Interesting points, thanks.
I agree re: real world anchor, see this that I wrote a few years ago:
https://reyify.com/blog/pow-a-pictorial-essay
The game theory basis of pow for consensus is about as simple as it gets, it's like "minimally game theory dependent" somehow. I don't think it's really correct that bitcoin consensus depends on non-real world identity in the same way as PoS; yes miners mine coins to addresses, but they are purely ephemeral. With stake, it's really not quite like that; those ephemeral identities/accounts are used as *inputs* to consensus.
Great article!
...Yes, basically in PoS I literally have to convince someone to sell/send me coins while in bitcoin anyone could just mine coins without permission.
I just need to start generating hashes in whatever way I can.
Practice Truth-seeking and reap the benefits:
Maximize Signal, Minimize Noise.
- Bitcoin is Signal, Fiat is Noise.
- Nostr is Signal, Twitter is Noise.
- Plebs are Signal, Rent-Seekers Noise.
- Responsibility is Signal, FUDing Self-Custody is Noise.
Follow Your Path, stack sats, rejoice.
There is only one thing to learn from recent events:
Stay humble, learn about #Bitcoin and stack those NoKYC sats in your Cold Storage.
The rest is noise.
The amount of technical content about #Bitcoin Self-Custody is astonishing.
I could spend a lifetime grinding guides and tutorials without understanding the Why.
But the stuff that makes you think deeper but is actionable at the same time is rare.
Stuff about responsibility and first principles, adversity mindset, cost-benefit trade-offs, practical game theory...
I'm hungry for that.
#digdeeperpleb
#Bitcoin is the Token of Time.
#Ensiferum
The essence of Bitcoin Self-Custody is laid out perfectly in ancient texts, primarily the Art of War by Sun Tzu.
Apply his principles and enjoy posperity. Ignore them and bear the consequences:
- Develop virtue and character
- Learn method and discipline
- Understand the nature of Bitcoin
- Make plans and calculate with outcomes
- Deception and confusion is key
- Know yourself and know the enemy
- Build your defense first
- Use your energy wisely
- Develop an abundance of tactics
Cornerstones of a healthy society:
- Sovereign Individuals
- Strong, supportive families
- Free markets
All 3 need #Bitcoin.
Neither need nation states.
The least wise was I when I had the smartest answers.
#Bitcoin helped me humble myself and adopt more Responsibility.
The Evolution of #Bitcoin Custody Solutions is closely tied to low time preference Bitcoin adoption. It's a huge deal.
While most people used to hold their stash on exchanges, nowadays Collaborative Custody services enjoy a lot of popularity like Unchained, River, Casa or Nunchuk.
The next steps on the path of Self Custody Evolution will be made towards more private but still quite secure solutions: Ecash based Custody pioneered mostly by #Fedimint and #Cashu. These find a different trust-security-privacy balance which will gain a lot of interest in my opinion.
The Gold standard of Self-Custody remains holding all your private keys in your sole possession. This has also become more convenient thanks to the vast improvement of a whole tech stack: Mynode, Umbrel, RoninDojo, Sparrow wallet, Samourai, Coldcard, Seedsigner, Foundation devices and others.
Risk can be spread and different needs can be met by using a combination of these.
One thing hasn't changed though: Responsibility as the foundation of Bitcoin Self-Custody and as the most important virtue of The Bitcoin Pleb.
Most people thought Google could not be challenged for decades.
They were utterly wrong. Fortunately.
They misread the AI revolution. They were too caught up skimming profits of other businesses with the ad-model, rushing a race to the bottom.
They are failing to understand the money revolution as well. This is an even bigger mistake.
ANY company ignoring #Bitcoin will bitterly regret it. As well as any government and any individual.
#Bitcoin and #nostr are a match made in heaven.
Lightning Zaps are gonna be leading the social media revolution sooner than you think.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Value for value will upend everything you knew about content.
Some people resent Self-Custody saying it is too hard and complicated.
Remember: Complexity can be reduced and more Convenience can be achieved through smarter technology.
Responsibility on the other hand: There is no amount of science and engineering that can raise it even a tiny bit.
There is a high economic incentive to solve for convenience and simplicity. It will take care of itself.
What about you?
An interesting essay from Vitalik Buterin a few years ago, that I missed at the time:
https://vitalik.ca/general/2019/04/03/collusion.html
In the first half he nicely elucidates concrete reasons behind an intuition I've always had: that using game theory to build decentralized financial systems always suffers because they have a dependency on identity (and how I'd put it: the problem with that fundamentally, comes from the fact that identity is a fiction, an arbitrary and unanchored construct).
This problem manifests as the impossibility of avoiding collusion in various forms.
Quote:
"But in the version of game theory that allows for the possibility of coalitions working together, called cooperative game theory, there are large classes of games that do not have any stable outcome that a coalition cannot profitably deviate from."
This is the problem - a lot of academic game theory posits isolated actors, however that is *never* the real world (see: sockpuppets or simply, communication!). That's why I've always told people, just like Nick Szabo did to Manfred Karrer back in the days of bitsquare, "don't rely on game theory, replace it with cryptographic verification").
He then correctly identifies, in the middle of the article, the best solution to the collusion problems described: proof of work, because it is identity-less.
The remaining part of the article feels like a reach, looking for increasingly Byzantine (pun intended) partial solutions to what he clearly understands to be an insoluble problem.
Proof of Work relies on game theory as well as Cryptography. Just like Proof of Stake. Both systems can be used without real-world identities.
The crucial difference I think is what Saylor said: PoW is inherently tied to the thermodynamic reality. PoS isn't.
That changes the incentives for PoS to a politicized consensus, just like central banking. In theory both could work. But of course, that's not reality.
#Bitcoin Pleb mindset is not about ego-centrism.
It is more about responsible partaking in the violence-minimized Digital Safe Haven.
Nostr is signal, Twitter is noise.
Migrate your fellow #Plebs.
It's a new era of sovereign social.
Stop wasting time hitting on shitcoiners and nocoiners.
History is full of governments and religious institutions that tried to attack and persecute people with different beliefs to no avail.
Focus on learning and self-betterment. Be open and ready to teach. The rest will take care of itself.
#Nostr and L2 #Bitcoin is not irrelevant. We can't win without protocols like #Lightning and permissionless social media.
Can you win a chess match without openings, forks or pins?
Tactics matter.
Advice for low-time preference folks: Invert the fiat mindset of time management. Spend your scarce time in this order:
1. Giving value: Building, writing, personal relationships
2. Learning by doing
3. Learning by reading books and long-form articles
4. Everything else
Take #Bitcoin for the meaning crisis every day with Self-Custody.
Works like a charm.
Don't just HODL.
Learn from #Bitcoin Self-Custody.
Plebs can gain more sovereignty and master invaluable skills for life by getting their hands dirty:
- Key management
- Wallet Software
- Hardware wallets
- Nodes
- Privacy