I've been archiving my own Nostr history on a home relay (self-hosted on StartOS), and today I compared it with what public relays still serve. Of my 1,690 events going back to January 2022, 1,236 are no longer on any of the 18 relays I asked. Some of the biggest relays have pruned most of my history in the last six weeks. My very first note from 2022 now exists only in my archive and in Primal's cache. I tried to republish the missing events. They're my own signed events, so no key is needed. Every relay I tried rejected anything older than three years with "created_at too early". So the oldest part of my history can't even be restored. #asknostr: does anyone know of relays that: 1. don't prune, and 2. accept old, validly signed events, so you can backfill your own history? Paid is fine. I'd rather pay for a relay that keeps things than find out later that my notes are gone.

@Nostrich is amazing. They deploy new features at unmatched speed, and all of them make sense and add to the pleasantness of using the app. There’s really nothing more I could ask of a Nostr client... Well, okay, maybe one tiny wish: that they'd adopt or build upon @bembureda's semi-official Nostr logo! Keeping a consistent visual identity across clients helps everyone, and that logo is just too good not to leverage. @Nostrich, you can get it here:

GitHub

GitHub - mbarulli/nostr-logo: Logo and icons for the Nostr protocol.

Logo and icons for the Nostr protocol. Contribute to mbarulli/nostr-logo development by creating an account on GitHub.

Returning to Bernstein.io right as we hit our 10th anniversary makes this milestone truly special for me. Reading this recap, I’m reminded why we started, and why I couldn't be happier to be back.

Bernstein.io

Ten Years of Bernstein: A Love Letter to Being Early (and Stubborn)

Ten years after Bernstein began in Munich, we look back at a decade of blockchain, privacy, resilience, product evolution and the conviction that m...

@Nostrich, when will I be able to edit my long form articles?

💯 View quoted note →

My Nostr bio says "progressive bitcoiner." I've taken some heat for it and been called the usual toxic names. I don't mind, but I'd like to explain myself a bit more. Someone once said there's bitcoin, and then there are bitcoiners. Bitcoiners are a very diverse group, and they arrive for all sorts of reasons, because bitcoin works like a mirror: whoever looks into it finds reflected back whatever they were looking for. I consider this a strength, not a defect. If you're a libertarian, you see money separated from the state: resistant to seizure and censorship, permissionless, decentralized, transparent, the ground for individual sovereignty. If you follow Austrian economics, you see sound money with its 21 million hard cap, and a built-in incentive toward low time preference. If you're an investor, you see digital gold, number-go-up, a hedge against inflation, portfolio diversification. If you're a progressive, you see a way for marginalized communities to build generational wealth, for women to keep savings out of an abusive partner's reach, for people living under totalitarian regimes to hold money nobody can confiscate, or an incentive to build renewable energy capacity in poor regions through mining. And so on. As I've written many times, bitcoin is for everybody, and it's in everybody's interest to see it adopted by all sorts of people, as long as they champion bitcoin for what it is, and nobody tries to bend the protocol to fit their own worldview or value system (Hello, Luke!) So why signal "progressive" here on Nostr, when it provokes such nasty reactions? (I've been told several times that I should stay away from bitcoin.) Because a label, even though it puts you in a box that never quite fits, still works as a signaling device: it lets other people who hold progressive values know that there are others like them in bitcoin. Bitcoin doesn't care who you are, but other bitcoiners do. It's important that progressives point to real examples of bitcoin serving progressive ends, because people come to bitcoin through language and stories that resonate with them, not through someone else's. My hope is that the broader bitcoin community makes room for progressive bitcoiners like me, and sees that while we may disagree on political ideology, social issues and economics, we all agree on one thing: bitcoin.

I've added a Store Front to my Nostr profile featuring 4 t-shirts with unique Nostr and Bitcoin themes! All of them were designed by my friend @bembureda, creator of the amazing Nostr logo that I like to think of as the official one (available at the link below). This Store Front feature introduced by @Nostrich is super easy to use. Right now, it just lets you pin products and services to your profile, but I can foresee a huge impact once it grows into a full-fledged marketplace integrated in your Nostr client. @Nostrich is shipping new features at a speed never seen before in the Nostr ecosystem! 🚀

GitHub

GitHub - mbarulli/nostr-logo: Logo and icons for the Nostr protocol.

Logo and icons for the Nostr protocol. Contribute to mbarulli/nostr-logo development by creating an account on GitHub.

Ten years of flawless service, for free. And his wife still wants to switch to a paid password manager. What is wrong with wives? 😅 Jokes aside: these are the messages that make running a free service worth it. Ten years, eighteen years, and "never a hint of a problem"! That's the whole business model, and it beats any subscription revenue chart.

clipperz - online password manager

Another underrated, but extremely useful feature of @Nostrich: note translation. Sometimes I'm reluctant to follow non-English, non-Italian, or non-German accounts, even if I'm sure they are posting interesting stuff. The reason is how tedious it is to copy/paste their notes into a translator. Nostrich makes this a 1-click action, and suddenly Nostr is bigger and more diverse. PS: When support for polls?

Today I completed another small step forward in the de-Googling process I started this summer: migrating from Notion to a local instance of Anytype! I was able to reach this milestone thanks only to my "collaboration" with Claude. I have always been intimidated by system administration tasks, and for decades that kept me away from Linux and self-hosting, pushing me further into the arms of Google, Amazon, Notion, etc. AI, and Claude Code in particular, changed all of this. I deployed a StartOS server running a Bitcoin full node, LND and Alby Hub Lightning services, a Nostr relay that keeps a copy of all my Nostr activity, an Immich server where I moved 30+ years of family photos for all family members, and now Anytype as well. I configured secure access to these services both from my home network and remotely, thanks to a static IP and a robust firewall and router configuration. On top of this, there are scripts that ingest utility bills and generate household expense reports, monitor Bitcoin wallets, manage local and remote encrypted backups (to Hetzner data centers in Germany), make backup copies of notebooks created on my Boox e-ink tablet, etc. I repeat, given my limited technical skills, none of this would have been possible without Claude's support. I never would have ventured into this level of complexity. And it's not over yet: other decentralized services are bound to follow. If I did it, you can do it too!

@Nostrich just dropped the first no-nonsense Nostr client with a multicolumn Deck-like interface that actually works. Give it a spin, you won't be disappointed!

Nostrich

Nostrich

Nostrich is a new, 100% free, and best-in-class Nostr client for web, iOS, Android, Zapstore, and Mac. Your content. Your feed. Your experience.

Jean-Philippe Aumasson published this neat infographic on LinkedIn for non-cryptographers, clarifying which current algorithms will survive the quantum computing era. (btw, someone should invite JP to Nostr, we need more diverse content here ...)

Ieri ho pubblicato sia in inglese 🇬🇧 che in tedesco 🇩🇪 un post in cui raccontavo di aver firmato una petizione al parlamento tedesco: la petizione 201716 che chiede al governo di mantenere la norma che rende esentasse i bitcoin detenuti a titolo privato per almeno un anno. Spero sia utile raccontare anche in italiano 🇮🇹 perché l'ho fatto e cosa potrebbe cambiare. Ho vissuto in Germania per 6 anni, ma sono rientrato in Italia da tempo, e in Germania non voto e non ci pago le tasse. Eppure l'ho firmata lo stesso, e penso che ogni bitcoiner europeo dovrebbe farlo. Non servono né cittadinanza né residenza tedesca. La scadenza è il 15 settembre. OGGI In Germania, i bitcoin detenuti a titolo privato sono considerati "altro bene economico". Se li vendi dopo più di 12 mesi, la plusvalenza è esentasse. Se li vendi entro i 12 mesi, è tassata con la tua aliquota IRPEF, con una soglia di esenzione di 1.000 €. COSA VUOLE FARE IL GOVERNO La decisione del consiglio dei ministri del 6 luglio riclassificherebbe le plusvalenze generate bitcoin e dalle altre criptovalute come redditi di capitale (Einkünfte aus Kapitalvermögen) e applicherebbe un'imposta secca di circa il 25% su ogni vendita, senza più alcun periodo di detenzione esentasse. Nulla di tutto ciò è ancora legge. Non c'è un disegno di legge, non c'è una data di decorrenza. È esattamente per questo che si può ancora fermare. PERCHÉ FIRMARE La regola dei 12 mesi non è una scappatoia. È un trattamento fiscale coerente con la visione di bitcoin come bene patrimoniale, un approccio confermato più volte dalla giurisprudenza tributaria, che riconosce e premia il risparmio distinguendolo dal trading. La Germania ha quindi oggi uno dei regimi di tassazione delle criptovalute più favorevoli d'Europa. Perché dovrebbe interessare anche ai non tedeschi? Perché la Germania è spesso presa a riferimento per le decisioni europee. Se la più grande economia dell'UE mantiene una norma che tratta il bitcoin come risparmio e non come una fiche da casinò, quell'opzione resta sul tavolo a Roma, Vienna, Lisbona e Bruxelles. Se la Germania cede, "allinearsi al modello tedesco" diventerà un argomento per il contrario. Il quorum di 30.000 firme è già stato superato, quindi la commissione parlamentare di cometenza dovrà trattarla in seduta pubblica. E ogni firma in più rende quell'audizione più rumorosa.

Petitionen: Verwendung von Cookies nicht aktiviert

#bitcoin #tasse #OneYearRule

Ich habe gerade eine Petition beim Deutschen Bundestag mitgezeichnet. Petition 201716 fordert den Erhalt der Regel, nach der privat gehaltene Bitcoin nach einem Jahr steuerfrei sind. Ich bin Italiener, ich kann in Deutschland nicht wählen und zahle dort keine Steuern. Mitgezeichnet habe ich trotzdem — und ich finde, jeder Bitcoiner in Europa sollte das tun. Weder deutsche Staatsangehörigkeit noch Wohnsitz sind dafür nötig. Frist: 15. September. 🇩🇪 HEUTE Privat gehaltene Kryptowerte gelten als „andere Wirtschaftsgüter" nach §23 EStG. Nach über 12 Monaten Haltedauer ist der Gewinn steuerfrei; darunter greift der persönliche Einkommensteuersatz mit einer Freigrenze von 1.000 €. WAS SICH ÄNDERN SOLL Der Kabinettsbeschluss vom 6. Juli zum Haushalt 2027 will private Kryptowerte den Einkünften aus Kapitalvermögen zuordnen — pauschal rund 25 %, Haltefrist ersatzlos weg. Beschlossen ist noch nichts: kein Gesetzentwurf, kein Stichtag. Genau deshalb ist jetzt der Moment. WARUM MITZEICHNEN Die Einjahresfrist ist kein Schlupfloch, sondern eine in sich schlüssige, von der Rechtsprechung bestätigte Behandlung von Bitcoin als Wirtschaftsgut — sie belohnt langfristiges Sparen statt Zockerei und ist eine der bitcoinfreundlichsten Regelungen Europas. Warum das auch uns außerhalb Deutschlands betrifft: Deutschland ist der Referenzfall. Hält die größte Volkswirtschaft der EU an einer Regel fest, die Bitcoin als Ersparnis und nicht als Casino-Chip behandelt, bleibt diese Option auch in Rom, Wien, Lissabon und Brüssel auf dem Tisch. Kippt Deutschland um, wird „am deutschen Modell orientieren" zum Argument für das Gegenteil. Das Quorum von 30.000 ist längst überschritten — der Petitionsausschuss muss sich also öffentlich damit befassen. Jede weitere Mitzeichnung macht diese Anhörung lauter.

Petitionen: Verwendung von Cookies nicht aktiviert

#bitcoin #Steuern #Haltefrist

I've just signed a petition with the German parliament. Petition 201716 asks the government to keep the rule that makes privately held bitcoin tax-free after a year. I'm Italian, I can't vote there and I don't pay taxes there. I signed anyway, and I think every bitcoiner in Europe should. You don't need German citizenship or residence to do it. Deadline: 15 September. 🇩🇪 TODAY Privately held bitcoin counts as an "other economic good". Sell after more than 12 months and the gain is tax-free. Sell within 12 months and it's taxed at your personal income rate, with a €1,000 exemption limit. WHAT THE GOVERNMENT WANTS The cabinet's budget decision of 6 July would reclassify private crypto as capital income (Einkünfte aus Kapitalvermögen): a flat ~25% tax on every sale, with no tax-free holding period at all. None of it is law yet. There's no bill, and no cut-off date. That's exactly why it can still be stopped. WHY SIGNING The 12-month rule isn't a loophole. It's a coherent treatment of bitcoin as property, confirmed by the tax courts, that rewards saving instead of churn — and it's one of the friendliest regimes in Europe. Why non-Germans should care: Germany is the reference case. If the EU's largest economy keeps a rule that treats bitcoin as savings rather than a casino chip, that option stays on the table in Rome, Vienna, Lisbon and Brussels. If Germany folds, "align with the German model" becomes an argument for the opposite. The 30,000 quorum is already cleared, so the Petitions Committee has to take it up in public session. Every additional signature makes that hearing louder.

Petitionen: Verwendung von Cookies nicht aktiviert

#bitcoin #taxes #OneYearRule

Markdown files are becoming ubiquitous (just think of the ones fed to and created by your AI). If you, like me, need a Markdown viewer that excels at rendering tables, formulas, diagrams, etc., MarkView is a great choice. It's a simple Chrome extension that performs better than any desktop clients I've tried (at least on Linux).

MarkView

MarkView - Modern Markdown Viewer for Chrome & Edge

Transform your markdown files with beautiful syntax highlighting, Mermaid diagrams, KaTeX math equations, auto-refresh, and powerful navigation. Wo...

My friends often complain that I always talk about Bitcoin, especially with everything else going on in the world. They make me feel like I'm navel-gazing and disconnected from real, more serious issues. But that's not the case, it just happened to me the same thing that happened to @fiatjaf :

BitcoinSaigon.org

Interview with LNTXBot Creator Fiatjaf

If you are following the developments around the Lightning Network and are an active user of the Telegram Messenger, there is a good chance that yo...

(via @Gigi )

This 2010 EFF article remains a compelling and insightful read even today. > They can promise strong encryption. They just need to figure out how they can provide us plain text. - FBI General Counsel Valerie Caproni, September 27, 2010 > [W]e're in favor of strong encryption, robust encryption. The country needs it, industry needs it. We just want to make sure we have a trap door and key under some judge's authority where we can get there if somebody is planning a crime. - FBI Director Louis Freeh, May 11, 1995

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Eight Epic Failures of Regulating Cryptography

They can promise strong encryption. They just need to figure out how they can provide us plain text. - FBI General Counsel Valerie Caproni, Septemb...

Mi piace notare come, nelle ultime puntate, lo spirito anarchico e antisistema del Bitcoin Italia Podcast si riveli sempre più marcatamente. In tempi dove anche l’ultimo dei Satoshi Spritz di provincia è infestato da trader mascherati da bitcoiner, è importante che vi sia chi ricorda ai bitcoiner italiani le origini e la ragione d’essere di Bitcoin. Bravo @npub13vep...489d! Adesso devi solo convincere Guybrush a dare una chance a Nostr che, non sarà p2p come vorrebbe, ma è pur sempre meglio di X!

#asknostr I’m looking for a new laptop with official Linux support from the manufacturer. ** Requirements ** - 13”–14” display - Good battery life - Solid build quality (no cheap plastic) - USB-C with display output - Preferably elegant and lightweight - Ideally ships from the EU to avoid high customs fees People of Nostr, what would you recommend?