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Ronin
8aef75ca27af00a6f70c14865ae52860ccdc368f46499c7cf6b2352b09a709f5
Bitcoiner. Web developer.

ā€œThanks for picking that up for me! I will Venmo you the money.ā€

ā€œOh I don’t have Venmo but I can do bitcoin, CashApp, or PayPalā€

*radio silence*

Even if bitcoin has world-class UX, I’m not sure if we’ll ever see widespread adoption until we can figure out how to release the absolute chokehold Venmo has on people, especially millennials.

CashApp may not be self custody but at least I can live my bitcoin life if someone uses it to send me money. Venmo has normalized digital payments so much that it’s changed how people behave and has become a verb. Nobody bothers to split bills anymore and they have stopped carrying cash. Why? Because they ā€œcan just Venmo youā€.

I can see stack overflow error happening in real time when I tell my friends I don’t have Venmo because I don’t believe they created the social feature in good conscience and think it’s an awful thing for Venmo to try and normalize the destruction of financial privacy. Yes, you can now make transactions private, even if it’s not the default. No, I don’t care. I’m dying in this hill. I don’t want to link my fiat ass bank account to ANOTHER system when PayPal, which owns Venmo does the exact same thing. And you know what? People have been using PayPal since the dawn of the Internet 2.0. You already have it! And if I’m going to use a newer, mobile, digital payment solution, it’s going to be CashApp because at least I can turn that money you owe me into bitcoin, which is what I actually prefer you pay me back in. To add to that, Block and Jack Dorsey have done so much for the Bitcoin ecosystem. Of course I want to support CashApp!

In my experience the hierarchy is:

1. Venmo

2. Zelle

3. Cash (middle ground for ā€œyou don’t want to set up CashApp? Weird because I don’t want to set up Venmo!ā€)

4. ā€œI’ll get your lunch next timeā€

5. MAYBE PayPal or CashApp

6. Not getting your money back

7. bitcoin

So what do I want? Obviously the Bitcoin Standard, but if I can’t have that I want to make cash great again and more people using bitcoin compatible payment solutions.

I encourage everyone to join me in a crusade of maximum pain for anyone trying to use something that is not this. We all deserve better! A win-win would be if Venmo integrated bitcoin so then all my Venmo using friends could transact with whoever they wish, using a free and open monetary protocol.

For starters it would probably help if I was more often in the scenario of needing to pay people back instead of the other way around…

In Eu none of those exist, in my country there is an instant transfer app that many ppl use, they charge a few cents for each tx. Bitcoin was not built to replace this systems, people will only start using Bitcoin if they already hodl so they are bitcoiners already, or some of these apps start integrating LN, Strike now is available in EU but not many people know about it.

Are you guys still doing 100 push-ups til 100k?

1-self-custodial LN UX is shit. It's becoming a lot better but still shit.

2-custodial LN UX is great and it's ok to use custodial LN for the majority of people, the important thing is to have optionality and self custody tools to be available to those who have no option but to self-custody.

I would say same as you visiting a website. If you visit a website they can see your IP, relays can also see it, so either use relays you can trust not to track your IP or use VPN or Tor. Then there is metadata like nostr DMs, some metadata might be visible depending on the client. So generally speaking you can use a VPN or Tor if your IP is a worry, for DMs if privacy is very important you should choose a good nostr chat client or don't use at all.

Yes, most people will have to work their normal jobs until retirement, but, if you keep in bitcoin you will be able to save enough for a down-payment for a house, or to have a good saving for your retirement (very important!) and pass along to your kids, all thing we currently can't with fiat, bitcoin is hope not because it will make you rich but because you can work, save, and benifit from that in the future, it allows you to think, plan, save and have hope for your future.

They steal the btc from the etfs, and give back printed usd to the holders taxed at like 30% or something.

Replying to Avatar Peter McCormack

Danny and I just wrapped up the final episode of What Bitcoin Did at Bitcoin Park, recording with some of our closest friends in #bitcoin - nostr:npub1cn4t4cd78nm900qc2hhqte5aa8c9njm6qkfzw95tszufwcwtcnsq7g3vle , nostr:npub1qny3tkh0acurzla8x3zy4nhrjz5zd8l9sy9jys09umwng00manysew95gx and nostr:npub10cxz2h7n6rumfpuf49zt4uvm7skzqk5u25vesp0tzdtnkvsnwjyqaffcj3, along with special appearances, including my son.

The episode will be released on August 30th. After that, we'll take a week off before launching our new show (the worst-kept secret).

After 7 years, 860 podcasts, countless flights, and visiting about 40 countries, the time is right. Time is precious. I need to travel less and focus on Bedford, the football team, family and bringing to life everything we've discussed over the past 7 years.

I believe we're entering a new era where #bitcoin is a legitimate part of every conversation. Our new show will reflect this, so we’re building a studio in London and evolving the format where #bitcoin is the heartbeat not the headline.

Thank you to everyone who has been part of this. I couldn’t have done any of this without the kindness and generosity of so many of you, especially nostr:npub16le69k9hwapnjfhz89wnzkvf96z8n6r34qqwgq0sglas3tgh7v4sp9ffxj .

I'm humbled by it all and everyone of you.

Big love āœŒšŸ»

TY for the great content!

"Bro please, just add privacy to the base layer bro, don't you like privacy bro? Edward Snowden said to do it bro, just some ring signatures bro, it works bro, Satoshi wanted this bro, or just use our coin bro, use both bro please bro."

Don't see any of that on my feed using amethyst.