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writing — https://livingonbitcoin.substack.com teaching — https://getonbtc.com helping — https://bitcoinbay.foundation making - https://thefictionfactory.substack.com

Last days in Japan 🇰🇷

Its been real fun.

Replying to Avatar Lyn Alden

“We should change Bitcoin now in a contentious way to fix the security budget” is basically the same tinkering mentality that central bankers have.

It begins with an overconfident assumption that they know fees won’t be sufficient in the future and that a certain “fix” is going to generate more fees. But some “fixes” could even backfire and create less fees, or introduce bugs, or damage the incentive structure.

The Bitcoin fee market a couple decades out will primarily be a function of adoption or lack thereof. In a world of eight billion people, only a couple hundred million can do an on chain transaction per year, or a bit more with maximal batching. The number of people who could do a monthly transaction is 1/12th of that number. In order to be concerned that bitcoin fees will be too low to prevent censorship in the future, we have to start with the assumption that not many people use bitcoin decades out.

Fedwire has about 100x the gross volume that Bitcoin currently does, with a similar number of transactions. What will Bitcoin’s fee market be if volumes go up 5x or 10x, let alone 50x or 100x? Who wants to raise their hand with a confident model of what bitcoin volumes will be in 2040?

What will someone pay to send a ten million dollar equivalent on chain settlement internationally? $100 in fees per million dollar settlement transaction would be .01%. $300 to get it in a quicker block would be 0.03%. That type of environment can generate tens of billions of dollars of fees annually. The fees that people pay to ship millions of dollars of gold long distances, or to perform a real estate transaction worth millions of dollars, are extremely high. Even if bitcoin is a fraction of that, it would be high by today’s standards. And in a world of billions of people, if nobody wants to pay $100 to send a million dollar settlement bearer asset transaction, then that’s a world where not many people use bitcoin period.

In some months the “security budget” concern trends. In other months, the “fees will be so high that only rich people can transact on chain” concern trends. These are so wildly contradictory and the fact that both are common concerns shows how little we know about the long term future.

I don’t think the fee market can be fixed by gimmicks. Either the network is desirable to use in a couple decades or it’s not. If 3 or 4 decades into bitcoin’s life it can’t generate significant settlement volumes, and gets easily censored due to low fees, then it’s just not a very desirable network at that point for one reason or another.

Some soft forks like covenants can be thoughtfully considered for scaling and fee density, and it’s good for smart developers to always be thinking about low risk improvements to the network that the node network and miners might have a high consensus positive view toward over time. But trying to rush VC-backed softforks, and using security budget FUD to push them, is pretty disingenuous imo.

Anyway, good morning.

Someone clearly chose violence today.

Replying to Avatar Niel Liesmons

https://void.cat/d/RA5DZHkCMx4vsoUf427rxY.webp

https://void.cat/d/H4hRiCuiGmiHTkzPEyXsjx.webp

Professional apps need professional logo's.

Current Amethyst logo:

- has the wrong colors

- the eye is not part of the compound path

- lacks alignment

- the A is hard to recognize

Redesign I did a while back:

https://w3.do/T29KyB0w

No pressure though nostr:npub1gcxzte5zlkncx26j68ez60fzkvtkm9e0vrwdcvsjakxf9mu9qewqlfnj5z 😉

#nostrdesign #logo

Nice. Would like to see matching typeface too.

GM ☕

#GMchain #SayItBack

We found a really nice quiet place in the city to chill out at. #gratefulchain

Haven't been to a gym in a month. Missing it. Been hard finding a suitable gym in the area. 🏋️

Tokyo barbers are master craftsmen. Best cut I've in a long time.

My notes on living a nomadic life:

1. Slow down.

Been running on a 2 week schedule. It’s aggressive. Slowing down, a month or more, helps. You’re trying to LIVE in interesting places, not run through them.

2. Pack light.

Brought too much gear. Ended up not using half. Sold or sent back or donated. Keep it lean and mean.

3. Invest in the trip.

You get what you pay for. Cheap flight, rough night. Upgrade where/when you can.

4. Eat Right.

We usually cook at home. AirBNBs, totally possible. Hotels… not so much. Keep your nutrition up.

5. Setup new routines.

I’m a creature of habit. Setting work hours, workout time, meal time and outings with Mrs Passenger helped easy transitions between time zones.

6. Down time.

Working remotely is nice, playing tourist is fun, but having down time to do nothing is key. Some days, you just want to recharge. Make room for that.

7. Engage with the culture.

New country, new language, new customs. Don’t be afraid to ask or attempt to engage. I learn something new about myself each time.

Bonus: Family and friends.

We’ve traveled to places where we had family and friends. It helps. They showed us the ropes and helped us along the way. Surprisingly, found many more friends in places out in the wild too.

Total took a page out of nostr:npub1vmwjykc3rpmtpmrrlwrf4u8lfxdnnf0uj083fxtqm5gk2kgaee4qttdwtf ‘s book to see if its something that we (as a family) can do. It is.

Planning for next year…

Made the mistake of reading news from back home. What a shit show...