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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/852155

Humans want the resources of other humans. I want the food that the supermarket owns so that I can eat it. Before buying it, I wanted the house that I now own. And before that, someone wanted to build a house on that plot of land, which was owned by someone else first. Most of the activities we engage in during our lifetime revolve around extracting something from someone else. There are two basic modalities to getting the resources of someone else. The first, the simplest, and the one that has dominated the majority of human history, is force. Conquer people, kill them, beat them up and take their stuff, force them into slavery and make them do your work. It’s a somewhat effective strategy. This can also be more subtle, by using coercive and fraudulent methods to trick people into giving you their resources. Let’s call this modality the looter approach. The second is trade. In the world of trade, I can only extract resources from someone else when they willingly give them to me in exchange for something else of value. This can be barter of value for value, payment in money, built-up goodwill, favors, charity (exchanging resources for the benefit you receive for helping someone else), and more. In order to participate in this modality, you need to create your own valuable resources that other people want to trade for. Let’s call this the producer approach. The producer approach is better for society in every conceivable way. The looter approach causes unnecessary destruction, pushes production into ventures that don’t directly help anyone (like making more weapons), and rewards people for their ability to inflict harm. By contrast, the producer approach rewards the ability to meet the needs of others and causes resources to end up in the hands of those who value them the most. Looter philosophy is rooted in the concept of the zero sum game, the mistaken belief that I can only have more if someone else has less. By contrast, the producer philosophy correctly identifies the fact that we can *all* end up better by producing more goods in more efficient ways. We live in our modern world of relatively widespread luxury because producers have made technological leaps—for their own self-serving motives—that have improved everyone’s ability to produce more goods going forward. Think of the steam engine, electricity, computing power, and more. # A producer-only world It would be wonderful to live in a world in which there are no looters. We all produce, we all trade, everyone receives more value than they give, and there is no wasted energy or destruction from the use of force. Think about how wonderful it could be\! We wouldn’t need militaries, allowing a massive amount of productive capacity to be channeled into things that make everyone’s lives better. We wouldn’t need police. Not only would that free up more resources, but would remove the threat of improper use of force by the state against citizens. The list goes on and on. I believe many economists—especially Austrian economists—are cheering for that world. I agree with them on the cheering. It’s why things like Donald Trump’s plans for tariffs are so horrific in their eyes. Tariffs introduce an artificial barrier between nations, impeding trade, preventing the peaceful transfer of resources, and leading to a greater likelihood of armed conflict. There’s only one problem with this vision, and it’s also based in economics: game theory. # Game theory and looters Imagine I’m a farmer. I’m a great farmer, I have a large plot of land, I run my operations efficiently, and I produce huge amounts of food. I sell that food into the marketplace, and with that money I’m able to afford great resources from other people, who willingly trade them to me because they value the money more than their own resources. For example, how many T-shirts does the clothing manufacturer need? Instead of his 1,000th T-shirt, he’d rather sell it for $5 and buy some food. While I’m really great as a farmer, I’m not very good as a fighter. I have no weapons training, I keep no weapons on my property, and I dislike violence. And finally, there’s a strong, skilled, unethical person down the street. He could get a job with me on the farm. For back-breaking work 8 hours a day, I’ll pay him 5% of my harvest. Or, by contrast, he could act like the mafia, demand a “protection fee” of 20%, and either beat me up, beat up my family, or cause harm to my property, if I don’t pay it. In other words, he could be a producer and get 5% in exchange for hard work, or be a looter and get 20% in exchange for easy (and, likely for him, fun) work. As described, the game theoretic choice is clear. So how do we stop a producer world from devolving back into a looter world? # Deterrence There’s only one mechanism I’m aware of for this, and it’s deterrence. As the farmer, I made a mistake. I *should* get weapons training. I *should* keep weapons on my farm. I *should* be ready to defend myself and my property. Because if I don’t, game theory ultimately predicts that all trade will collapse, and society as we know it will crumble. I don’t necessarily have to have the power of deterrence myself. I could hire a private security company, once again allowing the producer world to work out well. I trade something of lesser value (some money) for something I value more (the protection afforded by private security). If I’m lucky, that security company will never need to do anything, because the mere *threat* of their presence is sufficient. And in modern society, we generally hope to rely on the government police force to provide this protection. There are easy ways to defeat the ability of deterrence to protect our way of life. The simplest is to defang it. Decriminalize violent and destructive acts, for example. Remove the consequences for bad, looter behavior, and you will incentivize looting. This is far from a theoretical discussion. We’ve seen the clear outcome in California, which has decriminalized theft under $950, resulting—in a completely predictable way—in more theft, stores closing, and an overall erosion of producer philosophy. And in California, this is even worse. Those who try to be their own deterrence, by arming themselves and protecting their rights, are often the targets of government force instead of the looters. I’m guessing this phrasing has now split my reading audience into three groups. Group A agrees wholly with what I’m saying. Group B believes what I’ve just written is pure evil and garbage. Group C initially disagreed with my statements, but has an open mind and is willing to consider a different paradigm. The next section is targeted at groups A and C. Group B: good luck with the broken world you’re advocating. # Global scale This concept of deterrence applies at a global scale too. I would love to live in a world where all nations exchange value for value and never use force against others. In fact, I believe the ultimate vision for this kind of a world ends with anarcho-capitalism (though I don’t know enough about the topic to be certain). There ends up being no need for any force against anyone else. It’s a beautiful vision for a unified world, where there are no borders, there is no destruction, there is only unity through trade. I love it. But game theory destroys this too. If the entire world disarmed, it would take just one person who thinks he can do better through looter tactics to destroy the system. The only way to defeat that is to have a realistic threat of force to disincentivize someone from acting like a looter. And this is the paradox. In order to live in our wonderful world of production, prosperity, health, and happiness, we always need to have our finger near enough to the trigger to respond to looters with force. I know of no other approach that allows production to happen. (And I am very interested in other theoretical solutions to this problem, if anyone wants to share reading material.) # Peace through strength This line of thinking leads to the concept of [peace through strength](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_through_strength). When those tempted to use violence see the overwhelming strength of their potential victims, they will be disincentivized to engage in violent behavior. It’s the story of the guy who wants to rob my farm. Or the roaming army in the ancient world that bypassed the well fortified walled city and attacked its unprotected neighbor. There are critics of this philosophy. As put by Andrew Bacevich, "'Peace through strength' easily enough becomes 'peace through war.'" I don’t disagree at all with that analysis, and it’s something we must remain vigilant against. But disarming is not the answer, as it will, of course, necessarily lead to the victory of those willing to use violence on others. In other words, my thesis here is that the threat of violence must be present to keep society civilized. But the cost of *using* that violence must be high enough that neither side is incentivized to initiate it. # Israel I’d been thinking of writing a blog post on this topic for a few months now, but finally decided to today. Israel just agreed to a hostage deal with Hamas. In exchange for the release of 33 hostages taken in the October 7 massacre, Israel will hand over 1,000 terrorists in Israeli prisons. I have all the sympathy in the world for the hostages and their families. I also have great sympathy for the Palestinian civilians who have been harmed, killed, displaced, and worse by this war. And I have empathy (as one of the victims) for all of the Israeli citizens who have lived under threat of rocket attacks, had our lives disrupted, and for those who have been killed by this war. War is hell, full stop. My message here is to those who have been pushing the lie of “peace through negotiations.” Or peace through capitulation. Or anything else. These tactics are the reason the war has continued. As long as the incentive structure makes initiating a war a positive, wars will continue to be initiated. Hamas has made its stance on the matter clear: it has sworn for the eradication of all Jews within the region, and considers civilian casualties on the Palestinian side not only acceptable, but advantageous.  I know that many people who criticize Israel and put pressure on us to stop the war in Gaza believe they are doing so for noble reasons. (For the record, I also believe many people have less altruistic reasons for their stance.) I know people like to point to the list of atrocities they believe Israel has committed. And, by contrast, the pro-Israel side is happy to respond with corresponding atrocities from the other side. I honestly believe this is all far beyond irrelevant. The only question people should be asking is: how do we disincentivize the continuation of hostilities? And hostage deals that result in the release of terrorists, allow “aid” to come in (which, if history is any indication, will be used to further the construction of tunnels and other sources for attack on Israel), and give Hamas an opportunity to rearm, only incentivize the continuation of the war. In other words, if you care about the innocent people on either side, you should be opposed to this kind of capitulation. Whatever you think about the morality of each side, more people will suffer with this approach. # Skin in the game It’s easy to say things like that when your life isn’t on the line. I also don’t think that matters much. Either the philosophical, political, and economic analysis is correct, or it isn’t. Nonetheless, I *do* have skin in the game here. I still live in a warzone. I am less than 15 kilometers from the Lebanese border. We’ve had Hezbollah tunnels reaching into our surrounding cities. My family had to lock ourselves inside when Hezbollah paratroopers had attempted to land in our city. My wife (Miriam) and I have discussed this situation at length, many times, over the course of this war. If I’m ever taken hostage, I hope the Israeli government bombs the hell out of wherever I am being held. I say this not only because I believe it is the right, just, moral, ethical, and strategically correct thing to do. I say this because I am selfish: * I would rather die than be tortured by our enemies. * I would rather die than be leveraged to make my family and country less safe. * I would rather die than live the rest of my life a shell of my former self, haunted not only by the likely torture inflicted on me, but by the guilt of the harm to others resulting from my spared life. I don’t know why this hostage deal went through now. I don’t know what pressures have been brought to bear on the leaders in Israel. I don’t know if they are good people trying to protect their citizens, nefarious power hungry cretins looking to abuse both the Israeli and Palestinian populace to stay in control, weak-willed toadies who do what they’re told by others, or simply stupid. But my own stance is clear. # But what about the Palestinians? I said it above, and I’ll say it again: I truly do feel horrible for the trauma that the Palestinian people are going through. Not for the active terrorists mind you, I feel no qualms about those raising arms against us being destroyed. But everyone else, even those who wish me and my fellow Israelis harm. (And, if polling is to be believed, that’s the majority of Palestinians.) I would much rather that they *not* be suffering now, and that eventually through earned trust on both sides, everyone’s lots are improved. But the framework being imposed by those who “love” peace isn’t allowing that to happen. Trust cannot be built when there’s a greater incentive to return to the use of force. I was strongly opposed to the 2005 disengagement from Gaza. But once it happened, it could have been one of those trust-building starting points. Instead, I saw many people justify further violence by Hamas—such as non-stop rocket attacks on the south of Israel—because Israel hadn’t done enough yet. Notice how fundamentally flawed this mentality is, just from an incentives standpoint\! Israel gives up control of land, something against its own overall interests and something desired by Palestinians, and is punished for it with increased violence against citizens. Hamas engaged in a brutal destruction of all of its opponents within the Palestinian population, launched attacks on Israel, and when Israel *did* respond with force, Israel was blamed for having not done enough to appease Hamas. I know people will want to complicate this story by bringing up the laundry list of past atrocities, of assigning negative motivations to Israel and its leaders, and a million other evasions that are used to avoid actually solving this conflict. Instead, I beg everyone to just use basic logic. The violence will continue as long as the violence gets results.

Kalaripayattu, one of the oldest martial arts in the world, is a system of combat that emphasizes precision, agility, and functional strength. At the heart of this ancient art lies Kaalukal, a series of leg movements that build strength, flexibility, and balance. These movements are not just combat techniques—they are a masterclass in biomechanical efficiency and functional conditioning. With modern sports science backing up the principles of Kaalukal, it’s clear why this training remains relevant for fighters, athletes, and anyone focused on longevity. Breaking Down Kaalukal: The Anatomy of Movement  Kaalukal incorporates a range of movements designed to engage multiple muscle groups, build joint stability, and improve neuromuscular coordination. Below are key movements and their biomechanical implications: 1. High Leaps (Mei Adavu) Movement Description: Practitioners perform explosive vertical or diagonal leaps, often combined with twisting or spinning. Muscles Engaged: Glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, and core. Biomechanical Benefits: Enhances power output through the stretch-shortening cycle, the mechanism behind plyometric efficiency. Develops fast-twitch muscle fibers, crucial for explosive strikes and evasive maneuvers. Improves landing mechanics, reducing the risk of ACL injuries—a common problem in high-impact sports. 2. Wide Stances (Chuvadu) Movement Description: Low, wide stances like the horse stance (Ashwa Vadivu) or elephant stance (Gaja Vadivu) are held for extended periods during practice. Muscles Engaged: Quadriceps, adductors, glutes, hip stabilizers, and spinal erectors. Biomechanical Benefits: Strengthens the lower body while increasing isometric endurance. Improves joint mobility in the hips and knees, essential for maintaining stability in dynamic movements. Enhances proprioception, the body’s ability to sense its position in space, critical for balance in combat scenarios. 3. Rotational Leg Swings (Kalari Pirichal) Movement Description: Controlled leg swings performed in circular or linear trajectories, often with an emphasis on hip rotation. Muscles Engaged: Hip flexors, extensors, abductors, adductors, and obliques. Biomechanical Benefits: Increases dynamic flexibility in the hips, allowing for high kicks and evasive maneuvers. Strengthens the oblique sling system, a network of muscles that enhances rotational power—a key element in strikes and takedowns. Promotes joint stability and reduces the risk of hip and groin injuries. 4. Dynamic Lunges (Nadakkal) Movement Description: Deep lunges performed with forward, backward, or lateral motion, often transitioning fluidly between stances. Muscles Engaged: Quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, calves, and core. Biomechanical Benefits: Develops unilateral strength, addressing imbalances between legs. Enhances deceleration control, critical for rapid changes in direction during combat. Strengthens the posterior chain, improving overall athletic performance and injury resilience. 5. Heel-Lift Movements (Kannadi Nirutham) Movement Description: Movements performed on the balls of the feet, emphasizing balance and agility. Muscles Engaged: Calves, intrinsic foot muscles, and stabilizers in the lower leg. Biomechanical Benefits: Strengthens the ankle complex, reducing the risk of sprains and other common injuries. Improves quick directional changes, a skill critical for both striking and grappling. Enhances proprioceptive feedback for better reaction times. Kaalukal and Modern Sports Science The principles of Kaalukal align with contemporary understanding of sports science. Research shows that dynamic, multi-plane movements like those in Kaalukal enhance: 1. Muscle Activation Patterns: Movements like wide stances and lunges activate stabilizing muscles that are often neglected in linear exercises like squats or deadlifts. This creates a more balanced and injury-resistant athlete. 2. Elastic Energy Storage and Release: Explosive leaps leverage the stretch-shortening cycle, where muscles store elastic energy during loading (eccentric phase) and release it during unloading (concentric phase). This mechanism is the foundation of plyometric training, making movements more efficient and powerful. 3. Joint Health and Mobility: The low stances and rotational movements in Kaalukal improve joint range of motion and synovial fluid circulation, reducing the risk of arthritis and other degenerative conditions. 4. Neuromuscular Coordination: The fluid transitions between stances challenge the central nervous system, enhancing coordination and reaction time—key components for combat athletes. Kaalukal and Longevity Recent studies on muscle mass and longevity reveal a strong correlation between lower body strength and overall health. A 2019 study published in the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia, and Muscle found that individuals with greater thigh muscle mass had a lower risk of mortality, even when controlling for other factors like cardiovascular health. Kaalukal, with its emphasis on dynamic leg strength and balance, is an ancient blueprint for maintaining health into old age. Its combination of strength, flexibility, and functional movement creates a resilient body capable of withstanding the rigors of both combat and aging. Application for Modern Fighters and Athletes Modern athletes can incorporate Kaalukal-inspired training into their routines to reap its benefits: 1. Warm-Up Routine: Use rotational leg swings and dynamic lunges to prepare the body for high-intensity activity. 2. Balance Training: Incorporate wide stances and heel-lift movements to build stability and proprioception. 3. Plyometric Drills: Adapt high leaps into structured plyometric training for explosive power. 4. Barefoot Sessions: Train barefoot periodically to strengthen the feet and improve balance. Conclusion: Kaalukal as the Foundation of Combat and Health Kaalukal is not just a relic of ancient martial arts—it’s a scientifically validated system of training that builds strength, balance, and resilience. Its principles are as relevant for modern fighters as they were for warriors on ancient battlefields. By incorporating Kaalukal-inspired movements, athletes can optimize their performance, reduce injury risk, and build a body that will stand the test of time. Combat, longevity, and health all start from the ground up. The legs are the foundation—train them with purpose, train them with precision, and the results will speak for themselves.

With her white raven hair and dark attire, She walks with grace and Gothic fire. Her pale complexion, a porcelain dream, Her beauty, like nothing you’ve ever seen. She dances in the moonlit night, Her gothic elegance, a mesmerizing sight. A queen of darkness, a mistress of the night, She enchants all with her otherworldly might. With a heart full of passion and soul full of art, She wears her Gothic style like a work of art. She is unapologetic-ally herself, a true original, A Gothic gal, with a personality quite formidable.  Originally posted [here](https://blogclif.wordpress.com/2023/05/26/gothic-gal/)

**Table Of Content** - A Mysterious 911 Call - The Investigation Begins - Zhong's Lavish Lifestyle - The Silk Road Connection - The Confrontation - The Shocking Revelation - The Verdict - Conclusion - FAQ The world of cryptocurrency is filled with tales of overnight millionaires, innovative technology, and unfortunately, crime. One such tale that intertwines all these elements is that of Jimmy Zhong. From being a developer in the early days of Bitcoin to becoming one of its biggest thieves, Zhong's story is a roller-coaster ride that sheds light on the darker corners of the crypto universe. Here's a deeper dive into his intriguing journey. **A Mysterious 911 Call** In the college town of Athens, Georgia, the police department is accustomed to handling typical college town crimes. However, on the night of March 13, 2019, they received a call that was anything but ordinary. Jimmy Zhong, a 28-year-old known for his partying habits, was on the line, but not for reasons one might expect. Distressed and panicked, he reported a significant theft of cryptocurrency from his residence. This call, seemingly just another crime report, would soon unravel a web of deceit and expose a decade-long mystery surrounding one of the most significant crypto crimes ever committed. **The Investigation Begins** With the local police initially stumped by the intricacies of the crypto world, Zhong sought external help. Enter Robin Martinelli, a private investigator with a reputation for tenacity. As she delved into the case, surveillance footage from Zhong's home revealed a potential suspect who seemed to have intimate knowledge of the premises. This discovery led Martinelli down a path that suggested the thief might be from Zhong's own circle of acquaintances or friends. The very idea was something Zhong found hard to digest, as it hinted at a betrayal from someone he trusted. **Zhong's Lavish Lifestyle** Behind the façade of a modest bungalow in Athens, Zhong led a life of luxury that raised many eyebrows. His spending habits painted the picture of a man with deep pockets. From stays at the Ritz Carlton to shopping sprees at Louis Vuitton, from driving a Tesla to owning a lake house filled with extravagant amenities, Zhong's lifestyle was nothing short of opulent. Yet, the source of his wealth remained shrouded in mystery. He often alluded to his early involvement in Bitcoin mining, suggesting he had been part of the crypto revolution since its inception in 2009. **The Silk Road Connection** Parallel to Zhong's life of luxury, IRS agents were deep into an investigation of a massive 2012 hack. This hack had seen 50,000 bitcoins stolen from Silk Road, a notorious dark web marketplace. As the years passed, the value of these stolen bitcoins skyrocketed to a staggering $3 billion. The breakthrough in the case came unexpectedly when the hacker, in a momentary lapse, transferred some of the stolen funds to a crypto exchange. The account on this exchange was registered under none other than Jimmy Zhong's name, drawing him into the crosshairs of the investigation. **The Confrontation** With growing suspicions, IRS agents, in collaboration with the local police, decided to confront Zhong. They approached him under the pretense of assisting with his reported theft, but their ulterior motive was to probe deeper into Zhong's potential involvement in the Silk Road heist. Their visit to his residence was revealing. Not only did they discover a significant amount of bitcoin on Zhong's laptop, but the manner in which Zhong operated his systems also hinted at a deep familiarity with the crypto world. **The Shocking Revelation** The deeper the authorities delved into Zhong's background, the more astonishing the revelations became. It turned out that Zhong wasn't just a casual participant in the Bitcoin community; he was an integral part of its early days. Known as an "original gangster" or OG, Zhong had contributed to Bitcoin's development in its nascent stages. This revelation was both ironic and startling. A person who had been instrumental in shaping Bitcoin had also, allegedly, become one of its most significant adversaries. **The Verdict** The culmination of the investigations saw Zhong facing charges of wire fraud. After a guilty plea, he was handed a sentence of a year and a day in federal prison. While the U.S. government managed to seize the stolen bitcoins, the original theft that led Zhong to make that fateful 911 call remains an unsolved mystery to this day. **Conclusion** The tale of Jimmy Zhong serves as a stark reminder of the complexities and ambiguities of the cryptocurrency world. It's a realm where the lines between right and wrong can often blur, and where fortunes can be made or lost in mere moments. Zhong's journey from a Bitcoin developer to a billionaire thief is a testament to the unpredictable and often tumultuous world of digital currencies. **FAQs** **Who is Jimmy Zhong?** Jimmy Zhong is a former Bitcoin developer who later became known for his involvement in one of the biggest crypto thefts. **What was the nature of the crime?** Zhong was implicated in a 2012 hack where 50,000 bitcoins were stolen from the Silk Road, a dark web marketplace. **How was he caught?** A small transactional mistake led investigators to a crypto exchange account registered under Zhong's name, linking him to the stolen bitcoins. **What was his sentence?** After pleading guilty to wire fraud, Zhong was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison. **Is the original theft from Zhong's home solved?** No, the theft that led Zhong to make a 911 call in 2019 remains unsolved. **That's all for today** **If you want more, be sure to follow us on:** **NOSTR: croxroad@getalby.com** **X: @croxroadnews** **Instagram: @croxroadnews.co** **Youtube: @croxroadnews** **Store: https://croxroad.store** **Subscribe to CROX ROAD Bitcoin Only Daily Newsletter** **https://www.croxroad.co/subscribe** *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.*

<img src="https://blossom.primal.net/fe9e24ef5619e5a9230cf83bd3f5e6d7c5c8bc608e08480c3d063096f73929b0.webp"> ## U.S. Labor Markets The U.S. economy demonstrated resilience in December, adding 256,000 jobs, far exceeding expectations of 155,000. The unemployment rate remained steady at 4.1%, reflecting a strong labor market even as wage growth moderated to 3.9% year-over-year. This performance capped a robust year for U.S. employment, despite headwinds from tightening monetary policy and geopolitical uncertainties. The jobs report reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve may slow the pace of rate cuts in 2025. The Fed’s December meeting minutes indicated officials remain cautious about inflation risks, with Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman stating that inflation remains “uncomfortably above” the 2% target. This hawkish stance, combined with resilient economic data, suggests interest rates could stay elevated longer than previously anticipated. Investors reacted sharply to the report, sending equities lower on Friday as the implications for tighter financial conditions weighed on sentiment. ### **Equity Markets Under Pressure Amid Inflation and Policy Concerns** U.S. equities posted losses as inflation fears and political uncertainty dominated market sentiment. Began positively, with optimism around potential softening of trade policies under President-elect Donald Trump. However, this faded after Trump dismissed reports of a more lenient tariff stance. Economic data further dampened optimism. The Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) Services PMI for December came in at 54.1, signaling continued expansion in the services sector. However, the index’s prices-paid component jumped by 6.2 percentage points to 64.4, raising concerns about persistent inflationary pressures. ### **Treasury Yields Surged on Strong Jobs Data** U.S. Treasury yields climbed throughout the week and spiked on Friday following the strong labor market report. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield reached its highest intraday level since November 2023. This movement reflects market expectations that the Fed will maintain higher interest rates for an extended period to combat inflation. In the corporate bond market, investment-grade issuances were heavily oversubscribed, though spreads widened due to elevated supply. High-yield bonds mirrored equity market performance, trading in a mixed and cautious environment. Utilities gained attention amid California wildfires, adding to regional economic uncertainties. > Reference: [T.RowePrice](https://www.troweprice.com/personal-investing/resources/insights/global-markets-weekly-update.html) <img src="https://blossom.primal.net/7ea878597478faf3188452fbed2459c7985ce9c90fa40784c44e1d8d77ca0ea9.webp"> The debut of US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in 2024 marked a turning point for the bitcoin market and traditional finance, achieving unparalleled success in its first year. Approved by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on January 10, 2024, these ETFs launched the following day, swiftly capturing the attention of institutional and retail investors alike. <img src="https://blossom.primal.net/32f293a944b464bb80bc8f1c3e6a2eab782e8274443377b01fd35a8ec7e96beb.png"> ### **Explosive Growth Surpassing Projections** BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF reached $61 billion in assets under management (AUM) within a year—a feat that took its gold ETF two decades to achieve. This rapid growth reflects the pent-up demand for institutional-grade Bitcoin exposure. Investors were drawn to ETFs’ simplicity and familiarity, eliminating the challenges of self-custody while ensuring regulatory compliance. ### **Drivers of Success** #### **Institutional Demand and Market Readiness** For over a decade, the bitcoin community anticipated a US spot Bitcoin ETF. Its launch fulfilled a significant market gap, providing institutions and sophisticated investors with a way to access Bitcoin without the risks and complexities of direct ownership. #### **Favorable Economic and Policy Environment** The 2024 macroeconomic backdrop amplified demand. Federal Reserve interest rate cuts eased financial conditions, while Bitcoin-friendly policies under President-elect Donald Trump added regulatory clarity. Analysts also pointed to the asset’s price recovery and upcoming events, such as the Bitcoin halving in April 2024, which historically drive price appreciation. #### **Global Trust in US Financial Markets** As the birthplace of ETFs and the largest capital market globally, the US offers unmatched liquidity and investor confidence. With ETFs managing over $10.5 trillion in AUM domestically—out of $15 trillion globally—the US is a natural leader in this space. ### **What Lies Ahead for Bitcoin ETFs?** #### **Continued Growth in 2025** Market experts anticipate that 2025 will outperform 2024 as more professional investors gain access to Bitcoin ETFs. Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan noted that ETF adoption is often a multi-year process, with second-year inflows typically exceeding first-year figures. This pattern suggests significant upside potential for the market. #### **Expansion of Offerings** The competitive landscape is set to diversify, with multiple providers refining their offerings to cater to a broader audience. Features like staking-enabled ETFs and innovative custody solutions could become differentiators, attracting even more inflows. The first year of US spot Bitcoin ETFs has redefined market standards, creating a benchmark for other jurisdictions. As these products evolve, they will likely remain at the forefront of the crypto and traditional financial worlds, offering a bridge between digital assets and institutional adoption. > Reference: [Bitbo](https://treasuries.bitbo.io/us-etfs/), [Cointelegraph](https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-etfs-usa-versus-canada-2024), [Coinglass](https://www.coinglass.com/bitcoin-etf) <img src="https://blossom.primal.net/d3adc72f1784f93819442f5a7020dca894aa2bd1c69013456e2121c3bb302b96.webp"> ## **1.Meta Shareholder Proposal Advocated Bitcoin Allocation to Hedge Against Inflation** <img src="https://blossom.primal.net/a88bb863aa394b36b68c6ad3a36dd5bf01470fd97f3972ef843f7a0d1478d755.webp"> A Meta shareholder proposal, submitted by Ethan Peck, calls for the company to allocate a portion of its $72 billion in cash and short-term cash equivalents to Bitcoin (BTC) as a hedge against currency debasement. The proposal highlights inflation’s erosive impact on Meta's cash holdings, claiming a 28% loss of value over time due to inflation. Peck underscored Bitcoin’s potential, noting its outperformance of bonds by 1,262% over the past five years. In the proposal, Peck stated: “Mark Zuckerberg named his goats 'Bitcoin' and 'Max.' Meta director Marc Andreessen has praised Bitcoin and is also a director at Coinbase. Do Meta shareholders not deserve the same kind of responsible asset allocation for the Company that Meta directors and executives likely implement for themselves?” Peck, an employee of the National Center for Public Policy Research — a Washington, D.C.-based think tank advocating free-market policies — has been involved in submitting similar Bitcoin treasury proposals to companies such as Microsoft and Amazon in 2024. However, the Meta proposal was submitted independently, representing shares owned by Peck’s family. This proposal aligns with the growing trend of corporate Bitcoin adoption as a hedge against inflation, though it remains to be seen whether Meta’s board will entertain the idea. > Reference: [Cointelegraph](https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-corporate-treasury-proposal-meta), [The Coin Rise](https://thecoinrise.com/meta-shareholder-advocates-for-bitcoin-adoption-amid-inflation-concerns/) ## **2. DOJ Cleared to Sell Seized Bitcoin After Court Ruling** The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has been authorized to sell tens of thousands of Bitcoins seized in the government’s largest-ever crypto asset confiscation. On Dec. 30, a federal judge in the Northern District of California rejected a motion by Nevada-based venture capital firm Battle Born Investments to block the sale of Bitcoin valued at $6.5 billion. Battle Born had claimed rights to the assets, but the court ruled against the firm, effectively ending a years-long legal battle. **Seized Bitcoin Linked to Silk Road**\ The 69,370 Bitcoins were confiscated in 2020 from an unidentified hacker, referred to in court as "Individual X." Federal agents traced the funds to the Silk Road, a notorious darknet marketplace dismantled in 2013. While the hacker's identity remains unknown, the government secured control of the funds. **Potential Government Auction**\ Though the ruling does not mandate an immediate sale, the U.S. Marshals Service typically auctions off seized cryptocurrency, just as it does other confiscated assets like cars or real estate. A sale of this magnitude would be among the largest ever, potentially unsettling crypto markets. To mitigate market impact, the government has historically staggered auctions. Last month, blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence reported that U.S. government wallets moved $1.9 billion in Silk Road Bitcoin to Coinbase. While some investors feared an imminent sale, the move may be part of the government’s contract with Coinbase to manage digital assets. **Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Discussions**\ The timing coincides with renewed political interest in Bitcoin under President-elect Donald Trump, a vocal crypto supporter. Trump has advocated for a national Bitcoin reserve as a hedge against inflation and encouraged investors to “never sell your Bitcoin.” Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis has also introduced legislation proposing the government purchase one million Bitcoin over five years. If the DOJ proceeds with the sale, it will add a significant chapter to the evolving intersection of cryptocurrency and government policy. <img src="https://blossom.primal.net/56352a3127a4a4dc03a3e4490ce8db5e3bf62707b0873f98e6d36433e9e987bb.webp"> > Reference: [Yahoo Finance](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/federal-government-just-got-greenlight-220013306.html), [The Crypto Times](https://www.cryptotimes.io/2025/01/09/doj-granted-permission-to-sell-seized-6-5b-bitcoin/) ## **Federal Reserve’s Michael Barr to Resign Amid Crypto Industry Scrutiny** Michael Barr, Vice Chair for Supervision at the US Federal Reserve, announced his resignation effective February 28 or earlier if a successor is appointed. His departure marks another high-profile exit tied to “Operation Chokepoint 2.0,” a controversial alleged effort to limit banking access for crypto firms. Barr will remain a Federal Reserve Board Governor. In his resignation letter to President Joe Biden, dated January 6, Barr reflected on his tenure, during which he gained a reputation within the crypto industry for his critical stance on banks engaging with crypto assets. In a March 2023 speech, Barr stated: “We would likely view it as unsafe and unsound for banks to directly own crypto-assets on their balance sheets.” **Crypto Industry Reactions**\ Barr’s resignation has elicited strong reactions from the crypto community. Senator Cynthia Lummis criticized his leadership, accusing him of facilitating Operation Chokepoint 2.0 and undermining Wyoming’s digital asset industry. Caitlin Long, CEO of Custodia Bank, labeled Barr the “Fed’s debanker-in-chief,” suggesting he was instrumental in the alleged campaign against crypto companies. Nic Carter of Castle Island Ventures noted that many key figures linked to anti-crypto policies, including FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg and SEC Chair Gary Gensler, have recently left their roles or faced defeat. Carter’s so-called "anti-crypto" list now includes a shrinking roster of figures such as Senator Elizabeth Warren and Federal Reserve Board member Michael Gibson. <img src="https://blossom.primal.net/e44f3b55cd2ce11ae63e1573b0eaf5c9bb9c58b236aca57d8452e530fe8ac881.webp"> **Ongoing Investigations into Operation Chokepoint 2.0**\ While US officials have denied orchestrating a campaign to debank the crypto industry, recent court orders granted Coinbase access to unredacted FDIC documents to investigate the agency’s role in the alleged initiative. Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer, claimed the filings reveal a coordinated effort to suppress crypto activities ranging from Bitcoin transactions to more complex services. Former prosecutor and crypto advocate John Deaton has offered to lead an investigation into these actions under the incoming Trump administration, warning: “If unchallenged, such actions set a dangerous precedent, allowing regulatory bodies to quietly stifle innovation and economic opportunity.” > Reference: [Cointelegraph](https://cointelegraph.com/news/fed-reserve-chair-supervision-michael-barr-to-resign) <img src="https://blossom.primal.net/ff3554485d016c517ced7ba8396ac38478d2e7bcd9fa39f5b5434f9f5f13a067.webp"> ## Launching the Chinese Version of "My First Bitcoin" Over the past year, we've worked closely with the MiPremierBitcoin team to produce the Chinese version of Bitcoin Diploma *My First Bitcoin* . As the HCM team is based in Asia, we're passionate about connecting more people to Bitcoin and fostering its global adoption. We're thrilled to announce that the book will be launching soon! Stay tuned for more updates and join us on this incredible journey. <img src="https://blossom.primal.net/88795768f97f1292a5d3d034c7e517331f8b230ca33e6aef2a36e2b836d9b165.jpg"> <img src="https://blossom.primal.net/77bfd3aaac19bf07c164eec4d3da59b05ded14de7490be72103b3e5cf21f8ccb.webp"> ## Unchained led the sponsorship for Max and Stacy Invitational <img src="https://blossom.primal.net/dacd0725a6b176c077139e6c7e74e59c9ad3368eb15a6c681c1d56369a5bf036.webp"> Unchained sponsored the **Max & Stacy Invitational**, a landmark event set to take place in El Salvador, the heart of the global Bitcoin movement. This gathering celebrates innovation, community, and the transformative potential of Bitcoin, embodying the vision championed by Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert. With the support of the community, we strive together to inspire continued progress toward the bitcoin future. > Reference: [X.com](https://x.com/BSN_Events/status/1878163164325466368)

Will It Scale? Web2 vs. Ethereum, Solana, Lightning, and Aeternity (Part 1: The Basics) When it comes to scaling, Web2 architectures rely on traditional centralized solutions: adding more servers, deploying load balancers, and utilizing CDNs. But scaling is costly and often inefficient. Ethereum, the pioneer of DeFi, struggles with scalability due to its Proof-of-Stake (PoS) architecture and high fees, especially during peak times. Meanwhile, Solana boasts high throughput with low fees but has faced criticism for periodic downtime under heavy load. Lightning Network, built on Bitcoin, tackles scalability through off-chain transactions, enabling instant and cheap payments. Aeternity excels with state channels, allowing off-chain interactions while maintaining security and scalability. When the question is "Will it scale?" Web2 stumbles, Ethereum gets expensive, Solana pushes hard but risks downtime, Lightning remains fast for payments, and Aeternity blends scalability with flexibility for smart contracts and oracles. --- Will It Overload? Web2 vs. Ethereum, Solana, Lightning, and Aeternity (Part 2: Peak Demand) Handling peak demand is a nightmare for Web2 systems. Auto-scaling might keep servers running, but the costs skyrocket, and outages can occur during sudden traffic spikes. Ethereum's block capacity leads to congestion and sky-high gas fees during NFT drops or DeFi booms. Solana offers high throughput, but its monolithic design makes it vulnerable to overload and downtime. Lightning Network shines here, as its off-chain channels ensure seamless microtransactions even during high demand. Aeternity outpaces the rest with its state channel architecture, reducing on-chain congestion and enabling real-time interactions. Under peak demand, Web2 buckles, Ethereum gets expensive, Solana may stall, Lightning remains reliable for payments, and Aeternity distributes load effortlessly for a seamless experience. --- Will It Fail? Web2 vs. Ethereum, Solana, Lightning, and Aeternity (Part 3: Single Points of Failure) Centralized Web2 systems depend on servers and databases, leaving them vulnerable to single points of failure (SPoFs). If a critical server goes down, the entire application can be paralyzed. In blockchain ecosystems, decentralization minimizes SPoFs. Ethereum boasts strong decentralization but struggles with speed and scalability. Solana, while fast, compromises decentralization by relying on fewer nodes, raising concerns about centralization. Lightning Network is highly resilient for payments, but its reliance on node connectivity means it isn't entirely immune to outages. Aeternity's decentralized nodes and oracles ensure fault tolerance without compromising speed. When failure isn’t an option, Ethereum resists well but gets slow, Solana risks centralization, Lightning thrives in payments, and Aeternity blends reliability with decentralization. --- Will It Secure? Web2 vs. Ethereum, Solana, Lightning, and Aeternity (Part 4: Data Integrity) Web2 security relies on firewalls and centralized databases, making breaches a constant concern. From data leaks to ransomware attacks, Web2 remains highly vulnerable. Ethereum ensures security through cryptographic validation but suffers from phishing and smart contract exploits. Solana provides low-cost transactions but faces criticism for its centralization risks, which could undermine long-term security. Lightning Network prioritizes secure, private transactions for payments, but its reliance on custodial wallets introduces risks. Aeternity leverages cryptographic security and immutable records for unparalleled data integrity, while its state channels mitigate risks from on-chain congestion. In the battle for data integrity, Web2 collapses, Ethereum secures with high costs, Solana trades decentralization for speed, Lightning secures payments, and Aeternity balances security with innovation. --- Will It Innovate? Web2 vs. Ethereum, Solana, Lightning, and Aeternity (Part 5: Futureproofing) Web2 systems evolve incrementally, hampered by legacy architecture. Meanwhile, blockchain ecosystems are leading the charge in innovation: Ethereum introduced smart contracts and continues to innovate through layer-2 solutions like Optimism and zkSync. Solana focuses on speed, catering to high-frequency traders and Web3 games. However, concerns over reliability and centralization linger. Lightning Network revolutionizes Bitcoin by enabling microtransactions and instant payments, making it a frontrunner for financial applications. Aeternity takes innovation further with oracles and state channels, enabling seamless real-world data integration and cost-effective, scalable smart contracts. Web2 struggles to keep up, Ethereum pushes boundaries with layers, Solana races for speed, Lightning dominates payments, and Aeternity innovates across applications. --- Conclusion: Web2 Cracks, Ethereum, Solana, Lightning, and Aeternity Compete Each system has its strengths and weaknesses: Web2 struggles with cost and centralization. Ethereum leads in decentralization but suffers from congestion and high fees. Solana offers speed but compromises decentralization. Lightning Network excels in payments but isn’t built for generalized smart contracts. Aeternity combines scalability, security, and real-world integration. So, will it blend? In the end, the future belongs to solutions that balance scalability, security, and decentralization, and Aeternity is positioned to be a key contender in this space.

There was a catch—there was always a catch. The fiat businesses had built empires on sand, parading as indestructible titans while their foundations crumbled beneath them. They were too big to fail, they said, as if saying it loud enough could stop the tide. But the tide didn’t care, and the tide had a name: Bitcoin. Bitcoin wasn’t the currency of criminals anymore, as the talking heads on television liked to parrot. No, it was the currency of mathematicians, engineers, and anyone else who figured out that trusting a bank to keep your money safe was like trusting a fox to guard your chickens. And while the fiat war machine churned along, chewing up lives with merciless efficiency, its disembodied body was writhing and bleeding out like a wounded ouroboros—an ancient snake devouring its own tail, too consumed by its gluttony to notice its inevitable demise. The ouroboros wasn’t just dying. It was rotting. The "Warscape of Disruption" was not kind. --- The Ouroboros of Fiat The fiat war machine, that hungry mouth, had always feasted on the lifeblood of ordinary people—wages diluted by inflation, savings eroded by fees, debts stretched out for eternity. The machine’s appetite was insatiable, gnashing and grinding through entire generations. Yet, the tail it chewed wasn’t just a metaphor; it was its own lifeline. Each bite it took to sustain itself weakened the system further, draining liquidity, trust, and time. The result? A writhing, bleeding beast—a grotesque spectacle of a financial system that couldn’t stop destroying itself even as its days were clearly numbered. Bitcoin, like a sword forged from cryptographic steel, struck at the head of the ouroboros, severing the illusion that the system was sustainable. --- The Fall of Fiat Empires Imagine a city under siege. The walls are high, the defenses robust—or so they seem. Inside, the merchants continue their trade as if the invaders outside will simply get bored and leave. But Bitcoin does not leave. Bitcoin is a battering ram, each transaction a blow to the gates. It doesn’t stop, doesn’t sleep, doesn’t even care if it’s raining. The merchants inside—your Fortune 500s, your too-big-to-fails—sit around arguing over their spreadsheets, wondering why their liquidity is drying up. And liquidity does dry up when your currency is no longer trusted. Why would anyone hold onto a rapidly devaluing asset when Bitcoin offers a deflationary alternative? Why leave wealth in the hands of a financial system designed to siphon it away? Fiat businesses scramble for answers, only to find themselves priced out of relevance. --- DeFi: The Siege Engines If Bitcoin is the battering ram, DeFi is the trebuchet, hurling innovations like smart contracts and yield farming over the walls of traditional finance. What once required entire armies of lawyers and brokers can now be executed in seconds on a blockchain. Borrowing, lending, insuring—these were the sacred pillars of fiat finance, and DeFi is smashing them to pieces with algorithms. But the beauty—or terror, depending on which side you’re on—is that DeFi doesn’t even need to storm the gates. It builds new cities outside the walls, cities without kings or tax collectors, where every transaction is voluntary and transparent. These new cities—protocols like Aave, Uniswap, and MakerDAO—are thriving. Meanwhile, the old cities burn. --- Critical Analysis: The End of Complacency The fall of fiat businesses is not just a matter of technological disruption; it is a reckoning. They thrived for decades on inefficiency and opacity, extracting rents from consumers who had no other choice. But now there is a choice, and it is brutally efficient. Yet, the decimation of fiat businesses raises questions: 1. Regulatory Resistance: Governments will not surrender their economic dominance without a fight. Will they embrace Bitcoin and DeFi, or attempt to stifle it through draconian regulation? 2. Inclusion or Exclusion: While Bitcoin and DeFi promise financial inclusion, their adoption requires technical literacy and access to the internet. Will the transition leave the less fortunate behind? 3. Moral Hazard: As DeFi dismantles gatekeepers, it also removes the safety nets. If everyone becomes their own bank, who will rescue those who make poor financial decisions? --- The Fiat Future: A Ghost Town The ouroboros is dying. Its mouth still chews, trying to wring out a few last drops of life from a system that no longer works. Its tail, now bitten to the bone, hangs limp. Fiat businesses are already on life support, relying on bailouts, artificial liquidity injections, and consumer apathy. But this system, like all empires, will fall. Bitcoin does not care about your quarterly earnings. DeFi does not care about your brand equity. The warscape of the technology landscape will be leveled, and those who fail to adapt will be left behind as relics of a bygone era. To paraphrase an old soldier, “If we don’t end fiat, fiat will end us.” But maybe that’s not such a bad thing. After all, the only businesses that will truly disappear are the ones that deserve to. So, as the siege continues, the merchants of fiat have a choice: reinvent or die. But as anyone in DeFi will tell you, the smart money is already on the other side of the wall.

I have had the same network setup for a long time now. Unifi stuff just works most of the time. I didn't really pick it. Its not open source and now that I have fiber and have been having some issues with some of the Unifi hardware its time to make the call. Do I just upgrade with Unifi or start migrating to something more in line with what I value. So I've been chatting with my very helpful colleges at Red Hat and after mentioning PfSense to them I was told to check out Opnsense instead. 1. I want to slowly move to 10g network gear 2. I need PoE switches that are 10g 3. I want a robust firewall / router 4. I don't really wanna build my router due to time Currently looking at [Protectli Buyer’s Guide](https://kb.protectli.com/buyers-guide/) who sell hardware that is pre-installed with many options. I haven't decided which one to get yet. I wanna buy with the future in mind though so 10g connections are a must and support for two WAN connection is as well. I'm glad I ran CAT6 in my house years ago instead of cheaping out. After I replace my router / firewall I will want to replace my Unifi switches. I'm considering buying used Cisco switches from eBay. Anyone have any advice on this plan or advice? originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/851922

# Changes ## Daniel Saxton (5): - Add t tags for hashtags - Use HashSet, lowercase, and add emoji tests - Add test and format - Fix emoji hashtags - Handle punctuation better ## William Casarin (3): - grip: show pointer cursor on grip - adjust context menu/grip circle sizes - grip: fix double frame border ## kernelkind (10): - extract timing from AppSizeHandler to TimedSerializer - use TimedSerializer in AppSizeHandler - introduce ZoomHandler - integrate ZoomHandler - move columns ui - move column - integrate column moving - use replace move icon with grab - toggle move tooltip on button press - update colors pushed to [notedeck:refs/heads/master](http://git.jb55.com/notedeck/commit/e4732f5112ad7688e4159be9e2cb9869ca851aae.html)

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By a Humble Admirer of Reason and Revelation In an age where the digital and metaphysical intertwine, Bitcoin emerges as more than a mere technological marvel; it beckons us to contemplate the profound relationship between faith and truth. This inquiry, inspired by the works of great philosophers such as Immanuel Kant and Thomas Aquinas, seeks to explore the interplay between Bitcoin, faith, and the divine truth. --- Faith and Rational Certainty Faith, in its essence, is often misunderstood. It is not mere blind belief but a rational assent to truths that transcend empirical verification. Immanuel Kant argued that reason sets the boundaries of what we can know, yet it also reveals the necessity of postulating certain truths—God, freedom, and immortality—for the coherence of our moral universe. In Bitcoin, we find a parallel. The network operates on cryptographic principles, open source code, and decentralized consensus mechanisms. Its participants, however, exhibit a form of faith—not in a centralized authority, but in the immutability of its mathematical foundation. This faith is not irrational but deeply rooted in trust. The nodes and miners who uphold Bitcoin's ledger act in fidelity to its rules, a collective acknowledgment of truth beyond subjective influence. Bitcoin, therefore, embodies a kind of secular faith, where trust in a system replaces reliance on human arbiters. --- The Immutable Ledger and the Divine Truth Thomas Aquinas viewed God as the ultimate source of truth, whose divine law orders the cosmos. In Bitcoin, one might see a reflection of this divine order—a man-made system aspiring to transcend corruption, deceit, and centralization. The blockchain is immutable, a ledger where each transaction is sealed in time, immune to revision or manipulation. This echoes the divine truth: unchanging, eternal, and knowable through reason. Yet Bitcoin also confronts us with a humbling realization. It is not divine; it is a human construct. Its immutability is contingent, not absolute. But in its operation, Bitcoin mirrors humanity's yearning for divine justice—a world where truth cannot be falsified, where accountability is woven into the fabric of existence. --- The Role of Freedom Freedom is a cornerstone of both faith and Bitcoin. Kant posited that moral law requires the freedom to act according to reason. Bitcoin, too, is a system predicated on individual freedom: freedom to transact without intermediaries, to store wealth beyond the reach of coercion, and to participate in a global economy unshackled by geographic or political constraints. This freedom, however, is not anarchic. It is bounded by Bitcoin's rules, much like moral freedom is bound by divine law. The protocol demands adherence to its principles; deviation leads to exclusion. Here, Bitcoin becomes a microcosm of the moral universe, where freedom and law coexist in a delicate balance. --- Bitcoin as a Test of Faith Bitcoin also demands faith in the unseen. Its cryptographic foundations are abstract and inaccessible to most. To trust Bitcoin, one must trust the mathematics and the consensus that govern it—a faith akin to the theologian's trust in the coherence of divine revelation. This faith is tested by volatility, uncertainty, and the constant threat of human error or malice. Yet, like the pilgrim who endures trials to affirm their belief, Bitcoin participants persevere, drawn by a vision of a more just and truthful economic order. --- The Eschatological Impulse Finally, Bitcoin invites us to consider the eschatological—the end of things and the ultimate fulfillment of truth. In Christian theology, history moves toward a final reconciliation of all things in God. Bitcoin, while temporal, shares an eschatological impulse: it envisions a world where financial systems are no longer instruments of oppression but tools of liberation. This vision is imperfect, as all human endeavors are. But it gestures toward the divine truth that undergirds all creation: that justice, transparency, and freedom are not merely human aspirations but reflections of a higher order. --- Conclusion: Faith in the Age of Bitcoin Bitcoin is not divine, yet it draws us toward the divine truth. It is a testament to human ingenuity and our unrelenting quest for systems that reflect the eternal values of justice and truth. To place faith in Bitcoin is not to worship it but to acknowledge its potential as a tool—a reminder of what humanity can achieve when it aligns its efforts with principles of truth and freedom. In the end, faith and Bitcoin converge in their reliance on truth. One points us to the heavens, the other to the blockchain, yet both call us to live in fidelity to what is unchanging, just, and true. Thus, Bitcoin becomes not merely a technology but a philosophical and spiritual phenomenon, challenging us to reflect on the relationship between faith, reason, and the divine.

[Originalni tekst na ecd.rs](https://ecd.rs/blog/istorija-rudarenja-bitkoina-od-nastanka-blokcejna-do-danas/) ###### 25.08.2020 / Autor: Marko Matanović --- Istorija rudarenja bitkoina počinje ne toliko davne 2009. godine nastankom Bitkoin-a, odnosno od nastanka blokčejna kao tehnologije. U Satošijevom *[whitepaper-u](https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf)* spominje se pojam *[Proof-of-Work](https://ecd.rs/faqs/proof-of-work-pow/)* (PoW). U ovom sada već istorijskom dokumentu koji objašnjava funkcionisanje Bitkoin-a navodi se da će se Proof-of-Work sistem koristiti za validaciju blokova u Bitkoin blokčejnu (procesuiranje transakcija), a da bi [blok](https://ecd.rs/faqs/blok/) bio “potvrđen” potrebno je da se izdvoji određena procesorska snaga. U suštini *Proof-of-Work* obezbeđuje sigurnost blokčejna tako što zahteva od korisnika da uloži odredjenu količinu rada kako bi bio nagradjen i omogućava dodavanje novih validnih transakcija u blok. Da bismo poslali transakciju na Bitkoin mreži potrebno je da platimo određeni transaction fee, tj. naknadu za obradu i [potvrđivanje](https://ecd.rs/faqs/konfirmacijaconfirmation/) same transakcije. Upravo ovaj transaction fee se distribuira rudarima kao podsticaj da rade svoj posao u najboljem interesu i po utvrđenim pravilima sistema, odnosno da koriste svoj hardver radi potvrđivanja (naših) transakcija na mreži. Transakcije sa većim izdvojenim transaction fee-jem će biti brže potvrđene na mreži jer će baš ta transakcija rudarima biti isplativija za potvrđivanje. Osim ove vrste transakcija rudari dobijaju i određenu [nagradu za svaki potvrđeni blok](https://ecd.rs/faqs/blok-nagrada/). Trenutni block reward je 6.25 BTC-a po potvrđenom bloku. Ovaj iznos se deli među svim rudarima na mreži proporcionalno njihovom učinku, što znači da što je više rudara na mreži to je njihova pojedinačna nagrada manja jer je veća konkurencija. Sem toga što se nagrada smanjuje sa većom konkurencijom povećava se i težina rudarenja. Nagrada za Bitkoin se smanjuje na određenom broju izrudarenih blokova i svaki put je nova nagrada dva puta manja od prethodne. Ovo je u kripto zajednici poznatije kao “*[Bitcoin halving](https://ecd.rs/faqs/halving/)*” koji se odigrava otprilike na svake četiri godine, sa ciljem da svaki put upola umanji inflaciju samog bitkoina kako bi održao/povećao svoju vrednost.  *Cene Bitkoina i nagrade po bloku* Istorija rudarenja bitkoina se može podeliti u nekoliko era koje prate razvoj kripto industrije kao celine. Ove ere se razlikuju po hardveru koji se koristio za rudarenja. Ukoliko se pitate zašto je uopšte bilo potrebno menjati, odnosno pojačavati hardver koji se koristi – razlog je povećanje težine kopanja usled popularizacije kriptovaluta i rudarenja kriptovaluta tokom vremena. Svake godine bio je potreban sve jači i bolji hardver kako bi se rudarenje isplatilo, prvenstveno jer je konkurencija (bila) sve veća, i samim tim više učesnika deli nagradu koja je posledično manja. To uglavnom znači da nam treba jači hardver kako bismo, kao rudari, uradili što veći deo posla na validaciji svakog bloka i maksimalno povećali nagradu koja sledi. Istorija rudarenja bitkoina uopšteno se može podeliti na nekoliko celina: – **Era procesora** (2009 – 2010) – **Era grafičkih kartica** (2010 – 2011) – **Era FPGA kartica** (2011 – 2013) – **Era ASIC uređaja** (2013 – 2020) #### Era procesora (2009 – 2010) Ovo je početna era rudarenja koju karateriše korišćenje procesora koji se mogu naći u bilo kom laptopu ili desktop računaru. [Prvobitna Satošijeva ideja](https://ecd.rs/blog/idejni-tvorac-bitkoina-misteriozni-satosi-nakamoto/) je bila da svako na mreži koristi svoj procesor za [rudarenje](https://ecd.rs/faqs/kripto-rudarenje/). Na početku ove ere rudarenje je pre svega bio veoma neobičan hobi. Satoši je želeo na taj način da bolje osigura stabilnost i sigurnost mreže. Prvi bitkoini koji su bili iskopani, bili su iskopani upravo pomoću procesora. Korišćen je sličan program kao program za mrežno otključavanje Nokia telefona zbog sličnog principa korišćenja SHA-256 funkcije za enkripciju. Svako ko je želeo je mogao da rudari bitkoin uz pomoć svog laptopa ili desktop računara. Kako se sve više rudara priključivalo na mrežu i kako je postalo moguće zameniti prve bitkoine za [fiat novac](https://ecd.rs/faqs/fiat-novac/), javio se interesantan problem – procesori koji su u to vreme imali bolje performanse su mogli da izrudare više bitkoina, što ujedno znači da su bili profitabilniji. Sve više rudara je koristilo procesore jačih performansi što je rezultovalo povećanjem težine kopanja. Povećanje težine kopanja je značilo da su procesori slabijih performansi postali još manje isplativi, odnosno da će dobiti proporcionalno manje bitkoina. Ljudi koji su u ovo vreme rudarili na Bitkoin mreži su mogli na mesečnom nivou da zarade i više hiljada bitkoina u zavisnosti od tipa i broja procesora koji su koristili. Naravno, tada je cena bitkoina bila višestruko manja nego što je sada. Bez obzira na malu cenu, određeni ljudi su uvideli potencijal u rudarenju i krenuli su sa nabavkom sve boljih i boljih procesora. Cilj je bio što isplativije rudarenje bitkoina sa što manjim ulaganjima. Na ovaj način smo dobili prve rudare i potpuno funkcionalnu Bitkoin mrežu.  *AMD Phenom II procesor iz 2008. godine* #### Era grafičkih kartica (2010 – 2011) Kako je potražnja za bitkoinom porasla, a on dostigao cenu od 10 centi u oktobru 2010. godine, pojavili su se prvi rudari koji su koristili grafičke kartice (GPU) za rudarenje umesto procesora. Pojedinci su otkrili da je ovaj način rudarenja mnogo efikasniji od rudarenja procesorom, a vest se brzo raširila. Za relativno kratko vreme težina kopanja je toliko porasla da se uopšte nije isplatilo kopati procesorom. Računari sa dobrom diskretnom grafičkom karticom koja se može koristiti za igranje video igara su ubrzo postale mašine za zaradu nove vrste digitalnog novca. Tada je u svetu računarstva bila popularna opcija korišćenja dve grafičke kartice za bolje performanse u video igrama i programima koji su bili veoma zahtevni (npr. video produkcija ili 3D modelovanje), tako da je već postojala potrebna infrastruktura za rudarenje sa više grafičkih kartica. Što više grafičkih kartica u računaru to je zarada bila bolja. Ubrzo su se pojavili *[miningrig](https://ecd.rs/faqs/mining-rig/)*-ovi (računari specijalizovani za rudarenje) koji su imali od 4 do 8 grafičkih kartica. U početku ovo su bile po izgledu jako amaterski sklopljene mašine, ali su kasnije poprimile poseban i donekle standardizovan oblik.  *Primer izgleda prvih mining rig-ova* #### Era FPGA kartica (2011 – 2013) FPGA je skraćeno od field-programmable gate array. Konkretan hardver je dizajniran tako da korisnik može naknadno da ga prilagodi za određeni zadatak. Karakteristika ovih uređaja je brzo izvršavanje konkretne vrste zadataka koje može biti i do dva puta efikasnije od izvršavanja istog zadatka pomoću grafičke kartice. Ovaj potencijal zaintrigirao je rudare tog doba i sredinom 2011. godine otpočelo je korišćenje ovog hardvera za potrebe rudarenja. Obzirom na to da FPGA uređaji nisu toliko jednostavni za korišćenje za razliku od grafičkih kartica i procesora, u početku nije bilo puno ljudi koji su rudarili pomoću ovih uređaja. Kako je softver za rudarenje uz pomoć FPGA uređaja postajao sve dostupniji, rastao je i broj ljudi koji su na ovaj način zarađivali svoje bitkoine. Naravno, velika efikasnost ovih uređaja i činjenica da daju dva puta bolje rezultate od grafičkih kartica samo je dodatno doprinela povećanju težine kopanja bitkoina, ali nisu FPGA uređaji doveli do toga da [GPU](https://ecd.rs/faqs/gpu/) rudarenje postane istorija rudarenja bitkoina. Do toga su doveli [ASIC](https://ecd.rs/faqs/asic/) uređaji koji su stupili na scenu 2013. godine.  *FPGA uređaj* #### Era ASIC uređaja (2013 – 2020) ASIC uređaji su se prvi put pojavili 2013. godine i potpuno su preuzeli scenu rudarenja. Naime, ASIC je skraćeno od application-specific integrated circuit što znači da su ASIC uređaji posebno pravljeni za rešavanje jedne vrste zadatka. Mana ovog pristupa je to što se ASIC uređaji ne mogu koristiti ni za šta drugo osim za rudarenje uz pomoć određenog algoritma. Prednosti ovih uređaja su višestruko bolje performanse i veoma laka instalacija. Nije bilo potrebno razumeti se u hardver za korišćenje ASIC uređaja. Rudari bi samo naručili ove mašine i uključili ih. Odjednom svako je mogao da rudari na Bitkoin mreži uz minimalan trud. To je rezultiralo povećanjem težine kopanja do te mere da su svi prethodno navedeni načini rudarenja postali (skoro) potpuno neisplativi za kopanje bitkoina. Istorija rudarenja bitkoina pamti nekoliko firmi koje su se bavile prozvodnjom ASIC uređaja među kojima je i današnji gigant Bitmain. Trka za najboljim ASIC uređajem je dovela do gašenja velikog broja firmi jer su samo firme sa kompetentim proizvodom mogle da opstanu na tržištu. Što je veći broj određenog modela bio proizveden, to su troškovi njegove proizvodnje bili manji, tako da manje firme nisu imale puno šanse da opstanu kao ozbiljni konkurenti u ponudi uređaja rudarima. Prvi ASIC-i su bili u obliku USB uređaja. Bili su bez ventilatora, bez buke i uz minimalnu potrošnju struje. Rudari su ubrzo krenuli da prave prve farme za rudarenje uz pomoć ovih malih uređaja – nekoliko desetina njih povezanih na isti računar uz pomoć USB hub-ova davali su maksimalne performanse. Sa porastom težine kopanja, sve bolji i bolji ASIC-i su zauzimali svoja mesta u garažama i skladištima rudara dok su stari bili prodavani po znatno manjim cenama.  *Prve ASIC farme* ASIC uređaji su se razvijali kako je potreba za sve jačim mašinama rasla. Ova era i dalje traje, a ASIC uređaji danas pružaju nekoliko hiljada puta bolje performanse od prvih procesora koji su bili korišćeni 2009. godine. Nove generacije ASIC-a su uvek veoma isplative, ali treba uzeti u obzir i veoma veliku cenu novih ASIC uređaja kao i činjenicu da novi modeli izlaze na svakih nekoliko meseci što smanjuje profitabilnost starih modela.  *Izgled današnjeg ASIC uređaja* Ovi uređaji će ostati dominantni na sceni Bitkoin rudarenja i nema naznaka da će se to promeniti u skorije vreme. U sledećem blogu o rudarenju bitkoina i kriptovaluta uopšte ćemo proći kroz način(e) za postavljanje rig-a za rudarenje i trenutno dostupne opcije na domaćem tržištu. Takođe ćemo pokriti određene modele i procene profitabilnosti rudarenja bitkoina u 2020-oj godini.

Tendrils of mist clung to the gnarled trees, casting an otherworldly pall over the ancient forest. In the heart of this spectral woodland, a being of unspeakable horror lurked, its very existence a blight upon the natural order. They called it the Shrouded Watcher - a faceless spectre draped in tattered robes of ebony, its empty cowl concealing an abyss of dark power. For those rare few who had glimpsed its dread form, the memory was seared into their minds, a vision of pure, unadulterated terror. The Shrouded Watcher's origins were shrouded in mystery, lost to the mists of a bygone age. Some whispered that it had once been a mortal man, corrupted by forbidden knowledge and a thirst for unholy power. Others claimed it was a manifestation of the forest's own malevolent spirit, a physical embodiment of the darkness that permeated this cursed place. Whatever its true nature, the Watcher guarded jealously the arcane secrets of the woods, unleashing its wrath upon any who dared to trespass. Mortal flesh could not withstand the touch of its spectral form, for its very presence was a blight upon the living. Those who gazed into its soulless cowl were driven mad, their sanity shattered by the sheer weight of its malevolent power. In the deepest, most remote reaches of the forest, where the trees grew twisted and gnarled, the Watcher kept its eternal vigil. Its presence was heralded by a bone-chilling chill that crept through the air, a sensation of being watched by unseen eyes. And woe betide the unfortunate soul who heard the distant, unearthly wail that echoed between the ancient trunks - for it signaled the Watcher's approach, and the imminent arrival of a fate worse than death. None dared to challenge the Shrouded Watcher, for it was a creature born of the darkest corners of the human psyche, a manifestation of our deepest, most primal fears. To confront it was to stare into the abyss, to risk being consumed by the very essence of terror itself. And so the Watcher remained, a sentinel of the forest's arcane secrets, its true nature forever hidden beneath the folds of its ebony shroud. Those who ventured too deeply into the woods would never return, their broken forms left to rot as a grim warning to all who would dare to uncover the mysteries of this accursed place. 

Deep within the ancient, foreboding forest, where the canopy of twisted oaks blotted out the sun's light, a being of immense power and arcane knowledge dwelled in solitude. Geldar the Wizard, a diminutive yet formidable figure, had made this dark woodland his domain, guarding its myriad secrets from the prying eyes of mortal men. For centuries, Geldar had studied the occult lore of the elder races, delving into the forbidden knowledge of realms beyond the ken of common folk. His small but agile form belied the potent sorcery that coursed through his veins, a legacy of his elven heritage intertwined with darker, more primal energies. Now, as he moved silently through the shadowed trees, Geldar could sense a disturbance in the delicate balance of his woodland sanctuary. Some trespasser had breached the arcane wards that cloaked his hidden abode, drawn perhaps by rumors of the ancient power that slumbered within. With a subtle gesture of his gnarled, spidery hands, Geldar conjured a shimmering orb of eldritch light, its eerie radiance illuminating the gnarled trees that crowded around him. His sharp, elfin features were set in a stern expression as he scanned the gloom, searching for any sign of the intruder. Suddenly, a movement in the periphery of his vision - a fleeting shadow darting between the twisted trunks. Geldar's eyes narrowed, and with a muttered incantation, he unleashed a burst of arcane energy that lanced through the forest. The spell struck true, and a strangled cry echoed through the trees as the hapless trespasser was ensnared in a web of sorcerous energy. Gliding forward on silent feet, Geldar approached the struggling form, his expression inscrutable. "So, another foolhardy mortal has dared to trespass in my domain," he murmured, his voice a soft, rasping whisper. "You have stirred the wrath of the ancients, human. Now you shall face the consequences of your folly." With a dismissive gesture, Geldar wove a new spell, his fingers tracing intricate patterns in the air. The captive's cries grew more frantic as dark tendrils of power began to envelop him, slowly draining the life from his body. As the last vestiges of the man's life force ebbed away, Geldar allowed himself a thin, humorless smile. "The forest keeps its secrets well," he murmured, his gaze sweeping the surrounding gloom. "And I shall ensure that no others dare to uncover them." Turning, the diminutive wizard melted back into the shadows, his arcane power once more cloaking the ancient woodland in its impenetrable veil of mystery and dread. 

The ancient forest whispered with the echoes of a dark and terrible power - a presence that had endured for untold centuries, its malevolent influence seeping into the very fabric of the woodland. And at the heart of this spectral domain, enthroned amidst the gnarled roots and twisted trees, sat the Lich Queen. Her name had been lost to the ravages of time, but the aura of dread and reverence that surrounded her was undeniable. Clad in robes of ebony and bone, her skeletal visage adorned with a crown of spiked obsidian, she radiated an aura of primal, unnatural might. Around her neck hung an amulet of immense power, its gemstone glowing with an eldritch light that cast her pale features in an unearthly glow. The Lich Queen's origins were shrouded in mystery, whispers of a dark pact made long ago with forces beyond mortal understanding. It was said that she had once been a mortal sorceress, driven by ambition and a thirst for knowledge to delve into the most forbidden realms of magic. But in her quest for power, she had crossed a line, bartering her very soul to attain the gift of immortality. Now, as the centuries passed, she sat enthroned in her domain, her skeletal minions and nightmarish abominations ever at her command. Her icy gaze swept the forest with a detached, predatory hunger, as if searching for the next unfortunate soul to fall victim to her machinations. For those who dared to trespass in her domain, the Lich Queen's wrath was a fate worse than death. With a casual gesture, she could summon legions of undead horrors to tear the intruder apart, their agonized screams echoing through the shadowed trees. And for those who managed to flee her presence, the torment was far from over - for the Lich Queen's curse would haunt their every step, slowly draining the life from their bodies until they succumbed to the eternal embrace of the grave. None dared to challenge the Lich Queen's dominion over the forest, for her power was absolute and her hunger for arcane knowledge insatiable. Even the Shrouded Watcher, that dread specter of the woods, was said to cower in her presence, for the Lich Queen commanded forces beyond the understanding of mortal men. And so the ancient forest remained a realm of shadow and terror, its secrets guarded by the Lich Queen and her unholy retinue. Those who ventured too deep into the woods, drawn by tales of forgotten treasures or ancient lore, would never return - their fates sealed by the unyielding grip of the Lich Queen's power. 

Deep within the ancient forest, a dark and unearthly power held sway - a triumvirate of malevolent entities that commanded the respect and fear of all who dared to trespass in their domain. At the center of this unholy alliance was the Lich Queen, her skeletal visage adorned with a crown of obsidian and the amulet of power that was the source of her immortal, arcane might. Enthroned amidst the gnarled roots and twisted trees, she reigned over the forest's denizens with an iron fist, her icy gaze sweeping the shadows for any sign of intrusion or defiance. Arrayed at her sides were two other figures of pure terror - the Shrouded Watcher, a faceless spectre draped in tattered robes of ebony, and the elven wizard who had made a pact with the very essence of the forest itself. Together, this unholy triumvirate maintained an uneasy balance of power, each entity commanding its own dominion within the woodland. The Shrouded Watcher, its empty cowl concealing untold horrors, was the guardian of the forest's most ancient and treacherous secrets. Its mere presence was enough to drive mortals to the brink of madness, and its spectral touch could shatter the sanity of even the bravest of souls. None dared to trespass in the deepest, most remote reaches of the woods, for that was the Watcher's domain. And yet, even the Watcher's dread power paled in comparison to the Lich Queen's command of necromantic sorcery. With a mere gesture, she could summon legions of undead horrors to tear apart any who dared to challenge her rule. Her curse could slowly drain the life from the most stalwart of warriors, leaving them to rot as grim warnings to all who would seek to uncover the forest's darkest mysteries. But the elven wizard, with his intimate connection to the very spirit of the woodland, was no less a force to be reckoned with. His arcane knowledge granted him the ability to manipulate the natural world, summoning vines and roots to ensnare and entrap any who would dare to trespass. And his mastery of illusion and deception made him a cunning and elusive adversary, able to lure the unwary deeper into the forest's shadowed embrace. Together, this unholy triumvirate maintained a fragile balance of power, each entity jealously guarding its own domain and secrets. Should one of them fall, the others would surely seek to claim the vacant throne, unleashing a cataclysmic struggle for supremacy that would plunge the forest into an era of unimaginable darkness and terror. None dared to challenge this unholy alliance, for to do so would be to invite the wrath of forces beyond mortal comprehension. The forest remained a realm of shadow and dread, its secrets guarded by the Lich Queen, the Shrouded Watcher, and the elven wizard - a triumvirate of pure, unadulterated evil that would brook no intrusion or defiance. 

I know with the hype around Trump's election victory and the pro-Bitcoin people that he has surrounded himself with as of late, the idea of a Bitcoin Strategy Reserve or BSR is an intoxicating idea among many Bitcoiners. I don't blame Bitcoiners from being happy about it, how can you not be? After enduring the last 4 years of vicious crackdown, arbitrary rules from the SEC and outright hostility to the Bitcoin community in general it is nice to have an administration that is simply nice to us and wants to leave the community alone to do it own thing. While I am excited to see what a new Trump administration looks like for Bitcoin over the next four years, I am not onboard with a BSR. I think that the BSR is bad policy and supports the system that we are trying escape from in the first place. In my opinion I believe a BSR signals to the world that the government doesn't believe in its own currency or its ability to reign their spending problem. Even the mere signaling that America is going to create a BSR has sent other countries scrambling to create one of their own. This is incredibly bad news for the US bond market. [Who are the buyers of US bonds right now?](https://www.reuters.com/markets/rates-bonds/bond-vigilante-pimco-trims-long-term-us-sovereign-debt-holdings-2024-12-09/) A huge component of the market is foreign governments.[ Even though they have been less willing to buy US bonds over the last couple of decades most governments are still in the market buying up US debt. ](https://wolfstreet.com/2024/10/19/which-foreign-countries-bought-the-recklessly-ballooning-us-debt-increasingly-crucial-question-many-piled-it-up-cleanest-dirty-shirt/) Now imagine of these foreign buyers start buying Bitcoin in small amounts at first and slowly scale into Bitcoin in a big way once they see the insane price action. They will FINALLY get it and once that happens its over the dollar. This is a gradually then suddenly like moment that no one is ready for at the moment. So if you take way the foreign buyer of US bonds, who are you left with? The Federal Reserve. Having the Federal Reserve directly buying up government debt is huge sign of monetization of the debt to the world and doesn't bode well for the future of America or the world. As you can see setting up a BSR would be highly destabilizing in the short term and could create a whole slew of knock on effects that no one is prepared or equipped to deal with. In addition to destabilizing an already fragile economic environment, why do we want this big ass government to have Bitcoin in the first place? So they can keep on oppressing the working man/woman, crushing innovation and generally being a tick on the back of the private sector? How about we not empower them to keep spying on us and the world. I want to live in a world where war impose heavy costs on leaders and governments and peace is the default setting of the world. Governments using Bitcoin to prop up their tyrannical ways is not why Bitcoin was created. You know that. I know that. The rest of the world should know that. Bitcoin was created as an electronic p2p system that allows anyone to transact regardless of artificial borders or political differences. Bitcoin allows anyone to transact globally without the grubby hands of the government trying to take a cut. We need less government, not more. I'm personally not a fan of governments or big money institutions getting into Bitcoin as I feel its like letting the fox into the hen house but that ship has sailed. The best we can hope for now is to create enough individual adoption that it makes it hard for governments to get a large amount of Bitcoin so they can act as a check on the accumulation of Bitcoin. HODL culture is needed now more than ever. Don't hand over your Bitcoin to tyrants. Stack sats. HODL. Create the change you want to see in the world.

Hello everyone, as part of the nostr:npub10pensatlcfwktnvjjw2dtem38n6rvw8g6fv73h84cuacxn4c28eqyfn34f grant I have to write a progress report for Formstr, I thought I'll use this opportunity to do a nostr blog! , Something I've been meaning to do for sometime, hopefully I don't bore you. ## Introduction There was a lot of work ahead of us even before we got the grant, and we tried to tackle it heads on. We completely changed the underlying mechanism of storing and fetching forms. Whereas previously a form was a kind 0 event, same as a profile event. The form is now created and responded to in the mechanism as outlined in the [Forms NIP](https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/pull/1190/files). This had to be done while making sure that none of the older forms broke during the process. The new specification helps streamline the forms usecase to expand to access control, private forms, upgrade to nip44 encryption. Some of these features existed as Proofs of Concepts prior to this quarters work, the major tasks were to streamline and production-ize them, to be able to release it to the public. We were also joined by nostr:npub1vf6wyw9j38sm96vwfekwvqxucr9jutqrmwdc2qnql79a66al9fzsuvt9ys who along with nostr:npub15gkmu50rcuv6mzevmslyllppwmeqxulnqfak0gwud3hfwmau6mvqqnpfvg helped move the project along. ## How did we spend our time. Released a major Formstr Update (16/12/204): - [Release PR](https://github.com/abhay-raizada/nostr-forms/pull/157): This Release Contained The Following Changelog: - Move Form Creation and Rendering to New Event - Upgrade Response Encryption to NIP-44. - Add Ability to create private forms. - Add ability to send private form access as Gift Wraps. - Create a new dashboard UI to incorporate new form types. - Add ability to login to formstr - Use naddr to encode form Urls instead of pubkey(centralized). Work done to production-ize these features can be found in the following PRs: 1. [Save forms to local device automatically](https://github.com/abhay-raizada/nostr-forms/pull/176) 2. [Ability to remove participants in Access Control UI](https://github.com/abhay-raizada/nostr-forms/pull/178) 3. [Revamp Responses Page according to NIP-101](https://github.com/abhay-raizada/nostr-forms/pull/181/files) 4. [Add a "My Forms" Section on the dashboard](https://github.com/abhay-raizada/nostr-forms/pull/188) 5. [Add UI for Inserting Images](https://github.com/abhay-raizada/nostr-forms/pull/183) 6. [Using Naddr Instead of pubkey as formId](https://github.com/abhay-raizada/nostr-forms/pull/180) In addition to these there were multiple bugfixes and patches that I've excluded for brevity. ## Major Challenges We were in "beta hell" for a long time, even though I had finished rudimentary versions of each of the features in advance (some to test the viability of the forms NIP). Incorporating them into the running version proved to be a challenge. We realized that some of the features required major UI changes, and a lot of new features broke previously working desirable features such as NIP-04 Notifications. A lot of [work](https://github.com/abhay-raizada/nostr-forms/pull/157/commits/4ce6970b09e7728004ccdeb058efb2b58dd96ef0) like this had to be done to ensure formstr brought in new features while continuing to work exactly as old users liked it. ## What's left and what's coming? From the wish-list items I had committed during the application a few major ones remain: - Edit Past Forms. - Paid Surveys. - Support for NIP-42 Private Relays. - Conditional Rendering of form fields - Sections Of these I'm happy to report that we've already begun work on conditional rendering of fields (https://github.com/abhay-raizada/nostr-forms/pull/199) ## What is de-prioritized? Going with experiences from quarter 1, we are de-prioritizing Formstr Integrations with 3rd party services like Ollama (Self Sovereign AI) and business tools like Slack, Notion etc. We'll try to get to it, but it's less of a priority compared to other features! ## How the funds were used. - Paying Individual Contributors for PRs submitted. - Living Expenses

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I feel like I'm just full of newbie questions for stacker news this week. Sorry. I recently took the killer [pleb devs courses](https://plebdevs.com/) and now confidently feel like I have some programming skills kinda-sorta (the classes are great, but I was starting from 0) under my belt. My end goal was to stick it to the man and be a part of the bitcoin revolution. That said, I've made a couple of projects that I really want to share with more folks, but would like to actually make them into cooler sites. For my actual long-term business, I've been renting a domain name for decades and never thought too much about it since it was a business expense and I really didn't care what happened to it after I was gone. However, for these fun coding projects, I wanted to get a domain so that everything doesn't end in .onrender or .vercel.app and I assumed that since I was using a more silly name, it'd be cheap to just by something forever. But that doesn't seem to be the case. In fact...as most of you know...but which is news to me, you can't actually buy domains forever at all. Am I correct about this? If so, doesn't that mean the whole decentralized nature of the internet is a sham? I'm feeling very confused and not finding much helpful info. My goal is to buy a landing page for a bunch of bitcoin-themed games I've built (something like bitcoingames.stupid) and my [nostrminusnostr](https://nostrminusnostr.vercel.app/) client, something like nostrminusnostr.nostr. Anyway, I found some stuff in the range I'd be willing to spend on Vercel, but am just a little confused how domain hosting actually works. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/851425

First off, big shoutout to Coinos for having support for adding a memo to BOLT12 offers. This provides a solid alternative for the pleb who wants to support mining decentralization but doesn’t want to set up a CLN node and pay thousands of sats for a channel only to get little rewards. This is the case for most of us who only have a miner or two (e.g. a Bitaxe and/or an S9). Before we get into setting up Lightning payouts, you’ll want to have your miner configured to mine with OCEAN of course. You’ll also want to make sure that the bitcoin address you use is from a wallet that supports signing messages. These are the ones listed in the OCEAN docs[^1]: [^1]: https://ocean.xyz/docs/lightning * Bitcoin Knots/Bitcoin Core * Coldcard * Electrum * LND (Command Line) * Seedsigner * Sparrow * Specter * Trezor I checked one of my favorite, user-friendly wallets — Blue Wallet — and it happens to support signing messages as well. Just tap the three dots on the upper right and you’ll see the “Sign/Verify Message” button at the bottom.   Whichever wallet you choose, generate a receive address to use when configuring your miner (it’ll also be your OCEAN username). Here’s how it looks on the Bitaxe (AxeOS)…  And the Antminer S9 (Braiins OS).  NOTE: There’s a slight difference in the URL format between the two apps. Other than that, the username will be your bitcoin address followed by the optional “.” + the nickname for your machine. You can find more details on OCEAN’s get started page[^2]. [^2]: https://ocean.xyz/getstarted --- Alright, now that your miner is pointed at OCEAN. Let’s configure Lightning payouts! ### Generating the BOLT12 Offer In the Coinos app, go to Receive > Bolt 12.  Tap “Set memo” and set it to “OCEAN Payouts for [insert your bitcoin address]” (this text is case-sensitive). Use the same bitcoin address you used above to configure your miner(s).  After tapping OK, copy the BOLT12 offer (it should start with “lno”) and proceed to the next step. ### Generating the Configuration Message Navigate to the [My Stats](https://ocean.xyz/stats) page by searching for your OCEAN Bitcoin address.  The click the Configuration link next to Next Block to access the configuration form.  Paste the BOLT12 offer here, update the block height to latest, click GENERATE, and copy the generated unsigned message.   ### Signing the Configuration Message To sign the generated message, go back to Blue Wallet and use the signing function. Paste the configuration message in the Message field, tap Sign, and copy the signed message that’s generated.  ### Submitting the Signed Message Once signed, copy the signature, paste it in the OCEAN configuration form, and click CONFIRM.  If all goes well, you should see a confirmation that the configuration was successful. Congrats! 🎉 All you gotta do now is sit back, relax, and wait for a block to be found… Or you can look into setting up [DATUM](https://ocean.xyz/docs/datum-setup). 😎 originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/851025

Em 2007, o Brasil comemorava o fim da CPMF (Contribuição Provisória sobre Movimentação Financeira), um imposto que, embora "temporário", durou 10 anos e arrecadou centenas de bilhões de reais. Na época, o governo afirmava que a contribuição era necessária para financiar a saúde pública, mas, na prática, foi mais um peso sobre o cidadão e as empresas. Agora, quase duas décadas depois, o cenário está mudando novamente. O monitoramento financeiro da Receita Federal sobre transações acima de R$ 5 mil e a implementação do DREX, a moeda digital programável do Banco Central, sugerem que o controle sobre o dinheiro nunca foi tão grande. A pergunta que fica é: será que estamos caminhando para uma nova CPMF, só que digital e automatizada? --- ### **O Passado: CPMF e o Controle Estatal sobre o Dinheiro** \ A CPMF nasceu sob o pretexto de ser um imposto temporário, com uma alíquota pequena (inicialmente 0,20%, depois 0,38%) que incidiria sobre qualquer movimentação bancária. Seu objetivo oficial era financiar a saúde, mas a verdade é que o governo encontrou nela uma mina de ouro de arrecadação, garantindo bilhões de reais anualmente. Os problemas começaram a aparecer rapidamente: 1. O custo era repassado aos preços dos produtos e serviços, afetando toda a economia. 2. Empresas e cidadãos pagavam sobre transações repetidas, tornando a carga tributária ainda maior. 3. O dinheiro não foi totalmente para a saúde, sendo usado para tapar buracos no orçamento. 4. A promessa de temporariedade caiu por terra, e a CPMF durou uma década. 5. O governo insistia que não existia outro jeito de arrecadar sem essa cobrança, mas, quando foi extinta, nada desmoronou. Só ficou mais difícil tributar o cidadão sem que ele percebesse. Agora, vemos novos mecanismos de controle financeiro surgindo. O argumento é o mesmo: transparência, combate à sonegação e otimização da arrecadação. Mas será que é só isso? --- ### **O Presente: Receita Federal Fecha o Cerco sobre Suas Transações** \ A partir de 2025, qualquer movimentação acima de R$ 5 mil para pessoas físicas e R$ 15 mil para empresas será automaticamente informada à Receita Federal. Isso significa que se você fizer uma transferência maior que esse valor, o governo já saberá sem precisar pedir dados ao banco. Oficialmente, essa medida não implica na criação de um novo imposto. Mas, se a história nos ensina algo, é que governos não implementam esse nível de monitoramento à toa. Algumas questões que surgem: - Se não é para tributar, por que monitorar tão de perto? - Se a CPMF foi extinta, por que voltamos a um sistema de rastreamento financeiro tão intrusivo? - Esse é só um primeiro passo para um imposto automático sobre movimentações digitais? --- ### **O Futuro: DREX e a Automação da Tributação** \ O DREX, a versão digital do real, será um grande passo para o controle financeiro estatal. Diferente do Pix, que apenas facilita transferências, o DREX permite que o Banco Central programe e rastreie cada centavo movimentado. E o que isso significa para o cidadão comum? - Pagamentos e tributações automáticas: um sistema de split payment poderia fazer com que impostos fossem cobrados diretamente na fonte, sem a necessidade de declarações ou boletos. - Controle total sobre transações: diferente do dinheiro físico, que circula sem monitoramento, o DREX permitirá ao governo rastrear qualquer pagamento, em tempo real. - Possibilidade de limitação de uso: com uma moeda programável, poderia haver restrições sobre onde, quando e como você pode gastar seu dinheiro. O Banco Central e a Receita Federal garantem que não há planos de usar o DREX para tributação compulsória, mas a CPMF também começou assim: como algo temporário, necessário e inofensivo. --- ### **Estamos Caminhando para uma Nova CPMF Digital?** \ Se analisarmos a trajetória do governo na questão tributária, fica claro que: - Primeiro, nega-se qualquer imposto novo. - Depois, implementa-se um sistema de monitoramento, supostamente para "combater fraudes". - Por fim, a tributação é introduzida sob a justificativa de que "não há outra saída". A CPMF só funcionou porque o dinheiro passava pelo sistema bancário e era fácil de rastrear. Agora, com o DREX e o monitoramento da Receita, o governo não precisaria nem de um imposto explícito para tributar transações—ele poderia simplesmente automatizar a cobrança diretamente na moeda digital. O que antes dependia de aprovação no Congresso e resistência da população, pode agora ser feito com um simples ajuste de software no Banco Central. O governo diz que isso não está nos planos. Mas se olharmos para trás, essa é exatamente a mesma narrativa que ouvimos antes da CPMF entrar em vigor. --- ### **Seu Dinheiro, Seu Controle?** \ O Brasil está entrando em uma nova era financeira. O monitoramento de grandes transações e a implementação do DREX podem representar um avanço na transparência e na eficiência econômica, mas também criam um risco real de perda de liberdade financeira e tributação automatizada. O que aconteceu com a CPMF deve servir de lição: o que começa como uma simples ferramenta de arrecadação pode se transformar em um peso permanente sobre o cidadão. Se o governo tiver a tecnologia e a infraestrutura para tributar automaticamente, quanto tempo levará até que eles resolvam usá-la?

Many times people wonder “Why do we have to obey God?” or “Why should we submit to Jesus’s lordship?” or “Why is Jesus the only way to Heaven?” Although there are many reasons, they can all be summarized in Him being our creator. Today, I was listening to “The End Times” podcast with Mark Hitchcock and he was discussing Revelation chapter 4. Among other things, he read this passage: > And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, > > “**Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come**.” > > And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, > > “**Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created**.” (Revelation 4:8-11) {emphasis mine} God deserves our worship and our obedience because He is our creator. As creator, He has the right to command us to obey. Also as creator, He knows what is best for us because He created us and everything around us. He created us with a purpose and we will never know complete joy and peace until we obey Him and work according to the purpose He created us to fulfill. If God was just a superhero type God, who was stronger and smarter than us, then He wouldn’t have a right to authority over us. Because He created us, He does. People questioning God’s authority to define right and wrong has existed throughout history. Isaiah addressed this complaint in the Old Testament: > “Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker—\ > An earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth!\ > Will the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing?’\ > Or the thing you are making say, ‘He has no hands’? (Isaiah 45:9) In the New Testament, Paul goes into even more details on God’s right and authority: > On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles. (Romans 9:20-24) The one who creates something has the right to do what he wants with his creation, whether using it for honor, for dishonor, or for destruction. The creator has the right to say how his creation will be used and for what purpose it will be used. No one, especially the created creature, has a right to question that authority. We question God’s authority and His truth because we do not have nearly a high enough view of God. > **You turn things around!**\ > Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay,\ > That what is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”;\ > Or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding”? (Isaiah 29:16) {emphasis mine} Read this verse again. Anyone who is formed, who says to the one who formed it, “*He has not understanding*,” has completely turned their thinking upside down. This is foolish thinking. God deserves our thanks, our worship, and our obedience because He created us. Without Him we would never have existed. God is good! All of the time! > “**Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created**.” (Revelation 4:11) {emphasis mine} Because I see so many people treat God in such a low manner, I tend to accentuate His holiness and His authority. That doesn’t mean that the God of the Bible is a distant taskmaster far away sitting waiting to punish anyone who strays from the exact path He has called them to walk. He is loving, kind, and merciful, too. God is referred to as Father for a reason. A father of a youngster is feared by the child, but that child also leans on his father for protection, love, and direction. Although the father has the authority and the power to punish or make demands, a loving father does what is best for the child. The best may be a punishment for doing wrong or just allowing the child to fail, but the father’s protecting hand is always there preventing any major harm. The discomfort that is allowed is for the good of the child. It guides the child in the path that will most benefit the child in the long run even if the child is very unhappy with the father’s actions at the moment. Most of the time, when the child grows up, they come to understand and appreciate their parents’ actions. The God of the Bible is the heavenly Father of each and every believer and so much more loving, more wise, and more powerful than any earthly father. Trust Jesus.\ \ your sister in Christ, Christy FYI, Right after writing this post, I read this article on a related subject. It is a hard truth, like the one I shared, but worth embracing, if you have time, check it out [The Not So Political Protestant](https://thenotsopoliticalprotestant.substack.com/p/could-oppression-be-gods-wonderful?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web) [Could Oppression Be God's Wonderful Plan for Your Life?](https://thenotsopoliticalprotestant.substack.com/p/could-oppression-be-gods-wonderful?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web) [Hey guys, it's Lee. Thanks for stopping by The Not So Political Protestant, a publication dedicated to correcting the course of the American church in regard to politics and its place in the lives of Christians. The Not So Political Protestant is here to call God's people back to sanity and repentance because, as citizens of another world, we should liv…](https://thenotsopoliticalprotestant.substack.com/p/could-oppression-be-gods-wonderful?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web) [Read more](https://thenotsopoliticalprotestant.substack.com/p/could-oppression-be-gods-wonderful?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web) [a month ago · 3 likes · 3 comments · Lee Lumley](https://thenotsopoliticalprotestant.substack.com/p/could-oppression-be-gods-wonderful?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web) Bible verses are NASB (New American Standard Bible) 1995 edition unless otherwise stated

Few days back this track get on Top of list on #wavlake. It's nice , but not a point. at all. > The message is clear. like Real Talk should be ! We know, specialy on #nostr, that solutions are available. However, the world is not yet aware of them. 100% of the donations for this remix will be sent to my friend [Yusef]( https://x.com/Yusef_Mahmoud1) who is on the ground and has been providing food, water, and shelter for children in Gaza even before or the psyop with October 07 took a place. Israel has enforced a blockade on Gaza for over decade. And Just past year completly destroyed 90% of land. Like to the ground , no schools , no hospitals ... hard to find anything what surrvived those daily airstrikes without 1h of pause since 350 days. WTF It's heartbreaking to see children dying daily in houreds and the lack of action from the public and authorities of other nations. The statistics are alarming, and it's essential to address this issue and find ways to make progress. it's crucial to raise awareness and take action to prevent further tragedies. Let's remember that every child's life is precious and deserves our attention and support. In most apocaliptic condition , where is-real controling all money supply (check lastest news about banknotes in there) , the #Bitcoin is one and only solution can help them in daily bases. It was helping them before with great succes. Why you ask ? becuse even if they close all platforms You can still send them some sats. > How fookin cool is that !! I know it doesn't sound funny. Those People pushed to the limit , now they have a tool that fulfills exactly what was created for A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. ``` No Middle man . ``` ``` On the middle is only a finger whitch **WE the PEOPLE** can give to those Scumbagz in Goverments and Banks, Full stop. ``` Many people are only recently realizing the truth about Gaza being an open-air prison from like 75 years. Not 3, not 5 or even 20 ..... but ***seventy five fookin years***. This music mix was created to share the truth and provoke to critical thinking, which has been lacking for the past decade. and even more. I wonder why we can watch live streams of the ongoing genocide in 4K HD and stil be silent. not all but many. Why are we surprised that normies don't understand ***Bitcoin*** and still use **fiat** shit currency? Whitch is fudament of All war crimes. We should ask ourselves. > Our own ignorance and the banking system are the cancers of this world. ### If we lose Palestine, we will lose much more than we think. You will be next - One way or another Thank you for your support, not for me but for those in need who can gain hope from our efforts. Respect to you all.  [LISTEN HERE]( https://wavlake.com/album/c980c860-9102-49bb-9fef-bdf0a270486d) and suport directly in upper links #FreePalestine Thanks be blessed MadMunky

I am a huge fan of Flatpak applications on Linux. I like how they work. I like how easy they are to install. I like how you can control their permissions with such granularity. Etc. Well now, I have yet another reason to love Flatpaks: easy installation reproducibility. Let me show you what I mean. --- Let's say you have been using Flatpaks for a while, and you have all the apps you could want installed on your system. Then, for whatever reason, you have to set up an OS on a new machine. For example, it could be that a new version of Ubuntu is about to drop, and you want to install it from scratch on your laptop. Well, now you can easily install all the Flatpaks that you use and love on that new OS with just a few commands. First, on your current machine, we want to list out all the installed Flatpaks. But, we don't want to just do it with a `flatpak list`, because that gives us too much information. All we want right now is a list of the Application IDs. We can do that with the following command: ``` flatpak list --app --columns application ``` Now, this is great, and we can just manually copy and paste this list into a text file if we want. Instead, what we are going to do is take that output and redirect it to a file with the output redirection operator. We are going to call that output something like "flatpaks.txt" or something else unimportant, because we need to rename the file in the next step. ``` flatpak list --app --columns application > flatpaks.txt ``` Great! Now, we have a text file of every Flatpak we currently have installed on our system. Next, we need to format it, so we can easily input the contents of the text file into the command line for install at a later time. We can easily format this file appropriately with the next command and output the contents into a new text file. In my experience, if we try to overwrite the contents of the first file, the command won't work. Here's how to do it: ``` cat flatpaks.txt | tr '\n' ' ' | sed 's/ $/\n/' > flatpakinstalls.txt ``` Now, this is technically a few commands, and when broken down they simply say "take this file's contents, replace the new lines with spaces, remove the trailing space at the end of the line, and write this new output to a new file." Regular expressions are wild. The last thing you'll want to do is delete the original file, since now you have two: ``` rm flatpaks.txt ``` With that, you have a clean text file containing all the Flatpaks installed on your system that you can reference on any other machine. But, we can actually do this a little better. With all of that out of the way, we can take that three or four-step process and boil it down to one simple copy pasta command thanks to the and operator, `&&`: ``` flatpak list --app --columns application > flatpaks.txt && cat flatpaks.txt | tr '\n' ' ' | sed 's/ $/\n/' > flatpakinstalls.txt && rm flatpaks.txt ``` That's it! Easy as pie. Just keep this file backed up and safe. Then, after you are done installing your new OS, you'll need to make sure Flatpak is set up and ready by following the official Flatpak documentation. After that, you can move this text file over to that machine, copy the contents, and paste them after the `flatpak install` command to quickly and effortlessly reproduce the Flatpak setup you had on your old installation. Hope you find this as helpful as I do.

In infosec, there is a seemingly never ending list of acronyms any cyber professional must be familiar with in order to work efficiently and effectively. One of those is a common vulnerability known as IDOR. IDOR stands for Insecure Direct Object Reference, and it's a type of vulnerability that can have serious implications for the security of web applications if not properly addressed. But what is it exactly? ## What is IDOR? --- IDOR is a security vulnerability that occurs when an application exposes internal implementation objects to users without proper authorization checks. In simpler terms, it means that an attacker can manipulate parameters in the application's URL or form fields to access unauthorized data or functionality. Ok, that's a mouthful, so let's break it down further. ## How Does IDOR Work? --- To understand how IDOR works, consider a scenario where a web application reveals information about what you're accessing or viewing via the URL. For example, a user profile page may have a URL like the following: `https://example.com/profile?id=123`. In a secure application, the server would verify that the user has the necessary permissions to access the profile with ID 123. However, in the case of an IDOR vulnerability, an attacker could change the ID parameter in the URL to something like `https://example.com/profile?id=456` to access a different user's profile, potentially exposing sensitive customer information. The consequences of an IDOR vulnerability go beyond unauthorized access to customer information as well. Attackers could gain access to other sensitive data, such as financial records, administrative functions, or other business related data. This can lead to data breaches, privacy violations, and reputational damage to the organization. ## Preventing IDOR Attacks --- Preventing IDOR attacks requires a proactive approach to security. Here are some basic best practices to mitigate theses attacks: 1. Implement Proper Access Controls: Ensure that all user requests are properly authenticated and authorized before granting access to resources. 2. Use Indirect Object References: Instead of exposing internal object references directly in URLs, use indirect references that are mapped to internal objects on the server side. 3. Validate User Input: Sanitize and validate all user input to prevent malicious manipulation of parameters. 4. Employ Role-Based Access Control: Implement role-based access control to restrict users' access to only the resources they are authorized to view or modify. 5. Regular Security Audits: Conduct regular security audits and penetration testing to identify and remediate potential IDOR vulnerabilities. IDOR is a critical security issue that requires proactive measures to mitigate. By understanding how IDOR works and implementing various security controls, organizations can safeguard their web applications against potential threats and ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of their data.

In cybersecurity, there is a buzzword I've seen some confusion about online recently. It's called zero trust, and though it sounds like vague corporate-ese at first, it actually represents a necessary approach to digital security. Cyber threats are constantly evolving, and IT professionals need to be prepared for the worst at all times. Zero trust is a valid part of defense in depth and the principle of least privilege within a network or series of networks. But what exactly does that mean? Well, historically, cyber professionals relied on perimeter defenses like firewalls to determine trust, assuming that everything inside the network was trustworthy. Zero trust challenges this notion by requiring strict identity verification for every user and device trying to access resources, regardless of their location. You'll often hear the term "never trust, always verify" when talking about zero trust. Practically, this means that every user and device must authenticate their identity before accessing the resources on the network, ensuring that only authorized individuals can access sensitive data. It also means users are granted the minimum level of access required to perform their tasks (the principle of least privilege I mentioned a second ago). This not only limits the potential damage that can be caused in case of a security breach, but it impedes insider threats from doing even more damage than would be possible otherwise. Zero trust also makes it harder for attackers to move laterally within a network by implementing network segmentation. This divides larger networks up into smaller pieces, isolating each segment, and protecting them from threats in other segments. Effectively implementing these steps is not a set it and forget it kind of thing either. Zero trust requires continuous monitoring of user and device behavior to detect anomalies or suspicious activities that may indicate security threats. Proper implementation takes the "never trust" part to the extreme. In other words, zero trust means that organizations don't blindly trust their employees and internal networks. Threats can come from anywhere, including within, and implementing various controls to mitigate these risks can significantly enhance an organization's security posture and enable them to better protect all constituents involved.

The internet is a dangerous place, full of vulnerabilities attackers leverage to malicious ends. One of the more common vulnerabilities that websites face is cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks. XSS attacks can have serious consequences, ranging from stealing sensitive information to defacing websites. Without wasting any time, let's jump into what XSS is, how it works, and how to mitigate it on your websites. ## What is Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)? --- XSS is a type of injection security vulnerability typically found in web applications, and it exploits the trust users have in websites. It occurs when an attacker injects malicious scripts into web pages via input fields, URLs, or even cookies. When a user visits a compromised page, the injected script is executed in the user's browser, allowing the attacker to carry out various malicious activities. This works because the scripts are assumed to have come from a trusted source. When executed, they can steal sensitive information, hijack user sessions, or deface the website. ## Types of XSS Attacks --- There are three types of XSS: 1. **Stored XSS**: The malicious script is stored on the server and executed whenever a user accesses the compromised page. 2. **Reflected XSS**: The malicious script is reflected off a web server and executed in the user's browser. 3. **DOM-based XSS**: The attack occurs in the Document Object Model (DOM) of the web page, allowing the attacker to manipulate the page's content. ## Preventing XSS Attacks --- There are several ways to mitigate XSS, some examples include the following: 1. **Input Validation**: Validate and sanitize all user input to prevent the injection of malicious scripts. 2. **Output Encoding**: Encode user input before displaying it on the web page to prevent script execution. 3. **Content Security Policy (CSP)**: Implement a CSP to restrict the sources from which scripts can be loaded on your website. 4. **Use HTTPS**: Ensure that your website uses HTTPS to encrypt data transmitted between the server and the user's browser. ## Conclusion --- Cross-site scripting attacks pose a significant threat to web security. By understanding how XSS works and implementing best practices to prevent such attacks, you can safeguard your website and protect your users' sensitive information. Stay vigilant, stay informed, and stay secure in the ever-evolving landscape of web security.

 https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/01/08/share-of-us-adults-living-without-a-romantic-partner-has-ticked-down-in-recent-years/ > he share of U.S. adults who are not living with a spouse or partner has modestly declined since 2019. In 2023, 42% of adults were unpartnered, down from 44% in 2019, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data. > However, certain demographic groups are more likely than others to be unpartnered, as of 2023 originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/851235

In the ever-evolving world of cybersecurity, understanding the various vulnerabilities that can be exploited by attackers is crucial for maintaining robust defenses. One such vulnerability that poses a significant risk is Local File Inclusion (LFI). This blog post aims to demystify LFI, explaining what it is, how it can be exploited, and what measures can be taken to prevent it. ## What is Local File Inclusion (LFI)? --- Local File Inclusion is a type of web application vulnerability that allows an attacker to access files from the server where the application is hosted. This can be achieved by exploiting poorly written code in the web application that processes user input. Essentially, if an application allows users to specify a file to be included, and it doesn't properly sanitize the input, attackers can manipulate this input to include arbitrary files from the server. LFI vulnerabilities often arise in applications that use scripts like PHP, where the `include`, `require`, `include_once`, and `require_once` functions are used to include files dynamically. When these functions are used improperly, they can become a gateway for attackers. ## How Does LFI Work? --- To understand how LFI works, let's consider a simple example. Here we see a PHP script that uses user input to include different page templates: ```php <?php $page = $_GET['page']; include("pages/" . $page . ".php"); ?> ``` If the application fails to properly validate the `page` parameter from user input, an attacker could manipulate it by inserting paths that lead to unintended files: ``` http://example.com/index.php?page=../../etc/passwd ``` In this scenario, if not properly secured, the attacker could potentially read sensitive system files like `/etc/passwd` on Unix-based systems. ## Impacts of LFI Vulnerabilities --- LFI vulnerabilities can have severe consequences, including but not limited to the following: 1\. **Information Disclosure**: Attackers can gain access to sensitive files, such as configuration files, passwords, and application source code.\ 2. **Remote Code Execution**: In some cases, attackers can leverage LFI to execute arbitrary code on the server, especially if they can upload malicious files to the server.\ 3. **Access to Internal Systems**: Attackers may use LFI to pivot and access other systems within the network, potentially leading to broader compromises. ## Preventing LFI Vulnerabilities --- Preventing LFI vulnerabilities requires a combination of secure coding practices and proper input validation. Here are some key measures to take: 1\. **Input Validation**: Always validate and sanitize user inputs. Ensure that the input corresponds to the expected format and type, and reject any suspicious or malformed input.\ \ 2. **Whitelist Files**: Instead of allowing arbitrary file inclusion, use a whitelist of allowable files that can be included. This restricts the files that can be included to a predefined set.\ \ 3. **Avoid User-Controlled File Paths**: Where possible, avoid using user input directly in file paths. If it is necessary, use predefined directories and filenames.\ \ 4. **Use Built-In Functions**: Utilize built-in functions and libraries that handle file inclusions more securely. For example, PHP’s `filter_input()` can help sanitize input data.\ \ 5. **Principle of Least Privilege**: Ensure that the web server and application run with the least privileges necessary, minimizing the impact of a potential compromise.\ \ 6. **Security Testing**: Regularly conduct security testing, including code reviews and penetration testing, to identify and fix vulnerabilities. ## Conclusion --- Local File Inclusion is a potent vulnerability that can lead to significant security breaches if left unchecked. By understanding how LFI works and implementing robust security measures, developers and administrators can protect their applications from being exploited. Ensuring that user inputs are properly validated and sanitized, using whitelists, and adhering to the principle of least privilege are fundamental steps in safeguarding against LFI attacks. Regular security assessments and staying informed about the latest security practices will further bolster defenses against this and other vulnerabilities.

A river must have two banks. A day has no meaning without a night. Even a narrative manifests amidst the story of a hero and a villain. Science is the study of the dualities - to put them to a greater use. Every time we get a better appreciation of a duality, we expound a new branch of science. For example Chemistry is built on the idea of "charge" duality. Particle physics is an outcome of magnetic duality (also called spin). The digital duality (0 and 1) is the basis for the computer science. Not only proven science, every thought has a dualistic outlook - a yes or a no - to be or not to be! Our own anatomy is a mirror image as if two halves are sealed together - one on left and another on the right - two hands, two legs, two ears. Even the brains are split into left and right lobes. Leonardo da Vinci was trying to find the code of life in the parity symmetry of the Vitruvian Man. The physical duality of our anatomy led to most discoveries in ancient medicine of Suśruta and Charka - long before Leonardo. It is believed they were looking for a singularity amidst the duality of every other aspect of human body - an island in the river of life. And since they found only one heart in every mammal, they assumed god must live on this island. In Vedic science , the study of dualities is known as Dwait. On the other hand, Vaidik philosophy believes the observer that sits amidst dualities is same across all of them - a singular observer - Adwait - an island between two banks of a river. The island underscores the nature, shape and the existence of that "perpetual" that dualities bind for conscious[^consciousness] experience? That Avykta (inexpressible knowledge) that dualities bind, is known as Tattva[^Tattva]. It binds itself into the knots (of evolving dualities) to gain answer to just one question - who am I? What is my own true shape (Swa-roopa). If one could know the answer to this question, dualities automatically shatter. They vanish because they are rendered unnecessary! [^consciousness]: Conscious experience: is summation of Dwait and Adwait. In our geometric perception, it is easier to visualize a duality as a dimension - a one-dimensional line that goes from the object to its mirror image. The images may be merged in each other - as in case of atomic particles; or at perceived distances as in case of our reflection in a mirror. The important thing, however, is the one that sits at the surface of the mirror - in the middle - to see two images - one on the left and another on the right - one up and another down and infinite other angles. Millions of dimensions may intersect at this focal point. More intersections - greater the resolution of perception -> higher degree of conscious experience. A computer is lower in consciousness because it has only one dimension to resolve - from digital zero to a digital one. In Vaidik Science, the fifty significant traits (Vritties) are considered the prime dimensions of human experience measured through five senses. If digital duality enabled experiences such as internet, it is not hard to imagine how evolved conscious experience could be based on five senses playing with fifty traits. Yes, it can render the experience of our physical world, the seasons, the green expanses, rivers, buildings, gadgets - but that is only a fraction of what we are capable of. There are infinitely many more experiences that lie hidden in the realm of emotions. Yet senses only observe the chiral imagery. They find it hard to navigate the emotions, besides being grossly unaware of the observer that sits amidst this chaos. What is it that creates this beautiful tapestry? - sometimes layered over each other's like an onion; and other times existing on the same plane of conscious experience, and who is the observer? What is that "one" that sits within inseparable dipoles of a magnet? What exactly is that "unseen" that runs between an anode and a cathode ? Spirituality (Nyaan), is the careful study of that "one" staying put amidst the dualities always shuttling like a ping pong ball. Can it ever get to the rest? Or the idea of conscious life is to merely lock this incessant rhythm ? If so, to what avail? [^Tattva]: Tattva: This "one", as per practitioners of spirituality, is the only real "element" - Tattva - the most elementary particle. Rest everything is just an expression of Tattva on account of complex wrinkles of dualities folded unto themselves. Tattva is neither unconscious or conscious. Consciousness is improvement in our sensory apparatus to approach this "one". The very reason of manifestation is to know, to understand what is there? Since it is the study of the "one", there are obviously no branches of "Spirituality". It is simply knowing "who am I?". The difference if at all, exists in the path to ascertain this truth. There are many possible paths. Some harder, some smarter - but the end goal is same - who am I? Tattva exists before the physical perception is born; and even after the cession the physical experience. For example, the written and the spoken are two reflections of the same word - they both carry the same meaning. Though a "word" has no physical existence unless it is spoken or written down, yet we know what a "word" means even before we say it or write it. In fact, we can't give a word a physical expression unless we already know the meaning. In essence, we understand the "knowledge" that a word captures irrespective of its physical manifestation. Thus, "knowledge" is the closest to describe that unseen in this physical world. Likewise, all dualities are reflections of a "single truth" hidden from sensory observations. It exists unattached, and yet it remains inseparable from the multitude of dualities it reflects ! For lack of a better word, Vedic Science uses the term Atma for it - it literally means "me". In mathematics, the word for this one is numeral "One" - yes, we call it "unity"! Unity is part of every number, every measurement, yet no one knows the shape of a unit - when measuring distance, this one is a meter, when measuring weight it becomes a kilo - it stays put in every measure, yet it stays indeterminate. You can say one cow, or one bird, and you know what they mean but no one knows what "one" stands for on its own! It is embedded in every number, every artifact and every observation. Many people try to explain Atma as "Energy" or "Electricity". Since it is hard to explain Atma with physical metaphors, I tend to use the word "knowledge". Partly because Energy is tied to physical matter and Electricity is limited to the motion of electrons. More importantly they have strict scientific definitions somewhat hindering the introduction of alternative approaches. That said, the choices are endless, and they are all valid based on the context. Similarly, the dualities are described differently based on the contexts. One may see the knots of dualities as the motherly cradle of manifestation - others may see them as a root cause of pain and confusion. But none may doubt their multidimensional omnipresence. In particle physics, duality is called "Parity Symmetry", In Vedic science, the faction that upholds "duality" as the only truth is known as Dwait - dualism. Dwait believes the "manifested" is nothing but the complex knots of many dualities in many dimensions. The "creation" is infinite manifestations of these knots (Karma Bandhana). It, thus, says that the liberation is all about gradual untying of these knots. The process of untying the knots of duality is called Karm-kshya - sacrificing the Karmas (that led to these knots in the first place) i.e. renunciation - weeding out dualities! It does agree that in this physical world, it is not possible to untie all the knots for human body too is a complex assimilation of uncountable knots, yet it asserts that as soon as our net "knot formation" gets negative - means we break more bonds than we create - the journey becomes a "hope of freedom". After initial jitters, the path becomes pleasurable though it appears insanely difficult (as well as counterintuitive) to the external world. For example, a person on the path of "minimalism" is naturally happy because she has found the taste of freedom - at the same time her network appreciates her for her sacrifices; often times wondering how she lives on so less ! As per Dvaita, the final freedom with exit from the physical world is thus the only objective goal - It is called Nirvana. Thus, there is no God, no observer. But it fails to answer what is it that we are trying to free up? What is the state of being in Nirvana? If Nirvana is all about giving up this beautiful experience, then Nirvana must be a very boring place! Adwait thus is the unyielding faith in singular underlying field, and a conscious ignorance of dualities as mere emergent sensory distractions. The singular truth is the thing that manifests amidst innumerable knotted dualities. Unlike the ideas of Quantum Mechanics, the "manifest" is neither a "given" nor an accident - it takes repetitive actions (Karma) to unveil one observable "truth". An "island" is thus the truth of a river's labour as much as a narrative is a writer's vociferous flow over dualities of the plot. This process of manifestation and its continuous evolution, as per Adwait, is Yazna - the modus operandi of Vishnu. And the consciousness that evolves (to seek the answer to the profound question) is Vishnu itself. The Sanskrit word Vishnu has two syllables - Vish comes from Vishisht, which means special and Anu means the smallest indestructible particle - special because it sits amidst all dualities and strives for continuous evolution of conscious experience to resolve the dualities. To an untrained eye - Dwait and Adwait may appear as the sides of the same coin, but there is vast difference in constructs that follow. Dwait seeks renunciation whereas Adwait celebrates the life, and it's growth. Vaidik approach thus is NOT to run away; it is to continuously struggle and fight to seek the ultimate object.

When I started using Bitcoin back in 2014, the first thing I wanted to do was start programming. Having no prior background in this, I chose [freeCodeCamp](https://freecodecamp.org/) as my development tool, and when I began writing my first lines of JavaScript, I realized it was much deeper than I cared to admit. **My dream was to work directly with Bitcoin.**. That didn’t stop me from pursuing my goals. While discipline wasn’t my ally at the time, research was my main weapon. I discovered [the free self-paced courses from Chaincode Labs](https://chaincode.gitbook.io/seminars), which provide all the necessary tools to get started as a Bitcoin or Lightning Network developer. I also gave up on those along the way, but this time it was because they required much more than I had imagined—a radical shift in how I approached things and, above all, something I wasn’t ready to commit to at the time: discipline and dedication. When I was on the verge of throwing in the towel, putting everything I knew about Bitcoin into the "freezer," I had a revealing conversation with a friend who remains anonymous to this day. It was during the pandemic, on one of those calls, that the conversation took a significant turn. *"I just want to work with Bitcoin and get paid in Bitcoin. I swear, I’ve looked everywhere and can’t find a way to connect with anything,"* I told him, to which there was a pause before he replied: *"You’re already working with Bitcoin. What more are you looking for?"* I couldn’t grasp what he meant and asked for a more detailed explanation. *"Look,"* he said, *"you’re trying to publish a book for free, but people often send you money or cryptos that you convert to Bitcoin."* I nodded in agreement. *"Then what you’re doing is working and buying Bitcoin. Think about it: what you’re doing takes time—your work, I mean. Your work takes time, and your time is valued in Guaraníes. You’ve told me a thousand times how the Guaraní loses value and that you don’t want to save in Guaraníes anymore. So, you turn to Bitcoin. What you’re really doing is buying Bitcoin to protect your work because, as things stand, it seems like we won’t be retiring anytime soon. Instead of letting your savings melt away, you’ve decided to work and convert it into Bitcoin, which, according to you, is the hardest currency with the least depreciation. Can you see how you’re already accepting Bitcoin? You’re already working with Bitcoin, even if your job pays you in Guaraníes."* #### My aha moment I was stunned. It was one of those _aha_ moments where you don’t even know how to explain what you’re doing until someone else spells it out perfectly. His explanation was so spot-on that it was almost scary. I realized that my quest shouldn’t be about finding a way to fit into the gears of Bitcoin core programming. That doesn’t mean I’ve given up on the hope of programming someday; it just means it’s currently on pause. It also means that, just like me, you have skills—soft or hard—that are valued in money. That money can be converted into Bitcoin, and without even realizing it, without intending to, you’re already participating in the Bitcoin ecosystem, protecting your money from inflation. My first message of the year, dear reader, is this: use Bitcoin without resorting to tricks or learning new skills. Instead, do what you’re best at today and convert a small fraction into satoshis. Does it work? Yes. Will it make you a millionaire? No. Will you be better off? Much better. Since you're read it all, [take this meme](https://primal.net/e/note13fe8ymwu89qymnme3mmppulq82nly6uq2pufwx8uazcjznejsmvqzkkwur):  originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/851104

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# **Hackathon 总结** [Hackmos 2024](https://dorahacks.io/hackathon/hackmos2024) 活动在迪拜圆满结束，作为 Cosmoverse 2024 的一部分，该活动吸引了 53 个注册项目和 101 位开发者参与。Hackathon 为学生和非学生团队提供了展示平台，每个团队在特定时间段展示项目，由针对不同赛道类别的评审小组进行评估。此次活动展现了 Cosmos 生态系统的创新成果，促进了开发者与区块链爱好者之间的交流。 参与者被鼓励开发展示技术创新和实用功能的项目。活动的结束阶段，项目展示以技术创新、功能性、可用性和安全性为评估标准。通过接触更广泛的加密社区，Hackathon 展示了具有显著社区影响力和采纳潜力的有前景项目。 在迪拜的文化背景下，参与者还有机会探索当地环境。Hackathon 参会者获得非可转让的 Cosmoverse 会议入场券，这是一个围绕 Cosmos 生态系统发展的论坛。活动促进了协作和竞争，旨在推动区块链项目开发的增长和探索。 # **Hackathon 获奖者** ### **Interchain 奖获奖者** - [**Wasm ICQ Datahub**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18068)：在 Neutron 区块链上使用智能合约，促进跨链数据交换，无需进行架构更改，特别适用于金融协议和分析。 - [**ZkResolution**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18096)：通过零知识证明提高 DNS 隐私，提供安全查询并确保 EVM 和 Cosmos 生态系统之间的互操作性。 - [**FractionXChange**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17974)：实现 NFT 的分割和租赁，允许可分割代币用于共享资产访问，同时保持资产排他性。 - [**Cosmic Quest**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18078)：通过角色扮演任务游戏化区块链教育，结合实际互动和链上凭证。 - [**SupportMEow**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17976)：通过区块链促进猫舍捐赠，使用 AI 和 IBC 进行图像验证和区块链铭文。 - [**NAMI <> Mars Protocol Integration**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17984)：将 NAMI 和 Mars Protocol 集成，用于跨链储蓄，提供可持续收益和稳定币管理。 - [**InMail Treasury**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18108)：提供基于 AI 的金库管理和电子邮件接口，利用 CosmWasm 和 Osmosis 智能账户进行安全的加密管理。 - [**BreezeNode**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18114)：通过区块链驱动的智能能源管理系统，促进节能行为，针对减少使用提供基于代币的奖励。 - [**FreshCatch**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18120)：通过直接交易连接渔民和市场，简化海鲜供应链，提升可持续性和效率。 - [**LogoSpark - RECs Blockchain**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18118)：通过 PoS 区块链进行 REC 交易，确保可再生能源市场的透明度和可持续性。 ### **Cosmos Hub 奖获奖者** - [**MEME HERO**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18067)：在 Cosmos 上为 meme 代币提供启动平台，使用 IBC 提供流动性，并在游戏化平台中实现可定制的代币经济学。 - **Symbiosis** - [**Proof of Profit**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18105)：模拟交易环境以展示可验证的盈利能力，安全地在链上吸引投资。 - **Swift Notify: Cosmos Hub Newsletters** - **Wasm ICQ Datahub** ### **Babylon 奖获奖者** - [**HWStaking**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18061)：通过 Babylon 集成 Ledger 钱包进行比特币质押，提高质押者的安全性和可访问性。 ### **Warden 奖获奖者** - **SupportMEow** - **InMail Treasury** - [**FedLearn**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18098)：通过去中心化的联邦学习和 Warden Protocol 集成实现私有机器学习。 ### **Osmosis 奖获奖者** - **InMail Treasury** - **Symbiosis** - [**Osmosis smart contract EOL**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18086)：通过非活动监控和用户无法操作时的委托执行，提供安全的加密基金回收。 ### **Neutron 奖获奖者** - **Wasm ICQ Datahub** - **Proof of Profit** - [**Neutron Drop protocol UI in TMA**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18103)：Telegram 应用接口与 Neutron Drop Protocol 集成，实现跨网络无缝智能合约操作。 ### **Mantra 奖获奖者** - [**TOKIFY Protocol**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18095)：在 MANTRA 链上管理现实世界资产代币化，允许在合规、DAO 治理的框架下实现部分所有权。 - **FractionXChange** - [**mantrapy**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18069): 通过功能强大的 Python 库增强与 Mantra 链的交互，实现去中心化应用的可扩展性。 ### **Agoric Bounty 奖获奖者** - [**Zero mile**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17981)：开发一个流动性层，用于在区块链之间实现无传统消息传递的无缝 DeFi 操作，提高互操作性。 - **SupportMEow** - [**Agoric: Event Registration**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18112)：扩展活动注册平台，通过 Agoric 集成支持多区块链交易。 ### **Dora Factory Bounty 奖获奖者** - [**ZKBugs**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18023)：专注于 Circom 电路中的错误检测，确保密码学应用的最佳性能。 - [**HACKMOS BOUNTY MINOR**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18041)：检查消息链验证漏洞，以提高去中心化系统的安全性。查看所有获奖项目和详细信息，请访问 [Hackmos 2024 Projects](https://dorahacks.io/hackathon/hackmos2024/buidl)。 # **关于组织者** ### **Cosmoverse** Cosmoverse & Hackmos Dubai 2024 是技术和区块链领域的知名社区，致力于推动Cosmos区块链的创新和合作，以组织吸引人的会议和 Hackathon 而闻名，将行业专家、开发人员和爱好者聚集在一起，探索新兴趋势和解决方案。该组织的举措旨在推进区块链技术的知识和实践应用。目前，其重点是加强技术参与，促进对话以推动行业向前发展。

What is so special about a **Green Barbet**, a **Bronze-naped Pigeon** and a **Swamp Nightjar**? Why do birders descend in their flocks for an unassuming sandpiper on the Mtunzini mudflats? Rarities have value because they’re hard to find. We have to work for them, either by spending time in the right habitat or travelling to wherever their location might be. Humans make decisions at the margin, under the influence of scarcity- the value of something is determined by how easy it is to obtain another one. That’s why no one makes a special trip for a **Burchell’s Coucal** or an **Olive Thrush**, but happy to do so for a **Black Coucal** or a **Spotted Ground-Thrush**. *THE CONSERVATION PROBLEM* We all recognise that our birds and their habitats are threatened. If they weren’t, there wouldn’t be non-profits fighting everyday to counter the anthropogenic challenges. But the question is, do we really understand the problem? Are our interventions reversing the trends, or only offering a temporary resistance? It is only when a disease’s underlying cause is understood that it can be cured. In March/April 2022, ***African Birdlife*** magazine reported on the dire state of Ndumo Game Reserve in the article “***Vested Interests***”. Two paragraphs are startling: - *“…the human population living along the  Phongolo River (which stretches up to Jozini  and beyond) had grown from 30 000 to more  than 400 000 from 1980 to 2020.”* - *“…in communities surrounding Ndumo Game Reserve, more than 70 percent of the population survives on less than R800 a month, provided by government grants and a small informal economy, and that up to 70 percent of residents are under the age of 18.”* This is the elephant in the room. And it’s going to get worse- this is why nothing conservation is doing today will make any difference. Because the biggest threat to conservation is a socio-economic problem, and we are not addressing the economics. ***TIME IS FUNDAMENTAL TO CONSERVATION*** ***Conservation*** is the sustainable use of our natural resources. ***Sustainable*** means we are concerned about the future. Human ***time preference*** can be described as the rate at which we discount the future compared to the present. We all agree that today is more important than tomorrow- there is a lot that can happen today that completely changes the context of tomorrow, and every individual discounts the future at a different rate than another. Those with ***low time preference***, for instance, start planning for their child’s university education as soon as the child is born. The future is recognized as important enough, and provision is made today. Humans with ***high time preference*** are not sure from where their child’s next meal will come. The future is uncertain, and therefore, university education is not considered during the actions of the present day. As humans, we are all individually, communally, and nationally moving on the spectrum of time preference. What determines a person’s time preference? The leading factor is ***economic freedom***. The more economic freedom a person has, the more likely they are to make decisions that benefit the people around them, because it’s mutually beneficial for their future self. It follows that countries with high economic freedom have higher prosperity and better social indices, such as increased GDP, increased life expectancy, higher happiness scores in polling, lower corruption and violence, and, importantly, increased income levels for the poorest 10% ([**heritage.org**](https://www.heritage.org/index/pages/about)). Notably, these countries also have better environmental protection. Therefore, if we want to lower the time preference of communities for the benefit of biodiversity, ***we need to increase economic freedom***. People will only protect Nature if they can afford a future where Nature still exists. *Property rights, monetary policy, rule of law, freedom to trade and work, and low levels of bureaucracy and corruption* collectively influence our economic freedom. *How could we as citizens then influence economic freedom when governments are largely responsible?* ***SOLVING CONSERVATION*** We need to start using sound money. When money is abundant, resources become rare; when money is rare, resources become abundant. *What do we mean by that?* The natural state of a free market is deflation. Thanks to entrepreneurs and advances in technology, prices fall to the marginal cost of production. New entrants to the market will capture the difference between inputs and sales, enhancing competition and driving down prices. *But why then do our prices continue to rise?* Because the money supply is increasing at a higher rate than the influence of deflationary factors. For this, we can thank central banking and, more specifically, fractional reserve banking. Every time a loan is made, new money enters the financial system. [Currency debasement](https://youtu.be/YtFOxNbmD38?si=tRca3t1ne7xrsf_u) distorts price signals, increases business input costs, and inflates asset prices What makes this worse is something called the [Cantillon Effect](https://www.hardmoneyhistory.com/why-fiat-currency-is-bad/). This ensures that those, who receive the newly created money first, benefit at the expense of all others, meaning that rural people living at the environmental interface become poorer as their earnings are eroded and their cost of living increases. This is the cardinal reason why we see progressive wealth inequality. An ever-increasing money supply is not needed for an economy to grow; we do not need a central bank-regulated interest rate- all we need is a single divisible monetary unit to run the economy. Yes, capital may be needed to start a business, but that doesn’t mean new money has to be conjured magically onto a bank’s spreadsheet. Humans are consumers, and with money that is finite in supply, purchasing power will rise as the amount of goods and services increases. It’s simply math, and the only available form of money that enables us to accurately perform this calculation, is Bitcoin. Thus, for a community champion like Junior Gabela, or a conservation non-profit organisation, the cost of living or the operational costs will get cheaper should they migrate to a Bitcoin Standard. **Bitcoin’s value proposition is that it is the best savings technology. And only when humans can save, can they start to value everything around them.** ***WHY IS BITCOIN VITAL FOR CONSERVATION?*** The future of biodiversity will be determined by the choices of people at scale, whether it is communities at the wildlife interface, humans harvesting resources on which other species depend, or elected politicians making decisions about land-use. If we want to spread this philosophy of conservation, then we also need to scale low time preference. People need to value their future, but how can they when their economic energy is being debased by inflation? When you are struggling to pay rent, transport and food, what does it matter if **African Penguins** are going extinct. We don’t need birds and grasslands and wetlands in order to survive ourselves- humanity will always engineer an alternative or synthetic solution; that’s why the human species continues to flourish in places where the biodiversity has been eliminated. But if we all use sound money, that is finite in supply and incorruptible, we can secure our future with productivity. With free market money, prices will fall to the marginal cost of production, and savings will increase in purchasing power. We can then spend more time enjoying life, and we can value Nature purely for the Cultural Services she offers us, *like birding*. ***WHY DID WE CHOOSE THE NAME “SATOSHI’S SPARROWS”?*** The [Bitcoin White Paper](https://bitcoin.org/en/bitcoin-paper) was published by cypherpunk **Satoshi Nakamoto** on 31 October 2008, and in 2011 Satoshi disappeared- to this day his identity remains a mystery. What we do know is that he favoured Austrian economics and despised central banks. He knew that the perfect money needed to be independent of human control, and so he wrote the open-source code for Bitcoin: sound money run on an incorruptible ledger that is maintained by thousands of contributors around the world. What remains is all the early Bitcoin that he mined. And it serves two purposes: For 16 years no individual, company or nation-state has been able to hack the wallet and move these enormous holdings, proving the networks’s security model of cryptography and proof-of-work. The voluntary protocol has demonstrated anti-fragility and immutability; growing in the abscence of any singlular entity or group, revealing that we have finally [separated money from state](https://braiins.com/books/bitcoin-separation-of-money-and-state). **Sparrow Wallet** is an open-source, globably reknown, Bitcoin desktop wallet. In a small way, our birding team pays homage to the South African developer that in the spirit of Satoshi, shares it for free with the world for anyone seeking self-sovereignty. Visit [sparrowwallet.com](http://sparrowwallet.com). ***HOW DOES BITCOIN HELP A BIRD GUIDE?*** Junior Gabela is a local legend in Mtunzini, and your best birding asset when visiting Ngoye and Dlinza mistbelt forests, or when searching for local specials such as **Palmnut Vulture**, **Mangrove Kingfisher** and **Southern Banded Snake Eagle**. But the reality is that the financial system is rigged against him. The only honest way to improve the quality of one’s life is to *add value to society*, *live within your means*, and then *accumulate financial assets*; but what do you do when you can only save in cash, and your money is a melting ice cube? What do you do when you can’t afford to buy a mortgage, or don’t meet the barriers of entry to get exposure to the Magnifcent 7? ***Bitcoin is the most equitable asset available.*** Now Junior can access the same asset class as a Wall Street banker or a nation-state. Bitcoin doesn’t care what your name is or what you look like, plus it’s permissionless- the protocol for prosperity.  With a smartphone, or even an old school feature phone (thanks to proudly South African [machankura.com](http://machankura.com)), anyone can save in the instrument that measures everything else, and everything goes to zero against Bitcoin. Not only is it the best way to hedge against inflation and migrate one’s economic energy through time, but it is also extremely liquid and portable, and can be used for daily transactions using the Lightning Network. You can spend it at Pick n Pay (using the [blink.sv](https://www.blink.sv) phone wallet), or at any business on [btcmap.org](http://btcmap.org) or [wedobitcoin.co.za](http://wedobitcoin.co.za), or you can trade a few satoshis peer-to-peer for ZAR with a friend that’s also stacking. That’s why we call it [Freedom Money](https://freedommoney.africa). For awesome birding in KZN, contact [Junior Gabela](https://zululandbirdingwithjuniorgabela.co.za) at **+27 82 667 3704**, and why not send some sats to his Lightning address: juniorgabela@blink.sv Study Bitcoin. 

# **Hackathon 总结** [Aptos Code Collision Hackathon](https://dorahacks.io/hackathon/code-collision) 圆满结束，吸引了658个注册项目和来自全球2,658名开发者参与。该Hackathon以混合格式进行，旨在通过研讨会和训练营推进Aptos平台上Web3发展的区块链创新。 活动提供超过500,000美元的奖金，吸引了众多热衷于创建有意义应用程序的参与者。评审由行业专家进行，包括来自Aptos Labs的Mo Shaikh和Avery Ching，以及其他著名区块链和投资公司领导人。 Hackathon 突出展示了Aptos技术，如Keyless用户认证和链上随机性，支持开发人员创建安全高效的应用。通过提供详尽的参与者手册，增强了新手和高级用户的学习和开发。活动展示了显著的参与和有前景的创新，旨在增强Aptos区块链生态系统。 # **Hackathon 获奖者** ### **DeFi / RWA 奖项获奖者** - [**Panana Predictions**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16813)：一个通过Aptos智能合约进行事件预测的去中心化平台，提供透明交易和社区治理市场。 - [**Sentra Restaking Protocol**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17617)：通过再抵押层加强Aptos安全性，提供池化安全和可定制惩罚措施。 - [**Legato**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16659)：利用AI进行BTC价格预测并使用智能合约管理流动性池的DeFi市场平台。 - [**eVault**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16003)：结合DeFi和TradFi，为Aptos上的未服务社区提供金融服务。 - [**MeowFi**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16628)：使用NFT作为贷款抵押品，支持Aptos上的透明借贷。 ### **游戏 / NFTs 奖项获奖者** - [**Jeton**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16033)：使用zk-SNARKs确保公平的Aptos去中心化扑克平台。 - [**On-Chain Treasure Hunt Multiplayer!**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17434)：完全链上游戏，利用智能合约确保透明机制和奖励。 - [**Forged Realms - IP Incubation with Games**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16825)：通过代币化和社区驱动的方法支持游戏IP孵化。 - [**Aptos Legacy**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16606)：在Aptos上提供代币化资产增强玩家所有权的3D RPG游戏。 - [**appToss Friends**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16020)：提供链上赌场基础设施，利用流动性池和好友注册表。 ### **AI / DePIN 奖项获奖者** - [**ChatEDU**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17476)：利用AI支持的教育系统，通过区块链积分激励内容共享。 - [**Unity Network**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16826)：通过联邦学习协议促进AI模型的数据货币化。 - [**ProxiRun**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16608)：通过Aptos智能合约管理的去中心化计算市场。 - [**FLock Move GPT**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17281)：使用高级调优和分类方法训练符合Aptos编码标准的大型语言模型（LLM）。 - [**Antikythera**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17612)：通过执行交易和识别实时机会来增强Aptos交互的AI代理。 ### **社交奖项获奖者** - [**Cook App**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16797)：基于Telegram的应用，通过区块链支持的滑动界面策划加密新闻。 - [**BiUwU**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16632)：直播平台，特色包括AI驱动的影响者和互动的区块链支持参与。 - [**FundMate**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16821)：提供社交消息传递和加密交易的平台，具有去中心化支付管理。 - [**Enthro**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16423)：利用区块链增强视频内容创建以促进市场增长机会。 - [**StreamAd**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17622)：一个专注于Twitter的平台，通过智能合约自动化管理活动和奖励分发。 ### **意外奖项获奖者** - [**ActionX**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/14572)：通过将流程转化为可操作链接简化区块链交互。 - [**Compensate**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17562)：运用零知识证明，实现安全透明薪水交易的工资管理创新。 - [**Khizab**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16769)：提供反应式区块链能力，通过模块化、类型安全的工具进行应用开发。 - [**Aptos Extension**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/15534)：提升Aptos生态系统内生产力和协作的开发工具。 - [**Aptotic: Industrial Robotic Automation on Aptos 🤖**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16701)：通过区块链集成安全操作，为工业自动化提供MaaS。 ### **UI 挑战奖项获奖者** - [**PlayStop**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16822)：一个社交小游戏平台，结合数字资产所有权和实时竞赛。 - [**EdenX**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/6955)：一个Web3学习平台，特色包含通过Telegram bot进行游戏化学习赚钱体验。 - [**Vortex**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17499)：为玩家对玩家游戏提供安全流动性管理的GameFi平台。 ### **最佳公共利益奖项获奖者** - [**Scaffold Move**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/13953)：一个开发Aptos上dApps的开源工具包，包括部署脚本和模块热重载。 - [**build 3 (fka Aptos Bounty App)**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17630)：支持任务完成并附带分析仪表板的去中心化劳动力市场。 - [**Aptos Extension**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/15534) ### **Aptos Indexer Challenge with Nodit 奖项获奖者** - Panana Predictions - [**Wavefy Network - Decentralized Network for Generative AI Inference**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/15025)：使用P2P网络解决AI内存问题，实现分布式模型推理。 - Compensate ### **远见选择：消费者应用程序悬赏奖项获奖者** - BiUwU - Cook App - eVault - Antikythera - ChatEDU ### **Mirana悬赏奖项获奖者** - Sentra Restaking Protocol - BiUwU - FLock Move GPT ### **MEXC Venture's 选择奖项获奖者** - [**AGDEX**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/15926)：一个用于杠杆交易的去中心化永久交易平台，特点包括AGLP代币。 - EdenX - Panana Predictions - [**紅包拿來**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17220)：将传统红包文化与区块链结合，实现安全的数字资产分享。 - [**Inbox-to-Earn using Telegram + Mizu**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16789)：通过Aptos代币支付优先消息，货币化Telegram收件箱。 ### **Mizu Wallet's Telegram Integration Challenge 奖项获奖者** - AGDEX - Panana Predictions - [**Apt Date**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17393)：通过区块链确保互动安全的约会平台，使用链上随机性进行用户匹配。有关所有项目的详细信息，请访问 https://dorahacks.io/hackathon/code-collision/buidl。 # **关于组织者** ### **Aptos Foundation** Aptos Foundation 在区块链技术领域占有重要地位，提供一个采用Move编程语言的Layer 1区块链以增强可扩展性。其每秒可处理高达30,000笔交易，并每日处理20亿笔交易，该基金会重视交易效率和安全性。致力于持续创新，其使命是通过成本效益高且稳健的解决方案演进区块链基础设施。Aptos Foundation 积极投入技术开发，促进动感和安全的数字生态系统。

# **Hackathon Summary** The [Hackmos 2024](https://dorahacks.io/hackathon/hackmos2024) event successfully concluded in Dubai, held alongside Cosmoverse 2024. It featured 53 registered projects and 101 participating developers. The hackathon provided a platform for both student and non-student teams, each allocated specific time slots for presentations, assessed by judging panels dedicated to various track categories. This event highlighted innovation within the Cosmos ecosystem, fostering networking among developers and blockchain enthusiasts. Participants were encouraged to undertake projects that demonstrated technological innovation and practical functionality. The event concluded with presentations evaluated on criteria such as technology innovation, functionality, usability, and security. By engaging with the wider crypto community, the hackathon showcased promising projects with potential for significant community impact and adoption. Set against Dubai's cultural backdrop, participants also had the opportunity to explore the locale. The hackathon attendees received non-transferable entry to the Cosmoverse conference, a forum for developments across the Cosmos ecosystem. The event fostered collaboration and competition, aiming to drive growth and exploration in blockchain project development. # **Hackathon Winners** ### **Interchain Prize Winners** - [**Wasm ICQ Datahub**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18068): Facilitates cross-chain data exchange without requiring architectural changes, using smart contracts on the Neutron blockchain. It is particularly suitable for financial protocols and analytics. - [**ZkResolution**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18096): Enhances DNS privacy through zero-knowledge proofs, providing secure lookups and ensuring interoperability between EVM and Cosmos ecosystems. - [**FractionXChange**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17974): Enables the fractionalization and rental of NFTs, allowing divisible tokens for shared asset access while maintaining asset exclusivity. - [**Cosmic Quest**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18078): Gamifies blockchain education with role-playing quests, integrating real interactions and on-chain credentials. - [**SupportMEow**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17976): Facilitates cat shelter donations through blockchain, using AI and IBC for image verification and blockchain inscription. - [**NAMI <> Mars Protocol Integration**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17984): Integrates NAMI and Mars Protocol for cross-chain savings, providing sustainable yields and stablecoin management. - [**InMail Treasury**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18108): Provides AI-driven treasury management with email interfaces, utilizing CosmWasm and Osmosis Smart Accounts for secured crypto management. - [**BreezeNode**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18114): Promotes energy-saving behaviors through a blockchain-powered smart energy management system, rewarding token-based incentives for reduced usage. - [**FreshCatch**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18120): Streamlines the seafood supply chain by connecting fishermen and markets, enhancing sustainability and efficiency through direct transactions. - [**LogoSpark - RECs Blockchain**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18118): Facilitates REC trading via a PoS blockchain, ensuring transparency and sustainability in renewable energy markets. ### **Cosmos Hub Prize Winners** - [**MEME HERO**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18067): A launchpad for meme tokens on Cosmos, using IBC for liquidity and customizable tokenomics within a gamified platform. - **Symbiosis** - [**Proof of Profit**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18105): Simulates trading environments to demonstrate verifiable profitability, securely attracting investment on-chain. - **Swift Notify: Cosmos Hub Newsletters** - **Wasm ICQ Datahub** ### **Babylon Prize Winners** - [**HWStaking**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18061): Integrates Ledger wallets for Bitcoin staking through Babylon, enhancing security and accessibility for stakers. ### **Warden Prize Winners** - **SupportMEow** - **InMail Treasury** - [**FedLearn**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18098): Enables private machine learning via decentralized federated learning and Warden Protocol integration. ### **Osmosis Prize Winners** - **InMail Treasury** - **Symbiosis** - [**Osmosis smart contract EOL**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18086): Provides secure crypto fund recovery through inactivity monitoring and nominee execution upon user incapacity. ### **Neutron Prize Winners** - **Wasm ICQ Datahub** - **Proof of Profit** - [**Neutron Drop protocol UI in TMA**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18103): Telegram app interfaces with Neutron Drop Protocol for seamless smart contract operations across networks. ### **Mantra Prize Winners** - [**TOKIFY Protocol**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18095): Manages real-world asset tokenization on the MANTRA Chain, enabling fractional ownership within a compliant, DAO-governed framework. - **FractionXChange** - [**mantrapy**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18069): Enhances interactions with the Mantra chain through a versatile Python library, enabling extensibility in decentralized applications. ### **Agoric Bounty Prize Winners** - [**Zero mile**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17981): Develops a liquidity layer for seamless DeFi operations across blockchains, enhancing interoperability without traditional messaging. - **SupportMEow** - [**Agoric: Event Registration**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18112): Expands an event registration platform to support multi-blockchain transactions through Agoric integration. ### **Dora Factory Bounty Prize Winners** - [**ZKBugs**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18023): Focuses on bug detection in Circom circuits, ensuring optimal performance for cryptographic applications. - [**HACKMOS BOUNTY MINOR**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/18041): Examines message chain verification vulnerabilities to enhance security in decentralized systems.To view all winning projects and details, visit [Hackmos 2024 Projects](https://dorahacks.io/hackathon/hackmos2024/buidl). # **About the Organizer** ### **Cosmoverse** Cosmoverse & Hackmos Dubai 2024 is a recognized entity within the technology and blockchain sectors, dedicated to fostering innovation and collaboration. It is known for organizing engaging conferences and hackathons that bring together industry experts, developers, and enthusiasts to explore emerging trends and solutions. The organization's initiatives are aimed at advancing knowledge and practical applications of blockchain technology. Currently, it focuses on enhancing technological engagement and facilitating conversations to propel the industry forward.

# **Hackathon Summary** The [Aptos Code Collision Hackathon](https://dorahacks.io/hackathon/code-collision) concluded with notable participation, featuring 658 registered projects and 2,658 developers globally. Conducted in a hybrid format, the hackathon aimed to advance blockchain innovation through workshops and bootcamps focused on Web3 developments on the Aptos platform. Offering over $500,000 in prizes, the event attracted diverse participants eager to create meaningful applications. Judging was conducted by industry experts, including Mo Shaikh and Avery Ching from Aptos Labs, alongside other notable blockchain and investment firm leaders. The hackathon highlighted Aptos technologies such as Keyless user authentication and on-chain randomness, which support developers in creating secure and efficient applications. Resources and guidance were provided through a comprehensive participants' handbook, enhancing learning and development for both novice and advanced users. The event showcased significant participation and promising innovations aimed at enhancing the Aptos blockchain ecosystem. # **Hackathon Winners** ### **DeFi / RWA Prize Winners** - [**Panana Predictions**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16813): A decentralized platform for event predictions using smart contracts on Aptos, offering transparent transactions and community-governed markets. - [**Sentra Restaking Protocol**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17617): Strengthens Aptos security via a restaking layer, providing pooled security and customizable slashing. - [**Legato**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16659): A DeFi market platform utilizing AI for BTC price predictions and smart contracts for liquidity pool management. - [**eVault**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16003): Combines DeFi and TradFi to offer financial services to underserved communities on Aptos. - [**MeowFi**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16628): Uses NFTs as collateral for loans, enabling transparent lending on Aptos. ### **Gaming / NFTs Prize Winners** - [**Jeton**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16033): A decentralized poker platform on Aptos using zk-SNARKs for fair play without central trust. - [**On-Chain Treasure Hunt Multiplayer!**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17434): An entirely on-chain game utilizing smart contracts for transparent mechanics and rewards. - [**Forged Realms - IP Incubation with Games**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16825): Supports gaming IP incubation through a tokenized, community-driven approach. - [**Aptos Legacy**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16606): A 3D RPG game on Aptos enhancing player ownership with tokenized assets. - [**appToss Friends**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16020): Infrastructure for on-chain casinos, utilizing liquidity pools and friend registries on Aptos. ### **AI / DePIN Prize Winners** - [**ChatEDU**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17476): AI-powered educational system incentivizing content sharing with blockchain-based credits on Aptos. - [**Unity Network**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16826): Facilitates data monetization through AI models with a federated learning protocol. - [**ProxiRun**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16608): A decentralized compute marketplace for AI tasks, managed through smart contracts on Aptos. - [**FLock Move GPT**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17281): Trains large language models (LLMs) on Aptos coding standards using advanced tuning and classification methods. - [**Antikythera**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17612): An AI agent that enhances Aptos interactions by executing transactions and identifying real-time opportunities. ### **Social Prize Winners** - [**Cook App**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16797): A Telegram-based app curating crypto news via a blockchain-backed swipe interface. - [**BiUwU**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16632): Livestream platform featuring AI-driven influencers and interactive blockchain-backed engagement. - [**FundMate**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16821): Platform for social messaging and crypto transactions with decentralized payment management. - [**Enthro**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16423): Enhances video content creation leveraging blockchain for market growth opportunities. - [**StreamAd**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17622): Twitter-focused platform for automating campaign management and rewards distribution through smart contracts. ### **The Unexpected Prize Winners** - [**ActionX**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/14572): Simplifies blockchain interactions by converting processes into actionable links. - [**Compensate**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17562): Innovates payroll management using secure, transparent salary transactions with zero-knowledge proofs. - [**Khizab**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16769): Offers reactive blockchain capabilities through modular, type-safe tools for application development. - [**Aptos Extension**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/15534): A development tool that enhances productivity and collaboration within the Aptos ecosystem. - [**Aptotic: Industrial Robotic Automation on Aptos 🤖**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16701): Provides MaaS for industrial automation, integrating blockchain for secure operations. ### **UI Challenge Prize Winners** - [**PlayStop**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16822): A social minigame platform merging digital asset ownership with real-time competition on Aptos. - [**EdenX**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/6955): Web3 learning platform featuring a Telegram bot for a gamified learning-to-earn experience. - [**Vortex**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17499): GameFi platform for player-to-player games with secure liquidity management on Aptos. ### **Best Public Goods Prize Winners** - [**Scaffold Move**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/13953): An open-source toolkit for developing dApps on Aptos, including deployment scripts and module hot reloads. - [**build 3 (fka Aptos Bounty App)**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17630): A decentralized labor market that supports task fulfillment with an analytics dashboard. - [**Aptos Extension**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/15534) ### **Aptos Indexer Challenge with Nodit Prize Winners** - Panana Predictions - [**Wavefy Network - Decentralized Network for Generative AI Inference**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/15025): Addresses AI memory issues using a P2P network for distributed model inference. - Compensate ### **Foresight's Choice: Consumer Applications Bounty Prize Winners** - BiUwU - Cook App - eVault - Antikythera - ChatEDU ### **Mirana's Bounty Prize Winners** - Sentra Restaking Protocol - BiUwU - FLock Move GPT ### **MEXC Venture's Choice Prize Winners** - [**AGDEX**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/15926): A decentralized perpetual exchange for leveraged trading, featuring benefits like AGLP tokens. - EdenX - Panana Predictions - [**紅包拿來**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17220): Integrates traditional red envelope culture with blockchain for secure digital asset sharing. - [**Inbox-to-Earn using Telegram + Mizu**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/16789): Monetizes Telegram inbox through Aptos token payments for prioritized messages. ### **Mizu Wallet's Telegram Integration Challenge Prize Winners** - AGDEX - Panana Predictions - [**Apt Date**](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/17393): A blockchain-based dating platform ensuring secure interactions with on-chain randomness for user matching.For comprehensive details on all projects, visit https://dorahacks.io/hackathon/code-collision/buidl. # **About the Organizer** ### **Aptos Foundation** Aptos Foundation is prominent in blockchain technology, offering a Layer 1 blockchain utilizing the Move programming language to enhance scalability. Achieving up to 30,000 transactions per second and processing 2 billion transactions daily, the foundation emphasizes transaction efficiency and security. Dedicated to continuous innovation, its mission focuses on evolving blockchain infrastructure with cost-effective and robust solutions. Aptos Foundation remains actively engaged in technological development, fostering a dynamic and secure digital ecosystem.

In the digital age, reviews play a pivotal role in every industry, and escorting is no different. For me, reviews aren’t just feedback; they’re a lifeline for building trust, attracting new clients, and standing out in a competitive world. But like so many aspects of this job, managing reviews requires care, strategy, and a touch of finesse. ### **Why Reviews Matter** When someone is considering booking with me, they often turn to reviews first. They provide a sense of reassurance and help potential clients feel confident about their choice. - **Building Credibility:** Positive reviews show that I’m genuine, professional, and deliver the experience I promise. They help break down any initial hesitation a client might have. - **Standing Out:** In an industry where there are countless options, a few glowing reviews can make all the difference. They show why I’m unique and worth the time. - **Feedback for Growth:** Even the occasional critical review can be useful. It’s a chance to reflect and improve how I approach my work. ### **How I Encourage Reviews** Not everyone leaves a review, even if they had a great experience. I’ve learned to gently encourage feedback in ways that feel natural and respectful. - **Casual Suggestions:** Sometimes, during a conversation or at the end of a session, I might say something like, “If you feel comfortable, a review would mean a lot.” - **Follow-Up Messages:** A polite follow-up, thanking them for their time and subtly mentioning reviews, often works wonders. - **Respecting Boundaries:** It’s always important to let clients know there’s no pressure. Their comfort and privacy come first. ### **Handling Negative Reviews** No one likes receiving a negative review, but I’ve learned that it’s part of the job. How I handle them can say as much about me as the positive ones. - **Staying Professional:** I’ve trained myself not to take things personally, even when a review stings. A calm, professional response can turn things around or at least show others that I handle situations with grace. - **Taking Lessons to Heart:** If the criticism is valid, I take it seriously. It’s an opportunity to improve and ensure I’m providing the best experience possible. - **Dealing with Fake Reviews:** Unfortunately, fake or malicious reviews do happen. In those cases, I work with the platform to get them removed, protecting my reputation. ### **Making the Most of Positive Reviews** When a client leaves a lovely review, it’s like receiving a little gold star for my work. But there’s an art to showcasing them effectively. - **Profile Highlights:** I carefully select the best snippets from reviews to feature on my profile. They give potential clients a taste of what I’m like. - **Sharing Selectively:** Occasionally, I’ll share anonymised testimonials on my site or social media, always ensuring I protect the client’s privacy. - **Authenticity is Key:** I focus on presenting reviews that reflect the real me, rather than creating a perfect but unrealistic image. ### **Balancing Reviews and Authenticity** While reviews are incredibly valuable, I remind myself that they’re not the be-all and end-all of who I am or what I do. - **Avoiding Perfectionism:** A profile with nothing but glowing reviews can feel too polished. I embrace the occasional constructive comment—it adds a human touch. - **Staying True to Myself:** My reviews should reflect my genuine personality, quirks, and the unique experiences I offer. Authenticity resonates with the clients I want to attract. ### **Conclusion** Reviews are a powerful part of my work—they build trust, open doors to new clients, and show the care I put into what I do. By encouraging honest feedback, handling critiques gracefully, and always staying true to myself, I’ve learned how to use reviews as a tool for growth and connection while maintaining the authenticity that makes my service special. Rebecca x

`relayServer = [ "wss://search.nos.today/", "wss://relay.nostr.band/", ]; relays = [relay for relay in relayServer] words = "news" filters = {"kinds":[1,30023],"limit":100,"search":words} r = RelayPool(relays) r.connect(5) def handler_event(event): dt_object = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(event['created_at']) log.blue(dt_object.strftime('%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'),False) print(event['content']) print(event['tags']) subs = r.subscribe(filters) subs.on("EVENT",handler_event)` 这里主要解决的问题是 ：服务器的选择，不是所有的服务器都支持搜索的。 第二， filter的写法，这个其实普通的去填写就可以。 然后订阅后，就有结果了。 过一段时间 nostrhttp会增加这个功能。

**Table Of Content** - Unexpected Findings in a Prison Raid - The Tocorón Prison: A Criminal Haven - The Lucrative World of Bitcoin Mining - A Growing Trend in Latin America - Conclusion - FAQ In the ever-evolving world of crime, criminals are constantly seeking innovative ways to further their illicit gains. The recent Venezuelan prison raid offers a startling glimpse into this world, revealing an unexpected intersection between organized crime and the realm of cryptocurrency. This article delves into the surprising findings of the raid, the notorious Tocorón prison, the lucrative allure of Bitcoin mining, and the emerging trend of cryptocurrency in the Latin American criminal landscape. **Unexpected Findings in a Prison Raid** In a recent raid on the Tocorón prison in Aragua state, Venezuelan authorities made an unexpected discovery. Alongside the anticipated confiscation of rocket launchers, grenades, and bullets, they stumbled upon Bitcoin mining machines. This operation, which involved a staggering 11,000 troops, was aimed at dismantling the country's most formidable organized crime group. While weapons were a predictable find, the presence of Bitcoin miners was a revelation that caught many off guard. Videos circulating on social media platforms showcased buildings filled with these machines, emphasizing the scale of the operation. The juxtaposition of traditional weapons with high-tech mining equipment highlights the adaptability and resourcefulness of criminal organizations, demonstrating their willingness to embrace new technologies to further their objectives. **The Tocorón Prison: A Criminal Haven** The Tocorón prison, located in the heart of Venezuela, has long been notorious for being under the control of criminals. In fact, it had been run by them for years, turning it into a veritable fortress of illicit activities. This prison wasn't just a place of confinement; it boasted amenities like a swimming pool and even a mini zoo, painting a picture of a facility that was more a criminal fortress than a penitentiary. Such luxuries are unheard of in conventional prisons, suggesting a level of autonomy and power that these criminals wielded. Venezuelan prisons, in general, have a reputation for being perilously overcrowded and hazardous, often leading to violent confrontations. This particular raid marked the first time Venezuelan authorities took decisive action against the dreaded Tren de Aragua, a criminal organization with a hand in various illicit activities, ranging from drug and human trafficking to extortion, both within Venezuela and in neighboring countries. The audacity of such a group to operate so openly speaks volumes about the challenges faced by Venezuelan law enforcement. **The Lucrative World of Bitcoin Mining** Bitcoin mining, for the uninitiated, might seem like a complex digital process, but its implications are very tangible. Mining machines play a pivotal role in minting new coins and ensuring the security of the Bitcoin blockchain. Engaging in this energy-intensive process requires a significant amount of electricity, often leading to concerns about its environmental impact. However, the rewards, in the form of new cryptocurrency, can be substantial. A recent report from Coin Metrics highlighted that Bitcoin miners raked in a whopping $184 million from transaction fees in a mere three months, from April to June. This lucrative venture offers a glimpse into why criminals might be drawn to such operations, given the potential for immense profits. The decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies also provides a level of anonymity, making it an attractive option for those wishing to operate outside the purview of traditional financial systems. **A Growing Trend in Latin America** The discovery of Bitcoin mining machines in the Tocorón prison isn't an isolated incident. Just two weeks prior, Chilean police uncovered a drug trafficking ring in Santiago that was operating a Bitcoin mining venture. This suggests a growing trend among criminals in Latin America, who seem to be exploring the lucrative world of cryptocurrency. As the digital currency gains traction globally, it's evident that the criminal underworld is also keen on capitalizing on its potential. The integration of cryptocurrency into criminal operations represents a new frontier in crime, challenging law enforcement agencies to adapt and develop new strategies to combat this emerging threat. **Conclusion** The Venezuelan prison raid serves as a stark reminder of the intricate and ever-changing nature of organized crime. As the lines between traditional criminal activities and the digital world blur, it's crucial for authorities to stay one step ahead. The fusion of organized crime with the world of cryptocurrency underscores the need for continued vigilance and adaptability in the face of evolving criminal methodologies. **FAQs** **What was discovered during the Venezuelan prison raid?** Along with weapons like rocket launchers and grenades, authorities found Bitcoin mining machines in the Tocorón prison. **Who controlled the Tocorón prison?** The prison had been under the control of criminals for years, notably the Tren de Aragua crime group. **Why is Bitcoin mining significant?** Bitcoin mining is the process of minting new coins and securing the Bitcoin blockchain. It can be highly lucrative, with miners earning substantial amounts from transaction fees. **Is cryptocurrency involvement a trend in Latin American crime?** Yes, there's a growing trend among criminals in Latin America to integrate cryptocurrency into their operations, as seen in both Venezuela and Chile. **How are authorities responding to this trend?** The Venezuelan raid signifies a proactive approach by authorities, but the blending of crime with cryptocurrency highlights the need for continued vigilance and adaptability. **That's all for today** **If you want more, be sure to follow us on:** **NOSTR: croxroad@getalby.com** **X: [@croxroadnews](https://x.com/croxroadnewsco)** **Instagram: [@croxroadnews.co](https://www.instagram.com/croxroadnews.co/)** **Youtube: [@croxroadnews](https://www.youtube.com/@croxroadnews)** **Store: https://croxroad.store** **Subscribe to CROX ROAD Bitcoin Only Daily Newsletter** **https://www.croxroad.co/subscribe** *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.*

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/850896

In the world of social media, the term "echo chamber" often carries a negative connotation. It’s associated with reinforcing biases, limiting perspectives, and fostering division. However, on platforms like **Nostr**, echo chambers take on a new, empowering dimension—one that allows users to consciously curate their own feeds and use them as tools for self-improvement and personal growth. ## The Power of Voluntary Echo Chambers Unlike traditional social networks, where algorithms dictate what you see based on corporate interests or ad revenue, Nostr puts the power back in your hands. You choose the accounts you follow, the content you consume, and ultimately, the ideas that shape your thinking. This creates a **voluntary echo chamber**, one that reflects your personal interests and goals rather than the priorities of a centralized algorithm. This concept ties into psychological principles like **autosuggestion** or **self-programming**. By surrounding yourself with content that aligns with your aspirations, you can subtly influence your thoughts and behaviors over time. For example: - Following accounts that discuss **Bitcoin** might deepen your understanding of it even if you are normally lazy to do your own research. - Subscribing to content about **meat eating** or **lifting** could motivate you to adopt those habits. - Engaging with posts about **self-discipline** or **personal development** might inspire you to take actionable steps toward your goals. Scrolling through your Nostr feed becomes more than a passive activity—it becomes a form of self-conditioning. Each post you see reinforces the values and ideas you’ve chosen to prioritize, nudging you toward the person you want to become. ## A Contrast with Traditional Social Media On traditional platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or X, the feed is curated by algorithms designed to maximize engagement. These algorithms often prioritize sensationalism, controversy, or content that serves the platform’s business model. As a result, your brain is programmed not by your own goals, but by the interests of the corporation behind the platform. This distinction is crucial. On Nostr, **you are the algorithm**. You decide what influences you, creating a space where your feed becomes a tool for self-improvement rather than a source of manipulation. ## Echo Chambers as Positive Spaces The idea of an echo chamber isn’t inherently negative. In fact, any group or community built around shared interests can be considered an echo chamber. Think about: - A **sports club**, where everyone encourages each other to train harder and improve. - A **book club**, where members discuss ideas that expand their intellectual horizons. - A **support group**, where people share experiences and motivate each other to overcome challenges. These are all examples of echo chambers that people enter voluntarily, and they often lead to positive outcomes. The same principle applies to Nostr. By carefully curating your feed, you can create a digital space that motivates, educates, and inspires you. ## The Key to Beneficial Echo Chambers The difference between a harmful and a beneficial echo chamber lies in **intentionality**. On Nostr, you have the freedom to: 1. **Choose your influences**: Follow accounts that align with your values and goals. 2. **Avoid manipulation**: Stay clear of (mute) content that doesn’t serve your interests. 3. **Adapt over time**: As your priorities evolve, so can your feed. This level of control allows you to use echo chambers as a force for good—a way to program your mind for success, growth, and self-improvement. ## Final Thoughts Nostr represents a paradigm shift in how we interact with social media. By giving users the power to create their own echo chambers, it transforms the concept from something limiting into something liberating. Your feed becomes a reflection of your aspirations, a tool for self-programming, and a space for growth. So, the next time someone criticizes echo chambers, remember: when entered voluntarily and curated intentionally, they can be one of the most powerful tools for personal development. On Nostr, the choice is yours.

The world today stands at the confluence of unprecedented technological advancement and entrenched systemic challenges. Economic inequality, resource misallocation, and social fragmentation persist, often exacerbated by opaque systems that prioritize the interests of the few over the needs of the many. At the heart of these issues lies a critical flaw: the absence of transparent, verifiable accountability in behaviors and outcomes. Enter DamageBDD, a revolutionary platform designed to automate behavioral verification and realign incentives; Damage Token, the accompanying utility token for integrating economic incentives; and Lightning Network Integration, enabling immediate liquidity for verified milestones. Together, they offer a transformative approach to addressing systemic challenges through fairness, transparency, and progress. This article critically explores the application of DamageBDD, Damage Token, and Lightning Network integration as tools to set the highest standards in behavioral verification, accountability, and real-world outcomes. --- The Core Premise: Why Verification and Liquidity Matter At its essence, DamageBDD is a response to a fundamental question: How do we ensure that what is promised is delivered, and how do we reward individuals and organizations fairly based on outcomes? In a world where centralized systems often obscure accountability, DamageBDD’s automated and decentralized verification capabilities bring clarity. The integration of the Lightning Network, a Layer-2 scaling solution for Bitcoin, takes this premise further by enabling instant, low-cost payments for verified milestones. This seamless liquidity enhances trust and fosters participation across all levels of society. 1. Behavioral Verification as the Foundation What It Is: Behavioral verification refers to the systematic confirmation that predefined actions or outcomes have occurred. Unlike trust-based systems, DamageBDD relies on automated verification, ensuring accuracy and fairness. Why It Matters: Trust is fragile, and its erosion often leads to inefficiencies, fraud, and disillusionment. DamageBDD replaces subjective evaluation with objective, immutable validation, building systems that reward effort, not influence. 2. Lightning Network Integration for Instant Liquidity What It Is: The Lightning Network allows fast, scalable transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain, providing near-instant payments with minimal fees. Why It Matters: By integrating the Lightning Network, DamageBDD ensures that payouts for verified milestones are immediate. This reduces the financial risks often associated with delays in traditional systems and enhances liquidity for contributors. 3. The Role of Incentives Incentives drive behavior. Misaligned incentives lead to inefficiencies, corruption, and exclusion. Damage Token, now enhanced with Lightning Network compatibility, ensures that rewards are directly tied to verified actions, fostering accountability and inclusivity. --- DamageBDD in Action: The Vision of Practical Application DamageBDD’s capabilities transcend industries, offering use cases that demonstrate its transformative potential: 1. Technology-Driven Development Challenge: Traditional software development often suffers from misaligned incentives—developers prioritize delivery speed over quality, and stakeholders lack transparency into progress. Solution: DamageBDD automates the verification of testing milestones. Paired with Lightning Network integration, developers receive immediate payouts upon milestone completion, incentivizing high-quality work. Impact: Developers and stakeholders benefit from reduced friction, enhanced trust, and improved product outcomes. 2. Public Infrastructure and Governance Challenge: Public projects are notoriously prone to corruption and inefficiency. Funds are misallocated, deadlines are missed, and trust in governance erodes. Solution: DamageBDD integrates with public project management to verify milestone completion. Using the Lightning Network, payments are released instantly upon verification, ensuring accountability and liquidity. Impact: Taxpayer money is safeguarded, public trust is restored, and projects deliver meaningful value without delays. 3. Education and Skill Development Challenge: Traditional education systems prioritize rote learning over real-world skills, and students from disadvantaged backgrounds often lack access to resources. Solution: DamageBDD tracks and verifies learning outcomes based on real-world applications, such as project submissions or skill demonstrations. Students are rewarded via the Lightning Network, enabling immediate access to resources. Impact: A meritocratic system emerges, empowering learners regardless of background. 4. Decentralized Economies Challenge: In traditional economies, wealth concentration and opaque systems marginalize individuals and small businesses. Solution: Damage Token, coupled with DamageBDD and Lightning Network integration, creates decentralized economic systems where contributions are rewarded with immediate payouts for verified tasks. Impact: Economic power shifts toward inclusivity, fostering a fairer distribution of resources. --- The Higher Standard: What Sets DamageBDD Apart For DamageBDD, Damage Token, and the Lightning Network to achieve their transformative potential, they must adhere to the highest standards of design and implementation. These principles distinguish them as tools for meaningful progress: 1. Transparency and Immutability By leveraging blockchain technology, DamageBDD ensures that every verified action is recorded immutably. This transparency builds trust among participants and prevents manipulation. 2. Decentralization and Liquidity Decentralization reduces systemic vulnerabilities, while Lightning Network integration ensures that liquidity is never a bottleneck for participants. 3. Ethical Alignment Behavioral verification must respect individual autonomy and privacy. DamageBDD integrates ethical considerations, ensuring that data is used responsibly and that systems promote fairness. 4. Incentive Realignment Damage Token ties economic incentives directly to verified actions, while the Lightning Network enables fast, frictionless access to rewards, fostering a more agile system. 5. Scalability and Adaptability DamageBDD is designed to integrate seamlessly across industries and use cases, ensuring broad applicability without compromising its core principles. --- Addressing Challenges: Critical Considerations While the potential of DamageBDD and its ecosystem is immense, its implementation must navigate several challenges: 1. Adoption Barriers Challenge: Organizations and individuals may resist adopting a new system, especially one that demands greater transparency and accountability. Solution: Education, pilot programs, and highlighting the efficiency of instant payouts via the Lightning Network can foster trust and buy-in. 2. Technical Integration Challenge: Integrating DamageBDD and Lightning Network with legacy systems may require significant effort. Solution: Modular design and interoperability features ensure smoother integration and faster adoption. 3. Ethical and Privacy Concerns Challenge: Behavioral verification involves data collection, which can raise privacy concerns. Solution: DamageBDD adheres to stringent privacy standards, ensuring that data is anonymized and used ethically. --- A Roadmap to the Future: Practical Progress Through Verification The long-term success of DamageBDD and its ecosystem depends on their ability to create meaningful, measurable change. Here’s how they can drive progress: 1. Building Inclusive Systems DamageBDD eliminates biases by evaluating behaviors, not backgrounds. This inclusivity ensures that opportunities are accessible to all. 2. Driving Accountability By automating verification, DamageBDD holds individuals and organizations accountable for their actions, fostering trust and integrity. 3. Empowering Marginalized Groups Damage Token, paired with the Lightning Network, provides immediate rewards, offering a lifeline for marginalized groups to participate in equitable systems. 4. Redefining Progress By tying incentives to verified outcomes, DamageBDD shifts the focus from short-term gains to long-term impact, redefining what progress means in the 21st century. --- Conclusion: The Vision of a Verified, Liquid Future DamageBDD, Damage Token, and Lightning Network integration represent a paradigm shift in how we approach accountability, incentives, and progress. By automating behavioral verification and enabling instant liquidity, this ecosystem creates systems that are transparent, inclusive, and transformative. In a world that often rewards power over merit and obscurity over transparency, DamageBDD sets a new standard. It is not just a technological evolution—it is a moral imperative, a call to action for organizations, governments, and individuals to embrace accountability and build systems worthy of humanity’s highest aspirations. The tools are here. The vision is clear. The future is verified, liquid, and equitable.

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Fiat monetary systems, often viewed as tools for economic stability and growth, are deeply anthropomorphic in their structure and impact. These systems reflect the essence of human nature: tribalism, competition, and the drive for survival. From our evolutionary roots to the intricacies of modern society, fiat systems amplify these instincts, shaping familial dynamics, societal structures, and even genetic outcomes. This article delves into the anthropological dimensions of fiat systems, exploring their strengths, weaknesses, and how individuals can navigate and exploit these systems to their advantage in an equitable manner. --- Fiat Systems as an Extension of Human Tribalism 1. Tribalism and the Roots of Fiat Humans are inherently tribal beings, evolved to form close-knit groups that ensure survival through resource sharing and kin protection. Fiat systems, governed by centralized entities like central banks and governments, mirror these tribal instincts: Resource Centralization: Just as early tribes controlled access to food, water, and shelter, modern fiat systems centralize the control of money and credit. Kinship Favoritism: Policy-making often reflects tribal loyalty, prioritizing the interests of elite families and economic classes. Wealth circulates within these "modern tribes," ensuring their dominance across generations. 2. The Sociological Impact The societal effects of fiat systems are strikingly tribal in nature: Class Stratification: Wealth concentration creates modern “tribes” defined by socioeconomic status, leading to rigid class divides. Social Fragmentation: Disparities in resource access foster mistrust and division, weakening societal cohesion and reducing opportunities for collaboration. Cultural Hegemony: Elite groups shape societal values and norms, perpetuating their influence and marginalizing alternative perspectives. --- The Biological and Genetic Consequences Fiat systems influence not only societal dynamics but also biological and genetic outcomes: Health Disparities: Economic inequality leads to unequal access to healthcare and nutrition, creating long-term health and genetic advantages for wealthier groups. Reproductive Patterns: Wealthier families often have higher reproductive success, while economically disadvantaged groups face declining birth rates due to financial stress. Epigenetic Changes: Chronic stress caused by financial instability can lead to heritable epigenetic modifications, perpetuating cycles of disadvantage. --- Economic and Evolutionary Weaknesses of Fiat Systems While fiat systems are powerful, they are not invincible. Their weaknesses arise from their anthropomorphic tendencies, making them susceptible to manipulation and exploitation: 1. Over-Reliance on Centralization Weakness: Centralized control creates inefficiencies, corruption, and vulnerabilities to mismanagement. Exploitation Opportunity: Individuals can leverage decentralized systems (like Bitcoin) to protect their wealth from inflation and bypass the limitations of fiat systems. 2. Inflation as a Silent Tax Weakness: Inflation erodes purchasing power, disproportionately affecting savings and fixed-income earners. Exploitation Opportunity: Investing in assets that appreciate with inflation (e.g., real estate, gold, or cryptocurrencies) can preserve and grow wealth. 3. Debt Dependence Weakness: Fiat systems thrive on debt, creating cycles of dependency that can cripple individuals and nations. Exploitation Opportunity: By avoiding unnecessary debt and prioritizing investments in education and skill development, individuals can escape the debt trap and build long-term financial stability. 4. Wealth Inequality Weakness: The concentration of wealth limits economic mobility and stifles innovation. Exploitation Opportunity: Understanding the policies and mechanisms that benefit the wealthy (e.g., tax strategies, asset allocation) can help individuals replicate these practices ethically to improve their financial standing. --- Anthropomorphic Resilience: How to Thrive in a Fiat World 1. Leverage Knowledge and Financial Literacy Educate yourself on the nuances of monetary policy, taxation, and investment strategies. Use this knowledge to navigate fiat systems effectively, turning systemic biases into personal opportunities. 2. Embrace Decentralization Explore decentralized financial systems like Bitcoin to protect your wealth from inflation and central control. Advocate for policies that promote equitable access to resources and reduce systemic barriers. 3. Build Resilient Networks Cultivate strong social and professional networks that provide support and opportunities. Recognize the tribal nature of human relationships and use it to create inclusive, collaborative communities. 4. Invest in Future Generations Break the cycle of disadvantage by investing in education, health, and skill development for yourself and your family. Prioritize long-term thinking over short-term gains to create lasting wealth and resilience. --- Critically Examining the Future of Fiat and Tribalism Fiat systems, for all their flaws, are a reflection of humanity’s deepest instincts. They embody our desire to control resources, protect kin, and ensure survival. However, these same traits make fiat systems vulnerable to exploitation and perpetuation of inequality. Recognizing this duality is the first step toward reform. 1. The Need for Equity: By addressing the biases inherent in fiat systems, we can create more inclusive policies that benefit all members of society, not just the privileged few. 2. The Role of Individuals: Each person has the power to navigate and exploit these systems ethically, turning their weaknesses into opportunities for growth and empowerment. 3. The Path Forward: As humanity evolves, so too must our economic systems. By embracing decentralization, fostering education, and prioritizing collective well-being, we can transcend the limitations of tribalism and build a more equitable world. --- Conclusion: The Humanity in Fiat At its core, the fiat monetary system is neither inherently good nor evil—it is simply human. It reflects our strengths and weaknesses, our ambitions and fears. By understanding the anthropomorphic nature of fiat systems, we can navigate their complexities, address their flaws, and ensure they serve humanity rather than divide it. In doing so, we honor the best of what it means to be human: the ability to adapt, evolve, and create a future that transcends our tribal roots. Research References The intersection of tribalism, monetary systems, and societal evolution has intrigued thinkers across multiple disciplines, though often explored indirectly or in fragmented ways. Here are some prominent individuals and schools of thought that have touched upon these ideas: --- 1. Anthropologists and Sociologists Yuval Noah Harari: Books: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Homo Deus. Harari delves into humanity's tribal instincts, the role of shared myths (like money), and how these constructs shape societies. He discusses how systems like fiat currency act as collective fictions that unite and divide. Emile Durkheim: Durkheim explored how social cohesion and division are influenced by economic and societal structures, foreshadowing modern critiques of capitalism and monetary systems. Marshall Sahlins: Books: Stone Age Economics. Sahlins analyzed the economic behaviors of early societies, highlighting the transition from tribal economies to centralized systems, including the rise of monetary mechanisms. --- 2. Economists and Monetary Theorists John Maynard Keynes: Keynes laid the foundation for modern monetary policy and explored how centralized control of money influences societal outcomes. Critics of Keynesian economics often highlight its potential to create inequality, unintentionally favoring elite "tribes." Friedrich Hayek: Books: The Road to Serfdom. Hayek critiqued centralized monetary systems and advocated for decentralized economic structures, anticipating the rise of alternatives like Bitcoin. Karl Marx: Books: Das Kapital. Marx argued that monetary systems are tools of class oppression, perpetuating tribal dynamics between the bourgeoisie and proletariat. Saifedean Ammous: Books: The Bitcoin Standard. Ammous critiques fiat currency as a tool of wealth erosion and argues for Bitcoin as a decentralized alternative to counteract the tribal favoritism embedded in monetary systems. --- 3. Evolutionary Biologists and Geneticists Richard Dawkins: Books: The Selfish Gene. Dawkins popularized the idea that genetic survival drives human behavior, including tribalism. While not explicitly discussing fiat systems, his work underpins theories on how resource allocation and power structures serve genetic imperatives. E.O. Wilson: Books: The Social Conquest of Earth. Wilson explored how tribalism and group selection shape human societies, touching on themes relevant to how monetary systems reinforce social hierarchies. --- 4. Philosophers and Political Thinkers Friedrich Nietzsche: Nietzsche’s critiques of power and morality resonate with discussions on fiat systems, particularly the idea that such systems perpetuate control mechanisms favoring the powerful. Hannah Arendt: Books: The Human Condition. Arendt examined the relationship between power, labor, and societal structures, providing a philosophical lens to understand how monetary systems influence human behavior. --- 5. Modern Bitcoin and Decentralization Advocates Andreas M. Antonopoulos: Books: The Internet of Money. Antonopoulos advocates for decentralized systems like Bitcoin to counteract the inequalities and tribal dynamics perpetuated by fiat systems. Balaji Srinivasan: Ideas: Srinivasan often discusses the intersection of technology, economics, and societal evolution, emphasizing decentralized systems as a way to break free from entrenched tribal hierarchies. --- 6. Historians and Futurists Will Durant: Books: The Lessons of History. Durant explored how economic systems and tribal instincts shape civilizations over time, offering a historical lens on modern monetary practices. Arthur C. Clarke: Clarke's science fiction often speculated on humanity’s evolution, blending technology, sociology, and biology to imagine futures where human instincts like tribalism adapt to new paradigms. Alvin Toffler: Books: Future Shock. Toffler explored the impacts of rapid societal and technological change, touching on how economic systems evolve alongside human psychology. --- 7. Cultural Critics and Theorists Joseph Campbell: Books: The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Campbell’s work on myth and archetypes provides insights into how shared cultural narratives, including those tied to money and power, shape human societies. Frantz Fanon: Books: The Wretched of the Earth. Fanon analyzed the impacts of colonialism and economic exploitation on societal structures, resonating with critiques of fiat systems as tools of dominance. --- 8. Technologists and Cryptographers Satoshi Nakamoto (Pseudonym): The creator of Bitcoin, Nakamoto's vision challenges fiat systems and their inherent tribal favoritism, advocating for a decentralized, egalitarian alternative. Nick Szabo: Ideas: Szabo’s work on “smart contracts” and the history of money examines how monetary systems reinforce or dismantle tribal hierarchies. --- Conclusion: An Evolving Discourse While no single thinker has encapsulated the entire intersection of tribalism, genetics, fiat systems, and societal evolution, the cumulative insights of these scholars and innovators offer a comprehensive framework. Their work collectively illuminates how fiat systems reflect and amplify human instincts, providing fertile ground for future exploration and critique.

ใครที่ติดตามข่าวสารการเงิน อาจจะเคยได้ยินชื่อ บริษัท Microstrategy (MSTR) ของ Michael Saylor ซึ่งเป็นบริษัทที่ซื้อ Bitcoin เก็บมหาศาล เเละได้เอา Bitcoin เป็น Reserve ของบริษัท เเละทำให้มูลค่าของบริษัทเพิ่มขึ้นกว่า 1,000% มีการออก Convertable Bond กู้เงินมาซื้อเป็น Bitcoin เป็นจำนวนมาก คนภายนอกที่ไม่เข้าใจอาจจะคิดว่าซื้อ Bitcoin เก็บเนี่ยนะ ผันผวนมาก คำถาม คือ Michael Saylor เค้าเห็นอะไรเเละกลยุทธ์ของบริษัท ในการทำคืออะไร ที่แค่ซื้อ Bitcoin บริษัทมูลค่าเพิ่มขึ้นมากขนาดนี้ มีความเสี่ยงอะไรมั้ย ณ ตอนนี้ มีบริษัทอื่นๆเริ่มที่จะใช้กลยุทธ์เดียวกัน สรุปจากคลิป Saylor กู้ซื้อบิตคอยน์ยังไงให้ตลาดสะเทือน | Right Talk EP.7 https://www.youtube.com/live/mxAFqnL7MxY?si=JbETn-4CGR7EP_v1 ### การลงทุนและการออม ก่อนจะไปที่กลยุทธ์ เราต้องเข้าใจการออมเเละการลงทุนกันก่อนครับ *การออม* คือ การเก็บเงินไว้ในที่ที่ปลอดภัย เเละใช้เมื่อยามจำเป็นหรือจะจุดประสงค์อะไรก็ตาม ควรเก็บในสิ่งที่เก็บมูลค่าได้ ไม่เสื่อมสลาย *การลงทุน* คือ การต้องการเงินเพิ่ม เเละมีความเสี่ยงว่าสามารถสูญเสียเงินบางส่วนไปได้ ระบบการเงินที่ควรเป็นคือ เงินควรรักษามูลค่าของมันได้ เเละ เพิ่มอำนาจการจับจ่ายใช้สอย ถ้าเงิน 100 บาท สามารถทำให้อยู่ใช้ชีวิตได้ การลงทุนคงไม่จำเป็นเเค่เก็บออมก็เพียงพอ เงิน 100 บาท กับ เงิน 1,000,000 บาท อำนาจการใช้สอยไม่เท่ากัน เเต่เเค่เงิน 100 บาท เพียงพอสำหรับคนที่ใช้ชีวิตอยู่ได้เพียงพอเเล้ว เเต่ในระบบ Fiat ปัจจุบัน ทำให้เงินมีมูลค่าน้อยลง ทุกคนจึงถูกบังคับให้ไปลงทุน บีบให้คนที่ต้องการแค่ออมต้องไปลงทุน ไม่ใช่ทุกคนที่จะลงทุนเเล้วสามารถทำกำไรจากตลาดได้ Bitcoin ทำให้การออมเเละการลงทุน แยกออกจากกันอย่างที่ควรจะเป็น ### กลยุทธ์ของ MSTR #### 1.หุ้นกู้แปลงสภาพ หรือ Convertable Bond Saylor ใช้วิธีการออก "หุ้นกู้แปลงสภาพ" หรือ Convertable Bond หุ้นกู้แปลงสภาพ คือ หุ้นกู้ที่แถมสิทธิ์ แปลงจากหนี้เป็นทุน ถ้าคุณให้ กู้ 100 บาท แทนที่จะคืนเป็นเงินเเต่ให้สิทธิ์เปลี่ยนหนี้เป็นหุ้นของบริษัทได้ จาก 100 บาท แปลงไปไปหุ้นของทางบริษัทแทน  *ขอบคุณรูปภาพจาก* https://www.thaibma.or.th/EN/Investors/Individual/Blog/2017/01112017.aspx เมื่อราคา Bitcoin ขึ้น ราคาสินทรัพย์ของบริษัทก็จะมากขึ้น แทนที่ทาง Saylor จะคืนเป็นเงินเปลี่ยนคืนเป็นหุ้นบริษัทแทน ถ้าพูดในอีกแง่ คือ มีความสามารถพิมพ์เงินเองได้ในรูปแบบของหุ้น ออกหุ้นใหม่จ่ายหนี้ของตัวเองได้เรื่อยๆ ในกรณีปกติ ผู้ลงทุนที่จะซื้อหุ้นกู้แปลงสภาพนั้น ต้องคาดการณ์ว่าหุ้นบริษัทนี้ขึ้น เพราะแทนที่จะได้เงินคืนได้เป็นหุ้นจะมีมูลค่ามากกว่า เเละไปขายในตลาดต่อได้ เเละหุ้นกู้แปลงสภาพจะมีดอกเบี้ยต่ำกว่าหุ้นกู้ทั่วไป เพราะบริษัทที่ออกมั่นใจว่าหุ้นของตนนั้นมีโอกาสที่จะมีมูลค่าเพิ่มขึ้น จึงต้องการเงินกู้ที่มีดอกเบี้ยต่ำกว่าเเต่คุณก็ได้หุ้นไป #### 2.มีความรู้เรื่อง Bitcoin เเละ Cycle ของ Bitcoin Saylor มีการศึกษาเรื่อง Bitcoin เป็นอย่างดี ว่าอนาคตสามารถที่จะเป็น Store of value เเละ เป็นทองคำดิจิตอล รู้เรื่อง cycle 4 ปีของ Bitcoin ที่จะมี Having (Having คือ ทุก 4 ปี Bitcoin จะมี Supply ลดลงครึ่งนึง)  *ขอบคุณรูปภาพจาก* https://tabtrader.com/academy/articles/bitcoin-halving-what-is-it-and-why-it-matters ถ้าสมมุติว่า มีความต้องการเหมือนเดิม เเละ มี Supply ลดลงครึ่งนึง ตามหลักเศรษฐศาสตร์ทั่วไปเเล้ว ราคาจะต้องเพิ่มขึ้น เพราะความต้องการมากกว่าความสามารถในการผลิต เเละวงจรของ Bitcoin เมื่อราคาขึ้นสูงสุดในทุกรอบมันจะลงมาทำราคา Low จากยอด ตามสถิติประมาณ 70-80% ซึ่งต้องวางแผนให้รอดในช่วงราคาต่ำสุดในเเต่ละรอบจึงออกเเบบให้มีระยะเวลา 5 ปี เพื่อที่จะครอบคลุมช่วงเวลาที่ราคา Bitcoin ต่ำสุดที่ใช้เวลารอบละประมาณ 4 ปี #### 3.มีความเข้าใจ Option Option หรือ สัญญาสิทธิ คือ สัญญาที่ผู้ซื้อได้รับ *สิทธิที่จะซื้อ* หรือ *สิทธิที่จะขาย* จากผู้ขาย อ้างอิงราคา จำนวน เเละ ระยะเวลา โดยจ่ายค่าพรีเมี่ยม เเละ เลือกที่จะใช้สิทธิหรือไม่ก็ได้ ที่ต้องนำเอา Option มาใช้ เนื่องจากมีการคิดมาเเล้วว่า ถ้าช่วง Bear Market ของ Bitcoin การที่จะขายหุ้นกู้จะยากขึ้นเพราะราคา Bitcoin ลง หุ้นของบริษัทต้องลดลง งั้นวิธีที่นำมาใช้ให้สามารถขายหุ้นกู้ในทุกสภาพตลาด และเครื่องมือที่ใช้ทำกำไรหรือป้องกันความเสี่ยงนั้นคือ *Option* ตัวอย่างของ Option  *ขอบคุณรูปภาพจาก* https://www.setinvestnow.com/th/derivative/what-are-futures-and-options ตัวอย่าง เปิดจองหุ้นขายสิทธิในการซื้อหุ้นที่ราคา 100 บาท โดยต้องจ่ายค่าจอง 5 บาท(ค่าพรีเมี่ยม) ถ้าราคาหุ้นวิ่งขึ้นไป 110 บาทเเสดงว่าเราได้กำไร 5 บาทเนื่องจากต้องจ่ายค่าพรีเมี่ยมไป 5 บาท ถ้าราคาหุ้นวิ่งลง 80 บาทเราก็จะไม่ทำการใช้สิทธิเพราะว่าไปซื้อหุ้นจริงๆราคาถูกกว่าการซื้อตามสิทธิเเต่เราจะเสียเเค่ค่าพรีเมี่ยม ซึ่ง *หุ้นเเปลงสภาพ* ของ Saylor นั้นเป็นการซื้อหุ้นเเละได้สิทธิของ option มาด้วย เเละฟรีค่าพรีเมี่ยม #### 4.Delta Hedged Call  *ขอบคุณรูปภาพจาก* https://thefinancialengineer.org/financial-engineering/volatility-engineering-and-volatility-trading/ การจะเข้าใจ Delta Hedged Call ต้องเข้าใจ *ความผันผวน* ความผันผวนในราคาหุ้น คือ ตัวอย่าง ราคาหุ้น A ใน 1 วันมีการวิ่งของราคาจาก 100 บาทไปที่ 200 บาทลงไปที่ 50 บาทเเละกลับมาที่ราคา 100 บาท ราคาหุ้น B ใน 1 วันมีการวิ่งของราคา 100 บาทไปที่ 105 บาทลงไปที่ 95 บาทเเละกลับมาที่ราคา 100 บาท แสดงว่า หุ้น A มีความผันผวนมากกว่าหุ้น B ซึ่งมันจะมีวิธีการในการหากำไรจากความผันผวนของราคา โดยไม่ต้องสนใจเรื่องของราคาหุ้น **Concept ของ Delta Hedged Call** หลังจากที่เข้าใจ option ความผันผวนเเล้ววิธีการ คือ การ call option เเละ Short sell หุ้น เพื่อ Hegding หุ้นตัวเอง ตัวอย่าง ``` ปัจจุบันราคาหุ้น 100 บาท call option ราคาใช้สิทธิที่ 200 บาท ราคาหุ้นได้มีการวิ่ง 150 บาท ลงมา 80 บาท กลับมาที่ราคา 110 บาท ``` สินทรัพย์ที่มีความผันผวนสูง ราคาพรีเมี่ยมจะมากกว่าราคาที่ Short sell เพราะนักลงทุนจะรู้สึกว่ามีโอกาสที่ราคาจะวิ่งไปที่ราคาใช้สิทธิที่ 200 บาท กลับกัน ``` ราคาสินทรัพย์ 100 บาท call option ราคาใช้สิทธิที่ 200 บาท ราคาหุ้นได้มีการลงมา 80 บาท ขึ้นไปที่ 150 บาท กลับมาที่ราคา 90 บาท ``` ราคาพรีเมี่ยมจะลงน้อยกว่าราคาที่ Short sell เพราะนักลงทุนจะรู้สึกว่ามีโอกาสที่ราคาจะวิ่งกลับไปราคาใช้สิทธิที่ 200 บาทได้ ซึ่งกราฟนี้จะเป็นไปได้คือ หุ้นต้องเหวี่ยงเเรงขึ้นเรื่อยๆ การใช้ความผันผวนของสินทรัพย์ต้องหาสินทรัพย์ที่ผันผวน Bitcoin ถือเป็นสินทรัพย์ที่ผันผวนมากที่สุดตัวนึง ทำให้ราคาหุ้นของ MSTR นั้นผันผวน ทำให้ saylor กล้าที่จะตั้งราคาแปลงสิทธิ์สูงกว่าหุ้นถึง 55% (หุ้นแปลงสภาพของ MSTR ราคาใช้สิทธิคือ 672 ดอลล่าร์ต่อหุ้นขณะที่ราคา 19/11/2024 อยู่ที่ 433 ดอลล่าร์ต่อหุ้น สามารถดูเพิ่มเติมที่ https://www.microstrategy.com/press/microstrategy-completes-3-billion-offering-of-convertible-senior-notes-due-2029-at-0-coupon-and-55-conversion-premium_11-21-2024) จะเห็นได้ว่านักลงทุนที่เข้าใจระบบนี้ทำกำไรได้ทั้งราคาขึ้นเเละลง ทำให้หุ้นกู้ของ MSTR นั้นสามารถขายได้ เเละนำเงินไปซื้อ Bitcoin ทำให้ราคาผันผวนมากขึ้นอีก ### จำนวนหุ้นมากขึ้นมูลค่าหุ้นของผู้ถือหุ้นเดิมจะลดลงมั้ย? โดยปกติการออกหุ้นเพิ่มจะทำให้มูลค่าของหุ้นลดลงเช่น ผู้ถือหุ้นเดิมมี 100 หุ้น ทั้งบริษัทมี 1,000 หุ้น คิดเป็น 10% ออกหุ้นเพิ่ม 1,000 หุ้นเป็น 2,000 หุ้น สัดส่วนของผู้ถือหุ้นเดิมเป็น 5% ทำให้มูลค่าของผู้ถือหุ้นเดิมลดลงด้วย เเต่ MSTR ให้ราคาเเปลงสิทธิมากกว่า 50% ทำให้ผู้ถือหุ้นเดิมได้มูลค่าเพิ่มขึ้น ตัวอย่าง ``` หุ้นบริษัท 10 หุ้น Bitcoin 10 BTC Bitcoin/Share = 1 BTC ``` สิ่งที่ MSTR ทำ ``` หุ้นกู้ 100 บาท ราคาBitcoin 100 บาท ราคาแปลงสิทธิ 50% = 200 บาท แปลงได้ 0.5 หุ้น หุ้นบริษัทหลังออกหุ้นกู้ 10.5 หุ้น Bitcoin 11 BTC Bitcoin/share = 1.045 BTC ``` ทำให้นักลงทุนเดิมได้มูลค่ามากขึ้นด้วย ซึ่งเอื้อให้ได้ประโยชน์กับทุกฝ่าย เเละเมื่อราคา Bitcoin เพิ่มมูลค่าบริษัทก็มากขึ้นตาม ทำให้บริษัทมีความน่าเชื่อถือ ในการออกหุ้นกู้ได้มากขึ้นอีก จากกระบวนการนี้เป็นการวนลูปเพื่อสามารถเพิ่ม Bitcoin ได้เรื่อยๆตราบที่ Bitcoin มีมูลค่าเเข็งเเกร่งกว่าดอลล่าร์ ### ความเสี่ยงเเละอนาคตของกลยุทธ์นี้ สิ่งที่จะทำให้กระบวนการนี้ไม่ได้ผลคือ เมื่อ Bitcoin ตาย หรือสูญเสียความสามารถการเป็น Store of value กระบวนการนี้จะทำให้มูลค่าของบริษัทหายไปอย่างรวดเร็ว #### บริษัทอื่นทำตามเเละถ้าระดับประเทศทำได้มั้ย? เเน่นอนว่ามูลค่าของ Bitcoin เพิ่มมากขึ้นเเน่ๆเเละคนที่ได้ประโยชน์ก็คือ MSTR ถ้าบริษัท Apple หรือ Google เริ่ม Reserve Bitcoin จะทำให้มีเเรงกระเพื่อมให้บริษัทอื่นๆทำตาม มีโอกาสที่ supply ของ Bitcoin น้อยลงมากจะเกิดการเเย่งชิงกันขึ้น ยิ่งระดับประเทศสามารถลดกลไกของการกู้ได้ทันที เพราะพิมพ์เงินมาซื้อเพื่อปลดหนี้ของตัวเองได้ ตัวอย่างในอดีตมีมาเเล้วที่ พิมพ์เงินที่อ่อนค่ากว่าไปซื้อสินทรัพย์ที่เเข็งกว่า ต้องพิมพ์เงินให้เเรงที่สุดไปซื้อให้ได้มากที่สุด ล้างหนี้เเละประกาศเงินสกุลใหม่ สรุปสุดท้ายทั้งหมดนี้เป็นการพูดคุย ทฤษฎี ที่คิดว่าทาง MSTR ของ Michael Saylor น่าจะมีกลยุทธ์ในการเก็บ Bitcoin โดยใช้ความรู้ Traditional Financial ในการแปลงทรัพย์สินจากเงิน Fiat เป็น Bitcoin หวังว่าจะเป็นประโยชน์กับทุกคนนะครับบบ

Introduction: Rethinking Our Role in Planetary Systems Imagine our planet as a living, breathing organism with an incredibly complex metabolic system. At the heart of this system lies carbon—the fundamental building block of life—constantly moving and transforming through an intricate global cycle. But what if this cycle has a critical flaw, and what if humans are accidentally becoming its unexpected solution? The carbon cycle is more than just a scientific concept; it's the circulatory system of our planet. Carbon moves between the atmosphere, living organisms, oceans, and underground reserves in a delicate dance that has sustained life for millions of years. Yet, hidden within this process is a paradox that could potentially threaten the very system that supports life as we know it. The Carbon Sequestration Puzzle: A Planetary Challenge Plants are nature's most sophisticated carbon capture machines. Through photosynthesis, they pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, breaking it down and incorporating carbon into their tissues. Roots, stems, leaves—all become repositories of captured carbon. While this process creates oxygen and builds biomass, it also represents a one-way mechanism that gradually depletes atmospheric carbon. Consider the long-term geological perspective. Over millions of years, vast amounts of carbon have been permanently removed from atmospheric circulation. Ancient forests compress into coal, marine organisms transform into oil, creating enormous carbon sinks. Each of these processes progressively reduces the available carbon dioxide that future plants will need to survive. Biological systems typically develop feedback mechanisms to prevent such unidirectional processes. However, in the carbon cycle, natural regulatory systems have been limited. Decomposition returns some carbon to the atmosphere, but not nearly at the rate of sequestration. Volcanic activity once played a crucial role in carbon redistribution, but planetary cooling has significantly reduced volcanic intensity. The Unexpected Role of Humans Here's where human activity becomes fascinating. Our extraction and burning of fossil fuels—often criticized as environmentally destructive—can be viewed through an entirely different lens. By releasing ancient carbon stores back into the atmosphere, humans might be inadvertently counteracting the long-term depletion of atmospheric carbon. Think of it like a global life support system. Volcanoes used to be the primary mechanism for redistributing carbon, essentially "resetting" the game board. As volcanic activity decreases, humans have unknowingly stepped into this role. We're extracting carbon that was locked away for millions of years and returning it to atmospheric circulation. Evolutionary Perspective: Humans as a Planetary Mechanism This perspective challenges our traditional understanding of humanity's relationship with the planet. We're not just consumers or destroyers, but potentially a critical component of a larger, more complex ecological regulatory mechanism. Evolution might have developed humans as a solution to a systemic challenge in the carbon cycle. Our technological interventions—fossil fuel extraction, agricultural practices, emerging carbon capture technologies—can be seen as more than just human activities. They might represent a planetary-scale adaptive response, ensuring the continued availability of carbon for photosynthetic life. Philosophical Implications This theory invites us to reconsider our place in the world. We're not external to the system of life, but an integral part of a sophisticated planetary process. Our actions, often viewed as destructive, might actually be part of a broader mechanism of planetary self-regulation. It's crucial to note that this perspective doesn't absolve us of environmental responsibility. Instead, it suggests a more nuanced understanding of human impact. We are active participants in an incredibly complex system, potentially fulfilling a role that has been millions of years in the making. Conclusion: A New Way of Seeing The carbon cycle is not a simple, linear process, but a dynamic, adaptive system. Humans represent an unexpected variable in this equation—a potentially purposeful mechanism for maintaining the delicate balance necessary for continued life on Earth. This perspective challenges us to think beyond simplistic narratives of environmental destruction. It suggests that our relationship with the planet is far more intricate and potentially purposeful than we've previously imagined. We are not just observers of life's complexity, but active participants in a planetary mechanism of remarkable sophistication and potential purpose.

Sometimes I forget that there are people that actually fall for corporate press propaganda. Heard it said recently that the deep state is a conspiracy theory. That is so stupid I almost don't know how to respond. That's like there are never politics in the office or at your company. The very idea that career bureaucrats and people in 3 letter agencies would not push back against politicians is absurd on its face. Its beyond naive. Often I find that people have their heads in the sand. They cover their ears because they do not want to accept that the world is more complex and dark that they were told in their government school.  I recommend everyone watch the BBC show "Yes Minister!". Its one of the best examples of how the establishment in a government work against the politicians. It also doesn't paint the politicians in a good light. But the biggest reason to watch this show is that is so funny. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/850633

In every town, in every home, there lies a force unseen but deeply felt. It does not bear a face or speak a word, yet its presence governs lives and decides destinies. This force, born of human invention, is the fiat monetary system. Like a shadow cast over the dinner table, it molds the lives of families in ways that few can name but all can feel. --- The Weight of a Dollar That Isn't Worth a Dollar Families, once the heart of a community, find themselves stretched thin under the weight of money that promises security but delivers uncertainty. Inflation, a quiet thief in the night, robs the hard-earned savings of parents who dream of brighter futures for their children. They sit at kitchen tables, bills spread like playing cards, and wonder how far their dollars will stretch this month. The dreams of vacations, college funds, or even a night out fade beneath the gnawing fear of rising prices and unpaid debts. Debt itself is a serpent, coiled tightly around many a household. It whispers promises of homes, cars, and comforts, but its grip tightens with each passing month. Fathers work longer hours; mothers take second jobs. The children, left to their own devices, grow up in homes where the light of connection dims under the weight of obligation. --- A House Divided by Numbers Fiat money divides more than just wealth; it divides hearts and homes. Generations, once bound by shared struggle and sacrifice, now find themselves at odds. Parents, raised on tales of hard work and thrift, watch their children struggle beneath mountains of student debt and stagnant wages. The younger generation looks at their elders with a mix of envy and resentment, wondering why the ladder to success seems shorter for them. This divide is not born of malice but of a system that values numbers over people. As communities grow wealthier in goods, they grow poorer in connection. Neighbors no longer gather on porches to share stories; families no longer sit down to meals together. The bonds that hold society together fray, one thread at a time. --- The Exodus of Hope In towns where opportunity dries up like a summer creek, young people leave, chasing dreams in distant cities. They promise to send money back home, but the miles between them and their kin grow longer with each passing year. Children grow up without grandparents; siblings become strangers. The family, once a stronghold, becomes a memory of what was and what could have been. This migration is not born of greed but necessity. The fiat system creates deserts where once there were gardens, forcing people to seek greener pastures. But in the pursuit of individual prosperity, the roots of community are pulled up, leaving behind only dust and longing. --- A Silent Burden on the Heart The fiat system does not shout; it whispers. It whispers to parents as they lie awake at night, counting the cost of a child’s education. It whispers to children who watch their parents argue over money. It whispers to the elderly who wonder if their pensions will last. This constant hum of worry and uncertainty wears on the spirit, making joy a fleeting visitor in many homes. The toll is not just financial but emotional. Anxiety becomes a constant companion; stress seeps into every corner of life. Families, once a refuge from the world, become battlegrounds where arguments over money take the place of laughter and love. --- A Glimpse of Light But even in the darkest corners, there is always a glimmer of hope. Some see a way out—a return to something simpler, something fairer. They dream of a world where money does not dictate worth, where families are not torn apart by financial strain, where communities are built on trust and shared purpose. This vision is not easy to grasp, but it grows stronger with each passing day. It is a reminder that no system, no matter how powerful, is greater than the human spirit. Families have weathered storms before, and they will again. Perhaps, one day, they will gather around tables not to divide burdens but to share dreams, free from the chains of a system that seeks to control them. --- Conclusion: A Call to Remember The fiat system may govern the world, but it does not define it. At the heart of every family lies something far more valuable than money—love, resilience, and the hope of a better tomorrow. In remembering this, perhaps we can find a way to break free from the invisible chain and rebuild the bonds that truly matter. For in the end, it is not wealth or power that sustains a family but the simple act of being together, unbroken by the weight of the world. And that, above all, is a treasure no system can take away.

Originalni tekst na [startit.rs](https://startit.rs/sve-sto-bi-trebalo-da-znate-o-bitkoinu/) ###### 29.12.2017 / Autor: Danilo Backović --- *Esej koji obrađuje konceptualne osnove Bitkoina, njegovu istorijsku ulogu i odnos sa klasičnim monetarnim sistemom.* ### Bitkoin, banke i suverenost individue *Kratak dijalog o dva monetarna sistema sveta napisan u čast petstogodišnjice kačenja Luterovih “95 teza” na vrata crkve Svih Svetih u Vitenbergu.* #### Šta je Bitkoin i ko je tu gazda uopšte? Niko. Niko od nas i svi mi zajedno. To je “samo” softver koji radi na računarima svih onih koji žele da se pridruže. Ni od koga ti ne treba dozvola. Ne postoji meta gde naciljati Tomahavk. Po svetu postoji toliko kopija ove računovodstvene knjige da ona može preživeti nuklearni udar (u žargonu se to zove “bubašvaba protokol”). Bitkoin se može preneti na računaru, mejlom, pismom, u glavi, u slici (steganografija), radio talasima… Jedna firma je čak platila lansiranje satelitskog repetitora koji pokriva Evropu, sever Afrike i dobar deo Azije namenjenog samo za prosleđivanje bitkoin transakcija. Korišćenje je besplatno. Ovakav softver se zove distribuiran, jer nema jedan ili više centara sa privilegovanim učesnicima. I Gutenbergova štamparska mašina je bila “samo” miks malo preciznog livenja, obrade drveta, poluge i tinte, začinjena *cutting-edge* telekomunikacionom tehnologijom tog doba — hartijom, ali ta otrovna kombinacija je promenila svet zauvek. Decentralizovala je pristup znanju i oslobodila najvažniju mrežu među ljudima od pisarskih centara moći — jezičku. **Bitkoin koristeći se novom Gutenbergovom mašinom — internetom, oslobađa drugu najvažniju mrežu među ljudima — novčanu, koja prenosi signal o vrednosti.** #### Ne razumem. Kako to radi samo od sebe? Soft skillovi su mrtvi, pripremi se na vreme za svet u kome caruje matematika. Doba disidenata pisaca, novinara, pesnika i glumaca je prošlo. Svako može da shvati, treba samo malo napora i želje. Sama srž ove tehnologije leži u zakonima brojeva. Koliko je koren iz 4? Dva? Sedi jedan. +/- 2 je tačan odgovor, jer parna stepena funkcija gubi informaciju o znaku. Koren je čudna funkcija. Problem kvadriranja dvojke, 2^2 ne možeš tek tako da rešiš unazad (inverzno). Možda sam ja krenuo od -2? Moraš da znaš neki dodatni uslov da bi izabrao pravu granu korena (pozitivnu ili negativnu), ili da probaš obe. Na kompjuteru ne bi mnogo potrajalo da zaista probaš obe grane. Ali! Postoji čitav jedan skup algoritama koji se zovu “kriptografske heš funkcije” (H). Pođimo od apsurdno velikog broja P (na primer od 55 cifara), stavimo ga u takav algoritam H i neka je rešenje broj J = H(P). Ovi algoritmi imaju čudesnu **osobinu ireverzibilnosti**. To znači da, imao li čak i najjači mogući sekvencijalni kompjuter, ne najjači postojeći, nego najjači koji termodinamika dozvoljava, u nameri da rešiš ovaj problem unazad, znajući J, a želeći da otkriješ P od koga smo krenuli ( P = H^-1(J) ) trebalo bi ti otprilike onoliko vremena koliko je Svemiru ostalo do njegove konačne termodinamičke smrti. Ovakav algoritam u bitkoinu ima dve ključne uloge: * On čuva tvoju imovinu od drugih, tako da svako može da pristupi toj računovodstvenoj knjizi (zamisli da banka dozvoli da svako pristupi njenoj bazi podataka), a da opet ne može da ti je uzme. Zato bitkoinu ne trebaju adresa, zaposleni, direktori, obezbeđenje i revizori. * On čuva tuđu imovinu od tebe jer te sprečava da falsifikuješ transakciju i probaš dva puta da potrošiš isti novčić, kroz genijalno Satošijevo otkriće dokaza o radu (proof of work ili Nakamoto konsenzus). Novčana mreža je primer tzv. Vizantijske mreže, u kojoj se učesnici ne smatraju kooperantima nego suparnicima. Nakamoto konsenzus je rešenje kako ta mreža dolazi do zaključka šta je istina, kolika je nečija imovina, bez da nekome mora da se preda poverenje da za nas vodi tu knjigu evidencije imovine! Sve do bloka postanja (genesis block) 3. januara 2009, morali smo da imamo računovođu (banka) kome predajemo poverenje da za nas vodi računovodstvenu knjigu. Ako on kaže prodavcu da ti imaš dinar kojim kupuješ robu, prodavac će mu verovati i robu će ti dati. Sada umesto poverenja imamo zakone brojeva. Bitkoin je jedna računovodstvena knjiga za celu planetu, agnostična na državne regulative i konačno, hvala Bogu, ne zahteva računovođu. Oci prosvetiteljstva su nam dali “Liberté, égalité, fraternité” i upozorili na vreme da je predstavnički sistem samo najmanje loša aproksimacija demokratije, zato je naš doprinos: Vires in numeris! #### Bojim se da mi i dalje ništa nije jasno. Većina nas seda u avion u nadi da će poleteti. Ne moraš znati dinamiku fluida da bi negde otputovao. Daleko je prostije biti korisnik bitkoina nego klijent banke. Za koju godinu koristićeš neki finansijski proizvod, a da ni ne znaš da u pozadini radi bitkoin. Ali ako želiš da saznaš trebaće ti ne više od par nedelja da shvatiš najvažnije tehničke detalje. Za matematičku suštinu malo više od toga, ali ne moraš ići toliko duboko. To je zato što je on slobodna, potpuno otvorena tehnologija. Reci mi, gde to čovek može da sazna kako funkcioniše naš trenutni monetarni sistem, ta “džungla konfuzije” (Kejns)? Akademija i dalje predaje neistinu, da se Sunce vrti oko Zemlje (da je depozit stariji od kredita). #### Kako to misliš: “Bitkoin oslobađa novac”? To je pravo pitanje i najvažnija poruka: Društvo je samo jedan veoma kompleksan graf. Svaki proces u društvu se može opisati učesnicima i njihovim vezama. Školovanje, vađenje pasoša, matičenje rođenih, venčanih, umrlih, katastar, uprava, carina, itd… Bez obzira na to što su neki procesi vrlo prosti, a neki beznadežno kompleksni, svi oni imaju jednu zajedničku osobinu da sačinjavaju hijerarhijski graf. To znači, da svaka od ovih procedura da bi funkcionisala ima u osnovi neku listu ili knjigu evidencije (ledger), a nad njom piramidu odgovornih ljudi sa pravom upisa u nju koji su pečatom, potpisom ili “ok” dugmetom garanti istine (da je diploma odbranjena, carina plaćena, da se imovina poseduje, da je dete rođeno, ugovor važeći itd…). Ti ljudi su predstavnici kojima predajemo poverenje. Sve do interneta ljudi nisu imali drugi izbor da se umrežavaju osim ovog hijerarhijskog — predstavničkog (sa izuzetkom primitivnih plemenskih mikrozajednica). U ovakvoj topologiji mreže postoji nezgodan fenomen koji se zove **korupcija**. To je zloupotreba mreže od strane nekog od predstavnika. I nije stvar mentaliteta nego je inherentni fenomen takve geometrije mreže. U svakom društvu postoje ubice koje se šetaju sa diplomatskim pasošima, mrtvi glasači, lažne diplome… Internet je prva horizontalna topologija umrežavanja ljudi u istoriji, a Bitkoin monetarni sistem koji koristi ovu osobinu interneta (peer-to-peer) kako bi izbacio posrednike iz novčane transakcije. To je, po dizajnu, necenzorabilan, transnacionalan, nehakabilan, u potpunosti definisan monetarni sistem koji ne zahteva predaju poverenja posrednicima da bi funkcionisao (trustless/no counterparty risk). U srcu sistema je nesvakidašnje otkriće **digitalne oskudnosti**. #### Gde je registrovan? Bitkoin nije pravno lice, nije forex kockanje, ni akcija na berzi. Bitkoin je algoritam. Kao Pitagorina teorema. Znanje koje se više ne može vratiti nazad u bocu, niti se ljudi mogu naterati da se od njega oduče. Bitkoin sa velikim “B” je protokol, to je nova vrsta baze podataka bez administratora, u kojoj svaki korisnik ima istu ulogu i koja ima token (žeton, unos u bazi, to je bitkoin sa malim “b”) koji može da menja vlasnika. Dinamika kreiranja tokena tokom vremena je regulisana protokolom, neizmenjiva od bilo kog korisnika i **njihova količina nakon završetka te emisije će biti 21 milion**. On je prvi programabilni novac. U transakciji se može implementirati i neka obligacija (ugovor), ne samo prosta razmena. #### Znači to su neki virtuelni žetoni upotrebljivi na internetu? “Virtuelni” je omiljeni pridev korporativnih medija. Nije virtuelna nego kriptovaluta jer ga kriptografija čini mogućim i daleko realnijom od depozitnog novca. Ovaj token nije obična informacija kao što je to mp3 fajl ili računovodstvena stavka na pasivi bilansa privatnog lica sa državnom licencom za depozitne poslove (banka). To je inertna informacija, jer joj treba minimum fizičkog rada (pod “fizički” se misli na veličinu u fizici) da bi nastala i pokrenula se. Kao zlato, samo bez mase. Naučili smo da ovaplotimo informaciju, napravimo od nje oskudnu tvar. I to je jedna divna istorijska simetrija. Moderna nauka — Galilejeva fizika je počela shvatanjem inertnosti materije, od toga da je pravolinijsko kretanje ravnomernom brzinom osnovno, ne kružno kao što su mislile tadašnje usijane akademske glave, zato što je ono enciklika na “savršenoj nebeskoj sferi”. Otuda i jeretička kovanica za “nebesku mehaniku” Johana Keplera. Otkriće i otimanje kriptografskih heš funkcija od države, zasluga Sajferpankera, modernih Pitagorejaca, i njihov religiozni odnos prema kriptografiji, doveo nas je do otkrića inertne informacije i to će otvoriti novu veliku stranicu istorije u kojoj je kriptografija osnov organizacije društva. Još uvek joj nismo dali ime, ali dobar kandidat je period omoćenja ili suverenosti individue. Jer se istorija ne ponavlja, ali se rimuje (enlightment — prosvetiteljstvo, empowerment — omoćenje). #### Ali ne smeju se tek tako dozvoliti te slobode, nastaće haos. Šta ako posluže za kupovinu droge i pranje novca? Anonimnost transakcije nije privilegija nego pravo koje treba braniti životom. Prva rečenica manifesta Sajferpank pokreta je: “Privatnost je neophodan uslov za otvoreno društvo informatičkog doba. Privatnost nije tajna. Privatna stvar je nešto što se ne želi podeliti sa celim svetom, tajna je nešto što se ne želi podeliti ni sa kim. **Privatnost je moć selektivnog otkrivanja sebe svetu**“. Svako ko se odriče prava na privatnost, jer “nema šta da krije” se ne razlikuje od onoga ko se odriče prava na slobodu govora jer “nema šta pametno da kaže” (Edvard Snouden). Ovog trenutka banka zna više o vama od vas samih. I to je posledica dizajna depozitnog novca. Dve najvažnije mreže među ljudima su jezička kojom serijalizujemo naše misli i novčana kojom prenosimo signal o vrednosti stvari oko nas. Svaki pokušaj ometanja ovih mreža treba da prepoznamo i sprečimo. Na vladama je da nađu načine da spreče protivzakonita ponašanja i oporezivanje bez diranja u anonimnost transakcije. #### Ali, neko mora da stoji iza toga. Čiji je taj Satoši Nakamoto? Irelevantno. “Iza toga” je samo otvoren i svima dostupan programski kod. Bitkoin je recept, ideja, algoritam. Nije pravno lice. Je li važno ko je zapravo bio Pitagora? Frensis Bekon? Vilijam Šekspir? #### Postao je preskup. Mogu da ga priušte još samo bogati. Novac sa dve decimale je samo istorijska posledica, verovatno nekada merne nepreciznosti kantara. Nije nikakav prirodni zakon da novac mora imati samo dve decimale. Bitkoin je deljiv na sto miliona delova. Možeš kupiti npr. hiljaditi deo bitkoina za 15 evra. Manje od 1% ljudi na planeti može imati više od jednog bitkoina, to je ogromna jedinica. #### I šta onda? Da čekam da poraste pa da prodam? Ne. Imaš priliku koju tvoji stari nisu imali. Da štediš u nečemu što ti nijedan diktator ne može obezvrediti, poreznik ili nasilnik oduzeti, bankarski službenik odbiti, proslediti. Svakim danom je sve jače i rasprostranjenije platežno sredstvo. Čekaj dok ne budemo razmenjivali delove bitkoina na lokalnom buvljaku. #### Ovakav rast nije normalan. Ovo je balon koji mora da pukne. Bitkoin je do sada imao 4 mehura. Prvi je bio jula 2010, kada je skočio sa $0.008 na $0.08. Drugi je bio “veliki mehur 2011.”, sa $0.06 na $31, da bi onda pao na $5. Treći je bio Aprila 2013, sa $20 na $280, kada su se kiparske banke spasavale pleneći klijentske depozite. Četvrti je bio velika kriza MtGox berze novembra 2013. kada je skočio sa $70 na $1200, pa nekoliko meseci kasnije pao na $200. Bitkoin je, naravno, i sada u balonu, koji se zove jedino slobodno neregulisano tržište na svetu. Višegodišnji trend rasta vrednosti bitkoina prati Metkalfeov zakon o vrednosti mreže. Ali na sitnijoj vremenskoj skali ta vrednost je vrlo volatilna, jer mreže rastu u naletima, a na svakom o njih se dešava borba straha i pohlepe i novo otkrivanje fer cene. Ne zaboravi samo Kejnsov investicioni savet: “Tržište može mnogo duže da ostane iracionalno nego ti solventan”. #### Države jednog trenutka više neće dozvoliti ovo igranje. Ovaj argument više svedoči o inferiornosti onoga ko ga izgovara nego o moći vlada. Evo spiska nekih državnih zabrana do sada: Hindu-Arapske cifre, štamparska mašina, slobodni izbori, podela vlasti, pruge, višespratnice, alkohol, saharoza, gramofon, zlato, homoseksualnost, marihuana, pornografija. Jedino što vlade i bankarski kartel mogu je da pokušaju moralno prokazivanje ideje u nadi da će većina od nas nasesti. TPPN! TPPN! (Terorizam, Pedofilija i naravno omiljeni opresivni zakon, naslednik Sokratovog kvarenja omladine, njegovo predikativno visočanstvo: pranje novca). Ali, bez većine nas to su samo zmajevi od papira. Ne zaboravi prvu lekciju renesansnog, prosvećenog čoveka: **ti nisi objekat nad kojim se vrši istorija, ti si subjekat koji je menja**. Kada je 2000. Lars Ulrih iz Metalike lio suze pred Senatskim odborom za svojom intelektualnom svojinom u slučaju Napster, jedan koder pozvan kao veštak je lepo upozorio vladu SAD-a: “Zabranite Napster i pojaviće se nešto mnogo strašnije”. Ugasili su ga. I još istog meseca dobili bittorent protokol, koji je danas između ostalog i neizostavan deo mašinerije Bitkoin protokola. Jer, kako je rekao Džon Gilmor, jedan od koderskih apostola i najuži krug sajferpankera: > Internet tretira cenzuru kao kvar i meandrira oko nje. ”Čitave armije ne mogu zaustaviti ideju kojoj je došlo vreme”. Pokušati zabraniti Bitkoin bilo bi kao pokušati zabraniti psovke ili izraz za obim kružnice. #### Priča se preko “virtuelnih” medija da je otkriće u stvari blockchain, a ne bitkoin? Nakon potrošenih ismevanja i pretnji, ovo je preostala slamka sofista. Potcenjivački i sa visine, treba da ostavi utisak da se to deca igraju dok ne ulete veliki. Ali, kako kaže jedna od zen rekontri Patrijarha Pavla: “Ne kaže On da čovek ne živi o hlebu, nego da ne živi samo o hlebu”. Blockchain je osnova, ali je samo telo, bez tokena je zombi. Bitkoin je sa razlogom jedna vrlo spora i neefikasna baza podataka. Imperativ dizajna je da mora ispunjavati uslov da je bez korisničkih uloga i administratora. Jednostruko povezana lista heševa izrudarenih blokova (blockchain) je jedini poznat način da ovaj uslov implementiramo u programskom kodu. Dakle on rešava jedan vrlo uzak i specifičan problem. **Svega smo spremni da se odreknemo da bi dobili osobinu da nema vlasnika.** Ako Dojče banka želi da napravi blockchain, on će po definiciji biti zatvoren, sa administratorom. Ta kreatura će ili imati bezvredan token pa nije opasnost Bitkoinu ili će biti zombi bez tokena, a onda je kupovina [Oracle](https://startit.rs/firme/oracle/) licence mnogo pametniji izbor. #### Bitkoin je deflatoran, niko neće hteti da ga troši. Kako onda može biti novac? Ako je nešto omiljena disciplina ekonomista, to je guranje višestrukih oprečnih značenja u isti pojam. Postoje dve vrste deflacije koje nisu ni nalik jedna drugoj. Prva je deflacija privatnog bankarskog depozitnog novca. Kada se ekonomija nađe u stanju prezaduženosti (privatni dug je ključan!) banke više ne pozajmljuju. Odluka o puštanju kredita je isključivo pravo poslovne politike svake banke. Ako one smatraju da više nema kreditno sposobnih, kreditiranje može imati oštar pad. Kako se prethodni krediti isplaćuju, novac nestaje iz ekonomije u momentu otplate rate, a nov kreditni novac se ne kreira. Ovo dovodi do rasta vrednosti preostalog novca onome ko ga ima u rukama, a nije zadužen. Ostatak ekonomije se grabi da nakrpi za ratu sa sve manje novca u opticaju, koji sada mora još brže da menja ruke da bi svi isplatili rate, što naglo dovodi do nenaplativih kredita, još manje kreditno sposobnih dužnika, pada ekonomske aktivnosti, zatvaranja firmi, nezaposlenosti, punih kafića i dnevnih žurki do konačnog raspada. Druga vrsta deflacije, ona Bitkoinova, je **nagrađivanje štediša, ne rasipnika, odlaganje potrošnje i inhibiranje fenomena namernog zastarevanja** (*artificial obsolescence*). Kada ograničeni novac obuhvati celu ekonomiju kao opna, vrednost njegove jedinice diše sa ukupnim izlazom cele ekonomije, raste kako ona raste i smanjuje se kako se ona kontrahuje. Bitkoin motiviše štednju ne potrošnju, dok je štednja toksični elemenat u sistemu privatnog bankarskog depozitnog novca, jer ga privremeno uklanja iz cirkulacije. Ovakva deflacija ne da nije štetna po društvo nego je poželjna. U poređenju sa ovim dinamika privatnog bankarskog novca je vožnja ili pod punim gasom ili kočenje iz sve snage. #### A šta ćemo sa bitkoin aristokratijom? Polovinu do sada izdatih bitkoina poseduje 1%? Analize distribucije vlasništva bitkoina su u najmanju ruku sumnjive. Ali bez obzira na njihovu istinitost one su irelevantne. Pitanje pravde je klizav teren za nekog iz sveta tvrdih veština, ali postoji jedna dinamička osobina monetarnog sistema koja čini da nije svaki jaz između bogatih i siromašnih isti. Kao prvo, ravnopravnost je jedna opasna kolektivistička zamka. Istinski evropski liberalizam i individualizam je nešto vrlo fino, tanano i nenametljivo. Nema testosteron i udobnost rulje desnice niti romantizam plejboja sa gitarom i Čeovom kapicom. Veliki statizmi 20. veka su imali svako etičko pravo da nastanu. Jedan iz horora fabričkih hala, a drugi iz horora rovova 1. svetskog rata. Ali istorija je pokazala da nisu rešenje. Zasnivanje društva na etičkoj i moralnoj aksiomatici je prošlost. Etika treba da bude posledica matematički pravilno dizajniranog monetarnog sistema. On je ključan za kanalisanje ljudske motivacije u pravom smeru. Iako nema ekosistema u prirodi u kome su sve jedinke iste, postoje situacije kada imovinski jaz postaje neprihvatljiv kao danas. To je kada u društvu nastanu ono što Nasim Taleb naziva “upijajuća stanja”. Od imovinskog jaza daleko je važnije da li za svakog od nas važe ista pravila. Ako svaki ekonomski akter bez obzira na njegov imovinski položaj mora da preuzme rizik od gubitka svaki put kada donosi neku investicionu odluku onda to čini društvo takvim da je moguć prolaz kroz stanja siromašan-bogat-siromašan. Takvo društvo nema upijajuća stanja. Ali ako jednom dostignut položaj bogatog čini da taj akter više ne preuzima nikakav rizik ma kako lošu odluku doneo, onda to društvo ima aristokratiju. Monetarni sistem zasnovan na oskudnom (ograničenom) novcu u kome su pravila zadata protokolom, a ne hijerarhijskim predstavničkim procesom ima jednaka pravila za sve po definiciji. Bitkoin bogataš nije isto što i venture kapitalista sa vezama u centralnoj banci koja vrši kvantitativna olakšavanja tako što kreira kroz privatnu banku depozite njegovom fondu za 0% kamate. Ako ovaj prvi napravi lošu procenu zauvek je izgubio svoje koine. Ovaj drugi može da priušti 100 miliona gubitaka na startape i da opet ima novih 100 miliona. #### U redu, vratimo se na ekonomiju. Uveo si pojam oskudnosti koji si dužan objasniti. Ali pre toga: zašto bi uopšte trebalo smatrati bitkoin vrednim? U samoj biti, pitanje vrednosti kao i lepote je misterija. Antropolozi i ekonomisti imaju neke maglovite ideje o tome kako među ljudima proliferiše saglasnost da je nešto vredno, ali su to sve ad hoc akademske mudrosti. U neverici gledaju kako im jedna gargantuantska mreža nastaje pred očima. Od nule, sama od sebe, bez arbitra iako je suparnička. Nešto što je do juče bilo predmet samo arheoloških iskopavanja. Fenomen koji se otima konvencionalnim akademskim objašnjenjima je već slomio dobar broj intelektualnih sujeta. Ovo pitanje je imalo smisla postaviti u januaru 2009. godine. Surova istina je da se danas više ne pitaš. Uskoro ćeš ih morati imati, jer će taj pored tebe tražiti da mu u njima platiš. > Kao što vrednost lopate dolazi od njene osobine da kopa, tako vrednost novca dolazi od toga koliko je dobro sredstvo razmene i čuvar vrednosti. - Karl Menger Za Bitkoinom vlada planetarni grabež. Ta potražnja postoji zbog njegovih jedinstvenih osobina koje nijedan novac pre njega nije imao. Bitkoin je: – Fungabilan: svaka jedinica novca isto vredi. Ne kao dijamant kod koga zavisi kako je brušen. – Durabilan: kao (inertna) informacija po prirodi je nepropadljiv. – Portabilan: može da promeni ruke anonimno iz jedne u bilo koju drugu tačku planete za 10 minuta. Ne kao depozitni novac koji ne voli da putuje vikendom i traži potpis bankarskog službenika. Portabilnost je Ahilova peta zlata, jer za razliku od Bitkoina ima masu. Zlato je uvek samo jedan korumpirani zakon daleko od konfiskacije. Ono jeste čuvar vrednosti, ali nije i transakcioni sistem kao Bitkoin. – Oskudan: ovo je ključna karakteristika pravog novca, jer čini da on bude čuvar vrednosti. Zlato može nastati samo u sudaru neutronskih zvezda i to je njegov garant oskudnosti, ali koliko zlata ima oko nas nije do kraja jasno. Još manje je jasno koliko ga ima na Mesecu na primer, koji će nam sutra biti na dohvat ruke. **Bitkoinova garancija oskudnosti je jača od zlata, jer proizilazi iz osobina brojeva — iz ireverzibilnosti kriptografskih heš funkcija.** – U potražnji: U odnosu na konvencionalan novac, Bitkoin i dalje pokriva mali deo ekonomije, ali mreža raste neverovatnom brzinom. Ne dozvolite da vas ekonomski eksperti ubeđuju kako je ovo najbolji od svih svetova. Ne nasedajte na moralno prokazivanje (TPPN!), anonimnost transakcije nije privilegija nego pravo koje se brani koliko i sloboda govora. Mislite svojom glavom. Napravite napor, obrazujte se o novcu. Izbor novca je politika, ne ekonomija. Od nas zavisi ishod. I na sve to još: pseudoniman, necenzorabilan, neoporeziv, programabilan, nemoguć za falsifikovati. On diže pojam lične svojine na novu skalu. A sa tim i slobodu. #### U redu, ali i dalje ne može biti novac jer ga ne priznaje država. Zar ne? Da bi čovek istinski mogao ceniti veličinu ideje Bitkoina, neophodno je razumeti mehaniku današnjeg novca, a ta materija je minsko polje oprečnih mišljenja, neočekivanih obrta i nedobronamerne obfuskacije pojmova. Slučajnost ili ne, ali upravo u deceniji bitkoina drmaju se temelji važeće akademske doktrine vezane za novac. Novac je mreža za prenos informacije o vrednosti jednog ekonomskog dobra u odnosu na sva ostala. Ali kao što elektromagnetno polje ima nosioca — foton i novac mora imati neki svoj reprezent. To je ono što se dobija u trenutku prodaje dobra. U zavisnosti od prirode tog tokena postoje dva moguća dizajna novca. U oba slučaja, suština je u našoj saglasnosti da ono što razmenjujemo smatramo vrednim, ali u prvoj vrsti novca ta vrednost dolazi iz prirode i nije opterećena nekom obligacijom, vrednost vadimo iz majke prirode (nešto je inherentno vredno). U drugoj vrsti novac je kvantifikovani socijalni odnos iza koga stoji neko obećanje koje nakon zaključivanja postaje transferabilno, a vrednost vadimo iz nas samih. Razlog zašto postoje dva pristupa u dizajnu novca je igra zbog koje nastaju i nestaju čitava društva — kredit. Kredit je transakcija rasparena u vremenu, gde se u zamenu za novac sada, ekonomsko dobro dobija kasnije. U trenutku razmene to dobro još ne postoji. Ne postoji potražnja za njim. Ali nakon njegovog kreiranja društvo ima jedno novo ekonomsko dobro koje (bi trebalo) da uveća egzistencijalno blagostanje svih nas. Naravno da u ovom idealnom slučaju govorim samo o produktivnom kreditu, ne o tvorevinama potrošačkog društva: dozvoljeni minus, kreditna kartica i potrošački kredit kojim samo dovlačiš tvoju buduću kupovnu moć u sadašnjost do bankrota. Neproduktivni krediti su jedan od toksičnih elemenata u ovom sistemu. U 1. vrsti novca nosilac je neka objektivna tvar koja bi po pravilu trebalo biti oskudna i van ljudskog domašaja stvaranja. Neki istorijski primeri su: retke školjke, so, pirinač, buseni duvana (“bucks”), čudni kameni stećci u obliku diska ostrva Jap, dabrove kože, zlato, srebro, bitkoin. Da, **bitkoin je 1. vrsta**! Oskudnost je ovde ključna osobina jer ona čini novac čuvarom vrednosti. Na primer, garant oskudnosti zlata je što nastaje samo u sudaru neutronskih zvezda. Garancija oskudnosti bitkoina je još jača, jer sledi iz osobina brojeva (ireverzibilnosti kriptografskih heš funkcija). Ekonomija zasnovana na ovakvom novcu se zove ekonomija razmene (barter economy), jer je za akciju razmene (transakciju) potrebno samo dva aktera i taj prirodni token. Ovakav novac ne poznaje fenomen inflacije, ali zato ima druge dve ozbiljne mane. Pristup kreditu je izuzetno težak, jer ne postoji niko ko može stvoriti ovakav novac. Ekonomija na njemu ne može da “gori”, može samo vrlo sporo da “tinja” (možda je to i bolji recept za ljudsku sreću?). Drugi problem je što novac može da isteče iz jedne zajednice, zbog nekog poremećaja, da li nagle demografske promene, neuravnoteženog uvoza i izvoza, rata i slično. Treba li zajednica da nestane? **Zajednica neće nestati nego će upravo iznedriti novac 2. vrste**. Ekonomija zasnovana na drugom tipu novca, koji je kvantifikovani socijalni odnos, zove se monetarna ekonomija. U njoj je svaka transakcija triangularna, tj. potrebne su tri strane za razmenu: kupac, prodavac i poseban agent u ekonomiji koji izdaje ta cirkulirajuća obećanja. Taj specijalni akter nije država, nego privatna banka. Pogađaš, ovde je pristup kreditu lak, jer je novac po definiciji neograničen. Ali da bi neoskudan novac mogao biti čuvar vrednosti, mora postojati proces kojim se on uklanja iz ekonomije. Ako taj proces zakaže, nastaje fenomen inflacije — najrazornije sile koja kida sve niti društva. Zapravo u takvoj ekonomiji sav novac je dug. Odatle ona engleska poslovica: “Zlato je novac kraljeva, srebro gospode, a dug robova”. **Šta ti se sada čini virtuelnije, lova koju imaš na računu banke ili kripto(!)valuta Bitkoin?** #### Molim?! Da, nije lako progutati ovu pilulu. Zaboravi na prvu asocijaciju da je novac keš koji štampa državni trezor. Prvo to je netačno, drugo, keš je zanemarljiv deo ekonomije (3.5% u Srbiji) i irelevantan. Zaboravi na to da banka navodno deli kredite tako što prvo uzme depozit od klijenta. Ništa nije dalje od istine. Pravo je čudo da igra koja upravlja motivacijom celog ljudskog roda, **dvostruko knjigovodstvo**, nije predmet opšteg obrazovanja. Depozit je banci pasiva, a kredit je banci aktiva. To su suprotne strane bilansa! Depozit nikada ne može postati kredit. Novac koji sve ekonomije sveta (izuzeci: Severna Koreja, Iran, Sirija, do nedavno Irak i Libija) koriste je tzv. depozitni novac, tj. pasiva privatnog pravnog lica (banke) koje ima državnu monopolsku licencu za obavljanje depozitnih poslova. Država ne reguliše ko kako sme da pozajmljuje. Ali zato opasno reguliše ko sme da ima računovodstvenu kategoriju depozita na svom bilansu. Ako se dogodi pozajmica između bilo koja dva ne-banka aktera u ekonomiji, taj dug je samo između njih, on je bilateralan. Ali, kada banka pozajmi, onda je taj dug, to obećanje, multilateralno. Ono počinje da kruži po ekonomiji kao imovina nas ostalih. Novac nastaje u trenutku puštanja kredita kada se dužnik obavezuje poveriocu (banci) da će ga vratiti. Tada banka, prostom računarskom SQL instrukcijom INSERT INTO, bez ikakvog drugog ograničenja osim sopstvene procene o kreditnoj sposobnosti dužnika, upiše u bazu podataka, svoju računovodstvenu knjigu, na strani pasive nov nikad ranije postojeći depozit u ekonomiji u visini iznosa kredita. Dakle, **ono što je nama imovina, privatnoj banci je obaveza**. I to ne samo pri puštanju kredita, nego i pri deljenju plata, bonusa i investiranju za svoje potrebe (hartije od vrednosti, nekretnine, kancelarijsku opremu, softver itd…) banka stvara novac. Jer, ono što je svakom ne-banka akteru u ekonomiji novac, banci je obaveza. Sa tom razlikom što ako ga stvara za svoje potrebe, mora u krajnjem rezultatu da umanji svoj kapital za taj iznos. Kredit je stariji od depozita. Sramota je da je to znao engleski zakonodavac još 1727. kada je pisao zakon o falsifikovanju, a profesori ekonomije se i dan danas prave ludi da se Sunce vrti oko Zemlje, ne obrnuto. Ekonomija ne koristi državni, nego privatni novac. Preciznije onaj deo ekonomije koga činimo mi fizička, pravna lica ne-banke i javne ustanove države. Ni u jednom zakonu se eksplicitno ne tvrdi da privatna banka kreira novac, niti da se to dešava u momentu puštanja kredita. Ovaj proces je sporedni efekat, od države priznatih, međunarodnih računovodstvenih standarda koje donosi privatna nadnacionalna fondacija IFRS. Da bi ovakav neoskudan novac mogao biti čuvar vrednosti, kada se obećanje ispuni, tj. ekonomsko dobro za koje je (produktivni) kredit uzet proizvede, novac koji je dat treba da bude uklonjen iz ekonomije. I zaista u trenutku plaćanja svake rate, banka na svom bilansu, sa desne strane obaveza, umanji depozit, a sa leve strane umanji preostali iznos duga dužnika. #### Čekaj malo… A kamata? Nju ne spominješ? U ovom grmu leži zec, ali ne onako kako to misle pesnici. Nije Gospod Hristos izlomio tezge ispred hrama zbog kamate. Kamata je cena za koju je izdavač tih obećanja spreman da preuzme rizik da mu dužnik ne vrati obećano. Da, u trenutku stvaranja depozitnog novca (kredita) kamata nije stvorena. Zato je ukupan dug u ekonomiji uvek veći od ukupne količine novca u opticaju i sistem se ne može zatvoriti. Ali, zabluda koja kruži okolo je da je to razlog što ovakav sistem proizvodi novac (dug) eksponencijalno: da bi se, navodno, isplatili prethodni krediti koji vuku i kamatu za sobom. Ne, to nije tačno. Zabluda dolazi od nerazumevanja mernih jedinica. Iznos kredita je kao koordinata (RSD), a kamata je brzina (RSD/god). To su različite veličine (stock and flow of money). U teoriji, mogli bi se svi krediti (različitog tenora) isplatiti i sa jednim jedinim dinarom ako bi on dovoljnom brzinom menjao ruke. Problem leži u tome šta banka naknadno uradi sa primanjima od kamate, jer samo je iznos kredita potrebno ukloniti iz ekonomije, kamatu ne. Nju bi banka trebalo u celosti da vrati u kruženje. Ali to ne radi, jer želi da obogaćuje svoje akcionare, a i regulativa (vrlo zgodna koincidencija) zahteva da uvećava svoj kapital. I to na našu žalost, na duže staze radi eksponencijalno. I niko to ne može da joj zabrani. #### Dobro, pa na šta se to onda misli kada se spomene novac u zakonima? Dinar je samo oznaka za jedinicu mere, kao kilogram ili sekund. Postoje dve različite tvari koje se mere tom istom jedinicom i obe su novac 2. vrste, tj. transferabilna obećanja, ali su različite tvari kao drvo i metal. Rekli smo da je u monetarnoj ekonomiji svaka transakcija triangularna. Potrebna su dva ne-banka ekonomska aktera i banka, akteri razmenjuju stavke na pasivi privatne banke, koje ona proizvodi jer samo ona ima računovodstvenu kategoriju depozita. A šta ako u ekonomiji postoji više od jedne banke? Tada mora postojati još jedan krug drugačijeg novca. U njemu su privatne banke ekonomski akteri, a nad-banka ili centralna banka je proizvođač obećanja. I taj novac je depozitni novac, tj. kružeće obećanje, ali je pasiva centralne banke, njena obaveza ka privatnim bankama. Zove se rezerva. Dakle, u ekonomiji sa više banaka uvek postoji **hijerarhija novca**. Depozitni novac privatnih banaka je naša imovina, a njihova obaveza; depozitni novac centralne banke je privatnim bankama imovina, a centralnoj banci obaveza. Rezerve kruže samo u računovodstvenoj knjizi centralne banke, čiji klijenti mogu biti samo banke i državni trezor i ta tvar iako merena u dinarima, nema kupovnu moć, nego mora da se pretvori u depozitni novac privatne banke na računu nekog ne-banka aktera u ekonomiji da bi nešto kupio. Kada god država spomene reč novac u zakonima implicitno se misli uvek i samo na rezerve ili njihov materijalni ekvivalent: keš i kovanice. To zakonsko sredstvo plaćanja (legal tender) uopšte nije novac koji koristi ostatak ekonomije izuzev banaka. Vlada to zna i opet nije gadljiva na privatni depozitni novac. Svaki put kada uplatiš porez, taj novac privremeno(!) nestaje iz ekonomije, jer se iz depozitnog novca privatne banke pretvori u rezerve na računu trezora kod centralne banke. Pojaviće se opet kada ga trezor prosledi nekoj državnoj ustanovi da ga potroši, opet kroz privatnu banku. Evropska društva su imala vrlo gorka iskustva sa štampanjem novca od strane vlada. SAD upravo obrnuto. To društvo je cvetalo kad god je imalo državni novac, a ubija ga jedna centralna banka. Današnji novac je zato jedna čudna istorijska tvorevina potrebe, pohlepe i polupromišljenosti slobodnog tržišta, koji nastaje van suverena (dakle nije fiat, iako svi koristimo taj žargon) obostranim dobrovoljnim pristankom dužnika i privatne banke u procesu kreditiranja, a nestaje otplatom tog kredita. U krugu rezervi, izuzetno brzo struji zanemarljivo mala količina jednog novca bez kupovne moći i služi da se dve privatne banke poravnaju svaki put kada neki od depozita u njima preleće iz jedne u drugu. Rezerve su ono jedino do čega je jednoj privatnoj banci stalo. Te žetone ona ne može da proizvede ad infinitum, jer su žetoni centralne banke. I naravno stalo joj je, da joj vratiš dug, inače će doći po svoju funtu živog mesa (za to plaća licencu vladi). Samo, bez žetona centralne banke se može ostati preko noći, a gomila nenaplativih kredita na bilansu se mogu poturati pod tepih jako dugo. Sve dok neko ne vikne da je car go. Svakoga ko ovo jednom razume, ne može a da ne zaboli stomak na sofizam da kriptovaluta ne može imati vrednost, jer nije potkrepljena državom. #### Spomenuo si “fiat”. Šta uopšte znači ta reč? Fiat lux (neka bude svetlo)! Neutoljiva glad svakog vladara da uzme prerogativ bogova i stvori ni iz čega nešto. Ovaj fenomen je najbolje shvatiti na primeru. Dinar, funta, dolar… Sve su to nekada davno bile jedinice za merenje težine srebra ili zlata. Zamisli da imaš teg težine 100 dinara, terazije i prodaješ maline. Kupac se pojavi sa par grumenja zlata i želi maline u vrednosti od 100 dinara. Maline ćeš dati za onoliko grumenja koliko terazije pokažu da teže 100 dinara. Nevažno kog oblika je grumen i ima li na sebi neku facu, dokle god je pravo nesečeno zlato. Međutim, niotkuda, pojavi se ekipa do te mere nasilna i organizovana da skalira svoje nasilje do nivoa države. Odmah donese zakon da svaki grumen težine 1 dinar mora da bude u obliku novčića. Sa jedne strane mora biti otisnut lik glavonje, a sa druge da piše 1 dinar, tako da više nisu potrebne terazije da provere da novčić zaista teži 1 dinar pri razmeni. Nakon izvesnog vremena lokalna ekipa nasilnika se zakači sa susjedima i treba im zlata za vojsku plaćenika. Ali zlato je oskudno, ne može da se napravi. Međutim glavonja ima ideju. **Otisnuće rupu u sredini novčića ili će mu okrznuti krajeve ili će pomešati zlato i bakar, a ostaviti na njemu i dalje oznaku 1 dinar.** **To je fiat**. Tačnije: fiat denarii! Rasparivanje jedinice mere od deklarisane vrednosti (face value). Glavonja je sebi stvorio kupovnu moć prividno ni iz čega. Za manje od 1 dinara zlata može da kupi robu i usluge u ekonomiji od 1 dinara. U stvari, ovo je samo iluzija. Surova istina je da je oteo po malo imovine od svih ostalih, jer jedna jedinica novca sada svakome vredi manje. Ovakva igra bez izuzetka uvek završi na nuli. Naglo i nasilno. Rimsko carstvo je udžbenički primer. **Termin fiat je danas žargon za svaki novac koji nije kriptovaluta što je u osnovi greška, jer izuzev kovanica, novac već dugo vremena nije fiat.** Jedino što suveren i dalje pravi su kovanice i prodaje ih centralnoj banci. Ako ga izrada kovanice od 1 dinar košta 5 para, a centralna banka je kupi tako što trezoru uveća depozit rezervi za 1 dinar, suveren je ni iz čega stvorio 95 para (senioraža). Kovanice su istorijski reziduum fiata. Suveren je sveo sebe na sramotni sitniš. #### Hmm… Mora li ovo ovako? Sve ovo počinje da mi izgleda kao jedno veliko zamešateljstvo dvostrukog knjigovodstva? Pravo u metu, dragi moj Sagredo. Pravo u metu. Venecija 1494. Alkoholizam, prejedanje, sifilis i pussy galore. Sa izuzetkom organske ishrane, nesečene robe i lajf-koučeva to je kudikamo opis finansijske metropole i danas. Armija perverzno bogatih snobova sa previše slobodnog vremena, humus za umetnost, nauku i startape. Knjiga je koštala kao skuplji laptop i bila omiljeni statusni simbol. Naročito ako je velika i debela poput Paćolijeve enciklopedije matematike. Hindu-Arapske cifre su još uvek bile sporne, jer je: “svaki dobri Hrišćanin morao biti prezriv prema matematici” (Sv. Avgustin), a štamparska mašina tek nedavno unapređena da može otiskivati crteže. Dvostruko knjigovodstvo je samo 9. poglavlje tog renesansnog remek dela Fra Luke Paćolija iz koga je i Leonardo naučio perspektivu. U školi tom otkriću, pleksusu današnjeg sveta, ne pridaju ni blizu značaj koji mu pripada. Uči se da je njegova poenta korekcija greške, a **dvostruko knjigovodstvo je u stvari izvorni blockchain.** Svako dobro koje menja vlasnika, ta transakcija, ostaje zabeležena na 2 mesta, jednom akteru na izlazu (pasivi), a drugome na njegovom ulazu (aktivi) na taj način povezujući celu ekonomiju u jedan tok i omogućavajući reviziju i arbitražu. Bez tog mehanizma današnji novac i kapitalizam je nemoguć. Možda najbolja definicija kapitalističke ekonomije je: “Money is nothing, that you get for something, before doing anything”. Novac je ni od čega, koje dobiješ samo ako založiš nešto, pre nego što možeš da napraviš bilo šta. Ne zaboravi, makroekonomija su finansije, finansije računovodstvo, a računovodstvo pravo. Tamno srce sveta leži u definicijama računovodstvenih kategorija. Zabluda je misliti da je svet zao i beznadežan jer korporacije imaju samo jedan cilj — da uvećaju profit. Naprotiv to je racionalno ponašanje. Ali mi smo ti koji definišemo šta je to profit! McDonalds je izuzetno profitabilan, zato što prebacuje dijabetes kao trošak na bilans društva. Monsato takođe, jer ekocid nije definisana računovodstvena kategorija troška, nego je “eksternalizacija”. Sve je u zakonima. #### Znači kao što neka firma ode u banku po kredit, tako i država dobije kredit od centralne banke? Ne. Država je jedini klijent centralne banke koji je to sam sebi zabranio. Tačno je, i za krug rezervi (depozitnog novca centralne banke) važi isto pravilo kao i kod depozitnog novca privatne banke. Centralna banka pogoni isti softver kao i privatna. Rezerva nastaje kada centralna banka pusti kredit. Njeni klijenti, privatne banke mogu dobiti kredit sa ili bez obezbeđenja. U tom krugu jako brzo kruži vrlo mala količina novca u poređenju sa novcem ostatka ekonomije. Ti krediti su obično vrlo kratkog tenora. Takođe još češći je slučaj da banke međusobno jedne drugima bilateralno pozajmljuju već postojeće rezerve (money markets). Upravo se u ovom reaktoru dogodila kriza 2008. Banke su trgovale egzotičnim finansijskim hartijama do te mere da su se jednog trenutka našle kao rogovi u vreći. Nikome nije bilo jasno ko je solventan, a ko više nije zbog ogromnih gubitaka na tim hartijama i međusobno pozajmljivanje rezervi je praktično stalo. Od tada sistem rapidno gubi kontakt sa zdravim razumom, a centralne banke eksponencijalno kreiraju nove rezerve da bi vratile te leševe u solventno stanje. Kao obezbeđenje za te kreirane depozite rezervi bankama uzimaju akcije Pepsija, Koka Kole, Fejsbuka, toksične finansijske derivate i trilione korporativnih obveznica sa negativnom kamatnom stopom. Ne zaboravi **rezerve nemaju kupovnu moć**! Da bi centralna banka kupila nečiju akciju u tom procesu “kvantitativnog olakšavanja” (nad našom imovinom) ona mora naložiti privatnoj banci da za taj iznos uveća nečiji depozit i tako se kreira nov novac u našem krugu ekonomije van standardnog kanala kreiranja uzimanjem kredita od privatne banke. Posledica toga je razarajući jaz u bogatstvu koji danas postoji u svetu. Od 2008. više niko nije za volanom. U svakom slučaju, jedini klijent centralne banke koji ne može da se direktno zaduži je državni trezor. Suveren je samog sebe tako ograničio. Ako želi da potroši neki novac, na plate, vrtiće ili puteve, on mora da se dokopa već postojećeg depozitnog novca privatnih banaka jer je samo to novac sa kupovnom moći. I za to ima dva načina. Može da odštampa obveznicu. Kada nađe kupca, privatna banka tada smanji depozit kupcu za iznos vrednosti obveznice, a isti iznos rezervi prebaci trezoru na njegov depozit u centralnoj banci. Drugi način je da ubira porez. Tada banka umanji depozit onome ko porez plaća, a onda, kao u prethodnom slučaju, za isti iznos se uveća rezerva državnom trezoru u knjizi centralne banke. Kada želi da potroši taj novac, trezor prosledi rezerve i instrukciju privatnoj banci koja onda uveća depozit javne institucije kojoj se prosleđuje novac. I u jednom i u drugom slučaju nije bilo stvaranja novog novca, nego samo promena vlasništva već postojeće količine privatnog depozitnog novca u ekonomiji. To čini oporezivanje mehanizmom redistribucije vlasništva, koje bi u teoriji trebalo ići u korist manje bogatih. Polako ulazi u modu i treći način da suveren uzme kredit kod privatne banke kao bilo ko drugi od nas. Kao vrhunac poniženja suverena, ovo je i dalje retkost i dovodi do povećanja privatnog depozitnog novca u opticaju jer banka pušta nov kredit. Ali, nezahvalno je tražiti opšte stavove u načinu finansiranja država. Na primer, Velika Britanija se dugo oslanjala na dozvoljeni minus kod svoje centralne banke. EU regulativa joj je to zabranila. Ona je poštovala taj zakon, dok joj je to odgovaralo, ali kada je 2008. udarila kriza, ona je opet uvela taj mehanizam ne obazirući se ni trenutka na zakon. UK sme, a Srbija ne sme. I? Šta ćeš sad? #### Pa zašto Srbija ne dozvoli sebi dozvoljeni minus, kada je centralna banka i ovako narodna? Zaista neke centralne banke su privatne, neke nisu. Jedine centralne banke koje su važne su i privatne: FED, BOE, BOJ, ECB, SNB. Ali, još jedna uvrežena zabluda je da je upravo to ključni bag u sistemu. Nije. Većina profita centralne banke koji dolazi od držanja državnih dugovnih hartija, bez obzira na to ko joj je vlasnik, a država uvek ima udeo u upravljanju i postavljanju izvršnih funkcija, i ovako biva vraćena državi. U svetu se vodi jedna vrlo nepravedna utakmica između nacija, jer većina njih mora da živi od poreza, a upravo najmoćniji imaju trikove da to u nekoj meri izbegnu. To se zove monetarna suverenost i prerogativ je samo najmoćnijih društava. U suštini ne više od 5. SAD, Velika Britanija, Kina, Japan i Švajcarska. Naravno da sve države tu “muvaju” i ko zna kakva korisnička prava imaju u sistemu centralne banke, ne zaboravi da su to sve hijerarhijski procesi koji su inherentno koruptivni. Za razliku od bitkoina, konvencionalni monetarni sistem ni jednog trenutka nije do kraja definisan. Prerogativ monetarne suverenosti je daleko teže dobiti od teritorijalne. Za teritorijalnu ti trebaju moćna leđa i naoružane face na granici. Za monetarnu moraš da budeš potreban svetu. Samo tada se tvoj žeton koga pravi centralna banka traži. Tek sa tim dolaze trikovi dolaženja do novca van oporezivanja. Dozvoljeni minus Britanskog trezora zaista znači da država ima udeo u kreiranju novca. Uveća sebi iznos rezervi, a onda ih prebaci na račun neke privatne banke i naloži joj da uveća depozit neke javne ustanove u u njoj. I voilà, nov privatni kreditni novac je kreiran u ekonomiji bez puštanja kredita. #### Dobro, ali zar nisi jednog trenutka tvrdio je ovo bolji sistem od novca 1. vrste u koji spada i bitkoin? Kružeća obećanja se ne mogu iskoreniti. Društvo će uvek spontano iznedriti kreditni novac na manje ili više sofisticiran način čim oseti potrebu ili pretnju. Na zlatu se rat može samo izgubiti. Lako dostupan kredit omogućava da društvo raste kada i koliko ono želi. Ceo mehanizam, uključujući i tu osobinu da je vremenom izolovao vlade od čina kreiranja novca ima smisao koliko i vrlo pametna istorijska izolacija crkve. Ali kao nekada državne fiat valute i ovaj privatni kreditni novac uporno iznova propada. Bitkoin, novac 1. vrste, je čamac za spasavanje u takvim kobnim vremenima. Sa njim rasparuješ svoju sudbinu od sudbine kreditnog novca u raspadu. > Ne postoji način da se izbegne konačni kolaps izazvan kreditnom ekspanzijom. Alternativa je jedino da li će kriza doći brže usled dobrovoljnog odustanka od dalje ekspanzije kredita ili kasnije kao konačna katastrofa valute u kojoj je izražen. - Ludvig fon Mizes Sa ovom promisli iz “Teorije novca i kredita” treba da počne svaki kurs iz makroekonomije. Dinamika kreditnog novca, ne biva u konačnom ciklusu, nego prevodi sistem iz jedne fiksne tačke nezaduženosti u drugu totalne prezaduženosti nakon koga je neophodan reset u vidu deflatornog (“…dobrovoljni odustanak…”) ili inflatornog (“…konačna katastrofa…”) kraha. Nesporna eksperimentalna činjenica, na podacima UK i SAD za poslednjih 120 godina je da ovaj sistem nema kočnice. On mahnito kreira novac (kredite), a onda naglo staje. Na duži period količina novca u opticaju raste eksponencijalno i njegova uloga čuvara vrednosti se raspada. Stotine kreditnih kriza u svetu samo od “privremene” vladine uredbe Ričarda Niksona, tj. ukidanja monetarne funkcije zlata 1971. i gubitak vrednosti rezervne svetske valute dolara za 92% od 1913. su činjenice. Još jedna nesporna eksperimentalna činjenica, na primeru SAD, je da ekonomija takođe raste eksponencijalno od 1650. godine, sa prosečnim rastom od 2.9%. Ključno pitanje je: da li monetarni sistem nameće eksponencijalni rast ekonomije, ili je obrnuto, ekonomija nameće eksponencijalni rast kredita, tj. depozita u opticaju? Ako je tačno ovo prvo, onda je sistem disfunkcionalan i ne radi kako je zamišljen, jer umesto da servisira ekonomiju, ona servisira njega. Ako eksponencijalni rast ekonomije nije održiv, onda ovakav monetarni sistem uopšte nije moguć. Centralna banka troši ogromnu energiju na privid kako je za volanom kreditne ekspanzije. Tu bajku zove “transmisioni mehanizam”. Dajdžest ove dogme se može naći i u doktorskoj disertaciji Jorgovanke Tabaković (nije šala). Da si prišao jednom centralnom bankaru pre 1980. i rekao mu da se količina privatnog depozitnog novca u ekonomiji može kontrolisati kamatnom stopom na rezerve centralne banke koje ona kreira u procesu kreditiranja banaka, smejao bi ti se u lice. Danas ako mu tvrdiš da se to može postići regulacijom minimuma obaveznih rezervi, kao što se to radilo do 1980, opet će ti se smejati u lice. U stvari, istina je da je centralna banka samo običan refinansijer, kliring kuća privatnih banaka. Jedino što centralna banka može je da utiče na cenu (kamatu) i količinu depozita koje ona stvara. Te rezerve ne samo da nisu u dodiru sa spoljnom ekonomijom nego ih ima mizerno malo u odnosu na kreditni novac privatnih banaka. Uspeh centralne banke u obuzdavanju količine kreditnog novca privatnih banaka u opticaju je jedna tužna nula kroz celu njihovu istoriju. Privatne banke sa druge strane vrlo brižljivo iznutra gaje kulturu privida kako strašna centralna banka zadaje pravila igre. Regulativa kojoj se podređuju privatne banke u ograničavanju emisije depozita usvaja i nadgleda centralna banka, tačno, ali kao i u slučaju računovodstvenih standarda i ovo je međunarodni standard. Naravno, došao iz kuhinje nadnacionalne privatne institucije registrovane kao banka i u vlasništvu najvećih privatnih banaka zvane BIS — arhitektonske alegorije Vavilonske kule, smeštene u miru Švajcarskog gradića Bazela poznatog po najvećem broju bordela po glavi stanovnika. Srpski guverner tamo dolazi jednom u dva meseca na kratki poslovni ručak, a onda bude ispraćen kući. Nakon ručka, 5 najjačih privatnih računovodstvenih knjiga sveta se povlače na zatvoreni sastanak. Autoregulativa se svodi na vrlo konvoluirani matematički postupak klasifikacije i stohastičke simulacije prepun magičnih cifara na presudnim mestima, da bi se emitovanje depozita (kreditiranje) ograničilo količinom kapitala banke. Njen sporedni efekat je upravljanje rizicima (od insolvencije i nelikvidnosti), važnija agenda je da sve privatne banke koriste iste kriterijume procene rizika kako bi se postigao efekat da se ceo sektor ekspandira i kontrahuje kao jedan. Zašto? Jer to privatnim bankama garantuje minimalno korišćenje rezervi centralne banke, žetona koje one ne mogu da proizvedu. Dakle, ako banka želi da emituje više depozita (kredita) mora da poveća svoj kapital. A to može da uradi na sledeće načine: – Dokapitalizacijom: emitovanjem još akcija, ovo smanjuje procenat vlasništva koje nosi jedna akcija, što ugrožava postojeće vlasnike (dilution). – Smanji aktivu: proda nekretnine, opremu u vlasništvu ili podeli otkaze. – Napravi kratku pozajmicu od centralne banke (repo) samo za ovu potrebu (trik se zove “window dressing” i banke ga obavljaju na kraju računovodstvenog perioda da ulepšaju bilans) – Emituje svoje korporativne obveznice za prodaju. Ova akcija uklanja novac iz ekonomije na određeno vreme trajanja obveznice. – Ne potroši profit i ne isplati dividende. Ova akcija, reklasifikacije profita na stavku “retained earnings” uklanja novac iz ekonomije na neodređeno vreme. Dakle, postoji vrlo važna razlika kada banka uveća kapital i kada bilo koji drugi ekonomski akter ne-banka uveća kapital. U slučaju banke to uklanja novac iz kruženja na neodređeno vreme, sve dok banka ne odluči da ga potroši na sebe. Ali što više kredita želi da emituje, to više novca mora tu da stoji nepotrošeno. Ovakva akcija obogaćuje postojeće akcionare. Ne zaboravi, u idealnom slučaju trebalo bi da postoji samo jedan mehanizam za nestajanje kreditnog novca iz kruženja: otplata (produktivnog) kredita. Svaki drugi je za sistem toksičan: štednja (koja ga uklanja na kratak period), kolaps banke koji briše ceo bilans i uvećanje bankinog kapitala. Veza eksponencijalnog rasta ekonomije i novca u opticaju nije jasna. Ali akcija povlačenja novca iz opticaja poreklom od dobiti od kamate na kapital banke je dokazano jedan faktor koji izaziva obaveznost rasta. #### Recimo da monetarni sistem kreditnog novca zaista zahteva večni eksponencijalni rast da se ne raspadne. Zašto ne bismo mogli večno tako da rastemo? Jer postoje nepotkupljivi zakoni, oni od majke prirode. Jedan od njih, koji nam sreću kvari, je Štefan-Bolcmanov, a onaj najgori, zbog koga nikada nećemo postati bogovi je II zakon termodinamike. Kakvu god mašinu napravio, njen krajnji rezultat osim korisnog rada mora biti i nešto toplote. A naš svemirski brod koji nam daje život — Zemlja ima samo jedan način da oslobodi tu toplotu u okolni vakuum svemira — zračenjem. Štefan-Bolcman nam onda govori, kolika mora biti njena temperatura, ako se mora osloboditi izvesne količine toplote. Danas oslobađamo oko 12TW toplote. Ako nastavimo da rastemo eksponencijalno istim tempom kao poslednjih 300 godina, oko 2400. godine prosečna temperatura na Zemlji mora biti 100 stepeni celzijusa. Apsurd. Ova analiza nema nikakve veze sa efektom staklene bašte i problematikom klime i ugljen-dioksida, Štefan-Bolcman je do te mere kristalno jasan, da sa loncem poznatih dimenzija, nešto vode, termometrom i štopericom možeš izmeriti temperaturu na površini Sunca. I to je školski zadatak. Dakle, ako monetarni sistem zaista zahteva eksponencijalni rast ekonomije da bi postojao u ovoj formi, onda tvrdim sledeće: šta će biti sa dolarom 2020. ne znam, ali ono što znam sa apsolutnom sigurnošću je da već 2150. njega ovakvog neće biti, jer je termodinamička nemogućnost. #### Zašto onda države ne bi napravile svoje kriptovalute? Zar time ne bi i Bitkoin postao suvišan? To je jedna stvar koju država sigurno neće nikad uraditi. Razmisli šta to znači za novčani poredak? Temelj monetarne ekonomije je da banka kreira novac u činu puštanja kredita. Ako centralna banka napravi kriptovalutu, vraćamo se u stanje fiat valute, tj. državnog novca i barter ekonomije, jer banke postaju samo medijatori, a depozitni novac centralne banke (sada rezerve) bi postale jedino sredstvo plaćanja sa kupovnom moći. Sa druge strane, Bitkoin ne bi ni osetio ovaj potez, jer njegov status najvećeg lanca otvorenog pristupa bez administratora ne bi bio izazvan jednom običnom zatvorenom bazom sa kontrolom pristupa i vladinim sisadminom. Svaki kripto maksimalista bi trebao da priželjkuje ovako glup potez vlada. Tehnologija kriptovalute je istinski šah-mat vladajućoj ekonomskoj dogmi. #### Po ovome onda ne vidim da imamo izbora? Ili imamo bezdugovni novac i sporu ekonomiju razmene sa teško izvodljivim kreditiranjem ili imamo sofisticiranu monetarnu ekonomiju koja mora imati banku za triangularnu transakciju i u njoj uvek nekog ko odlučuje kome i kada pustiti kredit, tj. stvoriti novac. I da igramo tu igru dok ne spržimo Zemlju? Treća opcija je da se svi mi izmenimo, počnemo da meditiramo i da raširimo kosmičku duhovnost tako da svaki od nas poput anđela može da čini samo dobro. Onda je svejedno kakav monetarni sistem imamo. Razočaravajuće je koliki broj ljudi i dalje misli da se tako gradi društvo. Problem nije trivijalan, ali pre Gutenberga, dok su pisari bili centri kontrole pismenosti, mislili smo da je svet ravan i star 6000 godina, a žena nastala od muškog rebra. Nakon što smo oslobodili jezičku mrežu otkrili su nam se večni zakoni prirode zapisani jezikom matematike, kojima je i Tvorac odlučio da se povinuje. Nekada smo decenijama plaćali harač za zarobljenog kralja da se vrati iz zatočeništva. Kada nam je Gutenbergova mašina omogućila da postanemo programeri pisanog jezika — gramatike i pravopisa, shvatili smo da je kralj smrtan, samo je ustav besmrtan. Danas, centri kotrole kreiranja novca ulažu divovski trud u stvaranje privida da su izaslanici nevidljive ruke tržišta. Da bolje znaju kom mlekaru dati kredit od ostalih mlekara, kom poljoprivredniku od ostalih poljoprivrednika. Iza tog vela stoji samo lamentiranje nad finansijskim izveštajima kreditnih odbora koji da se sutra zamene bacanjem fer novčića, ekonomija ne bi osetila razliku. Sve što ti lažni proroci rade je puštaju indulgencije svojim prisnima. Kako ekonomska nauka kaže: misalokacija kapitala. Do 3. januara 2009. nismo imali izbora, jer smo transakcije mogli obavljati samo kroz njih. Izbor je duša Bitkoina. Sada imamo naše cevi za prenos vrednosti. A to što kroz njih teče nije ugroženo u kriznim vremenima kada obećanja počnu da se krše, jer nije opterećeno dugom i ima čvrstu garanciju oskudnosti. Kreditni novac neće otići, ali više nismo u nemilosti bankara. Sada jedni druge držimo u šakama. Čovečanstvo je sazrelo za novo vreme u kome se privatnost transakcije, pravo raspolaganja imovinom neometeno nacionalnim granicama i dobrovoljno oporezivanje vidi kao elementarno pravo. Sledeći korak istorije će biti distribuirana (p2p) kriptografska mreža kreditnog novca, u kome odluka o puštanju kredita biva oslobođena od centara kontrole, bitkoin postaje rezerva, nenaplativ kredit jasno definisan, a otplata kredita dobrovoljna, motivisana teorijom igara implementiranom u biznis logiku protokola. Možda će upravo ovakav sistem pokazati da je kreditni novac moguć bez obaveznosti rasta. Banke će uspeti tek na tren da podignu glavu i vide obris tog asteroida u naletu. #### Zar je zaista moguće da sistem ovako funkcioniše? Ovo sve miriše na teorije zavere, pseudonauku u najgorem slučaju. [Kvartalni bilten centralne banke engleske (BOE) o mehanizmu kreiranja novca u ekonomiji ](http://positivemoney.org/2014/03/bank-england-money-money-creation-modern-economy/) [O nemogućnosti eksponencijalnog rasta ](https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2012/04/economist-meets-physicist/) [Vebsajt profesora Stiva Kina ](http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs/2009/12/16/circuit-theory-and-the-state-of-post-keynesian-economics/) [O imperativu rasta ](http://zaista.mathias-binswanger.ch/inhalt/Artikel_in_Fachzeitschriften/Journalofpostkeynesianeconomics.pdf) [Školski zadatak kako izmeriti temperaturu na površini Sunca: ](http://sbo.colorado.edu/SBO_OLD_SITE/sbo/manuals/apsmanuals/suntemp.pdf) Monetarni suverenisti: [www.positivemoney.org](http://www.positivemoney.org/), [https://www.sovereignmoney.eu/](https://www.sovereignmoney.eu/) [Odlična monografija Jozefa Hubera ](https://www.sovereignmoney.eu/books/) [Nezaobilazno štivo Ričarda Wernera, oca kovanice “kvantitativne olakšice” i monetarnog suvereniste](http://positivemoney.org/where-does-money-come-from/) [I njegov vrhunski članak o činu kreacije dugovnog novca](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1057521914001434) #### Da li si svestan da nobelovac Pol Krugman tvrdi suprotno? vaka epizoda istorije ima svoje fariseje i aristotelovce. Dežurnu dvorsku ludu postojećeg poretka, sramotni portret korumpiranosti jedne nauke — [Pola Krugmana istančano opisuje anonimni autor ‘Buckaroo Banzai’.](http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-10-19/krugman-and-heroic-fed) Stiv Kin (Steve Keen) je mnogo bolji izbor ako želiš da razumeš ekonomiju, don Sagredo. Ali moraš da se potkuješ fizikom ako želiš da se probudiš iz računovodstvene bajke. Diferencijalne jednačine, ne tepisi teksta. “Greši onaj ko misli da će nas simboli odvesti od realnosti, naprotiv dovešće nas u suštinu stvari”, umeo je da kaže veliki Lajbnic. Ili kraće: vires in numeris. #### Don Salviati, nobody likes a smartass. Gde mogu da naučim više o Bitkoinu? [https://lopp.net/bitcoin.html](https://lopp.net/bitcoin.html)  *Stilizovani prikaz bilansa sa dve računovodstvene situacije koje za banku znače kraj poslovanja i opisom kako do njih dolazi. Levi scenario se po pravilu nikada ne događa, jer šta je to nenaplativ kredit? Sliku izradio: miloseviclawyer.com*

There was a time when I liked to regularly listen to NPR for their stories. And, I owe a certain something to NPR since that's where I first got interested in bitcoin. But, their incessant political hard-left, alt-left push eventually pushed me away. Nowadays, I'll sometimes listen in just to get annoyed at whatever silliness they're projecting. January 9, 2025, I heard this: https://www.npr.org/2025/01/09/nx-s1-5228194/what-are-biodiversity-credits-and-could-have-a-meaningful-impact talking about "Biodiversity credits." I'd heard of "carbon credits" before, but never biodiversity credits. Evidently, some "financial instrument" is being sold for $25 a pop as a "biodiversity credit." I assume the sales site is [this one](https://market.climatetrade.com/projects/banco-de-habitat-bosque-de-niebla-el-globo?id=528). With one credit purchased, your **$25 gets you a promise** from...someone. The promise, or "assurance", is to protect a 10 x 10 square meter splotch of Andean mountainside where the spectacled bear lives. The spectacled bear? I was unfamiliar with the [spectacled bear](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectacled_bear), but evidently it's a bear that looks like a large raccoon and likes to scratch trees. The NPR folks ponied up $25 for the so-called biodiversity credit financial instrument. After their purchase, the NPR journalists apparently traveled to Colombia, to the "water star" area where the alleged preserve exists as "El Globo." Okay, three things here: 1. They only buy one biodiversity credit? How's a spectacled bear supposed to live on a 10 x 10 meter square?! 2. I'll assume the journalists (I read this as plural since the article said "we"; I'll guess two people) flew from the US to Colombia. Are listeners/readers to just ignore the fact that they flew on a carbon-emitting jet to Colombia for the sole purpose of checking on a 100 square meter plot? This is the plot of land that exists supposedly to house animals threatened by supposed climate-caused deforestation, like jet exhaust? Are we to just pretend this hypocrisy is not there? 3. Are we to ignore that the plane tickets for two (not to mention room, board, and travel while visiting Colombia) could rather have been spent to buy more than one biodiversity credit and to ostensibly save more land? I've got to say, this sounds like a $25 ticket to win a prize for an all expense paid trip to the Colombian Andes to see the exotic spectacled bear. Credit to those who pulled off this $25 trip to the water star region of Colombia; nicely done. Okay, maybe NPR had correspondents already in Colombia. Either way, first, it didn't sound that way in the report and secondly, there's more to the numbers. According to the "climatetrade.com" website (that name, wow!), there are 310,000 biodiversity credits to be sold. Let's do the math: 310,000 credits times $25 for each credit comes to $7.75 million. El Globo is 340 hectares of land (that's 840 acres). $7.75M for 840 acres is $9,226 per acre. Knowing zero about land value in Colombia, that still seemed high to me. Google Gemini AI informs me the median price is much lower. It reported this: > According to available information, the median price per acre of land in Colombia varies significantly depending on location and land quality, but generally falls within a range of $1,500 to $10,000 per hectare (equivalent to roughly $365 to $2,400 per acre). > > Google Gemini What's more, this is not for protection of the land *in perpetuity*...no, this is for 30 years only. Say what? This sounds to me like somebody's career plan: 30 years of protection, retirement, then I can't guarantee the land's protection after that. More likely, somewhere around about the 20 year mark, it will be time to start to re-up and start selling credits again. Well, at least these 30 years of protection are "verified by an independent third party." That should make us all feel better. For a second opinion on numbers, I asked the AI, Microsoft Copilot. It said with $7.75 million USD one could buy a lot of land: between 7 and 16 thousand hectares. That's a lot more than the El Globo preserve of 340 hectares. Understand, this is actually purchasing the land. If you purchase it, it can be held as a preserve forever, not just for 30 years. And, speaking of money, and funding, and choices made in spending that money, remember that NPR gets US government money to operate. They take great pride in running hours-long annual fundraisers to ask you and me for public donations while giving "commercial-free programming." Yes, they literally run hours-long commercials for a week or two each year to say that they run commercial-free programming! 😆 You can't make this up. Nevertheless, NPR gets about $34 million from the government annually according to Microsoft Copilot AI. NPR seems to go to lengths to downplay this government funding. It's a mess. NPR apparently says they get "[less than 1%](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPR#:~:text=On%20April%2012%2C%20NPR%20announced,the%20Corporation%20for%20Public%20Broadcasting.)" of their $300 million annual budget from the government. (Disregard the fact that every other radio station supports themselves 100% and gets 0% from the government.) But, this 1% looks as though that's only money *directly* from the federal government. There is a larger chunk coming in via the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which is also government money. The CPB funds "member stations" and those stations pay dues to NPR. Somehow, this government doesn't count in NPR's eyes. So, despite the "1%" talk, it's *still* government money funneling to NPR. By masking this fact, NPR is making the whole situation look shadier than it is. It might do well to simply be up front about government funding rather than obfuscating it and making the whole thing look shady; "the cover up is worse than the crime," as they say. All told, the Copilot estimate is $33.9 million in government funds going to NPR annually (about 12% of their budget, not 1%). The other 88%, I guess, comes from donations by regular folks, foundations, and corporations who respond to the hours-long, weeks long annual fundraiser commercials about commercial-free programming. Anyway, $33.9 million in government money, and $300 million total when you count in donations. That's a lot of hectares of Andean biodiversity credits that could be bought. Actually, NPR could have bought them all and the bears would be safe for 30 years. Also, as to those reporters who trekked to Colombia for a visit, that's a pretty good tax-supported, listener-supported gig that they pulled off: buy one "biodiversity credit", get a vacation to the Andean forest to see bear scratchings. It gets worse. The outfit selling these biodiversity credits on https://market.climatetrade.com admits that $7.75 million is a lot of money for Moms and Pops to purchase all the credits. (I still can't get over that URL, at least it's honest by flat out stating they're making a market out of trading the climate.) They say they need corporations to chip in and buy mass credits. According to the report, they have meet-ups and shin-digs for this sort of thing, apparently. A favorite line for me in the piece was "...Handing out shots to promote a jaguar credit." > Image created at https://leonardo.ai with the prompt: "well-dressed folks at the soirée laughing as they down a shot of tequila and suck a lemon in salute to said jaguar" At this point, it seemed that these various credits were and are spinning off into something very much like the multitudes of memecoins...doge, dog-wif-hat, dog-wif-cat, dog-wif-pepe, pepe-wif-maximus, maximux-wif-spectacled-bear, spectacled-bear-wif-jaguar. Seriously, we have credits (tokens), we have "tokenomics" of a max supply and emission, we have a market to buy the the credits/tokens ICO-style. I wonder if there is a secondary market where NPR could unload their one biodiversity credit if they were to go full climate credit degen. I pictured in my mind the well-dressed folks at the soirée laughing as they down a shot of tequila and suck a lemon in salute to said jaguar in the report. "Jaguar credits to the moon!" To be fair to NPR, they did include one man's counter to biodiversity credits. Mark Opel said this: > At the end of the day, companies are in the business of generating shareholder value. There is not a business case for biodiversity credits to generate shareholder value beyond a token amount of philanthropy and marketing. That was some much-needed concise analysis and clarity, a voice of reason. The only value these credits bring to companies was "a token amount of philanthropy and marketing." So, we have two value transfers going on here: 1. The "El Globo" outfit gets value by making money on climatetrade.com...$7.75 million if all spots sell, only to be re-upped again in 30 years. **Somebody is getting paid**. 2. A company can get value by **feeling good** for saving spectacled bears and thereby **looking good** in the public eye. It gets feel-good press. Here's the bottom line... This story checks many of the boxes for an NPR listener. It's a mix of climate change, saving cute and furry animals, deforestation, fighting corporations who want to exploit the land, and feeling good that you did something for these things. I see why they chose to send reporters to Colombia for this story. This story fits the narrative. ### Placebo Credits Let's play this thing out. Since the purpose of these credits is to (1) transfer money to some outfit and (2) make companies, or you, feel good and look good, then let's do this... I want you to think of something that is wrong in this world right now. Think of something you feel is terribly unjust. Maybe it's the spectacled bear being pushed out by greedy corporations, or a baby polar bear swimming aimlessly searching for an ice floe, or maybe something else, like the blue footed booby. Maybe it's land being clear cut or burnt off or walls of ice breaking off into the ocean as lonely icebergs. Perhaps it's all the sad downtrodden puppies that could use your help. They are cold, they are hungry, they are sad. They are looking at you. Picture those puppies in your mind now. To rectify whatever bad thing you are thinking of, whatever wrong you wish to help right, you can now **buy Placebo Credits** (PCs). Placebo Credits *will* make you feel that you are in fact doing your part; that you are *truly* making a difference in this world. **Placebo Credits work**. To buy Placebo Credits, send bitcoin to the address below. One bitcoin satoshi will buy you one credit. Don't cheat yourself...the more PCs you buy, the better you will feel knowing that you are making a difference in this world. Get Placebo Credits here: https://coinos.io/pay/crrdlx Are you a Nostr user? Just send a zap! ⚡ A zap buys Placebo Credits too! Not on Nostr, [get on it](https://start.njump.me). Send zap, get Placebo Credits! And, why only make a difference in *this* world? Don't constrain your imagination. Don't constrain how much you help the world and how much you help yourself in the process. Look up, look beyond, look to the stars. When you look at the stars tonight, pick one out. Pick out any of the beautiful stars above. It's twinkling at you, it's calling out to you...then help save that star. **Buy Placebo Credits to help save your chosen star**. Then, every night from today onward, you can look up at your shimmering, twinkling star. Let it remind you of your fight against all the wrongs that exist and your push toward a more just and verdant world. When you look at your star, let that point of light buoy up your resolve, and say to yourself, "I did my part...and I can do more." > Source: leonardo.ai using the prompt: "beautiful stars shining brightly in the night sky creating a sense of wonder"

1. Knots helps you exercise your self sovereignty verification muscle, instead of conforming to the TrustMeBro defaults of core. Thus you are more prepared to actively defend Bitcoin in case of hardfork-softfork or other shenanigan's. 2. Knots is more feature rich and useful than core, allowing end users to finely tune their nodes mempool policy to reject spam transactions from their own mempools, through such bitcoin.conf settings as: rejectparasites=1 , datacarrier=0, permitbaremultisig=0 3. Running a Underdog Bitcoin Client makes the Bitcoin network more robust as a whole. Supporting an ecosystem of multiple compatible clients running in tandem. Running knots makes Bitcoin, the network more robust, and makes the bitcoin development ecosystem richer. Knots is a backup-option in case core becomes obviously compromised. For decentralization, do we really want only a single implementation, with all our eggs in one basket with just bitcoin core? No. 4. "Knots makes it so that you're not using your node's computing resources to hold and process spam shitcoin transactions and you have better control over what transactions you prioritize processing." - Thus you can save your mempool resources from being abused by bad actors with Knots, but not with core, unfortunately. Core doesn't believe in giving their end users too much choice. This has long been their attitude: to dictate down and deny non-consensus violating choice to end users. 5. Thus running Knots is a counter movement to the unfortunate attitude in core that has willfully neglected a core subset of it's users who care about spam filters. Running Knots is not just a technical improvement in running Bitcoin. It's a political statement in the Bitcoin development ecosystem. ie **No. Not Good Enough. I get to run the code I want within consensus and you can't stop me. That's Bitcoin.** You can download Bitcoin Knots at http://BitcoinKnots.org Be sure to verify your download. Exercise your verification muscles. For a full list of Bitcoin Knots features versus Core, see: https://bitcoinknots.org/files/27.x/27.1.knots20240801/bitcoin-27.1.knots20240801.desc.html A related video on the subject by Matthew Kratter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgab8FuBwgg&ab_channel=BitcoinUniversity originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/850273

Crowdsourcing subjective value is a great idea, but when no thought has been put into how to do it, the results are neither useful nor healthy. In this article we discuss the problems with the classic five star rating system and why it needs to be abolished in favor of better expressions of public sentiment. ## Part 1: What's In A Star? Let's start with a thought experiment: - Do you buy products on Amazon that have 3 stars? - Do you take rides from Uber drivers that have 3 stars? - Do you download apps on the App Store that have 3 stars? - Do you visit places on Google Maps that have 3 stars? "Not on purpose," is probably your answer. But why not? After all, a three out of five is better than the median; it's 60 percent! That is solidly "above average" by any usual measure. Although it makes sense in mathematical terms, it is not correct to say that a 3 star product is at least half as good as a 5 star product. The funny thing about the 5 star rating system is that nobody really knows exactly what the stars mean, mostly because they aren't ever explained. They are just a weak abstraction of a score out of 5, which itself is an abstraction of a score out of 100, and it is used to average all ratings for a thing into an average star rating. Presumably, 5 is the best and 1 is the worst, and somewhere in between is... what exactly? Mediocre? Passable? Acceptable? Average? Who knows! This is the first problem with this system; while the top and bottom of the scale may be implied (ambiguity still isn't great), the middle of the scale is entirely ambiguous. Most of the time, people start with a default supposition that a product ought to be 5 stars, and then they subtract stars according to their own perceived deficiencies of the product. On the flip side, people who are dissatisfied with a product tend to start at 1 star and perhaps award it a couple more if they are feeling charitable. This dualistic approach highlights another issue with this kind of rating system. Despite the pure quantitative mechanism, the feelings and disposition of the rater ultimately assign meaning to the numeric scale. Ultimately, any 5 star rating system ends up being a gamut ranging from hate it to love it with a lot of ambiguity in the middle. To put it simply, the stars mean nothing. But to be more precise, the stars are the *average* of the *numeric expression* of the public sentiment about a thing. OK, public sentiment. That's what we want right? We want to know what the public thinks about the product so we can make a good purchase decision. Except, unfortunately, the 5 star rating system does an incredibly imprecise job at capturing what the public actually thinks about a product. Let's dive into why this is. But first, to conclude our thought experiment, I'd like to establish an informal consensus that we instinctually seek out the highest rated items and avoid ratings less than 4.5 out of 5, with infrequent exceptions. If this sounds like you, then let's proceed. ## Part 2: Trash or Treasure How does one turn their feelings into a number? This is not something people are good at, or do naturally, or are even required to do very often. It is also completely subjective and arbitrary. Does "happy" mean 5 or 100 or 902,581? It really depends on what you are trying to measure. However, you've probably done this on a survey. Normally, a range of options is given with accompanying numbers. You may have heard a guiding explanation such as "Rate one through five, with one being 'least likely' and five being 'most likely' to recommend to a friend." Such explanations are useful in assisting a person in expressing their personal sentiments as a numeric range, and anecdotally I seem to provide more nuanced answers when I have guidance as to what each value actually means to me. However, such explanations are missing from most places where five star rating systems can make or break one's livelihood as a seller, developer, or musician. Users are normally given no guidance as to how a particular star value should correspond to their sentiment. Accordingly, this manifests in an all too common star rating smiley. Like the famed "smiley face curve" equalizer setting popularized in the 70's in which the frequencies of a song were engineered to grow from the midranges upward toward the treble and bass making a smile shape (who's midrange is the lowest), the star rating smile is a common sight on product reviews where the most common review ratings appear anecdotally to be 5 and 1, then 4 and 2, and lastly 3. The fact that the most common ratings are five stars and one star indicates that people most often do not think about their experience as a gradient between good and bad, but rather simply label their sentiment as only "good" or "bad" with little room for nuance. Having not received any guidance for expressing their sentiment numerically, this should be wholly unsurprising. But, I also feel like this binary outcome is a very natural expression that requires minimal mental energy to produce, and is therefore the most efficient expression of sentiment. I suspect that in another universe where we have a commonplace 15 star rating system but humans are the same, the most common ratings are 15 stars and 1 star respectively. Other factors influence this binary good/bad paradigm too. People know instinctively that leaving a bad review is bad for business, and often this is their vengeful response to any sense of feeling as if they have been mistreated, misled, or swindled by the seller. Often times the sheer excitement of the new product compels people to write reviews only minutes after they have received it, precluding them from providing an experienced and time-tested perspective of how the product performs. These quirks of human behavior can skew five star ratings severely. But the behaviors themselves are not bad! They are totally natural and expected. The real problem is how the five star rating system fails to capture these commonplace human sentiments accurately. We need to build a rating system that works for people rather than forcing people to fit into a poorly executed rating system. ## Part 3: Feast or Famine It is natural that when presented with a plethora of options, humans will be drawn to the options that are labeled as "the best". When "best" possible is five stars, then five stars naturally becomes the [Schelling point](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focal_point_(game_theory))for all buyers and sellers, where the vast majority of economic activity is concentrated. When all ratings are seen from a five-based perspective, fours look barely adequate. Threes look unacceptable. Twos are abject. And ones are complete disasters. You may have heard about how [Uber would suspend drivers whose ratings fell below 4.6](https://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/uber-rider-ratings-deactivation-lyft-rideshare.html). The tendency of five star rating systems is to create a gradient of sentiment where 1 to 4.5 stars is "bad" and 4.5 to 5 stars is "good". One rarely discussed outcome of this dynamic is that good ratings are nearly impossible to compare to each other. As alluded to in the introduction thought experiment, the narrow range between 4.5 and 5 leaves very little room to distinguish from a good product and an excellent product; both are simply "good" or "not bad". As highly rated products are usually the products people are most interested in, it is unfortunate that a favorable rating would actually provide less signal than a bad rating as to the product's relative quality in the spectrum of good ratings. Meanwhile, bad ratings have wide berth to compare numerically. The astronomical range between 1 and 4.5 is a very spacious gradient in which to assess how bad one product is versus another, except nobody actually cares because nobody is going to buy it anyway! In the five star rating system, the better a product is, the *less* information we get to compare it to other similarly good products. This is a critical design flaw, because the better a product is and the more people review it, the *more* information we should have about it versus other similar products. It would be better if the range of "good" ratings was wider so that good ratings could be compared to each other. I'd like to emphasize that the *loss of precision* as a product becomes more desirable is a truly ludicrous mechanic of the five star rating system. This poorly conceived rating paradigm completely pervades our digital economic systems and determines the success of millions of producers. Let's be clear about the stakes. Assigning subjective value to things is completely overlooked for what it really is: a absolutely critical and monumentally influential economic activity. Because the most important economic activity is how we assign value to things with money, the second most important economic activity is how we *inform* our economic value assignments with subjective value assignments such as these. We need to fix how we rate things. It could literally change how entire economies function. ## Part 4: Quality or Quantity Valve has obviously put thought into how they handle ratings for video games sold through their extremely popular and long-lived Steam platform. Reviews are not allowed until a certain amount of hours of the game have been played. The review must assign a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, and then provide a minimum amount of text. Then, rather than simply providing an average of these binary ratings, Steam averages them over a recent period of time, creating a dynamic where if a game developer releases a new update, the reviews written more recently are sure to influence the overall rating of the game rather than old ratings that haven't taken the new update into consideration. Finally, the aggregated rating itself is displayed as "Overwhelming Negative", "Very Negative", "Mostly Negative", "Mixed", "Mostly Positive", "Very Positive", or "Overwhelmingly Positive". Ask yourself, which product would you be more likely to try? - 2.5/5 stars - "Mixed Reviews" Ironically, the Steam rating system gives users less flexibility to express their sentiment as a number, and yet provides more depth, nuance, and balance to the resulting ratings. This, ladies and gentlemen, is what it looks like when somebody gives a damn about how things work. It is a great system. Another interesting emergent behavior that accompanies many Steam reviews, as well as many reviews on other sites, are user generated pros/cons lists. These lists are helpful and offer qualitative labels that help to explain the quantitative rating assignment, although these labels are not mechanically related to the rating system itself. Steam has another mechanism to express qualitative judgements in the form of labels, although they had to be restricted because they were being abused in undesirable or nefarious ways. Now the labeling system does more to tell you about what the game is rather than what people think about it, which is fine, but I feel like it is a missed opportunity. Therefore, I'd like to propose a simple system that combines thumbs up/down and labeling to be used in the context of nostr's review system. ## Part 5: QTS I call this new review system QTS, or the "Qualitative Thumb System". [Originally I developed QTS when working at Arcade Labs.](https://github.com/ArcadeLabsInc/arcade/wiki/ArcadeSocial) [This PR for a new nostr review mechanism](https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/pull/879) allows for a lot of flexibility in how you apply ratings to things, so QTS is simply a method of applying rating values that creates a better human-oriented review system. QTS is a way of using reviews. In essence, QTS capitalizes on our very human instinct to assign a "good" or "bad" label by limiting the quantitative assessment to a thumbs-up or thumbs-down. Then, QTS provides qualitative labels that describe possible positive sentiments that describe different aspects of the thing being rated. First, the user chooses thumbs-up or thumbs-down as their overall assessment. If they do nothing else, this is sufficient to capture their sentiment. However, labels should be provided which the user can check or toggle on to increase their rating further. The initial thumbs up is worth 0.5, and each label is worth (0.5 / number of labels). The minimum rating is 0 (thumbs down, no labels), and the maximum rating is 1 (thumbs up and all labels). Any rating 0.5 or above is trending toward good and below 0.5 is trending toward bad. The labels should be applicable in the context of the thing. So, for example, I might provide the following labels for place reviews in a Google Maps-style app: - Convenient - Clean - Affordable - Memorable - Inviting These labels could possibly describe any place. It's OK if a place doesn't have all of these qualities. Zero labels and at thumbs up is still a "good" rating. Each label selected is essentially a "cherry on top" and its absence may indicate that either it isn't applicable OR the place failed to earn it. Likewise, it is possible that you may give a place a thumbs-down and apply labels; this would result in a rating higher than 0 but still in the bad gradient (below 0.5). Here are the key benefits I want to highlight of QTS: - The 5 star rating system forces a user to do the work of translating their sentiment into a quantity. With QTS, the user never has to translate their feelings into a number! They only express good or bad and pick labels, and the QTS mechanism does the work of translating this into a computation-friendly value. - The 5 star rating system generally results in a "bad" range from 1 to 4.5 and a "good" range from 4.5 to 5. QTS balances this with a "bad" rating at 0, a "good" rating at 0.5, and an excellent rating is anything above 0.5 (up to 1.0). This creates the maximum possible gradient between good and bad which makes it easier to compare similar ratings. Recall this in contrast to the 5 star rating system which actually _loses precision_ as more ratings are provided. - It is also helpful that similar QTS ratings may have different labels, which will allow people to make easy qualitative assessments that do not depend on users generating their own pros/cons list. ## Part 6: Implementing QTS Here is how it works: You give the user the option to rate a thumbs up or thumbs down. Then, you also give your user the option to choose from a predefined set of positive labels. You can have any number of labels but try to keep it below 10 so as not to overwhelm your users. Keep the labels general enough that they could potentially apply to any thing being rated. For example, if you were providing labels for Amazon.com, some good labels would be: - Good Value - Good Quality - As Described - Durable - Right Size These labels are general enough that they could apply to almost any product. It is important to create labels that are general so that when comparing product ratings you are comparing the same labels. It is possible however that something like Amazon.com could define a different QTS label subset for each product category, and then the labels could be more specific to that category. For example, a product category of Candles could have "Long Burning", "Good smell", "Safe", etc. These labels are much more specific, but appropriate for the Candle product category. The main point is that products which should be compared should use the same QTS label set. Some poor examples of labels would be: - Orange (not really relevant to the product's assessment) - Easy to Lift (only relevant to certain products) - Made in USA (not really relevant to the product's assessment) - Cheap (not descriptive enough and could be interpreted as negative) A score is derived as follows: - a thumbs-down is a score of 0.00 - a thumbs-up is a score of 0.50 - a label is worth 0.50 ÷ the number of labels available. So, if there are 3 labels to pick from, each label is worth 0.1666. The labels should all have the same value. Here is an example by calvadev being used on Shopstr: https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/pull/879#issuecomment-2502210146 You can adjust the weights however you want. The fundamental thing that QTS prescribes is that a thumbs up gives a 50% score, and labels each contribute an equal share up to another 50%. # Conclusion With nostr we have a great opportunity to improve the economic information available to the planet. A more efficient market based on higher quality information will improve civilization in ways we may not expect, but definitely deserve! If you like this post, be sure to give it a thumbs up ✌😁

Remember when people were freaking out about ordinals and NFTs on bitcoin? Remember when fees went bananas? Yeah, that kinda went nowhere. Guess what, bitcoin isn't so easy to kill. It ended up being a good thing IMO. Pushed everyone to become more efficient. There's a lesson here. Chill out. Its gonna be OK. Bitcoin's incentives work. **What did you learn during the ordinals freak out?** originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/850107

In my post about [morning routines](https://stacker.news/items/844949/r/Undisciplined), I mentioned that the middle of the day can get a little messy. I prefer flexibility over regimentation, but I still need some guiding principles to act on. One of those principles is ***Hormesis***. This is the idea that manageable doses of potentially harmful stressors are good for us. It's not quite "What doesn't kill us makes us stronger", but it's something like that. # Intermittent Fasting Intermittent fasting causes the body to enter a state of ketosis. This metabolic state burns fats more efficiently and reduces food cravings, because your body is munching down on its fat reserves. So, if I'm not hungry, I don't worry about preemptively eating, since I know being hungry can be good for me. # Dry Fasting Dry fasting, foregoing water, puts the body into a state of autophagy, which translates literally into "self eating". It's not as scary as it sounds, though. What happens is you start metabolizing a bunch of intracellular junk and debris, because water is a product of metabolic reactions. Our bodies will actually produce their own water ("endogenous water") out of junk that's making us sick, including excess body fat. I haven't hydrated in over a year now and I feel great. # Cold Exposure Being mildly cold for an extended period of time causes our bodies to switch from storing white fat to storing brown fat. It's been a while since I looked into this, but brown fat is supposedly healthier and it generates more heat. The thermostat isn't low in the winter just because I'm cheap: it's good to be a little cold. # Heat Exposure I've actually never looked into this in detail, but I know people swear by the health benefits of saunas, steam rooms, hot baths, etc. I think it's related to perspiration being one of the main ways we eliminate toxins from our bodies. The thermostat isn't high in the summer just because I'm cheap: it's good to be a little hot. # Exercise The best known example of hormesis is just regular exercise. This extra stressing of our bodies is so linked to the idea of ~HealthAndFitness that I don't feel any need to elaborate on it. # Hygiene Hypothesis Why do so many more people have allergies and other autoimmune disorders than in prior generations and why is it a western phenomenon? One leading explanation is that our immune systems don't learn what they're supposed to because our modern environments are so sterile. Regular minor exposure to germs and allergens gives our immune systems the opportunity to learn what they are so that it doesn't go berserk when it sees a higher volume later (or something like that, I'm not that kind of doctor). The 5 Second Rule should be a lower bound. ------------ I'm sure there are many more examples of hormesis. Rather than look them up, though, I'd rather hear from the stackers about what beneficial stressors they rely on for their personal health. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/850029

The playoffs just seem over hyped. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/850003

Por décadas, o Brasil se beneficiou de um bônus demográfico, no qual a população em idade produtiva crescia mais rápido que a população dependente. Isso impulsionou a economia, o consumo e a urbanização. No entanto, essa era chegou ao fim. Com a queda nas taxas de natalidade e o envelhecimento acelerado da população, o país enfrenta um futuro de baixo crescimento econômico, crise previdenciária e perda de relevância global. Pior ainda, o Brasil não tem a estrutura econômica e tecnológica necessária para compensar esse declínio populacional. --- ## O Fim do Bônus Demográfico Brasileiro A transição demográfica do Brasil está acontecendo mais rápido do que o esperado. A taxa de fertilidade caiu abaixo do nível de reposição, e a população idosa cresce rapidamente. ### Colapso da Taxa de Natalidade O Brasil experimentou uma queda drástica na taxa de fecundidade nas últimas décadas: - 1960: 6,3 filhos por mulher - 2000: 2,3 filhos por mulher - 2022: 1,6 filhos por mulher (abaixo da taxa de reposição de 2,1) - Projeção para 2050: 1,5 filhos por mulher - Fonte: Banco Mundial, IBGE, ONU Essa queda acompanha tendências observadas no Japão, China e Coreia do Sul, países que agora sofrem com envelhecimento populacional e escassez de mão de obra. A diferença é que essas nações têm alta produtividade e tecnologia avançada para mitigar os efeitos demográficos. O Brasil não. ### Envelhecimento da População e Redução da Força de Trabalho - Em 2023, 10,5% da população brasileira tinha 65 anos ou mais. - Em 2050, esse número será de 24%, ou seja, quase 1 em cada 4 brasileiros será idoso. - A idade média da população aumentou de 19 anos (1980) para 34 anos (2023) e chegará a 45 anos até 2050. - Fonte: IBGE, ONU *Com menos jovens entrando no mercado de trabalho e mais idosos dependendo do Estado, o sistema previdenciário e a economia entrarão em colapso.* --- ## Crescimento Lento e Crise Previdenciária O declínio da população em idade produtiva trará queda na produtividade, estagnação do crescimento e aumento dos custos sociais. ### Encolhimento da Força de Trabalho - Em 2020, havia 7 pessoas em idade ativa (15–64 anos) para cada idoso. - Em 2050, essa proporção cairá para apenas 2,5 trabalhadores por aposentado. - Fonte: IBGE, Banco Mundial *Isso significa que menos pessoas estarão trabalhando e pagando impostos para sustentar a previdência e os serviços públicos.* ### Colapso do Sistema Previdenciário - Em 2022, os gastos com previdência representavam 13% do PIB do Brasil. - Sem reformas, esse valor pode chegar a 18% do PIB até 2050, tornando o sistema insustentável. *O governo será forçado a aumentar impostos, cortar benefícios ou elevar a idade de aposentadoria—medidas impopulares que enfrentarão resistência política.* ### Crescimento Econômico Vai Despencar - A taxa média de crescimento do PIB era de 4,5% ao ano nos anos 2000, mas caiu para apenas 1,2% ao ano entre 2013 e 2023. - Com uma força de trabalho menor, o crescimento econômico de longo prazo ficará abaixo de 1% ao ano. *O Brasil entrará em um ciclo de baixo crescimento econômico e estagnação, tornando-se menos atrativo para investidores.* ### **Queda no Investimento e Baixa Produtividade** - A taxa de investimento do Brasil é de apenas 17% do PIB, muito abaixo da China (40%) e da Índia (30%). - O crescimento da produtividade total dos fatores (PTF) está praticamente zerado desde os anos 1980. - Fonte: OCDE, Banco Mundial *Ou seja, o Brasil depende mais do crescimento populacional do que de ganhos de eficiência econômica—um modelo inviável com o encolhimento da força de trabalho.* --- ## Comparação Internacional: Brasil Está em Posição Pior ### Japão e Coreia do Sul (Envelhecendo, Mas Produtivos) - O Japão viu sua força de trabalho diminuir, mas compensou com alta produtividade e inovação tecnológica. - PIB per capita do Japão: US$ 39.000 (2023) vs. Brasil: US$ 10.000. - Fonte: Banco Mundial *O Brasil não tem tecnologia, inovação nem uma economia avançada como o Japão, tornando sua situação mais grave.* ### China (Começando a Sofrer com o Envelhecimento) - Taxa de fertilidade da China: 1,2 filhos por mulher (2023), ainda menor que a do Brasil. - A população da China começou a encolher em 2022. - O crescimento do PIB chinês caiu de 10% ao ano (2000) para 4% ao ano (2023) devido à queda da força de trabalho. - Fonte: ONU *Se até a China, com sua indústria forte, está sofrendo, o Brasil, com baixa produtividade e poucos investimentos, enfrentará um cenário muito pior.* ### Estados Unidos e Índia (Demograficamente Fortes) - EUA: Fertilidade de 1,7 filhos por mulher (acima do Brasil) e 1 milhão de imigrantes por ano, sustentando o crescimento da força de trabalho. - Índia: População jovem (idade média de 28 anos) e forte crescimento econômico. - Fonte: ONU, Censo dos EUA *Enquanto EUA e Índia continuarão crescendo, o Brasil envelhecerá sem soluções econômicas para compensar.* --- ## Por Que o Brasil Não Conseguirá Reagir Mesmo que o Brasil reconheça o problema, o país carece dos meios para reverter a crise demográfica. ### Baixo Investimento em Tecnologia e Indústria - O Brasil investe apenas 1,2% do PIB em P&D, enquanto a Coreia do Sul investe 4,8%. - O crescimento da produtividade foi zero nas últimas duas décadas. - Fonte: Banco Mundial, OCDE *Sem investimentos em tecnologia e inovação, o Brasil não conseguirá substituir a perda de trabalhadores por automação e ganhos de eficiência.* ### Corrupção e Instabilidade Política - O Brasil ocupa a 94ª posição no Índice de Percepção da Corrupção, dificultando reformas. - Ranking de Facilidade para Fazer Negócios: 124º lugar (de 190 países). - Fonte: Transparência Internacional, Banco Mundial *A falta de reformas estruturais impedirá qualquer solução para a crise demográfica.* --- ## O Brasil Caminha para o Declínio O bônus demográfico do Brasil acabou, e os efeitos serão devastadores. O país não tem produtividade, investimentos ou governança eficiente para lidar com o envelhecimento populacional. Sem uma força de trabalho jovem, sem inovação tecnológica e com um sistema previdenciário insustentável, o Brasil enfrentará estagnação econômica e perda de competitividade global. *É impossível ser otimista sobre o futuro do Brasil.*

Nassim Nicholas Taleb writes: `“We cannot explain everything. We know more about what something is not than what something is. If there would have been no word for colour blue, it would still have existed in reality. It would only have been absent in linguistics. But since we don’t have a word for it, we couldn’t define or comprehend it. But we still could say what it is not. It is not orange. It’s not an elephant, etc. This method of knowledge is truer and more rigorous than positive knowledge.”` In this article, I introduce practical examples of how to apply via negativa to various systems. Recommended reading is [Antifragile](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/176227/antifragile-by-nassim-nicholas-taleb/) by N. N. Taleb. The basic template is as follows: ## What is ____ **not**? Let's start with something every human should be familiar with - food. ### Food Take hot pockets. Is hot pockets food?  What is not food? To answer this question, let's examine the contents of hot pockets.  There seem to be chemistry lab sounding ingredients ("MEDIUM CHAIN TRIGLYCERIES", "SODIUM STEAROYL LACTYLATE"), as well as food items that your great-great-great-great-great-great grandma cooked with ("SALT", "BEEF" etc.) So What happens when we apply via negativa to the ingredients? From 30 "ingredients" we deduce a couple foood items, or a ~90% reduction in "ingredients" by eliminating processed food slop.  meat good  bread yum ### Free Discourse Take the social media platform X.  X consists of: leased identity, censored speech, and a tech platform for discourse. On the roadmap is social media score that will be used to determine if you can pay your bills when X launches its' bank. What is free discourse not? Removing the ingredient of WEF,  KYC lease hell  and censorship  we receive nostr . [Nostr](https://fiatjaf.com/nostr.html), to my best understanding, is not a WEF globo-homo participant, does not lease identities, and it is that much more difficult to censor wrongspeak (e.g. Netanyahu and friends are commiting genocide, and wanted as war criminals; there are two genders; there is no climate crisis; Ivermectin works). ## Automobiles Modern automobiles can be summed up in two words: "safety", and constant surveillance. Yes, advancements in safety are great - e.g. airbags, seatbelts, car frames that absorb impact energy. However the "its for your safety" component of remote shutdown, remote control, location data selling to data brokers, insurance agents, and your local surveillance outfit is gulag tech. !(image)[https://image.nostr.build/15befd30113614dad3fd7aac01b8771b95bd8ace9186ed4f8016eec6e886e969.jpg] So what happens when we remove the gulag tech out of cars? That is, what is *not* a car? Let's use the following definition of car: ``` A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels ``` Let's use the following definition of gulag: ``` The Gulag is recognized as a major instrument of political repression in the Soviet Union. ``` You get the [2024 Toyota Land Cruiser](https://youtu.be/5WHzKNi2ojY). No gulag. Airbags. Push and turn knobs. No spying, no remote control, no cameras, no satellite, no bluetooth, no wi-fi. As an aside, it is practically impossible to import this car to the US. It's "for your safety", and "for the environment", of course. !(image)[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a1/Toyota_Land_Cruiser_16.09.20_JM_%283%29_%28cropped%29.jpg/800px-Toyota_Land_Cruiser_16.09.20_JM_%283%29_%28cropped%29.jpg]?20210328155727 Toyota Landcruiser HZJ-79 Double Cab, Johannes Maximilian `https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Toyota_Land_Cruiser_16.09.20_JM_(3)_(cropped).jpg).` Hopefully this guide has been helpful illustrating how simple and powerful it is to apply the Via Negativa approach. Mr. Taleb, I commend you on speaking out on the Palestine genocide. I invite you to and hope one day you join anti-fragile nostr.

## **It Begins with a Click** It starts with a click: *“Do you agree to our terms and conditions?”*\ You scroll, you click, you comply. A harmless act, right? But what if every click was a surrender? What if every "yes" was another link in the chain binding you to a life where freedom requires approval? This is the age of permission. Every aspect of your life is mediated by gatekeepers. Governments demand forms, corporations demand clicks, and algorithms demand obedience. You’re free, of course, as long as you play by the rules. But who writes the rules? Who decides what’s allowed? Who owns your life? --- ## **Welcome to Digital Serfdom** We once imagined the internet as a digital frontier—a vast, open space where ideas could flow freely and innovation would know no bounds. But instead of creating a decentralized utopia, we built a new feudal system. - Your data? Owned by the lords of Big Tech. - Your money? Controlled by banks and bureaucrats who can freeze it on a whim. - Your thoughts? Filtered by algorithms that reward conformity and punish dissent. The modern internet is a land of serfs and lords, and guess who’s doing the farming? You. Every time you agree to the terms, accept the permissions, or let an algorithm decide for you, you till the fields of a system designed to control, not liberate. They don’t call it control, of course. They call it *“protection.”* They say, “We’re keeping you safe,” as they build a cage so big you can’t see the bars. --- ## **Freedom in Chains** But let’s be honest: we’re not just victims of this system—we’re participants. We’ve traded freedom for convenience, sovereignty for security. It’s easier to click “I Agree” than to read the fine print. It’s easier to let someone else hold your money than to take responsibility for it yourself. It’s easier to live a life of quiet compliance than to risk the chaos of true independence. We tell ourselves it’s no big deal. What’s one click? What’s one form? But the permissions pile up. The chains grow heavier. And one day, you wake up and realize you’re free to do exactly what the system allows—and nothing more. --- ## **The Great Unpermissioning** It doesn’t have to be this way. You don’t need their approval. You don’t need their systems. You don’t need their permission. The Great Unpermissioning is not a movement—it’s a mindset. It’s the refusal to accept a life mediated by gatekeepers. It’s the quiet rebellion of saying, *“No.”* It’s the realization that the freedom you seek won’t be granted—it must be reclaimed. - **Stop asking.** Permission is their tool. Refusal is your weapon. - **Start building.** Embrace tools that decentralize power: Bitcoin, encryption, open-source software, decentralized communication. Build systems they can’t control. - **Stand firm.** They’ll tell you it’s dangerous. They’ll call you a radical. But remember: the most dangerous thing you can do is comply. The path won’t be easy. Freedom never is. But it will be worth it. --- ## **The New Frontier** The age of permission has turned us into digital serfs, but there’s a new frontier on the horizon. It’s a world where you control your money, your data, your decisions. It’s a world of encryption, anonymity, and sovereignty. It’s a world built not on permission but on principles. This world won’t be given to you. You have to build it. You have to fight for it. And it starts with one simple act: refusing to comply. --- ## **A Final Word** They promised us safety, but what they delivered was submission. The age of permission has enslaved us to the mundane, the monitored, and the mediocre. The Great Unpermissioning isn’t about tearing down the old world—it’s about walking away from it. You don’t need to wait for their approval. You don’t need to ask for their permission. The freedom you’re looking for is already yours. Permission is their power—refusal is yours.

We live in a world where the advances in modern medicine are heralded as achievements beyond our wildest dreams. Science is truly amazing and will continue to propel human life forward in tremendous ways. However, our journey as scientific healers is in its extreme infancy, and what we see as medicine today will be interpreted as primitive in the decades or centuries to come. I think there is already an aspect of medicine that is incredibly underrepresented, an aspect of human health that many still ignore; the recognition of the integral relationship between the body and mind. Starting with my interest in the health benefits of mindfulness meditation, I have found that the body, its organs, and its systems are all incredibly interconnected to our mind and experience of consciousness. We often perceive each organ as separate and independent piece of our complicated “machine”, but this is far from the truth. For example, the gut affects the state of the mind, mental health translates into physical health, physical health translates back into mental health, etc. I tend to imagine the body as more of a soup, where everything is just a fluid flowing around, and a change in one area causes a ripple that influences everywhere else. Understanding the entire ecosystem, and how it functions to maintain balance, is at the heart of having true understanding of our own bodies, health, and how to obtain satisfaction in life. These ideas are rooted in core philosophies of eastern medicine, yet our western society often disregards these practices as pseudoscience and unfounded. As science matures, and more research is conducted, this naivety diminishes. It is my hope to share some scientific research that highlights how interconnected all the systems are, to explain the importance and scientific validly of holistic health. This article will provide a brief introduction to these topics. It will be the intent of this entire blog to further develop upon these ideas, as time continues to flow. To begin, discussion of gut health, microbiota, and how it interacts with the brain is a sure way to articulate the beauty of our inner ecosystem. Many have heard the phrase “you are what you eat”. The cells from the food we consume become the cells that make our body, but this is an extreme oversimplification. Our gut is composed of more than just the organs and juices that process our food. It is also home to 300-500 bacterial species called microbiota (Quigley, 2010). These foreign species that live inside of us, come from the foods we eat, and they have a profound impact on our physical and mental health. A healthy colony of microbiota in our gut wall is essential for selectively allowing nutrients into our systems, while keeping other more harmful molecules such as pathogens out (Househam et al., 2017). Therefore, a healthy microbiota population has a severe impact on immune health. Additionally, microbiota, via the vagus nerve, may have influence over our dietary behavior (Alcock et al., 2014). For example, people who desire chocolate and those who are indifferent to it seem to have different microbiota (Rezzi et al., 2007). Other examples, from mice studies, have shown different mood styles depending on the food given (Bercik et al., 2011). Decreasing stress through probiotics (foods containing gut bacteria) in humans has also been achieved (Messaoudi et al., 2011). So, on top of affecting our immune health, our gut bacteria colony seems to affect our mind by both influencing what we want to eat and our mood. This is a clear example of how the body affects the mind. Not to mention, our mind obviously makes choices in what we eat. Therefore, our mind also affects our body. Hopefully this illustrates the cyclical nature of the influence our mind and body have on each other. Perhaps this also sparks interest in having more attention over our own diets. I know it has for me. The gut is not the only body part to have this type of relationship with the mind; our heart does as well. The brain has dramatic influence over the heart. Our nervous system contains the autonomic nervous system, and within it are two branches: the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The sympathetic nervous system induces the “fight or flight” response, which increases heart rate. The parasympathetic is the opposite and slows heart rate. The heart is continuously receiving signals from both branches and changes its pace accordingly (Armour, 1994). The cardiovascular system also has its own set of sensory neurons, so that it can regulate its pace on its own (Armour, 1994). It is a vital organ for life, and therefore must have robust communication back and forth between itself and the brain, to maintain proper functionality and harmony between the two major systems. This is in part why the heart and cardiovascular systems relay more information to the brain than any other organ in the body (Cameron, 2002). Additionally, this means that its influence over the brain is significant. It seems obvious that our emotional state can influence heart rate. When we get scared or nervous, our heart rate increases. This is something we have all experienced. However, heart rate not only represents our emotional states, but it can also determine them (Mccraty et al., 2009). Many of the afferent neurons sending signals from the heart to the brain innervate with the brain’s thalamus, hypothalamus, and amygdala, which all play a role in emotional processing (Mccraty et al., 2009). More evidence for this theory is found in research that shows panic is frequently generated after unrecognized cardiac arrhythmia (Mccraty et al., 2009). Not only does the mind influence the heart, but so does the heart influence the mind, likely in ways that we do not fully comprehend yet. Nonetheless, I hope it is becoming clear that our mind not only influences the activity of organs, but these organs also influence the mind and brain. Therefore, there seems to be a cyclical interaction and communication between our brain and body that is constantly at work. In which case, the brain is the body, and the body is the brain. It is one giant ecosystem influencing and reacting to itself. A practice that seems to properly highlight the significance of the mind body relationship is meditation. Meditation can be thought of as both a physical and mental activity. It is mental in the sense that it involves a practice of processing all incoming thoughts, feelings, and emotions in a nonjudgmental way to learn to dereify thoughts (to learn that thoughts are not a part of reality)(Wielgosz et al., 2019). Additionally, it incorporates a physical aspect of breath work. Advanced meditators seem to commonly arrive at a calm breathing frequency of 8 breaths / minute (0.13Hz) (Cysarz &amp; Büssing, 2005), suggesting that the process of meditation leads to certain breathing patterns. Of course, meditation can become even more physical within the practice that we commonly refer to as yoga, Tai Chi （太极）, or Qi Gong (气功). These practices involve a certain orientation to the body and present moments that promote mindfulness. The mental practice of mindfulness and meditation seem to lead to very healthy mental outcomes. For example, large meta-analysis studies have found that mindfulness-based practices lead to decreased ruminations, stress, anxiety (Greeson et al., 2018; Querstret et al., 2020). These poor mental habits are highly correlated to a wandering mind that is time traveling to the past and future. Mindfulness meditation is amazingly helpful in alleviating these psychological burdens by creating a practice of keeping the mind present. Furthermore, this field of practice not only affects the mind, but also the body. For example, there has been research to suggest that pranayama breathing may aid in the alleviation of asthmatic symptoms (Agnihotri et al., 2016; Jayawardena et al., 2020; Saxena &amp; Saxena, 2009). The main theory behind how meditation leads to all the physical and mental benefits comes from the idea that meditation may increase vagus nerve tone. If this is true, then it has profound implications on the relationship between the mind and body. The vagus nerve is the longest nerve in the body (Bonaz et al., 2017), and is the main nerve for the parasympathetic nervous system. The activation of that nerve alters the state of most organs and systems throughout the body via promoting parasympathetic activity. Given our modern stressful lives, this is something our body is in dire need of. If the practice of meditation, which is largely mental, is truly capable of influencing the activation of this nerve, then the interplay between mind and body should be taken very seriously from a health care point of view. If science continues to promote this finding, then meditation could potentially be one of the most powerful ways we can promote health within ourselves. Much of this blog will be devoted to the pursuit of the understanding of how the mind and body is related. How is the mind, our experience, and perception of world dictated by both our mental and physical habits? Additionally, how do physical habits influence the mind? Together, we can slowly learn how the body and mind work in a holistic manner, to gain more control over our health and well-being. I look forward to this journey of inquiry, and I hope you will join me on it. References Agnihotri, S., Kant, S., Mishra, S. K., & Singh, R. (2016). Efficacy of yoga in mild to moderate persistent chronic bronchial asthma. Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge, 15(2), 337–340. Alcock, J., Maley, C. C., & Aktipis, C. A. (2014). Is eating behavior manipulated by the gastrointestinal microbiota? Evolutionary pressures and potential mechanisms. BioEssays, 36(10), 940–949. https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.201400071 Armour, J. A. (1994). The role of peripheral autonomic neurons in cardiac regulation. Neurocardiology, 219–244. https://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/10025731968 Bercik, P., Denou, E., Collins, J., Jackson, W., Lu, J., Jury, J., Deng, Y., Blennerhassett, P., MacRi, J., McCoy, K. D., Verdu, E. F., & Collins, S. M. (2011). The intestinal microbiota affect central levels of brain-derived neurotropic factor and behavior in mice. Gastroenterology, 141(2), 599–609. https://doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2011.04.052 Bonaz, B., Sinniger, V., & Pellissier, S. (2017). The vagus nerve in the neuro-immune axis: Implications in the pathology of the gastrointestinal tract. In Frontiers in Immunology (Vol. 8, Issue NOV, p. 1452). Frontiers Media S.A. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2017.01452 Cameron, O. G. (2002). Visceral Sensory Neuroscience: Interoception. In Oxford University Press. Oxford University Press. Cysarz, D., & Büssing, A. (2005). Cardiorespiratory synchronization during Zen meditation. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 95(1), 88–95. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-005-1379-3 Greeson, J. M., Zarrin, H., Smoski, M. J., Brantley, J. G., Lynch, T. R., Webber, D. M., Hall, M. H., Suarez, E. C., & Wolever, R. Q. (2018). Mindfulness Meditation Targets Transdiagnostic Symptoms Implicated in Stress-Related Disorders: Understanding Relationships between Changes in Mindfulness, Sleep Quality, and Physical Symptoms. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/4505191 Househam, A. M., Christine, ;, Peterson, T., Mills, P. J., & Chopra, D. (2017). The Effects of Stress and Meditation on the Immune System, Human Microbiota, and Epigenetics. Jayawardena, R., Ranasinghe, P., Ranawaka, H., Gamage, N., Dissanayake, D., & Misra, A. (2020). Exploring the therapeutic benefits of “Pranayama” (yogic breathing): A systematic review. International Journal of Yoga, 13(2), 99. https://doi.org/10.4103/ijoy.ijoy_37_19 Mccraty, R., Atkinson, M., Tomasino, D., & Bradley, R. T. (2009). The Coherent Heart Heart-Brain Interactions, Psychophysiological Coherence, and the Emergence of System-Wide Order. In REVIEW December (Vol. 5, Issue 2). Messaoudi, M., Lalonde, R., Violle, N., Javelot, H., Desor, D., Nejdi, A., Bisson, J. F., Rougeot, C., Pichelin, M., Cazaubiel, M., & Cazaubiel, J. M. (2011). Assessment of psychotropic-like properties of a probiotic formulation (Lactobacillus helveticus R0052 and Bifidobacterium longum R0175) in rats and human subjects. British Journal of Nutrition, 105(5), 755–764. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007114510004319 Querstret, D., Morison, L., Dickinson, S., Cropley, M., & John, M. (2020). Mindfulness-based stress reduction and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for psychological health and well-being in nonclinical samples: A systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Stress Management, 27(4), 394–411. https://doi.org/10.1037/str0000165 Quigley, E. M. M. (2010). Prebiotics and probiotics; modifying and mining the microbiota. In Pharmacological Research (Vol. 61, Issue 3, pp. 213–218). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phrs.2010.01.004 Rezzi, S., Ramadan, Z., Martin, F. P. J., Fay, L. B., van Bladeren, P., Lindon, J. C., Nicholson, J. K., & Kochhar, S. (2007). Human metabolic phenotypes link directly to specific dietary preferences in healthy individuals. Journal of Proteome Research, 6(11), 4469–4477. https://doi.org/10.1021/pr070431h Saxena, T., & Saxena, M. (2009). The effect of various breathing exercises (pranayama) in patients with bronchial asthma of mild to moderate severity. International Journal of Yoga, 2(1), 22. https://doi.org/10.4103/0973-6131.53838 Wielgosz, J., Goldberg, S. B., Kral, T. R. A., Dunne, J. D., & Davidson, R. J. (2019). Mindfulness Meditation and Psychopathology. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 15(1), 285–316. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-021815-093423

Hey sn! Does anybody know what's the best open source CPU mining software for someone who is not a rocket surgeon? I'm looking for something to run on an old desktop with a burnt-out hard drive. Ideally: 1. Not Nice-hash or anything else like that, open source, "the real deal" 2. Easy to set up, I mean within reason, I'm not THAT dumb 3. bitcoin, not looking to secure the Monero network or anything silly like that I know that this is looking like a tall order, but I'm finding a lot on github, and am hoping one of you knows which one of these programs fit these criteria. If nice-hash can do it, I know the open source world can too. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/849909

When we consider the intrinsic value of Bitcoin, we often compare it to traditional currencies like the dollar, euro or other fiat currencies. However, the dollar isn't real in the sense that it's not physical. It's more of an abstract concept backed by government trust rather than tangible assets. Take, for example, valuing a horse in ancient China, where silver was the standard. If we knew how much silver was in a "tael" - an ancient Chinese measure of weight - we could truly grasp the economic value of horse in that era. Similarly, in ancient Rome around 44 BCE, you might ponder how much a gladiator's armor cost in denarii. What's a denarius? But if we knew how much gold was in a denarius, we'd have a clear measure of its worth. Both these examples from history illustrate that value was once tied to tangible assets like gold or silver, rather than abstract numbers. Bitcoin's value, therefore, isn't best captured by its price in dollars because dollars aren't physical, they're more like abstract entries in a ledger. Instead, Bitcoin's true "price" should be measured by the physical work, or energy, represented by its hash rate - the computational power used to mine each block. A hash isn't just a digital number; it's a measure of energy consumption, giving us a more concrete indication of Bitcoin's cost in real terms. At Bitcoin's creation with the genesis block, the hash-to-satoshi ratio was about 1 (0.8 to be precise), highlighting the minimal computational complexity required for early mining. Now, with mining difficulty at around **109.78 trillion**, and having undergone three halvings (2^3 = 8), this ratio has jumped to approximately **702 trillion hashes per satoshi**. This is calculated as: - **Current Mining Difficulty** x 0.8 (the initial hash rate) x 8 (due to three halvings) = 109.78 trillion x 0.8 x 8 = approximately 702 trillion hashes per satoshi. This calculation overlooks the additional revenue miners gain from transaction fees, which, while significant, does not drastically alter the fundamental relationship between hashes and satoshis in this simplified model. **Why Hashes Over Dollars?** - **Energy as Currency**: Just as silver in ancient China or gold in Rome was a measure of wealth due to their scarcity and the effort involved in mining them, Bitcoin's value can be seen through the energy it consumes. Mining Bitcoin means solving complex mathematical problems, requiring vast amounts of energy. This energy use is directly proportional to the number of hashes performed. - **Security and Trust**: The hash rate symbolizes the security of the Bitcoin network. The higher the number of hashes needed to mine a block, the more secure the network is against attacks, much like the security derived from the rarity and difficulty of mining gold or silver. - **Decentralization and Proof-of-Work:** Unlike the geographical and economic centralization inherent to gold or silver mining, Bitcoin's mining operates on a fundamentally decentralized model, with computational resources distributed globally. Each hash performed in the proof-of-work process reinforces the blockchain's security, ensuring the immutability and trustworthiness of transactions while mitigating the risks of single points of failure or centralized control. - **Inflation and Scarcity**: Just as gold or silver's value was influenced by their scarcity during ancient times, Bitcoin's value in hashes reflects its programmed scarcity in the modern digital era. With a cap at 21 million bitcoins, each hash becomes more significant as the network grows, mirroring how each ounce of gold or silver was once precious in ancient economies. A hash represents a tangible physical process, consuming energy to be generated. Therefore, it's more insightful to express Bitcoin's value in terms of hashes per bitcoin—comparing the computational effort and energy expended in mining to the Bitcoin rewards earned through that process. While Bitcoin is frequently evaluated in terms of its dollar price, its intrinsic value is more accurately reflected in the metric of hashes per bitcoin. This measure encapsulates the computational effort and energy expenditure required for mining, underscoring Bitcoin's unique nature as a digital asset intrinsically tied to tangible, real, and energy-based costs. By anchoring its valuation to the immutable principles of thermodynamic expenditure, Bitcoin transcends the transient and inflationary characteristics of fiat currency, aligning its worth with the enduring physicality of energy—whether from the labor-intensive extraction of ancient minerals or the vast computational networks powering modern cryptographic systems.

I feel fabulously free, I deleted TikTok. I am spending less time on my phone and more time developing Onboard60. I never expected to go from the Metaverse to A.I. healthcare and NFCC medical bracelets. I was on Vine, Twitter back in 2009… I went from 8 second nonsensical videos and funny tweets to diving deeper down any rabbit hole I ever imagined. In 2016, I heard a little noise about Bitcoin and I haven’t gotten off the rollercoaster of a merry go round yet. If you know, you know. I found Nostr awhile ago but I’m no maxi, I’m curious. I learned about different things pertaining to blockchain and cryptocurrency, social media and protocols. I kept journals of my fears and conferences I experienced and published them as my first years behind the scenes of a senior citizen diving deep into the unknowns. Someone had to tell me I was a senior citizen. I’m 64 now , that was four years ago. Since then I took a crazy idea and started Onboard60. I created a curriculum for myself. For years I have learned a variety of subjects. I took the basics and made a cliff note booklet - Web3 1101 for Seniors. I didn’t want to be left behind so I learned Spatial and created an auditorium, an art gallery and an office. It was my attempt to get senior citizens involved to connect with their grandkids in virtual reality like Roblox. Over the years, I’ve written articles on Substack sharing my journey, and sporadically posted on Zentaurios. I remember writing on YakiHonne when I first discovered it. Onboard60 has become more than what I ever thought it would be, as I started just sharing my journey in hopes others would join me. I hoped senior citizens would be interested in learning how to put their trust funds, H.O.A.s, POLSTs and other senior citizen documents on chain. The past four years, nothing until I speak of medical bracelets. I do not mention BitDoctor AI or mirrors that do body scans. Bracelets, I speak bracelets. The focus is to keep senior citizens up to date with new technologies that focus on improving their quality of life. Finding YakiHonne again is refreshing. The esthetics clean, seemless cross posting, and better options for posting. Soft landing. I have learned a lot over the years, experiencing this space becoming , watching protocols grow, some platforms fizzle, creating a new world isn’t easy. I’m enjoying being a mermaid in Monniverse community on Farcaster, not Farcaster itself but enjoy being a mermaid. Monniverse is a decentralized animation production company. I’m learning how to use the image generator and like the global reach. I have compromised on so many social media sites just to be on them. I still frequent Twitter Onboard60, and have my old Vine group on Instagram. I spend time on Lens mostly. I use traditional media to share Onboard60 - LinkedIn and YouTube for Onboard60. I am creating a digital replica of all the information, subjects, videos, content that I created as Onboard60. I hope to keep it updated as times goes forward. I’m going to use my guide to IRL events at Blockchain Miami in a few weeks, WAGMI MIAMI. After so many conferences and events, I had to write down a step by step how to get through these and follow up after. They can be overwhelming and I needed a way to decompress. My guide helps me. I seem to be rambling. I don’t have a purpose or any value to share with this article, I just wanted to share my thoughts for now, walking into 2025. Sandra ,Samm,Sababa Onboard60, founder