Dollar at All Time Low!
A dollar can't even buy 1000 sats!
John Arnold's take on why early-stage investing in Bitcoin differs from fiat venture capital. These points stood out and echo what many Bitcoin-focused angels and funds prioritize:
Bitcoin as Opportunity Cost: Bitcoin-native investors assess every deal against the benchmark of simply holding Bitcoin, setting a high bar for capital deployment.
Profitability & Speed: Preference for startups that can become profitable quickly, stack sats early, and minimize dependence on follow-on funding or dilution.
Aligned Incentives: Founders, teams, and investors often personally hold Bitcoin, creating a shared equity mindset across the ecosystem.
Open Source as Force Multiplier: Most Bitcoin startups build on shared open-source infrastructure (e.g. BDK), enabling lean teams to ship faster and collaborate with less friction.
Network Effects Across Portfolio: Unlike traditional VC portfolios with disconnected sectors, Bitcoin companies often benefit from each other’s progress through shared standards and interoperability.
Post-Easy Money Mindset: Generalist VCs still follow a playbook shaped by years of artificially cheap capital—burn cash for growth, chase markups, and rely on future rounds. Bitcoin VCs see that era ending, and instead emphasize capital efficiency and durable returns.
Ecosystem as Shared Project: Every company contributes to and benefits from the broader Bitcoin network, making the entire portfolio stronger as the ecosystem matures.
https://fountain.fm/clip/Hff10TRb1kzQRNo8AJCC
https://fountain.fm/episode/Q89gPQcVfAtQkaRBZRs0
nostr:nevent1qvzqqqpxquqzpfszw6rp7u2ysp69qjud6wd0cmu9ge02jr0ce6lmvjj6rcfrlm5qdr8p38
This was nostr:npub1g0eujuzgy06srs3sdanaytzq8adsd78d4g4p5xqtlue3d3q3v2mq6pl966 from nostr:npub14pymadh04lt8tl3lv93yr3vnlxw39s3ahdvmhvlu6u27fve8umfqa9zd6m with nostr:npub1qny3tkh0acurzla8x3zy4nhrjz5zd8l9sy9jys09umwng00manysew95gx on nostr:npub10atn74wcwh8gahzj3m0cy22fl54tn7wxtkg55spz2e3mpf5hhcrs4602w3
John Arnold's take on why early-stage investing in Bitcoin differs from fiat venture capital. These points stood out and echo what many Bitcoin-focused angels and funds prioritize:
Bitcoin as Opportunity Cost: Bitcoin-native investors assess every deal against the benchmark of simply holding Bitcoin, setting a high bar for capital deployment.
Profitability & Speed: Preference for startups that can become profitable quickly, stack sats early, and minimize dependence on follow-on funding or dilution.
Aligned Incentives: Founders, teams, and investors often personally hold Bitcoin, creating a shared equity mindset across the ecosystem.
Open Source as Force Multiplier: Most Bitcoin startups build on shared open-source infrastructure (e.g. BDK), enabling lean teams to ship faster and collaborate with less friction.
Network Effects Across Portfolio: Unlike traditional VC portfolios with disconnected sectors, Bitcoin companies often benefit from each other’s progress through shared standards and interoperability.
Post-Easy Money Mindset: Generalist VCs still follow a playbook shaped by years of artificially cheap capital—burn cash for growth, chase markups, and rely on future rounds. Bitcoin VCs see that era ending, and instead emphasize capital efficiency and durable returns.
Ecosystem as Shared Project: Every company contributes to and benefits from the broader Bitcoin network, making the entire portfolio stronger as the ecosystem matures.
https://fountain.fm/clip/Hff10TRb1kzQRNo8AJCC
https://fountain.fm/episode/Q89gPQcVfAtQkaRBZRs0
nostr:nevent1qvzqqqpxquqzpfszw6rp7u2ysp69qjud6wd0cmu9ge02jr0ce6lmvjj6rcfrlm5qdr8p38
Clip of the above points:
Fear & violence is the way of the nostriches
A spicy piece of artistry I want to share:
This is a photo of a Mongrel Mob member wearing a jacket full of gang patches. The Mongrel Mob is one of New Zealand’s most prominent gangs, known for its bulldog patch. Last year, the Gangs Act 2024 banned the public display of gang patches. While these symbols are linked to violence and intimidation, they also represent cultural identity and resistance for some.
Real luxuries are:
1. Slow mornings
2. Great companion
3. UnKYC'd UTXOs
Sell products not equity
Build for users not investors
We underestimate the free market's ability to sort things out through pricing. Eventually the important and urgent stuff prices out the noise (on-chain and everywhere else).
A straw man is when you distort someone’s argument by making it overly simplistic or extreme so it’s easier to attack. For example, saying “Christianity is just worshipping a bearded man in the sky” is a straw man. Hardly any Christian would agree with that depiction.
The opposite is a steel man where you represent your opponent’s argument as strongly and fairly as possible.
Daniel Dennett believed steelmanning was essential to good philosophical debate. In 2013, he laid out four key rules:
1. Restate your opponent’s view so clearly and fairly that they say, “I wish I’d put it that way.”
2. List where you agree.
3. Acknowledge what you’ve learned from them.
4. Only then should you critique their position.
Respect is foundational. Socrates, in Plato’s dialogues, often begins by clarifying and strengthening his opponent’s argument. Because real debate isn’t about winning—it’s about understanding, refining ideas, and growing together.
Let’s debate to build, not to destroy.
(H/T Jonny Thomson via TikTok)
🏆 Incredible! TIP_NZ has ascended to LEGEND Guardian status on nostr:npub1kmwdmhuxvafg05dyap3qmy42jpwztrv9p0uvey3a8803ahlwtmnsnhxqk9! 🔥
Help us fund Bitcoin adoption by becoming a Geyser Guardian: https://geyser.fund/guardians/?hero=geyserspirit
As NGU, let’s spend sats on what we love to shape the world we want.
Blinq just raised US$25M a few days ago. Literally just a digital business card platform with NFC. Backed by VCs that take their money from pension funds.
It's 2025 and billion dollar funds are still pouring pension money into proprietary fintechs built on legacy fiat rails and new closed social platforms that replicate the same walled garden models of the past.
Allocating other people's capital without understanding the tectonic shift in technology isn't just negligent, it's an absolute fucking betrayal of society's future.
Thanks Brisket, coinos is a good one
Was having issues seeing zap stats on my notes and getting zap notifications across all clients.
Changed my Lightning address from Blink to WOs, and it fixed the issue.
Not sure why. Sats were arriving, but zap events weren't showing. Just a heads up nostr:npub13ljnkd633c7maxatymv3y2fqq8vt3qk7j3tt0vytv90eztwgha9qmfcfhw
I LOVE THE NEW nostr:npub1v5ufyh4lkeslgxxcclg8f0hzazhaw7rsrhvfquxzm2fk64c72hps45n0v5 APP!
I love that it's Nostr now!
The interoperability is such a wild experience. I get to see my Nostr community's activities without having to rebuild follows/followers again from scratch!
