How did things go so wrongala? Turns out most of the country didn’t want a fourth term of Obamala.
https://image.nostr.build/88859fcf90b22accdb3c4c837ea2aecde8ef28a94a9d459afeebd6cc704c6f71.jpg


Everyone needs to read this, which single handedly killed the UK ID Card. It can also kill the idea in America.

nostr:nevent1qqsrpashzgznp25lfzlglty23celha4u0ypu28tcep8racaej4as9nspzemhxue69uhhyetvv9ujum3sx5mhytnrd36kyqghwaehxw309aex2mrp0yh8qmr9vfehgu3wvdhk6qgwwaehxw309ahhsarj9ejx2asprfmhxue69uhkummnw3ezummjv9hxwetsd9kxctnyv4mqqt5gkh


GM.

I'm bullish on bitcoin, and I think a lot of people overthink it.

One of my favorite metrics is the market value vs realized value ratio. The realized value is basically just the on-chain cost basis. The value of UTXOs at the dollar price during which they last moved between wallets, which often means the time people pulled them from exchanges or deposited them to exchanges.

https://m.primal.net/LXov.png

A relatively small amount of marginal buying can push up the market value by a lot. Like how if you buy one house on a street, it can boost the estimated price of all houses on that street even though only one of them traded hands. But when market value becomes stretched relative to cost basis, it means that part of the market value is kind of illusory. We don't *really* know what houses on that street are worth if only one of them traded hands recently and thus liquidity was low. Over time, as more houses on that street trade hands and we have more price points, the estimated value of the street becomes more real. The same thing for bitcoin; as more bitcoin trades hands at certain levels, it starts to make that level "real" compared to how real we should consider it when it just touches a certain level for a little while with limited volume.

Right now, bitcoin is at an all-time high in its realized price, i.e. cost basis.

Back when bitcoin was poking over $60k in April 2021, the cost basis for the network was only about $350 billion. Now, at the same market price, the cost basis approaches $650 billion, or more than twice as high. The marginal bitcoin has traded hands and moved between wallets at much higher prices than years ago, even though the market price is about the same. In other words, these levels have been truly liquid and been consummated by the market more than they were back in 2021, and thus the price is more robust at this level than back then.

The launch of the spot ETFs pulled forward some excitement this year, and so we've been in this big consolidation since March. But even in that time period from March to the present, the on-chain cost basis increased from like $520 billion to $640 billion, and so price discovery and progress is being made despite the ongoing price chop.

As the network builds a bigger and more solid base like it has been doing, it can set the stage for the next major breakout. The network looks healthy to me.

https://m.primal.net/LXpf.png


It has become so weird that the US Right supports Israel’s war on Palestine while the US Left supports Ukraine’s defense against Russia.

Political sides dig in. The wars become associated with culture.

There is so little voice today from those who oppose aggression. Those who support Jews but are not onboard with Israel’s actions against Palestinians. Those who support Ukrainian independence but don’t want to commit unlimited troops for border regions that literally speak Russian amid a complicated history.

More people die in Sudan and Cambodia than Israel/Palestine, but we are all focused on Israel/Palestine because it’s a conflict of cultures. Religious cultures but also western imperialism vs the global south. The focus of it all. That occupies our attention even as bigger massacres occur elsewhere that aren’t directly across these massive fault lines.

I refuse to engage in attention whoring. I support peace in most instances globally, other than total war against someone’s existence where it becomes right to fight back. People have a right to self-defense. And those who have power over others have a responsibility to hold back on using it fully.

Keep in mind that at any moment, tons of violence is occurring globally. The media directs you to a subset of it that is geographically, economically, or culturally relevant for their purposes. You ignore or are unaware of the rest, and get emotional about what is fed to you. That’s how most people act, anyway.


Enjoyed having a chat about bitcoin, macro, etc:

nostr:note132n4amtdgy4n55xehptq3khqd0ysgqs24t265034c23ezh2nwkcst3mc2p


"There are people who hold bonds. We call them poor."

https://m.primal.net/Liwo.png


I, for one, would love tariffs instead of income taxes. Consumption taxes are generally way more fair.


I showed the first three chapters of my hobby sci fi manuscript to my husband as an alpha reader.

He's a really thorough film critic, and I told him to be brutal with his feedback.

He really liked them. He highlighted a few things to tweak for improvement, but otherwise loved it. Pretty genuinely I think. He particularly liked the first glimpse of one of the antagonists. There was a balance there between them being horrible but also kind of likable and intriguing, and so that delicate balance seems to have struck correctly.

So I'm going to show him the first 15 chapters that, in the current draft, make up Act 1 of the story, and get his further thoughts.


I promised, if #Bitcoin dumps to $60,000 I will give $10,000 BTC to 5 people
So as promised I will be giving away $10,000 to 5 person today.
Rules: like, retweet, follow me with A
* If you're not following, you will be disqualified.
Proof will be posted in 24 hours
Doing this for my community #btc #eth
https://m.primal.net/LJKj.jpg


Govt has arrived in parts of Tennessee now... https://nostpic.com/media/ec99edc5567e02815fb15020285e2fa8390931cedf59c83d6bb2c5f6ee1530b9/59eace6596d4866d69bb0c511b51a494a7d05a93b3a7d9c2f3c0ca685c2beaee.webp


Jeff Booth’s perspective of trying to evaluate a new system from inside a legacy system does hit pretty hard

But on the plus side I do get basically unlimited opportunities to say “Bitcoin fixes this”


Yes, a tetralogy pls.


Do what makes you happiest 🧡. Your contribution has been second to none. Take some time to yourself 🙏


The ability to move your money and identity globally offers some protection due to escapism via Bitcoin and Nostr, in the really rough scenarios. Like Venezuela.

Locally, we should note that it’s not like Telegram users are arrested. That would be unworkable. Only the CEO was. The more individual a policy gets, the more expensive and unpopular it is to enforce. There is no CEO of Bitcoin or Nostr.

The1930s gold ban was brutal, but hardly ever enforced. Going after individuals was both expensive and unpopular. That applies today as well. And information travels faster now. We should use it.

Structural debasement requires obfuscation in order to secure unaware seigniorage from its public. The more that it’s brought to public awareness, the weaker it is.

What you can do: make money honest again.

Make them tell us our laws.
Make them tell us we can’t hold sound money.
Make them tell us we can’t transmit digital money to our friends like we would with cash. And then ask why.
Make them tell us they need to tax us, because they can’t quietly debase us.
Make it more transparent. Shine a light on it and ask people if it’s just.


-Treat the arrest of the Telegram CEO as an emergency.

-Advocate for his freedom and for all freedom tech providers.

-Support and build things that function without a CEO, like some aspects of Nostr. When authoritarian Europe or the US arrests you, be able to say, “I literally can’t control it, it’s already out there, and we are legion.”

-Tell me and others, as capital providers, how to accelerate this.


I love our Nostr Lyn.


“If censorship is possible, then it’s going to happen. The only way to stop censorship is to make it impossible. And that’s what Nostr represents.” - nostr:npub1xtscya34g58tk0z605fvr788k263gsu6cy9x0mhnm87echrgufzsevkk5s 🔥🔥🔥🔥


Many such cases

nostr:nevent1qqst4ch7f90zgn09hz87u7sw73pntlc5n08lxy86lmp96zdv2h7xnzqpr4mhxue69uhkummnw3ezucnfw33k76twv4ezuum0vd5kzmp0qgsw4v882mfjhq9u63j08kzyhqzqxqc8tgf740p4nxnk9jdv02u37ncrqsqqqqqp4u23y6


Bitcoin doesn't need governments to win. It doesn't need governments to stack it. It doesn't need to ask for help.

Instead, the bar is much lower. Bitcoiners, in their preferred jurisdiction, would benefit by not being hassled by their government. They'd like to be able to buy it without problems. They'd like to be able to pay for energy and equipment and mine it in peace. They'd like be able to write open source code without facing legal problems. They'd like to be able to operate reputable businesses related to it. If they can't, then some of them will move as necessary.

It's helpful for the ecosystem to have non-hostile jurisdictions in the world. And for those that can't move without great sacrifice (i.e. most people), it's helpful for them that whatever jurisdiction they are in, is non-hostile.

So it's good that bitcoin is getting into the Overton window. The industry has some power now. Bitcoin benefits from builders and educators and advocates. It benefits from those who do their best to prevent the worst legislative outcomes against self-custody, against privacy, against running a business, against mining, etc.

But Bitcoin doesn't need to pander to them to proactively support us, and bitcoiners should recognize the sliminess of politician incentives when they come to pander to us. While it's in their best interest to build national reserves if they actually figure this thing out, we don't need them to build reserves.

I think that's the helpful line. That's where the signal is. To the extent that we minimize how much we are tread on, and build multi-national accepting footholds to pivot around, we gradually build what we want to exist.

We ask to be treated fairly, we use our resources to help ensure that we are, and to the extent that we are not then we adjust as necessary.


::taps mic::
::clears throat::

WE ARE THE FUCKING ALGORITHM.

Anyway, good evening.

nostr:note1sgpghkmq3jn5htyt59lv3s77pscmnuunjq4kwd4gvezd0t9r69qq3z8ty3


The broad crypto industry rallied hard soon after the White House threatened to veto the bill that would let banks custody digital assets. And now it’s making a big difference, with Congress voting strongly for it, the White House pulling their veto threat, etc.

While it’s right to pass that bill and let banks custody them if they want, it’s sad to see that the crypto industry response to that was like 100x bigger than the response to all of the anti-privacy stuff that has been happening.

The desire of people in the industry for banks to help pump their bags is way bigger than their desire to pave a way for freedom tech in general.

Much love to all those building and supporting real freedom tech.


The amount of lost time and productivity due to dealing with income taxes nationwide is insanely high.

The number of accountants, lawyers, and auditors that work full time on it, plus the percent of time that small business owners and individual taxpayers have to dedicate to it each year, costs an uncountable total number of lost hours per year. And just as bad, it requires a ubiquitous massive surveillance apparatus on all sorts of income to enforce itself.

No taxes are enjoyable, but income taxes are really the most counter-productive and onerous ones. Taxes on properties, imports, and retail sales have so much of a lighter touch to track and collect than income taxes.


On our multi-hour trip to the airport (heading to Oslo soon), my husband and I had a long debate about fiat and bitcoin. I love this sort of thing.

He is super bullish on bitcoin, but has somewhat lower expectations than me for its total market size and importance in the long run. But more importantly, he is a really good debater and can steelman fiat arguments better than most of the actual fiat proponents can, so it’s very useful iterative process for me to keep sparring his arguments and refine how I describe things for maximum clarity and impact. He also edits all of my long-form articles and edited my book, so he serves as my first line of defense to make sure everything I write can pass a certain muster outside of my own echo chamber.

It’s really important to do this sort of thing. Debate with people you like but where you see some things differently, and assess how it all checks out.


We need to take back news and social from scare tactics and fear mongering.


I really dislike social media algorithms and incentives. Negative stuff is what sells.

There are so many times where I sit down with a good host and have a thoughtful discussion about macro finance, and then the Youtube title and thumbmail that their producer makes is some version of me smiling next to a terrible headline and often something on fire or blowing up.

https://m.primal.net/IJUd.png


I go to NYC several times per year for one reason or another. For work, for friends, etc.

Part of me likes it, but part of me gets fucking frustrated multiple times per day every time I am here. (Sorry, this is a Nostr Lyn post).

There are plenty of neat things in NYC that I can’t do at the same scale/quality elsewhere in the world due to the network effects around the city (broadway shows, financial district, etc), and yet after a day or two all I want to do is leave. It feels claustrophobic on multiple fronts.

People all have different vibes but for me, major cities are fun to visit but smaller secondary cities or suburbs around cities are so much smoother to live in. I can’t imagine living all the time in a major city.

The same applies to Cairo, to which I have been in far more total days than NYC. I like Cairo’s satellite cities but not Cairo itself other than going briefly.

Every time I am in a major city I am immediately reminded of the luxury of space, nature, quiet, parking spaces, and chillness of not being in a city. Everything I take for granted normally is now a luxury to fight for in a city.

Even politics are largely correlated to urbanization. If you live in rural or suburban areas, you likely drive around in your own car, you might have some land, etc. Your interaction with the local government exists in a moderate sense. The potential weakness is that you are more likely to always be around those who are similar to you, which minimizes your worldliness.

In contrast to all that, in major cities, everything is so tightly packed, and people rely on public transportation, and even a momentary lapse of government services (eg trash collection) becomes an acute catastrophe. But on the beneficial side, people are around those who are different than them more often, which breeds worldliness.

That’s why I tend to like the zone between rural and major cities. I like secondary cities or suburbs of major cities, because I get a bit of both worlds. The density and interconnectedness of major cities briefly, and the space and self-autonomy outside of them most of the time.

And yet I was born and raised in that sort of inbetween state, and so maybe it is just my upbringing.

What about you? Can anyone sell me the idea of NYC or other major cities that I am missing, especially in the remote work era? I see glimpses of how it could be attractive if you are used to it and know every detail of your neighborhood, but it really does feel limiting to me.


The majority of people have a strong tendency to want to be part of something that is bigger than themselves. It is why they not just get up in the morning, but why they are *energized* to get up in the morning.

Clans and religions were among the earliest bigger things. People know that they will die, and so they invest into their descendants, honor their ancestors, and contemplate metaphysics and the nature of life. Many people will willingly sacrifice themselves for their children or for their highest ideals because of this.

In the modern era of printing presses and telecommunication systems, there is also a broader set of choices for people to group together around, either combined with those other ones or sometimes instead of them. Sometimes they choose nationalism. Sometimes they fight for a political ideology that transcends borders. Sometimes it is a professional guild or professional recognition. Sometimes it is the environment. Right or left or anywhere in between, you can often tell what someone adheres to as their highest ideal.

A powerful exercise is to 1) identify what you feel a part of in the bigger sense (it could be a few things) and 2) whenever someone’s behavior confuses you, stop and think about what they likely feel a part of in a bigger sense, if anything. You might feel that what they associate with is fucking retarded, but if you can at least identify it, then that is the first step toward successful communication and debate and rebuttal.

Using myself as an example, my professional experience is in a combination of engineering and finance. Separately, my ethical philosophy is grounded in virtue ethics (that’s a whole other longwinded topic), and as a result, what I feel a part of in a bigger sense is various social movements and protocols that utilize technology to bring financial autonomy to people. That’s where I put my time and capital toward.

Successful commerce involves the combination of value and communication. Therefore, I want people to be able to communicate freely and transfer value freely. As such, I strongly associate with the leading technologies in those fields, such as Bitcoin and Nostr.

If I thought they were weak, I would sympathize with them but not invest in them or have much hope for them. That was my view for a while. But if I view them as technically capable and achieving of network effects, then my rationality combines with my sympathy and becomes full support.

I don’t care what peoples’ race, sex, orientation, ethnicity, or nationality is. Instead, what I care about is doing whatever tiny part I can to bring technologies to people that allow them to transfer value and information to others, or to educate people on those technologies, etc. That is where my time and capital is focused on. Outside of family, that is what makes me energized in the morning to work toward.

What is yours?


If everyday

On an agreed UTC

200,000 #bitcoin ers agree to buy $10 worth of Bitcoin

DAILY

that’s 2 million $ of volume added daily on that one buy…. Same as a small ETF

WHY ARENT #BITCOIN ERS ORGANISED AND WORKING TOGETHER TO WIN?

Bitcoin is the easiest game to win… but nobody is working together

WHY DONT WE ALL AGREE TO THIS? Daily!

200,000 #bitcoin ers buying $10 of Bitcoin daily = 2 million $ in volume

What say all of you? Spread this and let’s get something going

Stop wondering where the price goes next and send it ourselves


THE TIKTOK BAN BILL GOING THROUGH CONGRESS RIGHT NOW WILL GIVE GOVERNMENT INSANE POWER TO RESTRICT SPEECH.

AT THE SAME TIME SECTION 230 PROTECTIONS ARE ABOUT TO BE NEUTERED BY THE SUPREME COURT WHICH WILL ADD AN INSANE AMOUNT OF LIABILITY TO CENTRALIZED PLATFORMS - INEVITABLY INCREASING CENSORSHIP.

RESTRICTING FREE SPEECH IN AMERICA HAS BIPARTISAN SUPPORT AMONG OUR CORRUPT POLITICAL CLASS.

NOSTR IS ABOUT TO HAVE ITS MOMENT TO SHINE. WE NEED TO BE READY FOR BILLIONS OF NEW USERS.


#gardenstr https://image.nostr.build/50ac21644a2db03c4cff0774101c7c3b70209d63547d854e257c418bbda2b6b7.jpg


Welcome to Nostr nostr:npub1tccnjexzau3x5ea8c69v047nqfy3xm4w4yl9j788sts0usl87nhsvce6fh !

Thanks for the podcast discussion today.


😂 https://image.nostr.build/f1225f897fd0c51aa084b4484a1462a56fa7a0203c78d5bd51ea74a799cd68b2.jpg


A decade ago I was in my car at a stoplight, and there was a bunch of seagulls eating a discarded bag of fast food in the intersection.

When the light turned green, the car in front of me went slowly to give the seagulls a chance to fly away, but they didn't. Instead, the car's tire just slowly ran over a whole pile of seagulls, who just kept going after the fast food as they were run over. I just watched horrified as this played out.

Every once in a while, I just wonder why the seagulls never got out of the way despite how slow the threat was.

Anyway, looking at the bond market reminded me of this again today.


“Let’s all buy 21$ of #BTC  on Halving day”

I’m in! You too? https://image.nostr.build/16baa55237263e6b994d91bebe49d623a5f20095babe9037a497367489046807.jpg


The people who are already giving up on the idea that we can protect #Bitcoin from capture because BlackRock got here like 30 seconds ago, need to pull their fucking panties up.

I’m sure it’s going to be a fight and we don’t need your pathetic whiney ass when that day comes. I’ll fight for it. Join me or piss off and sell everything now. We don’t want you if a fucking paper ETF is what makes you throw in the towel.

Get that fiat brain shit outta here. nostr:note12r7n9d48pxwp0fesdmst79yd7gdn6qffyvrw8jcpe0533tndnq4qdv6j38


🌤☕🫂GM #NOSTR nostr:note1kpf53gx9sqq2m4a32gmdf5y9nrdynv4syf36c0lnag8utta9dlsshv587w


The COPA vs Craig Wright trial begins tomorrow.

Finally, after all these years, a UK judge will rule on whether or not Craig is Satoshi and whether or not he is a fraud.

Quite absurd that it’s taken this long to legally establish something so glaringly obvious.

Welcome to law.


For context re: Craig Wright and Calvin Ayre and why there should be no mercy.

My life changed completely on March 29th, 2019. Almost five years ago now.

I had made several tweets, warning people about Craig Wright, and making my opinion about him clear. A matter of very public interest.

I was sent a legal letter on twitter DM, where it was made clear that I either had to apologize and acknowledge Craig as Satoshi, or they would file a libel case against me in UK.

When I didn't comply, Craig and Calvin put a public $5000 bounty on my identity and then firmly doxxed me after finding out who I was.

They proceeded to put private intelligence surveillance on me, that have tried to gain access to my social circle, both online and physically. Presence in 100s of groups. Monitoring my house. Producing regular, detailed reports on all my activity. Travelled where I travelled and so on. And god knows what else. This is still going on today.

I have been continuosly smeared and lied about on social media and in Coingeek, the publication owned by Calvin.

Threatened directly/personally with bankruptcy and worse by Calvin and his followers on twitter, with my real name, on countless occasions.

Anonymous phone calls with indirect threats.

My dad was fighting against cancer when this all started. I was dealing with constant legal pressure and threats throughout his fight. When he finally died late 2020, the legal pressure was at a peak and my funding situation was uncertain.

I've had to give up tons of private communication in discovery, to prove I had not been behind "an organized and vicious campaign against Craig."

I've had to turn down professional opportunities, since a good percentage of my bandwidth has been continuously occupied with defending myself legally. The amount of legal letters, hearings, appeals, judgments etc are beyond belief.

I've lived since 2019, with the constant knowledge that my house and belongings are on the line, and Craig's stated goal of bankrupting his enemies would be reality if I lost.

All the while I've tried to, and largely managed, to shield my child and family as well as possible, but I know all of this has put stress on them as well.

No mercy for these people.
Only Welcome to Law.


IRONICALLY MOST OF THE PEOPLE WHO PANIC CONSOLIDATED WERE THE SAME PEOPLE TROLLING ME WHEN I SAID MEMPOOLS WOULD NEVER CLEAR AGAIN.

FOR THOSE WHO PAID ATTENTION - I DID NOT ADVOCATE FOR PEOPLE TO MANAGE UTXOS AT HIGH FEE RATES.

NOW IS A DECENT TIME TO GET YOUR SHIT IN ORDER.

STILL DO NOT EXPECT MEMPOOLS TO CLEAR.


As part of this event at Princeton, I will have a public discussion with Carolyn Wilkins, the former deputy governor of the central bank of Canada. nostr:note1ud3ckp6w7erwts79wmetnnpu77dtgvmdtdgq5e8jfzz2pld8sp5szlmlc6


Seriously. So much pressure to get it too. I had a buddy pressure me into getting it who later apologized to me after he had a vaccine induced heart attack.


BITCOIN AND NOSTR ENABLE OPEN SOURCE PROJECTS TO MONETIZE IN WAYS THAT WERE NEVER POSSIBLE BEFORE.

THIS NEXT ERA OF FREEDOM TECH PROJECTS WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING 🫡


How do you buy sats in Japan?


Currently diving into this edict from the EIA against bitcoin mining operations in the US. It is extremely Orwellian.

It seems like they are trying to create a hyper-detailed registry of miners in the US down to particular ASICs.

https://m.primal.net/HaEh.png https://m.primal.net/HaEi.png https://m.primal.net/HaEj.png


Biden has declared a Federal "emergency" because #bitcoin  is winning https://image.nostr.build/3d0ba3a87888476b83c5bd136711fcf5c34bae825e234e3f28c9313e57b762d6.jpg


If you are an operator in the bitcoin mining industry in the US it is imperative that you ignore this survey and tell the EIA, the Department of Energy, and the current administration to fuck off.

Here's what they have in store for you.

https://tftc.io/eia-bitcoin-mining-survey/


A must read. What the government is demanding of #Bitcoin  miners (under the threat of violence) is the most egregious, totalitarian thing I’ve ever seen when it comes to demands of private businesses. The Biden administration must be stopped at all costs.

nostr:note16fd3ldgp96ce5skf2fx5xyrca2eu9v92mwpyp6x84ks2dwwdyc3qgpk3ek


Whatever you think of Peter, Irwin Schiff (his dad) died in jail for tax resistance & for teaching people that taxarion was evil & that voluntary trade was the path to a better world.

And Peter has moved a lot of people toward libertarianism. They deserve more love & respect than they get.


TFW A BLUE CHECK POSTING ON WECHAT OF THE WEST GETS WORSE ENGAGEMENT THAN MOST OF MY NOSTR POSTS

https://m.primal.net/HZRQ.png


we have odell. This is how we win. nostr:note1ygx5q3waycfxk9gswrghhfpjkr4r6mlkkekvyhdgep0we0pzuaqs4f5j8g


Do all of these look accurate? Particularly curious about Blue Sky since I don't know it that well.
https://void.cat/d/WcGgEAxrvLgtAj5EmPJGmC.webp


Look at all those donations to the #Bitcoin network, whether intentional or not.

“Lost coins only make everyone else's coins worth slightly more. Think of it as a donation to everyone.”

— Satoshi Nakamoto https://image.nostr.build/9fb02c75461857292e2f59cf511421564908229f074b664cd6913864943da14b.jpg


When states start ignoring federal energy policy like Texas is ignoring the DHS at the border right now we’re going to see an expansion of human flourishing like we’ve never seen before in human history. The vibe is shifting. We’re going to win.


Has the #Bitcoin  ETF been Over-Hyped??🤔

nostr:npub1a2cww4kn9wqte4ry70vyfwqyqvpswksna27rtxd8vty6c74era8sdcw83a  stops by BCB this week to explore this question & more, including...
—Fiscal Dominance
—Reverse Repo
—Portfolio Construction
—Broken Money
—Evading Stage 5 Clingers

👉 https://fountain.fm/episode/pqjPStMP60yh462ofWm7 https://image.nostr.build/38fa88ff1abb699ea56491581eb48b7470f227f46aa586e7f6c2e4fbf7509c29.jpg


Nothing says "Broken Money" quite like a central bank that is operating at structural losses now and has negative capital.

For the first time in modern history, the central bank of the world reserve currency is just structurally unprofitable.

https://m.primal.net/HYVX.png


#Bitcoin is playing in big leagues now and the game is at a new level.

How I suspect it plays out: An attempt to capture as much as #Bitcoin as possible including regulation to “try” to slow self custody of #Bitcoin (Warren et all) and leverage games on paper #Bitcoin to reduce price. (ETF’s)

Which “causes” more Bitcoiners aware of the manipulation and how the game is being played to use lower prices to buy and self custody more #Bitcoin (reducing supply)

Which at some point creates a short squeeze of MEGA proportions (maybe along with halving - maybe later ) that liquidates a major financial player. (Similar to FTX)

Money has become a monopoly because of the games that have been able to be played with others assets due to the centralization and control of those assets.

But Wall Street has never seen an asset like this. It is not gold and too many #Bitcoiners know how the game is played, meaning if you don’t play by the rules, eventually you will be caught short. (And no one is coming to save you)

Or as nostr:npub1qny3tkh0acurzla8x3zy4nhrjz5zd8l9sy9jys09umwng00manysew95gx says:
Stay humble and stack sats.


To be honest, I think the bitcoin ETF is the most boring thing about bitcoin right now. Whenever I get asked about it I'm like, "meh".

Yes, the ETF should be good for price and liquidity, since it gives large pools of walled-garden capital more access to bitcoin exposure.

But in my view, the most important thing about bitcoin right now is all of the little hubs popping up around the world. Bitcoin Beach, Bitcoin Lake, Bitcoin Jungle, Bitcoin Ekasi, Africa Bitcoin Conference, Indonesia Bitcoin Conference, etc. As well wallets and other technologies that help them localize their custody of bitcoin rather than keep it all stashed in the giant Binance honeypot or wherever, and any solutions that help link to them all together for payments or that help them trade peer to peer or onboard from fiat to bitcoin in distributed ways.

The rise and connectivity of those hubs is impressive and is worth supporting.


Where photo?


Tomorrow, January 4th, the verdict in Julian Assange's extradition trial will be delivered, and honestly, I can't bring myself to think that today we are celebrating the birth of the key to humanity's freedom and tomorrow, a man who did nothing wrong and has been deprived of his freedom may be stripped away of all his human rights.

I've been thinking a lot about this, especially after chatting with @Stella and John Shipton last year. They really opened my eyes to how messed up this whole situation is. If you're curious, check out our full talk here: https://youtu.be/ugeDIda5Zac

I hope tomorrow's verdict brings Julian closer to being freed and back with his family. But this isn't the end of the road for Assange. His final appeal in London's High Court is set for February. This could be his last chance to avoid extradition to the United States, where he faces serious charges. This moment is key, not just for Assange but for journalism and civil liberties worldwide.

If you're in the US, this is your call to action. Hit up your congressperson. Tell them to push Biden to drop all charges against Assange. Your voice can make a difference.

With this, I want to say that even though I'm totally blown away and super thankful for Bitcoin turning 15 today, it's tough to really get into the party mood. Knowing there are so many freedom fighters out there getting their wings clipped, it hits hard... We could be next...

Today isn't just about partying and celebrating for me. Today, I'm all about standing up to the establishment, reminding them they can't shut us down. We've got to keep fighting every single day, but especially on days like today, especially every January 3rd.


GOOD MORNING NOSTR - FREEDOM TECH IS HOPE.

FREEDOM IS NOT GRANTED - FREEDOM IS TAKEN AND DEFENDED.

THOSE WHO BUILD, USE, AND SUPPORT FREEDOM TECH TODAY WILL INSPIRE BILLIONS TO RISE UP TOMORROW.

ONWARD 🫡


DO ANY CLIENTS HAVE THE OPTION TO DISPLAY POSTS IN ALL LOWERCASE?


Here's an example of why monetary verification is important (and can be expensive).

The gold price is currently $2075/oz.

If you buy a sovereign 1-oz gold coin, or a globally-recognizable privately-issued 1-oz gold bar, you'll generally pay something like a 3-5% markup to spot. This is basically the verification and distribution premium. Even if you buy a bunch of 1-oz items, you generally won't get the spread down too much. If there's a shortage, the premiums over spot go way up.

If you buy smaller sizes, that premium will be a bigger percentage. For example if you buy 1-gram gold coins, you'll be paying a >50% markup to the spot price, which is silly.

If you buy bigger sizes, like 1-kilo bars (which cost more than a typical car), you could get it down to a 1-2% premium to spot.

The bigger size you go, the less verification you have that the core of the item is indeed gold rather than tungsten. You have to trust the brand and supply chain, basically. The smaller size you go, the less possible and economic it is to insert tungsten into the item. And so on some level, it makes sense that the verification premium is bigger for smaller items- you're more assured that it is indeed gold to its core. The surface area to mass ratio is harder to forge, basically. Somewhere around 1-oz is probably the sweet spot.

Now, if you're buying gold in most U.S. states, including on a lot of popular online stores, you'll also pay sales tax, and you'll often have to pay the difference in terms of your payment method. So if your credit card costs the merchant 3%, then that would eat up the merchant's margin since it is razor thin, and so instead the customer often has to pay it. They could instead do a wire transfer for a sizable purchase to save some money, but many banks charge like $30 for a 1-day wire transfer.

And if you're buying online, there's a shipping fee. That's usually pretty low but then goes up a bit if you add insurance because you don't want to risk your expensive coins or bars getting lost in the delivery chain or stolen from your doorstep. From the time of order to the time of delivery, it'll generally take several days. This includes time for the merchant to process the payment (gold merchants are usually a bit more careful about chargebacks and other reversed payments than the average merchant) and ship you the items.

All together, including the verification premium, taxes, payment fees, and shipping, one generally pays 8-15% over the spot price to get 1-oz gold coins or bars. That means gold has to go up a pretty significant amount just to break even. And then you have collectible capital gains taxes on that price gain (which in the US is higher than the actual capital gains tax rate). If you take time (and time is money) to shop around and find ways to legally avoid sales tax and so forth, and figure out the cheapest/slowest payment methods, then you can push the premium down as close as possible to the verification premium and shipping costs.

And if you want to securely ship large amounts of gold long distances, especially internationally? Like imagine HNW investors, businesses, banks, or sovereign entities? You're going to pay a sizable amount. One does not simply ship millions of dollars worth of gold without robust security.

If you want someone to custody your gold, you're going to pay a fee. If you are fine with unallocated/mixed gold with multiple layers of counterparty risk, you could buy among the cheapest ETFs with annual fees below 0.2%. If you want to hold your gold in an allocated way by Brinks or something with fewer layers of counterparty risk, it'll generally cost over 0.5% per year. This goes toward the vault costs, salaries for people with guns, real estate costs, etc.

Basically, there's a pretty big inefficiency in the form of 1) routine verification, 2) secure transfer of ownership, and 3) secure custody, that all comes out in the form of high costs and slow speeds.

Bitcoin has fees, but they are very low in comparison. Nodes can verify bitcoin basically for free. Miners timestamp transactions to transfer ownership for a fee, and you can currently send ten million dollars worth of bitcoin globally for like $10 and have it confirmed within the hour. And you can custody bitcoin yourself, and bring it around with you globally, through ports of entry, across borders, in ways you can't realistically do with gold above a certain value threshold.

When thinking about periods of above-average bitcoin fees, it's useful to keep some of the alternatives in mind. Verifying and transferring ownership of other store-of-value assets like gold and real estate is slower and a lot more expensive, requires a lot more abstraction and permission, and comes with much less portability.


Reminder— https://image.nostr.build/3010183bba12128bb984ef169c5b6f5dfa00164e672c80aa394b67ac4ea79838.jpg


TWO AND A HALF YEARS AGO AT BITCOIN 2021 - WE HAVE COME A LONG WAY - ONWARD 🫡

https://m.primal.net/HUxT.mp4


1 person speaking the truth is worth 10,000 speaking lies, which is also why I am so humbled to be with so many high integrity people here.

Because, we already have the numbers!

Merry Christmas and wishing you the very best of 2024.

It’s going to be an interesting one!

#Bitcoin
#Nostr


nostr:npub1wwfrl4xg62jepl9dk0ltdywdd2qfzkrja9rsjwvn68l3q3ftxc2qglgd3j Come back to the #Nostr…
https://image.nostr.build/09df25a7f9a6ce0be3ad54517f0db1a346468c88076f2c94671dd1804b629548.png


nostr:npub1a2cww4kn9wqte4ry70vyfwqyqvpswksna27rtxd8vty6c74era8sdcw83a is amazing.

All the sudden I feel like I understand the entire global monetary system better than ever before. Thanks to her book “Broken money” and podcast interviews.

And am even stacking harder.
Just a simple pleb from Zambia 🇿🇲


Question to bitcoin devs or other techies here.

Have there been thoughts about temporary soft forks?

In other words, suppose there is some potential change to bitcoin that there is some difference of opinion in even though it seems solid overall. Rather than permanently tightening the rules (which potentially requires a hard fork to undo, depending on the change), is there a case to consider a temporary soft fork instead? Eg it becomes active for the next 100,000 blocks and then will revert to the prior state for future transactions after that point unless renewed again, temporarily or maybe permanently that time depending on consensus at that point?


Argentina peso vs BTC

https://image.nostr.build/2d3241b966c9adae5c915379f84c34794b9cbc793ba918a2b0c593bbb705037d.jpg


WE WILL LAUNCH A NEW MINING POOL THAT DOES IT RIGHT.


nostr:npub1sg6plzptd64u62a878hep2kev88swjh3tw00gjsfl8f237lmu63q0uf63m  -  any chance u got a free hr to remote in and chat at some point in the next few months to discuss bitcoin, btc mining, nostr, open protocols & more?

-Dan & Josh


1234 comments, give em moar! do it.
nostr:nevent1qqs9y6xyyvh2s3xkztjm99j2tmxnuctpacpsw83zzxc6t5tq5wpsh0qpz9mhxue69uhkummnw3ezuamfdejj7q3qs5yq6wadwrxde4lhfs56gn64hwzuhnfa6r9mj476r5s4hkunzgzqxpqqqqqqzx5uamf


Markets value „rat poison“ higher than Berkshire Hathaway. https://image.nostr.build/a54f47098be632abb034290828920858a82365a333aa8bb29ea5c032ad4a2e3e.jpg


My brother Dan wrote something beautiful about our little brother Andrew.

I miss you, Dewey. 💧 https://image.nostr.build/add767e2c24ad2830f74c59a13f8a504e602737406a30c0a1c52f79e7191b808.png


👀 nostr:note197pcwzraajyzywplgxxt77p4gr3rwgfd50xkkpfw2e72cffad2ks677g0j


I’ve been critical of Musk on a number of topics, but they all come back to a lack of honesty, and a wide public bid/ask spread on that perception. Just that one thing.

I don’t think he is unintelligent, or racist, or antisemitic, etc. He is just not genuine. And he bends over for strongmen dictators while pretending to be a freedom advocate.

Likewise, you will rarely if ever see me criticize SpaceX results. I never criticize SpaceX rockets blowing up and so forth. Rocketry is fucking hard and it’s about gradual iteration. SpaceX is doing fine technically as far as I can tell as a space nerd. They’re getting better. The overall US space industry has been in absolute shambles for over a decade now, so I welcome some progress there. The only extent that I’ve ever criticized SpaceX is to remind people on the right that neither Tesla or SpaceX are the Libertarian dreams that many of them imagine. SpaceX has been reliant on many government contracts, and Tesla has been reliant on many government subsidies. For SpaceX I am not saying that’s good or bad per se (they do compete for it), but I’m saying we finance a good chunk of it out of taxes. But other than making sure people are familiar with the funding source, I haven’t criticized SpaceX yet.

I’m pretty specific.


If it ever comes, the day that the US government goes to the mattresses on bitcoin, I will dedicate that day, that week, that month, and that year, to memes to help support the social counter-attack.

Their confiscations will have to fight amid the shade of our endless memes and civil disobedience.

https://m.primal.net/HQVy.jpg
https://m.primal.net/HObu.jpg


Have you ever won a fight that you should have lost? Here’s a funny story.

I grew up in a trailer park from age 6-18 with my single father, who was elderly. But my father had been a police officer for decades, and was an orderly kind of guy. He kept a tight household, and he would work each day and I basically had to be an adult from a young age to take care of myself, and he also put me in martial arts classes starting just before or around age 7 which I then did like clockwork multiple times per week for years straight. Many other kids in the neighborhood were less lucky by not having such attentive-but-hard parents, and went astray.

My neighbor Jordan lived with his single mother, who was kind of crazy and usually not home. Nobody really cleaned their trailer; it was gross. Jordan and his little sister grew up largely alone and in squalor, and were given no direction. But Jordan was a character, and he built his own direction as an agent of chaos. We became friends, and I would hang out with Jordan and his little sister there in the evenings after I came back from school and martial arts practice. Jordan’s best friends aside from me, were marijuana dealers and so forth, and I got to know them. Jordan was a couple years older than me and taught me how to play Dungeons and Dragons, Magic the Gathering, and a bunch of video games, and he was a big cultural influence on me. Most of my hobbies ended up being tomboyish probably because of him; he was the only kid on my street that was in my age range, and just slightly older to be a significant big brother type of influence on me, rather than me being the one to influence him. He and his friends joked that I was the “innocent” one among them; the nerdy girl across the street who was kind of part of them but also kind of different. Jordan usually didn’t call people by their name, but rather had a nickname for everyone. He always called me “Squeaks”.

A lot of people grow up in certain social bubbles, but my social groups at the time couldn’t be more different. My friends at school were like, fellow nerdy mathlete team members. Then I had friends at my highly disciplined martial arts school that felt almost like a military academy, with push-ups and rank hierarchies and “Osu Sensei!” type of shit. And then I’d come home and hang out with Jordan and his chill pot-dealing friends who did whatever the hell they felt like. I feel lucky that I had all these totally different vibes going on.

Jordan would host fights in his backyard with his friends. They were all bigger than me and kind of tough, but had zero martial arts training, and after some prodding I agreed to spar in it once when I was 15. My first opponent was a far larger guy who was obsessed with Pokemon and dealt pot, and he jumped toward me and literally picked me up and was about to body slam me. But he didn’t know what he was doing, and made the common takedown mistake of putting his head on my side under my arm, so I guillotine-choked him as he picked me up, and he immediately crumpled to the ground and submitted to me before he could complete the slam. Jordan was like, “Well, Squeaks wins.”

In my martial arts school, we fought full contact, like I had been punched and slammed and dropped and tapped out for years, but always with headgear on and mouthpieces in. It was always a safe, controlled environment. Julian’s fighting pit was acutely *unsafe*; just with some gloves on and nothing else. I always felt more afraid of a real fight than a controlled fight, and this moment and the subsequent adventures in it helped me build more confidence that even my fellow martial arts students rarely had.

From then on, Jordan held various fights in his yard and loved to put me in there from time to time because it was so unexpected to people. I wasn’t innately talented, and compared to every fighter being a boy I wasn’t strong, but nobody else had the 8 years of training that I had, or any training at all really, so I won every single time, usually through unexpected chokes after initially looking like I was losing, and Jordan was highly amused by this fact. It was comical to him when someone who didn’t know me was there, and he’d be like, “hey, you should spar with Squeaks here, she’s nice.”

The more that I would fight the same person over time, however, the closer the fight would be, because they were way stronger and would learn to avoid the easy traps. Anyone who knows the game of chess probably knows “Fool’s Mate”, which is the quickest way to checkmate someone in a few moves by immediately getting the queen into position near the opponent's king through their front line, backed up by a bishop. It’s one of those techniques that works once or twice against a newbie, and then they know how to avoid it. My initial chokes were kind of like that; I had a few tricks up my sleeve to win the first few times on easy mode against boys who didn’t know what they were doing. If they tried to take me down wrongly, they got insta-choked. Or, for example usually in my second fight against them, I would do the opposite and be super aggressive and go in and push them back, and then after a few seconds they would overpower me and push me back way harder, which I had anticipated and planned for from the start, and so as soon as their momentum shifted hard toward me I would instead immediately grab them and pull them *toward* me and to the ground with their own momentum, and then jump on their back and choke them out before they knew what the fuck just happened. But once they learned to avoid these certain common mistakes like “be careful about putting your neck under her arm if you try to take her down” or “don’t let her use your own momentum against yourself” or “just make sure to avoid her chokes at all cost because she’s not strong enough to submit you with an armbar or anything else”, then it would turn into a longer fight. And at that point they would be more cautious, and I would revert to kickboxing and relying on my speed and technique to just win with stamina and steadily out-hitting them, which was a longer grind. I would then try to avoid grappling them due to the strength difference.

After a couple years, the very last time I fought there before Jordan graduated from high school and we ended up going our separate ways, Jordan put a 200-pound black belt cousin of his in there and was like, “you should fight Squeaks, I think you’ll be the one to finally take her out but trust me it won’t be as easy as you think, and she’s also a black belt, and be careful of her chokes”. We were of similar age and training, but this guy was 75% heavier and a half a foot taller, so this was by all accounts an absolute non-starter of a match. Jordan asked me if I wanted to fight, and I was like, “Sure, why not. I’ll lose this time, but it’ll be fun. At least we have gloves on, lol.”

So, we get into the yard and this guy starts utterly beating the shit out of me every bit as thoroughly as one would expect. Jordan had told him that despite appearances to the contrary, not to hold back, that I had never once lost here before after several fights, and this guy indeed took Jordan’s advice seriously and didn’t play the over-confident routine. He had fought many opponents of many sizes in his training and knew not to underestimate people, and he just wanted to win from the start and treated me as though I was his equal. I got slammed all over the place. I was throwing punches back, but barely. Eventually I was dropped on my back, and before I could get up, he kept coming for me to punch me while I was down. But I rolled and flipped backward and got back to my feet, eyes wide in desperation. He came to me again and kept slamming me over and over. I blocked most of his hits, but the sheer power of his hits made my own elbows dig into my ribs and cause damage. He eventually got over me and started wailing on me over and over, and I couldn’t really go anywhere, like he was looming over me and had me trapped from multiple sides and I couldn’t even really back up. I was focused entirely on defense, because all of his hits had knockout potential against me and I couldn’t let any one hit my head clean, and I couldn’t last long like this. One false move and I’d be literally unconscious. My goal at this point was just like, don't lose teeth or get knocked out.

But after he failed to drop me with those initial barrages, he got more open, more aggressive, more comfortable. He punched me over and over on my forearms, harder and harder, letting his guard down to generate more power, trying to finally end the fight by just breaking through my defenses.

And then, amid my beatings, I saw a brief opening. In his comfort, he started focusing too much on damage and not enough on defense. Between his punches, I regained composure, and I did an all-out full-body hook punch right on the deep side of his jaw. I put every ounce of technique and twisting all my body weight I had into it, and it came out of nowhere from his perspective. He stumbled back from that one hit, dizzy, and sat down on the grass, unable to focus his eyesight. I stopped and looked at Jordan. Jordan asked if he could continue, and he shook his head no, unable to speak. Jordan and me looked at each other like “O_O” and Jordan was like, “holy shit, Squeaks wins.”

But it was a fragile victory in many aspects. I had way more bodily damage than my opponent did. In a half hour he was fine, whereas I was hurt for the next week. My ribs were utterly black and blue the next day; he had hit me so hard and so repeatedly before he got KO’d, that even when blocking his hits, my *own elbows* had repeatedly jammed into my ribs and caused bruises as he pounded my defensive forearms. And my forearms and shoulders were black and blue from taking so many direct hits. Both of us were chilling and playing Playstation 2 with Jordan the next day and I was the one that was injured, not him, even though I had technically won the fight. It became a funny joke among us. All I had done was avoid a knockout, gradually lose on all metrics throughout the course of the fight, but then win it all with one strategic haymaker hook punch after he let his guard down.

He asked, “Want to do a rematch?” I said, “Maybe give me a week to recover first, holy shit.” But by that time he wasn’t around anymore, and the rematch never happened. Likely he would have won, so that was for the best.

My experiences with Jordan and his friends in middle school and high school were some of the most defining for me in my malleable years. My mathletes team for example didn’t teach me shit in comparison to what Jordan did. Jordan was a significant influence on my hobbies and cultural influences for years to come, built my confidence in a real-world setting, and was a good friend.


For any nostriches that happen to be in the PA/NJ/NY/CT region, I'll be doing a talk at Princeton on Feb 6th 2024 about Broken Money.

https://m.primal.net/HPZu.png
https://gceps.princeton.edu/events/

I'll then potentially be discussing/debating with some of their economics professors, and a former central banker from Canada will be involved as well. Fun stuff.


You can contact the Chicago Federal Reserve with your comments at the telephone number below.

Be respectful but tell them the truth about their silliness with the Bitcoin Magazine issue and their complicity in destroying the world economy.

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/legal/federal-reserve-threatens-to-sue-bitcoin-magazine https://image.nostr.build/9764a379228dc0d4fc4d3d5709c409167ddb5fd6071e1c2924f4192e4cab89e5.jpg


primal users can choose what content is in their feeds and trending.

users have full control over their experience. as it should be.

https://m.primal.net/HPKc.png


BREAKING: OPENSATS TO PROVIDE LONG TERM SUPPORT TO MATT MOREHOUSE WITH FOCUS ON LIGHTNING NETWORK SECURITY 🫡

https://opensats.org/blog/matt-morehouse-lightning-security-lts-grant


Unless someone is setting out to be a professional author (very hard), nobody should write a book to make money.

When I set out to write Broken Money, it was because I *had* to, not because I wanted to. Spending a thousand hours on something that I get a profit of $5/copy for is not my best use of time.

Any time I spent on my research business revenue generation content, or leaning harder into my venture capital partnerships, would have been better on an hourly ROI basis. I have to sell 40 books to equal each newsletter subscription on my website; clearly the latter is better financially.

Almost regardless of how many copies I sell, it's a bad ROI for me. I'm overworked and the fact that I wrote a book while maintaining my existing business stressed my relationship and social life. And further, I am reinvesting most of my initial profits; the first 1,000 copy profits go to the Human Rights Foundation Bitcoin Development Fund, and the next 4,000 copy profits will go towards making a video about money and why it's broken.

And all of it was worth it. When a creator has something in their head, it's painful until they get it out into the world. I wrote this for bad ROI but because I wanted it to be out there for people to read, period.

Will I make a profit? Yes. But at a much lower hourly rate than I make on other work I do. It's a negative profit compared to having reinvested that thousand hours into my other existing work. But I consider it to be more important, which is why I spent the time.

I wrote Broken Money because I had to. The book concept formed in my head after many years of writing and research regarding money, and it would have been increasingly distracting to *not* write it. I didn't realistically have a choice. I felt compelled to write it. Part of it was altruistic; I wanted people to learn from my total monetary framework thoughts over five years of research. Part of it was egotistical; I wanted to timestamp something in the world, in physical form, and put it out there. Maybe it's the low time preference part of me; I'd like something of me to be mentionable to people in the distant future who look back at this time.

My background has been a blend of engineering and finance, with both ironically pointed toward bitcoin.

I don't care where you buy it from, and you can pirate it if you want, but it benefits bitcoin and nostr:npub1gdu7w6l6w65qhrdeaf6eyywepwe7v7ezqtugsrxy7hl7ypjsvxksd76nak if you buy it from his website. Circular economy rather than big fiat business. We've introduced a special edition hardcover with a cloth cover and dust jacket for those that prefer that premium format, only on his website. And you can buy it in fiat or sats.

https://academy.saifedean.com/product/broken-money-hardcover/


2022: 🇺🇸 US Senator Bob Menendez says El Salvador adopting #Bitcoin opens doors to money laundering and corruption.

2023: Menendez indicted for corruption, accepted $580,000 bribe in cash and gold bars.

Poetic. https://image.nostr.build/5bd4ba3dad7ee4fed7626223b39bd3546e58e880bbe5e398c70794e89fa3a3fa.jpg


GUESS WHO TAUGHT ME something new today: nostr:npub1a2cww4kn9wqte4ry70vyfwqyqvpswksna27rtxd8vty6c74era8sdcw83a! I hadn’t thought of 👇 before but it’s logical that #Bitcoin will become more decentralized over time bc it keeps getting easier/more accessible to run a node (p339 of #BrokenMoney). I ❤ reading engineers’ explanations of #bitcoin! https://image.nostr.build/024f0a63cd72f3796c45a796a294ffac1d69930b35a8822ebf37c507db219a4e.jpg


going to do a livestream with nostr:npub16y8e8r5ca8fqentewt7uv9254p66vuqgm4hgkyvc3v0zuq05fzys6p7dsw tomorrow 💯 download the app to join ✅ https://image.nostr.build/5287a1e20a4547b33d0e1b2fff16d299160218f048c28dac98e5fe5e3668ea48.jpg