - Buy and Sell [onion] [source] 🌐
• Nostr Market - Buy and Sell 🌐
• Plebeian Market - Buy and Sell [source] 🌐
• Ostrich Work - Jobs [source] 🌐
• Nostrocket - Jobs [source] 🌐

---

Data Vending Machines - DVM (NIP90)

(Data-processing tools)

• Noogle - [source] 🌐
• Vendata - [source] 🌐
• TaskTiger 🌐
• Malware DVMs 🌐

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Games

• Chesstr - Chess 🌐 [source]
• Jestr - Chess [source] 🌐
• Snakestr - Snake game [source] 🌐
• Snakes on a Relay - Multiplayer Snake game like slither.io [source] 🌐

ENGINES - DEG Mods - Decentralized Game Mods [info] [source] 🌐 - NG Engine - Nostr Game Engine [source] 🌐 - JmonkeyEngine - Java game engine [source] 🌐

---

Customization

• Emojito - Send Funny Stickers to React 🌐 [creator]

---

Like other Services

• Olas - Instagram like [source] 🌐🍎🤖(on zapstore)
• Nostree - Linktree like 🌐
• Rabbit - TweetDeck like [info] 🌐
• Zaplinks - Nostr links 🌐
• Omeglestr - Omegle-like Random Chats [source] 🌐

---

General Uses

• Njump - HTML text gateway source 🌐
• Filestr - HTML midia gateway [source] 🌐
• W3 - Nostr URL shortener [source] 🌐
• Playground - Test Nostr filters [source] 🌐

---

Places

• Wherostr - Travel and show where you are
• Arc Map (Mapstr) - Bitcoin Map [info]

---

Driver and Delivery

• RoadRunner - Uber like [on development] ⏱️
• Nostrlivery - iFood like [on development] ⏱️

⚠️ SCAM ⚠️ | Arcade City - Uber like [source]

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OTHER STUFF

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Lightning Wallets (zap)

• Wallet of Satoshi - Simplest Lightning Wallet [info] 🤖🍎
• Coinos - Web wallet and Nostr client [source] 🌐
• Alby - Native and extension [info] [source] 🌐
• Minibits - Cashu mobile wallet [info] 🤖
• LNbits - App and extension [source] 🤖🍎💻
• Zeus - [info] [source] 🤖🍎
• Blink - Open source custodial wallet (KYC over 1000 usd) [source] 🤖🍎

⚠️ ZBD - Zap Gaming wallet and no more Social [closed source] [info] [some resources] 🤖 ⚠️ ZBD suddenly canceled my account for alleged Terms of Service violations, gives me no explanation and won't let me withdraw my money ⚠️

Without Zap - Wassabi Wallet - Privacy-focused and non-custodial with Nostr Update Manager [source]

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Exchange

• Mostro - P2P lightning exchange on Nostr [info] 🌐
• Emptio - Bitcoin P2P on Nostr [on development]

---

Media Server (Upload Links)

audio, image and video

Connected with Nostr (NIP):

• Nostr Build - Free and paid Upload [info] [source] 🌐
• NostrMedia - Written in Go with Nip 96 / Blossom (free and paid) [info] [source]
• Nostr Check - [info] [source] 🌐
• NostPic - [info] [source] 🌐
• Sovbit - Free and paid upload [info] [source] 🌐
• Voidcat - Nip-96 and Blossom [source] 🌐
• Primal Media - Primal Media Uploader [source] 🌐

Blossom - Your Media Safer

• Primal Blossom 🌐
• NostrBuild Blossom - Free upload (max 100MiB) and paid [info] [source] 🌐

Paid Upload Only

• Satellite CDN - prepaid upload (max 5GB each) [info] [source] 🌐

Without Nostr NIP:

• Pomf - Upload larger videos (max 1GB) [source]
• Catbox - max 200 MB [source]
• x0 - max 512 MiB [source]

---

Donation and payments

• Zapper - Easy Zaps [source] 🌐
• Autozap [source] 🌐
• Zapmeacoffee 🌐
• Nostr Zap 💻(numpy)
• Creatr - Creators subscription 🌐
• Geyzer - Crowdfunding [info] [source] 🌐
• Heya! - Crowdfunding [source]

---

Security

• Secret Border - Generate offline keys 💻(java)
• Umbrel - Your private relay [source] 🌐

---

Key signing/login and Extension

• Amber - Key signing [source] 🤖(on zapstore)
• Nowser - Account access keys 📱(🤖🍎) 💻(🐧🍎🪟)
• Nos2x - Account access keys 🌐
• Nsec.app 🌐 [info]
• Lume - [info] [source] 🐧🪟🍎
• Satcom - Share files to discuss - [info] 🌐
• KeysBand - Multi-key signing [source] 🌐

---

Code

• Stacks - AI Templates [info] [source] 🌐
• Nostrify - Share Nostr Frameworks 🌐
• Git Workshop (github like) [experimental] 🌐
• Gitstr (github like) [on development] ⏱️
• Osty [on development] [info] 🌐
• Python Nostr - Python Library for Nostr
• Sybil - Creating, managing and test Nostr events [on development] ⏱️

---

Relay Check and Cloud

• Nostr Watch - See your relay speed 🌐
• NosDrive - Nostr Relay that saves to Google Drive

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Bidges and Getways

• Matrixtr Bridge - Between Matrix & Nostr
• Mostr - Between Nostr & Fediverse
• Nostrss - RSS to Nostr
• Rsslay - Optimized RSS to Nostr [source]
• Atomstr - RSS/Atom to Nostr [source]

Useful Profiles and Trends

nostr-voice - Voice note (just some clients)

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NOT RELATED TO NOSTR

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Voca - Text-to-Speech App for GrapheneOS [source] 🤖(on zapstore)

Android Keyboards

• Futo - Gboard like [source]
• Florisboard - [source]
• Heliboard - Openboard based [source]

---

Personal notes and texts

• Joplin - privacy-focused note taking app with sync capabilities [source] 📱(🤖🍎) - 💻 (🐧🪟🍎)

---

Front-ends

• Nitter - Twitter / X without your data [source]
• NewPipe - Youtube, Peertube and others, without account & your data [source] 🤖
• Piped - Youtube web without you data [source] 🌐

---

Other Services

• Brave - Browser [source]
• DuckDuckGo - Search [source]
• LLMA - Meta - Meta open source AI [source]
• DuckDuckGo AI Chat - Famous AIs without Login [source]
• Proton Mail - Mail [source]

Other open source index: Degoogled Apps

---

Some other Nostr index on:

Nostr Apps | Nostorg | Awesome Nostr

@ 81022b27:2b8d0644

We were just talking today about first impressions when meeting people. Sometimes I get an instant “dislike” to someone upon meeting, even though they have never done or said anything bad to me. The older I get, the more I will usually go with my gut instincts and not engage the person any deeper if possible.

One of the reasons that was brought up is that people who are not congruent with their words, thoughts, and actions are usually the ones that “turn me off”

You know these people, too. They are the ones with all the advice-yet their lives are in shambles, the “preachy” ones that have their closets full of skeletons.

I’ve been accused of “not having a filter” or “being too transparent” at times… but not usually about my stance on things. I’m not confrontational…but I’m not above turning around and wailing away from someone I can’t stomach.

Anyway, the purpose of this rambling post if to encourage you to drop the facade, if you have one-and be more yourself.

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

@ b1ddb4d7:471244e7

Starting January 1, 2026, the United Kingdom will impose some of the world’s most stringent reporting requirements on cryptocurrency firms.

All platforms operating in or serving UK customers-domestic and foreign alike-must collect and disclose extensive personal and transactional data for every user, including individuals, companies, trusts, and charities. 

This regulatory drive marks the UK’s formal adoption of the OECD’s Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), a global initiative designed to bring crypto oversight in line with traditional banking and to curb tax evasion in the rapidly expanding digital asset sector.

What Will Be Reported?

Crypto firms must gather and submit the following for each transaction:

• User’s full legal name, home address, and taxpayer identification number
• Detailed data on every trade or transfer: type of cryptocurrency, amount, and nature of the transaction
• Identifying information for corporate, trust, and charitable clients

The obligation extends to all digital asset activities, including crypto-to-crypto and crypto-to-fiat trades, and applies to both UK residents and non-residents using UK-based platforms. The first annual reports covering 2026 activity are due by May 31, 2027.

Enforcement and Penalties

Non-compliance will carry stiff financial penalties, with fines of up to £300 per user account for inaccurate or missing data-a potentially enormous liability for large exchanges. The UK government has urged crypto firms to begin collecting this information immediately to ensure operational readiness.

Regulatory Context and Market Impact

This move is part of a broader UK strategy to position itself as a global fintech hub while clamping down on fraud and illicit finance. UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves has championed these measures, stating, “Britain is open for business – but closed to fraud, abuse, and instability”. The regulatory expansion comes amid a surge in crypto adoption: the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority reported that 12% of UK adults owned crypto in 2024, up from just 4% in 2021.

Enormous Risks for Consumers: Lessons from the Coinbase Data Breach

While the new framework aims to enhance transparency and protect consumers, it also dramatically increases the volume of sensitive personal data held by crypto firms-raising the stakes for cybersecurity.

The risks are underscored by the recent high-profile breach at Coinbase, one of the world’s largest exchanges.

In May 2025, Coinbase disclosed that cybercriminals, aided by bribed offshore contractors, accessed and exfiltrated customer data including names, addresses, government IDs, and partial bank details. 

The attackers then used this information for sophisticated phishing campaigns, successfully deceiving some customers into surrendering account credentials and funds.

“While private encryption keys remained secure, sufficient customer information was exposed to enable sophisticated phishing attacks by criminals posing as Coinbase personnel.”

Coinbase now faces up to $400 million in compensation costs and has pledged to reimburse affected users, but the incident highlights the systemic vulnerability created when large troves of personal data are centralized-even if passwords and private keys are not directly compromised. The breach also triggered a notable drop in Coinbase’s share price and prompted a $20 million bounty for information leading to the attackers’ capture.

The Bottom Line

The UK’s forthcoming crypto reporting regime represents a landmark in financial regulation, promising greater transparency and tax compliance. However, as the Coinbase episode demonstrates, the aggregation of sensitive user data at scale poses a significant cybersecurity risk.

As regulators push for more oversight, the challenge will be ensuring that consumer protection does not become a double-edged sword-exposing users to new threats even as it seeks to shield them from old ones.

@ 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!

The Years Ahead

The Lindy Effect is a theory that describes the future life expectancy of a technology or an idea. It states that an idea’s expected remaining lifespan is proportional to its current age so that every additional period of survival implies a longer remaining life expectancy. Bitcoin, which is not only an idea but also a technology and a social experiment, is ten years old now, and therefore, we can expect it to stay around for at least another ten.

At the time of writing, there are exactly 17,669,941 bitcoins around, and twelve and a half new ones are created every ten minutes. 17,669,941 is about 84% of the total supply, that is, the total amount of Bitcoin that will ever exist. Ten years from now, around twenty million Bitcoin will have been found, three more block reward halvings will have taken place, and the reward for each block found will be 1.5625 Bitcoin. The whole world will have a little more than two and a half million new Bitcoin around. This is to be compared with the more than seventeen and a half million that were created during the last ten years when they were cheap and relatively easy to come by. In the network’s first couple of years, you could acquire several Bitcoin by just claiming them from special websites called faucets every once in a while. The US dollar’s cumulative rate of inflation was 15.6 percent during this period. This means that each dollar lost more than one sixth of its value in the last ten years due to quantitative easing, which is the central banker’s term for counterfeiting. It is very unlikely that the cumulative rate of inflation for the US dollar in the upcoming ten years will be any lower than these 15.6 percent since the fractional reserve lending system requires a little more inflation each year to sustain itself. So, a little less than 2.5 million new Bitcoin to share and at least 20% more US dollars in circulation to buy them with.

Now, let’s look at the Internet itself. Metcalfe’s Law states that the value of a communications network is proportional to the number of users on the network squared. Each new Internet user is a potential new Bitcoin user, especially in those places on the planet where there’s poor Internet connectivity because those places often have a weak local currency that Bitcoin functions as a hedge against. In 2008, 23% of the world’s population had access to the Internet, and in 2018, that number was 48%. In the developing world, the numbers were 14% in 2008 and 41% in 2018. The global numbers might not double again in the forthcoming ten years, but it looks like they’ll keep on rising, especially in developing countries, where they might just double again. All of these indicators (less Bitcoin, more fiat money, more Internet users) point toward a rising Bitcoin price, regardless of its current valuation. Bitcoin has risen in value extremely fast and has added, on average, an additional zero at the end of its price figure roughly every three years. Can it really keep on doing so? Think about the underlying forces that drive the price up. Every single mobile device could potentially hold Bitcoin, yet only a select few do. When more and more people embrace the technology, the whole fear of missing out cycle starts again, and the price jumps up to the next plateau. Note also that every current Bitcoin user can do three things with his or her coins: sell them, lose them, or hold them. On top of this, nothing is stopping an existing Bitcoin user from acquiring more coins.

Bitcoin is an Internet protocol that is very resistant to change. It showed an unprecedented example of this in late 2017 when all of the biggest companies in Bitcoin decided that they were going to implement the proposed Segregated Witness upgrade and then hard fork to 2-megabyte blocks a couple of months later. Segregated Witness, which most users wanted, was activated, but the network’s users resisted the 2-megabyte block hard fork. This led to a lot of frustration among the proponents of the hard fork and led to the creation of a copycat altcoin called Bitcoin Cash. The price of both tokens rose quickly in the aftermath of the fork, but in hindsight, the event was more of a train robbery than a Christmas gift — confusing at best. Segregated Witness does not only free up block space, but it also allows for Layer 2 scaling solutions to be built on top of Bitcoin, such as the Lightning Network. The Lightning Network allows for instant, completely anonymous, nearly free micro-transactions that do not take up block space, and it is up and running right now. In addition to this, the number of Lightning Network transactions that can be carried out simultaneously is only limited by the bandwidth of the nodes. This makes the Lightning Network a future real competitor to Visa or Mastercard. Many other Layer 2 upgrades are in the works, but the core Bitcoin network functions the same way it always has with its inputs and outputs, its public and private keys, and so on.

Will some other token ever replace Bitcoin, then? After all, more efficient protocols are out there. Short answer: no. This has been mentioned several times before in this book, but it can’t be stressed enough. Scarcity on the Internet was a one-time discovery. It was a one-time invention, and it cannot be repeated because resistance to replicability is the invention. Bitcoin’s history and unique position are what makes it truly scarce and resistant to change, and these first ten years will not repeat themselves for any “alternative” token. There is still a lot of confusion about what Bitcoin is, and the idea of sound money on the Internet is a hard concept to grasp since humans haven’t ever encountered absolute scarcity before. The best path forward for any person is arguably to educate him- or herself and others about the invention and what it means. Time will tell whether your sources were true or false, and it is unlikely that Bitcoin will achieve mass adoption in the next couple of years. Still, the infrastructure is in place, and the interfaces of its surrounding software, like wallets, are getting more and more user-friendly every day. Remember, the iPhone was first introduced to the world in 2007, and smartphones had enormous corporate marketing to help them succeed all along the way. Bitcoin grows organically. Let it breathe and watch it evolve but whatever you do, don’t miss the opportunity and acquire some while you still can, at this discounted price.

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.

@ a5ee4475:2ca75401

[EM ATUALIZAÇÃO]

vacina #saude #politica #manipulacao #mundial #genocidio #pandemia #conspiracao

Este artigo reúne algumas evidências mais antigas que vim registrando durante alguns anos contra a covid, vacinas obrigatórias e a ação de agências de governo, fundações, políticos, mídia tradicional, celebridades, influenciadores, cientistas, redes sociais e laboratórios, em envolvimento com genocídio e restrições de liberdades em escala mundial causado por decisões em várias esferas relativas ao covid e as vacinas obrigatórias em geral.

Porém, alguns links podem não estar mais disponiveis, foram que ainda faltam ser registradas muitas informações já divulgadas nos últimos anos e que não tivemos contato pela escassez de meios para a obtenção dessas informações de forma organizada. Portanto, o presente artigo ainda passará por atualizações de conteúdo e formatação, então se possível ajudem sugerindo com complementos ou alterações.

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1. Vacinas Obrigatórias em Geral

• Vacinas e autismo em crianças https://publichealthpolicyjournal.com/vaccination-and-neurodevelopmental-disorders-a-study-of-nine-year-old-children-enrolled-in-medicaid/

• O CDC admite que 98 milhões de pessoas receberam o vírus do câncer através da vacina da Poliomielite https://medicinanews.com.br/frente/frente_1/o-cdc-admite-que-98-milhoes-de-pessoas-receberam-o-virus-do-cancer-atraves-da-vacina-poliomielite/

Fonte original: https://preventdisease.com/images13/CDC_Polio.png [indisponível] Salvo em: https://web.archive.org/web/20201203231640/ https://preventdisease.com/images13/CDC_Polio.png

"O CDC (Os Centros de Controle e Prevenção de Doenças dos Estados Unidos) removeu rapidamente uma página do seu site, que estava em cache no Google, como você pode ver logo abaixo, admitindo que mais de 98 milhões de americanos receberam uma ou mais doses de vacina contra pólio dentro de 8 período entre 1955 e 1963, quando uma proporção da vacina foi contaminada com um poliomavírus causador de câncer chamado SV40."

27/02/2021 - Por que o Japão demorou para vacinar, mesmo com Olimpíada se aproximando https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/internacional/2021/02/27/por-que-o-japao-demorou-para-vacinar-mesmo-com-olimpiada-se-aproximando

"Desconfiança da população japonesa em relação a vacinas, ligada a casos ocorridos no passado, está entre razões que atrasaram imunização no país.

A resistência à vacina do Japão remonta à década de 1970, quando duas crianças morreram dentro de 24 horas após receberem a vacina combinada contra difteria, tétano e coqueluche (coqueluche). A vacina foi temporariamente suspensa, mas a confiança já havia sido abalada. Por vários anos, as taxas de vacinação infantil caíram, levando a um aumento nos casos de tosse convulsa.

No final dos anos 1980, houve outro susto com a introdução da vacina tripla contra sarampo, caxumba e rubéola produzida no Japão. As primeiras versões do imunizante foram associadas à meningite asséptica, ou inchaço das membranas ao redor do cérebro e da medula espinhal. O problema foi rastreado até o componente caxumba da vacina tripla, o que levou a uma ação judicial e a indenização por danos pesados.

O Instituto Nacional de Ciências da Saúde interrompeu a dose combinada em 1993 e a substituiu por vacinas individuais. Após o escândalo, Shibuya disse que o governo japonês se tornou "ciente dos riscos" e seu programa nacional de vacinação tornou-se voluntário.

O Dr. Yuho Horikoshi, especialista em doenças infecciosas, diz que os processos levaram a uma "lacuna de vacinação", em que nenhuma vacina foi aprovada no Japão por cerca de 15 anos.

Mais recentemente, em 2013, o Japão adicionou a vacina contra o papilomavírus humano (HPV) ao calendário nacional para proteger as meninas contra o vírus sexualmente transmissível, que é conhecido por causar câncer cervical. No entanto, vídeos de meninas supostamente sofrendo de reações adversas começaram a circular no YouTube, levando o governo a retirá-los da programação nacional."

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2. PRIMEIRAS OCORRÊNCIAS PREDITIVAS AO COVID-19

2010 - Fundação Rockfeller, Lockstep. https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/Annual-Report-2010-1.pdf

Neste PDF da fundação Rockfeller, em seu próprio site, a fundação deixou claro o seu envolvimento em casos de ‘contenção’ de pandemias juntamente com a USAID (agência americana com nome ambíguo, como formalmente ‘United States Agency for International Development’, mas soando como ‘US Socorre’, mas sendo um braço do governo democrata que financiava interferências políticas diretas em vários países, como no Brasil: https://www.gazetadopovo.com.br/vida-e-cidadania/quais-ongs-cooperaram-com-moraes-e-sao-alvo-do-congresso-nos-eua/ ), inclusive em relacionadas ao SARS, um vírus muito semelhante ao SEGUNDO tipo de vírus Sars-Cov, o Sars-Cov-2 (o vírus propagado em 2019) e que causa o COVID-19.

Segundo eles:

“Integração entre Regiões e Países

A Fundação Rockefeler investiu US$ 22 milhões em sua Iniciativa de Redes de Vigilância de Doenças para ajudar a conter a disseminação de doenças infecciosas e pandemias, fortalecendo os sistemas nacionais, regionais e globais de vigilância e resposta a doenças. Dois programas-chave da Rockefeler — a Rede de Vigilância de Doenças da Bacia do Mekong e a Rede Integrada de Vigilância de Doenças da África Oriental — conectaram e capacitaram profissionais de saúde, epidemiologistas e autoridades de saúde pública em toda a região, levando a um aumento de seis vezes nos locais de vigilância de doenças transfronteiriças somente nos últimos três anos. Em 2010, a Rockefeler expandiu a bem-sucedida campanha transdisciplinar One Health, que a USAID e o Banco Asiático de Desenvolvimento adotaram como modelos. One Health refere-se à integração da ciência médica e veterinária para combater essas novas variedades de doenças zoonóticas que se movem e sofrem mutações rapidamente de animais para humanos. Essas colaborações criaram e fortaleceram uma rede regional crítica de saúde pública, enquanto as lições aprendidas foram exportadas entre disciplinas e países. Além de fortalecer os laços globais em saúde pública, a Rockefeler ajudou a elevar o nível de especialização e treinamento em campo. O Programa de Treinamento em Epidemiologia de Campo coloca graduados nos mais altos escalões do governo no Laos e no Vietnã, enquanto as bolsas da Rockefeler transformaram as ferramentas disponíveis para os médicos, permitindo-lhes utilizar o poder da internet para se comunicar e monitorar eventos, compreender contextos locais e analisar novos problemas. Finalmente, estamos aplicando ferramentas do século XXI para combater os desafios de saúde do século XXI.”

Julho de 2012 - Revista Mundo Estranho

Houve uma "coincidência", a revista Mundo Estranho em julho de 2012, entrevistou o até então doutorando em virologia, Átila Iamarino (o mesmo cientista que fez diversas propagandas das vacinas no Brasil), para descrever um possível cenário de propagação de uma epidemia viral, a revista descreve com grande precisão os eventos de 2020, mas apontando o oposto da China, em que, na realidade, sua economia cresceu vertiginosamente.

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3. PRIMEIROS INDÍCIOS

10/2019 - Evento 201 - Durante os Jogos Militares Internacionais na China. https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/event201/

Promovido por: - Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - John Hopkins Institute - Fórum econômico mundial

"O evento simula a liberação de um coronavírus novo do tipo zoonótico transmitido por morcegos para porcos e por fim para humanos. Eventualmente ele se torna muito transmissível entre humanos levando a uma pandemia severa. O vírus é muito parecido com o vírus da SARS, mas se transmite muito mais facilmente entre pessoas devido a sintomas muito mais leves destas."

Também mencionado por: http://patrocinados.estadao.com.br/medialab/releaseonline/releasegeral-releasegeral/geral-johns-hopkins-center-for-health-security-forum-economico-mundial-e-fundacao-bill-melinda-gates-realizam-exercicio-pandemico-e-transmissao-ao-vivo/

Sobre o "Movimento antivacina"

05/12/2017 - Movimento antivacina: como surgiu e quais consequências ele pode trazer? https://www.uol.com.br/universa/noticias/redacao/2017/12/05/o-que-o-movimento-antivacina-pode-causar.htm?cmpid=copiaecola

23/03/2019 - "Instagram bloqueia hashtags e conteúdo antivacinação" https://canaltech.com.br/redes-sociais/instagram-bloqueia-hashtags-e-conteudo-antivacinacao-135411/

23/05/2021 - Novos dados sobre pesquisadores de Wuhan aumentam debate sobre origens da Covid https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/saude/novos-dados-sobre-pesquisadores-de-wuhan-aumentam-debate-sobre-origens-da-covid/

"A China relatou à Organização Mundial da Saúde que o primeiro paciente com sintomas semelhantes aos de Covid-19 foi registrado em Wuhan em 8 de dezembro de 2019"

01/02/2020 - O que aconteceu desde que o novo coronavírus foi descoberto na China https://exame.com/ciencia/o-que-aconteceu-desde-que-o-novo-coronavirus-foi-descoberto-na-china/

"O primeiro alerta foi recebido pela Organização Mundial da Saúde (OMS) em 31 de dezembro de 2019"

15/09/2020 - YouTube diz que vai remover vídeos com mentiras sobre vacina contra COVID-19 https://gizmodo.uol.com.br/youtube-remover-videos-mentiras-vacina-covid-19/

"O YouTube anunciou na quarta-feira (14) que estenderá as regras atuais sobre mentiras, propaganda e teorias da conspiração sobre a pandemia do coronavírus para incluir desinformação sobre as vacinas contra a doença.

De acordo com a Reuters, a gigante do vídeo diz que agora vai proibir conteúdos sobre vacinas contra o coronavírus que contradizem “o consenso de especialistas das autoridades de saúde locais ou da OMS”, como afirmações falsas de que a vacina é um pretexto para colocar chips de rastreamento nas pessoas ou que irá matar ou esterilizar quem tomar."

*07/01/2021 - YouTube vai punir canais que promovem mentiras sobre eleições – incluindo os de Trump https://olhardigital.com.br/2021/01/07/noticias/youtube-vai-punir-canais-que-promovem-mentiras-sobre-eleicoes-incluindo-os-de-trump/

"O YouTube anunciou que vai punir canais que promovem mentiras sobre as eleições, removendo sumariamente qualquer vídeo que contenha desinformação e, ao mesmo tempo, advertindo com um “strike” o canal que o veicular. A medida já está valendo e a primeira “vítima” é ninguém menos que o ex-presidente americano, Donald Trump.

A medida não é exatamente nova, mas foi novamente comunicada e reforçada pelo YouTube na quarta-feira (6), após os eventos de invasão do Capitólio, em Washington, onde o presidente eleito Joe Biden participava da cerimônia que confirmava a sua vitória nas eleições de novembro de 2020. A ocasião ficou marcada pela tentativa de invasão de correligionários de Trump, que entraram no edifício em oposição à nomeação do novo presidente. Uma mulher acabou sendo morta pela polícia que protegia o local.

O ex-presidente Donald Trump teve vídeos banidos de seu canal no YouTube após os eventos de ontem (6) no capitólio."

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4. FIGURAS CENTRAIS

Bill Gates

Bill Gates diz 'não' a abrir patentes de vacinas https://www.frontliner.com.br/bill-gates-diz-nao-a-abrir-patentes-de-vacinas/

"Bill Gates, um dos homens mais ricos do mundo, cuja fundação tem participação na farmacêutica alemã CureVac, produtora de vacina mRNA para prevenção de covid-19, disse não acreditar que a propriedade intelectual tenha algo a ver com o longo esforço global para controlar a pandemia."

João Doria e ocorrências em São Paulo

26/07/2017 - João Dória vai a China conhecer drones para ampliar segurança eletrônica na capital paulista https://jc.ne10.uol.com.br/blogs/jamildo/2017/07/26/joao-doria-vai-china-conhecer-drones-para-ampliar-seguranca-eletronica-na-capital-paulista/

02/08/2019 - Governo de SP fará Missão China para ampliar cooperação e atrair investimentos https://www.saopaulo.sp.gov.br/spnoticias/governo-de-sao-paulo-detalha-objetivos-da-missao-china/

20/11/2019 - Doria se encontra com chineses das gigantes CREC e CRCC e oferece concessões de rodovia, metrô e ferrovia https://diariodotransporte.com.br/2019/11/20/doria-se-encontra-com-chineses-das-gigantes-crec-e-crcc-e-oferece-concessoes-de-rodovia-metro-e-ferrovia/

25/01/2020 - "Chineses serão agressivos" nas privatizações em SP até 2022, afirma Dória https://noticias.uol.com.br/colunas/jamil-chade/2020/01/25/entrevista-joao-doria-privatizacoes-sao-paulo-china.htm

O governador de São Paulo, João Doria, afirma que vai acelerar os programas de desestatização no estado em 2020 e acredita que concessões e vendas poderão permitir uma arrecadação de pelo menos R$ 40 bilhões. Nesse processo, o governador avalia que a China deve atuar de forma agressiva e que aprofundará sua posição de maior parceira comercial do estado, se distanciando de americanos e argentinos.

29/06/2020 - Doria estabelece multa para quem estiver sem máscara na rua em SP https://veja.abril.com.br/saude/doria-estabelece-multa-para-quem-estiver-sem-mascara-na-rua/

24/12/2020 - Doria é flagrado sem máscara e fazendo compras em Miami https://pleno.news/brasil/politica-nacional/doria-e-flagrado-sem-mascara-e-fazendo-compras-em-miami.html

Foto do governador de São Paulo sem o item de proteção viralizou nas redes

07/06/2021 - Doria é criticado na internet por tomar sol sem máscara em hotel no Rio https://vejasp.abril.com.br/cidades/doria-e-criticado-na-internet-por-tomar-sol-sem-mascara-em-hotel-no-rio/

30/09/2020 - Governo de SP assina contrato com Sinovac e prevê vacina para dezembro https://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/saude/noticia/2020-09/governo-de-sp-assina-contrato-com-sinovac-e-preve-vacina-para-dezembro

O governador de São Paulo, João Doria, e o vice-presidente da laboratório chinês Sinovac, Weining Meng, assinaram hoje (30), um contrato que prevê o fornecimento de 46 milhões de doses da vacina CoronaVac para o governo paulista até dezembro deste ano.

O contrato também prevê a transferência tecnológica da vacina da Sinovac para o Instituto Butantan, o que significa que, o instituto brasileiro poderá começar a fabricar doses dessa vacina contra o novo coronavírus. O valor do contrato, segundo o governador João Doria é de US$ 90 milhões.

20/10/2020 - Coronavac terá mais de 90% de eficácia, afirmam integrantes do governo paulista https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/saude/2020/12/20/coronavac-tera-mais-de-90-de-eficacia-afirmam-integrantes-do-governo

24/10/2020 - Não esperamos 90% de eficácia da Coronavac’, diz secretário de saúde de SP https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/saude/2020/12/24/nao-esperamos-90-de-eficacia-da-coronavac-diz-secretario-de-saude-de-sp

07/01/2021 - Vacina do Butantan: eficácia é de 78% em casos leves e 100% em graves https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/saude/2021/01/07/vacina-do-butantan-eficacia-e-de-78-em-casos-leves-e-100-em-graves

09/01/2021 - Não é hora de sermos tão cientistas como estamos sendo agora https://g1.globo.com/sp/sao-paulo/video/nao-e-hora-de-sermos-tao-cientistas-como-estamos-sendo-agora-diz-secretario-de-saude-de-sp-9166405.ghtml

10/01/2021 - Dados da Coronavac relatados à Anvisa não estão claros, diz médico https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/saude/2021/01/10/dados-da-coronavac-relatados-a-anvisa-nao-estao-claros-diz-medico

"O diretor do Laboratório de Imunologia do Incor, Jorge Kalil, reforçou que faltaram informações sobre a Coronavac nos dados divulgados à Anvisa"

12/01/2021 - New Brazil data shows disappointing 50,4% efficacy for China’s Coronavac vaccine [Novos dados do Brasil mostram eficácia decepcionante de 50,4% para a vacina CoronaVac da China] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-brazil-coronavirus/new-brazil-data-shows-disappointing-504-efficacy-for-chinas-coronavac-vaccine-idUSKBN29H2CE

13/01/2021 - Eficácia da Coronavac: 50,38%, 78% ou 100%? https://blogs.oglobo.globo.com/lauro-jardim/post/5038-78-ou-100.html

“De acordo com interlocutores que participaram tanto do anúncio de ontem como da semana passada, quem pressionou para que os dados de 78% e 100% fossem liberados foi João Dória.”

07/05/2021 - Covid-19: Doria toma primeira dose da vacina CoronaVac https://veja.abril.com.br/saude/covid-19-doria-toma-primeira-dose-da-vacina-coronavac/

04/06/2021 - Doria é vacinado com a segunda dose da CoronaVac em São Paulo https://noticias.uol.com.br/politica/ultimas-noticias/2021/06/04/doria-e-vacinado-com-a-segunda-dose-da-coronavac-em-sao-paulo.htm

15/07/2021 - Doria testa positivo para a Covid-19 pela 2ª vez https://www.correiobraziliense.com.br/politica/2021/07/4937833-doria-testa-positivo-para-covid-19-pela-segunda-vez.html

"Governador de São Paulo já havia sido diagnosticado com a doença no ano passado. Ele diz que, apesar da infecção, se sente bem, o que atribui ao fato de ter sido vacinado com duas doses da Coronavac"

06/08/2021 - CPI recebe investigação contra Doria por compra de máscara sem licitação https://www.conexaopoder.com.br/nacional/cpi-recebe-investigacao-contra-doria-por-compra-de-mascara-sem-licitacao/150827

"Empresa teria usado o nome de Alexandre Frota para vender máscaras ao governo de SP. Doria nega informação"

Renan Filho (filho do Renan Calheiros)

25/07/2019 - Governador Renan Filho vai à China em busca de investimentos para o estado https://www.tnh1.com.br/videos/vid/governador-renan-filho-vai-a-china-em-busca-de-investimentos-para-o-estado/

20/03/2020 - Governadores do NE consultam China e pedem material para tratar covid-19 https://noticias.uol.com.br/saude/ultimas-noticias/redacao/2020/03/20/governadores-do-ne-consultam-china-e-pedem-material-para-tratar-covid-19.htm

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5. Narrativas, restrições e proibições

17/12/2020 - STF decide que vacina contra a covid pode ser obrigatória, mas não forçada https://noticias.uol.com.br/saude/ultimas-noticias/redacao/2020/12/17/stf-julga-vacinacao-obrigatoria.htm?cmpid=copiaecola

"O STF (Supremo Tribunal Federal) decidiu, em julgamento hoje, que o Estado pode determinar a obrigatoriedade da vacinação contra a covid-19. Porém fica proibido o uso da força para exigir a vacinação, ainda que possam ser aplicadas restrições a direitos de quem recusar a imunização.

Dez ministros foram favoráveis a obrigatoriedade da vacinação, que poderá ser determinada pelo governo federal, estados ou municípios. As penalidades a quem não cumprir a obrigação deverão ser definidas em lei."

27/07/2021 - Saiba que países estão adotando 'passaporte da vacina' para suspender restrições https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/internacional/2021/07/27/saiba-que-paises-estao-adotando-passaporte-da-vacina-para-suspender-restricoes

" - Israel - Uniao Europeia - Áustria - Dinamarca - Eslovênia - França - Grécia - Irlanda - Itália - Letônia - Lituânia - Luxemburgo - Holanda - Portugal - Japão - Coreia do sul"

18/06/2021 - O que é o passaporte da vacina que Bolsonaro quer vetar? https://noticias.uol.com.br/politica/ultimas-noticias/2021/06/18/uol-explica-o-que-e-o-passaporte-da-vacina-que-opoe-bolsonaro-e-damares.htm

"O Brasil poderá ter um certificado de imunização futuramente. Aprovado no Senado na semana passada, o "passaporte da vacina", como é chamado, prevê identificar pessoas vacinadas para que entrem em locais públicos ou privados com possíveis restrições."

---

6. Vacinas

Alegações:

• CoronaVac, Oxford e Pfizer: veja diferenças entre as vacinas contra covid noticias.uol.com.br/saude/ultimas-noticias/redacao/2021/05/11/diferencas-vacinas-covid-brasil.htm

"CoronaVac (Butantan/Sinovac - Chinesa) Com virus inativo 50,38% de eficácia 2 doses

Covishield - 'AstraZeneca' (Fiocruz/Astrazenica/Oxford - Britânica) Com virus não replicante 67% de eficácia 2 doses

ComiRNAty - 'Pfizer' (Pfizer - Americana / BioNTech - Alemã) Com RNA mensageiro 96% de eficácia 2 doses"

Riscos diretos

15/06/2021 - Trombose após vacinação com AstraZeneca: Quais os sintomas e como se deve atuar? https://www.istoedinheiro.com.br/trombose-apos-vacinacao-com-astrazeneca-quais-os-sintomas-e-como-se-deve-atuar/

"Agências europeias estão reticentes com a vacina da AstraZeneca. Ela chegou a ser desaconselhada a pessoas com idade inferior a 60 anos, e um alto funcionário da Agência Europeia de Medicamentos declarou que era melhor deixar de administrar a vacina deste laboratório em qualquer idade quando há alternativas disponíveis, devido aos relatos de trombose após a primeira dose, apesar de raros."

11/05/2021 - CoronaVac, Oxford e Pfizer: veja diferenças entre as vacinas contra covid https://noticias.uol.com.br/saude/ultimas-noticias/redacao/2021/05/11/diferencas-vacinas-covid-brasil.htm

"Na terça-feira (12), o Ministério da Saúde determinou a suspensão da aplicação da vacina de Oxford/AstraZeneca para gestantes e puérperas com comorbidades. A decisão segue recomendação da Anvisa, que apura a morte de uma grávida de 35 anos que tomou o imunizante e teve um AVC (acidente vascular cerebral)."

30/07/2021 - Pfizer representa o mesmo risco de trombose que a Astrazeneca, aponta levantamento https://panoramafarmaceutico.com.br/pfizer-representa-o-mesmo-risco-de-trombose-que-a-astrazeneca-aponta-levantamento/

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7. CRIMES

Crimes da Pfizer

18/11/2020 Não listado no google - Os Crimes documentados da produtora de vacinas de Covid - Pfizer [INGLÊS] https://www.dmlawfirm.com/crimes-of-covid-vaccine-maker-pfizer-well-documented/

"A velocidade com que a vacina Covid da Pfizer foi produzida, a ausência de estudos em animais, testes de controle randomizados e outros testes e procedimentos padrão usuais para um novo medicamento são, no mínimo, preocupantes. Além disso, todos os fabricantes de vacinas Covid receberam imunidade legal para quaisquer ferimentos ou mortes que possam causar. Se essas vacinas são tão seguras quanto promovidas, por que seus fabricantes precisam de imunidade geral?"

"A Pfizer, uma empresa farmacêutica que parece ter ganhado na loteria para produzir a primeira vacina Covid-19, está atualmente lutando contra centenas de ações judiciais sobre o Zantac, um popular medicamento contra azia. Os processos da Zantac afirmam que a droga popular pode estar contaminada com uma substância cancerígena chamada N-nitrosodimetilamina (NDMA). Os processos Zantac são em aberto e em andamento, já que a farmacêutica está lutando contra eles; mas a Pfizer, sabemos, cometeu vários crimes ou transgressões pelos quais foi punida nos últimos anos. As falhas da empresa estão bem documentadas e vale a pena revisá-las neste momento crítico da história da humanidade, enquanto todos nós buscamos respostas."

A Pfizer recebeu a maior multa da história dos Estados Unidos como parte de um acordo judicial de US $ 2,3 bilhões com promotores federais por promover medicamentos erroneamente (Bextra, Celebrex) e pagar propinas a médicos complacentes. A Pfizer se confessou culpada de falsificar a marca do analgésico Bextra, promovendo o medicamento para usos para os quais não foi aprovado.

Na década de 1990, a Pfizer estava envolvida em válvulas cardíacas defeituosas que causaram a morte de mais de 100 pessoas. A Pfizer enganou deliberadamente os reguladores sobre os perigos. A empresa concordou em pagar US $ 10,75 milhões para acertar as acusações do departamento de justiça por enganar reguladores.

A Pfizer pagou mais de US $ 60 milhões para resolver um processo sobre o Rezulin, um medicamento para diabetes que causou a morte de pacientes de insuficiência hepática aguda.

No Reino Unido, a Pfizer foi multada em quase € 90 milhões por sobrecarregar o NHS, o Serviço Nacional de Saúde. A Pfizer cobrou do contribuinte um adicional de € 48 milhões por ano, pelo que deveria custar € 2 milhões por ano.

A Pfizer concordou em pagar US $ 430 milhões em 2004 para resolver acusações criminais de que havia subornado médicos para prescrever seu medicamento para epilepsia Neurontin para indicações para as quais não foi aprovado. Em 2011, um júri concluiu que a Pfizer cometeu fraude em sua comercialização do medicamento Neurontin. A Pfizer concordou em pagar $ 142,1 milhões para liquidar as despesas.

A Pfizer revelou que pagou quase 4.500 médicos e outros profissionais médicos cerca de US $ 20 milhões por falar em nome da Pfizer.

Em 2012, a Comissão de Valores Mobiliários dos Estados Unidos - anunciou que havia chegado a um acordo de US $ 45 milhões com a Pfizer para resolver acusações de que suas subsidiárias haviam subornado médicos e outros profissionais de saúde no exterior para aumentar as vendas no exterior.

A Pfizer foi processada em um tribunal federal dos Estados Unidos por usar crianças nigerianas como cobaias humanas, sem o consentimento dos pais das crianças. A Pfizer pagou US $ 75 milhões para entrar em acordo no tribunal nigeriano pelo uso de um antibiótico experimental, o Trovan, nas crianças. A empresa pagou um valor adicional não divulgado nos Estados Unidos para liquidar as despesas aqui. A Pfizer violou o direito internacional, incluindo a Convenção de Nuremberg estabelecida após a Segunda Guerra Mundial, devido aos experimentos nazistas em prisioneiros relutantes.

Em meio a críticas generalizadas de roubar os países pobres em busca de drogas, a Pfizer prometeu dar US $ 50 milhões para um medicamento para a AIDS para a África do Sul. Mais tarde, no entanto, a Pfizer falhou em honrar essa promessa.

• Pfizer contract leaked! [Contrato da Pfizer vazado] http://sanjeev.sabhlokcity.com/Misc/LEXO-KONTRATEN-E-PLOTE.pdf

Segundo o contrato "o produto não deve ser serializado":

"5.5 Reconhecimento do comprador.

O Comprador reconhece que a Vacina e os materiais relacionados à Vacina, e seus componentes e materiais constituintes estão sendo desenvolvidos rapidamente devido às circunstâncias de emergência da pandemia de COVID-19 e continuarão a ser estudados após o fornecimento da Vacina ao Comprador nos termos deste Contrato. O Comprador reconhece ainda que os efeitos de longo prazo e eficácia da Vacina não são atualmente conhecidos e que pode haver efeitos adversos da Vacina que não são atualmente conhecidos. Além disso, na medida do aplicável, o Comprador reconhece que o Produto não deve ser serializado."

Crimes da AstraZeneca

21/06/2003 - AstraZeneca se declara culpada no esquema de médico de câncer https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/21/business/astrazeneca-pleads-guilty-in-cancer-medicine-scheme.html

"A AstraZeneca, a grande empresa farmacêutica, se declarou culpada hoje de uma acusação de crime de fraude no sistema de saúde e concordou em pagar $ 355 milhões para resolver as acusações criminais e civis de que se envolveu em um esquema nacional para comercializar ilegalmente um medicamento contra o câncer de próstata.

O governo disse que os funcionários da empresa deram incentivos financeiros ilegais a cerca de 400 médicos em todo o país para persuadi-los a prescrever o medicamento Zoladex. Esses incentivos incluíram milhares de amostras grátis de Zoladex [...]"

27/04/2010 - Farmacêutica gigante AstraZeneca pagará US $ 520 milhões pelo marketing de medicamentos off-label https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/pharmaceutical-giant-astrazeneca-pay-520-million-label-drug-marketing

"AstraZeneca LP e AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP vão pagar $ 520 milhões para resolver as alegações de que a AstraZeneca comercializou ilegalmente o medicamento antipsicótico Seroquel para usos não aprovados como seguros e eficazes pela Food and Drug Administration (FDA), os Departamentos de Justiça e Saúde e Serviços Humanos A Equipe de Ação de Fiscalização de Fraudes em Saúde (HEAT) anunciou hoje. Esses usos não aprovados também são conhecidos como usos "off-label" porque não estão incluídos no rótulo do medicamento aprovado pela FDA."

• List of largest pharmaceutical settlements [Lista dos maiores acordos farmaceuticos] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_pharmaceutical_settlements

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8. CIENTISTAS

Dr. Kary Mullis - Criador do teste PCR

• PCR nas palavras do seu inventor - Dr. Kary Mullis (legendado) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1O52uTygk8

"Qualquer um pode testar positivo para quase qualquer coisa com um teste de PCR, se você executá-lo por tempo suficiente… Com PCR, se voce fizer isso bem, você pode encontrar quase tudo em qualquer pessoa… Isso não te diz que você está doente."

• Kary Mullis DESTRUYE a Anthony Fauci lbry://@CapitalistChile#0/Kary-Mullis---Fauci#5

"Ele [...] não entende de medicina e não deveria estar onde está. A maioria dos que estão acima são só administrativos e não têm nem ideia do que ocorre aqui em baixo e essas pessoas tem uma agenda que não é a que gostaríamos que tivessem, dado que somos nós os que pagamos a eles para que cuidem da nossa saúde. Têm uma agenda pessoal."

• Dra. Li-Meng Yan: O vírus foi criado em laboratório com um objetivo: Causar dano. https://youtu.be/pSXp3CZnvOc

• Cientista Phd Dr Joe Roseman faz seríssimas advertencias sobre a picada https://youtu.be/0PIXVFqJ_h8

• As vacinas podem estar causando ADE - Dr. Robert Malone https://odysee.com/@AkashaComunidad:f/Las_vacunas_pueden_estar_causando_ADE_magnificaci%C3%B3n_mediada_por:f lbry://@Información.#b/Drrm#9

Dr. Robert Malone, um dos três inventores da tecnologia de RNAm que se usa de forma farmacêutica. No vídeo fala sobre os efeitos de ADE (realce dependente de anticorpos) que estão ocorrendo com as vacinas. Nas palavras do Dr. Malone, já não é somente uma hipótese, mas baseada nos conhecimentos gerados nas provas e ensaios pré clínicos, com as vacinas contra o primeiro vírus da SARS.

• Dr. Luc Montagnier, virologista, prêmio Nobel de medicina, um dos descobridores do vírus HIV, afirma: "a vacinação em massa está criando as novas variantes' (@medicospelavida , telegram)

• USAR ou NÃO USAR a CUECA do seu governador no rosto https://fb.watch/7NPP_7rS5S/ https://www.facebook.com/AdoniasSoaresBR/videos/1347904292291481/ Adonias Soares entrevista ao Dr. Paulo Sato sobre as máscaras, em que é simulado o efeito da respiração prolongada das máscaras no organismo com o uso de águas de torneira, natural, gaseificada (com gás carbônico) e antioxidante, em que a com gás carbônico (PH 4 - Ácido) representa o organismo humano, e na prática representa lesão corporal e iniciação de doenças.

13 de setembro de 2021 - 13/09/2021 - Carta aberta ao Ministro da Saúde por Arlene Ferrari Graf, mãe de Bruno Oscar Graf https://telegra.ph/Carta-aberta-ao-Ministro-da-Sa%C3%BAde-09-13

Também em: Gazeta do Povo

O texto de uma mãe discorrendo sobre o filho dela, Bruno Oscar Graf, ter ANTI-HEPARINA PF4 AUTO-IMUNE e ter vindo a falecer por reação à vacina.

11/05/2021 - Rio notifica morte de grávida vacinada com imunizante Oxford https://www.terra.com.br/noticias/coronavirus/rio-notifica-morte-de-gravida-vacinada-com-imunizante-oxford,415b9b0c49169427ac2f90ae3765c057e9suy3qn.html

"Vítima não apresentava histórico de doença circulatória nem sofria de nenhuma doença viral; relação será investigada"

13/08/2021 - Cruzeiro com 4.336 pessoas tem 27 contaminados com Covid-19 em Belize https://paranaportal.uol.com.br/geral/cruzeiro-com-4-336-pessoas-tem-27-contaminados-com-covid-19-em-belize/amp/

"Segundo um comunicado do Conselho de Turismo de Belize emitido na quarta-feira (11), 26 contaminados são da tripulação e um é passageiro. A maioria é assintomática e os 27 estão vacinados."

Setembro de 2021 - 09/2021 - BOMBA: Ex-membro do Partido Comunista da China revela que o primeiro surto da Covid foi “intencional” https://terrabrasilnoticias.com/2021/09/bomba-ex-membro-do-partido-comunista-da-china-revela-que-o-primeiro-surto-da-covid-foi-intencional/

• Máscara Provoca Insuficiência Respiratória E Contaminação Microbiana… [Canal deletado] https://youtube.com/watch?v=eHu-pydSvDI

@ 81022b27:2b8d0644

I’m a Chiropractor, Writer, Travel Nerd, Lover of Efficiency, Trekker and a Celebrity in Mexican Restaurants Hi, I’m Danny DeReuter, and I want to save the world. I’m an occasional writer-I’ve written some stuff.

Sometimes people think I’m funny. Maybe some time I’ll come up with a bit of courage and try my hand at stand-up. (seriously, that’s a thing on my vision board)

I’ve become somewhat of a social media expert managing my online presence. I help show people how to do social media more effectively.

I’m also a speaker. I prefer to speak on topics that I’m passionate about-like natural health, chiropractic, and social media. I also have a Podcast. Be nice and you can ask me to speak at your event.

@ c11cf5f8:4928464d

Howdy stackers! Here we are again with our monthly Magnificent Seven, the summary giving you a hit of what you missed in the ~AGORA territory.

First thing first. let's check our top performing post Ads!

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Top-Performing Ads

This month, the most engaging ones are:

• 01 Bitcoin Magazine Launches V3 Limited Edition Bitcoin Crocs by @RideandSmile, no description, nor images provided. The title speak for the product itself. 31 sats \ 8 comments \ 15 May

• 02 Happy Pizza Day Jerky Offer (10k sats sale 5/22 ONLY) by @beejay, celebrating Bitcoin Pizza Day with a delicious offer for a handmade product. Offer is over but it still available on her online shop and IRL at next Twin Cities Outdoor Agora Market https://stacker.news/items/972209/r/AG 103 sats \ 3 comments \ 22 May

• 03 Lard Tallow lotion by @byzantine, sharing with us one of his preferred online shops that accept sats. Here other two: a Regenerative Farm in TX https://stacker.news/items/983695/r/AG and an artisanal lite roast coffee maker https://stacker.news/items/983668/r/AG 62 sats \ 4 comments \ 20 May

• 04 Bitaxe Gamma 601 for sale by @PictureRoom selling P2P, have you shipped it yet? 121 sats \ 12 comments \ 15 May

• 05 Built An Invisible Book Stage by @kr, he did well creating some expectations for this unique and durable product earlier https://stacker.news/items/903946/r/AG 124 sats \ 4 comments \ 21 May

• 06 "₿lack Market Money" T-Shirts by T&F by @BitcoinErrorLog, that had opened his online store with plenty of incredible products, including an Anti-Surveillance clothing line https://stacker.news/items/994555/r/AG stuff never seen before! 51 sats \ 3 comments \ 24 May

• 07 [SELL] Heatpunk 002 Tee by @thebullishbitcoiner, reviving the second edition of a t-shirt dedicated to home solo miners! 79 sats \ 1 comment \ 28 May

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In case you missed

Here some interesting post, opening conversations and free speech about markets and business on the bitcoin circular economy:

• https://stacker.news/items/992449/r/AG - @Kontext is selling his beloved 2012 Jaguar XF 3.0 V6 Petrol [5M sats], great deal if paid in sats! Have you sold her?
• https://stacker.news/items/987241/r/AG - @RideandSmile shared the Freedom Issue: Letter From the Editor introducing a BM special edition
• https://stacker.news/items/999229/r/AG - @Solomonsatoshi was looking for Green Coffee Beans for DIY home roasting. Will @michaelbinary provide you some?
• https://stacker.news/items/992790/r/AG - @Rayo also introduce the P.A.Z.NIA Radio Network: 52 Hours of Liberation! An interesting livestream for all those interested in freedom.
• https://stacker.news/items/995163/r/AG welcome to @lunin, opening up on SN with Take it step by step and it will work! as part of a promising series: Founder's Thoughts. Here the second post https://stacker.news/items/999867/r/AG Startup according to Mozart

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Hey sellers! Try Auctions

A quick reminder that now you can setup auctions here in the AGORA too! Learn how. The other feature released last month was the introduction of Shopfronts on SN. Check our SN Merch and SN Zine examples. Thank you all! Let's keep these trades coming and grow the P2P Bitcoin circular economy!

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Active Professional Services accepting Bitcoin in the AGORA

Let us know if we miss any, here below the most memorable ones: - https://stacker.news/items/900208/r/AG - @unschooled offering Language Tutoring - https://stacker.news/items/813013/r/AG - @gpvansat's [OFFER][Graphic Design] From the paste editions (It's important to keep these offers available) - https://stacker.news/items/775383/r/AG - @TinstrMedia - Color Grading (Styling) Your Pictures as a Service - https://stacker.news/items/773557/r/AG - @MamaHodl, MATHS TUTOR 50K SATS/hour English global - https://stacker.news/items/684163/r/AG - @BTCLNAT's OFFER HEALTH COUNSELING [5K SAT/ consultation - https://stacker.news/items/689268/r/AG - @mathswithtess [SELL] MATHS TUTOR ONILINE, 90k sats per hour. Global but English only.

Let me know if I'm missing other stackers offering services around here!

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Lost & Found in SN' Wild West Web

Stay with me, we're not done yet! I found plenty of other deals, offers and business related conversations in other territories too...

• BITCOIN... always fucking with my head... by @thecommoner (highly recommended read!)
• The Strange Moral Relativism of "Free Trade" by @Undisciplined (another highly recommended read!)
• What makes society thrive? by @aljaz
• Drop or proxy shipping services that take sats? by @lv99slacker
• Custom Bitcoin Nodes by @anon
• 23 Bitcoin Merch Shops That Sell Shirts For Sats by @hyperfree
• How to create an e-commerce website? by @Bitcoiner1
• Can You Outperform an Apple Tree? by @kr
• B2B Businesses in Bitcoin by @telcobert

Oh boy! Such exciting month! Now our latest weekly appointments:

🏷️ Spending Sunday

(LIVE TODAY) Share your most recent Bitcoin purchases of just check what other stackers are buying with their sats! Today's one open at https://stacker.news/items/1000477/r/AG

All series available here:

🤝 Sellers & Business Club

(UPCOMING EVERY TUESDAY) Here https://stacker.news/items/998773/r/AG wanted to introduce this new series, dedicated to our most active sellers^1. A room to talk about growing business and sales. You will join?

📢 Thursday Talks: What have you sold for Bitcoin this week?

It is losing a bit of momentum, but it will still be opening every week for anyone interested to share sales tips, deals and offers around the Wild West Web! Latest one here https://stacker.news/items/997767/r/AG

Thanks all for reading until here, now... 🫡 Closing remarks as usual. See ya!

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Create your Ads now!

Looking to start something new? Hit one of the links below to free your mind:

• 💬 TOPIC for conversation,
• [⚖️ SELL] anything! or,
• if you're looking for something, hit the [🛒 BUY]!
• [🧑‍💻 HIRE] any bitcoiner skill or stuff from bitcoiners
• [🖇 OFFER] any product or service and stack more sats
• [🧑‍⚖️ AUCTION] to let stackers decide a fair price for your item
• [🤝 SWAP] if you're looking to exchange anything with anything else
• [🆓 FREE] your space, make a gift!
• Start your own [SHOPFRONT] or simply...
• [⭐ REVIEW] any bitcoin product or LN service you recently bought or subscribed to.

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Or contact @AGORA team on nostr DM, and we can help you publish a personalized post.

. #nostr #bitcoin #stuff4sats #sell #buy #plebchain #grownostr #asknostr #market #business

https://stacker.news/items/1000715

@ dfa02707:41ca50e3

Good morning (good night?)! The No Bullshit Bitcoin news feed is now available on Moody's Dashboard! A huge shoutout to sir Clark Moody for integrating our feed.

Headlines

• Spiral welcomes Ben Carman. The developer will work on the LDK server and a new SDK designed to simplify the onboarding process for new self-custodial Bitcoin users.

• The Bitcoin Dev Kit Foundation announced new corporate members for 2025, including AnchorWatch, CleanSpark, and Proton Foundation. The annual dues from these corporate members fund the small team of open-source developers responsible for maintaining the core BDK libraries and related free and open-source software (FOSS) projects.
• Strategy increases Bitcoin holdings to 538,200 BTC. In the latest purchase, the company has spent more than $555M to buy 6,556 coins through proceeds of two at-the-market stock offering programs.
• Spar supermarket experiments with Bitcoin payments in Zug, Switzerland. The store has introduced a new payment method powered by the Lightning Network. The implementation was facilitated by DFX Swiss, a service that supports seamless conversions between bitcoin and legacy currencies.

• The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) wants to contain 'crypto' risks. A report titled "Cryptocurrencies and Decentralised Finance: Functions and Financial Stability Implications" calls for expanding research into "how new forms of central bank money, capital controls, and taxation policies can counter the risks of widespread crypto adoption while still fostering technological innovation."
• "Global Implications of Scam Centres, Underground Banking, and Illicit Online Marketplaces in Southeast Asia." According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report, criminal organizations from East and Southeast Asia are swiftly extending their global reach. These groups are moving beyond traditional scams and trafficking, creating sophisticated online networks that include unlicensed cryptocurrency exchanges, encrypted communication platforms, and stablecoins, fueling a massive fraud economy on an industrial scale.
• Slovenia is considering a 25% capital gains tax on Bitcoin profits for individuals. The Ministry of Finance has proposed legislation to impose this tax on gains from cryptocurrency transactions, though exchanging one cryptocurrency for another would remain exempt. At present, individual 'crypto' traders in Slovenia are not taxed.
• Circle, BitGo, Coinbase, and Paxos plan to apply for U.S. bank charters or licenses. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, major crypto companies are planning to apply for U.S. bank charters or licenses. These firms are pursuing limited licenses that would permit them to issue stablecoins, as the U.S. Congress deliberates on legislation mandating licensing for stablecoin issuers.

"Established banks, like Bank of America, are hoping to amend the current drafts of [stablecoin] legislation in such a way that nonbanks are more heavily restricted from issuing stablecoins," people familiar with the matter told The Block.

• Charles Schwab to launch spot Bitcoin trading by 2026. The financial investment firm, managing over $10 trillion in assets, has revealed plans to introduce spot Bitcoin trading for its clients within the next year.

Use the tools

• Bitcoin Safe v1.2.3 expands QR SignMessage compatibility for all QR-UR-compatible hardware signers (SpecterDIY, KeyStone, Passport, Jade; already supported COLDCARD Q). It also adds the ability to import wallets via QR, ensuring compatibility with Keystone's latest firmware (2.0.6), alongside other improvements.
• Minibits v0.2.2-beta, an ecash wallet for Android devices, packages many changes to align the project with the planned iOS app release. New features and improvements include the ability to lock ecash to a receiver's pubkey, faster confirmations of ecash minting and payments thanks to WebSockets, UI-related fixes, and more.
• Zeus v0.11.0-alpha1 introduces Cashu wallets tied to embedded LND wallets. Navigate to Settings > Ecash to enable it. Other wallet types can still sweep funds from Cashu tokens. Zeus Pay now supports Cashu address types in Zaplocker, Cashu, and NWC modes.
• LNDg v1.10.0, an advanced web interface designed for analyzing Lightning Network Daemon (LND) data and automating node management tasks, introduces performance improvements, adds a new metrics page for unprofitable and stuck channels, and displays warnings for batch openings. The Profit and Loss Chart has been updated to include on-chain costs. Advanced settings have been added for users who would like their channel database size to be read remotely (the default remains local). Additionally, the AutoFees tool now uses aggregated pubkey metrics for multiple channels with the same peer.
• Nunchuk Desktop v1.9.45 release brings the latest bug fixes and improvements.
• Blockstream Green iOS v4.1.8 has renamed L-BTC to LBTC, and improves translations of notifications, login time, and background payments.
• Blockstream Green Android v4.1.8 has added language preference in App Settings and enables an Android data backup option for disaster recovery. Additionally, it fixes issues with Jade entry point PIN timeout and Trezor passphrase input.
• Torq v2.2.2, an advanced Lightning node management software designed to handle large nodes with over 1000 channels, fixes bugs that caused channel balance to not be updated in some cases and channel "peer total local balance" not getting updated.
• Stack Wallet v2.1.12, a multicoin wallet by Cypher Stack, fixes an issue with Xelis introduced in the latest release for Windows.
• ESP-Miner-NerdQAxePlus v1.0.29.1, a forked version from the NerdAxe miner that was modified for use on the NerdQAxe+, is now available.
• Zark enables sending sats to an npub using Bark.

• Erk is a novel variation of the Ark protocol that completely removes the need for user interactivity in rounds, addressing one of Ark's key limitations: the requirement for users to come online before their VTXOs expire.
• Aegis v0.1.1 is now available. It is a Nostr event signer app for iOS devices.
• Nostash is a NIP-07 Nostr signing extension for Safari. It is a fork of Nostore and is maintained by Terry Yiu. Available on iOS TestFlight.
• Amber v3.2.8, a Nostr event signer for Android, delivers the latest fixes and improvements.
• Nostur v1.20.0, a Nostr client for iOS, adds

@ eb0157af:77ab6c55

Russian authorities are stepping up their crackdown on illegal Bitcoin miners with a new confiscation case.

Law enforcement in Russia has launched a seizure campaign against unauthorized mining operations, marking an escalation in the fight against illicit crypto activity. The latest case saw investigators in the Amur Oblast confiscate bitcoin worth $88,500.

The Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee (SKR) for Amur Oblast announced it had seized assets worth around 7 million rubles ($88,570; 0.8414 BTC) from a former executive of an unnamed power company.

The accused served as head of technological connection services at the Amur branch of the Far Eastern Distribution Company (DRSC), a power grid operator managing electricity distribution in Russia’s eastern Amur region.

Investigators found that the former executive exploited his insider knowledge of the company’s power distribution systems to siphon electricity from the grid. The stolen power was used to run mining equipment at his private residence.

The seizure followed an investigation revealing that in 2024, the man used his technical skills to bypass metering devices and create an illegal connection to his employer’s infrastructure.

Authorities estimate that the executive used over 3.5 million rubles ($44,334) worth of electricity belonging to DRSC.

In April, several Russian ministries drafted a legal mechanism proposing new powers for courts and law enforcement to confiscate cryptocurrencies in criminal cases. The proposal, backed by government policymakers, would allow authorities to formally recognize digital assets as intangible property in criminal proceedings.

Previous seizures

Investigators appear to have already applied the principles of this draft law in several cases. Among them is the case of a server operator for the darknet marketplace Hydra, from whom police seized crypto assets worth $8.2 million.

Judicial officers also seized 1,032.1 BTC from Marat Tambiev, a former investigator with the Russian Investigative Committee. A court found Tambiev guilty of accepting Bitcoin bribes from an international fraud network, sentencing him to 16 years in prison.

The post Russia: $88,500 in bitcoin seized from illegal miner for power theft appeared first on Atlas21.

@ 1c5ff3ca:efe9c0f6

Just calling it Open is not enough - Herausforderungen öffentlicher Bildungsinfrastrukturen und wie Nostr helfen könnte

Ich möchte gerne mit euch teilen, an welchen Konzepten ich arbeite, um die öffentliche Bildungsinfrastruktur mit Hilfe von Nostr zugänglicher und offener zu gestalten. Ich arbeite im Bereich öffentlicher Bildungsinfrastrukturen, besonders im Feld von Open Educational Resources (#OER). OER sind offen lizenzierte Bildungsmaterialien, die mit einer offenen Lizenz, meist einer Creative Commons Lizenz, versehen sind (CC-0, CC-BY, CC-BY-SA). Durch die klare und offene Lizenzierung ist es leicht möglich, die Lernmaterialien auf die individuellen Bedarfe anzupassen, sie zu verbessern und sie erneut zu veröffentlichen.

Seit vielen Jahren wird einerseits die Entwicklung freier Bildungsmaterialien gefördert, andererseits werden Plattformen, insbesondere Repositorien gefördert, die diese Materialien verfügbar machen sollen. Denn irgendwo müssen diese Materialien zur Verfügung gestellt werden, damit sie auch gefunden werden können.

Das klappt allerdings nur so mittelgut.

Herausforderungen

Nach vielen Jahren Förderung kann die einfache Frage: "Wo kann ich denn mein OER-Material bereitstellen" nicht einfach beantwortet werden. Es gibt Services, bei denen ich mein OER hochladen kann, jedoch bleibt es dann eingeschlossen in dieser Plattform und wird nicht auf anderen Plattformen auffindbar. Außerdem sind diese Services häufig an bestimmte Bildungskontexte gebunden oder geben Content erst nach einer Qualitätsprüfung frei. Dies führt dazu, dass ein einfaches und gleichzeitig öffentliches Teilen nicht möglich ist.

Diese und weitere Herausforderungen haben ihren Ursprung darin, dass Service und Infrastruktur in der Architektur öffentlichen Bildungsarchitektur ungünstig vermischt werden. Als Infrastruktur verstehe ich hier die Bereitstellung einer öffentlichen und offen zugänglichen Bildungsinfrastruktur, auf der Daten ausgetauscht, also bereitgestellt und konsumiert werden können. Jedoch existiert eine solche Infrstruktur momentan nicht unabhängig von den Services, die auf ihr betrieben werden. Infrastrukturbetreiber sind momentan gleichzeitig immer Servicebetreiber. Da sie aber die Hand darüber haben wollen, was genau in ihrem Service passiert (verständlich), schränken sie den Zugang zu ihrer Infrastruktur mit ein, was dazu führt, dass sie Lock-In Mechanismen großer Medienplattformen in der kleinen öffentlichen Bildungsinfrastruktur replizieren.

Es ist in etwas so, als würde jeder Autobauer auch gleichzeitig die Straßen für seine Fahrzeuge bauen. Aber halt nur für seine Autos.

Anhand einiger beispielhafter Services, die bestehende Plattformen auf ihren Infrastrukturen anbieten, möchte ich die Herausforderungen aufzeigen, die ich im aktuellen Architekturkonzept sehe:

• Upload von Bildungsmaterial
• Kuration: Zusammenstellung von Listen, Annotation mit Metadaten
• Crawling, Indexierung und Suche
• Plattfformübergreifende Kollaboration in Communities -> Beispiel: Qualitätssicherung (was auch immer das genau bedeutet)
• KI- Services -> Beispiel: KI generierte Metadaten für BiIdungsmaterial

Material Upload

Der Service "Material-Upload" oder das Mitteilen eines Links zu einem Bildungsmaterial wird von verschiedenen OER-Pattformen bereitgestellt (wirlernenonline.de, oersi.org, mundo.schule).

Dies bedeutet konkret: Wenn ich bei einer der Plattformen Content hochlade, verbleibt der Content in der Regel auch dort und wird nicht mit den anderen Plattformen geteilt. Das Resultat für die User: Entweder muss ich mich überall anmelden und dort mein Material hochladen (führt zu Duplikaten) oder damit leben, dass eben nur die Nutzer:innen der jeweiligen Plattform meinen Content finden können.

Der "Open Educational Resource Search Index" (OERSI) geht diese Herausforderung an, indem die Metadaten zu den Bildungsmaterialien verschiedener Plattformen in einem Index bereitgestellt werden. Dieser Index ist wiederum öffentlich zugänglich, sodass Plattformen darüber auch Metadaten anderer Plattformen konsumieren können. Das ist schon sehr gut. Jedoch funktioniert das nur für Plattformen, die der OERSI indexiert und für alle anderen nicht. Der OERSI ist auf den Hochschulbereich fokussiert, d.h. andere Bildungskontexte werden hier ausgeschlossen. Der Ansatz für jeden Bildungsbereich einen passenden "OERSI" daneben zustellen skaliert und schlecht und es bleibt die Herausforderung bestehen, dass für jede Quelle, die indexiert werden soll, ein entsprechender Importer/Crawler geschrieben werden muss.

Dieser Ansatz (Pull-Ansatz) rennt den Materialien hinterher.

Es gibt jedoch noch mehr Einschränkungen: Die Plattformen haben sich jeweils auf spezifische Bildungskontexte spezialisiert. D.h. auf die Fragen: Wo kann ich denn mein OER bereitstellen, muss immer erst die Gegenfrage: "Für welchen Bildungsbereich denn?" beantwortet werden. Wenn dieser außerhalb des allgemeinbildendenden Bereichs oder außerhalb der Hochschule liegt, geschweige denn außerhalb des institutionellen Bildungsrahmens, wird es schon sehr, sehr dünn. Kurzum:

• Es ist nicht einfach möglich OER bereitzustellen, sodass es auch auf verschiedenen Plattformen gefunden werden kann.

Kuration

Unter Kuration verstehe ich hier die Zusammenstellung von Content in Listen oder Sammlungs ähnlicher Form sowie die Annotation dieser Sammlungen oder des Contents mit Metadaten.

Einige Plattformen bieten die Möglichkeit an, Content in Listen einzuordnen. Diese Listen sind jedoch nicht portabel. Die Liste, die ich auf Plattform A erstelle, lässt sich nicht auf Plattform B importieren. Das wäre aber schön, denn so könnten die Listen leichter auf anderen Plattformen erweitert oder sogar kollaborativ gestaltet werden, andererseits werden Lock-In-Effekte zu vermieden.

Bei der Annotation mit Metadaten treten verschiedene zentralisierende Faktoren auf. In der momentanen Praxis werden die Metadaten meist zum Zeitpunkt der Contentbereitstellung festgelegt. Meist durch eine Person oder Redaktion, bisweilen mit Unterstützung von KI-Services, die bei der Metadateneingabe unterstützen. Wie aber zusätzliche eigene Metadaten ergänzen? Wie mitteilen, dass dieses Material nicht nur für Biologie, sondern auch für Sport in Thema XY super einsetzbar wäre? Die momentanen Ansätze können diese Anforderung nicht erfüllen. Sie nutzen die Kompetenz und das Potential ihrer User nicht.

• Es gibt keine interoperablen Sammlungen
• Metadaten-Annotation ist zentralisiert
• User können keine eigenen Metadaten hinzufügen

Crawling, Indexierung und Suche

Da die Nutzer:innen nicht viele verschiedene Plattformen und Webseiten besuchen wollen, um dort nach passendem Content zu suchen, crawlen die "großen" OER-Aggregatoren diese, um die Metadaten des Contents zu indexieren. Über verschiedene Schnittstellen oder gerne auch mal über das rohe HTML. Letztere Crawler sind sehr aufwändig zu schreiben, fehleranfällig und gehen bei Design-Anpassungen der Webseite schnell kaputt, erstere sind etwas stabiler, solange sich die Schnittstelle nicht ändert. Durch den Einsatz des Allgemeinen Metadatenprofils für Bildungsressourcen (AMB) hat sich die Situation etwas verbessert. Einige Plattformen bieten jetzt eine Sitemap an, die Links zu Bildungsmaterial enthalten, die wiederum eingebettet script-tags vom Typ application/ld+json enthalten, sodass die Metadaten von dort importiert werden können.

Beispiel: e-teaching.org bietet hier eine Sitemap für ihre OER an: https://e-teaching.org/oer-sitemap.xml und auf den jeweiligen Seiten findet sich ein entsprechendes script-Tag.

Das ist schon viel besser, aber da geht noch mehr:

Zunächst ist dieser Ansatz nur für Plattformen und Akteure praktikabel, die über IT-Ressourcen verfügen, um entsprechende Funktionalitäten bei sich einbauen zu können. Lehrende können dies nicht einfach auf ihrem privaten Blog oder ähnliches umsetzen. Zum anderen besteht immer noch ein Discovery Problem. Ich muss nach wie vor wissen, wo ich suchen muss. Ich muss die Sitemaps kennen, sonst finde ich nichts. Statt eines Ansatzes, bei dem Akteure eigenständig mitteilen können, dass sie neuen Content haben (Push-Ansatz), verfolgen wir derzeit einen Ansatz, bei dem jede Plattform für sich Content im Pull-Verfahren akquiriert. Dies führt an vielen Stellen zu Doppelarbeiten, ist ineffizient (mehrere Personen bauen genau die gleichen Crawler, aber halt immer für ihre Plattform) und schliesst vor allem kleine Akteure aus (lohnt es sich einen Crawler zu programmieren, wenn die Webseite "nur" 50 Materialien bereitstellt?).

Anstatt erschlossene Daten zu teilen, arbeiten die Plattformen für sich oder stellen es höchstens wieder hinter eigenen (offenen oder geschlossenen) Schnittstellen bereit. Das ist wohl nicht das, was wir uns unter einer offenen und kollaborativen Gemeinschaft vorstellen, oder?

Bei der Suche stehen wir vor ähnlichen Herausforderungen, wie bereits oben geschildert. Obwohl verschiedene OER-Aggregatoren in Form von Repositorien oder Referatorien bereits viele der "kleineren" Plattformen indexieren und somit eine übergreifende Suche anbieten, ist es nicht möglich, diese Aggregatoren gemeinsam zu durchsuchen. Dies führt im Endeffekt dazu, dass die User wieder verschiedene Plattformen ansteuern müssen, wenn sie den gesamten OER-Fundus durchsuchen wollen.

• An vielen Stellen wird Content doppelt erschlossen, aber immer für die eigene Plattform
• Es gibt keinen geteilten Datenraum, in den Akteure Content "pushen" können
• Es gibt keine plattformübergreifenden Suchmöglichkeiten

Plattformübergreifende Kollaboration

Das wäre schön, oder? Mir ist schleierhaft, wie #OEP (Open Educational Practices, genaue Definition durch die Community steht noch aus) ohne funktionieren soll. Aber es gibt meines Wissens nach nicht mal Ansätze, wie das technisch umgesetzt werden soll (oder doch? let me hear).

Ein Szenario für solche plattformübergreifende Kollaboration könnte Qualitätssicherung sein. Gesetzt, dass sich zwei Plattformen / Communities auf etwas verständigt haben, dass sie als "Qualität" bezeichnen, wie aber dieses Gütesiegel nun an den Content bringen?

Plattform A: Na, dann kommt doch alle zu uns. Hier können wir das machen und dann hängt auch ein schönes Badge an den Materialien.

Plattform B: Ja, aber dann hängt es ja nicht an unseren Materialien. Außerdem wollen/müssen wir bei uns arbeiten, weil welche Existenzberechtigung hat denn meine Plattform noch, wenn wir alles bei dir machen?

• Obwohl nun #OEP in aller Munde sind, gibt es keine technischen Ansätze, wie (plattformübergreifende) Kollaboration technisch abgebildet werden kann

KI-Services

Was ist heute schon komplett ohne das Thema KI zu erwähnen? Mindestens für den nächsten Förderantrag muss auch irgendetwas mit KI gemacht werden...

Verschiedene Projekte erarbeiten hilfreiche und beeindruckende KI-Services. Beispielsweise, um die Annotation von Content mit Metadaten zu erleichtern, Metadaten automatisch hinzuzufügen, Content zu bestimmten Themen zu finden oder (halb-)automatisch zu Sammlungen hinzuzufügen. Aber (vielleicht habt ihr es schon erraten): Funktioniert halt nur auf der eigenen Plattform. Vermutlich, weil die Services nah am plattformeigenen Datenmodell entwickelt werden. Und da die Daten dieses Silo nicht verlassen, passt das schon. Das führt dazu, dass an mehreren Stellen die gleichen Services doppelt entwickelt werden.

• KI-Services funktionieren oft nur auf der Plattform für die sie entwickelt werden

Zusammenfassung der Probleme

Wir machen übrigens vieles schon sehr gut (Einsatz des AMB, Offene Bidungsmaterialien, wir haben eine großartige Community) und jetzt müssen wir halt weiter gehen.

(Die OER-Metadatengruppe, die das Allgemeine Metadatenprofil für Bildungsressourcen (AMB) entwickelt hat, bekommt für ihre Arbeit keine direkte Förderung. Gleichzeitig ist sie eine zentrale Anlaufstelle für alle, die mit Metadaten in offenen Bildungsinfrastukturen hantieren und das Metadatenprofil ist eines der wenigen Applikationsprofile, das öffentlich einsehbar, gut dokumentiert ist und Validierungsmöglichkeiten bietet.)

Betrachten wir die gesamten Plattformen und die beschriebenen Herausforderungen aus der Vogelperspektive, so lassen sich drei ineinander verschränkte Kernbestandteile unterscheiden, die helfen, die beschriebenen Probleme besser zu verstehen:

• User
• Service
• Daten

User: Auf (fast) allen Plattformen agieren User. Sie laden Material hoch, annotieren mit Metadaten, sind in einer Community, suchen Content usw. Egal, ob sie sich einloggen können/müssen, irgendetwas bieten wir unseren Usern an, damit sie daraus hoffentlich Mehrwerte ziehen

Service: Das ist dieses irgendetwas. Die "Webseite", die Oberfläche, das, wo der User klicken und etwas tun kann. Es ist das, was den Daten oft eine "visuelle" Form gibt. Der Service ist der Mittler, das Interface zwischen User und Daten. Mithilfe des Services lassen sich Daten erzeugen, verändern oder entfernen (Es gibt natürlich auch viele nicht-visuelle Services, die Interaktion mit Daten ermöglichen, aber für die meisten normalen Menschen, gibt es irgendwo was zu klicken).

Daten: Die Informationen in strukturierter maschinenlesbarer Form, die dem User in gerenderter Form durch einen Service Mehrwerte bieten können. Ungerenderte Daten können wir schwieirg erfassen (wir sind ja nicht Neo). Das können entweder die Metadaten zu Bildungmaterialien sein, die Materialien selbst, Profilinformationen, Materialsammlungen o.ä.

Meines Erachtens nach haben viele der oben beschriebenen Herausforderungen ihren Ursprung darin, dass die drei Kernbestandteile User, Service, Daten ungünstig miteinander verbunden wurden. Was kein Vorwurf sein soll, denn das ist genau die Art und Weise, wie die letzten Jahre (Jahrzehnte?) Plattformen immer gebaut wurden:

• User, Service und Daten werden in einer Plattform gebündelt

Das heisst durch meinen Service agieren die User mit den Daten und ich kann sicherstellen, dass in meiner kleinen Welt alles gut miteinander funktioniert. Sinnvoll, wenn ich Microsoft, Facebook, X oder ähnliches bin, weil mein Geschäftsmodell genau darin liegt: User einschließen (lock-in), ihnen die Hohheit über ihren Content nehmen (oder kannst du deine Facebook Posts zu X migrieren?) und nach Möglichkeit nicht wieder rauslassen.

Aber unsere Projekte sind öffentlich. Das sind nicht die Mechanismen, die wir replizieren sollten. Also was nun?

Bildungsinfrasstrukturen auf Basis des Nostr-Protokolls

Nostr

Eine pseudonyme Person mit dem Namen "fiatjaf" hat 2019 ein Konzept für ein Social Media Protokoll "Nostr - Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted By Relays" wie folgt beschrieben:

It does not rely on any trusted central server, hence it is resilient, it is based on cryptographic keys and signatures, so it is tamperproof, it does not rely on P2P techniques, therefore it works.

Fiatjaf, 2019

Die Kernbestandsteile des Protokolls bestehen aus:

• JSON -> Datenformat
• SHA256 & Schnorr -> Kryptographie
• Websocket -> Datenaustausch

Und funktionieren tut es so:

User besitzen ein "Schlüsselpaar": einen privaten Schlüssel (den behälst du für dich, nur für dich) und einen öffentlichen Schlüssel, den kannst du herumzeigen, das ist deine öffentliche Identität. Damit sagst du anderen Usern: Hier schau mal, das bin ich. Die beiden Schlüssel hängen dabei auf eine "magische" (kryptografische) Weise zusammen: Der öffentliche Schlüssel lässt sich aus dem privaten Schlüssel generieren, jedoch nicht andersherum. D.h. falls du deinen öffentlichen Schlüssel verlierst: Kein Problem, der lässt sich immer wieder herstellen. Wenn du deinen privaten Schlüssel verlierst: Pech gehabt, es ist faktisch unmöglich, diesen wieder herzustellen.

Die Schlüsselmagie geht jedoch noch weiter: Du kannst mit deinem privaten Schlüssel "Nachrichten" signieren, also wie unterschreiben. Diese Unterschrift, die du mit Hilfe des privaten Schlüssels erstellst, hat eine magische Eigenschaft: Jeder kann mithilfe der Signatur und deinem öffentlichen* Schlüssel nachprüfen, dass nur die Person, die auch den privaten Schlüssel zu diesem öffentlichen Schlüssel besitzt, diese Nachricht unterschrieben haben kann. Magisch, richtig? Verstehst du nicht komplett? Nicht schlimm, du benutzt es bereits vermutlich, ohne dass du es merkst. Das ist keine fancy neue Technologie, sondern gut abgehangen und breit im Einsatz.

Merke: User besitzen ein Schlüsselpaar und können damit Nachrichten signieren.

Dann gibt es noch die Services. Services funktionieren im Grunde wie bereits oben beschrieben. Durch sie interagieren die User mit Daten. Aber bei Nostr ist es ein kleines bisschen anders als sonst, denn: Die Daten "leben" nicht in den Services. Aber wo dann?

Wenn ein User einen Datensatz erstellt, verändert oder entfernen möchte, wird dieses "Event" (so nennen wir das bei Nostr) mit deinem privaten Schlüssel signiert (damit ist für alle klar, nur du kannst das gemacht haben) und dann mehrere "Relays" gesendet. Das sind die Orte, wo die Daten gehalten werden. Wenn ein User sich in einen Service einloggt, dann holt sich der Service die Daten, die er braucht von diesen Relays. User, Service und Daten sind also entkoppelt. Der User könnte zu einem anderen Service wechseln und sich dieseleben Daten von den Relays holen. Keine Lock-In Möglichkeiten.

Merke: User, Service und Daten sind entkoppelt.

Zuletzt gibt es noch die Relays. Relays sind Orte. Es sind die Orte, zu denen die Events, also die Daten der User, ihre Interaktionen, gesendet und von denen sie angefragt werden. Sie sind sowas wie das Backend von Nostr, allerdings tun sie nicht viel mehr als das: Events annehmen, Events verteilen. Je nach Konfiguration dürfen nur bestimmte User auf ein Relay schreiben oder davon lesen.

Das Protokoll ist von seinem Grunddesign auf Offenheit und Interoperabilität ausgelegt. Keine Registrierung ist nötig, sondern nur Schlüsselpaare. Durch kryptografische Verfahren kann dennoch die Authentizitität eines Events sichergestellt werden, da nur die Inhaberin des jeweiligen Schlüsselpaares dieses Event so erstellen konnte. Die Relays sorgen dafür die Daten an die gewünschten Stellen zu bringen und da wir mehr als nur eines benutzen, haben wir eine gewisse Ausfallsicherheit. Da die Daten nur aus signierten JSON-Schnipseln bestehen, können wir sie leicht an einen anderen Ort kopieren, im Falle eines Ausfalls. Durch die Signaturen ist wiederum sichergestellt, dass zwischendurch keine Veränderungen an den Daten vorgenommen wurden.

Beispiel: Ein Nostr Event

Hier ein kleiner technischer Exkurs, der beschreibt, wie Nostr Events strukturiert sind. Falls dich die technischen Details nicht so interessieren, überspringe diesen Abschnitt ruhig.

Jedes Nostr Event besitzt die gleiche Grundstruktur mit den Attributen:

• id: Der Hash des Events
• pubkey: Der Pubkey des Urhebers des Events
• created_at: Der Zeitstempel des Events
• kind: Der Typ des Events
• tags: Zusätzliche Metadaten für das Event können in diesem Array hinterlegt werden
• content: Der textuelle Inhalt eines Events
• sig: Die Signatur des Events, um die Integrität der Daten zu überprüfen

json { "id": <32-bytes lowercase hex-encoded sha256 of the serialized event data>, "pubkey": <32-bytes lowercase hex-encoded public key of the event creator>, "created_at": <unix timestamp in seconds>, "kind": <integer between 0 and 65535>, "tags": [ [<arbitrary string>...], // ... ], "content": <arbitrary string>, "sig": <64-bytes lowercase hex of the signature of the sha256 hash of the serialized event data, which is the same as the "id" field> }

Die verwendeten Eventtypen sowie die existierenden Spezifikationen lassen sich unter https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/ einsehen.

Wichtig ist auch: Du kannst einfach anfangen, Anwendungen zu entwickeln. Die Relays werden alle Events akzeptieren, die dem o.g. Schema folgen. Du musst also niemanden um Erlaubnis fragen oder warten, bis deine Spezifikation akzeptiert und hinzugefügt wurde.

You can just build things.

Exkurs: Nostr für Binärdaten - Blossom

Ja, aber... das ist doch nur für textbasierte Daten geeignet? Was ist denn mit den Binärdaten (Bilder, Videos, PDFs, etc)

Diese Daten sind oft recht groß und es wurde sich auf das Best-Practice geeignet, diese Daten nicht auf Relays abzulegen, sondern einen besser geeigneten Publikationsmechanismus für diese Datentypen zu finden. Der Ansatz wird als "Blossom - Blobs stored simply on mediaservers" bezeichnet und ist recht unkompliziert.

Blossom Server (nichts anderes als simple Medienserver) nutzen Nostr Schlüsselpaare zur Verwaltung Identitäten und zum Signieren von Events. Die Blobs werden über ihren sha256 Hash identifiziert. Blossom definiert einige standardisierte Endpunkte, die beschreiben wie Medien hochgeladen werden können, wie sie konsumiert werden können usw.

Die Details, wie Authorisierung und die jeweiligen Endpunkte funktionieren, werden in der genannten Spezifikation beschrieben.

Nostr 🤝 Öffentliche Bildungsinfrastrukturen

Wie könnten Herausforderungen gelöst werden, wenn wir Nostr als Basis für die öffentliche Bildungsinfrastruktur einsetzen?

Material-Upload

• Es ist nicht einfach möglich OER bereitzustellen, sodass es auch auf verschiedenen Plattformen gefunden werden kann.

Mit Nostr als Basis-Infrastruktur würden die Metadaten und die Binärdaten nicht an den Service gekoppelt sein, von dem aus sie bereitgestellt wurden. Binärdaten können auf sogenannten Blossom-Servern gehostet werden. Metadaten, Kommentare und weitere textbasierte Daten werden über die Relay-Infrastruktur verteilt. Da Daten und Service entkoppelt sind, können die OER Materialien von verschiedenen Anwendungen aus konsumiert werden.

Kuration

• Es gibt keine interoperablen Sammlungen
• Metadaten-Annotation ist zentralisiert
• User können keine eigenen Metadaten hinzufügen

Sammlungen sind per se interoperabel. Auf Protokollebene ist definiert, wie Listen funktionieren. Die Annotation mit Metadaten ist an keiner Stelle zentralisiert. Das Versprechen der RDF-Community "Anyone can say anything about any topic" wird hier verwirklicht. Ich muss mir ja nicht alles anhören. Vielleicht konsumiere ich nur Metadaten-Events bestimmter Redaktionen oder User. Vielleicht nur diejenigen mit einer Nähe zu meinem sozialen Graphen. Jedenfalls gibt es die Möglichkeit für alle User entsprechende Metadaten bereit zu stellen.

Crawling, Indexierung und Suche * An vielen Stellen wird Content doppelt erschlossen, aber immer für die eigene Plattform * Es gibt keinen geteilten Datenraum, in den Akteure Content "pushen" können * Es gibt keine plattformübergreifenden Suchmöglichkeiten

Keine Doppelerschließungen mehr. Wenn ein User im Netzwerk ein Metadatenevent (öffentlich) veröffentlicht hat, ist es für alle konsumierbar. Der Datenraum ist per se geteilt. Plattformübergreifende Suche wird durch die Kombination aus Relays und NIPs ermöglicht. In den NIPs können spezielle Query-Formate für die jeweiligen NIPs definiert werden. Relays können anzeigen, welche NIPs sie untersützten. Eine plattformübergreifende Suche ist im Nostr eine relay-übergreifende Suche.

Plattformübergreifende Kollaboration

• Obwohl nun #OEP in aller Munde sind, gibt es keine technischen Ansätze, wie (plattformübergreifende) Kollaboration technisch abgebildet werden kann

Nostr ist der technische Ansatz.

KI-Services

• KI-Services funktionieren oft nur auf der Plattform für die sie entwickelt werden

Es gibt im Nostr das Konzept der Data Vending Machines (s. auch data-vending-machines.org). Statt also einfach nur eine API zu bauen (was auch schon sehr schön ist, wenn sie offen zugänglich ist), könnten diese Services auch als Akteure im Nostr Netzwerk fungieren und Jobs annehmen und ausführen. Die Art der Jobs kann in einer Spezifikation beschrieben werden, sodass die Funktionsweise für alle interessierten Teilnehmer im Netzwerk einfach nachzuvollziehen ist.

Die Services könnten sogar monetarisiert werden, sodass sich hier auch Möglichkeiten böten, Geschäftsmodelle zu entwickeln.

Fazit

Die Open Education Community ist großartig. Es sind einzigartige und unglaublich engagierte Menschen, die sich dem hehren Ziel "Zugängliche Bildung für Alle" -> "Offene Bildung" verschrieben haben. Wir verwenden Creative Commons Lizenzen -> Commons -> Gemeingüter. Es ist okay, dass viele Projekte von Sponsoren und Förderungen abhängig sind. Was wir machen, ist im Sinne eines Gemeingutes: Öffentliche Bildung für alle. Also zahlen wir als Gemeinschaft alle dafür.

Was nicht okay ist: Dass das, wofür wir alle gezahlt haben, nach kurzer Zeit nicht mehr auffindbar ist. Dass es eingeschlossen wird. In öffentlich finanzierten Datensilos. Es muss für alle auch langfristig verfügbar sein. Sonst ist es nicht zugänglich, nicht offen. Dann ist das O in OER nur ein Label und Marketing, um für eine ABM-Maßnahme 3 Jahre Geld zu bekommen. Denn nichts anderes ist Content-Entwicklung, wenn der Content nach drei Jahren weggeschmissen wird.

Und dasselbe gilt für OEP. Offene Lernpraktiken, sind auch nur eine Phrase, wenn wir die passende technische Infrastruktur nicht mitdenken, die wirkliche Offenheit und Kollaboration und damit die Umsetzung offener Lernpraktiken ermöglicht.

Und wenn wir uns jetzt nicht Gedanken darüber machen, die Infrastruktur für offenes Lernen anzupassen, dann werden wir vermutlich in einigen Jahren sehen können, was bei politischen Umorientierungen noch davon übrig bleiben wird. Wenn die Fördertöpfe komplett gestrichen werden, was bleibt dann übrig von dem investierten Geld?

Wir brauchen Lösungen, die engagierte Communities weiter betreiben können und denen kein Kopf abgeschlagen werden kann, ohne dass wir zwei neue daneben setzen könnten.

Wir müssen uns jetzt Gedanken darüber machen.

Wie offen will öffentliche Bildungsinfrastruktur sein?

@ 41fa852b:af7b7706

"The poison was never forced - it was offered gently, until you forgot it was poison at all." - Mark Twain

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Happy Sunday, folks.

Below is your weekly roundup of events for the coming week.

Added to the event section this week, an exciting new Scottish Bitcoin Conference, happening in August.

Check out all the details below.

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This week's sponsor is…

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Upcoming Bitcoin Meetups

Happening this week…

1. Dundee Bitcoin: Join them on the 2nd Monday of every month from 17:30 to 20:30 PM at The Wine Press, 16 Shore Terrace, Dundee DD1 3DN. This month's meetup is on Monday 9th. 🍻

2. Canterbury Bitcoin: Meeting this month at the The Dolphin Pub in Canterbury at 7 PM on Tuesday the 10th of June. An informal meetup to discuss Bitcoin and chat. 🍺

3. Glasgow Bitcoin: Meetups are held every second Wednesday of the month. This is a place for people in and around Glasgow to discuss Bitcoin. 18:00 - 23:00 at The Piper Bar, G1 1HL. This month on Wednesday 11th. 🍻

4. St Albans: This is a new meetup happening on the second Wednesday of each month. This month, it's from 19:00 to 22:00 on the 11th at the Robin Hood of St Albans, Victoria St, St Albans. 🍻

5. Children of Riddim - Festival - Bitcoin Stage: Children of Riddim Festival is bringing Bitcoin to the big stage from the 12th--16th June in Hemel Hempstead, with 150+ DJs, artists, and speakers. The Barn of Freedom will host Bitcoin talks, music, and Nostr-powered apps. Tickets and donations for the stage can be made via geyser.fund, with camping included. Acts/speakers include Joe Bryan, Metamick, Roger9000, Angor, and more. 🎉🪩

6. Bitcoin Beach Bournemouth: Every second Thursday of the month at Chaplins Cellar Bar. 529 Christchurch Road, Boscombe, United. You'll find them in the Cogg Room at 19:30. This month it's the 12th. 🍺

7. Bury St Edmunds Bitcoin: is reviving the medieval spirit of the Folkmoot, one Bitcoin meetup at a time. Their second gathering takes place this Friday at 17:30 at Edmundo Lounge. They've also just launched a brand new website.

8. Stoke Bitcoin Meetup: The Stoke Bitcoin meetup is back! They will have Bitcoin coffee to taste, delivered by hand directly from the mountains of El Salvador and grown by @lacruzboss in Berlin, El Salvador. 15:00 on Friday 13th. ☕️🍻

9. Bitcoin Walk - Edinburgh: Every Saturday they walk around Arthur's Seat in this historic city. Join them at 12 pm to chat about all things Bitcoin and keep fit. 🚶🏽‍♂️🚶🏼‍♀️🚶🏻

10. Bitcoin East: Join Bitcoin East in Bury St. Edmunds on Sunday 15th, 12:00 at Hopsters Bar, Felixstowe. All welcome, Bitcoiners and anyone else curious about Bitcoin. 🍺

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New Businesses Accepting Bitcoin

This week we have…

• Core Agency: A creative communications firm that blends financial expertise with bold storytelling to help businesses in finance and beyond stand out. Based in the UK, they specialise in strategic planning, brand identity, content production, and public relations, delivering everything from investor-focused media to high-impact digital campaigns. With in-house studios for video, animation, and live streaming, Core offers end-to-end solutions that are both visually compelling and commercially effective. Their mission is to bring clarity, creativity, and confidence to brands navigating complex markets. Whether you're a fintech startup or a global institution, Core helps you communicate with purpose and originality. Now accepting bitcoin payments. 📈

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Upcoming Special Events

These events aren't happening next week, but they're important to add to your calendar now as tickets are selling fast.

The Bitcoin Beach Retreat: An annual Bitcoin-only gathering held at a scenic coastal campsite in North Wales. Celebrating its fifth year in 2025, the retreat offers a relaxed, community-driven alternative to traditional conferences.

From July 11--14, up to 120 Bitcoiners will come together to share knowledge, enjoy beachside BBQs, and strengthen their networks under the stars. With no pre-booked speakers, the event thrives on peer-led workshops and spontaneous discussions, fostering genuine connections among attendees. Emphasising local engagement, the retreat directs the majority of its funds into the surrounding community, with 42% of expenses paid in Bitcoin last year.

Whether attending solo or with family, attendees can expect a welcoming environment dedicated to sound money and shared values.

Scottish Bitcoin Conference: Taking place on August 23, 2025, at the Glasgow University Union, located at 32 University Avenue, Glasgow G12 8LX. From 09:00 to 16:30.

Featuring an impressive roster of speakers, including Anthony Scaramucci, Hashley Giles, Rick Messit, Dr. Peter Connor, Claire Chisholm, Roger9000, John Magill, Ian Scanlon, Robin Thatcher, Jamie Plowman, Robbie Maltby, Russell Rukin, Peter Lane, Francesco Madonna, and Sam Roberts.

Open to all, this conference offers a unique opportunity for Bitcoiners and newcomers alike to connect and learn in the vibrant setting of Glasgow.

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Get Involved

• Volunteer: Passionate about merchant adoption? Reach out to Bridge2Bitcoin on Twitter or website.
• Start a Meetup: Want to launch a Bitcoin meetup? We'll support you. Contact us on Twitter or just reply to this email.
• Contribute to BTCMaps: Help maintain this key Bitcoin resource--no coding skills needed. Update a UK area.
• Telegram: Join our Channel for UK meetup updates
• Feedback: Reply to this email with ideas and suggestions.

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This week's sponsors is…

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Get out and support the meetups where you can, visit Bitcoin Events UK for more info on each meetup and to find your closest on the interactive map.

Stay tuned for more updates next week!

Simon.

@ e4950c93:1b99eccd

Marques

Cosilana est une marque allemande qui crée des vêtements exclusivement en coton biologique, soie et laine pour les femmes, les bébés et les enfants.

Matières naturelles utilisées dans les produits

• Coton (biologique)
• Soie
• Laine (mérinos)

Catégories de produits proposés

Cette marque propose des produits intégralement en matière naturelle dans les catégories suivantes :

#Vêtements

• Tailles vêtements : bébés, enfants, femmes
• Sous-vêtements : culottes
• Une pièce : bodies, combinaisons
• Hauts : débardeurs, pulls, t-shirts, vestes
• Bas : leggings, pantalons, shorts
• Tête et mains : bonnets, gants
• Nuit : pyjamas

#Maison

• Linge : couvertures, turbulettes

Autres informations

• Certification GOTS
• Fabriqué en Allemagne
• Fabriqué en Europe
• Déclaration de laine de mouton sans mulesing et de bien-être animal

👉 En savoir plus sur le site de la marque

Où trouver leurs produits ?

• Le mouton à lunettes (zone de livraison : France, Belgique, Luxembourg)
• Mama Owl (en anglais, zone de livraison : Royaume Uni et international)
• Chouchous (zone de livraison : France et international)

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📝 Tu peux contribuer à cette fiche en suggérant une modification en commentaire.

🗣️ Tu utilises des produits de cette marque ? Partage ton avis en commentaire.

⚡ Heureu-x-se de trouver cette information ? Soutiens le projet en faisant un don pour remercier les contribut-eur-ice-s.

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

Howdy stackers, this is the place to share your ~HealthAndFitness triumphs and challenges.

I was glad to hit my step goal today, since it's gloomy and rainy here. Once again, I ate too many cookies. Gotta stop being a cookie monster.

How'd you all do, today?

https://stacker.news/items/996659

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

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

— ODELL (@ODELL) September 16, 2018

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

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

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

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

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

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

@ 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.

Like and repost: X: https://x.com/AGORA_SN/status/1931657445916766655 N: https://njump.me/note1qqqsgu9pgx2u6yt2dv0c5yedpzrqalaqe3rf3lwxfu4a0w6wemtsy0eyfu

https://stacker.news/items/1000477

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

Live Free or Die.

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

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

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

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

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

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

@ dab6c606:51f507b6

I've been interested for a while in how the business with miles and loyalty points works. I found out that only large corporations can partially do this because of how they can then account for it. And it's tax-wise super advantageous. I also added info about loyalty points and gift cards. The text below was written by various AIs as I was digging into it, it's basically a summary, sharing for those who are interested.

Part I: Loyalty Programs of Large Corporations

Business Logic of Loyalty Programs

Loyalty programs of airlines and hotels are sophisticated business tools that serve several key purposes. They primarily function to increase customer loyalty by creating "switching costs" - customers don't want to lose accumulated points, which reduces the likelihood they'll switch to competitors.

At the same time, they're a significant source of additional revenue. For example, American Airlines earns more from selling miles to banks than on some flight routes. When Citibank buys miles for 1-2 cents per mile, the airline gets immediate revenue, while the real value for the customer can be 3-5 cents when used correctly.

Accounting Treatment of Loyalty Points

From an accounting perspective, loyalty points represent deferred liabilities. When a customer earns points, the company must create a reserve for their future redemption. Points are valued based on expected costs of their redemption, not on nominal value.

The key difference is between cash accounting and accrual accounting: - Cash accounting: Revenue is recognized when payment is received, expenses when paid. - Accrual accounting: Revenue and expenses are recognized when the obligation arises.

For loyalty programs, accrual accounting is critical. When an airline sells miles to a bank for $1,000,000, it simultaneously creates a liability for future costs (say $600,000), so taxable income is only $400,000.

Example: Selling Miles to a Bank

An airline sells 50 million miles to Citibank for $1,000,000: 1. Immediate revenue: $1,000,000 2. Creation of liability: $600,000 (estimated future costs) 3. Taxable income: $400,000 4. Future costs: When customers use miles, the company recognizes the expense and reduces the liability

Positive margin arises from several factors: - Breakage - 15-20% of miles are never redeemed - Time value of money - Money from the bank is invested immediately - Marginal costs - An empty seat has low incremental cost

Tax Optimization and Offshore Structures

Large companies often use international structures to optimize taxes from loyalty programs. A typical structure includes: 1. Parent company (USA/EU) - Operates flights and provides services (e.g., flights or accommodation). 2. IP Holding (Ireland/Netherlands) - Owns intellectual property (IP) for the loyalty program, such as brands, software, and databases. 3. Loyalty Operating Company (Singapore/Dubai) - Manages sale of miles to banks and partners, coordinates the program and communicates with customers.

Business Relationships and Payments Between Entities (example with positive result for Singapore)

These entities are connected by contracts that determine who pays for what and why, to minimize tax burden: - Bank → Singapore (Loyalty Operating Company): The bank (e.g., Citibank) pays $1,000,000 for miles it offers to its clients as rewards for using credit cards. The Singapore company is the main contact point for partners because it's located in a low-tax jurisdiction (17%) with good infrastructure for financial services. - Singapore → Ireland (IP Holding): The Singapore company pays $500,000 as royalties for using IP (brands, software, and data) of the loyalty program. This payment is high to shift profit to Ireland, where the tax rate is even lower (12.5%). This reduces taxable income in Singapore. - Singapore → Parent Company (Airline): The Singapore company pays $300,000 to the parent company for providing services (e.g., flights) when customers use miles. This payment is lower than actual costs to minimize profit in the parent company's country, where the tax rate is higher (e.g., 25-35% in USA or EU). - Profit in Singapore: $1,000,000 (income from bank) - $500,000 (royalties to Ireland) - $300,000 (payment to airline) = $200,000 profit, taxed at 17% in Singapore.

Why Such Distribution?

• Ireland (IP Holding): High royalty payments ($500,000) go to Ireland because the 12.5% tax rate is attractive and Ireland is considered a "serious" jurisdiction that meets international rules (e.g., BEPS). Ireland also has double taxation treaties with many countries, facilitating profit shifting.
• Singapore (Loyalty Operating Company): Mile sales and program coordination occur in Singapore due to favorable tax environment (17%) and strategic location for Asian markets. A small profit ($200,000) is left here to demonstrate "economic substance" - that the company has real activity.
• Parent Company: The $300,000 payment is low to minimize taxable income in a high-tax country (e.g., USA or EU).

Why Not 0% Tax Jurisdiction?

Why not use a zero-tax country (e.g., Cayman Islands)? Due to: - Regulatory scrutiny - Tax authorities closely monitor 0% jurisdictions and may question legitimacy. - BEPS rules - Need to demonstrate "substance" (real offices, employees) in the country. - Credibility test - 12.5% in Ireland or 17% in Singapore looks like legitimate business operation.

The result of such structure is that most profit (60-70%) is taxed at 12.5% in Ireland or 17% in Singapore instead of 25-35% in the airline's home country.

Part II: Loyalty Programs and Alternatives for Small Businesses

Why Loyalty Programs Are Problematic for Small Businesses

Unlike large corporations, small businesses like cafes face a fundamental problem with loyalty programs: cash accounting obligation. In many countries, small firms (under $25M annually) must use cash accounting, which means: - Revenue from selling points is taxed immediately - Costs are deducted only when customers use points (maybe a year later) - Creates tax and cashflow problem - tax is paid on money you'll "lose" in the future

Imagine a cafe that sells loyalty points for €100. It must immediately pay tax (say €21), but deducts coffee costs provided for points only in the future.

Alternative Models for Small Businesses

There are more tax-advantageous alternatives:

1. Gift Cards Model

• Revenue is NOT RECOGNIZED when selling gift card
• Revenue is recognized only when customer uses the card
• Example: Sell gift cards for €10,000 in December, get cash immediately, but pay tax gradually as customers use cards during the following year.
• Time value of money: Money can be invested (e.g., 6% annually = €600 extra profit on €10,000)
• Breakage benefit: 2-10% of cards are never used, after certain time (3-5 years, depending on legislation) you can recognize the balance as pure profit.

Example: Starbucks Starbucks had $1.5 billion in unused gift cards on its books in 2022. Estimated 3% breakage means $45 million pure profit – interest-free loan from customers with bonus that part never returns.

2. Subscription Model

• Monthly revenue = immediate taxation
• Monthly costs = immediate deduction
• Example: €10/month for "premium membership" with certain benefits

3. Discount Coupons

• No revenue when issuing coupon
• Reduced revenue when redeeming (sell at lower price)
• Example: 20% discount coupon = sell coffee for €4 instead of €5

Outsourcing Loyalty Program: Details About Shopify Loyalty

Platforms like Shopify Loyalty represent an elegant solution for small businesses wanting to offer loyalty programs without accounting and tax complications. Let's break this down in detail:

How Shopify Loyalty Works

• Shopify as third party: Shopify owns and manages the entire loyalty program including points and software. The customer has their "account" directly with Shopify, not with the specific store. This means points are not your liability, but Shopify's liability.
• Your role: You (e.g., cafe) pay Shopify a monthly fee (e.g., €29) for using the platform and a small transaction fee (e.g., €0.20) for each point redemption (reward). You're essentially a "service provider" for Shopify – you provide rewards when Shopify sends you an order.
• Earning points: Customer earns points for purchases in stores participating in Shopify Loyalty program. For example, if customer buys coffee for €5 in your cafe, Shopify credits them points (e.g., 5 points per euro, so 25 points). Specific rules (how many points per euro) are set by you through Shopify platform, but technically points are managed by Shopify.
• Using points: Customer can use points for rewards (e.g., free coffee for 100 points), but usually only in stores participating in Shopify network. This means if your cafe uses Shopify Loyalty, points earned with you can be used with you or other stores in Shopify ecosystem, if Shopify allows it. Usually, however, stores set up the program so points are primarily usable with them, increasing loyalty to their brand.
• Point redemption process: When customer wants to use points (e.g., 100 points for free coffee), Shopify sends order to you (cafe) to provide the reward. You give the coffee but don't receive direct payment from customer – it's a marketing cost. You also pay Shopify transaction fee (€0.20). Accounting-wise, it's not a sale, so no taxable income or receipt obligation arises.
• Accounting treatment: When customer uses points:
• No receipt = no taxable income
• Coffee cost (€2) + Shopify fee (€0.20) = €2.20
• Recorded as "Promotional expenses" or "Marketing costs"

Why Must Loyalty Program Be Outsourced to Third Party (like Shopify)?

Small businesses don't have capacity or resources to manage their own loyalty program "in-house" for these reasons: - Tax and accounting complexity: If you managed loyalty program yourself, you'd have to create reserves for future liabilities (points customers will use later), estimate breakage rate (percentage of unused points) and handle cash vs. accrual accounting. For small firms that often must use cash accounting, this means immediate taxation of revenue if selling points, but cost deduction only in the future – creates cashflow mismatch. - Technological infrastructure: Managing points, customer databases and integration with payment systems requires sophisticated software and IT team, which is expensive and complicated for small firms. - Legal separation: When program is managed by third party like Shopify, points are their liability, not yours. For you, this means no future liabilities in your accounting books – just monthly costs (Shopify fee), which are tax-deductible as regular expense. - Economic efficiency: Shopify aggregates thousands of stores, achieving economies of scale – lower costs for software, security and data management. A small cafe could never create such system at reasonable price alone.

Why Can't It Be In-house from Tax Perspective?

If small firm managed loyalty program itself: - Immediate tax problem: If firm sold points (e.g., for money or as part of purchase), revenue would have to be taxed immediately, though costs for providing rewards (e.g., free coffee) could be deducted only when customer uses points. This creates cashflow mismatch because you pay tax before actually "losing" money on reward. - Complex reserves: Would have to estimate how many points will be used and create accounting reserves, which is administratively demanding and requires expensive accountants or software. - Risk of errors: Incorrect breakage rate estimates or poor liability management can lead to tax audits and penalties.

With Shopify, these problems are eliminated – you only pay monthly fee and transaction fees, which are simply recorded as marketing costs. Shopify takes full responsibility for managing points and liabilities to customers.

Case Study: Loyalty Points for Cafe (10 + 1 Free Model)

Let's look at specific case of small cafe offering classic loyalty program type "10 + 1 free". Customer gets 1 point for each coffee purchased (e.g., for €3) and after collecting 10 points gets one free coffee. We'll analyze how this works accounting-wise, whether it's "promotional expense" and what's the difference between in-house management and using Shopify.

How "10 + 1 Free" Program Works

• Earning points: Customer buys coffee for €3 and gets 1 point (e.g., stamp on card or digital record). Points have no monetary value for sale – they're purely reward for purchase.
• Using points: After collecting 10 points (meaning purchases for €30) customer gets free coffee (value €3).
• Real cost for cafe: Cost of producing free coffee is lower than selling price, e.g., €1.50 for materials and labor.

Accounting Treatment (In-house)

If cafe manages program itself (in-house), accounting process depends on whether it uses cash accounting (common for small firms) or accrual accounting: - Cash accounting: - When customer buys coffee: Cafe records €3 revenue for each coffee and issues receipt. Point (stamp) has no monetary value, so it's not recorded as liability or revenue. - When redeeming 10 points: When customer gets free coffee, no revenue arises (€0), but cost for coffee production arises (€1.50). This cost is recorded as "Promotional expense" or "Marketing cost" because it's form of discount or advertising to retain customer. - Tax impact: No revenue when issuing free coffee, €1.50 cost is tax-deductible as regular expense. - Accrual accounting (less common for small firms): - When customer buys coffee: Cafe records €3 revenue but simultaneously creates small liability for future reward (e.g., €0.30 per point, which is estimate of cost for future free coffee divided by 10). So from €3 revenue, taxable income is only €2.70. - When redeeming 10 points: When customer gets free coffee, cafe reduces liability by €3 (10 points x €0.30) and records €1.50 cost for coffee production. Difference can be adjusted as breakage or other profit if estimates differ from reality. - Tax impact: Taxable income is lower already at first purchase, but accounting is more complex due to estimates and reserves.

Is it Promotional Expense? Yes, in both cases (cash and accrual) the cost of free coffee is recorded as "Promotional expense" or "Marketing cost" because it's form of discount to support customer loyalty. It's not considered regular sale because no revenue or receipt arises.

Accounting Treatment (via Shopify Loyalty)

If cafe uses Shopify Loyalty to manage "10 + 1 free" program, process is simpler: - When customer buys coffee: Cafe records €3 revenue for coffee and issues receipt. Shopify credits point to customer's account (it's not your liability, but Shopify's). - When redeeming 10 points: Shopify sends order to issue free coffee. Cafe gives coffee (€1.50 cost) and pays Shopify transaction fee (€0.20). Total cost €1.70 is recorded as "Promotional expense" or "Marketing cost". - Tax impact: Same as in-house, no revenue when issuing free coffee, €1.70 cost is tax-deductible as regular expense. Additionally, you don't have to handle any liabilities or breakage estimates because Shopify manages points.

Difference Between In-house and Shopify

• In-house:
• Advantages: Full control over program, no monthly fees to third party (e.g., €29 Shopify fee).
• Disadvantages: If using accrual accounting, must create reserves and estimate breakage, which is administratively demanding. With cash accounting it's simpler (no liabilities), but if you sold points for money, tax mismatch arises (revenue taxed immediately, cost only later). Additionally, must manage point database yourself (stamps, software), which is time-consuming.
• Shopify Loyalty:
• Advantages: No liabilities in your accounting books, Shopify manages points and technology. Accounting-wise it's simple – just monthly fee (€29) and transaction fees (€0.20) as marketing cost. Don't have to handle estimates or breakage.
• Disadvantages: Pay monthly fees and transaction fees, increasing costs (e.g., €0.20 extra per free coffee). Have less control over program because third party manages it.

Conclusion for Cafe: "10 + 1 free" program is accounting-wise considered Promotional expense in both cases (in-house and Shopify) because free coffee is form of marketing to retain customers. Difference is in administrative burden and costs – Shopify simplifies accounting and management, but at cost of monthly fees. In-house is cheaper but more demanding to manage, especially if you wanted to use accrual accounting or sell points for money.

Conclusion

Loyalty programs are sophisticated customer loyalty tools, but their accounting and tax aspects differ significantly between large and small firms. Large corporations use accrual accounting and international structures for tax optimization, while for small businesses alternative models like gift cards or outsourcing entire program are often more advantageous, eliminating tax and cashflow problems. Gift cards additionally bring immediate cash flow, time value of money and breakage benefit, making them ideal tool for businesses of all sizes. Shopify Loyalty offers small firms way to implement loyalty program without accounting complications because it takes technical and legal responsibility, allowing focus on core business. For simple programs like "10 + 1 free," accounting impact is similar (Promotional expense), but Shopify simplifies management at cost of additional fees.

@ b1ddb4d7:471244e7

Bitcoin FilmFest (BFF25) returns to Warsaw for its third edition, blending independent cinema—from feature films and commercials to AI-driven experimental visuals—with education and entertainment.

Hundreds of attendees from around the world will gather for three days of screenings, discussions, workshops, and networking at the iconic Kinoteka Cinema (PKiN), the same venue that hosted the festival’s first two editions in March 2023 and April 2024.

This year’s festival, themed “Beyond the Frame,” introduces new dimensions to its program, including an extra day on May 22 to celebrate Bitcoin Pizza Day, the first real-world bitcoin transaction, with what promises to be one of Europe’s largest commemorations of this milestone.

BFF25 bridges independent film, culture, and technology, with a bold focus on decentralized storytelling and creative expression. As a community-driven cultural experience with a slightly rebellious spirit, Bitcoin FilmFest goes beyond movies, yet cinema remains at its heart.

Here’s a sneak peek at the lineup, specially curated for movie buffs:

Generative Cinema –  A special slot with exclusive shorts and a thematic debate on the intersection of AI and filmmaking. Featured titles include, for example: BREAK FREE, SATOSHI: THE CREATION OF BITCOIN, STRANGE CURRENCIES, and BITCOIN IS THE MYCELIUM OF MONEY,  exploring financial independence, traps of the fiat system, and a better future built on sound money.

Upcoming Productions Preview – A bit over an hour-long block of unreleased pilots and works-in-progress. Attendees will get exclusive first looks at projects like FINDING HOME (a travel-meets-personal-journey series), PARALLEL SPACES (a story about alternative communities), and THE LEGEND OF LANDI (a mysterious narrative).

Freedom-Focused Ads & Campaigns – Unique screenings of video commercials, animations, and visual projects, culminating in “The PoWies” (Proof of Work-ies)—the first ever awards show honoring the best Bitcoin-only awareness campaigns.

To get an idea of what might come up at the event, here, you can preview 6 selected ads combined into two 2 videos:

• Unique Bitcoin-Video Ads: Part One
• Unique Bitcoin-Video Ads: Part Two

Open Pitch Competition – A chance for filmmakers to present fresh ideas and unfinished projects to an audience of a dedicated jury, movie fans and potential collaborators. This competitive block isn’t just entertaining—it’s a real opportunity for creators to secure funding and partnerships.

Golden Rabbit Awards: A lively gala honoring films from the festival’s Official Selection, with awards in categories like Best Feature, Best Story, Best Short, and Audience Choice.

BFF25 Main Screenings

Sample titles from BFF25’s Official Selection:

REVOLUCIÓN BITCOIN – A documentary by Juan Pablo, making its first screening outside the Spanish-speaking world in Warsaw this May. Three years of important work, 80 powerful minutes to experience. The film explores Bitcoin’s impact across Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, El Salvador, and Spain through around 40 diverse perspectives. Screening in Spanish with English subtitles, followed by a Q&A with the director.

UNBANKABLE – Luke Willms’ directorial debut, drawing from his multicultural roots and his father’s pioneering HIV/AIDS research. An investigative documentary based on Luke’s journeys through seven African countries, diving into financial experiments and innovations—from mobile money and digital lending to Bitcoin—raising smart questions and offering potential lessons for the West. Its May appearance at BFF25 marks its largest European event to date, following festival screenings and nominations across multiple continents over the past year.

HOTEL BITCOIN – A Spanish comedy directed by Manuel Sanabria and Carlos “Pocho” Villaverde. Four friends, 4,000 bitcoins , and one laptop spark a chaotic adventure of parties, love, crime, and a dash of madness. Exploring sound money, value, and relationships through a twisting plot. The film premiered at the Tarazona and Moncayo Comedy Film Festival in August 2024. Its Warsaw screening at BFF25 (in Spanish with English subtitles) marks its first public showing outside the Spanish-speaking world.

Check out trailers for this year’s BFF25 and past editions on YouTube.

Tickets & Info:

• Detailed program and tickets are available at bitcoinfilmfest.com/bff25.
• Stay updated via the festival’s official channels (links provided on the website).
• Use ‘LN-NEWS’ to get 10% of tickets

@ dab6c606:51f507b6

Dlhšie som sa zaujímal o to ako funguje biznis s míľami, vernostnými bodmi. Zistil som, že to čiastočne môžu robiť iba veľké korporácie kvôli tomu ako to môžu potom zaúčtovať. A je to daňovo super výhodné. Pridal som aj info o vernostných bodoch a darčekových kartách. Text nižšie napísali rôzne AI ako som sa v tom vŕtal, to je v zásade sumár, zdieľam pre tých, ktorých to zaujíma.

Časť I: Vernostné programy veľkých korporácií

Obchodná logika vernostných programov

Vernostné programy leteckých spoločností a hotelov sú sofistikované obchodné nástroje, ktoré slúžia niekoľkým kľúčovým účelom. Primárne fungujú na zvýšenie zákazníckej lojality vytvorením "switching costs" - zákazníci nechcú prísť o nazbierané body, čo znižuje pravdepodobnosť, že prejdú ku konkurencii.

Zároveň sú významným zdrojom dodatočných príjmov. Napríklad American Airlines zarába viac na predaji míľ bankám ako na niektorých leteckých linkách. Keď Citibank kupuje míle za 1-2 centy za míľu, aerolínia získava okamžitý príjem, zatiaľ čo reálna hodnota pre zákazníka môže byť 3-5 centov pri správnom využití.

Účtovné spracovanie vernostných bodov

Z účtovného hľadiska predstavujú vernostné body odložené záväzky. Keď zákazník získa body, spoločnosť musí vytvoriť rezervu na ich budúce uplatnenie. Body sa oceňujú na základe predpokladaných nákladov na ich uplatnenie, nie na základe nominálnej hodnoty.

Kľúčový je rozdiel medzi cash accounting a accrual accounting: - Cash accounting: Príjmy sa uznávajú pri prijatí platby, náklady pri zaplatení. - Accrual accounting: Príjmy a náklady sa uznávajú v momente vzniku záväzku.

Pre vernostné programy je accrual accounting kritické. Keď aerolínia predá míle banke za $1,000,000, vytvorí zároveň záväzok na budúce náklady (povedzme $600,000), takže zdaniteľný príjem je len $400,000.

Príklad: Predaj míľ banke

Aerolínia predá 50 miliónov míľ Citibank za $1,000,000: 1. Okamžitý príjem: $1,000,000 2. Vytvorenie záväzku: $600,000 (odhadované budúce náklady) 3. Zdaniteľný príjem: $400,000 4. Budúce náklady: Keď zákazníci míle využijú, spoločnosť uzná náklad a zníži záväzok

Pozitívna marža vzniká z niekoľkých faktorov: - Breakage - 15-20% míľ sa nikdy neuplatní - Časová hodnota peňazí - Peniaze od banky investuje okamžite - Marginálne náklady - Prázdne sedadlo má nízky prírastok nákladu

Daňová optimalizácia a offshore štruktúry

Veľké spoločnosti často využívajú medzinárodné štruktúry na optimalizáciu daní z vernostných programov. Typická štruktúra zahŕňa: 1. Materská spoločnosť (USA/EU) - Prevádzkuje lety a poskytuje služby (napr. lety alebo ubytovanie). 2. IP Holding (Írsko/Holandsko) - Vlastní duševné vlastníctvo (IP) k loyalty programu, ako sú značky, softvér a databázy. 3. Loyalty Operating Company (Singapur/Dubaj) - Spravuje predaj míľ bankám a partnerom, koordinuje program a komunikuje so zákazníkmi.

Obchodné vzťahy a platby medzi entitami (príklad s pozitívnym výsledkom pre Singapur)

Tieto entity sú prepojené zmluvami, ktoré určujú, kto za čo platí a prečo, aby sa minimalizovala daňová záťaž: - Banka → Singapur (Loyalty Operating Company): Banka (napr. Citibank) platí $1,000,000 za míle, ktoré ponúka svojim klientom ako odmenu za používanie kreditných kariet. Singapurská spoločnosť je hlavný kontaktný bod pre partnerov, pretože je umiestnená v jurisdikcii s nízkou daňou (17 %) a dobrou infraštruktúrou pre finančné služby. - Singapur → Írsko (IP Holding): Singapurská spoločnosť platí $500,000 ako royalty za použitie IP (značky, softvéru a dát) loyalty programu. Táto platba je vysoká, aby sa presunul zisk do Írska, kde je daňová sadzba ešte nižšia (12,5 %). Tým sa znižuje zdaniteľný príjem v Singapure. - Singapur → Materská spoločnosť (Aerolínia): Singapurská spoločnosť platí $300,000 materskej spoločnosti za poskytnutie služieb (napr. letov), keď zákazníci využijú míle. Táto platba je nižšia ako reálne náklady, aby sa minimalizoval zisk v krajine materskej spoločnosti, kde je daňová sadzba vyššia (napr. 25-35 % v USA alebo EU). - Zisk v Singapure: $1,000,000 (príjem od banky) - $500,000 (royalty do Írska) - $300,000 (platba aerolínii) = $200,000 zisku, ktorý je zdanený pri 17 % v Singapure.

Prečo takéto rozdelenie?

• Írsko (IP Holding): Vysoké royalty platby ($500,000) idú do Írska, pretože daňová sadzba 12,5 % je atraktívna a Írsko je považované za "serióznu" jurisdikciu, ktorá spĺňa medzinárodné pravidlá (napr. BEPS). Zároveň má Írsko zmluvy o zamedzení dvojitého zdanenia s mnohými krajinami, čo uľahčuje presun zisku.
• Singapur (Loyalty Operating Company): Predaj míľ a koordinácia programu prebieha v Singapure kvôli priaznivému daňovému prostrediu (17 %) a strategickej polohe pre ázijské trhy. Zároveň sa tu zanecháva malý zisk ($200,000), aby sa preukázala "ekonomická substance" – teda, že spoločnosť má reálnu činnosť.
• Materská spoločnosť: Platba $300,000 je nízka, aby sa minimalizoval zdaniteľný príjem v krajine s vysokou daňovou sadzbou (napr. USA alebo EU).

Prečo nie 0 % daňová jurisdikcia?

Prečo sa nepoužíva krajina s nulovou daňou (napr. Kajmanské ostrovy)? Kvôli: - Regulatory scrutiny - Daňové úrady pozorne sledujú 0 % jurisdikcie a môžu spochybniť legitímnosť. - BEPS pravidlám - Potreba preukázať "substance" (reálne kancelárie, zamestnancov) v krajine. - Credibility testu - 12,5 % v Írsku alebo 17 % v Singapure vyzerá ako legitímna obchodná operácia.

Výsledkom takejto štruktúry je, že väčšina zisku (60-70 %) je zdanená pri 12,5 % v Írsku alebo 17 % v Singapure namiesto 25-35 % v domovskej krajine aerolínky.

Časť II: Loyalty programy a alternatívy pre malé biznisy

Prečo je loyalty program problematický pre malé biznisy

Na rozdiel od veľkých korporácií, malé biznisy ako kaviarne narážajú pri vernostných programoch na zásadný problém: cash accounting povinnosť. V mnohých krajinách musia malé firmy (pod $25M ročne) používať cash accounting, čo znamená: - Príjem z predaja bodov sa zdaní okamžite - Náklady sa odpočítajú až keď zákazník body využije (možno o rok) - Vzniká daňový a cashflow problém - daň sa platí z peňazí, ktoré "stratíte" v budúcnosti

Predstavte si kaviareň, ktorá predá vernostné body za €100. Okamžite musí zaplatiť daň (povedzme €21), ale náklady na kávu poskytnutú za body odpočíta až v budúcnosti.

Alternatívne modely pre malé biznisy

Existujú daňovo výhodnejšie alternatívy:

1. Gift Cards model

• Príjem sa NEUZNÁ pri predaji gift karty
• Príjem sa uzná až keď zákazník kartu využije
• Príklad: Predáte gift cards za €10,000 v decembri, získate cash okamžite, ale daň platíte postupne, ako zákazníci karty využívajú počas nasledujúceho roka.
• Časová hodnota peňazí: Peniaze môžete investovať (napr. 6 % ročne = €600 extra zisk na €10,000)
• Breakage benefit: 2-10 % kariet sa nikdy nevyužije, po určitom čase (3-5 rokov, podľa legislatívy) môžete zostatok uznať ako čistý zisk.

Príklad: Starbucks Starbucks mal v roku 2022 na účtoch $1,5 miliardy v nevyužitých gift cards. Odhadovaný breakage 3 % znamená $45 miliónov čistého zisku – bezúročná pôžička od zákazníkov s bonusom, že časť sa nikdy nevráti.

2. Subscription model

• Mesačný príjem = okamžité zdanenie
• Mesačné náklady = okamžitý odpočet
• Príklad: €10/mesiac za "premium membership" s určitými benefitmi

3. Discount Coupons

• Žiadny príjem pri vydaní kupónu
• Znížený príjem pri uplatnení (predáte za nižšiu cenu)
• Príklad: 20 % zľavový kupón = predaj kávy za €4 namiesto €5

Outsourcing loyalty programu: Podrobnosti o Shopify Loyalty

Platformy ako Shopify Loyalty predstavujú elegantné riešenie pre malé biznisy, ktoré chcú ponúkať vernostné programy bez účtovných a daňových komplikácií. Poďme si to rozobrať podrobne:

Ako funguje Shopify Loyalty

• Shopify ako tretia strana: Shopify vlastní a spravuje celý vernostný program vrátane bodov a softvéru. Zákazník má svoj "účet" priamo u Shopify, nie u konkrétneho obchodu. To znamená, že body nie sú vaším záväzkom, ale záväzkom Shopify.
• Vaša úloha: Vy (napr. kaviareň) platíte Shopify mesačný poplatok (napr. €29) za používanie platformy a malý transakčný poplatok (napr. €0,20) za každé uplatnenie bodov (reward). Vy ste v podstate "dodávateľom služieb" pre Shopify – poskytujete odmeny, keď vám Shopify pošle objednávku.
• Získavanie bodov: Zákazník získava body za nákupy v obchodoch, ktoré sú zapojené do Shopify Loyalty programu. Napríklad, ak zákazník nakúpi kávu za €5 vo vašej kaviarni, Shopify mu pripíše body (napr. 5 bodov za každé euro, teda 25 bodov). Konkrétne pravidlá (koľko bodov za euro) si nastavujete vy cez Shopify platformu, ale technicky body spravuje Shopify.
• Využitie bodov: Zákazník môže body využiť na odmeny (napr. kávu zadarmo za 100 bodov), ale zvyčajne len v obchodoch zapojených do Shopify siete. To znamená, že ak vaša kaviareň používa Shopify Loyalty, body získané u vás môžu byť využité u vás alebo v iných obchodoch v rámci Shopify ekosystému, ak to Shopify umožňuje. Väčšinou však obchody nastavujú program tak, aby boli body využiteľné primárne u nich, čím sa zvyšuje lojalita k ich značke.
• Proces uplatnenia bodov: Keď zákazník chce využiť body (napr. 100 bodov za kávu zadarmo), Shopify pošle objednávku vám (kaviarni) na poskytnutie odmeny. Vy kávu vydáte, ale nedostanete za ňu priamy príjem od zákazníka – ide o marketingový náklad. Zároveň platíte Shopify transakčný poplatok (€0,20). Účtovne to nie je predaj, takže nevzniká zdaniteľný príjem ani povinnosť vystaviť bloček.
• Účtovné spracovanie: Keď zákazník využije body:
• Žiadny bloček = žiadny zdaniteľný príjem
• Náklad kávy (€2) + Shopify fee (€0,20) = €2,20
• Účtuje sa ako "Promotional expenses" alebo "Marketing costs"

Prečo musí byť loyalty program outsourcovaný tretej strane (ako Shopify)?

Malé biznisy nemajú kapacitu ani zdroje na správu vlastného loyalty programu "in-house" z týchto dôvodov: - Daňová a účtovná komplexnosť: Ak by ste spravovali loyalty program sami, museli by ste vytvárať rezervy na budúce záväzky (body, ktoré zákazníci využijú neskôr), odhadovať breakage rate (percento nevyužitých bodov) a riešiť cash vs. accrual accounting. Pre malé firmy, ktoré často musia používať cash accounting, to znamená okamžité zdanenie príjmu, ak by body predávali, ale odpočet nákladov až v budúcnosti – vzniká cashflow nesúlad. - Technologická infraštruktúra: Správa bodov, databáz zákazníkov a integrácia s platobnými systémami vyžaduje sofistikovaný softvér a IT tím, čo je pre malé firmy nákladné a komplikované. - Legálna separácia: Keď program spravuje tretia strana ako Shopify, body sú ich záväzkom, nie vaším. Pre vás to znamená, že nemáte žiadne budúce záväzky vo svojej účtovnej knihe – len mesačné náklady (poplatok Shopify), ktoré sú daňovo odpočítateľné ako bežný výdavok. - Ekonomická efektivita: Shopify združuje tisíce obchodov, čím dosahuje ekonomiku rozsahu – nižšie náklady na softvér, bezpečnosť a správu dát. Malá kaviareň by sama nikdy nedokázala vytvoriť takýto systém za rozumnú cenu.

Prečo to nemôže byť in-house z daňového hľadiska?

Ak by malá firma spravovala loyalty program sama: - Okamžitý daňový problém: Ak by firma predávala body (napr. za peniaze alebo ako súčasť nákupu), príjem by musela zdaniť hneď, hoci náklady na poskytnutie odmien (napr. káva zadarmo) by mohla odpočítať až v momente, keď zákazník body využije. To vytvára cashflow nesúlad, pretože daň platíte skôr, než reálne "stratíte" peniaze na odmenu. - Zložité rezervy: Musela by odhadovať, koľko bodov sa využije, a vytvárať účtovné rezervy, čo je administratívne náročné a vyžaduje drahých účtovníkov alebo softvér. - Riziko chýb: Nesprávne odhady breakage rate alebo zlý manažment záväzkov môžu viesť k daňovým kontrolám a pokutám.

S Shopify sa tieto problémy eliminujú – vy platíte len mesačný poplatok a transakčné fees, ktoré sú jednoducho účtované ako marketingové náklady. Shopify preberá celú zodpovednosť za správu bodov a záväzkov voči zákazníkom.

Prípadová štúdia: Vernostné body pre kaviareň (model 10 + 1 zadarmo)

Pozrime sa na konkrétny prípad malej kaviarne, ktorá ponúka klasický vernostný program typu "10 + 1 zadarmo". Zákazník dostane 1 bod za každú kúpenú kávu (napr. za €3) a po nazbieraní 10 bodov dostane jednu kávu zadarmo. Rozoberieme, ako to funguje účtovne, či ide o "promotional expense" a aký je rozdiel medzi in-house správou a použitím Shopify.

Ako funguje program "10 + 1 zadarmo"

• Získavanie bodov: Zákazník kúpi kávu za €3 a dostane 1 bod (napr. pečiatku na kartičku alebo digitálny záznam). Body nemajú peňažnú hodnotu na predaj – sú čisto odmenou za nákup.
• Využitie bodov: Po nazbieraní 10 bodov (čo znamená nákupy za €30) zákazník dostane kávu zadarmo (hodnota €3).
• Reálny náklad pre kaviareň: Náklad na výrobu kávy zadarmo je nižší ako predajná cena, napr. €1,50 za suroviny a prácu.

Účtovné spracovanie (In-house)

Ak kaviareň spravuje program sama (in-house), účtovný proces závisí od toho, či používa cash accounting (bežné pre malé firmy) alebo accrual accounting: - Cash accounting: - Pri nákupe kávy zákazníkom: Kaviareň účtuje príjem €3 za každú kávu a vydá bloček. Bod (pečiatka) nemá peňažnú hodnotu, takže sa neúčtuje ako záväzok ani príjem. - Pri uplatnení 10 bodov: Keď zákazník dostane kávu zadarmo, nevzniká príjem (€0), ale vzniká náklad na výrobu kávy (€1,50). Tento náklad sa účtuje ako "Promotional expense" alebo "Marketing cost", pretože ide o formu zľavy alebo reklamy na udržanie zákazníka. - Daňový dopad: Žiadny príjem pri vydaní kávy zadarmo, náklad €1,50 je daňovo odpočítateľný ako bežný výdavok. - Accrual accounting (menej bežné pre malé firmy): - Pri nákupe kávy zákazníkom: Kaviareň účtuje príjem €3, ale zároveň vytvára malý záväzok na budúcu odmenu (napr. €0,30 za každý bod, čo je odhad nákladu na budúcu kávu zadarmo deleno 10). Teda z €3 príjmu je zdaniteľný príjem len €2,70. - Pri uplatnení 10 bodov: Keď zákazník dostane kávu zadarmo, kaviareň zníži záväzok o €3 (10 bodov x €0,30) a účtuje náklad €1,50 na výrobu kávy. Rozdiel môže byť upravený ako breakage alebo iný zisk, ak sa odhady líšia od reality. - Daňový dopad: Zdaniteľný príjem je nižší už pri prvom nákupe, ale účtovníctvo je zložitejšie kvôli odhadom a rezervám.

Je to Promotional Expense? Áno, v oboch prípadoch (cash aj accrual) sa náklad na kávu zadarmo účtuje ako "Promotional expense" alebo "Marketing cost", pretože ide o formu zľavy na podporu lojality zákazníkov. Nie je to považované za bežný predaj, pretože nevzniká príjem ani bloček.

Účtovné spracovanie (cez Shopify Loyalty)

Ak kaviareň používa Shopify Loyalty na správu programu "10 + 1 zadarmo", proces je jednoduchší: - Pri nákupe kávy zákazníkom: Kaviareň účtuje príjem €3 za kávu a vydá bloček. Shopify pripíše bod zákazníkovi do jeho účtu (nie je to váš záväzok, ale Shopify). - Pri uplatnení 10 bodov: Shopify pošle objednávku na vydanie kávy zadarmo. Kaviareň vydá kávu (náklad €1,50) a zaplatí Shopify transakčný poplatok (€0,20). Celkový náklad €1,70 sa účtuje ako "Promotional expense" alebo "Marketing cost". - Daňový dopad: Rovnako ako pri in-house, žiadny príjem pri vydaní kávy zadarmo, náklad €1,70 je daňovo odpočítateľný ako bežný výdavok. Navyše nemusíte riešiť žiadne záväzky alebo odhady breakage, pretože body spravuje Shopify.

Rozdiel medzi In-house a Shopify

• In-house:
• Výhody: Plná kontrola nad programom, žiadne mesačné poplatky tretej strane (napr. €29 Shopify fee).
• Nevýhody: Ak použijete accrual accounting, musíte vytvárať rezervy a odhadovať breakage, čo je administratívne náročné. Pri cash accounting je to jednoduchšie (žiadne záväzky), ale ak by ste body predávali za peniaze, vzniká daňový nesúlad (príjem zdanený hneď, náklad až neskôr). Navyše musíte sami spravovať databázu bodov (pečiatky, softvér), čo je časovo náročné.
• Shopify Loyalty:
• Výhody: Žiadne záväzky vo vašej účtovnej knihe, Shopify spravuje body a technológiu. Účtovne je to jednoduché – len mesačný poplatok (€29) a transakčné poplatky (€0,20) ako marketingový náklad. Nemusíte riešiť odhady ani breakage.
• Nevýhody: Platíte mesačné poplatky a transakčné fees, čo zvyšuje náklady (napr. €0,20 navyše za každú kávu zadarmo). Máte menšiu kontrolu nad programom, pretože ho spravuje tretia strana.

Záver pre kaviareň: Program "10 + 1 zadarmo" je účtovne považovaný za Promotional expense v oboch prípadoch (in-house aj Shopify), pretože káva zadarmo je forma marketingu na udržanie zákazníkov. Rozdiel je v administratívnej záťaži a nákladoch – Shopify zjednodušuje účtovníctvo a správu, ale za cenu mesačných poplatkov. In-house je lacnejšie, ale náročnejšie na správu, najmä ak by ste chceli používať accrual accounting alebo predávať body za peniaze.

Záver

Vernostné programy sú sofistikovaný nástroj zákazníckej lojality, ale ich účtovné a daňové aspekty sa výrazne líšia medzi veľkými a malými firmami. Veľké korporácie využívajú accrual accounting a medzinárodné štruktúry na optimalizáciu daní, zatiaľ čo pre malé biznisy sú často výhodnejšie alternatívne modely ako gift cards alebo outsourcing celého programu, ktoré eliminujú daňové a cashflow problémy. Gift cards navyše prinášajú okamžitý cash flow, časovú hodnotu peňazí a breakage benefit, čo z nich robí ideálny nástroj pre podniky všetkých veľkostí. Shopify Loyalty ponúka malým firmám spôsob, ako implementovať vernostný program bez účtovných komplikácií, pretože preberá technickú a právnu zodpovednosť, čím umožňuje sústrediť sa na core biznis. Pre jednoduché programy ako "10 + 1 zadarmo" je účtovný dopad podobný (Promotional expense), ale Shopify zjednodušuje správu za cenu dodatočných poplatkov.

```

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@ cae03c48:2a7d6671

Bitcoin Magazine

Sberbank, Russia’s Biggest Bank, Launches Structured Bond Tied to Bitcoin 

Sberbank, the largest bank in Russia, has launched a new structured bond that ties investor returns to the performance of Bitcoin and the U.S. dollar-to-ruble exchange rate. This new financial product represents one of the first moves by a major Russian institution to offer Bitcoin-linked investments under recently updated national regulations.

BREAKING: Russia's largest bank Sberbank launches structured bonds linked to Bitcoin. pic.twitter.com/LtD26jPS0x

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) June 2, 2025

The structured bond is initially available over the counter to a limited group of qualified investors. According to the announcement, it allows investors to earn based on two factors: the price performance of BTC in U.S. dollars and any strengthening of the dollar compared to the Russian ruble.

Unlike typical Bitcoin investments, this product does not require the use of a Bitcoin wallet or foreign platforms. “All transactions [are] processed in rubles within Russia’s legal and infrastructure systems,” Sberbank stated, highlighting compliance with domestic financial protocols.

In addition to the bond, Sberbank has announced plans to launch similar structured investment products with Bitcoin exposure on the Moscow Exchange. The bank also revealed it will introduce a Bitcoin futures product via its SberInvestments platform on June 4, aligning with the product’s debut on the Moscow Exchange.

These developments follow a recent policy change by the Bank of Russia, which now permits financial institutions to offer Bitcoin-linked instruments to qualified investors. This shift opens the door for Bitcoin within the country’s traditional financial markets.

While Russia has previously taken a cautious approach to digital assets, Sberbank’s launch of a Bitcoin-linked bond and upcoming futures product marks a new phase of adoption—one that blends Bitcoin exposure with existing financial infrastructure.

The bank’s structured bond may signal a growing interest in regulated access to Bitcoin, especially within large financial institutions.

This post Sberbank, Russia’s Biggest Bank, Launches Structured Bond Tied to Bitcoin  first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Jenna Montgomery.

@ 86dfbe73:628cef55

Das Private ist immer nur privat in Bezug zu einem bestimmten oder unbestimmten Gegenüber. Heutzutage steht man vielen Privatheiten und vielen Öffentlichkeiten gegenüber. Was privat ist, bemisst sich an der jeweiligen Relation, in der es als privat festgelegt wurde. Die “Privatsphäre”, die üblicherweise gemeint wird, ist jene Sphäre, die der Staat als privat zu respektieren hat, über deren Grenze er sich also nur in seltenen und jeweils zu begründenden Einzelfällen hinwegsetzen darf.

In anderen Beziehungen hingegen gibt es andere “Privatheiten” — dem Arbeitgeber gegenüber etwa, den Kollegen, ehemaligen Schulfreunden, dem Ehepartner, den Eltern oder Kinder. In all diesen Beziehungen gibt es “ausgeschlossene” Bereiche, die das Private meinen. Die Privatsphäre ist dabei die Sphäre über deren Geheimhaltung man gegenüber dem anderen Partner der Beziehung frei verfügen kann, denn Privatsphäre ist die Möglichkeit, sich der Welt selektiv zu offenbaren.

Wenn nicht reflektiert wird, dass es weitgehend eine veränderte Gesellschaft ist, die sich konstituiert, eine Gesellschaft, die mit der vorherigen nichts aber auch gar nichts mehr gemein hat, weil sich der Begriff des “Privaten” verändert, ausdifferenziert, verschiebt, zerfasert — wird der Privatsphärenschutz nicht zu gewährleisten sein.

Das Problem ist, dass „privat und „öffentlich“ alleine nicht funktionieren. Zwischen Privat und Öffentlich gehört – abgeleitet aus dem Begriff des „Social Web“ das Soziale. Und zwischen scheinbar einheitlicher privater „Identität“ und öffentlicher „Person“ gehört ein Bündel an Socialities.

Schon vor dem Netz zersplitterte der moderne, flexible und mobile Mensch in ein Bündel von (nicht: Identitäten sondern) Socialitäten. Das heißt in ein Bündel von Verhaltensweisen, die mehr oder minder bewusst in Beziehung zu bestimmten anderen Socii eingenommen werden. Es ist eine rein kommunikative Größe. Die Socialität eines Arbeitnehmers deckt sich nicht mit der Sozialität des Ehegatten, Vaters usw.

In jeder dieser Beziehungen ist eine andere, zumeist bewusst zu lernende Sozialität vonnöten. Selbst gegenüber Vorgesetzten, gleichrangigen Kollegen und Untergebenen sind mindestens dreierlei Socialitäten am Werke. Denn diese Socialität ist nicht einfach die soziologische „Rolle“, die ein Pluriversum von angenommenen Identitäten unterstellt. Sondern sie ist Ergebnis einer Kommunikationsbeziehung.

Online-Socialitäten

Das Private ist kein kohärente Sphäre, sondern wird durch die Socialität erschaffen. Es ist das, was in der Socialität nicht vorkommt – oder die Qualität der Socialität entscheidend verändert – etwa wenn eine Beziehung zu einer Kollegin/einem Kollegen beginnt (die in der Socialität der Ehegatten wiederum vermutlich nichts zu suchen hat …), sich eine Exfreundin als neue Kundin vorstellt, ein ehemaliger Schulkamerad Chef wird usw. Was „das Private“ ist, lässt sich nicht fassen.

Bei Facebook beispielsweise connectet sich der User mit Familienangehörigen, Freunden, vielleicht ehemaligen Schulfreunden, Kollegen, ggf. Vorgesetzen – und mit Geschäftspartnern oder Kunden. Das heißt: Ein großes Socialitätenbündel vereinigt sich.

Das kann zu größeren Problemen führen, denn die Socialität etwa des Geschäftspartners stellt andere Anforderungen als der ehemalige Klassenkamerad. Die Socialität des Kollegen stellt andere Anforderungen als die der Geschwister.

Die Bündelungsmöglichkeiten durch Personensuchen stellt vor eine ganz andere Herausforderung. Das Multiversum der Socialitäten, das unter verschiedenen Pseudonymen oder doch zumindest auf verschiedenen Plattformen ausgetragen wurde – wird nun plötzlich in ein „Image“ zusammengeführt, das natürlich vorne und hinten inkongruent ist, weil kein gemeinsamer „Kern“, keine einfache „Identität“ vorhanden ist.

Streetview und die Socialität

Schon jetzt nutzen Auskunfteien wie SchuFa oder Creditreform die Wohngegend um Kreditwürdigkeiten zu berechnen. Schon jetzt klassifizieren die Telefonrechner in Callcentern die „Wertigkeit“ eines eingehenden Anrufs per Telefonnummer nach Wohnlage.

Das macht in dieser Socialität "Versicherung-Kunde" einen gewaltigen Unterschied. Und der Kunde hat keinerlei Macht über die Informationen, die der anderen Seite der Socialität verfügbar sind. Die Entscheidung, dass etwas privat sei, zieht nach sich, dass ich es aus einer Socialität exkludiere. „Privat“ bedeutet vor allem „Verzeihung, das ist mir zu privat, darüber gebe ich keine Auskunft“. Und derlei Privatheiten gibt es zu viele – was privat ist, bestimmt die Socialität. Privatsphäre gegenüber dem Kollegen ist eine andere als gegenüber der Vorgesetzten, als gegenüber dem Kunden, als gegenüber dem ehemaligen Schulfreund.

Wie damit umgehen? Das Netz verlassen oder eine eigene „Netzsocialität“ erschaffen, die von vornherein eine inszenierte Kunstfigur ist? Nichts von alledem ist hilfreich. Deswegen kann die Lösung nur aus einer gesamtgesellschaftlichen Debatte rund um die Socialitäten kommen. Und muss sich fragen: Wie soll das Netz sein und funktionieren? Wer soll was einsehen können?

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

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

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

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

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

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

Current Nostr Stats

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

@ 8bad92c3:ca714aa5

Marty's Bent

It's been a pretty historic week for the United States as it pertains to geopolitical relations in the Middle East. President Trump and many members of his administration, including AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, traveled across the Middle East making deals with countries like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Syria, and others. Many are speculating that Iran may be included in some behind the scenes deal as well. This trip to the Middle East makes sense considering the fact that China is also vying for favorable relationships with those countries. The Middle East is a power player in the world, and it seems pretty clear that Donald Trump is dead set on ensuring that they choose the United States over China as the world moves towards a more multi-polar reality.

Many are calling the events of this week the Riyadh Accords. There were many deals that were struck in relation to artificial intelligence, defense, energy and direct investments in the United States. A truly prolific power play and demonstration of deal-making ability of Donald Trump, if you ask me. Though I will admit some of the numbers that were thrown out by some of the countries were a bit egregious. We shall see how everything plays out in the coming years. It will be interesting to see how China reacts to this power move by the United States.

While all this was going on, there was something happening back in the United States that many people outside of fringe corners of FinTwit are not talking about, which is the fact that the 10-year and 30-year U.S. Treasury bond yields are back on the rise. Yesterday, they surpassed the levels of mid-April that caused a market panic and are hovering back around levels that have not been seen since right before Donald Trump's inauguration.

I imagine that there isn't as much of an uproar right now because I'm pretty confident the media freakouts we were experiencing in mid-April were driven by the fact that many large hedge funds found themselves off sides of large levered basis trades. I wouldn't be surprised if those funds have decreased their leverage in those trades and bond yields being back to mid-April levels is not affecting those funds as much as they were last month. But the point stands, the 10-year and 30-year yields are significantly elevated with the 30-year approaching 5%. Regardless of the deals that are currently being made in the Middle East, the Treasury has a big problem on its hands. It still has to roll over many trillions worth of debt over over the next few years and doing so at these rates is going to be massively detrimental to fiscal deficits over the next decade. The interest expense on the debt is set to explode in the coming years.

On that note, data from the first quarter of 2025 has been released by the government and despite all the posturing by the Trump administration around DOGE and how tariffs are going to be beneficial for the U.S. economy, deficits are continuing to explode while the interest expense on the debt has definitively surpassed our annual defense budget.

via Charlie Bilello

via Mohamed Al-Erian

To make matters worse, as things are deteriorating on the fiscal side of things, the U.S. consumer is getting crushed by credit. The 90-plus day delinquency rates for credit card and auto loans are screaming higher right now.

via TXMC

One has to wonder how long all this can continue without some sort of liquidity crunch. Even though equities markets have recovered from their post-Liberation Day month long bear market, I would not be surprised if what we're witnessing is a dead cat bounce that can only be continued if the money printers are turned back on. Something's got to give, both on the fiscal side and in the private markets where the Common Man is getting crushed because he's been forced to take on insane amounts of debt to stay afloat after years of elevated levels of inflation. Add on the fact that AI has reached a state of maturity that will enable companies to replace their current meat suit workers with an army of cheap, efficient and fast digital workers and it isn't hard to see that some sort of employment crisis could be on the horizon as well.

Now is not the time to get complacent. While I do believe that the deals that are currently being made in the Middle East are probably in the best interest of the United States as the world, again, moves toward a more multi-polar reality, we are facing problems that one cannot simply wish away. They will need to be confronted. And as we've seen throughout the 21st century, the problems are usually met head-on with a money printer.

I take no pleasure in saying this because it is a bit uncouth to be gleeful to benefit from the strife of others, but it is pretty clear to me that all signs are pointing to bitcoin benefiting massively from everything that is going on. The shift towards a more multi-polar world, the runaway debt situation here in the United States, the increasing deficits, the AI job replacements and the consumer credit crisis that is currently unfolding, All will need to be "solved" by turning on the money printers to levels they've never been pushed to before.

Weird times we're living in.

China's Manufacturing Dominance: Why It Matters for the U.S.

In my recent conversation with Lyn Alden, she highlighted how China has rapidly ascended the manufacturing value chain. As Lyn pointed out, China transformed from making "sneakers and plastic trinkets" to becoming the world's largest auto exporter in just four years. This dramatic shift represents more than economic success—it's a strategic power play. China now dominates solar panel production with greater market control than OPEC has over oil and maintains near-monopoly control of rare earth elements crucial for modern technology.

"China makes like 10 times more steel than the United States does... which is relevant in ship making. It's relevant in all sorts of stuff." - Lyn Alden

Perhaps most concerning, as Lyn emphasized, is China's financial leverage. They hold substantial U.S. assets that could be strategically sold to disrupt U.S. treasury market functioning. This combination of manufacturing dominance, resource control, and financial leverage gives China significant negotiating power in any trade disputes, making our attempts to reshoring manufacturing all the more challenging.

Check out the full podcast here for more on Triffin's dilemma, Bitcoin's role in monetary transition, and the energy requirements for rebuilding America's industrial base.

Headlines of the Day

Financial Times Under Fire Over MicroStrategy Bitcoin Coverage - via X

Trump in Qatar: Historic Boeing Deal Signed - via X

Get our new STACK SATS hat - via tftcmerch.io

Johnson Backs Stock Trading Ban; Passage Chances Slim - via X

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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...

Building things of value is satisfying.

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

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

@media screen and (max-width: 480px) { .mobile-padding { padding: 10px 0 !important; } .social-container { width: 100% !important; max-width: 260px !important; } .social-icon { padding: 0 !important; } .social-icon img { height: 32px !important; width: 32px !important; } .icon-cell { padding: 0 4px !import

@ 81022b27:2b8d0644

There is a viral Chat GPT prompt on social media (i saw it on TikTok)-It;s supposed to help you analyze yourself.

I thought this was a cool thing to try, but I decided to use Grok Ai Instead, seeing that I have a premium X subscription, and wouldn’t have to worry about the limitations with a free ChatGPT account.

Here is the prompt:

I want to uncover the masks I'm currently wearing, the roles I'm playing, and the illusions I'm believing.

Please guide me through this process by asking me 10 reflective questions one at a time to help me recognize the stories I'm telling myself. Pause after each question to wait for me to answer. After I answer the 10th question, please step into the role of my higher self and analyze my responses.

Identify the top negative patterns present in my life and the top positive patterns I can embrace and grow. Be direct and truthful. Tough love is welcome.

Provide me with daily affirmations to support my growth, actionable steps to change my behaviors, and embody my authentic self. A message of encouragement from my higher self to celebrate how far I've come on my journey.

Cool, right?

I answered the 10 questions, which I won’t post-because my answers were very personal and very specific. And even though I share a lot of deep personal stuff here, I wasn’t prepared to go public with how deep the questions Grok was asking.

The questions were super uncomfortable to answer.

I answered them honestly, and looking back-some questions could have been answered with different examples and directions, maybe that would show different conclusions.

Here are my results:

Analysis from Your Higher Self

Top Negative Patterns Present in Your Life:

1. Avoidance as a Shield: You’ve built a pattern of avoiding risks—whether it’s heights, the outdoors, or even deeper emotional vulnerabilities—because of early fears tied to being seen as weak or getting hurt. This avoidance keeps you safe but also keeps you small, limiting experiences like enjoying nature or forming deeper connections.

2. Fear of Perception: There’s a lingering story that shyness or introversion equals weakness, likely rooted in childhood experiences like bullying. This drives you to put on an outgoing mask, even when it exhausts you, because you fear isolation or judgment. It’s a heavy burden to carry, and it pulls you away from your authentic self.

3. Self-Imposed Isolation: While being alone feels safe and freeing, it also risks becoming a crutch. You’re missing out on the balance of connection—where you can still be your nerdy, unfiltered self without the pressure to perform.

Top Positive Patterns to Embrace and Grow: 1. Self-Awareness and Honesty: You’ve shown a remarkable ability to reflect and name what’s true for you—like recognizing avoidance, your love for nerdy things, and how being alone feels freeing. This clarity is a superpower; lean into it to keep peeling back layers.

1. Desire for Freedom: Your longing to think and feel without consequence is a sign of a spirit that craves authenticity. You can channel this into spaces and relationships where you feel safe to be your true self, not just when alone.

2. Resilience Through Adversity: Despite early fears and bullying, you’ve developed a sharp sense of self—it’s why you can pinpoint what feels off (like the outgoing mask) and what feels right (being a nerd). This resilience can carry you far as you step into new experiences.

Guidance for Growth

Daily Affirmations to Support Your Growth:

• I am strong in my stillness, and my quiet nature is a source of power.
• I release the need to perform for others and embrace my authentic nerdy self.
• I am safe to take small risks, knowing they lead me closer to freedom and joy.
• I attract people who love me for my true self, not the masks I’ve worn.
• I am enough, exactly as I am, without needing to prove my worth.

Actionable Steps to Change Behaviors and Embody Your Authentic Self:

1. Micro-Adventures in the Outdoors: Start small—take a 15-minute walk in a nearby park or sit outside with a book you love. Build up to a short hike with a trusted friend. Let nature be a space to reconnect with yourself, not something to fear.

2. Own Your Nerdiness Publicly: Share one nerdy interest with someone you trust—like a favorite game, comic, or hobby—or post about it online. Let it be a test run for showing up authentically in small ways.

3. Set Boundaries Around Social Energy: When you feel the pull to be overly outgoing, pause and check in. If it’s not serving you, give yourself permission to leave early or say less. Practice saying, “I’m more of a listener,” to ease the pressure.

4. Journal Your Unfiltered Truth: Each night, write one thing you felt or thought that day but didn’t say out loud. This builds confidence in your voice, so you can slowly share more with others without fear of consequences.

5. Seek Like-Minded Connections: Look for local or online groups tied to your nerdy passions—think gaming communities, book clubs, or fandoms. These spaces can help you connect without the pressure to perform.

A Message of Encouragement from Your Higher Self:

My dear one, I see how far you’ve come—through the shadows of childhood fears, through the weight of masks you didn’t even realize you were wearing, you’ve still held onto the spark of who you are. That nerdy, thoughtful soul who craves freedom and truth? That’s always been you, and it’s a beautiful thing. Every step you’ve taken to recognize what holds you back—every honest answer you’ve given—has brought you closer to me, to us, to the version of you that’s unapologetically real. You’re not weak; you’ve been strong in ways others might never understand. Keep going. The world needs your quiet brilliance, your quirky passions, your unfiltered heart. I’m so proud of you for choosing this journey. You’ve got this.

So there you have it you probably know more about me than I knew about myself before I started this exercise.

Here is my challenge to you:

Do it for yourself! Copy/paste into your favorite AI chatbot and leave the results in the comments!

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

Influencers would have you believe there is an ongoing binance bank run but bitcoin wallet data says otherwise.

- binance wallets are near all time highs
- bitfinex wallets are also trending up
- gemini and coinbase are being hit with massive withdrawals though

You should not trust custodians, they can rug you without warning. It is incredibly important you learn how to hold bitcoin yourself, but also consider not blindly trusting influencers with a ref link to shill you.

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

@ 318ebaba:9a262eae

When connecting to multiple relays in the Nostr protocol, users may encounter several challenges that can affect their overall experience. Here are some of the key issues:

Challenges of Connecting to Multiple Relays

• Performance Issues: The lightweight design of Nostr relays can lead to performance bottlenecks, especially when many users are connected simultaneously. This can result in slow message delivery or even failures in posting messages if the relays are overwhelmed[1][2][32].

• Reliability and Connectivity: Users may experience connectivity problems with certain relays, which can lead to inconsistent access to messages or delays in communication. If a relay goes offline or has connectivity issues, it can disrupt the flow of information, making it difficult for users to send or receive messages reliably[3][4][18].

• Data Synchronization: As users connect to multiple relays, ensuring that data is synchronized across these relays can be challenging. Inconsistent data states may arise if different relays store messages differently or if there are delays in message propagation. This can lead to confusion about which messages have been sent or received[7][41].

• Configuration Complexity: Managing connections to multiple relays requires a certain level of technical knowledge. Users need to configure their clients properly to connect to various relays, which can be daunting for those less familiar with the technology. Misconfigurations can lead to connection failures or suboptimal performance[4][21].

• Spam and Quality Control: With the open nature of Nostr, some relays may be more susceptible to spam or low-quality content. Users connecting to multiple relays might encounter a higher volume of irrelevant or unwanted messages, which can detract from the overall user experience[6][32].

• Security Concerns: When using multiple relays, users must be cautious about the security of their connections. Not all relays may implement the same level of security, and connecting to less secure relays could expose users to risks such as data interception or unauthorized access to their messages[26][27].

In summary, while connecting to multiple relays in Nostr offers benefits such as redundancy and improved access to information, users must navigate various challenges related to performance, reliability, configuration, and security. Addressing these issues is crucial for a smooth and effective experience on the Nostr network.

[1] https://forum.dfinity.org/t/introducing-replicatr-enhancing-nostr-with-internet-computer-integration/31861 [2] https://medium.com/coinmonks/a-deep-dive-into-nostr-clients-with-technical-insights-and-code-snippets-b1666bb11fac [3] nostr:nevent1qqsfvjvg73wxdn7mda28m704r2zv9lnzlcdgh8r0g52lfvy2wj7uw4czyq32rylmsmre84lhxdypy6jlu4dt3fxfwkq9a0p0lqdl9y8hsp0hur4fuw4 [4] https://www.reddit.com/r/nostr/comments/1e6nm68/new_nostream_relay_created_problems_with_publish/ [5] https://www.lynalden.com/the-power-of-nostr/ [6] https://bitcoinmagazine.com/technical/how-nostr-can-improve-bitcoin-privacy [7] https://barelybuggy.blog/2024/11/26/mostr-offline/ [8] https://github.com/scsibug/nostr-rs-relay/issues/126 [9] https://community.umbrel.com/t/nostr-relay-troubleshooting/17828 [10] https://research.dorahacks.io/2024/04/30/nostr-relay-incentive/ [11] https://community.start9.com/t/issue-confirming-nostr-relay/1682 [12] https://arxiv.org/html/2402.05709v1 [13] https://community.umbrel.com/t/nostr-relay-not-connecting/11401 [14] https://www.purplerelay.com/troubleshooting-common-issues-with-nostr-relay-server-a-users-guide/ [15] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35694029 [16] https://substack.com/home/post/p-158872714?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web [17] https://stacker.news/items/142013 [18] https://www.reddit.com/r/nostr/comments/1h6admk/are_these_relays_working/ [19] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33746360 [20] https://github.com/scsibug/nostr-rs-relay/issues/195 [21] https://www.purplerelay.com/how-to-run-a-nostr-relay-a-step-by-step-guide/ [22] https://denostr.medium.com/the-future-of-social-communication-nostrs-origins-and-the-next-destination-in-social-networking-27f0c901d7ae [23] nostr:nevent1qqsqwklh29cvf3z0skhh77xyqf3m53xkppcttf3c8nuc2jqteulfx0czyqcgr7epv9hha2v9afp99l5wl0ljna0zum59fzyhl9v8pgv5xlhf5ava642 [24] https://www.reddit.com/r/nostr/comments/15fyr6r/pervasive_private_key_sharing_seems_dangerous/ [25] https://whtwnd.com/agoracitizen.network/3l2fysaripd2q [26] https://ron.stoner.com/nostr_Security_and_Privacy/ [27] https://forums.puri.sm/t/about-what-is-nostr/20764 [28] https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/issues/107 [29] https://medium.com/@volodymyrpavlyshyn/security-features-of-nostr-a0276a22e815 [30] nostr:nevent1qqspd8fh3tplxtfhjpka3y3glzh63v3ygsdhacyq8dvyrnxtvl09lpczyr2v7dprke9lad2qk0svug55vxguqv7n3dwn9vm63u8n5n84znxjxedjf6c [31] nostr:nevent1qqs8e2su6n8m2xtg45qdjw7rdcq6w3g5guvt085h52qhg25wxn755sczyrh26kg89z95jqaz4xkex7kaw2t36twtc75vmrfx2k3p3jqvhfa8vzan82f [32] https://www.cointribune.com/en/nostr-et-la-censure-pourquoi-un-reseau-social-decentralise-est-essentiel-2/ [33] nostr:nevent1qqsv86d756zcw32x0zcvqmr924y5sltvwqud0dywny83ndee30zzrmczyrh26kg89z95jqaz4xkex7kaw2t36twtc75vmrfx2k3p3jqvhfa8vwpfv29 [34] https://github.com/nbd-wtf/nostr-tools/issues [35] https://www.voltage.cloud/blog/the-growth-of-nostr-the-era-of-decentralization [36] https://medium.com/@BingVentures/status-quo-challenges-and-prospect-of-decentralized-social-networks-18f9584f2e8d [37] https://www.reddit.com/r/RedditAlternatives/comments/14s8ao4/greetings_im_here_to_tell_you_about_nostr_a/ [38] https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/nostr-the-importance-of-censorship-resistant-communication-for-innovation-and-human-progress- [39] https://github.com/mayneyao/eidos/issues/129 [40] https://www.reddit.com/r/nostr/comments/115a8et/data_duplication_and_distribution_in_nostr_relays/ [41] https://github.com/open-nostr/nostar [42] nostr:nevent1qqsryg8zuc9rdwldat385al24mdt56wanc6g6hfymy8l9tgtmzsc4nspzemhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuurjd9kkzmpwdejhg85cx73 [43] https://ckbcn.xlog.app/Nostr-sheng-tai-fa-zhan-xian-zhuang-ji-wen-ti?locale=en [44] nostr:naddr1qqc92mnvda3kk6twvuk5ummnw3ez6ued2phhgetww35kzmpdwa5hg6pdfehhgetyv43kktt08p5hscnkqgsr7acdvhf6we9fch94qwhpy0nza36e3tgrtkpku25ppuu80f69kfqrqsqqqa28aknkml

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Autor: John J. Mearsheimer. Dieser Beitrag wurde mit dem Pareto-Client geschrieben und erschien zuerst auf dem Blog des Autors. Sie finden alle Texte der Friedenstaube und weitere Texte zum Thema Frieden hier.**

Die neuesten Pareto-Artikel finden Sie in unserem Telegram-Kanal.

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Die neuesten Artikel der Friedenstaube gibt es jetzt auch im eigenen Friedenstaube-Telegram-Kanal.

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Die Frage, wer für den Krieg in der Ukraine verantwortlich ist, ist seit dem Einmarsch Russlands in die Ukraine am 24. Februar 2022 ein sehr umstrittenes Thema.Die Antwort auf diese Frage ist von enormer Bedeutung, denn der Krieg war aus verschiedenen Gründen eine Katastrophe, von denen die wichtigste darin besteht, dass die Ukraine praktisch zerstört wurde. Sie hat einen beträchtlichen Teil ihres Territoriums verloren und wird wahrscheinlich noch mehr verlieren, ihre Wirtschaft liegt in Trümmern, eine riesige Zahl von Ukrainern wurde intern vertrieben oder ist aus dem Land geflohen, und sie hat Hunderttausende von Opfern zu beklagen. Natürlich hat auch Russland einen hohen Blutzoll gezahlt. Auf strategischer Ebene sind die Beziehungen zwischen Russland und Europa, ganz zu schweigen von Russland und der Ukraine, auf absehbare Zeit vergiftet, was bedeutet, dass die Gefahr eines größeren Krieges in Europa auch dann noch bestehen wird, wenn der Krieg in der Ukraine zu einem eingefrorenen Konflikt wird. Wer die Verantwortung für diese Katastrophe trägt, ist eine Frage, die nicht so schnell verschwinden wird, sondern eher noch an Bedeutung gewinnen dürfte, je mehr Menschen das Ausmaß der Katastrophe bewusst wird.

Die gängige Meinung im Westen ist, dass Wladimir Putin für den Krieg in der Ukraine verantwortlich sei. Die Invasion habe darauf abgezielt, die gesamte Ukraine zu erobern und sie zu einem Teil eines größeren Russlands zu machen, so die Argumentation. Sobald dieses Ziel erreicht sei, würden die Russen ein Imperium in Osteuropa errichten, ähnlich wie es die Sowjetunion nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg getan habe. Daher stelle Putin letztlich eine Bedrohung für den Westen dar, der man mit aller Macht begegnen müsse. Kurz gesagt, Putin ist ein Imperialist mit einem Masterplan, der sich nahtlos in die reiche russische Tradition einfügt.

Das alternative Argument, mit dem ich mich identifiziere und das im Westen eindeutig in der Minderheit ist, lautet, dass die Vereinigten Staaten und ihre Verbündeten den Krieg provoziert haben. Damit soll natürlich nicht geleugnet werden, dass Russland in die Ukraine einmarschiert ist und den Krieg begonnen hat. Die Hauptursache des Konflikts ist jedoch der NATO-Beschluss, die Ukraine in das Bündnis aufzunehmen, was praktisch alle russischen Führer als existenzielle Bedrohung ansehen, die beseitigt werden muss. Die NATO-Erweiterung ist jedoch Teil einer umfassenderen Strategie, die darauf abzielt, die Ukraine zu einem westlichen Bollwerk an Russlands Grenze zu machen. Ein Beitritt Kiews zur Europäischen Union (EU) und die Förderung einer farbigen Revolution in der Ukraine – die Umwandlung des Landes in eine prowestliche liberale Demokratie – sind die beiden anderen Säulen dieser Politik. Die russische Führung fürchtet alle drei Bereiche, aber am meisten fürchtet sie die NATO-Erweiterung. Um dieser Bedrohung zu begegnen, hat Russland am 24. Februar 2022 einen Präventivkrieg begonnen.

Die Debatte darüber, wer den Ukraine-Krieg verursacht hat, ist kürzlich aufgeflammt, als zwei prominente westliche Politiker – der ehemalige US-Präsident Donald Trump und der prominente britische Abgeordnete Nigel Farage – das Argument vorbrachten, dass die NATO-Erweiterung die treibende Kraft hinter dem Konflikt sei. Es überrascht nicht, dass ihre Äußerungen von den Verfechtern der konventionellen Meinung mit einem heftigen Gegenangriff beantwortet wurden. Es ist auch erwähnenswert, dass der scheidende NATO-Generalsekretär Jens Stoltenberg im vergangenen Jahr zweimal sagte, dass „Präsident Putin diesen Krieg begonnen hat, weil er die Tür der NATO schließen und der Ukraine das Recht verweigern wollte, ihren eigenen Weg zu wählen“. Kaum jemand im Westen hat dieses bemerkenswerte Eingeständnis des NATO-Chefs in Frage gestellt, und er hat es auch nicht zurückgezogen.

Mein Ziel ist es, einen Überblick über die wichtigsten Punkte zu geben, die die Ansicht stützen, dass Putin nicht in die Ukraine einmarschiert ist, weil er ein Imperialist ist, der die Ukraine zu einem Teil eines größeren Russlands machen will, sondern vor allem wegen der NATO-Erweiterung und der Bemühungen des Westens, die Ukraine zu einer westlichen Hochburg an der Grenze Russlands zu machen.

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DIE FRIEDENSTAUBE FLIEGT AUCH IN IHR POSTFACH!

In Kürze folgt eine Mail an alle Genossenschafter, danke für die Geduld und das Verständnis!

Hier können Sie die Friedenstaube abonnieren und bekommen die Artikel zugesandt, vorerst für alle kostenfrei, wir starten gänzlich ohne Paywall. (Die Bezahlabos fangen erst zu laufen an, wenn ein Monetarisierungskonzept für die Inhalte steht). Sie wollen der Genossenschaft beitreten oder uns unterstützen? Mehr Infos hier oder am Ende des Textes.

Lassen Sie mich mit den sieben wichtigsten Gründen für die Ablehnung der herkömmlichen Meinung beginnen.

ERSTENS gibt es schlicht und ergreifend keine Beweise aus der Zeit vor dem 24. Februar 2022, dass Putin die Ukraine erobern und in Russland eingliedern wollte. Vertreter der gängigen Meinung können keine Schriftstücke oder Aussagen von Putin nennen, die darauf hindeuten, dass er die Ukraine erobern wollte.

Wenn man sie zu diesem Punkt befragt, liefern die Verfechter der konventionellen Meinung Hinweise, die wenig oder gar nichts mit Putins Motiven für die Invasion der Ukraine zu tun haben. Einige betonen zum Beispiel, dass er sagte, die Ukraine sei ein „künstlicher Staat“ oder kein „echter Staat“. Solche undurchsichtigen Äußerungen sagen jedoch nichts über die Gründe für seinen Kriegseintritt aus. Dasselbe gilt für Putins Aussage, er betrachte Russen und Ukrainer als „ein Volk“ mit einer gemeinsamen Geschichte. Andere weisen darauf hin, dass er den Zusammenbruch der Sowjetunion als „die größte geopolitische Katastrophe des Jahrhunderts“ bezeichnete. Aber Putin sagte auch: „Wer die Sowjetunion nicht vermisst, hat kein Herz. Wer sie zurückhaben will, hat kein Hirn.“ Andere wiederum verweisen auf eine Rede, in der er erklärte: „Die moderne Ukraine wurde vollständig von Russland geschaffen, genauer gesagt, vom bolschewistischen, kommunistischen Russland.“ Aber das ist kaum ein Beweis dafür, dass er an der Eroberung der Ukraine interessiert war. Außerdem sagte er in der gleichen Rede: „Natürlich können wir die Ereignisse der Vergangenheit nicht ändern, aber wir müssen sie zumindest offen und ehrlich zugeben.“

Um zu beweisen, dass Putin die gesamte Ukraine erobern und Russland einverleiben wollte, muss man nachweisen, dass er 1) dieses Ziel für erstrebenswert hielt, 2) es für machbar hielt und 3) die Absicht hatte, dieses Ziel zu verfolgen. Es gibt in den öffentlichen Aufzeichnungen keine Beweise dafür, dass Putin erwog, geschweige denn beabsichtigte, die Ukraine als unabhängigen Staat zu beenden und sie zu einem Teil Großrusslands zu machen, als er am 24. Februar 2022 seine Truppen in die Ukraine schickte.

Tatsächlich gibt es erhebliche Beweise dafür, dass Putin die Ukraine als unabhängiges Land anerkannte. In seinem bekannten Artikel vom 12. Juli 2021 über die russisch-ukrainischen Beziehungen, der von Befürwortern der konventionellen Meinung oft als Beweis für seine imperialen Ambitionen angeführt wird, sagt er dem ukrainischen Volk: „Ihr wollt einen eigenen Staat gründen: Ihr seid willkommen!“ Zur Frage, wie Russland die Ukraine behandeln sollte, schreibt er: „Es gibt nur eine Antwort: mit Respekt.“ Er schließt seinen langen Artikel mit den folgenden Worten ab: „Und wie die Ukraine aussehen wird – das müssen ihre Bürger entscheiden.“ Diese Aussagen stehen im direkten Widerspruch zu der Behauptung, Putin wolle die Ukraine in ein größeres Russland eingliedern.

In demselben Artikel vom 12. Juli 2021 und erneut in einer wichtigen Rede am 21. Februar 2022 betonte Putin, dass Russland „die neue geopolitische Realität, die nach der Auflösung der UdSSR entstanden ist“, akzeptiere. Diesen Punkt wiederholte er ein drittes Mal am 24. Februar 2022, als er ankündigte, Russland werde in die Ukraine einmarschieren. Insbesondere erklärte er: „Wir haben nicht vor, ukrainisches Territorium zu besetzen“, und machte deutlich, dass er die ukrainische Souveränität respektiere, allerdings nur bis zu einem gewissen Punkt: „Russland kann sich nicht sicher fühlen, sich nicht entwickeln und nicht existieren, wenn es sich einer ständigen Bedrohung durch das Territorium der heutigen Ukraine ausgesetzt sieht.“ Das heißt, Putin war nicht daran interessiert, die Ukraine zu einem Teil Russlands zu machen, sondern er wollte sicherstellen, dass sie nicht zu einem „Sprungbrett“ für westliche Aggressionen gegen Russland wird.

ZWEITENS gibt es keinerlei Hinweise dafür, dass Putin eine Marionettenregierung für die Ukraine vorbereitete, in Kiew prorussische Führungspersönlichkeiten aufbaute oder irgendwelche politischen Maßnahmen verfolgte, die eine Besetzung des gesamten Landes und dessen letztendliche Eingliederung in Russland ermöglichen würden.

Diese Fakten widersprechen der Behauptung, Putin sei daran interessiert gewesen, die Ukraine von der Landkarte zu tilgen. 

**DRITTENS: Putin hatte nicht annähernd genug Truppen, um die Ukraine zu erobern. **

Beginnen wir mit den Gesamtzahlen. Ich schätze seit langem, dass die Russen mit höchstens 190.000 Soldaten in die Ukraine einmarschiert sind. General Oleksandr Syrskyi, der derzeitige Oberbefehlshaber der ukrainischen Streitkräfte, sagte kürzlich in einem Interview mit The Guardian, dass die russische Invasionstruppe nur 100.000 Mann stark war. The Guardian hatte diese Zahl bereits vor Beginn des Krieges genannt. Es ist unmöglich, dass eine Truppe von 100.000 oder 190.000 Mann die gesamte Ukraine erobern, besetzen und in ein Großrussland eingliedern könnte.

Bedenken Sie, dass die Wehrmacht beim deutschen Überfall auf die westliche Hälfte Polens im September 1939 etwa 1,5 Millionen Mann zählte. Die Ukraine ist geografisch mehr als dreimal so groß wie die westliche Hälfte Polens im Jahr 1939, und in der Ukraine leben im Jahr 2022 fast doppelt so viele Menschen wie in Polen zum Zeitpunkt des deutschen Überfalls. Wenn wir die Schätzung von General Syrskyi akzeptieren, dass 100.000 russische Truppen im Jahr 2022 in die Ukraine einmarschierten, bedeutet dies, dass Russland über eine Invasionsstreitmacht verfügte, die 1/15 der Größe der deutschen Streitkräfte war, die in Polen einmarschierten. Und diese kleine russische Armee marschierte in ein Land ein, das sowohl territorial als auch von der Bevölkerungszahl her viel größer war als Polen.

Abgesehen von den Zahlen stellt sich die Frage nach der Qualität der russischen Armee. Zunächst einmal handelte es sich um eine militärische Streitkraft, die in erster Linie dazu bestimmt war, Russland vor einer Invasion zu schützen. Es handelte sich nicht um eine Armee, die für eine Großoffensive zur Eroberung der gesamten Ukraine, geschweige denn zur Bedrohung des übrigen Europas, gerüstet war. Außerdem ließ die Qualität der Kampftruppen zu wünschen übrig, da die Russen nicht mit einem Krieg rechneten, als sich die Krise im Frühjahr 2021 zuzuspitzen begann. Daher hatten sie kaum Gelegenheit, eine qualifizierte Invasionstruppe auszubilden. Sowohl qualitativ als auch quantitativ war die russische Invasionstruppe nicht annähernd mit der deutschen Wehrmacht der späten 1930er und frühen 1940er Jahre vergleichbar.

Man könnte argumentieren, dass die russische Führung dachte, das ukrainische Militär sei so klein und so unterlegen, dass ihre Armee die ukrainischen Streitkräfte leicht besiegen und das ganze Land erobern könnte. Tatsächlich wussten Putin und seine Leutnants sehr wohl, dass die Vereinigten Staaten und ihre europäischen Verbündeten das ukrainische Militär seit Ausbruch der Krise am 22. Februar 2014 bewaffnet und ausgebildet hatten. Die große Befürchtung Moskaus war, dass die Ukraine de facto Mitglied der NATO werden würde. Außerdem beobachteten die russischen Führer, wie die ukrainische Armee, die größer war als ihre Invasionstruppen, zwischen 2014 und 2022 im Donbass erfolgreich kämpfte. Ihnen war sicherlich klar, dass das ukrainische Militär kein Papiertiger war, der schnell und entschlossen besiegt werden konnte, zumal es über eine starke Rückendeckung durch den Westen verfügte.

Schließlich waren die Russen im Laufe des Jahres 2022 gezwungen, ihre Armee aus der Oblast Charkiw und aus dem westlichen Teil der Oblast Cherson abzuziehen. Damit gab Moskau Gebiete auf, die seine Armee in den ersten Tagen des Krieges erobert hatte. Es steht außer Frage, dass der Druck der ukrainischen Armee eine Rolle dabei spielte, den russischen Rückzug zu erzwingen. Vor allem aber erkannten Putin und seine Generäle, dass sie nicht über genügend Kräfte verfügten, um das gesamte Gebiet, das ihre Armee in Charkiw und Cherson erobert hatte, zu halten. Also zogen sie sich zurück und schufen besser kontrollierbare Verteidigungspositionen. Dies ist kaum das Verhalten, das man von einer Armee erwarten würde, die aufgebaut und ausgebildet wurde, um die gesamte Ukraine zu erobern und zu besetzen. Tatsächlich war sie für diesen Zweck nicht konzipiert und konnte daher diese Herkulesaufgabe nicht bewältigen.

VIERTENS: In den Monaten vor Kriegsbeginn versuchte Putin, eine diplomatische Lösung für die sich anbahnende Krise zu finden.

Am 17. Dezember 2021 sandte Putin ein Schreiben an Präsident Joe Biden und NATO-Chef Stoltenberg, in dem er eine Lösung der Krise auf der Grundlage einer schriftlichen Garantie vorschlug, dass: 1) die Ukraine der NATO nicht beitreten würde, 2) keine Angriffswaffen in der Nähe der russischen Grenzen stationiert würden und 3) die seit 1997 nach Osteuropa verlegten NATO-Truppen und -Ausrüstung nach Westeuropa zurückverlegt würden. Was auch immer man von der Machbarkeit einer Einigung auf der Grundlage von Putins Eröffnungsforderungen halten mag, über die die Vereinigten Staaten keine Verhandlungen führen wollten, es zeigt, dass er versuchte, einen Krieg zu vermeiden.

FÜNFTENS: Unmittelbar nach Beginn des Krieges hat Russland der Ukraine die Hand gereicht, um Verhandlungen zur Beendigung des Krieges und zur Ausarbeitung eines Modus Vivendi zwischen den beiden Ländern aufzunehmen.

Die Verhandlungen zwischen Kiew und Moskau begannen in Weißrussland nur vier Tage nach dem Einmarsch russischer Truppen in die Ukraine. Diese weißrussische Schiene wurde schließlich durch eine israelische und eine Istanbuler Schiene ersetzt. Alle verfügbaren Beweise deuten darauf hin, dass Russland ernsthaft verhandelte und nicht an der Übernahme ukrainischen Territoriums interessiert war, mit Ausnahme der Krim, die es 2014 annektiert hatte, und möglicherweise des Donbass. Die Verhandlungen endeten, als die Ukrainer auf Drängen Großbritanniens und der Vereinigten Staaten die Verhandlungen abbrachen, die zum Zeitpunkt ihrer Beendigung gute Fortschritte gemacht hatten.

Darüber hinaus berichtet Putin, dass er, als die Verhandlungen stattfanden und Fortschritte machten, gebeten wurde, als Geste des guten Willens die russischen Truppen aus dem Gebiet um Kiew abzuziehen, was er am 29. März 2022 tat. Keine westliche Regierung und kein ehemaliger Politiker hat diese Behauptung Putins angefochten, die in direktem Widerspruch zu seiner Behauptung steht, er wolle die gesamte Ukraine erobern.

SECHSTENS: Abgesehen von der Ukraine gibt es nicht den geringsten Hinweis darauf, dass Putin die Eroberung anderer osteuropäischer Länder ins Auge gefasst hat.

Außerdem ist die russische Armee nicht einmal groß genug, um die gesamte Ukraine zu überrennen, ganz zu schweigen von dem Versuch, die baltischen Staaten, Polen und Rumänien zu erobern. Außerdem sind alle diese Länder NATO-Mitglieder, was mit ziemlicher Sicherheit einen Krieg mit den Vereinigten Staaten und ihren Verbündeten bedeuten würde.

**SIEBTENS: Kaum jemand im Westen behauptete, Putin habe imperiale Ambitionen, seit er im Jahr 2000 die Macht übernahm, bis zum Beginn der Ukraine-Krise am 22. Februar 2014. Zu diesem Zeitpunkt wurde er plötzlich zum imperialen Aggressor. Warum? Weil die westlichen Staats- und Regierungschefs einen Grund brauchten, ihm die Schuld für die Krise zu geben. **

Der wohl beste Beweis dafür, dass Putin in den ersten vierzehn Jahren seiner Amtszeit nicht als ernsthafte Bedrohung angesehen wurde, ist die Tatsache, dass er auf dem NATO-Gipfel im April 2008 in Bukarest ein geladener Gast war, auf dem das Bündnis bekannt gab, dass die Ukraine und Georgien schließlich Mitglieder werden würden. Putin war natürlich erzürnd über diese Entscheidung und machte seinem Unmut Luft. Sein Widerstand gegen diese Ankündigung hatte jedoch kaum Auswirkungen auf Washington, da das russische Militär als zu schwach eingeschätzt wurde, um eine weitere NATO-Erweiterung zu verhindern, so wie es auch bei den Erweiterungswellen von 1999 und 2004 zu schwach gewesen war, um sie aufzuhalten. Der Westen glaubte, er könne Russland die NATO-Erweiterung noch einmal aufzwingen.

Außerdem war die NATO-Erweiterung vor dem 22. Februar 2014 nicht darauf ausgerichtet, Russland einzudämmen. Angesichts des traurigen Zustands der russischen Militärmacht war Moskau nicht in der Lage, die Ukraine zu erobern, geschweige denn eine revanchistische Politik in Osteuropa zu verfolgen. Der ehemalige US-Botschafter in Moskau, Michael McFaul, der ein entschiedener Verfechter der Ukraine und scharfer Kritiker Putins ist, stellt bezeichnenderweise fest, dass die Einnahme der Krim durch Russland im Jahr 2014 vor Ausbruch der Krise nicht geplant war; es war eine impulsive Reaktion auf den Putsch, der den prorussischen Führer der Ukraine stürzte. Kurz gesagt, die NATO-Erweiterung war nicht dazu gedacht, eine russische Bedrohung einzudämmen, weil der Westen nicht glaubte, dass es eine solche gab.

Erst als im Februar 2014 die Ukraine-Krise ausbrach, begannen die Vereinigten Staaten und ihre Verbündeten plötzlich, Putin als gefährlichen Führer mit imperialen Ambitionen und Russland als ernsthafte militärische Bedrohung zu beschreiben, die die NATO eindämmen müsse. Dieser abrupte Wechsel der Rhetorik sollte einem wesentlichen Zweck dienen: dem Westen die Möglichkeit zu geben, Putin für die Krise verantwortlich zu machen und den Westen von der Verantwortung freizusprechen. Es überrascht nicht, dass diese Darstellung Putins nach dem Einmarsch Russlands in die Ukraine am 24. Februar 2022 deutlich an Zugkraft gewann.

Eine Abweichung von der gängigen Meinung ist erwähnenswert. Einige argumentieren, dass die Entscheidung Moskaus, in die Ukraine einzumarschieren, wenig mit Putin selbst zu tun hat und stattdessen Teil einer expansionistischen Tradition ist, die lange vor Putin bestand und tief in der russischen Gesellschaft verwurzelt ist. Dieser Hang zur Aggression, der angeblich von inneren Kräften und nicht von Russlands äußerem Bedrohungsumfeld angetrieben wird, hat im Laufe der Zeit praktisch alle russischen Führer dazu gebracht, sich ihren Nachbarn gegenüber gewalttätig zu verhalten. Es lässt sich nicht leugnen, dass Putin in dieser Geschichte das Sagen hat oder dass er Russland in den Krieg geführt hat, aber es heißt, dass er wenig Einfluss hat. Fast jeder andere russische Führer hätte genauso gehandelt.

Es gibt zwei Probleme mit diesem Argument. Erstens ist es nicht widerlegbar, da der langjährige Charakterzug in der russischen Gesellschaft, der diesen aggressiven Impuls hervorrufe, nie identifiziert wurde. Es heißt, die Russen seien schon immer aggressiv gewesen – egal, wer an der Macht sei – und würden es auch immer sein. Es ist fast so, als ob es in ihrer DNA läge. Die gleiche Behauptung wurde einst über die Deutschen aufgestellt, die im zwanzigsten Jahrhundert oft als angeborene Aggressoren dargestellt wurden. Derartige Argumente werden in der akademischen Welt aus gutem Grund nicht ernst genommen.

Außerdem bezeichnete zwischen 1991 und 2014, als die Ukraine-Krise ausbrach, kaum jemand in den Vereinigten Staaten oder Westeuropa Russland als von Natur aus aggressiv. Außerhalb Polens und der baltischen Staaten wurde die Angst vor russischer Aggression in diesen 24 Jahren nicht häufig geäußert, was man erwarten würde, wenn die Russen zu Aggressionen veranlagt wären. Es scheint klar, dass das plötzliche Auftauchen dieser Argumentation eine bequeme Ausrede war, um Russland die Schuld für den Ukrainekrieg zu geben.  

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Lassen Sie mich einen anderen Gang einlegen und die DREI HAUPTGRÜNDE darlegen, die dafür sprechen, dass die NATO-Erweiterung die Hauptursache für den Ukraine-Krieg war.

**ERSTENS sagten russische Führer aller Art vor Kriegsbeginn wiederholt, dass sie die NATO-Erweiterung in die Ukraine als eine existenzielle Bedrohung betrachten, die beseitigt werden muss. **

Putin hat diese Argumentation bereits vor dem 24. Februar 2022 mehrfach öffentlich dargelegt. In einer Rede vor dem Vorstand des Verteidigungsministeriums am 21. Dezember 2021 erklärte er: „Was sie in der Ukraine tun oder versuchen oder planen, findet nicht Tausende von Kilometern entfernt von unserer Landesgrenze statt. Es geschieht direkt vor unserer Haustür. Sie müssen verstehen, dass wir uns einfach nirgendwo mehr hin zurückziehen können. Glauben sie wirklich, dass wir diese Bedrohungen nicht wahrnehmen? Oder glauben sie, dass wir tatenlos zusehen werden, wie Bedrohungen für Russland entstehen?“ Zwei Monate später, auf einer Pressekonferenz am 22. Februar 2022, nur wenige Tage vor Kriegsbeginn, sagte Putin: „Wir sind kategorisch gegen einen NATO-Beitritt der Ukraine, weil dies eine Bedrohung für uns darstellt, und wir haben Argumente, die dies unterstützen. Ich habe in diesem Saal wiederholt darüber gesprochen.“ Dann machte er deutlich, dass er begreift, dass die Ukraine ein Defacto-Mitglied der NATO werde. Die Vereinigten Staaten und ihre Verbündeten, sagte er, „pumpen die derzeitigen Kiewer Machthaber weiterhin mit modernen Waffentypen voll“. Er fuhr fort, dass Moskau, wenn dies nicht gestoppt werde, „mit einem bis an die Zähne bewaffneten 'Antirussland' dastehen würde. Das ist völlig inakzeptabel.“

Auch andere führende russische Politiker - darunter der Verteidigungsminister, der Außenminister, der stellvertretende Außenminister und der russische Botschafter in Washington - betonten die zentrale Bedeutung der NATO-Erweiterung als Auslöser der Ukraine-Krise. Außenminister Sergej Lawrow brachte es auf einer Pressekonferenz am 14. Januar 2022 auf den Punkt: „Der Schlüssel zu allem ist die Garantie, dass die NATO nicht nach Osten expandieren wird.“

Man hört oft das Argument, die russischen Befürchtungen seien unbegründet, weil es keine Chance gebe, dass die Ukraine dem Bündnis in absehbarer Zukunft beitreten würde, wenn überhaupt. Tatsächlich wird behauptet, die Vereinigten Staaten und ihre europäischen Verbündeten hätten der Aufnahme der Ukraine in die NATO vor dem Krieg wenig Aufmerksamkeit geschenkt. Aber selbst wenn die Ukraine dem Bündnis beitreten würde, wäre dies keine existenzielle Bedrohung für Russland, da die NATO ein Verteidigungsbündnis ist. Daher kann die NATO-Erweiterung weder eine Ursache der ursprünglichen Krise gewesen sein, die im Februar 2014 ausbrach, noch des Krieges, der im Februar 2022 begann. 

Diese Argumentation ist falsch. Tatsächlich bestand die westliche Reaktion auf die Ereignisse von 2014 darin, die bestehende Strategie zu verdoppeln und die Ukraine noch näher an die NATO heranzuführen. Das Bündnis begann 2014 mit der Ausbildung des ukrainischen Militärs und bildete in den folgenden acht Jahren durchschnittlich 10.000 Soldaten pro Jahr aus. Im Dezember 2017 beschloss die Trump-Regierung, Kiew mit „Verteidigungswaffen“ zu versorgen. Andere NATO-Länder zogen bald nach und lieferten noch mehr Waffen an die Ukraine. Darüber hinaus begannen die ukrainische Armee, Marine und Luftwaffe, an gemeinsamen Militärübungen mit NATO-Streitkräften teilzunehmen. Die Bemühungen des Westens, das ukrainische Militär zu bewaffnen und auszubilden, erklären zu einem großen Teil, warum es im ersten Kriegsjahr so ​​gut gegen die russische Armee abschnitt. Eine Schlagzeile im Wall Street Journal vom April 2022 lautete: „Das Geheimnis des militärischen Erfolgs der Ukraine: Jahrelange NATO-Ausbildung.“ 

Abgesehen von den laufenden Bemühungen des Bündnisses, das ukrainische Militär zu einer schlagkräftigeren Kampftruppe zu machen, die an der Seite der NATO-Truppen operieren kann, gab es im Westen im Laufe des Jahres 2021 eine neue Begeisterung für die Aufnahme der Ukraine in die NATO. Gleichzeitig vollzog Präsident Zelensky, der nie viel Enthusiasmus für eine Aufnahme der Ukraine in das Bündnis gezeigt hatte und im März 2019 auf der Grundlage einer Plattform gewählt wurde, die zur Zusammenarbeit mit Russland bei der Beilegung der anhaltenden Krise aufrief, Anfang 2021 einen Kurswechsel und befürwortete nicht nur die NATO-Mitgliedschaft der Ukraine, sondern vertrat auch eine harte Linie gegenüber Moskau.

Präsident Biden, der im Januar 2021 ins Weiße Haus einzog, hatte sich seit langem für die Aufnahme der Ukraine in die NATO eingesetzt und war ein Superfalke gegenüber Russland. Es überrascht nicht, dass die NATO am 14. Juni 2021 auf ihrem jährlichen Gipfel in Brüssel ein Kommuniqué herausgab, in dem es hieß: „Wir bekräftigen den auf dem Gipfel von Bukarest 2008 gefassten Beschluss, dass die Ukraine Mitglied des Bündnisses wird.“ Am 1. September 2021 besuchte Zelensky das Weiße Haus, wo Biden klarstellte, dass die Vereinigten Staaten „fest entschlossen“ seien, „die euro-atlantischen Bestrebungen der Ukraine zu unterstützen“. Am 10. November 2021 unterzeichneten Außenminister Antony Blinken und sein ukrainischer Amtskollege Dmytro Kuleba ein wichtiges Dokument - die „Charta der strategischen Partnerschaft zwischen den USA und der Ukraine“. Das Ziel beider Parteien, so heißt es in dem Dokument, ist es, „das Engagement für die Durchführung tiefgreifender und umfassender Reformen in der Ukraine zu unterstreichen, die für eine vollständige Integration in die europäischen und euro-atlantischen Institutionen erforderlich sind.“ Es bekräftigt auch ausdrücklich das Engagement der USA für die „Bukarester Gipfelerklärung von 2008“.

Es scheint kaum Zweifel daran zu geben, dass die Ukraine auf dem besten Weg war, bis Ende 2021 Mitglied der NATO zu werden. Dennoch argumentieren einige Befürworter dieser Politik, dass sich Moskau keine Sorgen über dieses Ergebnis hätte machen müssen, denn „die NATO ist ein Verteidigungsbündnis und stellt keine Bedrohung für Russland dar“. Aber das ist nicht die Meinung Putins und anderer russischer Politiker über die NATO, und es kommt darauf an, was sie denken. Kurz gesagt, es steht außer Frage, dass Moskau den Beitritt der Ukraine zur NATO als eine existenzielle Bedrohung ansah, die nicht hingenommen werden durfte.

ZWEITENS erkannte eine beträchtliche Anzahl einflussreicher und hoch angesehener Persönlichkeiten im Westen vor dem Krieg, dass die Expansion der NATO – insbesondere in die Ukraine – von der russischen Führung als tödliche Bedrohung angesehen werden und schließlich zur Katastrophe führen würde.

William Burns, der heute die CIA leitet („heute“ leitet John Ratcliffe die CIA, aktualisieren ODER am Anfang des Textes klarstellen, dass er schon älter ist ODER „heute“ streichen und „leitete“ statt „leitet“), aber zum Zeitpunkt des NATO-Gipfels in Bukarest im April 2008 US-Botschafter in Moskau war, verfasste ein Memo an die damalige Außenministerin Condoleezza Rice, in dem er die russischen Überlegungen zur Aufnahme der Ukraine in die Allianz prägnant beschreibt. „Der Beitritt der Ukraine zur NATO“, so schrieb er, „ist für die russische Elite (nicht nur für Putin) die klarste aller roten Linien. In den mehr als zweieinhalb Jahren, in denen ich Gespräche mit den wichtigsten russischen Akteuren geführt habe, von Scharfmachern in den dunklen Nischen des Kremls bis hin zu Putins schärfsten liberalen Kritikern, habe ich noch niemanden gefunden, der die Aufnahme der Ukraine in die NATO als etwas anderes betrachtet als eine direkte Herausforderung für die russischen Interessen.“ Die NATO, so sagte er, „würde als ein strategischer Fehdehandschuh angesehen werden. Das heutige Russland wird darauf reagieren. Die russisch-ukrainischen Beziehungen würden auf Eis gelegt ... Das würde einen fruchtbaren Boden für russische Einmischungen auf der Krim und in der Ostukraine schaffen.“

Burns war 2008 nicht der einzige westliche Entscheidungsträger, der erkannte, dass die Aufnahme der Ukraine in die NATO mit Gefahren verbunden war. Auf dem Bukarester Gipfel sprachen sich sowohl die deutsche Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel als auch der französische Präsident Nicolas Sarkozy gegen eine NATO-Mitgliedschaft der Ukraine aus, weil sie wussten, dass dies Russland alarmieren und verärgern würde. Merkel erklärte kürzlich ihre Ablehnung: „Ich war mir sehr sicher, ... dass Putin das nicht einfach zulassen wird. Aus seiner Sicht wäre das eine Kriegserklärung“.

Um noch einen Schritt weiter zu gehen: Zahlreiche amerikanische Politiker und Strategen sprachen sich in den 1990er Jahren gegen die Entscheidung von Präsident Clinton aus, die NATO zu erweitern, als diese Entscheidung noch zur Debatte stand. Diesen Gegnern war von Anfang an klar, dass die russische Führung darin eine Bedrohung ihrer lebenswichtigen Interessen sehen würde und dass diese Politik letztlich in eine Katastrophe münden würde. Die Liste der Gegner umfasst prominente Persönlichkeiten des Establishments wie George Kennan, sowohl Präsident Clintons Verteidigungsminister William Perry als auch seinen Vorsitzenden des Vereinigten Generalstabs, General John Shalikashvili, Paul Nitze, Robert Gates, Robert McNamara, Richard Pipes und Jack Matlock, um nur einige zu nennen.

Die Logik von Putins Position sollte für Amerikaner, die seit langem der Monroe-Doktrin verpflichtet sind, vollkommen verständlich sein. Diese besagt, dass keine entfernte Großmacht ein Bündnis mit einem Land in der westlichen Hemisphäre eingehen und ihre militärischen Streitkräfte dort stationieren darf. Die Vereinigten Staaten würden einen solchen Schritt als existenzielle Bedrohung auffassen und alles tun, um diese Gefahr zu beseitigen. Dies geschah natürlich auch während der Kubakrise 1962, als Präsident Kennedy den Sowjets klar machte, dass ihre Atomraketen aus Kuba abgezogen werden müssten. Putin ist zutiefst von derselben Logik beeinflusst. Schließlich wollen Großmächte nicht, dass sich entfernte Großmächte in ihrem Hinterhof ansiedeln.

DRITTENS: Die zentrale Bedeutung der tiefen Angst Russlands vor einem NATO-Beitritt der Ukraine wird durch zwei Entwicklungen seit Kriegsbeginn verdeutlicht.

Während der Istanbuler Verhandlungen, die unmittelbar nach Beginn der Invasion stattfanden, machten die Russen deutlich, dass die Ukraine eine „dauerhafte Neutralität“ akzeptieren müsse und der NATO nicht beitreten könne. Die Ukrainer akzeptierten die Forderung Russlands ohne ernsthaften Widerstand, sicherlich weil sie wussten, dass es sonst unmöglich wäre, den Krieg zu beenden. In jüngerer Zeit, am 14. Juni 2024, stellte Putin zwei Forderungen, die die Ukraine erfüllen müsse, bevor er einem Waffenstillstand und der Aufnahme von Verhandlungen zur Beendigung des Krieges zustimmen würde. Eine dieser Forderungen war, dass Kiew „offiziell“ erklärt, „dass es seine Pläne, der NATO beizutreten, aufgibt“.

Das alles ist nicht überraschend, denn Russland hat die Ukraine in der NATO immer als existenzielle Bedrohung gesehen, die um jeden Preis verhindert werden muss. Diese Logik ist die treibende Kraft hinter dem Ukraine-Krieg.

Schließlich ist aus der Verhandlungsposition Russlands in Istanbul sowie aus Putins Äußerungen zur Beendigung des Krieges in seiner Ansprache vom 14. Juni 2024 klar ersichtlich, dass er nicht daran interessiert ist, die gesamte Ukraine zu erobern und sie zu einem Teil eines größeren Russlands zu machen.

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John Joseph Mearsheimer (* 14. Dezember 1947 in Brooklyn, New York City) ist ein US-amerikanischer Politikwissenschaftler an der University of Chicago. Sein Schwerpunkt ist die Analyse internationaler Beziehungen aus der Perspektive des offensiven Neorealismus, den er erstmals 2001 in seiner Monografie The Tragedy of Great Power Politics darstellte.

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Dieser Text von John J. Mearsheimer erschien am 5.8.2024 auf Substack.Vielen Dank für die Genehmigung des Autors zum Abdruck der deutschen Übersetzung. Die Übersetzung wurde von Thomas Mayer erstellt. 

Neben der NATO-Osterweiterung gibt es weitere Faktoren die zum Ukraine-Krieg führten, zum Beispiel der Nationalismus in der Ukraine und die Unterdrückung der ethnisch-russischen Bevölkerung.

Ausführlich sind die vielschichtigen Hintergründe des Ukraine-Krieges geschildert in dem Buch von Thomas Mayer: Wahrheitssuche im Ukraine-Krieg – Um was es wirklich geht, 600 Seiten, ISBN 978-3-89060-863-1, Infos zum Buch: https://kurzelinks.de/h10a

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@ da8b7de1:c0164aee

Amerikai nukleáris végrehajtási rendeletek és szakpolitikai fejlemények

2025.05.23-án az amerikai kormány négy jelentős végrehajtási rendeletet adott ki, amelyek célja egy „nukleáris reneszánsz” felgyorsítása a következő 25 évben. Ezek a rendeletek egy, az egész kormányzatra kiterjedő tervet határoznak meg a 400 GW nukleáris kapacitás elérésére 2050-ig, lefedve az ipar minden területét: engedélyezés, üzemanyagciklus, reaktortechnológia, ellátási lánc, munkaerő, hulladékkezelés, finanszírozás és nemzetközi megállapodások. Azonnali intézkedések között szerepel a biztonságos hazai üzemanyag-ellátás megteremtése, szabályozási reformok, a reaktor-telepítések felgyorsítása, valamint pénzügyi és diplomáciai eszközök alkalmazása az amerikai nukleáris technológia belföldi és nemzetközi előmozdítására. A rendeletek gyorsított szabályozási eljárásokat írnak elő – például az NRC-nek (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) 18 hónapon belül kell elbírálnia az új reaktorokra vonatkozó kérelmeket –, valamint kibővített szerepet adnak az Energiaügyi és Védelmi Minisztériumoknak az engedélyezésben és telepítésben, beleértve a szövetségi földeken való elhelyezést is.

Az NRC jóváhagyta a NuScale kis moduláris reaktor (SMR) tervét

Az amerikai NRC jóváhagyta a NuScale Power 462 MW kapacitású kis moduláris reaktor (SMR) erőművének tervét, ami jelentős mérföldkő az új típusú nukleáris technológiák bevezetésében. Ez az engedélyezés a tervezettnél korábban történt, így a NuScale az egyetlen SMR, amely NRC-tervjóváhagyással rendelkezik, és technológiája hivatkozási alap lehet a jövőbeli építési és üzemeltetési engedélykérelmekben. A tervet kifejezetten nagy adatközpontok és ipari ügyfelek számára fejlesztették, a gyártási kapacitás már elérhető a dél-koreai Doosan vállalatnál. A NuScale várhatóan 2025 végéig szerzi meg első amerikai ügyfelét, és az első erőmű akár 2030-ra üzembe léphet, ha sikerül gyorsan szerződést kötni. Az NRC jóváhagyása szélesebb körű lendületet ad az amerikai fejlett nukleáris iparnak, beleértve a közelmúltbeli végrehajtási rendeleteket is, amelyek célja a reaktor-telepítések bővítése és a hazai ellátási láncok megerősítése.

Amerikai uránellátás és piaci helyzet

Az amerikai uránszektor kritikus ponthoz érkezett, kétpárti politikai támogatással és az adatközpontok, valamint az alapvető villamosenergia-igények növekvő keresletével. Az iparági vezetők egy közelgő kínálati hiányra figyelmeztetnek, mivel a magas minőségű készletek kimerülnek, és az új termelés beindítása nehézségekbe ütközik. Az új termelés ösztönző ára jelenleg 100 dollár felett van fontonként, ami meghaladja a jelenlegi spot árakat, így a már működő termelők előnyben vannak. A legutóbbi végrehajtási rendeletek és a Section 232 vizsgálatok megerősítik a kormány elkötelezettségét a hazai urántermelés és az ellátási lánc biztonsága mellett. Az orosz urán tilalom, amely 2028-ban lép teljesen életbe, tovább szűkíti a nyugati ellátást, a mentességek várhatóan a geopolitikai feszültségek miatt hamarabb megszűnnek. Kína gyors nukleáris fejlesztése tovább növeli a keresletet, ami kettéosztott globális uránpiacot eredményez.

Az amerikai urándúsítási kapacitás bővítése

Az Urenco USA megkezdte a termelést legújabb gázcentrifuga-egységében a New Mexico-i National Enrichment Facility-ben, ezzel mintegy 15%-kal bővítve a hazai dúsítási kapacitást. Ez a bővítés célja, hogy csökkentse az orosz ellátástól való függőséget, és támogassa az amerikai nukleáris üzemanyag-ellátási láncot. Az Urenco USA, az ország egyetlen kereskedelmi dúsított urán előállítója, jelenleg az amerikai atomerőművek szükségletének mintegy egyharmadát fedezi, és további bővítést fontolgat a piaci kereslet függvényében.

Nemzetközi nukleáris energetikai fejlemények

Globális nukleáris reaktor-építési hullám van kibontakozóban, élen az Egyesült Királysággal, Törökországgal, Lengyelországgal, valamint ázsiai és afrikai országokkal. Több mint 30 ország vállalta, hogy 2050-ig megháromszorozza a globális nukleáris kapacitást a nettó zéró kibocsátás és az energiabiztonság érdekében. Az atomtechnológia exportja továbbra is jelentős bevételi forrás Oroszország számára, miközben az Egyesült Államok jogalkotási és szakpolitikai lépéseket tesz a nukleáris export és együttműködés vezető szerepének biztosítására; a Szenátus Külügyi Bizottsága hamarosan tárgyalja azt a törvényjavaslatot, amely az amerikai nukleáris exportot hivatott erősíteni, hogy Kínát és Oroszországot megelőzze a globális piacon.

Ipari partnerségek és katonai alkalmazások

Az amerikai Védelmi Minisztérium nyolc céget választott ki mikroreaktor-technológiák fejlesztésére katonai létesítmények számára, azzal a céllal, hogy decentralizált, skálázható mikroreaktor-rendszereket hozzanak létre kritikus energiaigények kielégítésére. Ez a kezdeményezés a kereskedelmi mikroreaktor-fejlesztést és a kapcsolódó ellátási láncok megerősítését is ösztönzi, az NRC szabályozási útvonalainak kihasználásával.

Érintetti bevonás és konferenciák

A Nemzetközi Atomenergia Ügynökség (IAEA) nemrégiben zárta első, a nukleáris programok érintetti bevonásáról szóló nemzetközi konferenciáját Bécsben, amely hangsúlyozta a nyilvánosság és az érintettek bevonásának fontosságát a nukleáris energiafejlesztés minden szakaszában, hogy bizalmat építsenek és megalapozott döntéshozatalt támogassanak.

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Források:

• world-nuclear-news.org
• nucnet.org
• iaea.org
• utilitydive.com
• observer.co.uk
• ans.org

@ 7f6db517:a4931eda

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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