Bitcoin Content from
Opinion: US Citizen using Our Crappy FIAT Banking Perspective to First Buy Bitcoin
When news breaks on Bitcoin and it spikes, how is that happening? Let me explain, it has to be the Big Players still in manipulating the Bitcoin Price. Why? Have you ever bought Bitcoin? Personally? Did you remember how painful the process was and still is?
I think it took me 10 days to get everything setup with the KYC with starting with Wells Fargo Bank and then ditching their crappy process to go with US Bank which was 10 sats better than Wells.
The bar is so low. Now and then. There are all sorts of "regulations" in place to only be able to transfer so much money, per day, per month, etc.
The actual transfer takes several "Business" days or you have to pay huge fees. Never mind the setup process on the receiving end, CoinBase, PayPal, L2 wallets trying to tie into the archaic 'legacy' US Banking Systems.
Newbies to Bitcoin are not buying the news, why? Because of the above process. They hear the news, see the rise, start the process, see Bitcoin drop the next day, "Forget about it." It's manipulation all over again.
I am not super pro Bitcoin ETF (especially not fond of the BlackRock China business connections) BUT Cathie Wood and ARK, I am all for that ease, let a pro like ARK/FIdelitydo the behind the scenes maneuvering to get YOUR money into Bitcoin.
The Anti-Bitcoin movement is as passive aggressive (Wells/US Bank) as it is aggressive (SEC).
Don't fall for it, I can't tell you how many friends of mine have said they were going to go buy Bitcoin but then do not, why?
The orchestrated Pain Points are pathetic, the worst ones are when the PayPals or US Banks/Wells of the world, tell you it is 'for your safety.'
That is such BS, they are worried about the safety of their 100s of years old Business Model that is crumbling slowly, daily.
Bitcoin is Global. The US is not leading in Bitcoin by looking squarely at our SEC/CFTC. A few people.
But they don't have enough fingers to plug the holes in the FIAT dam holding back Lake Bitcoin USA. (Bitcoin Lakes are all over the world.)
For now, my eyes are on Argentina. Go Argentina, lead and let people follow by seeing how you circumvent the man made dams to Bitcoin, one of which is the crappy, legacy, dated, Banking systems. Worldwide.
The people are rising up, Bitcoin is for people, not bankers or politicians.
It is what motivated Satoshi in the first place and keeps Bitcoiners motivated today.
"Broken Money" - Lyn Alden
Really Charlie Munger?
I remember Andy Rooney on "60 Minutes" ripping on "Word Processing" versus his trusty IBM Selectric Typewriter. Munger would have been complaining about the wheel when it arrived.
Opinions: "Self Custody of Bitcoin with a hardware Wallet is Easy."
Me: YES
Background:
The hardest part for me was picking the 'right' wallet. In hindsight, however, it doesn't matter which wallet you choose, nor do you need to upgrade all the time. Once you get your Bitcoin on the Base Layer it doesn't matter. However, I have a super logical explanation on why I chose the one I did.
Which hardware wallet did I choose?
Blockstream Jade. First because of Price (it's essentially ok to throw it away at some point so why go fancy. A paper match works as well as a fancy lighter) and second because of Adam Back. I am not going to bother explaining why, Adam is technical like a Steve Jobs and not a marketer like Bill Gates. It matters to me.
Boating accidents. Old PCs,Thumb Drives. Fire. Flood.
Bitcoin has your back on the Base Layer/Base Chain.
Why?
Because all you need is the 12 word seed phrase otherwise known as 'YOUR KEYS" (or 24 words but to me I will take my chances with only 2 Earth's worth of energy to break it quantum computing or not.)
Real World TRICK:
The trick isn't setting one of these things up and see how it works, the real learning comes in from helping people. Specifically with RECOVERY. I have had to do wallet recovery several times already helping people. You get 3 strikes with a PIN on a Jade , my 75 year old buddy has finally stopped screwing up his PIN but I showed him how easy it is to 'RECOVER' a wallet. Yes, with a Matchbook sized hardware device reentering the 12 words on Jade is incredibly easy.
Everyone who has a hardware wallet should screw it up, THEIR OWN, even with a zillion dollars on it ON PURPOSE and then show someone the recovery process FIRST.
Blow their minds by using a different hardware wallet than when you started?
Look, I am 58 years old, helping people older than me, there is no excuse to not doing self custody. From PayPal to your Jade Wallet using Green, from Coinbase, from Coinbase Wallet.
You literally need to go on Blockstream Green app get your 'RECEIVE' address and then send YOUR bitcoin to YOURSELF. I texted myself my buddy's RECEIVE address and mine once and I have reused them like a cheap suit.
To send him Bitcoin to Cold Storage.
To send myself Bitcoin to Cold Storage.
In helping him get through his anxiety, we did several small transactions first, some took up to 2 hours and cost about .54 cents, even with the Ordinal/Mempool being full nonsense. Who cares?
But why don't I care?
Because the current freaking bar is it takes my stupid banks (Wells/US Bank) 2-3 business days to start the process to send money to me. Bitcoin is 24x7 there is no such thing as 'Bankers Hours' in Bitcoin thus why it is a 21st century solution to a problem most have just accepted as being okay. Banking is not okay, in the United States, in the world. NOT OK.
The FUD out there on self custody is so dumb, getting on the Bitcoin Baselayer is easy and soon will not be cheap AND I wrote up all of this to help my older friends who are getting into Bitcoin.
Transaction fees will go up.
Bitcoin Base Layer, by design, is going to be tougher and more expensive to use.
Big deal, I wrote up all my notes here and will write a lot more on this subject if there is interest. I am already telling my family/friends I will happily help them to Self Custody but I will, I will charge them at least $200 without guilt because they have been so unsupportive. I tell them this. Bitcoin is that cool.
Special thanks to Natalie Brunell for the motivation to type up this supporting document to Self Custody.
https://bitcoinapolis.blogspot.com/2023/09/bitcoin-like-time-scarcity-in-base.html
Bitcoin only note:
Bitcoin is incredible simply from how so many people have exact/immutable copies of the Base Chain/Base Layer whatever you want to call it. It really is a simple database, dare say Excel/Google Spreadsheet. Try to keep two copies of one spreadsheet with read/write privileges in a family, let alone a company, let alone all over the world.
Do people realize how hard it is to keep EVERY copy of anything holding dynamic data in synch? Every company today fails at this.
Every company. 334,000,000 companies worldwide, proprietary data, and then comes Bitcoin?
Look at this from "Bitcoin Amsterdam" AntPool/Foundry can't even keep things in synch on two monitors.
It is hard, especially when timestamps are involved.
https://bitcoinapolis.blogspot.com/2023/09/bitcoin-bitcoin-is-database.html
My opinion on this further explained:
Bitcoin: "Bitcoin is a Database"
Bitcoin Post
Bitcoin Amsterdam, I am not sure if this translated around the world since I heard zero laughs at this point with Edward Snowden.
Edward has such a calm way of explaining things and then drops this absolutely hilarious BOMB about submitting a photo of your 'onchain taint'?
Start here.
Bitcoin only note/opinion.
Look at this headline, it just screams how much people don't know about Bitcoin. China, mining in Wyoming? Who cares where Bitcoin is mined and great if they are paying salaries and money to do so in the USA instead of their crappy country.
China buying up all our land is way worse to me.
Just documenting this, out of the 25,000+ crypto people, Bitcoiners are saying Nano is the worst. Their main guy just blocked me, something Ghost. I have been riding him like Sea Biscuit for a couple weeks. I am actually a little bummed. I like to be a single threaded troll, any other specific annoying anti-Bitcoin people I can make fun of?
Bitcoin Only.
Russian Ruble no one wants you but it is going up by FORCE.
Awesome (Insert Massive Sarcasm Here)
https://fortune.com/2023/10/12/russian-rouble-surge-putin-capital-control-foreign-currency-revenue/
China - No one with a brain outside of your country wants your Digital Yen
Brazil...Mexico...even eventually the USD for sure not a CBDC.
Bitcoin Only.
Bitcoin is Time.
We Bitcoiners wait for the masses to catch up.....with low time preferences.
Living life on a low time preference is living life the way it is meant to be.
Bitcoin Only.
Funny because their head guy thinks it is worthless. Banking/Asset managers are so corrupt. It you study and comprehend Bitcoin it is incredible in so many ways and it truly is an incredible threat to not only thie business models from the 19th Century but to their personal livelihoods.
Bitcoin Post
Coinbase blasted this out today to all their customers. Article from BeingCrypto.com
To me, JPOrgan and Jamie Demon have been so anti-Bitcoin, why do they care so much? I am just guessing with Hash Rates at ATH and with all the other Halvings not impacting. Why this next halving? Isn't this the low hanging fruit of concern of Bitcoin. 20% doesn't sound terrible.
I just get tired of all these articles but I am going to scrutinize the Bitcoin ones sent out by Coinbase to their entire customer base.
“Nobody is using Lightning” should now be a dead meme.
Launching a new Bitcoin report from nostr:npub1xkere5pd94672h8w8r77uf4ustcazhfujkqgqzcykrdzakm4zl4qeud0en: How the Lightning Network grew by 1212% in 2 years ⚡
It’s time to pay attention to the incredible work of so many people in the space.
In this report:
- How many transactions on Lightning
- How much volume
- How many users
- Industry overview of 173 companies
- Funding overview
- River-specific insights
- Why are companies interested in Lightning
- Growth accelerators
And yes, an executive summary 😉
You can find the report here https://blog.river.com/the-lightning-network-in-2023/
It would mean a lot if you could share this post and/or the report 🧡
I'll be sharing this report at The Bitcoin Conference in Amsterdam in 2 days! 
Thanks Sam. 
This is excellent, I am getting tired of the trash talking about the LN. It is still a toddler, perhaps crawling but distractors don't think it will walk let alone RUN like we think it will.
Thanks River/Strike and the other countless projects being built behind the scenes using the LN. (e.g. MSTR and BLOCK?).
Infancy.
It's too much, NOSTR and Bitcoin. There is signal but with 100s of people an 100s of hours of content it takes time to extract the nuggets or best salient points. To me, it's easy to hang out with like minded people, harder to reach those who don't like or understand NOSTR/Bitcoin. Change is hard.
Disclaimer Bitcoin Only Post.
Altcoiners like to say how Bitcoin will never ever be scalable to Billions. Yes, by design, it can. No, not on the Base Layer, by design. But yes on Layer 2 (e.g. Lightning Network, one of dozens.)
Saylor did a great podcast on this and then I simply typed up the notes. This is a snapshot.
https://bitcoinapolis.blogspot.com/
I know NOSTR wants to be more than Bitcoin, hopefully my reach is the niche for the Bitcoin portion of NOSTR. I just can't post on X , been two months since an actual post, but I am not getting traction anywhere, regardless, I believe what I am doing and the way I am doing it.
For now, I updated:
Bitcoin: "Like Time: Scarcity in Base Layer Units and Blockspace"
Subhead: "Bitcoin Mining will Prevail even with Higher Transaction Fees"
https://bitcoinapolis.blogspot.com/2023/09/bitcoin-like-time-scarcity-in-base.html
Summary: Bob Barnett explains things best about how the Base Layer will not scale but I think we all do a poor job of explaining why that isn't a bad thing and how Satoshi even predicted it in the third sentence of the main body of his white paper.
October 9, 2023
How to answer, "Bitcoin doesn't scale and will never be used by the masses."
Me:
Bitcoin, by design is for the masses and was never designed to be scaled on the Base Layer. Satoshi in the Bitcoin White Paper explains this in the third sentence: 
I normally don't recommend Netflix shows or movies BUT (there it is) this one is good /short showing how Potatoes are used today as currency. https://www.netflix.com/title/80209006#:~:text=A%20traveling%20trader%20provides%20a,Watch%20all%20you%20want.
Hey All,
I broke a rule and got tired of the Nano bots blasting Bitcoin and I responded to the trolls (making me a troll too I know.)
One guy, who has a meme game of a 7 year old insists on putting out this meme and thinks the Bullet points are good ones.
I just want to document this and then send him this note if there are any good comments, check out these bullets. For the record, I still don't understand the first one and I agree with the Ordinals one and am totally fine with rising fees on the base layer etc.... 
I like the FTX trial posts, it reminds me of a super old exchange. I think of it every time I see a post with a trial.
* Lawyer: "Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?"
* Witness: "No."
* Lawyer: "Did you check for blood pressure?"
* Witness: "No."
* Lawyer: "Did you check for breathing?"
* Witness: "No."
* Lawyer: "So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?"
* Witness: "No."
* Lawyer: "How can you be so sure, Doctor?"
* Witness: "Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar."
* Lawyer: "But could the patient have still been alive nevertheless?"
* Witness: "Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law somewhere."
Good key management lies at the heart of proper #bitcoin custody and keeping your funds safe. This is why we are partnering with nostr:npub1tftc33ttam85wraffce62cgtvvjrmttquqlv6a0agtfm5nl4vues82xar5 on their new collaborative custody solution, which will feature the #BlockstreamJade 🔑
And to celebrate we’ve got 3 Jade hardware wallets to giveaway on Nostr!
To enter simply renote this note in the comments below! All successful entrants will get zapped and there is no limit to how many times you can enter, the winner is going to be chosen at random next week!
Find out how this new partnership powered by Jade provides users with a highly secure way to store their Bitcoin, and an experience that is user-friendly ⬇️
https://blog.blockstream.com/blockstream-jade-to-power-swans-new-collaborative-custody-solution/
Big fan of Blockstream/Jade/Adam it just works. All issues I have are with custodians, namely PayPal. This exact issue is all over the place, even with me: https://www.paypal-community.com/t5/Wallet/Can-t-send-crypto/td-p/3016598 Note BBB, Fraud, "make you sell BTC as they get fees" etc.
Does anyone know who this 'Bitcoin Analyst' knob is and how can these idiots have a half million 'followers'? What's his motivation? ETH? It always comes down to the personal motivation.
I am about 40 pages into JPL's supposedly banned work and it is really tough to read. He is a terrible writer and uses words over and over again, one that is really irritating is Kinetic. Maybe at MIT there were 4,000 courses just on Energy alone or just E=MC2?
See if you can see the word that bugs me in this paragraph, it is super distracting and quite frankly nothing has been thought provoking yet but I am only 1/10th of the way through it.
