duvel

bitcoin

deleted by author

Natalia

lightning

I thought I could write a separate post about [this](https://stacker.news/items/496470/r/purpurato?commentId=497033) question from @Signal312 P2P scam because I already fallen and it's quite annoying. I thought the escrow system would avoid all types of scams if you were using it carefully, but there's another type of problem and it has to do with reputation. 

One of the best P2P platforms to trade non-KYC is with the [lnp2pbot](https://lnp2pbot.com/) that works over Telegram, it's simple, you only need a username and a way to send/receive fiat. A few months ago one user took one of my offers to sell, fiat was received, BTC sent, trade over. A few days later I got my bank account closed and notified by police that I was involved in a scam. The guy whom I sent the money said he paid for some protein or something and never got it. I said I sold BTC and sent them to buyer, it was not even much. As with everything legal in this country it took months and I finally had to make an agreement with the guy who accepted that I paid half the trade value as I was also scammed like him. I actually believe he was the scammer and he wanted to keep both the BTC and the fiat. 

**Morale: be very careful when trading P2P and go with experienced users, or establish low limits and some type of ID for you to check new users. The escrow system doesn't protect from everything.**

Besides that, I never had any trouble with the bot. I just never take trades with users that have no experience. Reputation is the only answer when trading with anons on the web. The bot shows how many trades each user has with the bot, how many days he's been using it and the rate he got (from 1 to 5) from other users in completed trades. 

I got scammed (but you don't have to)

purpurato

## BE AWARE!

Somebody copied the code of Blixt wallet and released as new app on Google Play Store !
But is a scam wallet ! DO NOT INSTALL THIS APP!
![fake-blixt-store.JPG](https://m.stacker.news/27350)

Report the scam!
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=company.satoshipayments

Somebody already lost funds with this scam!

Especially noobs: BE AWARE WHAT APPS ARE YOU DOWNLOADING FROM APPS STORE.
You better ask here first if you have doubts with some app.

PSA: there is a fake fork of Blixt wallet on Play store!

DarthCoin

# Tools for Saving

## stocks, bonds, metals, real estate

![Screenshot 2024-03-15 at 6.12.39 PM.png](https://m.stacker.news/21981)

Even if you’ve figured out how to acquire a pile of money, keeping it takes work. Truly wealthy folks sometimes stop chasing more, but everyone wants their pile to at least hold its value over time. Whatever you can buy today, the thinking goes, you should be able to buy the same tomorrow as well as ten years on. Wealth should be saved energy — society's debt to you — not a leaky bucket.

## Preserving Wealth

We buy assets hoping they'll rise in value, but at the same time inflation reduces the buying power of our dollars each year. We need more and more dollars just to stand still. There’s an illusion of “making money” when we see the prices of our assets go up. But we’re often just running on a treadmill, while staying in place. We can’t choose not to run or we’ll fall off the back and become poor again.

So we’re all out there buying assets trying to at least keep up with inflation. And the pricing of those assets ends up having two components: 1) utility value and 2) monetary premium. The utility is obvious for many of these. “I will buy real estate so I can live in this house”. That is utility. But also, you’ve probably heard the very common idea that houses “go up” in price over time. Since most people know (err… believe?) that houses always go up they are comfortable storing value in homes. If you expect the house will store value and you can retrieve that value 10-20 years later when you sell it you become very comfortable buying a “more expensive” house than you might if you were purchasing just for the utility value of the house. That “more expensive” component could be thought of as the monetary premium. That monetary premium in real estate is why you hear about foreign wealth parked in unused real estate in Vancouver, California, and New York. They don’t care at all about the utility value. They only care about the monetary premium because it helps them store value to retrieve in the future.

To beat inflation, people are constantly searching for things they predict that other people in the future will see as valuable. In economics this is called a Keynesian Beauty Contest. It exists across all assets. There is no absolute metric of value in our ever changing world. Some people think it sounds smart to say that something has “intrinsic value”, but there’s no such thing. All value is subjective. There’s just whatever we all get habituated to agree is “about right”. And those estimates of value can and do adapt over time. However, they do tend to be somewhat sticky. So they adapt slowly. Therefore, a lot of people think of pricing as somewhat “real” at any given time even though it’s constantly shifting underfoot.

## Problems with Traditional Savings Tools

The value of each of stocks, bonds, metals, and real estate is subject to human decisions, risks, and corruptions. Boards/CEOs can make bad decisions about a business destroying the value of a stock while technologies and markets can shift further destroying value. Bonds can have more underlying risk — especially “tail risk” — than their pricing recognizes. If metals or other commodities get bid up to hold excess monetary premium then miners produce more which drives supply up bringing prices back down. Real estate is subject to property taxes where the rules can be changed by a new political regime and the property cannot relocate. All of our best tools for saving are subject to these problems.

Bitcoin’s properties, on the other hand, are not subject to human decisions (they were at the start, but we’re far enough along now that no individual nor even small groups can make meaningful unilateral changes on any important policies today). There’s no strategic blunders and no yield/risk to price. Excess mining capacity doesn’t increase supply. And unlike real estate, the taxation must be considered a “fair deal” by the owner who pays the tax since the property is not tied to any particular location and the holder has the option to exit and pay tax elsewhere where they consider the tax just. Bitcoin’s is a transparent set of rules run on open source software that anyone can voluntarily run and audit. The whole thing works because enough people choose to run the same open source software as each other. Neither Satoshi nor anyone else can show up and force people to change the software they choose to run.

Now bitcoin’s exchange rate to USD is entirely subject to human decisions at any given time, but the important properties of bitcoin's monetary policy and scarcity are due to math, cryptography, and social consensus. If everyone decided bitcoin is worth nothing then it would be worth nothing. But it has this special property of digital scarcity that never existed before and despite 10,000+ attempts has never been recreated after. And it’s easy to predict that if something uniquely demonstrates absolute scarcity and can be transmitted across electronic communication channels like the Internet that in the future other people will probably also value it. That’s why bitcoin might be the best tool for saving we’ve ever seen.

When you have monetary premiums in traditional stores of value the system continues despite the problems. But when an alternative comes along that doesn’t have those problems, the monetary premiums enjoyed by those assets that exhibit the problems would probably shift to the one without those problems. It won’t happen all at once. It might take a generation to fully play out.

But it’s relatively easy to predict that people will choose to store wealth in the form least subject to such human decisions, risks, and corruptions if such a thing were to exist.

And such a thing does exist. But it’s very early in its existence. So that repricing will only occur as more people learn about the special properties bitcoin has that no other asset in the world has. In the long run bitcoin reprices all of those other value stores into the neutral value store of its network.

Which is why it’s going up forever. It’s a much bigger deal than just “digital gold”. It’s the best tool for saving.

♾️/21m

---

## For more detail on the scale of these traditional large asset classes:

Stocks (Equities): Estimates vary, but the global stock market value could be somewhere in the ballpark of $100 trillion to $300 trillion.

Bonds: The global bond market is estimated to be around $125 trillion to $150 trillion.

Metals: The global gold market alone is estimated at around $10 trillion to $12 trillion.

Real Estate: A rough estimate puts the global real estate market above $325 trillion.

Summing up the total value of these assets is somewhere in the range of $500-$750 trillion. Which is roughly the scale of the market of tools for saving.


Tools for Saving


This post was inspired by [@DarthCoin's post Liberate yourself!](https://stacker.news/items/463220)

A few years ago I realized that I was more in my head about freedom that actually putting it into action. I was acting like a victim. Like I had no agency. No ability to change my position. I was focused externally. It was easier to do that. That is what the world around us pushes us toward. Focusing on those that are the problem. Not focusing our our own areas for improvement. So, I started to get off my butt and do something. I can say that I am more free than I was a few years ago. I've learned most of these things I will share from others. I hope you find them helpful.

## Free your mind

Stop thinking like a victim. Most people have been victimized at some point. If you see the state for what it is we all have been. But the most important thing about getting knocked down is getting back up. So stop thinking like a victim and start thinking like a victor. Start focusing on how you can become less dependent on "the system" and more of a resource for yourself and others.

Unplug from the spin machine. The system that is designed to keep you thinking about problems that aren't really problems for you or are problems you can't solve. Stop thinking about the world through the lens of 2 and 4 year politics. Stop thinking about the world through the lens of Red and Blue, right and left. Start focusing on what is in your control and those that are in your sphere of influence. Most of what we are told on the news and on social media by influencers is noise at best and a psyop at worst. Don't worry, your friends and family will tell you when stuff that you should be worked up about. You won't miss out. But I think most people do not understand how much of their minds are filled with noise and propaganda. They trick us into thinking it is important but it all seems to point to our need for politicians to stop something from happening. Weird how the answer to every crisis is to vote for some person to fix it for us. Isn't it? Remove the phrase "I can't" from your vocabulary. Instead say, "how can I"?

## Consider Where You Live

Start thinking about how you can insulate yourself from the problems in culture, society, and the economy. Think about ways you can limit the negative affects of state control. This might be relocating. It might be moving 20 miles. In the US you live in several jurisdictions at once. The U.S.A, the state, the county within the state, and possibly a city. If you move out of a city into an unincorporated area you just eliminated one government system. But, there are things you can't avoid if you live in a state so don't think about relocation on only one layer of government and society. I'm not saying everyone should do this but think about this when you are considering what you want out of life. There are places within states that vary drastically as far as freedom goes. There are states that vary drastically as well. I assume some of this is also true in other countries but I'm sure there are differences. We had a good drill during the pandemic for what happens when people freak out. Look at how different cities, counties, and states reacted. Don't forget that. Don't be a follower. Don't move somewhere because others did. Think about what you like and don't like. Do some homework of your own. One place might be great for some people and terrible for others. It is your life. Take it back.

## Self Improvement

Learn to grow at least some of your own food. The goal isn't just to not buy food but rather to learn the skill. What you will find is a deeper connection with nature. You will find it is easier than you thought. Some things will be hard but remember the goal is to learn HOW to do it. Not just to feed yourself. When things get bad you don't want to be learning a skill. It might be to late at that point.

I like the phrase Jack of all trades master of some. Don't be so much of a specialist that you are helpless outside of your field. Learn how to do basic home repairs. If you learn new skills it will make you more confident and more valuable to others. I find it truly sad how few people can actually fix things around their house. If that's you, you can change that. Learn first aid. Learn how your car works. Anything you depend on you should have at least a basic understanding about. I'm not saying everyone needs to be a handy man but our high time preference thinking has led to a society of helpless and hopeless people. For things like your automobile, if you don't learn the skills of repairing it, get to know someone that is skilled. Someone you can trust. They don't need to be a pro. I have done many repairs on my vehicles going back to my teens. I do not enjoy doing automotive work so I pay someone to do most of it. They can do it faster and cheaper (based on the value of my time). That said, I do know how to do most things and this knowledge is valuable. This principle can be applied broadly to many skills.

Learn how to learn. The most valuable skill I have every learned was learning how to learn. It is different for each person but you should learn to teach yourself new skills. Some people learn by watching. Some by reading. Others by doing. Most of us use a combination of all three. But work on that skill and it will help all other skill development.

## Build Community

So, how do your find someone to help you with something you do not know how to do? Why would someone help you? Well, if you have worked on yourself. Learned new skills you will have value as well. You will be that expert or skilled person someone else calls when they need help. This is how community works and we undervalue it. Bitcoin is one of these things but if you are a programmer and you also have learned how to use bitcoin in a sovereign way you have more to learn. Get up from the computer and learn a physical skill. A great one to learn is electronics. Learn to solder. Start learning how to build simple projects. Learn some basic electrician skills like swapping power outlets.

Building community requires social skills. You might need to work on that as well. Don't be the jerk that can't have a relationship with anyone that doesn't agree with them on everything. I think you'd be surprised how many people there are around you that see many things as you see them. I know I have been. Build relationships first. People you can depend on. People that have your back. Don't focus on who they vote for or if they vote. That is short sighted. I'm not saying to be naive. Those things can be good signals but don't pigeon hole people. Build a tribe.

## Prepare for likely events / disasters

Yes, we all should be prepared. One of the worst things in our culture has been to highlighting of crazy preppers. What's so bad about it is that you mostly hear about the people that are doing it wrong. Stocking up on toilet paper instead of having a supply of fuel. Building a bomb shelter instead of growing a garden. Being prepared actually requires some thought. What are the common natural disasters in your area. It is different for everyone. A common thing to have is some alternate source of power. A generator or battery. Acquire that. Learn how to use it. Test it once a month. Stock up on medical supplies. Not that crappy first aid kit at the store. Learn basic first aid. If you can buy a freezer and rotate your frozen food. Have enough to live on for at least two weeks. Do this with food you like. Not crap you won't eat. Also have a stock of MREs for if things really get bad.

Maintain at least 60 gallons of fuel that your vehicles use. You can buy 5 gallon cans and write 1-12 on them. Each month empty one into your vehicle and refill it. This way you never have fuel that has went bad. This is very handy as well. Some of you won't be able to do this because you don't live in a house but if you can, this is a great tip.

## Plan for Home Defense

Yes, you should have deadly weapons if at all possible. Learn how to use them with skill. Your life may depend on it. Don't depend on the state authorities to protect you, your loved ones, and your property. Maintain a supply of ammo. Think and plan for what you will do if someone attacks you or invades your property. What would you do? If it happens you will not think, you will react and you need to plan for what you will do and maybe even train for it. Seek professional training unless you have a community with training. Be careful. The point of this is to increase your protection and safety so take precautions around weapon security.

## Build Wealth

We all know bitcoin is key to this. But I think to many bitcoiners fail to see the value in building skills that are in demand. Needs that must be filled. Finding an alignment of skills you'd like to have and people in need of those skills is key to building wealth. If you are not challenging yourself in the work you do you are short bitcoin. Let me say that another way. If you are not living up to your potential then you don't truly value bitcoin or understand what it is. Bitcoin is not this magic thing discovered so you can be lazy. No, it is a tool to save the rewards of your labor in a money that can't be taken from you. That can't be inflated away. So if you aren't challenging yourself, you are short bitcoin. Even more importantly the rest of us need your unique abilities. I don't know what they are, but bitcoin can be a driver to push you to get out of your mom's basement and make something of yourself.

Its hard to be poor and free. In most places of the world wealth solves so many problems. Don't kid yourself. If you are poor, you have fewer options. Get out there and work.

## Stop Depending on Corporate Systems

Stop depending on Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, etc. I'm not saying you should never use them. But are you dependent on them? Start using Nostr. Start using open source tools. Start trading with local farmers, ranchers, and skilled workers. These actions create more resilience into our world. Centralization is a risk.

## Study Bitcoin. Don't Just Acquire It

Learn why it was created, how it works, and how to use it. You're on SN. That's a good start.

## Don't Get Overwhelmed

Don't try to go from zero to 100 all at once. Make a prioritized list and start learning and doing things but do not expect yourself to do these things in one year, maybe not even five. It should be a life long pursuit and I think you will enjoy it. Right now just ask yourself. Am I more free today than I was yesterday? Last month? 1 year ago? 5 years ago?

If not, start working on changing that. Start in your mind. Remember. You don't need to out run the bear, you need to outrun the other guy running from the bear. You won't do it all perfectly but don't give up.


Are you moving towards freedom or away from it?

kepford

bitcoin_beginners

Learning about Bitcoin with yewtu.be

expatriotic

https://darthcoin.substack.com/p/managing-lightning-node-liquidity
More here
https://darth-coin.github.io/nodes/nodes.html
and
https://darth-coin.github.io/wallets/wallets.html

>If you're dealing with thousands of dollars,

MPP, streaming sats, multiple payments.

alter_native

Being right can feel really good. I was a master of being right in my past life. I strategically set up my reality in such a way as to make sure I was always, “in the right”. I was the boss, the father, the provider. I always felt in control.  No one around me could tell me anything because I was in charge of the situation, or least I thought so. When people spoke, I was crafting the perfect response to let them know how they were wrong. I was almost never listening. Even if we were in agreement, I would seek to be a contrarian, just for the sake of feeling right, safe, in control. I was very insecure.

When Bitcoin first started to click for me, I was excited. I was going to save everyone.  I couldn't wait to interrupt people and tell them how wrong they were. And about this new magical internet money that was going to change their lives forever. But, they couldn't hear me. But... I knew I was right about this.  How could they not see the truth.  It was so obvious.  Why won't they listen!!! It was quite frustrating. 

With parenting, I have observed the same thing. When we talk to our children like adults, explain to them why things are the way they are, ask questions...  They often grow to be our friends and allies. When we bark orders at them and tell them, this is the way it is because I am THE parent and you are MY child, they generally will fight back in some form. They want to understand, not be told what to do.  Just like you and I.

So, these days, I do my best to listen first.  If I hear people speaking on a topic of which I feel have insight,  I first sit quietly... observe...listen intently...pause...consider.  This helps me gather information and understand where they are coming from, so I may meet them where they are, as opposed to attempting to impose my radical reality.  I learn a new perspective. If I do decide to offer my input, I aim to speak from a place of, "I don't know but maybe... What do you think?". I ask questions that have the potential to draw out the insight from the other, without any force.

I have noticed that us humans do not like to be told we are wrong.  Even if someone just gives of a vibe that they are superior, or they know better, we pick up on that and we will not be in a place to receive new insights or perspective. No one wants to be talked down to. We are not able to convince each other of things. We may ask questions and guide in a way, but attempting to convince people tends toward a power struggle, where all parties end up deeper into their own close minded belief system. True insights always comes from within, with no force. You can lead a horse to water...

And to give up being “right”, does not mean to be “wrong”.  Maybe, it can just mean every perspective is valid.  

In my experience, this practice is incredibly freeing. I learn so much. I get to remain the student and grow with my fellow humans. When I approach an interaction with an open mind and heart, release the need to be right, I open myself up to new information. By asking more questions, I feel more able to teach others by allowing them to learn for themselves.  

What happens when we give up the need to be right? 
Is there a such thing as right and wrong? 
Can we really save anyone?


I believe, when we show up loving, open, as a student, ready to listen, grow, and connect, we are far more effective in communicating our ideas and leaving an impact. What do you think?

I love to hear everyone's thoughts on this.

What is the alternative to being “right”?

DesertDave

devs

Recording of the latest Plebdevs Workshop where learned how to setup and connect to Bitcoin core in regtest and write scripts to create and fund wallets with NodeJS!

Link to slides: [https://tinyurl.com/plebdevs-bitcoin-workshop](https://tinyurl.com/plebdevs-bitcoin-workshop)

Link to completed project: [https://github.com/austinkelsay/bitcoin-nodejs-starter](https://github.com/austinkelsay/bitcoin-nodejs-starter)

Plebdevs Workshop: Bitcoin Core Beginner

bitcoinplebdev

tech

A Font that Renders 14 types of Charts

ideasfromtheedge

Search engines are boring. Say hello to discovery engines.

co574

npub.cash – everyone with a Nostr public key (npub) now has a Lightning address!

AR0w

****I didn't figure out how to edit the existing post after some time, so if anybody can write in the comments how to do it - I'll appreciate it.****

Meanwhile I'm doing my 1st update for this post: https://stacker.news/items/407777/r/Catcher

**Update 1: 31st of January**

To prepare myself for tomorrow I wanted to buy bitcoin via Lightning from Coinfinity, as I had done several times before, only to find out that their current limit on Lightning purchases is a total of 50 EUR. That was an unpleasant surprise, as I wanted to avoid on-chain fees, considering I don't plan to use on-chain transactions anyway. Bummer.

So, I went to HodlHodl to buy sats there (although I had never used it, I heard some good reviews) and was surprised to see that the selling price via SEPA transfer is ~43,000 for BTC, compared to ~39,500 at the current market price.

To do it the hard way, I would need to buy it on-chain and open a Lightning channel to Bitrefill, as I plan to use them the most. However, opening a 250 EUR channel doesn't really make sense, as by the end of the week, it's going to be empty. Also, I don't have a place at the moment to buy sats via Lightning to get liquidity back on my side.

Since Coinfinity mentioned that this is a temporary issue and they will increase the limit in the future, and Relai is implementing Lightning in the near future, I decided to make a compromise.

I bought 50 EUR worth of sats at Coinfinity - 124,547 sats.
Used my existing Lightning balance to have a total of 250 EUR (622,735 sats, 124,547*5 to have same result as if I bought from Coinfinity)
Used 200 EUR to buy BTC on-chain to use my fiat balance as planned.

So, for the 1st week of the experiment, I have 622,735 sats. Let's go!



GettingOnZero - Attempting to Live on Bitcoin in Germany - Update 1, 31.01.2024

Catcher

econ

This is a research article published by Simon Butler. I can't believe I have never seen this before. It is a very well written and researched explanation of bitcoin's place in monetary history. 
I wasn't sure which territory to post this in, but I ultimately decided econ was most appropriate.


Before discussing bitcoin, Butler explains the history of money. He delves into the commodity versus claim theories, metallism, Adam Smith(in particular how States can and do debase money), the 20th century battles between Keynes and the Austrians, and the more modern nonsense derived from Chartalist theory known as Modern Monetary Theory. 

Finally, Butler discusses bitcoin's place in this history. I guess you can characterize it as a libertarian defense of bitcoin. 

> Bitcoin is in effect deflationary, as users invariably lose access to some Bitcoins over time. This deflationary policy is a political statement aligned with the Austrian theory of money and establishes Bitcoin as hard money in contrast to the soft money of the state (Hayes, 2019). 

Ultimately, he doesn't pigeonhole bitcoin as somehow "right or libertarian."
I love this quote he cited:

> Bitcoin is fascinating precisely because it demonstrates many of the contradictions and confusions that characterize money, and its relationship to law and the state, in general. Bitcoin is both a symptom of increasing monetary pluralism in the advanced capitalist societies, and an embodiment of monetary diversity in its own right. Like money itself, Bitcoin is multi-faceted, politically contested and sociologically rich in its functions and meanings. (Dodd, 2017: 36)

There is so much more to this article. My few notes don't do it justice. I encourage anyone interested in bitcoin from a monetary theory perspective to read it.



The Philosophy Of Bitcoin And The Question Of Money

siggy47

libertarian

When my wife and I were buying a house, we were thinking that one benefit of owning is that our monthly payments would be fixed, even in an inflationary environment. What we missed is that as inflation ran up the nominal value of our home, that would run up our insurance and property tax payments.

[The Evil of the Residential Property Tax](https://mises.org/wire/evil-residential-property-tax)
By [Ryan McMaken](https://mises.org/profile/ryan-mcmaken)
"Residential property taxes attack one of the most fundamental needs and assets in a person's life—i.e., housing—in a way the income tax does not. As the central bank's monetary inflation drives up home prices, property tax burdens increase as well."

The Evil of the Residential Property Tax

Undisciplined

Fiat steals lifetimes of productivity

BitcoinIsTheFuture

https://twitter.com/udiWertheimer/status/1741853672793841738?s=08

HOW TO KILL ORDINALS

I’ve been contacted by multiple laser-eye maxis, and some bitcoin developers, who tried to understand “what’s going on” and “how can we stop this”.

Here’s my advice.

1. Start using it.

The number 1 issue you guys are facing, is that you have no idea what’s even going on.

You don’t understand what type of data is being written on-chain and why. You don’t understand what causes the fee spikes on some occasions, and not on others. You don’t understand what drives ordinals users, where they’re coming from, what they’re trying to achieve, and how this affects the shared resource that is the bitcoin network.

You don’t have to agree with them, but how do you expect to deal with the situation if you don’t even understand it?

I’m not trying to convince you that inscriptions/BRC20s/stamps/etc are not spam/scam/whatever. You can call them whatever you want. But you have to understand what they are and how they work if you have any hope of doing anything about it.

Ethereum and Solana users who got their first BTC a couple of days ago, now understand what’s happening on the bitcoin chain better than you do.

I’ll try to be nicer for the rest of this post, but right now I must get this out of the way: you should be ashamed of yourselves.

Ordinals have been living rent-free in your minds for a full year, you’ve been tweeting and podcasting about it non-stop, yet you couldn’t get yourself to spend a few minutes to try it and understand it. 

WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU???

You have to accept that your approach so far has been abysmal, otherwise there’s no way you’re going to achieve your goals.

So download an ordinals wallet, load it with ~0.005 BTC and start playing around. You’ll probably lose all of it. Your goal here isn’t to make money, it’s to understand the ecosystem and what makes it tick so that you can do something about it.

If you absolutely can’t afford to lose 0.005 BTC then maybe sit this one out, champ. You probably have more pressing issues to attend to anyway.

2. Talk to devs from the ordinals ecosystem

Lots of ordinals teams have very strong devs. They can help you fill the gaps in your understanding. They can explain why things are the way they are, what technical issues exist, and how they think things might evolve over time.

I recommend putting your hubris on pause for this step. Don’t assume that just because they’re doing ordinals stuff, these devs are idiots. You’ll find that many of these guys understand bitcoin better than you do. Yeah, I can see your face turning red already, but it’s true.

Remember, the goal of this exercise is to learn. So that you can finally kill ordinals. So be open minded here.

I would’ve recommended to also talk to ordinals enjoyers who aren’t devs, but I know this is probably too much for you to handle…

3.  Compete
When strong financial incentives are involved, it’s hard to stop people from doing things by yelling at them. After you spend time playing around with ordinals  (step 1), you’re likely to agree that complaining in tweets, blogs, and podcasts is probably futile.

No amount of name calling, appeal to authority, or pseudo-moral mumbo-jumbo is going to stop people from taking advantage of what they perceive as a massive financial opportunity.

What could help, if you choose to go there, is competition.

Some of these protocols are highly inefficient. BRC20 for example blows up the UTXO set for no reason and has a lot of overhead. Degens could probably get the same benefits with a more efficient protocol, while being better stewards of the bitcoin network.

If you build alternatives that offer same or greater potential for degens while respecting their responsibility towards the network, that could improve the situation for all of us. 
@rodarmor
 is already doing this with “runes”, and there’s probably a lot more that could be done.

Build and support better protocols, and drive out the inefficient ones. At least consider it…

But there’s another form of competition you can do: improve the incentives and infrastructure for the transactions you DO want to see!

Personally I’m of the belief that there’s very little demand for non-speculative BTC payments right now. I say that based on 10 years of evangelizing bitcoin. I just don’t see that demand. And I believe that’s why the bitcoin mempools were empty prior to ordinals, and why lightning isn’t seeing a lot of usage. It’s not for any technical reason, it’s due to lack of demand by consumers. That’s the main reason why I believe ordinals are not a problem in the first place. It’s not like there are that many people who wanted to use BTC payments otherwise.

But if you disagree with me, prove it! Build better products and services that give people a reason to use BTC payments. Build better scaling solutions that stuff more economic value into L1 transactions. Better lightning solutions would help, better sidechains would help, covenants would help, rollups would help, a lot of other stuff would help.

If you think I’m wrong about the lack of demand for payments then you should build those layers and compete with ordinals. Scalable L2s would pack more economic value into each L1 transaction, allowing them to pay higher fees and drive ordinals out.

4. Wait.
“Everything is good for bitcoin”. Let the market do its thing. If you don’t want to test, learn, and compete, just wait. Eventually the market settles down and we will find out if people want to use bitcoin exclusively as the ordinals chain (unlikely) or not. I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you. As much as I think ordinals are important, I have no doubt that BTC as store of value is more important, and this stuff will figure itself out eventually.

While you wait, I recommend taking care of your mental health. Maybe get a job. Tweeting and yelling all day about how much you hate ordinals is unlikely to help, though. I know you don’t believe me. I know you think if you just yell a little harder, if you just convince a few more low IQ “plebs” that ordinals are a scam, then this will all immediately blow over. You’re wrong.

Yelling won’t help. Filtering is not possible. I know you don’t want to believe me but the evidence is clear: you’ve been yelling and promoting filtering for a full year and it didn’t help. In fact, as I’m writing this, ordinals are bigger than ever, and trading volumes are at all-time-highs.

—————

As for us, we will continue to do what we believe is the best thing we can do for bitcoin for now, which is leveraging JPEGs to accelerate bitcoin adoption and bring new capabilities and functionality to the orange chain that we love so much.

We’ve helped HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of  people experience the magic of bitcoin for the first time in 2023, and in 2024 we’re going to shake things up even harder.


How to kill Ordinals - by @udiWertheimer

IgnaciobTato

earth

In the event that you need to retreat to safety with your family and your bitcoin, what event is likely taking place within your country to prompt such action?

When do you say enough is enough?

It seems that many in the US would never give up their homeland as it's "the greatest country on earth." Many in the US cling to the notion that its economic and political power is infinite and everlasting. But if there's anything to take away from being involved in the markets, it's that risk is highest when things feel the most comfortable. And on the flip side of things, many "lesser-off" countries are rising in prosperity while the US declines. 

The day that the US (or X country) implements a social-credit system is likely the final straw for some.

Is that the case for you? 

Or does something happen earlier that would drive you out before the CBDC dystopia arrives? Later??

And how do you ensure that you aren't jumping from one authoritarian hellscape to another? Is there a realistic scenario in which encroaching CBDC enslavement doesn't affect a particular region of the world?

What would have to happen for you to LEAVE your home country?

birdeye21

culture

@kr's [post on audiobooks](https://stacker.news/items/369545/r/kepford) reminded me of the importance of listening as a skill. I'm sure many of you have noticed that many people in your lives are not good listeners. I thought I would share some reasons why you should work on getting better at this skill in the new year.

## Reasons to become a better listener:

### Learning

You will be surprised what you can learn from others. One of Jordan Peterson's 12 rules for life is to listen. It goes something like this. Always assume there is something you can learn from another person. Even if you know you disagree with them. Even if you think you're right and they are wrong. You may gain deeper understanding about what makes them tick. Maybe where they got these ideas. Maybe you might even gain a better understanding about why you might not be 100% right. If you go into a conversation as if you have nothing to learn, you certainly will not learn anything.

I have always enjoyed talking to people older than myself. It is fascinating to me to learn about their experiences. How they view the world. I seldom see the world the way they do but I still enjoy listening.

### It helps others

It is really surprising to me how many people seem to feel as if they are never heard. Like others do not care what they have to say. When you listen and show interest in someone else you show them respect and care. This is something people in our culture truly need. You may just make someone's day by asking them a question and really truly wanting to hear what they have to say.

## People will seek you out

When you actually listen you often gain a friend. I have found that when I focus on the other person over myself in a conversation these people want to talk to me more often. They feel connection. They feel like someone cares. Who doesn't want a friend that will listen? I know I do.

### People open up to you

When people feel seen and heard they open up. They share the real self. They can be vulnerable. This is a key to a real lasting relationship. Listening and not jumping to offer solutions but rather seek to understand first. I have found that some of my friends were slow to really talk to me at first. I listening and asked questions but it took them a while to realize I was sincere. We have some much falseness in our culture today that many people (like me) do not take people at their word. I have had far more experiences where someone asked about me to find out they were just being "polite" or not really thinking about what they were saying. Don't be like that. 

## Some Tips

One method I sometimes use is to treat the conversation like I'm interviewing the other person. And I mean a good interview. The kind where they are the focus, not me. Sometimes people don't want to talk about themselves, I try to not push but often they do want to talk about what they think about something. Its amazing what you can learn by listening.

Another method I employ is instead of thinking about what I'm going to say in response to the other person I try to think of second and third layer follow up questions. It is very easy to fall into the trap of one upping a conversation. When someone mentions an experience it is easy to say, yeah that happened to me and then completely take over the conversation. Be aware of this trap. While it might be fun to relay your story being more generous with your attention has often rewarded me with very interesting stories. 

A final tip is to look into their eyes. Put your device away. Give them your attention. I have found that MANY people have no clue how obvious their dis-interest is to me. We send so many signals and most people are terrible at hiding their real attention.  

Before [this post](https://map.simonsarris.com/p/audiobooks-are-books-and-theyre-also) I had never connected conversational listening to audiobooks but I can see it now. If you struggle with listening to an audiobook you may also lack good listening skills. I'm a very audio driven person so it just never occurred to me. Maybe try an audiobook and see if you can sit and listen to it. I usually listen to audiobooks while doing manual labor or driving. I feel like the info really sticks with me but for those of you that don't have this experience maybe try listening to audiobooks and see if it helps your listening skills.

## My Challenge 

So, my challenge to you in the new year is to work on your listening skills. You may be surprised at how hard listening is. A great person to try this with first is your spouse or significant other. Maybe a co-worker or friend. You can do it with anyone. Even a stranger. Its fun and in my opinion makes the world just a little bit better.

Try to become a better listener in 2024

The article contains that great Hayek quote :
> By their very nature, governments never peacefully relinquish power. And if forcefully taking power out of their hands is out of the question, then the only way to do it is through “some sly, roundabout way introduce something they can’t stop.”

TLDR: No, bitcoin cannot be banned. This article does a good job explaining why.

Can The Government Ban Bitcoin? Four Things You Need To Know Today

[important] foreign asset control compliance

k00b


RoboSats has made the **swap** trades more visible. From now on you can easily convert LN-BTC to BTC and vice versa. And this is how it works:

##### Offers → I want to swap.

![Swap](https://nostr.build/i/nostr.build_dd3ae775ff5489d8ee4ceacd7ebe15b2c18a4cdd19ec07d0ef25f12ee354aa67.png)

**SWAP IN** means
* You send On-chain BTC
* You receive Lightning BTC

**SWAP OUT** means
* You send Lightning BTC
* You receive On-chain BTC

In the settings you can specify whether you would like to start with swaps or with fiat trades.

##### Fees
In general, RoboSats swap transaction costs are lower (~0.1%, mining fee included) than on e.g. https://boltz.exchange (~0.4% + mining fee).

*Let's swaaaaaap.*