Can NOSTR be used to coordinate social services for people experiencing homelessness? We sure think so.

We have an ongoing project at PathCheck to develop an entire Nostr-native collaborative case management tool for social services that focuses on the homeless community. The goal is to break the data silos each providing agency has and help medical and social personnel from separate organizations collaborate in the same "patient" record. We are actively looking for funders and supporters to start building the tool with our partners on the ground.

If you agree that the government won't solve this issue, this is your opportunity to get involved and prove that grass-roots movements can do better. Please consider a donation, like, share, and even volunteer to work with us. We have a small but dedicated team and boots on the ground to make a real impact.

nostr:nevent1qqsfj2s6xsxqcmrqn9a9j39hz8x30cyln7yvpm5an3djevgm4590lxgpp4mhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mqzyzdsy3l2zsmp53f748thl876hjzcltqsqc6zfnstkw49vq3hahkukqcyqqqqqqghvzh0d


What would you do in this situation? 🐋
https://video.nostr.build/21a61196f932acabb797ab691a66c4becdc128f17aa20c56b44e6acfbb3ecd25.mp4
#animals #amazing #whales #videos #nature #respect


Should’ve told me smh.


Neutral, uncensorable, digital spaces will be essential to freedom sooner than we think.

#cyberspace nostr:note10d8ek4n39ztwxwtvwtkg2nn4d67wgphxg3409gs90tfyrguf4xaqrhlceg


Instead of boosting and reposting slogans on social media, you could contribute hashpower toward the establishment of cyberspace-based messages in critical areas of the planet as virtual protests. Imagine a giant neon sign floating above the city that has your slogan on it. Imagine a giant #bitcoin logo on every central bank, forever. This is the next level of freedom activism. #cyberspace #ONOSENDAI #AR #POW


👀 nostr:note1y8uj0qwr59juf8sqmk3hgcvz8auq7wfkf0z8ykpy452re94gu2vsnjyqga


nostr:npub14u43en9xrzh92lmy8yk6fq3mme7vyul7x66n2zl6y35c3nt3y0lqhs3g74 just rolled out an overhaul of chats:

- New UI to more easily manage and read messages.
- Messages are now sent and received in real-time.
- Unread messages are identified to users and also updated in real-time.
- The number of unread messages is displayed by the envelope icon across the entire site.

https://shopstr.store


WE'RE GONNA BUILD THE HYPERLOCAL WEB AND WE'LL MAKE OURSELVES PAY FOR IT


They’re a well capitalized affinity scam. Sounds just like the crypto space!


nostr:npub16wy27uj48r82gskq48uvxku8076h0y9xcngsgry7j4yn6zxmnznqu4hy6a was the person that first told me about this.


Sheesh, that’s so clean.


Despite what many in the political class would attempt to have you believe, they understand that bitcoin is better money. This is an undeniable fact.

Boris Johnson definitely isn't the only politician who likes to be paid in bitcoin.

https://tftc.io/boris-johnson-1-million-in-bitcoin-from-tucker-carlson/


GN
https://image.nostr.build/af1f6003eae756cc176b75ce26035b945fff66c3d091078d4c73089cb0674641.jpg


Haven’t finished it, but it’s very interesting.


Yeah, I’m not telling folks to stop their enthusastic bitcoin content. Just that if that’s all we get, we’ll stagnate and slowly wither away. We need the ability to find, share, curate, and create lots of kinds of content. Sure, use zaps and lightning to tip people and pay for content, but for almost everybody those should just be features and tools and not their focus. Humanity is incredibly diverse and within every person there’s a multitude of interests and communities.

When I was at a conference last week, a bunch of people were like “bluesky is cool, but i’m really worried it has no business model. how are the developers and users going to make money to sustain the network.” Well Nostr has an answer to that. The value to users is that there’s an easy low cost micropayments system. They don’t care if it’s run with the traditional banking system, bitcoin, some custom token, ethereum, sea shells, or even a centralized db like paypal. The value to people is in what it lets them do, not how it works under the hood. Honestly even all the censorship resistance, soverignty over identity, open source, open protocol stuff is not particularly interesting to most people. They want to go where the interesting people and content are. We’ve got to make that compelling.


Never sell.


Lowkey fire. 😂


Fidelity educating their customers & flexing at the same time. With just facts.

ETH is bad for your health. https://image.nostr.build/cd741fa98f9204e506091ea4fa9f5bc04d6b7f1fc5c1c12221dbac6a7fb60379.jpg


nostr:npub1xw7h0efeg5s8gla2uyu55jh4lfrlgppcjemrwkmdc7lgvhkcz3fqpvumsa details today's proceedings within the court #FreeAssangeNOW

https://v.nostr.build/D3Pa.mp4


All the hate Jason Lowery got because of it baffles me. It’s literally just another lens to look at PoW and Bitcoin, not some attack on the ideology and values of the network.


“The media frame defines the political possibility… so to bring about meaningful change, we have to enlarge the media frame… You form part of the largest bullshit detecting machine the world has ever seen.” — Julian Assange
#FreeAssangeNOW https://v.nostr.build/vEX4.mp4


FINALLY! nostr:note1ykah4dsg8j4grdf4j46gwkqapxz4el0g6zn6ldv2dqakpzkaer5s4a9l98


GOOD MORNING NOSTR, FREE ASSANGE 🫡

https://www.reuters.com/world/wikileaks-assange-last-ditch-battle-stop-us-extradition-2024-02-20/


You choose:

https://image.nostr.build/842655535cef73056ae95d20b2a6710e935e81e7436618249d5fea6d0b51c769.jpg

https://image.nostr.build/dd5b55d9461e06c150eed9f9a329fd256a76faddfc5054bf3b0005cf2ca5fcd5.jpg


If any of you were experiencing issues paying for listings within the last day, this was likely the reason as this mint was the default across the site. If you had manually changed the mint you were using prior to this, you should not have been affected.

nostr:npub16dhgpql60vmd4mnydjut87vla23a38j689jssaqlqqlzrtqtd0kqex0nkq just pushed a fix to replace this mint if it is still set as the default. nostr:note14rvpgsxt03ka4q5dvcd6qpfj0ef3zm0fn4tjxfmmm0qgd5mfn6sqqnc4sp


This man is persecuted in the most dangerous attack against free speech in history.

All while media organizations like New York Times, Der Spiegel, The Guardian who profited immensely from his work are simply standing by watching him and journalism as whole be destroyed.

#FreeAssangeNOW
https://void.cat/d/KmeXEiQ5jExaoMGidErPmL.webp


If wars can be started by lies, peace can be started by truth - Julian Assange #FreeAssange
https://image.nostr.build/99861823038d993c7752626cb20b15d62c884cd4144367cb84e5394ac5f03674.jpg


⚠ Important ⚠

https://legend.lnbits.com/cashu/api/v1/4gr9Xcmz3XEkUNwiBiQGoC Mint will shut down on March 20th 2024 . Minting new ecash (swap-in/peg-in) has been disabled. Sending ecash and withdrawing will work until March 20th 2024. After that date, all sats left in the mint will go towards the nutstash development fund (except for claims of lost nuts that have been made).

What you should do:
1. check if you have ecash from the mint mentioned above
2. If yes, withdraw them to a lightning wallet, or swap them to another mint
3. Let others know by sharing this message


Obligatory X-post

https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/1759727990030598236


GM
https://image.nostr.build/937b9b9ef456aa2f42617afe97118de8cd9f9a678fea570fea0b2bd868b16448.jpg


I support a free state of Palestine. I support Ukraine's freedom from Russia. I support Taiwan's freedom from China, and Tibet's, and Hong Kong's. I support Northern Ireland's freedom from the UK (among those who want it). I supported brexit. I supported Catalan's freedom from Spain. I even think the wrong side won the U.S. war between the states - the Confederate States should have been allowed to secede (Does that mean I support slavery?! Fuck no).

In all the cases above, there is a commonality. I believe government should be BOTTOM UP via consent of the governed, not top down. Therefore I ideologically support all separatist movements because they clearly do not consent.

That doesn't mean I always think balls-out seperatism is a smart strategy. Oftentimes it gets you wrecked.


Dope event; next year is gonna be 🔥!


Had such a blast putting Culture Shock together this weekend with the fine people at nostr:npub1jwev660jrdrfeaw2u9sssv3v4jgsxqs32qmd5yhpgzlesg5j0gase4qha6 and all the speakers. See ya next year ✌ In the meantime, leftover merch is online and I’ll be throwing dog tags in Nostr related orders until they run out. https://image.nostr.build/dbc0df6e96af9503447aefdf8fa94f852208db2d3cbe03ebb20aa36094794a5e.jpg https://image.nostr.build/540c10c61a1d259412576fc61fde16481889b6501738cec1f278eaccf8b4db9c.jpg https://image.nostr.build/78647d50ea62c40ab14a86c49b42edfedf97f256cfd8f6df6ffd981f90c0aad5.jpg


The fact that anyone can post anyway they want on Nostr is great, but it does make us more potentially Vulnerable too. Imagine a company or government organization wanted us gone, they could create post bots automatically generating posts and different npubs making it impossible to stop and could crash relays and stuff.
#Plebchain


If some unlucky person bought bitcoin right at the very top of the cycle in 2021, they're now down less than if they had bought US Treasuries at that moment instead.

That's how awful bonds have been.

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


nostr:npub16dhgpql60vmd4mnydjut87vla23a38j689jssaqlqqlzrtqtd0kqex0nkq added shareable links that route directly to listings! Just click on a listing, find the ‘share’ button, and send away.

nostr:npub14u43en9xrzh92lmy8yk6fq3mme7vyul7x66n2zl6y35c3nt3y0lqhs3g74 also fixed some bugs with posting, deleting, and querying listings in real-time.

https://shopstr.store


Bitcoin and Africa

I’ve seen many innovations in Africa with Bitcoin over the past few months and years that I never would have thought about, such as sending Bitcoin via SMS. These are solutions to problems that I don’t face due to my resources. Because of these things, I’ve seen potential in Africa to be the next Bitcoin boom spot. If people are building like that, there’s literally no ceiling to where they can go.

What I didn’t quite understand was the benefits of mining in Africa. To be honest, whenever the discussion of mining in African nations came up, I didn’t really like it because of what I knew regarding several developing nations’ energy infrastructure (or lack thereof) and it felt almost predatory. However, I was very incorrect. I’ve learned that BECAUSE of how this infrastructure is set up (specifically speaking on hydro power), there is not enough consumption demand that makes economic sense to put generators down. When you introduce mining to the equation, it’s a zero counterparty buyer of the energy to provide demand enough to enact these structures. On top of all that, Bitcoin is getting introduced to the ecosystem in places that arguably need it the most.

I don’t know everything, obviously, but this is the year that I take on Bitcoin in Africa and learn from and build with African builders that have already made insane headway there.

“Fix the money, fix the world” becomes truer every day.


Be on the lookout! 👀 nostr:note14l0ghcgcvmx6usldnvqlggy637l6r2lf7ulmgr2eqcgwaklkahwqc0gf0r


CULTURE SHOCK 2024!

So awesome to be apart of such a motivated and energized group of people. Its basically impossible to be in the nostr/bitcoin space and not be eternally optimistic.

We sold super unique bitcoin discs to super unique people and hope to keep doing so.

Be on the look out on #shopstr for some bitcoin discs to represent on the course!

Thanks nostr:npub1jwev660jrdrfeaw2u9sssv3v4jgsxqs32qmd5yhpgzlesg5j0gase4qha6 nostr:npub1tvqc82mv8cezhax5r34n4muc2c4pgjz8kaye2smj032nngg52clq0rkrq4, nostr:npub1eequz6v23szzyx9utphsh8kg6kll50wte6sfh4vah8gdjtplcz6qg7at9s, and all the speakers and people that made this event possible.

Can't wait for next year ;)

#nostr #bitcoin #cultureshock #lightning #discgolf #meetup
https://shopstr.store/
https://m.primal.net/Hdoq.jpg


More so like FB Marketplace at the moment, but yes! Planning on adding support for different types of sales, products, and services aside from just one-off, fixed-price items.


Thank you for showing up! The tacos were incredible; one of the best ways to spend sats.


#Robert #Kennedy has launched a petition to demand the release of #Julian #Assange. Politicians are nasty snakes at best but Assange needs any help he can get at this stage so I figured it was worth sharing it at least.

#FreeAssangeNOW

https://www.kennedy24.com/assange-petition


💯 https://comma.ai/ is a step in the right direction.


Confirmed received. ⚡🫡


Or Cashu tokens. 👀


NEW Article - As outrage builds over the border crisis, Congress is using real concerns to quietly advance the controversial "smart wall" as the implementation of "digital borders" picks up globally.
https://unlimitedhangout.com/2024/02/investigative-reports/manufacturing-consent-the-border-fiasco-and-the-smart-wall/


Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.


nostr:npub1j4u5gjzjyggr3h96x3gjy4akdgwxuk7mgvumv72gym2qyje7fn5s47d6x9
https://image.nostr.build/bc36ad2d2444ff61e6a04e89efd7f4e7734a5bdbdd1d5209919856b35ef9eb46.jpg


The largest real-world Cashu transactions that I've witnessed so far were

1) nostr:npub1gcxzte5zlkncx26j68ez60fzkvtkm9e0vrwdcvsjakxf9mu9qewqlfnj5z selling his phone via nostr:npub16dhgpql60vmd4mnydjut87vla23a38j689jssaqlqqlzrtqtd0kqex0nkq's Shopstr
2) A friend paying two whiskey sours, a negroni, and two beers at a bar that accepts Bitcoin using nostr:npub1dx5q2el8nd4eh3eg9t2e25fd7zuqg7zxz6ldkc3uzgh66ss2yc6st288sj wallet
3) nostr:npub1ej493cmun8y9h3082spg5uvt63jgtewneve526g7e2urca2afrxqm3ndrm splitting his dinner bill with nostr:npub1xnf02f60r9v0e5kty33a404dm79zr7z2eepyrk5gsq3m7pwvsz2sazlpr5


Search in general is out.


Wouldn’t doubt it!


💯 Speaking of which, I added a sharing function for listings on nostr:npub15dc33fyg3cpd9r58vlqge2hh8dy6hkkrjxkhluv2xpyfreqkmsesesyv6e a couple days ago. Updated the link previews to display the first image that comes up on the listing as well.


Nostr will probably take off faster when it can market to the outside world naturally via direct linking or watermarking. Memes is one way to do it. Another through referrals, "made with" links, and of course shared social links.

Creating tools for creators will also speed things up because those people are much more receptive if they see an opportunity to earn an income.

Don't overlook easy sharing functions. People are not always going to copy / paste URLs.


Thank you for noticing it. Here is the right one https://i.nostr.build/P3Y8.png


GitHub bans organizations without warning or explanation

Comments ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39422068 )

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39422068


GN
https://image.nostr.build/03200d02c560aa02338aa1c8ccb4ff1d3448b5a04d6e9faa570e6784a3cda7ba.jpg


Loved the set! Was awesome seeing it live. 🤙


It’s my hope that repressed people all over the world will one day soon be able to rally around Bitcoin, instead of Communism, to rise up, throw off their shackles, claim their rights, and defeat elderly corrupt dictators

Nakamoto >> Marx

Property rights >> Statism

True freedom >> Another dictator in different clothing https://image.nostr.build/b094d81ae1f7cad77b30d22835f4922b3ec730081a595786bf232e030f024a36.jpg


Would be sick to have this on Damus. nostr:npub1xtscya34g58tk0z605fvr788k263gsu6cy9x0mhnm87echrgufzsevkk5s


Taiwan is a special place for technology.

We got TSMC, worth about $657 billion, one of the top ten companies in the world.

We are also the birth place for NVDA, worth about $1.8 trillion, one of the top ten companies in the world.

We are also the largest chip supplier for Bitcoin mining. Bitcoin is worth $1 trillion.

I am massively bullish on Taiwan. We are entering a 20 yrs of accelerating growth by capturing two of the biggest markets in the world, AI and Bitcoin.


It was great meeting you too; glad you liked the talk! Hearing about your PV journey was dope. 🤙


Ofc! https://i.nostr.build/W38Y.jpg


My UK tour is fast approaching 🚗

I can't wait to share new songs I've been working on as well as songs I grew up listening to that have had a big influence on me over the years. All the venues are beautiful listening rooms, it's going to be a lot of fun. Hope you can join me at a show 🤙

🎟 - All tickets are now live at https://www.joemartinmusic.com/tour

or on Shopstr > https://shopstr.store/npub19r9qrxmckj2vyk5a5ttyt966s5qu06vmzyczuh97wj8wtyluktxqymeukr

https://m.primal.net/HdIT.jpg


Sick ride. https://i.nostr.build/43aD.jpg https://v.nostr.build/M3Ak.mp4


That's why building for consumers is important.


Stay humble and stack sats. nostr:note149ftk6a2443vupksmzy2azcfx6wg8z4fvefw90kpe78kfcdq6qds2wmher


Was great meeting you! 🤙


As it should be. nostr:note16mjm5elhnw73ywwlt4j5fnrmewyc3an8f3r4rdvml366m7ppmaesvrarq9


RIP Alexei Navalny.

The US/UK should free Assange, free Ulbricht, pardon Snowden, and double-down on freedom as a contrast. They won't, but they should.

Russia is way more politically controlled and censored than their western counterparts, but if the western counterparts were smart they would emphasize this fact rather than lean more into being even half-like Russia.

Kudos to builders of various freedom tech.


#FreeAssangeNOW nostr:note1vfq0s8aytck5j9nc9w039hn6jkekecs44c6fpv235e2uhdsnf8uq0z3cf5


They were delicious!


These events are what #bitcoin and #nostr are all about. 🤙 nostr:note1f7k9af89n0jn3q72p6svljx2t4dvaw3c8wquywty7t43ftuhek9qrqzw90


One of the best meetups I’ve been to. Looking forward to the next one! 🤙


This is a long form article, you can read it in https://habla.news/a/naddr1qq2kcu2swpm4znn62ptk2d2w0f25gwr809zyyq3qmygerccwqpzyh9pvp6pv44rskv40zutkfs38t0hqhkvnwlhagp6sxpqqqp65wz6k0mw

Before I tell you how to design perfect software, let's look at the two most common design processes in use today.

These don't work, yet are firmly applied by a majority of engineers and designers, especially in software where it's possible to construct byzantine complexity.

They are slow-motion tragedies but can be fun to watch, from a safe distance.

## Shit Driven Development (SDD)

The most popular design process in large businesses is *Shit Driven Development*.

SDD feeds off the belief that ideas are scarce and we just need a good idea to make money.

The main output of SDD is expensive "ideations", concepts, design documents, and finally products that go straight into the garbage.

1. The *Creative People* come up with long lists of "we could do X and Y". Once the creative work of ideation has been done it's just a matter of implementation.

2. Managers and consultants pass these brilliant ideas to UX designers.

3. The designs get passed to engineers, who scratch their heads and wonder who came up with such stupid nonsense.

The designs do not factor in the practical costs of implementation. Minor whims create weeks of work. The project gets delayed and the managers bully the engineers into working harder.

Something resembling a working product makes it out the door, but no-one wants to use it.

After twelve months of intense marketing, the company shelves it and buys a competing product from a small start-up.

#### The main lessons of SDD

Ideas are cheap. No exceptions. There are no brilliant ideas.

The starting point for a good design process is to collect problems that confront people, and filter out anything that isn't valuable enough to solve.

Success depends on how good and cheap the solution is, how important the problem is, and how simple the solution is to actually use.

## Complexity Driven Development (CDD)

Really good engineering teams can usually build good products. But the vast majority of products still end up being too complex and less successful than they might be. This is because specialist teams, even the best, usually follow Complexity Driven Development (CDD).

Management correctly identifies some interesting and difficult problem with economic value. In doing so they leapfrog any Shit Driven Developemt team.

The team loves building things and they get straigh to it, starting with prototypes and core layers. These work as designed and the team is encouraged and enthusiastic. They go off into intense design and architecture discussions, coming up with elegant schemas that look beautiful and solid.

Management comes back and challenges team with yet more difficult problems. We tend to equate value with cost, so the harder the problem, and more expensive to solve, the more the solution should be worth, in their minds.

The team, being engineers and thus loving to build stuff, build stuff. They build and build and build and end up with massive, perfectly designed complexity.

The products go to market, and the market scratches its head and asks, "seriously, is this the best you can do?" People do use the products, especially if they aren't spending their own money in climbing the learning curve.

Management gets positive feedback from its larger customers, who share the same idea that high cost (in training and use) means high value.

Meanwhile somewhere across the world, a small team is solving the same problem using Simplicity Driven Development, and a year later smashes the market to little pieces.

CDD is characterized by a team obsessively solving the wrong problems to the point of ridiculousness. CDD products tend to be large, ambitious, complex, and unpopular. A lot of open source software is the output of CDD processes. It is insanely hard for engineers to stop extending a design to cover more potential problems. They argue, "what if someone wants to do X?" but never ask themselves, "what is the real value of solving X?"

A good example of CDD in practice is Bluetooth, a complex, over-designed set of protocols that users hate. It continues to exist only because there are no alternatives. Bluetooth is perfectly secure, which is close to useless for a proximity protocol. At the same time it lacks a standard API for developers, meaning it's really costly to use Bluetooth in applications.

CDD is a form of large-scale "rabbit holing", in which designers and engineers cannot distance themselves from the technical details of their work. They add more and more features, utterly misreading the economics of their work.

#### The main lessons of CDD

- Making stuff that you don't immediately have a need for is pointless. Doesn't matter how talented or brilliant you are, if you just sit down and make stuff, you are most likely wasting your time.

- Not all problems are not equal. Some are simple, and some are complex. Ironically, solving the simpler problems often has more value to more people than solving the really hard ones.

- It is crucial to have a "stop mechanism", a way to set short, hard deadlines that force people to make smaller, simpler answers to just the most crucial problems.

## Reality Driven Development (RDD)

Reality Driven Development starts with a realization: we do not know what we have to make until after we start making it.

Coming up with ideas, or large-scale designs isn't just wasteful, it's directly toxic to creating truly accurate solutions. The really juicy problems are hidden away in crevices across the landscape. Any activity except active scouting creates a fog that hides those crevices. You need to keep mobile, pack light, and move fast.

RDD works as follows:

We collect a set of interesting problems (by looking at how people use technology or other products) and we line these up from simple to complex, looking for and identifying patterns of use.

We take the simplest, most dramatic problem and we solve this with a minimal plausible solution, or "patch". Each patch solves exactly a genuine and agreed problem in a brutally minimal fashion.

We apply one measure of quality to patches, namely "can this be done any simpler while still solving the stated problem?" We can measure complexity in terms of concepts and models that the user has to learn or guess in order to use the patch. The fewer, the better. A perfect patch solves a problem with zero learning required by the user.

Our product development consists of a patch that solves the problem "we need a proof of concept" and then evolves in an unbroken line to a mature series of products, through hundreds or thousands of patches piled on top of each other.

We do not do anything that is not a patch. We enforce this rule with formal processes that demands that every activity or task is tied to a genuine and agreed problem, explicitly enunciated and documented.

We build our projects into a supply chain where each project can provide problems to its "suppliers" and receive patches in return. This arrangement creates a "stop mechanism" - when people are impatiently waiting for a patch, we necessarily cut our work short.

Individuals are free to work on any projects, and provide patches at any place they feel it's worthwhile. No individuals "own" any project, except to enforce the formal processes. A single project can have many variations, each a collection of different, competing patches.

Projects export formal and documented interfaces so that upstream (client) projects are unaware of change happening in supplier projects. Thus multiple supplier projects can compete for client projects, in effect creating a free and competitive market.

We tie our supply chain to real users and we iterate the whole process in rapid cycles so that a problem received from a user can be analyzed, evaluated, and solved with a patch in a few hours.

At every moment from the very first patch, our product is shippable. This is essential, because a large proportion of patches will be wrong (10-30%) and only by giving the product to users can we know which patches have become problems and themselves need solving.

RDD is a form of "hill climbing algorithm" or a drunken stumble to greatness. It's a reliable way of finding optimal solutions to the most significant problems in an unknown landscape.

This was created as a collaboration between G and Pieter H.


What would the price of GameStop have gone to if no one could turn the buy button off and no one could issue more shares?  Infinity?

Bitcoin has no off button.  No one can issue more bitoin.  Bitcoin is infinitely more valuable in every way.  The value of Bitcoin is infinity times infinity.


Took 6 years to reach meaningful profit. Most bootstrapped startups I've witnessed (with exceptions) take at least 2 years to make any "real" money, and at least 3 to pay a crappy salary to self

https://mtlynch.io/solo-developer-year-6/


Most #nostr clients still suck in terms of discoverability. But they don't have to.

They don't have to because we have all the right building blocks already, we just lack courage to steal. Yes, STEAL. I'd encourage everyone to steal—not copy—what other clients did well. In the spirit of "good artists copy, great artists steal."

Let's take a web-based reddit client for example, one that still works (sometimes) despite all the horrible API changes: https://www.popular.pics/

If you visit that site in your browser, you'll be greeted with something like this:
https://image.nostr.build/768d8abba5847b4a619bf66ade8d62f5a98db8adc95b833218d3904d69eab4ef.png

It's a viewer that supports multiple subreddits by default. You open it, and it just works. It has sensible defaults. (Important!) It defaults to multiple subreddits from the get-go. Subreddits that are visual, i.e. subreddits that have users posting visually pleasing images.

You can change these defaults easily, and the URL will update accordingly. This one is for subreddits concerning #nostr #bitcoin and #memes for example: https://www.popular.pics/reddit/subreddits/posts?r=nostr,bitcoin,memes - easy to share & easy to see what's going on. Steal this. Please.

Of course, if this is a nostr client (and if you're logged in) this should default to your personal web. The people and hashtags you follow; the communities and relays you are part of, etc. Bonus points if you implement an "expand" button which will expand your personal web by one degree, i.e. shows "friend of a friend" kind of stuff. Not only people you follow, but people followed by people you follow. Another click and it's two degrees. You get the idea.

Back to the interface, and the problem at hand: discoverability. As you can see, every image card quite prominently shows the subreddit it was posted the as well as the user who posted it.

https://image.nostr.build/b4b39eb8db7a48565ffaced92a83628c702e77b72ef495b5d58e1ae68fab60f4.png

Apart from the beautiful masonry layout (did I already mention that you should steal this too?), that's the one thing I like most about this image interface: it's so fucking easy to discover stuff. You click on a subreddit, and boom, you see all images from this subreddit.

https://image.nostr.build/a459579a73aa7173b8dc2f15d3cdef71d27663eab06ce5c92af36a07430da53d.png

You click on a username, and boom, you see all images from this user.

https://image.nostr.build/5d6aa1655d4a089b07915381d6f906648aba91f99ca694d6efede1b652b795ed.png

You will discover new subreddits via the "user" view (most users post to multiple subreddits) and you will discover new users via the "subreddit" view (most subreddits have posts from multiple users). You can spend DAYS just clicking through stuff, and we could do the same on nostr with #hashtags (or NIP-72 communities) and usernames (yay, we have those).

Even more, you could go from user to NIP-05 provider, which basically gives a list of users under a single domain. Or you could show what kind of actual lists (NIP-51 lists) the user is part of, so you again have a list of users which you could use as a base for your exploration, populating the grid view which is the base of this image client. And again, because this is nostr, we get a "ghost" mode FOR FREE. You can use someone else's npub and look at things through their eyes. Some clients implement this quite well already. Most people have no idea that this is possible (because we suck at discoverability, including discoverability of features).

Pinstr is ALMOST there, but it takes like ~5 clicks to get to a hashtag (and it doesn't always work for me). Slidestr has potential and is also ALMOST there, but again, it takes like ~3 clicks to get to a profile and open it in Slidestr and you have to know exactly what you're doing, which isn't exactly discoverability-friendly. Same for hashtags, which are even more hidden, as as you have to open an almost invisible menu at the bottom of the image view.

Don't get me wrong, I love what we have. But we shouldn't be afraid to steal what other clients did well in the past, especially stuff that has been around for a long time. To me, the popular pics client is near perfect. No pop-ups. No modals. No unnecessary clicks. Everything makes sense and is in the right place. It doesn't waste space and is beautiful to boot.

I think we're very close to greatness on many fronts, and I hope that—with some technical improvements that are around the corner, as well with some help from #nostrdesign—we can finally kick some ass in the discoverability department too.


Need a Bitcoin rancher in my life ASAP.


Let’s start it up in Riga. 👀


In a world where money is the hardest asset, cashflow is the king. #bitcoin


Was using Alby. Didn’t realize they had a 1M limit.


What has Julian Assange really done? He is literally being punished for engaging in real journalism.

He reported about despicable war crimes committed by the US and other countries, and now they are making an example out of him.

It's happening in front of our eyes, and we are not able to do anything about it. It's an absolute shame.
https://video.nostr.build/5edecee81fc787b5269947a95b762b18aa7bb02db9f72198a09f9bd74919933a.mp4


Too good! 🤣


Just changed my lighting address to be able to receive large zaps.


Breez allows up to 4M.


A Stampede of Nostriches are Coming to Phoenix, Arizona!

nostr:npub1jwev660jrdrfeaw2u9sssv3v4jgsxqs32qmd5yhpgzlesg5j0gase4qha6 Culture Shock Less Than 24 Hours Away!

Pregame Tonight - Less Than 9 Hours Away!

All Zaps to NostrPHX will go to beer money from here on out.

🍻 #Plebchain 💪


Exiting news! 🔥

Cashu-Address.com has transitioned to a new domain: npub.cash!

Finally, the protocols reference implementation has its own name, and a way cooler domain as well (thanks nostr:npub12rv5lskctqxxs2c8rf2zlzc7xx3qpvzs3w4etgemauy9thegr43sf485vg 💜 )

Why npub.cash? Because it is a nostr-native, Cashu powered, Lightning Address for everyone! 💜 ⚡

What's changing? Nothing much, but the name. Rest assured, your existing cashu-address.com addresses remain fully operational and are now synonymous with npub.cash. Furthermore, any aliases purchased are valid across both domains.

Please leave your thoughts and feedback. Cashu-Address and npub.cash are still in development and your feedback is not only appreciated, but needed 💜

https://image.nostr.build/e2cfbf6e2921275f44aa3ae71a60465400efdb9a7f5ae285d68f5078f08bc3d0.jpg


Introducing npub.cash – everyone with an npub has a Lightning address, whether they know it or not!

🥜 Yours is <your_npub>@npub.cash 🥜

You can receive zaps on this address while you're offline – and redeem either your nuts either with your Cashu wallet or directly to your Lightning wallet of choice.

No accounts. No sign-ups. Nostr-native. All you need is a Nostr signer browser extension like Alby.

https://void.cat/d/F1e24ovNr38eTrEufaaEqE.webp


Not even sufficiently decentralized. 🤡 nostr:note1t0wlet7vrfk7krluazk0uj3us0dfsvk3xe97kj6wt8yjw0uhf5nq7l0a79


Last month, we announced our first #bitcoin awareness contest! You all put hundreds of flyers and stickers in public to let Americans know they can vote for better money.

Here are the 21 lucky winners, each taking home 1M sats:

nostr:npub1gcfaxg923qp8j2j69ue5ng3q0ce0vu0gcpqqtqxacv8d5m7a7c4qmhchdf
nostr:npub1jk9h2jsa8hjmtm9qlcca942473gnyhuynz5rmgve0dlu6hpeazxqc3lqz7
nostr:npub1e3mx09yq53gyh9368qyuhfstgk8t7p5vvfcnvgwa4994y7rqg37s20qvr5
nostr:npub14uu85mzg332ggzyt5u2ahdpt2h889dr4u83ts6l8jxeyhr23ug2sq8gk69
nostr:npub1z4m7gkva6yxgvdyclc7zp0vz4ta0s2d9jh8g83w03tp5vdf3kzdsxana6p
nostr:npub1d7k8mz2jvajyjvjlhtg5qcg4rhhfm0nrytqn5ay2rq4708tk74ss95llmc
nostr:npub1wpualymnks9vadsultel3kqaea4fj4zj3cnp9f5qzqtprxq0k8ssfnh5l9
nostr:npub1fazvg3rzx5p6hdx43l8gyz32rs40arkwgca765dwsvtylfjdelqs32nt4k
nostr:npub16v82nr4xt62nlydtj0mtxr49r6enc5r0sl2f7cq2zwdw7q92j5gs8meqha
nostr:npub1n0aq6vafymeezu8rgyuluw2nsvwwf0e0qdpc9d2uvcfgclsf4d8s3qqu2z
nostr:npub1dk5pn7gad897tywq3vcl24wx6z4ejpge0663tptwxwgynsqccxhsn65sgk
nostr:npub182geseqlaxv20ptu3k0u06zqhgf6rmalv5ssjm9n8jvz0ss6anaqsthzsc
nostr:npub1c9s2dnan337kywugpn4jm2uzpmds7geysyyme5ew9g6d8y2x572sum5tew
nostr:npub15ypxpg429uyjmp0zczuza902chuvvr4pn35wfzv8rx6cej4z8clq6jmpcx
nostr:npub16dhgpql60vmd4mnydjut87vla23a38j689jssaqlqqlzrtqtd0kqex0nkq
nostr:npub16e3vzr7dk2uepjcnl85nfare3kdapxge08gr42s99n9kg7xs8xhs90y9v6
nostr:npub1vdaeclr2mnntmywm93h2p3xfkgnqcxe8prrzcny4s07q735j6d7sfkmnxz
nostr:npub19vem9txx6xl9j2dx0pm2g76g8grsccguq5lsfz8l8u0yek5lynzshkgqpq
nostr:npub16wy27uj48r82gskq48uvxku8076h0y9xcngsgry7j4yn6zxmnznqu4hy6a
nostr:npub1y448jswp88k7qeny6865tmhga450v84kafkddggxjjnsawpgh2xs364rhy
nostr:npub15pl6u3s6dlq0hfskercdu74jd6w6ec0hzcrg434nhgj4ylvrm7fq8e8439

To claim your prize, please reply to this post and I'll zap you 1M sats! Congratulations to all the winners, and thank you to everyone for getting involved!

You can continue to spread the signal in public and get zapped for your sticker & flyer spots here: https://voteforbetter.money/get-involved


Thank you! 🙏 I appreciate the work you’ve put into this. Won’t stop putting up stickers and flyers wherever I can; we’re just getting started! 🫡


Ofc! Let us know any feedback you might have. 🫡


Easily one of my favorite books.


You can now with Firefox.


Just landed at PHX; ready for nostr:npub1jwev660jrdrfeaw2u9sssv3v4jgsxqs32qmd5yhpgzlesg5j0gase4qha6! 🤙


Yep; transactions are handled over DMs, so metadata is leaked (sender, recipient, timestamp), but the contents of the messages are encrypted, so the exact purchase, address, and amount are all unknown. Payments are then finalized with a DM from a random pubkey, so there’s no association with the buyer or seller once a sale is made. Plus, Cashu is used as the settlement layer for payments, adding greater anonymity to the transaction.

Gift wraps for DMs are all that is really needed for more complete anonymity on nostr:npub15dc33fyg3cpd9r58vlqge2hh8dy6hkkrjxkhluv2xpyfreqkmsesesyv6e.

Check it out:

https://shopstr.store


#100crunches gotta be added into that rotation.


The pursuit of Bitcoin adoption shouldn't be at the cost of individual sovereignty and privacy. The system will end up like it is in fiat, just with a different narrative.

Build resilience today, it'll be too late tomorrow.


Nostr is a giant shit show.  The fact that our software interoperates at all is a miracle and probably just a temporary anomaly. Given enough time, the relentless breaking changes being made to published NIPs will eventually break everything.

Linux succeeded because "WE DO NOT BREAK USERSPACE". For nostr to succeed, changes must "NOT BREAK EXISTING IMPLEMENTATIONS". There shouldn't be any exceptions to that EVEN IF THE IMPLEMENTATION WAS NON-COMPLIANT.

Pay close attention to Linus right here:

  > Are you saying that pulseaudio is entering on some weird loop if the
  > returned value is not -EINVAL? That seems a bug at pulseaudio.

  Mauro, SHUT THE FUCK UP!

  It's a bug alright - in the kernel. How long have you been a
  maintainer? And you *still* haven't learnt the first rule of kernel
  maintenance?

  If a change results in user programs breaking, it's a bug in the
  kernel. We never EVER blame the user programs. How hard can this be to
  understand?

Linus doesn't want to break pulseaudio EVEN THOUGH pulseaudio was doing the wrong thing.

It seems like every week I find a NIP that I've coded for has changed. This last week I think it happened three times already. Sometimes it's a small change and I quickly update my code. But I can't read all the PRs, and I'm afraid dozens of small changes have slipped past my notice. Gossip is probably now incompatible with multiple other implementations which happen to have implemented different versions of the same NIPs (some older, some newer).

Even if we didn't have any breaking changes, the simple fact that different software implements different optional NIPs itself presents to end users like broken software. Why does it work in Damus but not Amethyst? Why does it work in Amethyst but not Coracle? That is an even harder problem to solve.

But let's at least solve the easier problem and stop changing NIPs.  If you don't like a NIP make a new one, don't break the current one. Even if you think the current one sucks balls and should have never happened. Even if you think there aren't many implementations out there.


I think stablecoins can be a valuable stepping stone in the near-term to get more “normies” comfortable with key management and transacting in an internet native way without having to be exposed to volatility if they can’t afford to be. Regardless, all paths lead to #Bitcoin in the end.


Legend.


💯 https://graduallythensuddenly.xyz/pay-me-in-bitcoin-theory/ nostr:note18lly972xdv7nkk98m9q072scz3k7tcx3qu29zsdpzx2auqgdgy4q4sles5


👀 nostr:note1ffjeduvwehkw59wfufedu4608p42z0amgg838w52ck300a9ugxjqwf20sr


He’s a very prolific music producer. The book he released last year is also great.


Fr…


When I was at Princeton, I talked about how many applications don’t need statefulness and are better without it.

It’s not the easiest discussion, but the TLDR is that I shilled all the work you folks are doing on it.

If you are near Princeton in early March, they are hosting a decentralized social media workshop that now includes Nostr. 😎 https://image.nostr.build/83a54dbc226aca0f02d16fd0096902e326a7281b4f71a2341c4b3371d73e3e69.jpg


Best weather.


Farms are freedom.

And we're losing thousands of farms every month. Not because farms are failing to provide value to the marketplace, but because farmers are being blocked from the marketplace, blocked from the ag infrastructure, and blocked by the financing by policies designed to control and centralize...for our safety.

I did an interview about this. Here's a brief clip.

https://yewtu.be/watch?v=g9IwgGlFuX0&t=58

You have your dentist. You have your mechanic. You have your accountant. Today is a great day to find your farmer. Pay them in #bitcoin.

#regenerativeagriculture #farming #foodfreedom #foodstr #fiatfood #farmstr #grownostr #homesteading #freedom


My Feb 6th talk at Princeton about Broken Money is on YouTube now.

https://youtu.be/soGXgiGoMRU?si=fE_NkY2atDFTGkdq

Includes:
-My talk/presentation about Broken Money.
-Discussion with Carolyn Wilkins, former #2 at Canada’s central bank.
-Audience Q&A

Major themes:
-History of monetary tech
-Bullish case for Bitcoin and somewhat stablecoins
-Opening up monetary monopolies and allowing people’s choice for money
-Criticism of crypto VC’s that rely on fast exit liquidity
-Importance of financial privacy


Our bee goes shopping!

🛍🛒🛍🛒🛍🐝 🛒🛍🛒🛍🛒🛍

Where to spend your sats:

- Shopstr.store
- Shopinbit.com
- Satscrap.com
- Lightning.store
- Plebeian.market
- Satsmobi.com

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

What other bitcoin marketplaces do you know? Any underground p2p places? Please comment! 💬

We want to add them to our Discover Page!


Groups are impossible to join; have never gotten them to work.


Releasing: Whynotstr 0.0.0 😂

Collaborative editing, the left-side-of-the-curve approach

Try it out: https://collab-lemon.vercel.app/

Obviously open source: https://github.com/pablof7z/collab

nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzp75cf0tahv5z7plpdeaws7ex52nmnwgtwfr2g3m37r844evqrr6jqy88wumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmv9uq35amnwvaz7tms09exzmtfvshxv6tpw34xze3wvdhk6tcqyznqm6guz9k38dpqtc84s7jflec7m7wpzvtx2xjkjkm2xm89ucy2jhdcnur


nostr:npub14u43en9xrzh92lmy8yk6fq3mme7vyul7x66n2zl6y35c3nt3y0lqhs3g74 recorded a walkthrough of using nostr:npub15dc33fyg3cpd9r58vlqge2hh8dy6hkkrjxkhluv2xpyfreqkmsesesyv6e a while back; it’s a little outdated but the main functionality has stayed pretty much the same:

https://www.loom.com/share/f229bfe81d8a4c008f36d8cc51913c1f?sid=aa90d9aa-8aa0-45cc-8e72-40a88f95b675

Since then we’ve added listing edits and a way to change the Cashu mint that is being used. We’re planning on making and releasing a new demo video after we roll out a few more features that are currently underway.


I try to post mostly positive things, which can be hard these days, but here's a good one:

https://adnauseam.io/

It is a browser extension that silently clicks on all those ads, polluting the advertisers' data streams.

If used by enough people, it would mean that, to the advertiser, it'll look like they got lots of clicks buy not lots of sales.

This means the value of clicks will go down, which means less profit for people who serve up ads.

If you promote this extension, you will be hurting American companies who are just trying to make ab buck. Companies like Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Google, X, and others. You wouldn't want to make life more difficult for them... would you? 😈🤣


📢 Collaborative document editing over nostr: Proof-of-concept

@naddr1qqhyxmmvd3skymmjv96xjmmw94hkut2wdaehgu3d2pex7mmx94hkvttrdahxxetswskh5df5v9exzqgdwaehxw309ahx7uewd3hkcq3ql2vyh47mk2p0qlsku7hg0vn29faehy9hy34ygaclpn66ukqp3afqxpqqqzzmk8q5num

So today I called nostr:npub1zuuajd7u3sx8xu92yav9jwxpr839cs0kc3q6t56vd5u9q033xmhsk6c2uc and we were talking about collaboratively editing documents on nostr; I had this very left-side of the curve idea on how to do this, so after kids' bedtime I implemented it to see what it would feel like.

How it works:

A user can invite other users to edit a document (i.e. a long-form, or any other kind of document)
* The invitees can be added/removed at will by the owner of the document.
* The users send ephemeral events while live editing and can hit "save" to propose a new version of the document.
* Everybody sees what the others are doing in real time
* The document's owner chooses which version to make "official".
* Documents can be forked so any of the invitees (or anybody else if the document is allowed to be public) can fork the document and continue working on their own version.

https://flare.pub/w/naddr1qqhyxmmvd3skymmjv96xjmmw94hkut2wdaehgu3d2pex7mmx94hkvttrdahxxetswskh5df5v9exzqgdwaehxw309ahx7uewd3hkcq3ql2vyh47mk2p0qlsku7hg0vn29faehy9hy34ygaclpn66ukqp3afqxpqqqzzmk8q5num


nostr:npub16wy27uj48r82gskq48uvxku8076h0y9xcngsgry7j4yn6zxmnznqu4hy6a just what you’ve been looking for! 👀


Insane. nostr:note1pl2hh0dklrtd98knlftur9qwzgnz0g2euxkkd05fa5tjtkgtan7s09ynhd


Privacy Badger, Ghostery, and DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials.

An ad blocker and Alby come next.


The delete key on my laptop is broken; no more room for mistakes. 😬


Excited to speak and meet everyone in-person! 🤙


Awesome!


If only I could buy Bitcoin on Fold. 😔


The Coming VC Crisis
—————————

VCs have had it good for a long time. Their business model of getting 2% in fees every year and 20% of the returns on the money has been extremely lucrative. There have been a lot of VC "successes" that have driven their returns and it seems like there are new VC funds being found every week.

But beneath the surface, there's a storm brewing. The returns just aren't what they used to be. There was a run in the 90's and 2000's where a single hit would be enough to propel your fund into the stratosphere. A Google or a Facebook in your portfolio was enough to make your fund very profitable.

More recently, there was the ICO/token craze which got VCs insane returns, mostly by scamming retail. These were unheard of exits which were sometimes many multiples in just 6 to 12 months. These were very profitable for a while, but of course, all unsustainable things must come to an end, and we've seen it the last few years. The last two major VC-driven tokens, WorldCoin and BitClout have done horribly and most of these "crypto" funds are underwater.

The problem is that there's way too much demand. That is, there are too many VC funds chasing after too few startups. This is unsurprising in a world of fiat money since there's no opportunity cost for money and as fiat money continually gets printed, a lot of that money finds its way to VC funds. Got a $50M asset? You can get a loan for $40M using that asset as collateral and invest some of that in a VC fund. That loan money, of course, comes from nothing and is printed into existence. So there's essentially a fast growing supply of money whereas the supply of startups is more or less steady, especially as many either die or graduate to being bigger companies.

As a result, we've had the phenomenon of startups getting crazy valuations as there was so much newly printed money chasing a pretty small supply. Higher interest rates more recently have meant that there's been less money printing, and thus less money has been flowing into VC firms. Hence, there was a bit of a correction on startup valuations, but as we all know, this is a temporary situation. There's about to be a lot more money printing and much of it will flow into venture capital. So why am I arguing that VCs are soon going to face a crisis? Doesn't more money printing mean more VC money?

The startup ecosystem isn't what it was 20 years ago. There are fewer and fewer superstar companies like Amazon and Google. The "successes" of the last few years like Lyft and Coinbase haven't fared well in the public markets. Retail knows that they're getting dumped on. The startups coming to market who are supposedly disrupting things aren't really profitable, and that means they're not getting great exits.

What's happening is that the fiat system's natural protectionism of incumbents is hitting up against the money being poured into startups. The abundance of money has made these startups less and less like real businesses and more and more like market playthings. Startups now are less healthy than startups from 20 years ago because they've been coddled by too much money. At the same time, the top firms in the economy are being protected by the fiat system, whether through subsidies or cooperating with intel agencies, they've found ways to build regulatory moats around their businesses. There simply isn't that much room left at the top.

Naturally, this means that VC funds are making less money because successful exits are getting harder. More of them are underwater and the returns for LPs are getting worse and worse.

Then, there's Bitcoin, which has beaten the returns of most VC funds. As more people use Bitcoin as savings, the prospect of putting money into a VC fund looks less and less attractive. The returns that VCs are getting just isn't cutting it and the newly printed money has a much better savings vehicle in Bitcoin.

And that means we'll soon get to a point where many VC firms will no longer be able to raise funds. And that's a good thing. Venture capital is a bloated ecosystem that has gotten fat on fiat money and has largely been able to avoid reality for a long time. A closer alignment with reality, that is profit, is going to make for better companies in the end.

In other words, the long term prospects of venture capital look grim because smart money is headed toward Bitcoin.


When it’s time to pay the piper, most normal folks will not choose to make their family poorer in order to fund the death of foreigners in a foreign war.

However, banksters and corporate journalists will not stop at perpetuating war for their gain.

#fiat

https://image.nostr.build/3836c14f4998ba153ca2ef3bd5de7c6578f4d2f8147e00c0a09f14451291be92.png

https://image.nostr.build/847d3244a4541badc6be198f3b02047874885453568f5f59621d82db8eeaf59b.jpg

cc nostr:npub1gdu7w6l6w65qhrdeaf6eyywepwe7v7ezqtugsrxy7hl7ypjsvxksd76nak


Bitaxe is the way.


👀 nostr:note1w28ea86xttj5q9cagl68499fuhsajm5nd8m7zmhevgczp26ac8vs93z86h


Culture Shock Weekend Incoming!

All info and links are on our website www.NostrPHX.com

https://v.nostr.build/5y0Y.mp4


Are modern beds a scam? 🛏

More and more people claim sleeping on the floor is the proper way humans should sleep.

Sounds crazy? Well... it should heal all back pain, lead to a stronger body and better posture.

Yes, I tried it and it was NOT AT ALL what I expected 😂😂

Full Video: https://youtu.be/ICnLS1BbZ_w https://v.nostr.build/GqEX.mp4


Been sleeping on a Shiki/Tatami mat bed for over half a year now, and it has been great! Definitely took some adjusting, especially once I got buckwheat pillows.


Isn’t this https://unleashed.chat?


Good watch!


Nuke all of them and never look back. If only WhatsApp wasn’t so widely used, I would never have to touch a Meta product again.


If you use it in a private window that message doesn’t come up. Definitely annoying though.


We’ll get an “Anywhere” or “Global” location added. It would probably be good to add regional locations as well.

We appreciate the feedback greatly; glad you like what we’re building! 🤙


Gaming the reputation system is definitely a concern. Charging some sats to leave a review could be a way to mitigate this.


Been waiting for it. 👀


😂 In too deep.


Idek if I can do 1 well. 😅


Just RSVPd for the pre game. 🤙


Awesome! Didn’t know about this.


🐇 https://i.nostr.build/Wr8D.jpg


Nuts! #cashu 🥜 nostr:note1aj5ty9n06e8d7a8fpfg2rqas9y98et9q045n6jps96kjt80402kq8mha8l


I just published From Spreads To Fees

This change, driven by your feedback, ensures a transparent and cheap way for you to buy #bitcoin and get more sats the more you stack.

At Strike, we aim to be one of the best places in the world to buy #bitcoin

I do a presentation for every product announcement we make now. You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5Bj_v-IUCU&t=7s&ab_channel=JackMallers

https://strike.me/blog/from-spreads-to-fees-simple-transparent-and-cheap-pricing-for-bitcoiners/

Historically, Strike has charged what is called a "spread" when buying and selling #Bitcoin

Over the years, it became very clear to us that you all did not like that.

You wanted more clarity and more transparency. We heard you loud and clear.

I even collected a lot of your feedback. I have it attached to this note.

Our solution? Listen to you all.

Introducing, our new tiered-fee pricing model!

Every month Strike will calculate your activity on our platform and give you a discounted fee the more you #Bitcoin with us.

Simple, transparent, upfront, and cheap pricing built by Bitcoiners for Bitcoiners ✊

How cheap? Let's dig into it.

To clear up any FUD or concerns, we collected data from other #Bitcoin companies all-in cost when buying #bitcoin to assure you we are what we claim. Very transparent, and very cheap.

Just want to take a second and say, I love all of these companies. This is in no way putting anyone down. We are all going to win. Also, it is very complicated (if not impossible) to build one visual, one website, one dashboard, etc. for competitive analysis because some companies offer incentives on DCA, Direct Deposit, and so on. It's not an apples-to-apples comparison. This is not the Bible.

However, what these visuals do show is that Strike is an incredible place to buy #bitcoin, especially if you’re doing more than a couple hundred bucks. We give you a lot of sats for your fiat and stair-step our way down in fees the more you Bitcoin with us in cumulative monthly volume which is super unique to Strike.

We care a lot about offering you the most sats we possibly can. It’s not easy.

This change will roll out over the next week starting tomorrow.

Some of you will get it tomorrow, and some of you will get it in the coming days. If you ever have any issues, please reach out to us on Twitter or via Support, we're here to help.

Thanks for being patient with us here, these things take a few days to fully roll out.

Lastly, thank you!

As I mentioned, Strike is a business, and we would be nothing without you, our customer. Thank you all for your continued support, we love building #Bitcoin tools around the world for you.

This is the first of three things we plan to launch this month in February. Next week we have a new region of the world, and after that, we have our brand new limits system. So, I'll talk to you soon.

Much love!

https://m.primal.net/HcRe.png
https://m.primal.net/HcRg.png
https://m.primal.net/HcRf.png


Twitter discovery is hard. Nostr discovery is even harder because the calculations involved are not trivial in a decentralized context.

But I think people would be willing to pay for a better experience and this is where clients could differentiate themselves.


Introducing nsec.app and nostr-login!

I've shown the prototype of https://nsec.app in December, and it's essentially an nsecbunker in your browser. It is non-custodial - your keys are stored locally in the browser, and apps can get access to your keys using NIP46. We've now turned that prototype into a real thing, and I invite you to try it. Shoutout to nostr:npub149p5act9a5qm9p47elp8w8h3wpwn2d7s2xecw2ygnrxqp4wgsklq9g722q for the designs!

Now how do we help Nostr apps adopt NIP46 for remote key access?

That's where nostr-login library comes in. If your app uses NIP07 to talk to a browser extension, then with just two lines of code you can make it talk over NIP46.

Both of these tools support the new OAuth-like flow proposed by Pablo. Below you can watch a demo of how nostr-login (added to my fork of Snort) works with Nsec.app (or would work with any other nsecbunker).

What this all means is that people could join Nostr on the web, without installing extensions or mobile apps, with their keys stored non-custodially in the Nsec.app, and then could log in to other Nostr apps without copying their private keys.

Demo: https://void.cat/d/JSWwYMTtbWxTDTLpe132Kr.mp4

Links:
Snort+nostr-login: https://snort.nostrapps.org
nsec app: https://github.com/nostrband/noauth
nsec app server: https://github.com/nostrband/noauthd
nostr-login: https://github.com/nostrband/nostr-login


the taliban shutdown the queer.af domain, killing the queer.af mastodon instance. users of the queer.af mastodon server just lost their entire social graphs. nostr is different. nostr is superior in this regard. if a nostr relay or client operated on the queer.af domain and the taliban shut that down, users could just start posting to a different relay or start using another client, continuing their social usage with just a little bit of a hiccup. nostr is truly decentralized and truly censorship resistant.

https://www.404media.co/taliban-shuts-down-queer-af-domain-breaking-mastodon-instance/


nostr:npub1sg6plzptd64u62a878hep2kev88swjh3tw00gjsfl8f237lmu63q0uf63m demoing Nostr 20 years ago

https://video.nostr.build/756baf7f1a34309d244efd77b3a8150072af32c43cf618b7e073bc1d18d5bf8c.mp4


I think there's definitely a big gap to get over when it comes to ecash innovation and why it's important as far as public perception goes.

It is entirely ironic that a large portion of the StackerNews community always seems against it, yet:
- SN users fully trust a single custodian
- SN fully sees their balances and transactions
- SN can unilaterally and selectively shut down accounts and balances
- The amounts on there are small enough to not make sense to use on chain or self-custodial LN

Yet there's way too much "Why would I ever use a mint, I hate custodians" logic in any thread that brings it up. 🤦♂

https://stacker.news/items/421567


Is the Bitcoin community aware that they're using an SMS-required closed platform that can only be read by KYCed people to conduct their protocol discussions?


People who are excited by posthumous fame forget that people who remember them will soon die too. And those after them in turn. Until their memory, passed from one to another like a candle flame, gutters and goes out.

But suppose that those who remembered you were immortal and your memory undying. What good would it do you? And I don't just mean when you're dead, but in your own lifetime. What use is praise, except to make your lifestyle a little more comfortable?

☠ You're out of step - neglecting the gifts of nature to hand on someone's words in the future ☠

– Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, chief OG Stoic and emperor of Rome. Note that these words were never meant to be published. MA wrote this to himself in his journal.


The numbers are all fabricated https://image.nostr.build/b392f7ac25c63ff8e25a6e9433228e9c9d0da24de0a646468aef34cef9cb7822.jpg  nostr:note1r62w5le6cxpls8mtew3jprex07qcnh678stre8dszk7s2gp3s2rsye7s4u


announcing https://hist.nostr.land — a service to back up your contacts list and profile for free

just add was://hist.nostr.land to your relay list and go to https://hist.nostr.land if something goes wrong

if you like it, consider zapping or joining the relay :)

it is open source: https://github.com/nostr-land-relay/histrelay

cc nostr:npub180cvv07tjdrrgpa0j7j7tmnyl2yr6yr7l8j4s3evf6u64th6gkwsyjh6w6 I want my 5m sats


It’s time bitcoin had a way to specify human-readable names for payment instructions.

LN Address has demonstrated the utility of such names, but it’s time to take it beyond just lightning and remove the dependence on HTTPS/CAs.

https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/pull/1551


7⃣


The open internet is just starting https://nostr.build/i/c59fcc4669fc0194d3649ee1efc2a905546a033ce5f5126de0db04014ebba4ef.jpg


Is nostr viral? If so, what is its product hook?

https://sacks.substack.com/p/product-first

I'm trying to build something around small-to-medium sized groups to create a form of this virality. Another idea is to imitate paypal, which made it possible to "email money" by making it possible to "email nostr". I'm not exactly sure how that would work, but cross-posting to other platforms and protocols is our friend, if the value proposition can be communicated in that context.

Other ideas?


This is in the works; will be ready within the next 2 weeks.


For interoperability between clients. It’s a required field in the NIP-99 spec; otherwise clients would have to filter for tags/categories in order to know not to expect a location, and tags aren’t standardized.


Finally found some good Mexican food in Seattle. https://i.nostr.build/zL6d.jpg


You should always keep $2,000 in cash in case you ever need to get a used ‘97 Honda accord and then live in it.

Few understand this. https://image.nostr.build/2d083e50280e4860cba162e0ffa98521039171050a02089c5c8a01b95a2e76b3.jpg


How would DVMs handle recurring subscriptions?


The beauty of simplicity. nostr:note14g3t2h60qmadfpqeamq50esmv6yjsg7v4yp6d4rllkfqwljhwm8s37nylg


On nostr:npub15dc33fyg3cpd9r58vlqge2hh8dy6hkkrjxkhluv2xpyfreqkmsesesyv6e, we leave it up to the seller to delete the listing if it’s no longer active. You do this by clicking on your listing and then the delete button. Amethyst and Coracle support a status tag to indicate if a listing is active or sold; we’re going to be adding that on top of manual deletion, so as soon as a payment is made the status will be updated.


Definitely! Our implementation of a WoT score and/or rating system for products and sellers is currently being fleshed out. Might make it one of our milestones for round 2 of Top Builder.


nostr:npub15dc33fyg3cpd9r58vlqge2hh8dy6hkkrjxkhluv2xpyfreqkmsesesyv6e is in to round 2! Shout-out to nostr:npub14u43en9xrzh92lmy8yk6fq3mme7vyul7x66n2zl6y35c3nt3y0lqhs3g74 for driving the development needed to reach the milestones we set in round 1.

Check us out at https://shopstr.store and leave us any feedback you might have!

Back to building we go. 🫡🚀 nostr:note123zhrv6qsz4p23t65acvxwu7nj4gha0x7fgvples7v454psx70rqxrfey4


Thank you! Time to kill it in round 2.🫡🚀


You can list items with @shopstr at https://shopstr.store and they’ll show up on any client that supports NIP-99. Amethyst and Coracle are 2 of the clients that I’m aware of that do so atm, and they allow you to list items directly as well!


Currently listings of this kind are in good faith, but we’re working on getting a dispute and escrow system in place with nostr:npub15dc33fyg3cpd9r58vlqge2hh8dy6hkkrjxkhluv2xpyfreqkmsesesyv6e to make the shopping experience more seamless.


Yesterday, I listed two smartphones for sale on Nostr via Amethyst's Shopstr integration. Today, those phones sold. No Facebook Marketplace. No eBay. Just beautiful decentralized shopping and decentralized payments. I'll ship them tomorrow. We are winning.


TRULY free markets are how we win. 🫡🚀

#nostr #shopstr nostr:note1kwjh56gsqr33fwh4f5rherrxrpy6eeu9sty243xg5dkspr489caqv6hehu


#cashu 🥜 https://i.nostr.build/qQRL.jpg


When we first set out on this mission to “Dream Big Locally” we focused on the cultural avenue. An avenue for normies and seasoned plebs. An avenue that would showcase Nostr, V4V, Lightning and the power of the Human Network.

 A “sly roundabout way” of inspiring change through experience.

We are proud to announce our schedule has been fulfilled and we very much look forward to this historic day for Nostr PHX.

We appreciate all the support from the Nostr community.

All zaps to this account will be used to fund this event. Big or small, it is very much appreciated.

Stay tuned for more announcements.

https://nostrcheck.me/media/public/05312e9f129274bd4631c548882c22c801e58de9825a3d89a50c6732054a9199.webp


Why does this video go so hard?


The Nationalization of the Work Force
—————————

The economic numbers, like unemployment, inflation and GDP, are getting gamed. Layoffs are being offset by government hiring. Slowdown in the economy is being offset by government spending. No one in the actual economy wants to spend, so the government is counter-balancing it with spending of its own.

As interest rates rise and all the economic health indicators look increasingly horrible, the short-term Keynesian band-aids are being applied. After all, politicians have to *do something*, lest they be accused of not caring. This is, of course, an excellent example of high time preference behavior. Politicians really only worry about the next election and long-term consequences be damned! So what if government keeps growing? So what if inflation destroys peoples' savings? So what if the private sector mal-investment never has a chance to clear out? The game is to keep things the same so that they can get re-elected and they can always dip into the cookie jar of inflation to fund it.

In the short term, this is a very understandable strategy. Creating government jobs not only makes the unemployment numbers look better, but it also has the nice side effect of making those that get these jobs way more statist. These are not people that are going to vote for a reduction of government, they have strong financial incentives to never do that. And spending on unnecessary wars to prop up defense contractors? You think those people would ever vote for less spending?

The divide right now is not between liberals and conservatives. The divide is between the rent-seekers and productive people. And as currently comprised, it's about 50/50. And it's not who you think that's on the productive side. Sure, obvious groups like government employees, media and even the military, educational and health care industrial complexes are very obviously on the rent-seeking side, but there are others that you may think are productive but are not. Big tech, for example, is overwhelmingly on the rent-seeking statist side. The war-mongerers are on the statist side.

The productive people are the middle and lower class people that haul away your garbage and fix your AC and deliver your packages. And as the populace re-aligns, the productive people are correctly calling out the uniparty as the party that wants to keep the rent-seeking going.

There's only so much you can steal from the productive people before there's a revolution. But this is where the infinite pool of money that the central bank can draw from becomes the tool to tip the balance. You can co-opt the productive people by giving them government jobs. And make no mistake, that's exactly the strategy being executed right now. The public sector is growing fast, even as the private sector shrinks. They are nationalizing the work force so that voters are dependent on the state. And honestly, it's not that far from socialism. If 100% employment by the state is socialism, then we're about half-way there, roughly speaking.

But this strategy has consequences. As more people come on the government payroll, either through direct payment, as with government employees, or through subsidization of industries, the money to pay them has to come from somewhere. If it's explicit taxes, that will get the politicians voted out real quick, so it's not really an option. Inflation, on the other hand, is great because it's a stealth tax and there's plausible deniability by blaming greedy corporations and so forth.

But inflation debases savings and soon, people can't afford to live on their old salary. Not least of this is the bloating public sector, whose salaries tend to adjust last. Thus, there quickly becomes a large and powerful lobby of government workers who will demand raises. And this creates a major dilemma for those in power. Do you give them raises and exacerbate inflation, or do you deny them raises and get voted out of power? The high time preference nature of politicians almost guarantees the former outcome. But then, that extra money adds inflationary pressure to the economy. This may hold things off for a bit, but the bigger the public sector, the faster prices in the rest of the economy increase. Inflation becomes a problem again. Soon, the government employees, stronger now, perhaps as a larger constituency and having a precedent to work with, will again demand raises.

Raises -> Inflation -> Raises -> Inflation -> …

The only end here is hyperinflation and that's not pretty.

I'm not going to suggest that it's around the corner, but as Caesar once said, "aleta iacta est" or "the die has been cast." The expansion of the public sector is inevitable and thus, so is inflation and eventually hyperinflation.


Can https://spring.site fix this? nostr:note1vvqs9qevclutzshx0qg4aa3yd7n0kppw5exlsdajf4700kawtm6q932e0t


Earl Grey >>>


Looks great!


The Mandibles, Watchmen, When Money Dies, and The Changing World Order are some of my favorites. 👀


#bookstr nostr:note14fvknwvqcy3dl2de8gyzdy85k8nwfh8y925jyflal0pyyvc8yrssjxmk7y


#TopBuilder2024 nostr:note1klyl5uj02st3q6ecwtn8hxca5s3s3aqsascus4c4ecxsq5aesa7sq2nd82


Apple drops PWA support on iOS for EU users

Comments ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39299007 )

https://twitter.com/firt/status/1755406923485122615


Small steps look like large leaps over time.


I’ve seen so many people say they won’t use Nostr because we don’t support delete. This is really frustrating, because Nostr DOES support delete, it’s right there in the NIP’s! We’ve got delete in nostr:npub1pu3vqm4vzqpxsnhuc684dp2qaq6z69sf65yte4p39spcucv5lzmqswtfch, but most apps don’t expose the functionality to users because they either don’t like the idea of delete or can’t be sure that something is 100% deleted. That misses the point, delete is as much about social signaling as it is about getting rid of the content.

Here’s my argument for how we should think about and support delete in nostr. In case your client doesn’t support long form content, here’s the njump link: https://njump.me/naddr1qq2ksje3g9trxujpxymyxjjlg5ckjmmrtguyxq3qpu3vqm4vzqpxsnhuc684dp2qaq6z69sf65yte4p39spcucv5lzmqxpqqqp65wk06e7u nostr:note1hldm4z430w76dn2ywzwjnafytnvyt7gsg6nhk3l8a3x8utzl88asl06u8m


Can’t wait! 🤙 nostr:note1q6wh868ytj3derp05fm0gpevfpg63huqh7xe2ykg965cxrs5u6as4jx94p


The Everything App?

Forget it. Nostr is The Everything Protocol


Much appreciated! 🫡


Looking to launch a rocket for nostr:npub15dc33fyg3cpd9r58vlqge2hh8dy6hkkrjxkhluv2xpyfreqkmsesesyv6e and need an invite to https://nostrocket.org. 🙏 nostr:npub1mygerccwqpzyh9pvp6pv44rskv40zutkfs38t0hqhkvnwlhagp6s3psn5p nostr:npub1arkn0xxxll4llgy9qxkrncn3vc4l69s0dz8ef3zadykcwe7ax3dqrrh43w nostr:npub1l2vyh47mk2p0qlsku7hg0vn29faehy9hy34ygaclpn66ukqp3afqutajft nostr:npub1ejxswthae3nkljavznmv66p9ahp4wmj4adux525htmsrff4qym9sz2t3tv nostr:npub1zafcms4xya5ap9zr7xxr0jlrtrattwlesytn2s42030lzu0dwlzqpd26k5 nostr:npub1zuuajd7u3sx8xu92yav9jwxpr839cs0kc3q6t56vd5u9q033xmhsk6c2uc nostr:npub1jlrs53pkdfjnts29kveljul2sm0actt6n8dxrrzqcersttvcuv3qdjynqn


You will be able to run your own personal datastore, but no one will connect to it. Everybody will just connect to the big server ran by the Bluesky company that will censor you if you don't go through their KYC process of if you say anything they don't like. They are for freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach (their words).


🤣 nostr:note1fr4qmweqpkt5q94wevr3cmceeuvydv4ygvhcrhqe8q0src85p7xsrsmns2


More and more people are waking up to reclaim their digital sovereignty. nostr is at the forefront. nip01 is our Declaration of Independence in cyberspace. https://i.nostr.build/Xgn0.png


Welcome! 🤙


Running nostr


👀 nostr:note1s30pv7yp99hvauxllafps2pcyegz2rdy5ux6yhxl82ekk73sh48szcexgt


nostr:npub18a43qgqwjp627jsapn7k9lnptezr55vhklaam3ytvq3plghsc00qm5yqwr has an essay about how podcasting is the great example of open protocol social media.

https://www.anildash.com//2024/02/06/wherever-you-get-podcasts/


“One thing I used to ridicule but won't anymore is the idea that #bitcoin is digital freedom. The nice thing about being decentralized, and peer-to-peer is that while it may phase in and out in certain jurisdictions, bitcoin works if people want it to work. And, philosophically, I can’t think of too many things I’d rather bet on than giving power to the people.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/why-i-bitcoin


anyone who talks about helping the "global south" but doesn't have a low bandwidth version of their solution is a LARP.


Back in 2005, while cypherpunks were grinding their way into Bitcoin, I was deep into an idea we called "Sovereign Computing": a set of freedoms that would re-create the web with the user, and not corporations, at the center of it. It was initially proposed by Klaus Wuestefeld, one of the senior engineers who shaped most of my early career. The apps we made are mostly gone (turns out CVS wasn't the future of version control), but most of those freedoms still hold quite well.

http://sneer.me/resources/imgs/traditionalNetwork.jpg

At the time, everything was deeply tied to ISPs, DNS, and several middle-layer providers that limited your expressiveness on the web by charging for everything. IRC was coming to the end of its downfall. We were slowly becoming slaves of big tech.

Klaus wrote a manifesto that lured people into developing several little projects that could decentralize everything. Many of them were P2P mesh networks where users could talk to each other directly (without servers) and even re-share their own internet connection with their trusted peers. It was a big f*** you to people that thought they could control us.

Free Software users or not, they were no more than subjects conforming to the arbitrary laws dictated by a handful of Internet `authorities`. People got fed up with that monkey business. They decided they would be free to share information and hardware resources with their friends at their own pleasure.

This is how the manifesto went:

Freedom 1 - Own Name

It is the freedom to choose any name for oneself. The format of the chosen name is not limited in any way, even in the case of homonyms, and there is the possibility to change the chosen name at will.

Freedom 2 - Nicknames

It is the freedom to choose any name to refer to others. This freedom is not limited to persons, but applies to anything accessible in the virtual world. This freedom is based on the notion that absolute addressing schemes imply in the abdication of one's freedom in favor of some central authority. According to this, the alternative would be relative addressing schemes centered on each person.

Freedom 3 - Trust

It is the freedom to trust anyone one wishes. It is the possibility to assign a degree of trustworthiness to any person, possibly depending on the subject (for example, one's opinion on music could be highly trusted, but not on cars or economy). Also, the degree of someone's trustworthiness would depend on the relative distance to other persons (for example, one would trust more one's friend than one's friend's friend).

Freedom 4 - Privacy

This freedom has two aspects: the freedom to see only what one wants, and the freedom to keep information inaccessible to untrusted people. One application of the first aspect would be avoiding spam by only accepting messages from people above a certain degree of trustworthiness.

Freedom 5 - Expression

It is the freedom to express oneself. It is not only the freedom to expose one's thoughts but also the freedom to make syntheses of information provided by other people.

Freedom 6 - Hardware

This is the freedom to share hardware resources. This is based on the assumption that most hardware resources are underused, especially among domestic users. By federating the resources of a large number of people, it would be possible to decrease the dependency on internet providers and internet hosts.

Freedom 7 - Software

It is the freedom to share all software one uses. It is based on free software that is spread through trust networks across the globe. There is no need for a single, centralized distribution point.

http://sneer.me/resources/imgs/sovereignNetwork.png

---

It's bizarre to see how many of those early thoughts can be seen now in Nostr.  Maybe one day we will fully free ourselves from the web's overlords.


THIS IS THE WAY

Nostr scales by creating a discoverable market of infrastructure

THIS ALLOWS A SOLO-DEV TO COMPETE WITH VERTICALLY INTEGRATED BIG TECH nostr:note1umd4zqfczc6ja4qjw2d0g3u3nmxzjwehvgfmh8rqtr59yxyf7s3svl0wmh


Bitcoin literally needs you.

We need more people writing code, experimenting with it, just having fun. You don't need to start a company. You don't need a brilliant idea. If you don't know how to start, read the code and submit bug fixes for the software you're already using.

If you're a dev and you're on the brink of joining or would like to but  you don't know how, my DMs are always open to you. Even if I take a bit to reply, I'll help you find a task or a challenge as best as I can.


AI-Powered Service Churns Out Pictures of Fake IDs Capable of Passing KYC/AML for as Little as $15

"An underground website called OnlyFake is claiming to use “neural networks” to generate realistic looking photos of fake IDs for just $15, radically disrupting the marketplace for fake identities and cybersecurity more generally."

https://www.nobsbitcoin.com/ai-powered-service-churns-out-fake-ids-capable-of-passing-kyc-aml-for-as-little-as-15/


Web dev >>>


nostr:npub14u43en9xrzh92lmy8yk6fq3mme7vyul7x66n2zl6y35c3nt3y0lqhs3g74 added some performance optimizations for querying products and messages, so load times for products should be faster and complete chat history should be available!

https://shopstr.store


👇 nostr:note1sz0wu9gjn2p4dl9nweqgx3es7vpajm7n5r3eu6c8u65he35hegys9ujcuc


Bitcoin Twitter really seems to be dying.

It seems mostly drowning into Main Character Syndrome capture, engagement farming, useful idiots cheerleading grifters, with very short bursts moments of energized grasps for air of really good posts and discussions.

The trend is noise over signal.

It's kinda sad as it had a very good moment, but i guess nothing is for ever.

What is still unclear is a lot of important public discussions need to be had. But they seem to be Balkanizing and going dark. My DMs are full of things that would serve the commons. But people no longer have the patience for Eternal September arguments and socks.

Nostr could become one of the new bitcoin public squares, but we are definitely still far from it. Gotta find the purple pill formula for the bitcoiner nostr derangement syndrome. ✌


Something exciting today. It's now possible to zap on the Fediverse! ⚡ ⚡ ⚡ You can zap users on Nostr! You can zap users on Mastodon/Pleroma/ActivityPub! Let the sats flow!!!

https://soapbox.pub/blog/mostr-zaps/

Check it out and get set up to send and receive MONEY across the Fediverse for your shitposts.

This works thanks to the Mostr Bridge + Zapple Pay, an amazing result of Apple banning zaps on Damus. Who would have thought?

Enjoy!


Who knew more users would require more scalable infra! 😅👷♂ nostr:note1nfavpkhwh7wqha5m2ysstjm7yvnv5ggxng8zxnsup29kdaf65u6s96u2cc


Who you’re with > Where you are


“Sure, the citizens are no longer being murdered, raped, and robbed by gangs—and Bukele has the highest approval rating in the world—but did anyone ask the gang members how they feel about this?” — The Ecommunist

https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/02/02/gangsters-in-el-salvador-are-terrified-of-strongman-nayib-bukele


Impressive!
"Taggers have sprayed graffiti on what appears to be about 27 stories of a downtown Los Angeles skyscraper that’s been sitting dormant for several years. "
https://void.cat/d/4SpWwT2RqMkPH316AHga5B.webp


#asknostr nostr:note16eexqd4ey0fqf4h7q6ywcgq76eqwxnnqfatjnhf7v4kn3e4mq8gqqrwf3q


does anyone know any nostr users dedicated to the written arts? (like poetry, story writing or journalism)


That’s on the nostr:npub15dc33fyg3cpd9r58vlqge2hh8dy6hkkrjxkhluv2xpyfreqkmsesesyv6e roadmap!


https://graduallythensuddenly.xyz/pay-me-in-bitcoin-theory/ nostr:note1shxejpllh8u7wwy6tk6874hdf8wzerm86879f2kdwrsnyjy6c0mqwe7s0z


The most effective way to orange pill society is to produce something that society wants, and demand Bitcoin as payment.

This forces people to study Bitcoin and figure out how to access it.

Team Fiat is producing iPhones, cars, air travel, houses, etc. It's impossible to access without having fiat in the loop.

This is creates demand for access to fiat.

What is Team Bitcoin producing? What products and services are *impossible* to acquire without having Bitcoin in the loop?

What products and services are we producing to drive the demand for access to our magic internet  money?


#Bitcoin hashrate is signal.

Fiat price is noise. https://i.nostr.build/KzLv.jpg


There is no other asset that can generate fiat cash as fast as Bitcoin. Few understand that hard money competes with weak money in a relationship where the weak invariably converts to the strong. This dynamic is fundamental to monetary economics; as confidence in hard money grows, the inclination to hold and transact in it increases, often at the expense of weaker currencies.


AP PHOTOS: Farmers’ protests grip Europe from Brussels and Berlin to Greece and Romania

https://apnews.com/article/europe-farmers-protests-photos-0d7fdbfbdc9c91f8968439ba62ae5404


I’ll get this fixed.


This is dope! Might integrate it into nostr:npub15dc33fyg3cpd9r58vlqge2hh8dy6hkkrjxkhluv2xpyfreqkmsesesyv6e. 👀🔥


Oops. 😅


Here is my talk on the “Evolution of Bitcoin VC Funding in Africa” from the AfroBitcoin 2023 conference.

In it, I explore the evolution and future outlook of the Bitcoin VC landscape in Africa 🌍🔥

YT Link 🎥 (8 mins)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoV1Pzxv10s


US GOVERNMENT MAP ON KNOWN MINING LOCATIONS.

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


Because financial technology has been limited over the past several decades, credit card payments are basically like, "okay so, hand over your private key and pin, and then we'll use them to get that transaction completed asap".


IT'S GETTING WILD 🔥 RECEIVE ECASH VIA LIGHTNING ZAPS - NO SIGN UPS - NO ACCOUNTS - NOSTR NATIVE - FOR EVERYONE - BY nostr:npub1mhcr4j594hsrnen594d7700n2t03n8gdx83zhxzculk6sh9nhwlq7uc226

⚡ <npub>@cashu-address.com

1) Go to https://cashu-address.com
2) Log in with your Nostr extension to see your wallet
3) Set your address on nostr and receive zaps by shitposting harder ⚡
4) See the nuts appear 🥜
5) Claim them with a Cashu wallet

https://void.cat/d/Ka9rYPrWeRdtfe6fsM6soe.webp


All these years later and I’m not sure we’ve topped this moment in bitcoin culture. https://image.nostr.build/4048ad6b290e40613270ffe1d6920147ba2a0d51ad7597f6360f3b31893ecd18.jpg


Wow, that UX seems pretty great.


At the end of last year the Human Rights Foundation launched a weekly Financial Freedom Report

It’s high-signal, mixing global news about inflation and financial repression with updates from the Bitcoin space. We put a lot of work into it and we hope you find it useful.

Officially: "The Financial Freedom Report is a newsletter focusing on the role currency and banking play in the civil liberties and human rights struggles of those living under authoritarian regimes. We also spotlight new tools and applications that can help individuals protect their financial freedom."

I enclose today's edition #9 below

To sign up, visit:

https://mailchi.mp/hrf.org/financial-freedom-newsletter

———

Hello readers,

This past week, Egyptians were told to put up with soaring inflation, while we saw Kazakhstan’s financial suppression of journalists and Pakistan’s continued rise in Bitcoin adoption. Plus, a new documentary on the economic and political turmoil in Lebanon and how, in the face of adversity, the Lebanese people are coming together to rebuild their beloved nation.

Let’s dive right in!

Global News

———

Egypt | Financial Repression

Dictator Abdel Fattah al-Sisi dismissed Egyptians’ concerns over their ability to buy essential goods amid growing prices. “Don't we eat? We eat. Things are expensive, and some things are not available. So what?” This statement comes as the country prepares to spend billions on a luxurious new capital 45 kilometers east of Cairo, which Sisi claims is important for economic development. Critics argue the development increases the country’s debt burden while taking away from everyday Egyptians, who are already dealing with 30% inflation, foreign currency shortages, store closures, a new restriction on credit card withdrawals, and Sisi’s efforts to expand a $3 billion IMF program, which will force the country to undergo structural reforms. The pound is in freefall, losing a quarter of its value since the beginning of the year.

Russia | Asset Confiscation

A new law has been drafted in Russia that threatens to freeze the bank accounts and assets of citizens for spreading “fake news” about the regime’s invasion of Ukraine. The Russian banking system is already tightly controlled and monitored, leading to the rise of platforms like 21 Ideas, which share educational materials about Bitcoin and financial freedom in the Russian language. The law opens the door for the Russian government to confiscate funds from anyone who “attacks the foundation of the state.” The BBC notes that this law, which is going through an accelerated approval process, will be used to target dissidents and human rights activists.

Hong Kong | Journalists Association Demanded to Pay “Profits Tax”

The Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) must pay HK$400,000 (approximately $50,000) in “profits tax” to the Inland Revenue Department (IRD). The calculations were reportedly based on HKJA’s bank deposits as opposed to their profits, a move that has perplexed the organization. HKJA added that their operational funding comes through sponsorship from major public and private institutions at its annual fundraising dinners. With a seeming lack of justification, byzantine taxes such as this one serve as a stern warning on the financial obstacles faced by press freedom organizations under authoritarian regimes.

Turkey | Currency Devaluation

The Turkish Lira has lost 92% of its value against the US dollar over the last decade, marking a historic low. Inflation rose to nearly 65% on an annual basis last month, eroding the purchasing power of the Turkish people and placing a considerable strain on their ability to afford basic goods. To counteract inflation and stabilize the economy, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey is continuing to raise interest rates, this time by 2.5%, bringing the benchmark rate to 45%. At the same time, Turks are flocking to Bitcoin and stablecoins as a way out.

Kazakhstan | Financial Suppression of Media

Kazakh investigative journalist Duman Mukhamedkarim faces two charges for carrying out journalistic activities and advocacy work. The first charge was for “participation in an extremist organization” after conducting an interview with a member of the political party Democratic Choice in Kazakhstan (DCK). The second for “financing of an extremist organization” after publishing a bank account number that could receive donations to provide legal support for political prisoners. According to lawyer and human rights defender Bota Jardemalie, the Kazakh regime “habitually levers false allegations” of extremism financing and abuses AML/CFT laws against opposition activists.” Activists in Kazakhstan regularly face financial restrictions, are unable to have bank accounts, and often have their assets confiscated.

Pakistan | Rising Bitcoin Adoption

Bitcoin adoption in Pakistan continues to rise amid a national economic crisis and creeping authoritarianism. With a population of more than 240 million people, where the majority live below the poverty line, and inflation exceeds 30%, Pakistanis are increasingly turning to bitcoin through peer-to-peer services. The country is considered a global leader in IT export services, and the national freelancing industry is also helping drive adoption in this area. Freelancers seek to hedge against inflation with foreign currencies like USD or GBP, and a growing number hold Bitcoin as an inflation hedge. HRF is happy to support Bitcoin Pakistan, which helps educate Pakistanis about an alternative currency system beyond government control.

The Latest in Bitcoin Development and Education

———

Mutiny | Payjoin Support

Mutiny Wallet, an open-source, non-custodial, privacy-focused Bitcoin and Lightning wallet available as a web client or Android app, has shipped Payjoin v1 support with its v0.5.7 release. “We’re really excited about the privacy gains here and for future improvements such as Payjoin v2.,” the team said. “This should allow asynchronous payjoins, making it possible for a mobile user to payjoin with another mobile user.” Payjoin is a technique that can help prevent surveillance, as it “breaks the common-input-ownership heuristic” but remains “undetectable and indistinguishable from any regular bitcoin transaction.”

Bitwise | Public Transparency

Last week, the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB) became the first US Bitcoin ETF to disclose the bitcoin addresses of its holdings, which at the time showed 11858.63 bitcoin in its trust (valued at about $465,300,000 USD). “Publishing on-chain addresses is a first step toward increasing public transparency,” they announced. This move enables anyone to verify BITB’s bitcoin holdings and transactions directly on the blockchain, establishing a new standard for institutional transparency. Bitwise will also donate 10% of profits from its Bitcoin ETF to open-source development with recipient organizations including OpenSats, Brink, and the Human Rights Foundation.

Breez | Non-Custodial Lightning

Breez SDK has added support for offline payments, where a user can get a mobile notification to process an incoming payment. While this feature is only available to users of the Breez software environment, it’s a big UX improvement for mobile Lightning use and something to keep an eye on. In a recent article, Breez CEO Roy Sheinfeld puts this innovation in context, exploring the challenges and past attempts to fix the UX challenges of offline payments, discussing how they have deterred self-custody, and pointing to progress in this area as key to being able to conduct private mobile Bitcoin transactions.

Samourai Wallet | Bitcoin to Monero Atomic Swaps

Samourai wallet introduced atomic swaps in their public beta, allowing users to trustlessly swap between Bitcoin and Monero over Tor. Monero is a privacy-focused cryptocurrency that differentiates from Bitcoin by hiding transaction information from the public, making it nearly impossible for governments to trace user activity. This, however, comes at the cost of decentralization, liquidity, and publicly verifiable transactions. Atomic swaps allow individuals to exchange tokenized assets across different blockchains without the need for a centralized intermediary, enhancing user anonymity. It’s another privacy option for activists operating under constant financial surveillance, empowering them to continue their work in a more private and secure manner. You can learn more about this new feature here.

Btcd | Critical Bug Fixes

Niklas Gögge announced a consensus failure in btcd (an alternative to Bitcoin Core Implementation) versions prior to v0.24.0. Consensus is paramount to the integrity and longevity of a decentralized network. Bitcoin Optech Newsletter #28 said that with this failure, “it was possible to construct a transaction with a negative version number, which Bitcoin Core would require to follow the BIP68 rules but btcd would not.” This vulnerability could be exploited to trick a node into accepting invalid bitcoin. Software like btcd requires ongoing reviews and bug fixes, which is why funding for open-source software development, like HRF’s Bitcoin Development Fund, is critical for supporting developers in maintaining the integrity and robustness of the Bitcoin network.

OpenSats and Vinteum | Open Source Funding

OpenSats awarded long-term support to René Pickhardt, “helping him continue his fundamental research on improving Bitcoin’s overall usefulness as a payment system through the Lightning Network.” Funding will help Rene improve reliable payment planning, efficient payment routing, and explore new liquidity management strategies over the Lightning Network. In Brazil, Vinteum awarded funding to Leonardo Lima, whose “grant period will be dedicated to contributions to both Fedimint and BDK.” In particular, enhancing client and server tor support, developing multisig cosigning modules, and the potential of passkeys module on Fedimint, as well as adding native tor support to rust-esplora-client and rust-electrum-client.

Recommended Content

———

“Lebanon, Life After the State”

By Peter McCormack

In the documentary “Lebanon, Life After the State,” journalist Peter McCormack dives into the country’s tumultuous political and economic landscape, unraveling decades of government mismanagement and corruption, which peaked with the tragic explosion at the port of Beirut on Aug. 4, 2020. He takes viewers through Lebanon’s chronic gridlock, hyperinflation, banking collapse, and the people’s efforts to rebuild with little to no governmental support. You’ll also see why some citizens have turned to bitcoin in their attempt to rebuild their beloved nation. McCormack captures the incredible resilience of the Lebanese people in the face of adversity and shows how people have come together when their government has collapsed and failed in its duty to support them.


Culture Shock nostr:npub1jwev660jrdrfeaw2u9sssv3v4jgsxqs32qmd5yhpgzlesg5j0gase4qha6 will be held in a hundred year old building, protected by historic preservation ✨ https://image.nostr.build/3024d2a745e8d7efd3d1cb831b8dd761f6415c34e76c6b91af9e87bdc157d64e.jpg  nostr:note1p7f0854zcldcl7mr0jklnjqc0886ddpqc42dsszfdfhhgpzk2lks4cdwud


The really sad thing about constant currency devaluation throughout the world is that it benefits those who have the most access to cheap credit at the expense of those who do not.

People on the lower end of the income spectrum in Egypt are generally dealing with cash. Their wages and savings get debased, and they own fewer hard assets, so they have fewer offsets. Their ability to buy imported goods diminishes, their ability to travel outside of Egypt diminishes, and their costs in general rise.

People on the higher end of the income spectrum in Egypt have access to foreign bank accounts and/or have multi-year domestic property loans, which are basically currency shorts. They mitigate the impact from the ongoing devaluation, or in some cases benefit by it.

As a tangible example, last year I took out a 7-year loan or currency short against the Egyptian pound, and used it to buy a villa that houses a 9-person extended family (7 when my husband and I are not there). The money supply goes up by 20% per year but my interest rate is 3%, which is an ultra-cheap long-term currency short. Within the first six months of the term, the Egyptian pound was already cut in half relative to the dollar. Who knows what the exchange rate will be over the next 6.5 years.

The past four decades of global Fiat World have been like a game of Blackjack. In Blackjack, you try to get to 21 without going over. In Fiat World, you get into a position so that you can take out low interest debt and buy scarcer assets with it, and you do that as much as you can but without going bust in a downturn. The major governments can do that the most. The big banks are next. The big funds and asset managers and public corporations are next. The wealthy individuals are next. Then the middle class, and then the working class and the poor.

And the global aspect of Fiat World is important. An asset allocator can operate globally, so among the 160+ currencies out there, they can arbitrage them. They short a currency with negative real interest rates, and buy good assets somewhere with it. I personally did it in Egypt not to make money (we don't plan to sell for the foreseeable future) but to ensure good housing for the family at modest expense. But global firms do this around the world to make money. As the global economy got more and more financialized over the past four decades, a lot of professional talent shifted from engineering or medicine or wherever else and moved toward financial arbitrage.

Weak money financializes everything else. Strong money can de-financialize everything else.

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


In January, 85 people scanned the QR codes on the stickers and flyers you put in public! Each QR code links to an educational page about #bitcoin

Here are the most popular scans:

SMALL STICKER — 35 scans
FLYER — 30 scans
LARGE STICKER — 20 scans

This is a great first month considering this entire campaign launched on January 3rd. It will be exciting to see this grow leading up to this year's presidential election. Thank you all for getting involved!

Get involved this month: https://voteforbetter.money/get-involved


Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE confirm they are joining the BRICS.

10 BRICS members:

Brazil 🇧🇷
Russia 🇷🇺
India 🇮🇳
China 🇨🇳
South Africa 🇿🇦
Egypt 🇪🇬
Ethiopia 🇪🇹
Iran 🇮🇷
Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦
UAE 🇦🇪

G7 vs the BRICS 11: Comparison

🇧🇷🇷🇺🇮🇳🇨🇳🇿🇦 + 🇦🇷🇪🇬🇮🇷🇦🇪🇸🇦🇪🇹

BRICS:

44.65% of world population 👫
36.91% of world GDP (PPP)💰
44.35% of oil production.🛢
55% of rice harvest 🌾
79% of aluminum production 🦾
38.3% industrial production 🏭
36% of the Earth’s surface 🌍

🇺🇸🇨🇦🇯🇵🇩🇪🇬🇧🇮🇹🇫🇷  ( G7 )

9.66% of world population 👫
29.89% of world GDP (PPP) 💰
3.9% of oil production.🛢
2.6% of rice harvest 🌾
1.3% of aluminum production 🦾
30.5% industrial production 🏭


In Nigeria, banks were blocked from sending bitcoin to exchanges for three years but people went around that en masse.

In Egypt, black market physical dollars have a lot of legal issues, but people regularly use them anyway.

In Egypt there's a weak bitcoin ban in place but people could go around it since it's hard to enforce. Most people don't though. Appreciation for bitcoin or even stablecoins isn't very widespread there yet, although if the currency keeps deteriorating in the coming years that might change.


🙏 nostr:note1yx6fccak0zz7f8rxyvm957ffg453djnv5qevngcwlglng7f3cz7s9ak3gp


Booking flights and accommodation this week! 👀🫡


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

Latvia 🇱🇻, here we come!

Nostriga 2024: Nostr.World Unconference 3rd Edition

🗓 Aug 22-23

Join us pre-Baltic Honeybadger Conference during Riga Bitcoin Week. Secure your spot! 🔒

Register ➡ https://tally.so/r/wbdMlL

(Psst... Nostriga access DOESN’T include Baltic Honeybadger entry. Get that here 👉 https://baltichoneybadger.com/buy-tickets)

For more details, visit: www.nostriga.com or nostr.world


Good morning.

The war in Iraq never ended…

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-strikes-iran-personnel-facilities-in-iraq-syria-approved-jordan-drone-attack/


Tape is also great for stopping wart development, specifically duct tape.


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/


I definitely underestimated how much time Nostr Ignition would take. NIP-46 is badly spec'ed and opaquely implemented in the wild.

It sucks that nsecbunker is the only server-side implementation of a remote signer. We need more people building infra in the Nostr space, not just new clients.


We are now in half a second to do in-device text-to-image generation. We will see in-device mid journey first, than chat gpt next, then in-device video generation. Things are moving fast.

https://blog.research.google/2024/01/mobilediffusion-rapid-text-to-image.html?m=1