The Basics of Home #Bitcoin Mining: From Hardware to Hashes with @TatumTurnUp
https://twitter.com/dtvelectronics
https://twitter.com/kaboomracks
https://video.nostr.build/8487714a387d9750dc952578a6dcb0dec695bd673ad74511504092602eb4a855.mp4
#SimplicityLanguage: The Next-Gen Smart Contracting Language for #LiquidNetwork & #Bitcoin?
https://blog.blockstream.com/simplicity-language/
https://video.nostr.build/560f6c40fb0e86c1c0130234659fa9dd6a5c76228b42a2dfc50ca860ee50a530.mp4
Explainer of @liquid_btc tradeoffs for newcomers:
Under the high-fee market, there has been a renewed interest in second layers, resulting in an increased usage and adoption of Liquid 🌊. Many are now leveraging Liquid’s cheap fees and faster one-minute block times to stack cheap sats and HODL in the mid-term, using it as a bridge to Lightning⚡️without having to use the mainchain (see @Boltzhq and @PeerswapLN today).
With that adoption, a number of new users are grappling with understanding the tradeoffs Liquid makes–so we thought we would address some of their questions.
- “Liquid is centralized”
Liquid is distributed but is not fully permissionless like #Bitcoin. Today, Liquid is governed by a geographically and geopolitically-distributed federation of more than 65 Bitcoin-centric companies (https://liquid.net). Within these members are a subset (we call them functionary operators) who run specialized hardware (functionaries). The functionaries propose and sign the blocks that require 2/3rds + 1 (or 11-of-15) of them to approve.
Compromising the Federation's multisig wallet would require commandeering 11 separate functionaries around the world while remaining undetected or for 11-of-15 functionary operators to be dishonest and collude–against their incentives as contributing members of Liquid.🌊🌎
We have plans to increase the number of functionaries with DynaFed, which went live on Liquid in 2022, and with potentially new signature schemes like ROAST, which can help us further Liquid’s overall decentralization without network disruption.
- “Why L-BTC? Why a federation?”
Liquid has no separate altcoin, pre-mine or ICO. The native coin of Liquid is BTC! We opt to use a federated two-way peg model (with pegged BTC—called L-BTC—as the underlying coin), which still provides some decentralization and protection from a single point of failure and is more scalable. This is the tradeoff for not wanting to issue a separate Proof-of-Stake (PoS) governance token that we believe would encourage dishonest participation and take away from Bitcoin network effects.
We believe altcoins generally—and more so with premines—inherently create conflicts of interest, distorting participant behavior to gaming other participants. People frequently ask if they can invest in Liquid (they mean to buy a pre-mined token or altcoin), but like Lightning, Liquid has none—the native currency IS BTC. If you want to invest, BUY BITCOIN.
Another reason we chose the federated model is that it did not require any changes to be made to Bitcoin itself, something other layer-2 proposals require first. This not only allowed us to build and experiment without constraints right out the gate but, more importantly, the federated model did not impose any risk to Bitcoin’s own consensus and incentive model.
- “Seriously, why the two-way peg though? Aren’t there alternatives?”
There is still no generic approach to delivering trustless, two-way pegged sidechains. Solutions must consider tradeoffs between security, features provided, and the impact they might have on the Bitcoin mainchain. A sidechain that requires coupling to the mainchain may expose the incentives of the mainchain to unknown attack vectors and may lead to remedial soft forks.
A federated peg model may not be as permissionless as other solutions, but it has the benefit of being isolated from Bitcoin in its implementation; plus, the use of strong federations establishes a security profile that is suitable for many applications.
We consider a federated approach to pegged sidechains as a sound alternative to solutions that either require a centralized counterparty, an altcoin, or changes to Bitcoin itself. The increased trust requirements necessitated by the federated model are a risk assumed by sidechain users alone, and place no extra burden on users of the mainchain.
- “Fees go to Blockstream”
Blockstream’s role in Liquid is purely as a technical provider to the federation; Liquid’s governance technology board requests software features and fixes for the functionary software and ultimately evaluates whether to adopt any changes.
As the technical provider of Liquid, one of Blockstream’s duties is to maintain the fee wallet; however, the fees ultimately belong to the federation. Blockstream only administers them, burning them as needed for sweeps and peg-outs–the rest remains untouched. The fee wallet is viewable and can be audited here: https://blockstream.info/liquid/address/QLFdUboUPJnUzvsXKu83hUtrQ1DuxyggRg
It’s additionally important to note that the 15 functionaries, not Blockstream, control the bitcoin (11-of-15) multisignature wallet and the wallet can be viewed here: https://blockstream.info/address/bc1qxvay4an52gcghxq5lavact7r6qe9l4laedsazz8fj2ee2cy47tlqff4aj4
- “What are Confidential Transactions?”
Liquid's Confidential Transactions (CT) feature blind transaction amounts and asset types. This makes selectively not processing certain transactions difficult as the information to distinguish is hidden and available only to the sender and receiver end to end securely.
We believe the lack of on-chain confidentiality on competing platforms is a major liability for serious investors and companies, allowing for the possibility of front-running that disregards the overall protection of one’s financial privacy.
Longer term, there is some research being done with schemes like Bulletproofs++ (https://blog.blockstream.com/bulletproofs-a-step-towards-fully-anonymous-transactions-with-multiple-asset-types/) that could potentially improve this confidentiality aspect.
We’ve only covered a few key points, but we encourage those who would like to learn more about Liquid’s federated sidechain model, how it can bring new features to Bitcoin, and the tradeoffs it makes to read the post here: https://blog.liquid.net/the-truth-about-liquid/
We also invite you to join us on the Liquid Community Telegram group for any specific questions and for further dialogue, we're happy to have you!: https://t.me/liquid_community
https://twitter.com/Liquid_BTC/status/1735072205975724344
#BlockstreamJade Camera Unlocks Air-Gapped Transactions Through Qr Scanning Other #Bitcoin Wallets
https://github.com/Blockstream/Jade/
https://help.blockstream.com/hc/en-us/categories/900000061906-Blockstream-Jade/
https://store.blockstream.com//maximus (10% off)
https://video.nostr.build/77e15009936452f5ed779caca1ffd96832312d54e74239387a0ffc0a4d3a92ac.mp4
#LiquidNetwork #LightningNetwork
Find Out How a Paper CPU Can Help You Learn About #Bitcoin Self-Custody and Shamir Secret Sharing
Print the volvelles to not damage the book
https://www.secretcodex32.com/
The book
https://store.blockstream.com/products/codex32-shamir-secret-sharing-scheme-book
https://video.nostr.build/6f7ce362c52e79b6fd41203e0fc4c133468cf9f787500f00c5abe07b60ad62a6.mp4
#CODEX32
10% off on all #BlockstreamStore products with coupon "maximus".
https://store.blockstream.com//maximus
#Bitcoin #LightningNetwork #LiquidNetwork #Blockstream
Elements Academy: Build #Bitcoin Sidechains Using Free Open-Source Software
Elements Academy with video and text: https://community.liquid.net/c/elements-academy/
Elements Academy with video only: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbgdHszjwqsZ7gtielvu3H7iSMViE7xKl
Developer Portal: https://liquid.net/devs
Developer TG: https://t.me/liquid_devel
https://video.nostr.build/3b5061a8aeec9fa8df5885ec411f42f4653dc923c0005e5582ef47e8a7e44f2b.mp4
#LiquidNetwork #Bitcoin
Educating a Billion on #Bitcoin: The Global Push for Understanding By @DecouvreBitcoin
https://video.nostr.build/b376a76582e7233a9c0cbdcc40691ba8f9ece0418d8e961757b904c70995680a.mp4
Setting Up Hardened #Bitcoin Nodes Using NixOS ( @nixos_org @nixbitcoinorg ) @Niftynei (from @base58btc) on the @StephanLivera Podcast
https://video.nostr.build/d94aeeee7b71001ea4bc1f43b048f1ad9ad28fac2916003fd2ba7e355c3d489d.mp4
#LiquidNetwork #Bitcoin #LightningNetwork
10% off on all #BlockstreamStore products with coupon "maximus".
https://store.blockstream.com//maximus
#Bitcoin #LightningNetwork #LiquidNetwork #Blockstream
#Degens come out and play on #LiquidNetwork
Much FASTER and CHEAPER
CONFIDENTIAL assets and amounts
Wallets and markets
https://sideswap.io @side_swap
https://tdex.network @tdexnetwork
Wallets
https://vulpem.com/marina @MarinaWallet
https://blockstream.com/green/ @BlksGreenWallet
#LiquidDegens #Bitcoin #DeFi #LiquidNetwork
10% off on all #BlockstreamStore products with coupon "maximus".
https://store.blockstream.com//maximus
#Bitcoin #LightningNetwork #LiquidNetwork #Blockstream
Building Sound Financial Assets on Liquid
https://video.nostr.build/e555ea056bb8560f61b0dd5e0113974744f8a1bae7caf94d69dcbefe2ff2ff9b.mp4
https://community.liquid.net/home
https://blog.blockstream.com/liquid-network/
https://help.blockstream.com/hc/en-us/categories/900000056143-Liquid-Network
https://docs.liquid.net/docs/technical-overview
#LiquidNetwork #Bitcoin
"FED Z.1 released for Q3 2023. Total debt in US non-financial sectors reaches a *record* $97 trillion. @PeterMcCormack, we discussed this during the recent @WhatBitcoinDid episode." - Caitlin Long
https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/20231207/z1.pdf
10% off on all #BlockstreamStore products with coupon "maximus".
https://store.blockstream.com//maximus
#Bitcoin #LightningNetwork #LiquidNetwork #Blockstream
Evolution of the Internet
https://video.nostr.build/7518b49a8ead84146e4b19316a7735d19d3ab8acf178fa3b568a83ca393b20f1.mp4
#LiquidNetwork #Bitcoin #LightningNetwork #BOL2 #BuildOnL2
10% off on all #BlockstreamStore products with coupon "maximus".
#Bitcoin Core v26.0 was released!
It is available from: https://bitcoincore.org/bin/bitcoin-core-26.0/
Release annoucement:https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-core-dev/2023-December/000131.html