nostr:npub15c88nc8d44gsp4658dnfu5fahswzzu8gaxm5lkuwjud068swdqfspxssvx I listened to a #ungovernablemisfits episode recently where you commented on #coldcard vs #passport.
Your main critique was coldcard not being FOSS. As and end user, I really dont see why this is such a big deal as long as the code is verifiable. I don't really care that nostr:npub1az9xj85cmxv8e9j9y80lvqp97crsqdu2fpu3srwthd99qfu9qsgstam8y8 wants to make sure people dont steal his codebase and profits from it. All I care about is my sleep at night, really.
As an example, iMessage is closed source obviously, so thats why I dont use it as a messaging service, I prefer Signal. On a graphene phone, preferably. But say I was invited into Apple to verify the code and it turns out I can personally verify that its end to end encrypted and no backdoors yada yada.
In that case, I might use it to send my mom a txt saying I'll be over for dinner. Even though its fully closed source! All I care about is making sure only my mom can read that highly confidential message.
Taking the #FOSS argument away, would you say Coinkite has done an impressive job at thinking adversarially enough when creating the Coldcard? To an extent that it would be recommendable?
And second question, what would you say nostr:npub1az9xj85cmxv8e9j9y80lvqp97crsqdu2fpu3srwthd99qfu9qsgstam8y8s critique of Passport would be, if any, and what makes those points irrelevant enough to make you highly recommend Passport?
Looking forward to learning a bit here and maybe help others who see this post in choosing good #multi-sig vendors.
As a final note, I could go for a coldcard Q4, a passport and a #seedsigner for a multi sig setup.
Thoughts?
NVK will probably critizise the rpi, I hope you'll pitch in with knowledge on this to switch the seedsigner out with something else, Nvk, if you think its unsafe.
As a layman and self-taught, I would like to quote you :
“As a final note, I could go for a coldcard Q4, a passport and a #seedsigner for a multi sig setup.”
I think you answered yourself with the best possible answer in my opinion.
nothing against ATM - but it doesn't really fit in such a nice environment
Children paying with #Bitcoin and #LN at McDonald's in El Salvador, (like every normal day in that country).
https://video.nostr.build/213134e6200e4fc56b683495f0e8b46e4d6ec292cd5d65b6bb5bbc25460c2f12.mp4
what I like most about it is that a kid does it and it's like totally cool ✔️
I'm having a thinking day again. This time about the box "BitAxe" I am a layman and I know maybe the basics but I think this box is not just for playing and testing. I think it's really interesting stuff for secret agents 😂
I can imagine someone wanting to anonymously bribe the president.
He gets himself a box, presses a few magic buttons then lets the box burn and that's it.
This also applies of course to a generous lot of people who want to contribute to charity and don't want to be seen 🤪
Again these are only fictional things that are only in my damaged brain ( bipolar disorder and ADHD )🥺🤷🏿♀️
That's the best thing that could have happened to #monero ( delisting from exchanges )🥸
-not to starve
-to learn something
-try not to think about problems
“From nothing to the top”
> [Read the original blog post](https://test.com/p/monero-history)
Bitcoin enthusiasts always rightly remark how much value it adds to Bitcoin not to have a face, a leader, or a central authority behind it. This particularity means there isn't a single person to exert control over, or a single point of failure who could become corrupt or harmful to the project.
Because of this, it is said that no other coin can be equally valuable as Bitcoin in terms of decentralization and trustworthiness. Bitcoin is unique not just for being first, but also because of how the events behind its inception developed. This implies that, from Bitcoin onwards, any coin would have been created by a known entity, consequently having an authority behind it. For this and some other reasons, some people refer to Bitcoin as "[The Immaculate Conception](https://yewtu.be/watch?v=FXvQcuIb5rU)".
While other coins may have their own unique features and advantages, they may not be able to replicate Bitcoin's community-driven nature. However, there's one other cryptocurrency shares a similar story of mystery behind its creation: **Monero**.
## History of Monero
### Bytecoin and CryptoNote
In March 2014, a Bitcointalk thread titled "*Bytecoin. Secure, private, untraceable since 2012*" by a user under the nickname "**DStrange**"[^1^] was created. DStrange presented Bytecoin (BCN) as a unique cryptocurrency, in operation since July 2012. Unlike Bitcoin, it employed a new algorithm known as CryptoNote[^1^].
DStrange apparently stumbled upon the Bytecoin website "by chance" while mining a dying bitcoin fork, and decided to create a thread on Bitcointalk[^1^]. This sparked curiosity among some users, who wondered how could Bytecoin remain unnoticed since its alleged launch in 2012[^2^] [^3^].
Some time after, a user brought up the "CryptoNote v2.0" whitepaper for the first time, underlining its innovative features[^4^]. Authored by the pseudonymous **Nicolas van Saberhagen** in October 2013, the CryptoNote v2 whitepaper[^5^] highlighted the traceability and privacy problems in Bitcoin. Saberhagen argued that these flaws could not be quickly fixed, suggesting it would be more efficient to start a new project rather than trying to patch the original[^5^], an statement simmilar to the one from Satoshi Nakamoto[^6^].
Checking with Saberhagen's digital signature, the release date of the whitepaper seemed valid, which would mean that CryptoNote (v1) was created in 2012[^7^] [^8^], although there's an important detail: *"Signing time is from the clock on the signer's computer"* [^9^]. Moreover, the whitepaper v1 contains a footnote link to a Bitcointalk post dated May 5, 2013[^10^], making it impossible for the whitepaper to have been signed and released on December 12, 2012.
As the narrative developed, users discovered that a significant **80% portion of Bytecoin had been pre-mined**[^11^] and blockchain dates seemed to be faked to make it look like it had been operating since 2012, leading to controversy surrounding the project.
The origins of CryptoNote and Bytecoin remain mysterious, leaving suspicions of a possible scam attempt, although the whitepaper had a good amount of work and thought.
### The fork
In April 2014, the Bitcointalk user **`thankful_for_today`**, who had also participated in the Bytecoin thread[^12^], announced plans to launch a Bytecoin fork named **Bitmonero**[^13^] [^14^].
The primary motivation behind this fork was *"Because there is a number of technical and marketing issues I wanted to do differently. And also because I like ideas and technology and I want it to succeed"*[^14^]. Bitmonero did things different from Bytecoin: there was no premine or instamine, and no portion of the block reward went to development.
However, thankful_for_today forced controversial changes that the community disagreed with. **Johnny Mnemonic** relates the events surrounding Bitmonero and thankful_for_today in a Bitcointalk comment[^15^]:
> When thankful_for_today launched BitMonero [...] he ignored everything that was discussed and just did what he wanted. The block reward was considerably steeper than what everyone was expecting. He also moved forward with 1-minute block times despite everyone's concerns about the increase of orphan blocks. He also didn't address the tail emission concern that should've (in my opinion) been in the code at launch time. Basically, he messed everything up. *Then, he disappeared*.
After disappearing for a while, thankful_for_today returned to find that the community had taken over the project. Johnny Mnemonic continues:
> I, and others, started working on new forks that were closer to what everyone else was hoping for. [...] it was decided that the BitMonero project should just be taken over. There were like 9 or 10 interested parties at the time if my memory is correct. We voted on IRC to drop the "bit" from BitMonero and move forward with the project. Thankful_for_today suddenly resurfaced, and wasn't happy to learn the community had assumed control of the coin. He attempted to maintain his own fork (still calling it "BitMonero") for a while, but that quickly fell into obscurity.
The unfolding of these events show us the roots of Monero. Much like Satoshi Nakamoto, the creators behind CryptoNote/Bytecoin and thankful_for_today remain a mystery[^17^] [^18^], having disappeared without a trace. This enigma only adds to Monero's value.
Since community took over development, believing in the project's potential and its ability to be guided in a better direction, Monero was given one of Bitcoin's most important qualities: **a leaderless nature**. With no single face or entity directing its path, Monero is safe of potential corruption or harm from a "central authority".
The community continued developing Monero until today. Since then, Monero has undergone a lot of technological improvements, migrations and achievements such as [RingCT](https://www.getmonero.org/resources/moneropedia/ringCT.html) and [RandomX](https://github.com/tevador/randomx). It also has developed its own [Community Crowdfundinc System](https://ccs.getmonero.org/), conferences such as [MoneroKon](https://monerokon.org/) and [Monerotopia](https://monerotopia.com/) are taking place every year, and has a very active [community](https://www.getmonero.org/community/hangouts/) around it.
> Monero continues to develop with goals of privacy and security first, ease of use and efficiency second[^16^].
This stands as a testament to the power of a dedicated community operating without a central figure of authority. This decentralized approach aligns with the original ethos of cryptocurrency, making Monero a prime example of community-driven innovation.
### Sources of interest
* https://forum.getmonero.org/20/general-discussion/211/history-of-monero
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monero
* https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=583449.0
* https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=563821.0
* https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=233561
* https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=512747.0
* https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=740112.0
* https://monero.stackexchange.com/a/1024
* https://medium.com/coin-story/coin-perspective-13-riccardo-spagni-69ef82907bd1
* https://www.getmonero.org/resources/about/
* https://www.wired.com/2017/01/monero-drug-dealers-cryptocurrency-choice-fire/
* https://www.monero.how/why-monero-vs-bitcoin
* https://old.reddit.com/r/Monero/comments/u8e5yr/satoshi_nakamoto_talked_about_privacy_features/
* https://moneroj.net/merchants_increase/
* https://moneroj.net/social5/
[^1^]: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=512747.0
[^2^]: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=512747.msg5901770#msg5901770
[^3^]: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=512747.msg5950051#msg5950051
[^4^]: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=512747.msg5953783#msg5953783
[^5^]: https://bytecoin.org/old/whitepaper.pdf
[^6^]: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=770.msg8637#msg8637
[^7^]: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=512747.msg7039536#msg7039536
[^8^]: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=512747.msg7039689#msg7039689
[^9^]: 
[^10^]: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=740112
[^11^]: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=512747.msg6265128#msg6265128
[^12^]: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=512747.msg5711328#msg5711328
[^13^]: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=512747.msg6146717#msg6146717
[^14^]: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=563821.0
[^15^]: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=583449.msg10731078#msg10731078
[^16^]: https://www.getmonero.org/resources/about/
[^17^]: https://old.reddit.com/r/Monero/comments/lz2e5v/going_deep_in_the_CryptoNote_rabbit_hole_who_was/
[^18^]: https://old.reddit.com/r/Monero/comments/oxpimb/is_there_any_evidence_that_thankful_for_today/
What I like about the #monero is that even now I haven't learned anything about it. And that's the biggest advantage of being anonymous.👽
Well it's certainly one of the most important things about BTC. If you think about it well and mix different protections ( not only BTC but also family etc.) You can say that if you want to live a great life outside the system.
"But everyone is different and has to choose for themselves ".
#nostr is a great well where you can find a lot of things I didn't know existed before 👀
Offline in real world is always best option . You can always play play different roles sometimes you want to sometimes you have to everything is related to everything 🤪The world today is not what it used to be we have grown up and who wants to survive must play 🥸🤠👽☠️
It's different here, there's something to learn and quite a lot 🤷🏿♀️
https://video.nostr.build/a1e93f5f5420250b0d06e9be2d2ea1acfde563d2f62d1d2374dcdd6a81608fe1.mp4 sound on fren. #grownostr #mead #fermentation
Damn I was expecting the sound of fermentation 😂