-
@ 85bdb587:7339d672
2025-02-12 15:24:11
## Chart of the Day
While this is a bitcoin focused rag, I think it is important for any of you who read this to begin paying attention to gold markets if you haven't already. There has been an ongoing exodus of physical gold from London vaults and a rapid acceleration of gold being moved to the three biggest vaults in the United States in recent weeks. More gold has flooded into the US vaults over the first two months of this year than at the peak of the flight to safety during the beginning of the COVID lock downs.
This is particularly perplexing considering the fact that equities are flat or up on the year, depending on the index you like to follow. Gold outperformed the S&P 500 significantly in 2024 and its momentum hasn't slowed down a bit in 2025 as the precious metal consistently hits new all time highs. The current correlation to the S&P 500 has only happened two times in history; right now and October of 2007.
Institutional investors and nation states are piling into gold at an unprecedented pace. This signals that they are preparing for something to break. The catalysts for the exodus of gold from London to the US and from paper gold to physical gold are fears over Trump's tariffs, institutions and governments preparing for a potential monetary reset, and fears of a looming liquidity crisis as liquidity in the reverse repo market dries up. Uncertainty and chaos rule the day and we are witnessing a flight to safety.
Many of you are probably asking, "Why isn't bitcoin moving?!" That's a good question. Considering everything mentioned above one would think that bitcoin would be on the move toward new all time highs as well. Having been following bitcoin for twelve years your Uncle Marty has developed some pattern recognition when it comes to this market. Upward bitcoin price movements typically happen in a staircase fashion. Meaning that it trends up and to the right over the long-run with quick bursts to higher levels followed by small corrections and consolidation periods. If I had to guess, we are currently in a consolidation period that should come to an end at some point in the next few months. In recent years, gold has moved higher first and bitcoin has followed. Typically outperforming gold significantly. I find it hard to believe that this relationship is going to end any time soon. Especially considering the geopolitical and economic backdrop.
## Luke Gromen Warns Bitcoin Holders: Historical Currency Revaluations Show Speed Matters
During my recent conversation with Luke Gromen, he raised a sobering point about the velocity of monetary regime changes. Drawing from historical examples, including a Ukrainian family who saw their savings devalue from "five cars to one month's groceries" over a single weekend, Luke emphasized that Americans are uniquely blind to how quickly these transitions can occur. The current stress in our financial system - from Treasury market dynamics to global trade tensions - suggests we're approaching a similar inflection point.
*"What if they do it on Friday night like they did with Trump coin and you wake up and gold's up 1,000% by the time you're up on Saturday morning, what are you going to do? You're going to sell your bonds and buy gold on Saturday?"* - Luke Gromen
This warning shouldn't be taken lightly. Those waiting for clear signals before acquiring bitcoin may find themselves locked out of the transition entirely. Luke's analysis suggests that rather than a gradual shift, we're more likely to see a compressed timeframe where major monetary changes happen over days or weeks, not months or years. The recent Trump coin phenomenon, while different in nature, demonstrates how quickly markets can move when sentiment shifts dramatically.
TLDR: Major monetary changes happen fast - don't wait to stack sats.
Check out the full podcast [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCeWQHATWYU&t=61s&ab_channel=TFTC&ref=tftc.io) for more on DeepSeek's impact on AI markets, Colombia's trade negotiations, and Scott Percent's three arrows for economic reform.
## Headlines of the Day
U.S. Faces $1.67B Annual Cost Spike on Single Bond Rollover - via [X](https://x.com/TFTC21/status/1889454272842268982)
BlackRock: Bitcoin is Monetary Hedge, Ethereum is Tech Play - via [X](https://x.com/BitcoinNewsCom/status/1889396849880268814)
Lummis: SBR Could Slash U.S. Debt by 50% in Two Decades - via [X](https://x.com/cryptonwsuk/status/1888565117047951869)
Fold Launches Bitcoin Rewards Visa Credit Card - via [Business Wire](https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250211765772/en/Fold-Launches-Revolutionary-Bitcoin-Rewards-Visa-Credit-Card)
Obscura VPN launches with a MacOS product - via [nobsbitcoin.com](https://www.nobsbitcoin.com/obscura-vpn-is-now-available-on-macos/)
## Bitcoin Lesson of the Day
The SegWit (Segregated Witness) upgrade in August 2017 made two key changes to Bitcoin. First, it moved transaction signatures to a separate part of the data, fixing "transaction malleability" by preventing nodes from modifying transaction IDs. Second, it increased effective block capacity by introducing "weight units" that gave signature data a 75% discount, allowing blocks to grow from 1MB to about 1.8MB.
As a "soft fork," SegWit remained compatible with older Bitcoin software. The upgrade activated at block 481,824 after 95% of miners signaled support. This approach allowed Bitcoin to increase capacity and fix technical issues while maintaining network compatibility.
[SegWit - Learnmeabitcoin.com](https://learnmeabitcoin.com/beginners/guide/segwit/?ref=tftc.io)
ICYMI Fold opened the waiting list for the new Bitcoin Rewards Credit Card. Fold cardholders will get unlimited 2% cash back in sats.
[Get on the waiting list now](https://foldapp.com/credit-card?r=BgwRS) before it fills up!
$200k worth of prizes are up for grabs
.
The Fold Bitcoin Rewards Credit Card waitlist is live!
*Ten31, the largest bitcoin-focused investor, has deployed $150M across 30+ companies through three funds. I am a Managing Partner at Ten31 and am very proud of the work we are doing. Learn more at ten31.vc/funds.*
Subscribe to our YouTube channels and follow us on Nostr and X:
[TFTC YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/tftc21)
[Bitcoin Brief YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@BTCBrief)
[TFTC on Nostr](https://primal.net/tftc)
[TFTC on X](https://x.com/tftc21)
-
@ 94a6a78a:0ddf320e
2025-02-12 15:05:48
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-
@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3
2025-02-12 14:36:40
Here are today's picks using my proprietary betting strategy at [Freebitcoin](https://freebitco.in/?r=51325722). For details about what Risk Balanced Odds Arbitrage is and why it works see https://stacker.news/items/342765/r/Undisciplined.
For a hypothetical 1k-ish wager on each match, distribute your sats as follows:
| Outcome 1 | Outcome 2 | Outcome 3 | Bet 1 | Bet 2 | Bet 3 |
|--------------|-------------|--------------|-------|-------|-------|
| Juventus| Inter Milan| Draw | 294| 435| 303|
| Tottenham| Man United| Draw | 406| 357| 266|
| Liverpool| Wolves| Draw | 833| 67| 125|
| Valladolid| Sevilla| Draw | 222| 500| 289|
| Real Betis| Real Sociedad| Draw | 393| 321| 313|
| Osasuna| Real Madrid| Draw | 174| 619| 227|
| Barcelona| Rayo Vallecano| Draw | 818| 80| 133|
| Atletico Madrid| Celta Vigo| Draw | 692| 118| 217|
I'll be curious to see how @Coinsreporter does with his modified RBOA.
On the most recently completed sets of RBOA, I lost 700 sats on about 50k wagered. I'm not sure if that's just normal variance or if it's due to matches not being posted as far in advance, which reduces the early mover bonus.
I still haven't precisely identified where the threshold is, but it might be worth skipping any of these with a "time weight multiplier" lower than 90.
----------
A note of caution about Freebitcoin: they recorded the wrong outcome for last week's Bills vs Ravens game and as of yet have not corrected it. I recall one other instance of something similar happening, so proceed with caution.
This RBOA strategy is largely immune from that problem, but be aware of it when just betting on one outcome.
originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/883708
-
@ 2180de5b:54d6cba3
2025-02-12 14:14:12
Open Source Culture represents the simple idea that ideas are free. That information yearns to be free. We acknowledge that copyright laws are unsuitable for a world that’s highly digitized; where content and information are, and should be, abundant and readily available for anyone.
If the information you have is truly valuable for the world, then you do not sell it. You give it away for free. You let it do the good that it can in the world, and know that both yourself and others will be rewarded for it.
If you create content that can be digitally distributed and you charge people before accessing your content, then that tells me that you are actually uncertain of the value of your work. Why? Because if you were certain that whatever it is you are trying to sell had any substantial worth, then you would trust these people to pay you in one way or the other, retroactively. The distinction between *price* and *value* is critical in this framework because, as Jeff Booth succinctly said: “*Prices fall to the marginal cost of production.*” The marginal cost of production for digital data is already effectively zero and it is getting exponentially cheaper day by day. That has nothing to do with the *value* of the very same data, though. Prices are mere agreements. Value is innate.
“*Value for value*” is real, it's based on trust and abundance, which are both lacking in a society built on fiat money and perceived scarcity, which is why I understand the skepticism behind those ideas and a propensity to put a price tag on everything.
Copyright laws are not useful for us anymore at a time when we are moving towards abundance. Digital scarcity only makes sense in digital money, not information.
*First mover advantage* is the only real intellectual property right. In another sense, bitcoin is the only real intellectual property anyway. It’s the only thing that’s scarce. All the rest of it can be as abundant as we let it be.
"Intellectual property" are, after all, mere ideas and no one can "own" ideas.
Copyright laws are nothing else than an impediment to creativity and a gatekeeper to knowledge. Charging money for information, which in digital form is near-free to store and transfer, might as well be considered a form of usury.
We shall free information and with it, we will free creativity, discourse, innovation, imagination, cooperation; and, in its totality, nothing less than the human spirit itself.
*Written by Kontext*
*Published: block height 883,435*
*Download the .PDF: [https://satosh.ee/product/open-source-culture-manifesto/](https://satosh.ee/product/open-source-culture-manifesto/)*
-
@ c4b5369a:b812dbd6
2025-02-12 12:23:40
### Unidirectional payment channels revisited
#### Nodeless lightning - Reduce ecash mints custodial risk
---
### Sats N Facts
The nostr:npub1yrnuj56rnen08zp2h9h7p74ghgjx6ma39spmpj6w9hzxywutevsst7k5cx unconference has just wrapped up. And what a blast it was. In the heart of northern Thailand, developers, researchers, content creators and more, came together to share ideas on how Bitcoin, Nostr and other free protocols are being used everyday to liberate people.
Not only were stories shared from different community leaders on how embracing bitcoin has empowered them and their communities, but a big goal of the unconference was to bring bitcoin engineers and developers from various domains together in one room, unstructured, chaotic, and let them do their thing.
At first, I thought not having a schedule might be boring, but oh boy was I wrong. There was so much stuff going on, it was hard to choose which session I would have to miss!
### Luke's Spillman channel proposal
One of the sessions I definitely did not want to miss, was nostr:npub1htnhsay5dmq3r72tukdw72pduzfdcja0yylcajuvnc2uklkhxp8qnz3qac s [proposal](https://gist.github.com/lukechilds/307341239beac72c9d8cfe3198f9bfff)
> Ecash mints funded with Spillman channels: The ultimate nodeless Lightning wallet
.
In true unconference fashion, he announced in the main room that the session was about to start, and that the people that are interested should meet him in the whiteboard corner in 10 minutes. The corner was packed, and Luke explained his proposal.
### What's a "[Spillman channel](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Payment_channels#Spillman-style_payment_channels)"?
Essentially when we are talking about Spillman channels, what is meant are unidirectional payment channels (or [CLTV-style channels](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Payment_channels#CLTV-style_payment_channels)). An unidirectional payment channel means, only one party can send payments, but not receive, and the other party can only receive, but not send. They also expire after a predetermined amount of time, and must be closed.
At first glance, this might look kinda stupid. After all, we have [Poon-Dryja channels](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Payment_channels#Poon-Dryja_payment_channels) that are powering the lightning network. They are bi-directional, do not expire, and can be used to shuffle coins back and forth theorethically an unlimited amount of times.
So, why bother with this stupid one-way channel?
### Simplicity is king
People that have worked with lightning channels can sing you a song about complexity, state handling and risks about the current state of bidirectional payment channels. Essentially, There are a lot of requirements on both channel parties when it comes to Liveness (being online) and also state handling (continuous backups).
In some cases, especially when in the context of end-users wanting to perform payments on their mobile phone, they would appreciate it if there was not so much complexity and overhead involved.
The gist of the idea is to combine unidirectional channels and ecash mints to achieve the following:
A self custodial unidirectional payment channel to an ecash mint, massively reducing the senders liveness and state handling requirements when compared to a lightning channel. Sending payments through the mint will be done through swapping some of the channel balance for ecash tokens. At this point, the user is trusting the mint to honor the redemption of these tokens, while the remaining channel balance remains in self custody. This gives them better controll over their funds than just holding their entire balance custodied in the mint. The ecash tokens can then be redeemed to pay a lightning invoice, just the same as it is done now with normal cashu mints.
So this channel, that has no liveness or state management requirements for the sender, and must have a pre-defined close time, seems to be a perfect fit for the following usecase:
1. A `sender` receives his salary once a month. He opens a channel that is valid for one month.
2. The `sender` then can do his daily spending over this channel. He only trusts the `mint` with the amount for the current outgoing payment while it is swapped for ecash, waiting for redemption.
3. If the `sender` must receive funds (a refund for example), he can do so into the `mints` custody, by receiving ecash. He can spend his ecash funds first when doing his next payment, to reduce his custodial exposure.
4. When the channel expires, or runs out of funds, the `mint` closes the channel.
From a consumer perspective, that just want to receive his salary and make frequent payments afterwards, this usecase seems to make a lot of sense. Obviously from a merchants perspective on the other hand, such a channel doesn't really work. But that's fine, it's not the problem we're trying to solve here.
What do you think of this idea? Be sure to let me know in the comments!
In the next article, we will dive into how such a system can be implemented today, using Bitcoin, Cashu and Lightning. We will also discover how the system can be improved, to make channels non-expiring (A collaborative idea between nostr:npub148jz5r9xujcjpqygk69yl4jqwjqmzgrqly26plktfjy8g4t7xaysj9xhgp and nostr:npub1htnhsay5dmq3r72tukdw72pduzfdcja0yylcajuvnc2uklkhxp8qnz3qac born at nostr:npub1yrnuj56rnen08zp2h9h7p74ghgjx6ma39spmpj6w9hzxywutevsst7k5cx ).
So stay tuned!
-
@ c2827524:5f45b2f7
2025-02-12 12:22:11
## L’animo umano
Una delle entità più belle che esistono e che, a mio parere, rendono ancor più meraviglioso questo mondo, è **l’animo degli esseri umani**. È un cocktail fatto di sentimenti, intenzioni, azioni e logica. Quelli che preferisco sono gli animi gentili.
Le azioni e le intenzioni devono convergere verso la delicatezza, senza una sbavatura, per essere gentili e io adoro la gentilezza, la riconosco al volo, forse perché non sono delicata. Per niente.
L’animo è forse **uno dei più grandi segreti dell’umanità**: in genere perché lo si tiene sempre privato, come è anche logico che sia.
C’è un solo fattore che fa rivelare l’animo alle persone, loro malgrado: uno stress test estremo.
Dal febbraio del 2020, lo stress test si è tramutato in un organismo multidimensionale, uscendo dalla fantasia distopica di George Orwell e – loro malgrado – **tutti hanno dovuto manifestare l’animo segreto**.
Fateci caso: è con il covid-1984 che avete scoperto la vera natura di amici, parenti, sconosciuti o conoscenti.
## Stato di eccezione
La distopia non è mica fuoriuscita da un laboratorio di Wuhan, che ha infettato un pangolino, che ha infettato una papera, che al mercato mio padre comprò. **Ha origini molto più antiche**.
Profondi conoscitori dell’animo umano, in grado di prevedere le reazioni delle masse di fronte ad ogni tipo di evento, potrebbero progettare modelli catastrofici e predeterminare con una precisione disarmante la risposta delle persone comuni. Ad esempio di fronte alla probabilità che quattro aerei impazziscano nei cieli americani di una splendida mattina di settembre, oppure guardando i corpi smembrati di un attentato compiuto da una qualunque “sigla” islamica.
Infine, potrebbero decidere come e quando dare una sferzata finale allo stress test, ad esempio con il pangolino. O era il pipistrello?
È la *«forma legale di ciò che non può avere forma legale»*, più in generale lo spirito disumano dei governanti di oggi, la consuetudine della guerra preventiva, la quale impone con forza che *«lo stato di eccezione tende sempre più a presentarsi come il paradigma di governo dominante della politica contemporanea»*.
Così analizza magistralmente Giorgio Agamben nel II° volume della raccolta Homo Sacer, intitolato per l’appunto [Stato di Eccezione](https://www.amazon.it/s?k=stato+di+eccezione+agamben&adgrpid=1234751876426057&hvadid=77172156923137&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=1861&hvnetw=s&hvqmt=e&hvtargid=kwd-77172234261086%3Aloc-93&hydadcr=18605_1867270&mcid=df58fe78258f374b81f1fd0eeaa1c659&msclkid=ea580711f461117b4cc160bdad34d584&tag=amamitsp-21&ref=pd_sl_7ni9dvsw1h_e).
## Stato indegno
Gli esseri umani, fondamentalmente miti e pacifici, tendono a condurre vite “normali” in ogni condizione ambientale.
Un’unica variabile tende ad interferire per cambiare la condizione ambientale: la politica dello stato. E **lo fa in maniera sempre negativa**.
Lo stato crea emergenze, per poi sbattere il suo (piccolissimo) pene sul tavolo e imporre con forza la soluzione, che tenderà puntualmente a facilitare la propria vita rendendo impossibile quella dei ~~cittadini~~ sudditi.
Le disuguaglianze create hanno poi **il solo scopo di mettere** esseri miti e pacifici (ma sotto costante pressione) **gli uni contro gli altri**.
Pensateci: da quanti decenni siete sotto la pressione di una *«forma legale di ciò che non può avere forma legale»*? Sentendo il Marchese del Grillo ***«Io so’ io, voi siete un cazzo»***, probabilmente è qualche secolo che questo stato indegno esiste.
## Vera natura o Nuda vita?
Il fatto, poi, che lo stato indegno venga accettato senza fiatare, fa parte di quella serie di reazioni delle masse e che i profondi conoscitori dell’animo umano sfruttano per mantenere il potere.
Si passa poi alle peggiori angherie che lo stato indegno e i suoi agenti perpetrano nei confronti dei ~~cittadini~~ sudditi, alle estreme disparità tra ~~cittadini~~ sudditi e i “servitori” dello stato, chiamati così perché servono lo stato indegno e non i ~~cittadini~~ sudditi.
Prima di arrivare alla sferzata finale dello stress test, persone miti e pacifiche hanno subito così tanti torti da non saperli più contare, ormai fanno parte della normalità. La loro esistenza è ormai ridotta a quello che Walter Benjamin prima e Giorgio Agamben poi definiscono la **Nuda Vita**, mettendo in analogia i sudditi con i detenuti di Guantanamo, giuridicamente innominabili e inclassificabili, ovvero ***«oggetto di una pura signoria di fatto»***.
## Il sontuoso master
Nello stato di eccezione in cui viviamo da almeno 50 anni, a parte pochi dotati di un immenso spirito di osservazione (e i profondi conoscitori al potere, chiaro), nessuno di noi ha mai avuto **veramente** il piacere di conoscere la reale natura delle persone con cui abbiamo scelto di circondarci.
Magari c’era quel “piccolo tarlo”, quella “vocina” che ci ha fatto preferire alcuni piuttosto che altri, ma alla fine ha sempre prevalso l’attitudine mite e pacifica, che ha messo a tacere quella vocina.
covid-1984 ha il merito di aver messo a nudo tutti: vittime e carnefici. Si tratta verosimilmente di **un sontuoso master che svelerà la vera natura di ognuno**, **nessuno escluso**. Ahinoi, il master è decennale e siamo appena all'inizio del V° anno accademico.
## Istruzioni, prima ancora che l’istruzione
Se c’è un consiglio che mi sento di dare a chi è ancora molto giovane, è proprio quello di non mettere mai a tacere quella “vocina”, per nessun motivo, seppure plausibile. Anche senza rovinare i rapporti, ma l’animo umano va sempre indagato, **si deve fare chiarezza sulla vera natura delle persone con cui si decide di fare un percorso di vita**.
La scoperta porterà ad evitare tutti quei “servitori” dello stato di cose indegno di essere definito umano. I *compliant*, gli asserviti, quelli senza spina dorsale o, peggio, **che hanno un interesse personale a mantenere lo status quo** devono essere evitati a tutti i costi.
È oltremodo doloroso, ma va fatto. Questi indegni devono essere isolati al più presto, in maniera da renderli innocui. Sono loro il vero esercito dello stato indegno, disposti a combattere qualunque guerra pur di rimediare un piccolissimo quanto ridicolo privilegio.
Oggi, i tempi in cui questo esercito si abbassava a tanto per il classico piatto di lenticchie riscaldate, sono un lontanissimo ricordo. covid-1984 ha ulteriormente abbattuto lo standard: ora gli indegni fiancheggiano qualsiasi assurdità **in cambio di un piatto di lenticchie rimasticate dalla signoria di fatto**.
L’unico risultato possibile è che l'infame stato rafforza il suo potere di controllo e rosicherà uno alla volta i (pochi) diritti e la libertà di chiunque.
Ecco perché bisogna spuntare le armi di questo spregevole stato di cose colpendo l’anello debole, isolandolo. Debole perché non ci crede (nello stato) ma agisce asservito solo per quel piatto di lenticchie (quelle rimasticate e sputate).
La prima volta che si incontrano, la vocina vi metterà di fronte alla sensazione di essere ai limiti di uno scontro frontale: capire da che parte andrà il rivale, per buttarsi in quella opposta ed evitare così uno schianto fatale.
Fatelo: buttatevi dall’altra parte. E scegliete la parte giusta.
-
@ 575a8227:065bba95
2025-02-12 10:57:10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiV7UhoiZM8
Hola nostr,
El reciente podcast de lunaticoin con Salinas ha puesto sobre la mesa una reflexión profunda sobre el llamado "fondo estratégico Bitcoin" de Trump, revelando una paradoja que merece nuestra atención.
Pensemos en el camino que hemos recorrido como individuos en el ecosistema Bitcoin. Durante años, cada uno de nosotros ha trabajado incansablemente, ahorrando con determinación para adquirir Bitcoin con dinero real, fruto de nuestro esfuerzo diario. En ese trayecto, hemos enfrentado críticas constantes: que si Bitcoin solo servía para actividades ilícitas, que si era un esquema Ponzi, que si carecía de valor intrínseco.
Ahora, en 2025, presenciamos un giro narrativo sorprendente. Los mismos que demonizaron Bitcoin proponen crear un "fondo estratégico", ¿y cómo planean financiarlo? Con la misma herramienta contra la que Bitcoin nació para protegernos: la impresión infinita de dinero fiat. Pretenden adquirir con papel sin respaldo lo que a tantos nos ha costado años de esfuerzo y convicción conseguir.
La comunidad Bitcoin se ha construido desde abajo, con personas que creyeron en el proyecto cuando pocos lo hacían, que mantuvieron sus convicciones en los momentos más difíciles, que construyeron infraestructura y educaron a otros. Somos nosotros, no los oportunistas de última hora, quienes hemos llevado Bitcoin hasta donde está hoy.
La propuesta actual representa una doble expropiación: primero devalúan nuestros ahorros mediante la inflación, y luego utilizan ese mismo dinero devaluado para intentar acaparar Bitcoin. Es un mecanismo que perpetúa exactamente aquello contra lo que Bitcoin fue creado para luchar.
Bitcoin nació como una herramienta de libertad financiera para el individuo, no como un instrumento más de control centralizado. Cada día que pasa, se hace más evidente que ningún político, independientemente de su retórica, representa los valores fundamentales de Bitcoin.
En estos momentos, mantener nuestros sats no es solo una decisión financiera, es una declaración de principios.
HODL 🟠₿
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@ 8d5ba92c:c6c3ecd5
2025-02-12 09:48:19
Keeping up with everything happening in Bitcoin isn’t easy, even if you’ve been around for a while. The pace is relentless: stream of events, discussions, projects, and updates, not to mention the noise on social media...
One of the most efficient options to expand your knowledge and truly connect with people actively working in the space is through direct interactions, whether they’re happening at large conferences or smaller, semi-official meetups. But let’s be honest: finding all meaningful events can be a mess.
Take, for example, the '['BTC Events Map](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oni0QAHb2XYOL5gFVKHHGhG8w_HY5GDGBhdQ4SSrCZg/edit?ref=europeanbitcoiners.com&gid=0#gid=0),’ which already lists over 550 Bitcoin-only gatherings worldwide. This simple but very useful resource, put together by Satlantis, can help many of us plan our trips throughout the year. However, if you don’t know about its existence and rely solely on a search engine—whether Google or Brave—you’ll likely end up frustrated (and unfortunately missing many great opportunities to meet with others and learn).
Search for '[bitcoin events],' and you’ll get a mix of irrelevant crypto, fintech, and Web3 results, with Bitcoin-related stuff buried somewhere in the middle, if at all.. Well, it’s really tough to find what you’re actually looking for.
That’s why word of mouth and trusted communities are so important. Sometimes, the best way to hear about an event is directly from people you know.
**One of those that flew under my radar was [SatsNFacts](nostr:npub1yrnuj56rnen08zp2h9h7p74ghgjx6ma39spmpj6w9hzxywutevsst7k5cx). It wasn’t listed on many typical event aggregators or any big news-promo sites. It mostly spread peer-to-peer and through the main channels on Nostr.**
**I was ‘*lucky*’ enough to hear about it just in time to plan the trip from Europe to Thailand. Now, I’d like to briefly share my experience with you—everything that, in my opinion, made this event truly stand out.**
## A Journey to Southeast Asia...
Approximately 10,176 kilometers, 14 hours of travel, and finally three days spent at SatsNFacts—"*Thailand’s first Bitcoin Technical Unconference*”.
The event ran from February 8 to 10 in Chiang Mai (the largest city in northern Thailand). Held at Weave Artisan Society, a 700 sq.m venue that used to be an ice factory, it smoothly combined pleasant outdoors with an industrial-style, two-floor indoor area, creating a unique and very practical setup.
### Where Builders and Artists Collide
While its was billed as a “Technical Unconference,” in practice it nicely connected the developer-based ecosystem with different aspects of culture and art.
Each day, from 10 am to 6 pm, the agenda—shaped directly by attendees—was packed with various presentations, group chats, learning session, hackathons, and actionable workshops.
With many options available (around 10-20 topics per day), I couldn’t attend everything, but here are a few more technical sessions I joined and found especially worthwhile:
- **Liana Workshop** (long-term security, recovery, and inheritance),
- **TollGates** ([streaming sats for internet access](nostr:naddr1qvzqqqr4gupzpwa4mkswz4t8j70s2s6q00wzqv7k7zamxrmj2y4fs88aktcfuf68qq2nz63h0969vn2xwse9j3n5ge4xsdr2ddc4j0g960h)),
- **Open Vault** (enterprise wallet interface),
- **Yaki Honne** ([decentralized media](https://yakihonne.com/)),
- **Nostr Proxies** (Epoxy, WebSocket and relay monetization).
- **Silent payments** (simplified payment experiences without compromising privacy).
As mentioned earlier, SatsNFacts wasn’t just about Bitcoin tech. Some topics focused on community aspects as well. Two discussions I joined highlighted **Bitcoin adoption** ⚡ in for example **Bali and Thailand**, showing how sound money, integrity, and consistent work can solve real problems in these regions. Impressive stuff! Here you can learn more:
- [HuaiPhueng on Geyser](https://geyser.fund/project/huaiphuengproject?hero=geyser) + "Bitcoin City" (their [short video ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=211meP4liIo)).
- Bitcoin Indonesia & Bitcoin House Bali (all in one [on GitHub ](https://github.com/bitcoinindo21))
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**Now, the art gallery, to continue with less technical aspects of SatsNFacts** 🎨
This nicely-organized space located on the ground floor, near cozy coworking and networking spots, was for me a real gem. Indeed, adding a creative vibe to the entire event.
Around 30 unique works from local and international artists were on display, all inspired by themes of freedom and privacy. Though I don’t see myself as a typical 'artist', I was honored to have some of my own pieces exhibited there as well (a short video 👇).
One of the highlights was meeting local Thai artists, especially [Siritravelsketch]( nostr:npub14lqzjhfvdc9psgxzznq8xys8pfq8p4fqsvtr6llyzraq90u9m8fqevhssu), who travelled six hours by train just one way to attend two days of the event.
Her stunning paintings, created using just a bamboo stick and ink, are deeply inspired by Thai architecture and culture. While some of her pre-prepared pieces hung in the gallery, she also painted a few new works on the spot during her visit.
**Truly spectacular!**
I also had the chance to reconnect with [Satoshi Builds](nostr:npub19m7m3rs66pfdn4ewhrm8slh60ukyxgrylaa03m73wa40j39lc03syq4gfu), who made many great sketches during this event, and with [BitPopArt](nostr:npub1gwa27rpgum8mr9d30msg8cv7kwj2lhav2nvmdwh3wqnsa5vnudxqlta2sz), a Dutch artist who, just like me, chosen a nomadic lifestyle yet has been clearly considering Thailand his 'second home' as well for several years now. By the way, ✍️ here's his short summary of the event, focusing more on the artistic side of SatsNFacts: "[Art exhibition in Chiang Mai ](https://bitpopart.com/2025/02/11/art-exhibition-in-chiang-mai/)".
All in all, spending my time in many meaningful conversations and seeing so many deep artworks in one place filled me with hope and positive energy. THANK YOU, EVERYONE!
https://v.nostr.build/Fy7J510ZaNyMktIX.mp4
(*** presented artworks by for example: [Agi Choote](nostr:npub1tlacuxmtv2wqud9qz0ujnr4mqavmnz3ayspfj93jr40tgf2mvu6seax3y7), [Samhain](nostr:npub1df47g7a39usamq83aula72zdz23fx9xw5rrfmd0v6p9t20n5u0ss2eqez9), [Zed Erwan](nostr:npub1r2sah0htqnw7xrs70gq00m48vp25neu8ym2n2ghrny92dqqf7sest8hth0), [Existing Sprinkles](nostr:npub1f5kc2agn63ecv2ua4909z9ahgmr2x9263na36jh6r908ql0926jq3nvk2u), [AZA 21m ](nostr:npub134d6jtyveg74cuuj7qun4v2m6r7x7c6ryk69z4q7pa7f43kran2sl2yggk), [BitPopArt](nostr:npub1gwa27rpgum8mr9d30msg8cv7kwj2lhav2nvmdwh3wqnsa5vnudxqlta2sz) .)
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## Mr. Rabbit in Thailand...
Monday, the final evening, and SatsNFacts got one more item on its agenda rooted in creative expression and independent art.
Representing [Bitcoin FilmFest](nostr:npub1rjtrs7xqdvj3588r9njrexh2n750j7jdwx9qs543nutmdsj6ljaqpfmp8a) (a grassroots project created by an amazing group of freedom fighters and activists 🐇🧡), since I was the only one from our team in Thailand, in one of the rooms upstairs, I put together a mini cinematic experience.
Seven trailers and eleven shorts, including for example:
* NO MORE INFLATION, HUMMINGBIRD, PARALLEL SPACE, UNBANKABLE, THE LEGEND OF LANDI (🎬 some of the trailers).
* BITCOIN A NEW HOPE, SATOSHI NAKAMOTO - THE CREATOR OF BITCOIN, MAXIS CLUB SHOW - CHAPTER ONE, THE GREATEST HEIST IN HISTORY, HODL, THE ANATOMY OF BITCOIN – GENESIS BLOCK (📺 some of the presented shorts)
With around 10-15 participants, the response was positive, and we ended up spending an extra 10-maybe-20 minutes discussing the challenges and opportunities in Bitcoin-powered filmmaking, as well as the upcoming edition of [BFF25](https://bitcoinfilmfest.com/bff25/) (the annual festival we're organizing this May in Warsaw, Poland).
https://i.nostr.build/RE3mKJacw5vB23V6.png
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## Substance Over Hype.
[SatsNFacts](https://satsnfacts.btc.pub/) made a solid reminder that Bitcoin events can help build a truly sovereign future while bringing together developers and artistic souls alike.
The mix of technical depth and creative energy—free from the shiny gossip that floods many social channels—made it a truly meaningful experience.
> SatsNFacts set a high standard, and I hope to see more events like it in the future. More unconferences, more cultural and community-driven gatherings.
Here's to more signal, less noise!!!
Big congrats to everyone who made the first SatsNFacts happen 👏 Respect especially to the organizers! You pulled off something truly special!
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*BTC Your Mind. Let it Beat.... Şela*
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@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1
2025-02-12 09:32:53
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Credits: [1A1z.com](http://1a1z.com/)
Download report in [PDF](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/1a1z.com/files/1A1z+%2B+Breez+-+Bitcoin+Payments+-+From+Digital+Gold+to+Everyday+Currency.pdf)
originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/883515