OK, past few days were quite wild. I am currenly in El Salvador because I was attending the Adopting Bitcoin conference. My very limited internet connection here made it quite difficult to engage, I mostly just got push notifications. Hereby I want to take the opportunity to tell the story from my side.
TL;DR: We were just having fun, we thought it was okay. Apperently it's not and nvk is is so upset that he felt he had to file a GitHub takedown request. I feel that's not how bitcoiners behave.
### How it started
I have been working on the #BTClock since April '23. It started of some sort of bet where I challenged myself to make a BTC ticker as cheap as possible. I just ordered seven eInk displays on AliExpress with the intention of showing information related to bitcoin using an ESP32.
Why seven? Because the words BITCOIN and SATOSHI both consist of seven letters and connecting more screens to the ESP32 did not seem possible without adding I/O-port expanders.
Yes. The idea was inspired (among other projects) by Blockclock, which also uses eInk displays. I don't own one, so I couldn't "reverse engineer" or use any direct inspiration of it but the way you can combine multiple eInk displays to display information in an useful way is very limited.
After getting the schematic right. I created a 3D printable case for it (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6009628) and named it BTClock after someone's idea in the Dutch Noderunners community. Since it consists of seven characters I thought it's the perfect name since it fits the seven displays too.
nostr:note19zp3c8lsm4s5lwvuscu4dll3clkzvajrwthvqed5q7s83mazrr2swc6mqe
### May 2023
This allows you to create a BTClock for Β±70 euro (if you own a 3D printer).
I shared the progress of the project in the MakerBits telegram group. Ben Arc checked with nvk how he felt about it, and I have seen his responsse where he replied with that he felt honored and that I should go ahead. In hindsight, I should've asked Ben to forward this to me but I wouldn't expect this to "haunt" me like it did last week.
After sharing the very spaghetti-y schematic in some Telegram groups, someone replied that he was working on making an actual PCB out of it. After some DM'ing back and forth we got our first PCB prototype that needed some work. After 4 iterations we finally got it how we wanted and were able to sell DIY kits. The PCB is real artwork, so we wanted to show it off. Therefore we added a acrylic backplate to be able to protect it while still able to see the proof-of-work by Madbo, the PCB artwork designer. We used a lot of through hole components to make it accesible for anyone who has a soldering iron.
### August 2023
In August 2023 we finally got the kits ready, while the initial plan was to only sell the DIY kit within the Dutch Noderunners community, I brought smoe with me to Baltic Honeybadger '23 as well, where it proved to be pretty succesful while sitting next to Ben in the chilling lounge.
I got a lot of encouraging and positive remarks about the project, including Daniel Prince (@princeysov) who tweeted about this (https://x.com/Princey21M/status/1698257536418267624).
It appeared that this tweet firstly poked the lion, since nvk sent some of his coinkite employees to me after this tweet, a group of 4 people asked a lot of questions while filming me (without my consent, I didn't realize this when they were asking it but when they walked away it was clear to see the iPhone was recording video).
Not a lot later, nvk sent out a tweet which was clearly about the BTClock project without explicitly mentioning the name (https://x.com/nvk/status/1698423362819682400)
However, in my opinion this did still fit the message I read he wrote to Ben that he was more flattered than upset. It was only then when I learned about how he reacted to Foundation Passport and how he behaves regarding the SeedSigner project.
### March 2024
During Bitcoin Atlantis in March 2024, there was a nice space for the MakerBits projects including the BTClock, the software by this time has many improvements, including real-time new block notifications by utilizing the Mempool.space Websocket API. Since the hardware is also open source, many alternative faceplates are available including a stainless steel one and a completely white one. Multiple people witnessed nvk walking passed the maker space while looking at me, but he did not engage or whatsoever. I would expect if he would take offense by the product, he would've approached me by now but he didn't. He does know who I am though, both in real-life and I'm posting enough on my social media accounts (Nostr and Xitter) to find me there as well.
### Fast forward to November 2024
A lot has happened in the development of the BTClock, among other things I added a BitAxe integration and Nostr Zap Notifications to the software and we managed to add frontlight to the eInk displays which I really think sets the BTClock apart from other "tickers" like the Blockclock mini.
The Blockclock mini hasn't had any updates for two years (since October 3rd, 2022) which seems to be like the Blockclick mini can be considered end-of-life.
I therefore was very suprised that when I woke up on November 14th, I received an e-mail that the BTClock GitHub organization was flagged because of alleged trademark infringement of the BTClock.
This was according to a report by Coinkite to GitHub. The letter I shared in the MakerBits Telegram group was ONLY sent to GitHub, not to me (although I haven't been home for a while so I don't know something is waiting in my physical mailbox).
Luckily git is decentralized version control and there are already mirrors of the hardware and software source available. Also GitHub allows me to appeal but haven't taken the chance to do so.
Although I do understand that the concept of trademarks exists for a reason, I feel this a very cowardly move and certainly not something that I would expect from fellow bitcoiners. Just sending me a DM on Nostr, X or Telegram is the least I would expect. I don't mean to offend or infringe, and would be happy to discuss options if open to it. Either in DM or out in the open.
I'm all about transparency so nostr:npub1az9xj85cmxv8e9j9y80lvqp97crsqdu2fpu3srwthd99qfu9qsgstam8y8 here is my invitation to discuss this out in the open. I'm sorry that we seem to upset you. what is it that bothers you, can we find a way to let the projects co-exist? Or even see if the BTClock software can adapted to your Blockclock mini hardware.
Your project is indeed unique and welcome. An open source project is not free to produce, develop, lead, work with contributors, etc. and I honestly don't see how the two products compare other than in looks.
You put in work and you should be rewarded. I hope that NVK has only a specific issue (maybe the name) and that this can be addressed sensibly.
The US Dollar is constantly devaluing because they keep printing more. During "times of crisis", whether manufactured or not, more money is printed.
The dollar is getting less and less scarce and not even necessarily in a predictable way. Why can this be used to measure things but bitcoin cannot?
Fun fact: even without that miner who chose to forfeit his block reward, we would never reach 21 million because of the way halvings work.
We always drop the last significant bit in the number which is equivalent to halving the number but also rounding down to the nearest satoshi.
That means the total we could have ever mined was 20,999,999,999,9769,0000 satoshis.
See the proof:
Fortunately bull runs are short lived so you are inconvenienced only a little of the time and you can probably just end the loan early to avoid issues.
Fyi, maybe its changed, but another thing that killed me was that the terms did not allow you to pay down the loan partially... it was close the loan or keep it open or add more collateral. No paying down some of the debt to improve the LTV.
I think GBP is new, I had an account already and used it to b2x last bull.
One thing to be mindful of is that a drop like the one in 2020ish (end of last bull) can completely wreck you.
They have a reasonable LTV but Bitcoin can and will eat your lunch if it wants to. It scares people like my friend. It set me back and humbled me too.
I think timing is important but it's the inverse of "selling high"... you should stick to bear markets and maybe the beginning of a bull run but never in the middle of it.
Never seen it before, but when I saw this comment it hit me how every ad, every influencer, everyone is just shouting at you all day every day.
This guy could be perceived as being frustrated and yelling at you... but not today.
How would you get the GBP? USDT to USD to GBP? Any recommendations about platforms/exchanges?
I refused to add a him/he anywhere... it was never sensical and to pretend it was ever "to be kind and inclusive" felt ridiculous. It's like saying everyone should walk around naked to show inclusiveness to nudists.
Fortunately I never got any direct pressure to do so, but seeing collegues do it in slack and emails did seem to put a weird uncomfortable pressure, like peer pressure, but the fact that it feels like a chore always overrode that pressure. Go lazy gene! π
o.O
#asknostr #bitcoin
Asking for a friend, a hypothetical with round numbers...
If someone were to sell bitcoin that is in cold storage for ~Β£100k after some more pumps to buy something, like home improvements: extension, loft extension, landscaping a garden etc...
What way would you recommend doing it?
- Taking a collateral loan is both difficult in the UK and way too risky.
- p2p exchanges: not sure what issues you could face and whether to be concerned about bank account terminations if they suspect something or ask what the money is from and you say bitcoin (also you'd be doxxing the buyer as a bitcoin owner). Also how many trades would you need to make and is there a size of trade that is just too dangerous?
- Exchanges: will the bank block large transfers FROM an exchange? I hope they'd be more lenient towards deposits compared to withdrawals from your bank account. Also is Β£100k too much?
- OTC: what is it, can any pleb use this or is it a gentlemens club?
- Other options?
I think I learned that "Blockchain" in the private sense just means a write forward database. Like the event sourcing stuff, but if the data inside has any signatures or cryptographic proofs, then it's a Blockchain.
Honestly I was picking the brain of someone who was a senior Blockchain dev for an internal product for banks:
1. Yet to be bought and used by banks
2. He came straight from uni
3. He was just using existing libraries and didn't really know if and how the proofs worked and were sound.
4. I only asked about the Blockchain but I got to learn of auditing nodes and notary nodes, no mention of proof-of-X, and when I asked why the Blockchain though, he just said immutability. I think it's structural immutability, not provably real immutability if that makes sense.
Wake me when you find 7 and a white one.
I like to imagine, just like we consider the threat of governments attempting to infiltrate and "confiscate" our bitcoin, governments are wondering "how do we protect against the 14 year old minecraft hacker who discovers our keys while non-chilantly breaking into CIA servers?"
Some people don't test their shit. Let me know if any of this rings true.
Most apps have a hard time detecting QR codes in certain conditions:
1. There is no white border, a few pixels thick around the QR code
2. It is using "dark mode" so the blocks are white and the background is dark
3. There isn't much contrast or it is using fancy colours... black and white, just do it plain.
4. There is dirt on the screen or the digital screen looks a bit fuzzy on camera.
If you can, use your native camera or a qr scanning app and check what it reads, you should be able to copy and paste whatever it says into your favourite wallet.
If it isn't a long random looking string of characters beginning with lnbc..., then report back, that's gonna be an interesting thing to explore further.
Looking at the previous yearly movements (assuming this random website I found is accurate at all) the peaks are very revealing.
I've heard two things:
1. The pumps are dampening.
2. The FTX etc. fiasco outright killed the last bull.
If it is dampening, it looks pretty bleak for next year (doesn't feel like it)
If the FTX thing is true, those green bars are a marvel to look at. π€€
I ain't no influencor or certified anything, but this was too feel good not to share. GN
/chatgpt turn this into two sentences by playing with the grammar.
Cool, so now I will go live on your front yard with all my wealth because my $5 is now $50. Fuck you. Also can I come back in if it rains?
Sorry, that one is out of stock.