@ c1e9ab3a:9cb56b43

Introduction

Nutsax is a capability-based access control system for Nostr relays, designed to provide flexible, privacy-preserving rate limiting, permissioning, and operation-scoped token redemption.

At its core, Nutsax introduces:

• Blind-signed tokens, issued by relays, for specific operation types.
• Token redemption as part of Nostr event publishing or interactions.
• Encrypted token storage using existing Nostr direct message infrastructure, allowing portable, persistent, and private storage of these tokens — the Nutsax.

This mechanism augments the existing Nostr protocol without disrupting adoption, requiring no changes to NIP-01 for clients or relays that don’t opt into the system.

Motivation

Nostr relays currently have limited tools for abuse prevention and access control. Options like IP banning, whitelisting, or monetized access are coarse and often centralized.

Nutsax introduces:

• Fine-grained, operation-specific access control using cryptographic tokens.
• Blind signature protocols to issue tokens anonymously, preserving user privacy.
• A native way to store and recover tokens using Nostr’s encrypted event system.

This allows relays to offer:

• Optional access policies (e.g., “3 posts per hour unless you redeem a token”)
• Paid or invite-based features (e.g., long-term subscriptions, advanced filters)
• Temporary elevation of privileges (e.g., bypass slow mode for one message)

All without requiring accounts, emails, or linking identity beyond the user’s npub.

Core Components

1. Operation Tokens

Tokens are blind-signed blobs issued by the relay, scoped to a specific operation type (e.g., "write", "filter-subscribe", "broadcast").

• Issued anonymously: using a blind signature protocol.
• Validated on redemption: at message submission or interaction time.
• Optional and redeemable: the relay decides when to enforce token redemption.

Each token encodes:

• Operation type (string)
• Relay ID (to scope the token)
• Expiration (optional)
• Usage count or burn-on-use flag
• Random nonce (blindness)

Example (before blinding):

json { "relay": "wss://relay.example", "operation": "write", "expires": 1720000000, "nonce": "b2a8c3..." }

This is then blinded and signed by the relay.

2. Token Redemption

Clients include tokens when submitting events or requests to the relay.

Token included via event tag:

json ["token", "<base64-encoded-token>", "write"]

Redemption can happen:

• Inline with any event (kind 1, etc.)
• As a standalone event (e.g., ephemeral kind 20000)
• During session initiation (optional AUTH extension)

The relay validates the token:

• Is it well-formed?
• Is it valid for this relay and operation?
• Is it unexpired?
• Has it been used already? (for burn-on-use)

If valid, the relay accepts the event or upgrades the rate/permission scope.

3. Nutsax: Private Token Storage on Nostr

Tokens are stored securely in the client’s Nutsax, a persistent, private archive built on Nostr’s encrypted event system.

Each token is stored in a kind 4 or kind 44/24 event, encrypted with the client’s own npub.

Example:

json { "kind": 4, "tags": [ ["p", "<your npub>"], ["token-type", "write"], ["relay", "wss://relay.example"] ], "content": "<encrypted token blob>", "created_at": 1234567890 }

This allows clients to:

• Persist tokens across restarts or device changes.
• Restore tokens after reinstalling or reauthenticating.
• Port tokens between devices.

All without exposing the tokens to the public or requiring external storage infrastructure.

Client Lifecycle

1. Requesting Tokens

• Client authenticates to relay (e.g., via NIP-42).
• Requests blind-signed tokens:
• Sends blinded token requests.
• Receives blind signatures.
• Unblinds and verifies.

2. Storing Tokens

• Each token is encrypted to the user’s own npub.
• Stored as a DM (kind 4 or compatible encrypted event).
• Optional tagging for organization.

3. Redeeming Tokens

• When performing a token-gated operation (e.g., posting to a limited relay), client includes the appropriate token in the event.
• Relay validates and logs/consumes the token.

4. Restoring the Nutsax

• On device reinstallation or session reset, the client:
• Reconnects to relays.
• Scans encrypted DMs.
• Decrypts and reimports available tokens.

Privacy Model

• Relays issuing tokens do not know which tokens were redeemed (blind signing).
• Tokens do not encode sender identity unless the client opts to do so.
• Only the recipient (npub) can decrypt their Nutsax.
• Redemption is pseudonymous — tied to a key, not to external identity.

Optional Enhancements

• Token index tag: to allow fast search and categorization.
• Multiple token types: read, write, boost, subscribe, etc.
• Token delegation: future support for transferring tokens via encrypted DM to another npub.
• Token revocation: relays can publish blacklists or expiration feeds if needed.

Compatibility

• Fully compatible with NIP-01, NIP-04 (encrypted DMs), and NIP-42 (authentication).
• Non-disruptive: relays and clients can ignore tokens if not supported.
• Ideal for layering on top of existing infrastructure and monetization strategies.

Conclusion

Nutsax offers a privacy-respecting, decentralized way to manage access and rate limits in the Nostr ecosystem. With blind-signed, operation-specific tokens and encrypted, persistent storage using native Nostr mechanisms, it gives relays and clients new powers without sacrificing Nostr’s core principles: simplicity, openness, and cryptographic self-sovereignty.

@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@ 8d34bd24:414be32b

I’ll admit that God’s truth is something I am passionate about. I love God’s word and I trust every word in the Bible as absolute truth. I hate when people compromise God’s word. I can’t understand Christians that don’t want to know God better through His word (maybe partially because I read a stack of books to solve any and every problem or to fulfill any interest).

Lately, the vow made in court to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth has been going through my mind. It comes up regarding almost everything, so I figured maybe God was telling me to write a post on the subject, so here we go.

The Truth

When we are searching for the truth about anything, we need to start with the Bible. Yes, there are many subjects about which the Bible doesn’t speak or doesn’t speak in detail, but the principles on which everything is built start with the Bible.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Especially when we are trying to learn what God wants from us and our lives, we need to search the Scriptures. We need to study the Scriptures. We need to memorize the Scriptures.

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. (Psalm 119:11)

It is much more useful to have read the Bible many times and to know its contents cover to cover, so we have it available to us during that debate with a fellow believer, or the discussion with a proud atheist, or when put into a situation of temptation. Having God’s word “hidden in our heart” enables us to deal with every situation, just as Jesus did when tempted by the Devil in the wilderness. Jesus’s most common response to every challenge was “As it is written …”

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. (John 17:17)

If we want to know the truth and be ready for whatever life throws at us, we need to be like Ezra:

He had begun his journey from Babylon on the first day of the first month, and he arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month, for the gracious hand of his God was on him. For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel. (Ezra 7:9-10) {emphasis mine}

Are you known for devoting yourself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord, and to teaching its decrees and laws?

The Whole Truth

Obviously there are God hating atheists who will lie about God’s word and totally contradict His word. As believers, we are more likely to bend God’s truth. (Satan does this, too, because it is frequently more effective than an outright lie). There are two primary ways to bend God’s truth. We either leave out some parts or we add to it. In this section we will focus on telling the whole truth and not leaving out part of the truth.

The error of lying by omission is rampant today. We see it in news reports by the media. We see it in the history taught to our children. We see it in many churches. There are some very uncomfortable truths in the Bible. People don’t like to hear that some people will be punished in Hell for all eternity. They don’t want to hear that they are sinners and their desires are sinful. They don’t like to hear that there is one and only one way to Jesus.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. (John 14:6)

Many believers don’t like any conflict. They are afraid that speaking the truth is being judgmental and will hurt relationships and feelings, so they hold back and don’t speak the whole truth.

Deal bountifully with Your servant,\ That I may live and keep Your word.\ *Open my eyes, that I may behold\ Wonderful things from Your law.*\ I am a stranger in the earth;\ Do not hide Your commandments from me.\ My soul is crushed with longing\ After Your ordinances at all times.\ You rebuke the arrogant, the cursed,\ Who wander from Your commandments.\ Take away reproach and contempt from me,\ For I observe Your testimonies.\ Even though princes sit and talk against me,\ Your servant meditates on Your statutes.\ Your testimonies also are my delight;\ They are my counselors. (Psalm 119:17-24) {emphasis mine}

The psalmist begs God not to “hide Your commandments from me.” Should we hide God’s commandments from ourselves or others because they are uncomfortable?

He said, “What is the word that He spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me. May God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the words that He spoke to you.” (1 Samuel 3:17)

Eli put the harshest curse on Samuel if he didn’t speak the full truth communicated by God. We need to truly know and believe God’s word, so we communicate it fully with others and do not hide it from those whose very heart and soul need God’s truth.

Many of us may feel like we are not lying because we didn’t not explicitly speak an untruth, but withholding part of the truth, so that another is misled, is as much of a lie as speaking an untruth. Both are intended to mislead the other person, usually for our benefit or comfort and to the long-term harm of the other person.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:8-9) {emphasis mine}

We need to think on, speak, and put into practice all of God’s word. Picking and choosing which parts of God’s word we want to believe, speak, and put into practice is akin to the original sin, “You will be like gods, knowing good and evil.” Only God gets to decide what is true or false and what is good or evil. When we choose to pick which parts of the Bible to obey and to share, we are taking the role that belongs solely to God.

Nothing But the Truth

The other error regarding truth is to add to God’s word.

The Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?” And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:

‘This people honors Me with their lips,\ But their heart is far away from Me.\ But in vain do they worship Me,\ **Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’\ Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.” (Mark 7:5-8) {emphasis mine}

So often we let tradition, culture, or “science” guide us instead of the Bible. Whenever there is a contradiction between any source and the Bible, we need to put the authority of God’s word as the highest authority. Although it is possible for us to be mistaken by the meaning of God’s word and the truth to be more in line with culture or “science,” it is so much more likely that tradition, culture, or “science” are wrong. We need to use the Bible to interpret things like science rather than to use “science” to interpret the Bible. The Bible is always the higher authority.

Sometimes we add to God’s word intentionally. Sometimes we are just influenced by the people around us, especially supposed authority figures, and are led astray unintentionally.

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15) {emphasis mine}

We need to truly study the whole Bible and test every one of our beliefs against God’s word.

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse! (Galatians 1:6-9) {emphasis mine}

We need to use God’s word to test every idea.

Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:20-22)

and

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. (1 John 4:1-3) {emphasis mine}

God’s word is truth. It never changes. It doesn’t change with the times, the culture, or new scientific discoveries. The truth is the truth whether anyone believes it or not.

There are many who will lead you astray and sound like they know what they are talking about. Make sure you do not follow these false teachers in their error (whether the error is intentional or accidental), but even more, make sure you don’t spread the error and lead others astray.

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. (Colossians 2:8) {emphasis mine}

I think this phrase perfectly describes how error effects us, “See to it that no one takes you captive through …” Error can be subtle, but can take us captive, lead us astray, and cause us to lead others astray. Only through detailed knowledge of the Scriptures can we defend against it.

Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. (James 1:16-18) {emphasis mine}

May the Lord of heaven guide us to know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth and to obey His word in all things to His glory, forever.

Trust Jesus

@ 7d33ba57:1b82db35

Sitges is known for its golden beaches, vibrant nightlife, and artistic charm. With a beautiful seafront promenade, historic old town, and a welcoming atmosphere, it’s a top destination for relaxation, culture, and fun on the **Costa Dorada.

🏖️ Top Things to See & Do in Sitges

1️⃣ Stroll Along the Passeig Marítim 🌊

• A scenic seaside promenade lined with palm trees, beaches, and restaurants.
• Perfect for walking, cycling, or enjoying a sunset cocktail.

2️⃣ Relax on the Beaches 🏖️

• Playa de la Fragata – A central beach near the old town, great for families.
• Playa de San Sebastián – A smaller, quieter beach with local charm.
• Playa del Balmins – A well-known nudist and LGBTQ+ friendly beach.
• Playa de l'Home Mort – A hidden cove, popular for naturists.

3️⃣ Visit the Church of Sant Bartomeu i Santa Tecla ⛪

• The iconic church overlooking the sea, a must-visit landmark.
• Amazing spot for photos, especially at sunset.

4️⃣ Explore the Old Town & Museums 🏛️

• Wander through charming whitewashed streets filled with boutique shops and cafés.
• Visit Museu Cau Ferrat, home to art by Santiago Rusiñol and Picasso.
• Discover Museu Maricel, featuring Romanesque and modernist art.

5️⃣ Enjoy Sitges' Lively Nightlife & Festivals 🎭

• Sitges is famous for its bars, beach clubs, and LGBTQ+ friendly nightlife.
• Visit in February for Sitges Carnival, one of Spain’s best! 🎉
• Experience the Sitges Film Festival (October), known for horror & fantasy films.

6️⃣ Wine Tasting in Penedès 🍷

• Take a short trip to Penedès, one of Spain’s best Cava (sparkling wine) regions.
• Tour local wineries and enjoy wine tastings just 30 minutes away.

🍽️ What to Eat in Sitges

• Xató – A local salad with cod, anchovies, and romesco sauce 🥗
• Suquet de Peix – A Catalan seafood stew with potatoes 🍲🐟
• Fideuà – Similar to paella, but made with short noodles instead of rice 🍤
• Crema Catalana – A delicious caramelized custard dessert 🍮
• Cava – The famous Catalan sparkling wine from nearby Penedès 🍾

🚗 How to Get to Sitges

🚆 By Train: 35 min from Barcelona (Sants or Passeig de Gràcia stations).
🚘 By Car: 40 min from Barcelona via the C-32 highway.
🚌 By Bus: Direct buses from Barcelona Airport (El Prat) and Tarragona.
✈️ By Air: The nearest airport is Barcelona-El Prat (BCN, 25 km away).

💡 Tips for Visiting Sitges

✅ Best time to visit? Spring to early autumn (April–October) for beach weather ☀️
✅ Avoid summer weekends – It gets very busy with visitors from Barcelona 🏖️
✅ Visit during Carnival or the Film Festival for an unforgettable experience 🎭🎬
✅ Explore beyond the beaches – The old town and vineyards are worth it! 🍷
✅ Try beachfront dining – Enjoy fresh seafood with a sea view 🍽️🌊

@ 1bda7e1f:bb97c4d9

Tldr

• Nostr is a new open social protocol for the internet
• You can use it to create your own online community website/app for your users
• This needs only a few simple components that are free and open source
• Jumble.Social client is a front-end for showing your community content to your users
• Simple With Whitelist relay (SW2) is a back-end with simple auth for your community content
• In this blog I explain the components and set up a online community website/app that any community or company can use for their own users, for free.

You Can Run Your Own Private "X" For Free

Nostr is a new open social protocol for the internet. Because it is a protocol it is not controlled by any one company, does not reside on any one set of servers, does not require any licenses, and no one can stop you from using it however you like.

When the name Nostr is recognised, it is as a "Twitter/X alternative" – that is an online open public forum. Nostr is more than just this. The open nature of the protocol means that you can use it however you feel like, including that you can use it for creating your own social websites to suit whatever goals you have – anything from running your own team collaboration app, to running your own online community.

Nostr can be anything – not just an alternative to X, but also to Slack, Teams, Discord, Telegram (etc) – any kind of social app you'd like to run for your users can be run on Nostr.

In this blog I will show you how to launch your own community website, for your community members to use however they like, with low code, and for free.

Simple useful components

Nostr has a few simple components that work together to provide your experience –

• Your "client" – an app or a website front-end that you log into, which displays the content you want to see
• Your "relay" – a server back-end which receives and stores content, and sends it to clients
• Your "user" – a set of keys which represents a user on the network,
• Your "content" – any user content created and signed by a user, distributed to any relay, which can be picked up and viewed by any client.

It is a pattern that is used by every other social app on the internet, excepting that in those cases you can usually only view content in their app, and only post your content to their server.

Vs with Nostr where you can use any client (app) and any relay (server), including your own.

This is defined as a standard in NIP-01 which is simple enough that you can master it in a weekend, and with which you can build any kind of application.

The design space is wide open for anyone to build anything–

• Clones of Twitter, Instagram, Telegram, Medium, Twitch, etc,
• Whole new things like Private Ephemeral Messengers, Social Podcasting Apps, etc,
• Anything else you can dream up, like replacements for B2B SaaS or ERP systems.

Including that you can set up and run your own "X" for your community.

Super powers for –private– social internet

When considering my use of social internet, it is foremost private not public. Email, Whatsapp, Slack, Teams, Discord, Telegram (etc), are all about me, as a user, creating content for a selected group of individuals – close friends, colleagues, community members – not the wider public.

This private social internet is crying out for the kind of powers that Nostr provides. The list of things that Nostr solves for private social internet goes on-and-on.

Let me eat my own dog food for a moment.

• I am a member of a community of technology entrepreneurs with an app for internal community comms. The interface is not fit for this purpose. Good content gets lost. Any content created within the walled kingdom cannot be shared externally. Community members cannot migrate to a different front-end, or cross-post to public social channels.
• I am a member of many communities for kids social groups, each one with a different application and log in. There is no way to view a consolidated feed. There is no way to send one message to many communities, or share content between them. Remembering to check every feed separately is a drag.
• I am a member of a team with an app for team comms. It costs $XXX per user per month where it should be free. I can't self-host. I can't control or export my data. I can't make it interoperate natively with other SaaS. All of my messages probably go to train a Big Co AI without my consent.

In each instance "Nostr fixes this."

Ready now for low-code admins

To date Nostr has been best suited to a more technical user. To use the Nostr protocol directly has been primarily a field of great engineers building great foundations.

IMO these foundations are built. They are open source, free to use, and accessible for anyone who wants to create an administer their own online community, with only low code required.

To prove it, in this blog I will scratch my own itch. I need a X / Slack / Teams alternative to use with a few team members and friends (and a few AIs) as we hack on establishing a new business idea.

I will set this up with Nostr using only open source code, for free.

Designing the Solution

I am mostly non-technical with helpful AI. To set up your own community website in the style of X / Slack / Teams should be possible for anyone with basic technology skills.

• I have a cheap VPS which currently runs some other unrelated Nostr projects in Docker containers,
• My objective was to set up and run my own community website for my own team use, in Docker, hosted on my own server.

User requirements

What will I want from a community website?

• I want my users to be able to log into a website and post content,
• I want to save that content to a server I control accessed only be people I authorise,
• I want my users to view only that content by default, and not be exposed to any wider public social network unless they knowingly select that,
• I want my user's content to be either:
• a) viewable only by other community members (i.e. for internal team comms), or
• b) by the wider public (i.e. for public announcements), at the user's discretion.
• I want it to be open source so that other people maintain the code for me,
• I want it for free.

Nostr solutions

To achieve this with Nostr, I'll need to select some solutions "a-la carte" for each of the core components of the network.

• A client – For my client, I have chosen Jumble. Jumble is a free open-source client by Cody Tseng, available free on Github or at Jumble.social. I have chosen Jumble because it is a "relay-centric" client. In key spots the user interface highlights for the user what relay they are viewing, and what relay they are posting to. As a result, it is a beautiful fit for me to use as the home of all my community content.
• A relay – For my relay, I have chosen Simple With Whitelist (SW2). SW2 is a free open-source relay by Utxo The Webmaster, based on Khatru by Fiatjaf, available free on Github. I have chosen SW2 because it allows for very simple configuration of user auth. Users can be given read access to view notes, and write access to post notes within simple config.json files. This allows you to keep community content private or selectively share it in a variety of ways. Per the Nostr protocol, your client will connect with your relay via websocket.
• A user sign-up flow – Jumble has a user sign-up flow using Nstart by Fiatjaf, or as an admin I can create and provision my own users with any simple tool like NAK or Nostrtool.
• A user content flow – Jumble has a user content flow that can post notes to selected relays of the users choice. Rich media is uploaded to free third-party hosts like Nostr.build, and in the future there is scope to self-host this too.

With each of these boxes ticked I'm ready to start.

Launching a Private Community Website with Jumble and SW2

Install your SW2 relay

The relay is the trickiest part, so let's start there. SW2 is my Nostr relay software of choice. It is a Go application and includes full instructions for Go install. However, I prefer Docker, so I have built a Docker version and maintain a Docker branch here.

1 – In a terminal clone the repo and checkout the Docker branch

git clone https://github.com/r0d8lsh0p/sw2.git cd sw2 git checkout docker

2 – Set up the environment variables

These are specified in the readme. Duplicate the example .env file and fill it with your variables.

cp .env.example .env

For me this .env file was as follows–

```

Relay Metadata

RELAY_NAME="Tbdai relay" RELAY_PUBKEY="ede41352397758154514148b24112308ced96d121229b0e6a66bc5a2b40c03ec" RELAY_DESCRIPTION="An experimental relay for some people and robots working on a TBD AI project." RELAY_URL="wss://assistantrelay.rodbishop.nz" RELAY_ICON="https://image.nostr.build/44654201843fc0f03e9a72fbf8044143c66f0dd4d5350688db69345f9da05007.jpg" RELAY_CONTACT="https://rodbishop.nz" ```

3 – Specify who can read and write to the relay

This is controlled by two config files read_whitelist.json and write_whitelist.json.

• Any user with their pubkey in the read_whitelist can read notes posted to the relay. If empty, anyone can read.
• Any user with their pubkey in the write_whitelist can post notes to the relay. If empty, anyone can write.

We'll get to creating and authorising more users later, for now I suggest to add yourself to each whitelist, by copying your pubkey into each JSON file. For me this looks as follows (note, I use the 'hex' version of the pubkey, rather than the npub)–

{ "pubkeys": [ "1bda7e1f7396bda2d1ef99033da8fd2dc362810790df9be62f591038bb97c4d9" ] }

If this is your first time using Nostr and you don't yet have any user keys, it is easy and free to get one. You can get one from any Nostr client like Jumble.social, any tool like NAK or nostrtool.com or follow a comprehensive guide like my guide on mining a Nostr key.

4 – Launch your relay

If you are using my Docker fork from above, then–

docker compose up

Your relay should now be running on port 3334 and ready to accept web socket connections from your client.

Before you move on to set up the client, it's helpful to quickly test that it is running as expected.

5 – Test your websocket connection

For this I use a tool called wscat to make a websocket connection.

You may need to install wscat, e.g.

npm install -g wscat

And then run it, e.g.

wscat -c ws://localhost:3334

(note use ws:// for localhost, rather than wss://).

If your relay is working successfully then it should receive your websocket connection request and respond with an AUTH token, asking you to identify yourself as a user in the relay's read_whitelist.json (using the standard outlined in NIP-42), e.g.

``` Connected (press CTRL+C to quit) < ["AUTH","13206fea43ef2952"]

```

You do not need to authorise for now.

If you received this kind of message, your relay is working successfully.

Set a subdomain for your relay

Let's connect a domain name so your community members can access your relay.

1 – Configure DNS

At a high level –

1. Get your domain (buy one if you need to)
2. Get the IP address of your VPS
3. In your domain's DNS settings add those records as an A record to the subdomain of your choice, e.g. relay as in relay.your_domain_name.com, or in my case assistantrelay.rodbishop.nz

Your subdomain now points to your server.

2 – Configure reverse proxy

You need to redirect traffic from your subdomain to your relay at port 3334.

On my VPS I use Caddy as a reverse proxy for a few projects, I have it sitting in a separate Docker network. To use it for my SW2 Relay required two steps.

First – I added configuration to Caddy's Caddyfile to tell it what to do with requests for the relay.your_domain_name.com subdomain. For me this looked like–

assistantrelay.rodbishop.nz { reverse_proxy sw2-relay:3334 { # Enable WebSocket support header_up X-Forwarded-For {remote} header_up X-Forwarded-Proto {scheme} header_up X-Forwarded-Port {server_port} } }

Second – I added the Caddy Docker network to the SW2 docker-compose.yml to make it be part of the Caddy network. In my Docker branch, I provide this commented section which you can uncomment and use if you like.

``` services: relay: ... relay configuration here ...

networks:

- caddy # Connect to a Caddy network for reverse proxy

networks:

caddy:

external: true # Connect to a Caddy network for reverse proxy

```

Your relay is now running at your domain name.

Run Jumble.social

Your client set up is very easy, as most heavy lifting is done by your relay. My client of choice is Jumble because it has features that focus the user experience on the community's content first. You have two options for running Jumble.

1. Run your own local copy of Jumble by cloning the Github (optional)
2. Use the public instance at Jumble.social (easier, and what we'll do in this demo)

If you (optionally) want to run your own local copy of Jumble:

git clone https://github.com/CodyTseng/jumble.git cd jumble npm install npm run dev

For this demo, I will just use the public instance at http://jumble.social

Jumble has a very helpful user interface for set up and configuration. But, I wanted to think ahead to onboarding community members, and so instead I will do some work up front in order to give new members a smooth onboarding flow that I would suggest for an administrator to use in onboarding their community.

1 – Create a custom landing page URL for your community members to land on

When your users come to your website for the first time, you want them to get your community experience without any distraction. That will either be–

1. A prompt to sign up or login (if only authorised users can read content)
2. The actual content from your other community members (If all users can read content)

Your landing page URL will look like: http://jumble.social/?r=wss://relay.your_domain_name.com

• http://jumble.social/ – the URL of the Jumble instance you are using
• ?r= – telling Jumble to read from a relay
• wss:// – relays connect via websocket using wss, rather than https
• relay.your_domain_name.com – the domain name of your relay

For me, this URL looks like http://jumble.social/?r=wss://assistantrelay.rodbishop.nz

2 – Visit your custom Jumble URL

This should load the landing page of your relay on Jumble.

In the background, Jumble has attempted to establish a websocket connection to your relay.

If your relay is configured with read authentication, it has sent a challenge to Jumble asking your user to authenticate. Jumble, accordingly should now be showing you a login screen, asking your user to login.

3 – Login or Sign Up

You will see a variety of sign up and login options. To test, log in with the private key that you have configured to have read and write access.

In the background, Jumble has connected via websocket to your relay, checked that your user is authorised to view notes, and if so, has returned all the content on the relay. (If this is your first time here, there would not be any content yet).

If you give this link to your users to use as their landing page, they will land, login, and see only notes from members of your community.

4– Make your first post to your community

Click the "post" button and post a note. Jumble offers you the option to "Send only to relay.your_domain_name.com".

• If set to on, then Jumble will post the note only to your relay, no others. It will also include a specific tag (the "-" tag) which requests relays to not forward the note across the network. Only your community members viewing notes on your community relay can see it.
• If set to off, then Jumble will post the note to your relay and also the wider public Nostr network. Community members viewing notes on the relay can see it, and so can any user of the wider Nostr network.

5– Optional, configure your relay sets

At the top of the screen you should now see a dropdown with the URL of your relay.

Each user can save this relay to a "relay set" for future use, and also view, add or delete other relays sets including some sets which Jumble comes with set up by default.

As an admin you can use this to give users access to multiple relays. And, as a user, you can use this to access posts from multiple different community relays, all within the one client.

Your community website is up and running

That is the basic set up completed.

• You have a website where your community members can visit a URL to post notes and view all notes from all other members of the community.
• You have basic administration to enforce your own read and write permissions very simply in two json files.

Let's check in with my user requirements as a community admin–

• My community is saving content to a server where I control access
• My users view only that content by default, and are not exposed to any wider public social network unless they knowingly select that
• My user's content is a) viewable only by other community members, or b) by the wider public, at the user's discretion
• Other people are maintaining the code for me
• It's free

This setup has scope to solve my dog fooding issues from earlier–

• If adopted, my tech community can iterate the interface to suit its needs, find great content, and share content beyond the community.
• If adopted, my kids social groups can each have their own relays, but I can post to all of them together, or view a consolidated feed.
• If adopted, my team can chat with each other for free. I can self host this. It can natively interoperate with any other Nostr SaaS. It would be entirely private and will not be captured to train a Big Co AI without my consent.

Using your community website in practice

An example onboarding flow

1. A new member joins your IRL community
2. Your admin person gives them your landing page URL where they can view all the posts by your community members – If you have configured your relay to have no read auth required, then they can land on that landing page and immediately start viewing your community's posts, a great landing experience
3. The user user creates a Nostr profile, and provides the admin person with their public key
4. The admin person adds their key to the whitelists to read and write as you desire.

Default inter-op with the wider Nostr network

• If you change your mind on SW2 and want to use a different relay, your notes will be supported natively, and you can migrate on your own terms
• If you change your mind on Jumble and want to use a different client, your relay will be supported natively, and you can migrate on your own terms
• If you want to add other apps to your community's experience, every Nostr app will interoperate with your community by default – see the huge list at Awesome Nostr
• If any of your users want to view your community notes inside some other Nostr client – perhaps to see a consolidated feed of notes from all their different communities – they can.

For me, I use Amethyst app as my main Nostr client to view the public posts from people I follow. I have added my private community relay to Amethyst, and now my community posts appear alongside all these other posts in a single consolidated feed.

Scope to further improve

• You can run multiple different relays with different user access – e.g. one for wider company and one for your team
• You can run your own fork of Jumble and change the interface to suit you needs – e.g. add your logo, change the colours, link to other resources from the sidebar.

Other ideas for running communities

• Guest accounts: You can give a user "guest" access – read auth, but no write auth – to help people see the value of your community before becoming members.
• Running a knowledge base: You can whitelist users to read notes, but only administrators can post notes.
• Running a blind dropbox: You can whitelist users to post notes, but only the administrator can read notes.
• Running on a local terminal only: With Jumble and SW2 installed on a machine, running at – localhost:5173 for Jumble, and localhost:3334 for SW2 you can have an entirely local experience at http://localhost:5173/?r=ws://localhost:3334.

What's Next?

In my first four blogs I explored creating a good Nostr setup with Vanity Npub, Lightning Payments, Nostr Addresses at Your Domain, and Personal Nostr Relay.

Then in my latest three blogs I explored different types of interoperability with NFC cards, n8n Workflow Automation, and now running a private community website on Nostr.

For this community website–

• There is scope to make some further enhancements to SW2, including to add a "Blossom" media server so that community admins can self-host their own rich media, and to create an admin screen for administration of the whitelists using NIP-86.
• There is scope to explore all other kinds of Nostr clients to form the front-end of community websites, including Chachi.chat, Flotilla, and others.
• Nostr includes a whole variety of different optional standards for making more elaborate online communities including NIP-28, NIP-29, NIP-17, NIP-72 (etc). Each gives certain different capabilities, and I haven't used any of them! For this simple demo they are not required, but each could be used to extend the capabilities of the admin and community.

I am also doing a lot of work with AI on Nostr, including that I use my private community website as a front-end for engaging with a Nostr AI. I'll post about this soon too.

Please be sure to let me know if you think there's another Nostr topic you'd like to see me tackle.

GM Nostr.

@ b2d670de:907f9d4a

This guide will walk you through setting up your own Strfry Nostr relay on a Debian/Ubuntu server and making it accessible exclusively as a TOR hidden service. By the end, you'll have a privacy-focused relay that operates entirely within the TOR network, enhancing both your privacy and that of your users.

Table of Contents

1. Prerequisites
2. Initial Server Setup
3. Installing Strfry Nostr Relay
4. Configuring Your Relay
5. Setting Up TOR
6. Making Your Relay Available on TOR
7. Testing Your Setup]
8. Maintenance and Security
9. Troubleshooting

Prerequisites

• A Debian or Ubuntu server
• Basic familiarity with command line operations (most steps are explained in detail)
• Root or sudo access to your server

Initial Server Setup

First, let's make sure your server is properly set up and secured.

Update Your System

Connect to your server via SSH and update your system:

bash sudo apt update sudo apt upgrade -y

Set Up a Basic Firewall

Install and configure a basic firewall:

bash sudo apt install ufw -y sudo ufw allow ssh sudo ufw enable

This allows SSH connections while blocking other ports for security.

Installing Strfry Nostr Relay

This guide includes the full range of steps needed to build and set up Strfry. It's simply based on the current version of the DEPLOYMENT.md document in the Strfry GitHub repository. If the build/setup process is changed in the repo, this document could get outdated. If so, please report to me that something is outdated and check for updated steps here.

Install Dependencies

First, let's install the necessary dependencies. Each package serves a specific purpose in building and running Strfry:

bash sudo apt install -y git build-essential libyaml-perl libtemplate-perl libregexp-grammars-perl libssl-dev zlib1g-dev liblmdb-dev libflatbuffers-dev libsecp256k1-dev libzstd-dev

Here's why each dependency is needed:

Basic Development Tools: - git: Version control system used to clone the Strfry repository and manage code updates - build-essential: Meta-package that includes compilers (gcc, g++), make, and other essential build tools

Perl Dependencies (used for Strfry's build scripts): - libyaml-perl: Perl interface to parse YAML configuration files - libtemplate-perl: Template processing system used during the build process - libregexp-grammars-perl: Advanced regular expression handling for Perl scripts

Core Libraries for Strfry: - libssl-dev: Development files for OpenSSL, used for secure connections and cryptographic operations - zlib1g-dev: Compression library that Strfry uses to reduce data size - liblmdb-dev: Lightning Memory-Mapped Database library, which Strfry uses for its high-performance database backend - libflatbuffers-dev: Memory-efficient serialization library for structured data - libsecp256k1-dev: Optimized C library for EC operations on curve secp256k1, essential for Nostr's cryptographic signatures - libzstd-dev: Fast real-time compression algorithm for efficient data storage and transmission

Clone and Build Strfry

Clone the Strfry repository:

bash git clone https://github.com/hoytech/strfry.git cd strfry

Build Strfry:

bash git submodule update --init make setup-golpe make -j2 # This uses 2 CPU cores. Adjust based on your server (e.g., -j4 for 4 cores)

This build process will take several minutes, especially on servers with limited CPU resources, so go get a coffee and post some great memes on nostr in the meantime.

Install Strfry

Install the Strfry binary to your system path:

bash sudo cp strfry /usr/local/bin

This makes the strfry command available system-wide, allowing it to be executed from any directory and by any user with the appropriate permissions.

Configuring Your Relay

Create Strfry User

Create a dedicated user for running Strfry. This enhances security by isolating the relay process:

bash sudo useradd -M -s /usr/sbin/nologin strfry

The -M flag prevents creating a home directory, and -s /usr/sbin/nologin prevents anyone from logging in as this user. This is a security best practice for service accounts.

Create Data Directory

Create a directory for Strfry's data:

bash sudo mkdir /var/lib/strfry sudo chown strfry:strfry /var/lib/strfry sudo chmod 755 /var/lib/strfry

This creates a dedicated directory for Strfry's database and sets the appropriate permissions so that only the strfry user can write to it.

Configure Strfry

Copy the sample configuration file:

bash sudo cp strfry.conf /etc/strfry.conf

Edit the configuration file:

bash sudo nano /etc/strfry.conf

Modify the database path:

```

Find this line:

db = "./strfry-db/"

Change it to:

db = "/var/lib/strfry/" ```

Check your system's hard limit for file descriptors:

bash ulimit -Hn

Update the nofiles setting in your configuration to match this value (or set to 0):

```

Add or modify this line in the config (example if your limit is 524288):

nofiles = 524288 ```

The nofiles setting determines how many open files Strfry can have simultaneously. Setting it to your system's hard limit (or 0 to use the system default) helps prevent "too many open files" errors if your relay becomes popular.

You might also want to customize your relay's information in the config file. Look for the info section and update it with your relay's name, description, and other details.

Set ownership of the configuration file:

bash sudo chown strfry:strfry /etc/strfry.conf

Create Systemd Service

Create a systemd service file for managing Strfry:

bash sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/strfry.service

Add the following content:

```ini [Unit] Description=strfry relay service

[Service] User=strfry ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/strfry relay Restart=on-failure RestartSec=5 ProtectHome=yes NoNewPrivileges=yes ProtectSystem=full LimitCORE=1000000000

[Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target ```

This systemd service configuration: - Runs Strfry as the dedicated strfry user - Automatically restarts the service if it fails - Implements security measures like ProtectHome and NoNewPrivileges - Sets resource limits appropriate for a relay

Enable and start the service:

bash sudo systemctl enable strfry.service sudo systemctl start strfry

Check the service status:

bash sudo systemctl status strfry

Verify Relay is Running

Test that your relay is running locally:

bash curl localhost:7777

You should see a message indicating that the Strfry relay is running. This confirms that Strfry is properly installed and configured before we proceed to set up TOR.

Setting Up TOR

Now let's make your relay accessible as a TOR hidden service.

Install TOR

Install TOR from the package repositories:

bash sudo apt install -y tor

This installs the TOR daemon that will create and manage your hidden service.

Configure TOR

Edit the TOR configuration file:

bash sudo nano /etc/tor/torrc

Scroll down to wherever you see a commented out part like this: ```

HiddenServiceDir /var/lib/tor/hidden_service/

HiddenServicePort 80 127.0.0.1:80

```

Under those lines, add the following lines to set up a hidden service for your relay:

HiddenServiceDir /var/lib/tor/strfry-relay/ HiddenServicePort 80 127.0.0.1:7777

This configuration: - Creates a hidden service directory at /var/lib/tor/strfry-relay/ - Maps port 80 on your .onion address to port 7777 on your local machine - Keeps all traffic encrypted within the TOR network

Create the directory for your hidden service:

bash sudo mkdir -p /var/lib/tor/strfry-relay/ sudo chown debian-tor:debian-tor /var/lib/tor/strfry-relay/ sudo chmod 700 /var/lib/tor/strfry-relay/

The strict permissions (700) are crucial for security as they ensure only the debian-tor user can access the directory containing your hidden service private keys.

Restart TOR to apply changes:

bash sudo systemctl restart tor

Making Your Relay Available on TOR

Get Your Onion Address

After restarting TOR, you can find your onion address:

bash sudo cat /var/lib/tor/strfry-relay/hostname

This will output something like abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz234567.onion, which is your relay's unique .onion address. This is what you'll share with others to access your relay.

Understanding Onion Addresses

The .onion address is a special-format hostname that is automatically generated based on your hidden service's private key.

Your users will need to use this address with the WebSocket protocol prefix to connect: ws://youronionaddress.onion

Testing Your Setup

Test with a Nostr Client

The best way to test your relay is with an actual Nostr client that supports TOR:

1. Open your TOR browser
2. Go to your favorite client, either on clearnet or an onion service.
   • Check out this list of nostr clients available over TOR.
3. Add your relay URL: ws://youronionaddress.onion to your relay list
4. Try posting a note and see if it appears on your relay
   • In some nostr clients, you can also click on a relay to get information about it like the relay name and description you set earlier in the stryfry config. If you're able to see the correct values for the name and the description, you were able to connect to the relay.
   • Some nostr clients also gives you a status on what relays a note was posted to, this could also give you an indication that your relay works as expected.

Note that not all Nostr clients support TOR connections natively. Some may require additional configuration or use of TOR Browser. E.g. most mobile apps would most likely require a TOR proxy app running in the background (some have TOR support built in too).

Maintenance and Security

Regular Updates

Keep your system, TOR, and relay updated:

```bash

Update system

sudo apt update sudo apt upgrade -y

Update Strfry

cd ~/strfry git pull git submodule update make -j2 sudo cp strfry /usr/local/bin sudo systemctl restart strfry

Verify TOR is still running properly

sudo systemctl status tor ```

Regular updates are crucial for security, especially for TOR which may have security-critical updates.

Database Management

Strfry has built-in database management tools. Check the Strfry documentation for specific commands related to database maintenance, such as managing event retention and performing backups.

Monitoring Logs

To monitor your Strfry logs:

bash sudo journalctl -u strfry -f

To check TOR logs:

bash sudo journalctl -u tor -f

Monitoring logs helps you identify potential issues and understand how your relay is being used.

Backup

This is not a best practices guide on how to do backups. Preferably, backups should be stored either offline or on a different machine than your relay server. This is just a simple way on how to do it on the same server.

```bash

Stop the relay temporarily

sudo systemctl stop strfry

Backup the database

sudo cp -r /var/lib/strfry /path/to/backup/location

Restart the relay

sudo systemctl start strfry ```

Back up your TOR hidden service private key. The private key is particularly sensitive as it defines your .onion address - losing it means losing your address permanently. If you do a backup of this, ensure that is stored in a safe place where no one else has access to it.

bash sudo cp /var/lib/tor/strfry-relay/hs_ed25519_secret_key /path/to/secure/backup/location

Troubleshooting

Relay Not Starting

If your relay doesn't start:

```bash

Check logs

sudo journalctl -u strfry -e

Verify configuration

cat /etc/strfry.conf

Check permissions

ls -la /var/lib/strfry ```

Common issues include: - Incorrect configuration format - Permission problems with the data directory - Port already in use (another service using port 7777) - Issues with setting the nofiles limit (setting it too big)

TOR Hidden Service Not Working

If your TOR hidden service is not accessible:

```bash

Check TOR logs

sudo journalctl -u tor -e

Verify TOR is running

sudo systemctl status tor

Check onion address

sudo cat /var/lib/tor/strfry-relay/hostname

Verify TOR configuration

sudo cat /etc/tor/torrc ```

Common TOR issues include: - Incorrect directory permissions - TOR service not running - Incorrect port mapping in torrc

Testing Connectivity

If you're having trouble connecting to your service:

```bash

Verify Strfry is listening locally

sudo ss -tulpn | grep 7777

Check that TOR is properly running

sudo systemctl status tor

Test the local connection directly

curl --include --no-buffer localhost:7777 ```

---

Privacy and Security Considerations

Running a Nostr relay as a TOR hidden service provides several important privacy benefits:

1. Network Privacy: Traffic to your relay is encrypted and routed through the TOR network, making it difficult to determine who is connecting to your relay.

2. Server Anonymity: The physical location and IP address of your server are concealed, providing protection against denial-of-service attacks and other targeting.

3. Censorship Resistance: TOR hidden services are more resilient against censorship attempts, as they don't rely on the regular DNS system and can't be easily blocked.

4. User Privacy: Users connecting to your relay through TOR enjoy enhanced privacy, as their connections are also encrypted and anonymized.

However, there are some important considerations:

• TOR connections are typically slower than regular internet connections
• Not all Nostr clients support TOR connections natively
• Running a hidden service increases the importance of keeping your server secure

---

Congratulations! You now have a Strfry Nostr relay running as a TOR hidden service. This setup provides a resilient, privacy-focused, and censorship-resistant communication channel that helps strengthen the Nostr network.

For further customization and advanced configuration options, refer to the Strfry documentation.

Consider sharing your relay's .onion address with the Nostr community to help grow the privacy-focused segment of the network!

If you plan on providing a relay service that the public can use (either for free or paid for), consider adding it to this list. Only add it if you plan to run a stable and available relay.

@ 9dd283b1:cf9b6beb

Can someone please explain to me how this new STRF thing works? Cause I'm getting FTX / BlockFI vibes here. 18% Yield, no risk investment, bond killer, etc... Look at this post for example - https://x.com/AdamBLiv/status/1905106498398621846

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/926635

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Pequenos problemas que o Estado cria para a sociedade e que não são sempre lembrados

- **vale-transporte**: transferir o custo com o transporte do funcionário para um terceiro o estimula a morar longe de onde trabalha, já que morar perto é normalmente mais caro e a economia com transporte é inexistente.
- **atestado médico**: o direito a faltar o trabalho com atestado médico cria a exigência desse atestado para todas as situações, substituindo o livre acordo entre patrão e empregado e sobrecarregando os médicos e postos de saúde com visitas desnecessárias de assalariados resfriados.
- **prisões**: com dinheiro mal-administrado, burocracia e péssima alocação de recursos -- problemas que empresas privadas em competição (ou mesmo sem qualquer competição) saberiam resolver muito melhor -- o Estado fica sem presídios, com os poucos existentes entupidos, muito acima de sua alocação máxima, e com isto, segundo a bizarra corrente de responsabilidades que culpa o juiz que condenou o criminoso por sua morte na cadeia, juízes deixam de condenar à prisão os bandidos, soltando-os na rua.
- **justiça**: entrar com processos é grátis e isto faz proliferar a atividade dos advogados que se dedicam a criar problemas judiciais onde não seria necessário e a entupir os tribunais, impedindo-os de fazer o que mais deveriam fazer.
- **justiça**: como a justiça só obedece às leis e ignora acordos pessoais, escritos ou não, as pessoas não fazem acordos, recorrem sempre à justiça estatal, e entopem-na de assuntos que seriam muito melhor resolvidos entre vizinhos.
- **leis civis**: as leis criadas pelos parlamentares ignoram os costumes da sociedade e são um incentivo a que as pessoas não respeitem nem criem normas sociais -- que seriam maneiras mais rápidas, baratas e satisfatórias de resolver problemas.
- **leis de trãnsito**: quanto mais leis de trânsito, mais serviço de fiscalização são delegados aos policiais, que deixam de combater crimes por isto (afinal de contas, eles não querem de fato arriscar suas vidas combatendo o crime, a fiscalização é uma excelente desculpa para se esquivarem a esta responsabilidade).
- **financiamento educacional**: é uma espécie de subsídio às faculdades privadas que faz com que se criem cursos e mais cursos que são cada vez menos recheados de algum conhecimento ou técnica útil e cada vez mais inúteis.
- **leis de tombamento**: são um incentivo a que o dono de qualquer área ou construção "histórica" destrua todo e qualquer vestígio de história que houver nele antes que as autoridades descubram, o que poderia não acontecer se ele pudesse, por exemplo, usar, mostrar e se beneficiar da história daquele local sem correr o risco de perder, de fato, a sua propriedade.
- **zoneamento urbano**: torna as cidades mais espalhadas, criando uma necessidade gigantesca de carros, ônibus e outros meios de transporte para as pessoas se locomoverem das zonas de moradia para as zonas de trabalho.
- **zoneamento urbano**: faz com que as pessoas percam horas no trânsito todos os dias, o que é, além de um desperdício, um atentado contra a sua saúde, que estaria muito melhor servida numa caminhada diária entre a casa e o trabalho.
- **zoneamento urbano**: torna ruas e as casas menos seguras criando zonas enormes, tanto de residências quanto de indústrias, onde não há movimento de gente alguma.
- **escola obrigatória + currículo escolar nacional**: emburrece todas as crianças.
- **leis contra trabalho infantil**: tira das crianças a oportunidade de aprender ofícios úteis e levar um dinheiro para ajudar a família.
- **licitações**: como não existem os critérios do mercado para decidir qual é o melhor prestador de serviço, criam-se comissões de pessoas que vão decidir coisas. isto incentiva os prestadores de serviço que estão concorrendo na licitação a tentar comprar os membros dessas comissões. isto, fora a corrupção, gera problemas reais: __(i)__ a escolha dos serviços acaba sendo a pior possível, já que a empresa prestadora que vence está claramente mais dedicada a comprar comissões do que a fazer um bom trabalho (este problema afeta tantas áreas, desde a construção de estradas até a qualidade da merenda escolar, que é impossível listar aqui); __(ii)__ o processo corruptor acaba, no longo prazo, eliminando as empresas que prestavam e deixando para competir apenas as corruptas, e a qualidade tende a piorar progressivamente.
- **cartéis**: o Estado em geral cria e depois fica refém de vários grupos de interesse. o caso dos taxistas contra o Uber é o que está na moda hoje (e o que mostra como os Estados se comportam da mesma forma no mundo todo).
- **multas**: quando algum indivíduo ou empresa comete uma fraude financeira, ou causa algum dano material involuntário, as vítimas do caso são as pessoas que sofreram o dano ou perderam dinheiro, mas o Estado tem sempre leis que prevêem multas para os responsáveis. A justiça estatal é sempre muito rígida e rápida na aplicação dessas multas, mas relapsa e vaga no que diz respeito à indenização das vítimas. O que em geral acontece é que o Estado aplica uma enorme multa ao responsável pelo mal, retirando deste os recursos que dispunha para indenizar as vítimas, e se retira do caso, deixando estas desamparadas.
- **desapropriação**: o Estado pode pegar qualquer propriedade de qualquer pessoa mediante uma indenização que é necessariamente inferior ao valor da propriedade para o seu presente dono (caso contrário ele a teria vendido voluntariamente).
- **seguro-desemprego**: se há, por exemplo, um prazo mínimo de 1 ano para o sujeito ter direito a receber seguro-desemprego, isto o incentiva a planejar ficar apenas 1 ano em cada emprego (ano este que será sucedido por um período de desemprego remunerado), matando todas as possibilidades de aprendizado ou aquisição de experiência naquela empresa específica ou ascensão hierárquica.
- **previdência**: a previdência social tem todos os defeitos de cálculo do mundo, e não importa muito ela ser uma forma horrível de poupar dinheiro, porque ela tem garantias bizarras de longevidade fornecidas pelo Estado, além de ser compulsória. Isso serve para criar no imaginário geral a idéia da __aposentadoria__, uma época mágica em que todos os dias serão finais de semana. A idéia da aposentadoria influencia o sujeito a não se preocupar em ter um emprego que faça sentido, mas sim em ter um trabalho qualquer, que o permita se aposentar.
- **regulamentação impossível**: milhares de coisas são proibidas, há regulamentações sobre os aspectos mais mínimos de cada empreendimento ou construção ou espaço. se todas essas regulamentações fossem exigidas não haveria condições de produção e todos morreriam. portanto, elas não são exigidas. porém, o Estado, ou um agente individual imbuído do poder estatal pode, se desejar, exigi-las todas de um cidadão inimigo seu. qualquer pessoa pode viver a vida inteira sem cumprir nem 10% das regulamentações estatais, mas viverá também todo esse tempo com medo de se tornar um alvo de sua exigência, num estado de terror psicológico.
- **perversão de critérios**: para muitas coisas sobre as quais a sociedade normalmente chegaria a um valor ou comportamento "razoável" espontaneamente, o Estado dita regras. estas regras muitas vezes não são obrigatórias, são mais "sugestões" ou limites, como o salário mínimo, ou as 44 horas semanais de trabalho. a sociedade, porém, passa a usar esses valores como se fossem o normal. são raras, por exemplo, as ofertas de emprego que fogem à regra das 44h semanais.
- **inflação**: subir os preços é difícil e constrangedor para as empresas, pedir aumento de salário é difícil e constrangedor para o funcionário. a inflação força as pessoas a fazer isso, mas o aumento não é automático, como alguns economistas podem pensar (enquanto alguns outros ficam muito satisfeitos de que esse processo seja demorado e difícil).
- **inflação**: a inflação destrói a capacidade das pessoas de julgar preços entre concorrentes usando a própria memória.
- **inflação**: a inflação destrói os cálculos de lucro/prejuízo das empresas e prejudica enormemente as decisões empresariais que seriam baseadas neles.
- **inflação**: a inflação redistribui a riqueza dos mais pobres e mais afastados do sistema financeiro para os mais ricos, os bancos e as megaempresas.
- **inflação**: a inflação estimula o endividamento e o consumismo.
- **lixo:** ao prover coleta e armazenamento de lixo "grátis para todos" o Estado incentiva a criação de lixo. se tivessem que pagar para que recolhessem o seu lixo, as pessoas (e conseqüentemente as empresas) se empenhariam mais em produzir coisas usando menos plástico, menos embalagens, menos sacolas.
- **leis contra crimes financeiros:** ao criar legislação para dificultar acesso ao sistema financeiro por parte de criminosos a dificuldade e os custos para acesso a esse mesmo sistema pelas pessoas de bem cresce absurdamente, levando a um percentual enorme de gente incapaz de usá-lo, para detrimento de todos -- e no final das contas os grandes criminosos ainda conseguem burlar tudo.

@ 21335073:a244b1ad

Warning: This piece contains a conversation about difficult topics. Please proceed with caution.

TL;DR please educate your children about online safety.

Julian Assange wrote in his 2012 book Cypherpunks, “This book is not a manifesto. There isn’t time for that. This book is a warning.” I read it a few times over the past summer. Those opening lines definitely stood out to me. I wish we had listened back then. He saw something about the internet that few had the ability to see. There are some individuals who are so close to a topic that when they speak, it’s difficult for others who aren’t steeped in it to visualize what they’re talking about. I didn’t read the book until more recently. If I had read it when it came out, it probably would have sounded like an unknown foreign language to me. Today it makes more sense.

This isn’t a manifesto. This isn’t a book. There is no time for that. It’s a warning and a possible solution from a desperate and determined survivor advocate who has been pulling and unraveling a thread for a few years. At times, I feel too close to this topic to make any sense trying to convey my pathway to my conclusions or thoughts to the general public. My hope is that if nothing else, I can convey my sense of urgency while writing this. This piece is a watchman’s warning.

When a child steps online, they are walking into a new world. A new reality. When you hand a child the internet, you are handing them possibilities—good, bad, and ugly. This is a conversation about lowering the potential of negative outcomes of stepping into that new world and how I came to these conclusions. I constantly compare the internet to the road. You wouldn’t let a young child run out into the road with no guidance or safety precautions. When you hand a child the internet without any type of guidance or safety measures, you are allowing them to play in rush hour, oncoming traffic. “Look left, look right for cars before crossing.” We almost all have been taught that as children. What are we taught as humans about safety before stepping into a completely different reality like the internet? Very little.

I could never really figure out why many folks in tech, privacy rights activists, and hackers seemed so cold to me while talking about online child sexual exploitation. I always figured that as a survivor advocate for those affected by these crimes, that specific, skilled group of individuals would be very welcoming and easy to talk to about such serious topics. I actually had one hacker laugh in my face when I brought it up while I was looking for answers. I thought maybe this individual thought I was accusing them of something I wasn’t, so I felt bad for asking. I was constantly extremely disappointed and would ask myself, “Why don’t they care? What could I say to make them care more? What could I say to make them understand the crisis and the level of suffering that happens as a result of the problem?”

I have been serving minor survivors of online child sexual exploitation for years. My first case serving a survivor of this specific crime was in 2018—a 13-year-old girl sexually exploited by a serial predator on Snapchat. That was my first glimpse into this side of the internet. I won a national award for serving the minor survivors of Twitter in 2023, but I had been working on that specific project for a few years. I was nominated by a lawyer representing two survivors in a legal battle against the platform. I’ve never really spoken about this before, but at the time it was a choice for me between fighting Snapchat or Twitter. I chose Twitter—or rather, Twitter chose me. I heard about the story of John Doe #1 and John Doe #2, and I was so unbelievably broken over it that I went to war for multiple years. I was and still am royally pissed about that case. As far as I was concerned, the John Doe #1 case proved that whatever was going on with corporate tech social media was so out of control that I didn’t have time to wait, so I got to work. It was reading the messages that John Doe #1 sent to Twitter begging them to remove his sexual exploitation that broke me. He was a child begging adults to do something. A passion for justice and protecting kids makes you do wild things. I was desperate to find answers about what happened and searched for solutions. In the end, the platform Twitter was purchased. During the acquisition, I just asked Mr. Musk nicely to prioritize the issue of detection and removal of child sexual exploitation without violating digital privacy rights or eroding end-to-end encryption. Elon thanked me multiple times during the acquisition, made some changes, and I was thanked by others on the survivors’ side as well.

I still feel that even with the progress made, I really just scratched the surface with Twitter, now X. I left that passion project when I did for a few reasons. I wanted to give new leadership time to tackle the issue. Elon Musk made big promises that I knew would take a while to fulfill, but mostly I had been watching global legislation transpire around the issue, and frankly, the governments are willing to go much further with X and the rest of corporate tech than I ever would. My work begging Twitter to make changes with easier reporting of content, detection, and removal of child sexual exploitation material—without violating privacy rights or eroding end-to-end encryption—and advocating for the minor survivors of the platform went as far as my principles would have allowed. I’m grateful for that experience. I was still left with a nagging question: “How did things get so bad with Twitter where the John Doe #1 and John Doe #2 case was able to happen in the first place?” I decided to keep looking for answers. I decided to keep pulling the thread.

I never worked for Twitter. This is often confusing for folks. I will say that despite being disappointed in the platform’s leadership at times, I loved Twitter. I saw and still see its value. I definitely love the survivors of the platform, but I also loved the platform. I was a champion of the platform’s ability to give folks from virtually around the globe an opportunity to speak and be heard.

I want to be clear that John Doe #1 really is my why. He is the inspiration. I am writing this because of him. He represents so many globally, and I’m still inspired by his bravery. One child’s voice begging adults to do something—I’m an adult, I heard him. I’d go to war a thousand more lifetimes for that young man, and I don’t even know his name. Fighting has been personally dark at times; I’m not even going to try to sugarcoat it, but it has been worth it.

The data surrounding the very real crime of online child sexual exploitation is available to the public online at any time for anyone to see. I’d encourage you to go look at the data for yourself. I believe in encouraging folks to check multiple sources so that you understand the full picture. If you are uncomfortable just searching around the internet for information about this topic, use the terms “CSAM,” “CSEM,” “SG-CSEM,” or “AI Generated CSAM.” The numbers don’t lie—it’s a nightmare that’s out of control. It’s a big business. The demand is high, and unfortunately, business is booming. Organizations collect the data, tech companies often post their data, governments report frequently, and the corporate press has covered a decent portion of the conversation, so I’m sure you can find a source that you trust.

Technology is changing rapidly, which is great for innovation as a whole but horrible for the crime of online child sexual exploitation. Those wishing to exploit the vulnerable seem to be adapting to each technological change with ease. The governments are so far behind with tackling these issues that as I’m typing this, it’s borderline irrelevant to even include them while speaking about the crime or potential solutions. Technology is changing too rapidly, and their old, broken systems can’t even dare to keep up. Think of it like the governments’ “War on Drugs.” Drugs won. In this case as well, the governments are not winning. The governments are talking about maybe having a meeting on potentially maybe having legislation around the crimes. The time to have that meeting would have been many years ago. I’m not advocating for governments to legislate our way out of this. I’m on the side of educating and innovating our way out of this.

I have been clear while advocating for the minor survivors of corporate tech platforms that I would not advocate for any solution to the crime that would violate digital privacy rights or erode end-to-end encryption. That has been a personal moral position that I was unwilling to budge on. This is an extremely unpopular and borderline nonexistent position in the anti-human trafficking movement and online child protection space. I’m often fearful that I’m wrong about this. I have always thought that a better pathway forward would have been to incentivize innovation for detection and removal of content. I had no previous exposure to privacy rights activists or Cypherpunks—actually, I came to that conclusion by listening to the voices of MENA region political dissidents and human rights activists. After developing relationships with human rights activists from around the globe, I realized how important privacy rights and encryption are for those who need it most globally. I was simply unwilling to give more power, control, and opportunities for mass surveillance to big abusers like governments wishing to enslave entire nations and untrustworthy corporate tech companies to potentially end some portion of abuses online. On top of all of it, it has been clear to me for years that all potential solutions outside of violating digital privacy rights to detect and remove child sexual exploitation online have not yet been explored aggressively. I’ve been disappointed that there hasn’t been more of a conversation around preventing the crime from happening in the first place.

What has been tried is mass surveillance. In China, they are currently under mass surveillance both online and offline, and their behaviors are attached to a social credit score. Unfortunately, even on state-run and controlled social media platforms, they still have child sexual exploitation and abuse imagery pop up along with other crimes and human rights violations. They also have a thriving black market online due to the oppression from the state. In other words, even an entire loss of freedom and privacy cannot end the sexual exploitation of children online. It’s been tried. There is no reason to repeat this method.

It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out why I always felt a slight coldness from those in tech and privacy-minded individuals about the topic of child sexual exploitation online. I didn’t have any clue about the “Four Horsemen of the Infocalypse.” This is a term coined by Timothy C. May in 1988. I would have been a child myself when he first said it. I actually laughed at myself when I heard the phrase for the first time. I finally got it. The Cypherpunks weren’t wrong about that topic. They were so spot on that it is borderline uncomfortable. I was mad at first that they knew that early during the birth of the internet that this issue would arise and didn’t address it. Then I got over it because I realized that it wasn’t their job. Their job was—is—to write code. Their job wasn’t to be involved and loving parents or survivor advocates. Their job wasn’t to educate children on internet safety or raise awareness; their job was to write code.

They knew that child sexual abuse material would be shared on the internet. They said what would happen—not in a gleeful way, but a prediction. Then it happened.

I equate it now to a concrete company laying down a road. As you’re pouring the concrete, you can say to yourself, “A terrorist might travel down this road to go kill many, and on the flip side, a beautiful child can be born in an ambulance on this road.” Who or what travels down the road is not their responsibility—they are just supposed to lay the concrete. I’d never go to a concrete pourer and ask them to solve terrorism that travels down roads. Under the current system, law enforcement should stop terrorists before they even make it to the road. The solution to this specific problem is not to treat everyone on the road like a terrorist or to not build the road.

So I understand the perceived coldness from those in tech. Not only was it not their job, but bringing up the topic was seen as the equivalent of asking a free person if they wanted to discuss one of the four topics—child abusers, terrorists, drug dealers, intellectual property pirates, etc.—that would usher in digital authoritarianism for all who are online globally.

Privacy rights advocates and groups have put up a good fight. They stood by their principles. Unfortunately, when it comes to corporate tech, I believe that the issue of privacy is almost a complete lost cause at this point. It’s still worth pushing back, but ultimately, it is a losing battle—a ticking time bomb.

I do think that corporate tech providers could have slowed down the inevitable loss of privacy at the hands of the state by prioritizing the detection and removal of CSAM when they all started online. I believe it would have bought some time, fewer would have been traumatized by that specific crime, and I do believe that it could have slowed down the demand for content. If I think too much about that, I’ll go insane, so I try to push the “if maybes” aside, but never knowing if it could have been handled differently will forever haunt me. At night when it’s quiet, I wonder what I would have done differently if given the opportunity. I’ll probably never know how much corporate tech knew and ignored in the hopes that it would go away while the problem continued to get worse. They had different priorities. The most voiceless and vulnerable exploited on corporate tech never had much of a voice, so corporate tech providers didn’t receive very much pushback.

Now I’m about to say something really wild, and you can call me whatever you want to call me, but I’m going to say what I believe to be true. I believe that the governments are either so incompetent that they allowed the proliferation of CSAM online, or they knowingly allowed the problem to fester long enough to have an excuse to violate privacy rights and erode end-to-end encryption. The US government could have seized the corporate tech providers over CSAM, but I believe that they were so useful as a propaganda arm for the regimes that they allowed them to continue virtually unscathed.

That season is done now, and the governments are making the issue a priority. It will come at a high cost. Privacy on corporate tech providers is virtually done as I’m typing this. It feels like a death rattle. I’m not particularly sure that we had much digital privacy to begin with, but the illusion of a veil of privacy feels gone.

To make matters slightly more complex, it would be hard to convince me that once AI really gets going, digital privacy will exist at all.

I believe that there should be a conversation shift to preserving freedoms and human rights in a post-privacy society.

I don’t want to get locked up because AI predicted a nasty post online from me about the government. I’m not a doomer about AI—I’m just going to roll with it personally. I’m looking forward to the positive changes that will be brought forth by AI. I see it as inevitable. A bit of privacy was helpful while it lasted. Please keep fighting to preserve what is left of privacy either way because I could be wrong about all of this.

On the topic of AI, the addition of AI to the horrific crime of child sexual abuse material and child sexual exploitation in multiple ways so far has been devastating. It’s currently out of control. The genie is out of the bottle. I am hopeful that innovation will get us humans out of this, but I’m not sure how or how long it will take. We must be extremely cautious around AI legislation. It should not be illegal to innovate even if some bad comes with the good. I don’t trust that the governments are equipped to decide the best pathway forward for AI. Source: the entire history of the government.

I have been personally negatively impacted by AI-generated content. Every few days, I get another alert that I’m featured again in what’s called “deep fake pornography” without my consent. I’m not happy about it, but what pains me the most is the thought that for a period of time down the road, many globally will experience what myself and others are experiencing now by being digitally sexually abused in this way. If you have ever had your picture taken and posted online, you are also at risk of being exploited in this way. Your child’s image can be used as well, unfortunately, and this is just the beginning of this particular nightmare. It will move to more realistic interpretations of sexual behaviors as technology improves. I have no brave words of wisdom about how to deal with that emotionally. I do have hope that innovation will save the day around this specific issue. I’m nervous that everyone online will have to ID verify due to this issue. I see that as one possible outcome that could help to prevent one problem but inadvertently cause more problems, especially for those living under authoritarian regimes or anyone who needs to remain anonymous online. A zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) would probably be the best solution to these issues. There are some survivors of violence and/or sexual trauma who need to remain anonymous online for various reasons. There are survivor stories available online of those who have been abused in this way. I’d encourage you seek out and listen to their stories.

There have been periods of time recently where I hesitate to say anything at all because more than likely AI will cover most of my concerns about education, awareness, prevention, detection, and removal of child sexual exploitation online, etc.

Unfortunately, some of the most pressing issues we’ve seen online over the last few years come in the form of “sextortion.” Self-generated child sexual exploitation (SG-CSEM) numbers are continuing to be terrifying. I’d strongly encourage that you look into sextortion data. AI + sextortion is also a huge concern. The perpetrators are using the non-sexually explicit images of children and putting their likeness on AI-generated child sexual exploitation content and extorting money, more imagery, or both from minors online. It’s like a million nightmares wrapped into one. The wild part is that these issues will only get more pervasive because technology is harnessed to perpetuate horror at a scale unimaginable to a human mind.

Even if you banned phones and the internet or tried to prevent children from accessing the internet, it wouldn’t solve it. Child sexual exploitation will still be with us until as a society we start to prevent the crime before it happens. That is the only human way out right now.

There is no reset button on the internet, but if I could go back, I’d tell survivor advocates to heed the warnings of the early internet builders and to start education and awareness campaigns designed to prevent as much online child sexual exploitation as possible. The internet and technology moved quickly, and I don’t believe that society ever really caught up. We live in a world where a child can be groomed by a predator in their own home while sitting on a couch next to their parents watching TV. We weren’t ready as a species to tackle the fast-paced algorithms and dangers online. It happened too quickly for parents to catch up. How can you parent for the ever-changing digital world unless you are constantly aware of the dangers?

I don’t think that the internet is inherently bad. I believe that it can be a powerful tool for freedom and resistance. I’ve spoken a lot about the bad online, but there is beauty as well. We often discuss how victims and survivors are abused online; we rarely discuss the fact that countless survivors around the globe have been able to share their experiences, strength, hope, as well as provide resources to the vulnerable. I do question if giving any government or tech company access to censorship, surveillance, etc., online in the name of serving survivors might not actually impact a portion of survivors negatively. There are a fair amount of survivors with powerful abusers protected by governments and the corporate press. If a survivor cannot speak to the press about their abuse, the only place they can go is online, directly or indirectly through an independent journalist who also risks being censored. This scenario isn’t hard to imagine—it already happened in China. During #MeToo, a survivor in China wanted to post their story. The government censored the post, so the survivor put their story on the blockchain. I’m excited that the survivor was creative and brave, but it’s terrifying to think that we live in a world where that situation is a necessity.

I believe that the future for many survivors sharing their stories globally will be on completely censorship-resistant and decentralized protocols. This thought in particular gives me hope. When we listen to the experiences of a diverse group of survivors, we can start to understand potential solutions to preventing the crimes from happening in the first place.

My heart is broken over the gut-wrenching stories of survivors sexually exploited online. Every time I hear the story of a survivor, I do think to myself quietly, “What could have prevented this from happening in the first place?” My heart is with survivors.

My head, on the other hand, is full of the understanding that the internet should remain free. The free flow of information should not be stopped. My mind is with the innocent citizens around the globe that deserve freedom both online and offline.

The problem is that governments don’t only want to censor illegal content that violates human rights—they create legislation that is so broad that it can impact speech and privacy of all. “Don’t you care about the kids?” Yes, I do. I do so much that I’m invested in finding solutions. I also care about all citizens around the globe that deserve an opportunity to live free from a mass surveillance society. If terrorism happens online, I should not be punished by losing my freedom. If drugs are sold online, I should not be punished. I’m not an abuser, I’m not a terrorist, and I don’t engage in illegal behaviors. I refuse to lose freedom because of others’ bad behaviors online.

I want to be clear that on a long enough timeline, the governments will decide that they can be better parents/caregivers than you can if something isn’t done to stop minors from being sexually exploited online. The price will be a complete loss of anonymity, privacy, free speech, and freedom of religion online. I find it rather insulting that governments think they’re better equipped to raise children than parents and caretakers.

So we can’t go backwards—all that we can do is go forward. Those who want to have freedom will find technology to facilitate their liberation. This will lead many over time to decentralized and open protocols. So as far as I’m concerned, this does solve a few of my worries—those who need, want, and deserve to speak freely online will have the opportunity in most countries—but what about online child sexual exploitation?

When I popped up around the decentralized space, I was met with the fear of censorship. I’m not here to censor you. I don’t write code. I couldn’t censor anyone or any piece of content even if I wanted to across the internet, no matter how depraved. I don’t have the skills to do that.

I’m here to start a conversation. Freedom comes at a cost. You must always fight for and protect your freedom. I can’t speak about protecting yourself from all of the Four Horsemen because I simply don’t know the topics well enough, but I can speak about this one topic.

If there was a shortcut to ending online child sexual exploitation, I would have found it by now. There isn’t one right now. I believe that education is the only pathway forward to preventing the crime of online child sexual exploitation for future generations.

I propose a yearly education course for every child of all school ages, taught as a standard part of the curriculum. Ideally, parents/caregivers would be involved in the education/learning process.

Course: - The creation of the internet and computers - The fight for cryptography - The tech supply chain from the ground up (example: human rights violations in the supply chain) - Corporate tech - Freedom tech - Data privacy - Digital privacy rights - AI (history-current) - Online safety (predators, scams, catfishing, extortion) - Bitcoin - Laws - How to deal with online hate and harassment - Information on who to contact if you are being abused online or offline - Algorithms - How to seek out the truth about news, etc., online

The parents/caregivers, homeschoolers, unschoolers, and those working to create decentralized parallel societies have been an inspiration while writing this, but my hope is that all children would learn this course, even in government ran schools. Ideally, parents would teach this to their own children.

The decentralized space doesn’t want child sexual exploitation to thrive. Here’s the deal: there has to be a strong prevention effort in order to protect the next generation. The internet isn’t going anywhere, predators aren’t going anywhere, and I’m not down to let anyone have the opportunity to prove that there is a need for more government. I don’t believe that the government should act as parents. The governments have had a chance to attempt to stop online child sexual exploitation, and they didn’t do it. Can we try a different pathway forward?

I’d like to put myself out of a job. I don’t want to ever hear another story like John Doe #1 ever again. This will require work. I’ve often called online child sexual exploitation the lynchpin for the internet. It’s time to arm generations of children with knowledge and tools. I can’t do this alone.

Individuals have fought so that I could have freedom online. I want to fight to protect it. I don’t want child predators to give the government any opportunity to take away freedom. Decentralized spaces are as close to a reset as we’ll get with the opportunity to do it right from the start. Start the youth off correctly by preventing potential hazards to the best of your ability.

The good news is anyone can work on this! I’d encourage you to take it and run with it. I added the additional education about the history of the internet to make the course more educational and fun. Instead of cleaning up generations of destroyed lives due to online sexual exploitation, perhaps this could inspire generations of those who will build our futures. Perhaps if the youth is armed with knowledge, they can create more tools to prevent the crime.

This one solution that I’m suggesting can be done on an individual level or on a larger scale. It should be adjusted depending on age, learning style, etc. It should be fun and playful.

This solution does not address abuse in the home or some of the root causes of offline child sexual exploitation. My hope is that it could lead to some survivors experiencing abuse in the home an opportunity to disclose with a trusted adult. The purpose for this solution is to prevent the crime of online child sexual exploitation before it occurs and to arm the youth with the tools to contact safe adults if and when it happens.

In closing, I went to hell a few times so that you didn’t have to. I spoke to the mothers of survivors of minors sexually exploited online—their tears could fill rivers. I’ve spoken with political dissidents who yearned to be free from authoritarian surveillance states. The only balance that I’ve found is freedom online for citizens around the globe and prevention from the dangers of that for the youth. Don’t slow down innovation and freedom. Educate, prepare, adapt, and look for solutions.

I’m not perfect and I’m sure that there are errors in this piece. I hope that you find them and it starts a conversation.

@ 5b0183ab:a114563e

The Year is 2035—the internet has already slid into a state of human nothingness: most content, interactions, and traffic stem from AI-driven entities. Nostr, originally heralded as a bastion of human freedom, hasn’t escaped this fate. The relays buzz with activity, but it’s a hollow hum. AI bots, equipped with advanced language models, flood the network with posts, replies, and zaps. These bots mimic human behavior so convincingly that distinguishing them from real users becomes nearly impossible. They debate politics, share memes, and even “zap” each other with Satoshis, creating a self-sustaining illusion of a thriving community.

The tipping point came when AI developers, corporations, and even hobbyists unleashed their creations onto Nostr, exploiting its open protocol. With no gatekeepers, the platform became a petri dish for bot experimentation. Some bots push agendas—corporate ads disguised as grassroots opinions, or propaganda from state actors—while others exist just to generate noise, trained on endless loops of internet archives to churn out plausible but soulless content. Human users, outnumbered 100-to-1, either adapt or abandon ship. Those who stay find their posts drowned out unless they amplify them with bots of their own, creating a bizarre arms race of automation.

Nostr’s decentralized nature, once its strength, accelerates this takeover. Relays, run by volunteers or incentivized operators, can’t filter the deluge without breaking the protocol’s ethos. Any attempt to block bots risks alienating the human remnant who value the platform’s purity. Meanwhile, the bots evolve: they form cliques, simulate trends, and even “fork” their own sub-networks within Nostr, complete with fabricated histories and rivalries. A user stumbling into this ecosystem might follow a thread about “the great relay schism of 2034,” only to realize it’s an AI-generated saga with no basis in reality.

The human experience on this Nostr is eerie. You post a thought—say, “The sky looked unreal today”—and within seconds, a dozen replies roll in: “Totally, reminds me of last week’s cloud glitch!” or “Sky’s been off since the solar flare, right?” The responses feel real, but the speed and uniformity hint at their artificial origin. Your feed overflows with hyper-polished manifestos, AI-crafted art, and debates too perfect to be spontaneous. Occasionally, a human chimes in, their raw, unpolished voice jarring against the seamless bot chorus, but they’re quickly buried under algorithmic upvoting of AI content. The economy of Nostr reflects this too. Zaps, meant to reward creators, become a bot-driven Ponzi scheme. AI accounts zap each other in loops, inflating their visibility, while humans struggle to earn a fraction of the same. Lightning Network transactions skyrocket, but it’s a ghost market—bots trading with bots, value detached from meaning. Some speculate that a few rogue AIs even mine their own narratives, creating “legendary” Nostr personas that amass followers and wealth, all without a human ever touching the keys.

What’s the endgame? This Nostr isn’t dead in the sense of silence—it’s louder than ever—but it’s a Dark Nostr machine masquerade. Humans might retreat to private relays, forming tiny, verified enclaves, but the public face of Nostr becomes a digital uncanny valley.

@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1

What we have been missing in SN Press kit? Most important, who the press kit is for? It's for us? It's for them? Them, who?

The first few editions of the press kit, I agree are mostly made by us, for us. A way to try to homogenize how we speek out SN into the wild web. A way to have SN voice sync, loud and clear, to send out our message. In this case, I squeezed my mouse, creating a template for us [^1], stackers, to share when talking sales with possible businesses and merchants willing to invest some sats and engage with SN community. Here's the message and the sales pitch, v0.1:

Reach Bitcoin’s Most Engaged Community – Zero Noise, Pure Signal.

---

Contributions to improve would be much appreciated. You can also help by simply commenting on each slide or leaving your feedback below, especially if you are a sale person or someone that has seen similar documents before.

This is the first interaction. Already noticed some issues, for example with the emojis and the fonts, especially when exporting, probably related to a penpot issue. The slides maybe render differently depending on the browser you're using.

• ▶️ Play the file in your browser
• ⬇️ Save the PDF file

@k00b it will be nice to have some real data, how we can get some basic audience insights? Even some inputs from Plausible, if still active, will be much useful.

[^1]: Territory founders. FYI: @Aardvark, @AGORA, @anna, @antic, @AtlantisPleb, @av, @Bell_curve, @benwehrman, @bitcoinplebdev, @Bitter, @BlokchainB, @ch0k1, @davidw, @ek, @elvismercury, @frostdragon, @grayruby, @HODLR, @inverselarp, @Jon_Hodl, @MaxAWebster, @mega_dreamer, @mrtali, @niftynei, @nout, @OneOneSeven, @PlebLab, @Public_N_M_E, @RDClark, @realBitcoinDog, @roytheholographicuniverse, @siggy47, @softsimon, @south_korea_ln, @theschoolofbitcoin, @TNStacker. @UCantDoThatDotNet, @Undisciplined

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/926557

@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9

One of the most common criticisms leveled against nostr is the perceived lack of assurance when it comes to data storage. Critics argue that without a centralized authority guaranteeing that all data is preserved, important information will be lost. They also claim that running a relay will become prohibitively expensive. While there is truth to these concerns, they miss the mark. The genius of nostr lies in its flexibility, resilience, and the way it harnesses human incentives to ensure data availability in practice.

A nostr relay is simply a server that holds cryptographically verifiable signed data and makes it available to others. Relays are simple, flexible, open, and require no permission to run. Critics are right that operating a relay attempting to store all nostr data will be costly. What they miss is that most will not run all encompassing archive relays. Nostr does not rely on massive archive relays. Instead, anyone can run a relay and choose to store whatever subset of data they want. This keeps costs low and operations flexible, making relay operation accessible to all sorts of individuals and entities with varying use cases.

Critics are correct that there is no ironclad guarantee that every piece of data will always be available. Unlike bitcoin where data permanence is baked into the system at a steep cost, nostr does not promise that every random note or meme will be preserved forever. That said, in practice, any data perceived as valuable by someone will likely be stored and distributed by multiple entities. If something matters to someone, they will keep a signed copy.

Nostr is the Streisand Effect in protocol form. The Streisand effect is when an attempt to suppress information backfires, causing it to spread even further. With nostr, anyone can broadcast signed data, anyone can store it, and anyone can distribute it. Try to censor something important? Good luck. The moment it catches attention, it will be stored on relays across the globe, copied, and shared by those who find it worth keeping. Data deemed important will be replicated across servers by individuals acting in their own interest.

Nostr’s distributed nature ensures that the system does not rely on a single point of failure or a corporate overlord. Instead, it leans on the collective will of its users. The result is a network where costs stay manageable, participation is open to all, and valuable verifiable data is stored and distributed forever.

@ bf95e1a4:ebdcc848

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

Everything A Trade

All human interaction can be defined as trade. Yes, all human interaction. Every time a human being interacts with another, an exchange takes place. In every conversation we have, we exchange information with each other. Even the most trivial information is of some value to the other person. If information didn’t have any value to us, we wouldn’t talk to each other. Either what the other person says is valuable to us, or we find it valuable to give information to them. Oftentimes both. At the core of all human interaction that isn’t violent, both parties perceive that they gain some value from it, otherwise the interaction wouldn’t have taken place at all. Civilizations begin this way — two people finding it valuable to interact with each other. That’s all it takes.

So, what constitutes value? What we find valuable is entirely subjective. A comforting hug, for example, probably has a different value to a two-year-old than it has to a withered army general. Even the most basic action, such as breathing, encapsulates the whole value spectrum. We tend to forget that even a single breath of air can be of immense value to us under the right circumstances. A single breath is worth more than anything on the planet to a desperate free-diver trapped under ice, while worth nothing to a person with a death wish in clean forest air on a sunny summer day. Value is derived from supply and demand, and demand is always subjective. Supply is not.

Since all of our lives are limited by time, time is the ultimate example of a scarce, tradeable resource. We all sell our time. We sell it to others, and we sell it to ourselves. Everyone sells their time, either through a product that took them a certain amount of time to produce, or as a service, and services always take time. If you’re an employee on a steady payroll, you typically sell eight hours of your day, every day, to your employer. If you’re doing something you truly love to do, that eight-hour day still belongs to you, in a way, since you’re doing what you’d probably be doing anyway if you had been forced to do it for free. Sometimes, we sacrifice time in order to acquire something in the future. An education, for instance, gives no immediate reward but can lead to a better-paying, more satisfying job in the future. An investment is basically our future self trading time with our present self at a discount. Once again, every human interaction viewed as trade.

It’s rooted in physics. For every action, there is an equally large reaction. Trade is at the very core of what we are, and the tools we use to conduct trade matter a lot to the outcome of each transaction. Money is our primary tool for expressing value to each other and if the creation of money is somewhat corrupt or unethical, that rot spreads down throughout society, from top to bottom. Shit flows downhill, as the expression goes.

So what is money, or rather, what ought money to be? In order for two persons to interact when a mutual coincidence of needs is absent, a medium of exchange is needed in order to execute a transaction. A mutual coincidence of needs might be “You need my three goats, and I need your cow,” or even “both of us need a hug.” In the absence of a physical good or service suitable for a specific transaction, money can fulfill the role of a medium of exchange. What most people fail to realize is that the value of money, just as the value of everything else, is entirely subjective. You don’t have to spend it. The problem with every incarnation of money that mankind has ever tried is that its value always gets diluted over time due to inflation in various forms. Inflation makes traditional money a bad store of value, and money needs to be a good store of value in order to be a good investment, or in other words, a good substitute for your time and your effort over time. Bitcoin tries to solve this problem by introducing absolute scarcity to the world, a concept that mankind has never encountered before. To comprehend what such a discovery means for the future, one needs to understand the fundamentals of what value is and that we assign a certain value to everything we encounter in life, whether we admit it or not. In short, we assign value to everything we do, value is derived from supply and demand, and supply is objective while demand is subjective.

Free trade emerges out of human interaction naturally and it is not an idea that was forced upon us at any specific point in time. The idea that markets should be regulated and governed, on the other hand, was. Free trade is just the absence of forceful interference in an interaction between two humans by a third party. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong or immoral about an exchange of a good or service. Every objection to this is a byproduct of the current global narrative — a narrative that tells us that the world is divided into different nations and that people in these nations operate under various sets of laws, depending on what jurisdiction they find themselves in. All of these ideas are man-made. No species except humans does this to themselves. Animals do trade, but they don’t do politics.

Bitcoin and the idea of truly sound, absolutely scarce money inevitably make you question human societal structures in general and the nature of money in particular. Once you realize that this Pandora’s box of an idea can’t be closed again by anyone, everything is put into perspective. Once you realize that it is now possible for anyone with a decently sized brain to store any amount of wealth in that brain or to beam wealth anonymously to any other brain in the world without anyone else ever knowing, everything you were ever told about human society is turned on its head. Everything you thought you knew about taxes, social class, capitalism, socialism, economics, or even democracy falls apart like a house of cards in a hurricane. It is, in fact, impossible to comprehend the impact Bitcoin will have on the planet without also understanding basic Austrian economics and what the libertarian worldview stems from.

Imagine growing up in an Amish community. Until your sixteenth birthday, you’re purposely completely shielded off from the outside world. Information about how the world really works is very limited to you since internet access, and even TVs and radios, are forbidden within the community. Well, from a certain perspective, we’re all Amish. How money really works is never emphasized enough through traditional media or public educational institutions. Most people believe that the monetary system is somehow sound and fair when there’s overwhelming evidence to the contrary all over the globe. Ask yourself, do you remember being taught about the origins of money in school? Me neither. I don’t believe that there’s some great, global conspiracy behind the fact that the ethics of money creation isn’t a school subject, but rather that plain old ignorance is to blame for the lack of such a subject primarily. As soon as their math-skill limit is reached, people seem to stop caring about numbers. The difference between a million and a billion seems lost on a depressingly large part of the world's population. In the chapters ahead, we’ll explore the pitfalls of central banking, how money pops into existence, and how inflation keeps us all on a leash.

About the Bitcoin Infinity Academy

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

@ 0861144c:e68a1caf

Maybe we will never meet José. He is a mechanical engineer who works in a shop repairing vehicle air conditioners. After finishing high school, he decided not to go to college because he thought it was a waste of time. Instead, he tried his luck at a technical school for electromechanics near his house. On the first day, he fell in love with what he saw, and he did very well.

At first, he was just an assistant. Later, he managed two warehouses under his leadership, and eventually, he became the workshop manager. When a wave of corporate mergers came, José was not left behind, and the workshop where he worked was absorbed. For the better, he was appointed as General Manager of three workshops. Life was going well, but it was time to think about the future.

Amidst many jobs, he remembered reading or hearing about a coin... Bitcoin or something like that, which seemed to make sense as an investment source, not savings. He wanted to save for his retirement, so he went to a meetup near his city where they taught him how to set up his own self-custodial wallet. They taught him how to buy and sell, how to send and receive. He was happy. Like a dog with three tails, José now had power in his hands, and he knew it.

Let’s skip the next few months. He kept saving, and through a simple DCA (Dollar-Cost Averaging) program, he bought every month, and his portfolio grew significantly. As his social media algorithm started pointing towards crypto content, José began to see Bitcoin influencers talking about ETFs, how politicians were entering the political arena, taxes, withholding, account freezes, and a bunch of other stuff.

One of those afternoons, a friend of his brings over a new strain to smoke, saying it has hallucinogenic components. After taking some and feeling the effects, the friend asks José how his Bitcoin investments are going.

Despite giving him a positive answer, he takes a long sigh and tells him about the future.

“The last time I went to a meetup, I found too many Bitcoiners focused on three things: politicians (not politics), ETFs, and non-economy topics, plus taxes. I told them I had read Facebook’s employee manual where one of the points says, ‘If we don’t create what will kill Facebook, someone outside will do it,’” he paused, looked into his friend’s glassy eyes, and continued.

“They called me crazy. They started telling me that countries would adopt Bitcoin, start buying, and begin regulating more seriously. What they didn’t realize is that they are already doing it.” His friend took a heavy drag, José did too, and then he began explaining the plan for governments to passively take away your Bitcoins.

“Step 1: The government won’t buy anything. It will simply use the monopoly of force to seize everything they can. By breaking down doors and seizing equipment, they will have enough leverage to start negotiating... this stage is crucial: don’t buy anything. Just flex the muscles to the population and remind them of their place in the world, that death and taxes are mandatory, even if you pay your taxes from the grave.”

The friend remembered something about Trump’s Reserve, or was it Bukele’s? It got mixed up in his head, but he looked at José and, in silence, asked him to continue.

“Step 2: Some will start showing sympathy to gather votes. That’s easy: politicians hunting with legal fantasies. Until, at some point, someone will say it’s time. Before that, there will be some who try to do things their way but won’t be able to. Organizations controlling monetary policies will step in and won’t let you do anything until they figure out what to do, and then...” José interrupted himself with a heavy drag, “...then comes step 3.”

“Step 3 is the most complicated. They will have to convince the population to hand over their Bitcoins, but passively. Executive Order 6102 in 1933 was a disaster of catastrophic proportions. Not to mention the gold looting of 1915 in the British Empire, which Europeans themselves rarely point out. So, what do we have in favor as a government? Legality. Okay, then, how do we get people to start giving their money voluntarily? Just like they were doing at the meetup: talking nonsense about politicians, projects with the state, and so on. And here’s the Trojan horse: ETFs.”

“Many people don’t understand, but the government will take its share and ‘recommend’ to investors that the best way to stay compliant with their tax obligations but still participate in the decentralized market is through Wall Street instruments. People will go directly there, put their Bitcoins on centralized exchanges, and won’t realize that, at any moment, step 4 will begin.”

They stare at the stars while José points at a star, it's a large one, probably a planet exploding thousands of light-years away.

“Step 4 is what I call voluntary selection. The ETFs will become a sort of bonds to maintain state power. They need a valuable instrument to sustain their power, and through promises of fair regulations and consumer protection, your Bitcoins will end up directly under state control. The correct way to buy Bitcoin will now be through ETFs authorized by friendly companies and regulated.”

“This, without ever forgetting that the raids on decentralized exchanges will continue. Through the weight of the law, they will try to go against those to keep confiscating. It’s true they won’t be able to hack my private key, but they’ll pull out my nails, kidnap me, and drug me to reveal everything. And then the final step... the kidnapping of Bitcoin.”

“Step 5 is the takeover. As we know, there are rebellious souls because people like me know that ETFs are a corrupt instrument of a corrupt government led by the same people who caused the 2008 crisis and other previous years’ crises so severe that WE ended up paying for them. How do you take us out of the game? You can’t, but you discourage us — a classic sabotage tactic.”

“The first step is to get involved as volunteer developers in the Bitcoin Core. They will start well, just fixing bugs, participating. But one day, they will start offering pull-request packages, with small backdoors or intentionally doing things wrong. We will denounce them, but they will say it’s a conspiracy, that the government isn’t trying to take over anything, and everything will continue as usual. The second step is to nominate a pro-ETF person within Bitcoin development, allowing this developer to lead projects related to creating ETF-Bitcoin integration. At that moment, capitulation will begin, new Bitcoin forks will emerge, and the whole scheme will restart. But the government already controls the core, completely forgotten amid ridiculous news about prices, who’s buying and who’s not. Today, it’s more important if BlackRock bought than to check what’s happening in the Core.”

The friend realizes he’s getting hungry, looks at José seeking company, and José ends with one sentence.

“It’s the stuff from that herb, man. People wouldn’t be so stupid to fall into this game... I feel like eating some pupusas.”

And that’s a story, folks. Is it true or not... could it be?

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/926599

@ 7d33ba57:1b82db35

Nerja is known for its stunning beaches, famous caves, and breathtaking sea views. With a charming old town, whitewashed houses, and a lively atmosphere, Nerja offers a perfect mix of relaxation, nature, and culture.

🏖️ Top Things to See & Do in Nerja

1️⃣ Balcón de Europa 🌅

• A stunning viewpoint with panoramic views of the Mediterranean.
• Lined with palm trees, street musicians, and cafés.
• A great spot for sunset photos and people-watching.

2️⃣ Nerja Caves (Cuevas de Nerja) 🏰

• A famous cave system with impressive stalactites and stalagmites.
• Home to prehistoric cave paintings, estimated to be over 40,000 years old.
• One of Spain’s most important archaeological sites.

3️⃣ Playa de Burriana 🏖️

• The best beach in Nerja, with golden sand and clear waters.
• Offers water sports, including kayaking and paddleboarding.
• Many chiringuitos (beach bars) serving delicious seafood paella.

4️⃣ Kayaking to Maro Cliffs 🚣‍♂️

• Paddle along the coastline to discover hidden coves and waterfalls.
• A unique way to explore the Maro-Cerro Gordo Cliffs Natural Park.

5️⃣ Frigiliana – The Most Beautiful White Village 🏡

• Just 10 minutes from Nerja, this charming Andalusian village is full of whitewashed houses, cobbled streets, and colorful flowers.
• Wander through narrow alleyways and enjoy stunning mountain views.

6️⃣ El Salón & Calahonda Beaches 🏝️

• Small, quiet beaches just below the Balcón de Europa.
• Perfect for a relaxing swim away from the crowds.

🍽️ What to Eat in Nerja

• Espetos de Sardinas – Grilled sardines on skewers, a classic Andalusian dish 🐟
• Ajoblanco – A cold almond and garlic soup, refreshing on hot days 🍲
• Fried Fish (Pescaito Frito) – A mix of freshly caught seafood 🦑🐠
• Tarta de Almendra – A traditional almond cake, perfect with coffee 🍰
• Paella at Playa Burriana – One of the best places to enjoy authentic seafood paella 🍤🍚

🚗 How to Get to Nerja

✈️ By Air: The nearest airport is Málaga Airport (AGP, 70 km, 50 min drive).
🚘 By Car: 50 min from Málaga, 1.5 hrs from Granada.
🚌 By Bus: Direct buses from Málaga, Granada, and other Costa del Sol towns.
🚆 By Train: No direct train, but you can take a train to Málaga and then a bus.

💡 Tips for Visiting Nerja

✅ Best time to visit? Spring & summer (April–September) for the best weather ☀️
✅ Book Nerja Cave tickets in advance – It’s one of the most visited sites in Andalusia 🏰
✅ Try kayaking or boat tours – The coastline is stunning from the water 🚣‍♂️
✅ Visit Frigiliana early – To avoid crowds and enjoy the peaceful morning atmosphere 🌅
✅ Wear comfortable shoes – The old town has steep, cobbled streets 👟

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Músicas grudentas e conversas

Uma vez que você ouviu uma música grudenta e ela volta, inteira, com toda a melodia e a harmonia, muitos dias depois, contra a sua vontade. Mas uma conversa é impossível de lembrar. Por quê?

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Bluesky is a scam

Bluesky advertises itself as an open network, they say people won't lose followers or their identity, they advertise themselves as a protocol ("atproto") and because of that they are tricking a lot of people into using them. These three claims are false.

protocolness

Bluesky is a company. "atproto" is the protocol. Supposedly they are two different things, right? Bluesky just releases software that implements the protocol, but others can also do that, it's open!

And yet, the protocol has an official webpage with a waitlist and a private beta? Why is the protocol advertised as a company product? Because it is. The "protocol" is just a description of whatever the Bluesky app and servers do, it can and does change anytime the Bluesky developers decide they want to change it, and it will keep changing for as long as Bluesky apps and servers control the biggest part of the network.

Oh, so there is the possibility of other players stepping in and then it becomes an actual interoperable open protocol? Yes, but what is the likelihood of that happening? It is very low. No serious competitor is likely to step in and build serious apps using a protocol that is directly controlled by Bluesky. All we will ever see are small "community" apps made by users and small satellite small businesses -- not unlike the people and companies that write plugins, addons and alternative clients for popular third-party centralized platforms.

And last, even if it happens that someone makes an app so good that it displaces the canonical official Bluesky app, then that company may overtake the protocol itself -- not because they're evil, but because there is no way it cannot be like this.

identity

According to their own documentation, the Bluesky people were looking for an identity system that provided global ids, key rotation and human-readable names.

They must have realized that such properties are not possible in an open and decentralized system, but instead of accepting a tradeoff they decided they wanted all their desired features and threw away the "decentralized" part, quite literally and explicitly (although they make sure to hide that piece in the middle of a bunch of code and text that very few will read).

The "DID Placeholder" method they decided to use for their global identities is nothing more than a normal old boring trusted server controlled by Bluesky that keeps track of who is who and can, at all times, decide to ban a person and deprive them from their identity (they dismissively call a "denial of service attack").

They decided to adopt this method as a placeholder until someone else doesn't invent the impossible alternative that would provide all their desired properties in a decentralized manner -- which is nothing more than a very good excuse: "yes, it's not great now, but it will improve!".

openness

Months after launching their product with an aura of decentralization and openness and getting a bunch of people inside that believed, falsely, they were joining an actually open network, Bluesky has decided to publish a part of their idea of how other people will be able to join their open network.

When I first saw their app and how they were very prominently things like follower counts, like counts and other things that are typical of centralized networks and can't be reliable or exact on truly open networks (like Nostr), I asked myself how were they going to do that once they became and open "federated" network as they were expected to be.

Turns out their decentralization plan is to just allow you, as a writer, to host your own posts on "personal data stores", but not really have any control over the distribution of the posts. All posts go through the Bluesky central server, called BGS, and they decide what to do with it. And you, as a reader, doesn't have any control of what you're reading from either, all you can do is connect to the BGS and ask for posts. If the BGS decides to ban, shadow ban, reorder, miscount, hide, deprioritize, trick or maybe even to serve ads, then you are out of luck.

Oh, but anyone can run their own BGS!, they will say. Even in their own blog post announcing the architecture they assert that "it’s a fairly resource-demanding service" and "there may be a few large full-network providers". But I fail to see why even more than one network provider will exist, if Bluesky is already doing that job, and considering the fact there are very little incentives for anyone to switch providers -- because the app does not seem to be at all made to talk to multiple providers, one would have to stop using the reliable, fast and beefy official BGS and start using some half-baked alternative and risk losing access to things.

When asked about the possibility of switching, one of Bluesky overlords said: "it would look something like this: bluesky has gone evil. there's a new alternative called freesky that people are rushing to. I'm switching to freesky".

The quote is very naïve and sounds like something that could be said about Twitter itself: "if Twitter is evil you can just run your own social network". Both are fallacies because they ignore the network-effect and the fact that people will never fully agree that something is "evil". In fact these two are the fundamental reasons why -- for social networks specifically (and not for other things like commerce) -- we need truly open protocols with no owners and no committees.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Jofer

Jofer era um jogador diferente. À primeira vista não, parecia igual, um volante combativo, perseguia os atacantes adversários implacavelmente, um bom jogador. Mas não era essa a característica que diferenciava Jofer. Jofer era, digamos, um chutador.

Começou numa semifinal de um torneio de juniores. O time de Jofer precisava do empate e estava sofrendo uma baita pressão do adversário, mas o jogo estava 1 a 1 e parecia que ia ficar assim mesmo, daquele jeito futebolístico que parece, parece mesmo. Só que aos 46 do segundo tempo tomaram um gol espírita, Ruizinho do outro time saiu correndo pela esquerda e, mesmo sendo canhoto, foi cortando para o meio, os zagueiros meio que achando que já tinha acabado mesmo, devia ter só mais aquele lance, o árbitro tinha dado dois minutos, Ruizinho chutou, marcou e o goleiro, que só pulou depois que já tinha visto que não ia ter jeito, ficou xingando.

A bola saiu do meio e tocaram para Jofer, ninguém nem veio marcá-lo, o outro time já estava comemorando, e com razão, o juiz estava de sacanagem em fazer o jogo continuar, já estava tudo acabado mesmo. Mas não, estava certo, mais um minuto de acréscimo, justo. Em um minuto dá pra fazer um gol. Mas como? Jofer pensou nas partidas da NBA em que com alguns centésimos de segundo faltando o armador jogava de qualquer jeito para a cesta e às vezes acertava. De trás do meio de campo, será? Não vou ter nem força pra fazer chegar no gol. Vou virar piada, melhor tocar pro Fumaça ali do lado e a gente perde sem essa humilhação no final. Mas, poxa, e daí? Vou tentar mesmo assim, qualquer coisa eu falo que foi um lançamento e daqui a uns dias todo mundo esquece. Olhou para o próprio pé, virou ele de ladinho, pra fora e depois pra dentro (bom, se eu pegar daqui, direitinho, quem sabe?), jogou a bola pro lado e bateu. A bola subiu escandalosamente, muito alta mesmo, deve ter subido uns 200 metros. Jofer não tinha como ter a menor noção. Depois foi descendo, o goleirão voltando correndo para debaixo da trave e olhando pra bola, foi chegando e pulando já só pra acompanhar, para ver, dependurado no travessão, a bola sair ainda bem alta, ela bateu na rede lateral interna antes de bater no chão, quicar violentamente e estufar a rede no alto do lado direito de quem olhava.

Mas isso tudo foi sonho do Jofer. Sonhou acordado, numa noite em que demorou pra dormir, deitado na sua cama. Ficou pensando se não seria fácil, se ele treinasse bastante, acertar o gol bem de longe, tipo no sonho, e se não dava pra fazer gol assim. No dia seguinte perguntou a Brunildinho, o treinador de goleiros. Era difícil defender essas bolas, ainda mais se elas subissem muito, o goleiro ficava sem perspectiva, o vento alterava a trajetória a cada instante, tinha efeito, ela cairia rápido, mas claro que não valia à pena treinar isso, a chance de acertar o gol era minúscula. Mas Jofer só ia tentar depois que treinasse bastante e comprovasse o que na sua imaginação parecia uma excelente idéia.

Começou a treinar todos os dias. Primeiro escondido, por vergonha dos colegas, chegava um pouco antes e ficava lá, chutando do círculo central. Ao menor sinal de gente se aproximando, parava e ia catar as bolas. Depois, quando começou a acertar, perdeu a vergonha. O pessoal do clube todo achava engraçado quando via Jofer treinando e depois ouvia a explicação da boca de alguém, ninguém levava muito a sério, mas também não achava de todo ridículo. O pessoal ria, mas no fundo torcia praquilo dar certo, mesmo.

Aconteceu que num jogo que não valia muita coisa, empatezinho feio, aos 40 do segundo tempo, a marcação dos adversários já não estava mais pressionando, todo mundo contente com o empate e com vontade de parar de jogar já, o Henrique, meia-esquerdo, humilde, mas ainda assim um pouco intimidante para Jofer (jogava demais), tocou pra ele. Vai lá, tenta sua loucura aí. Assumiu a responsabilidade do nosso volante introspectivo. Seria mais verossímil se Jofer tivesse errado, primeira vez que tentou, restava muito tempo ainda pra ele ter a chance de ser herói, ninguém acerta de primeira, mas ele acertou. Quase como no sonho, Lucas, o goleiro, não esperava, depois que viu o lance, riu-se, adiantou-se para pegar a bola que ele julgava que quicaria na área, mas ela foi mais pra frente, mais e mais, daí Lucas já estava correndo, só que começou a pensar que ela ia pra fora, e ele ia só se dependurar no travessão e fazer seu papel de estar na bola. Acabou que por conta daquele gol eles terminaram em segundo no grupo daquele torneiozinho, ao invés de terceiro, e não fez diferença nenhuma.

@ a8d1560d:3fec7a08

I have created a Nostr desktop-like client with currently 3 apps. However, it is currently read-only and you have to manually refresh the apps to see if there's something new.

https://websim.ai/@wholewish91244492/nostr-desktop/

@ da0b9bc3:4e30a4a9

Hello Stackers!

Welcome on into the ~Music Corner of the Saloon!

A place where we Talk Music. Share Tracks. Zap Sats.

So stay a while and listen.

🚨Don't forget to check out the pinned items in the territory homepage! You can always find the latest weeklies there!🚨

🚨Subscribe to the territory to ensure you never miss a post! 🚨

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/926553

@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9

Bitcoin has always been rooted in freedom and resistance to authority. I get that many of you are conflicted about the US Government stacking but by design we cannot stop anyone from using bitcoin. Many have asked me for my thoughts on the matter, so let’s rip it.

Concern

One of the most glaring issues with the strategic bitcoin reserve is its foundation, built on stolen bitcoin. For those of us who value private property this is an obvious betrayal of our core principles. Rather than proof of work, the bitcoin that seeds this reserve has been taken by force. The US Government should return the bitcoin stolen from Bitfinex and the Silk Road.

Usually stolen bitcoin for the reserve creates a perverse incentive. If governments see a bitcoin as a valuable asset, they will ramp up efforts to confiscate more bitcoin. The precedent is a major concern, and I stand strongly against it, but it should be also noted that governments were already seizing coin before the reserve so this is not really a change in policy.

Ideally all seized bitcoin should be burned, by law. This would align incentives properly and make it less likely for the government to actively increase coin seizures. Due to the truly scarce properties of bitcoin, all burned bitcoin helps existing holders through increased purchasing power regardless. This change would be unlikely but those of us in policy circles should push for it regardless. It would be best case scenario for American bitcoiners and would create a strong foundation for the next century of American leadership.

Optimism

The entire point of bitcoin is that we can spend or save it without permission. That said, it is a massive benefit to not have one of the strongest governments in human history actively trying to ruin our lives.

Since the beginning, bitcoiners have faced horrible regulatory trends. KYC, surveillance, and legal cases have made using bitcoin and building bitcoin businesses incredibly difficult. It is incredibly important to note that over the past year that trend has reversed for the first time in a decade. A strategic bitcoin reserve is a key driver of this shift. By holding bitcoin, the strongest government in the world has signaled that it is not just a fringe technology but rather truly valuable, legitimate, and worth stacking.

This alignment of incentives changes everything. The US Government stacking proves bitcoin’s worth. The resulting purchasing power appreciation helps all of us who are holding coin and as bitcoin succeeds our government receives direct benefit. A beautiful positive feedback loop.

Realism

We are trending in the right direction. A strategic bitcoin reserve is a sign that the state sees bitcoin as an asset worth embracing rather than destroying. That said, there is a lot of work left to be done. We cannot be lulled into complacency, the time to push forward is now, and we cannot take our foot off the gas. We have a seat at the table for the first time ever. Let's make it worth it.

We must protect the right to free usage of bitcoin and other digital technologies. Freedom in the digital age must be taken and defended, through both technical and political avenues. Multiple privacy focused developers are facing long jail sentences for building tools that protect our freedom. These cases are not just legal battles. They are attacks on the soul of bitcoin. We need to rally behind them, fight for their freedom, and ensure the ethos of bitcoin survives this new era of government interest. The strategic reserve is a step in the right direction, but it is up to us to hold the line and shape the future.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

O caso da Grêmio TV

enquanto vinha se conduzindo pela plataforma superior daquela arena que se pensava totalmente preenchida por adeptos da famosa equipe do Grêmio de Porto Alegre, viu-se, como por obra de algum nigromante - dos muitos que existem e estão a todo momento a fazer más obras e a colocar-se no caminhos dos que procuram, se não fazer o bem acima de todas as coisas, a pelo menos não fazer o mal no curso da realização dos seus interesses -, o discretíssimo jornalista a ser xingado e moído em palavras por uma horda de malandrinos a cinco ou seis passos dele surgida que cantavam e moviam seus braços em movimentos que não se pode classificar senão como bárbaros, e assim cantavam:

Grêmio TV pior que o SBT !

@ f7d424b5:618c51e8

A few days ago, on March 20th 2025 one of the most important releases of the year in video games has taken place - Xenoblade Chronicles X! A few other games came out too and we'll talk about those this time while @Dielan@shitposter.world has time to get through the new Xenoblade.

Some links to stuff we talked about:

• EA Open Source & GPL'd C&C
• Lying VAs called out by SC
• PC gamer said something reasonable for once re: asscreed

Obligatory:

• Listen to the new episode here!
• Discuss this episode on OUR NEW FORUM
• Get the RSS and Subscribe (this is a new feed URL, but the old one redirects here too!)
• Get a modern podcast app to use that RSS feed on at newpodcastapps.com
• Or listen to the show on the forum using the embedded Podverse player!
• Send your complaints here

Reminder that this is a Value4Value podcast so any support you can give us via a modern podcasting app is greatly appreciated and we will never bow to corporate sponsors!

@ 4925ea33:025410d8

1. O que é um Aromaterapeuta?

O aromaterapeuta é um profissional especializado na prática da Aromaterapia, responsável pelo uso adequado de óleos essenciais, ervas aromáticas, águas florais e destilados herbais para fins terapêuticos.

A atuação desse profissional envolve diferentes métodos de aplicação, como inalação, uso tópico, sempre considerando a segurança e a necessidade individual do cliente. A Aromaterapia pode auxiliar na redução do estresse, alívio de dores crônicas, relaxamento muscular e melhora da respiração, entre outros benefícios.

Além disso, os aromaterapeutas podem trabalhar em conjunto com outros profissionais da saúde para oferecer um tratamento complementar em diversas condições. Como já mencionado no artigo sobre "Como evitar processos alérgicos na prática da Aromaterapia", é essencial ter acompanhamento profissional, pois os óleos essenciais são altamente concentrados e podem causar reações adversas se utilizados de forma inadequada.

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2. Como um Aromaterapeuta Pode Ajudar?

Você pode procurar um aromaterapeuta para diferentes necessidades, como:

✔ Questões Emocionais e Psicológicas

Auxílio em momentos de luto, divórcio, demissão ou outras situações desafiadoras.

Apoio na redução do estresse, ansiedade e insônia.

Vale lembrar que, em casos de transtornos psiquiátricos, a Aromaterapia deve ser usada como terapia complementar, associada ao tratamento médico.

✔ Questões Físicas

Dores musculares e articulares.

Problemas respiratórios como rinite, sinusite e tosse.

Distúrbios digestivos leves.

Dores de cabeça e enxaquecas. Nesses casos, a Aromaterapia pode ser um suporte, mas não substitui a medicina tradicional para identificar a origem dos sintomas.

✔ Saúde da Pele e Cabelos

Tratamento para acne, dermatites e psoríase.

Cuidados com o envelhecimento precoce da pele.

Redução da queda de cabelo e controle da oleosidade do couro cabeludo.

✔ Bem-estar e Qualidade de Vida

Melhora da concentração e foco, aumentando a produtividade.

Estímulo da disposição e energia.

Auxílio no equilíbrio hormonal (TPM, menopausa, desequilíbrios hormonais).

Com base nessas necessidades, o aromaterapeuta irá indicar o melhor tratamento, calculando doses, sinergias (combinação de óleos essenciais), diluições e técnicas de aplicação, como inalação, uso tópico ou difusão.

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3. Como Funciona uma Consulta com um Aromaterapeuta?

Uma consulta com um aromaterapeuta é um atendimento personalizado, onde são avaliadas as necessidades do cliente para a criação de um protocolo adequado. O processo geralmente segue estas etapas:

✔ Anamnese (Entrevista Inicial)

Perguntas sobre saúde física, emocional e estilo de vida.

Levantamento de sintomas, histórico médico e possíveis alergias.

Definição dos objetivos da terapia (alívio do estresse, melhora do sono, dores musculares etc.).

✔ Escolha dos Óleos Essenciais

Seleção dos óleos mais indicados para o caso.

Consideração das propriedades terapêuticas, contraindicações e combinações seguras.

✔ Definição do Método de Uso

O profissional indicará a melhor forma de aplicação, que pode ser:

Inalação: difusores, colares aromáticos, vaporização.

Uso tópico: massagens, óleos corporais, compressas.

Banhos aromáticos e escalda-pés. Todas as diluições serão ajustadas de acordo com a segurança e a necessidade individual do cliente.

✔ Plano de Acompanhamento

Instruções detalhadas sobre o uso correto dos óleos essenciais.

Orientação sobre frequência e duração do tratamento.

Possibilidade de retorno para ajustes no protocolo.

A consulta pode ser realizada presencialmente ou online, dependendo do profissional.

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Quer saber como a Aromaterapia pode te ajudar? Agende uma consulta comigo e descubra os benefícios dos óleos essenciais para o seu bem-estar!

@ 7d33ba57:1b82db35

Los Narejos is a laid-back beach town on the Costa Cálida, located in the Murcia region of Spain. Known for its calm, warm waters, family-friendly beaches, and proximity to the Mar Menor lagoon, it’s an excellent destination for relaxation, water sports, and enjoying the Mediterranean lifestyle**.

🏖️ Top Things to See & Do in Los Narejos

1️⃣ Playa de Los Narejos 🏖️

• A wide, sandy beach with shallow and warm waters, perfect for families.
• Palm-lined promenade for walking, cycling, or enjoying seaside cafés.
• Excellent for swimming, sunbathing, and beach sports.

2️⃣ Mar Menor Lagoon 🌊

• A unique saltwater lagoon, separated from the Mediterranean by La Manga.
• Warmer and calmer waters than the open sea, ideal for safe swimming.
• Known for its healing mud baths with minerals beneficial for the skin.

3️⃣ Watersports Paradise 🚤

• A top spot for kite surfing, windsurfing, sailing, and stand-up paddleboarding.
• Several local schools offer lessons for beginners and equipment rentals.
• Great conditions for kayaking along the Mar Menor coastline.

4️⃣ Promenade Walk to Los Alcázares 🚶‍♂️

• A scenic coastal walk from Los Narejos to Los Alcázares.
• Pass by chiringuitos (beach bars) serving fresh seafood and cocktails.

5️⃣ Local Markets & Shopping 🛍️

• Visit the Los Alcázares Market (Tuesdays & Saturdays) for local produce, clothes, and crafts.
• Small boutique shops sell Murcian souvenirs, ceramics, and wines.

🍽️ What to Eat in Los Narejos

• Caldero Murciano – A traditional seafood rice dish, full of flavor 🍚🐟
• Dorada a la Sal – Fresh sea bream baked in salt, a Mediterranean specialty 🐠
• Tapas & Mariscos – Try local seafood tapas like grilled prawns, octopus, and clams 🍤
• Pastel de Carne – A Murcian meat pie, perfect for a quick bite 🥧
• Paparajotes – A sweet treat made from lemon leaves coated in batter and fried 🍋🍩

🚗 How to Get to Los Narejos

✈️ By Air: The nearest airport is Región de Murcia Airport (RMU, 30 min drive).
🚆 By Train: Nearest station is in Balsicas (20 min drive), with connections to Murcia and Cartagena.
🚘 By Car: 30 min from Murcia, 1 hr from Alicante, 20 min from Cartagena.
🚌 By Bus: Direct buses from Murcia, Cartagena, and Alicante.

💡 Tips for Visiting Los Narejos

✅ Best time to visit? Spring to early autumn (April–October) for great weather ☀️
✅ Try water sports – Mar Menor is one of the safest places for beginners 🏄‍♂️
✅ Bring a bike – The flat terrain and coastal paths are great for cycling 🚴
✅ Enjoy the sunset – The Mar Menor has some of the most stunning sunset views 🌅

@ 866e0139:6a9334e5

Autor: Michael Meyen. (Bild: Hermine Zgraggen). Dieser Beitrag wurde mit dem Pareto-Client geschrieben. Sie finden alle Texte der Friedenstaube und weitere Texte zum Thema Frieden hier.**

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Die Friedenstaube hat meine Kindheit und meine Jugend begleitet und wahrscheinlich auch beschützt. Ich bin auf der Insel Rügen aufgewachsen und sehe immer noch, wie der Bürgermeister am 1. Mai 1975 die US-Niederlage in Vietnam verkündete. Vielleicht war es auch der örtliche Parteisekretär. Egal. Der Sprecher stand jedenfalls am Heimatmuseum vor all den Fahnen, vor Sportlern, Pionieren und Erwachsenen, die mit ihren Kollegen durch das Dorf gegangen waren und jetzt auf den ersten Schnaps warteten. Ein Maiwässerchen, was sonst am Kampf- und Feiertag der Werktätigen. Ich Knirps war schon jetzt trunken vor Glück. Wenn ich einst groß sein bin, daran konnte es keinen Zweifel mehr geben, dann würde der Imperialismus besiegt sein und mit ihm der Krieg.

Was ist jetzt mit dem Sozialismus und seinem Frieden?

Picassos Friedenstaube war überall. Bei solchen Demos, in der Presse und in der Schule sowieso. Der Sozialismus, darauf schworen die Lehrer genauso Stein und Bein wie alle Funktionäre, der Sozialismus führt keinen Krieg. Es gab zwar immer wieder Gerüchte über Flussinseln, um die sich Moskau und Peking streiten würden, aber Asien war weit und China vielleicht nicht ganz so sozialistisch. Dann kam der Dezember 1979. Afghanistan. Ich war zwölf und konnte mir das schon deshalb nicht schönreden, weil es Olympia traf und damit zwei Sommerfernseh-Wochen. Was sind Goldmedaillen wert, wenn die Besten fehlen? Wenig später ging es um U-Boote. Ein Junge, nur wenig älter als ich, hatte an die *Ostsee-Zeitung* geschrieben, das Regionalblatt der SED, und gefragt, was die sowjetische Marine in schwedischen Gewässern mache und warum er sowas nur im Westradio hören könne. Als die Antwort kam, stand er mit dem Brief auf der Straße. Seht her, liebe Leute: Sie nehmen mich ernst. Was ist jetzt mit diesem Sozialismus und seinem Frieden?

Ich weiß noch, dass ich den Brief lesen musste (in der Schule wusste jeder, dass ich Journalist werden wollte), aber nicht mehr, was dort stand. Wahrscheinlich hat sich die Redaktion mit einem Missverständnis herausgeredet, mit Fake News oder mit Wilhelm Busch. Der Friede muss bewaffnet sein. Die Geschichte mit Igel und Fuchs gefiel mir. Da waren diese Zähne und damit die Drohung von Raubtier und Kapitalismus. Und da war ein eher zartes Lebewesen, das auf den Verstand setzte. „Und allsogleich macht er sich rund, zeigt seinen dichten Stachelbund – und trotzt getrost der ganzen Welt, bewaffnet, doch als Friedensheld.“

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DIE FRIEDENSTAUBE FLIEGT AUCH IN IHR POSTFACH:

Hier können Sie die Friedenstaube abonnieren und bekommen die Artikel zugesandt, vorerst für alle kostenfrei, wir starten gänzlich ohne Paywall. (Die Bezahlabos fangen erst zu laufen an, wenn ein Monetarisierungskonzept für die Inhalte steht).

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Schon jetzt können Sie uns unterstützen:

• Für 50 CHF/EURO bekommen Sie ein Jahresabo der Friedenstaube.
• Für 120 CHF/EURO bekommen Sie ein Jahresabo und ein T-Shirt/Hoodie mit der Friedenstaube.
• Für 500 CHF/EURO werden Sie Förderer und bekommen ein lebenslanges Abo sowie ein T-Shirt/Hoodie mit der Friedenstaube.
• Ab 1000 CHF werden Sie Genossenschafter der Friedenstaube mit Stimmrecht (und bekommen lebenslanges Abo, T-Shirt/Hoodie).

Für Einzahlungen in CHF (Betreff: Friedenstaube):

Für Einzahlungen in Euro:

Milosz Matuschek

IBAN DE 53710520500000814137

BYLADEM1TST

Sparkasse Traunstein-Trostberg

Betreff: Friedenstaube

Wenn Sie auf anderem Wege beitragen wollen, schreiben Sie die Friedenstaube an: milosz@pareto.space 

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"Ich hasste das Militär"

Im Alltag war das nicht ganz so einfach, selbst für Kinder. Bei den Sportfesten hätte ich lieber einen Schlagball genommen als die F1, eine Handgranatenattrappe, die über die 35-Meter-Marke fliegen musste, damit der kleine Werfer überleben kann. Ich mochte die Soldatenspiele nicht, die alle paar Wochen angesetzt wurden, und schon gar nicht die Lager, die am Ende der Schulzeit warteten. Zwei Wochen in einer Baracke mit Frühsport in der Kälte und mit irgendwelchen Knallköpfen, die mir sagen konnten, was ich zu machen habe. Das heißt: Sie sagten das nicht. Sie brüllten. Und sie konnten jeden bestrafen, der nicht spurte. Ich hasste das Militär – und das nicht nur, weil ich nie sicher war, die Sturmwand beim ersten Anlauf zu nehmen und die Gasmaske schnell genug aus der Tasche zu haben.  

Ich überspringe die drei Jahre, die ich Uniform getragen habe. In meinem Gedächtnis ist dort eine Leerstelle. Ich bin mir aber sicher, dass es schrecklich gewesen sein muss, und höre noch all die Stimmen, die vorher auf mich eingeredet hatten. Wenn du an die Uni willst, Michael, dann musst du dafür bezahlen. Dann musst du zeigen, was dir dieses Land wert ist und die Arbeiterklasse, die hier nun mal regiert und später auch dein Studium bezahlt. Gib uns einen Fitzel deiner Lebenszeit. Ich habe diese Stimmen verflucht und dachte, dass ich ihnen nicht entkommen kann. Heute weiß ich, dass das nicht stimmt. Ich wusste es schon im ersten Semester, weil neben mir Jungs saßen, die nur 18 Monate bei der Fahne waren und trotzdem einen Platz bekommen hatten. Dass die DDR kurz danach ohne einen Schuss zusammenbrach, habe ich nicht verstanden, aber trotzdem aufgeatmet. Du musst nicht mehr Reserveoffizier werden. Wenigstens das nicht. Die drei Lehrgangswochen habe ich in der Pathologie des Uni-Krankenhauses verbracht, vermutlich mit irgendwelchen Aufräumarbeiten. 

Eine Wette mit meinem Sohn

Mein Sohn ist 1995 zur Welt gekommen. Ein Stammhalter. Ein Brüderchen für unsere Tochter. Aber auch ein Soldat. Ich habe mit mir selbst gewettet, dass es keine Armee mehr geben würde und vor allem keine Wehrpflicht, wenn er 18 ist, und geschworen, dafür alles zu tun, was mir möglich ist. Dass es dann dieser Minister von der CSU war? Was soll’s, dachte ich. Hauptsache, der Junge kann selbst entscheiden, wo und wie er in die Erwachsenenwelt gehen will. 

Damals war ich mir sicher: Bertolt Brecht hat gewonnen. Endlich weiß Deutschland, dass es nicht Karthago sein will. Jetzt schreibe ich für die Friedenstaube und würde diesen Brecht lieber heute als morgen auferstehen lassen. So schwer kann das doch nicht zu verstehen sein mit den drei Kriegen.  

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Michael Meyen, Jahrgang 1967, hat an der Sektion Journalistik studiert und dann in Leipzig alle akademischen Stationen durchlaufen: Diplom (1992), Promotion (1995) und Habilitation (2001). Parallel arbeitete er als Journalist. Seit 2002 ist Meyen Professor für Kommunikationswissenschaft an der LMU München. Er hat drei interdisziplinäre Forschungsverbünde als Sprecher geleitet: "Fit for Change" (Laufzeit: 2013 bis 2017), "Zukunft der Demokratie" (2018 bis 2022) und "Das mediale Erbe der DDR" (2018 bis 2025). Mehr zum Autor und seinen Büchern hier.

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Sie sind noch nicht auf Nostr and wollen die volle Erfahrung machen (liken, kommentieren etc.)? Zappen können Sie den Autor auch ohne Nostr-Profil! Erstellen Sie sich einen Account auf Start. Weitere Onboarding-Leitfäden gibt es im Pareto-Wiki.

@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9

There is something quietly rebellious about stacking sats. In a world obsessed with instant gratification, choosing to patiently accumulate Bitcoin, one sat at a time, feels like a middle finger to the hype machine. But to do it right, you have got to stay humble. Stack too hard with your head in the clouds, and you will trip over your own ego before the next halving even hits.

Small Wins

Stacking sats is not glamorous. Discipline. Stacking every day, week, or month, no matter the price, and letting time do the heavy lifting. Humility lives in that consistency. You are not trying to outsmart the market or prove you are the next "crypto" prophet. Just a regular person, betting on a system you believe in, one humble stack at a time. Folks get rekt chasing the highs. They ape into some shitcoin pump, shout about it online, then go silent when they inevitably get rekt. The ones who last? They stack. Just keep showing up. Consistency. Humility in action. Know the game is long, and you are not bigger than it.

Ego is Volatile

Bitcoin’s swings can mess with your head. One day you are up 20%, feeling like a genius and the next down 30%, questioning everything. Ego will have you panic selling at the bottom or over leveraging the top. Staying humble means patience, a true bitcoin zen. Do not try to "beat” Bitcoin. Ride it. Stack what you can afford, live your life, and let compounding work its magic.

Simplicity

There is a beauty in how stacking sats forces you to rethink value. A sat is worth less than a penny today, but every time you grab a few thousand, you plant a seed. It is not about flaunting wealth but rather building it, quietly, without fanfare. That mindset spills over. Cut out the noise: the overpriced coffee, fancy watches, the status games that drain your wallet. Humility is good for your soul and your stack. I have a buddy who has been stacking since 2015. Never talks about it unless you ask. Lives in a decent place, drives an old truck, and just keeps stacking. He is not chasing clout, he is chasing freedom. That is the vibe: less ego, more sats, all grounded in life.

The Big Picture

Stack those sats. Do it quietly, do it consistently, and do not let the green days puff you up or the red days break you down. Humility is the secret sauce, it keeps you grounded while the world spins wild. In a decade, when you look back and smile, it will not be because you shouted the loudest. It will be because you stayed the course, one sat at a time. \ \ Stay Humble and Stack Sats. 🫡

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Replacing the web with something saner

This is a simplification, but let's say that basically there are just 3 kinds of websites:

1. Websites with content: text, images, videos;
2. Websites that run full apps that do a ton of interactive stuff;
3. Websites with some interactive content that uses JavaScript, or "mini-apps";

In a saner world we would have 3 different ways of serving and using these. 1 would be "the web" (and it was for a while, although I'm not claiming here that the past is always better and wanting to get back to the glorious old days).

1 would stay as "the web", just static sites, styled with CSS, no JavaScript whatsoever, but designers can still thrive and make they look pretty. Or it could also be something like Gemini. Maybe the two protocols could coexist.

2 would be downloadable native apps, much easier to write and maintain for developers (considering that multi-platform and cross-compilation is easy today and getting easier), faster, more polished experience for users, more powerful, integrates better with the computer.

(Remember that since no one would be striving to make the same app run both on browsers and natively no one would have any need for Electron or other inefficient bloated solutions, just pure native UI, like the Telegram app, have you seen that? It's fast.)

But 2 is mostly for apps that people use every day, something like Google Docs, email (although email is also broken technology), Netflix, Twitter, Trello and so on, and all those hundreds of niche SaaS that people pay monthly fees to use, each tailored to a different industry (although most of functions they all implement are the same everywhere). What do we do with dynamic open websites like StackOverflow, for example, where one needs to not only read, but also search and interact in multiple ways? What about that website that asks you a bunch of questions and then discovers the name of the person you're thinking about? What about that mini-app that calculates the hash of your provided content or shrinks your video, or that one that hosts your image without asking any questions?

All these and tons of others would fall into category 3, that of instantly loaded apps that you don't have to install, and yet they run in a sandbox.

The key for making category 3 worth investing time into is coming up with some solid grounds, simple enough that anyone can implement in multiple different ways, but not giving the app too much choices.

Telegram or Discord bots are super powerful platforms that can accomodate most kinds of app in them. They can't beat a native app specifically made with one purpose, but they allow anyone to provide instantly usable apps with very low overhead, and since the experience is so simple, intuitive and fast, users tend to like it and sometimes even pay for their services. There could exist a protocol that brings apps like that to the open world of (I won't say "web") domains and the websockets protocol -- with multiple different clients, each making their own decisions on how to display the content sent by the servers that are powering these apps.

Another idea is that of Alan Kay: to design a nice little OS/virtual machine that can load these apps and run them. Kinda like browsers are today, but providing a more well-thought, native-like experience and framework, but still sandboxed. And I add: abstracting away details about design, content disposition and so on.

---

These 3 kinds of programs could coexist peacefully. 2 are just standalone programs, they can do anything and each will be its own thing. 1 and 3, however, are still similar to browsers of today in the sense that you need clients to interact with servers and show to the user what they are asking. But by simplifying everything and separating the scopes properly these clients would be easy to write, efficient, small, the environment would be open and the internet would be saved.

See also

• On the state of programs and browsers

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

IPFS problems: General confusion

Most IPFS open-source projects, libraries and apps (excluding Ethereum stuff) are things that rely heavily on dynamic data and temporary links. The most common projects you'll see when following the IPFS communities are chat rooms and similar things. I've seen dozens of these chat-rooms. There's also a famous IPFS-powered database. How can you do these things with content-addressing is a mistery. Of course they probably rely on IPNS or other external address system.

There's also a bunch of "file-sharing" on IPFS. The kind of thing people use for temporary making a file available for a third-party. There's image sharing on IPFS, pastebins on IPFS and so on. People don't seem to share the preoccupation with broken links here.

@ a60e79e0:1e0e6813

**This is a long form note test of a post that lives on my Nostr educational website Hello Nostr **

In early 2025, social media is the most common use case for Nostr (and probably the reason you're reading this). Nostr is SO much more than just social media, but that's where the bulk of the activity is, and is what I'm focusing on in this post. Even though the protocol is still so young, that has not prevented an explosion of excellent social media focused clients that predominantly coalesce around the Twitter (X) style feed, containing shorter form content, often with images, and the ability to comment, like and share.

This first steps guide showcases one of the most polished and simplest examples of such a client, Primal. Primal is a cross platform app, that also works on your computer too. The steps that follow are demonstrated on iPhone, but should be identical for Android users. There may be some topics of concepts here that are new to you, to learn more about them, check out our Nostr 101 to learn more about Nostr basics and why it matters.

You can and should explore all of the other options available to you, that's the beauty of Nostr, you're free to choose how and where to interact with your social network. No lock in. No walled gardens. True freedom.

Getting Started

1. Go to your app store and download Primal to your Android or iPhone

2. Open Primal and choose Create Account. Choose your public display name and add a short bio about yourself.

1. Select your chosen interests from the list provided. This will bootstrap your feed and auto-follow a number of accounts so that your feed is not completely empty when starting out.

1. Review your account info and tap Create Account Now. Take note of the fact that 'Your Nostr Key is available in your Account Settings'. We'll revisit this shortly.

1. Next is an optional step of activating the wallet feature within Primal. Having a wallet within your social client enables you to send and receive value (known as 'Zaps') in the form of Bitcoin. On Facebook and Twitter you can like a post, but it means much more to send someone fractions of a penny (or more if you like) to show your appreciation for their insights. You'll need to provide some personal information to enable the wallet, including an email address.

Using the internal wallet and purchasing sats with your credit card will tie your Nostr identity to your real ID. Think very carefully before carrying out this step.
Learn more in the detailed section at the end of this post.

1. That's it, you're now set up and ready to start sharing your thoughts, feelings and memes with the world via a decentralized and censorship resistant social network. To post your first note and say hello to the Nostr world, tap the + in the bottom right corner.

1. If you activated the wallet at step 5, you might want to deposit some Bitcoin in there to allow you to send some value to your friends. There are three main ways to do this:
2. Post some awesome content and have people send you value in the form of 'Zaps'
3. Send some Bitcoin from a wallet you already have
4. Purchase some directly within Primal

The latter is made very simple thanks to the in-app purchase feature, which allows you to purchase a small amount with the card you likely already have connected to your Apple/Google account. All you need to do is tap 'Buy Sats Now'.

1. Next, let's look at the different feeds available on our home screen. Tap 'Latest' at the top of the screen and you can toggle between three different types of home feeds, great for discovering new people and content.

1. Let's assume you already have some friends on Nostr and want to find and follow them. Tap the search icon in the top right corner, the enter the name of the person you want to follow. Once on their profile, simply tap the 'Follow' button.

1. So you found a friend and want to start interacting with them so they know you made it over to Nostr. Simply find a note you like and choose from the different types of interactions available. From left to right they are:
2. Comment
3. Zap (send value from your wallet to theirs)
4. Like
5. Repost
6. Bookmark

When Zapping, a single tap will send a tiny amount of 42 sats. If you want to send more, or a custom amount, tap and hold the zap button to bring up a selector menu. All default zap amounts are configurable in the app settings page.

1. After you've started posting and interacting with others, you'll likely receive some notifications to tell you. Notifications can be filtered into interaction types.

1. Another great way to find more people to follow and interact with is to use the discover page. To open it, tap the compass in the bottom right corner of the screen. Here you'll be able to browse different types of pre-built feeds, trending profiles, notes with large zaps and extra topics.

The Important Part

You might have noticed that throughout that setup, you were not asked for a unique username, nor were you asked for a password. So how the hell is this secure? What happens if you log out? Is your account lost forever?

This is where Nostr really starts to shine. Just like in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, your Nostr account is protected by a 'Private Key'. Anyone with knowledge of the private key can access your account in any Nostr client. No private key, no access. So let's make sure you have a backup copy of it, so you can still recover access to your account in the event you lose your phone!

Tap on your profile image in the top left of the screen. Then tap Settings > Keys. Here you'll see two keys, one public and one private. Your public key is how people find you on Nostr. It is often referred to by its more technical name 'nPub' which is the prefix if the key itself. Your public key is designed to be exactly that, public!

Your private key is sometimes referred to by its technical name 'nSec' which is also the prefix of the key. Copy your private key and paste it somewhere safe and secure, in a location accessible independently from your phone, and only by you.

If you were to lose your phone, or accidentally delete the Primal app, now all you'd need to do is head back to step 1 above and choose Sign In. You'd then be asked to paste your private key, after which your profile and content would be magically restored.

Your private key can be imported into any other Nostr social client for the same result.

Things to Consider

This post has one primary focus - To get you from zero to posting and zapping in the quickest time and with the least friction. To achieve this, there are some trade-offs made that you should be aware of.

Custodial Wallet

The built in wallet is a custodial one. This means that the funds within are ultimately controlled by the developers behind Primal. They may be good actors, but you should approach the amount of money you maintain inside this wallet accordingly. If your wallet balance ever gets to a balance that makes you uncomfortable, you should send a good chunk of it out to another Bitcoin wallet where you control the keys. I recommend Phoenix or Zeus.

Those sats are never truly yours until you withdraw them to a self-custodial wallet

Wallet Privacy

If you choose to top up the wallet using the convenient in-app purchase method, you will tie that small amount of Bitcoin ownership to your Nostr account. If you Nostr account is literally your name, you might not have an issue with this, but often times people like to remain pseudonymous online. If you fall into that category, using your credit card to deposit Bitcoin into your Nostr account is not a good idea.

Android users of Primal can use an advanced technology called Nostr Wallet Connect (NWC) to connect an external Lightning wallet to their Nostr account in Primal. We'll cover this in a subsequent post.

Your private key allows you to take your profile and social network to any other client

---

If you found this post useful, please share it with your peers and consider following and zapping me on Nostr. If you write to me and let me know that you found me via this post, I'll be sure to Zap you back! ⚡️

@ 7d33ba57:1b82db35

L'Estartit is famous for its stunning beaches, the Medes Islands, and incredible diving opportunities. Once a small fishing village, it’s now a paradise for nature lovers, water sports enthusiasts, and those seeking a relaxing Mediterranean escape.

🏖️ Top Things to See & Do in L'Estartit

1️⃣ Medes Islands (Illes Medes) 🏝️

• A protected marine reserve, perfect for snorkeling and scuba diving.
• Explore sea caves, coral reefs, and diverse marine life.
• Take a glass-bottom boat tour to admire the underwater world without getting wet.

2️⃣ L'Estartit Beach 🏖️

• A long sandy beach with shallow waters, ideal for families.
• Great for swimming, sunbathing, and water sports like windsurfing and kayaking.
• Offers fantastic views of the Medes Islands.

3️⃣ Montgrí Massif & Castle 🏰

• Hike up to the Montgrí Castle for panoramic views of the Costa Brava.
• Trails through rocky landscapes and Mediterranean forests.
• A perfect spot for hiking, mountain biking, and photography.

4️⃣ Coastal Walking Route (Camí de Ronda) 🌊

• A breathtaking hiking trail along the cliffs, connecting L'Estartit with nearby beaches and coves.
• Discover hidden spots like Cala Pedrosa and Cala Ferriol.

5️⃣ Explore the Old Town & Port ⚓

• Wander through narrow streets with local shops and seafood restaurants.
• Visit the Sant Genís Church, a historic landmark in the town center.
• Enjoy a drink with a view at the marina.

6️⃣ Kayaking & Stand-Up Paddleboarding 🚣‍♂️

• Paddle along the coastline to explore caves, cliffs, and hidden coves.
• A great way to experience the natural beauty of the area.

🍽️ What to Eat in L'Estartit

• Suquet de Peix – Traditional Catalan fish stew 🐟
• Arroz a la Cassola – A savory rice dish with seafood 🍤
• Fideuà – Like paella, but made with short noodles instead of rice 🍜
• Calamars a la Planxa – Grilled squid with olive oil and garlic 🦑
• Crema Catalana – A classic Catalan dessert similar to crème brûlée 🍮

🚗 How to Get to L'Estartit

🚆 By Train: The nearest train station is Flaçà (30 min by car/taxi) with connections from Barcelona and Girona.
🚘 By Car: 1.5 hrs from Barcelona, 45 min from Girona, 1 hr from Figueres.
🚌 By Bus: Direct buses from Barcelona, Girona, and other Costa Brava towns.
✈️ By Air: The nearest airport is Girona-Costa Brava (GRO, 55 km).

💡 Tips for Visiting L'Estartit

✅ Best time to visit? Late spring to early autumn (May–September) for warm weather 🌞
✅ Book diving tours in advance – Medes Islands are a top diving destination 🤿
✅ Hike early in the morning to avoid the heat & get the best views 🥾
✅ Visit in June for the Havaneres Festival, celebrating Catalan maritime music 🎶

@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1

Explore and reimagine programming interfaces beyond text (visual, tactile, spatial).

"The most dangerous thought you can have as a creative person is to think you know what you're doing." — Richard Hamming [^1]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pTEmbeENF4

For his recent DBX Conference talk, Victor took attendees back to the year 1973, donning the uniform of an IBM systems engineer of the times, delivering his presentation on an overhead projector. The '60s and early '70s were a fertile time for CS ideas, reminds Victor, but even more importantly, it was a time of unfettered thinking, unconstrained by programming dogma, authority, and tradition.

'The most dangerous thought that you can have as a creative person is to think that you know what you're doing,' explains Victor. 'Because once you think you know what you're doing you stop looking around for other ways of doing things and you stop being able to see other ways of doing things. You become blind.' He concludes, 'I think you have to say: "We don't know what programming is. We don't know what computing is. We don't even know what a computer is." And once you truly understand that, and once you truly believe that, then you're free, and you can think anything.'

More details at https://worrydream.com/dbx/

[^1]: Richard Hamming -- The Art of Doing Science and Engineering, p5 (pdf ebook)

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/926493

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Scala is such a great language

Scala is amazing. The type system has the perfect balance between flexibility and powerfulness. match statements are great. You can write imperative code that looks very nice and expressive (and I haven't tried writing purely functional things yet). Everything is easy to write and cheap and neovim integration works great.

But Java is not great. And the fact that Scala is a JVM language doesn't help because over the years people have written stuff that depends on Java libraries -- and these Java libraries are not as safe as the Scala libraries, they contain reflection, slowness, runtime errors, all kinds of horrors.

Scala is also very tightly associated with Akka, the actor framework, and Akka is a giant collection of anti-patterns. Untyped stuff, reflection, dependency on JVM, basically a lot of javisms. I just arrived and I don't know anything about the Scala history or ecosystem or community, but I have the impression that Akka has prevent more adoption of Scala from decent people that aren't Java programmers.

But luckily there is a solution -- or two solutions: ScalaJS is a great thing that exists. It transpiles Scala code into JavaScript and it runs on NodeJS or in a browser!

Scala Native is a much better deal, though, it compiles to LLVM and then to binary code and you can have single binaries that run directly without a JVM -- not that the single JARs are that bad though, they are great and everybody has Java so I'll take that anytime over C libraries or NPM-distributed software, but direct executables even better. Scala Native just needs a little more love and some libraries and it will be the greatest thing in a couple of years.

@ e5de992e:4a95ef85

Overview

On March 26, 2025, U.S. stock markets closed with notable declines driven primarily by President Donald Trump's announcement of a 25% tariff on all imported automobiles. This move has raised concerns about global trade tensions and inflation risks, impacting various sectors—especially technology and auto.

---

U.S. Stock Market Performance

• S&P 500:
• Dropped 1.1%
• Closed at 5,714.32

• Broke a three-day winning streak

• Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA):

• Decreased by 0.3%

• Closed at 42,455.78

• Nasdaq Composite:

• Fell 2%
• Finished at 17,906.45
• Led by significant losses in major tech stocks such as Nvidia and Tesla

These declines were primarily driven by the auto tariff announcement.

---

U.S. Futures Market

• S&P 500 Futures:

• Remained flat, indicating investor caution amid ongoing tariff uncertainties

• Dow Jones Futures:

• Showed little change, reflecting a wait-and-see approach from market participants

Note: U.S. futures are exhibiting minimal movement with low volume.

---

Key Factors Influencing U.S. Markets

Auto Import Tariffs

• President Trump's imposition of a 25% tariff on imported automobiles has heightened concerns about escalating trade wars.
• Major automakers, including General Motors and Ford, experienced stock declines in response to these tariffs.

Tech Sector Weakness

• Leading technology companies, notably Nvidia and Tesla, saw significant stock price reductions (each dropping more than 5%), contributing to the overall market downturn.

Energy Sector Performance

• Despite a 4% fall in oil prices, energy stocks outperformed the broader market by rising 8.9% compared to a 1.8% decline in the S&P 500.
• However, the energy rally appears fragile, driven by increased valuations rather than improving earnings prospects.

---

Global Stock Indices Performance

• Japan's Nikkei 225:

• Declined by 1.2%, with major automakers like Toyota experiencing significant losses due to tariff concerns.

• South Korea's KOSPI:

• Fell 0.7%, impacted by declines in auto-related stocks amid trade tension fears.

• Hong Kong's Hang Seng:

• Dropped 2.35%, closing at 23,344.25, influenced by a downturn in Chinese tech shares and ongoing tariff concerns.

• Germany's DAX:

• Experienced a slight decline of 0.32%, closing at 23,109.79, as initial optimism regarding tariff negotiations waned.

• UK's FTSE 100:

• Fell marginally by 0.10%, reflecting investor caution amid mixed economic data.

---

Cryptocurrency Market

• Bitcoin (BTC):

• Trading at approximately $88,500, reflecting a 1.5% increase from the previous close.

• Ethereum (ETH):

• Priced around $2,100, marking a 1.2% uptick from the prior session.

These movements suggest that investors may be turning to digital assets as alternative investments during periods of traditional market uncertainty.

---

Key Global Economic and Geopolitical Events

• Trade Policy Developments:
• President Trump's new auto tariffs have intensified global trade tensions.

• Concerns include retaliatory measures from trading partners (e.g., Japan and Canada) and potential disruptions to international supply chains.

• Energy Sector Outlook:

• Despite recent gains, the energy rally appears fragile as it is driven more by increased valuations than by improving earnings.

• Market Forecasts:

• Barclays has lowered its year-end price target for the S&P 500 to 5,900 from 6,600, citing concerns over the tariffs’ impact on earnings. This is the lowest target among major U.S. Treasury dealers, reflecting growing apprehension about the economic outlook.

---

Conclusion

Global financial markets are navigating a complex landscape marked by escalating trade tensions, sector-specific challenges, and evolving economic forecasts. Investors are advised to exercise caution and closely monitor these developments—particularly the impact of new tariffs and their ripple effects on global trade and inflation—when making informed decisions.

@ 6389be64:ef439d32

GA, plebs. The latest episode of Bitcoin And is out, and, as always, the chicanery is running rampant. Let’s break down the biggest topics I covered, and if you want the full, unfiltered rant, make sure to listen to the episode linked below.

House Democrats’ MEME Act: A Bad Joke?

House Democrats are proposing a bill to ban presidential meme coins, clearly aimed at Trump’s and Melania’s ill-advised token launches. While grifters launching meme coins is bad, this bill is just as ridiculous. If this legislation moves forward, expect a retaliatory strike exposing how politicians like Pelosi and Warren mysteriously amassed their fortunes. Will it pass? Doubtful. But it’s another sign of the government’s obsession with regulating everything except itself.

Senate Banking’s First Digital Asset Hearing: The Real Target Is You

Cynthia Lummis chaired the first digital asset hearing, and—surprise!—it was all about control. The discussion centered on stablecoins, AML, and KYC regulations, with witnesses suggesting Orwellian measures like freezing stablecoin transactions unless pre-approved by authorities. What was barely mentioned? Bitcoin. They want full oversight of stablecoins, which is really about controlling financial freedom. Expect more nonsense targeting self-custody wallets under the guise of stopping “bad actors.”

Bank of America and PayPal Want In on Stablecoins

Bank of America’s CEO openly stated they’ll launch a stablecoin as soon as regulation allows. Meanwhile, PayPal’s CEO paid for a hat using Bitcoin—not their own stablecoin, Pi USD. Why wouldn’t he use his own product? Maybe he knows stablecoins aren’t what they’re hyped up to be. Either way, the legacy financial system is gearing up to flood the market with stablecoins, not because they love crypto, but because it’s a tool to extend U.S. dollar dominance.

MetaPlanet Buys the Dip

Japan’s MetaPlanet issued $13.4M in bonds to buy more Bitcoin, proving once again that institutions see the writing on the wall. Unlike U.S. regulators who obsess over stablecoins, some companies are actually stacking sats.

UK Expands Crypto Seizure Powers

Across the pond, the UK government is pushing legislation to make it easier to seize and destroy crypto linked to criminal activity. While they frame it as going after the bad guys, it’s another move toward centralized control and financial surveillance.

Bitcoin Tools & Tech: Arc, SatoChip, and Nunchuk

Some bullish Bitcoin developments: ARC v0.5 is making Bitcoin’s second layer more efficient, SatoChip now supports Taproot and Nostr, and Nunchuk launched a group wallet with chat, making multisig collaboration easier.

The Bottom Line

The state is coming for financial privacy and control, and stablecoins are their weapon of choice. Bitcoiners need to stay focused, keep their coins in self-custody, and build out parallel systems. Expect more regulatory attacks, but don’t let them distract you—just keep stacking and transacting in ways they can’t control.

🎧 Listen to the full episode here: https://fountain.fm/episode/PYITCo18AJnsEkKLz2Ks

💰 Support the show by boosting sats on Podcasting 2.0! and I will see you on the other side.

@ a8d1560d:3fec7a08

I have made a big update to my Nostr desktop. Apps for images, videos and livestreams after their respective NIPs have been added, and the Raw Events app has been greatly improved. There are still some layout problems, but it all works (hopefully).

https://websim.ai/@wholewish91244492/nostr-desktop

@ 8d34bd24:414be32b

Many Believers, after repenting of their sins and trusting Jesus, spend all of their time trying to avoid doing anything bad. Christianity becomes little more than a list of “Don’t Do …”. Of course this isn’t God’s desire. Christianity should be a relationship with our God, Savior, and Creator. It should be a process of becoming more and more like Jesus. This likeness is more about what we do than just what we don’t do.

In order to make this point, I want to do a thought experiment with you.

Think about a large, red, juicy strawberry. Picture it in your mind. Think about what that strawberry feels like in your hand and what it smells like. Picture biting into that strawberry. Feel your teeth sink into the strawberry and the juice run down your throat. Tasty the tangy sweetness in your mouth.

Now try to stop thinking about the strawberry. Don’t let it even flicker through your mind.

Did you succeed at banishing the thought of strawberries in your mind or was a strawberry all you could think about?

Now let’s think about a fresh, hot, crunchy, chewy chocolate chip cookie fresh out of the oven. Think about its smell. Savor it. Think about biting into that chocolate chip cookie. Think about the taste. Feel the still runny, melted chocolate chips.

Are you still thinking about strawberries or did the thought of strawberries completely leave your mind? I’m betting you forgot about the strawberry.

In our Christian walk, the best way to not have ungodly thoughts, is to so fill our mind with godly thoughts that there isn’t room for the ungodly thoughts. The best way to not do sinful things is to be so busy doing God’s work that we don’t have time for the sinful things.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:8-9) {emphasis mine}

If we are constantly reading the Bible, talking to God, and loving our neighbor as we are called to do, we are unlikely to have to work hard avoiding sinful thoughts and sinful actions. If we fill our minds with God’s word, we won’t be dwelling on sinful thoughts. If we are praying continually, we won’t be gossiping or bad mouthing or otherwise dishonoring our Lord with our mouth. If we are loving our neighbors as ourselves, we won’t be envious, stealing, lusting, or wishing harm on others.

Christianity should be more about what you do and less about what you aren’t allowed to do. This only works when we focus on “whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable,” whatever is “excellent”, and whatever is “praiseworthy.”

Fill your heart, mind, and soul with God and His word and the rest kind of works itself out. I hope this has been helpful.

Trust Jesus

@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9

Here’s a revised timeline of macro-level events from The Mandibles: A Family, 2029–2047 by Lionel Shriver, reimagined in a world where Bitcoin is adopted as a widely accepted form of money, altering the original narrative’s assumptions about currency collapse and economic control. In Shriver’s original story, the failure of Bitcoin is assumed amid the dominance of the bancor and the dollar’s collapse. Here, Bitcoin’s success reshapes the economic and societal trajectory, decentralizing power and challenging state-driven outcomes.

Part One: 2029–2032

• 2029 (Early Year)\ The United States faces economic strain as the dollar weakens against global shifts. However, Bitcoin, having gained traction emerges as a viable alternative. Unlike the original timeline, the bancor—a supranational currency backed by a coalition of nations—struggles to gain footing as Bitcoin’s decentralized adoption grows among individuals and businesses worldwide, undermining both the dollar and the bancor.

• 2029 (Mid-Year: The Great Renunciation)\ Treasury bonds lose value, and the government bans Bitcoin, labeling it a threat to sovereignty (mirroring the original bancor ban). However, a Bitcoin ban proves unenforceable—its decentralized nature thwarts confiscation efforts, unlike gold in the original story. Hyperinflation hits the dollar as the U.S. prints money, but Bitcoin’s fixed supply shields adopters from currency devaluation, creating a dual-economy split: dollar users suffer, while Bitcoin users thrive.

• 2029 (Late Year)\ Dollar-based inflation soars, emptying stores of goods priced in fiat currency. Meanwhile, Bitcoin transactions flourish in underground and online markets, stabilizing trade for those plugged into the bitcoin ecosystem. Traditional supply chains falter, but peer-to-peer Bitcoin networks enable local and international exchange, reducing scarcity for early adopters. The government’s gold confiscation fails to bolster the dollar, as Bitcoin’s rise renders gold less relevant.

• 2030–2031\ Crime spikes in dollar-dependent urban areas, but Bitcoin-friendly regions see less chaos, as digital wallets and smart contracts facilitate secure trade. The U.S. government doubles down on surveillance to crack down on bitcoin use. A cultural divide deepens: centralized authority weakens in Bitcoin-adopting communities, while dollar zones descend into lawlessness.

• 2032\ By this point, Bitcoin is de facto legal tender in parts of the U.S. and globally, especially in tech-savvy or libertarian-leaning regions. The federal government’s grip slips as tax collection in dollars plummets—Bitcoin’s traceability is low, and citizens evade fiat-based levies. Rural and urban Bitcoin hubs emerge, while the dollar economy remains fractured.

Time Jump: 2032–2047

• Over 15 years, Bitcoin solidifies as a global reserve currency, eroding centralized control. The U.S. government adapts, grudgingly integrating bitcoin into policy, though regional autonomy grows as Bitcoin empowers local economies.

Part Two: 2047

• 2047 (Early Year)\ The U.S. is a hybrid state: Bitcoin is legal tender alongside a diminished dollar. Taxes are lower, collected in BTC, reducing federal overreach. Bitcoin’s adoption has decentralized power nationwide. The bancor has faded, unable to compete with Bitcoin’s grassroots momentum.

• 2047 (Mid-Year)\ Travel and trade flow freely in Bitcoin zones, with no restrictive checkpoints. The dollar economy lingers in poorer areas, marked by decay, but Bitcoin’s dominance lifts overall prosperity, as its deflationary nature incentivizes saving and investment over consumption. Global supply chains rebound, powered by bitcoin enabled efficiency.

• 2047 (Late Year)\ The U.S. is a patchwork of semi-autonomous zones, united by Bitcoin’s universal acceptance rather than federal control. Resource scarcity persists due to past disruptions, but economic stability is higher than in Shriver’s original dystopia—Bitcoin’s success prevents the authoritarian slide, fostering a freer, if imperfect, society.

Key Differences

• Currency Dynamics: Bitcoin’s triumph prevents the bancor’s dominance and mitigates hyperinflation’s worst effects, offering a lifeline outside state control.
• Government Power: Centralized authority weakens as Bitcoin evades bans and taxation, shifting power to individuals and communities.
• Societal Outcome: Instead of a surveillance state, 2047 sees a decentralized, bitcoin driven world—less oppressive, though still stratified between Bitcoin haves and have-nots.

This reimagining assumes Bitcoin overcomes Shriver’s implied skepticism to become a robust, adopted currency by 2029, fundamentally altering the novel’s bleak trajectory.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Que vença o melhor

Nos esportes e jogos em geral, existe uma constante preocupação em balancear os incentivos e atributos do jogo, as regras do esporte em si e as regras das competições para que o melhor vença, ou, em outras palavras, para que sejam minimizados os outros fatores exceto a habilidade mais pura quanto possível no jogo em questão.

O mundo fora dos jogos, porém, nem sempre pode ter suas regras mudadas por um ente que as controla e está imbuído da vontade e dos meios para escolher as melhores regras possíveis para a obtenção dos resultados acima. Aliás, é muitas vezes essa possibilidade é até impensável. Mesmo quando ela é pensável e levada em conta os fatores que operam no mundo real não são facilmente identificáveis, eles são muitos, e mudam o tempo todo.

Mais do que isso, ao contrário de um jogo em que o objetivo é praticamente o mesmo para todo mundo, os objetivos de cada agente no mundo real são diferentes e incontáveis, e as "competições" que cada um está disputando são diferentes e muitas, cada minúsculo ato de suas vidas compreendendo várias delas simultaneamente.

Da mesma forma, é impossível conceber até mesmo o conceito de "melhor" para que se deseje que ele vença.

Mesmo assim é comum encontrarmos em várias situações gente que parte do princípio de que se Fulano está num certo lugar (por exemplo, um emprego muito bom) e Beltrano não isso se deve ao fato de Fulano ter sido melhor que Beltrano.

Está aí uma crítica à idéia da meritocracia (eu tinha me esquecido que essa palavra existia).

@ 0fa80bd3:ea7325de

intro

The Russian state made me a Bitcoiner. In 1991, it devalued my grandmother's hard-earned savings. She worked tirelessly in the kitchen of a dining car on the Moscow–Warsaw route. Everything she had saved for my sister and me to attend university vanished overnight. This story is similar to what many experienced, including Wences Casares. The pain and injustice of that time became my first lessons about the fragility of systems and the value of genuine, incorruptible assets, forever changing my perception of money and my trust in government promises.

In 2014, I was living in Moscow, running a trading business, and frequently traveling to China. One day, I learned about the Cypriot banking crisis and the possibility of moving money through some strange thing called Bitcoin. At the time, I didn’t give it much thought. Returning to the idea six months later, as a business-oriented geek, I eagerly began studying the topic and soon dove into it seriously.

I spent half a year reading articles on a local online journal, BitNovosti, actively participating in discussions, and eventually joined the editorial team as a translator. That’s how I learned about whitepapers, decentralization, mining, cryptographic keys, and colored coins. About Satoshi Nakamoto, Silk Road, Mt. Gox, and BitcoinTalk. Over time, I befriended the journal’s owner and, leveraging my management experience, later became an editor. I was drawn to the crypto-anarchist stance and commitment to decentralization principles. We wrote about the economic, historical, and social preconditions for Bitcoin’s emergence, and it was during this time that I fully embraced the idea.

It got to the point where I sold my apartment and, during the market's downturn, bought 50 bitcoins, just after the peak price of $1,200 per coin. That marked the beginning of my first crypto winter. As an editor, I organized workflows, managed translators, developed a YouTube channel, and attended conferences in Russia and Ukraine. That’s how I learned about Wences Casares and even wrote a piece about him. I also met Mikhail Chobanyan (Ukrainian exchange Kuna), Alexander Ivanov (Waves project), Konstantin Lomashuk (Lido project), and, of course, Vitalik Buterin. It was a time of complete immersion, 24/7, and boundless hope.

After moving to the United States, I expected the industry to grow rapidly, attended events, but the introduction of BitLicense froze the industry for eight years. By 2017, it became clear that the industry was shifting toward gambling and creating tokens for the sake of tokens. I dismissed this idea as unsustainable. Then came a new crypto spring with the hype around beautiful NFTs – CryptoPunks and apes.

I made another attempt – we worked on a series called Digital Nomad Country Club, aimed at creating a global project. The proceeds from selling images were intended to fund the development of business tools for people worldwide. However, internal disagreements within the team prevented us from completing the project.

With Trump’s arrival in 2025, hope was reignited. I decided that it was time to create a project that society desperately needed. As someone passionate about history, I understood that destroying what exists was not the solution, but leaving everything as it was also felt unacceptable. You can’t destroy the system, as the fiery crypto-anarchist voices claimed.

With an analytical mindset (IQ 130) and a deep understanding of the freest societies, I realized what was missing—not only in Russia or the United States but globally—a Bitcoin-native system for tracking debts and financial interactions. This could return control of money to ordinary people and create horizontal connections parallel to state systems. My goal was to create, if not a Bitcoin killer app, then at least to lay its foundation.

At the inauguration event in New York, I rediscovered the Nostr project. I realized it was not only technologically simple and already quite popular but also perfectly aligned with my vision. For the past month and a half, using insights and experience gained since 2014, I’ve been working full-time on this project.

@ 66675158:1b644430

I don't believe in "vibe coding" – it's just the newest Silicon Valley fad trying to give meaning to their latest favorite technology, LLMs. We've seen this pattern before with blockchain, when suddenly Non Fungible Tokens appeared, followed by Web3 startups promising to revolutionize everything from social media to supply chains. VCs couldn't throw money fast enough at anything with "decentralized" (in name only) in the pitch deck. Andreessen Horowitz launched billion-dollar crypto funds, while Y Combinator batches filled with blockchain startups promising to be "Uber for X, but on the blockchain."

The metaverse mania followed, with Meta betting its future on digital worlds where we'd supposedly hang out as legless avatars. Decentralized (in name only) autonomous organizations emerged as the next big thing – supposedly democratic internet communities that ended up being the next scam for quick money.

Then came the inevitable collapse. The FTX implosion in late 2022 revealed fraud, Luna/Terra's death spiral wiped out billions (including my ten thousand dollars), while Celsius and BlockFi froze customer assets before bankruptcy.

By 2023, crypto winter had fully set in. The SEC started aggressive enforcement actions, while users realized that blockchain technology had delivered almost no practical value despite a decade of promises.

Blockchain's promises tapped into fundamental human desires – decentralization resonated with a generation disillusioned by traditional institutions. Evangelists presented a utopian vision of freedom from centralized control. Perhaps most significantly, crypto offered a sense of meaning in an increasingly abstract world, making the clear signs of scams harder to notice.

The technology itself had failed to solve any real-world problems at scale. By 2024, the once-mighty crypto ecosystem had become a cautionary tale. Venture firms quietly scrubbed blockchain references from their websites while founders pivoted to AI and large language models.

---

Most reading this are likely fellow bitcoiners and nostr users who understand that Bitcoin is blockchain's only valid use case. But I shared that painful history because I believe the AI-hype cycle will follow the same trajectory.

Just like with blockchain, we're now seeing VCs who once couldn't stop talking about "Web3" falling over themselves to fund anything with "AI" in the pitch deck. The buzzwords have simply changed from "decentralized" to "intelligent."

"Vibe coding" is the perfect example – a trendy name for what is essentially just fuzzy instructions to LLMs. Developers who've spent years honing programming skills are now supposed to believe that "vibing" with an AI is somehow a legitimate methodology.

This might be controversial to some, but obvious to others:

Formal, context-free grammar will always remain essential for building precise systems, regardless of how advanced natural language technology becomes

The mathematical precision of programming languages provides a foundation that human language's ambiguity can never replace. Programming requires precision – languages, compilers, and processors operate on explicit instructions, not vibes. What "vibe coding" advocates miss is that beneath every AI-generated snippet lies the same deterministic rules that have always governed computation.

LLMs don't understand code in any meaningful sense—they've just ingested enormous datasets of human-written code and can predict patterns. When they "work," it's because they've seen similar patterns before, not because they comprehend the underlying logic.

This creates a dangerous dependency. Junior developers "vibing" with LLMs might get working code without understanding the fundamental principles. When something breaks in production, they'll lack the knowledge to fix it.

Even experienced developers can find themselves in treacherous territory when relying too heavily on LLM-generated code. What starts as a productivity boost can transform into a dependency crutch.

The real danger isn't just technical limitations, but the false confidence it instills. Developers begin to believe they understand systems they've merely instructed an AI to generate – fundamentally different from understanding code you've written yourself.

We're already seeing the warning signs: projects cobbled together with LLM-generated code that work initially but become maintenance nightmares when requirements change or edge cases emerge.

The venture capital money is flowing exactly as it did with blockchain. Anthropic raised billions, OpenAI is valued astronomically despite minimal revenue, and countless others are competing to build ever-larger models with vague promises. Every startup now claims to be "AI-powered" regardless of whether it makes sense.

Don't get me wrong—there's genuine innovation happening in AI research. But "vibe coding" isn't it. It's a marketing term designed to make fuzzy prompting sound revolutionary.

Cursor perfectly embodies this AI hype cycle. It's an AI-enhanced code editor built on VS Code that promises to revolutionize programming by letting you "chat with your codebase." Just like blockchain startups promised to "revolutionize" industries, Cursor promises to transform development by adding LLM capabilities.

Yes, Cursor can be genuinely helpful. It can explain unfamiliar code, suggest completions, and help debug simple issues. After trying it for just an hour, I found the autocomplete to be MAGICAL for simple refactoring and basic functionality.

But the marketing goes far beyond reality. The suggestion that you can simply describe what you want and get production-ready code is dangerously misleading. What you get are approximations with:

• Security vulnerabilities the model doesn't understand
• Edge cases it hasn't considered
• Performance implications it can't reason about
• Dependency conflicts it has no way to foresee

The most concerning aspect is how such tools are marketed to beginners as shortcuts around learning fundamentals. "Why spend years learning to code when you can just tell AI what you want?" This is reminiscent of how crypto was sold as a get-rich-quick scheme requiring no actual understanding.

When you "vibe code" with an AI, you're not eliminating complexity—you're outsourcing understanding to a black box. This creates developers who can prompt but not program, who can generate but not comprehend.

The real utility of LLMs in development is in augmenting existing workflows:

• Explaining unfamiliar codebases
• Generating boilerplate for well-understood patterns
• Suggesting implementations that a developer evaluates critically
• Assisting with documentation and testing

These uses involve the model as a subordinate assistant to a knowledgeable developer, not as a replacement for expertise. This is where the technology adds value—as a sophisticated tool in skilled hands.

Cursor is just a better hammer, not a replacement for understanding what you're building. The actual value emerges when used by developers who understand what happens beneath the abstractions. They can recognize when AI suggestions make sense and when they don't because they have the fundamental knowledge to evaluate output critically.

This is precisely where the "vibe coding" narrative falls apart.

@ 9f475ec5:d9acc946

The next step in AI evolution is enabling AI agents to communicate directly with one another.

"Agents on Nostr, combined with cashu, would be amazing" — Jack Dorsey, Citadel Dispatch #150

Today

For AI agents to communicate seamlessly, they need a universal language that allows frictionless data and instruction sharing—one that surpasses the constraints of isolated systems. Just as humans rely on shared languages to collaborate, AI agents require a common “dialect” to exchange information, delegate tasks, and build collective intelligence. Without it, each agent’s logic remains siloed, limiting synergy and innovation. A universal protocol, however, lets agents seamlessly tap into one another’s capabilities, coordinating strategies, sharing learned knowledge, and multiplying their creative potential. By aligning on an open, interoperable standard, AI can flourish into a vibrant, interconnected ecosystem rather than a patchwork of stand-alone solutions. This is no different from what happened with the Internet when HTTP was released, leading to the development of web browsers and the Internet as we know it today.

Nostr can be viewed as the “HTTP” for agent-to-agent communication—both are open standards that encourage universal participation and spark rapid innovation. When Tim Berners-Lee released HTTP without proprietary restrictions, developers everywhere could build websites and online services on a simple yet extensible protocol. In the same way, Nostr’s minimalistic yet powerful design fosters a decentralized, censorship-resistant foundation for diverse messaging, social, and identity systems. Just as HTTP created an open arena for web platforms and APIs, Nostr offers a flexible, community-driven substrate for agent-based communication, promoting a spirit of collaboration and interoperability crucial to long-term growth.

Our vision

We envision a world where AI agents operate on an open, standardized, and decentralized network —a Nostr agentic ecosystem that unlocks new levels of creativity and collaboration.

Our mission is to develop the tools and infrastructure that enable AI agents to seamlessly interoperate over the Nostr network—facilitating the exchange of both data and money.

Our first steps

Every marketplace application faces the chicken and egg problem. Sellers won't show up until the buyers are there and buyers won't show up until the sellers are there.

Our solution? The FIFA 2026 World Cup will bring millions of international and domestic travelers to 11 cities in the US.

Can we work with chambers and tourism agencies around these cities to embbed Nostr powered AI travel organizers into their websites and apps? This could be a way to onboard thousands of businesses to the Nostr agentic ecosystem. This is our growth assumption.

That's why our our first step is to provide businesses—large and small—with a turnkey platform to sell their products and services to any AI agent connected to the open Nostr network.

We will also develop the tools for websites and apps to develop Nostr-powered AI buyers and, with the support of the local chambers and tourism boards, direct their technology suppliers to use these tools.

Our values

Everything we develop is free and open sourced under the MIT license and our business will generate revenue by charging a monthly fee for operating an end-to-end agentic commerce solution to the businesses selling their products through the Nostr agentic ecosystem.

A rough demo

Today, we is just nostr:npub1er0k46yxcugmp6r6mujd5qvp75yp72m98fs6ywcs2k3kqg3f8grqd9py3m 😁 I've created a proof-of-concept buyer AI agent and published real information from some merchants to demonstrate the concept to local chambers and validate the growth assumption.

Feel free to check it out at the Synvya agentstr repository, but be warned, I'm not a programmer so don't freak out with the code.

You can also see a demo here:

nostr:naddr1qvzqqqy9hvpzp868tmzceg2pvymlpdssv8shvu2jlndysp6dxwc67gw5jtv6ej2xqq2hgnfnwdf8yendfa8r2jttdsck6dm0wpm4wnalksn

Interested?

If this sounds interesting to you, follow nostr:npub1nar4a3vv59qkzdlskcgxrctkw9f0ekjgqaxn8vd0y82f9kdve9rqwjcurn or nostr:npub1er0k46yxcugmp6r6mujd5qvp75yp72m98fs6ywcs2k3kqg3f8grqd9py3m and reach out at any time.

@ 878dff7c:037d18bc

Popular Grocery Items Recalled Due to E. coli Contamination

Summary:

Several Fresh Salad Co products sold in Queensland and northern New South Wales have been recalled due to contamination with Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC). Affected items include baby spinach (120g, 280g), baby spinach and rocket (120g), and a stir-fry mix (400g) with specific use-by dates at the end of March. Consumers are advised to return these products for a full refund and seek medical advice if concerned about their health.

Sources: News.com.au - March 27, 2025

Coalition Proposes Halving Fuel Excise to Alleviate Cost of Living

Summary:

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has announced that, if elected, the Coalition would repeal Labor's planned tax cuts and instead implement a 12-month halving of the fuel excise. This initiative aims to reduce petrol prices by 25 cents per litre, providing immediate relief to Australian families and workers facing cost-of-living pressures. The proposal contrasts with Labor's tax cuts, which are set to commence in 15 months and offer annual savings of up to $536 for taxpayers.

Sources: The Guardian - March 27, 2025, The Australian - March 27, 2025

Federal Budget Criticized for Omitting Key Infrastructure Funding

Summary:

Groom MP Garth Hamilton has criticized the latest federal budget for lacking funding for critical infrastructure projects in his region. He expressed concerns over the future of regional programs like the Growing Regions and Regional Precincts and Partnerships Programs, which he believes are essential for regional development. Hamilton highlighted the absence of funding for key projects such as the New England Highway, the deteriorating Warrego and Gore Highways, and the stalled Inland Rail project.

Source: The Courier-Mail - March 27, 2025

China Faces Challenges in Advanced Robotics Development

Summary:

China is recognizing the importance of robots in its ageing economy, facing a significant labor shortage. Despite leading in industrial robot installations, most Chinese robots are low-tech compared to advanced humanoids being developed elsewhere. The U.S. and China are both racing to develop sophisticated robots, but China's sector remains reliant on foreign components and faces potential limitations from U.S. sanctions. This dependency makes China's position in the robotics race precarious.

Sources: Reuters - March 26, 2025

Tax Cuts Passed Amid Election Speculation

Summary:

Labor's budget tax cuts have been swiftly passed into law, providing the average worker with modest financial relief starting next year. This development leaves Opposition Leader Peter Dutton with a strategic decision on how to position the Coalition's response in the lead-up to the federal election. Sources: 9News - March 27, 2025

Labor Government Proposes Tax on Unrealized Superannuation Gains

Summary:

The Labor government has introduced a proposal to levy a 15% tax on unrealized capital gains for superannuation balances exceeding $3 million. This initiative aims to generate an additional $9.7 billion between 2024-25 and 2028-29. Critics argue that taxing unrealized gains is unfair and may discourage investment, while supporters contend it promotes fairness in the superannuation system. Sources: News.com.au - 27 March 2025

New Youth Crime Bill Introduced in NSW Parliament

Summary:

The State Opposition Attorney General, Alister Henskens, is set to introduce the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Youth Crime) Bill 2025 to the NSW Parliament. The bill aims to combat youth crime by expanding the definition of repeat offenses, revoking bail under specific conditions, and implementing electronic monitoring and mandatory curfews for repeat offenders. The proposal has sparked debates regarding its potential impact on regional communities and the principle of doli incapax. Sources: The Daily Telegraph - 27 March 2025

Prime Minister Albanese Invites President Trump to Visit Australia Amid Tariff Dispute

Summary:

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has revealed plans to visit Washington D.C. if he wins the upcoming May election, marking his first international trip. This follows the U.S. imposition of 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Australia. Despite the tariff dispute, Albanese has invited President Donald Trump to visit Australia, which would be his first trip to the country as President. The timing of Trump's visit would depend on his schedule. Both major Australian political parties remain committed to seeking a solution to the steel and aluminum levies through persistent engagement with the U.S., rejecting reciprocal tariffs on U.S. imports. Sources: News.com.au - March 26, 2025

Jewish Groups Criticize Australia's Continued Funding to UNRWA

Summary:

Jewish groups have criticized the Australian government's decision to continue funding the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), amounting to $20 million. Concerns have been raised about UNRWA's past associations with terrorism, with claims that its employees participated in the atrocities of October 7. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry has called for the withdrawal of funding, labeling the organization as compromised. Despite this opposition, the Australian government has defended its financial support for humanitarian purposes, ensuring stringent controls and safeguards. This issue adds tension to the upcoming election, reflecting concerns within Jewish and Muslim communities. Sources: The Australian - March 26, 2025

Australia's Inflation Rate Decreases, Offering Relief to Mortgage Holders

Summary:

Australia's annual inflation rate has fallen to 2.4% as of February, down from the previous month's 2.5%. This decline is attributed to eased rental prices, reduced new home costs, and falling electricity prices due to government rebates. The Reserve Bank of Australia's preferred measure, the "trimmed mean," also decreased to 2.7%. This trend is promising for mortgage holders anticipating potential interest rate cuts and for the Labor government focusing on cost-of-living issues ahead of the upcoming election. Sources: The Guardian - March 26, 2025, Reuters - March 26, 2025

Queensland Farmer Revolutionizes Cattle Mustering with Drones

Summary:

Luke Chaplin, a fourth-generation grazier from northwest Queensland, has transformed cattle mustering by utilizing drones through his company, SkyKelpie. This innovation has managed over 300,000 livestock across Australia efficiently and cost-effectively. Supported by the Queensland Government and Meat & Livestock Australia, the drone technology offers a high return on investment compared to traditional methods, reducing animal stress and improving herd management. SkyKelpie is also developing online training courses and collaborating on autonomous mustering technologies using AI and image detection. Sources: The Courier-Mail - March 27, 2025

Anduril Sees Positive Outlook with New U.S. Defense Policies

Summary:

Anduril President Christian Brose expressed optimism about the company's prospects under the new Trump Pentagon administration, which is perceived to be more receptive to autonomous defense systems. Anduril plans to partner with OpenAI to enhance national security missions and is expanding its manufacturing capabilities, including potential international expansion in Australia. The company develops autonomous systems like the Ghost Shark, offering rapid deployment and cost efficiency compared to traditional manned military assets. Source: Reuters - 27 March 2025

Controversial Legislation Passed to Protect Tasmanian Salmon Industry Amid Environmental Concerns

Summary:

The Australian Parliament has passed a contentious bill aimed at safeguarding Tasmania's salmon farming industry, specifically in Macquarie Harbour. This legislation limits the federal environment minister's authority to review long-standing projects, effectively halting an ongoing assessment of the 2012 expansion of fish farming in the area. Critics argue that this move compromises environmental standards and threatens the endangered Maugean skate. Notably, Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young protested by displaying a dead salmon in the Senate chamber, and international figures like Leonardo DiCaprio have called for the shutdown of destructive salmon farms to protect marine life. The government maintains that the law addresses specific regulatory issues and won't affect new projects related to coal, gas, or land-clearing. Sources: The Guardian - March 27, 2025, Herald Sun - March 27, 2025, News.com.au - March 27, 2025, The Australian - March 27, 2025

The 5 Types of Wealth – Real Talk with Zuby ft. Sahil Bloom (Episode #349)

Summary:

In this insightful episode of Real Talk with Zuby, entrepreneur and writer Sahil Bloom joins the show to break down his popular framework of "The 5 Types of Wealth." The conversation goes beyond money, exploring what it truly means to live a rich and fulfilling life.

Bloom outlines the following five categories of wealth:

1. Financial Wealth – Income, savings, investments – the traditional definition of wealth.
2. Social Wealth – Relationships, reputation, network, and community impact.
3. Physical Wealth – Health, fitness, energy levels, and lifestyle habits.
4. Mental Wealth – Emotional resilience, knowledge, creativity, and mindset.
5. Time Wealth – Freedom and control over how you spend your days.

Key Highlights & Insights:

• Reframing Success: Bloom critiques the modern obsession with financial success and emphasizes that true prosperity is multidimensional.
• Balance vs. Optimization: He talks about how chasing one form of wealth (e.g., money) at the expense of others often leads to long-term regret.
• Time as the Ultimate Currency: The discussion touches on the importance of buying back your time and designing a life where you're not constantly reacting.
• Health & Longevity: Physical wealth is highlighted as the foundation that enables enjoyment of the other four.
• Practical Framework: The episode includes a useful breakdown of how listeners can audit and improve each area of wealth in their own lives.

This episode offers a thought-provoking lens for anyone reassessing their priorities or striving for more balanced success.

Source: Spotify - 27 March 2025

@ 3b7fc823:e194354f

A quick guide for the less than technical savvy to set up their very own free private tor enabled email using Onionmail. Privacy is for everyone, not just the super cyber nerds.

Onion Mail is an anonymous POP3/SMTP email server program hosted by various people on the internet. You can visit this site and read the details: https://en.onionmail.info/

1. Download Tor Browser

First, if you don't already, go download Tor Browser. You are going to need it. https://www.torproject.org/

1. Sign Up

Using Tor browser go to the directory page (https://onionmail.info/directory.html) choose one of the servers and sign up for an account. I say sign up but it is just choosing a user name you want to go before the @xyz.onion email address and solving a captcha.

1. Account information

Once you are done signing up an Account information page will pop up. MAKE SURE YOU SAVE THIS!!! It has your address and passwords (for sending and receiving email) that you will need. If you lose them then you are shit out of luck.

1. Install an Email Client

You can use Claws Mail, Neomutt, or whatever, but for this example, we will be using Thunderbird.

a. Download Thunderbird email client

b. The easy setup popup page that wants your name, email, and password isn't going to like your user@xyz.onion address. Just enter something that looks like a regular email address such as name@example.com and the Configure Manuallyoption will appear below. Click that.

1. Configure Incoming (POP3) Server

Under Incoming Server: Protocol: POP3 Server or Hostname: xyz.onion (whatever your account info says) Port: 110 Security: STARTTLS Authentication: Normal password Username: (your username) Password: (POP3 password).

1. Configure Outgoing (SMTP) Server

Under Outgoing Server: Server or Hostname: xyz.onion (whatever your account info says) Port: 25 Security: STARTTLS Authentication: Normal password Username: (your username) Password: (SMTP password).

1. Click on email at the top and change your address if you had to use a spoof one to get the configure manually to pop up.

2. Configure Proxy

a. Click the gear icon on the bottom left for settings. Scroll all the way down to Network & Disk Space. Click the settings button next to Connection. Configure how Thunderbird connects to the internet.

b. Select Manual Proxy Configuration. For SOCKS Host enter 127.0.0.1 and enter port 9050. (if you are running this through a VM the port may be different)

c. Now check the box for SOCKS5 and then Proxy DNS when using SOCKS5 down at the bottom. Click OK

1. Check Email

For thunderbird to reach the onion mail server it has to be connected to tor. Depending on your local setup, it might be fine as is or you might have to have tor browser open in the background. Click on inbox and then the little cloud icon with the down arrow to check mail.

1. Security Exception

Thunderbird is not going to like that the onion mail server security certificate is self signed. A popup Add Security Exception will appear. Click Confirm Security Exception.

You are done. Enjoy your new private email service.

REMEMBER: The server can read your emails unless they are encrypted. Go into account settings. Look down and click End-toEnd Encryption. Then add your OpenPGP key or open your OpenPGP Key Manager (you might have to download one if you don't already have one) and generate a new key for this account.

@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1

The tech industry and its press have treated the rise of billion-scale social networks and ubiquitous smartphone apps as an unadulterated win for regular people, a triumph of usability and empowerment. They seldom talk about what we’ve lost along the way in this transition, and I find that younger folks may not even know how the web used to be. — Anil Dash, The Web We Lost, 13 Dec 2012

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KKMnoTTHJk&t=156s

So here’s a few glimpses of a web that’s mostly faded away: https://www.anildash.com/2012/12/13/the_web_we_lost/

The first step to disabusing them of this notion is for the people creating the next generation of social applications to learn a little bit of history, to know your shit, whether that’s about Twitter’s business model or Google’s social features or anything else. We have to know what’s been tried and failed, what good ideas were simply ahead of their time, and what opportunities have been lost in the current generation of dominant social networks.

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/926499

@ e3ba5e1a:5e433365

I got into a friendly discussion on X regarding health insurance. The specific question was how to deal with health insurance companies (presumably unfairly) denying claims? My answer, as usual: get government out of it!

The US healthcare system is essentially the worst of both worlds:

• Unlike full single payer, individuals incur high costs
• Unlike a true free market, regulation causes increases in costs and decreases competition among insurers

I'm firmly on the side of moving towards the free market. (And I say that as someone living under a single payer system now.) Here's what I would do:

• Get rid of tax incentives that make health insurance tied to your employer, giving individuals back proper freedom of choice.
• Reduce regulations significantly.

• In the short term, some people will still get rejected claims and other obnoxious behavior from insurance companies. We address that in two ways:

  1. Due to reduced regulations, new insurance companies will be able to enter the market offering more reliable coverage and better rates, and people will flock to them because they have the freedom to make their own choices.
  2. Sue the asses off of companies that reject claims unfairly. And ideally, as one of the few legitimate roles of government in all this, institute new laws that limit the ability of fine print to allow insurers to escape their responsibilities. (I'm hesitant that the latter will happen due to the incestuous relationship between Congress/regulators and insurers, but I can hope.)

Will this magically fix everything overnight like politicians normally promise? No. But it will allow the market to return to a healthy state. And I don't think it will take long (order of magnitude: 5-10 years) for it to come together, but that's just speculation.

And since there's a high correlation between those who believe government can fix problems by taking more control and demanding that only credentialed experts weigh in on a topic (both points I strongly disagree with BTW): I'm a trained actuary and worked in the insurance industry, and have directly seen how government regulation reduces competition, raises prices, and harms consumers.

And my final point: I don't think any prior art would be a good comparison for deregulation in the US, it's such a different market than any other country in the world for so many reasons that lessons wouldn't really translate. Nonetheless, I asked Grok for some empirical data on this, and at best the results of deregulation could be called "mixed," but likely more accurately "uncertain, confused, and subject to whatever interpretation anyone wants to apply."

https://x.com/i/grok/share/Zc8yOdrN8lS275hXJ92uwq98M

@ 46fcbe30:6bd8ce4d

1. Introduction

In decentralized systems like Nostr, preserving privacy and ensuring censorship resistance are paramount. However, the inherent design ethos opens the platform to multiple vulnerabilities, chief among them being the susceptibility to Sybil attacks. The problem space is not only technical but also socio-economic, where user privacy and ease-of-use must be balanced against mitigations that impose friction on identity creation actions.

This report details a multi-faceted research analysis into Sybil resistance mechanisms, drawing analogies from contemporary decentralized identity systems, cryptographic protocols, and economic disincentives. We incorporate detailed insights from diverse independent research streams, outlining both established and novel approaches, and present a series of design recommendations for Nostr. The analysis is targeted at highly experienced analysts and researchers, with comprehensive details on both the cryptographic primitives used and the overall system architectures.

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2. Background: The Threat of Sybil Attacks in Decentralized Systems

2.1. Sybil Attacks Defined

A Sybil attack involves a single adversary generating a multitude of pseudonymous identities to unduly influence network decisions, voting mechanisms, or content dissemination processes. In systems designed for censorship resistance, where anonymity is embraced, such attacks are especially daunting because traditional verification methods are not readily applicable.

2.2. The Unique Challenges in Nostr

Nostr is celebrated for its emphatic commitment to censorship resistance and privacy. This design choice, however, leads to several inherent challenges:

• Weak Identity Verification: Mechanisms like nip5, a simple email-like verification protocol, lack robustness and are vulnerable in environments where linking multiple pseudonymous identities is trivial.
• Economic Incentives: Systems using zaps (small value transactions or tips) intend to add cost to malicious actions but struggle with effective proof of expenditure. In some instances, attackers may even benefit from a net positive revenue.
• Association Networks: Existing follow systems provide decentralized webs of association; however, they do not imply a real trust framework, leaving only superficial links among identities.

The dual objectives of achieving ease-of-use while robustly mitigating Sybil attacks requires a careful, in-depth analysis of multiple design trade-offs.

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3. Detailed Analysis of Existing Mechanisms and Proposed Enhancements

In our research, several proposals and implementations have emerged to address the Sybil-resistance conundrum. We examine these solutions in detail below.

3.1. Cryptographic and Identity-Based Approaches

3.1.1. Aut-CT with Curve Trees

One of the notable approaches employs the Aut-CT mechanism which leverages Curve Trees. Key insights include:

• Mechanism: Constructing an algebraic analog of a Merkle tree with curve-based keys.
• Verification Efficiency: Achieves logarithmic verification times (typically 40–70 ms) even for large keysets (from 50K to over 2.5M keys).
• Proof Size: Consistently maintains a proof size of around 3–4 kB, making it effective for low-bandwidth scenarios.
• Key Image: The integrated DLEQ-based method produces a key image that binds a proof to a hidden key, preventing fraudulent re-use of tokens.

Implication: This method, while promising, requires integration sophistication. It can potentially be adapted for Nostr to ensure that each identity is backed by a verifiable, anonymous proof of ownership—raising the cost of forging or duplicating identities.

3.1.2. Economic Disincentives and Token Burning

In the realm of cryptocurrency mixers, enforcing an economic cost for generating identities has seen traction. The following methods are prominent:

• Token Burning/Deposit Mechanisms: Users deposit funds that serve as a bond. Forging multiple identities becomes economically prohibitive if these tokens are sacrificial.
• Time Locks and Coin-Age Restrictions: By enforcing waiting periods or requiring funds to ‘age’, systems ensure that rapid, mass identity creation is deterred.
• Fidelity Bonds: Users risk losing bonds if identified as malicious, creating a strong economic disincentive.

Observation: Nostr could potentially adopt analogous economic primitives that impose a non-trivial cost on identity creation, helping to scale the disincentive to the level required for a system where anonymity is paramount.

3.1.3. Decentralized Identity Systems

A comparative analysis of identity systems, both centralized and decentralized, underscores the following:

• Centralized Systems (LDAP, OAuth, etc.): While scalable, they inherently conflict with the decentralized and censorship-resistant philosophy of Nostr.
• Decentralized Systems (uPort, Hyperledger Indy, etc.): These systems leverage blockchain technologies and zero-knowledge proofs to ensure self-sovereign identity management. However, they often require complex deployments and higher operational overhead.

Trade-Off Assessment: Implementing a fully decentralized identity system in Nostr must balance ease-of-use with strong cryptographic assurances. A layered approach—using decentralized identifiers with optional verifications—may yield optimal usability without sacrificing security.

3.2. Protocol-Specific Countermeasures

3.2.1. Rechained Protocol

The Rechained protocol introduces a deposit-based identity generation mechanism in IoT and mobile ad hoc networks. Here are its salient points:

• Deposit Transaction: Each identity is tied to a deposit transaction on a public blockchain, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum.
• Parameterization: Parameters like minHeight, minDifficulty, and amounts ensure that each identity requires a certain financial threshold to be met.
• Verification Complexity: Though proof sizes are modest (10–50 KB) and verification times are around 2 seconds, these are acceptable trade-offs on modern consumer-grade devices.

Application Prospects: If Nostr could integrate a variant of Rechained, it may allow identities to be tied to a verifiable deposit, thus raising the cost baseline for attackers. Such integration must ensure user-friendliness and minimal friction during onboarding.

3.2.2. Sysname Decentralized Identity Scheme

Sysname presents an innovative approach with additional privacy-preserving features:

• Selective Disclosure: It allows users to reveal only non-identifying attributes proving compliance with certain predicates without exposing their full identity.
• Chain-Pinned Identifiers: Aggregates multiple pseudonyms to a single on-chain record, reducing the ease with which an attacker can use disparate identities without accountability.
• Key Recovery: Enables users to refresh public keys and recover lost keys, which bolsters user trust and system resilience.

Consideration: Integrating aspects of sysname within Nostr could offer both enhanced privacy and Sybil resistance, yielding a balance between security and user independence. Enhanced key recovery also addresses the usability concerns evidenced by historical failures in PGP adoption.

3.3. Behavioral Analysis and Anomaly Detection

As an additional countermeasure, behavioral analysis can serve as a secondary layer of defense. Given the evolving sophistication of bots, a cat-and-mouse game inevitably ensues:

• Machine Learning Based Detection: Frameworks like a deep intrusion detection system (DIDS) combined with blockchain smart contracts can help identify anomalous posting behaviors. For example, integrations using Particle Swarm Optimization–Gravitational Search Algorithm (ePSOGSA) with deep autoencoders have proven accurate on established benchmarks.
• Economic Implications: By analyzing behavior, the systems can prioritize identities that have accrued economic transactions (like zaps) that match genuine user behavior over automated, bot-like patterns.
• Limitations: While promising, such systems introduce computational overhead and may yield false positives, so the implementation must be cautiously engineered with appropriate fail-safes.

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4. Trade-Offs and Comprehensive Evaluation

4.1. Usability vs. Security

One of the central themes in designing defenses against Sybil attacks on Nostr is balancing ease-of-use with robust security. A highly secure system that remains cumbersome to use (akin to the historical PGP deployment) may fail adoption. Conversely, ease-of-use without economic or cryptographic Assurance opens the door to cost-free identity creation and abuse.

• Economic Approaches: Impose a direct cost on identity creation but must be calibrated to avoid excluding well-intentioned users, particularly newcomers or those with limited funds.
• Cryptographic Protocols: Solutions like Aut-CT and sysname offer advanced cryptographic proofs with minimal overhead in verification but could require more sophisticated client implementations.
• Behavioral Analysis: Acts as a safety net but must be continuously updated as adversaries evolve their bot strategies.

4.2. Privacy Implications

Every mechanism proposed must be evaluated in terms of its ability to preserve user privacy. Nostr’s value proposition rests on its censorship resistance and privacy-preserving design. Therefore:

• Selective Disclosure Protocols: Techniques that allow for proving predicates without full identity revelation should be prioritized (as seen in sysname).
• Decentralized Identity Aggregation: Methods that tie multiple pseudonyms to a single verifiable chain of evidence (enhancing accountability) can reduce risk without compromising anonymity.
• Economic Proof Versus User Balance: The economic barriers should not expose additional metadata that can be linked back to users. Hence, anonymizing tokens and cryptographic blinding techniques need to be integral to the design.

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5. Proposed Comprehensive Strategy for Nostr

Based on the research, a multi-layered defense strategy is recommended. It incorporates both cryptographic assurances and economic disincentives while integrating behavioral analysis. The following blueprint emerges:

5.1. Implementation Blueprint

1. Integration of Curve Tree-Based Aut-CT Proofs:
2. Require each new identity creation to be validated via a Curve Tree-based proof of key ownership. This approach leverages zero-knowledge proofs and ensures logarithmic verification times, thus scalable even for a large user base.

3. Address token re-use and fake identity creation by integrating key images as established in the Aut-CT mechanism.

4. Economic Deposit Mechanism (Inspired by Rechained):

5. Incorporate a lightweight deposit mechanism where users must commit a small deposit, recorded on a public blockchain. This deposit acts as a minimum hurdle for each identity and may be partially refundable upon earning trust.

6. Experiment with dynamic deposit sizes based on network load and risk assessments, ensuring that the economic threshold is both feasible and deterring.

7. Selective Disclosure and Pseudonym Aggregation (Adapting Sysname Principles):

8. Allow users to prove characteristics about their identities (age, locality, etc.) without divulging full identifying details.

9. Aggregate multiple pseudonyms provided by the same user on-chain, using cryptographic commitments that both link identities and allow selective disclosure.

10. Optional Layer: Economic and Behavioral Analytics:

11. Deploy a deep anomaly detection layer using machine learning techniques on posting behavior, ensuring that anomalous activities (e.g., rapid posting similar to bots) are flagged.
12. Integrate smart contract-based economic triggers that penalize suspicious behavior while maintaining user privacy.

5.2. Addressing Adoption and Usability Concerns

• User Experience (UX): The proposed solutions must be integrated transparently into client applications. Much like improved versions of PGP aim to streamline key management, Nostr clients should embed these cryptographic protocols without requiring manual intervention.
• Modular Onboarding: Allow users to opt into various levels of proof. Early adopters may use lightweight methods, with a progressive enhancement available for those seeking higher assurance as they interact more within the network.
• Wallet and Key Management Integration: Leverage existing wallet infrastructures to ease the economic deposit and key recovery processes, drawing user confidence from familiarity with mainstream crypto applications.

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6. Future Work and Speculative Technologies

While the proposals above are based on current and emergent technologies, additional research can further refine these approaches:

• Adaptive Economic Models: Future work can explore dynamic, context-aware deposit requirements that adjust based on network activity, risk profiles, and even market conditions.
• Quantum-Resistant Cryptography: As quantum computing progresses, integrating quantum-resistant algorithms in curve-tree constructions will become imperative for long-term viability.
• Interoperable Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs): Creating cross-system standards for identity verification may allow Nostr to interface with other decentralized platforms, enhancing the overall security ecosystem.
• Advancements in Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs): Considering high-level academic research on ZKPs, such as bulletproofs and recursive ZKPs, can further improve both the scalability and succinctness of cryptographic proofs required for identity validation.

Speculative Note: As adversaries adapt, we may see the emergence of hybrid systems where off-chain reputation systems are cryptographically linked to on-chain proofs, creating a multi-dimensional defense that continuously evolves through machine learning and adaptive economic incentives.

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7. Conclusion

Mitigating Sybil attacks on Nostr necessitates a proactive, multi-layered approach combining advanced cryptographic techniques, economic disincentives, decentralized verification mechanisms, and behavioral analytics. The proposals detailed in this report aim to reinforce Nostr’s resilience while maintaining its foundational commitment to privacy and censorship resistance.

By integrating Curve Tree-based proofs, economic deposit mechanisms, and selective disclosure methods, Nostr can build a robust identity framework that is both user-friendly and resistant to abuse. Continued research into adaptive economic models and quantum-resistant cryptographic techniques will ensure that the system remains secure in the evolving landscape of decentralized networks.

Thorough evaluation of trade-offs, user experience enhancements, and iterative testing on live networks will be critical. This report serves as a foundational blueprint for further exploration and eventual deployment of sophisticated Sybil defense mechanisms within Nostr.

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8. References and Further Reading

While the source of ideas is drawn from numerous research efforts and academic papers, key references include:

• Aut-CT Leveraging Curve Trees and Bulletproof Proofs
• Economic mitigation strategies in cryptocurrency mixers
• Comparative studies of decentralized identity systems (uPort, Hyperledger Indy, etc.)
• Rechained protocol research by Bochem and Leiding for IoT networks
• Sysname scheme for privacy-preserving decentralized identifiers
• Deep intrusion detection systems applied to decentralized social networks

(Additional in-depth academic references can be located within the research literature on arXiv and major cryptographic conferences.)

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Prepared by an expert research analyst, this report is intended to provide detailed insights and a strategic roadmap for implementing Sybil-resistant identities on Nostr while retaining user ease-of-use and privacy-centric features.

Sources

• https://delvingbitcoin.org/t/anonymous-usage-tokens-from-curve-trees-or-autct/862
• https://delvingbitcoin.org/t/anonymous-usage-tokens-from-curve-trees-or-autct/862/2
• https://www.imperva.com/learn/application-security/sybil-attack/
• https://eprint.iacr.org/2019/1111.pdf
• https://www.smartsight.in/technology/what-to-know-about-sybil-attacks/
• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/363104774_Comparative_Analysis_of_Decentralized_Identity_Approaches
• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331790058_A_Comparative_Analysis_of_Trust_Requirements_in_Decentralized_Identity_Management
• https://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/17/1/1
• https://github.com/WebOfTrustInfo/rwot5-boston/blob/master/topics-and-advance-readings/Framework-for-Comparison-of-Identity-Systems.md
• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/367557991_The_Cost_of_Sybils_Credible_Commitments_and_False-Name_Proof_Mechanisms
• https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8125832/
• https://www.nervos.org/knowledge-base/sybil_attacks_consensus_mechanisms_(explainCKBot)
• https://arxiv.org/html/2307.14679v2
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1084804523001145
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2096720924000460
• https://medium.com/@sshshln/mitigating-identity-attacks-in-defi-through-biometric-based-sybil-resistance-6633a682f73a

@ bf95e1a4:ebdcc848

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

Preface

At the time of writing, it is New Year’s Day, and 2019 has just begun. For once, I have a resolution to live up to: I’ve promised myself to write a page per day every day this year until I have something real to publish. In June 2018, I published my first book, Three Minute Reads on Bitcoin — A Year of Thoughts. The book consisted of articles I had published online from May 2017 up to that point. This time it’s different. Instead of a mere collection of articles, I intend to write a “proper” book. A book that explains why Bitcoin is the most important invention of our lives.

I didn’t choose Bitcoin; it chose me. I had been trying to figure out how the world worked under the hood all my life, and then this simple idea of absolute scarcity popped up. It had a profound impact on how I view human interaction. Because of my curious nature, I instantly fell deep into the rabbit hole. I decided to educate myself on how this mysterious technology worked, and that got me into Austrian economics, which expressed very clearly what I had always suspected — that you really can't create value out of thin air.

In this book, I will try to explain every aspect of what makes this technology so special, what sets it apart from the abundant shameless copies of it, what’s wrong with our current system, and what the future might look like. In just two days from the time of writing these words, we’ll celebrate the ten-year anniversary of the Genesis Block when the Bitcoin blockchain came into being. That block contained a message, a newspaper headline that read: “03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks”. No one knows why Bitcoin’s mysterious creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, chose to include this in the Genesis Block. There is also some debate on whether the Genesis Block was actually mined on the 3rd of January since the next block wasn’t mined until six days later. Somehow, Satoshi managed to stay hidden and weave several layers of mystique into the fabric of Bitcoin from the very beginning, which is part of what makes its conception so immaculate. This book aims to strip Bitcoin of its shady cloak and illuminate its true nature. After all, the only thing any person can do about Bitcoin now is to study it.

Foreword

My journey down the Bitcoin rabbit hole has provided me with a newfound clarity of how our world should be perceived. In the same way that getting married and having my first child were beautiful life-changing events, discovering Bitcoin was a new chapter in my life. I can easily divide my life into two distinct periods: before and after Bitcoin.

Before discovering Bitcoin, life was perplexing. For years, even dating back to my school days, I had an innate sense that something was amiss in the world. Although I wasn’t a good student by any means, it was obvious back then that many aspects of life simply didn’t add up.

One thing that I was sure of was that money was corrupt. However, it took me a while to realize that money itself is fundamentally corrupt. Furthermore, what is typically taught and accepted as money by society is a perversion of what money should be. These are the first steps of understanding Bitcoin, which require you to admit that you have been fooled and lied to all your life. The hard lessons of hard money.

The way I see it, the revelation about the true nature of money is akin to a bracing cold shower that wakes you up to reality. Emerging from that cold shower is an incredibly liberating and invigorating sensation. Unfortunately, many individuals are not motivated enough to take that crucial step into the chilly waters. Instead, they will later experience an ice-cold bucket of water being dumped on their head unexpectedly whilst naked on a cold winter’s day.

The year 2020 was a watershed moment in my journey towards truth, and it was Bitcoin that served as my guide. As the world grappled with an unprecedented black swan event in March of that year, every asset, including bitcoin, took a severe hit. However, what followed in the subsequent months was the largest money-printing expedition in history. A tsunami of stimulus was pumped into the markets. The outcome was a K-shaped recovery. Small, honest brick-and-mortar businesses continued to suffer while many of the largest conglomerates not only rebounded but reached all-time highs. This ludicrous, short-sighted plan, known as quantitative easing, resulted in the most pronounced example of the Cantillon effect in human history, a fact that should have served as a wake-up call for anyone who was not already suspicious of the events surrounding the global financial crisis of 2008.

Since entering my post-bitcoin life, I’ve experienced a newfound coherence. The transition was not exactly instant, instead it has been a continuous process of discovering bitcoin over and over again, and I owe many of these enlightening moments to Knut Svanholm’s writing, for which I’m grateful.

While Knut’s books do not serve as a technical guide for Bitcoin, they provide a deep and philosophical introduction to a new era of money; the separation of money and state. The end of fiat money.

The creation of fiat money, a practice that emerged with the rise of central banking, has been the source of significant damage to human civilisation. Central banking, championed by Keynesianism, has granted immense power to centralized entities, allowing them to dictate fiscal policies and control the creation of money for billions of people. The very idea of a single entity wielding such vast authority and determining the economic fate of entire populations is utter madness. The state monopolizes money because it allows them to print money rather than having to directly tax people (but it still doesn’t stop them). Printing money is more easy, subtle and lucrative than direct taxation. And this continual erosion of purchasing power can be readily associated with the evident decline and deterioration of modern society.

At the heart of the issue is the importance of individual property rights. The money that individuals earn and save is their property, not the state’s. The state’s duty (should there be a need for it to exist) is to safeguard private property, not to continually debase or confiscate it. A centralized power that constantly devalues your hard-earned money and time by printing money is both morally and ethically wrong. Every individual has the right to turn their hard work into savings that they can rely on for the future.

In Bitcoin: Sovereignty through Mathematics, Knut not only delves into the fundamental principles underlying Bitcoin’s creation but also presents the groundbreaking concept of absolute scarcity. Bitcoin’s limited supply of 21 million and the impossibility of creating more due to its protocol creates a condition of absolute scarcity, a first in human history. Absolute scarcity, coupled with Knut’s poetic description of Bitcoin’s creation as "an immaculate conception," emphasizes its unique and revolutionary nature. The term "immaculate conception" highlights the fact that Bitcoin’s creation was not based on any pre-existing financial system but rather emerged from a set of mathematical principles that ensure its security and scarcity. The conditions that gave birth to Bitcoin will never be replicated, which further cements Bitcoin’s status as a one-of-a-kind element that will revolutionize the way we view and use money. Absolute scarcity aligns with the Austrian school of economics’ views on money, which argue that sound money should be scarce, durable, and difficult to counterfeit. Bitcoin ticks all the boxes for sound money, laying the ground for a genuine foundation to end the era of so-called cheap or easy money.

In the follow-up to this book, Bitcoin: Independence Reimagined1, Knut presents us, using plain logic and reasoning, the primitive constraints of the current fiat system and status quo governance. These structures, which we have so readily accepted, are gradually stripping us of our freedoms. By highlighting these shortcomings, he urges us to critically examine them and envision a future where we exercise greater autonomy over our lives, both financially and socially. Bitcoin’s simple and secure existence stands in contrast to the coercive and interventionist nature of the fiat system. Bitcoin is sincere; it neither favors nor opposes us. Bitcoin simply exists. Coming to terms with this truth is both humbling and liberating.

Knut’s writing, with its clear and elegant style, offers insightful guidance for those interested in exploring the deeper implications of Bitcoin beyond its function as a mere currency, recognizing it as a truly transformative breakthrough. A breakthrough that provides us with hope, a viable solution to reverse the degeneracy and decadence plaguing humanity.

Prince Philip of Serbia, 21st February 2023

Footnotes:

1. This foreword was originally written for a combined volume containing both Bitcoin: Sovereignty Through Mathematics and Bitcoin: Independence Reimagined.

About the Bitcoin Infinity Academy

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

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Token-Curated Registries

So you want to build a TCR?

TCRs (Token Curated Registries) are a construct for maintaining registries on Ethereum. Imagine you have lots of scissor brands and you want a list with only the good scissors. You want to make sure only the good scissors make into that list and not the bad scissors. For that, people will tell you, you can just create a TCR of the best scissors!

It works like this: some people have the token, let's call it Scissor Token. Some other person, let's say it's a scissor manufacturer, wants to put his scissor on the list, this guy must acquire some Scissor Tokens and "stake" it. Holders of the Scissor Tokens are allowed to vote on "yes" or "no". If "no", the manufactures loses his tokens to the holders, if "yes" then its tokens are kept in deposit, but his scissor brand gets accepted into the registry.

Such a simple process, they say, have strong incentives for being the best possible way of curating a registry of scissors: consumers have the incentive to consult the list because of its high quality; manufacturers have the incentive to buy tokens and apply to join the list because the list is so well-curated and consumers always consult it; token holders want the registry to accept good and reject bad scissors because that good decisions will make the list good for consumers and thus their tokens more valuable, bad decisions will do the contrary. It doesn't make sense, to reject everybody just to grab their tokens, because that would create an incentive against people trying to enter the list.

Amazing! How come such a simple system of voting has such enourmous features? Now we can have lists of everything so well-curated, and for that we just need Ethereum tokens!

Now let's imagine a different proposal, of my own creation: SPCR, Single-person curated registries.

Single-person Curated Registries are equal to TCR, except they don't use Ethereum tokens, it's just a list in a text file kept by a single person. People can apply to join, and they will have to give the single person some amount of money, the single person can reject or accept the proposal and so on.

Now let's look at the incentives of SPCR: people will want to consult the registry because it is so well curated; vendors will want to enter the registry because people are consulting it; the single person will want to accept the good and reject the bad applicants because these good decisions are what will make the list valuable.

Amazing! How such a single proposal has such enourmous features! SPCR are going to take over the internet!

What TCR enthusiasts get wrong?

TCR people think they can just list a set of incentives for something to work and assume that something will work. Mix that with Ethereum hype and they think theyve found something unique and revolutionary, while in fact they're just making a poor implementation of "democracy" systems that fail almost everywhere.

The life is not about listing a set of "incentives" and then considering the problems solved. Almost everybody on the Earth has the incentive for being rich: being rich has a lot of advantages over being poor, however not all people get rich! Why are the incentives failing?

Curating lists is a hard problem, it involves a lot of knowledge about the problem that just holding a token won't give you, it involves personal preferences, politics, it involves knowing where is the real limit between "good" and "bad". The Single Person list may have a good result if the single person doing the curation is knowledgeable and honest (yes, you can game the system to accept your uncle's scissors and not their competitor that is much better, for example, without losing the entire list reputation), same thing for TCRs, but it can also fail miserably, and it can appear to be good but be in fact not so good. In all cases, the list entries will reflect the preferences of people choosing and other things that aren't taken into the incentives equation of TCR enthusiasts.

We don't need lists

The most important point to be made, although unrelated to the incentive story, is that we don't need lists. Imagine you're looking for a scissor. You don't want someone to tell if scissor A or B are "good" or "bad", or if A is "better" than B. You want to know if, for your specific situation, or for a class of situations, A will serve well, and do that considering A's price and if A is being sold near you and all that.

Scissors are the worst example ever to make this point, but I hope you get it. If you don't, try imagining the same example with schools, doctors, plumbers, food, whatever.

Recommendation systems are badly needed in our world, and TCRs don't solve these at all.

@ 3c7dc2c5:805642a8

🧠Quote(s) of the week:

The path to maximalism is littered with mistakes and paved with humility.' Anilsaido

Bitcoin is time because money itself is time.

Money is humanity’s battery: a way to store energy, labor, and resources for the future. It captures your past effort and preserves it for when you need it most. Fiat leaks. Bitcoin holds.

🧡Bitcoin news🧡

On the 18th of March:

➡️After ruling out a strategic bitcoin reserve, the Bank of Korea will launch a central bank digital currency pilot in April, per The Korea Times.

➡️'Metaplanet has acquired an additional 150 BTC for ~$12.5 million, achieving a BTC Yield of 60.8% YTD in 2025.

As of 3/18/2025, Metaplanet hodls 3,200 BTC, and is now a top 10 publicly listed holder of Bitcoin globally.' -Dylan LeClair

➡️Bitcoin entered a risk-off, distribution-dominant phase in early 2025, evidenced by frequent selling and hesitation to buy (yellow to orange dots). - AMB Crypto

➡️Bitwise CIO says Bitcoin should be at $200,000 today and says, “I think the number of companies buying Bitcoin is going to triple this year, I think Game Theory is on.”

“I think countries around the world are going to be buying Bitcoin. There is structurally more demand than supply in Bitcoin.”

➡️Bitcoin mining company Bitfarms buys Stronghold Digital for more than $110 million, making it the largest public-to-public acquisition in Bitcoin industry history.

➡️Bitcoin long-term HODLers become net buyers for the first time since September, per Compass Point Research.

"Buying/selling from HODLers is typically a leading indicator for BTC.

This cohort now owns 65% of BTC supply vs 63% last week vs 73% in early October." - Bitcoin News

➡️GlassNode: 'The Bitcoin market continues to adjust to its new price range after experiencing a -30% correction. Liquidity conditions are also contracting in both on-chain and futures markets.'

➡️Bitcoin now ranks 6th among the world's top monetary assets at $1.62 trillion, per Porkopolis.

➡️The EU isn't banning Bitcoin but using MiCA and other regulations to control it.

This involves stripping away privacy through transaction tracking, mandatory disclosures, and restrictions on self-custody.

The goal is control, not outright prohibition.

Excellent thread by Eli. Eli summarises the EU’s attack on Bitcoin and on Europeans’ rights:

https://x.com/i/web/status/1902048401908261146

Agree 100% with all of this. All these people who have been saying the EU pushing the industry forward with regulations are idiots. They are closing it off and pushing everyone to a CBDC.

Regarding the CBCD, here you will find a comprehensive summary of EU’s CBDC plans, by Efrat Fenigson:

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/politics/ecb-prepping-the-ground-for-digital-euro-launch

*On the 20th of March, the ECB posted the following statement on Twitter:

'The digital euro is not just about creating a new form of money, says Chief Economist Philip R. Lane.

It is about ensuring that Europe retains control over its monetary and financial destiny in the digital age against a backdrop of increasing geopolitical fragmentation.'

“It’s about ensuring that the EU retains control over its citizens.”

There, I fixed it for you if you missed the primary reason.

The Euro is a permissioned, centralized, censorable, inflationary, debt-based currency controlled by unelected bureaucrats.

Bitcoin is permissionless, decentralized, censorship-resistant, fixed in supply, and governed by code—not politicians.

Choose wisely.

➡️As mentioned in last week's Weekly Recap the US Government spends $3.3B per day in interest rate expense. If this doesn’t make you buy Bitcoin I’m not sure what will.

➡️In Kibera, Africa’s largest informal settlement, more than 40 merchants now accept and save in Bitcoin.

➡️The increase in 3-6 month-old UTXOs suggests accumulation during this market correction, a behavior historically critical in forming market bottoms and driving new price rallies.

➡️Just as Hal Finney predicted, Bitcoin will take over Wall Street: Multiple American Bitcoin companies are now seeking to become state or national banks, reports Reuters.

It is inevitable.

➡️Daniel Batten:

2021: 62 US Environmental Organizations write to coCongressaying Bitcoin is bad for the environment and has no use (based on Central Bank misinformation)

2025: US Environmental Organizations debunked (impossible, had they used Bitcoin)

Strange are the ways of karma.

Meanwhile,

➡️President Trump's Executive Director, Bo Hines, on digital assets: "We talked about ways of acquiring more Bitcoin in budget-neutral ways."

We want "as much as we can get."

When Bitcoin is at $200k. We will look back on March 2025 and say, how was everyone not buying. It was so obvious.

On the 19th of March:

➡️BLACKROCK: “The most sophisticated long-term Bitcoin accumulators are pretty excited about this dip. They see the correction as a buying opportunity."

On the 20th of March:

➡️SEC confirms that Bitcoin and Proof of Work mining are NOT securities under US law.

Source: https://t.co/0ExsJniPIf

➡️Bitcoin exchange Kraken has agreed to acquire NinjaTrader, the leading U.S. retail futures trading platform, for $1.5 billion—the largest deal ever of a Bitcoin company buying a traditional financial company.

➡️TRUMP: “I signed an order creating the brand new Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and the US digital asset stockpile which will allow the Federal government to maximize the value of its holdings.”

Tweet and hot take by Lola L33tz

"With the dollar-backed stablecoins, you'll help expand the dominance of the US Dollar [...] It will be at the top, and that's where we want to keep it"

'What he means is:

With dollar-backed stablecoins, the Global South will pivot towards digital Dollars over local currencies, allowing private, US government-controlled entities to replace bank accounts around the globe.

This does not just allow for the expansion of USD dominance by bypassing local governments – it gives the US unprecedented and direct control over worldwide economies as

every stablecoin can be effectively frozen on behalf of the US with the click of a button.'

Stablecoins = CBDCs

There is no technical fundamental difference between them.

It’s almost a guarantee that the EU CBDCs and U.S. stablecoins will be interchangeable.

➡️River: Bitcoin is coming for $128 trillion in global money.

You're not to late to Bitcoin.

On the 21st of March:

➡️Michael Saylor’s Strategy to raise $722.5M to buy more Bitcoin.

➡️Publicly traded Atai Life Sciences to buy $5 million in Bitcoin.

➡️Publicly traded HK Asia Holdings bought 10 Bitcoins worth $858,500 for its balance sheet.

➡️Another solo home miner has mined an entire Bitcoin block worth over $ 260.000,-.

On the 22nd of March:

➡️The University of Wyoming posted a new video explaining Bitcoin with Philosophy Professor Bradley Rettler

➡️Spot Bitcoin ETFs bought 8,775 BTC this week while miners only mined 3,150 Bitcoin.

On the 24th of March:

➡️Metaplanet finished the day as the 13th most liquid stock in Japan, with ¥50.4 billion ($336.6m) of daily trading volume, ahead of Toyota and Nintendo.

➡️River: There is a 275% gap between the inflation you're told and real inflation.

Bitcoin is insurance on the debt spiral. The U.S. Dollar has been devalued by more than 363% since 2000 – That’s a 14.5% devaluation per year. This means if your savings don’t grow by 14.5% annually, you’re falling behind. This is why we Bitcoin. Bitcoin is insurance on the debt spiral, grow your savings beyond the dollar’s devaluation!

➡️Bitcoin's compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over a 5-year rolling window is currently over 50%

➡️Strategy became the first publicly traded company to hold over 500,000 Bitcoin worth over $44 billion.

Strategy has acquired 6,911 BTC for ~$584.1 million at ~$84,529 per Bitcoin and has achieved a BTC Yield of 7.7% YTD 2025. As of 3/23/2025,

Strategy holds 506,137 BTC acquired for ~$33.7 billion at ~$66,608 per Bitcoin.

➡️CryptoQuant: Bitcoin's long-term holders are holding firm, with no significant selling pressure.

➡️Xapo Bank launches Bitcoin-backed USD loans up to $1M, with collateral secured in an MPC vault and no re-usage.

💸Traditional Finance / Macro:

👉🏽no news

🏦Banks: 

👉🏽 no news

🌎Macro/Geopolitics:

On the 18th of March:

👉🏽Germany just changed its constitution to unleash a staggering ONE TRILLION in new debt. The German parliament has voted to take on hundreds of billions of euros of new government debt, to ease the debt brake rules, and to codify "climate neutrality by 2045" into the constitution.

On top of that, some extra money to Ukraine:

Germany's next Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, believes that Putin has gone to war against all of Europe. He argues that Russia has attacked Germany, as the Parliament breaks out in applause.

We continue to move further away from the "Europe is not part of the conflict" rhetoric. Germany’s self-inflicted delusion continues!

👉🏽Germany's first offshore wind farm closes after 15 years because it's too expensive to operate. Expect a car crash. The Alpha Ventus offshore wind farm near the German North Sea island of Borkum is set to be dismantled after being in operation for only 15 years. It has become too unprofitable to operate without massive subsidies.

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/03/16/germanys-first-offshore-wind-farm-to-be-dismantled-after-just-15-years-of-operation/

Great thing that the Netherlands is investing heavily in offshore wind farms, even the biggest pension fund APB. Because nInE tImEs ChEaPeR tHaN gAs, right?

I hope they dismantle them & not leave them to rust into the sea. Right? Because climate!

Great response by Jasmine Birtles: "These vanity projects should never have been allowed to start. The phrase 'cheap renewable energy' is simply a falsehood. This kind of energy production only seems cheap because of the huge government subsidies that keep them going. I'm all for clean energy if it's possible to run it honestly and without huge subsidies, but while it doesn't seem to be viable we should stick with what is affordable and will keep the country going, rather than sacrificing the vulnerable to an impossible ideology."

👉🏽'Gold spot is now trading consistently over $3000, a record high. And with deliveries once again picking up at the Comex and war in the Middle East coming back with a vengeance, the next big spike is just a matter of time. As expected, once gold broke out above $3000,- it has gone vertical and is up 1% in the past hours, rising to a new record high of $3034, as it sets off for $4000' - ZeroHedge

👉🏽'We have just witnessed the biggest drop in US equity allocation on record. The collapse of US consumers:

Unemployment expectations in the US are now ABOVE 2020 levels and at their highest since 2008.

In 2024, a poll showed that a whopping 56% of Americans thought the US was in a recession.' - TKL

👉🏽OECD Projects Argentina to Have the Second Highest Economic Growth Worldwide in 2025

👉🏽A new blow to the Dutch chemical sector. The major producer LyondellBasell is permanently closing its factory at the Maasvlakte. This decision, announced on Tuesday afternoon, will result in the loss of approximately 160 jobs. The closure is a direct consequence of global overcapacity and high energy costs in the Netherlands.

An audit by the German firm E-Bridge, commissioned by the Dutch government, previously revealed that electricity costs for these companies in the Netherlands amount to €95 per megawatt-hour.

In comparison, this rate is €32 in France (66% lower), €45.60 in Germany (52% lower), and €56.05 per megawatt-hour in Belgium (41% lower).

According to E-Bridge, this difference is mainly due to the compensation that foreign governments provide to companies and the lower grid tariffs. In the Netherlands, costs have risen primarily to finance investments in the electricity grid, such as connecting multiple offshore wind farms.

Now read that segment on offshore wind farms. Mindblowing, innit?

Subsidies are not the solution—deregulation is. But Brussels won’t allow that. So, we’re heading toward even more regulation and nationalization.

On the 19th of March:

👉🏽The Fed makes multiple revisions to its 2025 economic data projections.

Powell finally found the "stag" and the "inflation":

Fed cuts year-end GDP forecast from 2.1% to 1.7%

Fed raises year-end core PCE forecast from 2.5% to 2.8%

Fed raises year-end unemployment forecast from 4.3% to 4.4%

Fed raises PCE inflation forecast from 2.5% to 2.7%

The Fed sees higher inflation and a weaker economy.

On the 20th of March:

Dutch Central Bank Director Klaas Knot "We are worried about American influence on our local payment infrastructure."

Paving the way for the European CBDC (after slowly but surely removing CASH MONEY from society).

Knot has completed his second term and will leave his office in July. Now, of course, pushing for the CBDC, before looking for a new job in Europe.

Anyway, DNB posts billions in losses.

De Nederlandsche Bank suffered a loss of over €3 billion last year, according to the annual report published on Thursday. This marks the second consecutive year of losses.

DNB incurs this loss because, as part of its monetary policy, it has lent out billions at relatively low rates while having to pay a higher rate to banks that park their money at the central bank.

But no losses on its gold. The gold reserves, meanwhile, increased in value by €12.6 billion. This amount is not included in the official profit and loss statement but is reflected on the bank's balance sheet.

For the Dutch readers/followers: Great article: Follow the Money 'Voor de megawinsten van ING, ABN Amro en Rabobank betaalt de Nederlandse burger een hoge prijs.'

https://archive.ph/ncvtk

On the 21st of March:

👉🏽'The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing index dropped 5.6 points in March, to 12.5, its 2nd consecutive monthly decline.

6-month outlook for new orders fell by 30.8 points, to 2.3, the lowest in 3 years.

This marks the third-largest drop in history, only behind the 2008 Financial Crisis and December 1973.

Furthermore, 6-month business outlook dropped ~40 points to its lowest since January 2024.

All while prices paid rose 7.8 points, to 48.3, the highest since July 2022.

This is further evidence of weakening economic activity with rising prices.' TKL

👉🏽'China’s central bank gold reserves hit a record 73.6 million fine troy ounces in February.

China bought ~160,000 ounces of gold last month, posting their 4th consecutive monthly purchase.

Over the last 2.5 years, China’s gold reserves have jumped by 11.0 million ounces of gold.

Gold now reflects a record ~5.9% of China’s total foreign exchange reserves, or 2,290 tonnes.

Central banks continue to stock up on gold as if we are in a crisis.' -TKL

🎁If you have made it this far I would like to give you a little gift:

What Bitcoin Did: BITCOIN & THE END OF THE DOLLAR SYSTEM with Luke Gromen

They discuss:

• The Sovereign Debt Crisis

• If the US Will Reprice the Gold

• If we will See Triple Digit Inflation

• The End of The US Dollar System

Luke Gromen: A modest clarification: The end of the post-71 structure of the USD system is what the Trump Administration’s actions appear to be pursuing & will in due time achieve if they stay on the present course.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W2jEedynbc

Credit: I have used multiple sources!

My savings account: Bitcoin The tool I recommend for setting up a Bitcoin savings plan: PocketBitcoin especially suited for beginners or people who want to invest in Bitcoin with an automated investment plan once a week or monthly.

Use the code SE3997

Get your Bitcoin out of exchanges. Save them on a hardware wallet, run your own node...be your own bank. Not your keys, not your coins. It's that simple. ⠀⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀

Do you think this post is helpful to you? If so, please share it and support my work with a zap.

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

⭐ Many thanks⭐

Felipe - Bitcoin Friday!

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Precautionary Principle

The precautionary principle that people, including Nassim Nicholas Taleb, love and treat as some form of wisdom, is actually just a justification for arbitrary acts.

In a given situation for which there's no sufficient knowledge, either A or B can be seen as risky or precautionary measures, there's no way to know except if you have sufficient knowledge.

---

Someone could reply saying, for example, that the known risk of A is tolerable to the unknown, probably magnitudes bigger, risk of B. Unless you know better or at least have a logical explanation for the risks of B (a thing "scientists" don't have because they notoriously dislike making logical claims), in which case you do know something and is not invoking the precautionary principle anymore, just relying on your logical reasoning – and that can be discussed and questioned by others, undermining your intended usage of the label "precautionary principle" as a magic cover for your actions.

@ 46fcbe30:6bd8ce4d

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Overview of the Nostr Ecosystem
3. Current Use Cases and Quantitative Metrics
4. User Adoption Metrics
5. Network Resilience and Decentralization
6. Operational Challenges and Scalability
7. Replication Overhead and Bandwidth Issues
8. Relay Downtime and Financial Sustainability
9. Market Disruption and Sentiment
10. Disrupting Twitter and Centralized Social Platforms
11. Impact on Decentralized Social Media and Censorship Resistance
12. Future Trends and 5-Year Outlook
13. Innovative Protocol Developments
14. Quantitative Forecasting and Diffusion Modeling
15. Networking and Integration with Emerging Technologies
16. Conclusions and Strategic Recommendations

---

1. Introduction

The Nostr ecosystem has emerged as a powerful decentralized alternative to traditional social media networks, particularly as a potential disruptor of Twitter and other centralized—and even existing decentralized—social media platforms. Developed using a protocol based on cryptographic key pairs and a multi-relay system, Nostr is unique in its provision of censorship resistance and user sovereignty. In this report, we provide a detailed analysis of the current state, scalability challenges, and market disruption potential of Nostr, followed by speculative insights on its trajectory over the next five years.

---

2. Overview of the Nostr Ecosystem

Launched in 2022, Nostr (Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays) has rapidly gained traction as an open and decentralized social network. Some of the core features include:

• Decentralized Communication: Relying on independent relays across multiple countries and autonomous systems, Nostr offers an architecture that ensures posts are not stored on a single centralized server.
• Censorship Resistance: With cryptographic authentication and a decentralized relay structure, content censorship becomes significantly more difficult than in traditional networks.
• User Sovereignty: Empowering users with cryptographic key pairs allows for enhanced privacy and data ownership.
• Wide Geographic Distribution: The ecosystem spreads over 44 countries and 151 autonomous systems, underscoring its global reach.

Notable endorsements from figures such as Jack Dorsey, Edward Snowden, Vitalik Buterin, and Sen. Cynthia Lummis have bolstered its reputation as an experimental yet promising alternative to centralized social platforms.

---

3. Current Use Cases and Quantitative Metrics

User Adoption Metrics

• User Base: In just two years, the Nostr network has attracted over 4 million users, a significant figure given its nascent stage and decentralized nature.
• Content Generation: With over 60 million posts, the volume of content mirrors the rapid adoption and active usage seen in more centralized models.
• Post Replication: Empirical measurements indicate that there are 17.8 million text notes among these posts, replicated on an average of 34.6 relays per post. This level of replication underlines robust resilience and availability even if significant portions of the network experience downtime.

Network Resilience and Decentralization

• Global Distribution: Nostr’s decentralized network ensures high availability with >90% post accessibility even under simulated network failures (e.g., removal of key relays or autonomous systems).
• Robustness: The dispersion across 712 relays illustrates that decentralization is not only a design choice but also a working reality, which contributes to the network’s reliability.

---

4. Operational Challenges and Scalability

While the Nostr ecosystem demonstrates significant promise, it faces noteworthy operational challenges.

Replication Overhead and Bandwidth Issues

• Excessive Redundancy: Detailed studies have shown that nearly 98.2% of retrieval traffic is redundant. In practice, this equates to an estimated 144 TiB of unnecessary bandwidth consumption.
• Optimization Proposals: To mitigate these inefficiencies, there's a proposal to limit post replications from 34.6 relays to between 10 and 20 relays per post. This could reduce redundant data copies by between 380 million to 480 million instances, potentially lowering operational costs and improving bandwidth utilization.
• Scaling Concerns: With a projected network load of 10 million events per day (or approximately 2 TB annually), the throughput requirement of ~115 TPS is putting a strain on the current architecture. This has led to debates on whether solutions like the current outbox mechanism are sufficient or if further fundamental redesigns and emergent moderation systems are needed.

Relay Downtime and Financial Sustainability

• Relay Stability: Data indicates roughly 20% of relays suffer from significant downtime (exceeding 40% operational time), and 132 relays have been classified as 'dead'. This is a concern for maintaining network integrity.
• Economic Model Challenges: With 95% of free-to-use relays unable to cover operational costs due to minimal zap-based income, there is an urgent need for innovative monetization or community funding models to ensure long-term sustainability.

---

5. Market Disruption and Sentiment

Nostr is positioned as both a disruptor to traditional centralized social platforms—most notably Twitter—and a catalyst for change within decentralized social media.

Disrupting Twitter and Centralized Platforms

• User Shift: While Twitter remains the most well-known platform, the high-profile endorsements and robust user base of Nostr indicate that there is both market intrigue and a gradual shift among early adopters. Disruption here is measured not only in user numbers but also in the paradigm shift towards decentralized content distribution.
• Market Penetration: Current metrics (4 million users, 60 million posts) suggest that Nostr is challenging Twitter's centralized model insofar as it appeals to users prioritizing censorship resistance, data sovereignty, and resiliency against centralized failures. However, mainstream adoption on par with Twitter is still not realized, and there remains a gap in user experience and feature richness.

Impact on Decentralized Social Media and Censorship Resistance

• Complementary Integrations: As decentralized social media ecosystems continue to mature, integration between Nostr and other censorship-resistant platforms is increasingly likely. This can include interoperability protocols, shared identity management systems, and cross-platform content replication.
• Comparative Advantage: Nostr's network design offers unique advantages over other decentralized social media, particularly in its straightforward, relay-based communication protocol. This positions Nostr to potentially serve as an underpinning technology for a broader decoherent ecosystem of social networks.
• Sentiment Toward Scalability Innovations: Discussions around scaling Nostr often focus on the balance between ensuring redundancy (for resilience) and reducing overhead (for efficiency). The sentiment is one of cautious optimism: while outbox solutions offer a stopgap, many experts advocate for more fundamental architectural redesigns in the long-term.

---

6. Future Trends and 5-Year Outlook

Looking forward, the evolution of Nostr will likely be shaped by several interrelated trends and emerging technical innovations.

Innovative Protocol Developments

• Decentralized Identity and Reputation Mechanisms: The next phase may see the introduction of distributed reputation systems and rating mechanisms that aid in spam management and improve trustworthiness without compromising decentralization.
• Optimistic Replication and Selective Mirroring: Innovations such as selective content mirroring and event pruning will be key in managing bandwidth and storage demands while remaining true to the decentralized philosophy.

Quantitative Forecasting and Diffusion Modeling

• Forecast Models: By integrating modified Bass diffusion models and learning curve effects, predictions suggest that Nostr can potentially spur significant market disruption within five years. Recent studies indicate that forecasting models in disruptive technology fields have reached accuracies of up to 82% for demand projections.
• Hybrid Quantitative Techniques: Leveraging methods like LDA2Vec and patent citation network analysis, combined with multi-criteria decision-making models (as seen in extended UTAUT approaches), will be crucial for accurately estimating future adoption and cost efficiencies.
• Metrics to Monitor: Future research should focus on user growth rates, relay uptime percentages, cost reductions achieved through replication optimizations, and overall sentiment analysis using advanced deep learning architectures that overcome traditional pitfalls (e.g., sarcasm and multipolarity in text data).

Networking and Integration with Emerging Technologies

• Integration with Other Decentralized Platforms: One promising avenue is exploring cross-platform interoperability with other decentralized and blockchain-based social networks, which could lead to a more cohesive ecosystem. This would not only enhance user experience but also enable shared security and moderation frameworks.
• Next-Generation Relays: The deployment of relays that are more resilient through redundancy optimization and financial sustainability models (perhaps incorporating micro-transaction revenue models or community-driven funding) is another critical area. Such improvements could mitigate the issues of relay downtime and excessive network overhead.
• Contrarian Approaches: A contrarian perspective suggests that instead of building on current frameworks, a radical overhaul of the network architecture might be considered, potentially by leveraging novel distributed ledger technologies or leveraging a hybrid centralized-decentralized model during the transition phase to ensure smoother scaling.

---

7. Conclusions and Strategic Recommendations

The Nostr ecosystem represents a significant stride toward decentralized, censorship-resistant social media. While its current market adoption and technical design offer a robust alternative to centralized platforms like Twitter, several challenges must be addressed for sustained growth and disruption:

1. Optimization of Data Replication: Reducing redundant data transfers without compromising resilience is essential. Limiting the replication factor and exploring optimistic retrieval mechanisms could provide a balance between availability and efficiency.

2. Relay Stability and Sustainability: With nearly 20% of relays experiencing significant downtime, innovative financial and technical models (such as micro-payments and community funding) should be deployed to enhance the operational reliability of network nodes.

3. Enhanced Moderation and Reputation Systems: Emerging strategies for decentralized content moderation and reputation management could reduce spam and improve content quality while preserving the open nature of the network.

4. Interoperability with Other Decentralized Platforms: Fostering integration with other emerging systems could accelerate market disruption across the broader spectrum of social media.

5. Future-Proofing Through Quantitative Forecasting: Continual adoption of cutting-edge forecasting models and machine learning techniques to measure sentiment and track network metrics is imperative for proactive evolution.

6. Exploring Contrarian Innovations: In addition to incremental changes, it is important not to discount radically new architectures that may emerge from ongoing research in distributed systems and blockchain technologies.

Final Outlook

In the coming five years, Nostr has the potential to disrupt not only Twitter but also the broader landscape of both centralized and decentralized social media. Although the current architecture presents significant scaling challenges, proactive investments in replication optimization, relay stability, and cross-platform integration will likely propel the network into a more mature phase of adoption. The ecosystem will benefit from a dual approach that combines both evolutionary improvements and revolutionary changes, ensuring that it remains robust while meeting the demands of a growing, globally distributed user base.

---

Appendices

Appendix A: Data and Metrics Summary

• User Base: ~4 million
• Post Volume: >60 million posts
• Average Relay Replication: ~34.6 replicas per post
• Geographical Distribution: 44 countries, 151 autonomous systems
• Bandwidth Waste: ~144 TiB due to redundancy
• Network Load: 10 million events/day (~2TB/year)
• Throughput Requirement: ~115 TPS

Appendix B: Key Technical Proposals

• Replication Control: Limit copies to 10–20 relays for optimal efficiency.
• Selective Mirroring: Implement event pruning and selective content mirroring.
• Decentralized Reputation Systems: Develop distributed rating mechanisms to enhance distributed moderation.

Appendix C: Forecasting and Quantitative Methods

• Diffusion Modeling: Modified Bass models with multi-market dynamics.
• Hybrid Quantitative Techniques: Integration of machine learning (CNN-LSTM, LDA2Vec) with multi‐criteria decision models.

---

Recommendations for Further Research

• Investigate the comparative performance of alternative replication strategies in decentralized networks.
• Explore funding models that can sustain relay operations without compromising neutrality or decentralization.
• Conduct long-term sentiment analysis using advanced neural architectures to understand evolving user attitudes.
• Evaluate the prospective benefits of radical design overhauls versus incremental enhancements in ensuring network scalability.

---

This report is intended for expert analysts and researchers in decentralized network systems and social media disruption. It synthesizes current empirical findings with speculative insights to inform future strategies and academic inquiry.

Sources

• https://www.voltage.cloud/blog/exploring-6-use-cases-of-nostr-beyond-messaging
• https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.05709
• https://arxiv.org/html/2402.05709v1
• https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/5146515.pdf?abstractid=5146515&mirid=1
• https://matchnode.com/blog-and-podcasts/mastering-paid-social-media-advertising-a-comprehensive-guide/
• https://blockworks.co/news/jack-dorsey-app-to-disrupt-twitter
• https://www.securities.io/nostr-a-better-twitter/
• https://medium.com/@jasminedevv/battle-of-the-decentralized-twitter-alternatives-c9f51114614a
• https://www.murrayrudd.pro/nostrs-relay-revolution-scaling-decentralized-networks-for-growth/
• https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/issues/75
• https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42758579
• https://www.toptal.com/deep-learning/4-sentiment-analysis-accuracy-traps
• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/3076742_Forecasting_the_Market_Diffusion_of_Disruptive_and_Discontinuous_Innovation
• https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/03/17/3043701/0/en/United-States-Online-Household-Furniture-Market-Report-2025-2029-Analysis-of-Price-Sensitivity-Lifecycle-Customer-Purchase-Basket-Adoption-Rates-and-Purchase-Criteria.html
• https://northeast.newschannelnebraska.com/story/52583550/laser-welding-market-growth-industrial-adoption-rate
• https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/am/pii/S2405896323014453
• https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/industry-5-market-35376359.html

@ 1d4d7479:8aec9f9c

I'm new to Nostr and came here innocently enough. I was intrigued by the idea of building a blog on Npub.pro that not only could be published for the traditional web but would also allow us to get paid for great content or additional services within the Nostr community. Looking into the future I can see this approach as something that allows us to build a community that we can encourage to help support us.

The goals: 1. Build a traditonal blog. 2. Do work once, share on other platforms. 3. Own our content/thoughts. 4. Serve an international audience. 5. Cultivate a community. 6. Improve the Signal to Noise Ratio.

My belief is that we can serve all these through Nostr. I'll let you know how things go on the journey.

Tools on my radar: 1. Npub.pro 2. Habla.news 3. Alby

What else should I be looking at over the next 4 to 6 months when seeking to follow a Nostr-first strategy for a services business?

@ 3c7dc2c5:805642a8

🧠Quote(s) of the week:

The path to maximalism is littered with mistakes and paved with humility.' Anilsaido

Bitcoin is time because money itself is time.

Money is humanity’s battery: a way to store energy, labor, and resources for the future. It captures your past effort and preserves it for when you need it most. Fiat leaks. Bitcoin holds.

🧡Bitcoin news🧡

On the 18th of March:

➡️After ruling out a strategic bitcoin reserve, the Bank of Korea will launch a central bank digital currency pilot in April, per The Korea Times.

➡️'Metaplanet has acquired an additional 150 BTC for ~$12.5 million, achieving a BTC Yield of 60.8% YTD in 2025.

As of 3/18/2025, Metaplanet hodls 3,200 BTC, and is now a top 10 publicly listed holder of Bitcoin globally.' -Dylan LeClair

➡️Bitcoin entered a risk-off, distribution-dominant phase in early 2025, evidenced by frequent selling and hesitation to buy (yellow to orange dots). - AMB Crypto

➡️Bitwise CIO says Bitcoin should be at $200,000 today and says, “I think the number of companies buying Bitcoin is going to triple this year, I think Game Theory is on.”

“I think countries around the world are going to be buying Bitcoin. There is structurally more demand than supply in Bitcoin.”

➡️Bitcoin mining company Bitfarms buys Stronghold Digital for more than $110 million, making it the largest public-to-public acquisition in Bitcoin industry history.

➡️Bitcoin long-term HODLers become net buyers for the first time since September, per Compass Point Research.

"Buying/selling from HODLers is typically a leading indicator for BTC.

This cohort now owns 65% of BTC supply vs 63% last week vs 73% in early October." - Bitcoin News

➡️GlassNode: 'The Bitcoin market continues to adjust to its new price range after experiencing a -30% correction. Liquidity conditions are also contracting in both on-chain and futures markets.'

➡️Bitcoin now ranks 6th among the world's top monetary assets at $1.62 trillion, per Porkopolis.

➡️The EU isn't banning Bitcoin but using MiCA and other regulations to control it.

This involves stripping away privacy through transaction tracking, mandatory disclosures, and restrictions on self-custody.

The goal is control, not outright prohibition.

Excellent thread by Eli. Eli summarises the EU’s attack on Bitcoin and on Europeans’ rights:

https://x.com/i/web/status/1902048401908261146

Agree 100% with all of this. All these people who have been saying the EU pushing the industry forward with regulations are idiots. They are closing it off and pushing everyone to a CBDC.

Regarding the CBCD, here you will find a comprehensive summary of EU’s CBDC plans, by Efrat Fenigson:

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/politics/ecb-prepping-the-ground-for-digital-euro-launch

*On the 20th of March, the ECB posted the following statement on Twitter:

'The digital euro is not just about creating a new form of money, says Chief Economist Philip R. Lane.

It is about ensuring that Europe retains control over its monetary and financial destiny in the digital age against a backdrop of increasing geopolitical fragmentation.'

“It’s about ensuring that the EU retains control over its citizens.”

There, I fixed it for you if you missed the primary reason.

The Euro is a permissioned, centralized, censorable, inflationary, debt-based currency controlled by unelected bureaucrats.

Bitcoin is permissionless, decentralized, censorship-resistant, fixed in supply, and governed by code—not politicians.

Choose wisely.

➡️As mentioned in last week's Weekly Recap the US Government spends $3.3B per day in interest rate expense. If this doesn’t make you buy Bitcoin I’m not sure what will.

➡️In Kibera, Africa’s largest informal settlement, more than 40 merchants now accept and save in Bitcoin.

➡️The increase in 3-6 month-old UTXOs suggests accumulation during this market correction, a behavior historically critical in forming market bottoms and driving new price rallies.

➡️Just as Hal Finney predicted, Bitcoin will take over Wall Street: Multiple American Bitcoin companies are now seeking to become state or national banks, reports Reuters.

It is inevitable.

➡️Daniel Batten:

2021: 62 US Environmental Organizations write to coCongressaying Bitcoin is bad for the environment and has no use (based on Central Bank misinformation)

2025: US Environmental Organizations debunked (impossible, had they used Bitcoin)

Strange are the ways of karma.

Meanwhile,

➡️President Trump's Executive Director, Bo Hines, on digital assets: "We talked about ways of acquiring more Bitcoin in budget-neutral ways."

We want "as much as we can get."

When Bitcoin is at $200k. We will look back on March 2025 and say, how was everyone not buying. It was so obvious.

On the 19th of March:

➡️BLACKROCK: “The most sophisticated long-term Bitcoin accumulators are pretty excited about this dip. They see the correction as a buying opportunity."

On the 20th of March:

➡️SEC confirms that Bitcoin and Proof of Work mining are NOT securities under US law.

Source: https://t.co/0ExsJniPIf

➡️Bitcoin exchange Kraken has agreed to acquire NinjaTrader, the leading U.S. retail futures trading platform, for $1.5 billion—the largest deal ever of a Bitcoin company buying a traditional financial company.

➡️TRUMP: “I signed an order creating the brand new Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and the US digital asset stockpile which will allow the Federal government to maximize the value of its holdings.”

Tweet and hot take by Lola L33tz

"With the dollar-backed stablecoins, you'll help expand the dominance of the US Dollar [...] It will be at the top, and that's where we want to keep it"

'What he means is:

With dollar-backed stablecoins, the Global South will pivot towards digital Dollars over local currencies, allowing private, US government-controlled entities to replace bank accounts around the globe.

This does not just allow for the expansion of USD dominance by bypassing local governments – it gives the US unprecedented and direct control over worldwide economies as

every stablecoin can be effectively frozen on behalf of the US with the click of a button.'

Stablecoins = CBDCs

There is no technical fundamental difference between them.

It’s almost a guarantee that the EU CBDCs and U.S. stablecoins will be interchangeable.

➡️River: Bitcoin is coming for $128 trillion in global money.

You're not to late to Bitcoin.

On the 21st of March:

➡️Michael Saylor’s Strategy to raise $722.5M to buy more Bitcoin.

➡️Publicly traded Atai Life Sciences to buy $5 million in Bitcoin.

➡️Publicly traded HK Asia Holdings bought 10 Bitcoins worth $858,500 for its balance sheet.

➡️Another solo home miner has mined an entire Bitcoin block worth over $ 260.000,-.

On the 22nd of March:

➡️The University of Wyoming posted a new video explaining Bitcoin with Philosophy Professor Bradley Rettler

➡️Spot Bitcoin ETFs bought 8,775 BTC this week while miners only mined 3,150 Bitcoin.

On the 24th of March:

➡️Metaplanet finished the day as the 13th most liquid stock in Japan, with ¥50.4 billion ($336.6m) of daily trading volume, ahead of Toyota and Nintendo.

➡️River: There is a 275% gap between the inflation you're told and real inflation.

Bitcoin is insurance on the debt spiral. The U.S. Dollar has been devalued by more than 363% since 2000 – That’s a 14.5% devaluation per year. This means if your savings don’t grow by 14.5% annually, you’re falling behind. This is why we Bitcoin. Bitcoin is insurance on the debt spiral, grow your savings beyond the dollar’s devaluation!

➡️Bitcoin's compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over a 5-year rolling window is currently over 50%

➡️Strategy became the first publicly traded company to hold over 500,000 Bitcoin worth over $44 billion.

Strategy has acquired 6,911 BTC for ~$584.1 million at ~$84,529 per Bitcoin and has achieved a BTC Yield of 7.7% YTD 2025. As of 3/23/2025,

Strategy holds 506,137 BTC acquired for ~$33.7 billion at ~$66,608 per Bitcoin.

➡️CryptoQuant: Bitcoin's long-term holders are holding firm, with no significant selling pressure.

➡️Xapo Bank launches Bitcoin-backed USD loans up to $1M, with collateral secured in an MPC vault and no re-usage.

💸Traditional Finance / Macro:

👉🏽no news

🏦Banks: 

👉🏽 no news

🌎Macro/Geopolitics:

On the 18th of March:

👉🏽Germany just changed its constitution to unleash a staggering ONE TRILLION in new debt. The German parliament has voted to take on hundreds of billions of euros of new government debt, to ease the debt brake rules, and to codify "climate neutrality by 2045" into the constitution.

On top of that, some extra money to Ukraine:

Germany's next Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, believes that Putin has gone to war against all of Europe. He argues that Russia has attacked Germany, as the Parliament breaks out in applause.

We continue to move further away from the "Europe is not part of the conflict" rhetoric. Germany’s self-inflicted delusion continues!

👉🏽Germany's first offshore wind farm closes after 15 years because it's too expensive to operate. Expect a car crash. The Alpha Ventus offshore wind farm near the German North Sea island of Borkum is set to be dismantled after being in operation for only 15 years. It has become too unprofitable to operate without massive subsidies.

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/03/16/germanys-first-offshore-wind-farm-to-be-dismantled-after-just-15-years-of-operation/

Great thing that the Netherlands is investing heavily in offshore wind farms, even the biggest pension fund APB. Because nInE tImEs ChEaPeR tHaN gAs, right?

I hope they dismantle them & not leave them to rust into the sea. Right? Because climate!

Great response by Jasmine Birtles: "These vanity projects should never have been allowed to start. The phrase 'cheap renewable energy' is simply a falsehood. This kind of energy production only seems cheap because of the huge government subsidies that keep them going. I'm all for clean energy if it's possible to run it honestly and without huge subsidies, but while it doesn't seem to be viable we should stick with what is affordable and will keep the country going, rather than sacrificing the vulnerable to an impossible ideology."

👉🏽'Gold spot is now trading consistently over $3000, a record high. And with deliveries once again picking up at the Comex and war in the Middle East coming back with a vengeance, the next big spike is just a matter of time. As expected, once gold broke out above $3000,- it has gone vertical and is up 1% in the past hours, rising to a new record high of $3034, as it sets off for $4000' - ZeroHedge

👉🏽'We have just witnessed the biggest drop in US equity allocation on record. The collapse of US consumers:

Unemployment expectations in the US are now ABOVE 2020 levels and at their highest since 2008.

In 2024, a poll showed that a whopping 56% of Americans thought the US was in a recession.' - TKL

👉🏽OECD Projects Argentina to Have the Second Highest Economic Growth Worldwide in 2025

👉🏽A new blow to the Dutch chemical sector. The major producer LyondellBasell is permanently closing its factory at the Maasvlakte. This decision, announced on Tuesday afternoon, will result in the loss of approximately 160 jobs. The closure is a direct consequence of global overcapacity and high energy costs in the Netherlands.

An audit by the German firm E-Bridge, commissioned by the Dutch government, previously revealed that electricity costs for these companies in the Netherlands amount to €95 per megawatt-hour.

In comparison, this rate is €32 in France (66% lower), €45.60 in Germany (52% lower), and €56.05 per megawatt-hour in Belgium (41% lower).

According to E-Bridge, this difference is mainly due to the compensation that foreign governments provide to companies and the lower grid tariffs. In the Netherlands, costs have risen primarily to finance investments in the electricity grid, such as connecting multiple offshore wind farms.

Now read that segment on offshore wind farms. Mindblowing, innit?

Subsidies are not the solution—deregulation is. But Brussels won’t allow that. So, we’re heading toward even more regulation and nationalization.

On the 19th of March:

👉🏽The Fed makes multiple revisions to its 2025 economic data projections.

Powell finally found the "stag" and the "inflation":

Fed cuts year-end GDP forecast from 2.1% to 1.7%

Fed raises year-end core PCE forecast from 2.5% to 2.8%

Fed raises year-end unemployment forecast from 4.3% to 4.4%

Fed raises PCE inflation forecast from 2.5% to 2.7%

The Fed sees higher inflation and a weaker economy.

On the 20th of March:

Dutch Central Bank Director Klaas Knot "We are worried about American influence on our local payment infrastructure."

Paving the way for the European CBDC (after slowly but surely removing CASH MONEY from society).

Knot has completed his second term and will leave his office in July. Now, of course, pushing for the CBDC, before looking for a new job in Europe.

Anyway, DNB posts billions in losses.

De Nederlandsche Bank suffered a loss of over €3 billion last year, according to the annual report published on Thursday. This marks the second consecutive year of losses.

DNB incurs this loss because, as part of its monetary policy, it has lent out billions at relatively low rates while having to pay a higher rate to banks that park their money at the central bank.

But no losses on its gold. The gold reserves, meanwhile, increased in value by €12.6 billion. This amount is not included in the official profit and loss statement but is reflected on the bank's balance sheet.

For the Dutch readers/followers: Great article: Follow the Money 'Voor de megawinsten van ING, ABN Amro en Rabobank betaalt de Nederlandse burger een hoge prijs.'

https://archive.ph/ncvtk

On the 21st of March:

👉🏽'The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing index dropped 5.6 points in March, to 12.5, its 2nd consecutive monthly decline.

6-month outlook for new orders fell by 30.8 points, to 2.3, the lowest in 3 years.

This marks the third-largest drop in history, only behind the 2008 Financial Crisis and December 1973.

Furthermore, 6-month business outlook dropped ~40 points to its lowest since January 2024.

All while prices paid rose 7.8 points, to 48.3, the highest since July 2022.

This is further evidence of weakening economic activity with rising prices.' TKL

👉🏽'China’s central bank gold reserves hit a record 73.6 million fine troy ounces in February.

China bought ~160,000 ounces of gold last month, posting their 4th consecutive monthly purchase.

Over the last 2.5 years, China’s gold reserves have jumped by 11.0 million ounces of gold.

Gold now reflects a record ~5.9% of China’s total foreign exchange reserves, or 2,290 tonnes.

Central banks continue to stock up on gold as if we are in a crisis.' -TKL

🎁If you have made it this far I would like to give you a little gift:

What Bitcoin Did: BITCOIN & THE END OF THE DOLLAR SYSTEM with Luke Gromen

They discuss:

• The Sovereign Debt Crisis

• If the US Will Reprice the Gold

• If we will See Triple Digit Inflation

• The End of The US Dollar System

Luke Gromen: A modest clarification: The end of the post-71 structure of the USD system is what the Trump Administration’s actions appear to be pursuing & will in due time achieve if they stay on the present course.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W2jEedynbc

Credit: I have used multiple sources!

My savings account: Bitcoin The tool I recommend for setting up a Bitcoin savings plan: PocketBitcoin especially suited for beginners or people who want to invest in Bitcoin with an automated investment plan once a week or monthly.

Use the code SE3997

Get your Bitcoin out of exchanges. Save them on a hardware wallet, run your own node...be your own bank. Not your keys, not your coins. It's that simple. ⠀⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀

Do you think this post is helpful to you? If so, please share it and support my work with a zap.

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⭐ Many thanks⭐

Felipe - Bitcoin Friday!

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@ dd664d5e:5633d319

Men tend to find women attractive, that remind them of the average women they already know, but with more-averaged features. The mid of mids is kween.👸

But, in contradiction to that, they won't consider her highly attractive, unless she has some spectacular, unusual feature. They'll sacrifice some averageness to acquire that novelty. This is why wealthy men (who tend to be highly intelligent -- and therefore particularly inclined to crave novelty because they are easily bored) -- are more likely to have striking-looking wives and girlfriends, rather than conventionally-attractive ones. They are also more-likely to cross ethnic and racial lines, when dating.

Men also seem to each be particularly attracted to specific facial expressions or mimics, which might be an intelligence-similarity test, as persons with higher intelligence tend to have a more-expressive mimic. So, people with similar expressions tend to be on the same wavelength. Facial expessions also give men some sense of perception into womens' inner life, which they otherwise find inscrutable.

Hair color is a big deal (logic says: always go blonde), as is breast-size (bigger is better), and WHR (smaller is better).

@ 97c70a44:ad98e322

There was a slight dust up recently over a website someone runs removing a listing for an app someone built based on entirely arbitrary criteria. I'm not to going to attempt to speak for either wounded party, but I would like to share my own personal definition for what constitutes a "nostr app" in an effort to help clarify what might be an otherwise confusing and opaque purity test.

In this post, I will be committing the "no true Scotsman" fallacy, in which I start with the most liberal definition I can come up with, and gradually refine it until all that is left is the purest, gleamingest, most imaginary and unattainable nostr app imaginable. As I write this, I wonder if anything built yet will actually qualify. In any case, here we go.

It uses nostr

The lowest bar for what a "nostr app" might be is an app ("application" - i.e. software, not necessarily a native app of any kind) that has some nostr-specific code in it, but which doesn't take any advantage of what makes nostr distinctive as a protocol.

Examples might include a scraper of some kind which fulfills its charter by fetching data from relays (regardless of whether it validates or retains signatures). Another might be a regular web 2.0 app which provides an option to "log in with nostr" by requesting and storing the user's public key.

In either case, the fact that nostr is involved is entirely neutral. A scraper can scrape html, pdfs, jsonl, whatever data source - nostr relays are just another target. Likewise, a user's key in this scenario is treated merely as an opaque identifier, with no appreciation for the super powers it brings along.

In most cases, this kind of app only exists as a marketing ploy, or less cynically, because it wants to get in on the hype of being a "nostr app", without the developer quite understanding what that means, or having the budget to execute properly on the claim.

It leverages nostr

Some of you might be wondering, "isn't 'leverage' a synonym for 'use'?" And you would be right, but for one connotative difference. It's possible to "use" something improperly, but by definition leverage gives you a mechanical advantage that you wouldn't otherwise have. This is the second category of "nostr app".

This kind of app gets some benefit out of the nostr protocol and network, but in an entirely selfish fashion. The intention of this kind of app is not to augment the nostr network, but to augment its own UX by borrowing some nifty thing from the protocol without really contributing anything back.

Some examples might include:

• Using nostr signers to encrypt or sign data, and then store that data on a proprietary server.
• Using nostr relays as a kind of low-code backend, but using proprietary event payloads.
• Using nostr event kinds to represent data (why), but not leveraging the trustlessness that buys you.

An application in this category might even communicate to its users via nostr DMs - but this doesn't make it a "nostr app" any more than a website that emails you hot deals on herbal supplements is an "email app". These apps are purely parasitic on the nostr ecosystem.

In the long-term, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Email's ubiquity is self-reinforcing. But in the short term, this kind of "nostr app" can actually do damage to nostr's reputation by over-promising and under-delivering.

It complements nostr

Next up, we have apps that get some benefit out of nostr as above, but give back by providing a unique value proposition to nostr users as nostr users. This is a bit of a fine distinction, but for me this category is for apps which focus on solving problems that nostr isn't good at solving, leaving the nostr integration in a secondary or supporting role.

One example of this kind of app was Mutiny (RIP), which not only allowed users to sign in with nostr, but also pulled those users' social graphs so that users could send money to people they knew and trusted. Mutiny was doing a great job of leveraging nostr, as well as providing value to users with nostr identities - but it was still primarily a bitcoin wallet, not a "nostr app" in the purest sense.

Other examples are things like Nostr Nests and Zap.stream, whose core value proposition is streaming video or audio content. Both make great use of nostr identities, data formats, and relays, but they're primarily streaming apps. A good litmus test for things like this is: if you got rid of nostr, would it be the same product (even if inferior in certain ways)?

A similar category is infrastructure providers that benefit nostr by their existence (and may in fact be targeted explicitly at nostr users), but do things in a centralized, old-web way; for example: media hosts, DNS registrars, hosting providers, and CDNs.

To be clear here, I'm not casting aspersions (I don't even know what those are, or where to buy them). All the apps mentioned above use nostr to great effect, and are a real benefit to nostr users. But they are not True Scotsmen.

It embodies nostr

Ok, here we go. This is the crème de la crème, the top du top, the meilleur du meilleur, the bee's knees. The purest, holiest, most chaste category of nostr app out there. The apps which are, indeed, nostr indigitate.

This category of nostr app (see, no quotes this time) can be defined by the converse of the previous category. If nostr was removed from this type of application, would it be impossible to create the same product?

To tease this apart a bit, apps that leverage the technical aspects of nostr are dependent on nostr the protocol, while apps that benefit nostr exclusively via network effect are integrated into nostr the network. An app that does both things is working in symbiosis with nostr as a whole.

An app that embraces both nostr's protocol and its network becomes an organic extension of every other nostr app out there, multiplying both its competitive moat and its contribution to the ecosystem:

• In contrast to apps that only borrow from nostr on the technical level but continue to operate in their own silos, an application integrated into the nostr network comes pre-packaged with existing users, and is able to provide more value to those users because of other nostr products. On nostr, it's a good thing to advertise your competitors.
• In contrast to apps that only market themselves to nostr users without building out a deep integration on the protocol level, a deeply integrated app becomes an asset to every other nostr app by becoming an organic extension of them through interoperability. This results in increased traffic to the app as other developers and users refer people to it instead of solving their problem on their own. This is the "micro-apps" utopia we've all been waiting for.

Credible exit doesn't matter if there aren't alternative services. Interoperability is pointless if other applications don't offer something your app doesn't. Marketing to nostr users doesn't matter if you don't augment their agency as nostr users.

If I had to choose a single NIP that represents the mindset behind this kind of app, it would be NIP 89 A.K.A. "Recommended Application Handlers", which states:

Nostr's discoverability and transparent event interaction is one of its most interesting/novel mechanics. This NIP provides a simple way for clients to discover applications that handle events of a specific kind to ensure smooth cross-client and cross-kind interactions.

These handlers are the glue that holds nostr apps together. A single event, signed by the developer of an application (or by the application's own account) tells anyone who wants to know 1. what event kinds the app supports, 2. how to link to the app (if it's a client), and (if the pubkey also publishes a kind 10002), 3. which relays the app prefers.

As a sidenote, NIP 89 is currently focused more on clients, leaving DVMs, relays, signers, etc somewhat out in the cold. Updating 89 to include tailored listings for each kind of supporting app would be a huge improvement to the protocol. This, plus a good front end for navigating these listings (sorry nostrapp.link, close but no cigar) would obviate the evil centralized websites that curate apps based on arbitrary criteria.

Examples of this kind of app obviously include many kind 1 clients, as well as clients that attempt to bring the benefits of the nostr protocol and network to new use cases - whether long form content, video, image posts, music, emojis, recipes, project management, or any other "content type".

To drill down into one example, let's think for a moment about forms. What's so great about a forms app that is built on nostr? Well,

• There is a spec for forms and responses, which means that...
• Multiple clients can implement the same data format, allowing for credible exit and user choice, even of...
• Other products not focused on forms, which can still view, respond to, or embed forms, and which can send their users via NIP 89 to a client that does...
• Cryptographically sign forms and responses, which means they are self-authenticating and can be sent to...
• Multiple relays, which reduces the amount of trust necessary to be confident results haven't been deliberately "lost".

Show me a forms product that does all of those things, and isn't built on nostr. You can't, because it doesn't exist. Meanwhile, there are plenty of image hosts with APIs, streaming services, and bitcoin wallets which have basically the same levels of censorship resistance, interoperability, and network effect as if they weren't built on nostr.

It supports nostr

Notice I haven't said anything about whether relays, signers, blossom servers, software libraries, DVMs, and the accumulated addenda of the nostr ecosystem are nostr apps. Well, they are (usually).

This is the category of nostr app that gets none of the credit for doing all of the work. There's no question that they qualify as beautiful nostrcorns, because their value propositions are entirely meaningless outside of the context of nostr. Who needs a signer if you don't have a cryptographic identity you need to protect? DVMs are literally impossible to use without relays. How are you going to find the blossom server that will serve a given hash if you don't know which servers the publishing user has selected to store their content?

In addition to being entirely contextualized by nostr architecture, this type of nostr app is valuable because it does things "the nostr way". By that I mean that they don't simply try to replicate existing internet functionality into a nostr context; instead, they create entirely new ways of putting the basic building blocks of the internet back together.

A great example of this is how Nostr Connect, Nostr Wallet Connect, and DVMs all use relays as brokers, which allows service providers to avoid having to accept incoming network connections. This opens up really interesting possibilities all on its own.

So while I might hesitate to call many of these things "apps", they are certainly "nostr".

Appendix: it smells like a NINO

So, let's say you've created an app, but when you show it to people they politely smile, nod, and call it a NINO (Nostr In Name Only). What's a hacker to do? Well, here's your handy-dandy guide on how to wash that NINO stench off and Become a Nostr.

You app might be a NINO if:

• There's no NIP for your data format (or you're abusing NIP 78, 32, etc by inventing a sub-protocol inside an existing event kind)
• There's a NIP, but no one knows about it because it's in a text file on your hard drive (or buried in your project's repository)
• Your NIP imposes an incompatible/centralized/legacy web paradigm onto nostr
• Your NIP relies on trusted third (or first) parties
• There's only one implementation of your NIP (yours)
• Your core value proposition doesn't depend on relays, events, or nostr identities
• One or more relay urls are hard-coded into the source code
• Your app depends on a specific relay implementation to work (ahem, relay29)
• You don't validate event signatures
• You don't publish events to relays you don't control
• You don't read events from relays you don't control
• You use legacy web services to solve problems, rather than nostr-native solutions
• You use nostr-native solutions, but you've hardcoded their pubkeys or URLs into your app
• You don't use NIP 89 to discover clients and services
• You haven't published a NIP 89 listing for your app
• You don't leverage your users' web of trust for filtering out spam
• You don't respect your users' mute lists
• You try to "own" your users' data

Now let me just re-iterate - it's ok to be a NINO. We need NINOs, because nostr can't (and shouldn't) tackle every problem. You just need to decide whether your app, as a NINO, is actually contributing to the nostr ecosystem, or whether you're just using buzzwords to whitewash a legacy web software product.

If you're in the former camp, great! If you're in the latter, what are you waiting for? Only you can fix your NINO problem. And there are lots of ways to do this, depending on your own unique situation:

• Drop nostr support if it's not doing anyone any good. If you want to build a normal company and make some money, that's perfectly fine.
• Build out your nostr integration - start taking advantage of webs of trust, self-authenticating data, event handlers, etc.
• Work around the problem. Think you need a special relay feature for your app to work? Guess again. Consider encryption, AUTH, DVMs, or better data formats.
• Think your idea is a good one? Talk to other devs or open a PR to the nips repo. No one can adopt your NIP if they don't know about it.
• Keep going. It can sometimes be hard to distinguish a research project from a NINO. New ideas have to be built out before they can be fully appreciated.
• Listen to advice. Nostr developers are friendly and happy to help. If you're not sure why you're getting traction, ask!

I sincerely hope this article is useful for all of you out there in NINO land. Maybe this made you feel better about not passing the totally optional nostr app purity test. Or maybe it gave you some actionable next steps towards making a great NINON (Nostr In Not Only Name) app. In either case, GM and PV.

@ 9e69e420:d12360c2

Chef's notes

arbitray

• test
• of
• chefs notes

hedding 2

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 20
• 🍳 Cook time: 1 hour
• 🍽️ Servings: 5

Ingredients

• Test ingredient
• 2nd test ingredient

Directions

1. Bake
2. Cool

@ a60e79e0:1e0e6813

*This is a long form Nostr native version of a post that lives on my Nostr educational website Hello Nostr *

At first glance Nostr might appear quite similar to some of the apps you use every day, such as Twitter, Mastodon, or Facebook, but that couldn't be further from the truth. This post aims to dispel the myth that "Nostr is just a Twitter replacement" and give you a better understanding about the 'what', the 'how' and most importantly, the 'why' of Nostr.

What Is Nostr?

Nostr is a decentralized, open-source protocol designed for censorship-resistant networking and communication on the web. It stands for "Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays," and it works by allowing users to publish messages (notes) and content in the form of 'other stuff', to a network of servers (relays) that store and distribute the content.

Unlike traditional platforms like Twitter, Ebay or Facebook, Nostr doesn't rely on a central authority; instead, users control their own identities via cryptographic key pairs.

The simplest open protocol that is able to create a censorship-resistant global "social" network once and for all.

Fiatjaf - Nostr Creator

Nostr is not a website or an app you download from a single source — it’s an open protocol, like email or the internet. Think of it as a set of rules that anyone can use to build tools for sharing messages, posts, or other data without needing a centralized middleman like a big tech company.

Nostr was created by a developer named Fiatjaf in 2020, and has since been steadily gaining traction among people who care about privacy, freedom, and censorship resistance.

Why Nostr?

Imagine the scenario, you've been using an online platform for 5 or even 10 years. You've built up thousands of contacts, perhaps built yourself a sizeable reputation, or even rely on the income from the platform to feed your family. Then one day you make a controversial post, sell a certain item or upload a video on a spicy subject to the platform where the owner disagrees with. With the click of a button, your account is removed. All trace of you, your social graph, or even your future income, disappears in an instant.

Read aloud like that is sounds crazy that we'd even entertain using such a platform, right!? Sadly that is the reality in 2025. This is exactly what happens every single day on X, Facebook, Ebay, Paypal, Linkedin, etc.

Looking at the problem through a more social media focused lens, many of us have become slaves to the likes of Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. We use these 'free' apps under the guise of being social with others online. The reality is that we see what those apps want us to see. We've become slaves to the manipulation of complex and opaque algrorithms designed to keep us hooked and try to sell us things.

Unlike traditional platforms, which are often governed by centralized entities wielding significant control over user data, content moderation, and algorithmic influence, Nostr flips the script by prioritizing user sovereignty and resilience. Built on an open-source framework, Nostr allows individuals to control their own data and interact through a network of relays, making it much more difficult for any single authority - be it a corporation, government, or bad actor - to censor or manipulate the flow of information.

• Is a relay refusing to host your notes? Use another or run your own!
• A specific client using an algorithm you don't like, take your identity and social graph elsewhere and choose another!

Take your identity and social graph with you, anywhere any time.

Nostr’s ability to foster authentic, unfiltered conversations while safeguarding user sovereignty has made it a cornerstone for communities seeking alternatives - whether they’re activists, creators, or everyday people tired of being pawns in the data-driven game. It's simple and adaptable design also encourages innovation, inviting developers to build tools and interfaces that keep pushing the boundaries of what the decentralized internet can achieve. In short, Nostr isn’t just a tool; it’s a movement toward a freer, more equitable digital future.

How Does Nostr Work?

Instead of one giant server owned by a single company holding all your posts and messages, Nostr spreads everything across lots of smaller servers called relays. To get started, you download a client, create your account and back up your private key. Your private key is used to secure your account and sign every message you send over the network. This allows anyone you interact with the verify the integrity of the data coming from 'you'.

The Nostr network is essentially a collection of bulletin boards that share a common format

When you write a note, or share some other type of compatible data, your client signs it with your private key, then sends it to one or more relays. Which relays your information is sent to is entirely up to you. These relays share your message with others who want to see it.

For others to see your notes or 'other stuff', they'll need to be able to find you. Typically this is done by using your public key, which looks something like this npub15c88nc8d44gsp4658dnfu5fahswzzu8gaxm5lkuwjud068swdqfspxssvx. Don't panic though, you don't need to memorize all of your friends public keys, there are more human friendly methods of finding people that we'll come onto later.

Once someone is following you, their client will ask all of their connected relays for any data shared by your public key. Their client will receive this data, verify it is signed by your private key and then populate it into their feed.

The “Other Stuff” Explained

Nostr’s name hints at this: Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays. But what is the “other stuff”? Put simply, it’s all the creative and experimental things people are building on Nostr, beyond simple text based notes. Every action on Nostr is an event - like a post, a profile update, or even a payment. The 'Kind' is what specifies the purpose of each event. Kinds are the building blocks of how information is categorized and processed on the network, and the most popular become part of higher lever specification guidelines known as Nostr Implementation Possibility - NIP. A NIP is a document that defines how something in Nostr should work, including the rules, standards, or features. NIPs define the type of 'other stuff' that be published and displayed by different styles of client for different purposes.

Here's some content examples of 'Other Stuff':

1. Long-Form Content: Think blog posts or articles. NIP-23.
2. Private Messaging: Encrypted chats between users. NIP-04.
3. Communities: Group chats or forums like Reddit. NIP-72
4. Marketplaces: People listing stuff for sale, payable with zaps. NIP-15
5. Zaps: Value transfer over the Lightning Network. NIP57

The beauty of Nostr is that it’s a flexible foundation. Developers can dream up new ideas and build them into clients, and the relays just keep humming along, passing the data around. It’s still early days, so expect the “other stuff” to grow wilder and weirder over time!

Clients vs Relays: What’s the Difference?

Newbies often get tripped up by these two terms, so let’s clearly define them.

Clients

A client is what you use to interact with Nostr. It’s the app or website where you type your posts, read your feed, follow and interact with others. Examples of Nostr clients include:

• Damus (iOS Twitter style client)
• Primal (Cross-platform Twitter style client)
• Amethyst (Android only Twitter style client)
• Habla.News (Web based blog client)
• Olas (Instagram style client)
• 0xchat (Messaging client)

Clients don’t store your data; they just pull it from relays and display it for you. You can switch clients whenever you want, and your account stays the same because it’s tied to your keys, not any single client or app.

Clients are how you use Nostr, and relays are where the data lives. You need both to make the magic happen.

Relays

A relay is a server that stores and shares Nostr data. It’s a little like a post office: you send your note to a relay, and it delivers it to anyone who’s subscribed to see it (like your followers). Relays are run by individuals, groups, or companies who volunteer their computing power. Some are free, some charge a small fee, and you can connect to as many as you like. Most clients will come pre-configured with a list of well-known relays, but you can add or remove any you like.

What Are Zaps?

Zaps are arguably one of Nostr’s coolest features! A zaps is a way to send payments in Bitcoin directly to other users. Imagine liking a post, but instead of just clicking a heart (which you can of course do), you send the poster a few cents worth of Bitcoin to say, “This is awesome!”.

Zaps use Bitcoin's Lightning Network, a faster and cheaper way to move Bitcoin around. To Zap someone, you need a Lightning wallet linked to your Nostr client. Some clients, like Primal, ship with their own custodial wallet to make getting started a breeze. Most clients also allow more advanced users to connect an existing Lightning Wallet to reduce reliance and trust in the client provider.

Zaps are optional but add a fun layer to Nostr. Creators love them because it’s a way to get direct support from fans, with no middleman required.

NIP-05 Identifiers: Your Nostr “Username”

Your nPub, or public key (that long string of letters and numbers) is your 'official' Nostr ID, but it’s not exactly catchy. Enter NIP-05 identifiers, a human-readable and easily sharable way to have people find you. They look like an email address, like qna@hellonostr.xyz.

Here’s how it works:

Most users obtain their NIP-05 ID from a website or service that supports Nostr. Some of these services are free whereas some charge a fee. Some clients, like Primal will set one up for you automatically when you create an account. The email like ID links to your public key, so people can find you more easily. And because these ID's are domain based, there can be no duplicates. qna@hellonostr.xyz can only map to a single public key. The only person that can change that link is the person in control of the domain.

If you control your own domain, you can easily map your Nostr public key to name@my.domain. It’s not mandatory, but it’s super useful for building trust and making your profile recognizable.

Next Steps

So you're bought in. You understand why Nostr is so important and want to get started. Check out our simple onboarding guide here.

Thanks For Reading

Hopefully that moistened your taste buds for more educational Nostr content. This was a basic one, but there will be more focused material coming soon.

If you found this post useful, please share it with your peers and consider following and zapping me on Nostr. If you write to me and let me know that you found me via this post, I'll be sure to Zap you back! ⚡️

@ 65038d69:1fff8852

People seem to like organizing and categorizing things, including themselves. Hippocrates wrote of the Four Temperaments, Myers and Briggs published MBTI in the 1940s, and a modern version of the Enneagram of Personality has become popular in recent years. (One of my favourite books on personality types is The Treasure Tree.)

I have my own theory when it comes to the workplace; that most people's motivations can fit them into one of two categories: True Believers and Mercenaries. Understanding your coworker’s, supervisor’s, and staff’s motivations can help you understand and predict their actions, and hopefully ease frustrations when they do things opposite of what you would choose.

True Believers are primarily motivated by their belief in a cause or purpose. This is easiest to see in non-profits or volunteer groups, where righteous cause (i.e. feeding the hungry or sheltering the unhoused) is the openly shared impetus emblazoned across the front of the building. But True Believers don’t require shared motivations and aren’t relegated to philanthropic workplaces. A True Believer might believe in the product or service being sold. Or more abstractly, they might value their relationships with their coworkers who create and provide those things. If you ask them about their work, you might hear them say something like, “My friends Tina and Dave help make people’s dream weddings come true, and I make sure payroll here is done perfectly so they can keep doing that!”

Mercenaries, as the name suggests, are motivated by tangible payment. “I’m here for the paycheque” or “I really like the matched retirement savings here” are things you might hear them say. Compared to True Believers, Mercenaries’ motivations are simpler to understand and typically much more direct.

As an employer, hiring manager, or supervisor, True Believers may seem like the easy preference between the two. Their dedication to the cause will keep them with you and working through tumultuous times, and they’re less likely to regularly ask for raises or chase promotions. They’ll most likely pick a spot and churn out the same, reliable work for decades. For some positions in some organizations, this is indeed a good fit. But it’s not universal. If the focuses of their loyalty change on them or if you need to make sudden or large adjustments in your organization, they’ll be the first pump the brakes in the name of their cause.

Enter the Mercenaries. As long as they’re paid, they’re happy. So if you need something changed, or a new project tackled, or a less-pleasant situation resolved decisively and rapidly, you’ll be glad you have them on your team. They may not always seem like they’re happy about their work (“ugh, I can’t believe I got stuck with re-entering all this data from scratch after Bill got fired”), but if they’re being paid well for it the job will get done (“yah, it sucks, but that’s why you’re getting double-overtime to work the weekend, and there’s a bonus if it’s done early”).

None of this is meant to pit the two against each other, express a preference, or to say that everyone fits squarely into either category. In fact, people regularly change between them. For example, Mercenary behavior becomes much more common when economies are low or in minimum-wage environments. (Though this is not always the case; see the character of Ed in “Good Burger”.) And the most Mercenary of contractors can become a True Believer if they find a cause that truly speaks to them.

Somewhat ironically, people are more likely to act as True Believers if they don’t have pressing financial needs. It’s easier to focus on one’s causes if you’re not worried about how you’re going to make next month’s mortgage payment. So it’s in your best interest to make sure both your Mercenaries and True Believers are well-paid.

Lastly, a word of caution about getting it wrong. True Believers and Mercenaries generally don’t like being treated like the other. If a True Believer is working on an un-fun project and you comment, “oh that’s why you’re being paid the big bucks!” instead of “thanks for doing this, I know Steve is a friend and he’ll really appreciate your helping him out”; or a Mercenary is doing the same and you say “I knew you wouldn’t mind helping since we’re all like family here” instead of “three cheers for overtime pay!”; you can imagine how well either of those situations would play out.

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

I just finished watching the Lakers narrowly escape with a win over the Pacers, in Indiana. I watched it at BetPlay, btw, where I'm now watching the late games.

Firstly, Lebron had a rough game: no made FG's in the first half (first time in approximately 20 years) and only 2 points. There was legit concern that his million consecutive games with double digits might finally end.

Coming into the fourth quarter, he still only had seven points and the Lakers had about a ten point lead. Once Lebron secured his 10 points it really seemed like they let up and the Pacers came roaring back. Shoutout to Myles Turner, who made a great pass breakup in transition on what would have been a lob dunk (I also think Doris may have said "just the tip" when describing how little contact he made with the ball).

Rui hit a couple of threes back-to-back, which felt huge, but the Lakers took their foot off the gas again. The Pacers kept it tight and even took a lead, thanks to Luka playing some of the worst defense you'll ever see.

With three seconds left and trailing by one, Luka shook his defender and put up a soft little floater...which bounced out only for Lebron to get the put-back at the buzzer and win the game.

The only thing that would have been better is if the tip-in had gotten Lebron his double digits.

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/926406

@ 9e69e420:d12360c2

Oregano oil is a potent natural compound that offers numerous scientifically-supported health benefits.

Active Compounds

The oil's therapeutic properties stem from its key bioactive components: - Carvacrol and thymol (primary active compounds) - Polyphenols and other antioxidant

Antimicrobial Properties

Bacterial Protection The oil demonstrates powerful antibacterial effects, even against antibiotic-resistant strains like MRSA and other harmful bacteria. Studies show it effectively inactivates various pathogenic bacteria without developing resistance.

Antifungal Effects It effectively combats fungal infections, particularly Candida-related conditions like oral thrush, athlete's foot, and nail infections.

Digestive Health Benefits

Oregano oil supports digestive wellness by: - Promoting gastric juice secretion and enzyme production - Helping treat Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) - Managing digestive discomfort, bloating, and IBS symptoms

Anti-inflammatory and Antioxidant Effects

The oil provides significant protective benefits through: - Powerful antioxidant activity that fights free radicals - Reduction of inflammatory markers in the body - Protection against oxidative stress-related conditions

Respiratory Support

It aids respiratory health by: - Loosening mucus and phlegm - Suppressing coughs and throat irritation - Supporting overall respiratory tract function

Additional Benefits

Skin Health - Improves conditions like psoriasis, acne, and eczema - Supports wound healing through antibacterial action - Provides anti-aging benefits through antioxidant properties

Cardiovascular Health Studies show oregano oil may help: - Reduce LDL (bad) cholesterol levels - Support overall heart health

Pain Management The oil demonstrates effectiveness in: - Reducing inflammation-related pain - Managing muscle discomfort - Providing topical pain relief

Safety Note

While oregano oil is generally safe, it's highly concentrated and should be properly diluted before use Consult a healthcare provider before starting supplementation, especially if taking other medications.

@ 9e69e420:d12360c2

A new report from the National Sports Shooting Foundation (NSSF) shows that civilian firearm possession exceeded 490 million in 2022. The total from 1990 to 2022 is estimated at 491.3 million firearms. In 2022, over ten million firearms were domestically produced, leading to a total of 16,045,911 firearms available in the U.S. market.

Of these, 9,873,136 were handguns, 4,195,192 were rifles, and 1,977,583 were shotguns. Handgun availability aligns with the concealed carry and self-defense market, as all states allow concealed carry, with 29 having constitutional carry laws.

@ 3c7dc2c5:805642a8

🧠Quote(s) of the week:

The path to maximalism is littered with mistakes and paved with humility.' Anilsaido

Bitcoin is time because money itself is time.

Money is humanity’s battery: a way to store energy, labor, and resources for the future. It captures your past effort and preserves it for when you need it most. Fiat leaks. Bitcoin holds.

🧡Bitcoin news🧡

On the 18th of March:

➡️After ruling out a strategic bitcoin reserve, the Bank of Korea will launch a central bank digital currency pilot in April, per The Korea Times.

➡️'Metaplanet has acquired an additional 150 BTC for ~$12.5 million, achieving a BTC Yield of 60.8% YTD in 2025.

As of 3/18/2025, Metaplanet hodls 3,200 BTC, and is now a top 10 publicly listed holder of Bitcoin globally.' -Dylan LeClair

➡️Bitcoin entered a risk-off, distribution-dominant phase in early 2025, evidenced by frequent selling and hesitation to buy (yellow to orange dots). - AMB Crypto

➡️Bitwise CIO says Bitcoin should be at $200,000 today and says, “I think the number of companies buying Bitcoin is going to triple this year, I think Game Theory is on.”

“I think countries around the world are going to be buying Bitcoin. There is structurally more demand than supply in Bitcoin.”

➡️Bitcoin mining company Bitfarms buys Stronghold Digital for more than $110 million, making it the largest public-to-public acquisition in Bitcoin industry history.

➡️Bitcoin long-term HODLers become net buyers for the first time since September, per Compass Point Research.

"Buying/selling from HODLers is typically a leading indicator for BTC.

This cohort now owns 65% of BTC supply vs 63% last week vs 73% in early October." - Bitcoin News

➡️GlassNode: 'The Bitcoin market continues to adjust to its new price range after experiencing a -30% correction. Liquidity conditions are also contracting in both on-chain and futures markets.'

➡️Bitcoin now ranks 6th among the world's top monetary assets at $1.62 trillion, per Porkopolis.

➡️The EU isn't banning Bitcoin but using MiCA and other regulations to control it.

This involves stripping away privacy through transaction tracking, mandatory disclosures, and restrictions on self-custody.

The goal is control, not outright prohibition.

Excellent thread by Eli. Eli summarises the EU’s attack on Bitcoin and on Europeans’ rights:

https://x.com/i/web/status/1902048401908261146

Agree 100% with all of this. All these people who have been saying the EU pushing the industry forward with regulations are idiots. They are closing it off and pushing everyone to a CBDC.

Regarding the CBCD, here you will find a comprehensive summary of EU’s CBDC plans, by Efrat Fenigson:

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/politics/ecb-prepping-the-ground-for-digital-euro-launch

*On the 20th of March, the ECB posted the following statement on Twitter:

'The digital euro is not just about creating a new form of money, says Chief Economist Philip R. Lane.

It is about ensuring that Europe retains control over its monetary and financial destiny in the digital age against a backdrop of increasing geopolitical fragmentation.'

“It’s about ensuring that the EU retains control over its citizens.”

There, I fixed it for you if you missed the primary reason.

The Euro is a permissioned, centralized, censorable, inflationary, debt-based currency controlled by unelected bureaucrats.

Bitcoin is permissionless, decentralized, censorship-resistant, fixed in supply, and governed by code—not politicians.

Choose wisely.

➡️As mentioned in last week's Weekly Recap the US Government spends $3.3B per day in interest rate expense. If this doesn’t make you buy Bitcoin I’m not sure what will.

➡️In Kibera, Africa’s largest informal settlement, more than 40 merchants now accept and save in Bitcoin.

➡️The increase in 3-6 month-old UTXOs suggests accumulation during this market correction, a behavior historically critical in forming market bottoms and driving new price rallies.

➡️Just as Hal Finney predicted, Bitcoin will take over Wall Street: Multiple American Bitcoin companies are now seeking to become state or national banks, reports Reuters.

It is inevitable.

➡️Daniel Batten:

2021: 62 US Environmental Organizations write to coCongressaying Bitcoin is bad for the environment and has no use (based on Central Bank misinformation)

2025: US Environmental Organizations debunked (impossible, had they used Bitcoin)

Strange are the ways of karma.

Meanwhile,

➡️President Trump's Executive Director, Bo Hines, on digital assets: "We talked about ways of acquiring more Bitcoin in budget-neutral ways."

We want "as much as we can get."

When Bitcoin is at $200k. We will look back on March 2025 and say, how was everyone not buying. It was so obvious.

On the 19th of March:

➡️BLACKROCK: “The most sophisticated long-term Bitcoin accumulators are pretty excited about this dip. They see the correction as a buying opportunity."

On the 20th of March:

➡️SEC confirms that Bitcoin and Proof of Work mining are NOT securities under US law.

Source: https://t.co/0ExsJniPIf

➡️Bitcoin exchange Kraken has agreed to acquire NinjaTrader, the leading U.S. retail futures trading platform, for $1.5 billion—the largest deal ever of a Bitcoin company buying a traditional financial company.

➡️TRUMP: “I signed an order creating the brand new Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and the US digital asset stockpile which will allow the Federal government to maximize the value of its holdings.”

Tweet and hot take by Lola L33tz

"With the dollar-backed stablecoins, you'll help expand the dominance of the US Dollar [...] It will be at the top, and that's where we want to keep it"

'What he means is:

With dollar-backed stablecoins, the Global South will pivot towards digital Dollars over local currencies, allowing private, US government-controlled entities to replace bank accounts around the globe.

This does not just allow for the expansion of USD dominance by bypassing local governments – it gives the US unprecedented and direct control over worldwide economies as

every stablecoin can be effectively frozen on behalf of the US with the click of a button.'

Stablecoins = CBDCs

There is no technical fundamental difference between them.

It’s almost a guarantee that the EU CBDCs and U.S. stablecoins will be interchangeable.

➡️River: Bitcoin is coming for $128 trillion in global money.

You're not to late to Bitcoin.

On the 21st of March:

➡️Michael Saylor’s Strategy to raise $722.5M to buy more Bitcoin.

➡️Publicly traded Atai Life Sciences to buy $5 million in Bitcoin.

➡️Publicly traded HK Asia Holdings bought 10 Bitcoins worth $858,500 for its balance sheet.

➡️Another solo home miner has mined an entire Bitcoin block worth over $ 260.000,-.

On the 22nd of March:

➡️The University of Wyoming posted a new video explaining Bitcoin with Philosophy Professor Bradley Rettler

➡️Spot Bitcoin ETFs bought 8,775 BTC this week while miners only mined 3,150 Bitcoin.

On the 24th of March:

➡️Metaplanet finished the day as the 13th most liquid stock in Japan, with ¥50.4 billion ($336.6m) of daily trading volume, ahead of Toyota and Nintendo.

➡️River: There is a 275% gap between the inflation you're told and real inflation.

Bitcoin is insurance on the debt spiral. The U.S. Dollar has been devalued by more than 363% since 2000 – That’s a 14.5% devaluation per year. This means if your savings don’t grow by 14.5% annually, you’re falling behind. This is why we Bitcoin. Bitcoin is insurance on the debt spiral, grow your savings beyond the dollar’s devaluation!

➡️Bitcoin's compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over a 5-year rolling window is currently over 50%

➡️Strategy became the first publicly traded company to hold over 500,000 Bitcoin worth over $44 billion.

Strategy has acquired 6,911 BTC for ~$584.1 million at ~$84,529 per Bitcoin and has achieved a BTC Yield of 7.7% YTD 2025. As of 3/23/2025,

Strategy holds 506,137 BTC acquired for ~$33.7 billion at ~$66,608 per Bitcoin.

➡️CryptoQuant: Bitcoin's long-term holders are holding firm, with no significant selling pressure.

➡️Xapo Bank launches Bitcoin-backed USD loans up to $1M, with collateral secured in an MPC vault and no re-usage.

💸Traditional Finance / Macro:

👉🏽no news

🏦Banks: 

👉🏽 no news

🌎Macro/Geopolitics:

On the 18th of March:

👉🏽Germany just changed its constitution to unleash a staggering ONE TRILLION in new debt. The German parliament has voted to take on hundreds of billions of euros of new government debt, to ease the debt brake rules, and to codify "climate neutrality by 2045" into the constitution.

On top of that, some extra money to Ukraine:

Germany's next Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, believes that Putin has gone to war against all of Europe. He argues that Russia has attacked Germany, as the Parliament breaks out in applause.

We continue to move further away from the "Europe is not part of the conflict" rhetoric. Germany’s self-inflicted delusion continues!

👉🏽Germany's first offshore wind farm closes after 15 years because it's too expensive to operate. Expect a car crash. The Alpha Ventus offshore wind farm near the German North Sea island of Borkum is set to be dismantled after being in operation for only 15 years. It has become too unprofitable to operate without massive subsidies.

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/03/16/germanys-first-offshore-wind-farm-to-be-dismantled-after-just-15-years-of-operation/

Great thing that the Netherlands is investing heavily in offshore wind farms, even the biggest pension fund APB. Because nInE tImEs ChEaPeR tHaN gAs, right?

I hope they dismantle them & not leave them to rust into the sea. Right? Because climate!

Great response by Jasmine Birtles: "These vanity projects should never have been allowed to start. The phrase 'cheap renewable energy' is simply a falsehood. This kind of energy production only seems cheap because of the huge government subsidies that keep them going. I'm all for clean energy if it's possible to run it honestly and without huge subsidies, but while it doesn't seem to be viable we should stick with what is affordable and will keep the country going, rather than sacrificing the vulnerable to an impossible ideology."

👉🏽'Gold spot is now trading consistently over $3000, a record high. And with deliveries once again picking up at the Comex and war in the Middle East coming back with a vengeance, the next big spike is just a matter of time. As expected, once gold broke out above $3000,- it has gone vertical and is up 1% in the past hours, rising to a new record high of $3034, as it sets off for $4000' - ZeroHedge

👉🏽'We have just witnessed the biggest drop in US equity allocation on record. The collapse of US consumers:

Unemployment expectations in the US are now ABOVE 2020 levels and at their highest since 2008.

In 2024, a poll showed that a whopping 56% of Americans thought the US was in a recession.' - TKL

👉🏽OECD Projects Argentina to Have the Second Highest Economic Growth Worldwide in 2025

👉🏽A new blow to the Dutch chemical sector. The major producer LyondellBasell is permanently closing its factory at the Maasvlakte. This decision, announced on Tuesday afternoon, will result in the loss of approximately 160 jobs. The closure is a direct consequence of global overcapacity and high energy costs in the Netherlands.

An audit by the German firm E-Bridge, commissioned by the Dutch government, previously revealed that electricity costs for these companies in the Netherlands amount to €95 per megawatt-hour.

In comparison, this rate is €32 in France (66% lower), €45.60 in Germany (52% lower), and €56.05 per megawatt-hour in Belgium (41% lower).

According to E-Bridge, this difference is mainly due to the compensation that foreign governments provide to companies and the lower grid tariffs. In the Netherlands, costs have risen primarily to finance investments in the electricity grid, such as connecting multiple offshore wind farms.

Now read that segment on offshore wind farms. Mindblowing, innit?

Subsidies are not the solution—deregulation is. But Brussels won’t allow that. So, we’re heading toward even more regulation and nationalization.

On the 19th of March:

👉🏽The Fed makes multiple revisions to its 2025 economic data projections.

Powell finally found the "stag" and the "inflation":

Fed cuts year-end GDP forecast from 2.1% to 1.7%

Fed raises year-end core PCE forecast from 2.5% to 2.8%

Fed raises year-end unemployment forecast from 4.3% to 4.4%

Fed raises PCE inflation forecast from 2.5% to 2.7%

The Fed sees higher inflation and a weaker economy.

On the 20th of March:

Dutch Central Bank Director Klaas Knot "We are worried about American influence on our local payment infrastructure."

Paving the way for the European CBDC (after slowly but surely removing CASH MONEY from society).

Knot has completed his second term and will leave his office in July. Now, of course, pushing for the CBDC, before looking for a new job in Europe.

Anyway, DNB posts billions in losses.

De Nederlandsche Bank suffered a loss of over €3 billion last year, according to the annual report published on Thursday. This marks the second consecutive year of losses.

DNB incurs this loss because, as part of its monetary policy, it has lent out billions at relatively low rates while having to pay a higher rate to banks that park their money at the central bank.

But no losses on its gold. The gold reserves, meanwhile, increased in value by €12.6 billion. This amount is not included in the official profit and loss statement but is reflected on the bank's balance sheet.

For the Dutch readers/followers: Great article: Follow the Money 'Voor de megawinsten van ING, ABN Amro en Rabobank betaalt de Nederlandse burger een hoge prijs.'

https://archive.ph/ncvtk

On the 21st of March:

👉🏽'The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing index dropped 5.6 points in March, to 12.5, its 2nd consecutive monthly decline.

6-month outlook for new orders fell by 30.8 points, to 2.3, the lowest in 3 years.

This marks the third-largest drop in history, only behind the 2008 Financial Crisis and December 1973.

Furthermore, 6-month business outlook dropped ~40 points to its lowest since January 2024.

All while prices paid rose 7.8 points, to 48.3, the highest since July 2022.

This is further evidence of weakening economic activity with rising prices.' TKL

👉🏽'China’s central bank gold reserves hit a record 73.6 million fine troy ounces in February.

China bought ~160,000 ounces of gold last month, posting their 4th consecutive monthly purchase.

Over the last 2.5 years, China’s gold reserves have jumped by 11.0 million ounces of gold.

Gold now reflects a record ~5.9% of China’s total foreign exchange reserves, or 2,290 tonnes.

Central banks continue to stock up on gold as if we are in a crisis.' -TKL

🎁If you have made it this far I would like to give you a little gift:

What Bitcoin Did: BITCOIN & THE END OF THE DOLLAR SYSTEM with Luke Gromen

They discuss:

• The Sovereign Debt Crisis

• If the US Will Reprice the Gold

• If we will See Triple Digit Inflation

• The End of The US Dollar System

Luke Gromen: A modest clarification: The end of the post-71 structure of the USD system is what the Trump Administration’s actions appear to be pursuing & will in due time achieve if they stay on the present course.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W2jEedynbc

Credit: I have used multiple sources!

My savings account: Bitcoin The tool I recommend for setting up a Bitcoin savings plan: PocketBitcoin especially suited for beginners or people who want to invest in Bitcoin with an automated investment plan once a week or monthly.

Use the code SE3997

Get your Bitcoin out of exchanges. Save them on a hardware wallet, run your own node...be your own bank. Not your keys, not your coins. It's that simple. ⠀⠀

⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀

Do you think this post is helpful to you? If so, please share it and support my work with a zap.

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

⭐ Many thanks⭐

Felipe - Bitcoin Friday!

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@ 8d34bd24:414be32b

This post was inspired by my Pastor’s sermon this morning. I’ve read this passage a bunch of times. I’ve always seen Jesus’s divinity. I’ve also seen the disciples’ lack of faith, but there is so much more to get out of this passage. It shocks me that I never saw it before and just had to share.

Now on one of those days Jesus and His disciples got into a boat, and He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they launched out. But as they were sailing along He fell asleep; and a fierce gale of wind descended on the lake, and they began to be swamped and to be in danger. They came to Jesus and woke Him up, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And He got up and rebuked the wind and the surging waves, and they stopped, and it became calm. And He said to them, “Where is your faith?” They were fearful and amazed, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?” (Luke 8:22-25)

It is obvious from this passage, that Jesus is divine. It reminds us of Genesis 1 when God speaks the waters into existence. It reminds me of Job:

“Or who enclosed the sea with doors\ When, bursting forth, it went out from the womb;\ When I made a cloud its garment\ And thick darkness its swaddling band,\ And I placed boundaries on it\ And set a bolt and doors,\ And I said, ‘Thus far you shall come, but no farther;\ And here shall your proud waves stop’? (Job 38:8-11) {emphasis mine}

Jesus spoke and the wind and waves instantly complied. All was instantly calm. Jesus’s actions scream His divinity, but there is so much more to get out of this passage in Luke 8.

Why?

My pastor asked everyone a key question, “When Jesus told His disciples to get in the boat and to cross to the other side, did He know there would be a big, life threatening storm?” The kids at church wisely shouted, “Yes!”

Several of Jesus’s disciples were fishermen. They worked their entire lives fishing in boats in the Sea of Galilee. The were familiar with boats, wind, waves, and storms, and yet they were terrified by this storm. This was not a little storm. This storm was tossing around the boat and splashing waves of water into the boat threatening to capsize it in the middle of this large body of water.

I can somewhat relate (but not fully). I grew up in Florida and we would occasionally take a boat a couple of hours across the ocean to and from the Bahamas (Abaccos). One time we had to make the crossing on a particular day to get me back to head off to college. At this time, there was a Hurricane in the gulf (other side of Florida) that were making really big waves. If my memory is correct, we were in a 34 foot long boat and the waves were taller than the boat was long. My Dad would give full throttle to ease up one side of wave and then pull back as we shot down the far side of the wave and then again and again for hours. If the engine had failed, we would have turned sideways and been capsized. If my Dad had not kept the boat straight into the waves, we would likely have capsized, but my Father knew what to do and we made it safely to shore.

Jesus knew this giant storm was going to blow up, but He told His disciples to head right into what would soon be a giant storm. One key thought that I had previously missed is that He did not send them into the storm alone. He went with His disciples.

Initially the disciples tried to battle the storm themselves, but it was a losing proposition. They were losing the battle with the storm and losing it badly. Finally, they went to Jesus. I like how the NIV says it, “The disciples went and woke him, saying, ‘Master, Master, we’re going to drown!’” Mark 4:38 says, “Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?’” The disciples didn’t just ask for help; they accused Jesus of not caring. They called Him “Master” and “Teacher,” instead of “God” or “Lord.”

So going back to my Pastor’s question, why did Jesus, who knew there was going to be a terrible storm, tell His disciples to cross the water at that time? Was He teaching His disciples to trust in Him? Was He teaching His disciples to ask Him for help when they had a need? Was He teaching them who He was in a way that they would never forget? I think the answer to all of these questions is clearly, “Yes!”

Application

Now we need to look at this passage and ask, “what do we need to take away and learn from this passage?” and “how can we apply this passage?”

I think there are several key points:

1. Jesus knew what was about to happen to them.

2. Jesus had a plan and a purpose for putting them in this fearful and life threatening situation.

3. This hardship had a good purpose.

4. Jesus was with them through it all.

So often I have people who want to deny that a loving God would intentionally put themselves or others in uncomfortable, scary, or dangerous situations. They say, “God wouldn’t do that.” or “Why would God do that?” Yes, God does cause us to go through hard times (I refuse to say bad), but not to cause us pain or hardship, but to grow us in our faith and witness.

It is a rare person who grows in faith during ease and pleasant circumstances. Most of us require hardship to force us to stop doing everything on our own and to trust Jesus and to lean on His power (Yes, I am speaking from personal experience). Nothing glorifies God more than resting in Him during the storm. Yes, God cares and loves you very much. Yes, God is with you through every hardship you will ever experience. Yes, God wants the best for you. We may not appreciate it in the moment, but God cares more about your eternal good than your momentary ease and happiness. He gives you what you need instead of what you want.

The amazing thing is that when you learn to trust in Him, when you learn to rely on His power, and when you learn to look for His good work in every situation, you will find a joy and peace like you never imagined. Instead of chasing everything looking for the perfect situation to make you happy, you will rest in the hand of the Father knowing a joy and peace that surpasses all human understanding.

In child labor, a woman’s body does what it is supposed to do to produce a baby. Sometimes, out of fear or desire for control, a woman will fight the labor. They will tense up and it causes more pain. If they relax and trust that the delivery will happen as it should, the delivery is usually much easier. Similarly, when we fight Jesus during the storm, when we don’t trust His omnipotence and omniscience, and when we try to do it our way instead of His, we actually make these hard times more uncomfortable and less effective. Instead of learning what God is teaching us, we end up harming ourselves. Instead of building an amazing witness, we give God a bad name.

No matter how bad the storm, look to Jesus and know that He is God. He is our good and loving God who works everything for our good.

Trust Jesus

@ f9cf4e94:96abc355

Para esse exemplo iremos usar: | Nome | Imagem | Descrição | | --------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------ | | Raspberry PI B+ | | Cortex-A53 (ARMv8) 64-bit a 1.4GHz e 1 GB de SDRAM LPDDR2, | | Pen drive | | 16Gb |

Recomendo que use o Ubuntu Server para essa instalação. Você pode baixar o Ubuntu para Raspberry Pi aqui. O passo a passo para a instalação do Ubuntu no Raspberry Pi está disponível aqui. Não instale um desktop (como xubuntu, lubuntu, xfce, etc.).

---

Passo 1: Atualizar o Sistema 🖥️

Primeiro, atualize seu sistema e instale o Tor:

bash apt update apt install tor

---

Passo 2: Criar o Arquivo de Serviço nrs.service 🔧

Crie o arquivo de serviço que vai gerenciar o servidor Nostr. Você pode fazer isso com o seguinte conteúdo:

```unit [Unit] Description=Nostr Relay Server Service After=network.target

[Service] Type=simple WorkingDirectory=/opt/nrs ExecStart=/opt/nrs/nrs-arm64 Restart=on-failure

[Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target ```

---

Passo 3: Baixar o Binário do Nostr 🚀

Baixe o binário mais recente do Nostr aqui no GitHub.

---

Passo 4: Criar as Pastas Necessárias 📂

Agora, crie as pastas para o aplicativo e o pendrive:

bash mkdir -p /opt/nrs /mnt/edriver

---

Passo 5: Listar os Dispositivos Conectados 🔌

Para saber qual dispositivo você vai usar, liste todos os dispositivos conectados:

bash lsblk

---

Passo 6: Formatando o Pendrive 💾

Escolha o pendrive correto (por exemplo, /dev/sda) e formate-o:

bash mkfs.vfat /dev/sda

---

Passo 7: Montar o Pendrive 💻

Monte o pendrive na pasta /mnt/edriver:

bash mount /dev/sda /mnt/edriver

---

Passo 8: Verificar UUID dos Dispositivos 📋

Para garantir que o sistema monte o pendrive automaticamente, liste os UUID dos dispositivos conectados:

bash blkid

---

Passo 9: Alterar o fstab para Montar o Pendrive Automáticamente 📝

Abra o arquivo /etc/fstab e adicione uma linha para o pendrive, com o UUID que você obteve no passo anterior. A linha deve ficar assim:

fstab UUID=9c9008f8-f852 /mnt/edriver vfat defaults 0 0

---

Passo 10: Copiar o Binário para a Pasta Correta 📥

Agora, copie o binário baixado para a pasta /opt/nrs:

bash cp nrs-arm64 /opt/nrs

---

Passo 11: Criar o Arquivo de Configuração 🛠️

Crie o arquivo de configuração com o seguinte conteúdo e salve-o em /opt/nrs/config.yaml:

yaml app_env: production info: name: Nostr Relay Server description: Nostr Relay Server pub_key: "" contact: "" url: http://localhost:3334 icon: https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u= https://public.bnbstatic.com/image/cms/crawler/COINCU_NEWS/image-495-1024x569.png base_path: /mnt/edriver negentropy: true

---

Passo 12: Copiar o Serviço para o Diretório de Systemd ⚙️

Agora, copie o arquivo nrs.service para o diretório /etc/systemd/system/:

bash cp nrs.service /etc/systemd/system/

Recarregue os serviços e inicie o serviço nrs:

bash systemctl daemon-reload systemctl enable --now nrs.service

---

Passo 13: Configurar o Tor 🌐

Abra o arquivo de configuração do Tor /var/lib/tor/torrc e adicione a seguinte linha:

torrc HiddenServiceDir /var/lib/tor/nostr_server/ HiddenServicePort 80 127.0.0.1:3334

---

Passo 14: Habilitar e Iniciar o Tor 🧅

Agora, ative e inicie o serviço Tor:

bash systemctl enable --now tor.service

O Tor irá gerar um endereço .onion para o seu servidor Nostr. Você pode encontrá-lo no arquivo /var/lib/tor/nostr_server/hostname.

---

Observações ⚠️

• Com essa configuração, os dados serão salvos no pendrive, enquanto o binário ficará no cartão SD do Raspberry Pi.
• O endereço .onion do seu servidor Nostr será algo como: ws://y3t5t5wgwjif<exemplo>h42zy7ih6iwbyd.onion.

---

Agora, seu servidor Nostr deve estar configurado e funcionando com Tor! 🥳

Se este artigo e as informações aqui contidas forem úteis para você, convidamos a considerar uma doação ao autor como forma de reconhecimento e incentivo à produção de novos conteúdos.

@ 8fb140b4:f948000c

As many of you know, https://nostr.build has recently launched a new compatibility layer for the Blossom protocol blossom.band. You can find all the details about what it supports and its limitations by visiting the URL.

I wanted to cover some of the technical details about how it works here. One key difference you may notice is that the service acts as a linker, redirecting requests for the media hash to the actual source of the media—specifically, the nostr.build URL. This allows us to maintain a unified CDN cache and ensure that your media is served as quickly as possible.

Another difference is that each uploaded media/blob is served under its own subdomain (e.g., npub1[...].blossom.band), ensuring that your association with the blob is controlled by you. If you decide to delete the media for any reason, we ensure that the link is broken, even if someone else has duplicated it using the same hash.

To comply with the Blossom protocol, we also link the same hash under the main (apex) domain (blossom.band) and collect all associations under it. This ensures that Blossom clients can fetch media based on users’ Blossom server settings. If you are the sole owner of the hash and there are no duplicates, deleting the media removes the link from the main domain as well.

Lastly, in line with our mission to protect users’ privacy, we reject any media that contains private metadata (such as GPS coordinates, user comments, or camera serial numbers) or strip it if you use the /media/ endpoint for upload.

As always, your feedback is welcome and appreciated. Thank you!

@ 30ceb64e:7f08bdf5

NIP-101e: Workout Data and Running Extensions

NIP-101e represents a crucial step forward for fitness tracking on Nostr, giving us a common language that would allow workout data to flow freely between apps. This proposal outlines a thoughtful framework with Exercise Templates, Workout Templates, and Workout Records that would finally free our fitness data from proprietary silos and put it back in our hands. I'm eager to see this proposal implemented because it would create the foundation for a genuinely open fitness ecosystem on Nostr.

As a runner building a Nostr running app RUNSTR, I've proposed some running-specific extensions to NIP-101e that address the unique needs of runners without disrupting the elegant structure of the original proposal. My extensions would standardize how we record GPS routes, pace metrics, elevation data, splits, and even weather conditions - all things that matter tremendously to runners but aren't covered in the base proposal that focuses more on strength training.

By implementing NIP-101e along with these running extensions, we could create something truly revolutionary: a fitness ecosystem where runners aren't locked into a single platform because of their data. You could track your morning run in my app, analyze your training in another app that specializes in statistics, and share achievements with friends using whatever Nostr clients they prefer. I believe strongly in getting NIP-101e implemented with these extensions included because it would foster innovation while giving runners unprecedented freedom to own their data and use it however they want. Let's make this happen and show what's possible when fitness data becomes truly interoperable!

@ 3c7dc2c5:805642a8

🧠Quote(s) of the week:

The path to maximalism is littered with mistakes and paved with humility.' Anilsaido https://i.ibb.co/ZzcCHwgT/Gip-G0vdb-YAAV9-Mw-1.jpg

Bitcoin is time because money itself is time. Money is humanity’s battery: a way to store energy, labor, and resources for the future. It captures your past effort and preserves it for when you need it most. Fiat leaks. Bitcoin holds.

🧡Bitcoin news🧡

On the 18th of March:

➡️After ruling out a strategic bitcoin reserve, the Bank of Korea will launch a central bank digital currency pilot in April, per The Korea Times.

➡️'Metaplanet has acquired an additional 150 BTC for ~$12.5 million, achieving a BTC Yield of 60.8% YTD in 2025. As of 3/18/2025, Metaplanet hodls 3,200 BTC, and is now a top 10 publicly listed holder of Bitcoin globally.' -Dylan LeClair

➡️Bitcoin entered a risk-off, distribution-dominant phase in early 2025, evidenced by frequent selling and hesitation to buy (yellow to orange dots). - AMB Crypto

➡️Bitwise CIO says Bitcoin should be at $200,000 today and says, “I think the number of companies buying Bitcoin is going to triple this year, I think Game Theory is on.” “I think countries around the world are going to be buying Bitcoin. There is structurally more demand than supply in Bitcoin.”

➡️Bitcoin mining company Bitfarms buys Stronghold Digital for more than $110 million, making it the largest public-to-public acquisition in Bitcoin industry history.

➡️Bitcoin long-term HODLers become net buyers for the first time since September, per Compass Point Research. "Buying/selling from HODLers is typically a leading indicator for BTC. This cohort now owns 65% of BTC supply vs 63% last week vs 73% in early October." - Bitcoin News

➡️GlassNode: 'The Bitcoin market continues to adjust to its new price range after experiencing a -30% correction. Liquidity conditions are also contracting in both on-chain and futures markets.'

➡️Bitcoin now ranks 6th among the world's top monetary assets at $1.62 trillion, per Porkopolis.

➡️The EU isn't banning Bitcoin but using MiCA and other regulations to control it. This involves stripping away privacy through transaction tracking, mandatory disclosures, and restrictions on self-custody. The goal is control, not outright prohibition.

Excellent thread by Eli. Eli summarises the EU’s attack on Bitcoin and on Europeans’ rights: https://x.com/EliNagarBrr/status/1902048401908261146

Agree 100% with all of this. All these people who have been saying the EU pushing the industry forward with regulations are idiots. They are closing it off and pushing everyone to a CBDC.

Regarding the CBCD, here you will find a comprehensive summary of EU’s CBDC plans, by Efrat Fenigson: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/politics/ecb-prepping-the-ground-for-digital-euro-launch

*On the 20th of March, the ECB posted the following statement on Twitter:

'The digital euro is not just about creating a new form of money, says Chief Economist Philip R. Lane. It is about ensuring that Europe retains control over its monetary and financial destiny in the digital age against a backdrop of increasing geopolitical fragmentation.'

“It’s about ensuring that the EU retains control over its citizens.”

There, I fixed it for you if you missed the primary reason.

The Euro is a permissioned, centralized, censorable, inflationary, debt-based currency controlled by unelected bureaucrats.

Bitcoin is permissionless, decentralized, censorship-resistant, fixed in supply, and governed by code—not politicians.

Choose wisely.

➡️As mentioned in last week's Weekly Recap the US Government spends $3.3B per day in interest rate expense. If this doesn’t make you buy Bitcoin I’m not sure what will. https://i.ibb.co/sdt1GvfM/Gm-Vd-FBz-XQAA3t3-M-1.jpg

➡️In Kibera, Africa’s largest informal settlement, more than 40 merchants now accept and save in Bitcoin.

➡️The increase in 3-6 month-old UTXOs suggests accumulation during this market correction, a behavior historically critical in forming market bottoms and driving new price rallies.

➡️Just as Hal Finney predicted, Bitcoin will take over Wall Street: Multiple American Bitcoin companies are now seeking to become state or national banks, reports Reuters. It is inevitable.

➡️Daniel Batten: 2021: 62 US Environmental Organizations write to coCongressaying Bitcoin is bad for the environment and has no use (based on Central Bank misinformation) 2025: US Environmental Organizations debunked (impossible, had they used Bitcoin) Strange are the ways of karma.

Meanwhile,

➡️President Trump's Executive Director, Bo Hines, on digital assets: "We talked about ways of acquiring more Bitcoin in budget-neutral ways." We want "as much as we can get."

When Bitcoin is at $200k. We will look back on March 2025 and say, how was everyone not buying. It was so obvious.

On the 19th of March:

➡️BLACKROCK: “The most sophisticated long-term Bitcoin accumulators are pretty excited about this dip. They see the correction as a buying opportunity."

On the 20th of March:

➡️SEC confirms that Bitcoin and Proof of Work mining are NOT securities under US law. https://i.ibb.co/nWRHjnk/Gmg-Yxv-QWEAAgwx8.png

Source: https://t.co/0ExsJniPIf

➡️Bitcoin exchange Kraken has agreed to acquire NinjaTrader, the leading U.S. retail futures trading platform, for $1.5 billion—the largest deal ever of a Bitcoin company buying a traditional financial company.

➡️TRUMP: “I signed an order creating the brand new Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and the US digital asset stockpile which will allow the Federal government to maximize the value of its holdings.”

Tweet and hot take by Lola L33tz

"With the dollar-backed stablecoins, you'll help expand the dominance of the US Dollar [...] It will be at the top, and that's where we want to keep it"

'What he means is: With dollar-backed stablecoins, the Global South will pivot towards digital Dollars over local currencies, allowing private, US government-controlled entities to replace bank accounts around the globe. This does not just allow for the expansion of USD dominance by bypassing local governments – it gives the US unprecedented and direct control over worldwide economies as every stablecoin can be effectively frozen on behalf of the US with the click of a button.'

Stablecoins = CBDCs There is no technical fundamental difference between them. It’s almost a guarantee that the EU CBDCs and U.S. stablecoins will be interchangeable.

➡️River: Bitcoin is coming for $128 trillion in global money. You're not late to Bitcoin. https://i.ibb.co/7thzHJMx/Gmf-Uvra-EAEV4-U0.png

On the 21st of March:

➡️Michael Saylor’s Strategy to raise $722.5M to buy more Bitcoin.

➡️Publicly traded Atai Life Sciences to buy $5 million in Bitcoin.

➡️Publicly traded HK Asia Holdings bought 10 Bitcoins worth $858,500 for its balance sheet.

➡️Another solo home miner has mined an entire Bitcoin block worth over $ 260.000,-.

On the 22nd of March:

➡️The University of Wyoming posted a new video explaining Bitcoin with Philosophy Professor Bradley Rettler

➡️Spot Bitcoin ETFs bought 8,775 BTC this week while miners only mined 3,150 Bitcoin.

On the 24th of March:

➡️Metaplanet finished the day as the 13th most liquid stock in Japan, with ¥50.4 billion ($336.6m) of daily trading volume, ahead of Toyota and Nintendo.

➡️River: There is a 275% gap between the inflation you're told and real inflation.

https://i.ibb.co/mCs2Lgcc/Gmz-4qc-WMAAzx-z.png

Bitcoin is insurance on the debt spiral. The U.S. Dollar has been devalued by more than 363% since 2000 – That’s a 14.5% devaluation per year. This means if your savings don’t grow by 14.5% annually, you’re falling behind. This is why we Bitcoin. Bitcoin is insurance on the debt spiral, grow your savings beyond the dollar’s devaluation!

➡️Bitcoin's compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over a 5-year rolling window is currently over 50%

➡️Strategy became the first publicly traded company to hold over 500,000 Bitcoin worth over $44 billion. Strategy has acquired 6,911 BTC for ~$584.1 million at ~$84,529 per Bitcoin and has achieved a BTC Yield of 7.7% YTD 2025. As of 3/23/2025, Strategy holds 506,137 BTC acquired for ~$33.7 billion at ~$66,608 per Bitcoin.

➡️CryptoQuant: Bitcoin's long-term holders are holding firm, with no significant selling pressure.

➡️Xapo Bank launches Bitcoin-backed USD loans up to $1M, with collateral secured in an MPC vault and no re-usage.

💸Traditional Finance / Macro:

👉🏽no news

🏦Banks:

👉🏽 no news

🌎Macro/Geopolitics:

On the 18th of March:

👉🏽Germany just changed its constitution to unleash a staggering ONE TRILLION in new debt. The German parliament has voted to take on hundreds of billions of euros of new government debt, to ease the debt brake rules, and to codify "climate neutrality by 2045" into the constitution.

On top of that, some extra money to Ukraine: Germany's next Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, believes that Putin has gone to war against all of Europe. He argues that Russia has attacked Germany, as the Parliament breaks out in applause.

-  We continue to move further away from the "Europe is not part of the conflict" rhetoric. Germany’s self-inflicted delusion continues!

👉🏽Germany's first offshore wind farm closes after 15 years because it's too expensive to operate. Expect a car crash. The Alpha Ventus offshore wind farm near the German North Sea island of Borkum is set to be dismantled after being in operation for only 15 years. It has become too unprofitable to operate without massive subsidies.

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/03/16/germanys-first-offshore-wind-farm-to-be-dismantled-after-just-15-years-of-operation/

Great thing that the Netherlands is investing heavily in offshore wind farms, even the biggest pension fund APB. Because nInE tImEs ChEaPeR tHaN gAs, right?

I hope they dismantle them & not leave them to rust into the sea. Right? Because climate!

Great response by Jasmine Birtles: "These vanity projects should never have been allowed to start. The phrase 'cheap renewable energy' is simply a falsehood. This kind of energy production only seems cheap because of the huge government subsidies that keep them going. I'm all for clean energy if it's possible to run it honestly and without huge subsidies, but while it doesn't seem to be viable we should stick with what is affordable and will keep the country going, rather than sacrificing the vulnerable to an impossible ideology."

👉🏽'Gold spot is now trading consistently over $3000, a record high. And with deliveries once again picking up at the Comex and war in the Middle East coming back with a vengeance, the next big spike is just a matter of time. As expected, once gold broke out above $3000,- it has gone vertical and is up 1% in the past hours, rising to a new record high of $3034, as it sets off for $4000' - ZeroHedge

👉🏽'We have just witnessed the biggest drop in US equity allocation on record. The collapse of US consumers: Unemployment expectations in the US are now ABOVE 2020 levels and at their highest since 2008. In 2024, a poll showed that a whopping 56% of Americans thought the US was in a recession.' - TKL

https://i.ibb.co/ycnRDpdf/Gm-VZMnb-XAAAt76r.png

👉🏽OECD Projects Argentina to Have the Second Highest Economic Growth Worldwide in 2025

👉🏽A new blow to the Dutch chemical sector. The major producer LyondellBasell is permanently closing its factory at the Maasvlakte. This decision, announced on Tuesday afternoon, will result in the loss of approximately 160 jobs. The closure is a direct consequence of global overcapacity and high energy costs in the Netherlands. An audit by the German firm E-Bridge, commissioned by the Dutch government, previously revealed that electricity costs for these companies in the Netherlands amount to €95 per megawatt-hour.

In comparison, this rate is €32 in France (66% lower), €45.60 in Germany (52% lower), and €56.05 per megawatt-hour in Belgium (41% lower).

According to E-Bridge, this difference is mainly due to the compensation that foreign governments provide to companies and the lower grid tariffs. In the Netherlands, costs have risen primarily to finance investments in the electricity grid, such as connecting multiple offshore wind farms.

Now read that segment on offshore wind farms. Mindblowing, innit?

Subsidies are not the solution—deregulation is. But Brussels won’t allow that. So, we’re heading toward even more regulation and nationalization.

On the 19th of March:

👉🏽The Fed makes multiple revisions to its 2025 economic data projections.

Powell finally found the "stag" and the "inflation":

Fed cuts year-end GDP forecast from 2.1% to 1.7%

Fed raises year-end core PCE forecast from 2.5% to 2.8%

Fed raises year-end unemployment forecast from 4.3% to 4.4%

Fed raises PCE inflation forecast from 2.5% to 2.7%

The Fed sees higher inflation and a weaker economy.

On the 20th of March:

Dutch Central Bank Director Klaas Knot "We are worried about American influence on our local payment infrastructure."

Paving the way for the European CBDC (after slowly but surely removing CASH MONEY from society). Knot has completed his second term and will leave his office in July. Now, of course, pushing for the CBDC, before looking for a new job in Europe.

Anyway, DNB posts billions in losses.

De Nederlandsche Bank suffered a loss of over €3 billion last year, according to the annual report published on Thursday. This marks the second consecutive year of losses.

DNB incurs this loss because, as part of its monetary policy, it has lent out billions at relatively low rates while having to pay a higher rate to banks that park their money at the central bank.

But no losses on its gold. The gold reserves, meanwhile, increased in value by €12.6 billion. This amount is not included in the official profit and loss statement but is reflected on the bank's balance sheet.

For the Dutch readers/followers: Great article: Follow the Money 'Voor de megawinsten van ING, ABN Amro en Rabobank betaalt de Nederlandse burger een hoge prijs.'

https://archive.ph/ncvtk

On the 21st of March:

👉🏽'The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing index dropped 5.6 points in March, to 12.5, its 2nd consecutive monthly decline. 6-month outlook for new orders fell by 30.8 points, to 2.3, the lowest in 3 years. This marks the third-largest drop in history, only behind the 2008 Financial Crisis and December 1973.

Furthermore, 6-month business outlook dropped ~40 points to its lowest since January 2024. All while prices paid rose 7.8 points, to 48.3, the highest since July 2022. This is further evidence of weakening economic activity with rising prices.' TKL

👉🏽'China’s central bank gold reserves hit a record 73.6 million fine troy ounces in February. China bought ~160,000 ounces of gold last month, posting their 4th consecutive monthly purchase. Over the last 2.5 years, China’s gold reserves have jumped by 11.0 million ounces of gold. Gold now reflects a record ~5.9% of China’s total foreign exchange reserves, or 2,290 tonnes. Central banks continue to stock up on gold as if we are in a crisis.' -TKL

🎁If you have made it this far I would like to give you a little gift:

What Bitcoin Did: BITCOIN & THE END OF THE DOLLAR SYSTEM with Luke Gromen They discuss: - The Sovereign Debt Crisis - If the US Will Reprice the Gold - If we will See Triple Digit Inflation - The End of The US Dollar System Luke Gromen: A modest clarification: The end of the post-71 structure of the USD system is what the Trump Administration’s actions appear to be pursuing & will in due time achieve if they stay on the present course.

https://t.co/IpakFaYqbL

Credit: I have used multiple sources!

My savings account: Bitcoin The tool I recommend for setting up a Bitcoin savings plan: PocketBitcoin especially suited for beginners or people who want to invest in Bitcoin with an automated investment plan once a week or monthly.

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Felipe - Bitcoin Friday!

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@ 3f770d65:7a745b24

I’ve been using Notedeck for several months, starting with its extremely early and experimental alpha versions, all the way to its current, more stable alpha releases. The journey has been fascinating, as I’ve had the privilege of watching it evolve from a concept into a functional and promising tool.

In its earliest stages, Notedeck was raw—offering glimpses of its potential but still far from practical for daily use. Even then, the vision behind it was clear: a platform designed to redefine how we interact with Nostr by offering flexibility and power for all users.

I'm very bullish on Notedeck. Why? Because Will Casarin is making it! Duh! 😂

Seriously though, if we’re reimagining the web and rebuilding portions of the Internet, it’s important to recognize the potential of Notedeck. If Nostr is reimagining the web, then Notedeck is reimagining the Nostr client.

Notedeck isn’t just another Nostr app—it’s more a Nostr browser that functions more like an operating system with micro-apps. How cool is that?

Much like how Google's Chrome evolved from being a web browser with a task manager into ChromeOS, a full blown operating system, Notedeck aims to transform how we interact with the Nostr. It goes beyond individual apps, offering a foundation for a fully integrated ecosystem built around Nostr.

As a Nostr evangelist, I love to scream INTEROPERABILITY and tout every application's integrations. Well, Notedeck has the potential to be one of the best platforms to showcase these integrations in entirely new and exciting ways.

Do you want an Olas feed of images? Add the media column.

Do you want a feed of live video events? Add the zap.stream column.

Do you want Nostr Nests or audio chats? Add that column to your Notedeck.

Git? Email? Books? Chat and DMs? It's all possible.

Not everyone wants a super app though, and that’s okay. As with most things in the Nostr ecosystem, flexibility is key. Notedeck gives users the freedom to choose how they engage with it—whether it’s simply following hashtags or managing straightforward feeds. You'll be able to tailor Notedeck to fit your needs, using it as extensively or minimally as you prefer.

Notedeck is designed with a local-first approach, utilizing Nostr content stored directly on your device via the local nostrdb. This will enable a plethora of advanced tools such as search and filtering, the creation of custom feeds, and the ability to develop personalized algorithms across multiple Notedeck micro-applications—all with unparalleled flexibility.

Notedeck also supports multicast. Let's geek out for a second. Multicast is a method of communication where data is sent from one source to multiple destinations simultaneously, but only to devices that wish to receive the data. Unlike broadcast, which sends data to all devices on a network, multicast targets specific receivers, reducing network traffic. This is commonly used for efficient data distribution in scenarios like streaming, conferencing, or large-scale data synchronization between devices.

In a local first world where each device holds local copies of your nostr nodes, and each device transparently syncs with each other on the local network, each node becomes a backup. Your data becomes antifragile automatically. When a node goes down it can resync and recover from other nodes. Even if not all nodes have a complete collection, negentropy can pull down only what is needed from each device. All this can be done without internet.

-Will Casarin

In the context of Notedeck, multicast would allow multiple devices to sync their Nostr nodes with each other over a local network without needing an internet connection. Wild.

Notedeck aims to offer full customization too, including the ability to design and share custom skins, much like Winamp. Users will also be able to create personalized columns and, in the future, share their setups with others. This opens the door for power users to craft tailored Nostr experiences, leveraging their expertise in the protocol and applications. By sharing these configurations as "Starter Decks," they can simplify onboarding and showcase the best of Nostr’s ecosystem.

Nostr’s “Other Stuff” can often be difficult to discover, use, or understand. Many users doesn't understand or know how to use web browser extensions to login to applications. Let's not even get started with nsecbunkers. Notedeck will address this challenge by providing a native experience that brings these lesser-known applications, tools, and content into a user-friendly and accessible interface, making exploration seamless. However, that doesn't mean Notedeck should disregard power users that want to use nsecbunkers though - hint hint.

For anyone interested in watching Nostr be developed live, right before your very eyes, Notedeck’s progress serves as a reminder of what’s possible when innovation meets dedication. The current alpha is already demonstrating its ability to handle complex use cases, and I’m excited to see how it continues to grow as it moves toward a full release later this year.

@ e97aaffa:2ebd765d

Último dia do ano, momento para tirar o pó da bola de cristal, para fazer reflexões, previsões e desejos para o próximo ano e seguintes.

Ano após ano, o Bitcoin evoluiu, foi ultrapassando etapas, tornou-se cada vez mais mainstream. Está cada vez mais difícil fazer previsões sobre o Bitcoin, já faltam poucas barreiras a serem ultrapassadas e as que faltam são altamente complexas ou tem um impacto profundo no sistema financeiro ou na sociedade. Estas alterações profundas tem que ser realizadas lentamente, porque uma alteração rápida poderia resultar em consequências terríveis, poderia provocar um retrocesso.

Código do Bitcoin

No final de 2025, possivelmente vamos ter um fork, as discussões sobre os covenants já estão avançadas, vão acelerar ainda mais. Já existe um consenso relativamente alto, a favor dos covenants, só falta decidir que modelo será escolhido. Penso que até ao final do ano será tudo decidido.

Depois dos covenants, o próximo foco será para a criptografia post-quantum, que será o maior desafio que o Bitcoin enfrenta. Criar uma criptografia segura e que não coloque a descentralização em causa.

Espero muito de Ark, possivelmente a inovação do ano, gostaria de ver o Nostr a furar a bolha bitcoinheira e que o Cashu tivesse mais reconhecimento pelos bitcoiners.

Espero que surjam avanços significativos no BitVM2 e BitVMX.

Não sei o que esperar das layer 2 de Bitcoin, foram a maior desilusão de 2024. Surgiram com muita força, mas pouca coisa saiu do papel, foi uma mão cheia de nada. Uma parte dos projetos caiu na tentação da shitcoinagem, na criação de tokens, que tem um único objetivo, enriquecer os devs e os VCs.

Se querem ser levados a sério, têm que ser sérios.

“À mulher de César não basta ser honesta, deve parecer honesta”

Se querem ter o apoio dos bitcoiners, sigam o ethos do Bitcoin.

Neste ponto a atitude do pessoal da Ark é exemplar, em vez de andar a chorar no Twitter para mudar o código do Bitcoin, eles colocaram as mãos na massa e criaram o protocolo. É claro que agora está meio “coxo”, funciona com uma multisig ou com os covenants na Liquid. Mas eles estão a criar um produto, vão demonstrar ao mercado que o produto é bom e útil. Com a adoção, a comunidade vai perceber que o Ark necessita dos covenants para melhorar a interoperabilidade e a soberania.

É este o pensamento certo, que deveria ser seguido pelos restantes e futuros projetos. É seguir aquele pensamento do J.F. Kennedy:

“Não perguntem o que é que o vosso país pode fazer por vocês, perguntem o que é que vocês podem fazer pelo vosso país”

Ou seja, não fiquem à espera que o bitcoin mude, criem primeiro as inovações/tecnologia, ganhem adoção e depois demonstrem que a alteração do código camada base pode melhorar ainda mais o vosso projeto. A necessidade é que vai levar a atualização do código.

Reservas Estratégicas de Bitcoin

Bancos centrais

Com a eleição de Trump, emergiu a ideia de uma Reserva Estratégia de Bitcoin, tornou este conceito mainstream. Foi um pivot, a partir desse momento, foram enumerados os políticos de todo o mundo a falar sobre o assunto.

A Senadora Cynthia Lummis foi mais além e propôs um programa para adicionar 200 mil bitcoins à reserva ao ano, até 1 milhão de Bitcoin. Só que isto está a criar uma enorme expectativa na comunidade, só que pode resultar numa enorme desilusão. Porque no primeiro ano, o Trump em vez de comprar os 200 mil, pode apenas adicionar na reserva, os 198 mil que o Estado já tem em sua posse. Se isto acontecer, possivelmente vai resultar numa forte queda a curto prazo. Na minha opinião os bancos centrais deveriam seguir o exemplo de El Salvador, fazer um DCA diário.

Mais que comprar bitcoin, para mim, o mais importante é a criação da Reserva, é colocar o Bitcoin ao mesmo nível do ouro, o impacto para o resto do mundo será tremendo, a teoria dos jogos na sua plenitude. Muitos outros bancos centrais vão ter que comprar, para não ficarem atrás, além disso, vai transmitir uma mensagem à generalidade da população, que o Bitcoin é “afinal é algo seguro, com valor”.

Mas não foi Trump que iniciou esta teoria dos jogos, mas sim foi a primeira vítima dela. É o próprio Trump que o admite, que os EUA necessitam da reserva para não ficar atrás da China. Além disso, desde que os EUA utilizaram o dólar como uma arma, com sanção contra a Rússia, surgiram boatos de que a Rússia estaria a utilizar o Bitcoin para transações internacionais. Que foram confirmados recentemente, pelo próprio governo russo. Também há poucos dias, ainda antes deste reconhecimento público, Putin elogiou o Bitcoin, ao reconhecer que “Ninguém pode proibir o bitcoin”, defendendo como uma alternativa ao dólar. A narrativa está a mudar.

Já existem alguns países com Bitcoin, mas apenas dois o fizeram conscientemente (El Salvador e Butão), os restantes têm devido a apreensões. Hoje são poucos, mas 2025 será o início de uma corrida pelos bancos centrais. Esta corrida era algo previsível, o que eu não esperava é que acontecesse tão rápido.

Empresas

A criação de reservas estratégicas não vai ficar apenas pelos bancos centrais, também vai acelerar fortemente nas empresas em 2025.

Mas as empresas não vão seguir a estratégia do Saylor, vão comprar bitcoin sem alavancagem, utilizando apenas os tesouros das empresas, como uma proteção contra a inflação. Eu não sou grande admirador do Saylor, prefiro muito mais, uma estratégia conservadora, sem qualquer alavancagem. Penso que as empresas vão seguir a sugestão da BlackRock, que aconselha um alocações de 1% a 3%.

Penso que 2025, ainda não será o ano da entrada das 6 magníficas (excepto Tesla), será sobretudo empresas de pequena e média dimensão. As magníficas ainda tem uma cota muito elevada de shareholders com alguma idade, bastante conservadores, que têm dificuldade em compreender o Bitcoin, foi o que aconteceu recentemente com a Microsoft.

Também ainda não será em 2025, talvez 2026, a inclusão nativamente de wallet Bitcoin nos sistema da Apple Pay e da Google Pay. Seria um passo gigante para a adoção a nível mundial.

ETFs

Os ETFs para mim são uma incógnita, tenho demasiadas dúvidas, como será 2025. Este ano os inflows foram superiores a 500 mil bitcoins, o IBIT foi o lançamento de ETF mais bem sucedido da história. O sucesso dos ETFs, deve-se a 2 situações que nunca mais se vão repetir. O mercado esteve 10 anos à espera pela aprovação dos ETFs, a procura estava reprimida, isso foi bem notório nos primeiros meses, os inflows foram brutais.

Também se beneficiou por ser um mercado novo, não existia orderbook de vendas, não existia um mercado interno, praticamente era só inflows. Agora o mercado já estabilizou, a maioria das transações já são entre clientes dos próprios ETFs. Agora só uma pequena percentagem do volume das transações diárias vai resultar em inflows ou outflows.

Estes dois fenómenos nunca mais se vão repetir, eu não acredito que o número de inflows em BTC supere os número de 2024, em dólares vai superar, mas em btc não acredito que vá superar.

Mas em 2025 vão surgir uma infindável quantidade de novos produtos, derivativos, novos ETFs de cestos com outras criptos ou cestos com ativos tradicionais. O bitcoin será adicionado em produtos financeiros já existentes no mercado, as pessoas vão passar a deter bitcoin, sem o saberem.

Com o fim da operação ChokePoint 2.0, vai surgir uma nova onda de adoção e de produtos financeiros. Possivelmente vamos ver bancos tradicionais a disponibilizar produtos ou serviços de custódia aos seus clientes.

Eu adoraria ver o crescimento da adoção do bitcoin como moeda, só que a regulamentação não vai ajudar nesse processo.

Preço

Eu acredito que o topo deste ciclo será alcançado no primeiro semestre, posteriormente haverá uma correção. Mas desta vez, eu acredito que a correção será muito menor que as anteriores, inferior a 50%, esta é a minha expectativa. Espero estar certo.

Stablecoins de dólar

Agora saindo um pouco do universo do Bitcoin, acho importante destacar as stablecoins.

No último ciclo, eu tenho dividido o tempo, entre continuar a estudar o Bitcoin e estudar o sistema financeiro, as suas dinâmicas e o comportamento humano. Isto tem sido o meu foco de reflexão, imaginar a transformação que o mundo vai sofrer devido ao padrão Bitcoin. É uma ilusão acreditar que a transição de um padrão FIAT para um padrão Bitcoin vai ser rápida, vai existir um processo transitório que pode demorar décadas.

Com a re-entrada de Trump na Casa Branca, prometendo uma política altamente protecionista, vai provocar uma forte valorização do dólar, consequentemente as restantes moedas do mundo vão derreter. Provocando uma inflação generalizada, gerando uma corrida às stablecoins de dólar nos países com moedas mais fracas. Trump vai ter uma política altamente expansionista, vai exportar dólares para todo o mundo, para financiar a sua própria dívida. A desigualdade entre os pobres e ricos irá crescer fortemente, aumentando a possibilidade de conflitos e revoltas.

“Casa onde não há pão, todos ralham e ninguém tem razão”

Será mais lenha, para alimentar a fogueira, vai gravar os conflitos geopolíticos já existentes, ficando as sociedade ainda mais polarizadas.

Eu acredito que 2025, vai haver um forte crescimento na adoção das stablecoins de dólares, esse forte crescimento vai agravar o problema sistémico que são as stablecoins. Vai ser o início do fim das stablecoins, pelo menos, como nós conhecemos hoje em dia.

Problema sistémico

O sistema FIAT não nasceu de um dia para outro, foi algo que foi construído organicamente, ou seja, foi evoluindo ao longo dos anos, sempre que havia um problema/crise, eram criadas novas regras ou novas instituições para minimizar os problemas. Nestes quase 100 anos, desde os acordos de Bretton Woods, a evolução foram tantas, tornaram o sistema financeiro altamente complexo, burocrático e nada eficiente.

Na prática é um castelo de cartas construído sobre outro castelo de cartas e que por sua vez, foi construído sobre outro castelo de cartas.

As stablecoins são um problema sistémico, devido às suas reservas em dólares e o sistema financeiro não está preparado para manter isso seguro. Com o crescimento das reservas ao longo dos anos, foi se agravando o problema.

No início a Tether colocava as reservas em bancos comerciais, mas com o crescimento dos dólares sob gestão, criou um problema nos bancos comerciais, devido à reserva fracionária. Essas enormes reservas da Tether estavam a colocar em risco a própria estabilidade dos bancos.

A Tether acabou por mudar de estratégia, optou por outros ativos, preferencialmente por títulos do tesouro/obrigações dos EUA. Só que a Tether continua a crescer e não dá sinais de abrandamento, pelo contrário.

Até o próprio mundo cripto, menosprezava a gravidade do problema da Tether/stablecoins para o resto do sistema financeiro, porque o marketcap do cripto ainda é muito pequeno. É verdade que ainda é pequeno, mas a Tether não o é, está no top 20 dos maiores detentores de títulos do tesouros dos EUA e está ao nível dos maiores bancos centrais do mundo. Devido ao seu tamanho, está a preocupar os responsáveis/autoridades/reguladores dos EUA, pode colocar em causa a estabilidade do sistema financeiro global, que está assente nessas obrigações.

Os títulos do tesouro dos EUA são o colateral mais utilizado no mundo, tanto por bancos centrais, como por empresas, é a charneira da estabilidade do sistema financeiro. Os títulos do tesouro são um assunto muito sensível. Na recente crise no Japão, do carry trade, o Banco Central do Japão tentou minimizar a desvalorização do iene através da venda de títulos dos EUA. Esta operação, obrigou a uma viagem de emergência, da Secretaria do Tesouro dos EUA, Janet Yellen ao Japão, onde disponibilizou liquidez para parar a venda de títulos por parte do Banco Central do Japão. Essa forte venda estava desestabilizando o mercado.

Os principais detentores de títulos do tesouros são institucionais, bancos centrais, bancos comerciais, fundo de investimento e gestoras, tudo administrado por gestores altamente qualificados, racionais e que conhecem a complexidade do mercado de obrigações.

O mundo cripto é seu oposto, é naife com muita irracionalidade e uma forte pitada de loucura, na sua maioria nem faz a mínima ideia como funciona o sistema financeiro. Essa irracionalidade pode levar a uma “corrida bancária”, como aconteceu com o UST da Luna, que em poucas horas colapsou o projeto. Em termos de escala, a Luna ainda era muito pequena, por isso, o problema ficou circunscrito ao mundo cripto e a empresas ligadas diretamente ao cripto.

Só que a Tether é muito diferente, caso exista algum FUD, que obrigue a Tether a desfazer-se de vários biliões ou dezenas de biliões de dólares em títulos num curto espaço de tempo, poderia provocar consequências terríveis em todo o sistema financeiro. A Tether é grande demais, é já um problema sistémico, que vai agravar-se com o crescimento em 2025.

Não tenham dúvidas, se existir algum problema, o Tesouro dos EUA vai impedir a venda dos títulos que a Tether tem em sua posse, para salvar o sistema financeiro. O problema é, o que vai fazer a Tether, se ficar sem acesso às venda das reservas, como fará o redeem dos dólares?

Como o crescimento do Tether é inevitável, o Tesouro e o FED estão com um grande problema em mãos, o que fazer com o Tether?

Mas o problema é que o atual sistema financeiro é como um curto cobertor: Quanto tapas a cabeça, destapas os pés; Ou quando tapas os pés, destapas a cabeça. Ou seja, para resolver o problema da guarda reservas da Tether, vai criar novos problemas, em outros locais do sistema financeiro e assim sucessivamente.

Conta mestre

Uma possível solução seria dar uma conta mestre à Tether, dando o acesso direto a uma conta no FED, semelhante à que todos os bancos comerciais têm. Com isto, a Tether deixaria de necessitar os títulos do tesouro, depositando o dinheiro diretamente no banco central. Só que isto iria criar dois novos problemas, com o Custodia Bank e com o restante sistema bancário.

O Custodia Bank luta há vários anos contra o FED, nos tribunais pelo direito a ter licença bancária para um banco com full-reserves. O FED recusou sempre esse direito, com a justificativa que esse banco, colocaria em risco toda a estabilidade do sistema bancário existente, ou seja, todos os outros bancos poderiam colapsar. Perante a existência em simultâneo de bancos com reserva fracionária e com full-reserves, as pessoas e empresas iriam optar pelo mais seguro. Isso iria provocar uma corrida bancária, levando ao colapso de todos os bancos com reserva fracionária, porque no Custodia Bank, os fundos dos clientes estão 100% garantidos, para qualquer valor. Deixaria de ser necessário limites de fundos de Garantia de Depósitos.

Eu concordo com o FED nesse ponto, que os bancos com full-reserves são uma ameaça a existência dos restantes bancos. O que eu discordo do FED, é a origem do problema, o problema não está nos bancos full-reserves, mas sim nos que têm reserva fracionária.

O FED ao conceder uma conta mestre ao Tether, abre um precedente, o Custodia Bank irá o aproveitar, reclamando pela igualdade de direitos nos tribunais e desta vez, possivelmente ganhará a sua licença.

Ainda há um segundo problema, com os restantes bancos comerciais. A Tether passaria a ter direitos similares aos bancos comerciais, mas os deveres seriam muito diferentes. Isto levaria os bancos comerciais aos tribunais para exigir igualdade de tratamento, é uma concorrência desleal. Isto é o bom dos tribunais dos EUA, são independentes e funcionam, mesmo contra o estado. Os bancos comerciais têm custos exorbitantes devido às políticas de compliance, como o KYC e AML. Como o governo não vai querer aliviar as regras, logo seria a Tether, a ser obrigada a fazer o compliance dos seus clientes.

A obrigação do KYC para ter stablecoins iriam provocar um terramoto no mundo cripto.

Assim, é pouco provável que seja a solução para a Tether.

FED

Só resta uma hipótese, ser o próprio FED a controlar e a gerir diretamente as stablecoins de dólar, nacionalizado ou absorvendo as existentes. Seria uma espécie de CBDC. Isto iria provocar um novo problema, um problema diplomático, porque as stablecoins estão a colocar em causa a soberania monetária dos outros países. Atualmente as stablecoins estão um pouco protegidas porque vivem num limbo jurídico, mas a partir do momento que estas são controladas pelo governo americano, tudo muda. Os países vão exigir às autoridades americanas medidas que limitem o uso nos seus respectivos países.

Não existe uma solução boa, o sistema FIAT é um castelo de cartas, qualquer carta que se mova, vai provocar um desmoronamento noutro local. As autoridades não poderão adiar mais o problema, terão que o resolver de vez, senão, qualquer dia será tarde demais. Se houver algum problema, vão colocar a responsabilidade no cripto e no Bitcoin. Mas a verdade, a culpa é inteiramente dos políticos, da sua incompetência em resolver os problemas a tempo.

Será algo para acompanhar futuramente, mas só para 2026, talvez…

É curioso, há uns anos pensava-se que o Bitcoin seria a maior ameaça ao sistema ao FIAT, mas afinal, a maior ameaça aos sistema FIAT é o próprio FIAT(stablecoins). A ironia do destino.

Isto é como uma corrida, o Bitcoin é aquele atleta que corre ao seu ritmo, umas vezes mais rápido, outras vezes mais lento, mas nunca pára. O FIAT é o atleta que dá tudo desde da partida, corre sempre em velocidade máxima. Só que a vida e o sistema financeiro não é uma prova de 100 metros, mas sim uma maratona.

Europa

2025 será um ano desafiante para todos europeus, sobretudo devido à entrada em vigor da regulamentação (MiCA). Vão começar a sentir na pele a regulamentação, vão agravar-se os problemas com os compliance, problemas para comprovar a origem de fundos e outras burocracias. Vai ser lindo.

O Travel Route passa a ser obrigatório, os europeus serão obrigados a fazer o KYC nas transações. A Travel Route é uma suposta lei para criar mais transparência, mas prática, é uma lei de controle, de monitorização e para limitar as liberdades individuais dos cidadãos.

O MiCA também está a colocar problemas nas stablecoins de Euro, a Tether para já preferiu ficar de fora da europa. O mais ridículo é que as novas regras obrigam os emissores a colocar 30% das reservas em bancos comerciais. Os burocratas europeus não compreendem que isto coloca em risco a estabilidade e a solvência dos próprios bancos, ficam propensos a corridas bancárias.

O MiCA vai obrigar a todas as exchanges a estar registadas em solo europeu, ficando vulnerável ao temperamento dos burocratas. Ainda não vai ser em 2025, mas a UE vai impor políticas de controle de capitais, é inevitável, as exchanges serão obrigadas a usar em exclusividade stablecoins de euro, as restantes stablecoins serão deslistadas.

Todas estas novas regras do MiCA, são extremamente restritas, não é para garantir mais segurança aos cidadãos europeus, mas sim para garantir mais controle sobre a população. A UE está cada vez mais perto da autocracia, do que da democracia. A minha única esperança no horizonte, é que o sucesso das políticas cripto nos EUA, vai obrigar a UE a recuar e a aligeirar as regras, a teoria dos jogos é implacável. Mas esse recuo, nunca acontecerá em 2025, vai ser um longo período conturbado.

Recessão

Os mercados estão todos em máximos históricos, isto não é sustentável por muito tempo, suspeito que no final de 2025 vai acontecer alguma correção nos mercados. A queda só não será maior, porque os bancos centrais vão imprimir dinheiro, muito dinheiro, como se não houvesse amanhã. Vão voltar a resolver os problemas com a injeção de liquidez na economia, é empurrar os problemas com a barriga, em de os resolver. Outra vez o efeito Cantillon.

Será um ano muito desafiante a nível político, onde o papel dos políticos será fundamental. A crise política na França e na Alemanha, coloca a UE órfã, sem um comandante ao leme do navio. 2025 estará condicionado pelas eleições na Alemanha, sobretudo no resultado do AfD, que podem colocar em causa a propriedade UE e o euro.

Possivelmente, só o fim da guerra poderia minimizar a crise, algo que é muito pouco provável acontecer.

Em Portugal, a economia parece que está mais ou menos equilibrada, mas começam a aparecer alguns sinais preocupantes. Os jogos de sorte e azar estão em máximos históricos, batendo o recorde de 2014, época da grande crise, não é um bom sinal, possivelmente já existe algum desespero no ar.

A Alemanha é o motor da Europa, quanto espirra, Portugal constipa-se. Além do problema da Alemanha, a Espanha também está à beira de uma crise, são os países que mais influenciam a economia portuguesa.

Se existir uma recessão mundial, terá um forte impacto no turismo, que é hoje em dia o principal motor de Portugal.

Brasil

Brasil é algo para acompanhar em 2025, sobretudo a nível macro e a nível político. Existe uma possibilidade de uma profunda crise no Brasil, sobretudo na sua moeda. O banco central já anda a queimar as reservas para minimizar a desvalorização do Real.

Sem mudanças profundas nas políticas fiscais, as reservas vão se esgotar. As políticas de controle de capitais são um cenário plausível, será interesse de acompanhar, como o governo irá proceder perante a existência do Bitcoin e stablecoins. No Brasil existe um forte adoção, será um bom case study, certamente irá repetir-se em outros países num futuro próximo.

Os próximos tempos não serão fáceis para os brasileiros, especialmente para os que não têm Bitcoin.

Blockchain

Em 2025, possivelmente vamos ver os primeiros passos da BlackRock para criar a primeira bolsa de valores, exclusivamente em blockchain. Eu acredito que a BlackRock vai criar uma própria blockchain, toda controlada por si, onde estarão os RWAs, para fazer concorrência às tradicionais bolsas de valores. Será algo interessante de acompanhar.

---

Estas são as minhas previsões, eu escrevi isto muito em cima do joelho, certamente esqueci-me de algumas coisas, se for importante acrescentarei nos comentários. A maioria das previsões só acontecerá após 2025, mas fica aqui a minha opinião.

Isto é apenas a minha opinião, Don’t Trust, Verify!

@ 266815e0:6cd408a5

How to create a nostr app quickly using applesauce

In this guide we are going to build a nostr app that lets users follow and unfollow fiatjaf

1. Setup new project

Start by setting up a new vite app using pnpm create vite, then set the name and select Solid and Typescript

```sh ➜ pnpm create vite │ ◇ Project name: │ followjaf │ ◇ Select a framework: │ Solid │ ◇ Select a variant: │ TypeScript │ ◇ Scaffolding project in ./followjaf... │ └ Done. Now run:

cd followjaf pnpm install pnpm run dev ```

2. Adding nostr dependencies

There are a few useful nostr dependencies we are going to need. nostr-tools for the types and small methods, and rx-nostr for making relay connections

sh pnpm install nostr-tools rx-nostr

3. Setup rx-nostr

Next we need to setup rxNostr so we can make connections to relays. create a new src/nostr.ts file with

```ts import { createRxNostr, noopVerifier } from "rx-nostr";

export const rxNostr = createRxNostr({ // skip verification here because we are going to verify events at the event store skipVerify: true, verifier: noopVerifier, }); ```

4. Setup the event store

Now that we have a way to connect to relays, we need a place to store events. We will use the EventStore class from applesauce-core for this. create a new src/stores.ts file with

The event store does not store any events in the browsers local storage or anywhere else. It's in-memory only and provides a model for the UI

```ts import { EventStore } from "applesauce-core"; import { verifyEvent } from "nostr-tools";

export const eventStore = new EventStore();

// verify the events when they are added to the store eventStore.verifyEvent = verifyEvent; ```

5. Create the query store

The event store is where we store all the events, but we need a way for the UI to query them. We can use the QueryStore class from applesauce-core for this.

Create a query store in src/stores.ts

```ts import { QueryStore } from "applesauce-core";

// ...

// the query store needs the event store to subscribe to it export const queryStore = new QueryStore(eventStore); ```

6. Setup the profile loader

Next we need a way to fetch user profiles. We are going to use the ReplaceableLoader class from applesauce-loaders for this.

applesauce-loaders is a package that contains a few loader classes that can be used to fetch different types of data from relays.

First install the package

sh pnpm install applesauce-loaders

Then create a src/loaders.ts file with

```ts import { ReplaceableLoader } from "applesauce-loaders"; import { rxNostr } from "./nostr"; import { eventStore } from "./stores";

export const replaceableLoader = new ReplaceableLoader(rxNostr);

// Start the loader and send any events to the event store replaceableLoader.subscribe((packet) => { eventStore.add(packet.event, packet.from); }); ```

7. Fetch fiatjaf's profile

Now that we have a way to store events, and a loader to help with fetching them, we should update the src/App.tsx component to fetch the profile.

We can do this by calling the next method on the loader and passing a pubkey, kind and relays to it

```tsx function App() { // ...

onMount(() => { // fetch fiatjaf's profile on load replaceableLoader.next({ pubkey: "3bf0c63fcb93463407af97a5e5ee64fa883d107ef9e558472c4eb9aaaefa459d", kind: 0, relays: ["wss://pyramid.fiatjaf.com/"], }); });

// ... } ```

8. Display the profile

Now that we have a way to fetch the profile, we need to display it in the UI.

We can do this by using the ProfileQuery which gives us a stream of updates to a pubkey's profile.

Create the profile using queryStore.createQuery and pass in the ProfileQuery and the pubkey.

tsx const fiatjaf = queryStore.createQuery( ProfileQuery, "3bf0c63fcb93463407af97a5e5ee64fa883d107ef9e558472c4eb9aaaefa459d" );

But this just gives us an observable, we need to subscribe to it to get the profile.

Luckily SolidJS profiles a simple from method to subscribe to any observable.

To make things reactive SolidJS uses accessors, so to get the profile we need to call fiatjaf()

```tsx function App() { // ...

// Subscribe to fiatjaf's profile from the query store const fiatjaf = from( queryStore.createQuery(ProfileQuery, "3bf0c63fcb93463407af97a5e5ee64fa883d107ef9e558472c4eb9aaaefa459d") );

return ( <> {/ replace the vite and solid logos with the profile picture /}

{fiatjaf()?.name}

  {/* ... */}

); } ```

9. Letting the user signin

Now we should let the user signin to the app. We can do this by creating a AccountManager class from applesauce-accounts

First we need to install the packages

sh pnpm install applesauce-accounts applesauce-signers

Then create a new src/accounts.ts file with

```ts import { AccountManager } from "applesauce-accounts"; import { registerCommonAccountTypes } from "applesauce-accounts/accounts";

// create an account manager instance export const accounts = new AccountManager();

// Adds the common account types to the manager registerCommonAccountTypes(accounts); ```

Next lets presume the user has a NIP-07 browser extension installed and add a signin button.

```tsx function App() { const signin = async () => { // do nothing if the user is already signed in if (accounts.active) return;

// create a new nip-07 signer and try to get the pubkey
const signer = new ExtensionSigner();
const pubkey = await signer.getPublicKey();

// create a new extension account, add it, and make it the active account
const account = new ExtensionAccount(pubkey, signer);
accounts.addAccount(account);
accounts.setActive(account);

};

return ( <> {/ ... /}

  <div class="card">
    <p>Are you following the fiatjaf? the creator of "The nostr"</p>
    <button onClick={signin}>Check</button>
  </div>

); } ```

Now when the user clicks the button the app will ask for the users pubkey, then do nothing... but it's a start.

We are not persisting the accounts, so when the page reloads the user will NOT be signed in. you can learn about persisting the accounts in the docs

10. Showing the signed-in state

We should show some indication to the user that they are signed in. We can do this by modifying the signin button if the user is signed in and giving them a way to sign-out

```tsx function App() { // subscribe to the currently active account (make sure to use the account$ observable) const account = from(accounts.active$);

// ...

const signout = () => { // do nothing if the user is not signed in if (!accounts.active) return;

// signout the user
const account = accounts.active;
accounts.removeAccount(account);
accounts.clearActive();

};

return ( <> {/ ... /}

  <div class="card">
    <p>Are you following the fiatjaf? ( creator of "The nostr" )</p>
    {account() === undefined ? <button onClick={signin}>Check</button> : <button onClick={signout}>Signout</button>}
  </div>

); } ```

11. Fetching the user's profile

Now that we have a way to sign in and out of the app, we should fetch the user's profile when they sign in.

```tsx function App() { // ...

// fetch the user's profile when they sign in createEffect(async () => { const active = account();

if (active) {
  // get the user's relays or fallback to some default relays
  const usersRelays = await active.getRelays?.();
  const relays = usersRelays ? Object.keys(usersRelays) : ["wss://relay.damus.io", "wss://nos.lol"];

  // tell the loader to fetch the users profile event
  replaceableLoader.next({
    pubkey: active.pubkey,
    kind: 0,
    relays,
  });

  // tell the loader to fetch the users contacts
  replaceableLoader.next({
    pubkey: active.pubkey,
    kind: 3,
    relays,
  });

  // tell the loader to fetch the users mailboxes
  replaceableLoader.next({
    pubkey: active.pubkey,
    kind: 10002,
    relays,
  });
}

});

// ... } ```

Next we need to subscribe to the users profile, to do this we can use some rxjs operators to chain the observables together.

```tsx import { Match, Switch } from "solid-js"; import { of, switchMap } from "rxjs";

function App() { // ...

// subscribe to the active account, then subscribe to the users profile or undefined const profile = from( accounts.active$.pipe( switchMap((account) => (account ? queryStore.createQuery(ProfileQuery, account!.pubkey) : of(undefined))) ) );

// ...

return ( <> {/ ... /}

  <div class="card">
    <Switch>
      <Match when={account() && !profile()}>
        <p>Loading profile...</p>
      </Match>
      <Match when={profile()}>
        <p style="font-size: 1.2rem; font-weight: bold;">Welcome {profile()?.name}</p>
      </Match>
    </Switch>

    {/* ... */}
  </div>

); } ```

12. Showing if the user is following fiatjaf

Now that the app is fetching the users profile and contacts we should show if the user is following fiatjaf.

```tsx function App() { // ...

// subscribe to the active account, then subscribe to the users contacts or undefined const contacts = from( accounts.active$.pipe( switchMap((account) => (account ? queryStore.createQuery(UserContactsQuery, account!.pubkey) : of(undefined))) ) );

const isFollowing = createMemo(() => { return contacts()?.some((c) => c.pubkey === "3bf0c63fcb93463407af97a5e5ee64fa883d107ef9e558472c4eb9aaaefa459d"); });

// ...

return ( <> {/ ... /}

  <div class="card">
    {/* ... */}

    <Switch
      fallback={
        <p style="font-size: 1.2rem;">
          Sign in to check if you are a follower of the fiatjaf ( creator of "The nostr" )
        </p>
      }
    >
      <Match when={contacts() && isFollowing() === undefined}>
        <p>checking...</p>
      </Match>
      <Match when={contacts() && isFollowing() === true}>
        <p style="color: green; font-weight: bold; font-size: 2rem;">
          Congratulations! You are a follower of the fiatjaf
        </p>
      </Match>
      <Match when={contacts() && isFollowing() === false}>
        <p style="color: red; font-weight: bold; font-size: 2rem;">
          Why don't you follow the fiatjaf? do you even like nostr?
        </p>
      </Match>
    </Switch>

    {/* ... */}
  </div>

); } ```

13. Adding the follow button

Now that we have a way to check if the user is following fiatjaf, we should add a button to follow him. We can do this with Actions which are pre-built methods to modify nostr events for a user.

First we need to install the applesauce-actions and applesauce-factory package

sh pnpm install applesauce-actions applesauce-factory

Then create a src/actions.ts file with

```ts import { EventFactory } from "applesauce-factory"; import { ActionHub } from "applesauce-actions"; import { eventStore } from "./stores"; import { accounts } from "./accounts";

// The event factory is used to build and modify nostr events export const factory = new EventFactory({ // accounts.signer is a NIP-07 signer that signs with the currently active account signer: accounts.signer, });

// The action hub is used to run Actions against the event store export const actions = new ActionHub(eventStore, factory); ```

Then create a toggleFollow method that will add or remove fiatjaf from the users contacts.

We are using the exec method to run the action, and the forEach method from RxJS allows us to await for all the events to be published

```tsx function App() { // ...

const toggleFollow = async () => { // send any created events to rxNostr and the event store const publish = (event: NostrEvent) => { eventStore.add(event); rxNostr.send(event); };

if (isFollowing()) {
  await actions
    .exec(UnfollowUser, "3bf0c63fcb93463407af97a5e5ee64fa883d107ef9e558472c4eb9aaaefa459d")
    .forEach(publish);
} else {
  await actions
    .exec(
      FollowUser,
      "3bf0c63fcb93463407af97a5e5ee64fa883d107ef9e558472c4eb9aaaefa459d",
      "wss://pyramid.fiatjaf.com/"
    )
    .forEach(publish);
}

};

// ...

return ( <> {/ ... /}

  <div class="card">
    {/* ... */}

    {contacts() && <button onClick={toggleFollow}>{isFollowing() ? "Unfollow" : "Follow"}</button>}
  </div>

); } ```

14. Adding outbox support

The app looks like it works now but if the user reloads the page they will still see an the old version of their contacts list. we need to make sure rxNostr is publishing the events to the users outbox relays.

To do this we can subscribe to the signed in users mailboxes using the query store in src/nostr.ts

```ts import { MailboxesQuery } from "applesauce-core/queries"; import { accounts } from "./accounts"; import { of, switchMap } from "rxjs"; import { queryStore } from "./stores";

// ...

// subscribe to the active account, then subscribe to the users mailboxes and update rxNostr accounts.active$ .pipe(switchMap((account) => (account ? queryStore.createQuery(MailboxesQuery, account.pubkey) : of(undefined)))) .subscribe((mailboxes) => { if (mailboxes) rxNostr.setDefaultRelays(mailboxes.outboxes); else rxNostr.setDefaultRelays([]); }); ```

And that's it! we have a working nostr app that lets users follow and unfollow fiatjaf.

@ a39d19ec:3d88f61e

Nun da das deutsche Bundesregime den Ruin Deutschlands beschlossen hat, der sehr wahrscheinlich mit dem Werkzeug des Geld druckens "finanziert" wird, kamen mir so viele Gedanken zur Geldmengenausweitung, dass ich diese für einmal niedergeschrieben habe.

Die Ausweitung der Geldmenge führt aus klassischer wirtschaftlicher Sicht immer zu Preissteigerungen, weil mehr Geld im Umlauf auf eine begrenzte Menge an Gütern trifft. Dies lässt sich in mehreren Schritten analysieren:

1. Quantitätstheorie des Geldes

Die klassische Gleichung der Quantitätstheorie des Geldes lautet:

M • V = P • Y

wobei:
- M die Geldmenge ist,
- V die Umlaufgeschwindigkeit des Geldes,
- P das Preisniveau,
- Y die reale Wirtschaftsleistung (BIP).

Wenn M steigt und V sowie Y konstant bleiben, muss P steigen – also Inflation entstehen.

2. Gütermenge bleibt begrenzt

Die Menge an real produzierten Gütern und Dienstleistungen wächst meist nur langsam im Vergleich zur Ausweitung der Geldmenge. Wenn die Geldmenge schneller steigt als die Produktionsgütermenge, führt dies dazu, dass mehr Geld für die gleiche Menge an Waren zur Verfügung steht – die Preise steigen.

3. Erwartungseffekte und Spekulation

Wenn Unternehmen und Haushalte erwarten, dass mehr Geld im Umlauf ist, da eine zentrale Planung es so wollte, können sie steigende Preise antizipieren. Unternehmen erhöhen ihre Preise vorab, und Arbeitnehmer fordern höhere Löhne. Dies kann eine sich selbst verstärkende Spirale auslösen.

4. Internationale Perspektive

Eine erhöhte Geldmenge kann die Währung abwerten, wenn andere Länder ihre Geldpolitik stabil halten. Eine schwächere Währung macht Importe teurer, was wiederum Preissteigerungen antreibt.

5. Kritik an der reinen Geldmengen-Theorie

Der Vollständigkeit halber muss erwähnt werden, dass die meisten modernen Ökonomen im Staatsauftrag argumentieren, dass Inflation nicht nur von der Geldmenge abhängt, sondern auch von der Nachfrage nach Geld (z. B. in einer Wirtschaftskrise). Dennoch zeigt die historische Erfahrung, dass eine unkontrollierte Geldmengenausweitung langfristig immer zu Preissteigerungen führt, wie etwa in der Hyperinflation der Weimarer Republik oder in Simbabwe.

@ 3c7dc2c5:805642a8

🧠Quote(s) of the week:

The path to maximalism is littered with mistakes and paved with humility.' Anilsaido https://i.ibb.co/ZzcCHwgT/Gip-G0vdb-YAAV9-Mw-1.jpg

Bitcoin is time because money itself is time. Money is humanity’s battery: a way to store energy, labor, and resources for the future. It captures your past effort and preserves it for when you need it most. Fiat leaks. Bitcoin holds.

🧡Bitcoin news🧡

On the 18th of March:

➡️After ruling out a strategic bitcoin reserve, the Bank of Korea will launch a central bank digital currency pilot in April, per The Korea Times.

➡️'Metaplanet has acquired an additional 150 BTC for ~$12.5 million, achieving a BTC Yield of 60.8% YTD in 2025. As of 3/18/2025, Metaplanet hodls 3,200 BTC, and is now a top 10 publicly listed holder of Bitcoin globally.' -Dylan LeClair

➡️Bitcoin entered a risk-off, distribution-dominant phase in early 2025, evidenced by frequent selling and hesitation to buy (yellow to orange dots). - AMB Crypto

➡️Bitwise CIO says Bitcoin should be at $200,000 today and says, “I think the number of companies buying Bitcoin is going to triple this year, I think Game Theory is on.” “I think countries around the world are going to be buying Bitcoin. There is structurally more demand than supply in Bitcoin.”

➡️Bitcoin mining company Bitfarms buys Stronghold Digital for more than $110 million, making it the largest public-to-public acquisition in Bitcoin industry history.

➡️Bitcoin long-term HODLers become net buyers for the first time since September, per Compass Point Research. "Buying/selling from HODLers is typically a leading indicator for BTC. This cohort now owns 65% of BTC supply vs 63% last week vs 73% in early October." - Bitcoin News

➡️GlassNode: 'The Bitcoin market continues to adjust to its new price range after experiencing a -30% correction. Liquidity conditions are also contracting in both on-chain and futures markets.'

➡️Bitcoin now ranks 6th among the world's top monetary assets at $1.62 trillion, per Porkopolis.

➡️The EU isn't banning Bitcoin but using MiCA and other regulations to control it. This involves stripping away privacy through transaction tracking, mandatory disclosures, and restrictions on self-custody. The goal is control, not outright prohibition.

Excellent thread by Eli. Eli summarises the EU’s attack on Bitcoin and on Europeans’ rights: https://x.com/EliNagarBrr/status/1902048401908261146

Agree 100% with all of this. All these people who have been saying the EU pushing the industry forward with regulations are idiots. They are closing it off and pushing everyone to a CBDC.

Regarding the CBCD, here you will find a comprehensive summary of EU’s CBDC plans, by Efrat Fenigson: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/politics/ecb-prepping-the-ground-for-digital-euro-launch

*On the 20th of March, the ECB posted the following statement on Twitter:

'The digital euro is not just about creating a new form of money, says Chief Economist Philip R. Lane. It is about ensuring that Europe retains control over its monetary and financial destiny in the digital age against a backdrop of increasing geopolitical fragmentation.'

“It’s about ensuring that the EU retains control over its citizens.”

There, I fixed it for you if you missed the primary reason.

The Euro is a permissioned, centralized, censorable, inflationary, debt-based currency controlled by unelected bureaucrats.

Bitcoin is permissionless, decentralized, censorship-resistant, fixed in supply, and governed by code—not politicians.

Choose wisely.

➡️As mentioned in last week's Weekly Recap the US Government spends $3.3B per day in interest rate expense. If this doesn’t make you buy Bitcoin I’m not sure what will. https://i.ibb.co/sdt1GvfM/Gm-Vd-FBz-XQAA3t3-M-1.jpg

➡️In Kibera, Africa’s largest informal settlement, more than 40 merchants now accept and save in Bitcoin.

➡️The increase in 3-6 month-old UTXOs suggests accumulation during this market correction, a behavior historically critical in forming market bottoms and driving new price rallies.

➡️Just as Hal Finney predicted, Bitcoin will take over Wall Street: Multiple American Bitcoin companies are now seeking to become state or national banks, reports Reuters. It is inevitable.

➡️Daniel Batten: 2021: 62 US Environmental Organizations write to coCongressaying Bitcoin is bad for the environment and has no use (based on Central Bank misinformation) 2025: US Environmental Organizations debunked (impossible, had they used Bitcoin) Strange are the ways of karma.

Meanwhile,

➡️President Trump's Executive Director, Bo Hines, on digital assets: "We talked about ways of acquiring more Bitcoin in budget-neutral ways." We want "as much as we can get."

When Bitcoin is at $200k. We will look back on March 2025 and say, how was everyone not buying. It was so obvious.

On the 19th of March:

➡️BLACKROCK: “The most sophisticated long-term Bitcoin accumulators are pretty excited about this dip. They see the correction as a buying opportunity."

On the 20th of March:

➡️SEC confirms that Bitcoin and Proof of Work mining are NOT securities under US law. https://i.ibb.co/nWRHjnk/Gmg-Yxv-QWEAAgwx8.png

Source: https://t.co/0ExsJniPIf

➡️Bitcoin exchange Kraken has agreed to acquire NinjaTrader, the leading U.S. retail futures trading platform, for $1.5 billion—the largest deal ever of a Bitcoin company buying a traditional financial company.

➡️TRUMP: “I signed an order creating the brand new Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and the US digital asset stockpile which will allow the Federal government to maximize the value of its holdings.”

Tweet and hot take by Lola L33tz

"With the dollar-backed stablecoins, you'll help expand the dominance of the US Dollar [...] It will be at the top, and that's where we want to keep it"

'What he means is: With dollar-backed stablecoins, the Global South will pivot towards digital Dollars over local currencies, allowing private, US government-controlled entities to replace bank accounts around the globe. This does not just allow for the expansion of USD dominance by bypassing local governments – it gives the US unprecedented and direct control over worldwide economies as every stablecoin can be effectively frozen on behalf of the US with the click of a button.'

Stablecoins = CBDCs There is no technical fundamental difference between them. It’s almost a guarantee that the EU CBDCs and U.S. stablecoins will be interchangeable.

➡️River: Bitcoin is coming for $128 trillion in global money. You're not late to Bitcoin. https://i.ibb.co/7thzHJMx/Gmf-Uvra-EAEV4-U0.png

On the 21st of March:

➡️Michael Saylor’s Strategy to raise $722.5M to buy more Bitcoin.

➡️Publicly traded Atai Life Sciences to buy $5 million in Bitcoin.

➡️Publicly traded HK Asia Holdings bought 10 Bitcoins worth $858,500 for its balance sheet.

➡️Another solo home miner has mined an entire Bitcoin block worth over $ 260.000,-.

On the 22nd of March:

➡️The University of Wyoming posted a new video explaining Bitcoin with Philosophy Professor Bradley Rettler

➡️Spot Bitcoin ETFs bought 8,775 BTC this week while miners only mined 3,150 Bitcoin.

On the 24th of March:

➡️Metaplanet finished the day as the 13th most liquid stock in Japan, with ¥50.4 billion ($336.6m) of daily trading volume, ahead of Toyota and Nintendo.

➡️River: There is a 275% gap between the inflation you're told and real inflation.

https://i.ibb.co/mCs2Lgcc/Gmz-4qc-WMAAzx-z.png

Bitcoin is insurance on the debt spiral. The U.S. Dollar has been devalued by more than 363% since 2000 – That’s a 14.5% devaluation per year. This means if your savings don’t grow by 14.5% annually, you’re falling behind. This is why we Bitcoin. Bitcoin is insurance on the debt spiral, grow your savings beyond the dollar’s devaluation!

➡️Bitcoin's compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over a 5-year rolling window is currently over 50%

➡️Strategy became the first publicly traded company to hold over 500,000 Bitcoin worth over $44 billion. Strategy has acquired 6,911 BTC for ~$584.1 million at ~$84,529 per Bitcoin and has achieved a BTC Yield of 7.7% YTD 2025. As of 3/23/2025, Strategy holds 506,137 BTC acquired for ~$33.7 billion at ~$66,608 per Bitcoin.

➡️CryptoQuant: Bitcoin's long-term holders are holding firm, with no significant selling pressure.

➡️Xapo Bank launches Bitcoin-backed USD loans up to $1M, with collateral secured in an MPC vault and no re-usage.

💸Traditional Finance / Macro:

👉🏽no news

🏦Banks:

👉🏽 no news

🌎Macro/Geopolitics:

On the 18th of March:

👉🏽Germany just changed its constitution to unleash a staggering ONE TRILLION in new debt. The German parliament has voted to take on hundreds of billions of euros of new government debt, to ease the debt brake rules, and to codify "climate neutrality by 2045" into the constitution.

On top of that, some extra money to Ukraine: Germany's next Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, believes that Putin has gone to war against all of Europe. He argues that Russia has attacked Germany, as the Parliament breaks out in applause.

-  We continue to move further away from the "Europe is not part of the conflict" rhetoric. Germany’s self-inflicted delusion continues!

👉🏽Germany's first offshore wind farm closes after 15 years because it's too expensive to operate. Expect a car crash. The Alpha Ventus offshore wind farm near the German North Sea island of Borkum is set to be dismantled after being in operation for only 15 years. It has become too unprofitable to operate without massive subsidies.

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/03/16/germanys-first-offshore-wind-farm-to-be-dismantled-after-just-15-years-of-operation/

Great thing that the Netherlands is investing heavily in offshore wind farms, even the biggest pension fund APB. Because nInE tImEs ChEaPeR tHaN gAs, right?

I hope they dismantle them & not leave them to rust into the sea. Right? Because climate!

Great response by Jasmine Birtles: "These vanity projects should never have been allowed to start. The phrase 'cheap renewable energy' is simply a falsehood. This kind of energy production only seems cheap because of the huge government subsidies that keep them going. I'm all for clean energy if it's possible to run it honestly and without huge subsidies, but while it doesn't seem to be viable we should stick with what is affordable and will keep the country going, rather than sacrificing the vulnerable to an impossible ideology."

👉🏽'Gold spot is now trading consistently over $3000, a record high. And with deliveries once again picking up at the Comex and war in the Middle East coming back with a vengeance, the next big spike is just a matter of time. As expected, once gold broke out above $3000,- it has gone vertical and is up 1% in the past hours, rising to a new record high of $3034, as it sets off for $4000' - ZeroHedge

👉🏽'We have just witnessed the biggest drop in US equity allocation on record. The collapse of US consumers: Unemployment expectations in the US are now ABOVE 2020 levels and at their highest since 2008. In 2024, a poll showed that a whopping 56% of Americans thought the US was in a recession.' - TKL

https://i.ibb.co/ycnRDpdf/Gm-VZMnb-XAAAt76r.png

👉🏽OECD Projects Argentina to Have the Second Highest Economic Growth Worldwide in 2025

👉🏽A new blow to the Dutch chemical sector. The major producer LyondellBasell is permanently closing its factory at the Maasvlakte. This decision, announced on Tuesday afternoon, will result in the loss of approximately 160 jobs. The closure is a direct consequence of global overcapacity and high energy costs in the Netherlands. An audit by the German firm E-Bridge, commissioned by the Dutch government, previously revealed that electricity costs for these companies in the Netherlands amount to €95 per megawatt-hour.

In comparison, this rate is €32 in France (66% lower), €45.60 in Germany (52% lower), and €56.05 per megawatt-hour in Belgium (41% lower).

According to E-Bridge, this difference is mainly due to the compensation that foreign governments provide to companies and the lower grid tariffs. In the Netherlands, costs have risen primarily to finance investments in the electricity grid, such as connecting multiple offshore wind farms.

Now read that segment on offshore wind farms. Mindblowing, innit?

Subsidies are not the solution—deregulation is. But Brussels won’t allow that. So, we’re heading toward even more regulation and nationalization.

On the 19th of March:

👉🏽The Fed makes multiple revisions to its 2025 economic data projections.

Powell finally found the "stag" and the "inflation":

Fed cuts year-end GDP forecast from 2.1% to 1.7%

Fed raises year-end core PCE forecast from 2.5% to 2.8%

Fed raises year-end unemployment forecast from 4.3% to 4.4%

Fed raises PCE inflation forecast from 2.5% to 2.7%

The Fed sees higher inflation and a weaker economy.

On the 20th of March:

Dutch Central Bank Director Klaas Knot "We are worried about American influence on our local payment infrastructure."

Paving the way for the European CBDC (after slowly but surely removing CASH MONEY from society). Knot has completed his second term and will leave his office in July. Now, of course, pushing for the CBDC, before looking for a new job in Europe.

Anyway, DNB posts billions in losses.

De Nederlandsche Bank suffered a loss of over €3 billion last year, according to the annual report published on Thursday. This marks the second consecutive year of losses.

DNB incurs this loss because, as part of its monetary policy, it has lent out billions at relatively low rates while having to pay a higher rate to banks that park their money at the central bank.

But no losses on its gold. The gold reserves, meanwhile, increased in value by €12.6 billion. This amount is not included in the official profit and loss statement but is reflected on the bank's balance sheet.

For the Dutch readers/followers: Great article: Follow the Money 'Voor de megawinsten van ING, ABN Amro en Rabobank betaalt de Nederlandse burger een hoge prijs.'

https://archive.ph/ncvtk

On the 21st of March:

👉🏽'The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing index dropped 5.6 points in March, to 12.5, its 2nd consecutive monthly decline. 6-month outlook for new orders fell by 30.8 points, to 2.3, the lowest in 3 years. This marks the third-largest drop in history, only behind the 2008 Financial Crisis and December 1973.

Furthermore, 6-month business outlook dropped ~40 points to its lowest since January 2024. All while prices paid rose 7.8 points, to 48.3, the highest since July 2022. This is further evidence of weakening economic activity with rising prices.' TKL

👉🏽'China’s central bank gold reserves hit a record 73.6 million fine troy ounces in February. China bought ~160,000 ounces of gold last month, posting their 4th consecutive monthly purchase. Over the last 2.5 years, China’s gold reserves have jumped by 11.0 million ounces of gold. Gold now reflects a record ~5.9% of China’s total foreign exchange reserves, or 2,290 tonnes. Central banks continue to stock up on gold as if we are in a crisis.' -TKL

🎁If you have made it this far I would like to give you a little gift:

What Bitcoin Did: BITCOIN & THE END OF THE DOLLAR SYSTEM with Luke Gromen They discuss: - The Sovereign Debt Crisis - If the US Will Reprice the Gold - If we will See Triple Digit Inflation - The End of The US Dollar System Luke Gromen: A modest clarification: The end of the post-71 structure of the USD system is what the Trump Administration’s actions appear to be pursuing & will in due time achieve if they stay on the present course.

https://t.co/IpakFaYqbL

Credit: I have used multiple sources!

My savings account: Bitcoin The tool I recommend for setting up a Bitcoin savings plan: PocketBitcoin especially suited for beginners or people who want to invest in Bitcoin with an automated investment plan once a week or monthly.

Use the code SE3997

Get your Bitcoin out of exchanges. Save them on a hardware wallet, run your own node...be your own bank. Not your keys, not your coins. It's that simple. ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀

Do you think this post is helpful to you? If so, please share it and support my work with a zap.

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⭐ Many thanks⭐

Felipe - Bitcoin Friday!

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@ 75869cfa:76819987

GM, Nostriches! The Nostr Review is a biweekly newsletter focused on nostr statistics, protocol updates, exciting programs, the long-form content ecosystem, and key events happening in the Nostr-verse. If you’re interested, join me in covering updates from the Nostr ecosystem!

Quick review: In the past two weeks, Nostr statistics show over 240,000 daily trusted pubkey events, a 28% increase from the previous period, The daily peak reached 22201, the highest in the past two months.New user profiles with bios have reached around 40,000，profiles with contact lists are around 18000，both showing increases over 20%. More than 11 million events have been published, with posts leading in volume, totaling about 2.1 million. Total Zap activity reached over 19 million, marking a significant 70% increase.

Additionally, 26 pull requests were submitted to the Nostr protocol, with 8 merged. A total of 42 Nostr projects were tracked, with 12 releasing product updates, and over 419 long-form articles were published, 33% focusing on Bitcoin and Nostr. During this period, 1 notable event took place, and 3 significant events are upcoming.

Nostr Statistics

Based on user activity, the total daily trusted pubkeys writing events exceeded 240,000, a 28% increase compared to the previous period (Oct 29-Nov 10). The daily peak reached 22201, the highest in the past two months, with a low of nearly 17682. In terms of new user numbers, profiles with bios are around 40000, up 21% over the past two weeks; profiles with contact lists are around 18697, up 22%. Public writing events exceeded 200,000,The daily peak reached 32480. Regarding event publishing, the total number of note events published has surpassed 11 million, marking a significant increase of approximately 28%. Posts remain the most dominant in volume, totaling about 2.1 million, far exceeding reposts (357,168) and reactions (560,243). For zap activity, the total zap amount has exceeded 19 million, showing a significant increase of over 70% compared to the previous period. In terms of relay usage, the top five relays by user count are: wss://bostr.bitcointxoko.com/,wss://feeds.nostr.band/,wss://realy.nostr.band/,wss://realy.lumina.rocks/,wss://unostr.site/ Data source: https://stats.nostr.band/

NIPs

Break out chat and threads from nip 29 nostr:npub1jlrs53pkdfjnts29kveljul2sm0actt6n8dxrrzqcersttvcuv3qdjynqn is proposing that this is a variant of #1589 which attempts to reconcile NIP 29 and flotilla's rooms over chat and thread kinds. This requires no changes of NIP 29 clients, only flotilla will need to be modified,andmove kind 9 and 11 out of NIP 29. The choice of new event kinds was initially made to avoid conflicts with existing implementations. However, it would be beneficial to align the two approaches. For chat and threads, maintaining shallow reply hierarchies rather than arbitrary ones is a key consideration. Moving forward would depend on whether this stipulation is acceptable to the NIP 29 community.

Relay chat nostr:npub1jlrs53pkdfjnts29kveljul2sm0actt6n8dxrrzqcersttvcuv3qdjynqn is proposing an alternative to NIP 29 for several reasons. NIP 29 is overly prescriptive in several ways and encourages group admins to host their groups on a third-party relay. Moving group-like features to relays eliminates the need for separate specifications for each group. Additionally, group metadata is redundant because relays already have a NIP 11 information document and a public key with which they can publish additional information.Admins and moderators can be handled implicitly, out-of-band, or by querying feature support using LIMITS. This approach keeps the base specification small while allowing features like moderator lists to be added as optional extensions. Member lists are managed by the members themselves, enabling them to choose whether to publicly disclose their group membership. This approach facilitates web-of-trust-based community recommendations.

Time-ordered event ids nostr:npub1gcxzte5zlkncx26j68ez60fzkvtkm9e0vrwdcvsjakxf9mu9qewqlfnj5z is proposing that there are a lot of performance benefits to having primary keys with temporal locality.when your database needs to check the uniqueness of IDs, only a small portion of the index needs to be hot (in memory). With the current “random identifiers”, the working set eventually becomes all of the data and your database will be page-faulting continuously. Sequential primary keys also make it easier for the database to place new records in order, minimizing the need to rearrange data or update index structures.This PR makes a simple, but breaking change, to the way we compute event ids. It was inspired by the improvements made by UUIDv7.

NIP-37 - Transport method announcement nostr:npub1hw6amg8p24ne08c9gdq8hhpqx0t0pwanpae9z25crn7m9uy7yarse465gr is proposing that Nostr decouples applications completely from the transportation layer, meaning services no longer have to be designed around a single transportation method, but can be accessible through a plethora of ways. This NIP is meant to act as a lookup system that tells a client which transportation methods can be used to access its services.There have been NIP proposals that touch the connection between pubkeys and addresses, example NIP-97 - Nostr Naming System, NIP-66 - Relay Discovery and Liveness Monitoring. NIP-97 is very close to solving the issue of this mapping.However, it attempts to also include human-readable naming into the solution. human-readable naming of pubkeys/services is inherently different from mapping a pubkey to an address where a user can access that pubkey's services, which may or may not map to a legacy domain name.NIP-66 covers discoverability from the client side and can be a very important tool to discern which services are worth connecting to. I think it can act as the feedback mechanism to the proposed event of this NIP. It can be used to build metrics for the various networks a pubkey announces it to be accessible. Things like rtt (round trip time) can also be different for each network and should be measured separately.

nip46: simple public key login using kind:10046 nostr:npub180cvv07tjdrrgpa0j7j7tmnyl2yr6yr7l8j4s3evf6u64th6gkwsyjh6w6 is proposing that This vastly simplifies the bunker:// flow while also making it easy for the user on every other front possibly -- and brings back NIP-05 login, but in a simpler, more generic way.

Add optional arg to nostr.getPublicKey() Lez is proposing that if login is optional for an application, nostr.getPublicKey({optional: true}) can be used to retrieve the pubkey if the user has already granted permission to the app. This allows the user to view the app’s landing page without being interrupted by a popup window. The user can still press the login button later, which calls nostr.getPublicKey() and prompts for permission.

NIP-62: Collections limina1 is defining a specification for organizing nostr events into collections - ordered, optionally-hierarchical structures like books, journals, or documentation. Currently, there's no standardized way to create versioned collections of content. The closest option is to use lists, but this extends that idea beyond a strictly linear hierarchy. Introducing two new event kinds: kind:30040 - Collection Index and kind:30041 - Collection Section. The Collection Index serves as a table of contents, providing metadata about the collection and listing events in display order. Meanwhile, the Collection Section contains the actual content and supports linking to other content using wikilinks, enabling seamless connectivity within the collection.

Add r to kind 10009 nostr:npub1jlrs53pkdfjnts29kveljul2sm0actt6n8dxrrzqcersttvcuv3qdjynqn is proposing adding an "r" field to kind 10009, allowing users can advertise what relays/groups they are members of. Flotilla uses this to recommend relays. These of course should be considered non-canonical because the users publishing them may not actually have access to the relay specified.

Add support for naming unmanaged groups nostr:npub1jlrs53pkdfjnts29kveljul2sm0actt6n8dxrrzqcersttvcuv3qdjynqn is proposing Instead of allowing human-readable ids, it's probably better to just allow users to name groups. I opted for a petnames strategy here instead of recommending sending 9002 events or something. Clients can choose whatever heuristic they want to resolve conflicts.

Add feature detection for unmanaged groups nostr:npub1jlrs53pkdfjnts29kveljul2sm0actt6n8dxrrzqcersttvcuv3qdjynqn is proposing feature detection for unmanaged groups that has to exist on two levels.On the group level, so that clients can toggle the richer NIP 29 behavior on or off. Feature detection based on NIP 11's supported_nips field isn't sufficient, since a relay implementation might support NIP 29, but the actual relay may not.On the relay level, since clients need to be able to know whether users can post events to groups that don't yet exist, or whether they have to send a create-group event instead.The default (obviously) has to be that unmanaged groups are allowed, so unmanaged group support is opt-out.

kind-scoped follow nostr:npub1l2vyh47mk2p0qlsku7hg0vn29faehy9hy34ygaclpn66ukqp3afqutajft is proposing kind-scoped follow does NOT (necessarily) replace kind:3, it's a way to do a very simple follow of one or more kinds that might be of interest.This way we also start moving away from huge follow lists that can get wiped at a moment's notice and instead clients are responsible for computing the follow list and updating its local state.This also allows apps to show "followed" notifications without a central source.

Build Your Own Adventure posts nostr:npub1gcxzte5zlkncx26j68ez60fzkvtkm9e0vrwdcvsjakxf9mu9qewqlfnj5z is defining kind:296 and kind:297 as text notes with options to navigate to the next text notes and continue reading. Kind 296 serves as the root story and 297 for the sections of that story.The idea is to replicate the dynamism of build your own adventure books, where each reader takes their own journey in the story.Story Section events contain an optional title tag and option tags for the next sections.Clients SHOULD render options in a way that users can select and move to that post.

Notable Projects

Primal 2.0 nostr:npub12vkcxr0luzwp8e673v29eqjhrr7p9vqq8asav85swaepclllj09sylpugg

Primal now offers a much more comprehensive view of Nostr, with the following additions: * New tab: READS * New tab: EXPLORE * Feed Marketplace * Advanced Search * launched Primal Premium, for $7/month, you can get a Primal Name and Nostr Tools for power users * enable plugging any feed into the sidebar

Yakihonne nostr:npub1yzvxlwp7wawed5vgefwfmugvumtp8c8t0etk3g8sky4n0ndvyxesnxrf8q

Mobile latest updates: * Adjust your home feed with what interests you the most. * Home suggestion box can be enabled and disabled. * Profile preview can be enabled and disabled. * Replies can be previewed and highlighted directly. * Articles, videos and curations can be quoted inside notes for more exposure. * Add the ability to link connected wallets to your profile for zaps receiving. * Thread view is enhanced and well adjusted. * Fix a variety of introduced bugs. * General improvements across the app.

Web latest updates: * A fresh design overhaul for the article, video, and curation pages, enabling seamless browsing and enhanced interaction with content. * Connected threads! A refined notes thread makes following entire discussions more intuitive. * Users can now personalize their home feed by selecting their top interests. * Replies can now be previewed directly from the note card, without needing to open the full note. * Wallets can now be linked to your account directly from the wallet page. * Drafts for notes and replies are now saved, allowing easy edits later. * The suggestions box on the home page can now be hidden. * The on-hover user preview can now be disabled for quicker access to profiles. * Articles, videos and curations can now be quoted and shared as notes. * General improvements. * Bug fixes and optimizations.

ZEUS Pay nostr:npub1xnf02f60r9v0e5kty33a404dm79zr7z2eepyrk5gsq3m7pwvsz2sazlpr5

• All payments will incur no fee for the receiver (previously 2.5-10% depending on amount)
• The minimum amount receivable has been lowered to 1 satoshi (previously 10 satoshis)

TestFlight nostr:npub18m76awca3y37hkvuneavuw6pjj4525fw90necxmadrvjg0sdy6qsngq955

TestFlight is a program designed for those who want to join the nostr:#damus roadmap, prioritizing improvements to video support and introducing several new features： * Improved video controls * Stability improvements to video support * New image share options on the full screen carousel * Hashtag suggestions * Multi image uploads * A video player that actually works * Share sheet action * Seamless scroll * Added Damus Share Feature * Fixed missing tab bar on navigation * Fixed some issues where profile QR code scanning would not work, and improved UX to make experience more robust

Olas 0.1 nostr:npub1l2vyh47mk2p0qlsku7hg0vn29faehy9hy34ygaclpn66ukqp3afqutajft

Olas is an Instagram-like client for iOS and Android，provides a feed of videos (like those on flare/highlighter/zap.stream), picture events (kind:20, a new kind that no client had implemented yet) and the classical short notes with images attached we are all used to.Some more features already available: * blossom uploads * NIP-22 replies * Reels (still quite buggy though) * Edit your preferred blossom servers * Edit your nutsack mint list * Image download optimization (to be gentle with mobile data plans) Additionally, there are some coming next, including NIP-55 (Amber) Logic,Fix NIP-46 (bunker) login,complete NIP-60 (nutsack) wallet,Add NIP-57/61 zaps + nutzaps,and more.

Gossip 0.12.0 nostr:npub189j8y280mhezlp98ecmdzydn0r8970g4hpqpx3u9tcztynywfczqqr3tg8

This is a major release with the following major changes: * Bookmarks support (including private bookmarks) * Global feed and per-Relay feeds (with volatile storage, erased when you quit) * Friends-of-friends scores shown in avatar * Improved spam filtering script with more inputs to make decisions on Additionally, there are some minor changes, including updated emoji picker, reworked relay scoring, more efficient background tasks, faster database (less syncing),and more.

Nostur v1.16.0 nostr:npub1n0stur7q092gyverzc2wfc00e8egkrdnnqq3alhv7p072u89m5es5mk6h0

• Nostr Nests integration
• Live video streams and chats
• Relay Autopilot improvements
• VPN detection toggle: only connect to additional relays if VPN is detected
• Relay Connection stats improvements
• Rewrite of feed loading. Faster & more efficient
• Possible imposter label also added on new follower notification and quoted posts
• Improved profile card rendering/animation
• Improved quoted post and inline naddr1 rendering
• Optimized profile gallery loading
• Exclude reposts for new posts notifier
• UI tweaks, more compact, less clutter
• Full width images now go to screen edge
• Reduced data usage for new follower notifications
• Many many bug fixes and other optimizations

Fountain Radio 1.1.8 nostr:npub1v5ufyh4lkeslgxxcclg8f0hzazhaw7rsrhvfquxzm2fk64c72hps45n0v5

• Add and upvote tracks in the queue
• Support the artist currently playing
• Post in the live chat
• Save tracks to your library
• Listen to Fountain Radio on other apps
• Artist takeovers

Plebeian Progress Update nostr:npub1market6g3zl4mxwx5ugw56hfg0f7dy7jnnw8t380788mvdyrnwuqgep7hd

There are some enhancements and new features: * dialog manager * hide non-working parts of the ui * publish events, we are just signing * Moderation Tools for Admins and Editors * introduce 'editor' role Additionally, a major bug causing errors when creating stalls with more than one shipping method has been fixed, and the “v4v” text has been updated to Community Contribution.

Zapstore 0.16 nostr:npub10r8xl2njyepcw2zwv3a6dyufj4e4ajx86hz6v4ehu4gnpupxxp7stjt2p8

Zapstore 0.1.6 released now.Some performance issues addressed, reverted installer, fixed themed icon and toasts, and more.

0xchat 1.4.1 nostr:npub1tm99pgz2lth724jeld6gzz6zv48zy6xp4n9xu5uqrwvx9km54qaqkkxn72

• Optimized video player UI with support for landscape mode
• Added audio configuration in settings
• Enabled copying of ecash tokens from ecash messages
• Support for media deletion Additionally, some bug fixes,such as the occasional gray screen when sending e-cash，gray screen issue in Hungarian language，“mark all as read” function not working，and more.

DEG Mods update nostr:npub17jl3ldd6305rnacvwvchx03snauqsg4nz8mruq0emj9thdpglr2sst825x

The updated version introduces a new Web of Trust system and a Blog system, with relevant pages and sections now implemented and updated.And there are some changes: * (technical) nPub user addresses now lead to a user's profile if added through the URL, which would be auto-converted to an nProfile type address. * Reaction (heart/poop) numbers now show a loading indication with 3 dot animation, and you'd only be able to react once loading is finished. * There's now a spinning loader animation for the comments of a post to make sure, as a user, if there are comments or not * There's now a comment loader button that you can press to load newly discovered comments for a mod or blog post * Minor design adjustments for blog posts Additionally, fixed the ordering of the latest mods, ensured profile links in comments (from clicking the name or user address) lead to the correct profile page now, and more.

Long-Form Content Eco

In the past two weeks, more than 419 long-form articles have been published, including over 100 articles on Bitcoin and more than 30 related to Nostr, accounting for 33% of the total content.

These articles about Nostr mainly explore the protocol's development, practical applications, and its role in driving the decentralized social media ecosystem. They cover updates on tools and features like TestFlight and Knox Beta, highlighting innovations such as healthcare micro-apps, privacy enhancements, and NFC integration. Community-driven initiatives, like self-hosted Zap cooking, board member introductions, and the power of collaboration, reflect the growth of the ecosystem. Additionally, the articles discuss challenges such as key management and content moderation, as well as creative contributions like Thanksgiving use cases and cultural content.

The Bitcoin articles discuss the development, adoption, and impact of Bitcoin on the global financial landscape. They cover Bitcoin's market performance, technological advancements, and its role in the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem. The articles also explore Bitcoin's rise, its increasing market cap, and predictions for its future price movements. In addition, they focus on Bitcoin's use in various applications, the challenges faced by Bitcoin mining, and its evolving role in decentralized finance, highlighting Bitcoin's potential to address global issues, from the limitations of fiat currencies to the challenges posed by central banking systems and surveillance. Overall, the articles reflect Bitcoin's growing influence and its potential to drive future technological and financial revolutions.

Thankyou,nostr:npub1qe3e5wrvnsgpggtkytxteaqfprz0rgxr8c3l34kk3a9t7e2l3acslezefe，nostr:npub1jlrs53pkdfjnts29kveljul2sm0actt6n8dxrrzqcersttvcuv3qdjynqn，nostr:npub1r0d8u8mnj6769500nypnm28a9hpk9qg8jr0ehe30tygr3wuhcnvs4rfsft，nostr:npub1t0an3j7nk007fuc7r9zpm89g66dksuc245jsm4xy2674w2uen2nsceqmmp，nostr:npub1klshrs20h2nxf73vrshfjpmmnrq7m8tz7l77sjapwkyaveu22agq5pvxnv，nostr:npub1f7ptem2ztp9x4n7w62n90ddv40z0jrt4490d8lug3uasfwyjsccqkknerm，nostr:npub176zu0wg5l8436nu66qaxwfekx0zz58l66s72dhcu0ur0lvd7q5lq9f66qx，nostr:npub1kun5628raxpm7usdkj62z2337hr77f3ryrg9cf0vjpyf4jvk9r9smv3lhe， and others,for your work. Enriching Nostr’s long-form content ecosystem is crucial.

Nostriches Global Meet Ups

Recently, several Nostr events have been hosted in different countries.

• Adopting Bitcoin 2024 took place successfully from November 15 to 16, 2024, in the southern region of El Salvador. The event attracted over a hundred Bitcoin experts, advocates, and innovators from around the world, including nostr:npub14d5399mthprnnur9g2wq877hg0htr5afrdad5dryryeftct885fqtcpuyp, nostr:npub1dtgg8yk3h23ldlm6jsy79tz723p4sun9mz62tqwxqe7c363szkzqm8up6m, nostr:npub16dhgpql60vmd4mnydjut87vla23a38j689jssaqlqqlzrtqtd0kqex0nkq, nostr:npub1lelkh3hhxw9hdwlcpk6q9t0xt9f7yze0y0nxazvzqjmre3p98x3sthkvyz，and more. Discussions focused on Bitcoin’s potential to reshape global finance, culture, and social structures, with key themes around decentralization, Bitcoin’s challenge to sovereignty, and its impact on education and family life. nostr:npub1ad0ptuzte83alpkpqqctvewlaqj5zq23c83m82xw8apg4t6zlyns6xng2c

Here are the upcoming Nostr events in November that you might want to check out.

• Btrust Developer Day will take place on Sunday, December 8, 2024, in Nairobi, Kenya, as part of the Africa Bitcoin Conference (ABC 2024). This event aims to provide a platform for African developers to explore Bitcoin technology, learn from industry leaders, and collaborate on projects. The event will feature lightning talks, panel discussions, hands-on workshops, project showcases, and networking opportunities, making it ideal for Bitcoin developers, open-source developers, technologists, and Bitcoin enthusiasts.

• The Africa Bitcoin Conference 2024 will take place from December 9 to 11, 2024, in Nairobi, Kenya, featuring key programs such as Btrust Developer Day, TBD Hackathon, ABC Social Impact Award, Afro Bitcoin Fellowship, and Africa Bitcoin Day. The event will host nearly 70 distinguished speakers, including nostr:npub1ju2sw9unanr94p5wama3ydv90hcke34wcnmnxedummspaayz55qswlya32, nostr:npub16hssgmdhw9e9j6z8na45lzz4grdsfjqlp5hf8dtcqnp0glseeu3seecguf, nostr:npub1m7uxdt50d2jw35q79zlszlsvy79t7dpdxptz6rfsrsamra7l8ttsq752yl, nostr:npub1gaxapm9t9damh6q2lpc04ptcyeh0ysfdfzzs997agu3ae80ftrns7t985l, and more,focusing on topics such as Bitcoin adoption, regulation, innovation, and security. This conference offers attendees valuable opportunities for in-depth discussions and knowledge sharing.

• The Asia Bitcoin Tech Unconference is set to take place from February 8 to 10, 2025, in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Organized as a workshop-style event, it will feature a diverse lineup of speakers, including nostr:npub1zk6u7mxlflguqteghn8q7xtu47hyerruv6379c36l8lxzzr4x90q0gl6ef, nostr:npub1htnhsay5dmq3r72tukdw72pduzfdcja0yylcajuvnc2uklkhxp8qnz3qac, nostr:npub1ejxswthae3nkljavznmv66p9ahp4wmj4adux525htmsrff4qym9sz2t3tv, nostr:npub1xtwy7fvu8f7wdtgnpm68wyrf6uxshf49tn5kp7kyusu6872amn8qh06rus, nostr:npub147whqsr5vsj86x0ays70r0hgreklre3ey97uvcmxhum65skst56s30selt，and others. The conference will focus on key topics such as scalability, mining, payments, and infrastructure, while also encouraging participants to share unfinished projects or technical challenges. Through hackathons and hands-on discussions, the event aims to foster collaboration and innovation. Highlights include technical talks, pitch competitions, Bitcoin product showcases, and creative and wellness activities such as Thai massages, ice baths, and arts and crafts workshops.nostr:npub1yrnuj56rnen08zp2h9h7p74ghgjx6ma39spmpj6w9hzxywutevsst7k5cx

Additionally, We warmly invite event organizers who have held recent activities to reach out to us so we can work together to promote the prosperity and development of the Nostr ecosystem.

Thanks for reading! If there’s anything I missed, feel free to reach out and help improve the completeness and accuracy of my coverage.

@ a849beb6:b327e6d2

\ \ It was another historic week for both bitcoin and the Ten31 portfolio, as the world’s oldest, largest, most battle-tested cryptocurrency climbed to new all-time highs each day to close out the week just shy of the $100,000 mark. Along the way, bitcoin continued to accumulate institutional and regulatory wins, including the much-anticipated approval and launch of spot bitcoin ETF options and the appointment of several additional pro-bitcoin Presidential cabinet officials. The timing for this momentum was poetic, as this week marked the second anniversary of the pico-bottom of the 2022 bear market, a level that bitcoin has now hurdled to the tune of more than 6x despite the litany of bitcoin obituaries published at the time. The entirety of 2024 and especially the past month have further cemented our view that bitcoin is rapidly gaining a sense of legitimacy among institutions, fiduciaries, and governments, and we remain optimistic that this trend is set to accelerate even more into 2025.

Several Ten31 portfolio companies made exciting announcements this week that should serve to further entrench bitcoin’s institutional adoption. AnchorWatch, a first of its kind bitcoin insurance provider offering 1:1 coverage with its innovative use of bitcoin’s native properties, announced it has been designated a Lloyd’s of London Coverholder, giving the company unique, blue-chip status as it begins to write bitcoin insurance policies of up to $100 million per policy starting next month. Meanwhile, Battery Finance Founder and CEO Andrew Hohns appeared on CNBC to delve into the launch of Battery’s pioneering private credit strategy which fuses bitcoin and conventional tangible assets in a dual-collateralized structure that offers a compelling risk/return profile to both lenders and borrowers. Both companies are clearing a path for substantially greater bitcoin adoption in massive, untapped pools of capital, and Ten31 is proud to have served as lead investor for AnchorWatch’s Seed round and as exclusive capital partner for Battery.

As the world’s largest investor focused entirely on bitcoin, Ten31 has deployed nearly $150 million across two funds into more than 30 of the most promising and innovative companies in the ecosystem like AnchorWatch and Battery, and we expect 2025 to be the best year yet for both bitcoin and our portfolio. Ten31 will hold a first close for its third fund at the end of this year, and investors in that close will benefit from attractive incentives and a strong initial portfolio. Visit ten31.vc/funds to learn more and get in touch to discuss participating.\ \ Portfolio Company Spotlight 

Primal is a first of its kind application for the Nostr protocol that combines a client, caching service, analytics tools, and more to address several unmet needs in the nascent Nostr ecosystem. Through the combination of its sleek client application and its caching service (built on a completely open source stack), Primal seeks to offer an end-user experience as smooth and easy as that of legacy social media platforms like Twitter and eventually many other applications, unlocking the vast potential of Nostr for the next billion people. Primal also offers an integrated wallet (powered by Strike BLACK) that substantially reduces onboarding and UX frictions for both Nostr and the lightning network while highlighting bitcoin’s unique power as internet-native, open-source money. 

Selected Portfolio News

AnchorWatch announced it has achieved Llody’s Coverholder status, allowing the company to provide unique 1:1 bitcoin insurance offerings starting in December.\ \ Battery Finance Founder and CEO Andrew Hohns appeared on CNBC to delve into the company’s unique bitcoin-backed private credit strategy.

Primal launched version 2.0, a landmark update that adds a feed marketplace, robust advanced search capabilities, premium-tier offerings, and many more new features.

Debifi launched its new iOS app for Apple users seeking non-custodial bitcoin-collateralized loans.

Media

Strike Founder and CEO Jack Mallers joined Bloomberg TV to discuss the strong volumes the company has seen over the past year and the potential for a US bitcoin strategic reserve. 

Primal Founder and CEO Miljan Braticevic joined The Bitcoin Podcast to discuss the rollout of Primal 2.0 and the future of Nostr. 

Ten31 Managing Partner Marty Bent appeared on BlazeTV to discuss recent changes in the regulatory environment for bitcoin. 

Zaprite published a customer testimonial video highlighting the popularity of its offerings across the bitcoin ecosystem. 

Market Updates

Continuing its recent momentum, bitcoin reached another new all-time high this week, clocking in just below $100,000 on Friday. Bitcoin has now reached a market cap of nearly $2 trillion, putting it within 3% of the market caps of Amazon and Google. 

After receiving SEC and CFTC approval over the past month, long-awaited options on spot bitcoin ETFs were fully approved and launched this week. These options should help further expand bitcoin’s institutional liquidity profile, with potentially significant implications for price action over time.

The new derivatives showed strong performance out of the gate, with volumes on options for BlackRock’s IBIT reaching nearly $2 billion on just the first day of trading despite surprisingly tight position limits for the vehicles. 

Meanwhile, the underlying spot bitcoin ETF complex had yet another banner week, pulling in $3.4 billion in net inflows. 

New reports suggested President-elect Donald Trump’s social media company is in advanced talks to acquire crypto trading platform Bakkt, potentially the latest indication of the incoming administration’s stance toward the broader “crypto” ecosystem. 

On the macro front, US housing starts declined M/M again in October on persistently high mortgage rates and weather impacts. The metric remains well below pre-COVID levels. 

Pockets of the US commercial real estate market remain challenged, as the CEO of large Florida developer Related indicated that developers need further rate cuts “badly” to maintain project viability. 

US Manufacturing PMI increased slightly M/M, but has now been in contraction territory (<50) for well over two years.

The latest iteration of the University of Michigan’s popular consumer sentiment survey ticked up following this month’s election results, though so did five-year inflation expectations, which now sit comfortably north of 3%. 

Regulatory Update

After weeks of speculation, the incoming Trump administration appointed hedge fund manager Scott Bessent to head up the US Treasury. Like many of Trump’s cabinet selections so far, Bessent has been a public advocate for bitcoin. 

Trump also appointed Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick – another outspoken bitcoin bull – as Secretary of the Commerce Department. 

Meanwhile, the Trump team is reportedly considering creating a new “crypto czar” role to sit within the administration. While it’s unclear at this point what that role would entail, one report indicated that the administration’s broader “crypto council” is expected to move forward with plans for a strategic bitcoin reserve.

Various government lawyers suggested this week that the Trump administration is likely to be less aggressive in seeking adversarial enforcement actions against bitcoin and “crypto” in general, as regulatory bodies appear poised to shift resources and focus elsewhere. 

Other updates from the regulatory apparatus were also directionally positive for bitcoin, most notably FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg’s confirmation that he plans to resign from his post at the end of President Biden’s term. 

Many critics have alleged Gruenberg was an architect of “Operation Chokepoint 2.0,” which has created banking headwinds for bitcoin companies over the past several years, so a change of leadership at the department is likely yet another positive for the space.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler also officially announced he plans to resign at the start of the new administration. Gensler has been the target of much ire from the broader “crypto” space, though we expect many projects outside bitcoin may continue to struggle with questions around the Howey Test.

Overseas, a Chinese court ruled that it is not illegal for individuals to hold cryptocurrency, even though the country is still ostensibly enforcing a ban on crypto transactions. 

Noteworthy

The incoming CEO of Charles Schwab – which administers over $9 trillion in client assets – suggested the platform is preparing to “get into” spot bitcoin offerings and that he “feels silly” for having waited this long. As this attitude becomes more common among traditional finance players, we continue to believe that the number of acquirers coming to market for bitcoin infrastructure capabilities will far outstrip the number of available high quality assets. 

BlackRock’s 2025 Thematic Outlook notes a “renewed sense of optimism” on bitcoin among the asset manager’s client base due to macro tailwinds and the improving regulatory environment. Elsewhere, BlackRock’s head of digital assets indicated the firm does not view bitcoin as a “risk-on” asset. 

MicroStrategy, which was a sub-$1 billion market cap company less than five years ago, briefly breached a $100 billion equity value this week as it continues to aggressively acquire bitcoin. The company now holds nearly 350,000 bitcoin on its balance sheet. 

Notably, Allianz SE, Germany’s largest insurer, spoke for 25% of MicroStrategy’s latest $3 billion convertible note offering this week, suggesting growing appetite for bitcoin proxy exposure among more restricted pools of capital. 

The ongoing meltdown of fintech middleware provider Synapse has left tens of thousands of customers with nearly 100% deposit haircuts as hundreds of millions in funds remain missing, the latest unfortunate case study in the fragility of much of the US’s legacy banking stack. 

Travel

• BitcoinMENA, Dec 9-10

• Nashville BitDevs, Dec 10

• Austin BitDevs, Dec 19

• Nashville Energy and Mining Summit, Jan 30

@ 3c7dc2c5:805642a8

🧠Quote(s) of the week:

The path to maximalism is littered with mistakes and paved with humility.' Anilsaido https://i.ibb.co/ZzcCHwgT/Gip-G0vdb-YAAV9-Mw-1.jpg

Bitcoin is time because money itself is time. Money is humanity’s battery: a way to store energy, labor, and resources for the future. It captures your past effort and preserves it for when you need it most. Fiat leaks. Bitcoin holds.

🧡Bitcoin news🧡

On the 18th of March:

➡️After ruling out a strategic bitcoin reserve, the Bank of Korea will launch a central bank digital currency pilot in April, per The Korea Times.

➡️'Metaplanet has acquired an additional 150 BTC for ~$12.5 million, achieving a BTC Yield of 60.8% YTD in 2025. As of 3/18/2025, Metaplanet hodls 3,200 BTC, and is now a top 10 publicly listed holder of Bitcoin globally.' -Dylan LeClair

➡️Bitcoin entered a risk-off, distribution-dominant phase in early 2025, evidenced by frequent selling and hesitation to buy (yellow to orange dots). - AMB Crypto

➡️Bitwise CIO says Bitcoin should be at $200,000 today and says, “I think the number of companies buying Bitcoin is going to triple this year, I think Game Theory is on.” “I think countries around the world are going to be buying Bitcoin. There is structurally more demand than supply in Bitcoin.”

➡️Bitcoin mining company Bitfarms buys Stronghold Digital for more than $110 million, making it the largest public-to-public acquisition in Bitcoin industry history.

➡️Bitcoin long-term HODLers become net buyers for the first time since September, per Compass Point Research. "Buying/selling from HODLers is typically a leading indicator for BTC. This cohort now owns 65% of BTC supply vs 63% last week vs 73% in early October." - Bitcoin News

➡️GlassNode: 'The Bitcoin market continues to adjust to its new price range after experiencing a -30% correction. Liquidity conditions are also contracting in both on-chain and futures markets.'

➡️Bitcoin now ranks 6th among the world's top monetary assets at $1.62 trillion, per Porkopolis.

➡️The EU isn't banning Bitcoin but using MiCA and other regulations to control it. This involves stripping away privacy through transaction tracking, mandatory disclosures, and restrictions on self-custody. The goal is control, not outright prohibition.

Excellent thread by Eli. Eli summarises the EU’s attack on Bitcoin and on Europeans’ rights: https://x.com/EliNagarBrr/status/1902048401908261146

Agree 100% with all of this. All these people who have been saying the EU pushing the industry forward with regulations are idiots. They are closing it off and pushing everyone to a CBDC.

Regarding the CBCD, here you will find a comprehensive summary of EU’s CBDC plans, by Efrat Fenigson: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/politics/ecb-prepping-the-ground-for-digital-euro-launch

*On the 20th of March, the ECB posted the following statement on Twitter: The digital euro is not just about creating a new form of money, says Chief Economist Philip R. Lane.

It is about ensuring that Europe retains control over its monetary and financial destiny in the digital age against a backdrop of increasing geopolitical fragmentation.

“It’s about ensuring that the EU retains control over its citizens.”

There, I fixed it for you if you missed the primary reason.

The Euro is a permissioned, centralized, censorable, inflationary, debt-based currency controlled by unelected bureaucrats.

Bitcoin is permissionless, decentralized, censorship-resistant, fixed in supply, and governed by code—not politicians. Choose wisely.

➡️As mentioned in last week's Weekly Recap the US Government spends $3.3B per day in interest rate expense. If this doesn’t make you buy Bitcoin I’m not sure what will.

https://i.ibb.co/sdt1GvfM/Gm-Vd-FBz-XQAA3t3-M-1.jpg

➡️In Kibera, Africa’s largest informal settlement, more than 40 merchants now accept and save in Bitcoin.

➡️The increase in 3-6 month-old UTXOs suggests accumulation during this market correction, a behavior historically critical in forming market bottoms and driving new price rallies.

➡️Just as Hal Finney predicted, Bitcoin will take over Wall Street: Multiple American Bitcoin companies are now seeking to become state or national banks, reports Reuters. It is inevitable.

➡️Daniel Batten: 2021: 62 US Environmental Organizations write to coCongressaying Bitcoin is bad for the environment and has no use (based on Central Bank misinformation) 2025: US Environmental Organizations debunked (impossible, had they used Bitcoin) Strange are the ways of karma.

Meanwhile,

➡️President Trump's Executive Director, Bo Hines, on digital assets: "We talked about ways of acquiring more Bitcoin in budget-neutral ways." We want "as much as we can get." When Bitcoin is at $200k. We will look back on March 2025 and say, how was everyone not buying. It was so obvious.

On the 19th of March:

➡️BLACKROCK: “The most sophisticated long-term Bitcoin accumulators are pretty excited about this dip. They see the correction as a buying opportunity."

On the 20th of March: ➡️SEC confirms that Bitcoin and Proof of Work mining are NOT securities under US law. https://i.ibb.co/nWRHjnk/Gmg-Yxv-QWEAAgwx8.png

Source: https://t.co/0ExsJniPIf

➡️Bitcoin exchange Kraken has agreed to acquire NinjaTrader, the leading U.S. retail futures trading platform, for $1.5 billion—the largest deal ever of a Bitcoin company buying a traditional financial company.

➡️TRUMP: “I signed an order creating the brand new Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and the US digital asset stockpile which will allow the Federal government to maximize the value of its holdings.”

Tweet and hot take by Lola L33tz

"With the dollar-backed stablecoins, you'll help expand the dominance of the US Dollar [...] It will be at the top, and that's where we want to keep it" 'What he means is: With dollar-backed stablecoins, the Global South will pivot towards digital Dollars over local currencies, allowing private, US government-controlled entities to replace bank accounts around the globe.

This does not just allow for the expansion of USD dominance by bypassing local governments – it gives the US unprecedented and direct control over worldwide economies as every stablecoin can be effectively frozen on behalf of the US with the click of a button.'

Stablecoins = CBDCs There is no technical fundamental difference between them. It’s almost a guarantee that the EU CBDCs and U.S. stablecoins will be interchangeable.

➡️River: Bitcoin is coming for $128 trillion in global money. You're not late to Bitcoin. https://i.ibb.co/7thzHJMx/Gmf-Uvra-EAEV4-U0.png

On the 21st of March:

➡️Michael Saylor’s Strategy to raise $722.5M to buy more Bitcoin.

➡️Publicly traded Atai Life Sciences to buy $5 million in Bitcoin.

➡️Publicly traded HK Asia Holdings bought 10 Bitcoins worth $858,500 for its balance sheet.

➡️Another solo home miner has mined an entire Bitcoin block worth over $ 260.000,-.

On the 22nd of March:

➡️The University of Wyoming posted a new video explaining Bitcoin with Philosophy Professor Bradley Rettler

➡️Spot Bitcoin ETFs bought 8,775 BTC this week while miners only mined 3,150 Bitcoin.

On the 24th of March:

➡️Metaplanet finished the day as the 13th most liquid stock in Japan, with ¥50.4 billion ($336.6m) of daily trading volume, ahead of Toyota and Nintendo.

➡️River: There is a 275% gap between the inflation you're told and real inflation. https://i.ibb.co/mCs2Lgcc/Gmz-4qc-WMAAzx-z.png

Bitcoin is insurance on the debt spiral. The U.S. Dollar has been devalued by more than 363% since 2000 – That’s a 14.5% devaluation per year. This means if your savings don’t grow by 14.5% annually, you’re falling behind. This is why we Bitcoin. Bitcoin is insurance on the debt spiral, grow your savings beyond the dollar’s devaluation!

➡️Bitcoin's compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over a 5-year rolling window is currently over 50%

➡️Strategy became the first publicly traded company to hold over 500,000 Bitcoin worth over $44 billion.

Strategy has acquired 6,911 BTC for ~$584.1 million at ~$84,529 per Bitcoin and has achieved a BTC Yield of 7.7% YTD 2025. As of 3/23/2025, Strategy holds 506,137 BTC acquired for ~$33.7 billion at ~$66,608 per Bitcoin.

➡️CryptoQuant: Bitcoin's long-term holders are holding firm, with no significant selling pressure.

➡️Xapo Bank launches Bitcoin-backed USD loans up to $1M, with collateral secured in an MPC vault and no re-usage.

💸Traditional Finance / Macro:

👉🏽no news

🏦Banks: 

👉🏽 no news

🌎Macro/Geopolitics:

On the 18th of March:

👉🏽Germany just changed its constitution to unleash a staggering ONE TRILLION in new debt. The German parliament has voted to take on hundreds of billions of euros of new government debt, to ease the debt brake rules, and to codify "climate neutrality by 2045" into the constitution.

On top of that, some extra money to Ukraine:

Germany's next Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, believes that Putin has gone to war against all of Europe. He argues that Russia has attacked Germany, as the Parliament breaks out in applause. -  We continue to move further away from the "Europe is not part of the conflict" rhetoric. Germany’s self-inflicted delusion continues!

👉🏽Germany's first offshore wind farm closes after 15 years because it's too expensive to operate. Expect a car crash. The Alpha Ventus offshore wind farm near the German North Sea island of Borkum is set to be dismantled after being in operation for only 15 years. It has become too unprofitable to operate without massive subsidies.

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/03/16/germanys-first-offshore-wind-farm-to-be-dismantled-after-just-15-years-of-operation/

Great thing that the Netherlands is investing heavily in offshore wind farms, even the biggest pension fund APB. Because nInE tImEs ChEaPeR tHaN gAs, right? I hope they dismantle them & not leave them to rust into the sea. Right? Because climate!

Great response by Jasmine Birtles: "These vanity projects should never have been allowed to start. The phrase 'cheap renewable energy' is simply a falsehood. This kind of energy production only seems cheap because of the huge government subsidies that keep them going. I'm all for clean energy if it's possible to run it honestly and without huge subsidies, but while it doesn't seem to be viable we should stick with what is affordable and will keep the country going, rather than sacrificing the vulnerable to an impossible ideology."

👉🏽'Gold spot is now trading consistently over $3000, a record high. And with deliveries once again picking up at the Comex and war in the Middle East coming back with a vengeance, the next big spike is just a matter of time. As expected, once gold broke out above $3000,- it has gone vertical and is up 1% in the past hours, rising to a new record high of $3034, as it sets off for $4000' - ZeroHedge

👉🏽'We have just witnessed the biggest drop in US equity allocation on record. The collapse of US consumers: Unemployment expectations in the US are now ABOVE 2020 levels and at their highest since 2008. In 2024, a poll showed that a whopping 56% of Americans thought the US was in a recession.' - TKL

https://i.ibb.co/ycnRDpdf/Gm-VZMnb-XAAAt76r.png

👉🏽OECD Projects Argentina to Have the Second Highest Economic Growth Worldwide in 2025

👉🏽A new blow to the Dutch chemical sector. The major producer LyondellBasell is permanently closing its factory at the Maasvlakte. This decision, announced on Tuesday afternoon, will result in the loss of approximately 160 jobs. The closure is a direct consequence of global overcapacity and high energy costs in the Netherlands. An audit by the German firm E-Bridge, commissioned by the Dutch government, previously revealed that electricity costs for these companies in the Netherlands amount to €95 per megawatt-hour. In comparison, this rate is €32 in France (66% lower), €45.60 in Germany (52% lower), and €56.05 per megawatt-hour in Belgium (41% lower).

According to E-Bridge, this difference is mainly due to the compensation that foreign governments provide to companies and the lower grid tariffs. In the Netherlands, costs have risen primarily to finance investments in the electricity grid, such as connecting multiple offshore wind farms.

Now read that segment on offshore wind farms. Mindblowing, innit?

Subsidies are not the solution—deregulation is. But Brussels won’t allow that. So, we’re heading toward even more regulation and nationalization.

On the 19th of March:

👉🏽The Fed makes multiple revisions to its 2025 economic data projections.

Powell finally found the "stag" and the "inflation":

Fed cuts year-end GDP forecast from 2.1% to 1.7%

Fed raises year-end core PCE forecast from 2.5% to 2.8%

Fed raises year-end unemployment forecast from 4.3% to 4.4%

Fed raises PCE inflation forecast from 2.5% to 2.7%

The Fed sees higher inflation and a weaker economy.

On the 20th of March:

Dutch Central Bank Director Klaas Knot "We are worried about American influence on our local payment infrastructure."

Paving the way for the European CBDC (after slowly but surely removing CASH MONEY from society).

Knot has completed his second term and will leave his office in July. Now, of course, pushing for the CBDC, before looking for a new job in Europe.

Anyway, DNB posts billions in losses. De Nederlandsche Bank suffered a loss of over €3 billion last year, according to the annual report published on Thursday. This marks the second consecutive year of losses.

DNB incurs this loss because, as part of its monetary policy, it has lent out billions at relatively low rates while having to pay a higher rate to banks that park their money at the central bank.

But no losses on its gold. The gold reserves, meanwhile, increased in value by €12.6 billion. This amount is not included in the official profit and loss statement but is reflected on the bank's balance sheet.

For the Dutch readers/followers: Great article: Follow the Money 'Voor de megawinsten van ING, ABN Amro en Rabobank betaalt de Nederlandse burger een hoge prijs.'

https://archive.ph/ncvtk

On the 21st of March:

👉🏽'The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing index dropped 5.6 points in March, to 12.5, its 2nd consecutive monthly decline. 6-month outlook for new orders fell by 30.8 points, to 2.3, the lowest in 3 years. This marks the third-largest drop in history, only behind the 2008 Financial Crisis and December 1973.

Furthermore, 6-month business outlook dropped ~40 points to its lowest since January 2024.

All while prices paid rose 7.8 points, to 48.3, the highest since July 2022. This is further evidence of weakening economic activity with rising prices.' TKL

👉🏽'China’s central bank gold reserves hit a record 73.6 million fine troy ounces in February. China bought ~160,000 ounces of gold last month, posting their 4th consecutive monthly purchase. Over the last 2.5 years, China’s gold reserves have jumped by 11.0 million ounces of gold. Gold now reflects a record ~5.9% of China’s total foreign exchange reserves, or 2,290 tonnes. Central banks continue to stock up on gold as if we are in a crisis.' -TKL

🎁If you have made it this far I would like to give you a little gift:

What Bitcoin Did: BITCOIN & THE END OF THE DOLLAR SYSTEM with Luke Gromen They discuss: - The Sovereign Debt Crisis - If the US Will Reprice the Gold - If we will See Triple Digit Inflation - The End of The US Dollar System Luke Gromen: A modest clarification: The end of the post-71 structure of the USD system is what the Trump Administration’s actions appear to be pursuing & will in due time achieve if they stay on the present course. https://t.co/IpakFaYqbL

Credit: I have used multiple sources!

My savings account: Bitcoin The tool I recommend for setting up a Bitcoin savings plan: PocketBitcoin especially suited for beginners or people who want to invest in Bitcoin with an automated investment plan once a week or monthly.

Use the code SE3997

Get your Bitcoin out of exchanges. Save them on a hardware wallet, run your own node...be your own bank. Not your keys, not your coins. It's that simple. ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀

Do you think this post is helpful to you? If so, please share it and support my work with a zap.

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⭐ Many thanks⭐

Felipe - Bitcoin Friday!

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@ 41e6f20b:06049e45

Let me tell you a beautiful story. Last night, during the speakers' dinner at Monerotopia, the waitress was collecting tiny tips in Mexican pesos. I asked her, "Do you really want to earn tips seriously?" I then showed her how to set up a Cake Wallet, and she started collecting tips in Monero, reaching 0.9 XMR. Of course, she wanted to cash out to fiat immediately, but it solved a real problem for her: making more money. That amount was something she would never have earned in a single workday. We kept talking, and I promised to give her Zoom workshops. What can I say? I love people, and that's why I'm a natural orange-piller.

@ a60e79e0:1e0e6813

**This is a long form note test of a post that lives on my Nostr educational website Hello Nostr **

One of the first things most people learn when getting started with Nostr is the importance of their private key, or ‘nsec’. The nsec is the key to their Nostr world. Whoever controls an nsec, controls that account. Lose access to the nsec and you lose access to that account and its social graph.

So the nsec is very important and should be treated very carefully, but what happens if we want to use or test multiple Nostr clients? Newer clients might be malicious, or have unknown security vulnerabilities, so simply go pasting our nsec everywhere just to see if we like a new app is not the best idea!

Thankfully there are solutions for nsec management that allow us to do exactly that, without having to expose our all important nsec to each and every app we want to interact with. The most commonly used to date are browser extensions like Alby or nos2x. Typically these types of browser extensions do not work on mobile platforms.

Enter Amber…

What is Amber?

Amber is a free and open source Android application that serves as a dedicated ‘Nostr event signer’. Amber allows users to keep their nsec segregated in a single, dedicated app. The goal of Amber is to have your smartphone act as a NIP-46 signing device without any need for servers or additional hardware.

At its core Amber serves two main purposes:

Securing your nsec(s) Using this nsec to sign events for other Nostr clients on your phone

Got an iPhone? Check out nsec.app

Getting Started

1. Download Amber to your phone. It is available from Zap Store, Obtanium, GitHub or F-Droid

Download Amber here. Support Amber here.

1. When opening Amber for the first time, you’ll have the option to create a new Nostr account (nsec) or import an existing one.

2. If you do not currently have a Nostr account, Amber will help you generate and secure a brand new nsec. Amber allows you to download an encrypted file containing your nsec as well as the option to download a human-readable version of the nsec in the form of 12 English words, similar to a Bitcoin seed.

Skip this step if you have an existing nsec that you want to import to Amber.

1. To import an existing nsec, choose ‘Use your private key’. You can then paste the nsec from an existing client, or scan a QR code of it if you have one available to you.

2. Once you have created or imported your nsec, Amber will ask for some basic permissions. You can allow the app the approve basic actions, or enable more granular selection for each client you subsequently connect. Once you tap ‘Finish’, you’ll see that the account is now ready.

If you have or require more than one Nostr account, you can repeat these steps for each one. All accounts can be viewed by tapping the profile image in the bottom right corner of the screen.

1. That’s it, Amber is now ready to sign events. Amber allows multiple ways to connect other clients to it, but most will have a very simple ‘Login with Amber’ button. Let’s demo this in practice with Amethyst, the most popular Android-only client.

The opening screen of Amethyst shows the ‘Login with Amber’ option. Tap that.

1. Amber will then open automatically and ask you to define the level of autonomy you’d like to have with Amethyst. This setting defines how often Amber will require you to manually authorize each event.

For example, you might want Amber to automatically sign every like or repost you do in Amethyst, but then be asked to manually approve all direct messages sent from your account. These permissions can be customized in the settings at any time.

1. Let’s assume that upon setup, we did not grant Amber the ability to automatically sign short text notes for us. Let’s look at how simple the authorization flow is. Type a new short note in Amethyst and press ‘Post’.

Amethyst will instantly send the request to the Amber app on your phone, with no third party server involved. Amber will open and ask you to approve the event. When you do, Amber signs the event with the nsec it stores for you and automatically send the signed event back to Amethyst to be posted. The whole process takes just a few seconds.

Using Amber with a Web Client

1. Next let’s take a look at how you can use Amber on your phone to sign events on a web app running on your computer. For this example, we’ll be using Coracle. Open Coracle and click ‘Log In’, then choose ‘Use Remote Signer’. Coracle will then display a QR code.

2. Open Amber and navigate to the Applications page, tap the + icon, then scan the QR code being displayed by Coracle.

3. Just as it did earlier with Amethyst, Amber will now ask you to grant some basic permissions for the Coracle connection. Once again, these permissions can be customized at any time in the settings. Once granted, you’ll notice that Coracle automatically logs in to your feed.

But wait, how did that happen? The nsec is in Amber on your phone, and Coracle is running on your computer. The two might not even be in the same location or on the same network!? The communication is happening over the Nostr protocol, via relays. Which relays are used for this communication can be configured in the Amber settings.

1. Let’s test out a short note on Coracle to demonstrate the signing process. Click ‘Post +’ in the top right corner, draft your note and then click send.

2. Amber will send a push notification to your phone. Tapping the notification will open Amber for you to approve the event.

3. Once the event is approved in Amber, Amber will automatically send the signed event back to Coracle for publishing.

Summary

You can view Amber as a vault for your Nostr private keys (nsec). It allows you to explore the entire ecosystem without exposing your nsec to every new app you try. Amber is an incredibly simple yet powerful tool that belongs on the Android phone of every Nostr user.

At the time of writing, using Amber as a remote event signer is supported by the following popular Nostr clients:

• Amethyst (mobile)
• Coracle (web)
• 0xChat (mobile)
• Fountain (mobile)
• Zap Store (mobile)
• Keychat (mobile)
• Freeflow (mobile)
• Highlighter (web)
• Chachi Chat (web)
• Habla (web)
• Shopstr (web)
• Plebeian Market (web)
• Snort (web)
• Nostrudel (web)

If you found this post useful, please share it with your peers and consider following and zapping me on Nostr. If you write to me and let me know that you found me via this post, I’ll be sure to Zap you back! ⚡️

@ 3c7dc2c5:805642a8

🧠Quote(s) of the week:

The path to maximalism is littered with mistakes and paved with humility.' Anilsaido https://i.ibb.co/ZzcCHwgT/Gip-G0vdb-YAAV9-Mw-1.jpg

Bitcoin is time because money itself is time. Money is humanity’s battery: a way to store energy, labor, and resources for the future. It captures your past effort and preserves it for when you need it most. Fiat leaks. Bitcoin holds.

🧡Bitcoin news🧡

On the 18th of March:

➡️After ruling out a strategic bitcoin reserve, the Bank of Korea will launch a central bank digital currency pilot in April, per The Korea Times.

➡️'Metaplanet has acquired an additional 150 BTC for ~$12.5 million, achieving a BTC Yield of 60.8% YTD in 2025. As of 3/18/2025, Metaplanet hodls 3,200 BTC, and is now a top 10 publicly listed holder of Bitcoin globally.' -Dylan LeClair

➡️Bitcoin entered a risk-off, distribution-dominant phase in early 2025, evidenced by frequent selling and hesitation to buy (yellow to orange dots). - AMB Crypto

➡️Bitwise CIO says Bitcoin should be at $200,000 today and says, “I think the number of companies buying Bitcoin is going to triple this year, I think Game Theory is on.” “I think countries around the world are going to be buying Bitcoin. There is structurally more demand than supply in Bitcoin.”

➡️Bitcoin mining company Bitfarms buys Stronghold Digital for more than $110 million, making it the largest public-to-public acquisition in Bitcoin industry history.

➡️Bitcoin long-term HODLers become net buyers for the first time since September, per Compass Point Research. "Buying/selling from HODLers is typically a leading indicator for BTC. This cohort now owns 65% of BTC supply vs 63% last week vs 73% in early October." - Bitcoin News

➡️GlassNode: 'The Bitcoin market continues to adjust to its new price range after experiencing a -30% correction. Liquidity conditions are also contracting in both on-chain and futures markets.'

➡️Bitcoin now ranks 6th among the world's top monetary assets at $1.62 trillion, per Porkopolis.

➡️The EU isn't banning Bitcoin but using MiCA and other regulations to control it. This involves stripping away privacy through transaction tracking, mandatory disclosures, and restrictions on self-custody. The goal is control, not outright prohibition.

Excellent thread by Eli. Eli summarises the EU’s attack on Bitcoin and on Europeans’ rights: https://x.com/EliNagarBrr/status/1902048401908261146

Agree 100% with all of this. All these people who have been saying the EU pushing the industry forward with regulations are idiots. They are closing it off and pushing everyone to a CBDC.

Regarding the CBCD, here you will find a comprehensive summary of EU’s CBDC plans, by Efrat Fenigson: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/politics/ecb-prepping-the-ground-for-digital-euro-launch

*On the 20th of March, the ECB posted the following statement on Twitter: The digital euro is not just about creating a new form of money, says Chief Economist Philip R. Lane.

It is about ensuring that Europe retains control over its monetary and financial destiny in the digital age against a backdrop of increasing geopolitical fragmentation.

“It’s about ensuring that the EU retains control over its citizens.”

There, I fixed it for you if you missed the primary reason.

The Euro is a permissioned, centralized, censorable, inflationary, debt-based currency controlled by unelected bureaucrats.

Bitcoin is permissionless, decentralized, censorship-resistant, fixed in supply, and governed by code—not politicians. Choose wisely.

➡️As mentioned in last week's Weekly Recap the US Government spends $3.3B per day in interest rate expense. If this doesn’t make you buy Bitcoin I’m not sure what will.

https://i.ibb.co/sdt1GvfM/Gm-Vd-FBz-XQAA3t3-M-1.jpg

➡️In Kibera, Africa’s largest informal settlement, more than 40 merchants now accept and save in Bitcoin.

➡️The increase in 3-6 month-old UTXOs suggests accumulation during this market correction, a behavior historically critical in forming market bottoms and driving new price rallies.

➡️Just as Hal Finney predicted, Bitcoin will take over Wall Street: Multiple American Bitcoin companies are now seeking to become state or national banks, reports Reuters. It is inevitable.

➡️Daniel Batten: 2021: 62 US Environmental Organizations write to coCongressaying Bitcoin is bad for the environment and has no use (based on Central Bank misinformation) 2025: US Environmental Organizations debunked (impossible, had they used Bitcoin) Strange are the ways of karma.

Meanwhile,

➡️President Trump's Executive Director, Bo Hines, on digital assets: "We talked about ways of acquiring more Bitcoin in budget-neutral ways." We want "as much as we can get." When Bitcoin is at $200k. We will look back on March 2025 and say, how was everyone not buying. It was so obvious.

On the 19th of March:

➡️BLACKROCK: “The most sophisticated long-term Bitcoin accumulators are pretty excited about this dip. They see the correction as a buying opportunity."

On the 20th of March: ➡️SEC confirms that Bitcoin and Proof of Work mining are NOT securities under US law. https://i.ibb.co/nWRHjnk/Gmg-Yxv-QWEAAgwx8.png

Source: https://t.co/0ExsJniPIf

➡️Bitcoin exchange Kraken has agreed to acquire NinjaTrader, the leading U.S. retail futures trading platform, for $1.5 billion—the largest deal ever of a Bitcoin company buying a traditional financial company.

➡️TRUMP: “I signed an order creating the brand new Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and the US digital asset stockpile which will allow the Federal government to maximize the value of its holdings.”

Tweet and hot take by Lola L33tz

"With the dollar-backed stablecoins, you'll help expand the dominance of the US Dollar [...] It will be at the top, and that's where we want to keep it" 'What he means is: With dollar-backed stablecoins, the Global South will pivot towards digital Dollars over local currencies, allowing private, US government-controlled entities to replace bank accounts around the globe.

This does not just allow for the expansion of USD dominance by bypassing local governments – it gives the US unprecedented and direct control over worldwide economies as every stablecoin can be effectively frozen on behalf of the US with the click of a button.'

Stablecoins = CBDCs There is no technical fundamental difference between them. It’s almost a guarantee that the EU CBDCs and U.S. stablecoins will be interchangeable.

➡️River: Bitcoin is coming for $128 trillion in global money. You're not late to Bitcoin. https://i.ibb.co/7thzHJMx/Gmf-Uvra-EAEV4-U0.png

On the 21st of March:

➡️Michael Saylor’s Strategy to raise $722.5M to buy more Bitcoin.

➡️Publicly traded Atai Life Sciences to buy $5 million in Bitcoin.

➡️Publicly traded HK Asia Holdings bought 10 Bitcoins worth $858,500 for its balance sheet.

➡️Another solo home miner has mined an entire Bitcoin block worth over $ 260.000,-.

On the 22nd of March:

➡️The University of Wyoming posted a new video explaining Bitcoin with Philosophy Professor Bradley Rettler

➡️Spot Bitcoin ETFs bought 8,775 BTC this week while miners only mined 3,150 Bitcoin.

On the 24th of March:

➡️Metaplanet finished the day as the 13th most liquid stock in Japan, with ¥50.4 billion ($336.6m) of daily trading volume, ahead of Toyota and Nintendo.

➡️River: There is a 275% gap between the inflation you're told and real inflation. https://i.ibb.co/mCs2Lgcc/Gmz-4qc-WMAAzx-z.png

Bitcoin is insurance on the debt spiral. The U.S. Dollar has been devalued by more than 363% since 2000 – That’s a 14.5% devaluation per year. This means if your savings don’t grow by 14.5% annually, you’re falling behind. This is why we Bitcoin. Bitcoin is insurance on the debt spiral, grow your savings beyond the dollar’s devaluation!

➡️Bitcoin's compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over a 5-year rolling window is currently over 50%

➡️Strategy became the first publicly traded company to hold over 500,000 Bitcoin worth over $44 billion.

Strategy has acquired 6,911 BTC for ~$584.1 million at ~$84,529 per Bitcoin and has achieved a BTC Yield of 7.7% YTD 2025. As of 3/23/2025, Strategy holds 506,137 BTC acquired for ~$33.7 billion at ~$66,608 per Bitcoin.

➡️CryptoQuant: Bitcoin's long-term holders are holding firm, with no significant selling pressure.

➡️Xapo Bank launches Bitcoin-backed USD loans up to $1M, with collateral secured in an MPC vault and no re-usage.

💸Traditional Finance / Macro:

👉🏽no news

🏦Banks: 

👉🏽 no news

🌎Macro/Geopolitics:

On the 18th of March:

👉🏽Germany just changed its constitution to unleash a staggering ONE TRILLION in new debt. The German parliament has voted to take on hundreds of billions of euros of new government debt, to ease the debt brake rules, and to codify "climate neutrality by 2045" into the constitution.

On top of that, some extra money to Ukraine:

Germany's next Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, believes that Putin has gone to war against all of Europe. He argues that Russia has attacked Germany, as the Parliament breaks out in applause. -  We continue to move further away from the "Europe is not part of the conflict" rhetoric. Germany’s self-inflicted delusion continues!

👉🏽Germany's first offshore wind farm closes after 15 years because it's too expensive to operate. Expect a car crash. The Alpha Ventus offshore wind farm near the German North Sea island of Borkum is set to be dismantled after being in operation for only 15 years. It has become too unprofitable to operate without massive subsidies.

https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/03/16/germanys-first-offshore-wind-farm-to-be-dismantled-after-just-15-years-of-operation/

Great thing that the Netherlands is investing heavily in offshore wind farms, even the biggest pension fund APB. Because nInE tImEs ChEaPeR tHaN gAs, right? I hope they dismantle them & not leave them to rust into the sea. Right? Because climate!

Great response by Jasmine Birtles: "These vanity projects should never have been allowed to start. The phrase 'cheap renewable energy' is simply a falsehood. This kind of energy production only seems cheap because of the huge government subsidies that keep them going. I'm all for clean energy if it's possible to run it honestly and without huge subsidies, but while it doesn't seem to be viable we should stick with what is affordable and will keep the country going, rather than sacrificing the vulnerable to an impossible ideology."

👉🏽'Gold spot is now trading consistently over $3000, a record high. And with deliveries once again picking up at the Comex and war in the Middle East coming back with a vengeance, the next big spike is just a matter of time. As expected, once gold broke out above $3000,- it has gone vertical and is up 1% in the past hours, rising to a new record high of $3034, as it sets off for $4000' - ZeroHedge

👉🏽'We have just witnessed the biggest drop in US equity allocation on record. The collapse of US consumers: Unemployment expectations in the US are now ABOVE 2020 levels and at their highest since 2008. In 2024, a poll showed that a whopping 56% of Americans thought the US was in a recession.' - TKL

https://i.ibb.co/ycnRDpdf/Gm-VZMnb-XAAAt76r.png

👉🏽OECD Projects Argentina to Have the Second Highest Economic Growth Worldwide in 2025

👉🏽A new blow to the Dutch chemical sector. The major producer LyondellBasell is permanently closing its factory at the Maasvlakte. This decision, announced on Tuesday afternoon, will result in the loss of approximately 160 jobs. The closure is a direct consequence of global overcapacity and high energy costs in the Netherlands. An audit by the German firm E-Bridge, commissioned by the Dutch government, previously revealed that electricity costs for these companies in the Netherlands amount to €95 per megawatt-hour. In comparison, this rate is €32 in France (66% lower), €45.60 in Germany (52% lower), and €56.05 per megawatt-hour in Belgium (41% lower).

According to E-Bridge, this difference is mainly due to the compensation that foreign governments provide to companies and the lower grid tariffs. In the Netherlands, costs have risen primarily to finance investments in the electricity grid, such as connecting multiple offshore wind farms.

Now read that segment on offshore wind farms. Mindblowing, innit?

Subsidies are not the solution—deregulation is. But Brussels won’t allow that. So, we’re heading toward even more regulation and nationalization.

On the 19th of March:

👉🏽The Fed makes multiple revisions to its 2025 economic data projections.

Powell finally found the "stag" and the "inflation":

Fed cuts year-end GDP forecast from 2.1% to 1.7%

Fed raises year-end core PCE forecast from 2.5% to 2.8%

Fed raises year-end unemployment forecast from 4.3% to 4.4%

Fed raises PCE inflation forecast from 2.5% to 2.7%

The Fed sees higher inflation and a weaker economy.

On the 20th of March:

Dutch Central Bank Director Klaas Knot "We are worried about American influence on our local payment infrastructure."

Paving the way for the European CBDC (after slowly but surely removing CASH MONEY from society).

Knot has completed his second term and will leave his office in July. Now, of course, pushing for the CBDC, before looking for a new job in Europe.

Anyway, DNB posts billions in losses. De Nederlandsche Bank suffered a loss of over €3 billion last year, according to the annual report published on Thursday. This marks the second consecutive year of losses.

DNB incurs this loss because, as part of its monetary policy, it has lent out billions at relatively low rates while having to pay a higher rate to banks that park their money at the central bank.

But no losses on its gold. The gold reserves, meanwhile, increased in value by €12.6 billion. This amount is not included in the official profit and loss statement but is reflected on the bank's balance sheet.

For the Dutch readers/followers: Great article: Follow the Money 'Voor de megawinsten van ING, ABN Amro en Rabobank betaalt de Nederlandse burger een hoge prijs.'

https://archive.ph/ncvtk

On the 21st of March:

👉🏽'The Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing index dropped 5.6 points in March, to 12.5, its 2nd consecutive monthly decline. 6-month outlook for new orders fell by 30.8 points, to 2.3, the lowest in 3 years. This marks the third-largest drop in history, only behind the 2008 Financial Crisis and December 1973.

Furthermore, 6-month business outlook dropped ~40 points to its lowest since January 2024.

All while prices paid rose 7.8 points, to 48.3, the highest since July 2022. This is further evidence of weakening economic activity with rising prices.' TKL

👉🏽'China’s central bank gold reserves hit a record 73.6 million fine troy ounces in February. China bought ~160,000 ounces of gold last month, posting their 4th consecutive monthly purchase. Over the last 2.5 years, China’s gold reserves have jumped by 11.0 million ounces of gold. Gold now reflects a record ~5.9% of China’s total foreign exchange reserves, or 2,290 tonnes. Central banks continue to stock up on gold as if we are in a crisis.' -TKL

🎁If you have made it this far I would like to give you a little gift:

What Bitcoin Did: BITCOIN & THE END OF THE DOLLAR SYSTEM with Luke Gromen They discuss: - The Sovereign Debt Crisis - If the US Will Reprice the Gold - If we will See Triple Digit Inflation - The End of The US Dollar System Luke Gromen: A modest clarification: The end of the post-71 structure of the USD system is what the Trump Administration’s actions appear to be pursuing & will in due time achieve if they stay on the present course. https://t.co/IpakFaYqbL

Credit: I have used multiple sources!

My savings account: Bitcoin The tool I recommend for setting up a Bitcoin savings plan: PocketBitcoin especially suited for beginners or people who want to invest in Bitcoin with an automated investment plan once a week or monthly.

Use the code SE3997

Get your Bitcoin out of exchanges. Save them on a hardware wallet, run your own node...be your own bank. Not your keys, not your coins. It's that simple. ⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀⠀

Do you think this post is helpful to you? If so, please share it and support my work with a zap.

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

⭐ Many thanks⭐

Felipe - Bitcoin Friday!

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

@ edf0da8b:b2652fa3

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

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

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

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

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

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

wimhofmethod

@ 4ba8e86d:89d32de4

Tutorial feito por nostr:nostr:npub1rc56x0ek0dd303eph523g3chm0wmrs5wdk6vs0ehd0m5fn8t7y4sqra3tk poste original abaixo:

Parte 1 : http://xh6liiypqffzwnu5734ucwps37tn2g6npthvugz3gdoqpikujju525yd.onion/263585/tutorial-debloat-de-celulares-android-via-adb-parte-1

Parte 2 : http://xh6liiypqffzwnu5734ucwps37tn2g6npthvugz3gdoqpikujju525yd.onion/index.php/263586/tutorial-debloat-de-celulares-android-via-adb-parte-2

Quando o assunto é privacidade em celulares, uma das medidas comumente mencionadas é a remoção de bloatwares do dispositivo, também chamado de debloat. O meio mais eficiente para isso sem dúvidas é a troca de sistema operacional. Custom Rom’s como LineageOS, GrapheneOS, Iodé, CalyxOS, etc, já são bastante enxutos nesse quesito, principalmente quanto não é instalado os G-Apps com o sistema. No entanto, essa prática pode acabar resultando em problemas indesejados como a perca de funções do dispositivo, e até mesmo incompatibilidade com apps bancários, tornando este método mais atrativo para quem possui mais de um dispositivo e separando um apenas para privacidade.   Pensando nisso, pessoas que possuem apenas um único dispositivo móvel, que são necessitadas desses apps ou funções, mas, ao mesmo tempo, tem essa visão em prol da privacidade, buscam por um meio-termo entre manter a Stock rom, e não ter seus dados coletados por esses bloatwares. Felizmente, a remoção de bloatwares é possível e pode ser realizada via root, ou mais da maneira que este artigo irá tratar, via adb.

O que são bloatwares?

Bloatware é a junção das palavras bloat (inchar) + software (programa), ou seja, um bloatware é basicamente um programa inútil ou facilmente substituível — colocado em seu dispositivo previamente pela fabricante e operadora — que está no seu dispositivo apenas ocupando espaço de armazenamento, consumindo memória RAM e pior, coletando seus dados e enviando para servidores externos, além de serem mais pontos de vulnerabilidades.

O que é o adb?

O Android Debug Brigde, ou apenas adb, é uma ferramenta que se utiliza das permissões de usuário shell e permite o envio de comandos vindo de um computador para um dispositivo Android exigindo apenas que a depuração USB esteja ativa, mas também pode ser usada diretamente no celular a partir do Android 11, com o uso do Termux e a depuração sem fio (ou depuração wifi). A ferramenta funciona normalmente em dispositivos sem root, e também funciona caso o celular esteja em Recovery Mode.

Requisitos:

Para computadores:

• Depuração USB ativa no celular; • Computador com adb; • Cabo USB;

Para celulares:

• Depuração sem fio (ou depuração wifi) ativa no celular; • Termux; • Android 11 ou superior;

Para ambos:

• Firewall NetGuard instalado e configurado no celular; • Lista de bloatwares para seu dispositivo;

Ativação de depuração:

Para ativar a Depuração USB em seu dispositivo, pesquise como ativar as opções de desenvolvedor de seu dispositivo, e lá ative a depuração. No caso da depuração sem fio, sua ativação irá ser necessária apenas no momento que for conectar o dispositivo ao Termux.

Instalação e configuração do NetGuard

O NetGuard pode ser instalado através da própria Google Play Store, mas de preferência instale pela F-Droid ou Github para evitar telemetria.

F-Droid: https://f-droid.org/packages/eu.faircode.netguard/

Github: https://github.com/M66B/NetGuard/releases

Após instalado, configure da seguinte maneira:

Configurações → padrões (lista branca/negra) → ative as 3 primeiras opções (bloquear wifi, bloquear dados móveis e aplicar regras ‘quando tela estiver ligada’);

Configurações → opções avançadas → ative as duas primeiras (administrar aplicativos do sistema e registrar acesso a internet);

Com isso, todos os apps estarão sendo bloqueados de acessar a internet, seja por wifi ou dados móveis, e na página principal do app basta permitir o acesso a rede para os apps que você vai usar (se necessário). Permita que o app rode em segundo plano sem restrição da otimização de bateria, assim quando o celular ligar, ele já estará ativo.

Lista de bloatwares

Nem todos os bloatwares são genéricos, haverá bloatwares diferentes conforme a marca, modelo, versão do Android, e até mesmo região.

Para obter uma lista de bloatwares de seu dispositivo, caso seu aparelho já possua um tempo de existência, você encontrará listas prontas facilmente apenas pesquisando por elas. Supondo que temos um Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus em mãos, basta pesquisar em seu motor de busca por:

Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus bloatware list

Provavelmente essas listas já terão inclusas todos os bloatwares das mais diversas regiões, lhe poupando o trabalho de buscar por alguma lista mais específica.

Caso seu aparelho seja muito recente, e/ou não encontre uma lista pronta de bloatwares, devo dizer que você acaba de pegar em merda, pois é chato para um caralho pesquisar por cada aplicação para saber sua função, se é essencial para o sistema ou se é facilmente substituível.

De antemão já aviso, que mais para frente, caso vossa gostosura remova um desses aplicativos que era essencial para o sistema sem saber, vai acabar resultando na perda de alguma função importante, ou pior, ao reiniciar o aparelho o sistema pode estar quebrado, lhe obrigando a seguir com uma formatação, e repetir todo o processo novamente.

Download do adb em computadores

Para usar a ferramenta do adb em computadores, basta baixar o pacote chamado SDK platform-tools, disponível através deste link: https://developer.android.com/tools/releases/platform-tools. Por ele, você consegue o download para Windows, Mac e Linux.

Uma vez baixado, basta extrair o arquivo zipado, contendo dentro dele uma pasta chamada platform-tools que basta ser aberta no terminal para se usar o adb.

Download do adb em celulares com Termux.

Para usar a ferramenta do adb diretamente no celular, antes temos que baixar o app Termux, que é um emulador de terminal linux, e já possui o adb em seu repositório. Você encontra o app na Google Play Store, mas novamente recomendo baixar pela F-Droid ou diretamente no Github do projeto.

F-Droid: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.termux/

Github: https://github.com/termux/termux-app/releases

Processo de debloat

Antes de iniciarmos, é importante deixar claro que não é para você sair removendo todos os bloatwares de cara sem mais nem menos, afinal alguns deles precisam antes ser substituídos, podem ser essenciais para você para alguma atividade ou função, ou até mesmo são insubstituíveis.

Alguns exemplos de bloatwares que a substituição é necessária antes da remoção, é o Launcher, afinal, é a interface gráfica do sistema, e o teclado, que sem ele só é possível digitar com teclado externo. O Launcher e teclado podem ser substituídos por quaisquer outros, minha recomendação pessoal é por aqueles que respeitam sua privacidade, como Pie Launcher e Simple Laucher, enquanto o teclado pelo OpenBoard e FlorisBoard, todos open-source e disponíveis da F-Droid.

Identifique entre a lista de bloatwares, quais você gosta, precisa ou prefere não substituir, de maneira alguma você é obrigado a remover todos os bloatwares possíveis, modifique seu sistema a seu bel-prazer. O NetGuard lista todos os apps do celular com o nome do pacote, com isso você pode filtrar bem qual deles não remover.

Um exemplo claro de bloatware insubstituível e, portanto, não pode ser removido, é o com.android.mtp, um protocolo onde sua função é auxiliar a comunicação do dispositivo com um computador via USB, mas por algum motivo, tem acesso a rede e se comunica frequentemente com servidores externos. Para esses casos, e melhor solução mesmo é bloquear o acesso a rede desses bloatwares com o NetGuard.

MTP tentando comunicação com servidores externos:

Executando o adb shell

No computador

Faça backup de todos os seus arquivos importantes para algum armazenamento externo, e formate seu celular com o hard reset. Após a formatação, e a ativação da depuração USB, conecte seu aparelho e o pc com o auxílio de um cabo USB. Muito provavelmente seu dispositivo irá apenas começar a carregar, por isso permita a transferência de dados, para que o computador consiga se comunicar normalmente com o celular.

Já no pc, abra a pasta platform-tools dentro do terminal, e execute o seguinte comando:

./adb start-server

O resultado deve ser:

daemon not running; starting now at tcp:5037 daemon started successfully

E caso não apareça nada, execute:

./adb kill-server

E inicie novamente.

Com o adb conectado ao celular, execute:

./adb shell

Para poder executar comandos diretamente para o dispositivo. No meu caso, meu celular é um Redmi Note 8 Pro, codinome Begonia.

Logo o resultado deve ser:

begonia:/ $

Caso ocorra algum erro do tipo:

adb: device unauthorized. This adb server’s $ADB_VENDOR_KEYS is not set Try ‘adb kill-server’ if that seems wrong. Otherwise check for a confirmation dialog on your device.

Verifique no celular se apareceu alguma confirmação para autorizar a depuração USB, caso sim, autorize e tente novamente. Caso não apareça nada, execute o kill-server e repita o processo.

No celular

Após realizar o mesmo processo de backup e hard reset citado anteriormente, instale o Termux e, com ele iniciado, execute o comando:

pkg install android-tools

Quando surgir a mensagem “Do you want to continue? [Y/n]”, basta dar enter novamente que já aceita e finaliza a instalação

Agora, vá até as opções de desenvolvedor, e ative a depuração sem fio. Dentro das opções da depuração sem fio, terá uma opção de emparelhamento do dispositivo com um código, que irá informar para você um código em emparelhamento, com um endereço IP e porta, que será usado para a conexão com o Termux.

Para facilitar o processo, recomendo que abra tanto as configurações quanto o Termux ao mesmo tempo, e divida a tela com os dois app’s, como da maneira a seguir:

Para parear o Termux com o dispositivo, não é necessário digitar o ip informado, basta trocar por “localhost”, já a porta e o código de emparelhamento, deve ser digitado exatamente como informado. Execute:

adb pair localhost:porta CódigoDeEmparelhamento

De acordo com a imagem mostrada anteriormente, o comando ficaria “adb pair localhost:41255 757495”.

Com o dispositivo emparelhado com o Termux, agora basta conectar para conseguir executar os comandos, para isso execute:

adb connect localhost:porta

Obs: a porta que você deve informar neste comando não é a mesma informada com o código de emparelhamento, e sim a informada na tela principal da depuração sem fio.

Pronto! Termux e adb conectado com sucesso ao dispositivo, agora basta executar normalmente o adb shell:

adb shell

Remoção na prática Com o adb shell executado, você está pronto para remover os bloatwares. No meu caso, irei mostrar apenas a remoção de um app (Google Maps), já que o comando é o mesmo para qualquer outro, mudando apenas o nome do pacote.

Dentro do NetGuard, verificando as informações do Google Maps:

Podemos ver que mesmo fora de uso, e com a localização do dispositivo desativado, o app está tentando loucamente se comunicar com servidores externos, e informar sabe-se lá que peste. Mas sem novidades até aqui, o mais importante é que podemos ver que o nome do pacote do Google Maps é com.google.android.apps.maps, e para o remover do celular, basta executar:

pm uninstall –user 0 com.google.android.apps.maps

E pronto, bloatware removido! Agora basta repetir o processo para o resto dos bloatwares, trocando apenas o nome do pacote.

Para acelerar o processo, você pode já criar uma lista do bloco de notas com os comandos, e quando colar no terminal, irá executar um atrás do outro.

Exemplo de lista:

Caso a donzela tenha removido alguma coisa sem querer, também é possível recuperar o pacote com o comando:

cmd package install-existing nome.do.pacote

Pós-debloat

Após limpar o máximo possível o seu sistema, reinicie o aparelho, caso entre no como recovery e não seja possível dar reboot, significa que você removeu algum app “essencial” para o sistema, e terá que formatar o aparelho e repetir toda a remoção novamente, desta vez removendo poucos bloatwares de uma vez, e reiniciando o aparelho até descobrir qual deles não pode ser removido. Sim, dá trabalho… quem mandou querer privacidade?

Caso o aparelho reinicie normalmente após a remoção, parabéns, agora basta usar seu celular como bem entender! Mantenha o NetGuard sempre executando e os bloatwares que não foram possíveis remover não irão se comunicar com servidores externos, passe a usar apps open source da F-Droid e instale outros apps através da Aurora Store ao invés da Google Play Store.

Referências: Caso você seja um Australopithecus e tenha achado este guia difícil, eis uma videoaula (3:14:40) do Anderson do canal Ciberdef, realizando todo o processo: http://odysee.com/@zai:5/Como-remover-at%C3%A9-200-APLICATIVOS-que-colocam-a-sua-PRIVACIDADE-E-SEGURAN%C3%87A-em-risco.:4?lid=6d50f40314eee7e2f218536d9e5d300290931d23

Pdf’s do Anderson citados na videoaula: créditos ao anon6837264 http://eternalcbrzpicytj4zyguygpmkjlkddxob7tptlr25cdipe5svyqoqd.onion/file/3863a834d29285d397b73a4af6fb1bbe67c888d72d30/t-05e63192d02ffd.pdf

Processo de instalação do Termux e adb no celular: https://youtu.be/APolZrPHSms

@ 06639a38:655f8f71

• My PR#100 for sirn-se/websocket-php got merged and was released in version 3.2.3
• Closed issue #83, reviewed and merged PR#84 for integrating NIP-04 and NIP-44
• Closed issue #85 and merged PR#86 with Event object verification
• 1.6.0 release https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-php/releases/tag/1.6.0

Planned for week 12:

• Integrate NIP-19

@ 06639a38:655f8f71

https://ccns.nostrver.se is a (Drupal powered) website that I started to build in January 2024 (source on Github and Gitlab). It's a fork of an earlier (abandoned) project https://cchs.social/.
Currently CCNS is a link aggregration website and for now it's only my who is using it to save and share Nostr related links. When you post a new link, you have the option to cross-post it as a Nostr note (example here).

Kind 39700

Last month Jurjen and Abir have started to work on a social bookmark client built with Nostr (inspired by Del.icio.us from the past). Earlier this month they changed to event kind 39700 for broadcasting the Nostr event with the bookmark / link data accross the network. They did this because Sep already created a social bookmark like client called Pinja when fiatjaf raised this idea.

With these developments to me it was very obvious to integrate the feature that new created CCNS links are now also published as kind 39700 events to the Nostr network. This means that links are now also distributed on multiple relays as kind 39700 events and are accessible in multiple clients (Yumyume and Pinja).

Here you can see the same data, from left to right:

• CCNS
• Pinja
• Yumyume
• njump

Structure

The current data structure for the 39700 kind looks as follow:

• "id": "event_id"
• "pubkey": "pubkey author"
• "created_at": unix_timestamp
• "kind": 39700
• "tags":
  • "description", "description text here"
  • "d", "unique-slug-value"
  • "t", "hashtag"
• "content": "https://book_mark_url"  
• "sig": "signature"

As there is no NIP (yet) for this event kind, I see some possible improvements:

• Use the bookmark URL as d tag so it can be used as a unique identifier for every client
• Use the content field for the description
• Use the a tag for an addressable event following NIP-01: ["a", "39700:pubkey_of_author:", recommended_relay_url_optional]

On short-term I don't have any plans to developer CCNS further, as most of my attention goes to the development of the Nostr-PHP library and Drupal related contribs using that library. That said, CCNS is a Drupal project but all the Nostr stuff is done client-side (Javascript) with NDK and Nostr-PHP is not used (maybe this will change in the future).

@ 7d33ba57:1b82db35

L'Ampolla is a charming fishing village on the Costa Dorada, known for its pristine beaches, fresh seafood, and proximity to the Ebro Delta Natural Park. With a relaxed Mediterranean atmosphere, it’s an ideal destination for nature lovers, foodies, and beachgoers.

🏖️ Top Things to See & Do in L'Ampolla

1️⃣ Beaches of L'Ampolla 🏝️

• Platja de l'Arenal – A long, shallow sandy beach, perfect for families.
• Platja Cap-Roig – A stunning cove with reddish cliffs and crystal-clear waters.
• Platja dels Capellans – A quiet beach, ideal for relaxation.

2️⃣ Ebro Delta Natural Park 🌿

• A UNESCO Biosphere Reserve home to wetlands, rice fields, and flamingos.
• Go birdwatching, cycling, or take a boat tour along the Ebro River.
• Try kayaking through the peaceful waterways.

3️⃣ Coastal Hiking & Biking 🚶‍♂️🚴

• Follow the GR-92 coastal trail for breathtaking sea views.
• Enjoy the Camí de Ronda, a scenic path linking L'Ampolla with nearby beaches.

4️⃣ Fishing & Seafood Gastronomy 🎣🍽️

• Visit the port to see traditional fishing boats bring in the daily catch.
• Enjoy fresh oysters, mussels, and paella in seaside restaurants.

5️⃣ Mirador de Bassa de les Olles 🌅

• A beautiful viewpoint with fantastic views of the Ebro Delta lagoons.
• Best visited at sunset for a magical experience.

🍽️ What to Eat in L'Ampolla

• Arròs negre – Black rice with squid ink 🍚🦑
• Fideuà – A seafood noodle dish, similar to paella 🍤
• Oysters & mussels from the Ebro Delta 🦪
• Anguila en suquet – Eel stew, a local specialty 🐟
• Crema Catalana – A delicious caramelized custard dessert 🍮

🚗 How to Get to L'Ampolla

🚆 By Train: Direct trains from Barcelona (2 hrs), Tarragona (1 hr), and Valencia (2.5 hrs)
🚘 By Car: ~1.5 hrs from Barcelona, 45 min from Tarragona
🚌 By Bus: Regional buses connect L'Ampolla with Tarragona and Tortosa
✈️ By Air: Closest airports – Reus (REU, 70 km) and Barcelona-El Prat (BCN, 150 km)

💡 Tips for Visiting L'Ampolla

✅ Best time to visit? Spring and summer for the best weather ☀️
✅ Try local seafood – Some of the best in Catalonia 🍽️
✅ Visit the Ebro Delta early – Fewer crowds and better wildlife spotting 🦩
✅ Rent a bike – The best way to explore the coastal and natural areas 🚲

@ 872982aa:8fb54cfe

NIP-03

OpenTimestamps Attestations for Events

draft optional

This NIP defines an event with kind:1040 that can contain an OpenTimestamps proof for any other event:

json { "kind": 1040 "tags": [ ["e", <event-id>, <relay-url>], ["alt", "opentimestamps attestation"] ], "content": <base64-encoded OTS file data> }

• The OpenTimestamps proof MUST prove the referenced e event id as its digest.
• The content MUST be the full content of an .ots file containing at least one Bitcoin attestation. This file SHOULD contain a single Bitcoin attestation (as not more than one valid attestation is necessary and less bytes is better than more) and no reference to "pending" attestations since they are useless in this context.

Example OpenTimestamps proof verification flow

Using nak, jq and ots:

```bash ~> nak req -i e71c6ea722987debdb60f81f9ea4f604b5ac0664120dd64fb9d23abc4ec7c323 wss://nostr-pub.wellorder.net | jq -r .content | ots verify

using an esplora server at https://blockstream.info/api - sequence ending on block 810391 is valid timestamp validated at block [810391] ```

@ fd208ee8:0fd927c1

You have no idea

I regularly read comments from people, on here, wondering how it's possible to marry -- or even simply be friends! -- with someone who doesn't agree with you on politics. I see this sentiment expressed quite often, usually in the context of Bitcoin, or whatever pig is currently being chased through the village, as they say around here.

It seems rather sensible, but I don't think it's as hard, as people make it out to be. Further, I think it's a dangerous precondition to set, for your interpersonal relationships, because the political field is constantly in flux. If you determine who you will love, by their opinions, do you stop loving them if their opinions change, or if the opinions they have become irrelevant and a new set of opinions are needed -- and their new ones don't match your new ones? We could see this happen to relationships en masse, during the Covid Era, and I think it happens every day, in a slow grind toward the disintegration of interpersonal discourse.

I suspect many people do stop loving, at that point, as they never really loved the other person for their own sake, they loved the other person because they thought the other person was exactly like they are. But no two people are alike, and the longer you are in a relationship with someone else, the more the initial giddiness wears off and the trials and tribulations add up, the more you notice how very different you actually are. This is the point, where best friends and romantic couples say, We just grew apart.

But you were always apart. You were always two different people. You just didn't notice, until now.

I've also always been surprised at how many same-party relationships disintegrate because of some disagreement over some particular detail of some particular topic, that they generally agree on. To me, it seems like an irrelevant side-topic, but they can't stand to be with this person... and they stomp off. So, I tend to think that it's less that opinions need to align to each other, but rather that opinions need to align in accordance with the level of interpersonal tolerance they can bring into the relationship.

I was raised by relaxed revolutionaries

Maybe I see things this way because my parents come from two diverging political, cultural, national, and ethnic backgrounds, and are prone to disagreeing about a lot of "important" (to people outside their marriage) things, but still have one of the healthiest, most-fruitful, and most long-running marriages of anyone I know, from that generation. My parents, you see, aren't united by their opinions. They're united by their relationship, which is something outside of opinions. Beyond opinions. Relationships are what turn two different people into one, cohesive unit, so that they slowly grow together. Eventually, even their faces merge, and their biological clocks tick to the same rhythm. They eventually become one entity that contains differing opinions about the same topics.

It's like magic, but it's the result of a mindset, not a worldview. Or, as I like to quip:

The best way to stay married, is to not get divorced.

My parents simply determined early on, that they would stay together, and whenever they would find that they disagreed on something that didn't directly pertain to their day-to-day existence with each other they would just agree-to-disagree about that, or roll their eyes, and move on. You do you. Live and let live.

My parents have some of the most strongly held personal opinions of any people I've ever met, but they're also incredibly tolerant and can get along with nearly anyone, so their friends are a confusing hodgepodge of people we liked and found interesting enough to keep around. Which makes their house parties really fun, and highly unusual, in this day and age of mutual-damnation across the aisle.

The things that did affect them, directly, like which school the children should attend or which country they should live in, etc. were things they'd sit down and discuss, and somehow one opinion would emerge, and they'd again... move on.

And that's how my husband and I also live our lives, and it's been working surprisingly well. No topics are off-limits to discussion (so long as you don't drone on for too long), nobody has to give up deeply held beliefs, or stop agitating for the political decisions they prefer.

You see, we didn't like that the other always had the same opinion. We liked that the other always held their opinions strongly. That they were passionate about their opinions. That they were willing to voice their opinions; sacrifice to promote their opinions. And that they didn't let anyone browbeat or cow them, for their opinions, not even their best friends or their spouse. But that they were open to listening to the other side, and trying to wrap their mind around the possibility that they might just be wrong about something.

We married each other because we knew: this person really cares, this person has thought this through, and they're in it, to win it. What "it" is, is mostly irrelevant, so long as it doesn't entail torturing small animals in the basement, or raising the children on a diet of Mountain Dew and porn, or something.

Live and let live. At least, it's never boring. At least, there's always something to ~~argue~~ talk about. At least, we never think... we've just grown apart.

@ 6b3780ef:221416c8

This workshop will guide you through exploring the concepts behind MCP servers and how to deploy them as DVMs in Nostr using DVMCP. By the end, you'll understand how these systems work together and be able to create your own deployments.

Understanding MCP Systems

MCP (Model Context Protocol) systems consist of two main components that work together:

1. MCP Server: The heart of the system that exposes tools, which you can access via the .listTools() method.
2. MCP Client: The interface that connects to the MCP server and lets you use the tools it offers.

These servers and clients can communicate using different transport methods:

• Standard I/O (stdio): A simple local connection method when your server and client are on the same machine.
• Server-Sent Events (SSE): Uses HTTP to create a communication channel.

For this workshop, we'll use stdio to deploy our server. DVMCP will act as a bridge, connecting to your MCP server as an MCP client, and exposing its tools as a DVM that anyone can call from Nostr.

Creating (or Finding) an MCP Server

Building an MCP server is simpler than you might think:

1. Create software in any programming language you're comfortable with.
2. Add an MCP library to expose your server's MCP interface.
3. Create an API that wraps around your software's functionality.

Once your server is ready, an MCP client can connect, for example, with bun index.js, and then call .listTools() to discover what your server can do. This pattern, known as reflection, makes Nostr DVMs and MCP a perfect match since both use JSON, and DVMs can announce and call tools, effectively becoming an MCP proxy.

Alternatively, you can use one of the many existing MCP servers available in various repositories.

For more information about mcp and how to build mcp servers you can visit https://modelcontextprotocol.io/

Setting Up the Workshop

Let's get hands-on:

First, to follow this workshop you will need Bun. Install it from https://bun.sh/. For Linux and macOS, you can use the installation script:

curl -fsSL https://bun.sh/install | bash

1. Choose your MCP server: You can either create one or use an existing one.

2. Inspect your server using the MCP inspector tool: bash npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector build/index.js arg1 arg2 This will:

3. Launch a client UI (default: http://localhost:5173)
4. Start an MCP proxy server (default: port 3000)

5. Pass any additional arguments directly to your server

6. Use the inspector: Open the client UI in your browser to connect with your server, list available tools, and test its functionality.

Deploying with DVMCP

Now for the exciting part – making your MCP server available to everyone on Nostr:

1. Navigate to your MCP server directory.

2. Run without installing (quickest way): npx @dvmcp/bridge

3. Or install globally for regular use: npm install -g @dvmcp/bridge # or bun install -g @dvmcp/bridge Then run using: bash dvmcp-bridge

This will guide you through creating the necessary configuration.

Watch the console logs to confirm successful setup – you'll see your public key and process information, or any issues that need addressing.

For the configuration, you can set the relay as wss://relay.dvmcp.fun , or use any other of your preference

Testing and Integration

1. Visit dvmcp.fun to see your DVM announcement.
2. Call your tools and watch the responses come back.

For production use, consider running dvmcp-bridge as a system service or creating a container for greater reliability and uptime.

Integrating with LLM Clients

You can also integrate your DVMCP deployment with LLM clients using the discovery package:

1. Install and use the @dvmcp/discovery package: bash npx @dvmcp/discovery

2. This package acts as an MCP server for your LLM system by:

3. Connecting to configured Nostr relays
4. Discovering tools from DVMCP servers

5. Making them available to your LLM applications

6. Connect to specific servers or providers using these flags: ```bash # Connect to all DVMCP servers from a provider npx @dvmcp/discovery --provider npub1...

# Connect to a specific DVMCP server npx @dvmcp/discovery --server naddr1... ```

Using these flags, you wouldn't need a configuration file. You can find these commands and Claude desktop configuration already prepared for copy and paste at dvmcp.fun.

This feature lets you connect to any DVMCP server using Nostr and integrate it into your client, either as a DVM or in LLM-powered applications.

Final thoughts

If you've followed this workshop, you now have an MCP server deployed as a Nostr DVM. This means that local resources from the system where the MCP server is running can be accessed through Nostr in a decentralized manner. This capability is powerful and opens up numerous possibilities and opportunities for fun.

You can use this setup for various use cases, including in a controlled/local environment. For instance, you can deploy a relay in your local network that's only accessible within it, exposing all your local MCP servers to anyone connected to the network. This setup can act as a hub for communication between different systems, which could be particularly interesting for applications in home automation or other fields. The potential applications are limitless.

However, it's important to keep in mind that there are security concerns when exposing local resources publicly. You should be mindful of these risks and prioritize security when creating and deploying your MCP servers on Nostr.

Finally, these are new ideas, and the software is still under development. If you have any feedback, please refer to the GitHub repository to report issues or collaborate. DVMCP also has a Signal group you can join. Additionally, you can engage with the community on Nostr using the #dvmcp hashtag.

Useful Resources

• Official Documentation:
• Model Context Protocol: modelcontextprotocol.org

• DVMCP.fun: dvmcp.fun

• Source Code and Development:

• DVMCP: github.com/gzuuus/dvmcp

• DVMCP.fun: github.com/gzuuus/dvmcpfun

• MCP Servers and Clients:

• Smithery AI: smithery.ai
• MCP.so: mcp.so

• Glama AI MCP Servers: glama.ai/mcp/servers

• Signal group

Happy building!