@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9

In much of the world, it is incredibly difficult to access U.S. dollars. Local currencies are often poorly managed and riddled with corruption. Billions of people demand a more reliable alternative. While the dollar has its own issues of corruption and mismanagement, it is widely regarded as superior to the fiat currencies it competes with globally. As a result, Tether has found massive success providing low cost, low friction access to dollars. Tether claims 400 million total users, is on track to add 200 million more this year, processes 8.1 million transactions daily, and facilitates $29 billion in daily transfers. Furthermore, their estimates suggest nearly 40% of users rely on it as a savings tool rather than just a transactional currency. Tether’s rise has made the company a financial juggernaut. Last year alone, Tether raked in over $13 billion in profit, with a lean team of less than 100 employees. Their business model is elegantly simple: hold U.S. Treasuries and collect the interest. With over $113 billion in Treasuries, Tether has turned a straightforward concept into a profit machine. Tether’s success has resulted in many competitors eager to claim a piece of the pie. This has triggered a massive venture capital grift cycle in USD tokens, with countless projects vying to dethrone Tether. Due to Tether’s entrenched network effect, these challengers face an uphill battle with little realistic chance of success. Most educated participants in the space likely recognize this reality but seem content to perpetuate the grift, hoping to cash out by dumping their equity positions on unsuspecting buyers before they realize the reality of the situation. Historically, Tether’s greatest vulnerability has been U.S. government intervention. For over a decade, the company operated offshore with few allies in the U.S. establishment, making it a major target for regulatory action. That dynamic has shifted recently and Tether has seized the opportunity. By actively courting U.S. government support, Tether has fortified their position. This strategic move will likely cement their status as the dominant USD token for years to come. While undeniably a great tool for the millions of users that rely on it, Tether is not without flaws. As a centralized, trusted third party, it holds the power to freeze or seize funds at its discretion. Corporate mismanagement or deliberate malpractice could also lead to massive losses at scale. In their goal of mitigating regulatory risk, Tether has deepened ties with law enforcement, mirroring some of the concerns of potential central bank digital currencies. In practice, Tether operates as a corporate CBDC alternative, collaborating with authorities to surveil and seize funds. The company proudly touts partnerships with leading surveillance firms and its own data reveals cooperation in over 1,000 law enforcement cases, with more than $2.5 billion in funds frozen. --- The global demand for Tether is undeniable and the company’s profitability reflects its unrivaled success. Tether is owned and operated by bitcoiners and will likely continue to push forward strategic goals that help the movement as a whole. Recent efforts to mitigate the threat of U.S. government enforcement will likely solidify their network effect and stifle meaningful adoption of rival USD tokens or CBDCs. Yet, for all their achievements, Tether is simply a worse form of money than bitcoin. Tether requires trust in a centralized entity, while bitcoin can be saved or spent without permission. Furthermore, Tether is tied to the value of the US Dollar which is designed to lose purchasing power over time, while bitcoin, as a truly scarce asset, is designed to increase in purchasing power with adoption. As people awaken to the risks of Tether’s control, and the benefits bitcoin provides, bitcoin adoption will likely surpass it.

@ 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.

@ 5b0183ab:a114563e

In this alternate future—set around 2035—Dark Nostr looms large: bots and AI have flooded platforms and social protocols like Nostr, turning them into ghost towns of artificial chatter. But a new movement emerges, built on a Web of Trust integrated into Nostr’s framework. Instead of an open free-for-all, users adopt a system where every participant must be vouched for by at least two trusted humans, each link in the chain verified by cryptographic keys tied to real-world interactions—like face-to-face meetups or video calls logged on the blockchain. This creates a tight-knit, human-verified network that bots can’t easily infiltrate. The WoT doesn’t just filter out fakes; it redefines value. On this evolved Nostr, posts and zaps carry weight only when they come from trusted nodes—humans vouched for by other humans. Bots, lacking the social bonds to earn trust, find their content ignored, their zaps worthless. Relays adapt too, prioritizing traffic from WoT-verified users, starving Dark Nostr ecosystem of attention. The AI flood persists, but it’s relegated to a noisy periphery, a digital slum no one visits. Humans, meanwhile, thrive in curated feeds of authentic voices, their messy, imperfect posts standing out like beacons against the bot-generated polish. The tipping point comes when communities scale the WoT without losing integrity. Small trust circles—friends, local groups, hobbyists—link up, forming a resilient web that spans continents. A baker in Paris vouches for her neighbor, who vouches for a coder in Tokyo, who ties into a musicians’ collective in New York, each connection a human thread. Bots try to mimic this, but their lack of real-world roots betrays them—AI can’t fake a handshake or a shared coffee. Over time, the WoT network outgrows the bot swamp, its signal-to-noise ratio soaring as humans reclaim the digital commons. Nostr transforms from a cautionary tale into a stronghold, proving that trust, not openness alone, can defeat Dark Nostr's hollow reign. By 2040, Dark Nostr is a relic. The WoT hasn’t killed bots—they’re still out there, buzzing in their silos—but it’s carved out a human internet, a living web where trust, not volume, reigns. It’s smaller, less flashy, but real. The narrative flips: instead of machines inheriting the earth, humans wield connection as their weapon, proving that even in a digital abyss, trust can outlast the artificial tide.

@ 66675158:1b644430

In the twilight of his days, Myrddin sat upon the weathered stone bench overlooking what remained of Libertalia. His ancient hands—once steady enough to craft the most intricate mechanisms known to the Free Realms—now trembled as they rested upon the gnarled walking stick he had carved from windfall oak. The city below, once a marvel of independent districts connected by the invisible threads of mutual cooperation, had become something else entirely. Something monstrous. The sun was setting, casting long shadows across the Grand Plaza where the Central Authority's banners now flew. Myrddin's eyes, still sharp despite his five hundred and seventy years, could make out the uniformed guards patrolling in perfect synchronicity. The sight made his stomach turn. "I built the foundations for freedom," he whispered to himself, "and they have erected prisons upon them." A figure approached from behind, footsteps deliberately heavy to announce their presence. Myrddin did not turn. "Master Myrddin," came the voice of Thalion, one of his few remaining former apprentices not yet captured by the Authority. "The Council of Remnants awaits your wisdom." Myrddin scoffed. "Wisdom? What wisdom can I offer now? I who planted the seeds of our destruction through my own shortsightedness?" "You could not have known—" "I should have known!" Myrddin's voice cracked with the force of his outburst. "Every great civilization before us fell to the same disease. Centralization. The pooling of power into fewer and fewer hands until the many are crushed beneath the weight of the few. I knew this. I studied the ancient texts. I designed our systems specifically to prevent this very outcome." Thalion remained silent, allowing the old engineer his moment of self-recrimination. "Come," Myrddin finally said, rising with difficulty. "Let us not keep your Council waiting. Though what good words can do against the machinery of oppression, I cannot say." As they walked the hidden path down from the overlook, Myrddin's mind drifted back to the beginning, to the founding of Libertalia four centuries earlier... --- The Founding Council had gathered beneath the great oak that would later mark the center of Libertalia. Twelve visionaries from twelve different traditions, united by a single purpose: to create a society where no person would rule over another. Young Myrddin, barely forty years old but already renowned for his brilliance, unrolled the plans he had spent a decade perfecting. "The Nexus System," he explained, pointing to the intricate diagrams. "A method of connection that requires no central authority. Each district, each guild, each family unit can connect to the whole while maintaining complete sovereignty over their own affairs." Lorien the Sage, eldest among them, leaned forward with interest. "You propose that trade, communication, defense—all can function without a ruling body?" "Not only can they function," Myrddin replied with the confidence of youth, "they will function better. A decentralized system is resilient. Cut one connection, and a hundred others remain. Attack one node, and the system routes around the damage. But most importantly, when power is distributed, corruption finds no fertile ground in which to take root." "And what prevents a group from seizing control?" asked Marwen the Warrior. "From forcing others to submit to their will?" Myrddin smiled. "The architecture itself. See here—" he pointed to a complex series of interlocking mechanisms, "—the Consensus Protocol. Any attempt to exert control beyond one's rightful domain triggers automatic resistance from the system. The more one tries to centralize power, the more difficult it becomes." "You speak of mechanisms as if they have will," Marwen said skeptically. "Not will, but design," Myrddin corrected. "Like water flowing downhill. I have designed a system where power naturally disperses rather than concentrates." The Council debated through the night, questioning every aspect of Myrddin's design. By morning, they had agreed to build their new society upon his principles. Libertalia would be a constellation of sovereign individuals and voluntary associations, connected but never controlled. For three generations, it worked exactly as Myrddin had envisioned. The Free Realms prospered as never before. Innovation flourished in the absence of restrictive oversight. Disputes were resolved through mutual arbitration rather than imposed judgment. The Nexus System facilitated trade and communication while preserving the independence of all participants. Myrddin, his lifespan extended by the alchemical discoveries his system had made possible, watched with pride as Libertalia became the envy of the known world. But he had made one critical error. --- "You created a system that required vigilance," Thalion said as they descended toward the hidden meeting place. "Perhaps that was the flaw." "No," Myrddin replied. "The flaw was in believing that making something difficult would make it impossible. I should have made centralization not merely hard, but unachievable by any means." They reached the abandoned mill that served as the Council's current hiding place. Inside, two dozen faces turned toward them—the last free thinkers in a land that once celebrated independence above all else. Myrddin took his seat at the rough-hewn table. "Tell me," he said without preamble, "how much worse has it become since we last met?" A woman named Sera, who had once been the foremost architect in the Eastern District, spoke first. "The Authority has implemented the Unified Identification Protocol. No citizen may trade, travel, or even purchase food without presenting their Authority Crystal for scanning." "And these crystals track their movements?" Myrddin asked, though he already knew the answer. "Every step," confirmed Sera. "Every transaction. Every word spoken near an Echo Stone." Myrddin closed his eyes briefly. Echo Stones—his invention, meant to record important discoveries and preserve the wisdom of the ages. Now perverted into tools of surveillance. "The schools have been consolidated," added a younger man named Ferris. "All children now learn from the same Authority-approved texts. The history of Libertalia is being rewritten. They claim you designed the Nexus System to eventually unite under central guidance." "A lie," Myrddin spat. "But a believable one," Thalion said gently. "You did build the infrastructure that made this possible, however unintentional." Myrddin could not deny it. The Nexus System, designed for voluntary connection, had been gradually modified over the centuries. What began as simple efficiency improvements eventually created vulnerabilities. The Consensus Protocol, once the guardian of decentralization, had been subverted by those who understood its mechanics but not its purpose. "The disease always begins the same way," Myrddin said, addressing the Council. "With promises of efficiency. Of security. Of protection from unseen threats. The centralizers never announce their true intentions. They speak of unity while forging chains." "We know this, Master Myrddin," said Sera impatiently. "What we need is a solution, not a history lesson." Myrddin smiled sadly. "The history is the solution, if only we would heed it. Every great civilization before us fell to centralization. The Aurelian Empire, whose emperors claimed divine right to rule all lands beneath the twin moons. The Dynasty of Eternal Harmony, whose bureaucracy grew so vast it consumed half the realm's production. The Jade Confederation, whose Council of Nine became a single Overlord within three generations." He paused, gathering his thoughts. "In every case, the pattern was identical. Power, once distributed among many, gradually accumulated in the hands of few. Those few, corrupted by their unnatural position, made decisions that benefited themselves rather than the whole. Resources were misallocated. Innovation stagnated. The system became brittle rather than resilient. And when crisis came—whether famine, war, or natural disaster—the centralized structure collapsed under its own weight." "Yet people never learn," said Ferris bitterly. "Because the benefits of centralization are immediate and visible, while its costs are delayed and diffuse," Myrddin replied. "The Authority provides convenience today at the cost of freedom tomorrow. They offer solutions to problems that would resolve themselves naturally in a decentralized system." "What was your mistake, then?" asked Thalion. "Where in your design did you leave the opening for this disease to take hold?" Myrddin's face darkened with regret. "I built a system that was resistant to centralization, but not immune to it. I created tools of such power and efficiency that they became irresistible targets for those who would control others. And most critically, I failed to encode the philosophical foundations of decentralization into the system itself." He looked around at the faces of the Council, seeing in them the last embers of the fire that had once burned so brightly in Libertalia. "I believed that people would choose freedom if given the option. I did not account for how seductive the promises of centralization would be. How easily people would trade liberty for convenience. How willingly they would accept security over sovereignty." --- The decline had been gradual, almost imperceptible at first. It began two centuries after the founding, with the creation of the Coordination Council. "Merely to improve efficiency," its proponents had argued. "To eliminate redundancies in our wonderfully decentralized system." Myrddin, by then well into his second century, had voiced concerns but was overruled by younger generations who found the original Nexus System too cumbersome for their modern needs. The Coordination Council was given limited authority to standardize certain protocols across districts. Within a decade, those standards became requirements. Requirements became regulations. Regulations became laws. The Council, originally composed of representatives who returned to their districts after brief terms of service, gradually transformed into a permanent body of administrators. By the time Myrddin recognized the pattern, the disease had already taken root. The Coordination Council had become the Central Authority. The voluntary associations that once formed the backbone of Libertalian society were now subordinate to its dictates. He had tried to warn them. He had written treatises on the dangers of centralization, had spoken at public forums, had even attempted to modify the Nexus System to restore its decentralizing functions. But he was dismissed as an outdated thinker, unable to appreciate the "improvements" of modern governance. Now, four hundred years after the founding, Libertalia was Libertalia in name only. The Authority controlled all aspects of life. The districts, once proudly independent, were administrative zones whose boundaries could be redrawn at the Authority's whim. The guilds, once self-governing bodies of skilled craftspeople, were now licensing bureaus that enforced Authority standards. And the people—the free, sovereign individuals for whom Myrddin had designed his system—had become subjects. Citizens, they were called, but the word had lost its original meaning of self-governance and had come to signify merely a registered and tracked unit of the Authority. --- "We cannot defeat the Authority directly," Myrddin told the Council of Remnants. "They control too much. The military, the food supply, the Nexus itself. Any direct confrontation would be suicidal." "Then what hope remains?" asked Sera. "We must build anew," Myrddin said, his voice finding strength in purpose. "Not reform, but replace. The old system cannot be saved—it is too thoroughly corrupted. We must create a parallel system that makes centralization not merely difficult, but impossible by its very nature." "How?" several voices asked at once. Myrddin reached into his worn leather satchel and withdrew a small crystal, unlike the Authority Crystals in both color and cut. "I have spent the last fifty years designing what should have been built from the beginning. A truly decentralized system that cannot be subverted because its very operation depends on remaining distributed." He placed the crystal in the center of the table. It pulsed with a soft blue light. "The Arx," he explained. "Each crystal contains the complete system, yet functions as only one node within it. No node can control another. No group of nodes can outvote or overpower the minority. Consensus is achieved not through majority rule, but through voluntary participation." Thalion picked up the crystal, examining it skeptically. "The Authority will never allow this." "They need not allow what they cannot detect," Myrddin replied. "The Arx operates on principles the Authority's systems cannot recognize. It exists alongside their network but remains invisible to it." "And what can this network do?" asked Ferris. "How does it help us against the might of the Authority?" "It allows us to trade without their knowledge. To communicate without their oversight. To organize without their permission. And most importantly, to remember who we truly are—sovereign individuals who require no masters." Myrddin stood, his ancient frame seeming to straighten with the weight of his purpose. "Centralization is not merely inefficient or unjust—it is a disease that infects and ultimately kills any society it touches. It promises order but delivers stagnation. It promises security but creates vulnerability. It promises prosperity but ensures that wealth flows only to those who control the center." He looked each Council member in the eye. "I made a mistake in believing that making centralization difficult would be enough. This time, we will make it impossible. The Arx cannot be centralized because its very operation depends on distribution. Any attempt to control it causes it to fragment and reform beyond the controller's reach." "And if the Authority discovers these crystals?" Sera asked. "They can destroy individual crystals, but the network will continue. They can imprison those who carry them, but more will take their place. The design is now the important thing, not the designer. I have encoded the knowledge of how to create these crystals within the crystals themselves. The idea cannot be killed." Myrddin sat back down, suddenly looking every one of his many years. "I cannot undo the damage my oversight has caused. I cannot restore the Libertalia I helped to build. But I can give you the tools to create something better—something truly resistant to the disease of centralization." The Council members looked at one another, hope kindling in eyes that had known only despair for too long. "How do we begin?" Thalion asked. Myrddin smiled. "We begin by remembering what we have forgotten. That no person has the right to rule another. That voluntary cooperation always outperforms forced compliance. That systems must serve individuals, not the reverse. That decentralization is not merely a technical architecture but a moral imperative." He gestured to the crystal, still glowing in Thalion's palm. "And we begin by building connections that cannot be controlled. Person to person. District to district. Free association by free association. The Authority believes itself invincible because it sits at the center of all things. But when there is no center, there is nothing to seize, nothing to corrupt, nothing to control." As night fell over Libertalia, the Council of Remnants listened as the ancient engineer outlined his vision for a truly decentralized future. Outside, the Authority's patrols marched in perfect order, their uniformity a testament to the disease that had consumed what was once the freest society in the known world. Myrddin knew he would not live to see his new design reach fruition. But for the first time in decades, he felt something like peace. He had identified his error. He had created a solution. And most importantly, he had ensured that the knowledge would outlive him. Centralization was indeed a disease—perhaps the most persistent and destructive disease ever to afflict human societies. But like all diseases, it could be overcome with the right medicine. And the medicine was not more centralization, not better rulers, not wiser authorities. The medicine was decentralization. Complete, uncompromising, and irreversible decentralization. As the meeting concluded and the Council members departed with their crystals, Myrddin remained seated at the table. Thalion lingered behind. "You know they will come for you eventually," his former apprentice said. "You are too significant a symbol to ignore forever." Myrddin nodded. "Let them come. An old man is a small price to pay for the rebirth of freedom." "Your new system," Thalion said hesitantly, "you are certain it cannot be centralized? That we are not simply repeating the cycle?" "Nothing created by human hands can be perfect," Myrddin admitted. "But I have learned from my mistake. The Arx does not merely resist centralization—it actively works against it. The more one tries to control it, the more it disperses. It is not merely a technical solution but a philosophical one." He placed a hand on Thalion's shoulder. "Remember always: centralization benefits only those at the center. For everyone else—the 99.999% who stand at the periphery—it is nothing but chains disguised as safety. Never again can we allow the disease to take root by promising efficiency at the cost of sovereignty." Thalion nodded solemnly. "I will remember." As his former apprentice departed, Myrddin turned to look out the small window at the city below. The Authority's lights blazed from the central towers, pushing back the natural darkness of night. So much power, concentrated in so few hands. So much potential, wasted in the service of control rather than creation. He had lived long enough to see his greatest work corrupted. With what time remained to him, he would ensure that his final creation could not suffer the same fate. The Arx would spread, node by node, person by person, until the very concept of centralized authority became as obsolete as the diseases his earlier inventions had eradicated. Myrddin Myrddin, Master Engineer of the Free Realms, closed his eyes and allowed himself, just for a moment, to imagine a world reborn in true freedom. A world where the disease of centralization had finally been cured. It would not happen in his lifetime. Perhaps not even in Thalion's. But it would happen. Of that, he was certain. For the truth that the Authority and all centralizers before them had never understood was simple: humans were not meant to be controlled. They were meant to be free. And in the end, that natural state would reassert itself, no matter how elaborate the systems of control became. Centralization was a disease. And like all diseases, it would eventually meet a cure.

@ bc575705:dba3ed39

In our hyper-connected age, the concept of "Know Your Customer" (KYC) has morphed from a regulatory necessity into a pervasive surveillance apparatus, subtly eroding our fundamental liberties. While purported to combat financial crime, KYC has become a tool for mass surveillance, data exploitation, and the gradual dismantling of personal privacy. Let’s embark on a comprehensive exploration of this system, exposing its inherent flaws and advocating for a paradigm shift towards decentralized financial sovereignty. ## **Beyond the Surface: The Intricate Web of KYC Data Collection** **KYC transcends mere identity verification;** it's a deep dive into the minutiae of our lives. Consider the breadth and depth of data extracted: **Geographic Surveillance:** Proof of address requirements delve into historical residency, creating granular maps of our movements. Combined with location data from mobile devices and online activity, this paints a comprehensive picture of our physical presence. **Financial Autopsy:** KYC dissects our financial lives with surgical precision. Income sources, asset declarations, and transaction histories are meticulously cataloged. Algorithmic analysis reveals spending habits, investment strategies, and even potential political affiliations. **Behavioral Predictive Modeling:** AI algorithms analyze our financial behavior, predicting future actions and preferences. This data is invaluable for targeted advertising, but also for social engineering and political manipulation. **Biometric Invasiveness:** Facial recognition, iris scans, and voice analysis create permanent, immutable records of our physical selves. These biometrics are highly sensitive and vulnerable to breaches, potentially leading to identity theft and even physical harm. **Social Network Mapping:** KYC extends beyond individuals, mapping our social and professional networks. Institutions analyze our connections, identifying potential risks based on our associations. This has a chilling effect on free association and dissent, as individuals become hesitant to associate with those deemed "risky." **Psychometric Profiling:** With the increase of online tests, and the collection of online data, companies and states can build psychometric profiles. These profiles can be used to predict actions, and even manipulate populations. ## **The Fallacy of Security: KYC's Ineffectiveness and the Rise of the Surveillance State** Despite its claims, KYC fails to effectively combat sophisticated financial crime. Instead, it creates a system of mass surveillance that disproportionately targets law-abiding citizens. **The Scourge of False Positives:** Automated KYC systems frequently generate false positives, flagging innocent individuals as potential criminals. This can lead to financial exclusion, reputational damage, and even legal persecution. **A Ticking Time Bomb:** Centralized KYC databases are prime targets for hackers, putting vast amounts of sensitive personal information at risk. Data breaches can lead to identity theft, financial fraud, and even physical harm. **The State's Panopticon:** KYC empowers governments to monitor the financial activities of their citizens, creating a powerful tool for surveillance and control. This can be used to suppress dissent, target political opponents, and enforce conformity. **The Criminals Advantage:** Sophisticated criminals easily bypass KYC using shell companies, money laundering, and other techniques. This makes KYC a system that punishes the innocent, and gives the criminals a false sense of security for the data collected. ## **Decentralized Alternatives: Reclaiming Financial Sovereignty and Privacy** In the face of this encroaching surveillance state, decentralized technologies offer a path to financial freedom and privacy. **Cryptocurrency | A Bastion of Financial Freedom:** Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies provide censorship-resistant alternatives to traditional financial systems. They empower individuals to transact freely, without the need for intermediaries or government oversight. **Decentralized Finance (DeFi) | Democratizing Finance:** DeFi platforms offer a range of financial services, including lending, borrowing, and trading, without the need for traditional banks. These platforms are built on blockchain technology, ensuring transparency, security, and accessibility. **Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) | Empowering Individuals:** SSI solutions enable individuals to control their own digital identities, without relying on centralized authorities. This allows for secure and private verification of identity, without the need to share sensitive personal information with every service provider. **Privacy-Enhancing Technologies (PETs) | Shielding Your Data:** Technologies like zero-knowledge proofs, homomorphic encryption, and secure multi-party computation can be used to protect personal data while still allowing for necessary verification. **Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) | Creating new forms of governance:** DAOs provide new ways for groups to organize, and make decisions. They provide a transparent way to pool resources, and make decisions. ## **A Call to Action: Defending Our Digital Rights and Building a Decentralized Future** We cannot passively accept the erosion of our fundamental freedoms. We must actively defend our digital rights and demand a more just and equitable financial system. **Advocate for Robust Privacy Laws:** Demand stronger regulations that limit the collection and use of personal data. **Champion Decentralized Technologies:** Support the development and adoption of cryptocurrencies, DeFi platforms, and other decentralized solutions. **Educate and Empower:** Raise awareness about the dangers of KYC and state surveillance. **Cultivate Critical Thinking:** Question the narratives presented by governments and corporations. **Build Decentralized Communities:** Join and support decentralized communities that are working to build a more free and open financial system. **Demand transparency from all data collection:** Insist that all data collection is open, and that there are strong penalties for those that misuse data. **The fight for financial freedom is a fight for human freedom. Let us stand together and reclaim our digital sovereignty.**

@ f7d424b5:618c51e8

It's time for the obligatory Monster Hunter episode. Some of the audio is a little messed up towards the end of the episode, sorry about that. Minus a few relevant tangents this episode is almost entirely about Monster Hunter, I was being serious. Charts: - [Monster Hunter Wilds chart](https://steamdb.info/app/2246340/charts/) - [Capcom IR sales numbers for 2024](https://www.capcom.co.jp/ir/english/business/million.html) - [Avowed steam chart](https://steamdb.info/app/2457220/charts/) - [CP2077 Chart](https://steamdb.info/app/1091500/charts/#3y) Obligatory: - [Listen to the new episode here!](https://melonmancy.net/listen) - [Discuss this episode on OUR NEW FORUM](https://melonmancy.cafe/d/104-mp102-she-would-break-my-skull-by-patting-me-on-the-head) - [Get the RSS and Subscribe](https://feeds.rssblue.com/melonmancy-podcast) (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](http://newpodcastapps.com/) - Or listen to the show on [the forum](https://melonmancy.cafe) using the embedded [Podverse](https://podverse.fm) player! - [Send your complaints here](https://melonmancy.net/contact-us) Reminder that this is a [Value4Value](https://value4value.info/) podcast so any support you can give us via a modern podcasting app is greatly appreciated and we will never bow to corporate sponsors! Our podcast is created entirely with free software and is proudly hosted on [RSSBlue!](https://rssblue.com)

@ c13fd381:b46236ea

# Nostr *IS* Bitcoin: The Layer 3 That Ends the Old Internet Most people are still trapped in the old way of thinking. They try to compare Nostr to decentralised social media, calling it “the new Twitter” or “the uncensorable Facebook.” But this mindset is limiting—it completely misses the fundamental truth about what Nostr is. Nostr isn’t just another application built alongside Bitcoin. **It is the next logical extension of Bitcoin itself—a Layer 3 that completes the decentralised internet.** Bitcoin solved money. The Lightning Network solved fast, scalable payments. Nostr solves identity, communication, and coordination. And when you put all of these pieces together, something profound happens: **the old internet becomes obsolete.** --- ## The Internet Today: A System of Control The internet as we know it is broken. It’s a patchwork of corporate-owned platforms that act as gatekeepers to communication, identity, and finance. Every time you log into Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn, you’re not really accessing *your* identity—you’re borrowing space on someone else’s server, subject to their rules. This is a permissioned system. Your access is conditional. - Your Twitter account? Twitter controls it. - Your Facebook profile? Facebook owns it. - Even your emails and cloud storage? They sit on a corporate server that can delete them at any time. Bitcoin exposed the flaw in this model when it did the same thing to banks. Before Bitcoin, money was always controlled by an intermediary. But with Bitcoin, **your money became truly yours**, with no need for banks or approval. Now, Nostr is doing the same thing for identity and communication. --- ## Nostr as Bitcoin’s Layer 3 To understand why **Nostr is Bitcoin**, you have to look at how the layers fit together: - **Layer 1: Bitcoin** – The base layer of decentralised money. - **Layer 2: Lightning Network** – Scalable, instant payments built on Bitcoin. - **Layer 3: Nostr** – Decentralised identity, communication, and coordination. Bitcoin gave us financial sovereignty. But money alone isn’t enough—you also need a way to **communicate, organise, and transact without permission.** That’s where Nostr comes in. Nostr acts as **the identity and coordination layer of Bitcoin.** It allows users to interact freely, without relying on corporations, while remaining interoperable with Bitcoin itself. Through cryptographic keys, your Nostr identity isn’t just a social media profile—it’s **your passport to the decentralised internet.** And because Nostr integrates directly with Bitcoin and Lightning, the system is already primed to support payments, contracts, and governance without intermediaries. This isn’t just a Twitter replacement. **This is the new internet.** --- ## Why Nostr Changes Everything ### 1. **Your Identity Becomes Yours** Nostr eliminates the need for platform-based identity. Instead of creating an account on someone else’s system, you control a private key that acts as your identity across every application. No bans, no suspensions, no need for permission. ### 2. **Social Media Becomes Just a Skin** In the old model, social media platforms *were* the network. But with Nostr, **the network exists independently of any specific app.** Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn all become interchangeable interfaces that simply display Nostr data. This makes platforms obsolete—because your identity, posts, and connections live *outside* of any single service. ### 3. **Bitcoin and Nostr Are Interoperable** Nostr isn't separate from Bitcoin—it’s built to work with it. Lightning payments are already integrated into Nostr through Zaps, allowing instant Bitcoin transactions to be woven into communication itself. This means: - Tipping and payments happen *natively* in social interactions. - Crowdfunding, subscriptions, and paywalls don’t require third-party payment processors. - Entire economic models become possible without intermediaries. ### 4. **Censorship Becomes Impossible** Unlike traditional social media, Nostr has **no central authority**. It’s a protocol, not a platform. No one can shut it down. If one relay (server) censors content, another can pick it up. Your data and identity persist regardless. This makes Nostr the first truly **unstoppable** system for global communication—just as Bitcoin is the first unstoppable system for money. --- ## The Frustration of Seeing the Future All of this is inevitable. And yet, most people still don’t see it. They’re still asking, *“What’s the best Twitter alternative?”* They’re still thinking in terms of Web 2.0 platforms, branding themselves through corporate services instead of owning their own digital identity. But this mindset will soon be irrelevant. With Nostr, identity and communication become **protocols, not platforms.** And once identity is self-sovereign, platforms lose their power entirely. --- ## The Only Path Forward The future isn’t being built on platforms. It’s being built on **protocols.** Bitcoin started this shift by decentralising money. Lightning made it scalable. Now, Nostr is finishing it—by decentralising identity, communication, and social interaction. The Nostr protocol is already deployed. The infrastructure is here. The transition is happening whether people realise it or not. It’s only a matter of time before the world wakes up and understands: **Nostr *IS* Bitcoin. The old internet is already dead.**

@ df67f9a7:2d4fc200

> For over a year, I have been developing “webs of trust onboarding and discovery” tools for Nostr. With additional funding, I hope to continue this endeavor in 2025. Here’s the story so far… ## What I’m Building More than simply a “list of follows follows”, “web of trust” implementations will power user discovery, content search, reviews and reccomendations, identity verification and access to all corners of the “trusted” Nostr network as it scales. Without relying on a central “trust authority” to recommend people and content for us, sovereign Nostr users will leverage many forms of “relative trust” derived from our own “web” of natural interactions, “simply” by normalizing and scoring these interactions. The problem is, Nostr doesn’t have an extensible library for performing these “web of trust” calculations and delivering standardized reccomendations to any client … until now. I have built a developer library by which clients and relays can offer “webs of trust” score calculations for any user. Primarily, I am also building a “social onboarding” client, which will leverage this library to provide “webs of trust” powered recommendations for new users at their crucial “first interaction” touchpoint. - [Meet Me On Nostr](https://nostrmeet.me) (onboarding client) : This is my first project on Nostr, which I started a year ago with seed funding from [@druid](https://primal.net/druid). This “social onboarding” client will leverage in person relationships, QR invites, and advocate recommendations to improve new user retention. Currently, it creates new accounts with encrypted keys upon scanning any user’s invite. Last summer, without additional funding or a reliable WoT engine to produce recommendations, I “paused” development of this project. - [GrapeRank Engine](https://github.com/Pretty-Good-Freedom-Tech/graperank-nodejs) (developer library) : Working with [@straycat](https://primal.net/straycat) last fall, I built an open source and extensible library for Nostr developers to integrate “web of trust” powered reccomendations into their products and services. The power of GrapeRank is that it can generate different recommendations for different use cases (not just “web of trust” from “follows and mutes”), configurable easily by developers and by end users. This library is currently in v0.1, “generating and storing usable scores” without NIP standard outputs for Nostr clients. - [My Grapevine](https://grapevine.my) (algo dashboard) : In addition, I’ve just now wrapped up the demo release of a web client by which users and developers can explore the power of the GrapeRank Engine. 
 ## Potential Impact Webs of Trust is how Nostr scales. But so far, “web of trust” recommendations on Nostr have been implemented ad-hoc by clients with no consistency and little choice for end users. The “onboarding and discovery” tools I am developing promise to : - Establish “sovereignty” for webs of trust users, by stimulating a “free market of choices” with open source libraries, enabling any developer to implement WoT powered recommendations with ease. - Accelerate the isolation of “bots and bad actors”, and improve the “trustiness” of Nostr for everyone else, by streamlining the onboarding of “real world” trusted people directly into established “webs of trust”. - Improve “discoverability of users and content” across all clients, by providing an extensible algo engine with “unlimited” NIP standard outputs, allowing any client to consume and take advantage of WoT powered recommendations, even as these NIPs are still in flux. - Pave the way for “global Nostr adoption”, where WoT powered recommendations (and searches) are consistently available for any user across a wide variety of clients. ## Timeline & Milestones 2025 roadmap for “Webs of Trust Onboarding and Discovery” : - [Meet Me On Nostr](https://nostrmeet.me/) (onboarding client) : MVP release : “scan my QR for instant account and DM with me on Nostr”. - [GrapeRank Engine ](https://github.com/Pretty-Good-Freedom-Tech/graperank-nodejs)(developer library) : 1.0 release : “output WoT scores to Nostr NIPs and other stuff” for consumption by clients and relays. - [My Grapevine](https://grapevine.my/) (algo dashboard) : 1.0 release : “usable dashboard with API endpoints” for end users to configure and consume GrapeRank scores on their own clients and relays. - [Meet Me On Nostr](https://nostrmeet.me/) (onboarding client) : 1.0 release : first integration with My Grapevine, offering “follow and app recommendations for invited users”, customizable per-invite for Nostr advocates. ## Funding In February 2024, I received a one time donation from [@druid](https://primal.net/druid) to start the “Meet Me On Nostr” client. In May 2024, I applied for an OpenSats grant to fund further development of “Meet Me On Nostr”. This was denied. In September 2024, [@straycat](https://primal.net/straycat) offered to fund me for three months, to develop the “GrapeRank Engine” and “My Grapevine” demo client around his algorithm design. I have a [Geyser Fund page](https://geyser.fund/project/nostrmeetme) Please reach out via DM if you are interested to fund part of this or any related project.

@ ddf03aca:5cb3bbbe

Welcome to Built with Cashu-TS, a series dedicated to crafting cool applications powered by Cashu and its TypeScript library, Cashu-TS. In this first post, we'll dive into creating a tiny, personal Lightning Address server! > [!NOTE] > Quick note: To keep things concise and easy to follow, the examples provided here aren't production-grade code. I'll clearly highlight spots where I've intentionally simplified or taken shortcuts. ## What we are building Today we are building a Lightning Address server. The server is responsible for returning a Lightning Invoice whenever someone tries to pay your Lightning Address. The exact flow is described in LUD16, but here is a quick rundown: 1. User enters your Lightning Address into their wallet 2. Wallet constructs the matching URL as per LUD16 and sends a GET request 3. Server creates a JSON response with some metadata (min amount, max amount, callback url, etc.) and returns it 4. Wallet displays metadata and upon user interaction sends a second SET request to the callback url including the specified amount. 5. Server fetches an invoice for the requested amount and returns it Usually the invoices are fetched from a Lightning Node. But today we are using a Cashu mint as our Lightning provider. ## Setup the project Our Lightning Address server will be written in TypeScript using the express framework. First we got to initialise a new project and install our dependencies. ```sh mkdir tiny-lud16 cd tiny-lud16 npm init npm i express cors @cashu/cashu-ts npm i -D typescript esbuild @types/node @types/cors @types/express ``` ### Adding a build script Because we are using TypeScript we need to add a build step to execute our code (recent versions of node support direct execution of node, but this is the "traditional" way). We are using esbuild to compile our code to JavaScript > [!NOTE] > esbuild does not check types. If you want to make sure your code typechecks use `tsc` **build.js** ```js #!/usr/bin/env node const esbuild = require("esbuild"); esbuild .build({ outdir: "dist/", format: "cjs", platform: "node", entryPoints: ["src/index.ts"], bundle: true, sourcemap: "external", }) .then(() => { console.log("Server built sucessfully"); }); ``` Now we can build our project using `node build.js` and then run our project with `node dist/index.js` ## Configuration Before we start working on our web server we need to set some options. For this we create `/src/config.ts` - `USERNAME` will be the address part in front of the `@`. - `HOSTNAME` is the URL (including the protocol) the server will run on - `MINT_URL` is the URL of the mint that we want to use to generate invoices and receive token from. - `MIN_AMOUNT` and `MAX_AMOUNT` are LNURL specific settings that define the range of amounts in mSats that we want to allow. > [!NOTE] > Because the smalles amount in the `sat` unit in Cashu is 1 Sat, `MIN_AMOUNT` can not be smaller than 1000 ```ts export const USERNAME = "egge"; export const HOSTNAME = " https://test.test"; export const MINT_URL = " https://mint.minibits.cash/Bitcoin"; export const MIN_AMOUNT = 1000; export const MAX_AMOUNT = 10000; ``` ## Adding some utility To keep our request handler clean, we will put some of the utility functions in a separate file `src/utils.ts`. ```ts import { HOSTNAME, MAX_AMOUNT, MIN_AMOUNT, USERNAME } from "./config"; export function createLnurlResponse() { return { callback: `${HOSTNAME}/.well-known/lnurlp/${USERNAME}`, maxSendable: MAX_AMOUNT, minSendable: MIN_AMOUNT, metadata: JSON.stringify([ ["text/plain", "A cashu lightning address... Neat!"], ]), tag: "payRequest", }; } export function isValidAmount(amountInSats: number) { return ( amount >= MIN_AMOUNT && amount <= MAX_AMOUNT && Number.isInteger(amount) ); } ``` The `createLnurlResponse` function creates the response for the first call to our LNURL endpoint. This structure is defined in LUD16 and in our case it does not rely on any state, other than the configuration constants we defined in `src/config.ts`. This object contains the metadata that is the response of step 3 in our flow. The `isValidAmount` function helps us determine whether the amount we will receive in Step 4 is valid. We check whether it is within the boundaries of our `MIN_AMOUNT` and `MAX_AMOUNT`. Because we will convert the requested amount from mSats into sats, we need to check whether this converted amount is an integer. ## Adding out wallet backend This blog series is about awesome Cashu use cases, so of course our "Lightning backend" is a mint. We are using the `@cashu/cashu-ts` npm package to streamline Cashu interaction. ```ts import { CashuMint, CashuWallet, getEncodedToken, Proof, } from "@cashu/cashu-ts"; import { MINT_URL } from "./config"; import { resolve } from "path"; import { existsSync, mkdirSync, writeFileSync } from "fs"; const mint = new CashuMint(MINT_URL); const wallet = new CashuWallet(mint); export async function createInvoiceAndHandlePayment(amount: number) { const { quote, request } = await wallet.createMintQuote(amount); const interval = setInterval(async () => { const stateRes = await wallet.checkMintQuote(quote); if (stateRes.state === "PAID") { const proofs = await wallet.mintProofs(amount, quote); clearInterval(interval); const token = turnProofsIntoToken(proofs); saveTokenLocally(token); } }, 10000); return request; } function turnProofsIntoToken(proofs: Proof[]) { return getEncodedToken({ mint: MINT_URL, proofs }); } function saveTokenLocally(token: string) { const tokenDirPath = resolve(__dirname, "../token"); if (!existsSync(tokenDirPath)) { mkdirSync(tokenDirPath); } writeFileSync(resolve(tokenDirPath, `${Date.now()}_token.txt`), token); } ``` The first thing we do here is instantiating a CashuWallet class from Cashu-TS. This class will take care of the Cashu operations required to create an invoice and mint tokens. Then we create a utility function that will handle our invoice creation and later make sure to check whether an invoice was paid. `wallet.createMintQuote` will talk to the mint to create a mint quote. The mint returns a `MintQuoteReponse` that includes the ID of the quote as well as the invoice (`request`) that needs to be paid before the Cashu proofs can be minted. This `request` is what we will return to the payer later. Once the mint quote is created we will start polling the mint for it's payment state using `wallet.checkMintQuote`. As soon as the state changes to `"PAID"` we know that the payment was done and we can mint the proofs using Cashu-TS' `mintProofs` method. This returns some Cashu proofs that we will serialize into a Cashu Token and save to our disk using the `saveTokenLocally` function. > [!NOTE] > In this example we use `setInterval` to poll for a payment update. In the real world you would use a proper request queue for this to make sure we do not spam the mint with too many requests at the same time > Also saving the token to disk is not ideal. You could instead send yourself a nostr DM or post it to a webhook ## Adding the handler Because our LNURL endpoint and our callback endpoint are the same, we only need a single route handler. This route handler will take care of any GET request coming in at `/.well-known/lnurlp/USERNAME`. Wether it is a callback or not can be determined by checking the `amount` query parameter. ```ts import { NextFunction, Request, Response } from "express"; import { createLnurlResponse, isValidAmount } from "./utils"; import { createInvoiceAndHandlePayment } from "./wallet"; export const lud16Controller = async ( req: Request<unknown, unknown, unknown, { amount: string }>, res: Response, next: NextFunction, ) => { try { if (!req.query.amount) { res.json(createLnurlResponse()); return; } const parsedAmount = parseInt(req.query.amount); const mintAmount = parsedAmount / 1000; const isValid = isValidAmount(mintAmount); if (!isValid) { throw new Error("Invalid Amount"); } const invoice = await createInvoiceAndHandlePayment(mintAmount); res.json({ pr: invoice, routes: [], }); } catch (e) { next(e); } }; ``` Let's take this handler function apart and see hat is happening here. First we check whether the `amount` query parameter is present. If it is not, we now that we are currently in step 3 of our LNURL flow. In this case all we need to do is create the expected metadata object using our `createLnurlResponse` utility and return it to the caller. If the parameter is present we are in step 5 of our flow and the real work begins. As mentioned above we need to first convert the amount, which is in mSats as per LUD16 into sats to be compatible with our mint running the `sat` unit. Because query parameters are always `string`, we use the built-in `parseInt` to parse the string into a `number`. We then check whether the amount is valid using our `isValidAmount` utility. If it is not, we throw an error which will get caught and passed to express' built in error middleware. > [!NOTE] > The error returned by the express middleware is a basic error page without proper error codes. Usually you would define error classed and a custom middleware to take care of this. Once we made sure that the amount is valid the Cashu logic takes place. We pass the amount to `createInvoiceAndHandlePayment` to create an invoice and start the state polling behind the scenes. At the end of the function we simply return the mint's invoice in a JSON reponse as per LUD16. ## Adding the route The last step of the process is to add our route handler to the right path of our web server. This path is defined in LUD16: `<domain>/.well-known/lnurlp/<username>`. We create our web server and add the route handler in `/src/index.ts`. ```ts import express from "express"; import { USERNAME } from "./config"; import { lud16Controller } from "./controller"; const app = express(); app.get("/.well-known/lnurlp/" + USERNAME, lud16Controller); app.listen(8080, () => { console.log("Server running on port 8080"); }); ``` This snippet is very straight forward. We create an express app, add the route handler to handle GET requests at our desired path and then tell the server to listen on port 8080. ## Conclusion With just a few lines of code and without using our own Lightning backend we have built a working LNURL Lightning Address server. This is one of the features I love so much about Cashu: It enables new Lightning and Bitcoin use cases. I hope you enjoyed this first part of the new series. Please make sure to leave your feedback 💜🥜