Nostr Web Client

Dad: Son, do you have any idea where I can hide my Bitcoin seed recovery phrase?

Son: Hi Dad,

No, but I can tell you many bad hiding places that are used by many and therefore known to burglars.

Under the mattress, master bedroom, bedroom closet, drawers, safes, cabinets, refrigerator/freezer, toilet tank, vases, and suitcases. These places should be avoided.

Dad: What's wrong with suitcases?

Son: Surprisingly, people use a suitcase as a not-so-secure safe. Burglars know this.

#Bitcoin

Dad: Son, what is the difference between altcoins and Bitcoin?

Son: Hi Dad,

Bitcoin would be here without shitcoins. in contrast, shitcoins wouldn't be here without Bitcoin.

Dad: And further, maybe more technical or long-term?

Son: Bitcoin is relevant, the rest isn't.

Dad: Son, so you do not see any investment opportunities in altcoins?

Son: No, not at all. Dad, don't waste your money and time on irrelevant thing. There is just Bitcoin.

#Bitcoin

Dad: Son, had a bad day today... I am still thinking about the huge investment I made at all-time high.

Son: Hi Dad,

I'm sorry to hear that.

Here's the pep talk you might just need to hear:

Think of all those who did the same and sold in panic with a double-digit loss.

Understanding Bitcoin is your best protection.

Confidence in the Bitcoin revolution is key.

Dad: Exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you, son!

#Bitcoin

Son: Hi Dad,

Men lie, women lie, but code and numbers don't.

Dad: Son, you are speaking the truth.

#Bitcoin

Son: Dad, did you back up your 24 words in steel?

Dad: Son, no, not yet.

Son: Without your 24 recovery words, there is no way to access your funds. I can't stress this enough.

Get a "Cryptosteel Capsule". These solid metal devices are cheap, easy to use and super reliable.

Dad, are you using a passphrase?

Dad: Yes, you suggested using one.

Son: Yeah, that's great. However, you have to secure the passphrase as well. In that case, get a "Capsule Duo", one for the recovery seed words and one for the passphrase.

#Bitcoin

Son: Hello there

How’s your trading going?

Dad: Son?

#Bitcoin

Dad: Son, too bad I am late for Bitcoin.

Son: Hi Dad,

You're not late.

Whenever you find yourself thinking you're late to a new technological trend, remember that Walt Disney thought he was late to animation in 1923.

#Bitcoin

Dad: Son, the fiat rat race has ruined the lives of more families than alcohol.

Son: Hi Dad,

Bitcoin fixes this.

#Bitcoin

Son: Dad, one day, my kids will say: "I'm old enough to remember when you could buy bitcoin with fiat currency."

Dad: Son, should it not read "I'm old enough to remember when you could stack sats with fiat currency."?

Son: Yeah. Anyway. I'm still surprised by that.

#Bitcoin

Dad: Son, I am reading the "Bitcoin white paper" right now and try getting my head around this:

"The network timestamps transactions by hashing them into an ongoing chain of hash-based proof-of-work, forming a record that cannot be changed without redoing the proof-of-work."

Son: Hi Dad,

A "hash" is like a "digital fingerprint" of any collection of data. Each new fingerprint builds on a previous one and adds a chain link segment.

Dad: Bitcoin seems to be a very sophisticated system.

Son: Dad, that's just the tip of the iceberg.

#Bitcoin

Dad: Son, now that the cost of goods across all domains are increasing rapidly, I am curious if inflation ends in hyperinflation and what effect this will have on Bitcoin adoption and its price.

Son: Hi Dad,

Hyperinflation makes all sorts of goods and services essentially unaffordable for the majority of people, but I'm not speaking about bitcoin. ;) Hyperinflation will lead to Hyperbitcoinization. This is why:

Because bitcoin is the hardest money in the world, people will upgrade their "store of value" and just use bitcoin.For me, Hyperbitcoinization is here when prices are expressed in bitcoin, uhm, when prices are expressed in sats.

Dad: Son, in such a scenario, it would be impossible to measure bitcoin's value in dollars anyway.

#Bitcoin

Dad: Son, don't we need central bank digital money?

Son: Hi Dad,

Nah.

Bitcoin makes sound money accessible to everyone. Also, CBDCs are a currency, not money.

Bitcoin provides access to a simple, cost-effective, risk-free and trusted digital means of payment that is accepted all over the world.

We don't need central bank digital currencies.

#Bitcoin

Dad: Son, what is an "Epoch" in Bitcoin?

Son: Hi Dad,

With a "Bitcoin epoch" people usually mean a period of roughly 4 years (210,000 blocks and about 10 minutes between them) with a specific mining reward.

The first epoch started with the genesis block in 2009, and a block reward of 50 bitcoin.

From May 2020 until some time in 2024, we're in the 4th mining epoch, and the block reward is at 6.25 bitcoin per block.

Dad: I see a bitcoin supply squeeze coming.

Son: Dad, me too.

#Bitcoin

Son: Dad, two things:

1. Nobody has enough bitcoin.

2. Nobody understands Bitcoin completely.

Dad: True things.

#Bitcoin

Dad: Son, now I have two wallets and too many passphrases. What do you suggest?

Son: Hi Dad,

Get one more and go multisig.

#Bitcoin

Dad: Son, what is the first thing you need to do if you want to get into Bitcoin?

Son: To "start" would be a good idea, Dad. ;-)

But before you start using Bitcoin get informed. There are a few things that you have to know to use it securely and avoid common pitfalls.

You have to secure your wallet yourself.

Payments are irreversible.

Unconfirmed transactions aren't secure. Depending on the value, you are waiting for one or more "confirmations". Oh, and the exchange rate is volatile.

Dad: So, there is no customer service that can help?

#Bitcoin

Dad: Son, what are Mining pools?

Son: Hi Dad,

Mining pools are groups of miners that combine their computational power to increase the probability of finding new blocks.

Dad: Compete in good company.

Son: Yeah, that's it.

#Bitcoin

#Bitcoin

Dad: Son, tell me something interesting about BIP39.

Son: Hi Dad,

With pleasure. So, did you know that BIP39 is still a proposal, yet everyone is using it?

Dad: So its status is de facto "Final"?

Son: Yeah, you could say so.

#Bitcoin

Dad: Son, is it possible to send funds from a Bitcoin address to itself, I mean to the same address?

Son: Hi Dad,

Yes, "address reuse" is possible, but should be avoided as it unnecessarily reveals common authorship of transactions.

Repeat after me: "Address reuse is privacy abuse."

#Bitcoin

Dad: Son, how much have you lost trying to trade?

Be honest.

Son: Hi Dad,

I leverage traded once, and again.

I got liquidated and many sats changed hands.

For me, trading is gambling. Never again.

After many blocks, I still can feel the pain.

Dad: Everybody wants more sats, as it seems.

Son: That's true, Dad. Lessons learned.

#Bitcoin

Dad: Son, what is the best application for lightning?

Son: Hi Dad,

Bitcoin payments and killing shitcoins.

#Bitcoin

Son: Thanks __________________ for Bitcoin.

Dad: Son, who is going to fill the blanks?

#Bitcoin

Dad: Son, do not respect the people who do not respect time.

Son: Dad, don't respect the people who don't respect bitcoin.

Dad: Time is money, as the saying goes.

#Bitcoin

Dad: Son, I am reading the "Bitcoin white paper" right now and try getting my head around this:

"The network timestamps transactions by hashing them into an ongoing chain of hash-based proof-of-work, forming a record that cannot be changed without redoing the proof-of-work."

Son: Hi Dad,

A "hash" is like a "digital fingerprint" of any collection of data. Each new fingerprint builds on a previous one and adds a chain link segment.

Dad: Bitcoin seems to be a very sophisticated system.

Son: Dad, that's just the tip of the iceberg.

#Bitcoin

Dad: Son, I do not know what is going on with people these days........

Son: Dad, what's going on?!

Dad: "trust the science" is the most anti science statement ever made.

Questioning science is how we did science!

Son: Gotcha. However, the following "trust related" Bitcoin mantras work perfectly for me.

"In numbers we trust."

"In math we trust."

"Don't trust, verify."

#Bitcoin

Dad: Son, what is the difference between altcoins and Bitcoin?

Son: Hi Dad,

Bitcoin would be here without shitcoins. in contrast, shitcoins wouldn't be here without Bitcoin.

Dad: And further, maybe more technical or long-term?

Son: Bitcoin is relevant, the rest isn't.

Dad: Son, so you do not see any investment opportunities in altcoins?

Son: No, not at all. Dad, don't waste your money and time on irrelevant thing. There is just Bitcoin.

#Bitcoin

Dad: Son, why do you not use numbers based the word’s indexed number in the BIP39 list instead of the first 4 letters of the recovery word?

Son: Hi Dad,

That's a good question. Let's quote the BIP39 creators to answer it.

"A mnemonic code or sentence is superior for human interaction compared to the handling of raw binary or hexadecimal representations of a wallet seed. The sentence could be written on paper or spoken over the telephone"

I think it is wrong to use numbers when the creators intentionally designed the standard so that we use words.

Dad: Ok, makes sense. Thanks.

#Bitcoin

Dad: Son, what does m/44'|48'|84'/0'/0' mean?

Son: Hi Dad,

It's a "derivation path" and it describes how your Hierarchical Deterministic (HD) wallet derive a specific key within a tree of keys.

For example, if you want to get the next address from a wallet, it just increases the last number by one.

Dad: So this means that all receiving addresses are already known when the wallet is created?

Son: All receiving addresses, all change addresses, all accounts and much more are known from the beginning. Everything is derived from your 12 or 24 seed words using a derivation path.

#Bitcoin

Dad: Son, you cannot buy happiness.

Son: Hi Dad,

Who said you can't buy happiness?

You can buy bitcoin.

#Bitcoin

Dad: Son, where do you store your Bitcoin?

Son: Hi Dad,

I store my bitcoin on the blockchain.

Everyone running a node takes care of it.

I use my hardware wallet to control it.

If I want to move it, I broadcast a signed transaction, pay the fee, and a miner packs it into a block for redistribution.

Then, either I as the remaining owner or the new owner, can control the newly created bitcoin output onward.

Dad: If they don't lose their keys.

#Bitcoin

Son: Dad, did you back up your 24 words in steel?

Dad: Son, no, not yet.

Son: Without your 24 recovery words, there is no way to access your funds. I can't stress this enough.

Get a "Cryptosteel Capsule". These solid metal devices are cheap, easy to use and super reliable.

Dad, are you using a passphrase?

Dad: Yes, you suggested using one.

Son: Yeah, that's great. However, you have to secure the passphrase as well. In that case, get a "Capsule Duo", one for the recovery seed words and one for the passphrase.

#Bitcoin

Dad: Son, do you have any idea where I can hide my Bitcoin seed recovery phrase?

Son: Hi Dad,

No, but I can tell you many bad hiding places that are used by many and therefore known to burglars.

Under the mattress, master bedroom, bedroom closet, drawers, safes, cabinets, refrigerator/freezer, toilet tank, vases, and suitcases. These places should be avoided.

Dad: What's wrong with suitcases?

Son: Surprisingly, people use a suitcase as a not-so-secure safe. Burglars know this.

#Bitcoin

Son: Dad, did you know?

Bitcoin Core is one of the most reviewed software, maybe it's the most reviewed software ever.

Dad: Son, why is that?

Son: Bitcoin Core has the biggest bug bounty ever.

#Bitcoin

Dad: Son, is the Bitcoin price artificially suppressed?

One Bitcoin should already be worth many times more, as rare as Bitcoins are.

Son: Hi Dad,

Yeah, buy as much as possible of the artificially low-cost asset, and move it off the exchange into cold storage.

They may be able to delay the death of the dollar, but Bitcoin's settlement properties make this type of attack impossible to win.

The question is not "if", but "when".

Dad: At the same time, one Bitcoin is already so expensive that it will be impossible for most to own a whole coin.

#Bitcoin

Dad: Son, why does it take so long to have my new Umbrel ready to use? It is syncing since hours now.

Son: Dad, again, it's a question of time preference.

A full node, what your Umbrel is, is a program that fully validates transactions and blocks.

Everything from the Genesis block to today's latest block must be downloaded and validated first. This is the only way to be sure that you have a valid copy of the blockchain running.

Dad: Ok, I see. How can this be accelerated?

Son: A fast internet connection and a fast SSD disk helps to speed up the initial sync, however ...

You'll have to be patient, Dad. ;-)

#Bitcoin

Dad: Son, since most of us cannot afford Bitcoin – is "Bitcoin Cash" still a good deal?

Son: Hi Dad,

"Bitcoin Cash" is trash. This is not bitcoin.

You can buy one dollar worth of bitcoin.

#Bitcoin

Dad: Son, how many Bitcoins does, or did, Satoshi have? Many, I am certain, since he was early. ;-)

Son: Hi Dad,

Some estimate Satoshi had around 980,000 bitcoins. This number is heavily debated, though.

Dad: Estimate based on what? Why do we know that?

Son: The blocks mined by Satoshi have a special pattern, like a fingerprint.

We do not know who Satoshi was, but we know with high probability the number of bitcoins he had. Satoshis' coins never moved and are considered lost forever.

I'm pretty sure even Satoshi felt short bitcoin. ;-)

#Bitcoin