Anyone: Why Bitcoin?

Me: Start here.

I was just walking down the street, coffee in hand, suddenly realizing how "normal" it all is already. Like most days, I went to a coffee shop that accepts lightning. Like most days, I paid directly with sats that someone zapped me here on nostr. Like most days, neither the merchant nor myself thought twice about it, or took a minute to marvel at what just happened.

So, allow me to do just that. Marvel at what just happened. While everyone is having a fantastically crazy time at #nostriga, uncountable people are using bitcoin in a myriad of ways. Some for savings, large and small; some for transactions, large and small; some for other stuff. Bitcoin is slowly but surely entering the world stage. Some commentators will tell you that this is good. Some commentators will tell you that this is bad. Whatever the case may be, it is unavoidable.

I see nostr under a similar light. As platform-based manipulation and censorship ramps up—which it inevitably will—the usage of nostr will ramp up too, and with it the usage of zaps and everything else that comes with it. And soon enough, buying a coffee (or breakfast, lunch, and dinner) with zap-based income will be normal. Just like it's "normal" to be an "influencer" today, or a "YouTuber" or whatnot... It's not everyone's cup of tea, but it's a normal thing. Anyone can do it.

Back to my coffee. I remember when I had the "oh my god, I can live on bitcoin here!!!" experience for the first time. It was in Bitcoin Jungle, a couple of months after the initiative was launched. I stayed there for 2 weeks or so, buying the necessities of daily life with sats outright. And it worked. Flawlessly. I had zero payment failures, and was exclusively using Zeus with my own node. It was incredible.

Why is this incredible, you ask? Shouldn't stuff just work? Yes, it should. But building out the tech and the infrastructure to make it all work is BLOODY HARD. I remember the first Lightning Conference in Berlin, in 2019. Everyone came, everyone had all their channels and wallets and everything prepared, and ~50% of payments failed. For... reasons.

Fast-forward to today: I go to one of the 100+ merchants in the city that accept bitcoin, a quick tap on the PoS device & QR code scan, boom, done. Is it always perfect? Of course not. Will it get better still? 100% it will. Very soon these merchants will have NFC-enabled devices, and the tap-to-pay experience that people are used to with cards & Apple pay will be normal for bitcoin payments too. If you are in Riga right now, you'll experience this first-hand thanks to Bolt cards and BTCPay Server. It's awesome, it's open-source, and it works. And it will get better still.

We are truly living in the best and weirdest timeline; a timeline where shitposting on the internet can buy you lunch and dinner; a timeline that spawns amazing technological movements like #nostr; a timeline that, every ~10 minutes, allows for a small miracle to happen. A timeline where "magic internet money" is a normal thing; a timeline that, thanks to the magic dust of cryptography, enables anyone to speak about anything, without having to ask for permission. I'm grateful.

Thank you, Satoshi. 🙏🧡

Generational wealth.

Bitcoiners talk about it often. Building citadels, starting a multi-generational legacy.

It sounds incredible on paper, but there are two questions I find myself asking when I think about this tooic:

Who would I be if I inherited wealth?

Who will my children become when they inherit what I leave for them?

Most of us didn't come from money. We have to hustle, and our struggles define us. Our willingness to work hard & smart, to do what needs to be done for the good of our families, is a common trait amongst bitcoiners. It's what we want to instill in our children.

This doesn't mean we throw our kids out in the wilderness and see if they survive, but we do have a responsibility to make sure they understand the struggle. That they know what it's like to be in the trenches of life. That they don't take for granted that which we climbed out of when we sought a better way via #Bitcoin.

This is also why it's incredibly important for us to take care of our health, because these parental responsibilities don't end when our kids turn 18. These life lessons take decades to learn, and we need to be there for our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, should we be so lucky.

Your day will come. When it does, make sure everything you worked for is in good hands. 🧡

Life in America:

You're born. They start poisoning you, robbing you, and lying to you, and then you die. And a small group of people get filthy rich in the process.

It's a Death Economy.

We must end the Death Economy and build a Life Economy.

I enjoy a pretty wide range: RPG, fps, br, rougelike, MMORPG, RTS.

For all the #tech talk and on here ... I've not seen a single #gamer

Y'all fuckin' serious??? #asknostr #plebchain #nostrplebs

Leg day worst day

Make babies, without babies everything you are doing is kind of pointless.

I don't think John Wick is a good movie series, but part of me likes them anyway because it's Keanu.

yes, when designing the strike logo we made sure we flipped off the legacy system at exactly a 69 degree angle

nostr:note1wwpcgyjq2cgc7yzv40w2vv2dfwmc5uzayuffvlucpr03yt8ffc0q02ak8x

Good Morning 🫶🏻

In which aspect of bitcoin do you have the least amount of knowledge? Comment the emoji below 👇🏼

🔐Wallet and Node Setup

❌No-KYC Bitcoin Purchase

👵🏼Inheritance Planning

✅Bitcoin Payment Systems

We can help 🤝

I’m a huge golf fan and more specifically a Scottie Scheffler Fan and it’s infuriating how he gets no love on main feed broadcasts.

Number 1 player in the world three shots of the lead and maybe they’ll show a putt here and there

They weirdly play favorites and somehow he’s in the out group

So many people in bitcoin and some of your fave influencers have real behavioural and mental issues.

Narcissists and plain rude li’l bitches, it’s quite disappointing when they reveal their true colours.

See, just because we’re right about this wonderful internet token it doesn’t mean we’re a) special, b) right about any number of other things.

Be kind, anon. And if you are a bitcoin influencer, be even kinder.

Make it your f*cking grind to be kind.

I try to do this, truly, but still f*ck up loads.

PS - you are special if you’re reading this 😉