10 years since I last walked Prague’s streets. Still stunning. Still vibing. But this time hit different. It was my first @BTC Prague . I usually skip Western conferences unless: 1. They serve #NeoWealth’s MEA goals, or 2. I’m invited to speak. This time was the latter. and it was exactly what I hoped for: Bitcoin-only. High signal. Solid venue. No fluff. Big thanks to @Matyas Kuchar for including my keynote. #BTCPrague officially became the *first major Western Bitcoin event* to spotlight *Bitcoin from the Trenches* real-world insights from the Middle East & Africa. How did it go? Huge thanks to the nostrichs who sent thoughtful questions ahead of the event. your input shaped the talk from the ground up. During the presentation, the expo stage was locked in, focused, engaged. Afterward, I had follow-up Qs from attendees, and even more feedback landed via my site and LinkedIn DMs. Am grateful. That kind of response didn’t just energize me. It reminded me why we do this. What else? – Deep convos with the African Bitcoin crew. more relaxed vibe meant more real talk than we usually get elsewhere. @Thinus Mouton @Abubakar Nur Khalil - Dev drama convos with L2/Core Devs. Learned alot. – It was truly warming to see familiar faces, reconnect with old friends, and form new friendships that I’ll carry forward. – Met European Gen Z Bitcoiners, super young, sharp, and mission-aligned. – Four seasoned fiat plebs asked how to enter Bitcoin consulting. That lit me up. Serious demand for sovereign consultants. More on that soon. – Discovered #Tropicsquare ; grabbed their secure open-source chip to upgrade my node. Impressive. (enclosed pic) – Got the @daylightco device. Needed a tablet. perfect excuse. Full review coming after I properly use it for a while. - Met the full JAN3 team for the first time since I started supporting the region. – Attended Saylor’s talks at the venue, the Corporate Day, and the VIP panel with Adam Back. Quite concerning. Deserves a full post. Soon. – Attended the Braiins dinner. a standout evening. Grateful for the invite, @Kristian Csepcsar . Quality Czech, real insights. – The Trezor dinner was a great chance to get to know the team better and connect with new builders in the space. Also: discovered @Susie Violet ’s hilarious side IRL. loved it. Thanks again, @Josef Tětek for the invite. Nostr Notes: Meeting fellow nostrichs IRL was a joy. Stopped by #primal and yep, as always, annoyed @Marko with dev and support requests. But loved the new Studio feature for content creators. Meeting the rest of the primal family was the highlight of my primal booth visit this time! Summary? #Prague reminded me that there is still hope for #Bitcoin in the west. And that #nostr is needed more than ever.

🚨 Saylor Live from @BTC Prague : “The most detrimental thing you could do to your company or product is a good idea. Basically, bad ideas make you get better. If I wanted #Bitcoin to fail, I would fund the best developers to make it better.” #Nostr #Prague thoughts

“Take compound B and become indestructible.” @Michael Saylor

THE BITTER PILL ABOUT BITCOIN NODES NO ONE WANTS TO SWALLOW Tonight I sat with hardcore Bitcoin devs, and they dropped a truth bomb on me, worth sharing: Your node doesn’t mean sh*t if no one cares about your money. That node you’re running? Unless it’s tied to real economic activity, it doesn’t enforce consensus, it just watches. Consensus follows power. And in Bitcoin, power is where the money flows. *If miners and businesses don’t run full nodes, the rules can be rewritten. *And no, your solo node won’t stop them. >>That’s the part no one wants to admit. But before you throw in the towel… - Even if you don’t move markets, your node still matters. • Every node adds decentralization • Every node makes censorship harder • Every node enforces the rules locally, without trust • Every node is a tool of education, onboarding, and resistance Your node may not swing consensus, but it plants the roots of an unkillable network. So don’t stop. But don’t settle either. - We need economic nodes - We need real-world incentives tied to rule enforcement - We need value-backed verification, not just virtue signaling Running a #core or #knots node gives you truth. But truth without power won’t defend #Bitcoin. Want to protect the signal? Make sure money flows through the rules, not around them. GN #Nostr

War 2.0 untraditional tactics 👇🏽 You hit the police station instead of the army (to help you win a war from the inside)

GM from #Prague Let’s make today beat yesterday. Today’s mission: meet as many Nostrichs as possible #Nostr morning thoughts

#Nostr News: The $81 Million Breach That Ripped Open Iran’s Crypto Curtain Iran’s top crypto exchange just got gutted. $81 million vanished in hours, leaving behind a trail of mocking wallet addresses and a geopolitical cyber war turned financial. What Happened On June 18, 2025, #Nobitex, #Iran ’s largest crypto exchange, was hacked. An estimated $48–$81.7 million in digital assets were stolen: mostly USDT on the Tron network. The culprit? A hacktivist group with Israeli ties called Gonjeshke Darande (Predatory Sparrow). Their message: This isn’t about profit. It’s about punishment. And yes, they left a calling card: TKFuckiRGCTerroristsNoBiTEXy2r7mNX They didn’t just empty wallets. They made a statement. ⸻ The Attack This wasn’t a sloppy job. It was surgical. - Hot Wallet Breach: Nobitex’s operational wallets (always online for liquidity) were compromised. - Multi-Chain Drain: While Tron took the main hit, attackers also looted #Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and EVM-compatible chains. - Vanity Addresses: Provocative addresses were used to collect funds, taunting Iran’s regime with every transaction. - Speed: Tron’s low fees and fast finality let attackers move funds within minutes. Detection came too late. According to blockchain sleuths like ZachXBT, the whole operation spanned hours, not days. ⸻ The Motive Predatory Sparrow claimed responsibility hours after the attack, accusing Nobitex of: “Helping Iran evade sanctions and finance terror.” This comes just a day after they reportedly hit Bank Sepah, a state-owned bank tied to Iran’s IRGC. The message is clear: Iran’s financial infrastructure is a battlefield, and #crypto is no longer a neutral zone. They also threatened to leak Nobitex’s internal data and source code, putting remaining assets and user privacy at extreme risk. ⸻ Nobitex’s Response The exchange responded with a standard corporate yawn: - Confirmed: A “security issue” in hot wallets and reporting systems. - Assured: Cold wallets are safe. User funds will be reimbursed. - Paused: Services were suspended. Investigation underway. But the damage was done. Thousands of Iranians were locked out. Trust is now as frozen as their accounts. ⸻ The Bigger Picture This isn’t just a hack, it’s a geopolitical front line in bytes and blocks. - Cyber warfare is evolving: Israel and Iran have moved from nuclear centrifuges to exchange servers. - Centralized Exchanges are honeypots: Hot wallets are still the Achilles’ heel. Operational convenience > security. Until it’s not. - In 2025 alone, crypto hacks have cost over $2.1 billion, with hot wallet compromises being the leading vector. This breach makes Nobitex the largest centralized crypto casualty in the Middle East to date. ⸻ What It Exposes 1. Iranian surveillance risk: Exchanges like Nobitex aren’t just trading platforms, they’re state-adjacent financial proxies. 2. False security narratives: “Cold wallets are fine” doesn’t help when hot wallet infrastructure and internal reporting systems are breached. 3. The illusion of sovereignty: You don’t control your money if you don’t control your keys. Nobitex users just learned that lesson the hard way. ⸻ Final Thought When state actors and ideological soldiers collide on blockchain rails, users become collateral damage. This isn’t about bugs in code, it’s about broken trust, imperial backdoors, and the fragility of centralized infrastructure. The message from Predatory Sparrow is simple: If you build tools for tyranny, don’t be surprised when someone pulls the plug. ⸻ Sigh. NYKNYC