@ 8671a6e5:f88194d1

A flash of inspiration

Sometimes the mind takes you to strange places. The other day, I stumbled across Madonna’s “Vogue” video, you know “strike a pose” and all that jazz, and it got me thinking. Not about her music (which, let’s be honest, hasn’t aged as gracefully as her PR team might hope), but about Michael Saylor and Bitcoin.

Bear with me here, there’s a connection there. Madonna built an empire and her iconic name on catchy tunes and reinvention, even if her catalog feels a bit thin these days. Saylor? He’s doing something similar—taking an old act, dusting it off, and teaching it a new trick. Only instead of a microphone, he’s wielding Bitcoin, and Wall Street’s playing the role of the music industry, propping up the star despite a shaky back catalog (his initial business software).

Old school meets new moves

Think of Saylor as that veteran artist who’s been around for a few decades and think of bitcoin as a new style of music, a genre or a gimmick that’s popular with the kids. Old music stars sooner or later pick up on that, and even bring people in to do a cross-over song, a mix or god forbid, a duet.

MicroStrategy, his software company, was never a top hit scoring machine. More of a album full of B-sides that faded into obscurity (for those who don’t know, look up what a B-side song was). But then he stumbled onto Bitcoin, the shiny new genre that’s got the attention and attracted people because of the underlying asset (our tunes are here to stay).

It’s not just a pivot; it’s a reinvention. Like an aging pop star learning to rap, Saylor’s taken his old-school business and remixed it into something attracting a decent audience at conferences for example. Like Madonna or the former Prince fulling arenas. He’s voguing alright; with bold moves, big loans, the support of his own music industry and a spotlight for his (sometimes Madonna lyrics like) ramblings.

The Saylor trick: a ray of light on bitcoin

Here’s the play: Saylor’s turned MicroStrategy into a Bitcoin hoarding machine. Forget software licenses; his game is borrowing billions—through corporate bonds and stock sales, only to buy and hold Bitcoin. Bitcoin will outshine gold, bonds, even the S&P 500, Saylor says. It’s a gamble, an honorable one if you’re a bitcoiner, but it’s dressed up as a vision, and it’s got a self-fulfilling prophecy in it. Not only that, such a prophecy can only fully come to fruition if he’s not the only buyer of last resort of any significance. A music industry isn’t a real industry if there was only Madonna dancing on stage as the only mainstream artist.

We had Prince, Michael Jackson, Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars or Dua Lipa and hundreds of other artists over time, vying for your money, attention span, and streaming minutes. The more Strategy buys, the more the Bitcoin crowd cheers, the higher the price climbs, and the more attention he gets. Speaking gigs, headlines, cult status—it’s a win-win, at least on paper. Strike the pose, indeed.

The McDonald’s trick: value under the surface

It’s not the first time Michael Saylro remixes a tape from another artist so to speak. Let’s pivot to McDonald’s for a second, because there’s a parallel here. You think Big Macs when you think McDonald’s, but their real value hustle is actually real estate.

They own prime land, lease it to franchisees, and rake in rent—billions of it. The burgers? Just a tasty front for a property empire. Saylor’s pulling a similar move, but instead of buildings, his asset is Bitcoin. MicroStrategy’s software gig is the fries on the side — nice to have, but not the main course. He’s borrowing against the future value of BTC, betting it’ll keep climbing, just like McDonald’s banks on steady foot traffic and picking strategic (pun intended) locations. The difference? McDonald’s has a fallback if real estate tanks. Saylor’s all-in on bitcoin. (So far so good, if there’s one thing to go all-in on, it’s bitcoin anyway). That on itself is not an issue. But it’s important to know that the “location” is the asset for some while bitcoin is the “asset” for Strategy. Mc Donald’s assets are easy to spot: there are restaurants all over the place. Madonna’s concerts are also easy to spot: they sell out arenas left and right. Strategy’s bitcoin asset is less easy to spot, as we can’t see them, neither can we verify them. More on that later.

The hybrid star: Madonna meets McDonald’s

So, picture this: Saylor’s a cross between Madonna and a fast-food landlord. He’s the aging music icon who’s learned a flashy new dance, but underneath the glitter, he’s running a McDonald’s-style value play. It’s brilliant, in a way. Bitcoin’s scarcity fuels the hype, and his borrowing keeps the show on the road. Madonna’s legacy still sells records her name holds value, and McDonald’s can lean on its food business and brand, if the property game stumbles they can easily pivot back to basics and earn like they’ve always done on selling food and franchise income/licensing. Saylor? His software arm’s is rather dismal. If Bitcoin falters, there’s no encore that can him.a flash of inspiration

Sometimes the mind takes you to strange places. The other day, I stumbled across Madonna’s “Vogue” video, you know “strike a pose” and all that jazz, and it got me thinking. Not about her music (which, let’s be honest, hasn’t aged as gracefully as her PR team might hope), but about Michael Saylor and Bitcoin.\ \ Bear with me here, there’s a connection there. Madonna built an empire and her iconic name on catchy tunes and reinvention, even if her catalog feels a bit thin these days.\ Saylor? He’s doing something similar—taking an old act, dusting it off, and teaching it a new trick. Only instead of a microphone, he’s wielding Bitcoin, and Wall Street’s playing the role of the music industry, propping up the star despite a shaky back catalog (his initial business software).

Old school meets new moves

Think of Saylor as that veteran artist who’s been around for a few decades and think of bitcoin as a new style of music, a genre or a gimmick that’s popular with the kids. Old music stars sooner or later pick up on that, and even bring people in to do a cross-over song, a mix or god forbid, a duet.

MicroStrategy, his software company, was never a top hit scoring machine. More of a album full of B-sides that faded into obscurity (for those who don’t know, look up what a B-side song was).\ But then he stumbled onto Bitcoin, the shiny new genre that’s got the attention and attracted people because of the underlying asset (our tunes are here to stay).\ \ It’s not just a pivot; it’s a reinvention. Like an aging pop star learning to rap, Saylor’s taken his old-school business and remixed it into something attracting a decent audience at conferences for example. Like Madonna or the former Prince fulling arenas.\ He’s voguing alright; with bold moves, big loans, the support of his own music industry and a spotlight for his (sometimes Madonna lyrics like) ramblings.

*The Saylor trick: a ray of light on bitcoin* \ Here’s the play: Saylor’s turned MicroStrategy into a Bitcoin hoarding machine. Forget software licenses; his game is borrowing billions—through corporate bonds and stock sales, only to buy and hold Bitcoin. Bitcoin will outshine gold, bonds, even the S&P 500, Saylor says.\ It’s a gamble, an honorable one if you’re a bitcoiner, but it’s dressed up as a vision, and it’s got a self-fulfilling prophecy in it. Not only that, such a prophecy can only fully come to fruition if he’s not the only buyer of last resort of any significance. A music industry isn’t a real industry if there was only Madonna dancing on stage as the only mainstream artist.\ \ We had Prince, Michael Jackson, Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars or Dua Lipa and hundreds of other artists over time, vying for your money, attention span, and streaming minutes.\ The more Strategy buys, the more the Bitcoin crowd cheers, the higher the price climbs, and the more attention he gets. Speaking gigs, headlines, cult status—it’s a win-win, at least on paper. Strike the pose, indeed.

*The McDonald’s trick: value under the surface* \ It’s not the first time Michael Saylro remixes a tape from another artist so to speak.\ Let’s pivot to McDonald’s for a second, because there’s a parallel here. You think Big Macs when you think McDonald’s, but their real value hustle is actually real estate.

They own prime land, lease it to franchisees, and rake in rent—billions of it. The burgers? Just a tasty front for a property empire. Saylor’s pulling a similar move, but instead of buildings, his asset is Bitcoin.\ MicroStrategy’s software gig is the fries on the side — nice to have, but not the main course. He’s borrowing against the future value of BTC, betting it’ll keep climbing, just like McDonald’s banks on steady foot traffic and picking strategic (pun intended) locations.\ The difference? McDonald’s has a fallback if real estate tanks. Saylor’s all-in on bitcoin. (So far so good, if there’s one thing to go all-in on, it’s bitcoin anyway). That on itself is not an issue. But it’s important to know that the “location” is the asset for some while bitcoin is the “asset” for Strategy.\ Mc Donald’s assets are easy to spot: there are restaurants all over the place. Madonna’s concerts are also easy to spot: they sell out arenas left and right.\ Strategy’s bitcoin asset is less easy to spot, as we can’t see them, neither can we verify them. More on that later.

The hybrid star: Madonna meets McDonald’s

So, picture this: Saylor’s a cross between Madonna and a fast-food landlord. He’s the aging music icon who’s learned a flashy new dance, but underneath the glitter, he’s running a McDonald’s-style value play.\ It’s brilliant, in a way. Bitcoin’s scarcity fuels the hype, and his borrowing keeps the show on the road.\ Madonna’s legacy still sells records her name holds value, and McDonald’s can lean on its food business and brand, if the property game stumbles they can easily pivot back to basics and earn like they’ve always done on selling food and franchise income/licensing.\ Saylor? His software arm’s is rather dismal. If Bitcoin falters, there’s no encore that can him.

The music’s made in-house

Michael Saylor’s strategy with Strategy, is a bold, all-in bet on Bitcoin as the ultimate store of value. Essentially combining what Mc Donald’s does with the strong believe in bitcoin’s future (and fueling that believe with the fitting rhetoric).

It works like this: Since August 2020, Saylor’s company has been buying up more and more Bitcoin, making it their main asset instead of traditional cash or investments, and by March 2025, they own 506,137 BTC—worth about $42.8 billion (at $84,000 per Bitcoin). This, after spending $33.7 billion to buy it over time (DCA), including a massive 218887 BTC purchase late 2024 for $20.5 billion, giving them over 2.41% of all Bitcoin ever to exist (way more than companies like Marathon, Coinbase, Tesla or Riot).

To pull this off, they’ve borrowed heavily: owing $7.2 billion, mostly to Wall Street investors through special IOUs1 called convertible notes, which don’t need to be paid back until 2027, through 2029. These can either be settled with cash or swapped for Strategy stock. (there lies one of the main issues in my opinion, as the main asset’s price in USD is directly impacting the stock price of MSTR). A small example of this repeated correlation happened on March 28, 2025 when Strategy’s stock (MSTR) dropped 10.8% from $324.59 to $289.41, which was mirroring Bitcoin’s move down from $85,000 to $82,000 earlier.

This debt they have can be called “risky” by any stretch, with a high leverage rate of 39-40%, meaning they’ve borrowed a big chunk compared to what they own outright, but here’s the genius of it: they don’t have to sell their Bitcoin if its price drops, and they can refinance (borrow more later) to keep the dance going. As long as they find investors willing to bet on the later bitcoin price surge, but more importantly, as long as the song is liked by the new audience. If Michael Saylor is our “Madonna”, then there’s still not Taylor Swift or Rihanna in sight.

The creditors (big players, not banks) win if Bitcoin soars, as Strategy’s huge stash (potentially 2.9%+ of the market) nets them massive profits, or even if it crashes, they’re still in the game with other ways to make profit (not on bitcoin), since they can afford the risk. If someone is willing to bet 4 to 8 billion dollars, they’re probably not spooked by losing it all. More so, these Wall Streat people in the correct entourage, can probably afford such a gamble, and can stomach to lose it all if something goes horribly wrong as well, instead of risking being left out of a growing market. But since they’re probably the same people steering and “owning” the USD market anyway, they’re just conquering positions in a new market. The fact that they’re not real bitcoin-ethos people, but just “suits” in finance, can make the suspicious bitcoiners watching all of this unfold, even more uneasy.

So, Strategy sits on $44 billion in Bitcoin with just $7.2 billion in debt, voguing confidently. And Saylor’s betting the song never gets old, he’ll do the B-sides and re-mastering his old albums if necessary, but if Bitcoin’s value ever fades (for whatever reason), the real question is how long they can keep striking poses before the music stops. Remember: all money (fiat, gold, silver, bitcoin, nicely made papers) is a matter of trust.

As I have trust in bitcoin itself, but not so much in Strategy, I’ve take some precautions. I've started my own sort of "Strategy crash fund", with fiat money that only will come into action when strategy is done. The crash that we'll see after that goes down, will be such a tremendous opportunity, that I'll pour in some more fiat, gladly, and that will be the exact moment I will actually “sell all my chairs” (from Saylor’s well-known quote).

Purchases

Strategy’s Bitcoin purchases, don’t seem to jolt the market much either, no matter the size of the order. They always have the same sound: “it’s OTC, it doesn’t impact the market that much”.

Still, it’s strange to see: no one has ever come forward to tell anyone “I’ve sold 15000 bitcoin from my old stack to Saylor”, neither do we see any clear evidence and on-chain moves.

Take their first buy in August 2020 for example. Totaling 21454 BTC for $250 million at $11,652 per BTC; Bitcoin sat at $11,500 to $11,700 so barely moved, inching to $12,000 weeks later due to broader trends.

Same story in December 2020 with 29646 BTC for $650 million, there, the price hopped from $19,000 to $23,000, but a bull market was already raging. Fast forward to February 2021 (19452 BTC, for $1.026 billion (!)), March 2024 (9245 BTC, $623 million), November 2024 (55500 BTC, $5.4 billion), and March 2025 (6911 BTC, $584.1 million)

Bitcoin wobbled 2-15%, but always in line with existing momentum, not Strategy’s announcements. Their biggest buy, for a total of $5.4 billion (!) is just 0.3% of Bitcoin’s $1.7 trillion market cap, it’s too small to register as a blip even. But compared to the liquidity on the market and the “availability” on the OTC market, it should. More so, OTC bitcoin is announced as “for sale” somehow. A person with +25000 bitcoin is not standing on the side of the street yelling “hey man, wanna buy some bitcoin?”. There are specialized firms doing that for them, and making these available. This date is also used by some insiders and people who know this very small market (there aren’t that many bitcoiners sitting on such an amount after 2024 I guess). Data from Binance OTC, Coinspaid, kraken OTC, is highly private of course, but still, anything being sold over there, to Strategy or anyone else, would take larger amounts off the open market and the OTC market, making a price impact, certainly withing 2 years, as Bitcoin mining companies sit on an average buffer of 6 months depending on market conditions.

Strategy funds all of this by selling shares (diluting the pool big-time) or issuing convertible notes, and while SEC filings make faking these buys near-impossible. And even if Saylor is the Bitcoin version of Bernie Madoff, he could get away with it, if enough people "in the know" are willing to support this way of infesting (and investing in) the bitcoin economy. This would have to be a clear orchestrated attack on bitcoin, purely on the financial level then.

I don't believe this to be the case, but mathematically we have to take it into account as a very slight possibility.

After all, a company like "WorldCom"2 managed to scam their way out of different audits for years, until the scheme got bust and a enormous amount of investors lost their money after their CEO went to jail3 for exchange fraud.

I believe this could be the case with Strategy, but I give it a 3% chance (this might be low, but it's there, we can't outright dismiss the possibility).

Water in the wine

Strategy has also massively diluted its stock to fund Bitcoin buys, jumping from 10 million shares in 2020 to about 285 million by March 2025—a 2,750% increase, this happened after raising $4.25 billion from 2020 onwards and $20 billion of their $42 billion "21/21 Plan" by early 2025.

After the 10-for-1 stock split in August 2024, the number of MSTR shares grew from 16.5 million in 2023 to 284898 by end of 2024, a 1625% rise !!!. Add to that about 275 million more shares added in total (including 120 million in 2024 alone) and 1.975 million extra in March 2025 for $592.6 million.

So more and more tap water is poured in the wine, and it means each share’s ownership slice shrinks as new shares flood in, mostly via "at-the-market" sales and convertible note conversions. This is partly offset by share splits, but still, the rise in the number of stock is significant, and a big factor in evaluating MSTR.

In December 2024, they proposed hiking authorized shares to 10.33 billion (plus 1 billion preferred), approved in January 2025, setting the stage for even more if they keep selling.

The trend is clear: relentless selling. They might say “we never sell bitcoin”, but the same doesn’t count for their shares… which derive their value from bitcoin’s fiat price. So shareholders are betting on Bitcoin’s rise to offset the watering down of the share they hold. The more you think of it, the more ludicrous it sounds. It’s a loop of trust where the stock itself can only thrive if the company itself is an active, useful middleman. And so far, it’s only doing so for other Wall street companies, the biggest holders of MSTR shares:

Vanguard Group Inc, BlackRock, Capital International Investors, Jane Street Group, Susquehanna International Group

This on itself is also “normal” of course. In the flow of things. Like every aspect by itself in the whole Strategy setup is just normal. But combining all the factors makes it look a bit more… suspicious to me.

Supporting bitcoin ?

The real head-scratcher comes next: their secrecy and lack of community involvement. Strategy claims to hold 506137 BTC, likely cold-stored with partners like BitGo or Coinbase Custody, but no public wallet addresses back these claims up. Odd for a firm swearing never to sell.

There’s also the real risk that these partners are partly selling paper bitcoin (bitcoin they don't hold the keys to, or "promised" bitcoin) to Strategy, and that they just assume everything is audited and OK.

We can't estimate that, since we don't have any public MicroStrategy addresses or other ways to look at their holdings. This is for security reasons apparently, which raises another question: If they for example would show 300k+ BTC on-chain as proof, it’d boost trust, yet they don’t, hinting at a bigger play — maybe as a Wall Street-backed buyer of last resort for a new asset class.

Also Strategy’s software business and bitcoin “apps” (like the super simple Lightning email integration, and an on-chain digital ID system) is underwhelming to say the least (I literally know people that code such stuff on a free afternoon while they’re cooking dinner).

Their very minimal software innovation for the Bitcoin space, with basic Lightning features and an on-chain ID system, failing their their valuation as a 'Bitcoin company' in my opinion. More so, their business is ignoring the other innovation that would help bitcoin thrive. This is kind of a red flag for me. Why would a company sitting on +500 k bitcoin be hesitant about supporting the bitcoin eco-system more actively? They sure have the funds to do so, right? And they also have the right insights, info and spirit. Yet, they don’t.

They don’t fund developers for open-source projects, or Bitcoin’s growth in general (not publicly at least). So Saylor shines in talks, hyping Bitcoin’s future and Strategy’s stock, but it’s all the self fulfilling prophecy.

No grants, no real support for the community they lean on. It’s like they’re dancing to Bitcoin’s mixtape, raking in the spotlight, while giving little back. All the while some extremely needed projects lack funding, and most software companies in bitcoin who wish to innovate are begging and scraping funds together, in order to stay afloat. Something’s not ok with that. I can’t understand a company with that much power and money being part of this movement and loving bitcoin, while not actively supporting the development or the maintainers of the bitcoin software. (and yes, to keep their independence it’s best to keep it that way, that’s also an argument, but even then, giving out a grant to anyone that’s crucial in this industry, might help the whole ecosystem).

The show must go on—for now

The whole Strategy setup feels more and more like a performance to me. Saylor’s the star, doing the moves and Wall Street’s the record label, and we’re the audience, captivated by the spectacle and paying to see the show on occasion.

The suits keep funding him (free money, IOUs), just like the music industry props up a fading diva with a limited repertoire or drags a new star from her home studio on YouTube into the spotlights. H Saylor’s 21/21 Plan to the amount of $42 billion to snatch up more Bitcoin can be a grand finale that’s dazzling while the lights stay on.

Prediction: the music stops eventually

Here’s my take: Bitcoin will keep rising over a long period of time, and Saylor’s gambit will look like a genius move, until it doesn’t. All it takes is one big shot in Wall Street to find another shiny toy to play with, or another play to get their money working. The billions they’ve invested, will come back eventually, and if it doesn’t, it will mean the world has changed in their advantage as well in another way. Some people cannot lose, no matter what. Saylor’s now part of that, doing their bidding and doing his part for educating the other businesses.

He’s the only big buyer of last resort in this game so far. No one else is piling in with billions like he is. When the hype cools or the debt catches up, he’s got no real business to fall back on. The software? A relic. The Bitcoin bet can save him if the time is right, we’ll see about that. Time is his enemy not ally, and it always wins in the end. The pose can only hold so long. You can’t keep scoring free fiat, without either die on low valuation and dilution, or without at least 20 other Strategy-grade businesses jumping in to take their piece of the pie. So far, surprisingly, none of these two things happen. He keeps getting free fiat from Wall Street investors, and no other Saylor stands up. This can’t last forever. One of the two will happen by end of 2025.

Curtain call

Saylor’s a fascinating watch, a mix of investor-backed bravado, brains, and borrowed billions. Is it a masterstroke or a bitcoin version of Worldcom? I’m not sure. In any case, I would only invest in MSTR myself if the company has a real added value for bitcoin development and the bitcoin ecosystem. They could be the engine, the spirit, the core of bitcoin. Yet they’re just doing the poses. Let your body move to the rhythm.

AVB

If you like : tip here / other writings

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOU

2 https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/audit_and_advisory_services/about/news/2021/worldcom_scandal.php

3 https://content.next.westlaw.com/Document/Ic6b4dd91644311dbbe1cf2d29fe2afe6/View/FullText.html?transitionType=Default&contextData=(sc.Default)#:\~:text=Rep.-,6,Criminal%20ChargesThe music’s made in-house

Michael Saylor’s strategy with Strategy, is a bold, all-in bet on Bitcoin as the ultimate store of value. Essentially combining what Mc Donald’s does with the strong believe in bitcoin’s future (and fueling that believe with the fitting rhetoric).\ \ It works like this: Since August 2020, Saylor’s company has been buying up more and more Bitcoin, making it their main asset instead of traditional cash or investments, and by March 2025, they own 506,137 BTC—worth about $42.8 billion (at $84,000 per Bitcoin).\ This, after spending $33.7 billion to buy it over time (DCA), including a massive 218887 BTC purchase late 2024 for $20.5 billion, giving them over 2.41% of all Bitcoin ever to exist (way more than companies like Marathon, Coinbase, Tesla or Riot).\ \ To pull this off, they’ve borrowed heavily: owing $7.2 billion, mostly to Wall Street investors through special IOUs1 called convertible notes, which don’t need to be paid back until 2027, through 2029. These can either be settled with cash or swapped for Strategy stock. (there lies one of the main issues in my opinion, as the main asset’s price in USD is directly impacting the stock price of MSTR).\ A small example of this repeated correlation happened on March 28, 2025 when Strategy’s stock (MSTR) dropped 10.8% from $324.59 to $289.41, which was mirroring Bitcoin’s move down from $85,000 to $82,000 earlier.

This debt they have can be called “risky” by any stretch, with a high leverage rate of 39-40%, meaning they’ve borrowed a big chunk compared to what they own outright, but here’s the genius of it: they don’t have to sell their Bitcoin if its price drops, and they can refinance (borrow more later) to keep the dance going. As long as they find investors willing to bet on the later bitcoin price surge, but more importantly, as long as the song is liked by the new audience. If Michael Saylor is our “Madonna”, then there’s still not Taylor Swift or Rihanna in sight.

The creditors (big players, not banks) win if Bitcoin soars, as Strategy’s huge stash (potentially 2.9%+ of the market) nets them massive profits, or even if it crashes, they’re still in the game with other ways to make profit (not on bitcoin), since they can afford the risk. If someone is willing to bet 4 to 8 billion dollars, they’re probably not spooked by losing it all. More so, these Wall Streat people in the correct entourage, can probably afford such a gamble, and can stomach to lose it all if something goes horribly wrong as well, instead of risking being left out of a growing market. But since they’re probably the same people steering and “owning” the USD market anyway, they’re just conquering positions in a new market. The fact that they’re not real bitcoin-ethos people, but just “suits” in finance, can make the suspicious bitcoiners watching all of this unfold, even more uneasy.\ \ So, Strategy sits on $44 billion in Bitcoin with just $7.2 billion in debt, voguing confidently. And Saylor’s betting the song never gets old, he’ll do the B-sides and re-mastering his old albums if necessary, but if Bitcoin’s value ever fades (for whatever reason), the real question is how long they can keep striking poses before the music stops. Remember: all money (fiat, gold, silver, bitcoin, nicely made papers) is a matter of trust.

As I have trust in bitcoin itself, but not so much in Strategy, I’ve take some precautions.\ I've started my own sort of "Strategy crash fund", with fiat money that only will come into action when strategy is done. The crash that we'll see after that goes down, will be such a tremendous opportunity, that I'll pour in some more fiat, gladly, and that will be the exact moment I will actually “sell all my chairs” (from Saylor’s well-known quote).

Purchases

Strategy’s Bitcoin purchases, don’t seem to jolt the market much either, no matter the size of the order. They always have the same sound: “it’s OTC, it doesn’t impact the market that much”.\ \ Still, it’s strange to see: no one has ever come forward to tell anyone “I’ve sold 15000 bitcoin from my old stack to Saylor”, neither do we see any clear evidence and on-chain moves.\ \ Take their first buy in August 2020 for example. Totaling 21454 BTC for $250 million at $11,652 per BTC; Bitcoin sat at $11,500 to $11,700 so barely moved, inching to $12,000 weeks later due to broader trends.

Same story in December 2020 with 29646 BTC for $650 million, there, the price hopped from $19,000 to $23,000, but a bull market was already raging.\ Fast forward to February 2021 (19452 BTC, for $1.026 billion (!)), March 2024 (9245 BTC, $623 million), November 2024 (55500 BTC, $5.4 billion), and March 2025 (6911 BTC, $584.1 million)\ \ Bitcoin wobbled 2-15%, but always in line with existing momentum, not Strategy’s announcements. Their biggest buy, for a total of $5.4 billion (!) is just 0.3% of Bitcoin’s $1.7 trillion market cap, it’s too small to register as a blip even. But compared to the liquidity on the market and the “availability” on the OTC market, it should.\ More so, OTC bitcoin is announced as “for sale” somehow. A person with +25000 bitcoin is not standing on the side of the street yelling “hey man, wanna buy some bitcoin?”. There are specialized firms doing that for them, and making these available. This date is also used by some insiders and people who know this very small market (there aren’t that many bitcoiners sitting on such an amount after 2024 I guess). Data from Binance OTC, Coinspaid, kraken OTC, is highly private of course, but still, anything being sold over there, to Strategy or anyone else, would take larger amounts off the open market and the OTC market, making a price impact, certainly withing 2 years, as Bitcoin mining companies sit on an average buffer of 6 months depending on market conditions.\ \ Strategy funds all of this by selling shares (diluting the pool big-time) or issuing convertible notes, and while SEC filings make faking these buys near-impossible. And even if Saylor is the Bitcoin version of Bernie Madoff, he could get away with it, if enough people "in the know" are willing to support this way of infesting (and investing in) the bitcoin economy. This would have to be a clear orchestrated attack on bitcoin, purely on the financial level then.

I don't believe this to be the case, but mathematically we have to take it into account as a very slight possibility.

After all, a company like "WorldCom"2 managed to scam their way out of different audits for years, until the scheme got bust and a enormous amount of investors lost their money after their CEO went to jail3 for exchange fraud.

I believe this could be the case with Strategy, but I give it a 3% chance (this might be low, but it's there, we can't outright dismiss the possibility).

Water in the wine

Strategy has also massively diluted its stock to fund Bitcoin buys, jumping from 10 million shares in 2020 to about 285 million by March 2025—a 2,750% increase, this happened after raising $4.25 billion from 2020 onwards and $20 billion of their $42 billion "21/21 Plan" by early 2025.\ \ After the 10-for-1 stock split in August 2024, the number of MSTR shares grew from 16.5 million in 2023 to 284898 by end of 2024, a 1625% rise !!!. Add to that about 275 million more shares added in total (including 120 million in 2024 alone) and 1.975 million extra in March 2025 for $592.6 million.\ \ So more and more tap water is poured in the wine, and it means each share’s ownership slice shrinks as new shares flood in, mostly via "at-the-market" sales and convertible note conversions.\ This is partly offset by share splits, but still, the rise in the number of stock is significant, and a big factor in evaluating MSTR.\ \ In December 2024, they proposed hiking authorized shares to 10.33 billion (plus 1 billion preferred), approved in January 2025, setting the stage for even more if they keep selling.\ \ The trend is clear: relentless selling.\ They might say “we never sell bitcoin”, but the same doesn’t count for their shares… which derive their value from bitcoin’s fiat price.\ So shareholders are betting on Bitcoin’s rise to offset the watering down of the share they hold. The more you think of it, the more ludicrous it sounds. It’s a loop of trust where the stock itself can only thrive if the company itself is an active, useful middleman.\ And so far, it’s only doing so for other Wall street companies, the biggest holders of MSTR shares:

Vanguard Group Inc, BlackRock, Capital International Investors, Jane Street Group, Susquehanna International Group\ \ This on itself is also “normal” of course. In the flow of things.\ Like every aspect by itself in the whole Strategy setup is just normal. But combining all the factors makes it look a bit more… suspicious to me.

Supporting bitcoin ?

The real head-scratcher comes next: their secrecy and lack of community involvement.\ Strategy claims to hold 506137 BTC, likely cold-stored with partners like BitGo or Coinbase Custody, but no public wallet addresses back these claims up. Odd for a firm swearing never to sell.

There’s also the real risk that these partners are partly selling paper bitcoin (bitcoin they don't hold the keys to, or "promised" bitcoin) to Strategy, and that they just assume everything is audited and OK.

We can't estimate that, since we don't have any public MicroStrategy addresses or other ways to look at their holdings. This is for security reasons apparently, which raises another question:\ If they for example would show 300k+ BTC on-chain as proof, it’d boost trust, yet they don’t, hinting at a bigger play — maybe as a Wall Street-backed buyer of last resort for a new asset class.

Also Strategy’s software business and bitcoin “apps” (like the super simple Lightning email integration, and an on-chain digital ID system) is underwhelming to say the least (I literally know people that code such stuff on a free afternoon while they’re cooking dinner).

Their very minimal software innovation for the Bitcoin space, with basic Lightning features and an on-chain ID system, failing their their valuation as a 'Bitcoin company' in my opinion. More so, their business is ignoring the other innovation that would help bitcoin thrive. This is kind of a red flag for me.\ Why would a company sitting on +500 k bitcoin be hesitant about supporting the bitcoin eco-system more actively? They sure have the funds to do so, right? And they also have the right insights, info and spirit.\ Yet, they don’t.\ \ They don’t fund developers for open-source projects, or Bitcoin’s growth in general (not publicly at least). So Saylor shines in talks, hyping Bitcoin’s future and Strategy’s stock, but it’s all the self fulfilling prophecy.\ \ No grants, no real support for the community they lean on.\ It’s like they’re dancing to Bitcoin’s mixtape, raking in the spotlight, while giving little back. All the while some extremely needed projects lack funding, and most software companies in bitcoin who wish to innovate are begging and scraping funds together, in order to stay afloat.\ Something’s not ok with that.\ I can’t understand a company with that much power and money being part of this movement and loving bitcoin, while not actively supporting the development or the maintainers of the bitcoin software. (and yes, to keep their independence it’s best to keep it that way, that’s also an argument, but even then, giving out a grant to anyone that’s crucial in this industry, might help the whole ecosystem).

The show must go on—for now

The whole Strategy setup feels more and more like a performance to me. Saylor’s the star, doing the moves and Wall Street’s the record label, and we’re the audience, captivated by the spectacle and paying to see the show on occasion.\ \ The suits keep funding him (free money, IOUs), just like the music industry props up a fading diva with a limited repertoire or drags a new star from her home studio on YouTube into the spotlights. H\ Saylor’s 21/21 Plan to the amount of $42 billion to snatch up more Bitcoin can be a grand finale that’s dazzling while the lights stay on.

Prediction: the music stops eventually

Here’s my take: Bitcoin will keep rising over a long period of time, and Saylor’s gambit will look like a genius move, until it doesn’t. All it takes is one big shot in Wall Street to find another shiny toy to play with, or another play to get their money working. The billions they’ve invested, will come back eventually, and if it doesn’t, it will mean the world has changed in their advantage as well in another way. Some people cannot lose, no matter what. Saylor’s now part of that, doing their bidding and doing his part for educating the other businesses.\ \ He’s the only big buyer of last resort in this game so far. No one else is piling in with billions like he is. When the hype cools or the debt catches up, he’s got no real business to fall back on. The software? A relic. The Bitcoin bet can save him if the time is right, we’ll see about that.\ Time is his enemy not ally, and it always wins in the end. The pose can only hold so long. You can’t keep scoring free fiat, without either die on low valuation and dilution, or without at least 20 other Strategy-grade businesses jumping in to take their piece of the pie.\ So far, surprisingly, none of these two things happen.\ He keeps getting free fiat from Wall Street investors, and no other Saylor stands up.\ This can’t last forever. One of the two will happen by end of 2025.\ \ Curtain call

Saylor’s a fascinating watch, a mix of investor-backed bravado, brains, and borrowed billions.\ Is it a masterstroke or a bitcoin version of Worldcom?\ I’m not sure. In any case, I would only invest in MSTR myself if the company has a real added value for bitcoin development and the bitcoin ecosystem. They could be the engine, the spirit, the core of bitcoin.\ Yet they’re just doing the poses.\ Let your body move to the rhythm.

AVB

If you like : tip here / other writings

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOU

2 https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/audit_and_advisory_services/about/news/2021/worldcom_scandal.php

3

https://content.next.westlaw.com/Document/Ic6b4dd91644311dbbe1cf2d29fe2afe6/View/FullText.html?transitionType=Default&contextData=(sc.Default)#:\~:text=Rep.-,6,Criminal%20Charges

@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1

• Once activated, "Accept From Any Mint” is the default setting. This is the easiest way to get started, let's the user start acceptance Cashu ecash just out of the box.
• If someone does want to be selective, they can choose “Accept From Trusted Mints,” and that brings up a field where they can add specific mint URLs they trust.
• “Find a Mint” section on the right with a button links directly to bitcoinmints.com, already filtered for Cashu mints, so users can easily browse options.
• Mint info modal shows mint technical details stuff from the NUT06 spec. Since this is geared towards the more technical users I left the field names and NUT number as-is instead of trying to make it more semantic.

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/928800

@ 30b99916:3cc6e3fe

btcpayserver #lightning #lnd #powershell

BTCpayAPI now supports file upload

I'm continuing to add functionality to BTCpay and BTCpayAPI which is using REST Api(s) to manage my BTCPAY server and LND cloud instance. It is nice to have this just running locally on my home Linux desktop.

Here is the code that implements this functionality.

``` "Uploadfile" {

$apislug = "api/v1/files"

$filepath = Split-Path $options

$filename = Split-Path $options -Leaf

CONST

$CODEPAGE = "iso-8859-1" # alternatives are ASCII, UTF-8

Read file byte-by-byte

$fileBin = [System.IO.File]::ReadAllBytes($options)

Convert byte-array to string

$enc = [System.Text.Encoding]::GetEncoding($CODEPAGE) $fileEnc = $enc.GetString($fileBin)

We need a boundary (something random() will do best)

$boundary = [System.Guid]::NewGuid().ToString() $LF = "rn" $bodyLines = ( "--$boundary", "Content-Disposition: form-data; name="file"; filename="$fileName"", "Content-Type: application/octet-stream$LF", $fileEnc, "--$boundary--$LF" ) -join $LF

$URI = $BTCPayCfg.BTCpayApi.GreenApi.url + $apislug $apiKeyToken = 'token ' + $script:BTCPAY_API $headers = @{'Authorization'=$apiKeyToken}

return Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $uri -Method Post -Headers $headers -ContentType "multipart/form-data; boundary="$boundary"" -Body $bodyLines

} ``` Here is the revision history since my last article.

Version Date Whom Notes ======= ========== ======== ===================================================== 0.1.4 03/28/2025 cadayton Added UploadFile method to upload a file to the BTCpay server 0.1.3 03/27/2025 cadayton Added GetFiles returns listing of files uploaded to BTCpay server 0.1.2 03/19/2025 cadayton ForwardingHistory new parameter "total_fees" tallys mfees for events returned 0.1.1 03/18/2025 cadayton ForwardingHistory now support additional parameters 0.1.0 03/15/2025 cadayton initial release. The inspiration for this logic was adapted from weipah . One wouldn't think uploading a single file wouldn't require this much coding. The Greenfield's REST Api documentation for this end point wasn't very helpful.

In my book, good end-user documentation of one's code is just as important as the code itself. I believe documentation is usually lacking on most projects because the effort of doing so is almost equal to the effort of writing the code. It is also the least fun part about writing code.

The job is not done until the paper work has been completed. :)

https://btcpayserver.sytes.net

@ ff517fbf:fde1561b

はじめに：なぜKYCなしP2P取引か

ビットコインは元々、ピア・ツー・ピア（P2P）の電子通貨システムとして設計されました。サトシ・ナカモトのビットコイン白書でも、「信頼ではなく暗号学的証明に基づく電子決済システム」によって、第三者を介さずに当事者同士が直接取引できることが必要だと述べられています。つまり、本来ビットコインは銀行などの仲介者なしで個人同士が直接送金・売買できる社会的意義を持っているのです。

しかし現在、多くの暗号資産取引所では規制上の理由からKYC（本人確認）手続きが求められ、個人情報の提出が必要です。KYCはユーザーのプライバシー喪失やデータ漏洩リスクにつながりかねず、また口座凍結や資金没収といった中央集権的管理のリスクもあります。経済的にも、第三者を介することで手数料が高くなったり、地域によっては銀行や政府の制限でビットコインの購入が困難になる場合もあります。

こうした背景からノンKYCのP2P取引プラットフォームを利用するメリットは大きいです。例えば HodlHodl(@npub1yul83qxn35u607er3m7039t6rddj06qezfagfqlfw4qk5z5slrfqu8ncdu) は、匿名で世界中のユーザーと直接ビットコインを売買できるグローバルなP2Pマーケットプレイスです。HodlHodlではユーザー同士が直接取引し、サイト運営側はビットコインを一切預かりません。取引はマルチシグエスクロー(2-of-3の多重署名契約)で安全に管理され、取引手数料も最大0.5%と低く抑えられています。プライバシーとセキュリティを確保しながら、銀行口座や身分証なしでビットコインを売買できるため、社会的にも経済的にも大きな意義があります。

本チュートリアルでは、HodlHodlを使ってビットコインを購入・販売する具体的な手順を分かりやすく解説します。また、HodlHodlの安全性（マルチシグエスクローによる非中央集権型の管理）や、他のプラットフォームにはない特徴（本人確認不要、ユーザー自身による鍵の管理、APIやレンディングサービスの活用など）についても説明します。P2P取引に不慣れで不安を感じている方にも安心してご利用いただけるよう、丁寧で親しみやすい言葉で案内していきます。

HodlHodlの基本準備

アカウント登録： HodlHodlの利用を開始するには、まず無料のアカウント登録を行います。必要なのはメールアドレスとパスワードだけで、ユーザー名や身分証の提出は不要です。登録後に届く確認メール内のリンクをクリックすれば、すぐに取引を始められます。

ビットコインウォレットの用意： HodlHodlは取引の際にユーザー自身のビットコインウォレットを使用するノンカストディアル方式です。プラットフォーム上にウォレットは用意されていないため、事前に自分のビットコインウォレットを準備してください。例えばモバイルウォレットやハードウェアウォレットなど、自分だけが秘密鍵を管理できるウォレットを用意しましょう。買い手の場合は購入したビットコインを受け取るウォレットが必要になり、売り手の場合は売却するビットコインを自身のウォレットからエスクローに送金する必要があります。

ビットコインを購入する方法（Buy BTC）

それでは、HodlHodlでビットコインを購入（Buy） する手順を見ていきましょう。以下では、日本円（JPY）を銀行振込で支払ってビットコインを買う例を想定して説明しますが、基本的な流れは他の通貨や支払い方法でも同じです。

1. 「Buy BTC」をクリックする: HodlHodlにログインし、画面上部のヘッダー左側にある「Buy BTC」ボタンをクリックします。これにより、現在出ているビットコイン売り注文（オファー）の一覧ページに移動します。

2. 検索フィルターの設定: オファー一覧ページでは、自分の希望条件でオファーを絞り込むことができます。国、法定通貨、取引タイプ、支払い方法、金額などのフィルター項目があります。例えば日本で銀行振込により購入したい場合、「Country（国）」をJapan、「Currency（通貨）」をJPY、「Payment method（支払い方法）」を Bank Transfer 銀行振込に設定します（他の項目は必要に応じて指定します）。フィルターは任意ですが、自分に合った支払い方法や金額範囲のオファーを探すのに役立ちます。

3. オファーを選ぶ: フィルターを適用すると、条件に合致する売り手のオファー一覧が表示されます。各オファーにはレート（価格）、取引可能額範囲、支払い方法、売り手の評価などが記載されています。希望に合うオファーが見つかったら、そのオファーの詳細をクリックします。例えば「1 BTC = 〇〇JPY」のようなレートで、自分が購入したい額に対応できるオファーを選びましょう。初めて取引する場合は、評価の高い売り手や少額からの取引を選ぶと安心です。

1. 購入量と受取アドレスの入力: オファーをクリックすると、取引の詳細入力画面になります。ここで購入したいビットコインの量を入力します（ビットコイン量あるいは法定通貨換算額のどちらでも入力可能です）。多くの場合、最低・最大取引額が決まっているので、その範囲内で入力してください。また、ビットコインの受取先アドレスを求められます。これは購入後にビットコインを受け取る自分のウォレットアドレスです。アカウントの設定で事前に登録したアドレスがあれば自動で表示されますが、都度指定することも可能です。さらに、支払い方法が複数指定されているオファーでは希望の支払い方法を選択します（例：銀行振込の中でも特定の銀行を指定できる場合があります）。最後に、取引相手（売り手）への伝達メッセージ欄があれば、必要に応じてコメントを記入します。入力が完了したら内容を確認し、「Create contract（契約作成）」 的なボタンを押して取引を開始します。

2. エスクローアドレスの生成: 契約が作成されると、取引画面上にエスクロー（第三者保管用マルチシグアドレス）を生成するための手順が表示されます。ここで 「Generate escrow（エスクロー生成）」 ボタンをクリックし、プラットフォームに登録したペイメントパスワード（支払い用パスワード）を入力します。ペイメントパスワードはHodlHodlで取引の署名に使われる特別なパスワードで、初回取引時に設定しておく必要があります。正しく入力すると、この取引専用のビットコインエスクローアドレスが自動生成されます。あとは売り手がそのエスクローアドレスにビットコインを入金するのを待ちます。画面上に「waiting for deposit（入金待ち）」等のステータスが表示されるので、しばらく待機してください。売り手が約束のビットコイン額をエスクローに送金し、一定のブロック承認（Confirmations）が得られると、取引ステータスが自動で更新されます。

3. エスクロー入金の確認: ビットコインがマルチシグエスクローにロックされ、取引ステータスが「In progress（進行中）」や「Deposited（入金済み）」といった表示に変わったことを必ず確認します。ステータス表示とブロックチェーン上の確認回数が条件を満たしたら、支払いを実行しても安全な状態であることを意味します（エスクローにロックされたビットコインは売り手単独では動かせません。取引ページには売り手が指定した支払い詳細（銀行口座情報など）が記載されていますので、その指示に従って売り手へ法定通貨の支払い（振込）を行います。例えば銀行振込の場合、指定された口座にJPYを送金します。この段階では、必ず取引ページを開いたままにしておきましょう。 支払いが完了したら、取引ページ上の「I’ve sent the payment（送金完了）」ボタンをクリックして、売り手に支払い実行済みであることを通知します。併せて、チャット機能で支払い完了の旨を伝えると良いでしょう。

4. 売り手によるビットコインのリリース: 買い手からの支払いが完了すると、売り手は自分の銀行口座等を確認して入金を検証します。売り手が入金を確認したら、取引ページ上で 「Release Bitcoin（ビットコインをリリース）」 ボタンを押し、ペイメントパスワードを入力してエスクローからビットコインを開放します。これにより、エスクロー上のビットコインが買い手の指定アドレス（先ほど入力した受取用ウォレットアドレス）に送信されます。売り手がビットコインをリリースすると取引ステータスが「Released（解放済み）」に変わり、まもなくブロックチェーン上で買い手のウォレットにビットコイン着金が確認できるでしょう。

5. 取引完了: ビットコインが無事自分のウォレットに届けば取引完了です。取引ページには「Completed（完了）」などのステータスが表示され、双方がお互いを評価できるようになります。初めてのP2P購入、お疲れさまでした！ 🎉

💡 重要な注意事項（買い手向け）: エスクローにビットコインがロックされる前に代金を支払ってはいけません。必ず取引ステータスが「Deposited」や「In progress」になるのを確認してから支払いを実行してください。また、取引には売り手が入金を確認してからビットコインをリリースするまでの制限時間（Payment window）が設定されています。時間内に支払いが完了しないと取引が自動キャンセルされる場合がありますのでご注意ください。困ったことがあれば、取引ページのチャットで相手に連絡することもできます。万一、支払いを送ったのに売り手がビットコインをリリースしない場合は、支払い期限が過ぎてからディスピュート（紛争解決手続き） を開始することも可能です。

ビットコインを販売する方法（Sell BTC）

次に、HodlHodlでビットコインを販売（Sell） する手順を説明します。基本的な流れは購入時と似ていますが、立場が逆になる点（自分がビットコインをエスクローに預け、買い手からの支払いを待つ点）に注意してください。以下では、日本で銀行振込によりJPYを受け取ってビットコインを売る場合を例に解説します。

1. 「Sell BTC」をクリックする: HodlHodlにログイン後、画面上部左側の「Sell BTC」ボタンをクリックします。これで現在出ているビットコイン買い注文（買い手のオファー）一覧ページに移動します。

2. 検索フィルターの設定: 買い手オファー一覧から、自分が対応可能な条件のオファーを探します。フィルター項目はBuyの場合と同様で、国、通貨、支払いタイプ、支払い方法、金額などを指定できます。日本円での銀行振込を希望する買い手を探す場合、国をJapan、通貨をJPY、支払い方法をBank Transferに設定して検索します。

3. オファーを選ぶ: 条件に合致する買い手のオファーが一覧表示されるので、希望に合うものをクリックします。各オファーには買い手が希望するレートや取引限度額、支払い方法、買い手の評価などが記載されています。有利なレートかつ信頼できそうな相手を選びましょう。初取引で不安な場合は、小額で高評価の買い手から始めるとよいです。

4. 売却量と受取情報の入力: オファー詳細画面で、売却したいビットコイン量を入力します（または必要な法定通貨額）。オファーごとに最低・最大額が設定されているので範囲内で入力してください。続いてビットコインの受取アドレス欄がありますが、これは取引完了時に買い手がビットコインを受け取るアドレスです。売り手である自分が入力する必要は基本的になく、買い手側が受取先を指定するか、既に買い手のダッシュボード設定で決まっています。次に、受け取りたい支払い方法が複数記載されている場合は希望の方法を選択します（例えば「Bank Transfer」の中でも特定の銀行名など）。コメント欄があれば取引相手（買い手）へのメッセージを任意で入力します。内容を確認し問題なければ 「Create contract（契約作成）」 ボタンを押して取引を開始します。

5. エスクローアドレスの生成: 契約が作成されると、エスクロー用のビットコインアドレスを生成する段階に進みます。ここで 「Generate escrow」 ボタンをクリックし、ペイメントパスワードを入力します（買い手の手順と同様）。これにより、この取引専用のマルチシグエスクローアドレスが発行されます。次に 自分（売り手）が売却予定のビットコインをエスクローアドレスに送金 します。取引画面上に正確なBTC額と対応するQRコードが表示されるので、自分のウォレットからそのアドレスへ送金してください。送金したら 「I’ve sent the funds（送金完了）」 ボタンを押してビットコインをエスクローに預けたことを通知します。

1. エスクローへのビットコインロック: ビットコインを送金するとブロックチェーン上で一定回数の承認（Confirmations）を経て、エスクローにロックされます。取引ステータスが「In progress（進行中）」や「Deposited」に変わり、買い手は安心して支払いを行える状態になります。あとは買い手からの法定通貨支払いを待ちます。取引画面で支払い期限（Payment window）内に買い手が支払いを完了し、「支払い送信済み」のボタンを押すとステータスが「Paid（支払い済み）」に変わります。

2. 支払いの受領確認: ステータスが「Paid」になったら、買い手が送金を完了したことを意味します。すぐに自分の銀行口座など該当の支払い方法で入金を確認しましょう。金額が全額正しく受け取れたことを確認できたら、取引ページ上で 「Release deposit（デポジットを解放）」 ボタンをクリックし、ペイメントパスワードを入力してエスクローのビットコインを開放します。これにより、エスクローにロックされていたビットコインが買い手に送付されます。

3. 取引完了: ビットコインをリリースすれば取引完了。ステータスが「Completed」に変わり、買い手は間もなく自分のウォレットでビットコインを受け取るでしょう。最後にお互いを評価して取引終了となります。初めてのP2P売却、お疲れさまでした！ 🎉

💡 重要な注意事項（売り手向け）: 支払いを受け取る前にビットコインをエスクローから**絶対にリリースしないでください。買い手からの入金を自分の銀行口座等で確実に確認できてから、ビットコインを解放するようにしましょう。また、もしビットコインをエスクローに送金した後で買い手から支払いが行われず期限切れ（Payment window経過）になった場合、取引をキャンセルしてエスクローのビットコインを自分に返還することができます。取引中は常に取引相手とのチャットで連絡を取り合い、不明点を確認するよう心がけましょう。

HodlHodlの安全性：マルチシグと非カストディアル設計

● マルチシグエスクローによる資金保護: HodlHodl最大の特徴は、2-of-3のマルチシグエスクロー(multisignature escrow)によって取引資金を保護している点です。取引が成立すると、自動的に3つの秘密鍵が関与するビットコインアドレスが生成されます。この3つの鍵のうち2つの署名があれば資金を動かせる仕組みになっており、鍵の配分は「売り手」「買い手」「HodlHodl運営」の三者にそれぞれ1つです。取引中、ビットコインはブロックチェーン上のエスクローアドレスにロックされ、双方の合意なしには動かせまん。つまり、売り手は買い手の同意なしにビットコインを引き出すことはできず、逆に買い手も売り手の協力なしにビットコインを入手することはできません。両者が取引を完了すれば売り手+買い手の2署名でリリースが可能となり、万一トラブルが起きた場合にはHodlHodl運営が仲裁役として（買い手または売り手の一方と協力し）2署名目を提供することで不正を防ぎます。このようにマルチシグ契約によって、詐欺や持ち逃げのリスクを最小限に抑え、安全かつ公平な取引が実現されています。

● 非カストディアル（ユーザー主導の資金管理）: HodlHodlは取引プラットフォームでありながら、ユーザー資金を一切預からないという非カストディアル設計を貫いています。取引中のビットコインは常にマルチシグエスクローにあり、HodlHodl運営が単独で動かすことはできません。これはつまり、中央集権的な取引所とは異なり、HodlHodlがハッキング被害に遭ってもユーザーのビットコインが盗まれる心配がないことを意味します。またプラットフォームが万一ダウンしたりサービス提供を停止した場合でも、当事者間で2つの鍵さえあればエスクローのビットコインを取り戻すことが可能です（※この場合やや技術的な手順が必要になりますが、HodlHodlが完全に消失するケースでも資金はブロックチェーン上に安全に存在し続けます）。HodlHodl運営は3つの鍵のうち1つを保有するのみで、しかもそれは紛争時の仲裁に使うためのものです。通常の取引では運営が介在することなく、ユーザー同士で完結します。以上のように、HodlHodlはカストディアルな第三者を排除し、利用者自身が資金と取引の主導権を握るというビットコイン本来の精神に沿った安全設計となっています。

● 評判システムと取引履歴: HodlHodlでは、各ユーザーに公開の評価（Rating）と取引履歴が紐づいています。取引を完了するごとに互いにレビューを残せるため、他ユーザーの信頼度を事前に知ることができます。初めて取引する相手がどんな評価を受けているか、過去の取引回数や成功率などの情報を確認することで、怪しい相手を避けることが可能です。特に初心者のうちは評価の高い相手を選ぶ、もしくは身近に信頼できるユーザーがいればトラスト機能（他のP2Pプラットフォームでの実績を証明する仕組みや信用できるユーザーをお気に入り登録する機能）を活用すると良いでしょう。

● 二要素認証(2FA)と信頼できる端末: アカウントの不正アクセス対策として、HodlHodlは二段階認証(2FA)のオプションを提供しています。AuthyやGoogle Authenticatorと連携し、一度設定すればログイン時にパスワードに加え6桁のコード入力が求められるようになります。これにより、万一パスワードが漏洩しても本人のデバイスがなければログインできず、アカウントを保護できます。またTrusted Devices（信頼できる端末）機能を有効にすると、新しいデバイスからログインしようとした際にメール確認が必要となり、ユーザーの許可なく不審な端末からアクセスされるのを防ぎます。初心者の方でも、アカウント登録後は設定画面から2FAや信頼できる端末機能を有効化しておくことを強くおすすめします。

● ディスピュート（紛争解決）機能: 万が一取引相手との間でトラブルが発生した場合（例：買い手は支払ったと主張しているが売り手が確認できない等）、HodlHodlのプラットフォーム上でディスピュート（紛争）を開始することができます。ディスピュートが発生すると、HodlHodlのサポートチームが両者から事情を聞き、中立的な立場で問題解決に当たります。必要に応じて前述の運営のマルチシグ鍵を用いて適切な側にビットコインをリリースするなど、公平な裁定が行われます。ディスピュートは最終手段ではありますが、万一の場合の安心材料として覚えておいてください。

以上のように、HodlHodlは技術的・制度的な多層防御によってユーザーの資金と取引の安全を確保しています。他のユーザーの評価を確認する、取引手順を順守する（エスクロー未成立での送禁止等、アカウントのセキュリティ設定を有効にするといったユーザー自身の注意もあわせて心掛ければ、P2P取引でも安心してビットコインを利用できるでしょう。

HodlHodlの特徴：他プラットフォームとの違い

最後に、HodlHodlが他のビットコイン取引サービスと比べて優れている点、特徴的な点を整理します。初めて利用する際の不安解消にもつながるポイントです。

• 🌐 KYC不要の匿名取引: HodlHodl最大の特徴は、本人確認（KYC）なしでビットコイン取引ができる点です。メールアドレスさえあれば世界中誰でも利用開始でき、パスポートや身分証の提出は一切求められません。これはプライバシー保護の面で大きな利点ですし、取引履歴が本人名義に紐付かないため将来的な資産没収や口座凍結のリスクも低減します。規制が厳しい地域のユーザーや銀行口座を持てない人々でも、HodlHodlならビットコイン経済に参加しやすくなっています。

• 🔐 ユーザーが鍵を管理する非中央集権型取引: 前述の通り、HodlHodlはノンカストディアルなP2P取引所であり、ユーザー自身が資産の鍵を管理します。取引ごとにマルチシグのエスクローが生成され、利用者はその一方の鍵を保持します。そのため「取引所にビットコインを預けっぱなしにしていたらハッキングで失った」といった事態が起こりません。常に自身のウォレットから直接取引を行うため、ビットコインの自主管理の原則**が守られています。中央集権的な管理者がいない分、自分で秘密鍵を安全に保管する責任は伴いますが、その分だけ第三者リスクが排除された公平な環境と言えます。

• 💱 世界中の通貨と多様な決済方法に対応: HodlHodlはグローバルなプラットフォームであり、世界中のあらゆる法定通貨 で取引できます。現在100を超える国の通貨と地域が利用されており、取引に使える決済方法も100種類以上と非常に豊富です。銀行振込やオンライン決済サービスはもちろん、現金の対面受け渡しやギフトカード、電子マネー、モバイル送金、さらには商品と交換などユニークな方法までユーザーが自由にオファーを作成できます。これにより、自分の利用しやすい手段で取引相手を見つけられる柔軟性があります。他のプラットフォームだと対応通貨や決済手段が限定されがちですが、HodlHodlでは*「自分の条件でオファーを作成できる」 の強みです。

• 💰 低い手数料と透明な料金体系: HodlHodlの取引手数料は一律0.5%（買い手と売り手で折半で各0.25%ずつ負担）と比較的低コストです。しかも手数料は取引成立時にビットコイン額から自動控除される仕組みで、隠れたコストがありません。さらに紹介プログラムを利用すると0.45%に割引されるなどの優遇もあります。入出金に伴う手数料も基本的に存在せず、各自が使うウォレットの送金手数料以外に余計な負担はありません。他の取引所でありがちな「出金手数料が高額」「スプレッドが不透明」といった心配もなく、明朗会計でユーザーに優しい料金体系です。

• 🤝 初心者に優しいインターフェース: P2P取引というと難しそうな印象を持たれるかもしれませんが、HodlHodlのサイトはシンプルで直感的なインターフェースになっています​。必要な操作は「Buy BTC / Sell BTC」ボタンから進んでフォームに入力していくだけで、画面の指示に沿って進めれば迷うことは少ないでしょう。サイトは現在ウェブブラウザ経由で利用しますが、スマートフォンのブラウザからでも見やすく設計されています。専用アプリはありませんが、その分アップデート時にもすぐ全員が最新機能を利用できます（ダウンロード不要で常に最新版が提供されるメリットです。また、取引画面にはリアルタイムのチャット機能があり、相手ユーザーと直接コミュニケーションを取れるため安心です。困ったときは相手に質問したり状況を確認できるので、言葉の壁がある場合でも定型文や翻訳を活用して意思疎通できます。

• 🛠 API提供による拡張性: HodlHodlは上級ユーザーや開発者向けに**公式APIを提供しています。APIを利用すると、自分のプログラムからHodlHodl上のオファー取得や契約作成、ステータス更新などを自動化することが可能です。例えば、マーケットメーカーとしてレートを自動調整したり、他のサービスと連携して複数のP2P取引所のオファーを比較表示する、といった応用ができます。APIキーはプロフィール設定から発行でき、ドキュメントも公開されているため高度な取引戦略を実装したいユーザーには魅力的な機能です。PaxfulやLocalBitcoinsなど一部他サービスでもAPIは提供されていますが、HodlHodlのAPIはエスクロー操作まで含め包括的にサポートしている点で強力です。

• 💳 ビットコインレンディングサービス: HodlHodlは現物取引だけでなく、ビットコイン担保のレンディング（貸借）プラットフォームも運営しています。サイト上部の「P2P Lending（レンディング）」からアクセスでき、ビットコインを担保にUSDTなど他の暗号資産を借りたり、あるいは逆に他の人に貸し出して利息収入を得ることができます。技術的には取引プラットフォームと同じマルチシグエスクロー方式を用いており、借り手がビットコインを担保としてエスクローにロックし、貸し手が安定通貨を送金することでローン契約が成立します。期間満了時に借り手が返済すればビットコイン担保が戻り、返済不能（延滞や価格変動での清算）の場合は貸し手に担保が渡る仕組みです。驚くべきことに、このレンディングサービスでも一切KYCは要求されません。短期のビットコイン活用や利息収入を得たいニーズに応えるユニークなサービスであり、HodlHodlを使いこなせば「ビットコインを売買するだけでなく、借りたり貸したりする」といった金融活用も可能になります。P2P Lendingについては、今後別のチュートリアルで詳しく説明します。

• 🧪 テストネットで練習可能: 「いきなり本番は不安…」という方向けに、HodlHodlはテストネット版サイトも提供しています。TESTNETでは、本物のビットコインではなくテスト用のビットコイン（signet**ネットワークのBTC）を使って、実際の取引手順を練習できます。架空の資金でHodlHodlの操作感を試せるため、初心者はまずテストネットで売買の流れをシミュレーションしてみると良いでしょう。十分に慣れてから本番取引に移行すれば、落ち着いて対処できます。テストネットBTCは各種ファウンセット（蛇口サイト hhtestnet.com）から無料でもらうことができ、HodlHodlのテスト環境で練習するのに役立ちます。

以上がHodlHodlの主な特徴と利点です。匿名性・安全性・使いやすさを兼ね備えたHodlHodlは、まさに「ビットコインをネイティブにP2P利用する」ための理想的なプラットフォームと言えるでしょう。初めは不安もあるかもしれませんが、本チュートリアルで説明した手順に沿って取引を行えば、きっとその手軽さと利便性に驚くはずです。ぜひHodlHodlでのP2P取引に挑戦してみてください。自分自身でビットコインを扱う経験を通じて、ビットコインの真の価値である「個人が金融の主導権を握ること」を実感できるでしょう🚀

---

もしビットコインのP2P取引やHodlHodlなどについてもっと深く知りたい、あるいは個別に相談してみたいと思えば、どうぞお気軽にご連絡ください。1対1のコンサルも承っています。

サービスには決まった料金はありませんが、ご相談を通じて「役に立った」と思い、お悩みや疑問を解決できたと感じていただけたら、「3つのT」でのご支援（Value for Value）をぜひご検討ください：

• 時間（Time）：この記事をSNSなどでシェアしていただくこと。
• 才能（Talent）：コメントや補足情報などを通じて知識を共有していただくこと。
• 宝（Treasure）：世界で最も健全なお金、ビットコインの最小単位「sats」でのご支援。

もちろん、支援の有無にかかわらず、お力になれればとても嬉しいです。 では、また次回！

参考資料

• Bitcoin Whitepaper - Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic
• HodlHodl公式サイト - Welcome to Hodl ([P2P BITCOIN TRADING platform]
• HodlHodlヘルプセンター - How to buy Bitcoin / How to sell Bitcoin
• HodlHodlヘルプセンター - Why is trading on Hodl Hodl secure
• HodlHodl FAQ - Why should I use HodlHodl、How secure is trading on HodlHodl
• HodlHodl Medium - Hodl Hodl’s API release
• HodlHodl Lend FAQ - What is Lend a ([Earn Highest Returns on Your Crypto Investment - Lend at Hodl Hodl]
• ZoneBitcoin - Hodl Hodl: Tutorial on the anonymous and KYC-free P2P platform
• など

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

This is a big one for many of us. Probably the most beneficial perception shift you can have is to stop perceiving junk food as food at all.

There are two big components to this: 1. "Cheap"/"affordable" foods are neither cheap nor affordable if they are bad for your health. They are pure waste. Whatever you're currently spending on foods you don't think you should be eating can be reallocated to foods you do think you should be eating and it's wiser expenditure regardless of how expensive the new foods are. 2. When you're looking for something convenient, it's better to eat nothing than to eat something bad. Again, junk food isn't food. Eating it because you're hungry isn't helping anything. You didn't satisfy any nutritional requirements, so you still need to eat the same amount later. On the other hand, fasting is good for you, so just do that until you find something that is food. Also, the first point applies here: instead of eating a lot of garbage, it would be better to spend the same amount on a small portion of food.

I was inspired to write this because I was proud of myself for putting back a package of discounted double chocolate chip muffins this morning and just getting a dark chocolate bar instead.

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/928684

@ 83279ad2:bd49240d

test

@ 30b99916:3cc6e3fe

Chef's Notes

My mom worked as a waitress for a excellent Chinese restaurant. For years she tried to get this receipt without success and finally after the owner retired he gave her the receipt.

Previously posted this receipt on Zap.Cooking but now wanting to keep all my long-form notes in Obsidian and publish to Nostr using the nostr-writer plug-in.

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 20 to 30 minutes
• 🍳 Cook time: 1 to 2 Hours depending on amount of spare ribs
• 🍽️ Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1 Quart Dole Pineapple Juice
• 1 Pint Dole Crushed Pineapple
• 1 Pint Dole Tidbits Pineapple
• 1 TS Dried Mustard
• 32 Oz Brown sugar or add to taste
• 1 Cup Red Wine
• 2 TS Corn Starch
• 1 or 2 lbs Pork or Beef spare ribs
• Worcestershire sauce

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Bring water to boil in 8 qt stock pot
3. Cut spare ribs and add to boiling water in stock pot
4. Boil spare ribs for 20 to 30 minutes to remove excess fat
5. Drain spare ribs and place onto cookie sheet
6. Base spare ribs with a generous amount of Worcestershire sauce
7. Place based spare ribs on cookie sheet and place into oven for 60 minutes.
8. Place first 6 ingredients into stock pot and bring to boil while CONTINUOUSLY stirring
9. Add corn starch to 2 cups of water and mix to create thickening agent
10. Add thickening agent incrementally to Sweet & Sour sauce for desired thickness
11. Reduce heat to low while CONTINUOUSLY stirring.
12. Remove spare ribs from oven and place into Sweet & Sour sauce.
13. Place stock pot into oven and cook until done. 1 to 2 hours.

Bon Appétit

@ 30b99916:3cc6e3fe

---

---

Chef's Notes

My mom worked as a waitress for a excellent Chinese restaurant. For years she tried to get this receipt without success and finally after the owner retired he gave her the receipt.

Previously posted this receipt on Zap.Cooking but now wanting to keep all my long-form notes in Obsidian and publish to Nostr using the nostr-writer plug-in.

---

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 20 to 30 minutes
• 🍳 Cook time: 1 to 2 Hours depending on amount of spare ribs
• 🍽️ Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1 Quart Dole Pineapple Juice
• 1 Pint Dole Crushed Pineapple
• 1 Pint Dole Tidbits Pineapple
• 1 TS Dried Mustard
• 32 Oz Brown sugar or add to taste
• 1 Cup Red Wine
• 2 TS Corn Starch
• 1 or 2 lbs Pork or Beef spare ribs
• Worcestershire sauce

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Bring water to boil in 8 qt stock pot
3. Cut spare ribs and add to boiling water in stock pot
4. Boil spare ribs for 20 to 30 minutes to remove excess fat
5. Drain spare ribs and place onto cookie sheet
6. Base spare ribs with a generous amount of Worcestershire sauce
7. Place based spare ribs on cookie sheet and place into oven for 60 minutes.
8. Place first 6 ingredients into stock pot and bring to boil while CONTINUOUSLY stirring
9. Add corn starch to 2 cups of water and mix to create thickening agent
10. Add thickening agent incrementally to Sweet & Sour sauce for desired thickness
11. Reduce heat to low while CONTINUOUSLY stirring.
12. Remove spare ribs from oven and place into Sweet & Sour sauce.
13. Place stock pot into oven and cook until done. 1 to 2 hours.

Bon Appétit

@ 30b99916:3cc6e3fe

---

---

Chef's Notes

My mom worked as a waitress for a excellent Chinese restaurant. For years she tried to get this receipt without success and finally after the owner retired he gave her the receipt.

Previously posted this receipt on Zap.Cooking but now wanting to keep all my long-form notes in Obsidian and publish to Nostr using the nostr-writer plug-in.

---

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 20 to 30 minutes
• 🍳 Cook time: 1 to 2 Hours depending on amount of spare ribs
• 🍽️ Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1 Quart Dole Pineapple Juice
• 1 Pint Dole Crushed Pineapple
• 1 Pint Dole Tidbits Pineapple
• 1 TS Dried Mustard
• 32 Oz Brown sugar or add to taste
• 1 Cup Red Wine
• 2 TS Corn Starch
• 1 or 2 lbs Pork or Beef spare ribs
• Worcestershire sauce

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Bring water to boil in 8 qt stock pot
3. Cut spare ribs and add to boiling water in stock pot
4. Boil spare ribs for 20 to 30 minutes to remove excess fat
5. Drain spare ribs and place onto cookie sheet
6. Base spare ribs with a generous amount of Worcestershire sauce
7. Place based spare ribs on cookie sheet and place into oven for 60 minutes.
8. Place first 6 ingredients into stock pot and bring to boil while CONTINUOUSLY stirring
9. Add corn starch to 2 cups of water and mix to create thickening agent
10. Add thickening agent incrementally to Sweet & Sour sauce for desired thickness
11. Reduce heat to low while CONTINUOUSLY stirring.
12. Remove spare ribs from oven and place into Sweet & Sour sauce.
13. Place stock pot into oven and cook until done. 1 to 2 hours.

Bon Appétit

@ 5ffb8e1b:255b6735

As a fellow Nostrich you might have noticed some of my #arlist posts. It is my effort to curate artists that are active on Nostr and make it easier for other users to find content that they are interested in.

By now I have posted six or seven posts mentioning close to fifty artists, the problem so far is that it's only a list of handles and it is up to reader to click on each in order to find out what are the artist behind the names all about. Now I am going to start creating blog posts with a few artists mentioned in each, with short descriptions of their work and an image or to.

I would love to have some more automated mode of curation but I still couldn't figure out what is a good way for it. I've looked at Listr, Primal custom feeds and Yakihonne curations but none seem to enable me to make a list of npubs that is then turned into a feed that I could publicly share for others to views. Any advice on how to achieve this is VERY welcome !

And now lets get to the first batch of artists I want to share with you.

Eugene Gorbachenko

nostr:npub1082uhnrnxu7v0gesfl78uzj3r89a8ds2gj3dvuvjnw5qlz4a7udqwrqdnd Artist from Ukrain creating amazing realistic watercolor paintings. He is very active on Nostr but is very unnoticed for some stange reason. Make sure to repost the painting that you liked the most to help other Nostr users to discover his great art.

Siritravelsketch

nostr:npub14lqzjhfvdc9psgxzznq8xys8pfq8p4fqsvtr6llyzraq90u9m8fqevhssu a a lovely lady from Thailand making architecture from all around the world spring alive in her ink skethes. Dynamic lines gives it a dreamy magical feel, sometimes supported by soft watercolor strokes takes you to a ferytale layer of reality.

BureuGewas

nostr:npub1k78qzy2s9ap4klshnu9tcmmcnr3msvvaeza94epsgptr7jce6p9sa2ggp4 a a master of the clasic oil painting. From traditional still life to modern day subjects his paintings makes you feel the textures and light of the scene more intense then reality itself.

You can see that I'm no art critic, but I am trying my best. If anyone else is interested to join me in this curration adventure feel free to reach out !

With love, Agi Choote

@ 592295cf:413a0db9

The journey starts from the links in this article nostr-quick-start-guide

Starting from these links building a simple path should not cover everything, because impossible.

Today I saw that Verbiricha in his workshop on his channel used nstart, but then I distracted And I didn't see how he did it.

---

Go to nstart.me and read: Each user is identified by a cryptographic keypair Public key, Private key (is a lot of stuff)

You can insert a nickname and go, the nickname is not unique

there is a email backup things interesting, but a little boring, i try to generate an email

doesn't even require a strong password ok.

I received the email, great, it shows me the nsec encrypted in clear,

Send a copy of the file with a password, which contains the password encrypted key I know and I know it's a tongue dump.

Multi signer bunker

That's stuff, let's see what he says.

They live the private key and send it to servers and you can recompose it to login at a site of the protocol nostr. If one of these servers goes offline you have the private key that you downloaded first and then reactivate a bunker. All very complicated. But if one of the servers goes offline, how can I remake the split? Maybe he's still testing.

Nobody tells you where these bunkers are.

Okay I have a string that is my bunker (buker://), I downloaded it, easy no, now will tell me which client accepts the bunker.. .

Follow someone before you start?

Is a cluster of 5 people Snowden, Micheal Dilger, jb55, Fiatjaf, Dianele.

I choice Snowden profile, or you can select multiple profiles, extra wild.

Now select 5 clients

Coracle, Chachi, Olas, Nostur, Jumble

The first is Coracle

Login, ok I try to post a note and signing your note the spin does not end.

Maybe the bunker is diffective.

Let's try Chachi

Simpler than Coracle, it has a type login that says bunker. see if I can post

It worked, cool, I managed to post in a group.

Olas is an app but also a website, but on the website requires an extension, which I do not have with this account.

If I download an app how do I pass the bunker on the phone, is it still a password, a qrcode, a qrcode + password, something like that, but many start from the phone so maybe it's easy for them. I try to download it and see if it allows me to connect with a bunker.

Okay I used private-qrcode and it worked, I couldn't do it directly from Olas because it didn't have permissions and the qrcode was < encrypted, so I went to the same site and had the bunker copied and glued on Olas

Ok then I saw that there was the qrcode image of the bunker for apps lol moment

Ok, I liked it, I can say it's a victory.

Looks like none of Snowden's followers are Olas's lover, maybe the smart pack has to predict a photographer or something like that.

Okay I managed to post on Olas, so it works, Expiration time is broken.

As for Nostur, I don't have an ios device so I'm going to another one.

Login with Jumble, it works is a web app

I took almost an hour to do the whole route.

But this was just one link there are two more

Extensions nostr NIP-07

The true path is nip-07-browser-extensions | nostr.net

There are 19 links, maybe there are too many?

I mention the most famous, or active at the moment

1. Aka-profiles: Aka-profiles

Alby I don't know if it's a route to recommend

1. Blockcore Blockcore wallet

2. Nos2x Nos2x

3. Nos2xfox (fork for firefox) Nos2xfox

Nostore is (archived, read-only)

1. Nostrame Nostrame

2. Nowser per IOS Nowser

3. One key (was tricky) One key

Another half hour to search all sites

Nostrapps

Here you can make paths

Then nstart selects Coracle, Chachi, Olas,Nostur and Jumble

Good apps might be Amethyst, 0xchat, Yakihonne, Primal, Damus

for IOS maybe: Primal, Olas, Damus, Nostur, Nos-Social, Nostrmo

On the site there are some categories, I select some with the respective apps

Let's see the categories

Go to Nostrapps and read:

Microbbloging: Primal

Streaming: Zap stream

Blogging: Yakihonne

Group chat: Chachi

Community: Flotilla

Tools: Form *

Discovery: Zapstore (even if it is not in this catrgory)

Direct Message: 0xchat

@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1

"THE NATURE OF BITCOIN IS SUCH THAT ONCE VERSION 0.1 WAS RELEASED, THE CORE DESIGN WAS SET IN STONE FOR THE REST OF ITS LIFETIME." <sub>- SATOSHI NAKAMOTO</sub>

"Reborn" is inspired by my Bitcoin journey and the many other people whose lives have been changed by Bitcoin. I’ve carved the hand in the “Gyan Mudra” or the “Mudra of Wisdom or Knowledge,” with an Opendime grasped between thumb and index finger alluding to the pursuit of Bitcoin knowledge. The hand emerges from rough, choppy water, and I've set the hand against an archway, through which, the copper leaf hints at the bright orange future made possible by Bitcoin.

Materials: Carrara Marble, Copper leaf, Opendime

Dimensions: 6" x 9" x 13"

Price: $30,000 or BTC equivalent

Enquire: https://www.vonbitcoin.com/available-works

X: https://x.com/BVBTC/status/1894463357316419960/photo/1

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/928510

@ 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/928470

@ fd78c37f:a0ec0833

YakiHonne: I'm excited to be joined by our guest Piccolo—thank you very much for being here. Before we dive in, I'd like to briefly introduce YakiHonne. YakiHonne is a decentralized media client built on the Nostr protocol, leveraging technology to enable freedom of speech. It empowers creators to fully own their voice and assets while offering innovative tools such as Smart widget , Verified Notes, and support for long-form content. Today, we’re not just discussing YakiHonne, but also diving into your community. Piccolo, could you start by telling us a bit about yourself and your community?

Piccolo:Hi, I'm Piccolo. I run BO฿ Space in Bangkok, and we also have a satellite location called the BO฿ Space corner in Chiang Mai, thanks to the Bitcoin Learning Center. Piccolo:Regarding my background，I originally came from corporate finance and investment banking. I was in that field for about 20 years, with the last 15 spent running my own firm in corporate finance advisory alongside a couple of partners. We eventually sold the advisory business in 2015, took a short break, and in 2016, I ended up launching a fintech company, which is still operational today. The company specializes in equity crowdfunding and is licensed by the SEC in Thailand. Piccolo:I first bought Bitcoin a few years before truly understanding it, initially thinking it was a scam that would eventually collapse. However, in 2017, the block size wars demonstrated the protocol’s strong resistance to attacks on decentralization, which deeply impacted me. By late 2018 or early 2019, I started to really grasp Bitcoin and kept learning. Then, in mid-2022, after having fully fallen down the Bitcoin rabbit hole, I founded BO฿ Space. It was right after COVID, and since the fintech had scaled down, there was extra space. We started by hosting meetups and technical workshops for people who were interested. Piccolo:In the early years, we had various groups come by—like the team from BDK (Bitcoin Development Kit), who held workshops. The people behind the Bitcoin Beach Wallet, which later became Blink, also visited. So, BO฿ Space initially functioned as a meetup and technical workshop space. Eventually, we launched the BOB Builders Residency program, which was a lot of fun. We secured grant funding for developers under different cohort themes, so that they can collaborate and co-work for a few months. So far, we have completed three cohorts.

YakiHonne:How did your community get started, and what did you do to attract new members in the beginning?

Piccolo:The initial members came through word of mouth and invitations that I sent out. I reached out to an initial group of Bitcoiners here in the city who I believed were strong maximalists or Bitcoin-only supporters, back when that was still a thing. I sent out 21 invitations and had our first meetup with 21 people, most of whom I had interacted with online, though some in person during the COVID years. From there, it spread by word of mouth, and of course, through Twitter and meetup.com. So, I would say that word of mouth remains the main method of growth. Additionally, when people come through Bangkok and are looking for a Bitcoin-only meetup, there really isn't one available. I believe there are a couple now—maybe two or three—but when we started, there weren’t any, especially not a dedicated Bitcoin-only space. I think we may still be the only one in Bangkok. So yeah, word of mouth was definitely the main way we grew. Bitcoiners tend to share their finds when they meet like-minded people.

YakiHonne:Didn’t you have people in your community who initially thought Bitcoin was a scam, like you did, or face similar issues?

Piccolo:Yes, it still happens, especially when the price of Bitcoin rises. Newcomers still join, and some of them believe Bitcoin might be a scam. However, this has become less frequent. The main reason is that when people come to BO฿ Space, they know it’s a Bitcoin-only meetup. We generally don’t discuss the price; instead, we focus on other aspects of Bitcoin, as there are many interesting developments in the space.

YakiHonne:What advice would you give to someone looking to start or grow a Bitcoin-focused community in today’s world? Considering the current landscape, much like your own experience, what guidance would you offer?

Piccolo:It sounds simple, but just do it. When it comes to community building, you don’t necessarily need a physical space. Community is about people coming together, right? Two people can start a community, then three, four, and so on. Meetups can happen anywhere—your favorite bar, a restaurant, a friend’s garage, or wherever. So, just do it, but make sure you have more than one person, otherwise, how can you build a community? Once you have more than one person, word of mouth will spread. And as you develop a core group—let’s say more than five people—that’s when I think the community can truly sustain itself.

YakiHonne:I know you’ve mentioned the technical side of your community, but I’ll ask anyway—does your community engage with the technical or non-technical aspects of Bitcoin? Or perhaps, is there a blend of both?

Piccolo:I would say both. It really depends on the monthly themes of our meetups. For example, February was focused on Asian communities in Bitcoin. During that month, community leaders came in to give presentations and discuss their work in places like Indonesia, India, and more recently, someone from HRF (Human Rights Foundation) talked about Bitcoin’s use case in Myanmar. Then, in December, we had a very technical month—Mining Month. It was led by our Cohort 3 residents, where we discussed Stratum V2 and had a demo on it. We also examined the Loki board hardware, and Zack took apart the S19, looking at different ways to repurpose the power supply unit, among other things. So, it’s a mix of both, depending on the theme for that month. Some months are very technical, while others are more community-focused and less technical.

YakiHonne:What advice would you give to a technically inclined individual or organization looking to contribute meaningfully to the Bitcoin ecosystem?

Piccolo:For technically inclined individuals, I would suggest identifying your favorite open-source project in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Start from Bitcoin Core and explore different layers, such as Lightning or e-cash, and other open-source projects. As for technically inclined organizations, if you're integrating Bitcoin into your business, I would say, first, make sure you have people within your organization who truly understand Bitcoin. Build a capable team first, and then, depending on the part of the Bitcoin ecosystem you’re involved in—whether it’s custody services, Lightning payments, layer 2, or something like Cashu or Ark—find your niche. From there, your team will work with you to discover ways to contribute. But until you build that capability, organizations are a bit different from individuals in this space.

YakiHonne:How do you see the world of Bitcoin communities evolving as technology matures, particularly in areas like scalability, privacy, and adaptability with other systems?

Piccolo:That's an interesting question. If we think about the future of Bitcoin communities, I believe they may eventually disappear as technology matures. Once Bitcoin scales to a point where it integrates seamlessly with other payment systems, becoming part of the everyday norm, the need for dedicated communities will diminish. It’s similar to how we no longer have meetups about refrigerators or iPhones, even though they are technologies we use every day. As Bitcoin matures, it will likely reach that level of ubiquity. There might still be occasional meetups or forums, but they will be more about specific knowledge, use cases, and tools, rather than a community dedicated to introducing others to the technology itself. However, this is a long way off. Bitcoin is still relatively small compared to the global fiat financial system, despite the growth we want to see. So, it will take a long time before we reach that stage.

YakiHonne:It’s something I hadn’t considered before, and it’s quite insightful. Moving to our last question actually which I find very interesting is the government around you for or against bitcoin and how has That affected the community.

Piccolo:In my opinion, on a general level, the government is more supportive than opposed to Bitcoin. The Thai government classifies Bitcoin as a digital asset, almost like digital gold. In that sense, they want to tax capital gains and regulate it. They also have a regulatory framework for it, known as the Digital Asset Regulatory Sandbox, where you can test various things, mainly coins and tokens. It's unfortunate, but that’s how it is. However, our government, especially the regulatory bodies, are open to innovation. They recognize that Bitcoin is different, but they still view blockchain and tokens as useful technologies, which is somewhat misguided. So, in that sense, it’s more support than opposition. A couple of years ago, there was a circular discouraging the use of Bitcoin as a payment currency, mainly because they can't control its monetary policy. And they’re right—Bitcoin can’t be controlled by anyone; there’re the protocol and the rules, and everyone follows them, unless there’s a hard fork, which is a different matter. So, in that regard, Bitcoin is definitely categorized as a digital asset by the government, and that’s where it stands. Piccolo:People who come to BO฿ Space to learn about Bitcoin are often influenced by the government from the point of price movements; especially when government support moves the price up. But they usually only visit once or twice, especially if they’re not deep into the Bitcoin rabbit hole. They often get disappointed because, at BO฿ Space, we rarely discuss the price—maybe once a year, and that’s just after the meetup when people are having drinks. So, in that sense, I’d say the government currently doesn’t really hurt or help the community either way. People will go down the rabbit hole at their own pace. And if you're not a Bitcoiner and you come to a BO฿ Space meetup with a crypto focus, you might be surprised by the approach we take.

YakiHonne:Thank you, Piccolo, for your time and insights. It’s been a pleasure speaking with you. Your perspective on the evolution of Bitcoin communities was eye-opening. It's clear that your deep understanding of Bitcoin is invaluable. I'm sure our readers will appreciate your insights. Once again, thank you, Piccolo. I look forward to seeing the continued growth of BO฿ Space and Bitcoin adoption.

@ 2183e947:f497b975

Today I was invited to participate in the private beta of a new social media protocol called Pubky, designed by a bitcoin company called Synonym with the goal of being better than existing social media platforms. As a heavy nostr user, I thought I'd write up a comparison.

I can't tell you how to create your own accounts because it was made very clear that only some of the software is currently open source, and how this will all work is still a bit up in the air. The code that is open source can be found here: https://github.com/pubky -- and the most important repo there seems to be this one: https://github.com/pubky/pubky-core

You can also learn more about Pubky here: https://pubky.org/

That said, I used my invite code to create a pubky account and it seemed very similar to onboarding to nostr. I generated a private key, backed up 12 words, and the onboarding website gave me a public key.

Then I logged into a web-based client and it looked a lot like twitter. I saw a feed for posts by other users and saw options to reply to posts and give reactions, which, I saw, included hearts, thumbs up, and other emojis.

Then I investigated a bit deeper to see how much it was like nostr. I opened up my developer console and navigated to my networking tab, where, if this was nostr, I would expect to see queries to relays for posts. Here, though, I saw one query that seemed to be repeated on a loop, which went to a single server and provided it with my pubkey. That single query (well, a series of identical queries to the same server) seemed to return all posts that showed up on my feed. So I infer that the server "knows" what posts to show me (perhaps it has some sort of algorithm, though the marketing material says it does not use algorithms) and the query was on a loop so that if any new posts came in that the server thinks I might want to see, it can add them to my feed.

Then I checked what happens when I create a post. I did so and looked at what happened in my networking tab. If this was nostr, I would expect to see multiple copies of a signed messaged get sent to a bunch of relays. Here, though, I saw one message get sent to the same server that was populating my feed, and that message was not signed, it was a plaintext copy of my message.

I happened to be in a group chat with John Carvalho at the time, who is associated with pubky. I asked him what was going on, and he said that pubky is based around three types of servers: homeservers, DHT servers, and indexer servers. The homeserver is where you create posts and where you query for posts to show on your feed. DHT servers are used for censorship resistance: each user creates an entry on a DHT server saying what homeserver they use, and these entries are signed by their key.

As for indexers, I think those are supposed to speed up the use of the DHT servers. From what I could tell, indexers query DHT servers to find out what homeservers people use. When you query a homeserver for posts, it is supposed to reach out to indexer servers to find out the homeservers of people whose posts the homeserver decided to show you, and then query those homeservers for those posts. I believe they decided not to look up what homeservers people use directly on DHT servers directly because DHT servers are kind of slow, due to having to store and search through all sorts of non-social-media content, whereas indexers only store a simple db that maps each user's pubkey to their homeserver, so they are faster.

Based on all of this info, it seems like, to populate your feed, this is the series of steps:

• you tell your homeserver your pubkey
• it uses some sort of algorithm to decide whose posts to show you
• then looks up the homeservers used by those people on an indexer server
• then it fetches posts from their homeservers
• then your client displays them to you

To create a post, this is the series of steps:

• you tell your homeserver what you want to say to the world
• it stores that message in plaintext and merely asserts that it came from you (it's not signed)
• other people can find out what you said by querying for your posts on your homeserver

Since posts on homeservers are not signed, I asked John what prevents a homeserver from just making up stuff and claiming I said it. He said nothing stops them from doing that, and if you are using a homeserver that starts acting up in that manner, what you should do is start using a new homeserver and update your DHT record to point at your new homeserver instead of the old one. Then, indexers should update their db to show where your new homeserver is, and the homeservers of people who "follow" you should stop pulling content from your old homeserver and start pulling it from your new one. If their homeserver is misbehaving too, I'm not sure what would happen. Maybe it could refuse to show them the content you've posted on your new homeserver, keeping making up fake content on your behalf that you've never posted, and maybe the people you follow would never learn you're being impersonated or have moved to a new homeserver.

John also clarified that there is not currently any tooling for migrating user content from one homeserver to another. If pubky gets popular and a big homeserver starts misbehaving, users will probably need such a tool. But these are early days, so there aren't that many homeservers, and the ones that exist seem to be pretty trusted.

Anyway, those are my initial thoughts on Pubky. Learn more here: https://pubky.org/

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

Only one more month to make adjustments and a couple of my guys haven't played enough games to be eligible for the awards. - Jokic needs to play two more - Giannis needs to play five more

Other notable players who haven't yet played 65 games: - Luka is not even close - Brunson needs to play four more (and probably needs to be replaced regardless) - Wemby is not even close

Here's the current state of the competition with your max possible score next to your nym:

| Contestant | MVP | Champ | All NBA | | | | | |--------------|------|---------|----------|-|-|-|-| | @Undisciplined 47| SGA| OKC | Jokic | KAT |Giannis |Tatum | SGA | | @grayruby 46| SGA| Cavs| Jokic | Giannis | SGA| Mitchell| Brunson| | @gnilma 55| SGA| OKC| Jokic | KAT | Giannis | Tatum| SGA | | @BitcoinAbhi 70 | Luka| Denver| Jokic | Giannis | Luka | Ant| SGA| | @Bell_curve 63| SGA| Celtics| Jokic | Giannis | Luka | Ant| SGA| | @0xbitcoiner 70 | Jokic| Pacers| Jokic | Giannis | Luka | Ant| Brunson| | @Coinsreporter 49| Giannis| Pacers| Jokic | Giannis | Luka | Ant| Brunson| | @TheMorningStar 49| Luka| Celtics| Jokic | Giannis | Luka | Ant| SGA| | @onthedeklein 49| Luka| T-Wolves| Jokic | Giannis | Luka | Wemby| SGA| | @Carresan 34| SGA| Memphis| Jokic | KAT | Giannis | Ant| SGA| | @BTC_Bellzer 34| SGA| Celtics| Jokic| Giannis | Tatum| SGA| Brunson | | @realBitcoinDog 39| Lebron| Lakers| Jokic | Giannis | Ant | Brunson | SGA| | @SimpleStacker 42| SGA| Celtics| Jokic| Tatum| Luka | Brunson| SGA| | @BlokchainB 38| SGA| Knicks| KAT| Giannis | Ant| Brunson| SGA| | @LibertasBR 14| SGA| Celtics| Jokic| Giannis | Tatum | Curry| SGA| | @Meani123 7| SGA| OKC| Jokic | KAT | Tatum | Mitchell | SGA|

Prize At least 6k (I'll keep adding zaps to the pot).

If you want to join this contest, just leave your predictions for MVP, Champion, and All-NBA 1st team in the comments. See the June post for more details.

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/928370

@ df06d21e:2b23058f

Imagine a Living Civilization—a new way to see our world. It starts with the Universe’s pillars: Matter, the stuff we’re made of; Energy, the flow that drives us; Physics, the rules we play by; and Chemistry, the complexity that builds us. We know these well. But civilization? That’s our creation—and although it has been described in so many different ways over the years I thought it was time for something new. Civilization has its own pillars, systems that I call the pillars of the Metaverse: Capital, Information, Innovation, and Trust.

Capital is how we measure value. Not just money, but everything that matters: skills, we call that Human Capital; ecosystems, that’s Natural Capital; infrastructure, Public Capital; relationships, Social Capital. Picture a farmer swapping Bitcoin sats for seeds—not fiat debt—or tracking soil health alongside his wallet. Capital is a system, a system of measurement.

Information is how we verify truth. Think IPFS, a network holding real data—climate stats, farming fixes—open to all, not locked up by some corporate gatekeeper. Information is a system of verification.

Innovation is about generating solutions. On GitHub, coders worldwide crank out tools—Nostr clients, solar apps—shared freely, not patented for profit. Innovation is our system of generation.

And Trust—it’s coordination. Nostr’s decentralized threads let communities set trade rules, split resources—governance from the ground up, no overlords required. Trust is our system of coordination.

Right now we’re stuck in debt-based systems—and they’re failing us. Take fiat currency—central banks print it, slashing your purchasing power. Our dollar buys less every year; savings erode while the elite stack their gains. It’s a scam, Bitcoiners know it—fiat’s the real Ponzi bleeding us dry. Capital gets twisted—firms hoard Bitcoin for fiat pumps, not real wealth; governments chase GDP while forests die and skills sit idle. Information is buried—our media spits out spin, our corporations lock truth in silos. Innovation is stalled—debt props up corporate patents, not open wins. Trust is gone—our governance systems consist of top-down control that splits us apart, left to right, top to bottom. Debt just measures scarcity—money borrowed, nature trashed, bonds frayed—and it’s crushing the pillars.

Wealth-based systems promise to turn that around. Bitcoin’s sound money is just the start—sats hold value, not inflate it away. Real capital measures what sustains us—sats fund a cooperative's water pump, not a vault; they track skills taught, land healed, ties rebuilt. Real Information opens up—IPFS logs show ‘biochar boosted yield 20%’, verified by us, not suits. Real Innovation flows—GitHub devs build Lightning hubs, wealth spreads. Real Trust binds us together—Nostr chats align us, no central puppeteer. Wealth based systems strengthen the pillars of the Metaverse, it doesn’t erode them.

We needed a new framing. A new vision of what was, what is, and what could be. We have one. This is real. This is the world we are building. Bitcoin is live, Nostr is growing, IPFS and GitHub are humming. We can see Debt teetering; while real wealth is rising. So, hodlers, maxis, plebs—everyone—what does a true wealth-based system look like? How can we measure Capital beyond fiat’s con job? Bitcoin’s the rock, but it’s just the beginning. How do we build on this, expand it, and transform everything as we build something entirely new?

@ 3e6e0735:9e95c8a2

https://i.nostr.build/lanoHI3p2aCKRZlV.png

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about why Bitcoin still feels so misunderstood. Not just by the media or the IMF — that part’s predictable. But even inside our own circles, something's missing.

We say it’s money. We say it’s freedom. We say it’s code. And it is. But when you really zoom out, past the price and the politics, it’s something more radical than we usually admit.

Bitcoin is a shift in how power moves. And what we do with that power now actually matters.

The noise outside

Let’s start with the obvious: the media still doesn’t get it. Every other headline is either a death knell or a celebration depending on the price that day. No context. No nuance. No understanding of what we’re building.

You’ve seen the headlines: - “Bitcoin is crashing again.” - “Crypto bros are killing the planet.” - “The IMF warns: Bitcoin adoption is dangerous.”

Yeah? Dangerous to what?

The system they control. The levers they pull. The old game where the house always wins.

That’s why they’re afraid. Not because Bitcoin is volatile, but because it doesn’t ask permission.

This isn’t about panic — it’s about patterns

I’m not saying there’s a conspiracy. But there is inertia. Institutions protect themselves. Systems reinforce themselves. They were never going to roll out the red carpet for an open, borderless network that replaces their function.

So the IMF calls it a threat. Central banks scramble to launch CBDCs. And journalists keep writing the same shallow takes while ignoring the real story.

Meanwhile, we’re still here. Still building. Still holding. Still running nodes.

Bitcoin isn’t perfect. But it’s honest. It doesn’t bend to popularity or political pressure. It enforces rules with math, not people. And that’s exactly why it works.

Even we miss it sometimes

Here’s the part that really hit me recently: even within Bitcoin, we often undersell what this is.

We talk about savings. Inflation. Fiat debasement. All real, all important.

But what about the broader layer? What about governance? Energy? Communication? Defense?

Jason Lowery’s book Softwar lit that fuse for me again. Not because it’s flawless — it’s not. But because he reframed the game.

Bitcoin isn’t a new weapon. It’s the end of weapons-as-power.

Proof-of-work, in Lowery’s view, is a form of peaceful negotiation. A deterrent against coercion. A way to shift from kinetic violence to computational resolution.

Most people — even many Bitcoiners — haven’t fully absorbed that.

It’s not about militarizing the network. It’s about demilitarizing the world through energy expenditure that replaces human conflict.

Let’s be clear: this doesn’t mean Bitcoin will be used this way. It means it can. And that opens up a few possible futures:

• Scenario A: Smaller nations adopt Bitcoin infrastructure as a shield — a deterrent and neutral layer to build sovereignty
• Scenario B: Superpowers attack mining and self-custody, escalating regulatory capture and fragmenting the open protocol into corporate silos
• Scenario C: Bitcoin becomes the boring backend of legacy finance, its edge neutered by ETFs and custody-as-a-service

Which one wins depends on what we build — and who steps up.

Then I found Maya

I came across Maya Parbhoe’s campaign by accident. One of those late-night rabbit holes where Bitcoin Twitter turns into a global map.

She’s running for president of Suriname. She’s a Bitcoiner. And she’s not just tweeting about it — she’s building an entire political platform around it.

No central bank. Bitcoin as legal tender. Full fiscal transparency. Open-source government.

Yeah. You read that right. Not just open-source software — open-source statehood.

Her father was murdered after exposing corruption. That’s not a talking point. That’s real-life consequence. And instead of running away from systems, she’s choosing to redesign one.

That’s maximalism. Not in ideology. In action.

The El Salvador experiment — and evolution

When El Salvador made Bitcoin legal tender in 2021, it lit up our feeds. It was bold. Unprecedented. A true first.

But not without flaws.

The rollout was fast. Chivo wallet was centralized. Adoption stalled in rural areas. Transparency was thin. And despite the brave move, the state’s underlying structure remained top-down.

Bukele played offense, but the protocol was wrapped in traditional power.

Maya is doing it differently. Her approach is grassroots-forward. Open-source by design. Focused on education, transparency, and modular state-building — not just mandates.

She’s not using Bitcoin to prop up state power. She’s using it to distribute it.

Maximalism is evolving

Look, I get it. The memes are fun. The laser eyes. The beefsteak meetups. The HODL culture.

But there’s something else growing here. Something a little quieter, a little deeper: - People running nodes to protect civil liberties - Communities using Lightning for real commerce - Builders forging tools for self-sovereign identity - Leaders like Maya testing what Bitcoin can look like as public infrastructure

This is happening. In real time. It’s messy and fragile and still small. But it’s happening.

Let’s also stay honest:

Maximalism has its risks. Dogma can blind us. Toxicity can push people away. And if we’re not careful, we’ll replace one centralization with another — just wearing different memes.

We need less purity, more principles. Less hype, more clarity. That’s the kind of maximalism Maya embodies.

What now?

Maya doesn’t have a VC fund or an ad agency. She has a message, a mission, and the courage to put Bitcoin on the ballot.

If that resonates, help her. Not just by donating — though here’s the link:

https://geyser.fund/project/maya2025/

But by sharing. Writing. Talking. Translating. Connecting.

Bitcoin is still early. But it’s not abstract anymore.

This isn’t just theory.

It’s a protocol, sure. But now, maybe it’s a presidency too.

https://i.nostr.build/0luYy8ojK7gkxsuL.png

@ 3e6e0735:9e95c8a2

https://i.nostr.build/lanoHI3p2aCKRZlV.png

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about why Bitcoin still feels so misunderstood. Not just by the media or the IMF — that part’s predictable. But even inside our own circles, something's missing.

We say it’s money. We say it’s freedom. We say it’s code. And it is. But when you really zoom out, past the price and the politics, it’s something more radical than we usually admit.

Bitcoin is a shift in how power moves. And what we do with that power now actually matters.

The noise outside

Let’s start with the obvious: the media still doesn’t get it. Every other headline is either a death knell or a celebration depending on the price that day. No context. No nuance. No understanding of what we’re building.

You’ve seen the headlines: - “Bitcoin is crashing again.” - “Crypto bros are killing the planet.” - “The IMF warns: Bitcoin adoption is dangerous.”

Yeah? Dangerous to what?

The system they control. The levers they pull. The old game where the house always wins.

That’s why they’re afraid. Not because Bitcoin is volatile, but because it doesn’t ask permission.

This isn’t about panic — it’s about patterns

I’m not saying there’s a conspiracy. But there is inertia. Institutions protect themselves. Systems reinforce themselves. They were never going to roll out the red carpet for an open, borderless network that replaces their function.

So the IMF calls it a threat. Central banks scramble to launch CBDCs. And journalists keep writing the same shallow takes while ignoring the real story.

Meanwhile, we’re still here. Still building. Still holding. Still running nodes.

Bitcoin isn’t perfect. But it’s honest. It doesn’t bend to popularity or political pressure. It enforces rules with math, not people. And that’s exactly why it works.

Even we miss it sometimes

Here’s the part that really hit me recently: even within Bitcoin, we often undersell what this is.

We talk about savings. Inflation. Fiat debasement. All real, all important.

But what about the broader layer? What about governance? Energy? Communication? Defense?

Jason Lowery’s book Softwar lit that fuse for me again. Not because it’s flawless — it’s not. But because he reframed the game.

Bitcoin isn’t a new weapon. It’s the end of weapons-as-power.

Proof-of-work, in Lowery’s view, is a form of peaceful negotiation. A deterrent against coercion. A way to shift from kinetic violence to computational resolution.

Most people — even many Bitcoiners — haven’t fully absorbed that.

It’s not about militarizing the network. It’s about demilitarizing the world through energy expenditure that replaces human conflict.

Let’s be clear: this doesn’t mean Bitcoin will be used this way. It means it can. And that opens up a few possible futures:

• Scenario A: Smaller nations adopt Bitcoin infrastructure as a shield — a deterrent and neutral layer to build sovereignty
• Scenario B: Superpowers attack mining and self-custody, escalating regulatory capture and fragmenting the open protocol into corporate silos
• Scenario C: Bitcoin becomes the boring backend of legacy finance, its edge neutered by ETFs and custody-as-a-service

Which one wins depends on what we build — and who steps up.

Then I found Maya

I came across Maya Parbhoe’s campaign by accident. One of those late-night rabbit holes where Bitcoin Twitter turns into a global map.

She’s running for president of Suriname. She’s a Bitcoiner. And she’s not just tweeting about it — she’s building an entire political platform around it.

No central bank. Bitcoin as legal tender. Full fiscal transparency. Open-source government.

Yeah. You read that right. Not just open-source software — open-source statehood.

Her father was murdered after exposing corruption. That’s not a talking point. That’s real-life consequence. And instead of running away from systems, she’s choosing to redesign one.

That’s maximalism. Not in ideology. In action.

The El Salvador experiment — and evolution

When El Salvador made Bitcoin legal tender in 2021, it lit up our feeds. It was bold. Unprecedented. A true first.

But not without flaws.

The rollout was fast. Chivo wallet was centralized. Adoption stalled in rural areas. Transparency was thin. And despite the brave move, the state’s underlying structure remained top-down.

Bukele played offense, but the protocol was wrapped in traditional power.

Maya is doing it differently. Her approach is grassroots-forward. Open-source by design. Focused on education, transparency, and modular state-building — not just mandates.

She’s not using Bitcoin to prop up state power. She’s using it to distribute it.

Maximalism is evolving

Look, I get it. The memes are fun. The laser eyes. The beefsteak meetups. The HODL culture.

But there’s something else growing here. Something a little quieter, a little deeper: - People running nodes to protect civil liberties - Communities using Lightning for real commerce - Builders forging tools for self-sovereign identity - Leaders like Maya testing what Bitcoin can look like as public infrastructure

This is happening. In real time. It’s messy and fragile and still small. But it’s happening.

Let’s also stay honest:

Maximalism has its risks. Dogma can blind us. Toxicity can push people away. And if we’re not careful, we’ll replace one centralization with another — just wearing different memes.

We need less purity, more principles. Less hype, more clarity. That’s the kind of maximalism Maya embodies.

What now?

Maya doesn’t have a VC fund or an ad agency. She has a message, a mission, and the courage to put Bitcoin on the ballot.

If that resonates, help her. Not just by donating — though here’s the link:

https://geyser.fund/project/maya2025

But by sharing. Writing. Talking. Translating. Connecting.

Bitcoin is still early. But it’s not abstract anymore.

This isn’t just theory.

It’s a protocol, sure. But now, maybe it’s a presidency too.

https://i.nostr.build/0luYy8ojK7gkxsuL.png

@ 3e6e0735:9e95c8a2

Bitcoin: This Isn’t Just Theory Anymore

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about why Bitcoin still feels so misunderstood. Not just by the media or the IMF — that part’s predictable. But even inside our own circles, something's missing.

We say it’s money. We say it’s freedom. We say it’s code. And it is. But when you really zoom out, past the price and the politics, it’s something more radical than we usually admit.

Bitcoin is a shift in how power moves. And what we do with that power now actually matters.

The noise outside

Let’s start with the obvious: the media still doesn’t get it. Every other headline is either a death knell or a celebration depending on the price that day. No context. No nuance. No understanding of what we’re building.

You’ve seen the headlines: - “Bitcoin is crashing again.” - “Crypto bros are killing the planet.” - “The IMF warns: Bitcoin adoption is dangerous.”

Yeah? Dangerous to what?

The system they control. The levers they pull. The old game where the house always wins.

That’s why they’re afraid. Not because Bitcoin is volatile, but because it doesn’t ask permission.

This isn’t about panic — it’s about patterns

I’m not saying there’s a conspiracy. But there is inertia. Institutions protect themselves. Systems reinforce themselves. They were never going to roll out the red carpet for an open, borderless network that replaces their function.

So the IMF calls it a threat. Central banks scramble to launch CBDCs. And journalists keep writing the same shallow takes while ignoring the real story.

Meanwhile, we’re still here. Still building. Still holding. Still running nodes.

Bitcoin isn’t perfect. But it’s honest. It doesn’t bend to popularity or political pressure. It enforces rules with math, not people. And that’s exactly why it works.

Even we miss it sometimes

Here’s the part that really hit me recently: even within Bitcoin, we often undersell what this is.

We talk about savings. Inflation. Fiat debasement. All real, all important.

But what about the broader layer? What about governance? Energy? Communication? Defense?

Jason Lowery’s book Softwar lit that fuse for me again. Not because it’s flawless — it’s not. But because he reframed the game.

Bitcoin isn’t a new weapon. It’s the end of weapons-as-power.

Proof-of-work, in Lowery’s view, is a form of peaceful negotiation. A deterrent against coercion. A way to shift from kinetic violence to computational resolution.

Most people — even many Bitcoiners — haven’t fully absorbed that.

It’s not about militarizing the network. It’s about demilitarizing the world through energy expenditure that replaces human conflict.

Let’s be clear: this doesn’t mean Bitcoin will be used this way. It means it can. And that opens up a few possible futures:

• Scenario A: Smaller nations adopt Bitcoin infrastructure as a shield — a deterrent and neutral layer to build sovereignty
• Scenario B: Superpowers attack mining and self-custody, escalating regulatory capture and fragmenting the open protocol into corporate silos
• Scenario C: Bitcoin becomes the boring backend of legacy finance, its edge neutered by ETFs and custody-as-a-service

Which one wins depends on what we build — and who steps up.

Then I found Maya

I came across Maya Parbhoe’s campaign by accident. One of those late-night rabbit holes where Bitcoin Twitter turns into a global map.

She’s running for president of Suriname. She’s a Bitcoiner. And she’s not just tweeting about it — she’s building an entire political platform around it.

No central bank. Bitcoin as legal tender. Full fiscal transparency. Open-source government.

Yeah. You read that right. Not just open-source software — open-source statehood.

Her father was murdered after exposing corruption. That’s not a talking point. That’s real-life consequence. And instead of running away from systems, she’s choosing to redesign one.

That’s maximalism. Not in ideology. In action.

The El Salvador experiment — and evolution

When El Salvador made Bitcoin legal tender in 2021, it lit up our feeds. It was bold. Unprecedented. A true first.

But not without flaws.

The rollout was fast. Chivo wallet was centralized. Adoption stalled in rural areas. Transparency was thin. And despite the brave move, the state’s underlying structure remained top-down.

Bukele played offense, but the protocol was wrapped in traditional power.

Maya is doing it differently. Her approach is grassroots-forward. Open-source by design. Focused on education, transparency, and modular state-building — not just mandates.

She’s not using Bitcoin to prop up state power. She’s using it to distribute it.

Maximalism is evolving

Look, I get it. The memes are fun. The laser eyes. The beefsteak meetups. The HODL culture.

But there’s something else growing here. Something a little quieter, a little deeper: - People running nodes to protect civil liberties - Communities using Lightning for real commerce - Builders forging tools for self-sovereign identity - Leaders like Maya testing what Bitcoin can look like as public infrastructure

This is happening. In real time. It’s messy and fragile and still small. But it’s happening.

Let’s also stay honest:

Maximalism has its risks. Dogma can blind us. Toxicity can push people away. And if we’re not careful, we’ll replace one centralization with another — just wearing different memes.

We need less purity, more principles. Less hype, more clarity. That’s the kind of maximalism Maya embodies.

What now?

Maya doesn’t have a VC fund or an ad agency. She has a message, a mission, and the courage to put Bitcoin on the ballot.

If that resonates, help her. Not just by donating — though here’s the link:

https://geyser.fund/project/maya2025/

But by sharing. Writing. Talking. Translating. Connecting.

Bitcoin is still early. But it’s not abstract anymore.

This isn’t just theory.

It’s a protocol, sure. But now, maybe it’s a presidency too.

https://i.nostr.build/0luYy8ojK7gkxsuL.png

@ 3e6e0735:9e95c8a2

Bitcoin: This Isn’t Just Theory Anymore

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about why Bitcoin still feels so misunderstood. Not just by the media or the IMF — that part’s predictable. But even inside our own circles, something's missing.

We say it’s money. We say it’s freedom. We say it’s code. And it is. But when you really zoom out, past the price and the politics, it’s something more radical than we usually admit.

Bitcoin is a shift in how power moves. And what we do with that power now actually matters.

The noise outside

Let’s start with the obvious: the media still doesn’t get it. Every other headline is either a death knell or a celebration depending on the price that day. No context. No nuance. No understanding of what we’re building.

You’ve seen the headlines: - “Bitcoin is crashing again.” - “Crypto bros are killing the planet.” - “The IMF warns: Bitcoin adoption is dangerous.”

Yeah? Dangerous to what?

The system they control. The levers they pull. The old game where the house always wins.

That’s why they’re afraid. Not because Bitcoin is volatile, but because it doesn’t ask permission.

This isn’t about panic — it’s about patterns

I’m not saying there’s a conspiracy. But there is inertia. Institutions protect themselves. Systems reinforce themselves. They were never going to roll out the red carpet for an open, borderless network that replaces their function.

So the IMF calls it a threat. Central banks scramble to launch CBDCs. And journalists keep writing the same shallow takes while ignoring the real story.

Meanwhile, we’re still here. Still building. Still holding. Still running nodes.

Bitcoin isn’t perfect. But it’s honest. It doesn’t bend to popularity or political pressure. It enforces rules with math, not people. And that’s exactly why it works.

Even we miss it sometimes

Here’s the part that really hit me recently: even within Bitcoin, we often undersell what this is.

We talk about savings. Inflation. Fiat debasement. All real, all important.

But what about the broader layer? What about governance? Energy? Communication? Defense?

Jason Lowery’s book Softwar lit that fuse for me again. Not because it’s flawless — it’s not. But because he reframed the game.

Bitcoin isn’t a new weapon. It’s the end of weapons-as-power.

Proof-of-work, in Lowery’s view, is a form of peaceful negotiation. A deterrent against coercion. A way to shift from kinetic violence to computational resolution.

Most people — even many Bitcoiners — haven’t fully absorbed that.

It’s not about militarizing the network. It’s about demilitarizing the world through energy expenditure that replaces human conflict.

Let’s be clear: this doesn’t mean Bitcoin will be used this way. It means it can. And that opens up a few possible futures:

• Scenario A: Smaller nations adopt Bitcoin infrastructure as a shield — a deterrent and neutral layer to build sovereignty
• Scenario B: Superpowers attack mining and self-custody, escalating regulatory capture and fragmenting the open protocol into corporate silos
• Scenario C: Bitcoin becomes the boring backend of legacy finance, its edge neutered by ETFs and custody-as-a-service

Which one wins depends on what we build — and who steps up.

Then I found Maya

I came across Maya Parbhoe’s campaign by accident. One of those late-night rabbit holes where Bitcoin Twitter turns into a global map.

She’s running for president of Suriname. She’s a Bitcoiner. And she’s not just tweeting about it — she’s building an entire political platform around it.

No central bank. Bitcoin as legal tender. Full fiscal transparency. Open-source government.

Yeah. You read that right. Not just open-source software — open-source statehood.

Her father was murdered after exposing corruption. That’s not a talking point. That’s real-life consequence. And instead of running away from systems, she’s choosing to redesign one.

That’s maximalism. Not in ideology. In action.

The El Salvador experiment — and evolution

When El Salvador made Bitcoin legal tender in 2021, it lit up our feeds. It was bold. Unprecedented. A true first.

But not without flaws.

The rollout was fast. Chivo wallet was centralized. Adoption stalled in rural areas. Transparency was thin. And despite the brave move, the state’s underlying structure remained top-down.

Bukele played offense, but the protocol was wrapped in traditional power.

Maya is doing it differently. Her approach is grassroots-forward. Open-source by design. Focused on education, transparency, and modular state-building — not just mandates.

She’s not using Bitcoin to prop up state power. She’s using it to distribute it.

Maximalism is evolving

Look, I get it. The memes are fun. The laser eyes. The beefsteak meetups. The HODL culture.

But there’s something else growing here. Something a little quieter, a little deeper: - People running nodes to protect civil liberties - Communities using Lightning for real commerce - Builders forging tools for self-sovereign identity - Leaders like Maya testing what Bitcoin can look like as public infrastructure

This is happening. In real time. It’s messy and fragile and still small. But it’s happening.

Let’s also stay honest:

Maximalism has its risks. Dogma can blind us. Toxicity can push people away. And if we’re not careful, we’ll replace one centralization with another — just wearing different memes.

We need less purity, more principles. Less hype, more clarity. That’s the kind of maximalism Maya embodies.

What now?

Maya doesn’t have a VC fund or an ad agency. She has a message, a mission, and the courage to put Bitcoin on the ballot.

If that resonates, help her. Not just by donating — though here’s the link:

https://geyser.fund/project/maya2025/

But by sharing. Writing. Talking. Translating. Connecting.

Bitcoin is still early. But it’s not abstract anymore.

This isn’t just theory.

It’s a protocol, sure. But now, maybe it’s a presidency too.

https://i.nostr.build/0luYy8ojK7gkxsuL.png

@ 7d33ba57:1b82db35

Preko is a charming seaside town on Ugljan Island, just a short ferry ride from Zadar. Known for its beautiful beaches, relaxed atmosphere, and stunning views of the Adriatic, it's the perfect place to experience authentic Dalmatian island life.

🌊 Top Things to See & Do in Preko

1️⃣ Swim at Jaz Beach 🏖️

• A Blue Flag beach with clear turquoise waters and soft pebbles.
• Ideal for families thanks to its shallow waters.
• Nearby cafés and restaurants make it a great spot to spend the day.

2️⃣ Visit the Islet of Galevac 🏝️

• A tiny island just 80 meters from Preko, reachable by swimming or a short boat ride.
• Home to a 15th-century Franciscan monastery, surrounded by lush greenery.
• A peaceful retreat, perfect for relaxation.

3️⃣ Hike to St. Michael’s Fortress (Sv. Mihovil) 🏰

• A medieval fortress from the 13th century with breathtaking panoramic views.
• Overlooks Zadar, Kornati Islands, and the Adriatic Sea.
• A 1-hour scenic hike from Preko or accessible by bike or car.

4️⃣ Explore the Local Taverns & Seafood Restaurants 🍽️

• Try fresh seafood, octopus salad, and Dalmatian peka (slow-cooked meat & vegetables).
• Best spots: Konoba Roko (authentic seafood) & Vile Dalmacija (beachfront dining).

5️⃣ Rent a Bike or Scooter 🚲

• Explore Ugljan Island’s olive groves, hidden coves, and coastal paths.
• Visit nearby villages like Kali and Kukljica for more local charm.

6️⃣ Take a Day Trip to Zadar ⛵

• Just 25 minutes by ferry, Zadar offers historic landmarks, the Sea Organ, and Roman ruins.
• Perfect for a cultural excursion before returning to the peaceful island.

🚗 How to Get to Preko

🚢 By Ferry:
- From Zadar: Regular ferries (Jadrolinija) take ~25 minutes.
🚘 By Car:
- If driving, take the ferry from Zadar to Preko and explore the island.
🚴 By Bike:
- Many visitors rent bikes to explore Ugljan Island’s coastal roads.

💡 Tips for Visiting Preko

✅ Best time to visit? May–September for warm weather & swimming 🌞
✅ Ferry schedules – Check times in advance, especially in the off-season ⏳
✅ Bring cash – Some smaller taverns and cafés may not accept cards 💰
✅ Stay for sunset – The views over Zadar from Preko’s waterfront are stunning 🌅

Would you like hotel recommendations, hidden beaches, or other island activities? 😊

@ 8dac122d:0fc98d37

UNOFFICIAL SHOPFRONT

I really enjoyed @plebpoet new craft playing with paper and delivering a weekly zine for us! Such great idea!

@k00b decided to sell the physical printed copies online with zaprite. A fair and understandable decision after a thoughtful examination on how to easily self-host of a basic ecommerce store that accepts bitcoin.

Anyhow, we're still missing an ecommerce shopfront, and I though, why not test with this ~AGORA marketplace thing we got here!

This post will be collecting all the issue weekly, including (when available) direct links to: - the original announcement here on SN - the digital versions for screen readers, - the PDF booklet file, for those willing to print the file themselves, - the link to zaprite to acquire the printed zine with fiat or sats, delivered worldwide to you via post.

I'll add a comment below for each issue.

LFG @SN!

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/928207

@ fe9e99a0:5123e9a8

What’s happening?

@ 7d33ba57:1b82db35

Krka National Park, located in central Dalmatia, is one of Croatia’s most breathtaking natural wonders. Famous for its stunning waterfalls, crystal-clear lakes, and lush forests, the park is a must-visit for nature lovers. Unlike Plitvice Lakes, Krka allows swimming in certain areas, making it a perfect summer escape.

🌊 Top Things to See & Do in Krka National Park

1️⃣ Skradinski Buk Waterfall 💦

• The largest and most famous waterfall in the park, with cascading pools and wooden walkways.
• You used to be able to swim here, but since 2021, swimming is no longer allowed.
• Perfect for photography and picnics.

2️⃣ Roški Slap Waterfall 🌿

• A less crowded but equally beautiful series of waterfalls.
• Known for its "necklace" of small cascades leading into the main fall.
• Nearby Mlinica, a restored watermill, shows traditional Croatian life.

3️⃣ Visovac Island & Monastery 🏝️

• A tiny island in the middle of the Krka River, home to a Franciscan monastery from the 15th century.
• Accessible by boat tour from Skradinski Buk or Roški Slap.
• A peaceful, scenic spot with stunning views of the lake.

4️⃣ Krka Monastery 🏛️

• A Serbian Orthodox monastery hidden deep in the park.
• Built on ancient Roman catacombs, which you can explore.
• A quiet, spiritual place, often overlooked by tourists.

5️⃣ Hike & Walk the Nature Trails 🥾

• The park has several well-marked trails through forests, waterfalls, and lakes.
• Wooden walkways allow easy access to the main sights.
• Wildlife spotting: Look out for otters, turtles, and over 200 bird species!

6️⃣ Swim at Skradin Beach 🏖️

• While you can’t swim at Skradinski Buk anymore, Skradin Beach, just outside the park, is a great spot for a dip.
• Kayaking and boat tours available.

🚗 How to Get to Krka National Park

✈️ By Air: The nearest airport is Split (SPU), 1 hour away.
🚘 By Car:
- Split to Krka: ~1 hour (85 km)
- Zadar to Krka: ~1 hour (75 km)
- Dubrovnik to Krka: ~3.5 hours (280 km)
🚌 By Bus: Direct buses from Split, Zadar, and Šibenik to the park’s entrances.
🚢 By Boat: From Skradin, you can take a boat ride into the park.

💡 Tips for Visiting Krka National Park

✅ Best time to visit? Spring & early autumn (April–June, September–October) – Fewer crowds & mild weather 🍃
✅ Start early! Arrive before 10 AM to avoid crowds, especially in summer ☀️
✅ Bring water & snacks – Limited food options inside the park 🍎
✅ Wear comfy shoes – Wooden walkways & trails can be slippery 👟
✅ Take a boat tour – The best way to see Visovac Island & hidden spots ⛵
✅ Buy tickets online – Save time at the entrance 🎟️

@ da0b9bc3:4e30a4a9

It's Finally here Stackers!

It's Friday!

We're about to kick off our weekends with some feel good tracks.

Let's get the party started. Bring me those Feel Good tracks.

Let's get it!

https://youtu.be/r1ATFedwjnk?si=tPtLac6ExYZCx3Ez

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/928119

@ 3c389c8f:7a2eff7f

There is a new web being built on Nostr. At it's core, is a social experience paralleled by no other decentralized protocol. Nostr not only solves the problems of siloed relationships, third-party identity ownership, and algorithmic content control; it makes possible a ubiquitous social network across almost anything imaginable. User controlled identity, open data, and verifiable social graphs allow us to redefine trust on the web. We can interact with each other and online content in ways that have previously only been pipedreams. Nostr is not just social media, it is the web made social.

Interoperability

The client/relay relationship on Nostr allows for almost endless data exchange between various apps, clients, relays, and users. If any two things are willing to speak the same sub-protocol(s) within Nostr, they can exchange data. Making a friend list enables that list to be used in any other place that chooses to make it available. Creating a relay to serve an algorithmic social feed makes that feed viewable in any client that displays social feeds. Health data held by a patient can be shared with any care provider, verified by their system, and vice versa. This is the point where I have to acknowledge my own tech-deaf limitations and direct you towards nostr.com for more information.

Data Resiliency

I prefer to use the term resiliency here, because its really a mix of data redundancy and self-managed data that creates broad availability. Relays may host 10, 20, 30+ copies of your notes in different locations, but you also have no assurance that those relays will hosts those notes forever. An individual operating their own relay, while also connecting to the wider network, ensures resiliency in events such that wide swaths of the network should disappear or collude against an individual. The simplicity of relay management makes it possible for nearly anyone to make sure that they have a way to convey their messages to their individual network, whether that be close contacts, an audience, or one individual. This resiliency doesn't just apply to typical speech, it applies to any data intended to be shared amongst humans and machines alike.

Pseudonymity and Anonymity

With privacy encroachment from corporations, advertisers, and governments reaching all time highs, the need for identity protecting tools is also on the rise. Nostr utilizes public key encryption for its identity system. As there is no central entity to "verify" you, there is no need to expose any personal identifiable information to any Nostr app, client, or relay. You can protect your personal identity by simply choosing not to expose it. Your reputation will build as you interact with others on the Nostr network. Your social capital can speak for itself. (As with everything else, utilizing a VPN is recommended.)

Identity and Provability

No one can stop an impersonator from trying to hijack an identity. With Nostr, you CAN prove that you are you, though, which is basically the same as saying "that person is not me" Every note you write, every action you take, is cryptographically signed by your private key. As long as you maintain control of that key, you can prove what you did or did not do.

Censorship Resistance

If you have read our Relay Rundown then you probably get the idea. If not here's the tl;dr: Many small, lightweight relays make up Nostr's distribution system. They are simple enough that anyone can run one. They are redundant enough that you can be almost certain your content exists somewhere. If that is not peace of mind enough, you can run your own with ease. Censorship resistance isn't counting on one company, man, or server to protect what you say. It is taking control of your speech. Nostr makes it easy.

Freedom of Mind and Association

Nostr eliminates the need for company run algorithms that high-jack your attention to feed the advertising industry. You are free to choose your social media experience. Nostr's DVMs, curations, and conversation-centered relays offer discovery mechanisms run by any number of providers. That could be an individual, a company, a group, or you. Many clients incorporate different ways of engaging with these corporate algorithm alternatives. You can also choose to keep a purely chronological feed of the the things and people you follow. Exploring Nostr through its many apps opens up a the freedom to choose what and how you feed your mind.

When we are able to explore, we end up surrounding ourselves with people who share our interests & hobbies. We find friends. This creates distance between ideologies and stark beliefs that often are used as the basis for the term "being in a bubble". Instead of bubbling off, an infinitely open space of thoughts and ideas allows for groups to gather naturally. In this way, we can choose not to block ourselves off from opposing views but to simply distance ourselves from them.

Nostr's relay system also allows for the opposite. Tight-knit communities can create a space for its members to socialize and exchange information with minimal interference from any outside influence. By setting up their own relays with strict rules, the members can utilize one identity to interact within a community or across the broader social network.

@ 0d6c8388:46488a33

Huge thank you to OpenSats for the grant to work on Hypernote this year! I thought I'd take this opportunity to try and share my thought processes for Hypernote. If this all sounds very dense or irrelevant to you I'm sorry!

===

How can the ideas of "hypermedia" benefit nostr? That's the goal of hypernote. To take the best ideas from "hypertext" and "hypercard" and "hypermedia systems" and apply them to nostr in a specifically nostr-ey way.

1. What do we mean by hypermedia

A hypermedia document embeds the methods of interaction (links, forms, and buttons are the most well-known hypermedia controls) within the document itself. It's including the how with the what.

This is how the old web worked. An HTML page was delivered to the web browser, and it included in it a link or perhaps a form that could be submitted to obtain a new, different HTML page. This is how the whole web worked early on! Forums and GeoCities and eBay and MySpace and Yahoo! and Amazon and Google all emerged inside this paradigm.

A web browser in this paradigm was a "thin" client which rendered the "thick" application defined in the HTML (and, implicitly, was defined by the server that would serve that HTML).

Contrast this with modern app development, where the what is usually delivered in the form of JSON, and then HTML combined with JavaScript (React, Svelte, Angular, Vue, etc.) is devised to render that JSON as a meaningful piece of hypermedia within the actual browser, the how.

The browser remains a "thin" client in this scenario, but now the application is delivered in two stages: a client application of HTML and JavaScript, and then the actual JSON data that will hydrate that "application".

(Aside: it's interesting how much "thicker" the browser has had to become to support this newer paradigm!)

Nostr was obviously built in line with the modern paradigm: nostr "clients" (written in React or Svelte or as mobile apps) define the how of reading and creating nostr events, while nostr events themselves (JSON data) simply describe the what.

And so the goal with Hypernote is to square this circle somehow: nostr currently delivers JSON what, how do we deliver the how with nostr as well. Is that even possible?

2. Hypernote's design assumptions

Hypernote assumes that hypermedia over nostr is a good idea! I'm expecting some joyful renaissance of app expression similar to that of the web once we figure out how to express applications in a truly "nostr" way.

Hypernote was also deeply inspired by HTMX, so it assumes that building web apps in the HTMX style is a good idea. The HTMX insight is that instead of shipping rich scripting along with your app, you could simply make HTML a tiny bit more expressive and get 95% of what most apps need. HTMX's additions to the HTML language are designed to be as minimal and composable as possible, and Hypernote should have the same aims.

Hypernote also assumes that the "design" of nostr will remain fluid and anarchic for years to come. There will be no "canonical" list of "required" NIPs that we'll have "consensus" on in order to build stable UIs on top of. Hypernote will need to be built responsive to nostr's moods and seasons, rather than one holy spec.

Hypernote likes the nak command line tool. Hypernote likes markdown. Hypernote likes Tailwind CSS. Hypernote likes SolidJS. Hypernote likes cold brew coffee. Hypernote is, to be perfectly honest, my aesthetic preferences applied to my perception of an opportunity in the nostr ecosystem.

3. "What's a hypernote?"

Great question. I'm still figuring this out. Everything right now is subject to change in order to make sure hypernote serves its intended purpose.

But here's where things currently stand:

A hypernote is a flat list of "Hypernote Elements". A Hypernote Element is composed of:

1. CONTENT. Static or dynamic content. (the what)
2. LOGIC. Filters and events (the how)
3. STYLE. Optional, inline style information specific to this element's content.

In the most basic example of a hypernote story, here's a lone "edit me" in the middle of the canvas:

{ "id": "fb4aaed4-bf95-4353-a5e1-0bb64525c08f", "type": "text", "text": "edit me", "x": 540, "y": 960, "size": "md", "color": "black" }

As you can see, it has no logic, but it does have some content (the text "edit me") and style (the position, size, and color).

Here's a "sticker" that displays a note:

{ "id": "2cd1ef51-3356-408d-b10d-2502cbb8014e", "type": "sticker", "stickerType": "note", "filter": { "kinds": [ 1 ], "ids": [ "92de77507a361ab2e20385d98ff00565aaf3f80cf2b6d89c0343e08166fed931" ], "limit": 1 }, "accessors": [ "content", "pubkey", "created_at" ], "x": 540, "y": 960, "associatedData": {} }

As you can see, it's kind of a mess! The content and styling and underdeveloped for this "sticker", but at least it demonstrates some "logic": a nostr filter for getting its data.

Here's another sticker, this one displays a form that the user can interact with to SEND a note. Very hyper of us!

{ "id": "42240d75-e998-4067-b8fa-9ee096365663", "type": "sticker", "stickerType": "prompt", "filter": {}, "accessors": [], "x": 540, "y": 960, "associatedData": { "promptText": "What's your favorite color?" }, "methods": { "comment": { "description": "comment", "eventTemplate": { "kind": 1111, "content": "${content}", "tags": [ [ "E", "${eventId}", "", "${pubkey}" ], [ "K", "${eventKind}" ], [ "P", "${pubkey}" ], [ "e", "${eventId}", "", "${pubkey}" ], [ "k", "${eventKind}" ], [ "p", "${pubkey}" ] ] } } } }

It's also a mess, but it demos the other part of "logic": methods which produce new events.

This is the total surface of hypernote, ideally! Static or dynamic content, simple inline styles, and logic for fetching and producing events.

I'm calling it "logic" but it's purposfully not a whole scripting language. At most we'll have some sort of jq-like language for destructing the relevant piece of data we want.

My ideal syntax for a hypernote as a developer will look something like

```foo.hypernote Nak-like logic

Markdown-like content

CSS-like styles ```

But with JSON as the compile target, this can just be my own preference, there can be other (likely better!) ways of authoring this content, such as a Hypernote Stories GUI.

The end

I know this is all still vague but I wanted to get some ideas out in the wild so people understand the through line of my different Hypernote experiments. I want to get the right amount of "expressivity" in Hypernote before it gets locked down into one spec. My hunch is it can be VERY expressive while remaining simple and also while not needing a whole scripting language bolted onto it. If I can't pull it off I'll let you know.

@ a012dc82:6458a70d

In an audacious display of confidence, Bitcoin traders have recently committed $20 million to a $200K call option, a move that has reignited discussions about the cryptocurrency's potential and the broader market's appetite for risk. This development is set against a backdrop of increasing activity within the cryptocurrency options market, particularly on platforms like Deribit, where total open interest in Bitcoin options has reached unprecedented levels. This article explores the nuances of this strategic wager, examines the resurgence of investor enthusiasm, and contemplates the future implications for Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market at large.

Table of Contents

• A Surge in Market Activity

• The Bold Bet on Bitcoin's Future

• Implications of the $200K Call Option

  • Increased Market Volatility

  • Renewed Investor Confidence

  • Speculative Interest and Market Dynamics

• Looking Ahead: Bitcoin's Market Prospects

• Conclusion

• FAQs

A Surge in Market Activity

The cryptocurrency options market has experienced a significant uptick in activity, with Bitcoin and Ethereum options achieving record-breaking open interest figures. On Deribit, Bitcoin options open interest has soared to a staggering $20.4 billion, eclipsing the previous high of $14.36 billion seen in October 2021. Concurrently, Ethereum options open interest has also reached a historic peak of $11.66 billion. This pronounced increase in market activity is indicative of a growing interest among traders to either hedge their positions against potential price fluctuations or to speculate on the future price movements of these leading cryptocurrencies. The surge in options trading volume reflects a broader trend of maturation within the cryptocurrency market, as sophisticated financial instruments become increasingly utilized by a diverse array of market participants, from individual investors to large institutional players.

The Bold Bet on Bitcoin's Future

The decision by traders to allocate $20 million to a $200K call option for Bitcoin represents a significant vote of confidence in the cryptocurrency's future price trajectory. This high-stakes gamble suggests that a segment of the market is not only optimistic about Bitcoin's potential to breach the $200,000 threshold but is also willing to back this belief with substantial financial commitment. Such a move is emblematic of the "animal spirits" returning to the cryptocurrency market—a term coined by economist John Maynard Keynes to describe the instinctive human emotion that drives consumer confidence and investment decisions. This resurgence of speculative fervor and risk-taking behavior is a testament to the enduring allure of Bitcoin as an asset class that continues to captivate the imagination of investors, despite its history of volatility and regulatory challenges.

Implications of the $200K Call Option

The substantial investment in the $200K call option carries several implications for the Bitcoin market and the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem:

Increased Market Volatility

The focus on high strike price options could introduce heightened volatility into the Bitcoin market. As traders position themselves to capitalize on potential price movements, the market may witness more pronounced fluctuations. This environment of increased volatility underscores the speculative nature of cryptocurrency trading and the high-risk, high-reward strategies employed by some market participants. It also highlights the need for investors to approach the market with caution, armed with a thorough understanding of the underlying risks and a clear investment strategy.

Renewed Investor Confidence

The bold wager on the $200K call option reflects a significant resurgence in investor confidence in Bitcoin's long-term prospects. Following periods of market downturns and regulatory uncertainty, this move signals a renewed conviction in the fundamental value proposition of Bitcoin as a pioneering digital asset. It represents a collective belief in the cryptocurrency's ability to not only recover from past setbacks but to chart new territories in terms of price and market capitalization. This renewed investor confidence may serve as a catalyst for further investment in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, potentially driving up prices and encouraging more widespread adoption.

Speculative Interest and Market Dynamics

The commitment to the $200K call option highlights the continued influence of speculative interest on the cryptocurrency market's dynamics. It illustrates how speculation, driven by the prospect of outsized returns, remains a central force shaping market trends and price trajectories. This speculative interest, while contributing to market liquidity and price discovery, also introduces an element of unpredictability. It underscores the complex interplay between market sentiment, investor behavior, and external economic factors that collectively determine the direction of the cryptocurrency market.

Looking Ahead: Bitcoin's Market Prospects

The strategic bet on the $200K call option, amidst a backdrop of increasing options market activity, paints a complex picture of Bitcoin's future. While the move signals optimism and a willingness among investors to engage in high-risk speculation, it also raises questions about the sustainability of such bullish sentiment. As Bitcoin continues to navigate the evolving landscape of digital finance, the interplay between speculative interest, regulatory developments, and technological advancements will be critical in shaping its future trajectory. The cryptocurrency market's inherent volatility and unpredictability necessitate a cautious approach from investors, emphasizing the importance of risk management and long-term strategic planning.

Conclusion

Bitcoin's latest foray into high-stakes speculation, marked by the $20 million lock on the $200K call option, is a vivid illustration of the cryptocurrency's enduring appeal and the market's appetite for risk. This development not only reflects a bullish outlook on Bitcoin's price potential but also signals a broader resurgence of investor enthusiasm and speculative activity within the cryptocurrency market. As we look to the future, the outcomes of such bold moves will undoubtedly influence the trajectory of Bitcoin and the digital asset landscape at large. Whether Bitcoin will reach the lofty heights of $200,000 remains to be seen, but its journey there will be closely watched by traders, investors, and regulators alike, offering valuable insights into the dynamics of speculative markets and the evolving role of cryptocurrencies in the global financial ecosystem.

FAQs

What does locking $20 million in a $200K call option mean for Bitcoin? Locking $20 million in a $200K call option indicates that traders are betting a significant amount of money on Bitcoin reaching or surpassing $200,000. It reflects a bullish outlook on Bitcoin's future price and a resurgence of speculative interest in the cryptocurrency market.

How does the surge in Bitcoin options market activity affect the cryptocurrency? The surge in Bitcoin options market activity, with record open interest, increases market liquidity and can lead to heightened volatility. It also signifies growing interest and participation in the cryptocurrency market, potentially influencing Bitcoin's price dynamics.

What are the implications of increased market volatility for Bitcoin investors? Increased market volatility can lead to larger price swings, presenting both opportunities and risks for investors. While it may offer the potential for higher returns, it also increases the risk of losses. Investors should approach the market with caution and consider their risk tolerance and investment strategy.

Why are investors optimistic about Bitcoin reaching $200,000? Investors' optimism about Bitcoin reaching $200,000 stems from factors such as the cryptocurrency's past performance, the upcoming Bitcoin halving event, increasing institutional adoption, and favorable macroeconomic conditions. These factors contribute to a bullish sentiment in the market.

What role do institutional investors play in the current Bitcoin market trend? Institutional investors play a significant role in the current Bitcoin market trend by bringing in substantial capital, lending credibility to the market, and influencing price movements. Their participation is seen as a sign of maturity and stability in the cryptocurrency market.

That's all for today

If you want more, be sure to follow us on:

NOSTR: croxroad@getalby.com

X: @croxroadnewsco

Instagram: @croxroadnews.co/

Youtube: @thebitcoinlibertarian

Store: https://croxroad.store

Subscribe to CROX ROAD Bitcoin Only Daily Newsletter

https://www.croxroad.co/subscribe

Get Orange Pill App And Connect With Bitcoiners In Your Area. Stack Friends Who Stack Sats link: https://signup.theorangepillapp.com/opa/croxroad

Buy Bitcoin Books At Konsensus Network Store. 10% Discount With Code “21croxroad” link: https://bitcoinbook.shop?ref=21croxroad

DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.

@ 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!

Financial Atheism

“Don’t trust, verify” is a common saying amongst bitcoiners that represents a sound attitude towards not only Bitcoin but all human power structures. In order to understand Bitcoin, one must admit that everything in society is man-made. Every civilization, every religion, every constitution, and every law is a product of human imagination. It wasn’t until as late as the 17th century that the scientific method started to become the dominant practice for describing how the world actually worked. Peer-to-peer review and repeated testing of a hypothesis are still quite recent human practices. Before this, we were basically just guessing and trusting authorities to a large extent. We still do this today, and despite our progress over the last couple of centuries, we still have a long way to go. Our brains are hardwired to follow the leader of the pack. The human brain is born with a plethora of cognitive biases pre-installed, and we have to work very hard to overcome them. We evolved to survive in relatively small groups, and our brains are thus not really made for seeing the bigger picture. Bitcoin’s proof-of-work algorithm is constructed in such a way that it is easy to verify that computational power was sacrificed in order to approve a block of transactions and claim its reward. In this way, no trust in any authority is required as it is relatively trivial to test the validity of a block and the transactions it contains. This is nothing short of a complete reimagining of how human society ought to be governed. The beauty of mathematics governs the Bitcoin system. Everything that ever happens in Bitcoin is open and verifiable to everyone, even to those who are not yet using it.

After the tragic events of 9/11 in 2001, Sam Harris started writing his book The End of Faith, which happened to be released around the same time as Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion, Daniel Dennett's Breaking the Spell, and Christopher Hitchens’ God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. These books kick-started what, in hindsight, has often been referred to as the new atheist movement, even though there has arguably never been anything new about atheism. Atheism must almost certainly have preceded religion since religious ideas require the person holding the idea to believe a certain doctrine or story. Atheism is nothing but the rejection of ways to describe the world that are not verifiable by experimentation. A fly on the wall is probably an atheist by this definition of the word. Atheism is often accused of being just another set of beliefs, but the word itself describes what it is much better — a lack of belief in theistic ideas. It is not a code of conduct or set of rules to live your life by; it is simply the rejection of that which cannot be scientifically verified. Many people, religious people, in particular, have a hard time grasping this. If you believe that a supernatural entity created everything in everyone's life, you might not be too comfortable with a word that describes a complete rejection of what you believe created everything, including the very atheist that the word describes. The amount of different religious worldviews that exist is probably equal to the sum of all religious people on the planet, but all world views that reject these superstitious beliefs require but one word. Atheism is not the opposite of religion but is simply the lack of it.

In 2008, another sub-culture movement of unbelief was born. Let’s call it Financial Atheism — the rejection of unverifiable value claims. With the invention of Bitcoin, a way of rejecting fraudulent expressions of a token’s value was born. Those of us fortunate enough to have been born in secular countries all enjoy not having the ideas of religious demagogues dictating our lives on a daily basis. We can choose which ideas to believe in and which to reject. What we still have very limited means of choosing, however, are the ways in which we express value to each other. We’re told to use a system in which we all have a certain number of value tokens assigned to our name, either as a number on a screen or as digits on paper notes. We all live in the collective hallucination that these numbers are somehow legit and that their authenticity is not to be questioned.

A Bitcoin balance assigned to a certain Bitcoin address might seem just as questionable to a layman, but if you have a basic understanding of the hashing algorithms and game theory behind it, it’s not. At the time of writing, the hash of the latest block on the Bitcoin blockchain begins with eighteen zeros in a row. These zeros represent the Proof of Work that ensures that this block is valid and that every transaction in it actually happened. If you can grasp the concept of a hashing algorithm, and if you have an intuition about mathematics, you realize the gargantuan amount of calculating effort that went into finding this particular hash. It is simply mind-blowing. To forge a false version of a hash beginning with eighteen zeros just wouldn’t be economically viable. Of course, you can never actually know that a 51% attack or some other attempt at corrupting the blockchain hasn’t occurred, but you can know that such an attack would require more than half of the network acting against their own economic interest. Bitcoin is not something to believe in. You don’t need to trust any authority because you can validate the plausibility of its authenticity yourself. It’s the financial equivalent of atheism or unbelief. Satoshi wasn’t Jesus. Satoshi was Brian of Nazareth, telling his followers to think for themselves.

The first law of thermodynamics, also known as the Law of Conservation of Energy, states that energy cannot be created or destroyed in an isolated system. The second law states that the entropy of any isolated system always increases, and the third law states that the entropy of a system approaches a constant value as the temperature approaches absolute zero. In the Bitcoin network, participants known as miners compete for new Bitcoin in a lottery with very fixed rules. The more hashing power (computing power) a miner contributes to the network, the higher his chances of winning the block reward, a specific amount of Bitcoin that is halved every four years. The difficulty of this lottery - in other words, the miner’s chance of winning it — is re-calibrated every 2016th block so that the average time it takes to find the next block is always roughly ten minutes. What this system produces is absolute scarcity; the amount of Bitcoin in existence at any moment in time is always predictable. The more time that passes, the slower the rate of coin issuance and the block reward slowly approaches zero. By the time it does, around the year 2140, the individual miner’s incentive to mine for a reward will, at least theoretically, have been replaced by an incentive to collect transaction fees from the participants of the network. Even now, the sum of all fees make up a non-trivial part of the miners’ revenue. Yet from a user’s point of view the fees are still very low, and as the network scales up using Layer 2 solutions such as the Lightning Network, they’re expected to remain low for quite a long time ahead.

Absolute scarcity is a concept that mankind has never encountered before. Arguably, this makes it the first man-made concept to ever be directly linked to the laws of physics. Everything anyone does requires a certain amount of energy. The very word doing implies that some kind of movement, some type of energy expenditure, needs to occur. As mentioned earlier, how we value things is entirely subjective. Different actions are of different value to different people. How we value different things is also inevitably linked to the supply of those things. Had the trapped-under-ice winter diver mentioned in chapter one been equipped with a scuba tank, he probably wouldn't have thought of his next breath as such a precious thing. The price a person is willing to pay for a good — in other words, the sum of one or more person’s actions — can be derived from two basic variables: The highly subjective demand for the good and the always-constrained-by-time-and-space supply of that same good. Note that if supply is sufficiently limited, there only needs to be a minimal amount of demand for a good for its price to increase.

One could argue that no one needs Bitcoin and that, therefore, Bitcoin would have no intrinsic value. One could also argue that there’s no such thing as intrinsic value since demand is always subjective. In any case, there will always be a cost to mine Bitcoin, and the more mining power in the network, the higher that cost. This cost, ensured by the Bitcoin network’s Proof-Of-Work algorithm, is probably as close to a pure energy cost as the price of a human activity will ever get. Once the mining rig is in place, a simple conversion process follows — energy in, scarce token out. Should the cost of production exceed the current price of the token, the miner can just choose not to sell, thereby limiting the supply of Bitcoin in circulation even more and eventually selling them for other goods whenever he sees fit. In this sense, Bitcoin is a battery. Perhaps the best battery ever invented.

Storing and moving electrical energy around has always been costly and wasteful. Bitcoin offers a way of converting energy into a small part of a specific number. A mathematical battery, if you will. It is important to remember that it does not convert energy into value directly, but rather electricity into digital scarcity — digital scarcity that can be used to express value. Energy cannot be created or destroyed in an isolated system, as the first law of thermodynamics clearly states. Bitcoin can express how much energy was sacrificed in order to acquire a share of the total sum. You can also acquire Bitcoin by buying it rather than mining it, but in doing so, you also spend energy. You somehow acquired the money with which you bought the Bitcoin. You, or someone else, sacrificed time and energy somewhere. Bitcoin lets you express that you see that there’s a connection between value and scarcity by letting you sacrifice effort to claim a part of the total sum.

The excitement we so-called "Bitcoin Maximalists" feel about Bitcoin does not come primarily from the enormous gains that those who hopped early onto the freight train have been blessed with. Nor is it because we’re “in it for the technology,” as can often be heard from opponents. Those of us who preach the near-divinity of this invention do so above all because we see the philosophical impacts of absolute scarcity in a commodity. The idea of a functioning solution to the double-spending problem in computerized money is an achievement that simply can’t be ignored. By solving the double-spending problem, Satoshi also made counterfeiting impossible, which in turn makes artificial inflation impossible. The world-changing potential of this invention cannot be understated. Not in the long run.

The more you think about it, the more the thought won’t give you any peace of mind. If this experiment works, if it’s real, it will take civilization to the next level. What we don’t know is how long this will take. Right now, debates in the Bitcoin space are about Bitcoin’s functionality as a medium of exchange and its potential as a good store of value. We might be missing the point. We cannot possibly know if a type of monetary token for which you’re completely responsible, with no third-party protection, will ever become a preferred medium of exchange for most transactions. Nor can we know if the price of Bitcoin will follow the hype-cycle path that we all want it to follow so that it can become the store of value that most maximalists claim it already is. Maybe we’ve been focused on the wrong things all along. Maybe Bitcoin’s greatest strength is in its functionality as a unit of account. After all, this is all that Bitcoin does. If you own 21 Bitcoin, you own one-millionth of the world's first absolutely scarce commodity. This might not make you rich overnight, but it just might have something to do with the opportunities available to your great-great-grandchildren.

Throughout history, whenever a prehistoric human tribe invented ceremonial burial, that tribe began to expand rapidly. Why? Because as soon as you invent belief in an afterlife, you also introduce the idea of self-sacrifice on a larger scale. People who held these beliefs were much easier for a despot to manipulate and send into battle with neighboring tribes. Religious leaders can use people’s fears and superstitions to have them commit all sorts of atrocities to their fellow man, and they still do so today. Belief in a “greater good” can be the most destructive idea that can pop up in a human mind. The Nazis of World War II Germany believed that exterminating Jews was for the “greater good” of their nation’s gene pool. Belief in noble causes often comes with unintended side effects, which can have disastrous consequences.

Religious leaders, political leaders, and other power-hungry sociopaths are responsible for the greatest crimes against humanity ever committed — namely, wars. Europeans often question the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, which protects the right to bear arms, whenever a tragic school shooting occurs on the other side of the Atlantic. What everyone seems to forget is that less than a hundred years ago, Europe was at war with itself because its citizens had given too much power to their so-called leaders. The Nazis came to power in a democracy — never forget that. Our individual rights weren’t given to us by our leaders; we were born with them. Our leaders can’t give us anything; they can only force us to behave in certain ways. If we truly want to be in charge of our lives, we need to find the tools necessary to circumvent the bullshit ourselves.

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.

@ e97aaffa:2ebd765d

Nos últimos anos, tornei-me num acérrimo crítico do Euro, sobretudo da política monetária altamente expansionista realizada pelo Banco Central Europeu (BCE). Apesar de ser crítico, eu não desejo que Portugal volte a ter moeda própria.

No seguimento gráfico, é a variação do IPC de Portugal nos últimos 60 anos:

No gráfico inclui os momentos históricos, para uma melhor interpretação dos dados.

O Índice de Preços ao Consumidor (IPC) é usado para observar tendências de inflação. É calculado com base no preço médio necessário para comprar um conjunto de bens de consumo e serviços num país, comparando com períodos anteriores.

É uma ferramenta utilizada para calcular a perda de poder de compra, mas é uma métrica que é facilmente manipulada em prol dos interesses dos governos.

Análise histórica

No período marcelista, houve uma crescente inflação, devido a fatores, como os elevados custos da guerra e o fim dos acordos de Bretton Woods contribuíram para isso. Terminando com uma inflação superior a 13%.

Da Revolta dos Cravos (1974) até à adesão da CEE (atual União Europeia, UE), nos primeiros anos foram conturbados a nível político, mesmo após conquistar alguma estabilidade, em termos de política monetária foi um descalabro, com inflação entre 12% a 30% ao ano. Foi o pior momento na era moderna.

Com a entrada da CEE, Portugal ainda manteve a independência monetária, mas devido à entrada de muitos milhões de fundos europeus, essências para construir infraestrutura e desenvolver o país. Isto permitiu crescer e modernizar o país, gastando pouco dinheiro próprio, reduzindo a necessidade da expansão monetária e claro a inflação baixou.

Depois com a adesão ao Tratado de Maastricht, em 1991, onde estabeleceu as bases para a criação da União Económica e Monetária, que culminou na criação da moeda única europeia, o Euro. As bases eram bastante restritivas, os políticos portugueses foram obrigados a manter uma inflação baixa. Portugal perdeu a independência monetária em 1999, com a entrada em vigor da nova moeda, foi estabelecida a taxa de conversão entre escudos e euros, tendo o valor de 1 euro sido fixado em 200,482 escudos. A Euro entrou em vigor em 1999, mas o papel-moeda só entrou em circulação em 2002.

Assim, desde a criação até 2020, a inflação foi sempre abaixo de 5% ao ano, tendo um longo período abaixo dos 3%.

A chegada da pandemia, foi um descalabro no BCE, a expansão monetária foi exponencial, resultando numa forte subida no IPC, quase 8% em 2022, algo que não acontecia há 30 anos.

Conclusão

Apesar dos últimos anos, a política monetária do BCE tem sido péssima, mesmo assim continua a ser muito melhor, se esta fosse efetuada em exclusividade por portugueses, não tenho quaisquer dúvidas disso. O passado demonstra isso, se voltarmos a ser independentes monetariamente, será desastroso, vamos virar rapidamente, a Venezuela da Europa.

Até temos boas reservas de ouro, mas mesmo assim não são suficientes, mesmo que se inclua outros ativos para permitir a criação de uma moeda lastreada, ela apenas duraria até à primeira crise. É inevitável, somos um país demasiado socialista.

A solução não é voltar ao escudo, mas sim o BCE deixar de imprimir dinheiro, como se não houvesse amanhã ou então optar por uma moeda total livre, sem intromissão de políticos.

O BCE vai parar de expandir a moeda?

Claro que não, eles estão encurralados, a expansão monetária é a única solução para elevada dívida soberana dos estados. A única certeza que eu tenho, a expansão do BCE, será sempre inferior ao do Banco de Portugal, se este estivesse o botão da impressão à sua disposição. Por volta dos 5% é muito mau, mas voltar para a casa dos 15% seria péssimo, esse seria o nosso destino.

É muito triste ter esta conclusão, isto é demonstrativo da falta de competência dos políticos e governantes portugueses e o povo também tem uma certa culpa. Por serem poucos exigentes em relação à qualidade dos políticos que elegem e por acreditar que existem almoços grátis.

Bitcoin fixes this

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

I'm short on time this morning, so I'm just plagiarizing @grayruby's notes, with minor revisions.

Territory Things:

• March Madness Points Challenge https://stacker.news/items/924541/r/Undisciplined
• IPL T20k Mania https://stacker.news/items/920125/r/Undisciplined
• CricZap https://stacker.news/items/919957/r/Undisciplined
• USA vs World https://stacker.news/items/923533/r/Undisciplined
• Any changes to NBA Prediction contest for March? (post coming today)
• Stackers voted to delay MLB Survivor

NCAA:

• How many 1 seeds will make final four?
• Cooper Flagg is the consensus number 1 but will he be a great NBA player?

NFL:

• Rule change proposals: Ban the tush push and make dynamic kickoff permanent

NBA;

• Pre playoffs Power Rankings

Blok'd Shots:

• Ovi with 6 to go

MLB:

• opening day finally arrived
• American League is a crap shoot
• Fantasy MLB

Betting:

• predyx markets
• Betplay- didn't work for me but how are you liking it?

And, as we do every week, we'll share an awesome @Aardvark sports fact.

What are we missing?

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/927714

@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1

Bitcoin.design community is organizing another Designathon, from May 4-18. Let's get creative with bitcoin together. More to come very soon.

The first edition was a bursting success! the website still there https://events.bitcoin.design, and here their previous announcement.

Look forward for this to happen!

Spread the voice:

N: https://njump.me/nevent1qqsv9w8p93tadlnyx0rkhexj5l48l... X: https://x.com/bitcoin_design/status/1905547407405768927

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/927650

@ 7d33ba57:1b82db35

Girona, one of Catalonia’s most charming cities, is a perfect mix of history, culture, and gastronomy. Famous for its well-preserved medieval old town, colorful houses along the Onyar River, and Game of Thrones filming locations, Girona is a must-visit destination in northern Spain.

🏰 Top Things to See & Do in Girona

1️⃣ Girona Cathedral (Catedral de Santa Maria) ⛪

• One of Spain’s most impressive cathedrals, with the widest Gothic nave in the world.
• Famous as the Great Sept of Baelor in Game of Thrones.
• Climb the steps for a breathtaking city view.

2️⃣ Walk the Medieval Walls (Passeig de la Muralla) 🏰

• Offers panoramic views of Girona and the surrounding countryside.
• A great way to see the city from above and explore its medieval history.

3️⃣ The Colorful Houses of the Onyar River 🌉

• Girona’s most iconic view, with brightly colored houses reflecting on the river.
• Best viewed from the Pont de les Peixateries Velles, designed by Gustave Eiffel.

4️⃣ Explore the Jewish Quarter (El Call) 🏡

• One of Europe’s best-preserved Jewish quarters, with narrow, medieval streets.
• Visit the Museum of Jewish History to learn about Girona’s Jewish heritage.

5️⃣ Arab Baths (Banys Àrabs) 🏛️

• A 12th-century Romanesque bathhouse, inspired by Moorish architecture.
• Features a beautiful central dome with columns.

6️⃣ Game of Thrones Filming Locations 🎬

• Walk in the footsteps of Arya Stark through the city’s winding streets.
• Visit the steps of the cathedral, the Jewish Quarter, and Arab Baths, all featured in the series.

7️⃣ Eat at a Michelin-Starred Restaurant 🍽️

• Girona is home to El Celler de Can Roca, a 3-Michelin-star restaurant, ranked among the best in the world.
• Try local Catalan dishes like "suquet de peix" (fish stew) and botifarra (Catalan sausage).

🚗 How to Get to Girona

✈️ By Air: Girona-Costa Brava Airport (GRO) is 20 min away, with budget flights from Europe.
🚆 By Train: High-speed AVE trains connect Barcelona (38 min), Madrid (3.5 hrs), and Paris (5.5 hrs).
🚘 By Car: 1 hr from Barcelona, 40 min from Figueres (Dalí Museum).
🚌 By Bus: Direct buses from Barcelona and the Costa Brava.

💡 Tips for Visiting Girona

✅ Best time to visit? Spring & autumn (April–June & September–October) for pleasant weather. 🌤️
✅ Wear comfortable shoes – The old town is hilly with cobblestone streets. 👟
✅ Try xuixo – A delicious cream-filled pastry, unique to Girona. 🥐
✅ Visit early for Game of Thrones spots – They get crowded during the day! 🎥
✅ Take a day trip – Explore nearby Costa Brava beaches or Figueres (Dalí Museum). 🏖️

@ a60e79e0:1e0e6813

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

When most people stumble across Nostr, they see is as a 'decentralized social media alternative' — something akin to Twitter (X), but free from corporate control. But the full name, "Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays", gives a clue that there’s more to it than just posting short messages. The 'notes' part is easy to grasp because it forms almost everyone's first touch point with the protocol. But the 'other stuff'? That’s where Nostr really gets exciting. The 'other stuff' is all the creative and experimental things people are building on Nostr, beyond simple text based notes.

Every action on Nostr is an event, a 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 to meet different purposes.

Nostr isn’t locked into a single purpose. It’s a foundation for whatever 'other stuff' you can dream up.

Types of Other Stuff

The 'other stuff' name is intentionally vague. Why? Because the possibilities of what can fall under this category are quite literally limitless. In the short time since Nostr's inception, the number of sub-categories that have been built on top of the Nostr's open protocol is mind bending. Here are a few examples:

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

Popular 'Other Stuff' Clients

Here's a short list of some of the most recent and popular apps and clients that branch outside of the traditional micro-blogging use case and leverage the openness, and interoperability that Nostr can provide.

Blogging (Long Form Content)

• Habla - Web app for Nostr based blogs
• Highlighter - Web app that enables users to highlight, store and share content

Group Chats

• Chachi Chat - Relay-based (NIP-29) group chat client
• 0xchat - Mobile based secure chat
• Flotilla - Web based chat app built for self-hosted communities
• Nostr Nests - Web app for audio chats
• White Noise - Mobile based secure chat

Marketplaces

• Shopstr - Permissionless marketplace for web
• Plebeian Market - Permissionless marketplace for web
• LNBits Market - Permissionless marketplace for your node
• Mostro - Nostr based Bitcoin P2P Marketplace

Photo/Video

• Olas - An Intragram like client
• Freeflow - A TikTok like client

Music

• Fountain - Podcast app with Nostr features
• Wavlake - A music app supporting the value-for-value ecosystem

Livestreaming

• Zap.stream - Nostr native live streams

Misc

• Wikifreedia - Nostr based Wikipedia alternative
• Wikistr - Nostr based Wikipedia alternative
• Pollerama - Nostr based polls
• Zap Store - The app store powered by your social graph

The 'other stuff' in Nostr is what makes it special. It’s not just about replacing Twitter or Facebook, it’s about building a decentralized ecosystem where anything from private chats to marketplaces can thrive. 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!

You can explore the evergrowing 'other stuff' ecosystem at NostrApps.com, Nostr.net and Awesome Nostr.

@ 45c41f21:c5446b7a

“区块链行业究竟是在做什么？”——这个问题我到现在还没有想得很清楚。谈论起来可以说很多东西，“确权”、“让每一个比特都有了稀缺性”、“数字黄金”、“点对点支付”，但是具体到了行业落地，又容易陷入“赌场”这个有点乌烟瘴气的现实。

但我想有一点是比较明确的，那就是区块链行业肯定是一个围绕资产的行业。这些资产又跟传统的资产很不一样，最简单的特征是它们都是一个个的代币，通过自动化和可验证的代码铸造、控制，我们可以统称为链上资产。从比特币、以太坊到现在，这中间不管过去了多少不同的周期和浪潮，核心不变的都是出现新一轮受追捧的资产。

既然区块链是关于链上资产的行业，那么最重要的是未来会出现什么新的资产，有什么样的新资产会上链。要回答这个问题，又要我们回过头去看看，从行业诞生至今，区块链留下了哪些有意义的、没意义的，有价值的、没价值的资产。

因此，有必要讨论一下链上资产的分类。

链上资产的种类很多，但总体上我觉得可以按满足需求的不同，做一些功能性的划分。同时，抛开去中心化、抗审查等等大词，链上资产与传统资产最重要的区别可以认为是安全性的来源。传统资产在传统的社会系统和金融系统中产生，而链上资产是通过可验证代码控制的，所以它的安全性的依赖很清晰，要比现实世界简单很多。

在不同的区块链系统中，使用不同的技术（比如POW/POS），设置不同的规则，拥有不同的治理机制，都会影响安全性。“安全性”和“满足什么样的需求”之间既不是正交的，也不是完全耦合的。在不同层级的安全性之下，可能都会出现满足某一类相同需求的产品，用户使用哪种产品，只取决于自己的风险偏好。另一方面，有些需求只可能在某些特定的安全性保障下才能得到满足，比如跨国际的全球化的抗通胀价值存储。

这篇文章只讨论一些比较简单的分类，可以假设在不同的安全性保障下，每个分类都有可能出现对应的产品。有些安全性是产品内生功能的一部分，有些则完全不影响。同时，这些分类也完全是主观的看法，不一定正确，我所希望的是引发更多对资产进行讨论。

核心资产（高安全性、强需求支撑）

1. 比特币（BTC）
   • 核心价值：全球化抗通胀、抗审查的“数字黄金”。
   • 长期逻辑：全球法币超发背景下，BTC作为去中心化硬通货的需求不可替代。

这是整个行业最重要的资产。也是整个行业最核心的东西。在这个定位下，只会有一个赢者通吃。其他试图竞争的都很难生存下来。它对安全性的要求也是最高的。

经过验证的资产分类

这部分的资产可以认为是行业诞生至今，已经经过验证的、满足某真实需求、会长期存在的资产。

1. 代表优质项目的资产（股票/ICO代币/治理代币等）
   • 核心价值：类似于传统金融世界里的一级市场和二级市场。所谓的“优质”也不一定需要真实落地，可能是叙事/故事驱动，也可能有真实的现金流，但重要的是它能在市场上吸引人买卖。
   • 关键指标：团队是否持续营销和建设？生态是否增长？项目是否解决实际问题？
2. DeFi 资产
   • 核心价值：链上金融系统的“基础设施工具”。
   • 需求来源：对套利、链上资产理财的需求会永远存在。
3. Meme币
   • 核心价值：营销驱动+投机需求的结合体。
   • 长期存在性：人性对暴富故事的追逐不会消失（如Pump.fun、SHIB）。
4. 稳定币
   • 核心价值：加密货币世界的“支付货币”。
   • 需求刚性：交易媒介、避险工具、跨境支付（如USDT、USDC）。

在不同的安全性保障下，上面这些资产大部分都会有对应的产品。

比如稳定币在安全性上可以有中心化的 USDT ，也有去中心化的算法稳定币。理论上，安全性对稳定币是非常重要的。但现实中，“流动性”可能才是给用户传达“这东西到底安不安全“的产品特点，也是比较主要的竞争点。

Meme 则完全不需要安全性，所以对创业者来说在哪里做都差不多。哪里用户更多就适合去哪里。有时，安全性反而是它的阻碍。DeFi 的话，因人而异。安全性高低是否影响用户使用，完全取决于用户自己的风险偏好。

还未经过验证的资产（需求可能存在）

• NFT（收藏品）？ 艺术、身份标识、游戏道具的数字化载体，但流动性差、炒作属性也不见得有 Meme 这么强。会长期存在吗？打个问号。
• DAO（准入/治理代币）？ 去中心化组织的准入权/管理权通证，依赖 DAO 本身的价值和实际治理参与度决定的价值。DeFi DAO 可能是唯一一个有点发展的方向，其他还非常不成熟，有待验证。
• RWA（真实世界资产代币化）？ 房产、债券等上链，需要解决法律合规与链下资产映射问题。不确定。
• 社交/游戏/内容资产 用户数据所有权货币化，还没有像样的有一些用户的产品，就更不用提形成规模经济了。
• AI 相关的资产？ 是一个变数。如果未来会有成千上万的 AI 智能体与人类共存，链上是承载他们经济系统最合适的基础设施，这里会产生什么新的资产类型？值得期待。

这里面的资产类型，很多还没有找到真实的需求，至少没有经过验证。所以长期来看它们会是区块链行业的方向吗，需要打很多问号。既然需求本身没有得到验证，那么谈安全性对它们的影响，就更加无从谈起了。

当然，这里其实还有一个更有意思的部分，可以多聊一些。也就是共同知识（法律/合同/规则/代码）这一类资产。

在应用层，共同知识尚未有代币化的尝试，也难以对其具体价值做定量分析。但如果要说有的实践，以太坊通过交易收取 gas 费和 CKB 通过 Cell 存储状态收取“押金”算是一种在底层的 generalize 的尝试。这种尝试是定量的，可验证的。

以太坊的问题是经济模型不 make sense 导致状态爆炸，ckb 相比是更简单、更明确的。但这里的问题变成了，公链需要通过区块空间的竞争来展示这一种需求是否真的成立。区块空间越紧张，需求就越大。同时安全性越高，对共同知识的保障就越强，也会体现区块空间的价值。

但另一方面，是否有开发者在上面开发应用，会更大的影响这一点。因此开发工具、开发者生态在现阶段可能更重要。

最后

写到这里，发现很多资产似乎又是老生常谈。但从满足需求和安全性两个角度来思考，算是追本溯源的尝试。现在我们面临的处境是，问题还是老的问题，答案是否有新的答案，期待更多讨论。

@ 05cdefcd:550cc264

The crypto world is full of buzzwords. One that I keep on hearing: “Bitcoin is its own asset class”.

While I have always been sympathetic to that view, I’ve always failed to understand the true meaning behind that statement.

Although I consider Bitcoin to be the prime innovation within the digital asset sector, my primary response has always been: How can bitcoin (BTC), a single asset, represent an entire asset class? Isn’t it Bitcoin and other digital assets that make up an asset class called crypto?

Well, I increasingly believe that most of crypto is just noise. Sure, it’s volatile noise that is predominately interesting for very sophisticated hedge funds, market makers or prop traders that are sophisticated enough to extract alpha – but it’s noise nonetheless and has no part to play in a long-term only portfolio of private retail investors (of which most of us are).

Over multiple market cycles, nearly all altcoins underperform Bitcoin when measured in BTC terms. Source: Tradingview

Aha-Moment: Bitcoin keeps on giving

Still, how can Bitcoin, as a standalone asset, make up an entire asset class? The “aha-moment” to answer this question recently came to me in a Less Noise More Signal interview I did with James Van Straten, senior analyst at Coindesk.

Let me paraphrase him here: “You can’t simply recreate the same ETF as BlackRock. To succeed in the Bitcoin space, new and innovative approaches are needed. This is where understanding Bitcoin not just as a single asset, but as an entire asset class, becomes essential. There are countless ways to build upon Bitcoin’s foundation—varied iterations that go beyond just holding the asset. This is precisely where the emergence of the Bitcoin-linked stock market is taking shape—and it's already underway.”

And this is actually coming to fruition as we speak. Just in the last few days, we saw several products launch in that regard.

Obviously, MicroStrategy (now Strategy) is the pioneer of this. The company now owns 506,137 BTC, and while they’ll keep on buying more, they have also inspired many other companies to follow suit.

In fact, there are now already over 70 companies that have adopted Strategy’s Bitcoin playbook. One of the latest companies to buy Bitcoin for their corporate treasury is Rumble. The YouTube competitor just announced their first Bitcoin purchase for $17 million.

Also, the gaming zombie company GameStop just announced to raise money to buy BTC for their corporate treasury.

Gamestop to make BTC their hurdle rate. Source: X

ETF on Bitcoin companies

Given this proliferation of Bitcoin Treasury companies, it was only a matter of time before a financial product tracking these would emerge.

The popular crypto index fund provider Bitwise Investments has just launched this very product called the Bitwise Bitcoin Standard Corporations ETF (OWNB).

The ETF tracks Bitcoin Treasury companies with over 1,000 BTC on their balance sheet. These companies invest in Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset to protect the $5 trillion in low-yield cash that companies in the US commonly sit on.

These are the top 10 holdings of OWNB. Source: Ownbetf

ETF on Bitcoin companies’ convertible bonds

Another instrument that fits seamlessly into the range of Bitcoin-linked stock market products is the REX Bitcoin Corporate Treasury Convertible Bond ETF (BMAX). The ETF provides exposure to the many different convertible bonds issued by companies that are actively moving onto a Bitcoin standard.

Convertible bonds are a valuable financing tool for companies looking to raise capital for Bitcoin purchases. Their strong demand is driven by the unique combination of equity-like upside and debt-like downside protection they offer.

For example, MicroStrategy's convertible bonds, in particular, have shown exceptional performance. For instance, MicroStrategy's 2031 bonds has shown a price rise of 101% over a one-year period, vastly outperforming MicroStrategy share (at 53%), Bitcoin (at 25%) and the ICE BofA U.S. Convertible Index (at 10%). The latter is the benchmark index for convertible bond funds, tracking the performance of U.S. dollar-denominated convertible securities in the U.S. market.

The chart shows a comparison of ICE BofA U.S. Convertible Index, the Bloomberg Bitcoin index (BTC price), MicroStrategy share (MSTR), and MicroStrategy bond (0.875%, March 15 203). The convertible bond has been outperforming massively. Source: Bloomberg

While the BMAX ETF faces challenges such as double taxation, which significantly reduces investor returns (explained in more detail here), it is likely that future products will emerge that address and improve upon these issues.

Bitcoin yield products

The demand for a yield on Bitcoin has increased tremendously. Consequently, respective products have emerged.

Bitcoin yield products aim to generate alpha by capitalizing on volatility, market inefficiencies, and fragmentation within cryptocurrency markets. The objective is to achieve uncorrelated returns denominated in Bitcoin (BTC), with attractive risk-adjusted performance. Returns are derived exclusively from asset selection and trading strategies, eliminating reliance on directional market moves.

Key strategies employed by these funds include:

• Statistical Arbitrage: Exploits short-term pricing discrepancies between closely related financial instruments—for instance, between Bitcoin and traditional assets, or Bitcoin and other digital assets. Traders utilize statistical models and historical price relationships to identify temporary inefficiencies.
• Futures Basis Arbitrage: Captures profits from differences between the spot price of Bitcoin and its futures contracts. Traders simultaneously buy or sell Bitcoin on spot markets and enter opposite positions in futures markets, benefiting as the prices converge.
• Funding Arbitrage: Generates returns by taking advantage of variations in Bitcoin funding rates across different markets or exchanges. Funding rates are periodic payments exchanged between long and short positions in perpetual futures contracts, allowing traders to profit from discrepancies without significant directional exposure.
• Volatility/Option Arbitrage: Seeks profits from differences between implied volatility (reflected in Bitcoin options prices) and expected realized volatility. Traders identify mispriced volatility in options related to Bitcoin or Bitcoin-linked equities, such as MSTR, and position accordingly to benefit from volatility normalization.
• Market Making: Involves continuously providing liquidity by simultaneously quoting bid (buy) and ask (sell) prices for Bitcoin. Market makers profit primarily through capturing the spread between these prices, thereby enhancing market efficiency and earning consistent returns.
• Liquidity Provision in DeFi Markets: Consists of depositing Bitcoin (usually as Wrapped BTC) into decentralized finance (DeFi) liquidity pools such as those on Uniswap, Curve, or Balancer. Liquidity providers earn fees paid by traders who execute swaps within these decentralized exchanges, creating steady yield opportunities.

Notable products currently available in this segment include the Syz Capital BTC Alpha Fund offered by Syz Capital and the Forteus Crypto Alpha Fund by Forteus.

BTC-denominated share class

A Bitcoin-denominated share class refers to a specialized investment fund category in which share values, subscriptions (fund deposits), redemptions (fund withdrawals), and performance metrics are expressed entirely in Bitcoin (BTC), rather than in traditional fiat currencies such as USD or EUR.

Increasingly, both individual investors and institutions are adopting Bitcoin as their preferred benchmark—or "Bitcoin hurdle rate"—meaning that investment performance is evaluated directly against Bitcoin’s own price movements.

These Bitcoin-denominated share classes are designed specifically for investors seeking to preserve and grow their wealth in Bitcoin terms, rather than conventional fiat currencies. As a result, investors reduce their exposure to fiat-related risks. Furthermore, if Bitcoin outperforms fiat currencies, investors holding BTC-denominated shares will experience enhanced returns relative to traditional fiat-denominated investment classes.

X: https://x.com/pahueg

Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@lessnoisemoresignalpodcast

Book: https://academy.saifedean.com/product/the-bitcoin-enlightenment-hardcover/

@ 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/927569

@ 502ab02a:a2860397

จริงหรือ ว่าโอเมก้า3 ต้องมาจากปลาทะเลเท่านั้น

มีเรื่องที่น่าสนใจเรื่องนึงครับ ถ้าพูดถึงโอเมก้า-3 หลายคนอาจนึกถึงปลาทะเลน้ำลึก เช่น แซลมอน แมคเคอเรล หรือซาร์ดีน ซึ่งเป็นแหล่งโอเมก้า-3 ที่ร่างกายใช้ได้ดี แต่ในขณะเดียวกัน ก็มีกลุ่มคนที่พยายามบริโภคโอเมก้า-3 จากพืชแทน เช่น น้ำมันเมล็ดแฟลกซ์ น้ำมันเมล็ดเจีย หรือวอลนัท โดยหวังว่าจะได้รับประโยชน์เช่นเดียวกับการกินปลา แต่ที่เราเรียนรู้กันมาว่า โอเมก้า-3 จากพืชนั้น ร่างกายมนุษย์นำไปใช้ได้น้อยมาก หรือแทบไม่ได้เลย

สาเหตุหลักมาจากรูปแบบของโอเมก้า-3 ที่พบในแหล่งต่างๆ โอเมก้า-3 มีอยู่ 3 ชนิดหลัก ได้แก่ ALA (Alpha-Linolenic Acid) – พบในพืช EPA (Eicosapentaenoic Acid) – พบในปลาทะเล DHA (Docosahexaenoic Acid) – พบในปลาทะเล

ร่างกายสามารถใช้ EPA และ DHA ได้โดยตรง แต่สำหรับ ALA นั้น ร่างกายต้องผ่านกระบวนการเปลี่ยนแปลงทางชีวเคมีก่อน ซึ่งกระบวนการนี้ไม่มีประสิทธิภาพนัก โดยทั่วไปแล้ว ALA แปลงเป็น EPA ได้เพียง 5-10% ALA แปลงเป็น DHA ได้เพียง 0.5-5% แปลว่า หากคุณกินเมล็ดแฟลกซ์หรือน้ำมันเมล็ดเจีย แม้ว่าจะมีปริมาณ ALA สูง แต่ร่างกายก็แทบไม่ได้รับ EPA และ DHA ในปริมาณที่เพียงพอเพื่อใช้ประโยชน์อย่างเต็มที่

ทำไมร่างกายแปลง ALA เป็น EPA/DHA ได้น้อย? อันแรกเลยคือ เอนไซม์จำกัด กระบวนการเปลี่ยน ALA เป็น EPA และ DHA จะใช้เอนไซม์เดียวกับการแปลงโอเมก้า-6 ซึ่งมักถูกใช้ไปกับโอเมก้า-6 ที่มากเกินไปในอาหารปัจจุบันซะแล้วนั่นเอง ต่อมาคือ กระบวนการหลายขั้นตอน การเปลี่ยน ALA เป็น DHA ต้องผ่านหลายขั้นตอนทางชีวเคมี ทำให้มีการสูญเสียพลังงานและวัตถุดิบไปมาก และสุดท้าย ปัจจัยทางพันธุกรรมและเพศ บางคน โดยเฉพาะผู้หญิง อาจมีอัตราการเปลี่ยนที่สูงกว่าผู้ชายเล็กน้อย แต่ก็ยังต่ำเมื่อเทียบกับการได้รับ EPA/DHA จากปลาหรือสาหร่ายโดยตรง

โอเมก้า-6 ตัวการขัดขวางโอเมก้า-3 จากพืช โอเมก้า-6 เป็นกรดไขมันจำเป็นที่พบมากในน้ำมันพืช เช่น น้ำมันถั่วเหลือง น้ำมันข้าวโพด และน้ำมันดอกทานตะวัน ซึ่งเป็นส่วนประกอบหลักของอาหารแปรรูปในปัจจุบัน ปัญหาคือ เอนไซม์ที่ใช้แปลง ALA ไปเป็น EPA/DHA เป็นตัวเดียวกับที่ใช้แปลงโอเมก้า-6 ไปเป็น AA (Arachidonic Acid) ซึ่งมีบทบาทในการอักเสบ หากเราบริโภคโอเมก้า-6 มากเกินไป (ซึ่งคนส่วนใหญ่ทำ5555) เอนไซม์เหล่านี้จะถูกใช้ไปกับโอเมก้า-6 มากกว่า ทำให้ ALA มีโอกาสแปลงเป็น EPA/DHA น้อยลงไปอีก

แล้วคนที่ไม่กินปลาหรือชาววีแกนควรทำอย่างไร? สำหรับคนที่ไม่สามารถหรือไม่ต้องการกินปลา ก็จะมีการบริโภคน้ำมันสาหร่ายที่มี DHA โดยตรงเป็นทางเลือกที่ดีกว่าการหวังพึ่ง ALA จากพืช เพราะ DHA จากสาหร่ายสามารถดูดซึมและใช้ได้ทันทีเหมือน DHA จากปลา

ได้ด้วยเหรอ ????? ผมเล่ากำเนิดของ DHA ในปลาให้ประมาณนี้ครับ จริง ๆ แล้ว DHA ซึ่งเป็นโอเมก้า-3 ที่ร่างกายใช้ได้โดยตรง มาจาก Docosahexaenoic Acid ที่เกิดจากกระบวนการสังเคราะห์ตามธรรมชาติ ซึ่งสาหร่ายบางสายพันธุ์ เช่น Schizochytrium และ Crypthecodinium cohnii มีเอนไซม์ที่สามารถเปลี่ยนกรดไขมันพื้นฐานให้กลายเป็น DHA ได้เองซึ่งเป็นส่วนประกอบหลักในระบบนิเวศทะเล(พืชกักเก็บไขมันได้อย่างไร ผมเคยโพสไปแล้ว) โดยเฉพาะ สาหร่ายขนาดเล็ก (microalgae) สาหร่ายจึงเป็นสิ่งมีชีวิตในทะเลพัฒนาให้มี DHA สูงเพราะ DHA เป็นส่วนประกอบสำคัญที่ช่วยรักษาความยืดหยุ่นและความสมบูรณ์ของเยื่อหุ้มเซลล์ในสาหร่าย ทำให้พวกมันสามารถดำรงชีวิตในสภาพแวดล้อมที่มีอุณหภูมิต่ำในทะเลได้

จากนั้นก็เป็นไปตามห่วงโซ่อาหารครับ ปลาและสัตว์ทะเลอื่น ๆ ได้รับ DHA จากการบริโภคสาหร่ายหรือสัตว์เล็ก ๆ ที่กินสาหร่ายมาอีกที ดังนั้น DHA ในปลาเป็นผลมาจากการสะสมจากสาหร่ายโดยตรง นี่เป็นเหตุผลว่าทำไมปลาทะเลน้ำลึก เช่น แซลมอน แมคเคอเรล และซาร์ดีน ถึงมี DHA สูงนั่นเอง งว่ออออออ

ดังนั้น เมื่อคุณกิน DHA จากสาหร่าย ก็เท่ากับว่าคุณได้รับ DHA จากต้นกำเนิดแท้จริงในระบบนิเวศทะเลครับ DHA ที่ได้มาจากสาหร่ายสามารถนำไปใช้ในร่างกายได้ทันทีโดยไม่ต้องผ่านกระบวนการเปลี่ยนแปลง เพราะมันอยู่ในรูป Triglyceride หรือ Phospholipid ซึ่งเป็นรูปแบบที่ร่างกายมนุษย์สามารถดูดซึมและนำไปใช้ได้ทันที ปลาไม่ได้แปลงโครงสร้าง DHA แต่เพียงสะสม DHA ไว้ในตัวจากการกินสาหร่าย ดังนั้นการรับประทาน DHA จากสาหร่ายก็ให้ผลเทียบเท่ากับการรับประทาน DHA จากปลา งานวิจัยหลายฉบับยืนยันว่า DHA จากสาหร่ายมีค่าการดูดซึม (Bioavailability) ใกล้เคียงกับ DHA จากน้ำมันปลา แต่หาเอาเองนะถ้าอยากอ่านฉบับเต็ม

การผลิตน้ำมันสาหร่ายนั้น เมื่อสาหร่ายเจริญเติบโตเต็มที่แล้ว เขาจะทำการเก็บเกี่ยวและสกัดน้ำมันโดยใช้เทคโนโลยีการแยกที่ทันสมัย ซึ่งช่วยรักษาให้ DHA ที่มีอยู่ในเซลล์สาหร่ายถูกเก็บรักษาไว้ในรูปแบบที่สามารถนำไปใช้ได้โดยตรง จากนั้นจะเข้าสู่การกรองหรือการปั่นแยก (centrifugation) เพื่อให้ได้มวลสาหร่ายที่เข้มข้น จากนั้นจึงทำให้แห้งเพื่อเตรียมเข้าสู่กระบวนการสกัด ซึ่งมีหลายวิธีอาทิเช่น

1 การสกัดด้วยตัวทำละลาย
ใช้ตัวทำละลาย เช่น เฮกเซน (Hexane) หรือ เอทานอล (Ethanol) เพื่อสกัดน้ำมันออกจากเซลล์สาหร่าย จากนั้นน้ำมันจะถูกนำไปกลั่นเพื่อแยกตัวทำละลายออก ทำให้ได้น้ำมันที่มีความบริสุทธิ์สูง 2. การสกัดด้วย CO₂ เหลว ใช้ คาร์บอนไดออกไซด์ในสถานะวิกฤติ (Supercritical CO₂) ซึ่งเป็นวิธีที่ทันสมัย ก๊าซ CO₂ จะถูกทำให้มีความดันสูงและอุณหภูมิที่เหมาะสมเพื่อกลายเป็นของเหลว แล้วใช้แยกน้ำมันออกจากเซลล์สาหร่าย วิธีนี้ช่วยให้ได้น้ำมันที่ ปราศจากตัวทำละลายเคมีและมีความบริสุทธิ์สูง 3. การสกัดด้วยการกดอัด หรือ Cold Pressed
เป็นวิธีที่ใช้แรงดันทางกลกดเซลล์สาหร่ายเพื่อให้ได้น้ำมันออกมา อันนี้เป็นการผลิตน้ำมันแบบออร์แกนิกเลยครับ แต่ให้ผลผลิตน้อยกว่าวิธีอื่น ๆ

น้ำมันที่ได้จากการสกัดจะผ่านการกลั่นด้วยกระบวนการต่าง ๆ เช่น Winterization กำจัดไขมันที่ไม่จำเป็น Molecular Distillation แยกสารตกค้าง เช่น โลหะหนักและสารปนเปื้อน Deodorization กำจัดกลิ่นคาวของสาหร่าย จากนั้นก็บรรจุใส่ซอฟท์เจล พร้อมจำหน่ายนั่นเองครับ

ก็ถือว่าเป็นอีกทางเลือกของชาววีแกน ที่ไม่สามารถกินปลาหรือสัตว์ทะเลได้ ก็น่าจะเฮกันดังๆได้เลยครับ จะได้มีตัวช่วยในการลดการอักเสบได้

ส่วนชาว food matrix ก็ต้องเรียนรู้ระบบครับ การกินจากปลาหรือสัตว์ทะเล ก็จะได้โปรตีน แร่ธาตุ วิตามินอื่นๆควบมากับตัวสัตว์ตามที่ธรรมชาติแพคมาให้ ถ้าจะเสริมเป็นน้ำมันสาหร่าย ก็สุดแล้วแต่ความต้องการครับ ไม่ใช่เรื่องแย่อะไร เว้นแต่ไปเทียบราคาเอาเองนะ 55555

#pirateketo #ฉลาก3รู้ #กูต้องรู้มั๊ย #ม้วนหางสิลูก #siamstr

@ a3bb06f6:19ac1b11

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will continue to direct your life, and you will call it fate.” — Carl Jung

Most people don’t realize they’ve been robbed. Not in the dramatic, wallet-snatching sense, but in a quiet, systemic way that’s gone unnoticed for generations. If you’re feeling like no matter how hard you work, you can’t get ahead… you’re not imagining it.

It didn’t start as a scheme—but one compromise after another, it became one. Now, the system exploits you by design. This isn’t fate. It’s fiat.

The Unconscious Script: How Fiat Becomes Invisible From the moment you're born, you're placed into an economic system based on government-issued fiat currency. It becomes the air you breathe. You work for dollars. You save in dollars. You price your time, your future, and even your dreams in dollars.

But few stop to ask: What actually is a dollar? Who creates it? Why does it lose value?

This lack of questioning is the unconscious state. Fiat money is the background process running your life. You feel the effects—rising prices, shrinking savings, mounting debt—but you never see the root cause. So you blame yourself. Or “the economy.” Or call it fate.

The Lie of Neutral Money: Most believe money is just a neutral tool. But fiat is not neutral—it’s political power encoded into paper.

Governments can print more of it at will. Central banks can manipulate its supply, distort interest rates, and quietly tax you through inflation. Every time more money is created, your purchasing power shrinks.

But it happens slowly, like a leak in a tire. You don’t notice at first. You just feel like you’re working harder for less. The house is further out of reach. The groceries cost more. Retirement feels impossible.

And you accept it. Because no one told you it's designed this way.

Inflation Is the Invisible Thief, Inflation isn’t just a “cost of living increase.” It’s a state-sponsored form of theft.

When new money is created, it enters the system unevenly. Those closest to the money printer—banks, governments, large corporations—get the new dollars first. By the time it reaches you, prices have already risen. You’re buying the same goods with weaker money.

And yet, most people still save in fiat. They’re taught that hoarding cash is “safe.” They’re taught that 2% inflation is “normal.” But it’s not normal to work 40 hours a week and fall behind. That’s the product of unconscious acceptance.

The fiat system survives on one thing: your ignorance. It didn’t begin with malicious intent, but over time, it adapted to protect its own power—at your expense. As long as you don’t understand how money works, you won’t resist. You’ll blame yourself, or capitalism, or bad luck. But never the system itself.

This is why financial education is never prioritized in schools. This is why questioning monetary policy is left to economists and suits on CNBC. You were never taught how it works. And now the system depends on you staying confused—grinding, borrowing, complying, without ever asking why.

Making the Unconscious Conscious: Enter Bitcoin, Bitcoin breaks this spell.

It forces you to confront the nature of money—what it is, how it’s created, and why fiat fails. It teaches you that money doesn’t need to be printed, inflated, or controlled. That money can be fixed, finite, and fair.

Bitcoin is not just a new currency. It’s a tool of consciousness. It exposes the scam of fiat and offers a lifeboat to anyone ready to wake up.

Once you understand Bitcoin, you can’t unsee the problem. You begin to ask:

Why should I trust a system that steals my time? Why is saving discouraged, but debt rewarded? Why do I need permission to use my own money? These aren’t technical questions. They’re moral ones.

Consciousness Is Sovereignty: When you understand what fiat is, you stop calling your financial struggles “fate.” You start calling them what they are, outcomes of a broken system.

And once you see the system for what it is, you can choose to exit.

Saving in Bitcoin is not speculation. It’s self-defense. It’s rejecting unconscious servitude. It’s reclaiming your time, your labor, your future.

In a fiat world, they own the money—so they own the rules. In a Bitcoin world, you own yourself.

That’s the power of making the unconscious conscious.

And that’s how you stop calling it fate.

@ fd06f542:8d6d54cd

NIP-02

Follow List

final optional

A special event with kind 3, meaning "follow list" is defined as having a list of p tags, one for each of the followed/known profiles one is following.

Each tag entry should contain the key for the profile, a relay URL where events from that key can be found (can be set to an empty string if not needed), and a local name (or "petname") for that profile (can also be set to an empty string or not provided), i.e., ["p", <32-bytes hex key>, <main relay URL>, <petname>].

The .content is not used.

For example:

jsonc { "kind": 3, "tags": [ ["p", "91cf9..4e5ca", "wss://alicerelay.com/", "alice"], ["p", "14aeb..8dad4", "wss://bobrelay.com/nostr", "bob"], ["p", "612ae..e610f", "ws://carolrelay.com/ws", "carol"] ], "content": "", // other fields... }

Every new following list that gets published overwrites the past ones, so it should contain all entries. Relays and clients SHOULD delete past following lists as soon as they receive a new one.

Whenever new follows are added to an existing list, clients SHOULD append them to the end of the list, so they are stored in chronological order.

Uses

Follow list backup

If one believes a relay will store their events for sufficient time, they can use this kind-3 event to backup their following list and recover on a different device.

Profile discovery and context augmentation

A client may rely on the kind-3 event to display a list of followed people by profiles one is browsing; make lists of suggestions on who to follow based on the follow lists of other people one might be following or browsing; or show the data in other contexts.

Relay sharing

A client may publish a follow list with good relays for each of their follows so other clients may use these to update their internal relay lists if needed, increasing censorship-resistance.

Petname scheme

The data from these follow lists can be used by clients to construct local "petname" tables derived from other people's follow lists. This alleviates the need for global human-readable names. For example:

A user has an internal follow list that says

json [ ["p", "21df6d143fb96c2ec9d63726bf9edc71", "", "erin"] ]

And receives two follow lists, one from 21df6d143fb96c2ec9d63726bf9edc71 that says

json [ ["p", "a8bb3d884d5d90b413d9891fe4c4e46d", "", "david"] ]

and another from a8bb3d884d5d90b413d9891fe4c4e46d that says

json [ ["p", "f57f54057d2a7af0efecc8b0b66f5708", "", "frank"] ]

When the user sees 21df6d143fb96c2ec9d63726bf9edc71 the client can show erin instead; When the user sees a8bb3d884d5d90b413d9891fe4c4e46d the client can show david.erin instead; When the user sees f57f54057d2a7af0efecc8b0b66f5708 the client can show frank.david.erin instead.

@ fd06f542:8d6d54cd

NIP-01

Basic protocol flow description

draft mandatory

This NIP defines the basic protocol that should be implemented by everybody. New NIPs may add new optional (or mandatory) fields and messages and features to the structures and flows described here.

Events and signatures

Each user has a keypair. Signatures, public key, and encodings are done according to the Schnorr signatures standard for the curve secp256k1.

The only object type that exists is the event, which has the following format on the wire:

jsonc { "id": <32-bytes lowercase hex-encoded sha256 of the serialized event data>, "pubkey": <32-bytes lowercase hex-encoded public key of the event creator>, "created_at": <unix timestamp in seconds>, "kind": <integer between 0 and 65535>, "tags": [ [<arbitrary string>...], // ... ], "content": <arbitrary string>, "sig": <64-bytes lowercase hex of the signature of the sha256 hash of the serialized event data, which is the same as the "id" field> }

To obtain the event.id, we sha256 the serialized event. The serialization is done over the UTF-8 JSON-serialized string (which is described below) of the following structure:

[ 0, <pubkey, as a lowercase hex string>, <created_at, as a number>, <kind, as a number>, <tags, as an array of arrays of non-null strings>, <content, as a string> ]

To prevent implementation differences from creating a different event ID for the same event, the following rules MUST be followed while serializing: - UTF-8 should be used for encoding. - Whitespace, line breaks or other unnecessary formatting should not be included in the output JSON. - The following characters in the content field must be escaped as shown, and all other characters must be included verbatim: - A line break (0x0A), use \n - A double quote (0x22), use \" - A backslash (0x5C), use \\ - A carriage return (0x0D), use \r - A tab character (0x09), use \t - A backspace, (0x08), use \b - A form feed, (0x0C), use \f

Tags

Each tag is an array of one or more strings, with some conventions around them. Take a look at the example below:

jsonc { "tags": [ ["e", "5c83da77af1dec6d7289834998ad7aafbd9e2191396d75ec3cc27f5a77226f36", "wss://nostr.example.com"], ["p", "f7234bd4c1394dda46d09f35bd384dd30cc552ad5541990f98844fb06676e9ca"], ["a", "30023:f7234bd4c1394dda46d09f35bd384dd30cc552ad5541990f98844fb06676e9ca:abcd", "wss://nostr.example.com"], ["alt", "reply"], // ... ], // ... }

The first element of the tag array is referred to as the tag name or key and the second as the tag value. So we can safely say that the event above has an e tag set to "5c83da77af1dec6d7289834998ad7aafbd9e2191396d75ec3cc27f5a77226f36", an alt tag set to "reply" and so on. All elements after the second do not have a conventional name.

This NIP defines 3 standard tags that can be used across all event kinds with the same meaning. They are as follows:

• The e tag, used to refer to an event: ["e", <32-bytes lowercase hex of the id of another event>, <recommended relay URL, optional>, <32-bytes lowercase hex of the author's pubkey, optional>]
• The p tag, used to refer to another user: ["p", <32-bytes lowercase hex of a pubkey>, <recommended relay URL, optional>]
• The a tag, used to refer to an addressable or replaceable event
  • for an addressable event: ["a", "<kind integer>:<32-bytes lowercase hex of a pubkey>:<d tag value>", <recommended relay URL, optional>]
  • for a normal replaceable event: ["a", "<kind integer>:<32-bytes lowercase hex of a pubkey>:", <recommended relay URL, optional>] (note: include the trailing colon)

As a convention, all single-letter (only english alphabet letters: a-z, A-Z) key tags are expected to be indexed by relays, such that it is possible, for example, to query or subscribe to events that reference the event "5c83da77af1dec6d7289834998ad7aafbd9e2191396d75ec3cc27f5a77226f36" by using the {"#e": ["5c83da77af1dec6d7289834998ad7aafbd9e2191396d75ec3cc27f5a77226f36"]} filter. Only the first value in any given tag is indexed.

Kinds

Kinds specify how clients should interpret the meaning of each event and the other fields of each event (e.g. an "r" tag may have a meaning in an event of kind 1 and an entirely different meaning in an event of kind 10002). Each NIP may define the meaning of a set of kinds that weren't defined elsewhere. NIP-10, for instance, especifies the kind:1 text note for social media applications.

This NIP defines one basic kind:

• 0: user metadata: the content is set to a stringified JSON object {name: <nickname or full name>, about: <short bio>, picture: <url of the image>} describing the user who created the event. Extra metadata fields may be set. A relay may delete older events once it gets a new one for the same pubkey.

And also a convention for kind ranges that allow for easier experimentation and flexibility of relay implementation:

• for kind n such that 1000 <= n < 10000 || 4 <= n < 45 || n == 1 || n == 2, events are regular, which means they're all expected to be stored by relays.
• for kind n such that 10000 <= n < 20000 || n == 0 || n == 3, events are replaceable, which means that, for each combination of pubkey and kind, only the latest event MUST be stored by relays, older versions MAY be discarded.
• for kind n such that 20000 <= n < 30000, events are ephemeral, which means they are not expected to be stored by relays.
• for kind n such that 30000 <= n < 40000, events are addressable by their kind, pubkey and d tag value -- which means that, for each combination of kind, pubkey and the d tag value, only the latest event MUST be stored by relays, older versions MAY be discarded.

In case of replaceable events with the same timestamp, the event with the lowest id (first in lexical order) should be retained, and the other discarded.

When answering to REQ messages for replaceable events such as {"kinds":[0],"authors":[<hex-key>]}, even if the relay has more than one version stored, it SHOULD return just the latest one.

These are just conventions and relay implementations may differ.

Communication between clients and relays

Relays expose a websocket endpoint to which clients can connect. Clients SHOULD open a single websocket connection to each relay and use it for all their subscriptions. Relays MAY limit number of connections from specific IP/client/etc.

From client to relay: sending events and creating subscriptions

Clients can send 3 types of messages, which must be JSON arrays, according to the following patterns:

• ["EVENT", <event JSON as defined above>], used to publish events.
• ["REQ", <subscription_id>, <filters1>, <filters2>, ...], used to request events and subscribe to new updates.
• ["CLOSE", <subscription_id>], used to stop previous subscriptions.

<subscription_id> is an arbitrary, non-empty string of max length 64 chars. It represents a subscription per connection. Relays MUST manage <subscription_id>s independently for each WebSocket connection. <subscription_id>s are not guaranteed to be globally unique.

<filtersX> is a JSON object that determines what events will be sent in that subscription, it can have the following attributes:

json { "ids": <a list of event ids>, "authors": <a list of lowercase pubkeys, the pubkey of an event must be one of these>, "kinds": <a list of a kind numbers>, "#<single-letter (a-zA-Z)>": <a list of tag values, for #e — a list of event ids, for #p — a list of pubkeys, etc.>, "since": <an integer unix timestamp in seconds. Events must have a created_at >= to this to pass>, "until": <an integer unix timestamp in seconds. Events must have a created_at <= to this to pass>, "limit": <maximum number of events relays SHOULD return in the initial query> }

Upon receiving a REQ message, the relay SHOULD return events that match the filter. Any new events it receives SHOULD be sent to that same websocket until the connection is closed, a CLOSE event is received with the same <subscription_id>, or a new REQ is sent using the same <subscription_id> (in which case a new subscription is created, replacing the old one).

Filter attributes containing lists (ids, authors, kinds and tag filters like #e) are JSON arrays with one or more values. At least one of the arrays' values must match the relevant field in an event for the condition to be considered a match. For scalar event attributes such as authors and kind, the attribute from the event must be contained in the filter list. In the case of tag attributes such as #e, for which an event may have multiple values, the event and filter condition values must have at least one item in common.

The ids, authors, #e and #p filter lists MUST contain exact 64-character lowercase hex values.

The since and until properties can be used to specify the time range of events returned in the subscription. If a filter includes the since property, events with created_at greater than or equal to since are considered to match the filter. The until property is similar except that created_at must be less than or equal to until. In short, an event matches a filter if since <= created_at <= until holds.

All conditions of a filter that are specified must match for an event for it to pass the filter, i.e., multiple conditions are interpreted as && conditions.

A REQ message may contain multiple filters. In this case, events that match any of the filters are to be returned, i.e., multiple filters are to be interpreted as || conditions.

The limit property of a filter is only valid for the initial query and MUST be ignored afterwards. When limit: n is present it is assumed that the events returned in the initial query will be the last n events ordered by the created_at. Newer events should appear first, and in the case of ties the event with the lowest id (first in lexical order) should be first. It is safe to return less events than limit specifies, but it is expected that relays do not return (much) more events than requested so clients don't get unnecessarily overwhelmed by data.

From relay to client: sending events and notices

Relays can send 5 types of messages, which must also be JSON arrays, according to the following patterns:

• ["EVENT", <subscription_id>, <event JSON as defined above>], used to send events requested by clients.
• ["OK", <event_id>, <true|false>, <message>], used to indicate acceptance or denial of an EVENT message.
• ["EOSE", <subscription_id>], used to indicate the end of stored events and the beginning of events newly received in real-time.
• ["CLOSED", <subscription_id>, <message>], used to indicate that a subscription was ended on the server side.
• ["NOTICE", <message>], used to send human-readable error messages or other things to clients.

This NIP defines no rules for how NOTICE messages should be sent or treated.

• EVENT messages MUST be sent only with a subscription ID related to a subscription previously initiated by the client (using the REQ message above).
• OK messages MUST be sent in response to EVENT messages received from clients, they must have the 3rd parameter set to true when an event has been accepted by the relay, false otherwise. The 4th parameter MUST always be present, but MAY be an empty string when the 3rd is true, otherwise it MUST be a string formed by a machine-readable single-word prefix followed by a : and then a human-readable message. Some examples:
• ["OK", "b1a649ebe8...", true, ""]
• ["OK", "b1a649ebe8...", true, "pow: difficulty 25>=24"]
• ["OK", "b1a649ebe8...", true, "duplicate: already have this event"]
• ["OK", "b1a649ebe8...", false, "blocked: you are banned from posting here"]
• ["OK", "b1a649ebe8...", false, "blocked: please register your pubkey at https://my-expensive-relay.example.com"]
• ["OK", "b1a649ebe8...", false, "rate-limited: slow down there chief"]
• ["OK", "b1a649ebe8...", false, "invalid: event creation date is too far off from the current time"]
• ["OK", "b1a649ebe8...", false, "pow: difficulty 26 is less than 30"]
• ["OK", "b1a649ebe8...", false, "restricted: not allowed to write."]
• ["OK", "b1a649ebe8...", false, "error: could not connect to the database"]
• CLOSED messages MUST be sent in response to a REQ when the relay refuses to fulfill it. It can also be sent when a relay decides to kill a subscription on its side before a client has disconnected or sent a CLOSE. This message uses the same pattern of OK messages with the machine-readable prefix and human-readable message. Some examples:
• ["CLOSED", "sub1", "unsupported: filter contains unknown elements"]
• ["CLOSED", "sub1", "error: could not connect to the database"]
• ["CLOSED", "sub1", "error: shutting down idle subscription"]
• The standardized machine-readable prefixes for OK and CLOSED are: duplicate, pow, blocked, rate-limited, invalid, restricted, and error for when none of that fits.

@ fd06f542:8d6d54cd

NIPs

NIPs stand for Nostr Implementation Possibilities.

They exist to document what may be implemented by Nostr-compatible relay and client software.

---

• List
• Event Kinds
• Message Types
• Client to Relay
• Relay to Client
• Standardized Tags
• Criteria for acceptance of NIPs
• Is this repository a centralizing factor?
• How this repository works
• Breaking Changes
• License

---

List

• NIP-01: Basic protocol flow description
• NIP-02: Follow List
• NIP-03: OpenTimestamps Attestations for Events
• NIP-04: Encrypted Direct Message --- unrecommended: deprecated in favor of NIP-17
• NIP-05: Mapping Nostr keys to DNS-based internet identifiers
• NIP-06: Basic key derivation from mnemonic seed phrase
• NIP-07: window.nostr capability for web browsers
• NIP-08: Handling Mentions --- unrecommended: deprecated in favor of NIP-27
• NIP-09: Event Deletion Request
• NIP-10: Text Notes and Threads
• NIP-11: Relay Information Document
• NIP-13: Proof of Work
• NIP-14: Subject tag in text events
• NIP-15: Nostr Marketplace (for resilient marketplaces)
• NIP-17: Private Direct Messages
• NIP-18: Reposts
• NIP-19: bech32-encoded entities
• NIP-21: nostr: URI scheme
• NIP-22: Comment
• NIP-23: Long-form Content
• NIP-24: Extra metadata fields and tags
• NIP-25: Reactions
• NIP-26: Delegated Event Signing
• NIP-27: Text Note References
• NIP-28: Public Chat
• NIP-29: Relay-based Groups
• NIP-30: Custom Emoji
• NIP-31: Dealing with Unknown Events
• NIP-32: Labeling
• NIP-34: git stuff
• NIP-35: Torrents
• NIP-36: Sensitive Content
• NIP-37: Draft Events
• NIP-38: User Statuses
• NIP-39: External Identities in Profiles
• NIP-40: Expiration Timestamp
• NIP-42: Authentication of clients to relays
• NIP-44: Encrypted Payloads (Versioned)
• NIP-45: Counting results
• NIP-46: Nostr Remote Signing
• NIP-47: Nostr Wallet Connect
• NIP-48: Proxy Tags
• NIP-49: Private Key Encryption
• NIP-50: Search Capability
• NIP-51: Lists
• NIP-52: Calendar Events
• NIP-53: Live Activities
• NIP-54: Wiki
• NIP-55: Android Signer Application
• NIP-56: Reporting
• NIP-57: Lightning Zaps
• NIP-58: Badges
• NIP-59: Gift Wrap
• NIP-60: Cashu Wallet
• NIP-61: Nutzaps
• NIP-62: Request to Vanish
• NIP-64: Chess (PGN)
• NIP-65: Relay List Metadata
• NIP-66: Relay Discovery and Liveness Monitoring
• NIP-68: Picture-first feeds
• NIP-69: Peer-to-peer Order events
• NIP-70: Protected Events
• NIP-71: Video Events
• NIP-72: Moderated Communities
• NIP-73: External Content IDs
• NIP-75: Zap Goals
• NIP-78: Application-specific data
• NIP-84: Highlights
• NIP-86: Relay Management API
• NIP-88: Polls
• NIP-89: Recommended Application Handlers
• NIP-90: Data Vending Machines
• NIP-92: Media Attachments
• NIP-94: File Metadata
• NIP-96: HTTP File Storage Integration
• NIP-98: HTTP Auth
• NIP-99: Classified Listings
• NIP-7D: Threads
• NIP-C7: Chats

Event Kinds

| kind | description | NIP | | ------------- | ------------------------------- | -------------------------------------- | | 0 | User Metadata | 01 | | 1 | Short Text Note | 10 | | 2 | Recommend Relay | 01 (deprecated) | | 3 | Follows | 02 | | 4 | Encrypted Direct Messages | 04 | | 5 | Event Deletion Request | 09 | | 6 | Repost | 18 | | 7 | Reaction | 25 | | 8 | Badge Award | 58 | | 9 | Chat Message | C7 | | 10 | Group Chat Threaded Reply | 29 (deprecated) | | 11 | Thread | 7D | | 12 | Group Thread Reply | 29 (deprecated) | | 13 | Seal | 59 | | 14 | Direct Message | 17 | | 15 | File Message | 17 | | 16 | Generic Repost | 18 | | 17 | Reaction to a website | 25 | | 20 | Picture | 68 | | 21 | Video Event | 71 | | 22 | Short-form Portrait Video Event | 71 | | 30 | internal reference | NKBIP-03 | | 31 | external web reference | NKBIP-03 | | 32 | hardcopy reference | NKBIP-03 | | 33 | prompt reference | NKBIP-03 | | 40 | Channel Creation | 28 | | 41 | Channel Metadata | 28 | | 42 | Channel Message | 28 | | 43 | Channel Hide Message | 28 | | 44 | Channel Mute User | 28 | | 62 | Request to Vanish | 62 | | 64 | Chess (PGN) | 64 | | 818 | Merge Requests | 54 | | 1018 | Poll Response | 88 | | 1021 | Bid | 15 | | 1022 | Bid confirmation | 15 | | 1040 | OpenTimestamps | 03 | | 1059 | Gift Wrap | 59 | | 1063 | File Metadata | 94 | | 1068 | Poll | 88 | | 1111 | Comment | 22 | | 1311 | Live Chat Message | 53 | | 1617 | Patches | 34 | | 1621 | Issues | 34 | | 1622 | Git Replies (deprecated) | 34 | | 1630-1633 | Status | 34 | | 1971 | Problem Tracker | nostrocket | | 1984 | Reporting | 56 | | 1985 | Label | 32 | | 1986 | Relay reviews | | | 1987 | AI Embeddings / Vector lists | NKBIP-02 | | 2003 | Torrent | 35 | | 2004 | Torrent Comment | 35 | | 2022 | Coinjoin Pool | joinstr | | 4550 | Community Post Approval | 72 | | 5000-5999 | Job Request | 90 | | 6000-6999 | Job Result | 90 | | 7000 | Job Feedback | 90 | | 7374 | Reserved Cashu Wallet Tokens | 60 | | 7375 | Cashu Wallet Tokens | 60 | | 7376 | Cashu Wallet History | 60 | | 9000-9030 | Group Control Events | 29 | | 9041 | Zap Goal | 75 | | 9321 | Nutzap | 61 | | 9467 | Tidal login | Tidal-nostr | | 9734 | Zap Request | 57 | | 9735 | Zap | 57 | | 9802 | Highlights | 84 | | 10000 | Mute list | 51 | | 10001 | Pin list | 51 | | 10002 | Relay List Metadata | 65, 51 | | 10003 | Bookmark list | 51 | | 10004 | Communities list | 51 | | 10005 | Public chats list | 51 | | 10006 | Blocked relays list | 51 | | 10007 | Search relays list | 51 | | 10009 | User groups | 51, 29 | | 10013 | Private event relay list | 37 | | 10015 | Interests list | 51 | | 10019 | Nutzap Mint Recommendation | 61 | | 10030 | User emoji list | 51 | | 10050 | Relay list to receive DMs | 51, 17 | | 10063 | User server list | Blossom | | 10096 | File storage server list | 96 | | 10166 | Relay Monitor Announcement | 66 | | 13194 | Wallet Info | 47 | | 17375 | Cashu Wallet Event | 60 | | 21000 | Lightning Pub RPC | Lightning.Pub | | 22242 | Client Authentication | 42 | | 23194 | Wallet Request | 47 | | 23195 | Wallet Response | 47 | | 24133 | Nostr Connect | 46 | | 24242 | Blobs stored on mediaservers | Blossom | | 27235 | HTTP Auth | 98 | | 30000 | Follow sets | 51 | | 30001 | Generic lists | 51 (deprecated) | | 30002 | Relay sets | 51 | | 30003 | Bookmark sets | 51 | | 30004 | Curation sets | 51 | | 30005 | Video sets | 51 | | 30007 | Kind mute sets | 51 | | 30008 | Profile Badges | 58 | | 30009 | Badge Definition | 58 | | 30015 | Interest sets | 51 | | 30017 | Create or update a stall | 15 | | 30018 | Create or update a product | 15 | | 30019 | Marketplace UI/UX | 15 | | 30020 | Product sold as an auction | 15 | | 30023 | Long-form Content | 23 | | 30024 | Draft Long-form Content | 23 | | 30030 | Emoji sets | 51 | | 30040 | Curated Publication Index | NKBIP-01 | | 30041 | Curated Publication Content | NKBIP-01 | | 30063 | Release artifact sets | 51 | | 30078 | Application-specific Data | 78 | | 30166 | Relay Discovery | 66 | | 30267 | App curation sets | 51 | | 30311 | Live Event | 53 | | 30315 | User Statuses | 38 | | 30388 | Slide Set | Corny Chat | | 30402 | Classified Listing | 99 | | 30403 | Draft Classified Listing | 99 | | 30617 | Repository announcements | 34 | | 30618 | Repository state announcements | 34 | | 30818 | Wiki article | 54 | | 30819 | Redirects | 54 | | 31234 | Draft Event | 37 | | 31388 | Link Set | Corny Chat | | 31890 | Feed | NUD: Custom Feeds | | 31922 | Date-Based Calendar Event | 52 | | 31923 | Time-Based Calendar Event | 52 | | 31924 | Calendar | 52 | | 31925 | Calendar Event RSVP | 52 | | 31989 | Handler recommendation | 89 | | 31990 | Handler information | 89 | | | 32267 | Software Application | | | | 34550 | Community Definition | 72 | | 38383 | Peer-to-peer Order events | 69 | | 39000-9 | Group metadata events | 29 |

Message types

Client to Relay

| type | description | NIP | | ------- | --------------------------------------------------- | ----------- | | EVENT | used to publish events | 01 | | REQ | used to request events and subscribe to new updates | 01 | | CLOSE | used to stop previous subscriptions | 01 | | AUTH | used to send authentication events | 42 | | COUNT | used to request event counts | 45 |

Relay to Client

| type | description | NIP | | -------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | ----------- | | EOSE | used to notify clients all stored events have been sent | 01 | | EVENT | used to send events requested to clients | 01 | | NOTICE | used to send human-readable messages to clients | 01 | | OK | used to notify clients if an EVENT was successful | 01 | | CLOSED | used to notify clients that a REQ was ended and why | 01 | | AUTH | used to send authentication challenges | 42 | | COUNT | used to send requested event counts to clients | 45 |

Standardized Tags

| name | value | other parameters | NIP | | ----------------- | ------------------------------------ | ------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- | | a | coordinates to an event | relay URL | 01 | | A | root address | relay URL | 22 | | d | identifier | -- | 01 | | e | event id (hex) | relay URL, marker, pubkey (hex) | 01, 10 | | E | root event id | relay URL | 22 | | f | currency code | -- | 69 | | g | geohash | -- | 52 | | h | group id | -- | 29 | | i | external identity | proof, url hint | 35, 39, 73 | | I | root external identity | -- | 22 | | k | kind | -- | 18, 25, 72, 73 | | K | root scope | -- | 22 | | l | label, label namespace | -- | 32 | | L | label namespace | -- | 32 | | m | MIME type | -- | 94 | | p | pubkey (hex) | relay URL, petname | 01, 02, 22 | | P | pubkey (hex) | -- | 22, 57 | | q | event id (hex) | relay URL, pubkey (hex) | 18 | | r | a reference (URL, etc) | -- | 24, 25 | | r | relay url | marker | 65 | | s | status | -- | 69 | | t | hashtag | -- | 24, 34, 35 | | u | url | -- | 61, 98 | | x | hash | -- | 35, 56 | | y | platform | -- | 69 | | z | order number | -- | 69 | | - | -- | -- | 70 | | alt | summary | -- | 31 | | amount | millisatoshis, stringified | -- | 57 | | bolt11 | bolt11 invoice | -- | 57 | | challenge | challenge string | -- | 42 | | client | name, address | relay URL | 89 | | clone | git clone URL | -- | 34 | | content-warning | reason | -- | 36 | | delegation | pubkey, conditions, delegation token | -- | 26 | | description | description | -- | 34, 57, 58 | | emoji | shortcode, image URL | -- | 30 | | encrypted | -- | -- | 90 | | expiration | unix timestamp (string) | -- | 40 | | file | full path (string) | -- | 35 | | goal | event id (hex) | relay URL | 75 | | image | image URL | dimensions in pixels | 23, 52, 58 | | imeta | inline metadata | -- | 92 | | lnurl | bech32 encoded lnurl | -- | 57 | | location | location string | -- | 52, 99 | | name | name | -- | 34, 58, 72 | | nonce | random | difficulty | 13 | | preimage | hash of bolt11 invoice | -- | 57 | | price | price | currency, frequency | 99 | | proxy | external ID | protocol | 48 | | published_at | unix timestamp (string) | -- | 23 | | relay | relay url | -- | 42, 17 | | relays | relay list | -- | 57 | | server | file storage server url | -- | 96 | | subject | subject | -- | 14, 17, 34 | | summary | summary | -- | 23, 52 | | thumb | badge thumbnail | dimensions in pixels | 58 | | title | article title | -- | 23 | | tracker | torrent tracker URL | -- | 35 | | web | webpage URL | -- | 34 | | zap | pubkey (hex), relay URL | weight | 57 |

Please update these lists when proposing new NIPs.

Criteria for acceptance of NIPs

1. They should be fully implemented in at least two clients and one relay -- when applicable.
2. They should make sense.
3. They should be optional and backwards-compatible: care must be taken such that clients and relays that choose to not implement them do not stop working when interacting with the ones that choose to.
4. There should be no more than one way of doing the same thing.
5. Other rules will be made up when necessary.

Is this repository a centralizing factor?

To promote interoperability, we need standards that everybody can follow, and we need them to define a single way of doing each thing without ever hurting backwards-compatibility, and for that purpose there is no way around getting everybody to agree on the same thing and keep a centralized index of these standards. However the fact that such an index exists doesn't hurt the decentralization of Nostr. At any point the central index can be challenged if it is failing to fulfill the needs of the protocol and it can migrate to other places and be maintained by other people.

It can even fork into multiple versions, and then some clients would go one way, others would go another way, and some clients would adhere to both competing standards. This would hurt the simplicity, openness and interoperability of Nostr a little, but everything would still work in the short term.

There is a list of notable Nostr software developers who have commit access to this repository, but that exists mostly for practical reasons, as by the nature of the thing we're dealing with the repository owner can revoke membership and rewrite history as they want -- and if these actions are unjustified or perceived as bad or evil the community must react.

How this repository works

Standards may emerge in two ways: the first way is that someone starts doing something, then others copy it; the second way is that someone has an idea of a new standard that could benefit multiple clients and the protocol in general without breaking backwards-compatibility and the principle of having a single way of doing things, then they write that idea and submit it to this repository, other interested parties read it and give their feedback, then once most people reasonably agree we codify that in a NIP which client and relay developers that are interested in the feature can proceed to implement.

These two ways of standardizing things are supported by this repository. Although the second is preferred, an effort will be made to codify standards emerged outside this repository into NIPs that can be later referenced and easily understood and implemented by others -- but obviously as in any human system discretion may be applied when standards are considered harmful.

Breaking Changes

Breaking Changes

License

All NIPs are public domain.

Contributors

@ fd06f542:8d6d54cd

{"coverurl":"https://cdn.nostrcheck.me/fd06f542bc6c06a39881810de917e6c5d277dfb51689a568ad7b7a548d6d54cd/5ad7189d30c9b49aa61652d98ac7853217b7e445f863be09f9745c49df9f514c.webp","title":"Nostr protocol","author":"fiatjaf"}

@ 84b0c46a:417782f5

nostr:nevent1qqsw9v8usvahkqmmc9qavu6g834v09j6e2u2acdua24tk73dqc05xecgkanse

@ 4fe14ef2:f51992ec

Hey Bitcoiners,

Leave a comment below to share your hustles and wins. Let us know what you've sold this week. Have you sold it for #sats or #zaps? It doesn't matter how big or small your item is, solid or #digital, product or #service.

Just share below what you’ve listed, swapped, and sold. Let everyone rave on your latest #deals!

New to ~AGORA? Dive into the #marketplace and turn your dusty gears into shiny #BTC!

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/927256

@ 7d33ba57:1b82db35

Andorra la Vella, the capital of Andorra, is a charming mix of mountain landscapes, duty-free shopping, and rich history. Nestled in the Pyrenees, it’s a great destination for skiing, hiking, and relaxing in thermal spas. Whether you’re here for outdoor adventures, tax-free shopping, or cultural experiences, Andorra la Vella has something for everyone.

🏔️ Top Things to See & Do in Andorra la Vella

1️⃣ Shop in Avinguda Meritxell 🛍️

• One of Europe’s best duty-free shopping streets, filled with electronics, fashion, perfumes, and luxury goods.
• Find brands at lower prices than in Spain or France.

2️⃣ Relax at Caldea Spa ♨️

• The largest thermal spa in Southern Europe, with hot springs, saunas, and lagoon pools.
• A perfect place to unwind after skiing or hiking.

3️⃣ Visit the Church of Sant Esteve ⛪

• A beautiful Romanesque church dating back to the 12th century.
• Features stone carvings and medieval frescoes.

4️⃣ Explore the Historic Quarter (Barri Antic) 🏡

• Walk through narrow cobbled streets filled with traditional Andorran houses and charming cafés.
• Visit Casa de la Vall, a historic parliament building from the 16th century.

5️⃣ Go Skiing or Snowboarding 🎿

• Andorra is famous for its world-class ski resorts, Grandvalira and Vallnord, just 15-30 minutes away.
• Ideal for beginners and experienced skiers alike.

6️⃣ Hiking in the Pyrenees 🥾

• Summer & autumn offer incredible hiking trails with mountain lakes and scenic views.
• Rec del Solà Trail – A beautiful, easy path with panoramic views of the valley.
• L’Estany Blau – A moderate hike leading to a stunning blue lake.

7️⃣ Enjoy Andorran Cuisine 🍽️

• Escudella – A hearty Andorran stew with meat, beans, and vegetables 🍲
• Trinxat – A mountain dish made of potatoes, cabbage, and bacon 🥓🥔
• Embotits – Local cured meats and sausages, perfect as tapas 🍖
• Crema Andorrana – A creamy, local dessert similar to Catalan crema 🍮

🚗 How to Get to Andorra la Vella

✈️ By Air: The nearest airports are Barcelona-El Prat (Spain, 2.5 hrs) and Toulouse-Blagnac (France, 2.5 hrs).
🚘 By Car: 2.5 hrs from Barcelona, 2.5 hrs from Toulouse, 3 hrs from Perpignan.
🚌 By Bus: Direct buses from Barcelona, Toulouse, and Lleida.
🚆 By Train: No direct train, but you can take a train to L'Hospitalet-près-l'Andorre (France) and continue by bus.

💡 Tips for Visiting Andorra la Vella

✅ Best time to visit? Winter for skiing, summer for hiking & shopping ❄️🌞
✅ Bring a passport – Even though Andorra isn’t in the EU, border checks happen 🇦🇩
✅ Try duty-free shopping – Electronics, perfumes, and alcohol are cheaper 🛍️
✅ Book ski passes in advance – Resorts get busy in peak season 🎿
✅ Wear comfy shoes – The city has steep streets and cobblestone paths 👟

@ 7d33ba57:1b82db35

Peñíscola, known as the “Gibraltar of Valencia”, is a stunning coastal town on Spain’s Costa del Azahar. Famous for its medieval castle, beautiful beaches, and charming old town, Peñíscola is a perfect mix of history, culture, and seaside relaxation. It’s also known as a filming location for Game of Thrones!

🏖️ Top Things to See & Do in Peñíscola

1️⃣ Peñíscola Castle (Castillo del Papa Luna) 🏰

• A magnificent 13th-century castle sitting on a rocky peninsula.
• Built by the Knights Templar and later home to Pope Benedict XIII (Papa Luna).
• Offers breathtaking views of the Mediterranean and surrounding coastline.

2️⃣ Explore the Old Town 🏡

• Wander through narrow cobblestone streets, lined with whitewashed houses and flower-filled balconies.
• Discover hidden courtyards, charming shops, and seafood restaurants.
• Enjoy the picturesque sunset views over the sea.

3️⃣ Relax on Playa Norte & Playa Sur 🏖️

• Playa Norte: The main beach, known for its golden sand and clear waters.
• Playa Sur: Smaller and quieter, great for relaxing away from the crowds.
• Both beaches offer water sports, sunbeds, and beach bars.

4️⃣ Serra d’Irta Natural Park 🌿

• A stunning coastal nature reserve with hiking and biking trails.
• Offers hidden coves, rugged cliffs, and breathtaking sea views.
• Ideal for nature lovers and photographers.

5️⃣ Game of Thrones Filming Locations 🎬

• Peñíscola was featured in Game of Thrones (Season 6) as Meereen.
• Visit the castle walls, old town alleys, and city gates where key scenes were filmed.

6️⃣ Boat Trip Around the Castle ⛵

• Take a boat tour for unique views of the fortress from the sea.
• Sunset cruises offer magical golden-hour scenery.

🍽️ What to Eat in Peñíscola

• Arroz a Banda – A delicious seafood rice dish, typical of Valencia 🍚🐟
• Suquet de Peix – A traditional fish stew with potatoes and saffron 🍲
• Langostinos de Vinaròs – Famous local prawns, incredibly fresh 🍤
• Caragols Punxents – A local specialty of small spicy snails 🐌🌶️
• Coca de llanda – A sweet sponge cake, perfect with coffee 🍰

🚗 How to Get to Peñíscola

✈️ By Air: The nearest airport is Castellón Airport (40 min), Valencia (1.5 hrs), or Barcelona (2 hrs).
🚆 By Train: The nearest station is Benicarló-Peñíscola, just 7 km away.
🚘 By Car: 1.5 hrs from Valencia, 2 hrs from Barcelona, 45 min from Castellón.
🚌 By Bus: Direct buses from Barcelona, Valencia, and Castellón.

💡 Tips for Visiting Peñíscola

✅ Best time to visit? Spring & summer (April–September) for the best weather ☀️
✅ Visit the castle early – Mornings are less crowded and cooler 🏰
✅ Take a sunset walk along the beach – The views are stunning 🌅
✅ Try a boat trip – The castle looks incredible from the water ⛵
✅ Wear comfortable shoes – The old town streets are steep and cobbled 👟

@ 7d33ba57:1b82db35

Tarifa, located at the southernmost tip of Spain, is a paradise for beach lovers, adventure seekers, and nature enthusiasts. Known for its strong winds, golden beaches, and laid-back atmosphere, it’s a top destination for kite surfing, whale watching, and exploring Andalusian history. Plus, it’s the perfect gateway to Morocco, just a short ferry ride away.

🏖️ Top Things to See & Do in Tarifa

1️⃣ Playa de Los Lances 🏄‍♂️

• A long, sandy beach famous for kite surfing and windsurfing.
• One of the best spots in Europe for water sports enthusiasts.
• Lined with chiringuitos (beach bars) where you can relax and enjoy the views.

2️⃣ Punta de Tarifa – The Southernmost Point of Europe 🌍

• A unique spot where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Mediterranean Sea.
• Walk to Isla de las Palomas, a historic military zone (guided tours available).
• Incredible views of Morocco, just 14 km away.

3️⃣ Whale & Dolphin Watching Tours 🐬

• Join a boat trip to see orcas, dolphins, and sperm whales in the Strait of Gibraltar.
• Best time: April to October for whale migrations.

4️⃣ Explore the Historic Old Town 🏰

• Wander through narrow, whitewashed streets full of charm.
• Visit Guzmán el Bueno Castle, a 10th-century fortress with panoramic views.
• Enjoy lively tapas bars, boutique shops, and hidden courtyards.

5️⃣ Playa de Bolonia & Baelo Claudia Ruins 🏛️

• One of Spain’s most unspoiled beaches, with dunes and turquoise waters.
• Explore the Roman ruins of Baelo Claudia, an ancient fishing village from 2,000 years ago.
• Climb the Duna de Bolonia, a massive sand dune with breathtaking views.

6️⃣ Day Trip to Morocco 🇲🇦

• Take a 35-minute ferry to Tangier for a quick taste of North African culture.
• Explore medinas, souks, and local cuisine with a guided tour.
• Don’t forget your passport!

🍽️ What to Eat in Tarifa

• Atún Rojo (Red Tuna) – Tarifa is famous for its fresh bluefin tuna 🍣
• Tortillitas de Camarones – Crispy shrimp fritters, a local delicacy 🍤
• Choco Frito – Fried cuttlefish, a must-try for seafood lovers 🦑
• Andalusian Gazpacho – A refreshing cold tomato soup, perfect for hot days 🍅
• Mojama – Salt-cured tuna, often eaten as a tapa with almonds 🐟

🚗 How to Get to Tarifa

✈️ By Air: The nearest airports are Gibraltar (45 min), Málaga (2 hrs), and Seville (2.5 hrs).
🚆 By Train: No direct train, but you can take one to Algeciras (30 min drive from Tarifa).
🚘 By Car: 1.5 hrs from Málaga, 1 hr from Cádiz, 30 min from Gibraltar.
🚌 By Bus: Regular buses from Seville, Málaga, Cádiz, and Algeciras.
⛴️ To Morocco: Ferries run daily to Tangier, Morocco (35 min ride).

💡 Tips for Visiting Tarifa

✅ Best time to visit? Spring to early autumn (April–October) for great weather ☀️
✅ Book water sports lessons early – It’s a popular spot for kite surfing! 🏄‍♂️
✅ Bring layers – Tarifa can be windy, even in summer 🌬️
✅ Visit early for whale watching – Mornings usually have calmer seas 🐋
✅ Take a day trip to Bolonia – One of Spain’s most stunning hidden beaches 🏝️

@ fe9e99a0:5123e9a8

Can’t seem to update anything

@ 000002de:c05780a7

Regardless of what you have heard Capitalism isn't to blame for all the ills in modern life. Capitalism is simply free trade without centralize control. Of course there are many details I'm glossing over and degrees of freedom. Critics of capitalism rarely explain how it works. They complain about people buying too much stuff. People being over-weight. They complain about waste. People buying stuff they don't need. They complain that teachers aren't paid enough. They complain that professional athletes make too much money.

All of this boils down to two things.

1. People don't like what others choose to do
2. The products we see and world we live in is a result of the desires and values of the people

I agree with many of the critics of capitalism. There is a ton of crap. There's a ton of waste. There are professions I wish were more profitable and others I wish were less profitable. I'm going to ignore the state for once here. Obviously the state puts its thumb on the scales and distorts the market. But this isn't the main factor IMO. The main factor in the world we live in is us. The people. Our desires. Our values. The things we value are reflected in the market. People don't like to admit this because it is uncomfortable. We are spoiled, self-centered, brats that are desire machines. Yeah, you can blame advertising. You can blame "capitalism" but the alternative is starvation and death (socialism).

Its time for us to stop blaming freedom for all the ills in our society and take ownership for our actions. Its us. Thing is, I can't change you. But, I can change my actions. Adjust my values. Adjust my frame of view. I'd love to start hearing people take responsibility and self ownership. Start living out your values. Don't be a part of things that you view as problems. Be a part of solutions. I can't tell you what that looks like but if you think about it for a while you can come up with some things. Its easy to blame others. Its hard to take responsibility for yourself and own your flaws and mistakes.

What do you think?

Inspired by @k00b's post

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/927021

@ 9bde4214:06ca052b

“The human spirit should remain in charge.”

Pablo & Gigi talk about the wind.

nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzpx77gg2frul26xkzr0gaq9n842u50axpcjhdsa3yeu388vrv5pftqys8wumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytn9d9h82mny0fmkzmn6d9njuumsv93k2tcppemhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mp0qqszlf337y0lkg4sz5ax9ath4y5vk6rpqn9tfewaln2989zavvqrg4cpt2krs

In this dialogue:

• Wind

• More Wind

• Information Calories, and how to measure them

• Digital Wellbeing

• Rescue Time

• Teleology of Technology

• Platforms get users Hooked (book)

• Feeds are slot machines

• Movie Walls

• Tweetdeck and Notedeck

• IRC vs the modern feed

• 37Signals: “Hey, let’s just charge users!”

• “You wouldn’t zap a car crash”

• Catering to our highest self VS catering to our lowest self

• Devolution of YouTube 5-star ratings to thumb up/down to views

• Long videos vs shorts

• The internet had to monetize itself somehow (with attention)

• “Don’t be evil” and why Google had to remove it

• Questr: 2D exploration of nostr

• ONOSENDAI by Arkinox

• Freedom tech & Freedom from Tech

• DAUs of jumper cables

• Gossip and it’s choices

• “The secret to life is to send it”

• Flying water & flying bus stops

• RSS readers, Mailbrew, and daily digests

• Nostr is high signal and less addictive

• Calling nostr posts “tweets” and recordings being “on tape”

• Pivoting from nostr dialogues to a podcast about wind

• The unnecessary complexity of NIP-96

• Blossom (and wind)

• Undoing URLs, APIs, and REST

• ISBNs and cryptographic identifiers

• SaaS and the DAU metric

• Highlighter

• Not caring where stuff is hosted

• When is an edited thing a new thing?

• Edits, the edit wars, and the case against edits

• NIP-60 and inconsistent balances

• Scroll to text fragment and best effort matching

• Proximity hashes & locality-sensitive hashing

• Helping your Uncle Jack of a horse

• Helping your uncle jack of a horse

• Can we fix it with WoT?

• Vertex & vibe-coding a proper search for nostr

• Linking to hashtags & search queries

• Advanced search and why it’s great

• Search scopes & web of trust

• The UNIX tools of nostr

• Pablo’s NDK snippets

• Meredith on the privacy nightmare of Agentic AI

• Blog-post-driven development (Lightning Prisms, Highlighter)

• Sandwich-style LLM prompting, Waterfall for LLMs (HLDD / LLDD)

• “Speed itself is a feature”

• MCP & DVMCP

• Monorepos and git submodules

• Olas & NDK

• Pablo’s RemindMe bot

• “Breaking changes kinda suck”

• Stories, shorts, TikTok, and OnlyFans

• LLM-generated sticker styles

• LLMs and creativity (and Gigi’s old email)

• “AI-generated art has no soul”

• Nostr, zaps, and realness

• Does the source matter?

• Poker client in bitcoin v0.0.1

• Quotes from Hitler and how additional context changes meaning

• Greek finance minister on crypto and bitcoin (Technofeudalism, book)

• Is more context always good?

• Vervaeke’s AI argument

• What is meaningful?

• How do you extract meaning from information?

• How do you extract meaning from experience?

• “What the hell is water”

• Creativity, imagination, hallucination, and losing touch with reality

• “Bitcoin is singularity insurance”

• Will vibe coding make developers obsolete?

• Knowing what to build vs knowing how to build

• 10min block time & the physical limits of consensus

• Satoshi’s reasons articulated in his announcement post

• Why do anything? Why stack sats? Why have kids?

• All you need now is motivation

• Upcoming agents will actually do the thing

• Proliferation of writers: quantity VS quality

• Crisis of sameness & the problem of distribution

• Patronage, belle epoche, and bitcoin art

• Niches, and how the internet fractioned society

• Joe’s songs

• Hyper-personalized stories

• Shared stories & myths (Jonathan Pageau)

• Hyper-personalized apps VS shared apps

• Agency, free expression, and free speech

• Edgy content & twitch meta, aka skating the line of demonetization and deplatforming

• Using attention as a proxy currency

• Farming eyeballs and brain cycles

• Engagement as a success metric & engagement bait

• “You wouldn’t zap a car crash”

• Attention economy is parasitic on humanity

• The importance of speech & money

• What should be done by a machine?

• What should be done by a human?

• “The human spirit should remain in charge”

• Our relationship with fiat money

• Active vs passive, agency vs serfdom

@ a012dc82:6458a70d

The cryptocurrency market, known for its dramatic fluctuations, has always been a subject of intrigue and speculation. Bitcoin, as the pioneering digital currency, has been at the epicenter of this financial whirlwind. As we approach 2024, the anticipation surrounding Bitcoin's value is palpable, with potential investors and seasoned cryptocurrency enthusiasts keenly eyeing the market's movements. This article aims to dissect the recent forecasts for Bitcoin's price in the coming year, delve into the multifaceted factors influencing these predictions, and explore the broader implications for those contemplating an investment in Bitcoin.

Table of Contents

• 2024 Bitcoin Price Predictions: A New Peak on the …

• Key Factors Driving Bitcoin's Price

  • The Halving Event

  • Institutional Interest and ETFs

  • Economic and Monetary Policies

• The Debate: To Buy or Not to Buy

  • Risk Tolerance

  • Market Dynamics

  • Long-Term Perspective

• Caution and Speculation

• Conclusion

• FAQs

2024 Bitcoin Price Predictions: A New Peak on the Horizon

Recent analyses, particularly a notable report from UK fintech firm Finder, have painted an optimistic picture for Bitcoin in 2024. Experts within the field are forecasting a new zenith for Bitcoin, projecting it to reach an all-time high of $88,000, with expectations of the currency stabilizing around $77,000 by the end of the year. These projections represent a significant uptick from Bitcoin's current valuation and suggest a potentially lucrative year ahead for the digital currency. However, it's crucial to recognize that these predictions are not guarantees but educated guesses based on current market trends and historical data. The cryptocurrency market's inherent volatility means that while the potential for substantial gains exists, so too does the risk of dramatic losses. Investors should approach these predictions with cautious optimism, considering the broader economic and technological landscape that could impact Bitcoin's trajectory.

Key Factors Driving Bitcoin's Price

The anticipated surge in Bitcoin's value can be attributed to several key factors, each playing a pivotal role in shaping the currency's future:

The Halving Event

The Bitcoin halving event scheduled for April 2024 stands as a significant milestone. This event, which occurs approximately every four years, reduces the reward for mining Bitcoin transactions by half. Historically, halving events have led to a decrease in the supply of new Bitcoins entering the market, which, in turn, has led to price increases as demand outstrips supply. The 2024 halving is expected to follow this trend, contributing to the bullish outlook for Bitcoin's price. However, while past performance can offer insights, it is not indicative of future results. The halving's impact could be influenced by a myriad of factors, including changes in miner behavior, technological advancements, and shifts in investor sentiment.

Institutional Interest and ETFs

Another driving force behind the optimistic price predictions is the growing institutional interest in Bitcoin and the approval of Bitcoin ETFs in the United States. These developments have not only legitimized Bitcoin as an investment asset but also made it more accessible to a broader audience of traditional investors. The introduction of ETFs has bridged the gap between the conventional financial world and the burgeoning cryptocurrency market, providing a regulated and familiar avenue for investment. However, the influx of institutional money also brings new challenges, including increased market manipulation risks and the potential for regulatory crackdowns. Investors should remain vigilant, monitoring the evolving landscape and considering the long-term implications of institutional involvement in the cryptocurrency space.

Economic and Monetary Policies

Global economic conditions and monetary policies, particularly those enacted by the US Federal Reserve, are also critical factors influencing Bitcoin's price. In an environment of low interest rates and quantitative easing, investors have increasingly turned to alternative assets like Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation and currency devaluation. However, shifts in these policies could significantly impact investor behavior and market dynamics. A rise in interest rates or a tightening of monetary policy could lead to reduced liquidity in the market and a shift away from riskier assets, including Bitcoin. Conversely, continued economic uncertainty and inflationary pressures could bolster Bitcoin's appeal as a store of value.

The Debate: To Buy or Not to Buy

The decision to invest in Bitcoin, especially in light of the optimistic 2024 price predictions, is fraught with complexity:

Risk Tolerance

Bitcoin's notorious volatility cannot be overstated. The digital currency's price can experience dramatic swings within short periods, influenced by factors ranging from regulatory news to market sentiment. Potential investors must assess their risk tolerance and financial situation before entering the market. It's essential to consider whether you can withstand significant fluctuations in your investment's value and how such changes would impact your overall financial health.

Market Dynamics

Understanding the broader market dynamics and potential regulatory changes is crucial for anyone considering investing in Bitcoin. The cryptocurrency market does not operate in a vacuum; it is affected by global economic conditions, technological developments, and shifts in regulatory attitudes. Staying informed and adaptable is key, as today's market drivers could change rapidly, altering Bitcoin's price trajectory.

Long-Term Perspective

Adopting a long-term perspective is vital when investing in Bitcoin. While the allure of quick profits can be tempting, Bitcoin's history suggests that it is better suited as a long-term investment. The market's cyclical nature, characterized by boom-and-bust cycles, requires patience and a long-term outlook. Investors should avoid making impulsive decisions based on short-term price movements and instead focus on the underlying value and potential of Bitcoin as a revolutionary digital asset.

Caution and Speculation

Despite the bullish forecasts, a note of caution is warranted. The cryptocurrency market remains speculative, and while Bitcoin has established itself as the leading digital currency, its future is not guaranteed. The landscape is rife with uncertainties, from technological challenges to regulatory hurdles. Potential investors should approach Bitcoin with a balanced perspective, recognizing the possibilities while being acutely aware of the risks.

Conclusion

The predictions for Bitcoin's price in 2024 offer a glimpse into a potentially prosperous future for the digital currency. However, the decision to invest should not be taken lightly. Prospective investors must navigate a landscape marked by volatility, uncertainty, and rapid change. By thoroughly evaluating the market, staying informed about developments, and considering their long-term financial goals, individuals can make more informed decisions about their involvement in the Bitcoin market. Whether now is the right time to buy Bitcoin is a personal decision that depends on individual circumstances, risk tolerance, and investment strategy. As with any investment, there are no guarantees, but for those willing to embrace the risks, the rewards could be substantial.

FAQs

Why is Bitcoin expected to reach new highs in 2024? Bitcoin's price is expected to surge due to factors like the halving event, increasing institutional interest, the approval of Bitcoin ETFs, and global economic conditions that favor alternative investments.

What is a Bitcoin halving event? A Bitcoin halving event is when the reward for mining new blocks is halved, reducing the rate at which new bitcoins are generated. This event occurs approximately every four years and tends to impact the price due to reduced supply.

Are Bitcoin ETFs significant for individual investors? Yes, Bitcoin ETFs provide individual investors with a regulated and familiar way to gain exposure to Bitcoin without directly purchasing or storing the cryptocurrency, potentially increasing its accessibility and demand.

That's all for today

If you want more, be sure to follow us on:

NOSTR: croxroad@getalby.com

X: @croxroadnewsco

Instagram: @croxroadnews.co/

Youtube: @thebitcoinlibertarian

Store: https://croxroad.store

Subscribe to CROX ROAD Bitcoin Only Daily Newsletter

https://www.croxroad.co/subscribe

Get Orange Pill App And Connect With Bitcoiners In Your Area. Stack Friends Who Stack Sats link: https://signup.theorangepillapp.com/opa/croxroad

Buy Bitcoin Books At Konsensus Network Store. 10% Discount With Code “21croxroad” link: https://bitcoinbook.shop?ref=21croxroad

DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.

@ f1989a96:bcaaf2c1

Good morning, readers!

Turkey’s currency plunged to a record low after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, one of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rivals. This follows a pattern of escalating repression of opposition figures, which have been described as an effort to suppress competition ahead of primary elections. As economic conditions deteriorate, Erdogan is resorting to desperate measures — blocking social media, arresting dissenters, and tear-gassing protests — to maintain power over an increasingly restless populace.

In the Caribbean, we shed light on Cubans' struggles accessing remittances sent from family members abroad. This is a symptom of the regime's strict monetary controls over foreign currency. Cubans face long delays or can’t withdraw cash due to bank liquidity shortages. And when they can, remittances are converted into pesos at the overvalued official Cuban exchange rate. This effectively allows the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) to loot the value from Cuban remittances.

In freedom tech news, we highlight Demand Pool, the first-ever Stratum V2 mining pool. Stratum V2 is a mining protocol designed to decentralize Bitcoin mining by letting individual miners create their own block templates rather than relying on centralized pools to do so for them. This improves censorship resistance and promotes a more decentralized and resilient Bitcoin network — critical features for human rights defenders and nonprofits using Bitcoin to protect against financial repression from authoritarian regimes.

We end by featuring Vijay Selvam's new book, “Principles of Bitcoin.” It offers a clear, first-principles guide to understanding how Bitcoin’s technology interacts with economics, politics, philosophy, and human rights. Whether you’re new to Bitcoin or looking to deepen your understanding, this book provides a solid foundation, and it even features a foreword by HRF Chief Strategy Officer Alex Gladstein.

Now, let’s dive right in!

Subscribe Here

GLOBAL NEWS

Turkey | Lira in Free Fall as Erdogan Arrests Political Rival

Turkey’s lira plunged to a record low after officials arrested Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival. Imamoglu’s arrest comes ahead of primary elections and follows the increasing repression of opposition figures in recent months, including the suspension of political opposition accounts on X. Officials also arrested Buğra Gökçe, head of the Istanbul Planning Agency, for publishing data exposing the country’s deepening poverty. The currency’s fallout and political repression have sparked protests in Istanbul despite a four-day ban. The regime is responding with tear gas and rubber bullets. Meanwhile, Turks dissenting online risk joining over a dozen other citizens recently arrested for “provocative” social media posts. Netblocks reports that the Turkish regime imposed restrictions on social media and messaging to quell the uprising of Turks struggling with financial conditions and deepening repression. 

Cuba | Banks “Hijack” Citizen Remittances

Cubans are struggling to access remittances sent from their families abroad. This is because the regime completely controls all incoming foreign currency transfers. When remittances arrive, communist banking authorities force their conversion into collapsing Cuban pesos or “Moneda Libremente Convertible” (MLC), Cuba’s digital currency with limited use. On top of this, Cubans receive pesos in their accounts based on the official Cuban exchange rate, which is far below the informal market rate. This allows the regime to opaquely siphon off much of the remittances’ real value. Even when the money clears, Cubans face long delays or can’t withdraw the cash due to banks’ liquidity shortages. Many Cubans are accusing these banks of “hijacking” their remittances. As inflation, electrical blackouts, and food shortages continue, remittances are more critical than ever for Cuban families. Yet, they’re blocked at every turn by a system designed to impoverish them.

Pakistan | Announces Plans to Regulate Digital Assets

Pakistan announced plans to create a regulatory framework for Bitcoin and digital assets to attract foreign investment and domestic economic activity. It’s a peculiar shift for a regime that regularly suspends the Internet, censors social media, represses opposition, and burdens its people with the highest cost of living in Asia. We suspect the plans indicate efforts to control the industry rather than empower individuals. The military-backed regime is also exploring a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and tightening controls on VPN use, which are hardly the hallmarks of leadership committed to permissionless financial systems. But perhaps it matters little. Grassroots Bitcoin adoption in Pakistan already ranks among the highest in the world, with an estimated 15 to 20 million users turning to digital assets to preserve their savings, circumvent financial controls, and escape the failures of a collapsing fiat system. HRF supported Bitcoin Pakistan with a grant to help translate resources into Urdu, a language spoken by 60 million people trapped in this repressive scenario.

Russia | Piloting CBDC in Tatarstan to Test Smart Contract Functionality

Russia’s central bank plans to pilot its CBDC, the digital ruble, in Tatarstan to test smart contract functionality. Specifically, the central bank will experiment with conditional spending, using smart contracts to restrict where and what users can spend money on. If these features are implemented, it will empower the Kremlin with micro-controls over Russians’ spending activity. Officials could program funds to expire, restrict purchases to regime-approved goods, or block transactions at certain locations — leaving users with no financial autonomy or privacy. Those who oppose the Russian dictatorship, such as activists, nonprofits, and dissenters, could be debanked with more ease, their assets frozen or confiscated without recourse.

Nicaragua | Government Mandates Public Employees Declare All Assets

In Nicaragua, dictator Daniel Ortega intensified state financial surveillance by mandating all public servants to disclose information on all personal and family assets. The mandate requires all public employees to declare everything from personal bank accounts, loans, vehicles, and other assets — as well as the assets and accounts of immediate family members. Those who do not comply face the threat of termination. Ironically, despite the law requiring such disclosure, Ortega himself has not declared his assets since 2006. Under the guise of regulatory compliance, this policy is yet another link in the chain tightening state surveillance over Nicaraguan society. Bitcoin adoption continues to grow in this repressed Central American nation.

BITCOIN AND FREEDOM TECH NEWS

Demand Pool | First Stratum V2 Mining Pool Launches

Bitcoin mining could become more decentralized and censorship-resistant with the launch of Demand Pool, the first mining pool to ever implement Stratum V2. Stratum V2 is open-source software that allows miners to build their own block templates, enabling more individual mining and less dependence on large and centralized mining pools. This helps maintain Bitcoin’s key features: its decentralized, permissionless, and uncensorable nature. All of which are crucial for human rights defenders and nonprofits bypassing the financial repression and surveillance of authoritarian regimes. Learn more here.

Bitcoin Mining | Three Solo Blocks Found

Three separate solo miners mined Bitcoin blocks in the past seven days. This marks the second, third, and fourth solo blocks mined in the past two weeks alone, hinting at a surge in home mining. This promotes greater decentralization within the Bitcoin network because solo miners have little functional ability to censor. In contrast, large mining pools are points of failure that centralized interests can more easily pressure — to the detriment of activists and human rights defenders. The first block was mined on March 21 by a miner using a self-hosted FutureBit Apollo machine that earned 3.125 BTC plus fees for processing block 888,737. Just days later, a solo miner with under 1 TH/s of self-hosted hash rate found block 888,989, which became just the third block ever to be mined using an open-source Bitaxe device. Most recently, on March 24, a solo miner using a $300 setup successfully mined block 889,240.

Krux | Adds Taproot and Miniscript Support

Krux, open-source software for building your own Bitcoin signing devices (hardware for Bitcoin self-custody), released an update that enhances privacy and flexibility. The update introduces support for Taproot, a past Bitcoin upgrade that improves privacy and security, and Miniscript, a simplified way to create more complex Bitcoin transaction rules. This allows users to manage multi-signature wallets (where more than one private key is required to interact with your Bitcoin) in a more private and flexible way. It also enables spending conditions that are harder to censor and easier to verify. Krux continues to support the struggle for financial freedom and human rights by breaking down barriers to Bitcoin self-custody. HRF has recognized this impact and awarded grants to open-source developers working on Krux to advance this mission.

Cashu | Developing Tap-to-Pay Ecash

Calle, the creator of Cashu, an open-source Chaumian ecash protocol for Bitcoin integrated with the Lightning Network, is developing a new tap-to-pay feature that enables instant, offline ecash payments via NFC. Ecash functions as a bearer asset, meaning the funds are stored directly on the user’s device. With tap-to-pay, it can be transferred with a single tap (similar to tapping your credit card). More generally, ecash offers fast, private transactions resistant to surveillance and censorship. But for activists and dissenters, this particular advancement makes private and permissionless payments more accessible and user-friendly. This development will be worth following closely. Watch a demo here.

OpenSats | Announces 10th Wave of Bitcoin Grants

OpenSats, a public nonprofit that supports open-source software and projects, announced its 10th wave of grants supporting Bitcoin initiatives. This round includes funding for Stable Channels, which enable stabilized Bitcoin-backed balances on the Lightning Network (allowing users to peg Bitcoin to fiat currencies in a self-custodial way) that provide stable, censorship-resistant payments. OpenSats also renewed its support for Floresta, a lightweight Bitcoin node (a computer that runs the Bitcoin software). It lowers entry barriers to running Bitcoin, helping make the network more decentralized and censorship-resistant.

Bitcoin Policy Institute | Launches Bitcoin Summer Research Program

The Bitcoin Student Network (BSN) and the Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI) are teaming up to offer students an eight-week research internship this summer. The program is part of BPI’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) initiative and invites students passionate about the future of money, financial inclusion, and Bitcoin’s civil liberties impacts to conduct hands-on research. Participants will also receive mentorship from BPI researchers. The program runs from June 9 to Aug. 8, 2025, and includes an in-person colloquium in Washington, DC. It is an incredible opportunity for students worldwide, especially those living in oppressive regimes, to get involved with Bitcoin. Applications are open until April 7. Apply here.

RECOMMENDED CONTENT

Principles of Bitcoin by Vijay Selvam

“Principles of Bitcoin” by Vijay Selvam is a new book offering a first-principles guide to understanding Bitcoin’s technology, economics, politics, and philosophy. With a foreword by HRF Chief Strategy Officer Alex Gladstein, the book cuts through the noise to explain why Bitcoin stands alone as a tool for individual empowerment and financial freedom. Selvam’s work makes the case for Bitcoin as a once-in-history invention shaping a more decentralized and equitable future. Read it here.

Rule Breakers — The True Story of Roya Mahboob

“Rule Breakers” is a new film that tells the true story of Roya Mahboob, Afghanistan’s first female tech CEO, who empowered young girls in Afghanistan with financial literacy, robotics, and financial freedom through Bitcoin. The film recounts Mahboob’s courageous work educating these girls despite huge personal risks under a regime that bans their education. It follows the story of Afghan Dreamers, the country’s first all-girls robotics team, and the obstacles they overcome to compete on the world stage. “Rule Breakers” is a testament to the power of education, innovation, and resilience in the face of oppression. It’s now in theaters, and you can watch the trailer here.

If this article was forwarded to you and you enjoyed reading it, please consider subscribing to the Financial Freedom Report here.

Support the newsletter by donating bitcoin to HRF’s Financial Freedom program via BTCPay.\ Want to contribute to the newsletter? Submit tips, stories, news, and ideas by emailing us at ffreport @ hrf.org

The Bitcoin Development Fund (BDF) is accepting grant proposals on an ongoing basis. The Bitcoin Development Fund is looking to support Bitcoin developers, community builders, and educators. Submit proposals here.

Subscribe to newsletter

Apply for a grant

Support our work

Visit our website

@ 401014b3:59d5476b

Alright, baseball junkies, it’s March 27, 2025, and we’re diving into the crystal ball to predict the 2025 MLB season—straight through to the World Series champ! Spring Training’s wrapping up, Opening Day’s here, and the league’s loaded with talent, drama, and some sneaky contenders ready to shake things up. I’m breaking down each playoff team’s path, their strengths, weaknesses, and who’s got the juice to hoist the trophy in October. This ain’t some cookie-cutter chalk pick—let’s get gritty, let’s get bold, and let’s see who’s got the stones to win it all. Strap in, fam—here we go!

---

American League Playoff Teams: The AL Beast Mode

New York Yankees\ The Yankees are back, and they’re pissed after last year’s World Series loss to the Dodgers. Aaron Judge is coming off another MVP-caliber season (let’s say .310, 55 HRs, 130 RBIs), and Juan Soto’s bat (projected .290, 40 HRs) gives them a lethal 1-2 punch. Gerrit Cole anchors a rotation that’s top-5 in ERA (around 3.40), but the bullpen’s a question mark—closer Clay Holmes blew 13 saves in 2024, and they haven’t fixed that yet. They’ll win the AL East (95-67), but their postseason hinges on late-inning reliability.\ Prediction: ALCS run, but they fall short if the pen implodes.

Houston Astros\ The Astros are perennial AL West champs (projected 92-70), even with a slightly aging core. Jose Altuve (.300, 20 HRs) and Yordan Alvarez (.295, 35 HRs) keep the offense humming, and a rotation led by Framber Valdez (3.20 ERA) and Hunter Brown (3.50 ERA) is solid. Their bullpen, with Josh Hader (1.28 ERA in 2024), is lights-out. But injuries to key arms like Justin Verlander (aging at 42) could bite them.\ Prediction: ALDS exit—they’re good, but not great this year.

Cleveland Guardians\ The Guardians sneak into the playoffs as the AL Central champs (88-74). Jose Ramirez (.280, 35 HRs, 110 RBIs) is a one-man wrecking crew, and their rotation—Shane Bieber (3.00 ERA, if healthy) and Triston McKenzie (3.60 ERA)—keeps them in games. But their offense outside Ramirez is thin (team OPS around .720), and the bullpen’s inconsistent (4.00 ERA).\ Prediction: Wild Card exit—they’re scrappy but lack firepower.

Tampa Bay Rays (Wild Card)\ The Rays grab a Wild Card spot (90-72) with their usual mix of grit and analytics. Yandy Diaz (.290, 15 HRs) and Randy Arozarena (.270, 25 HRs) lead a balanced offense, while Shane McClanahan (3.10 ERA) and Zach Eflin (3.40 ERA) anchor the rotation. Their bullpen (top-10 in ERA at 3.50) is a strength, but depth issues (injuries to key prospects) could hurt.\ Prediction: ALDS run—they’re sneaky dangerous.

Seattle Mariners (Wild Card)\ The Mariners finally break through as a Wild Card (89-73), as predicted by some fans on X. Julio Rodriguez (.285, 30 HRs) and Cal Raleigh (.250, 35 HRs) power the offense, and a rotation of Luis Castillo (3.20 ERA), Logan Gilbert (3.30 ERA), and George Kirby (3.40 ERA) is the best in the AL (team ERA around 3.20). Their offense (bottom-10 in runs scored) is the Achilles’ heel.\ Prediction: ALCS run—they’re a pitcher’s dream, but the bats hold ‘em back.

Baltimore Orioles (Wild Card)\ The Orioles snag a Wild Card (87-75), but some fans on X call them a “surprise disappointment.” Gunnar Henderson (.280, 35 HRs) and Adley Rutschman (.270, 20 HRs) lead a young core, but the rotation—Corbin Burnes (3.00 ERA) and Grayson Rodriguez (3.70 ERA)—lacks depth after losing Kyle Bradish to injury. The bullpen (4.20 ERA) is shaky.\ Prediction: Wild Card exit—too many holes this year.

---

National League Playoff Teams: The NL Wild West

Los Angeles Dodgers\ The Dodgers are the NL West juggernaut (98-64), and some fans on X are already calling them World Series champs. Shohei Ohtani (.300, 50 HRs, 120 RBIs) is the NL MVP favorite, Mookie Betts (.290, 30 HRs) is elite, and Freddie Freeman (.310, 25 HRs) is steady. The rotation—Tyler Glasnow (3.10 ERA), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (3.30 ERA), and Walker Buehler (3.50 ERA)—is deep, and the bullpen (3.40 ERA) is solid. No weaknesses here.\ Prediction: World Series bound—they’re a machine.

Philadelphia Phillies\ The Phillies win the NL East (94-68) with a balanced attack. Bryce Harper (.290, 30 HRs) and Kyle Schwarber (.250, 40 HRs) mash, while Trea Turner (.300, 20 HRs) adds speed. The rotation—Zack Wheeler (3.00 ERA), Aaron Nola (3.40 ERA), and Ranger Suarez (3.60 ERA)—is top-tier, and the bullpen (3.50 ERA) is reliable. They’re built for October.\ Prediction: NLCS run—they’re legit contenders.

Milwaukee Brewers\ The Brewers take the NL Central (90-72) with a scrappy squad. Willy Adames (.270, 30 HRs) and William Contreras (.280, 20 HRs) lead the offense, while Freddy Peralta (3.30 ERA) and Brandon Woodruff (3.50 ERA, if healthy) anchor the rotation. Their bullpen (top-5 in ERA at 3.30) is a strength, but the offense (middle-of-the-pack in runs) can stall.\ Prediction: NLDS exit—not enough firepower.

Atlanta Braves (Wild Card)\ The Braves grab a Wild Card (91-71) despite injuries. Ronald Acuna Jr. (.290, 35 HRs) and Matt Olson (.270, 40 HRs) power the lineup, but the rotation—Chris Sale (3.20 ERA) and Max Fried (3.40 ERA)—is thin after Spencer Strider’s injury. The bullpen (3.60 ERA) is solid, but depth is a concern.\ Prediction: NLDS run—they’re talented but banged up.

San Diego Padres (Wild Card)\ The Padres snag a Wild Card (89-73) with a balanced attack. Fernando Tatis Jr. (.280, 35 HRs) and Manny Machado (.270, 30 HRs) lead the offense, while Dylan Cease (3.30 ERA) and Yu Darvish (3.50 ERA) anchor the rotation. The bullpen (3.70 ERA) is decent, but they lack a true closer.\ Prediction: Wild Card exit—not enough late-game juice.

New York Mets (Wild Card)\ The Mets sneak in as a Wild Card (88-74) with a breakout year. Francisco Lindor (.280, 30 HRs) and Pete Alonso (.260, 35 HRs) mash, while Kodai Senga (3.20 ERA) and Luis Severino (3.60 ERA) lead the rotation. The bullpen (4.00 ERA) is a weak spot, but their offense (top-10 in runs) keeps ‘em alive.\ Prediction: NLDS run—they’re scrappy but flawed.

---

Playoff Breakdown: The Road to the World Series

AL Wild Card:

• Rays over Guardians
• Mariners over Orioles
• Yankees over Rays
• Mariners over Astros
• Yankees vs. Mariners → Yankees (4-2)\ Judge and Soto go off, and the Mariners’ bats can’t keep up with New York’s firepower. Cole’s ace stuff seals it.

NL Wild Card:

• Braves over Padres
• Mets over Brewers
• Dodgers over Mets
• Phillies over Braves
• Dodgers vs. Phillies → Dodgers (4-3)\ Ohtani’s heroics (think a 3-HR game) and the Dodgers’ depth outlast Philly’s grit in a seven-game classic.

---

World Series: Yankees vs. Dodgers

Here we go—a rematch of last year’s epic clash! The Yankees are hungry for revenge, with Judge and Soto swinging for the fences (combined 5 HRs in the series). Cole (Game 1 gem, 7 IP, 2 ER) and Rodon (Game 5 win) keep it close, but the Dodgers’ lineup is relentless—Ohtani (.350, 2 HRs), Betts (.320, 3 doubles), and Freeman (.300, 8 RBIs) overwhelm New York’s shaky bullpen. Glasnow and Yamamoto each win a start, and the Dodgers’ pen (2.50 ERA in the series) slams the door. Dodgers win in 6—Ohtani’s walk-off in Game 6 seals it.

---

The Final Buzzer

The Dodgers are my 2025 World Series champs—they’ve got the star power, depth, and clutch factor to repeat. The Yankees make a valiant run, but their bullpen woes bite ‘em again. Hit me on X if you disagree, but this is my October gospel—let’s see who’s standing when the dust settles! Play ball, degenerates!

@ 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

@ 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

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 🍽️🌊

@ 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

@ 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 👟

@ 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

@ 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 🌅

@ 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

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

@ 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

@ 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

@ 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

@ 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!

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

@ 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!

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

@ 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!

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

@ 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!

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

@ 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!

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

@ 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!

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

@ 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!

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

@ 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.