This borage looks like he’s smoking a tiny cigarette. 🤣 #flowerstr #growstr

Exactly 4 years ago today, I sat in a company-wide meeting with a "crypto expert."

He said Bitcoin was useless beyond being digital gold — and some random altcoin called Polkadot was the future. Everyone thanked him for his wisdom. We were supposed to learn from "industry experts" to keep up with trends as early-stage venture investors.

I started digging deeper into Bitcoin and calling out altcoins as scams.

A senior partner pulled me aside and tore me down:

"Are we done here?"

"You have no track record."

"Your conviction is like a religious belief."

"You're being irrational and ideological."

He laughed when I said maybe the financial system is broken. From his perspective, he couldn’t see it — because he was making a fortune pumping startups that barely existed. The irony was lost on him: the very fact that so much money was being thrown at vaporware proved just how broken the system was.

Another partner called me a spruiker — said I was trying to pump my own Bitcoin bag to get rich and dump it on others.

It was hard to hold steady when surrounded by people who benefit from the status quo.

That day, I wrote in my journal: "As of today, I've decided to leave [this company]."

Four years later, Polkadot is down 90% against Bitcoin. And it’s been the best four years of my life.

(Btw, I use a journalling app called Journey that reminds me of what I wrote x years ago today, it's useful for reflecting)

This is our non-Chinese bitcoin mining chip.

And it’s a way bigger deal than you think 👇

Six years ago, when I joined Braiins, we had a mining pool. The world’s first.

Then we launched custom firmware—now powering gigawatts of miners worldwide.

Last year we dropped Braiins Manager. A cloud platform giving miners full control over their farms.

BUT THE BIGGEST ISSUE REMAINED UNTOUCHED

Hardware centralization.

For years, Bitmain has controlled over 70% of the global market.

And we’ve been loud about the need for competition.

So instead of waiting, we built.

This week, Braiins Bitcoin Silicon arrived in our Prague office. Our first test ASIC chips.

🫡 2.5 years of hardcore R&D.

🚀 Big skin in the game (shoutout to Firefish for helping us collateralize—not sell—our bitcoin 🧡).

Exciting times, BUT…

The work is just beginning.

And it must be done.

Join our mission!

My previous home in Taiwan blessed us with beautiful sunset views over vast rice paddies, just a 10-minute motorcycle ride to the Northwest Coast with its isolated beaches. It served us well as a sanctuary for meditation and watching my children grow, and though it was far more house than our journey needed at the time, I have such fond memories.

#IKITAO

Met a person named “Mana”.

Pretty cool name 😎

1) What.

i’m going to create a fund to grant a collection of nostr clients and adjacent technologies to work together on a comprehensive vision to focus on public/private communities, commerce, and ai.

much better than creating my own client.

more soon.

When I was younger I thought seeing clothes hanging on lines was associated with poor people in slums. But once I got older and didn't care what people thought of me, I took to hanging my clothes out to dry because it is cheaper. The clothes aren't as soft but they last longer.

Fruitful is a great way to describe it. It's been on my radar for close to a decade now. I can't believe I have not picked it up. Just 2 pages in tonight and I thought "ooh, wow, I must read the whole thing"