Interchange fees on the debit card and bulk discounts on gift cards. They don’t sell user data, or at least have explicitly said this on many occasions.

Law is interpreted; code is executed.

“hey vlad, you’re a shitcoiner now. why do you keep posting about bitcoin?”

first of all, i’ll always be here just to spite you and the rest of the spooks who don’t want bitcoin to become money.

leaving means that i’ll let you win – which i won’t let happen.

i will fight to keep the spirit that i once knew alive and i will keep my podcast going to remind newcomers what the early days used to be about

and if monero, zcash, litecoin or zano get the job done much better for certain use cases, i will keep using them until bitcoin finally becomes fungible and scales better.

but don’t underestimate my resilience or my willingness to fight. i’m not leaving just because a bunch of assholes act as community gatekeepers and “excommunicate” me after performing their purity tests.

i am staying to spite them and eventually make them historically irrelevant.

🤨 wouldn’t know where to start on that

People used to think I was odd, for using computers to talk to other people.

Now, other people are using computers to talk to computers and I think that's odd.

In defense of developer depression:

Reflecting on my journey in Bitcoin over the last decade, I've come to realize that I've achieved success where a lot of other developers have failed.

Ironically, one of the biggest issues I'm still dealing with is that I may have succeeded too much. As a developer, you must understand that unfortunately, most people you’ll end up working with will not want you to succeed. The majority will simply want you to code what is needed for their success… and then go away. Disappear.

The core problem for you is that creating anything great requires deep coding focus for extended periods. You also need to constantly iterate on the product while ensuring it gains traction. Many developers mistakenly believe they can do both.

The hard truth is that you shouldn’t be doing this. You shouldn’t have to choose which part to handicap – your developer skills or the reach of the product you’re building.

Don’t fall for the false dilemma. Instead, find trusted collaborators who allow you to stay in a state of deep focus. Look for people who, once you create something that generates enormous amounts of value, won’t take your contributions for granted or betray you by claiming all the rewards for themselves.

My own immense success… it’s depressing to know that it had more to do with other people than myself. Yes, of course, I worked hard for it. I honed my craft for over 25 years. Studied computer science and led engineering at numerous startups. Stayed humble, while churning out commits for decades. But every time it came down to the wire, none of that mattered. What truly mattered was whether certain people recognized my contributions and stood up for my proof of work… or not.

So, if you are a developer – knowing that even in best-case scenarios you’ll depend on the goodwill of others is soul-crushing. You absolutely should be depressed.

But then recognize that the way out of that depression is through long-term commitments with others who resonate with the coding journey you’re on. Only surround yourself with trustworthy people. There is a reason that 4-year vesting schedules are standard in startups. For you and your code to truly succeed - you have to be part of long-term efforts with significant upside.

Anything less – and you’re setting yourself up for failure. You don’t want to create a routine where you daily force yourself into states of deep focus, only to see that after a couple of years of building, you’re defeated by an inferior product that has better marketers at the helm. You also don’t want to lose your technical competency in building political and promotion skills… this world needs more developers, not more politicians.

Observe your depression, but don’t succumb to it. In most cases, it correlates with how deeply you care about your craft. It’s a hint – that the way forward is with others. So, don’t fight your feelings, but follow them to find trusted collaborators who will help you realize the best version of the product you’re coding.

Got bitten by a neighborhood stray cat earlier breaking up a fight between it and our cat. I know, I should’ve stayed out of it; but ours was definitely getting its ass kicked and this isn’t the first time.

I did well, grabbed the bastard by the scruff of its neck and lower back skin in a way that I had total control and he couldn’t get me. I made it fairly clear he wasn’t welcome and then when I was trying to let it go at the edge of the garden it spun around and bit my wrist pretty bad.

Kids gloves came off at that point and the cat did a windmill into the pavement by its tail. It limped away, but I don’t know if we’ll see it again.

Initially, my 9 year old was pretty shaken by the level of violence. We sat down and had a talk about it after I’d cleaned myself (and our cat) up.

I’m a firm believer that you shouldn’t ever go looking for a fight but you that you also shouldn’t ever shy away from defending yourself and yours if one comes your way.

This is a bit of a small time example but I think it’s important that kids both know that their parents have the ability and the readiness to look after them, and that in certain situations violence is the right answer.

I suspect few people in the world have interacted with more individuals who lost bitcoin than I have.

I answered support tickets for a non-custodial web wallet that, at the time, was the most popular in the world.

I'm talking about 100,000+ tickets over five years, many from users who lost access to their funds. Not just tiny amounts, mind you.

Sometimes hundreds of bitcoin.

My inability to help them still weighs on me.

We added warnings and info about the importance of backups. It's not that I could have done more. The nature of the old Blockchain(.)info wallet made that impossible.

The bottom line is personal responsibility demands extraordinary effort, and not everyone is up for the challenge.

Lost password? Sorry, I can't help.

Lost seed phrase? Sorry, I can't help.

Funds stolen by a phishing site? *Sigh*

What troubles me most isn't the sadness I felt from doing this daily for so many years. No, eventually you grow numb to it.

That's what truly hurt.

I imagine this is a lesser version of what people in the medical field have to do to cope with their jobs - learning to stop caring so much.

It takes a toll on your humanity if you live this way for too long.

I could have stayed in that job. Stacked more sats. It made sense, financially. I'd have a lot more bitcoin today if I did.

Instead, I left, choosing to be with my family and focus on self improvement.

Anyone who has worked during the early years of a startup will understand how incredibly burnt out you are once you finally step away. It took me years to push through that.

But I still think about those users.

The ones who made all the mistakes of the past that you, the bitcoiners of today, would learn from.

Almost seven years have passed since I left, and I'm no longer numb to their pain. I feel sadness for them again.

And I'm grateful for that.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, and take some time to reflect on the things that truly matter in this life. 🧡✌️

The best way to turn people into slaves is to make slavery comfortable.

Heard good things about it! Will pick it up

Author worked for IDF 💀

The left hemisphere of the brain is like a shitty mathematician.

It finds interesting abstractions and then comes up with theorems that are full of blindspots and tries to apply them to everything

The whole thing is so obviously nothing but a “group your wallets by when you got the coins so our tax chainalysis is really easy” scheme.

And they call it “safe harbor” to trick people into thinking they are getting a benefit, imo.

What wild controversial feature would you like to see in a nostr client?

Each time I log into my bank account, I’m struck by the extensive transaction trail I leave behind. Every transaction visible to a third party is one too many.

Yea because that is what a guy running a bar or a tire shop wants to add to his life just so he can sell to you for Bitcoin?

That’s not mobile. That requires running a node at home.