Awkard truth #2: Layer 2's won't solve the problem of high #Bitcoin transaction fees either. *Somebody* has to keep fuelling the miners with economically inefficient fees, to keep the network secure. But there's a name for businesses that dramatically raise their prices for the same offering, in a market full of battle-tested alternatives: bankrupt.

Awkward truth: A high-fee environment for #Bitcoin will be terrible for Bitcoin in the same way as a high-fee environment for anything else. If you (inevitably, in Bitcoin's case) significantly raise your prices (transaction fees) without also offering significantly more value in return, users will flock to #Monero and other low-fee tools that already are way faster, way cheaper, and offer unparalleled privacy and sovereignty. Will that persuade the maxis to change their minds? Trick question. Nobody cares.

I'll add: Decentralisation breaks the "Orient" part of the OODA loop as well. When, instead of a single server operator, you have hundreds, thousands - or even millions - which one do you target? #cypherpunk #decentralised View article →

For self-hosting: If you don't use an #Umbrel or #Start9, what is your preferred (DIY?) alternative? #asknostr #selfhosted

As someone who primarily uses #Monero, I am slightly envious of all the #Bitcoin wallets, cold storage options, and integrations (eg. zaps) out there. And some projects (like #cashu) are doing good work for #privacy in Bitcoin. Still, those who chased fiat returns over decentralised, permissionless, digital cash ended up with neither. Monero seems unstoppable and inevitable. With every delisting, its value in fiat terms increases (ironically). Its utility as a fast, low-fee, private, self-custodied way to buy and sell actual goods and services is proven.

Some paths on the journey to discovering #Monero are more expensive than others. 😎 View quoted note →

When #writing non-fiction, remember: Most books can be reduced to a blog article. Most paragraphs can be reduced to a sentence. Most words can be left out. The less you say, the more you will be heard.

We don't live in a post-truth world. Reality exists, whether you like or not. The truth is out there, plain for all to see. The problem comes when those who enforce the law are controlled by those who break the law. When that happens, the rule of law is dictated by whatever laws the ruler makes.

Seek affinity over seeking to persuade. Energy wasted on trying to make others "see the light" is energy you could have spent on building, collaborating with others who already share the same vision and ideals as you. Arguing with your opposition merely amplifies their signal. Persuasion pressures you to warp your message. For every new "convert", you end up a little further away from where you started. A tiny little cost paid, a small compromise made, for getting that next person onboard. But small costs accumulate. Until one day even you forget what you were fighting for in the first place. Instead: Radiate your ideas. Those who resonate will gravitate towards you. They're not necessarily even convinced yet, but at least they're paying attention. Maybe even starting to contribute to the discussion, the codebase, the community. And those who aren't interested are no matter for you. You can't please everyone. In fact, you shouldn't aim to please anyone. Don't just speak in the language of your favorite influencer to fit in. Develop your own voice. Don't try to be a better version of someone else. Focus on being the best version of you. #anarchism #freedom #permissionless

Fun fact: Only 10% of Wikipedia is in English. And it lacks millions of articles found in other editions.

English Wikipedia - Wikipedia

Do you own an @Umbrel ☂️ or @Start9? If so, which one? What are your primary use cases? #asknostr

Public Nostr relays make sense for data you want to be public. Using public relays for private, sensitive data is a recipe for disaster, regardless of how well the encryption of $new_fangled_thing seems to work currently. Giving birth to new software is painful. It's only a matter of time until someone finds a bug and all your data is leaked. Especially because, with Nostr data stored in a relay, there's nothing you can do to replay those artifacts to strengthen their encryption when a weakness is found. Agree or disagree? #asknostr #privacy

@Zapstore Now I'm getting the same error trying to install FUTO. Seems very unlikely to be a deleted release, IMHO. View quoted note →

What's your favourite keyboard for #GrapheneOS? I'm hoping for decent voice-to-text. Must be open source, of course. 😎 #asknostr

To improve your Nostr data sovereignty, install Citrine via the Zapstore. It's a Nostr relay for Android. Why? * It ensures that you always have a local copy of your Nostr data, independent of third-party relays. * It works as a private relay so that eg. your drafts, lists, and settings are seen by only you. * It supports broadcasting events after you come back online. * It's easy to fetch all your existing data into it after installation. So: 1. Go to

GitHub

GitHub - greenart7c3/Citrine: A Nostr relay in your phone

A Nostr relay in your phone. Contribute to greenart7c3/Citrine development by creating an account on GitHub.

for info on how to install it. 2. Run it and fetch all your existing events into it (the UI is self-explanatory). 3. Add ws://localhost:4869 as both a local and private relay in Amethyst. That's all. Enjoy! (P.S. If you found this post useful, please consider zapping it. Thank you!) #Zapstore #privacy #nostr #Amethyst

Zaps make people and communities smarter, more efficient. The scarce, physical energy transferred by a zap amplifies the signal on what a group finds truly valuable, what it wants more of. It’s the most efficient way to convey that a need has been met, a problem solved, a new insight gained - from producer to producer.

Social media doesn't suck. Closed networks suck. Closed protocols suck. Algorithmic feeds, architected by those who wish to control you, suck. Providing your passport/phone number/photo/credit card in the hopes you'll be allowed to participate sucks. With Nostr, you choose exactly what you want to see. With Nostr, you decide who is "your people", rather than being bombarded with connections some billionaire wants you to make, masked as serendipity. With Nostr, you don't need an "account" to participate. You just download a client and start participating. With Nostr, you own the keys to your kingdom. #grownostr

I love #Amethyst, but it seems really bad at completing usernames. Eg. When I type "@Kag..." it doesn't find Kagi, but #Damus does. Likewise in the search box. What am I doing wrong? Cc @Vitor Pamplona

Another argument against #cashu for me used to be "ugh, it's just like reimplementing the banking system on #Bitcoin!" It's not. First, cashu offers extreme privacy guarantees. Possibly even better than #Monero. (Side note: I love Monero.) Second, it's #permissionless. Third, cashu bearer tokens can be passed as data, allowing all sorts of programmable money use cases. Banking will never be any of this.

@vexl 😎 I'm not convinced by your reasoning for requiring phone numbers. It seems to wholly undermine the no-KYC claim, regardless of what promises you make about who can and can't see it. (And requiring an anonymous SIM to preserve privacy is a hassle.) Have you considered, eg charging 5-10k sats or something, as an alternative to providing a phone number? #bitcoin #privacy