Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but saying "anyone who opposes the digital euro" is effectively an enemy of the state does not exactly inspire confidence that the CBDC won't be abused.

I’d like to share a story about adoption with you.

Lately, I haven’t been able to find time for meetups because of family and work, so I decided to focus on lunches instead. In a regular local pub, I asked the owner if he’d be willing to accept Bitcoin. He politely declined.

I kept going there about once a week. After a few visits, I made an NFC card and loaded it with 1,000 sats as a tip. I also gave him a leaflet with instructions on how to access the Bitcoin. He’s an older gentleman, not very interested in technology, and doesn’t have much time for experiments while running the place. The following week, I tipped him another 1,000 sats. On the third week, he finally agreed to let me install a mobile wallet app for him.

Suddenly, he had a bit of Bitcoin in his Wallet of Satoshi. I asked him if I could start paying that way — with the promise that if it didn’t work out, I’d exchange it back into cash for him. He wasn’t too keen at first, but since I was a regular, he wanted to make me happy.

From that moment, I announced in the local Jednadvacet (our Czech version of Einundzwanzig) community that we’d meet for lunch every Thursday. A short meetup — a chance to exchange Bitcoin, learn something new, meet people, etc. The only condition: payment must be in Bitcoin.

Two months have passed since then. The group has been growing. At first, there were just three of us. Last time, there were already seventeen. For the owner, it’s become a significant part of that day’s revenue. He’s started treating us better too — now he greets us from afar and even reserves the biggest table for us every Thursday, not letting anyone else sit there.

Every time I ask him if everything’s okay, if he wants to cash out, or needs any help with it. And you know what he told me last time? That he doesn’t need to — it’s growing nicely in Bitcoin. He even recently bought a fridge with Bitcoin. He said he had to use Lightning because he ran into some issues with on-chain. I never even mentioned the word “Lightning” to him. He’s been learning on his own, and now he’s become quite the Bitcoiner.

It looks like the pub might soon turn into a nice little vexl point — a place where people can exchange Bitcoin for dirty fiat and vice versa.

I’m writing this because I think it’s a great blueprint. It’s short, takes me about an hour a week — time I’d spend on lunch anyway — I meet people, and it helps Bitcoin adoption in a very natural way. Hopefully, it’ll inspire more Bitcoiners to try something similar in their own area.

Be active. Be rewarded. Be free.⚡

Be the change you want to see

Free markrts are gone

Israel forced Binanace and others to not serve wallets in the location. They've successfully blocked cryptocurrencies except monero which is fine but when there's no electricity, internet connection and controlled wallet access, it makes digital currencies null.

This is what Bitcoiners still can't comprehend

can't decide if this is more an attack against bitcoin or against good taste.

Italy is currently in the process of implementing an AI mass surveillance apparatus that spanning every road in the country. The new system is much more invasive than simple tag recognition: it tries to scan your face directly with the goal of "determining if you're at the phone while driving".

That's a really clever excuse. Bravi 👏.

I get the spirit of what you’re saying — that media amplification can be a useful signal. But I don’t think it’s reliable as a rule. In today’s world, psyops aren’t just the things that get hyped or promoted. Some of the most powerful psychological operations are actually attacked, ridiculed, or discredited — because that backlash is part of the design. The system knows that certain audiences will trust something more because it’s being censored or mocked. So it uses that too.

There are also cases where spontaneous movements are allowed to grow just enough to be redirected, divided, or neutralized. That doesn’t mean they weren’t real — it means they were seen as useful. Just because something is labeled, ignored, or downplayed doesn’t automatically make it organic. And just because something is praised or pushed doesn’t automatically make it fake.

That’s why I don’t rely on “what the media says” as my compass. For me, the better question is: what effect is this thing having on people’s behavior, their focus, their relationships, their sense of reality? Is it waking people up or leading them into pre-scripted outrage? Is it unifying or dividing? Is it creating clarity or feeding the chaos?

That’s the real barometer. Not who’s talking about it, but what it makes people do.

From Reuters. Hard evidence is the bullet engravings reported yesterday “if you read this you are gay lmao”, didn’t seem leftist to me. Also had Ciao Bella lyrics, notably tied to the Groypers.

The left has Charlie Kirk’s blood on their hands.

I’m going to keep saying it because it’s true.

You don’t like hearing it unfollow me.

Sometimes you have to distance yourself from a friend that has become a drain on your soul, rather than a source of joy. Its kinda sad, but i needed to do that today. #friends

I've lived in El Salvador for 3 years, mostly on bitcoin. It's not just a dream. To me the actual unrealistic thing is to try to push bitcoin adoption in jurisdictions where there is very little motivation. You have to "read the room", so to speak.

Beautiful!

Is that Loen? Looks very familiar from a wonderful hike up there a few years back.

You didn’t ask me, but I decided to tell you about my political position 😅🫣

You see, the politics of Ukraine today is: “one people – one state.”

I am from eastern Ukraine. It just so happened that our languages are Russian and surzhyk (the very same surzhyk everyone mocks), and our history is the history of the Cossacks.

Now the Ukrainian government says that we are not the “right kind” of Ukrainians.

We must be taught how to be Ukrainians, how to speak “proper” Ukrainian, how to know the “proper” history, and how to fight for freedom.

But here’s the problem: this territory was never really oppressed.

That is why we never had a movement for liberation. Why fight for freedom if you are already free?

This land was called the wild steppe — free land, where people fled from serfdom and tsarist rule.

I will not talk about western Ukraine now, because that is the official story and culture of today’s Ukraine. But at some point, the government decided that Ukraine might split. And it decided to erase the “inconvenient” cultural heritage — eastern Ukraine and its culture.

Now, according to the official theory, we are not Ukrainians if we do not speak Ukrainian.

We must be ashamed of our origin and our language.

We are branded as separatists and collaborators.

But I am a patriot of my land.

I stand for ethnic diversity, for cultural freedom, for freedom of religion.

I am not on Russia’s side, and I am not on the side of Ukraine’s current government.

I am on the side of the people of eastern Ukraine.

I am their patriot.

I will defend my culture and language in every possible way.

Now they say our culture and language never existed, that we were under Russian oppression. But this is not true. There is propaganda in Ukraine as well — very subtle, very skillful. So strong that in Ukraine there is no opposition at all.

Because if you are in opposition, it means you are on the enemy’s side.

But life is not a children’s game. Things are not black and white.

It cannot be that if you are not for Zelensky and the official Ukraine, then you are against it.

I am for another Ukraine.

For a Ukraine of many peoples, many languages, many religions.

I believe the current political idea is destroying my country.

It will not bring development and prosperity.

Right now we live with the ideology of eternal victimhood — a suffering Ukraine, oppressed by everyone, always fighting for freedom. But I believe that if a state (like a person) adopts the ideology of a victim, it will always attract violence.

I do not agree with this ideology or with the government.

But I am a patriot of my land.

I did not abandon it.

I am doing everything so that my land can develop.

⸻

Русский:

Вы меня не спрашивали, но я решила рассказать вам о своей политической позиции 😅🫣

Понимаете, политика Украины сегодня — это: «один народ — одно государство».

Я из востока Украины. Так получилось, что наши языки — это русский и суржик (тот самый суржик, над которым все смеются), а наша история — это история казачества.

Сейчас правительство Украины говорит, что мы «неправильные» украинцы.

Нас нужно научить быть украинцами, научить говорить «правильно» на украинском, знать «правильную» историю и бороться за свободу.

Но тут есть проблема: эта территория никогда по-настоящему не была угнетённой.

Поэтому у нас не было движения борьбы за свободу. Зачем бороться за свободу, если ты и так свободен?

Эта земля называлась дикое поле — свободная земля, куда уходили люди, бегущие от крепостного права и царской власти.

Я не буду сейчас рассказывать про западную Украину — ведь это и есть официальная история и культура Украины. Но в какой-то момент правительство решило, что возможен раскол страны. И решило стереть «неудобное» культурное наследие — восточную Украину и её культуру.

Теперь, по официальной теории, мы не украинцы, если не говорим на украинском.

Мы должны стыдиться своего происхождения и языка.

Мы — сепаратисты и пособники врага.

Но я патриот своей земли.

Я за этническое разнообразие, за свободу культуры и вероисповедания.

Я не на стороне России и не на стороне нынешнего правительства Украины.

Я на стороне народа востока Украины.

Я их патриот.

Я буду защищать свою культуру и язык всеми силами.

Сейчас говорят, что нашей культуры и языка никогда не было, что мы были под гнётом России. Но это неправда. В Украине тоже есть пропаганда — очень тонкая, умелая.

И работает она так хорошо, что у нас даже нет оппозиции.

Ведь если ты в оппозиции — значит, ты на стороне врага.

Но жизнь — это не детская игра. Всё не чёрное и белое.

Не может быть так, что если ты не за Зеленского и «официальную Украину», то ты против неё.

Я за другую Украину.

За Украину, где живут разные народы, звучат разные языки, где может быть много религий.

Я считаю, что нынешняя политическая идея убивает мою страну.

Она не приведёт к развитию и процветанию.

Сейчас мы живём с идеологией вечной жертвы — страдающей Украины, которую все угнетают и обижают, а она всё время борется за свободу. Но я считаю, что если государство (как и человек) принимает идеологию жертвы, оно всегда будет притягивать насилие.

Я не согласна с этой идеологией и этим правительством.

Но я патриот своей земли.

Я не бросила её.

Я делаю всё, чтобы моя земля развивалась.

⸻

Словарик (EN–RU):

• one people – one state — один народ — одно государство

• surzhyk — суржик (смешанный язык)

• cossacks — казаки

• oppressed territory — угнетённая территория

• wild steppe / free land — дикое поле / свободная земля

• cultural heritage — культурное наследие

• second-class Ukrainians — «неправильные» украинцы

• victim ideology — идеология жертвы

• to abandon one’s land — бросить свою землю

• to let the land develop — дать земле развиваться

500 sats waiting for you to claim. If you’re on $1 a day, then this is perfect for you

nostr:npub1whtn0s68y3cs98zysa4nxrfzss5g5snhndv35tk5m2sudsr7ltms48r3ec release coming very soon.