"Lightning is still a work in progress, but we're making great progress... It's crazy how much progress we've made in four years."
-- nostr:npub1qny3tkh0acurzla8x3zy4nhrjz5zd8l9sy9jys09umwng00manysew95gx
I'm only at page 20 of Fiat Ruins Everything, but I already feel the pain from the bruises from plunging even deeper in the rabbit hole...
Thank you nostr:npub10vlhsqm4qar0g42p8g3plqyktmktd8hnprew45w638xzezgja95qapsp42
I agree with that, with the qualification that 'Bitcoin as a medium of exchange had two limiting ...'. This is as opposed to 'Bitcoin as a store of value', which is a more successful story.
Having more people with some sats on their phone increases the need to do something more useful with those sats, so zapping new people can move the needle just a tiny bit -- very tiny bit.
I expect more significant merchant adoption will happen only (where/when) the merchants are themselves incentivized to accept (and keep!) sats; the desire of the buyers projected onto the merchants is a much weaker force.
LDK v0.0.117 is out!
https://github.com/lightningdevkit/rust-lightning/releases/tag/v0.0.117
Privacy works!
You talk to a Bitcoin ecosystem dev guy at some events, who goes by a pseudonim, a couple of times. Some time later someone else ask you 'do you know xyz? He also lives in the same country'. Heck, no, I had no idea!
Privacy works, privacy is important! :D
A sensitive information was hidden, I learnt it by web of trust!
BTCDEB works!
I've heard rumors and legends about transaction debugging tools... until now, when I dared to look for it, and try it. It'was much easier to build&run, and
it saved me a couple of hours of blind trial-error tx building.
BTCDEB
#transaction-debugger #btcdeb #bitcoin-core
Miner efficiency continues to improve: the recently-announces S21 pushes it below 20 W/TH/s -- 17.5 for the air-cooled, 16 for the water cooled.
Expect global hashrate to continue to climb...
Things are getting merged in BitoinCore. P2P encryption is big!
Good point, I agree that the ease of use is a good tradeoff. But it's good to be aware that there is a tradeoff.
Is
`EntropySource`
a better name than
`RandomNumberGenerator`?
Why?
The easiest #bitcoin node setup I've tried so far is:
* Debian 12 w/XFCE desktop gui
* Umbrel
Debian installer is good. Simple enough for almost anyone.
Only other task is to get Umbrel installed... in just TWO SIMPLE COMMANDS!
* `apt install curl`
* `curl -L https://umbrel.sh | bash`
BUT THERE'S A "BUT"!!
It's only this simple if I log in as `root`. The user that the setup creates doesn't have `sudo` access. Obv I can add the user to sudoers, but now we're getting deeper into linux and losing the total noob simplicity.
I'm not a linux security expert. At all.
Is it a "Nope, unacceptable!" to install and run the Umbrel docker containers as `root`?
Noice. But I can't stop mentioning that Umbrel is not fully open/trustworthy....
This was an blast.
Great chat about UTXO introspection, covenants and the total activation taboo. I'm sure it will ruffle some feathers. But there conversations need to be had out loud.
Fall as sleep, drop your panties or get mad.
2hrs for your to enjoy.
---
BR052 - Convenance, Introspection, CTV and activation impasse ft. @jamesob & @rot13maxi
Notes and listening options: https://bitcoin.review/podcast/episode-52/
🎧👇 James, Rijndael & nvk debate speedy trial, activation mechanisms, and the chaos of bitcoin governance.
Excerpt https://x.com/bitcoinreviewhq/status/1707849409642279337?s=46
Started out as a covenant explainer, but then went into an insane rant about change in bitcoin.
Everyone can run whatever he wsnts, but there's only one bitcoin network.
A total blast!
For the record: Mission Accomplished.
It was an intetesting exercise of applying knowledge/skills in a new environment
Down to only 2 pieces to go -- that's a sucker. Time to give up...
3x3 and 2x2 skills do not directly interpolate to 4x4... still exploring
[Silent Payment]
It is a bit early, but I want to put out this idea:
Silent Payment Receiver and Forwarder
Bitcoin silent payment (BIP352) receiving is a bit tricky, therefore I expect that it will take some time until some wallets implement it. For the meantime, a forwarder could be very useful.
A separate app, that holds the scanning/spending keys, scans transactions from a node (ideally own node). Whenever it detects a new incoming payment it forwards it to a ‘regular’ address (descriptor/Xpub-based, no privkey needed, no address reuse). Forwarded payments can be processed with any usual bitcoin wallet.
I wonder about security and privacy considerations of such a scheme, but I don't see a show-blocker.
I see one downside: the forwarding has some fee. Also, the scanning/spending keys have to be kept securely. A subset would be an app that only does notification.