I have experienced this very thing. The same price moves that make precious metal holders decide to sell makes the dealers uninterested in buying. Paper prices are NOT the same as street level physical trade prices.

The lack of places to spend or sell self custodied metals eventually dries up all the liquidity driving paper prices higher.

Shiny rock mania dies down once a shortage of greater fools occurs.

You sound like a domesticated pet who can't believe anyone would be willing to die for their ideals. The fact is that past a certain age death and/or political imprisonment aren't as great a threat as they are to overgrown domesticated adolescents. I have already sacrificed everything and almost everyone due to my being unwilling to compromise my principles. The threats of the Nanny State and their thugs are as empty as hot air from paper dragons.

I AM building privacy tools, for identity, communication, and payments. I fully recognize I may be 'black bagged', disappeared for what I'm doing & there's no wayinn hell I would "plea bargain' with them. You seem new to the realm of Bitcoin, we kill our heroes, those Devs are NOT heroes, they are cowards who picked a fight with a bully and then backed down rather than get their as beat.

You assume I'm young and naive because you were born into a generation of weak men. So, can't believe anyone is truly committed to live free of die.

I've been a War Tax Resistor for my whole life. I'm very used to threats of Imprisonment and judgement from Sheople. But, I can't prove that either, as you cannot prove a negative, so you'll probably assume that's a lie too. Which I'm also used to...

I was on a Warrior's path before Tate & Svetski were in diapers.

I have nothing to prove to you or anyone, I merely called as I see them.

IF you knew ANYTHING about the Code of the Samurai, (living in modern day Japan obviously taught you nothing of it), you would find the idea of a True Samurai "pleading" to the court for mercy truly laughable.

Truth doesn't need defending, I couldn't care less what you think. I'm merely countering your bullshit narrative with some facts based on actual history. Not those role playing at being a warriors unprepares prepared to 'Live Free OR Die', preferring 'Death Before Dishonor'.

For some of us, those sayings aren't just bumper stickers, it's a Way of Life.

This was totally predictable! Only naive children would be surprised when the rule of law is ignored and the Nanny State attacks those building privacy tech.

No one is more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. Yourself included, IF you have a government ID, file taxes, and/or use a bank account.

Those who've left the plantation don't fund their enslavement by filing taxes, use debt note slave currencies, or let the Nanny State tell them who they are. IF you do ANY of these things you ARE a free range slave! As the LARPing Samurai devs ALL likely do too...

Dude, I'm a GenX martial artist prepared to die for what I believe in. I earned my 1st whole coin for setting up a full BTC QT node and helping someone buy their non-KYC BTC with cash in 2014.

I'm not 'role-playing' nor 'wet behind the ears'. I'm a battle scarred veteran calling out the cowards who pick fights with bullies and then bend the knee when push comes to shove.

Sounds to me like you are describing yourself, and the so-called 'Samourai' devs who have probably never heard of the Bushido Code.

I've been saying the same thing!

Had these devs understood what it meant to be a true Samurai, not LARPing as warriors for freedom, they would NEVER "plea" for mercy. Rather than xompromise their honor by pleading to a victimless crime they didn't even commit they would've fell own their own sword. Death before dishonor is part of the Way of the Samurai.

Family or not, they should've recognized that death was a possible, even likely, outcome for having built tools that undermine the Nanny State's power. A real Samurai, not a LARP, would commit seppuku before pleading before the crown!

You have a bank account..?

So how about you also setup https://cashapp.com/.well-known/nostr.json?name=cashtag to automatically give CashApp NIP05 Nostr Usernames to everyone that already has a CashTag..?

These will obviously be doxxed KYC'd Nostr accounts (at least within your database) but it seems like providing Merchants a means of communicating with their Consumers (perhaps thru NIP17 protocols as Bitchat does) could be a powerful add-on feature for your existing userbase!

This would then enable us all to find and send Zaps to anyone/everyone that has a CashTag.

Cognitive Capital is our most value asset. It includes our 12 magic words, but also our skills, experience, and our personal networks. It's not who you know that matters, what matters is who knows you, and that you know what you know.

Nostr & Bitcoin, it's where peers can find,communicate, and engage in trade with each other without arbitrary lines in the sand and self appointed gatekeepers getting in between consensual financial intercourse between adults.

More important than screening, fast and do parasite cleanses regularly...

I just located an article I wrote over 3 years ago that's still relevant and potentially a valuable strategy for those interested safely 'Sailing the Satoshi Seas' today. Enjoy, share, and let me know if you'd like me to start producing more content like this again. I may begin publishing them on both Substack and as long form Nostr posts, there are advantages to both for Bloggers.

https://thewayofbitcoin.substack.com/p/sailing-the-satoshi-seas-on-a-personal

What IF digital payments achieved final settlement without unnecessary delays due to "banking hours/days", didn't have charge back risks due to a "pull payment" system that claws back payments many months after their paid, or have %-based transaction fees that 10x'd the fiat toll booth operators profits simply for moving the decimal point to the right..?

How much faster, more effective, and more efficient will merchant trade be when business owners get their money sooner, don't have to account for identity theft causing fraud taking back payments (or oxymoron "capital gains" taxes), and their profit margins increase because the transport rails are permissionless and borderless..?

Imagine IF the creators of wealth got to keep more of their wealth, to receive it and redistribute it in minutes instead of days, and their marketable audience is larger because their client base is not limited by lines drawn in the sand or Nanny-State issues credentials!!!

Just wait until you watch the Children of Dune SciFi series. If you haven't seen it yet, they made it a trilogy that's nearly 9 hrs in total. Absolutely worth it, very well cast and very true to the books. Many of us Dune lovers enjoyed the Children of Dune series even more than the original book and sequel, 'Dune Messiah'.

I may just get an audio book version of them all and enjoy them again while I work. Will be interesting to see how much of those philosophical ideas have made me who I am today, without my even realizing I'd absorbed the lessons from them.

There's a place in that gear system for Fedimint, too. As a parallel group signed Bearer Promise for those already within trusted groups like businesses, churches, and families. Many will find those "promises" easier to trust. The challenge will be in making that trust ephemeral or at least with a threshold that helps users avoid get lazy and trusting too much for too long.

Seems like these so-called "Samourai" didn't understand the Bushido Code where losing face is worse than death. True Samurai would have gutted themselves and allowed their heads to be taken before "pleading" guilt to a victimless crime they didn't even commit.

A Samurai doesn't "plead" with anyone!

They certainly wouldn't have handed over their private keys either, these Deb's were role playing at being Samurai, LARPing armchair warriors who buckled, bending the knee when it came time to die in a battle the invited upon themselves.

The 'time value of money', becoming more valuable in the future than the present, will make spenders more frugal forcing businesses to provide more valuable products and higher quality services. Imagine how much better the marketplace will be when planned obsolescence isn't rewarded because people won't part with their sats as easily.

Every expenditure, no matter the form factor of the exchange, has an opportunity cost in sats forgone. Imagine how much business efficiency will improve when charge back risk, bankers' hours, and %-based fees are removed from the equation.

Right, Imagine IF this money could be earned without permission, was immune to physical theft, and grew, rather than shrank, over time...

What might we be able to build, protect, and transmit to our descendants with a form of money that has ALL of these traits..?

What might the creators of wealth create for us all when they're able to keep what they've earned..?

What if brains could finally defeat brawn and those with merit were rewarded properly for it?

How different a world might our children inherit now that they have these advantages..?

Not your server, not your data.

Controlling the 'territory', both the server AND the building housing it is essential for true control over our digital selves; our identities, credentials, and content. Mitigation of being placed under siege though, also requires cont rol over the transport rails and the verification of our allies identities and credentials, too.

https://image.nostr.build/ade0eeb4da994b7797645d1e55eac0010b48612a2021d128b795a747ea042e3

The First Person Project understands these facts.

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/6834ee7c55c6376908871a6d/t/68cc3a8c99a9e21f398ea782/1758214796847/The+First+Person+Project+White+Paper+V1.0.pdf

I migrated to mailfence.com for similar reasons a couple years ago. Have been building a better Nostr based messaging platform this year partly due to my bad experiences with these platforms. Will be releasing it for limited testing in '2-weeks'.

Using PayPal for p2p payments with BTC defeats the very purpose of using. The point is that with Bitcoin we no longer need permission, to pay %-based fees, to provide KYC, OR have to take on chargeback risks. Anyone who still uses PayPal to send/receive sats is a programmed house slaves that doesn't understand Bitcoin.

I've had PayPal claw back payments made to me as far back as 11 months! With no means of contesting the client's bank that simply took the fiat back from PayPal, leaving me with the bill. Fiat payment rails like PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, etc. and Bitcoin are like oil and water, they do NOT mix.

Leave these rent seeking parasitic agents of the Bankster cartels out of the equation. Use Bitcoin the way it was intended directly Peer to Peer to achieve final settlement. Even using custodial LN wallets is FAR superior to these antiquated unnecessary monetary parasites!

Don't give PayPal the opportunity to stack sats, provide that value to those who offer the goods and services you choose to spend your sats to purchase!

I'm working on solutions for enabling securing our Webs of Trust through direct invitations, white listed NIP05s, and encrypted communication stack between our authenticated peers. Trust must be grown organically though, outsourcing it beyond 1 degree of separation creates risk no matter how it's done.

I believe the answer is to begin by onboarding those we already know and trust in real life, our immediate and extended family, as well as reliable business associates we maintain ongoing exchange with.

Trust, but collateralize, preferentially with reputation. Be careful who you let in to your inner circles, it's not just who you know that matters, in many ways it's who knows you, and that you know what you know, that matters most. Proof of Work done over time cannot be faked, or replaced.

THIS is how we safely make our way through THe Great Disillusionment that AI generation has already brought to us all. Most just haven't realized that NO digital content can be considered authentic any longer. Those beautiful women, and fit men, you see in social media are mostly FAKE. Every photo, video, or audio out out by government and corporate officials and mainstream media, also FAKE.

Only our own eyes and ears can be trusted, but even our memories cannot, so those are unreliable in the long run too. As spiritual traditions have long taught, ALL reality is subjective, just like 'value', there is no objective Truth except that all things change and are illusions, not the fundamental Truth.

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{"inbox":["auth.nostr1.com","relay.0xchat.com"]}

Financial privacy is THE Foundation of ALL Liberty. The powers that be know this and are actively eroding this foundation in order to criminalized privacy.

Compliance leads to assimilation into the Matrix, becoming a cog in the Borg machine. Civil disobedience is the ONLY appropriate response! We MUST level up our privacy tools and accelerate our use of them. Our children's future depends upon the choices we make today.

Freedom is never free, every generation must pay for freedom with fresh blood spilled by those who recognize these facts. Broken, obsolete, and parasitical systems must be starved of our resources, our time, our money, and our creative faculties. This is the ONLY way to remove these deeply embed parasites from our societies without killing the hosts.

Nostr, LN, Bitcoin, and eCash protocols are our best weapons in this war on privacy, cash, and personal liberty. We must build better tooling for using these protocols and become more disciplined in using them. I'm about to launch a new tool set to help us all do just that. But it's going to take an army of freedom fighters to win this revolution.

For anyone who has matured past concern only for themselves, serving their peers by providing value in the marketplace voluntarily contributing value for value, with free market pricing (for the wisest among us priced in sats) is a natural evolution of healthy and mature personalities. Only adolescents think ONLY of themselves without any desire to serve their community of peers. Contributing properly compensated value to society at large is how we capture more sats to help solve the problem of 'coincidence of wants' that brings us all the benefits of specialization.

No man, nor family, is an island. As Bill Mollison put it "True security comes only when you look out your window and see your food growing and your neighbors working." Once that need has been met, serving your community by delivering goods and services that empower them to do achieve the same is a natural consequence for all but self absorbed narcissists.