in august 2017, i don’t recall anyone saying that btc will become a store of value from institutions, while bch will pursue the medium of exchange path.

no such narrative existed – it was only a disagreement on how to scale: btc went for layer 2s, bch chose to increase the block size.

it was years later that the capitulation to institutions happened: when big money started flowing into lightning network development and companies started gaslighting us that home nodes are slowing down the network and we should use easily-regulated and censorship-bound lsps or else surrender custody when the amounts are small.

a lot of developers i’ve interviewed over the years told me that they were never against increasing the block size: they were only against the terms of the new york agreement and didn’t see the urgency of taking action back in 2016-2017… but would agree with a block size increase later when there’s constant network demand.

but in the end, a bunch of guys stepped in and created a toxic culture which regards any attempt to improve bitcoin as an attack.

who benefits from this status quo? custodians, banks, credit card companies that no longer feel endangered, western union that is somehow still around and thriving, politicians and central bankers.

somewhere along the line, bitcoin lost its cypherpunk spirit… and i am here to bring it back every week with my podcast.

listen to the bitcoin takeover podcast, there’s nothing quite like it.

Every time you swipe your debit or credit card, you leave a trail. Monero wipes that trail away and gives you freedom.

Because decentralised exchanges are sadly not ready for large amounts of money.

I'm not defending centralisation, I hope we move towards that way.

My point here is that bitcoin can also be used in decentralised exchanges, you don't need monero.

I'm not following, if you use a centralised exchange *which is what we are discussing here) Monero would be taxed too.

Switching accounts in GrapheneOS and Pokey is still alive and notifying once you are back, even using Orbot in full VPN mode

Does anyone know anything about WW2 US Army radios?

Thinking of selling these on xmrbazaar once i know a little more about them.

Neighbor cutting down his last tree. It was perfectly healthy, and a good looking tree. He is now the proud owner of a desert. His sprinklers and pesticides keep his desert green, and his kids sick.

Anyways, GM☕

If you are an activist, journalist or any person susceptible to be persecuted by a three-letter agency, remember:

- Use public wifis (libraries, coffee shops, etc).

- Don't pay with credit card to the places you go, use cash.

- Always use Tor or i2p.

- Use a freshly installed operating system so that there is no fingerprint, Qubes OS and Tails help you in this.

- Be careful with cameras, both outdoor and indoor, for example bank ATMs, inspect the area before.

- Never use your personal email accounts, etc, all accounts you create should use pseudonyms and be created under Tor, in case you can not create them in Tor with a reliable vpn, ultimately from a public wifi.

- Do not always go to the same location, change city.

- If you must make payments use Bitcoin, especially Lightning.

- If you must receive payments, use Bitcoin and then coinjoin.

how does Monero help to prevent governments from taxing bitcoin?

Yeah. I just mean it gives time to wait and to move

101 on how gold was confiscated:

You had to turn it in for dollars by a deadline prior to dollar devaluation, and there were massive prison consequences for not turning it in, but little resources in terms of investigating who didn’t turn it in. That would be expensive. So it was fear based. Focusing on illegality and tail risks on edge cases more than enforcement on average.

Institutions had to comply immediately, since it’s all visible. So the government broke liquidity in the domestic gold market, which was enough for their purposes. Gold became a hard-to-trade illegal relic for those that held it.

If a small family hodled some extra bars for 40 years until it became legal again, they did okay.

But can the government track bitcoin in the 2020s better or worse than gold in 1930s for enforcement purposes? That’s the right question.

And don’t just think of confiscation. Think of 70% selective taxes and things like that. Far more within the current rule of law. That’s the sophisticated approach. Don’t take it. Selectively tax it by a lot.

Those are the politics to push against from a bitcoin perspective.

It’s relatively easy to track but it is also easy to lose your key and find it back much later

So Monero is the way to go?

You're right i'll change it