Any Nostr mutuals based in NYC? Moved back recently. Holler if you’re around!

If someone wanted to donate to a non-profit that supports Bitcoin, which one is doing the best work?

Does anyone have recommendations for good eCash mints?

Has anyone had any good results with zapvertising products or services? Seems to me like it could be very effective. I know @Mike Rama was doing it for a bit. Any other examples? cc @paul keating @jack @PABLOF7z

I heard @gladstein say on a podcast that all Square terminals will accept eCash via their LN integration. What’s the best wallet/UX for this?

My absolute favorite thing about Nostr is that when someone does something helpful for you (in a reply, DM, etc), you can instantly zap them a thank you. Feels good.

Some professional news: I joined the team at @Lava Lava is the most secure way to borrow against your bitcoin. You don’t have to give up self-custody; the loans are structured as discreet log contracts on bitcoin, and you can verify your collateral on-chain at any point. Rehypothecation is impossible because Lava never takes custody of your bitcoin. We also offer the most competitive rates and the easiest loan experience—no paperwork, just set your loan terms in the app and get your loan capital in minutes. The Lava team made up of some of the most impressive and mission-driven bitcoiners I’ve ever met, and I’m super excited to be working with them to bring self-custodial financial products to bitcoin. Feel free to reach out to me directly if you’re interested in learning more!

I agree with this from @Saifedean Ammous. I think the problem is overstated and the solution creates more problems. Can someone on the other side tell me what I’m missing?

Moved sats from River -> Spark Wallet over LN. Then sent sats to another Spark wallet over Spark (no inbound liquidity needed, just spun up an address). Then moved sats from that wallet to my Primal Lightning wallet. And then topped up my eCash balance on minibits. Pretty seamlessly. This level of interoperability is really impressive and is going to lead to some really cool stuff.

Some initial thoughts on Spark (the new L2 from Lightspark). What I like: - very fast and getting faster - backwards compatible with Lightning - self-custodial without liquidity management - Lightspark is making it really easy to build with - They’re not doing a token or any other bs Other things to note: - not very private. Transactions are public - 1/n trust assumption for operators running the spark entity - they’re bringing stablecoins onto the L2 Overall I’m not super keen on stablecoins on Bitcoin, but it was probably bound to happen regardless. This seems like a good solution for that. More importantly, I think that the trust assumptions are solid for a payments layer on Bitcoin. You’re trading off the trustlessness of something like LN for a trust-minimized solution that offers self-custody without having to worry about inbound liquidity and such. I think that’s a trade off worth making, since you likely won’t (and shouldn’t) keep much of your stack on the L2. Given how many people are already using custodial LN wallets, this feels like a step in the right direction. I’ve spoken directly to some of the people involved in Spark, and it’s clear they’re trying to make it as easy as possible for people to build on this stack. So I’m excited to see what comes of it.

Build Stablecoin Apps & Bitcoin Wallets with Spark SDKs - *Spark

Create Bitcoin-native wallets, launch stablecoins, and build fast, low-cost financial apps with Spark. No bridges. No wrappers. Purely on Bitcoin.

Testing out www.spark.money, the new L2 from Lightspark. Trust-minimized rather than trustless. But the UX is impressive and their builder tools are great. Interested to see where this goes.

Today I released a course I’ve been working on for a while called 80/20 Cooking. It’s a mix of lessons and recipes to help you learn the fundamentals of cooking and how to think like a chef (so you can stop following recipes and cook based on feel and intuition). Here’s what’s included: - 12 lessons covering core cooking skills - 18 recipes with step-by-step photos and details on techniques - exclusive discounts on some of my favorite cooking brands (Made In, Heritage Steel, Vera Salt, and a bunch more) - a custom-built AI cooking tutor to answer your questions in real time If you want to check it out, use the code NOSTR at checkout for 20% off. Or DM me if you want to pay in sats. If you make an equivalent donation to @OpenSats and send me proof of the donation, I’ll give you access to the course for free. Check out 8020cooking.com to learn more!

Reading list for my upcoming surf trip. Lots of variety here. Ditched the kindle too— analog only from here on out.

Any reason to use Fold credit card over Gemini card? Seems like Gemini has better overall cash back…so more sats stacked in the end.

Eggs, smashed potatoes, Peruvian-style green sauce, crème fraiche, olive oil, and Cobanero chile flakes. #foodstr

What’s the best resource to set up if I want to accept BTC/Lightning payments for a digital product? cc @ODELL @Marty Bent @jack mallers

Nostr friends— I have a trip coming up and I’m looking for book recommendations. Any topic is fair game, as long as it’s a book you really loved or changed your life in some way. Appreciate it!

Does anyone have a good link (article, podcast, etc) that tells the true, unbiased version of the Ross Ulbricht / Silk Road story?

Is Primal down?