GM. I have a question for the #PlebChain: Who here has used the sMiles app? I just started using it today, and I have to say, I’m genuinely impressed. It offers rewards in the form of Sats just for doing what I already do every single day: walking and running. I’m at the gym daily, I frequently take walks during office hours to clear my head from a busy schedule at @Simon Consulting, and I love a good run in the park. This morning alone, I took 3,663 steps—which is peanuts for me since I average at least 10,000—and I already earned some sats for it. 🤯 Let’s be real: You aren't going to get rich doing this. But the fact that you can receive a stream of hard money for regular daily activity is incredibly cool. It’s the perfect "zero-risk" way to stack. 🧱🍊 Bonus for the gamers: If walking isn't your thing, they also have ways to earn via gaming or taking surveys. 🎮 I’ve decided to keep everyone updated on my daily steps and earnings here on Nostr. Let's see how much we can stack just by moving! Have you tried sMiles yet, or are you using another 'move-to-earn' app? Let's compare stats! #Bitcoin #StackingSats #sMiles #ProofOfWalk #SimonAcademy #HealthyLiving #LightningNetwork #PlebChain #Sovereignty #SimonConsulting

I’ve been diving into the latest data from the @npub1864j...t2tq dashboard, and the growth of the circular economy is undeniable. 📈 The Reality Check: Currently, VISA and MasterCard are accepted at roughly 100 million+ merchant locations globally. They have a 60-year head start and the backing of the entire central banking system. 🏦 The Bitcoin Signal: On BTC Map, we see over 20 thousand merchants (and counting!) who have opted-out of that legacy system voluntarily. Unlike the giants, Bitcoin adoption isn't forced from the top down—it’s built from the bottom up by "Plebs" and sovereign business owners. 🧱🏗️ Why it’s different: No Gatekeepers: A merchant on BTC Map doesn't need permission to start accepting Lightning. 🛡️ Instant Settlement: Unlike the 2-3 day wait (and high fees) of VISA/MC, these merchants get paid instantly. ⚡️ Pure Signal: Every new pin on the map represents a business choosing hard money over fiat debt. We are watching a 100-million-location monopoly being challenged by a protocol. It’s not just about the numbers today; it’s about the direction of the trend. 📈🍊 Have you added your favorite local 'Orange' spot to @btcmaps yet? Let’s make the map glow! #Bitcoin #BTCMap #CircularEconomy #SimonAcademy #Sovereignty #MerchantAdoption #PlebChain #BitcoinVsVisa #LightningNetwork #GlobalAdoption

There is something incredibly powerful about moving from a "digital asset" to a daily utility. In Curacao, this isn't just a dream—it’s the new island standard. 🏝️⚡️ Through the work of BTC Curacao, the island is transforming into a literal "Bitcoin Reef." 🧱🌊 Why Curacao is leading the way: Daily Essentials: You can now pay for your groceries with Bitcoin at Esperamos Supermarket (locations at Jan Noorduynweg and Caracasbaai). No banks, no friction—just pure peer-to-peer value for your daily bread. 🛒🧡 ATM Access: Need physical sats? There's even a Bitcoin ATM right on Mambo Boulevard. 🏧⚡️ Merchant Hub: With over 125 merchants available, the circular economy is thriving. The Digital Gap: Interestingly, while the physical adoption is world-class, the @BTCCuracao Nostr profile is currently a "ghost town" with no notes. We need to help bridge this incredible physical progress with our global digital protocol! 💜🤝 I want to hear from you: 🇨🇼 Locals: How has being able to pay in Sats changed your daily routine? ✈️ Visitors: Have you experienced the 'Bitcoin Reef' firsthand during your stay? How smooth was the checkout at Esperamos? Let's talk about the reality of living on a Bitcoin Standard! #BitcoinCuracao #BTCCuracao #CircularEconomy #BitcoinReef #SimonAcademy #Sovereignty #MerchantAdoption #PlebChain #Curacao #EsperamosSupermarket #BitcoinTourism

If you want to stop earning fiat and start earning Bitcoin, you have to go where the builders are. In 2026, the "Orange" job market is evolving from simple boards to active, social ecosystems. The Active Marketplaces: @npub1wtkn...vyt7: This is the heart of the movement right now. Their mission is to empower Bitcoiners to break free from fiat jobs. Follow the @Bitvocation Bot here on Nostr for a live, interactive feed of opportunities. They aren't just a list; they are a community providing resources and guidance to launch your Bitcoin career. @Stacker News (~/jobs): This is the closest thing to a "Reddit-meets-LinkedIn" for Bitcoiners. It’s highly active with real-time listings for everything from Marketing Leads to Rust Engineers. You can see the bounty (like 10k or 30k sats) and apply directly through the thread. @npub1t9km...fy69 : This is aiming to be the Upwork for Bitcoiners—a marketplace where gigs are priced directly in Sats. While still growing, its existence shows the demand for a dedicated platform for sovereign freelancers. How to get noticed: Interact: On platforms like Bitvocation and Stacker News, your reputation is built on your contributions. Don't just lurk—engage. Use Your npub: Think of your Nostr profile as your new "Verified Resume." Your "Proof-of-Work" (posts, insights, zaps) is visible to everyone. Start Small: Many of these listings, especially on Stacker News, are for specific tasks or bounties. It’s the perfect way to earn your first "non-fiat" sats. My Verdict: If you want active, daily updates, follow Bitvocation. If you want a deep list of professional roles at sovereign companies (like @Cake Wallet), head to Stacker News. Have you successfully landed a freelance gig paid in Sats? Which platform actually got you the job? #BitcoinJobs #Bitvocation #StackerNews #BitcoinFreelance #SimonAcademy #Sovereignty #EarnInBitcoin #PlebChain #SimonConsulting #LightningNetwork

To get our friends, family, and the younger generation to leave the walled gardens of Big Tech, we have to stop talking about code and start talking about personal experience. The secret to the Purple Pill isn't explaining relays; it’s showing that the "Nostr version" of their favorite apps is just as fun, but actually respects them. 🤳✨ We win by using these native alternatives: Unfiltered for the Instagram lovers who want beautiful photos and stories without the algorithm. @nostube for the YouTube fans who want video without the censorship. @primal for the Twitter (X) crowd who wants a fast, high-signal feed. @YakiHonne for that "all-in-one" LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram feel, perfect for long-form and social updates. The "Trojan Horse" Strategy: If we give teenagers the filters, the trends, and the "reels" they love, they will join for the fun. But once they are in, they will automatically discover Bitcoin via built-in wallets and zaps. It becomes their "normal" way of interacting with value. ⚡️🍊 Leading by example: At @Simon Consulting , I’m encouraging my team to post more than just "work signals." We need to share the Friday drinks, the birthdays, and the holiday snaps. When we treat Nostr like our digital home, the rest of the world will feel invited to move in, too. 🧱🏛️ Which app do you think is closest to reaching that "mainstream" tipping point? Let’s talk!

Ever posted a note on one client and found it missing on another? I’ve been experiencing this lately when switching between @YakiHonne and @primal . 🧐 Even with the same npub, your notes aren't "stored" on the app—they live on Relays. If App A sends a note to Relay X, but App B is only looking at Relay Y, your note is effectively a ghost. 👻 The Fix: Check your relay settings in both apps and ensure you’ve broadcasted your NIP-65 Relay List. It’s like making sure your radio is tuned to the right station so everyone can hear the signal. 📻⚡️ Has anyone else noticed a sync lag between these two lately? Curious if it’s a relay bottleneck or just my settings! #Nostr #Relays #PlebChain #Bitcoin #SimonAcademy #SovereignTech #Primal #Yakihonne #KnowledgeSharing

Coming from Aruba, we are naturally wired for a global perspective, speaking four languages (Papiamento, Dutch, English, and Spanish) as a standard. 🇦🇼 This allows us to bridge communities and share the vital work being done across the Bitcoin and Nostr ecosystems worldwide. Para mis seguidores de habla hispana: 🇪🇸 Es un gusto compartir este excelente artículo de @verbiricha . Como siempre digo en mis consultorías, la verdadera soberanía digital no conoce fronteras. Nostr no es solo una alternativa a las redes sociales; es la base de una comunicación libre de censura, tal como Bitcoin lo es para nuestro dinero. 🤝⚡️ Este resumen sobre la arquitectura de Nostr y la importancia de las llaves criptográficas sobre las cuentas tradicionales es fundamental para cerrar la brecha técnica en nuestra comunidad. ¡Altamente recomendado para quienes están dando sus primeros pasos en el protocolo! View article →

Excelente resumen sobre la arquitectura de Nostr. Como consultor en el ecosistema Bitcoin, aprecio mucho este tipo de contenido educativo en español que ayuda a cerrar la brecha técnica.

Just caught up on the latest from @jordi at Satlantis, and the momentum is incredible. For those who don't know, @Satlantis: Social Events is a Nostr-native events app that is really starting to find its stride as an onboarding bridge. What I’m seeing in the app: Clean & User-Friendly: The UI is very slick. You’ve got easy access to Events (to browse or create your own), Places, and Notifications. It feels intuitive right out of the box. Built-in Wallet: I’ve already tested the native Lightning wallet—it works smoothly. No more "download this app first" friction when trying to show a pre-coiner the power of Bitcoin. Fiat via Stripe: While we’re all about the Bitcoin standard, adding Stripe means event organizers can reach everyone, while still exposing them to Bitcoin as the permissionless alternative. Why this matters for my work: I’ve been organizing live webinars for @Simon Consulting since 2023, and I see huge potential here. While I haven't created an event yet to test their dedicated event management features, the overall professionalism of the app is promising. I’ve already connected my Stripe account to explore the possibilities. This isn't just for future @Simon Academy trainings and meetups; it's a powerful tool for the high-level webinars and consulting events I host. Initiatives like this that lower the barrier to entry are exactly what we need. We orange-pill the world by building tools that work so well that Bitcoin becomes the obvious choice. 🧱🍊 Check out Satlantis if you’re hosting professional events—it’s great to see this level of polish on Nostr! #Bitcoin #Nostr #Satlantis #LightningNetwork #Events #Webinars #Onboarding #CircularEconomy #SimonAcademy #SimonConsulting

Very nice and informative article!

Taking a break from the 'home office' today to bring two of my kids into the city centre for lunch. It’s great to be out, but the "real world" adoption gap remains a reality—no direct Bitcoin payments accepted here yet. Thankfully, I have my @Bringin | The Complete ₿itcoin App card as the ultimate bridge. I was able to pay for lunch using the debit card, which (almost) instantly off-ramps from my Lightning balance to Euros at the point of sale. ⚡️➡️💶 While I’d prefer to pay natively, tools like Bringin allow us to live on a Bitcoin standard in Europe today, even when the merchants aren't quite there yet. Back to home now to keep helping the real smart people build the infrastructure that will eventually make this card unnecessary! 🏛️🧱 #WFH #Bitcoin #LightningNetwork #Bringin #Amsterdam #Adoption #PlebChain #SimonAcademy

This milestone from Deblock and @Breez ⚡️ is vital, but let’s put "300,000 users" into the perspective of the global payment landscape. 📊⚡️ When a Merchant Service Provider (MSP) pitches a business today, they bring these massive 2025 numbers to the table: The Global Giant: Over 2.4 Billion credit cards are in circulation globally. 💳 The "Big Two": Visa commands 37% of the market (1.3B cards), while Mastercard holds 32% (1.1B cards). The US Standard: 76% of American adults hold at least one card, with total balances hitting $1.3 Trillion. The Lightning Counter-Argument: The argument for merchants to accept cards is "Reliance." With a market valued at $1.34 Trillion, merchants must accept cards to capture that consumer spend. However, we are seeing the birth of a new "Reliance." In Europe alone, we are scaling toward the first 1.5 - 2 Million active self-custodial Lightning users. While that is small compared to Visa's billions, it represents a high-value, high-intent demographic that wants to stay outside the debt-based system (where APRs are currently a staggering 22.3%). The Pivot: Merchants adopted cards because they had to follow the $1.3T in credit. They will adopt Lightning because they want to capture the liquidity of a global, instant, and debt-free circular economy. Every 300,000 new users is a crack in the credit-based monopoly. 🧱🔨 We are early, but the math of the Network Effect is on our side. 🚀 View quoted note →

In the Bitcoin world, we use the term "trustless" like a badge of honor. But let’s be real: we don’t live in a vacuum. Can we actually live in a world without trust? 🤝 My take: No. We are simply changing what we trust. In the legacy TradFi world, we are forced to trust the intentions of intermediaries—institutions that can change the rules or freeze your access on a whim. In the Bitcoin world, we move that trust to the math. By using a trust-minimized protocol, we outsource the verification to code that doesn't have an ego, an agenda, or a political bias. This "trustless" foundation is the rock we need so that we can focus our human energy on building real, high-integrity trust with each other—handshakes that mean something because the system underneath them is unshakeable. 🧱🧡 We trust the math so we can trust the person. What do you think? Is 'trustless' just a shorthand for 'trusting the math,' or is it something deeper? #Bitcoin #Philosophy #Nostr #Trustless #SimonAcademy #SimonConsulting #Sovereignty #MathIsTruth

Your article is spot-on!

The Netherlands has officially banned Polymarket. The Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) views these prediction markets as illegal gambling, while the US CFTC treats them as derivatives. This friction is exactly why @Simon Consulting and @Simon Academy exist—to help navigate the chasm between innovation and regulation. My Take for the #PlebChain: We have to stop looking at these "crypto-powered" apps as the end goal. Polymarket is an application, but Bitcoin is a protocol. * Lightning is Bitcoin: As I noted in a recent thread, Lightning isn't just a payment tech; it is Bitcoin settled off-chain. We are already seeing stablecoins like USDT and USDC minted via the Taproot Asset protocol. This means we can have the utility of stable settlement while keeping Bitcoin as the final, immutable settlement layer. Nostr and Chaumian e-cash (Cashu/Fedimint) are following this same path. They aren't "alternative blockchains"—they are sovereign layers built on the only rock-solid foundation we have. The ban on Polymarket shows the fragility of applications that rely on centralized legacy permissions. True adoption won't come from "legalized gambling" in crypto clothing; it will come from the unshakeable infrastructure of Bitcoin-native protocols that don't ask for permission to exist. 🛡️🔓 Are we building apps that can be banned, or protocols that are inevitable? #Bitcoin #LightningNetwork #Polymarket #Netherlands #Nostr #TaprootAssets #SimonAcademy #SimonConsulting #Sovereignty

Looking back at our 2022 road trip. We made a stop to visit this stunning cathedral in the north of France, and it’s a powerful reminder of what "Low Time Preference" actually looks like. 🇫🇷⛪ These structures weren't built for a quarterly earnings report or a quick flip; they were built to last for centuries, often by people who knew they wouldn't live to see the final stone placed. 🧱🛡️ In our fast-paced world of fintech and rapid compliance shifts, standing inside a masterpiece like this puts everything back into perspective. It’s about building foundations that endure—whether in architecture, family, or the systems we create today for the future. What’s the most impressive "built to last" landmark you’ve visited on a road trip? 🚗💨

Taking the electric car all the way north to visit a client. I had to pull over for a quick charge at the supercharger in Emmeloord, which gave me the perfect excuse for a pit stop. Currently enjoying a slice of apple pie inside the Van der Valk hotel while the battery tops up. 🍎🥧 It’s a great spot, but a bit of a missed opportunity on the payment front—they don't accept Bitcoin (yet). As I sit here, I can’t help but think how much smoother it would be to pay for this "energy for the car and energy for the coach" directly over Lightning. Another mission for the Simon Consulting and Simon Academy list: orange-pilling the Dutch hospitality sector. 🏛️🍊 Groningen plebs, what’s the Bitcoin scene like in the city today? Any local spots I should visit after my meeting? #Bitcoin #LightningNetwork #Emmeloord #Groningen #VanderValk #EV #SimonAcademy #Netherlands #PlebChain