AaB_Marius

bitcoin

# The Internet of Money 🌐

I took some time to really understand what Antonopoulos meant with the title of his book, "The Internet of Money." 📙

Before reading it, I honestly thought the title was misleading. To me, Bitcoin was just a currency you could exchange over the internet. It was only after reading the book that I understood: Bitcoin isn’t just money, it’s a network where money flows, just like data flows on the internet.

In recent months, there’s been a lot of talk about stablecoins. Honestly, I think they’re the only useful thing shitcoiners have managed to build (lol), but with the recent announcements around RGB and Taproot Assets, it looks like USDT is making its way back to Bitcoin.
It opens up the potential for instant settlement of any tokenized currency over the Lightning Network. But that’s just one way to look at Bitcoin and Lightning becoming the Internet of Money.

With Taproot Asset Channels, we could imagine financial institutions, like banks, sending funds over Lightning on behalf of their users. That would allow for instant settlement and, more importantly, real interoperability between fiat in a bank account and sats in a Lightning wallet.

That’s more or less what [Bringin](https://bringin.xyz/blog/bringin-updates/receiving-euro-over-the-lightning/) has just built, and I find it very interesting. Sure, it’s not aligned with cypherpunk ideals, but it brings users, companies, and even banks one step closer to a trustless world, without the need for a central bank. Instead of relying on SWIFT, they'd use Bitcoin and Lightning.

## To clarify, Bringin isn’t just an exchange 💱
The Euro account there is actually a [vIBAN](https://bringin.xyz/blog/learn/viban-for-bitcoiners-and-self-custody/), a virtual IBAN in the name of the user. And they’ve recently added support for Lightning Addresses. 💶 Now, Bringin users can receive Euros from someone on Lightning, or send sats to a Lightning Address directly from their Euros held on their vIBAN.

I genuinely think this is a powerful feature. Sure, in a fully hyperbitcoinized world, it wouldn’t make much sense. But we’re not there yet, and maybe we never will be ⏳

In the meantime, it gives European users a real advantage: the ability to send and receive funds that are usable across the Eurozone 🇪🇺, while staying flexible, able to withdraw to their main bank account or to Bitcoin/LN withdrawals (since Bringin doesn’t hold custody).

## To be fully transparent:
I’m part of Bringin, so yeah, I’m probably biased. And while I’d love for everyone to adopt Bitcoin 100% and never user euros ever again, I also understand that people need time. And they need the right tools to make the leap.

Lightning addresses: Taking Bitcoin to the next level

@AaB_Marius's bio

Insights about The Bitcoin Revolution in Iran 

I will stick around, and will try to publish my work regularly !

**Hello SNers**

I recently published on my website a study on Bitcoin adoption in Iran.
🔗 https://www.adoptblock.com/bitcoin-revolution-iran-en

I heard that original content was preferred here, so to try to make you want to read my study I will give you some insights I haven’t shared anywhere else.

For those intrigued by the notion of leveraging Bitcoin adoption as a means to combat governmental oppression, I am sure you’ll find my study interesting.

.....................

Considering I don’t have a lot of technical skills, the best way I found to contribute to Bitcoin was to write content about it.
In a bit more than a year now, I have been writing an introduction to Bitcoin (that doesn’t mention price or investment), a dive into Bitcoin energy consumption and environmental impact compared to the traditional finance, and a few others about Bitcoin innovations such as RGB, Taproot Assets, Drivechains, and many others.
The moment came when I wanted to make something more meaningful.
Last summer, Ray Youssef, posted a tweet searching for Iranian testimonies to write about Bitcoin adoption in Iran. I guess this idea stayed in my mind, and a few months later I started to do research.

.....................

**The hardest step I faced in order to make this study was to get testimonies**.

I am half Iranian but never lived there, and I haven’t been there for over 10 years.
It was inconceivable to publish this study without at least one testimony.

But can you imagine, you live in a country where you have to be careful about everything you do, about every information you share, about every person you meet. Would you tell anybody on the internet about how you are avoiding prohibitions?

Once I decided to do this study, I started a hunt on social media of Iranians exposing their interest in Bitcoin.
Firstly, I started to contact family members, but none of them were using Bitcoin, some was shitcoining, most didn’t know about it.
Then I searched Twitter accounts, YouTube channels, Facebook groups, telegram channels who were talking about Bitcoin in Farsi (Persian). I sent messages resuming what I was trying to do.

_“Hello, I am a French journalist, and I’d like to write about Bitcoin adoption in Iran. Would you accept answering questions?”_

More or less.

After tens of messages without answers I started to think I will have to give up this idea. I would have to tell people who know about it that I couldn’t do it.
During this period, I was spending hours trying to find a better way to get in touch with people.
Somehow, after more tens of messages, a few of them accepted to answer my questions.

**Another difficult part was the language**. As an Iranian I learned Farsi while speaking with my family, but I lost it with the years.

One thing you have to understand is that people don’t leave their country only by pleasure. Most Iranians who now live outside of Iran, were constrained to do so. Some who still had the right to put a foot back there, lost it because of their activities. That’s what happened to my father.
It’s a bit too personal to give more details about it here, but after my father had problems with the Iranian government I never came back there, and lost the use of speaking Farsi.

By contacting Iranians, I had to somehow “seduce” them and make them believe in my honesty, even though I was an Iranian not speaking Farsi.

One of them helped me a lot by translating my questions in Farsi so I could get more testimonies, more experience and opinions.
One even wrote a two page document answering my questions in detail.
And I was finally able to start writing.

.....................

**2 months later, I can say that this study is the thing I am the most proud about**.
Even if I wish I could write more about Bitcoin.
2 months later, I am happy because I have been able to prove to the people who accepted to share a bit of their life that they were right to trust me.
2 months later, I am thinking about what I could do next. For Iranians, and for other populations in a similar case.

I have a few ideas on new topics/populations to write about, maybe in a different format.

For Iranians, I am thinking how I could directly contribute to their Bitcoin adoption.
Thinking of financing an easy Lightning wallet access (like Machankura) and educational content in Farsi.
Do you guys have any ideas? What would be helpful? And how could we create a Machankura or Phoenix accessible for them?

**I am interested in solutions the pleb could propose.**

I’d also like to have your feedback, opinions, thoughts, and questions about the study, don’t hesitate to reply.

To conclued, I wanted to thank @DarthCoin who invited me here, it was 2 days ago and I already like it here!


The Bitcoin Revolution in Iran

DarthCoin

Perhaps! Separating money from states is one of the best thing that could happen, specially for Iranians

I will soon make a special post for SN, keep your sats stacked for a bit more ;)

He is, my phone is full of new sats notification haha

Great, I will think on what to do exactly! Thank you

Life there is more nuanced, they can't focus on one and only problem. They have to fight against inflation, corruption, government oppression, and for human rights at the same time. Bitcoin can be a solution for some of them

To be honest I knew only about Dubaï before making my searches. A few iranian entreprenors told me about South Korea being a thing, I don't have much details

Hey! I shortly mention it because it wasn't that much of a big deal, it last for a short time. Last statistique were saying that 3% of Bitcoin mining is running in Iran

Hi, I am the author, I am pleased to here that you have been able to read it !
And yes, most of the people do, mainly because of the way medias show other countries