GM and what's up ✌️

Had my head down a lot today but made bloody good progress.

All being well, there will be a banger video with you on Friday.

think bitcoin mining in rural africa transforming communities lfg ⚡️

Spent several weeks running GrapheneOS with the battery optimization setting enabled. This setting is supposed to cap charging at 80% to increase battery longevity.

For whatever reason, enabling this setting really killed my battery life because many times after plugging in to charge overnight, it wouldn't even charge to 80% and I risked having the phone run out of juice before the end of the day.

150 hours proof-of-draw!

GM

the most bullish fundamental of nostr are the people that continue to push this movement forward

you all humble me, keep pushing, never stop

The more sexual partners a woman has had the more likely her marriage is to fail.

Women with zero sexual partners until marriage have an extraordinary success rate in marriage compared to the rest.

People don’t want to have this conversation, but the data does not lie .

Physical infrastructure is cryptoanarchy’s missing layer. Digital tools enable coordination, but survival demands tangible networks: local trade hubs, currency alternatives, and autonomous services. Reliance on state-linked systems (banks, courts) creates vulnerabilities. A functional parallel society requires bakeries, clinics, and workshops—not just encrypted chat rooms. Decentralization fails without material independence.

GM

Anyone who tells you you're perfect the way you are is full of shit.

The truth is, you could be better.

And you know it.

Improve.

Long post incoming:

I translated the following from a CCP propaganda outlet. This is useful in knowing what the Chinese state feels comfortable with their people knowing about bitcoin, CBDC’s and stablecoins.

“Recently, the United States announced its strong support for the development of cryptocurrencies and crypto assets, and announced that it would build a national Bitcoin strategic reserve. This policy measure has greatly stimulated the discussion and imagination of digital currency around the world. Digital currency is a new type of currency that exists in digital form, based on cryptographic technology, distributed ledger and other technologies, with the characteristics of decentralization, traceability, non-tamperability, etc., and can be used for transactions and value storage, including legal digital currency and virtual digital currency. Its rapid development not only provides new monetary forms and asset classes, but also may have a significant impact on the restructuring of the international financial system.

Three types of digital currencies and their characteristics

At present, there are three main digital currencies in the world, including cryptocurrencies represented by Bitcoin, stablecoins represented by USDT and USDC, and central bank digital currency (CBDC) represented by digital RMB (e-CNY). These three digital currencies have their own characteristics.

The value of cryptocurrencies is neither determined by national sovereign credit nor by other currencies or financial assets linked to the currency, but by a set of rigorous computer algorithms. For example, Bitcoin is determined by a set of computer algorithms and needs to be generated by a high-performance computer with powerful computing power through "mining". The total amount of bitcoins is fixed, and it is set to 21 million by the algorithm. At present, there are about 19.8 million bitcoins circulating in the market, which means that there are only about 1 million bitcoins waiting to be discovered by "mining" in the future. The most important feature of Bitcoin is decentralization, and its generation is not linked to any national credit. Coupled with its fixed total amount, which is similar to gold, can overcome the inflation tendency of any central bank, so it is considered to be used to hedge against country currency risks. The biggest problem with Bitcoin is that its price fluctuates greatly. The peak price of a bitcoin once reached more than $100,000, and fell to about $86,000 in early March 2025.

The value of stablecoins is determined by other currencies or financial assets it is linked to. At present, the most popular stablecoins on the market are USDT and USDC, which together account for about 90% of the global stablecoin market value. As the name implies, both USDT and USDC target the US dollar at a 1 to 1 exchange rate, so they are also known as the US dollar stable currency. In addition, there are also stable coins that target the euro, gold, cryptocurrency and a basket of commodities. To issue a unit of stable currency, a fixed amount of currency or financial assets must be supported. Therefore, the price of stablecoins is much more stable than that of cryptocurrencies with huge price fluctuations.

The central bank's digital currency refers to the digital currency issued by the central bank of a specific country. This kind of digital currency is supported by a country's sovereign credit and is linked to the country's ordinary currency at a ratio of 1:1. The biggest advantage of the central bank's digital currency is that it is issued by the central bank of a country. When its value fluctuates significantly, it can be supported by the function of the central bank's last lender, so the financial risk is very low. However, the reputation of the central bank's digital currency is affected by the country's ordinary currency. If the exchange rate of the country's common currency fluctuates greatly or the purchasing power depreciates quickly, the attractiveness of the country's central bank's digital currency is naturally weak.

The impact of Bitcoin on the international financial system

Although Bitcoin is a kind of digital currency, it cannot really perform the function of currency because of its following two characteristics. On the one hand, the huge fluctuation of the price of Bitcoin determines that it is difficult for Bitcoin to be used as a monetary medium for the pricing scale of other commodities and other commodities to trade with each other; on the other hand, due to the limited total amount of Bitcoin, it is difficult for Bitcoin to regulate the operation of the economy as a currency. Under normal circumstances, as the total amount of the economy rises, a country's central bank will continue to issue new currencies to meet relevant needs, and the total amount of a country's currency is usually growing.

Therefore, the nature of Bitcoin is not a real currency, but a financial asset with a strange style, which itself has investment value. Whether Bitcoin is a risky asset or a risk-averse asset is controversial in the market. In terms of the huge price fluctuations of Bitcoin itself, it is more like a risky asset. However, judging from the fact that the price trend of Bitcoin is largely inversely related to the trend of the US dollar exchange rate, it is like a safe haven asset that can hedge against fluctuations in the US dollar exchange rate.

The impact of stablecoins on the international financial system

Among the three digital currencies, it is the stable currency that may really have a major impact on the international financial system. As mentioned earlier, because stablecoins are linked to sovereign currencies, they indirectly have the nature of sovereign currencies. The US dollar stable coin has the relevant characteristics of the US dollar. Overall, the exchange rate is relatively stable, so it is easier to be accepted by investors.

In recent years, the global stablecoin market value has developed rapidly, and by the end of 2024, it will be close to 180 billion US dollars. At present, stablecoins are "attacking the city" in the following areas: First, US dollar stablecoins have begun to become the trading medium of the cryptocurrency market. In other words, when trading between Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies and other currencies, both parties are increasingly inclined to pay with US dollar stablecoins. This means that in the virtual world, the US dollar stablecoin has begun to play the role of the US dollar. Second, in the decentralized financial system (DeFi), some institutions have begun to provide liquidity support with US dollar stablecoins. For example, when the relevant subject needs a loan, it can directly apply for a US dollar stablecoin loan from a specific institution. Third, in some developing countries where the purchasing power and exchange rate of their currencies fluctuate greatly, residents and enterprises have begun to use the US dollar stable currency as a reliable international currency to store wealth, and the US dollar stable currency has even begun to replace the domestic currency to a certain extent.

The stable currency of the US dollar not only strengthens the connection between the traditional currency circulation domain and the currency circulation domain of the virtual world, but also fills the gap in the demand of some families and enterprises in developing countries for the US dollar. Therefore, this digital currency is likely to strengthen the international monetary status of the US dollar in the international financial system. Once the US dollar stablecoin connects the international credit of the US dollar more closely with the application scenario of the virtual world, it may greatly consolidate the hegemony of the US dollar.

The impact of the central bank's digital currency on the international financial system

The central bank's digital currency is actually the sovereign currency in the virtual world. This currency has a stronger reputation and lower risk, but ultimately it depends on the competitiveness of the country's real currency. Of course, it is also an important issue at what level this central bank digital currency can be used. For example, the RMB is globally recognized as a sovereign credit currency with stable value. However, so far, digital RMB can only be used in retail scenarios, that is, transactions between individuals and enterprises, and digital RMB can only replace cash (M0) at present. Subject to this restriction, transactions between enterprises, between enterprises and financial institutions, and between financial institutions are not applicable to digital RMB at present. This means that the main restrictions on the use of scenarios are currently inhibiting the development of digital RMB. The reason why the Central Bank of China only allowed it to replace cash (M0) at the beginning of the digital RMB trial is that this is a less impact on the current commercial banking system.

Coping strategy

At present, there are three development directions of global digital currencies: cryptocurrency, stablecoin and central bank digital currency, each with its own advantages and disadvantages, development prospects and application directions. It's best not to bet on only one side, but should bet on three ways and bet at the same time to maximize the dividends of digital currency or digital asset development. On the one hand, expand the substitution range of digital RMB from M0 (cash) to M1 (cash plus demand deposit) or even M2 (cash plus all deposits) as soon as possible. Only by upgrading the substitution scope of digital RMB from M0 to M1 or even M2 can we comprehensively expand the application scenario of digital RMB, promote the domestic and foreign use of digital RMB, and help the internationalization of RMB. On the other hand, promote the construction of China's stable currency. Expand the use of digital tokens on the Internet platform, and better combine the sovereign credit of RMB with the global application scenario of the Chinese platform. As long as the design and risk prevention are appropriate, expanding the use of digital tokens on these platforms can significantly expand the international monetary status of the RMB, so as to meet the challenges of the US dollar stablecoin more calmly. In addition, the trial and promotion of digital special drawing rights (e-SDR) can be encouraged at the level of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Special Drewing Rights (SDR) is a super-sovereign currency created by the International Monetary Fund. It targets the currency basket composed of the US dollar, euro, RMB, Japanese yen and British pound. At present, the weights of the above five currencies are 41.73%, 30.93%, 10.92%, 8.33% and 8.09 respectively. %. At present, SDR can only be used for transactions between the IMF and member countries, and between member countries. A variety of digital currencies are blooming together, which is naturally better than the US dollar's monopoly on the digital currency development track. e-SDR can expand the use of super-sovereign reserve currencies in the digital field and virtual space, and also help promote the diversification of the international monetary system.”

(The author is the deputy director of the Institute of Finance of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the deputy director of the National Laboratory of Finance and Development)

saying you are bullish on nostr but not the social use case is similar to saying you are bullish on blockchain but not bitcoin

social is the bootstrap mechanism for the "other stuff"

We've tried rate-limiting Cashu mints with PoW but turns out if you want mobile phones with javascript to compete against DoS servers, the server always wins...

I'm convinced now that the only practical use of PoW is Bitcoin and it's better to use sats to slow things down.

If you're a bitcoiner and apple/iOS user, Can you explain why? This is not some sort of trap, I would really like to understand

People who were bullish on Nostr and are suddenly feeling a bit bearish about it should consider resetting their expectations. Nostr moves as slowly or quickly as it needs to. Everything that needs to happen will happen on its own schedule. It’s easy to compare with VC-funded companies who are building alternatives and features on a much quicker timeframe and in higher quality. However, if you believe in the core tenets of Nostr, then have the conviction to stick with it. This is a strong grassroots community with a vision that has continued to develop even after 3+ years, and has only gotten stronger over time. I love Nostr.

How to increase your chances of being followed on nostr:

Tldr; don’t look like a bot

- Have a filled out profile (profile image, bio that’s not fake)

- Post an intro note

- Be active, engage with other notes

- Be geniuine, no one likes fakes

- Post notes and not just boost stuff

- Have something thoughtful to say, or funny, or anything that’s not insulting.

- Stick around, takes time to get noticed

- Share things about yourself

How to decrease your odds of being followed: Exact opposite of what i just said.

i work in lists of 3s, so here’s a few for nostr.

solve real problems for people within these use cases:

1. human and agent interaction and transaction

2. private and public micro-communities

3. creator-friendly distribution

while maximizing nostr’s differentiators:

1. high-agency identity

2. built-in micropayments

3. highly-connected app ecosystem

which will increase to abundance:

1. the amount of information

2. the quality of information organization

3. the number of autonomous agents on the network

which allows us to state:

“nostr is where people and their agents learn and get stuff done.”