I will say this only on Nostr: my conviction in Bitcoin has been seriously rattled over the last few days.

What have I got myself into? Is Bitcoin doomed to failure due to its unfavorable privacy properties? Can it get co-opted and turned into fed surveillance coin? What if the Monero bros were right? Privacy on Bitcoin now seems as elusive as a dream.

And on a separate matter, as Matt Corallo just pointed out to Marty Bent, miner centralization is worse than we previously thought (many miners, it turns out, are just proxies for AntPool). Also concerning is the amount of hash power residing in the United States. And worst of all is that miners aren't even TESTING Stratum v2 to potentially alleviate these vulnerabilities.

Although I'd prefer to sink with the ship, I couldn't sell my bitcoin even if I wanted to. No exchange wants tainted coins at this point, and I have no way of calculating taxes due to my poor recordkeeping (I'm stuck in the U.S.).

I think for now I will focus on my fiat savings. I'm 31, which (although quite ancient for homosexuals) should theoretically give me time to save myself if my high conviction in bitcoin was misplaced. But should bitcoin fail, it would be an extremely painful setback.

I suppose it would be for many of you as well. I just wish I could share your optimism, but my mind is poisoned with doubts.