These headlines are going to keep coming all through 2026. People will miss the big picture, pointing out that this part is wrong, or famous so and so disputed that part, etc., trying to poke holes in each headline and paper. Some of the holes they poke will be right, some wrong. But the bigger picture is that the world, by the end of 2026, is going to be taking all this far more seriously than at the start, and if your business model relies on the world not taking all this very seriously then you're going to be in trouble.

Imagine how wasteful bitcoin mining would look to a sufficiently-advanced AI. All that electricity, all that compute, with the AI pulling its hair out and wanting to scream GIVE IT TO ME!

One of the more annoying things about decentralisation is how tribal it often becomes. This is as true for monies as it is for social networks. Everyone’s decentralised thing is the best thing of its kind. Every other attempt at decentralisation in the same realm is garbage. Not practical. Not really decentralised. Something wrong. Everything wrong. Full of losers. Our decentralisation thing will take over and all the other decentralisation things in the realm will collapse under the weight of our own. And other such tribal nonsense.

For nostr, feels to be like the main challenge is more on the gating side than on the payment side. Pure tipping is never going to be the way. Human psychology is what it is, you need an unlocking mechanism paired with