Earlier, I spoke with Pete McCormack about politics, public spending, tax and the imperative for sound money, produced apart from the state.

#introductions https://image.nostr.build/4489c4935182a685941e158702502461f24e0c3a0b0d9d9143df8246ea298f65.jpg


Peanut is the Harambe of 2024. https://image.nostr.build/8a857cb50268a0d9395f59c905c1a679976d1c3d95abc206dfdd4bd1f8f9fb93.jpg  nostr:note1m0uaysp056enq6zgm3tsensds8h7ucdtzphtg3r529hz9vnn70qsxffvf6


and that is your right, comrade


I guess I didn’t shout loud enough about why the ETFs are terrible 🤷♀


no but seriously the technical roadmap should basically be to make saylor's fiat cuckoldry obsolete.


fund a dev and piss off Saylor today!


nooooooooooice


are the gaps just supposed to mean a break? if so, how long?


I’m just riffing on super’s hilarious hackathon presentation


Finish your board meeting, grab a coffee and a quick chat with fellow #Bitcoiners, before heading back for the next big event.

Bit different to  nostr:npub1theparkprcs70dcs437ke9zzwsr6u60f8flu7rg28m30438aep9sd94dha but we're giving it a shot!

Look forward to chatting about #Bitcoin-native businesses  nostr:npub1qny3tkh0acurzla8x3zy4nhrjz5zd8l9sy9jys09umwng00manysew95gx and  nostr:npub1sfhflz2msx45rfzjyf5tyj0x35pv4qtq3hh4v2jf8nhrtl79cavsl2ymqt

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

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

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

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

https://bitcoinworks.co.uk/


aside from the server stealing all your money this is pretty sweet


Norway hasn’t colonised America, so no.


the saddest part is that this happens because Norway has been culturally colonised. these are not “Norwegian” thoughts, they are beamed in from the leftist regime.


After years of one-sided, relentless barrage of Orange Man Bad, this is how Norwegians would vote if they decided the US election.

Propaganda works.

It’s scary efficient.

NPC’s, corporate media and “democracy” is very dangerous for your future freedoms.
https://m.primal.net/LUhd.jpg


*he stood around while a bitcoiner paid it


TRUMP IS BASICALLY AN EIGHTY YEAR OLD BROCK PIERCE.

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


dude


I’m sure you could feed an LLM everything nostr:npub1rtlqca8r6auyaw5n5h3l5422dm4sry5dzfee4696fqe8s6qgudks7djtfs has ever said or tweeted, upload the result, and it would be almost by definition superior.


called it

https://allenfarrington.medium.com/gauge-theory-does-not-fix-this-625f98de3246


The internet is fucked.
nostr:nevent1qqszzgyl3egjt08xgzjmsq95erc7n7urlzg4v9yxd6t8xgwh8hnnnpcpzamhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuurjd9kkzmpwdejhgtczyq4n8v4vcmgmukff5eu8dfrmfqaqwrrprszn7pyglul3unx6nujv2qcyqqqqqqgdcyaqf


rarely, although it has been known to happen …


hope you enjoy!


Friday AMA is LOCKED IN 🔒

WHO: nostr:nprofile1qqsgym5l39dcr26p53fzy69jf8ng6qk2s9sgmm6k9fynem34llzuwkgprpmhxue69uhkummnw3ezuendwsh8w6t69e3xj730qyvhwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnndehhyapwwdhkx6tpdshsz9thwden5te0wfjkccte9ejxzmt4wvhxjme0dx60e2, professional investor and co-author of Bitcoin Is Venice, Only The Strong Survive, and other #Bitcoin classics

WHEN: Fri, Sept. 20, 11:00AM-12:00PM ET

WHERE: https://stacker.news/~AMA

ADD TO CALENDAR: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/event?action=TEMPLATE&tmeid=NTUzZnFlMzI1MjYxZGY5NDc0ZTMzOXFvajMgYmVud2Vocm1hbkBt&tmsrc=benwehrman%40gmail.com


yes


ASK ME LITERALLY ANYTHING EXCEPT THINGS I DON’T WANT TO ANSWER

nostr:note1708e9w20zvhvsk6nnl3gv7g03xs3ulxexfx76yjc6vh2eaqqgmqsnhkwjp


it actually occurred to me that Saif should host a debate


it’s an incredibly fiat mindset. to have real capital so financialized that you can only ever interact with securities, think that is deploying capital, and ultimately mistake capital for money.


Saylor is a fiat retard and you need to stop simping him. like right now. or like yesterday.

I may or may not choose to elaborate on this, but rn I’m both angry and busy, #sorrynotsorry.


The Nanny State-ification of America is getting truly ridiculous.
https://m.primal.net/KrDR.jpg


This really happened.
And it revealed everything.
nostr:nevent1qqsx4q3a4ly0hr757w5gu6gfc0s5r0v8us39qkfkzxjjc6ms5vxumycpzpmhxue69uhkummnw3ezumt0d5hsygq6lcx8fc7h0p8t4ya9u0a92jnwavqe9rgjwwdw3wjgxfuxsz8rd5psgqqqqqqsu2hn34


okay but what did you get for breakfast?


never heard of it but would read it fo sho!


Looks like no Nostr dev will be able to fly to Europe very soon :(


Crazy weekend but a common theme

- RFK Jr gives historic speech on censorship

- Telegram Founder arrested for not censoring his platform

- Simply Bitcoin censored and de-platformed on YouTube

It’s becoming clear that Nostr is the only way…


I HIGHLY recommend content creators start utilizing the wide variety of tools within the Nostr ecosystem.

If your content is on a centralized platform, it’s not your content, it’s theirs.

My workflow is simple:

I publish all my video content for nostr:npub10qrssqjsydd38j8mv7h27dq0ynpns3djgu88mhr7cr2qcqrgyezspkxqj8  to nostr:npub1w0rthyjyp2f5gful0gm2500pwyxfrx93a85289xdz0sd6hyef33sh2cu4x (built by nostr:npub1l2vyh47mk2p0qlsku7hg0vn29faehy9hy34ygaclpn66ukqp3afqutajft )

⚡ https://highlighter.com/walker

I pay for the data storage with #bitcoin on https://satellite.earth/cdn

Videos are automatically shared to other video-first Nostr clients like https://www.flare.pub when I publish on Highlighter, and I can further promote them using my Nostr clients of choice, like nostr:npub18m76awca3y37hkvuneavuw6pjj4525fw90necxmadrvjg0sdy6qsngq955 and nostr:npub12vkcxr0luzwp8e673v29eqjhrr7p9vqq8asav85swaepclllj09sylpugg

#GrowNostr by using Nostr.

nostr:npub1gu47n7fxfm4py48jktmu6tdqcvva4e87fntynuzzf62zxnw2e7tsc6907g let me know if you want any help getting set up — sorry this happened to you. https://i.nostr.build/tYqkNOivWa0BPVwA.jpg


This is one of the more exciting Nostr projects I’ve seen this week. A newsfeed that gives you multiple perspectives from different sources about a topic.

Powerful.

https://layer3.news/posts/subjects/all


Excellent find:  https://layer3.news/posts/subjects/technology

nostr:note15r9vlrjy0e7qkcj3jk2egmrj0jj4v36ds2edwts3fp72vgwqcwlqu5xfn7


I still don’t own a kazoo


I have not!


read everything by Scott. amazing mind. sadly just passed away too.


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

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

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

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


no, it’s German


I've just published the draft NIP to bring highly secure DM and group messaging to Nostr via the MLS protocol.

I've been studying this space for months now and after looking at a lot of different options, MLS (messaging layer security) stood out as the right way to approach solving DMs and group messages. It's highly scalable, an internet standard, and allows for graceful upgrading over time.

Done right – this NIP allows us to build extremely secure, uncensorable messaging clients that have no centralized coordinators or servers. Which is what I plan to do next. 😉

https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/pull/1427


mood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFp8mM1rvc8


I am now a strong advocate that all free relays should delete all non-metadata content (not kind 0, 3 and 10002) after 90 days.

Most users not only seem fine with it but don't really care about saving their notes at all. They are here for the moment and not to build a database of posts they can look back on. Those who are here to build content are already paying for relays.

Then all free relays should offer a paid option that simply keeps all posts for as long as the user pays. Relays can use the NOTIFY spec to warn users they are about to delete some of their stuff.

https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/pull/901


HI've noticed on Threads, Bluesky, and even some apps here on Nostr that I’m shown a lot more content from people I’m not following. This is often due to reposts, quote posts, or just the algorithms at work. While this content can be engaging and spark conversations, it’s often not healthy.

I see people posting obviously or maybe obliviously wrong things, which then get corrected and boosted, creating a vicious cycle. For example, someone mentioned considering a hyphenated name for their kids. I shared how my hyphenated name caused issues with computers, especially with international travel. This led to many calling me a bigot because the original poster was a queer woman. It’s odd because I’m queer myself, but it seems they felt an amab queer shouldn’t share personal experiences directly related to the topic.

I also saw clickbait articles about triathletes vomiting at the end of an Olympic triathlon, blaming it on a polluted river. Yes, the river is polluted, but triathletes often throw up at the end of races, and the swim was two hours before the nausea hit.

These issues occurred on Twitter too, but I didn’t experience it the same way there. I used Twitter daily from the moment Jack invited me and our coworkers onto the service, and for me, the conversations were healthier. I understand that many others had negative experiences, though.

On Nostr, I see zaps often rewarding hot takes and posts that signal membership in one group or another. This seems to exacerbate the issue, as people are incentivized to make posts that cater to specific in-groups rather than fostering genuine dialogue.

My worry is that maybe we’re actually doing worse with the new platforms. Is this something other people are seeing? How do we navigate this and foster healthier online conversations?


big if true


came with the flat. didn’t buy, just “got” 🤷♀


Helga von Schnitzelhauzen it is!
https://m.primal.net/JTIn.png


how do you know I didn’t borrow against bitcoin to finance it? cheeky little speculative attack … one might even call it … money laundering …


Fantastic tftc with nostr:npub1guh5grefa7vkay4ps6udxg8lrqxg2kgr3qh9n4gduxut64nfxq0q9y6hjy , nostr:npub1hxwmegqcfgevu4vsfjex0v3wgdyz8jtlgx8ndkh46t0lphtmtsnsuf40pf and nostr:npub1sfhflz2msx45rfzjyf5tyj0x35pv4qtq3hh4v2jf8nhrtl79cavsl2ymqt For. Monday morning.Remember, if you’re speculatively attacking fiat, you don’t rebalance and you don’t cash out. FEW. #bitcoin https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/tftc-a-bitcoin-podcast/id1292381204?i=1000661144132


yes but my marriage has just instaneously and tremendously improved.


so far just the one. what’s the bullish case for stacking? parallel washing?


haven’t named her yet, but really I should have, smh. and she’s a Bosch, so I guess should be German name?


little receptacle, but open to new ideas!


mood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7e7p_Stv6c


just got my first dishwasher. AMA.


Nostr serves as the credible backup plan for when governments seize or ban X.


I've just witnessed an https connection successfully established via nostr.

if you know, you know what this would mean

🤯🤯🌐🤯🤯


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

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


GM.

Today history is being made..

Guy on linkedin wrote another Bitcoin-is-a-ponzi piece.

nostr:npub1sfhflz2msx45rfzjyf5tyj0x35pv4qtq3hh4v2jf8nhrtl79cavsl2ymqt jumped in and got an HFSP tower rolling.

https://m.primal.net/JNlQ.png #linkedin #bitcoin #hfsp


mood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQLqBL6CwAw


yeah but you could have stimulated the economy.


I LOLed at this.

Anyway, goodnight. https://v.nostr.build/kZGmA.mp4


“Nostr balance” found a better name.

“NUT SACK”

How will you call having too much money?

nostr:note1rvr09sz24s5ywr4340k0j4edm229kwav52755qtsfqc5n04pgcxqke9cca


Good morning. Today is a good day. The US Government has agreed to release TDev on bail according to a letter filed on July 3rd.

TDev's defense makes incredibly smart arguments, stating that the US Government's prosecution is as "aggressive as it is expansive, akin to charging Apple for  cybercrimes commited with MacBooks. And like such a charge, it impermissibly uses criminal law to affect policy change. He is facing  charges he can, should, and will contest at trial."

Putting the charges in context, the defense states that "to stop Bitcoin wallet providers from providing privacy and security services, or to  force them to police their customers as banks must, the government has not sought to change the law, or even FinCEN’s guidance on it."

The letter states that the US Government "has prosecuted individuals operating a service they had every reason to  believe was legal, and stretched to decorate the charges with  decontextualized quotes that attempt to sketch out their agreement to  criminal transactions the government does not allege they knew about in  advance or explicitly agreed to".

Full article:
https://www.therage.co/william-hill-release-on-bail/


these are amazing! 😊


📣 first time dabbling in long form on nostr with highlighter!

in which I forensically analyse the history of the shitcoin industrial complex, pinpoint unscrupulous financiers as the primary culprits, and trace the narrative evolution to try to predict what scams and bullshit will likely come next. enjoy! 😘

nostr:naddr1qvzqqqr4gupzpqnwn7y4hqdtgxj9ygngkfy7drgze2qkpr002c4yj08wxhlut36eqqf9wetz95ej6vf5xy6njttrv4ex5uekhzzfww


_*_
_Prologue: this is a prose adaptation of a talk I gave to a private audience in Dubai and then tweaked slightly for a small conference in Sofia. I'm increasingly thinking it deserves a more general audience, and may be better suited to text anyway. This is probably not its final form, as the desired audience is tradfi capital allocators, hence a PDF is likely on the cards in the near future. For the time being, consider this a first draft, practising what it might look like as prose, and soliciting feedback from the good people of Nostr. Enjoy!_
_*_

The title of this essay means absolutely nothing. There is no such thing as “Web π” because there is no such thing as “Web 3”. It’s bullshit. It’s a scam.

Unfortunately, it has turned out to be extremely powerful bullshit and an extremely profitable scam, and so my goal in writing this essay is to give the reader the tools to navigate all of this and come out the other side without having been scammed or bullshat. In the spirit of not scamming and not bullshitting, I should be clear upfront about the intended readership of this essay, who I am to write it, and who it’s really about.

**Who Are You?**

I assume the reader is not a shadowy super-coder, but rather is a financial professional. This essay isn’t really for Bitcoiners, although if any read it, I hope they still find it interesting. Who I am really writing for are people coming to the space for the first time. Hopefully in your mind you are coming to the _Bitcoin _space, but if you think you are coming to the “crypto” space then this may be even more useful.

**Who Am I?**

I am the founder of a company that makes me not only highly biased but also flagrantly self-interested in the content I am promoting. I run a firm that invests in the Bitcoin ecosystem through a variety of different vehicles. I am not going to mislead you in the slightest in that my primary motivation is for you to allocate capital to us rather than to people I would call scammers and bullshitters. You should listen to them too and make up your own mind, or else what’s the point, really? How do you know I’m not scamming or bullshitting you? Exactly. Don’t trust. Verify.

In any case, that’s all assuming you want to “allocate capital” at all rather than just buy Bitcoin without a management fee. I’d like to think the primary difference is that I will be honest about that, and I’ll encourage you to understand as much as you can about what is going on and what you are doing (and if you are at all unsure, I would suggest you aren’t ready and you should just buy Bitcoin and learn) rather than bamboozle you with complete nonsense like “Web 3”.

**Who Is This About?**

It’s not at all about people _working in crypto_. Bitcoiners amongst the readership may be mildly irritated by me going on to give about as charitable an explanation of the role of these people as they have probably ever heard from somebody like me. This is really about _financiers_. It’s about the people who have used the mostly unrewarded efforts of developers, academics, entrepreneurs, and so on to siphon money from you to themselves, leaving a trail of useless tech and defrauded retail investors in their wake – and who will continue to do so if you continue to empower them.

**Why This Essay?**

We are at an interesting point in the development of the entirety of the “crypto” industry and I strongly suggest that people like you are going to be pitched all kinds of scams and bullshit in the coming months and years. If you have a little more background on what these people are really talking about, you will hopefully be able to avoid it.

My plan to help with that is presenting a short version and a long version of what blockchains are and are for, how they have historically been deployed in service of scams and bullshit, a high-level theory explaining the narrative evolution behind this sorry history, and a prediction for the near-term future of such shenanigans.

**What is a Blockchain For?**

A Blockchain is for sound, censorship-resistant, peer-to-peer digital money. It is not for anything else. If a blockchain is functional as money, it may be possible to also _use it _for other things. Some people find that interesting, some people find it infuriating, but don’t let that subtlety confuse you. It is not _for _arbitrary computation and storage or “decentralizing the internet” or running illegal securities rackets.

![](https://blossom.primal.net/b1d92a7d14fa94840ae95942e691c28603f0f30c81a7b4baf3745f68ef9deb96.png)

It is for money, plain and simple.

How does it achieve that? Proof of work and the difficulty adjustment. These are the innovations from which every other desirable property or feature flows. Proof of work enables censorship resistance. If somebody is trying to sell you on “proof of stake”: bullshit. The difficulty adjustment enables precise, predetermined, and _fair _issuance. If somebody is trying to sell you on a token they issue for free and without restriction: scam.

The problem Bitcoin solves is both economic and technical and the solution has material technical and economic merit. And it’s for this very specific and irreplicable reason the Bitcoin token has value. If this all sounds extreme to you, then I would suggest that your understanding of the topic is _extremely _misguided, that you are going to be _extremely bullshat and extremely scammed, _and you need to read this essay. That’s the short version.

**The Long Version**

I am sensitive to how extreme this all sounds. After all, hundreds of billions of dollars have been pumped into crypto, not Bitcoin – a huge amount of it is widely used, and many capable, honest, and brilliant people work in the industry. The reader will recall just above I said those people are not the target of my criticism. I’m not claiming they are all scammers and bullshitters. Sadly, I think it’s more likely they have been scammed and bullshat to some degree also.

I think I have some credibility in pointing this out because, as a VC in the Bitcoin space, I have increasingly seen founders telling me this themselves: that they originally bought into the hype in crypto and ended up wasting an enormous amount of time realizing their idea made no technical or economic sense in that context, so then they came to Bitcoin instead. You hear this one time and it’s an anecdote, but you hear it as many times as I have and it feels more like a representative sample.

What I want to cover next is as charitable a summary of the state of ex-Bitcoin crypto as I possibly can: my contention is that crypto has evolved into 4 rough categories: stablecoins, cryptography R&D, gambling, and scams. And these aren’t exclusive, to be clear; there is a lot of overlap, and, in fact, the overlap is arguably the key.

**Scams**

Scams are tokens, plain and simple. If somebody is trying to profit from the speculative price action of a token they have issued, they are scamming somebody. Maybe they are scamming you, maybe they are scamming retail investors, maybe they are scamming customers or suppliers – if such parties even exist in their cargo cult “business model”. There’s a scam in there somewhere.

However, it is rarely _just _a scam. There will almost always be components of stablecoins, R&D or gambling too. Hence these are worth really grappling with, taking seriously, giving credit to the extent it is due, but also analyzing critically.

My rough and high-level assessment of this breakdown of crypto is as follows, and I’ll explain what I mean by this below: stablecoins have economic merit but dubious technical merit; R&D has technical merit but no economic merit; and gambling sort of has merit but it depends how you interpret it. Obviously, scams have neither.

![](https://blossom.primal.net/132c0be779e6f9a372850dbb35aa18c03bbad06e0e4d27531b90f8e0142184e3.png)

**Stablecoins**

By “sort of technical merit” I mean that stablecoins have central issuers. You _can_ issue them as tokens on a blockchain but there’s not really much of a point. The issuer could just run a database connected to the internet with some straightforward signature schemes for transfers and it would make minimal operational difference. In fact, it would be cheaper and faster. _In fact, _you may as well run a Chaumian eCash mint (a decades-old innovation recently resurrected firmly within the _Bitcoin _space) such that your cheaper-and-faster-than-a-blockchain database also grants users transience and privacy rather than the public permanence of a blockchain.

The fact Tron is the most heavily used for stablecoins, in terms of settling the most value, is a testament to this point: it is barely even pretending not to be a database. This works as regulatory arbitrage given regulators think this is “innovation” because they are stupid.

That said, it is worth giving some credit here given the abject awfulness of fiat banking and payment rails with which stablecoins arguably most directly compete. Stablecoins are significantly more permissionless in their transfer than any fiat bank liability. And to attest to what seems like their most significant use case, they are permissionless in their _usership _in that only an internet connection and the right software is required rather than various discriminatory jurisdictional and compliance criteria.

However, what “sort of technical merit” ultimately boils down to, especially in comparison to Bitcoin, is: highly censorable _in their exogenous links and, therefore, their value_. The assets supposedly _backing_ stablecoins are (by definition) still within the fiat system, even if this novel transfer mechanism of the rights to withdraw them is not. There is frankly a bit of theatre involved in the so-called “decentralization” of stablecoins given shutting down the central issuer is all that is required to make the permissionlessly tradeable decentralized tokens go to zero and be technically unimpeded but functionally useless. The technical innovation of Bitcoin, in contrast, is easily understood in one sense as it being totally indifferent to this kind of attack.

On the other hand, by “economic merit” I mean that they are _extremely widely used and valued_ as a means of providing dollar shadow banking and often superior payment rails. Those in crypto often love pointing to this and many Bitcoiners tie themselves in knots trying to explain it away, whereas I see it as essentially unrelated to Bitcoin. Clearly there is a superficial connection, but you could create any superficial connection by “tokenizing” things for no particularly good _technical _reason. I think it’s a different industry entirely. It’s more like a subindustry within _fintech _– part banking, part payments – that for the time being relies on bamboozling regulators with all the nonsense I’m drawing attention to.

And good for them, frankly. If fiat banking isn’t going to be backed by real money anyway, then it _at least _ought to be permissionless. It should really be Chaumian eCash if it isn’t just Bitcoin, and it is regulation alone that makes it so awful in the first place. Making money usable and not a tool of dystopian control is, at this point, a political problem, not a technical one. Stablecoins are frankly a step in the right direction, especially insofar as they acclimatize users to digital assets. But I would still caution that they arguably don’t have sufficient technical merit to withstand what feels like an inevitable political attack …

**Cryptography R&D**

“Technical merit” for R&D is more or less self-explanatory, but the context is worth appreciating. It’s only really in crypto and mostly in Ethereum more specifically that people can permissionlessly experiment with arbitrarily complex cryptographic schemes that operate on real, enormous value. There are a lot of people who understandably find this attractive given their projects are essentially academic and trying out their ideas in the wild is more interesting, arguably more worthwhile, and certainly more fun than putting research essays on ArXiv or submitting them to a journal.

But … the value being manipulated is at best stablecoins and at worst baseless hype. If it isn’t a stablecoin then it probably exists in the first place because of either gambling or scams – and even there the line is very blurry.

**Gambling**

Gambling is an interesting lens to adopt on all this because it’s literally a trillion-dollar industry. And it’s real. It’s consensual; it’s not criminal; it’s legitimate economic activity that generates enormous profits for those who facilitate it well.

So, gambling has economic merit in that sense. But it’s tricky in this context how to characterize it because you could also argue it’s deeply dishonest gambling in that the gamblers don’t realize they are playing a negative sum game against the house. They think they are doing something akin to speculating on securities, which may be just as stupid depending on how it’s done, but at least has real economic utility and contributes to capital formation.

The difference here is that what is being speculated on _has no economic merit. _So, if that’s your gauge of merit, then here there is none. And it’s a very blurry line between this and an outright scam. Maybe the people involved _think _of what they are doing as amazing R&D, and maybe it’s inadvertently just a scam; maybe they know it’s all nonsense, but they think they can profit within the negative sum game because there are greater fools. In any case, I think gambling is a very helpful characterization of a lot of the behavior of the users and the real economic function of the industry.

There’s an interesting social component to all this because crypto people will often get mad at Bitcoiners because Bitcoiners tend not to care about either stablecoins or crypto R&D: they’ll say, why don’t you like stablecoins, they have clear economic merit? And the answer is they have dubious technical merit. Or, why don’t you like our next-gen Zero Knowledge scaling protocol, it has clear technical merit? And the answer is it has no economic merit.

If you’re happy with one but not the other, it’s easy to think of Bitcoiners as being closed-minded or dogmatic or whatever, but, ultimately, I think it’s just about discipline. What’s the point in being excited by something that half works, and that you know why will never fully work? So to be frank, a lot of this may be well-intentioned, but it’s kinda’ bullshit. It very probably ultimately rests on gambling and not at all whatever its stated purpose is … or it’s just a scam.

**How Did We Get Here?**

The following is by no means exhaustive and the framing is deliberately a little tongue-in-cheek. As well as being accurate _enough_ (if unavoidably biased), my goal here is primarily to set up my prediction for what is coming next.

**2015               reality: Ethereum launches             narrative: “the world computer”**

In 2015, Ethereum launched. The narrative here was that we are building “the world computer” and we can now have decentralized uncensorable computation. Never mind that anybody with a laptop has an uncensorable and decentralized computing device. And keep in mind this question of, “_what data might it ever be relevant to compute over in this manner (whatever that means in the first place)?” _The answer will become clearer and clearer …

**2016-17          reality: ICO bubble                           narrative: “Web 3” / “DApps”**

Regardless, at the end of 2015 we get the proposal and adoption of ERC20: a standard for issuing fungible tokens within Ethereum contracts, which is why in 2016 _but especially in 2017 _we get the ICO bubble. The narrative changes. Now we are concerned with “Web 2” companies being huge, powerful, and centralized. What if, instead, users could cooperatively own the application, control their own data, and participate in the economic upside that their usage is creating?

**2018-19          reality: crypto winter                       narrative: “mistakes were made”**

In 2018 this all falls apart, so don’t worry about it, moving on …

**2020-21          reality: defi summer                        narrative: “decentralized finance”**

By 2020 the narrative was different once again. It is more or less realized by this point that utility tokens make no technical or economic sense. You can’t introduce artificial scarcity in capital goods where there should be abundance and deflation and expect anybody to care, never mind to value your concoction. On the other hand, “securities” ought to be scarce and in some sense ought to function as tradeable ledger entries. Maybe they could be tokenized and computed on in a censorship-resistant and decentralized manner?

So, we get a boom in “defi” which, for what it’s worth, fellow Axiom co-founder Anders Larson and I predicted in our essay [_Only The Strong Survive_](https://www.axiombtc.capital/only), in September 2021, would be a complete disaster because, amongst a myriad of other illiterate insanities, there was approximately zero grounding of these securities in productive capital. The ecosystem was entirely self-referential – grounded _not even _in the questionable economic merit of stablecoins but firmly in gambling and scams; in leverage, rehypothecation, and securitization of precisely nothing whatsoever productive.

**2022               reality: shitcoinpocalypse                narrative: “mistakes were made”**

And we were absolutely right because in 2022 everything collapsed. First Terra/Luna imploded – a “defi” project which essentially presented to the world the argument that a fractional reserve bank issuing fiduciary media can literally never go bankrupt because it can always cover a deposit shortfall by issuing more equity. While briefly flirting with a capitalization of around _fifty f***ing billion dollars_, and endorsed and fawned over by all manner of illiterate charlatans with gigantic and unsuspecting audiences, this argument was eventually rejected by the market as utterly imbecilic, as analyzed by myself and Nic Carter in [_All Falls Down_](https://niccarter.info/wp-content/uploads/All-Falls-Down-Whitepaper-2022-06-11.pdf).

This triggered a credit contagion that soon after took down 3 Arrows Capital, Celsius, Voyager, BlockFi, and others. FTX limped along by what we now understand to be something like _defrauding their way out of debt_, but eventually also collapsed later that year. If _Only The Strong Survive _was a pre-mortem of all of this, then the reader may want to read [_Green Eggs And Ham_](https://www.axiombtc.capital/green), also by myself and Anders Larson, as a kind of post-mortem.

**2023-today    reality: Bitcoin multisigs                  narrative: “Bitcoin renaissance”**

And now a lot of this stuff is moving to Bitcoin. It is outside the scope of this essay to explain this in much detail but there have been a handful of developments in Bitcoin recently which, regardless of their intended purpose, seem to have as a collective side effect that a lot of these same shenanigans can now be implemented (or can _pretend _to be implemented) in a more Bitcoin-native context.

So, the new narrative is something like:

_“these things didn’t work, not because they are terrible ideas that collapse to moon math wrappers around gambling and scams under any remotely critical analysis, but rather because they weren’t on Bitcoin. But also, since it has only recently become possible to (at least pretend to) implement them on Bitcoin, they are now worthwhile. We have wandered in the wilderness but learned our lessons and found the promised land._”

![](https://blossom.primal.net/cc8d6ddb40734ccd4b4ba502c98890761ef673b5f793d7a43efcb86884018c84.png)

**Technical and Economic Merit**

Let’s consider all this through the lens of technical and economic merit once again. Or rather, the alleged merit given the stated goal. Ignore for now whether there is any merit:

**2015               technical goal: new computing paradigm               economic goal: x% of GDP?**

The original idea of “crypto” allegedly has the merit of the next revolution in computing. Goodness knows how big that market is; probably a decent chunk of global GDP – if it meant anything, which it doesn’t.

**2016-17          technical goal: disrupting company formation       economic goal: y% of S&P?**

ICOs then become a little bit more specific. Now they are merely disrupting how we organize companies. What’s that worth? Some portion of the value of the companies that can now be decentralized and tokenized I guess? Who knows …

**2018-19          nothing to see here**

Nothing happened then, don’t worry about it.

**2020-21          technical goal: decentralize finance            economic goal: z% of NYSE, CME, ISDA?**

Defi becomes more specific _again_. Now we are merely tokenizing financial contracts, expanding access, removing middlemen, and so on. So that should probably be worth some percentage of capital markets activity?

**2022               nothing to see here**

Oops, never mind …

**2023-today    technical goal: now it’s on Bitcoin!             economic goal: i% of … Bitcoin?**

… and now it’s on Bitcoin apparently.

**In Hindsight ...**

I think the most amusing analysis of all this is as follows: it starts off completely insane, it gets more and more restrained each time – you could cheekily argue it starts to make more and more sense – but it also gets closer to Bitcoin every time. It’s clearly narrowing in on just: Bitcoin.

This is people realizing, painfully, over decades, what blockchains are for! They are not for “decentralizing everything” They are for censorship-resistant, sound, peer-to-peer digital money.

![](https://blossom.primal.net/71e22347d8305bcb628698fc32fcdbc392f84fe006a77d896e8c502b67553583.png)

And I think this is _also _why we get the current state of crypto from earlier in the essay. As it starts to make more and more sense (by getting closer and closer to Bitcoin) you have realizations like the following: digital gift vouchers for artificially scarce and extremely expensive computation aren’t money, so we need “real money” in here for it to have economic merit, so you get stablecoins. Also, well we have a rich programming environment that seems technically interesting but also the severe technical handicap of being unable to do even a billionth of a billionth of a billionth of all the computations in the world, so you get crypto R&D. These emerge as a kind of patch, and they have _some _merit in isolation, whereas the long-term trajectory is actually just to converge on Bitcoin.

It’s an open and fascinating question if there are any learnings from these that can still be transplanted to Bitcoin. For stablecoins, this strikes me as less clear, given the dubious technical merit is introduced by using a blockchain _at all_, not just a blockchain other than Bitcoin. However, efforts to create Bitcoin balances (tokenized or otherwise) that are stable relative to some external price are to be applauded, if still heavily scrutinized for what technical merit they _really _have.

It seems far more likely that crypto R&D will prove useful in a Bitcoin context to some or other degree, and in this case the economic merit _is in fact_ solved by moving to Bitcoin, provided the necessary technical merit can be mimicked. At the time of writing, this is a source of both hope and dread: hope given the possibility of viable avenues of development (although still highly uncertain); dread given how early steps in this direction are already being misrepresented in the pursuit of bullshit and scams. I will return to both shortly.

**Narrative Evolution**

Back to the table just above, I want to make three quick observations that tie together my entire argument and get us to the end of the essay:

![](https://blossom.primal.net/cc8d6ddb40734ccd4b4ba502c98890761ef673b5f793d7a43efcb86884018c84.png)

Firstly, the bubbles always follow the price of Bitcoin. Hopefully I don’t need to include a price chart for the reader to grasp this immediately.

Secondly, it’s important that the narrative always changes. Absolutely ungodly amounts of money were raised for this crap following the_ Bitcoin _bull runs of 2017 and 2021. The people doing this couldn’t point to the previous absolute disaster, so they had to spin something along the lines of: “_we learned our lessons and we’ve refined the use case_.” This should sound familiar from just above.

Thirdly, _however_, regardless of whatever refinement they’ve come up with, the consequence of the new “narrative” is _always,_ “buy my token”.

Always.

It doesn’t matter what buzzword salad is in the middle. It’s always “_Bitcoin is cool, xyz, fughayzi fughahzi, buy my token.”_

This is why I am very much tempted to not care so much about developers, academics, entrepreneurs, and so on, and in fact for my null hypothesis to be that they are more likely to have been victims than perpetrators. I don’t think they even end up in a position to contribute without the key group whom I do blame. When you put all these pieces together, what I think falls out of this analysis is as follows:

_**The entire cycle of shitcoinery can be traced to unscrupulous financiers convincing capital allocators who don’t know any better, in a bull market that, yes, Bitcoin is cool, but what they are doing is related, cooler, and that they deserve a fee. **_

Let us label this the _Capital Cycle Theory of Shitcoinery_. I think that everything else about which one might want to complain is downstream of this core realization.

**Avoiding It**

Given everything I’ve covered this is simple and this is pretty much the end of the essay.

You need to be aware of why this is happening now. If it hasn’t happened to you already (intended readership in the capital allocation business, that is) I guarantee it’s about to: with ETFs and the halving just past, we seem to be starting a Bitcoin bull run, these people have already raised ridiculous amounts of money on scams and bullshit that have mostly imploded. They may have lost a lot of money, or they may even have dumped on retail and got an excellent “return”. But in any case, they need a new narrative.

It's _possible _they have a viable narrative around stablecoins, R&D, both, and that they are as wary of scams as I have suggested here that they should be. I don’t want to insult anybody who merely has a different investment thesis to me if they are otherwise reasonable in their outlook and honest in their dealings.

However, if they are only now realizing how pointless and disingenuous every preceding crypto narrative has been after 7 years and hundreds of billions of dollars – or if they still don’t realize it _at all_; if their track record shows they were deeply involved, handsomely rewarded, and yet created nothing of lasting value; if they say things like “the builders are coming back to Bitcoin”: be very, very suspicious. Be on the lookout for tokens, which is to say, be on the lookout for scams.

What is especially frustrating is that the technical spin of the "layer twos" that are all the rage at the time of writing, that "the builders are coming back to Bitcoin" to build, and that you, the capital-allocating reader, will almost certainly be pitched, is in and of itself pretty reasonable. They just don't require tokens and they don't require gambling to support the token prices. What they do require is _sound adherence to Bitcoin's technical and economic merit. _At the very least, they require honest communication about the design trade-offs so far and planned for, and what, if any, economic and technical merit is left over after these trade-offs have been made.

Narrative aside, the _reality _of 99% of these projects is that they are private execution environments tied to multisigs custodying user deposits. Which is to say, on the one hand, that they are cargo culting "crypto R&D" from Ethereum that isn't technically possible in Bitcoin in order to feign technical merit, and on the other, that _they aren't layer twos at all. _Once again, they may as well be Chaumian eCash mints, except for the fact that this would [make the intended token scam all but impossible to pull off](https://twitter.com/Rob1Ham/status/1772253018978680924).

Casey Rodarmor, creator of the Ordinals protocol, recently joked on the _Hell Money _podcast he co-hosts, responding to the idea that "_everybody is building an L2 now_":

"_It's the same sad sack playbook as on Ethereum being recapitulated on Bitcoin. That's how you get a VC check on Ethereum. They are all glorified multisigs, so they are like, "hey let's port our glorified multisig to Bitcoin and get a VC check." I was talking to a friend of mine who is working on an interesting project, an open-source analyzer that does transaction clustering, and I was like, "maybe you could do this in this way and raise some VC money," and he said, "yeah, okay, but what's the point in raising VC money?" And I said, "no, no, no, this is the end! This is the goal! You raise VC money and then you cut yourself checks from that VC money until it runs out and then you raise more at a 10x valuation. This is the new economy, guys!_"

The 1% that are legitimately trying to bring the learnings from crypto R&D to Bitcoin in a technically and economically sound manner will hopefully win in the long run (and even this is somewhat speculative at the time of writing) but will likely get little to no attention amidst this bull market flurry of scams and bullshit.

Axiom will do its best to source and invest in these companies (we already have!) but we are resigned to it being a much more difficult sell to capital allocators in light of the Capital Cycle Theory of Shitcoinery. To be brutally honest, this entire essay can fairly be considered cope on my part in light of having lost this battle in the past and facing up to the very real prospect of losing it in the near future too. Oh well, at least I tried.

**Wrapping Up**

The essence of the Capital Cycle Theory of Shitcoinery is that the problems I’ve described ultimately come from bamboozling people _just like you_ with technical sounding nonsense like “Web 3” so you think it’s all a lot more complicated than it really is. Just buy Bitcoin. That’s certainly the first thing you should do anyway, and it might be the only thing you ever need to do.

If you really, _really_ want to take the extra risk of investing in the Bitcoin ecosystem, the team at Axiom would be happy to speak with you. But we are never going to talk you out of buying Bitcoin. There is no world in which Bitcoin does poorly and we do well, or in which we promise something “better than Bitcoin,” and there’s no point in engaging with us at all if you don’t already believe most of this.

If that’s of interest to you, we’d love to talk. If not, just buy Bitcoin. In any case: fair warning, we are heading into a Bitcoin bull market and the scams and the bullshit are coming. Good luck avoiding them.

_Allen Farrington, June 2024_
![](https://blossom.primal.net/ad4250f90a0537fae95f4daaff4897296427d7aa13a0855716e5d0c1bb85dc09.png)

Or, How To Avoid Being Scammed And Bullshat


mood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhYEWrtX7YA


Fiat is a retarded experiment that is evidently failing. “Why does anybody still need to be convinced?!”
Must be the best talk of nostr:npub167n5w6cj2wseqtmk26zllc7n28uv9c4vw28k2kht206vnghe5a7stgzu3r by nostr:npub1sfhflz2msx45rfzjyf5tyj0x35pv4qtq3hh4v2jf8nhrtl79cavsl2ymqt Should have been on during Expo days.

Hilarious how Twitter is being retarded and shadow banning it.

https://youtu.be/FMNy9e7r41Y?si=oFyyp3P8yvM4oUpc


fiat is retarded

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMNy9e7r41Y


(once I get a piano)


gonna learn this on the piano


mood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aatr_2MstrI


It is politically incorrect to use the word #retarded, which is why I am using it! nostr:npub1sfhflz2msx45rfzjyf5tyj0x35pv4qtq3hh4v2jf8nhrtl79cavsl2ymqt #BTCPrague 2024

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


I have no idea what a “beach cruiser” is but I can tell from the vibe here that this is good news all round and I’m happy for you.


cosigning the shit out of this. the most coherent thing to confuse the shit out of people still trapped in a “left vs right” framework would be for Bernie to also endrose it and implicitly ally with Trump, given he (seemingly alone on the national stage) represents what the Democrats used to be when they had actual beliefs.

finger in the air guesstimate puts 70% of elected reps and 90% of dems in the same “party” that you may as well just call “the regime”, never mind “neocon”.

they don’t have “politics” in the sense you might find intellectually stimulating to debate besides their own power and wealth. Bernie actually does (even if you think some of it is a bit nuts) and Trump is arguably even more entertaining: he is pure chaos exposing these fault lines.

I have no idea where I was going with this ramble besides wanting to land on: Trump endorsing Bitcoin was inevitable. embrace it and shame any dems with a moral compass to one-up him and support it even harder. then sit back and enjoy the collapse of the GAE 👍

nostr:note1msn94dg8eelek5kpch3wxw0zet3tu6w2yfrr3tf2mhzwlpram0qqkz6ang


I get it, and I agree.

But I also think Trump did and continues to do something of a historically enormous value which in time will have to be recognized and deserves support -- liquidating the Neocon wing of the Republican Party.

This has forced their twins in the Democrat Party to unmask themselves ad the interventionist, imperialist, incestuous partners of Big Money.

Everybody correctly identifies Bush, Cheney, etc. as Neocon, but few do the same with Clinton, Obama, etc. to the point that we do not even have a term for them (because the Neocon movement was also religious and socially conservative).

The reality is that they are two factions of exactly the same people, each infiltrating one of the two electoral options Americans insist they can only have. But now they are lame, only one of the two legs is standing. Hence the hysteria.
nostr:note1sxmtktf7lttn47wyazhp6aaqelm72s70f0ykvv7q2flvmnurrqgqr5wxyh


There is no red.
There is no blue.
There is the State.
And there is you.

“If there is a point to be made about US politics, it’s that it doesn’t matter whether the man in alleged charge of the country is an army-dodging goon that can’t figure out how to use binoculars, a progressive in t-shirts campaigning for unity and peace while bombing the life out of Somalians with automated drone warfare, or a literal dementia patient. Voting for Trump may temporarily muffle the echo haunting that empty space between your ears as you convince yourself to at least have done something to fulfill your imaginary patriotic duties, but it can’t change the moral corruption inherent to US politics – and it sure won’t change anything for #Bitcoin .” — nostr:npub1mznweuxrjm423au6gjtlaxmhmjthvv69ru72t335ugyxtygkv3as8q6mak

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/orange-man-good-selling-out-on-the-campaign-trail-


smoothness suggests a continuum whereas you can have infinitely divisible rational dust too 🤷♀


all true, but nonetheless an intriguing and surely positive development that now the good guys can do the buying …


nostr:npub1sfhflz2msx45rfzjyf5tyj0x35pv4qtq3hh4v2jf8nhrtl79cavsl2ymqt and nostr:npub1au23c73cpaq2whtazjf6cdrmvam6nkd4lg928nwmgl78374kn29sq9t53j I think there has never been a debate about infinity and its different degrees on Nostr.

Shall we get the ball rolling?


Giacomo is a poopy face constructivist. mic drop. the end.


brb figuring out how to define “almost” in terms of technically rigorous epsilon-delta algebra


“there are almost infinite numbers”

- nostr:npub1l2vyh47mk2p0qlsku7hg0vn29faehy9hy34ygaclpn66ukqp3afqutajft

😂😂😂


Today is the dev/hack/day  nostr:npub167n5w6cj2wseqtmk26zllc7n28uv9c4vw28k2kht206vnghe5a7stgzu3r! 🧑💻

Here's our guide to learning about Blockstream Research innovations and the teams building alongside us, such as Greenlight,  nostr:npub1psm37hke2pmxzdzraqe3cjmqs28dv77da74pdx8mtn5a0vegtlas9q8970, and  nostr:npub1mu7nv2jkaq4xausnn098xc8tp3gzgf2w5r2cj68x8dnns0rktmysnsj5cl. This guide also covers #Bitcoin layer-2 projects like Core Lightning, Liquid, and Fedimint.

Wednesday 12 @ 9:30am: Lightning innovator Tony Klaus kicks off with a talk on constructing "Stable Channels", pushing the boundaries of what is possible with Core Lightning in the Prague East room, upstairs.

https://x.com/BTCPrague/status/1787104967125570013

Wednesday 12 @ 10:30am: Prolific contributor and Core Lightning wizard  nostr:npub1wg2m9ku823y5l5699dlj6294dc3cvwu4g34ldrtelxq20t27clxsd7dzaw presents “Lampo: A New Design of Lightning Node” at Prague West room, upstairs.
Catch up with the project here and be ready to go deep. ⬇

https://x.com/PalazzoVincenzo/status/1799145900314386869

We’ll zap sats for any cool images on Nostr from the dev/hack/day too! ⬇
https://x.com/Blockstream/status/1800496066711953410

Wednesday 12 @ 11:10am:** Blockstream collaborator Eric Sirion and his team will be hosting a workshop on "Getting Started with Fedimint" in the Vienna room, upstairs.

https://x.com/BTCPrague/status/1798338988719112625

Wednesday 12 @ 11:40am: Bitcoiner and Firmware Engineer Ledger, Salvatore Ingala, delves into "Entropy, Miniscript, and Hardware Wallets" at the Prague East room, upstairs. Salvatore has a wealth of insights into Miniscript, being one of the first to implement it on Ledger.

Get primed on Miniscript, an innovation originating from Blockstream Research with Andrew Poelstra. 👇
https://x.com/Blockstream/status/1795406722280083911

Have you seen the Blockstream BTCPrague guide?
https://x.com/Blockstream/status/1800496034252271786

Wednesday 12 @ 2:10pm: Discuss the future of Lightning with the ones building it!

Join:  nostr:npub1ey6qdmvzcgcsr883m9nspzz0mm037l26xtardzcskfsvc6gc7jssm9szvp from  nostr:npub1mu7nv2jkaq4xausnn098xc8tp3gzgf2w5r2cj68x8dnns0rktmysnsj5cl, Christian Decker Lead at Greenlight,  nostr:npub18hxp27srqnkzd6snrg85u4mw9kn8lawxdxqff8z4h4lshvd4a7ssmtxks4 dev  nostr:npub1psm37hke2pmxzdzraqe3cjmqs28dv77da74pdx8mtn5a0vegtlas9q8970, and  nostr:npub1q5sah9f3p9kl7uqdeaqskqwmg74ktxx70e0093dzh4lpzcp3t0mqzxky65 from  nostr:npub1getal6ykt05fsz5nqu4uld09nfj3y3qxmv8crys4aeut53unfvlqr80nfm,  nostr:npub1pumdyz7qfu0suamv4nrl0vcg574dtl5mwazva6nyjxhpwc4ccxxqca3ane evangelist Lightning Labs in the Prague East room, upstairs.

Wednesday 12 @ 4:00pm: Join Jesse De Wit in the Berlin room, upstairs for a workshop on the  nostr:npub1mu7nv2jkaq4xausnn098xc8tp3gzgf2w5r2cj68x8dnns0rktmysnsj5cl SDK that makes use of Greenlight’s node service.

Catch up on what’s possible in Breez’s latest blog. ⬇
https://x.com/Breez_Tech/status/1799095520184398108

Wednesday 12 @ 6:00pm: Join  nostr:npub18hxp27srqnkzd6snrg85u4mw9kn8lawxdxqff8z4h4lshvd4a7ssmtxks4 from  nostr:npub1psm37hke2pmxzdzraqe3cjmqs28dv77da74pdx8mtn5a0vegtlas9q8970 as he showcases "Boltz Taproot Swaps" in the Berlin room, upstairs. Learn how to master Bitcoin's layered architecture from one of the top developers in the space.

https://x.com/BTCPrague/status/1783148957293580421


Haha she got community noted and told she was unethical 🤣 https://image.nostr.build/193ae95744390a68eaa31cca61a30bcb7ca5903973efd8b87a3de0e150be01b2.jpg


favorite activity is definitely hanging out with allen 👍


YES


fuck msm. doxing devs needs to stop


BI made a big deal about  nostr:npub1sg6plzptd64u62a878hep2kev88swjh3tw00gjsfl8f237lmu63q0uf63m sending Fiatjaf14 BTC but didn't even link to the document showing where  nostr:npub180cvv07tjdrrgpa0j7j7tmnyl2yr6yr7l8j4s3evf6u64th6gkwsyjh6w6 has been sending funds to developers since he received the funds. https://highlighter.com/npub180cvv07tjdrrgpa0j7j7tmnyl2yr6yr7l8j4s3evf6u64th6gkwsyjh6w6/note1lqt46damr5vrpwyuj63mdzrekg0nmkual0evrr73uspmz67ewdgqgjl0cz


- short riot, long bitcoin
- insanely, hilariously risky hedge
- spot-on analysis of why public miners are horrific investments
- (probably unintentionally) massively bullish on future of mining re: decentralization and censorship resistance
- trade as a whole closes the loop on a beautiful speculative attack

…

- 99% of bitcoin twitter seems to have seen “public miners are stupid, we are short” and lost their minds because they can’t read or think.


what they *actually said* is incredibly bullish for bitcoin but most bitcoiners appear to have reading comprehension difficulties so they think it’s bearish, stupid, or both.


nah probably not


I strongly recommend just reading (shock! horror!) the short report. it’s the most bullish thing I’ve seen in a long time:

https://www.kerrisdalecap.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/RIOT-Kerrisdale.pdf


this kerrisdale (hedge fund) thing is honestly the best litmus test I think I’ve ever seen in this space 😂


the antizap: for when a note is so bad I get your sats.


The US government hates you. Get you fat and then bleed you dry.
https://m.primal.net/IVdG.jpg
https://m.primal.net/IVdH.jpg


Philosophy... https://image.nostr.build/07734b01438889f096078b65fa2639cdb0b159ea6c1f1da4258a53b3226b65a2.jpg


I thought the new Wasabi release was just a coordination switching feature. It's way better than that.

Wasabi coordinator discovery based on nostr. Talk about unstoppable coordination.

Well done  nostr:npub1klkk3vrzme455yh9rl2jshq7rc8dpegj3ndf82c3ks2sk40dxt7qulx3vt and  nostr:npub1y24gz5gwucl79vtv4ctwpysl0r5m4xyzu2rgulnr44ks3t5mt92q4nz2ad

nostr:note14d548drt84awqvc697kdg6ccy4fzhwc3xc60fc9a9qtctm6kszmqpljp5v


good thing I didn’t do that then?


combination of the godawful WBD and a flurry of private conversations people have felt compelled to relate in its wake.


whether you believe the “spook” memes or not, Saylor is so clearly using his influence to pull up the ladder behind him it baffles me he still has any simps left.

and fml it’s clear he doesn’t even understand wtf what he’s talking about whenever he tries to put forward the most palatable version of this take he can come up with.

stripped of “spacetime laser energy” trimmings, his actual take is: “ossify now, scale with custodians, number go up if you’re already in.”

that’s not an entirely unreasonable position, but it needs to be identified more clearly, weighed up mindfully of his technical illiteracy around consensus and forks, and argued against more forcefully in light of these realisations.


I think it has to start in my own little sphere. Removing as much bureaucracy and system depots I can. Otherwise you wind up trying to control things you can’t. I’m trying to change what I can.
But if everyone did that the system would crumble


okay but how do you know how much hasn’t been identified?


FOLLOW US IN ALL THESE SILOS
https://m.primal.net/IRsG.jpg


the saddest part of all this is that anybody cares what saylor thinks in the first place  🤦♀


it’s not artificial intelligence, it’s natural stupidity


So he did do it

There is the source

🤣


Nostr be like:

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


Financial consolidation is a fiat psyop.

Ecash can return banking back to its smallest common denominator.

Payments and the lower functions of finance will be completely commoditized. Interoperability and the absence of friction or barriers to entry will drive the market towards efficiency.

Where protocols attempt to eliminate trust, markets seek to align it.


vitalik?


mood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRz2MxhAdJo


- get thrown in prison


Good evening Nostr ✌🏻

Ecash is a virus

It is the purest manifestation of money as data.

It will permeate everything.


Alright assholes I'm back in this bitch because I've had it with the Twitter shithole censoring my links and telling me i cant say fuck, no idea if anyone is reading this but if you do read nostr:npub15dnln6cukw3yrflnv3hnrntdt9amh0uw466u6tns05ymqp3nal4qzz3lfc 's fantastic new piece speaking to US regulators on open-source arrests:

https://www.therage.co/us-officials-sour-on-biden-war-on-privacy/


zactly


There are many users who are not used to posting, they like to read. They may not post for several months. They just like nostr and they are paying attention to the future of #nostr . They will always like the posts they like. Don't ignore them, they are also active users. 🪽💜🪽


the establishment is scared of my truths!


Video live now

nostr:npub10qrssqjsydd38j8mv7h27dq0ynpns3djgu88mhr7cr2qcqrgyezspkxqj8 x nostr:npub1sfhflz2msx45rfzjyf5tyj0x35pv4qtq3hh4v2jf8nhrtl79cavsl2ymqt
https://youtu.be/J9RCKfeKe3k nostr:note17q2t3r8kus8xvuwszqp25nmxutl5cg5ta8rdtf6c48u80f75na4qs4whx4


idk man he shitcoined real hard


a bit depressing as an answer, but during covid, that a frightening number of people will do whatever they are told and then rationalize it post hoc, no matter how completely insane or evil the instructions are.


“bridging to other protocols” needs a trigger warning. I just threw up a little in my mouth.


is that a question? if so, I reject it.


Interviewing nostr:npub1sfhflz2msx45rfzjyf5tyj0x35pv4qtq3hh4v2jf8nhrtl79cavsl2ymqt primarily involves him rejecting the premise of your question 😂

nostr:npub10qrssqjsydd38j8mv7h27dq0ynpns3djgu88mhr7cr2qcqrgyezspkxqj8 #Titcoin https://v.nostr.build/lL3YB.mp4


mood

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


We heard you guys like nuts


stay humble!


mood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFAKpP_c8Ns


Can't be overstated how high signal this podcast was. Ryan Dhruv and Allen do the usual & eloquently analyze the state of bitcoin and where we're going from here.

Serious knowledge dropped.

Bullish.

We're gonna win.

 nostr:npub1uatf9mr3za8xnr0370gl2acc2k7vfeh9dpyf6t426jyasyry4nnqe7n24e  nostr:npub1sfhflz2msx45rfzjyf5tyj0x35pv4qtq3hh4v2jf8nhrtl79cavsl2ymqt

nostr:note1yu26pxw4h282x47tfxya2n7jwksxm5d7edfezjwz9uelh9wa834q2vy0jx


new Axiom article by nostr:npub1uatf9mr3za8xnr0370gl2acc2k7vfeh9dpyf6t426jyasyry4nnqe7n24e, Dhruv Bansal, and myself!

https://www.axiombtc.capital/stack


stay humble, stack kids.


YEAH!

suck it mrs allen


kids? bearish. great^9 grandkids!


or just whenever you try to post a light mode screenshot your app quits and deletes itself. that way people really learn their lesson.


YOU’RE A SUBSET OF PI


it’s like pi.

few.


mrs allen: "how much is bitcoin now?"

me: "60 or so, I think. I try not to know the answer to that to the extent I can avoid finding it out, though."

mrs allen: "you know that doesn't make you as interesting as you think it does, right?"


wtfhappenedin1871

https://cdn.mises.org/principles_of_economics.pdf


In five years Saylor and the loudest mouthpieces at Bitcoin Magazine will be leading the charge to increase block size. They’ll say it’s needed to accommodate all the great new things (spam) they’ve put on chain.

They’ll reduce the decentralization by making impractical for plebs to run a node.

They’ll claim it’s for the better for #bitcoin when what they really care about it ROI.


Microstrategy's Orange Decentralized Identity (DID:BTC) project is basically DID:ION, but it stores changes to the DID Document JSON as an OP_RETURN in the blockchain itself instead of on IPFS.

There is a coding scheme to declare changes to existing JSONs and store them as new spend transactions. The DID:BTC:<address> references the creation event. To reassemble the complete document, follow all spends and apply each change to the DID Document as specified.

It's cool that it is decentralized, but this is like Ordinals. The use of the chain for every change can be quite data-heavy.

The funniest thing is Microstrategy demonstrating the use of DIDs to sign regular e-mails. Once you use DIDs to sign/verify, you can use any other DID method, including DID:NOSTR or DID:MYCOMPANY. They are all equally "decentralized". :)

What Saylor clearly doesn't understand is that DIDs are already decentralized by definition. Adding a blockchain method doesn't make it more decentralized. The user's choice of method is the decentralization feature (like choosing which relays you want to use).


content warning: nerdy bitcoin thoughts after a day of btcplusplus.dev

If we had some form of covenants we could have hundreds of L2s instead of just a few that barely work. Covenants are not spooky. They just mean being able to look at information of the transaction in the script that unlocks bitcoin for spending.

Before I didn’t really care about transaction introspection but many smarter bitcoiners are starting to convince me otherwise.

We could have channel factories that would solve many lightning onboarding problems, not to mention replacing the “i steal all your money because you restored from backup wrong” to “i just fix the channel state”.

It would also enable non-interactive versions of Ark and would open up tons of potentially more efficient L2s that make onboarding onto bitcoin easier and safer.

With op_txhash and other introspection proposals you could do “stacking”, a way for anyone to take a bunch of transactions and make a more efficient bundle translation to reduce fees, which will be increasingly important when fees get higher. This can be seen as a less hacky way to do sighash flags.

rusty’s great script restoration with a proper op budget has played a huge role in my shift of thinking, things like op_cat can be re-enabled, fixing the concerns which prompted satoshi to disable it at the last minute.

You can bizarrely get introspection from op_cat itself in a super inefficient way, but if we end up fixing script ideally we would just do something smarter like #lnhance

I can’t help but thinking of the future risks to bitcoin in a high fee environment if we don’t have tools to deal with it.

This is all theoretical of course, as engineers all we can do is come up with the best possible solution, ultimately its up to the node runners if they think its worth the opportunity to fix these problems.


Soon going to launch the first multi-currency Cashu ecash wallet as a progressive web app. So stoked about this, here is an exclusive preview for you Nostr!

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


lift the price!


E-commerce with E2EE DM’s between buyer/seller may be the killer app.

No data leaks, no hacked 3rd parties, no selling your email to others who spam you, no worries.

Email and credit cards are work, lighting and nostr DM’s are easy, secure, and private.


So turns out that whole “First Amendment” thing is kind of a big deal, huh?


you can just pick them at random. it doesn’t matter what they say.


yeah pretty much. 60 hour stream of consciousness AND SEND!


mrs allen: “proofreading is for pussies. hit send and let’s go!”


I feel for ya, U.S. based plebs. Let's use the current events as a motivating opportunity to focus on building out the permissionless aspect of what Satoshi gave to us. Onwards 🤘

nostr:note1ygxl2etkwf3437gf3z002q3pjqvv7gpnlg0l7u4eva7w9zem6t6sk4uzaz


even this is too optimistic. “is an MSB” is not a meaningful relation. this is about threats to state power, not philosophy and linguistics. what matters is what actions will get you thrown in a box, not the arguments you make while they are throwing you.


mfers out here pretending the US Government is rational, fair, and will do what it said it will do 😂


“Phoenix obviously is not a MSB”

where are you getting this from? nobody has the slightest fucking clue what is and is not an MSB because the “rules” are designed to protect a cartel and punish competition. rational people react to the credibility of physical threats, not to words written down somewhere that conveniently contradict these threats.


anybody giving ACINQ any shit whatsoever can kindly go fuck themselves 👍

nostr:note1dvh8qaxfaawnau68qle3thxvz3vx5jsyttuzxnd4279an7ykk3vqxhv4ph


To be fair though, this is a fight the Americans have to do themselves. It's not up to foreign companies to resist and face prison to fight against laws the American people have voted for, and continue to vote for.

It's entirely up to the American people to change their government themselves, and very cowardly of them to demand foreign companies fight a fight they're not willing to fight themselves.

If Americans aren't going to stand up for themselves, wtf should anyone else?

All these people abusing Phoenix, calling them cowards, why aren't they abusing their government?  Is it because their government will do to them what they are doing to children protesting at universities if they dare complain?


put “money laundering” in google ngram and let the psyop sink in.


If you think an LSP is “obviously not an MSB” you’ve never spoken to a lawyer with any sense at all. It may not be an MSB, and I hope it’s not an MSB, and I think it’s probably not an MSB, but speaking with any certainty about this is absolutely impossible. The law and regulations about this are not even remotely clear and do not consider any kind of system like bitcoin, let alone lightning.

Don’t talk shit about others avoiding substantial personal legal risk.


mood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhYEWrtX7YA


jfc crypto has absolutely broken people’s brains wrt what “capital allocation” actually is.

I don’t wanna “leak” a conversation fairly assumed to be confidential (although they aren’t on nostr so the risk is minimal) but fml it’s so bad out there guys 😢


In other words; scores, ratings and reviews can and should be dynamic, across the entire web.


Big day!! https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/24/block-now-lets-square-merchants-convert-a-part-of-their-daily-sales-to-bitcoin/


mood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxrorclF18Y


ALAN. WALKER. ONLY. MAKES. BANGERS.

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


sir this is an Arby’s


I'm not here on Nostr because I run away from Twitter. I'm here because I'm in search for an internet as it once used to be.

I'm a hacker who fucking hates that social media is in the hands of private companies. I remember using IRC and meeting likeminded anons online. I remember what the internet utopia felt like. People who didn't care what your name or status is, people who aren't interested in sharing their boring holiday pics with random strangers online. I'm not interested in what politicians and influencers have to say. I don't care about the latest mainstream trend that's going viral.

I want random weird interesting smart people around me who share their ideas in a free and open space that isn't controlled by anyone.

That's all I'm looking for. There aren't many such spaces on the internet.


Ok. Been meaning to publish this for a little while now.

I think reviews are an extremely underrated / under explored design space for application that want to leverage Nostr (in particular, the social graph).

In this essay, the first of a series I want to publish on nostr:npub1w0rthyjyp2f5gful0gm2500pwyxfrx93a85289xdz0sd6hyef33sh2cu4x, I break down:

- how reviews drive commerce
- despite their being broken / fake / easily gamed
- how the internet originally won
- what’s needed to make the internet functional again (upgraded stack)
- how this upgraded stack makes a whole new design spaces possible
- how ONE of the many things we’ll fix is reviews
- how we’re going about it with a project we’re calling Satlantis

https://highlighter.com/npub1dtgg8yk3h23ldlm6jsy79tz723p4sun9mz62tqwxqe7c363szkzqm8up6m/Reviewing-Reviews-lpinxc/

nostr:npub18lzls4f6h46n43revlzvg6x06z8geww7uudhncfdttdtypduqnfsagugm3 - as promised. Put it up on highlighter.

nostr:npub1sg6plzptd64u62a878hep2kev88swjh3tw00gjsfl8f237lmu63q0uf63m - this is what I was alluding to last week. That being said, I want to dig deeper on your particular comment, and I’ll do that in the next essay.

nostr:npub1sfhflz2msx45rfzjyf5tyj0x35pv4qtq3hh4v2jf8nhrtl79cavsl2ymqt - Thankyou for your early feedback 🙏🏽


mood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKsUDJorvb0


WHAT?!?


Pokémon doesn’t come to mind  immediately when you hear “ditto”? dude, that’s embarrassing …
https://m.primal.net/Hxpz.jpg


lmao no


this has been a very odd exchange


More apps should strive for this and more consumers should demand it. https://image.nostr.build/b9b23cb06e5db05a12b502b64db393ebb19722a47ad170f5aa09fa1f935f83b8.jpg


🐿 https://image.nostr.build/e8259aa53cd3d40e75e99a4d0ceea73c1cec5460a98df68a564e8a3f6ed05357.jpg


you should have said “hmm … interesting.  I’ll have to think more about that.”


unfortunately you’re going to have to accept I don’t have much high standard content and never did. it’s shitposts all the way down.


Every fucking day I lose money to this shit, I can't take it much longer

100% of fraud risk is on the merchants

After I already shipped the product I get money taken back plus a $15 dispute fee.

This system is fucking TRASH

https://i.nostr.build/yqGzG.jpg


it would be pretty sweet if payments could be true debits rather than sneaky credits.

maybe one day we will have the technology …


How about we build on principles instead of just recreating the existing system.

People don’t care about eating healthy either but that doesn’t mean we should shovel them garbage just so that they will consume our product.

KYC is the illicit activity and fuck anyone who is bringing that shit into the future with us just to comply with the state or to win in the short term. nostr:note1ajazmpwymp2xu7200968qd6256a9gyuyj5t5vx8uhxwhmacyrvjskwet8u


15 minute cities ftw amiright?


- Zaps are fun, but not the as important as we thought (maybe in the future?)
- Normies don't care about censorship resistance
- Social payment (Venmo like) is really good here, it will get much better
- DVMs are really really far out, testing with Unleashed.chat not even 1% of the userbase uses it.

I think the cross application of the network graph is the best supper power Nostr has.

An example is  long form note with note replies, Nostr likes, Nostr zaps, being discovered by a Nostr backed site completely unrelated to Nostr twitter.

It's when ppl have no idea Nostr is the rails.

nostr:note19aldr26lyw2lqatcgqscyt3kpq76hcpwtwmglypvqqgx3m27fsaswa8rr6


ur such a thot 😘


I’ve developed an oddly specific routine, all the more interesting for it being more or less accidental and organic. I post more on twitter, but it is almost exclusively shitposting, because the wider reach frankly just makes it funnier. but I spend considerably more time on nostr (while posting less) because the content is undeniably better. and when I do post here I tend to have a higher standard for myself, lean towards longer form, etc, as I see it more as contributing to discourse than just cracking jokes and trolling people. there’s no conclusion here (from me at least) but interesting to chew on …


nostr is still mainly used alongside twitter. in the best rare case, as a replacement. and only because people are running away from something about twitter they don't like.

there is nothing that people want to run to nostr for yet. zaps were promising, but bitcoin is still a hurdle (one that primal is doing the best at overcoming), and it's doubtful lightning could scale to a massive adoption moment.

nostr needs a feature or experience that's unique and sets it apart. i *think* that is the ecosystem of microapps over the long term...but it's definitely not in the short term. and that might be ok.

for twitter the initial draw was the simplicity and weirdness of 140 characters (we started with zero network effect, facebook had it all...that's built over time). later it became the conversation which lead to the "public square" (owned by a private corporation ¯\_(ツ)_/¯). and then as it grew, it had a single point of control/failure people could attack.

nostr doesn't have to worry about that last bit. it's an incredible feature. but not one the average person cares about (no matter how much they yell "FREE SPEECH!"...if people actually cared about free speech, bitcoin and nostr would be all they used...they don't).

all this to say, we're not doomed. but what we think is the killer feature isn't right now. who's going to discover the one that is?


We should distinguish between “maintain” and…

“My name is John Smith, I am a bitcoin developer backed by Layer XYZ labs, a (theoretical) company that took VC funding to build out a product that depends upon a bitcoin protocol change.  BTW, if we don’t make this protocol change, Bitcoin will die and never scale.”


finally got a pretty major local rancher to become obsessed with #Bitcoin over the course of the last year.

whole staff now has btc denominated benefits. all the store locations and online shop will start accepting Bitcoin and putting it in cold storage as the company war chest. Can’t wait to release this announcement y’all are going to love their meat.

how did I do it? I shook their hands when shopping there, asked about their lives and over time invited each of them to grab lunch, or come to jiu jitsu, or go shooting now and then, and casually asked to pay in Bitcoin every week until they started inviting me to lunch specifically to learn about it. Not too pushy, no strings attached.

This is not a venture for me. It’s just love of community and trying being of service locally. Bottom up adoption.


Across the street from the PubKey pop-up in Bedford there's a cantankerous cobbler. Time is a flat circle. https://image.nostr.build/a365606a7f9d6ce99f270dd7592c126d8690c3be5e750f2e7f4e9569948cf81c.jpg


he’s not serious. there’s not much more to it than that.


It’s time for miners to wake up and start migrating to Sv2.

Mining centralization is as bad as it’s ever been and the bullishness on bitcoin is totally unjustified given miners don’t seem to care about bitcoin in the slightest.

If it doesn’t get better nearly every PoS chain is literally going to be more decentralized and censorship resistant than bitcoin.

If you care about Bitcoin you are responsible for fixing this. Pressure miners.


what nostr:npub14mcddvsjsflnhgw7vxykz0ndfqj0rq04v7cjq5nnc95ftld0pv3shcfrlx is doing for Bedford >>> what Saylor is doing for Microstrategy


"FIRE THE CORE DEVS"

a reminder...

 https://medium.com/the-coinbase-blog/what-happened-at-the-satoshi-roundtable-6c11a10d8cdf


OPENSATS HAS OVER 100 GRANTS OUTSTANDING. THIS NUMBER WILL CONTINUE TO GROW. OUR TREASURY IS STACKED WITH COIN. THE GRANTS WILL CONTINUE TO FLOW.


without accidentally leaking it *yet*


I have no idea. it’s fuckin embarrassing,


THIS IS NOT CONTROVERSIAL.

IF PEOPLE STOPPED SIMPING AND ASKED SAYLOR HIS OPINION HE WOULD ENCOURAGE YOU TO NOT SUPPORT OPEN SOURCE DEVS.

HE HAS ACTIVELY KILLED DEALS TO SUPPORT DEVS. HE IS PROUD OF IT. HE IS WRONG AND EVERYONE IS TO AFRAID TO SAY SHIT.


Idk if people are ready for this, but I believe the world is. First tests of USD Ecash. Backed by BTC.

Everyone can run a mint. Everyone can make a wallet. USD can be spent everywhere BTC is accepted. Open protocols all the way down. No gatekeepers. This is only possible because of the permissionless nature of Bitcoin.

You'll zap USD on Nostr and you'll be happy. It's going to be so insane.
 https://video.nostr.build/2bd2bd63fbd4c77d64d5f8a2a1cab6ccbea48c541c96be2f28fa5e57276be872.mp4


glad you are enjoying it!


Just listened to the fireside chat with Austin Mitchell from Synota on Fountain - such insightful conversation! 🎙 What was your favorite takeaway from the episode? #podcast #tech #innovation


our fireside chat with Austin Mitchell from Synota is now up on fountain!

https://www.fountain.fm/episode/0cOIcCp9gZhXocHXbNp7


ARE VPNS ILLEGAL IN BRAZIL YET?


I keep dreaming of Cashu mints that run on Blockstream Greenlight.

Deploy and forget. Like a autonomous machine in cyberspace.


“Humour has become a central weapon of extremist movements to subvert open societies and to lower the threshold towards violence.” - European Commission, 2021

Via nostr:npub1sfhflz2msx45rfzjyf5tyj0x35pv4qtq3hh4v2jf8nhrtl79cavsl2ymqt (but actually real and not created by Allen)

https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/document/download/4df68ddb-9ba1-4e04-a7d0-1f64dbf302d8_en?filename=ran_ad-hoc_pap_fre_humor_20210215_en.pdf https://i.nostr.build/AaKj7.jpg


mrs allen: “my idea is very stupid but I like it”


got u fam https://v.nostr.build/5GQDr.mp4  nostr:note12muhzct2cpqdmm0h5hcpd9vmxmyv7vem2xfrmceuury3w84e444sk8wlx7


I strongly encourage everybody to fill out this form multiple times to report anybody and everybody in the SNP/Labour/Greens of hate.

hate crime is serious. we only defeat it by meatspace DDoSing their reporting systems 😉

https://www.scotland.police.uk/secureforms/c3/


okay, I’ll bite.

wtf is “build on bitcoin”?


⛏~~Stats~~⛏

Since launching in November, OCEAN has mined 28 blocks consisting of 175 newly generated coins and 9.29785518 BTC in transaction fees - a total of 184.29785518 BTC.

Those mining with OCEAN since launch are sitting at around 112% of the rewards they could expect from the well known alternatives.

Prior to OCEAN, almost all block rewards went to the same dozen addresses under the control of just a handful.

OCEAN added 33 more addresses to this as miners started choosing to get paid directly by the Bitcoin network in OCEAN blocks.

OCEAN's overall luck is 101% and 106.5% since the start of the year.🎰

Happy mining everyone💪


not so much a Beyoncé fan as an appreciator of a ridiculously talented and skilful achievement 🙌


Gm! Wut is this? https://dlcvm.tiiny.site

Cc nostr:npub1sfhflz2msx45rfzjyf5tyj0x35pv4qtq3hh4v2jf8nhrtl79cavsl2ymqt
https://m.primal.net/Hguq.jpg


I think I’m gonna get a t shirt for conference season that says “UTXHOE”

comment if you think this is a good idea. zap if you think it’s a bad idea.


When your zap wallet is empty and you have to refill it
 https://i.nostr.build/dwy5D.jpg


I know it’s fun to try to be a contrarian on absolutely everything mainstream but sometimes you gotta just respek  🤷♀


cowboy carter is 🔥


Bluesky is total garbage specifically due to the fact it weaponizes blocking. Perfect echo chamber conditions for irrelevant leftists.


Bluesky is full of circlejerk pronoun people with diagnoses in bio who talk about nothing else than how much they hate Elon Musk.

Yes, there's a lot of repetitive bitcoiners here on Nostr, but theres NOBODY that police my language and NOBODY that gives me the old Twitter diatribe about how I'm an evil, Bad Person because of my views.

Fuck Bluesky and all of the Stasi-wannabes it's populated with.


aren’t you bullshit on every chat?


Nostr exclusive: Join us for the Ecash Hackday V2 in Berlin June 20-21 2k24. This is a small and intimate event for hackers, researchers, and anyone else interested in Chaumian Ecash.

We have participants from GNU Taler, Fedimint, and Cashu. There will be talks, discussions, and a lot of code. Our goal is to bring the dev community closer together, exchange ideas, and work on cool projects during the hackathon.

Register here.

https://ecashhackday.github.io/
 https://image.nostr.build/4ff512fdb913f50068c076df023f2eb1b34d8c94eddf1e2cbeffafb2a66ab43e.jpg


The European Central bank is working on an Ecash system for a CBDC that can only be run by banks. We're working on an Ecash system for Bitcoin that can be run by anyone.

We must code faster.


After having a little money for a few years and dabbling in some of the finer things I can tell you that nothing beats an ordinary life.

- Getting a slice of pizza and seeing a movie with your wife.

- Hitting the bar and having drinks and conversation with your friends.

- Hanging out at the park throwing a frisbee around.

- Taking the kids for ice cream on a hot summer day.

- An economy plane ticket to go visit family or an old friend.

- A reliable car that takes you where you need to go.

- A great blanket to snuggle up in on a cold winter day.

If you have these things already, trust me… you are wealthier than you know.

Drinking $1,000 wine and eating caviar with famous people won’t make you any happier. In fact it may have the opposite effect.

As the bitcoin price rises you should definitely dabble in fancy shit if you feel compelled, but once you get a peak behind the curtain you’ll find out pretty quick it’s hollow and meaningless compared to the things that really matter.


lmao when I first posted this it was being shadowbanned on youtube. now it’s *actually* banned on vimeo, so here’s a rumble link:

https://rumble.com/v4kl0dn-climate-the-movie-the-cold-truth-martin-durkin.html

nostr:note1ccj09frhylpf7572z2w57dhl5fwka0wavufgwkvg3qhng35ganesue3aww


new wrongthink just dropped 👀

of course, anybody scientifically and statistically literate who spent 1-2 hours looking into this knows it all already, but the production quality might serve to snipe some of your normie friends out the cult of misery, poverty, sickness, and death:

https://vimeo.com/924719370


whether nostr succeeds or not I’ve met some of the coolest forward thinking people i’ve ever met here. For me nostr has already given me more than I could ever ask for, a group of like minded friends who just want to make the world a better place. nostr:npub12gyrpse550melzx2ey69srfxlyd8svkxkg0mjcjkjr4zakqm2cnqwa3jj5 nostr:npub18ams6ewn5aj2n3wt2qawzglx9mr4nzksxhvrdc4gzrecw7n5tvjqctp424 nostr:npub13v47pg9dxjq96an8jfev9znhm0k7ntwtlh9y335paj9kyjsjpznqzzl3l8  nostr:npub1ezw0xm0w52rd4yfdg9zlw9qvwdy46alzelklkefptrd203m37tuq4djmeg nostr:npub1ewe0qgak4gykym236t6w4x06jyuw4q8v040lmn5lamude434yqcsz7uqlw nostr:npub1zafcms4xya5ap9zr7xxr0jlrtrattwlesytn2s42030lzu0dwlzqpd26k5 nostr:npub17plqkxhsv66g8quxxc9p5t9mxazzn20m426exqnl8lxnh5a4cdns7jezx0 🫖🐸 nostr:npub1jzuma368395gu523y4vk4d34p0lxgctk436hggn4qcuj93075qgqtn3vm0 nostr:npub17x7htjej3hgcqwqj86u9yvpcunhw6nz4zclzph2zfnlwe4v0yp8qrxvgap nostr:npub1rq9x6sk86e8ccw2cm8gsm4dyz9l24t823elespupaxjnzdk026fsca2r93 nostr:npub1tfjyq4f6et95lqspy7qz789pkznxuurc8tts48mm4qwrjgg8uh2su32u0r nostr:npub1sg6plzptd64u62a878hep2kev88swjh3tw00gjsfl8f237lmu63q0uf63m nostr:npub1hte85nxymfyez0nlmmxf287nh9cujfuetxhk9vptwcdqg0pn8pxqxasw3d nostr:npub1t3ggcd843pnwcu6p4tcsesd02t5jx2aelpvusypu5hk0925nhauqjjl5g4 nostr:npub1hqaz3dlyuhfqhktqchawke39l92jj9nt30dsgh2zvd9z7dv3j3gqpkt56s nostr:npub1dergggklka99wwrs92yz8wdjs952h2ux2ha2ed598ngwu9w7a6fsh9xzpc nostr:npub1l2vyh47mk2p0qlsku7hg0vn29faehy9hy34ygaclpn66ukqp3afqutajft nostr:npub1az9xj85cmxv8e9j9y80lvqp97crsqdu2fpu3srwthd99qfu9qsgstam8y8 nostr:npub16c0nh3dnadzqpm76uctf5hqhe2lny344zsmpm6feee9p5rdxaa9q586nvr nostr:npub1uvl7vhclmezvdhqha6eclkksln40rjhgwgsggvew683jf93fr4pq3mq3sd nostr:npub1qny3tkh0acurzla8x3zy4nhrjz5zd8l9sy9jys09umwng00manysew95gx nostr:npub1hu3hdctm5nkzd8gslnyedfr5ddz3z547jqcl5j88g4fame2jd08qh6h8nh nostr:npub1cj8znuztfqkvq89pl8hceph0svvvqk0qay6nydgk9uyq7fhpfsgsqwrz4u and countless more but I should probably stop before I make this hellthread worse


haha true but I got it from nostr:npub1jvzgkrej3gpplqut2xfncg25qr7wmt3jlmyk3u7nxtcp4qj50tgsh96c2w


my hair is so retarded here fml


https://m.primal.net/HnJy.png  nostr:npub1sfhflz2msx45rfzjyf5tyj0x35pv4qtq3hh4v2jf8nhrtl79cavsl2ymqt🤙


Once you hit the end of the road and visualize the state of the American economy through a multi-generational lens you'll come to the conclusion that the American pensions are absolutely fucked.

Unless they begin allocating to bitcoin.

https://www.tftc.io/pensions-buying-bitcoin/


lNoWPkbHjEDjoKYNqM+wDw==?iv=tQuoATnNQqIN/ySNZGcWcw==


We're planning on purple pilling everyone at BTC Prague!

But, we can't do it without your help. The goal is to have a "Nostr Booth" inside BTC Prague's expo area. Developers want to have their own booth for their own client or micro-service at BTC Prague, but it's expensive. Therefore, we're looking to crowdfund the costs of the booth at the upcoming 3-day BTC Prague event. Developers can then use this shared community funded "Nostr Booth".

https://geyser.fund/project/nostrboothbtcprague


me: “hey babe have you ever wondered about how “wizard” means basically the same thing as “witch” but “wizard” is masculine and has positive connotations whereas “witch” is feminine and has negative connotations? isn’t that kinda unfair?”

mrs allen: “no, but I am wondering why you are such a pussy all of a sudden.”


satoshi will be the first trillionaire


🟧🟦🟪 DLCVM 🟪🟦🟧

Generalised, Unboundedly Scalable Computation on Bitcoin

https://dlcvm.tiiny.site/


Today I discussed with the founder of Wikipedia my nostr implementation, wikifreedia.

We had a nice long chat about it.

At the end I asked whether I should import all Wikipedia articles.

“It will bias the type of information that is available in it and the tone”

I don’t think a wikifreedia-like system needs to be data-complete. I think it’s fine if it has only fresh, selected/curated entries that embrace their bias.


DLCVM

I think this paper by nostr:npub1sfhflz2msx45rfzjyf5tyj0x35pv4qtq3hh4v2jf8nhrtl79cavsl2ymqt Is more important than the ATH in #bitcoin

Computation on #Bitcoin

dlcvm.tiiny.site
https://m.primal.net/HhcL.jpg


 nostr:npub1xtscya34g58tk0z605fvr788k263gsu6cy9x0mhnm87echrgufzsevkk5s is a baller for posting this. Thank you sir.

People might think there’s fierce competition between nostr clients, but that’s not the case. It’s not Primal vs. Damus. It’s Primal AND Damus AND Amethyst AND Snort AND Coracle AND countless others.

Believe me when I say it: Nostr UX is going to get insanely great. We will blow the legacy web out of the water.

nostr:note1nu089e79xqyq2xlg4usa3v42hg0shdewc3nnflx0f454xezuujnqt55aqg


mood

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


mood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXovMVJp_Z4


from vaginal cramps?


Going to be talking about the onchain vault that I made with OP_CAT on the optech spaces this week. Swing by if you want to hear about using fun schnorr tricks in script to do transaction introspection (Id argue its closer to transaction assertion but w/e)


hey, I can be the answer
I'm ready to dance when the vamp up


THAT’S A SQUIRREL!


Throwback. GM. https://image.nostr.build/5c17fcf7af2517b459418d4af7a9ac8f73c2db2f0954b6a49f24159b51818480.jpg


yeah it’s crazy


this is a weird turn of events.

I’ve said publicly a few times that shitcoins are literally securities fraud, but at least I go out my way to caveat that with reassurance that I’m not angling for a state crackdown, I just think fraud is unethical.


Still my favorite bitcoin chart.
https://m.primal.net/Heyz.png


I just submitted this abstract for a talk at a hacker conference.

The Unfulfilled Promise of Chaumian Ecash: A Renaissance Rooted in Bitcoin

Chaumian Ecash, a pioneering technology from the early 80s, promised unparalleled transactional privacy within the fiat banking system. Despite its speed, reliability, and efficiency, it never fulfilled its promise and ended up as a footnote in the history of digital currencies. Join me as we unravel the mysteries behind Ecash. This talk isn't just a history lesson; it's a forward-looking exploration of how ancient cryptography can shape the future of privacy in our digital world.


I DONT KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS BUT I LIKE YOUR ENTHUSIASM


I’ll have you know I do a spectacular Aussie accent and I just tested it and it's dope.


I really don't like the word "calmness." it's a lazy and ugly construction.

I prefer "calmth.”


THE SATS MUST FLOW


hahaha that's excellent.


no jokes I watched a really good explainer about the differences between the book and the movie.


did you know that they put a lot of effort into the sound effects for Dune Part One?

here's 30 minutes on that. you're welcome:

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


"just watch this two minute long trailer for Dune Part Two” they said.

“it won't lead to rewatching Part One on Netflix, followed by tens of hours of YouTube explainers and the Dune wiki and ordering all the books on Amazon," they said.


nostr but centralized and with tokens. don’t think about that too hard.


had a call with a prospect who touted farcaster as "super interesting and worth me looking at”.

I looked at it.

I fell on the floor laughing.

I came to nostr to tell you all this story.

you're welcome.


T Swizzle for the wizzle


Not all heroes wear capes.
https://image.nostr.build/c0a11a687a694b22b1e82cfc7202b662bf2d36752c55a4241133bf6bb96abac0.jpg


alcohol


💯

nostr:note1fsdgkvx30gm98q7p0h7p0dc79ufz2ts453ns00ct6k88xe8zhdzqvtarkk


Heading back home to Norway after 3 days in London.

I’m really happy I made the trip and got to see the terrible person that tried so hard to destroy my life be expertly picked apart and confronted with lies and forgeries on an industrial scale.

To sit there and be healthy and happy, with good bitcoin friends, while he descended ever deeper into his dark web of lies in his ridiculous and pompous suits. He saw me, and I think it bothered him.

More humiliation and serious consequences await him.

I’ll be watching it unfold, and will be happy to see karma served. And I will see both of my cases against him through in whichever way is needed.

But my focus will be on family, friends, bitcoin and all the other positive stuff in life! 🧡❤💜


hmu if you are gonna be in Dubai for Bitcoin Oasis and wanna hang out and chat shit and/or you come to my talk and your mind is blown by my scandalous characterization of all the scams and bullshit confusing the tradfi noobs 😉


bingo
https://m.primal.net/HaLS.jpg


this is the extremely specific reason you should be mad at shitcoiners. scams will always exist and being mad at them in general is being mad at human nature. but bitcoin exists precisely once and yet everything salty nocoiners say about it is actually true of shitcoins, making it harder to argue convincingly, thus slowing the spread of freedom and prosperity for essentially no reason at all. the transient scam is entirely incidental to the collateral damage of the effective propaganda that lives on in its wake.


GOOD MORNING NOSTR, OPEN SOURCE CONTRIBUTORS SAID THEY WERE HAVING TROUBLE FINDING RELIABLE NO STRINGS ATTACHED SUPPORT FOR THEIR WORK.

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


two weeks™


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


mood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmQkrvoF5Y0


yeah but then you decrypt it. duh.


I think inertia is leading us toward a quantified state, in which the costs of tracking and categorizing objects — primarily people, phones, cars, and money — as they move from place to place becomes so low that most institutions are doing it by reflex, without either considering or caring for consequences. Eventually, somebody is going to exploit the gap in information (between what is available to ordinary people, and what is available  to organizations) in a way that causes enormous, historic harm, as happened in WWII when a particular state realized that IBM had compiled a database that was perfect for populating a list of names of those who would soon be marched off to camps. And that was just census data. Now they know what you read, where you go, who you're with, and how you'll vote.

The unfortunate reality of contemporary political thought is that consequences do not exist until they are felt. Rare is the chicken that fears the farmer. That means we've got two options: we either wait for the pain, or we stop waiting for political consensus.

nostr:nevent1qqsq94302eeh5r82vytl2r3n0hdhtmeg3ehxxcavk767j5xlqufmd2spzemhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzv9hxgq3qpvgcusxk7006hvtlyx555erhq8c5pk9svw57snlxujpkgnkup89sxpqqqqqqz27cnxw


I feel attacked


YES YOU DO YOU LOVE IT


it's come to my attention that there are people out there who don't like La La Land …


Literally doing free work for these companies. nostr:note1khfrg0qwewu84qxk5u59dvu3y4rw5czgl4tmst0p90nu3svyyjaqh3yq96


it’s new sheets night guys, you have no idea how excited I am for beddie byes 👀


Re: NOSTR FUNDING..

In my humble opinion, people should seek profit.

We do have a lot of funding available from OpenSats (new grants approved every week), HRF, Angels and VCs. But they won't make you "rich". PHILANTHROPY and/or VC, are great means to get boosted but are not sustainable long term. (aside from protocol and research work, which is basically academic work and take the academic philanthropy route)

Profit is freedom, profitable ppl don't need to ask for permission.

SUSTAINABLE and ETHICAL revenue positive businesses last generations. And very satisfying if you don't mind me saying.

Timing is EVERYTHING! We are ultra-early in nostr, almost too early. Almost everything you see around you won’t be here in the same shape/form in a year or two. Find ways to cockroach the early days, survive another day. Build expertise, build value, build IP, build relationships. All this fun and pain of the early days can have very good returns for those who survive.

I'm here (and many others), If you need help, advice or just a capitalist to scream at.

😘


sometimes I forget how unbelievable the cast of Heat is. After the 10 most important characters, John Voigt, Tom Noonan, Hank Azaria, Jeremy Piven, Xander Berkeley, Danny Trejo, Wes Studi, Mykelti Williamson, Dennis Haysbert, William Fitchner, and Natalie Portman have about 8 1/2 seconds of screen time between them 🤯


Here's why there are deep incentives for a Bitcoin fork with the Ordinals people.

Ordinals/BRC-20/Inscriptions are now VC funded. And they're going to be pressured to keep growing, no matter what. Yet the hype around their stuff will inevitably fade. And whatever profits they had will dry up. So what will they do?

There are two paths. One is to increase revenue, the other is to reduce costs. The first will be very difficult to do without some new narrative. And they might try that, but it's going to be very difficult on Bitcoin... At least as it currently stands. They could move to another chain, but then, their whole reason for existence, being built on Bitcoin will be no more. Hence the incentive to create new narratives around their stuff and to add "features" to generate interest means some sort of fork.

The other path is to reduce costs. The most obvious cost is the fees being sent to miners. And to reduce that, you need to increase block size or make the blocks more frequent. Either way, this is incentivizing a fork.

The point is that once VC funding entered the picture, the path was set. There will be a conflict of visions and a "peaceful coexistence" was never going to be the outcome.


let a woman in your life
and your sabbatical is through.
in a line that never ends
come an army of her friends
come to jabber and to chatter and to tell her what the matter is with you.


this might be the funniest thing I’ve ever seen


randomly just remembered I once had a hilarious irl convo with Breedlove and Jordan Bush about how Satan was the original shitcoiner.

good times.


that dude was smart.


“The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.”
― Alexis de Tocqueville


look mom I made it I’m in a Zeus video on nostr!


GM Nostr https://video.nostr.build/e7e1d04932fc91d92d8d3cc9f62a0bbee397b9aad29ab808ff5a345e8546d32e.mp4


Helping to correct what I was a part of and learned. It’s not about Twitter. It’s about the corporate incentives.

A company can’t own the protocol, platform, and interface all in one. The protocol layer must be free.


not lately


all dance music, however good, is just a noble attempt to live up to Every Time We Touch by Cascada.

fight me.


the case is even stronger than this. it’s not just that they get paid first, it’s that their pay is guaranteed. if everybody were truly sharing risks and rewards, then the company making a loss would have to be clawed back from workers too and they’d effectively have a negative salary.


thinking your life is basically fine and you are happy is one of the worst symptoms of the fiat disease.


someone posted this a while ago with "bitcoiners be like" and it always makes me laugh 😂

https://image.nostr.build/216a86c34be905764d784a433aee9c28f326f7b5de5d2915d6df90492345d3f2.jpg


twitter is for shitposting. nostr is for discussion.


The shitposting on X feels more out of control than ever after it became Elon’s clownhouse. I came here after listening to the latest episode of Citadel Dispatch and I’m surprised with how decluttered the interface feels without ads and algo feed BS.


mood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut3qr-HWmek


nostr:npub1e0z776cpe0gllgktjk54fuzv8pdfxmq6smsmh8xd7t8s7n474n9smk0txy , thank you very much for recommending your Bitcoin developer basic course to me, and thank you for your work.  I'm already studying it.
I finally became a developer junior in #Bitcoin #Script https://image.nostr.build/a62edff1635dd09f652b6c12dbf2fe190a78d1bd4d64cc4325d67294148ebdaa.jpg


mood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2ifyS6KqK4


absolutely not.  no spoilers. you get what you get.


we are live 🪨 https://bitkey.world/en-US


holy crapadoodles, I just realised nostr obviously doesn’t suppress the reach of “off-platform” posts.

get ready to be spammed to death with my highly questionable and eclectic music taste 😃🥳


IF A MINING POOL CENSORS COINJOIN TRANSACTIONS THEN THEY WILL NOT GET MY TRANSACTION FEES OR HASH.

IT IS THAT SIMPLE. HAVE FUN STAYING POOR.


Ocean won't grow with these arbitrary rules when they launched as the censorship-resistant pool. That was a bait and switch. Luke is very smart, but has a Pope complex about what is correct for bitcoin, you will do it his way. That's not freedom.


Visiting a village in Malawi that now has electricity because of Gridless and #Bitcoin mining was such an incredible experience.

In Malawi, the median salary is $2.00 per day and in the village we visited, it’s closer to $1.00. Worse, Malawi just had a currency debasement of 44% 3 weeks ago.

It touched my soul to meet and spend time with these amazing people, to see the laughter of the children, and to hear how #Bitcoin is changing their lives.

I would say good luck to anyone who thinks that #Bitcoin can be stopped. Because they are fighting a redistribution of power away from manipulation and exploitation of people back to them and to the free market. https://image.nostr.build/1c21ed5aaf1b8154240b8a71a2637f25581bdc2cd7c5b47c1de3d2bb4d569961.jpg