purpurato

builders

Just finished coding up my latest venture, [questforsats.com](https://questforsats.com). Basically what the title says - a bitcoin treasure hunt of sorts. Hide some sats somewhere fun for other stackers to find. Or go and find some that have already been placed. No creepy alleyways, you lovable incels.

You'll probably find there's none been placed yet as you're the first to see this and there might be some glitches along the way. But I'd be buzzing if you'd help me test it out and go hide some sats today.

🚀 New Geocaching Meets Lightning App ⚡

questforsats

tech

### Privacy and Security

**Email isn't private.**

Gmail/Outlook exist to monetize communication, not protect it. Sure Proton Mail uses PGP between users and Tuta uses quantum encryption for contacts, calendar, and archived emails and allows users to password-protect emails. But both fail when emailing non-users. Messages get decrypted and stored indefinitely. Ready to be served up to whatever alphabet agency requests it. Or simply queried by any staffer within Google or Microsoft who  has a bone to pick with an ex-girlfriend.

**Reusing an email address is insecure.**

Attackers gather data from the dark web. Building information from data brokers and then building profiles on potential victims. Just by combining from a few data breaches, a hacker can get a full picture of your life. Your email address, phone number, past passwords, address, passport or ID etc.

### The solution:

**Stop reusing one to two to three email addresses for ALL of your accounts.**

A hodgepodge of free services could be used if you prefer a cheaper approach.

So this would look like using disposable emails by [Guerrilla mail](https://www.guerrillamail.com/) or obvious aliases created by using free accounts with  [Simple Login](https://simplelogin.io/) or [addy.io](https://addy.io) work most of the time, but are inappropriate for some purposes. 

E.g., if you want to have access to an email for a long time, a throw-a-way Guerrilla mail wouldn't work. Or maybe you don't want to give someone you know or a business you interact with an obvious (and often not very aesthetically pleasing addy.io or Simple Login alias.

But I'll explain what to do if you want what I consider the top tier approach.

### Enter the custom Domain

This requires you to spend some money to acquire the domain, but that can later be used if you ever want to launch a website (e.g., mine is "[expatriotic.me](https://expatriotic.me)" which I've started using for my blog.

I prefer this as a solution because it works for every case. It works for the **throw-a-way** cases, the **mid-term** cases and even the **long-term** cases where you plan to retain this relationship and keep the email address active for a long time. 

With this method **every account gets its own email address**. A custom domain (e.g., you@yourdomain.io) allows you to create yourbank@..., yoursocialmedia@..., to infinity and beyond. And whereas with the hodgepodge approach you need to spin up the alias when needed, using a custom domain allows you to use a "catch-all" function where you can have someone email you or sign up for an account WITHOUT needing to spin up an alias. ANYTHING before the domain is a valid and viable email address. This is represented with an asterisks. So that would mean that *@yourdomain.io are all valid. You can then use the aliasing service to deactivate or delete compromised or frequently spammed addresses instantly. In fact at the top of EVERY received email there is a line at the top that says, "such-and-such alias received this email, would you like to deactivate it"? So no more fighting to unsubscribe from certain places.

One side benefit of the method below is that you can avoid the normal spam box hell that occurs when emails accumulate from entities that do not include an "unsubscribe" url at the bottom of the email. Banks seem to have this problem the most. My doxxed email address still gets emails from old bank accounts that are impossible to unsubscribe from.

_So let's get into how to do this_ 👇🏻

## How-to

### 1. Myprivatenym.io: acquire domain

**Go to myprivatenym.io and get a domain.**

- <https://mynymbox.io/domainregister>
- <https://client.mynymbox.io/cart.php?a=add&domain=register>
- Pay with a private method

### 2. Go to proxysto.re

- <https://digitalgoods.proxysto.re/en>
- Buy addy.io Lite voucher code: 1 year = 12,00 €

### 3. Tuta: acquire an email address

* **Go to Tuta and sign up for a free email.**

### 4. addy.io

_Information can be found [here](https://addy.io/help/adding-a-custom-domain/), but is summarized below_

1. Sign up for [addy.io](https://addy.io) using your **Tuta** email
2. Redeem your **gift card** and upgrade to **Lite**. 
3. Go to "Domains" > "Add New Domain"
4. Paste your **Myprivatenym.io** domain (e.g., janesmith@privatedomain.io)
5. Go to the **"DNS Management"** in **Mynymbox**.
6. Back in **addy.io**, click **"Verify Domain"** - takes 2-15 minutes. It will look like this in **addy.io** ⤵️\
![](https://addy.io/assets/img/help-add-domain.png)  
7. Then add these **four records** from **addy.io** into the **Mynymbox** DNS manager: ![](https://addy.io/assets/img/help-verify-domain-for-sending.png)

- **You can check the records for your domain using [mxtoolbox.com](https://mxtoolbox.com)**

- **NOTE: DO NOT MARK EMAILS AS SPAM, BUT RATHER DELETE OR DEACTIVATE THE ALIAS!**

>**Can I mark emails forwarded to me by addy.io as spam?**
>
>No, you must not mark messages forwarded to you by addy.io as spam as this can damage the reputation of the mail servers and is against the terms and conditions.

>If an alias is receiving spam messages then please deactivate it or delete it.

>addy.io is signed up to multiple feedback loops (FBLs) that trigger a notification when any messages are marked as spam. Repeatedly marking messages as spam will result in your account being disabled. 

### Here is what my addy.io dashboard looks like after a few years of use. My spam box is EMPTY.

![](https://m.stacker.news/77955)

How & why to make a new email address for EVERYTHING in your life.

expatriotic

lightning

I'm trying to save myself the trouble of having to search, compile, organize, etc.. all the knowledge I know exists on how to operate a routing node on the Lightning network.

Being a software engineer I don't mind if it's technical, I just want an easier path learning the more intermediate to advanced (at least to me), topics like:
- Routing fees
- Implications of running clear net versus behind TOR
- Node centrality
- Providing liquidity by selling channels
- How are people professionalizing Lightning node operation
- Are people running nodes as regular cloud servers? If so, are they using some software to abstract away the complexity or handling with the low level of Bitcoin and Lightning?

The list above are a few topics I've been wondering as I continue my adventure operating a node, so in the spirit of v4v I'm offering this bounty for people who might know these things or at least where to learn about them.

The winning answer will be the one covering as much as possible, assuming the content is up-to-date, in depth, and well structured. I'm also willing to sweeten the pie if I get really impressed by the answer.

Ask me anything about what I'm looking for. I'll keep this open until Friday, and then award the best answer.

For the friends on Nostr reading this, please join us on Stacker.news.

The most up-to-date, in depth, and well structured content on LN routing nodes

cyphercosmo

BooksAndArticles

Among the books in my house in Tirana, I immediately noticed the red cardboard cover, which I had created myself years ago: a portrait of Remarque drawn with a pencil, and a background with Chinese ink added later by one of my school friends. 

![](https://m.stacker.news/66292)

This is how I remembered that book: worn out from use, browsing, reading and re-reading. Passed from hand to hand until came to my hands. 

It was read in secret. A banned novel since its publication in the 1960s, it had left its mark on several generations of Albanians. I don't believe there is another place in the world where this book had as many admirers as in Albania (later I would find that in the West, Remarque’s "Three Comrades" was almost forgotten).

Why did this novel leave such a mark on Albanian people? I was trying to answer this question several years ago when I was travelling to Paris by plane and having in backpack this book. (I was certain I would not re-read it, but I had taken it with me for fear of losing it during my absence. A book that had accompanied my entire youth had now become a relic.)

I had made some notes in my notebook regarding the above question. I read those notes the other day and I wanted to share them with you, hoping you will find them interesting: 

* Undoubtedly, the romantic story between Robbie and Patricia touched the hearts of many young Albanians during communism time. "Totalitarian systems that favor a melancholic closure of the self. The aesthetic moment becomes a means of distancing oneself from the world." — a phrase written on one of the walls of the exhibition "Melancholy: Genius and Madness in the West" — opened in Paris a few years ago. But this could not have been the only reason, as other romantic books were also circulating in Albania.

* It is known that a text has as many readings as readers, but the reading that the Albanian reader of the dictatorship years gave to this novel must be one of the greatest paradoxes. Unlike the author who wanted to show the story of three friends spiritually killed by the First World War and trying to survive the crisis years in Weimar Germany, the Albanian reader of those years saw and perceived Remarque’s "Three Comrades" more like a novel of a free life. The book's characters had their own car (a symbol of individual freedom); they could drink cognac and other drinks without anyone saying anything to them or being looked at askance by party comrades (the glass of cognac on the table at Café Flora or the cafe of the Culture Palace in Tirana was seen at that time as the image of a modern life); they could live separately from their families without being condemned by public opinion as happened to people who lived in Tirana at that time; they could love freely without feeling the weight of the Party and family. The strict communist "morality" had reinforced the traditional Balkan morality. The numerous divorces that occurred in the 1990s, right after the fall of communism, showed the weight of this oppression; they were an expression of these forced relationships.

* Some young people identified their situation under the dictatorship with that of the lost generation. Even those who had not directly felt the class struggle. Unlike the exotic settings of Hemingway's novels (another representative of the lost generation authors), the events in "Three Comrades" took place in a popular urban setting (gas stations, bars, cafes, modest apartments, etc.). This atmosphere made identification with the characters easier.

* The book "Three Comrades" was a novel of a sad atmosphere, of an atmosphere that actually existed in Enver Hoxha's Albania, but which Albanian readers could not find in any socialist realism novel. Not only in novels, but in no artistic work of that time; be they theatrical, cinematographic, pictorial, musical, etc. The novel "Three Comrades" was similar to those realistic song texts written in simple words that can move you to tears when you happen to hear them alone inside an empty café on a rainy day, somewhere in the outskirts. The novel "Three Comrades" was also a novel of these missing words.

* Perhaps this is why this book connected with the Albanian reader. The fact that it lost that appeal after the fall of the dictatorship reinforces this hypothesis. In fact, for some of the former readers, Remarque is no longer one of the greatest writers. After the fall of communism, we had the opportunity to read other authors, that were strictly forbidden by the communists, that made us realize that Remarque was not the modern author people once boasted about in their conversations, in the great prison called the People's Republic of Albania.

* It is not a coincidence that Remarque's books were burned by the Nazis and banned (another kind of burning) by the communists, because they spoke to people and not to ideological concepts like the New Communist Man or the New Nazi Man. Therefore, it is not surprising that in dictatorial regimes we will find the same expressions such as "degenerate art", "banned authors", etc.

* However, this book remains an object that still evokes emotions in me today. It was the companion of sad twilights when I walked the streets of Tirana, gripped by darkness and fear, with my only pair of lace-up shoes that, even though repaired several times, could not protect my feet from the rain... 

A relic

Bit_Alb

💡**The Challenge:**

Many of us are passionate about building companies or creating innovative projects, but finding the right partner or co-founder can be a real struggle. Traditional methods like hackathons or meetups are great but only sometimes connect us with our ideal collaborator.

🚀 **Monthly Collaboration Posts!**  
This is our second monthly collaboration post on Stacker News! These posts will be a dedicated space for sharing what you’re building and discovering potential collaborators.

[Checkout out our first one here.](https://stacker.news/items/338224)

✍️ **What to Include in Your Post**  
To streamline the process, we suggest the following template for your posts but feel free to adjust Stackers!:

- **Name/Nym:** [Your Name] 
- **Summary of What You’re Building:** [Brief description of your project or idea or GitHub.] 
- **What Kind of Help Are You Looking For?** (e.g., engineers, marketing, sales, legal, education, design, mentorship, advisors, venture capital, strategy, technical consulting.) 
- **Purpose:** Is this for fun, or are you aiming to build a Bitcoin business? 
- **How to Contact You:** [Your preferred contact method] 

🤝 **Let’s Build Together!**  
This is an initiative that I hold dear to my heart. We have a strong collaboration environment at PlebLab, which I want to bring to the Stacker News community. We’re open to suggestions and excited to see how this idea evolves! I will also bring this up on Stacker News Live every first week of the month to get the most visibility for all the builders who participate, and try my best to facilitate an introduction or collaborator.

Ready to find your next co-founder or Building Partner? Post in this thread.

🤘⚡- @Car

Find Your Co-Founder/Building Partner on Stacker News! ⚡

PlebLab

bitcoin

## The Challenge
Many of us are passionate about **building companies** or **creating innovative projects**, but finding the right partner or co-founder can be a real struggle. Traditional methods like hackathons or meetups are great but only sometimes connect us with our ideal collaborator.

## Monthly Collaboration Posts! 
We’re introducing **monthly collaboration posts** on Stacker News! These posts will be a dedicated space for sharing what you’re building and discovering potential collaborators.

### How It Works
- **Monthly Posts:** We’ll have a fixed schedule (like the 1st of each month or the first Monday) for consistency and familiarity.
- **Community Engagement:** We’ll boost these baby! So the entire Stacker News Community gets those ZAPS!
- **Amplification through Social Channels:** Let's together broadcast these opportunities far and wide.

### What to Include in Your Post
To streamline the process, we suggest the following template for your posts but feel free to adjust Stackers!:

- **Name/Nym:** [Your Name]
- **Summary of What You’re Building:** [Brief description of your project or idea or GitHub.]
- **What Kind of Help Are You Looking For?** (e.g., engineers, marketing, sales, legal, education, design, mentorship, advisors, venture capital, strategy, technical consulting.)
- **Purpose:** Is this for fun, or are you aiming to build a Bitcoin business?
- **How to Contact You:** [Your preferred contact method]

### Let’s Build Together!
This is an initiative that I hold dear to my heart. We have a strong collaboration environment at PlebLab, which I want to bring to the Stacker News community. We’re open to suggestions and excited to see how this idea evolves! I will also bring this up on Stacker News Live every first week of the month to get the most visibility for all the builders who participate, and try my best to facilitate an introduction or collaborator.

Ready to find your next co-founder or Building Partner? Post in the Monthly Collaboration thread, and let’s make it happen!

🤘⚡- @Car


meta

I noticed myself spending more and more time on Stacker News lately, as this is one of the most refreshing sites I have found, and I would like to share what I have learned after hanging around for a while - sharing is caring.

### ⚡️ Starting with The Basics

#### **How to create and safeguard the account**

It is as simple as using an e-mail address or scan with an LN wallet to register, and I linked my account to both e-mail and LN wallet ( I am using Blue Wallet for it ) in case something happens to anyone of them, just need to make sure I do not lose this account.

Freedom comes from self-responsibility, even in small things.

#### **How to start posting**

Your first post is generally your bio, take some time to think of a good bio. And be aware here have quite some toxic Bitcoiners who can smell BS miles away. ! Imagine your first post is like the first impression when you make new friends. And choose the user ID you like, something easy to remember, like how you prefer your friend to call you.



#### **How to post content**

There are generally two options: sharing links or your thoughts; hidden options are posting a poll, bounty or job.

**1. Sending interesting links**

Posting links is encouraged, as It's a news site. But sharing scammy links or creating noise would be flagged. However, sharing links to your content or unpopular gems is great.

**2. Writing as proof of work**

Writing original and useful content might be one of the best proofs of work since the internet is full of junk. SN uses markdown format for long-form posts. Maybe it would be a bit confusing for anyone unfamiliar with it. I recommend using a markdown editor, so you do not need to bother with the formats but focus on the writing only. I use a markdown writing tool called [Typora](https://typora.io/), clean, minimalist and livepreview available.

**Some extra thinking**: I noticed myself occasionally searching on SN before hitting any search engine. Is this what the web of trust means? Once I found something related to my search, I would click on the profile to have a look, too.

-. Is this person a bot?
-. How much did he/she stacked
-. Quality of history posts&comments

As SN is still in its baby stage, I think it might end up being more than that, as this is the first time I can focus on writing and providing value to others without dealing with many annoying middlemen or things like running a paid group or selling subscription, but focusing on creating itself, which is pure joy for me!

Also, one more personal observation: most links' lifespan is generally 24 hours here. If you are a content creator, you might want to get some traffic and sats whenever you post, but side note: personally I wouldn't risk clicking any links from a random person if his/ her profile is EMPTY and has 0 history, especially when there is 0 common. It is fine to post links once you have earned your trust.

However, I prefer to do one extra step by copy and paste from markdown to SN instead of just sharing a link, not only to create a better reading experience for fellow stackers but also to make it easier for later discovery. ( wink wink )


#### **How to share photos**

There are two tools that I tried and worked:

**1. [Postimages](https://postimages.org/)**. (courtesy from @Darthcoin ) 

How to use it? Easy breezy, just directly upload. 

Here is our cat model:

![img](https://imgprxy.stacker.news/T_qjEGv-heN61WLFlkvA0Y8BgFLKnCOEtb5gpykKJME/rs:fit:600:500:0/g:no/aHR0cHM6Ly9pLnBvc3RpbWcuY2MveDF0azVGZHcvY2F0LTAyLmpwZw)

**2. [Pasteboard](https://pasteboard.co/)** ( courtesy from @nerd2ninja  )

How to use it? Upload - go to the image - right click "open image in a new tab" - get the magic link. 

Here is our cat model: 
https://imgprxy.stacker.news/4SIdZGnTAd3InOuZqeTs013L9c3L1MRMECJFLeLl1EI/rs:fit:600:500:0/g:no/aHR0cHM6Ly9nY2RuYi5wYnJkLmNvL2ltYWdlcy8yQnhDTTluSzhORHguanBnP289MQ

( Note: If you upload the same photo or something similar, this tool will flag it by showing: Image deleted due to content policy violation )

By comparison, the pasteboard seems to have better quality but feel free to suggest even better tools.



#### **Some hidden features**

- **Subscribe**

This one is really good if you want to follow/stalk someone, but it could be overwhelming, like the notifications dot would always be there; Subscribing 1-2 interesting brains you enjoy is good.

- **Forward sats**

One post can forward sats to up to 5 other stackers; it could act as an appreciation for other's input or even do a fun fundraising like [here](https://stacker.news/items/246238). 

This post is the first time I am experimenting with this feature. Before you post, go to the options at the bottom, simply input the user ID of the person you want to forward sats to and choose the percentage. Done!

- **Boost**

Boosting your post in order to gain more visibility, the minimum amount is 5000 sats.

- **Bookmark content**

Simply click the three dots in any great content you like and choose bookmark. 

 - **Hide your cowboy hat**

This is a trick if you want to remain in the shallow: go to setting - privacy - hide, and you can also hide many things else. But I did an experiment on hiding my hat for one day, clearly fewer interactions, I guess the hat kind of shows some POW in a sense.

There are still many hidden or new features to be discovered and of course, many great content.!

### ⚡️ Levelling Up the Fun

#### **How to stack sats**

I guess this is the most asked question when browsing history. **But it all comes down to offering value to others, which is exactly what money was for in the first place, as a medium for value exchange!**

Value comes in different forms. It can be from posting fun memes, sharing useful information, asking good questions or offering solutions to people's questions, and the best strategy is always sharing your first-hand experiences, aka skin in the game. If you know something or have done something, share it; if you don't, it is better to say, "I don't know."

#### **How to send ( customer ) zaps**

Zapping is fun, and to be honest, 1000, 2000 sats is not much in a real-life sense, but comparing with the value you receive from others is like a steal, and not to mention it takes a long time to write a good post. From my understanding, zaps is more of a token of appreciation and encourages more people to share valuable information.

And with a fun side acting as a way of building relationships; For example, if I like someone's content, I naturally pay more attention to him or her, and my time and attention are the most precious things I have. Zapping is my way of saying thank you.

As @ekzyis mentioned [here](https://stacker.news/items/248227/r/Natalia) 

> **Content determines the base value and relationships are multipliers**

Wow, you might be wondering so how to zap? Simply clicking the bolt icon ⚡️ would zap the default amount that you set, and here are the two options for sending customer zaps:

**1. Long-pressing and then choose from there.**

For example, I set my default tippping to 121 sats; if I found something I like, I then long-press it and choose a different amount that I feel like zapping.

**2. Enabling Turbo Zaps mode: every click is 10x.**

For example, if the default zaps are 10 sats, two clicks would be 100 sats, and three clicks would be 1000 sats, as every click is 10x sats. This is quite handy, but it might result in some accidents if you click a few times.! But even with this mode on, you can still use the long-pressing and then choose from there.

And one of the most interesting laws in the universe is generally that the more you give, the more you would receive.

> As below so above and beyond, I imagine

In short, more value is being shared, more zaps, and more fun. Here is my personal input, but I'd recommend everyone go read the [FAQ](https://stacker.news/faq) and [Guide](https://stacker.news/guide), as you can discover more hidden fun there.

___

Lastly, I quite like the idea that everyone starts from zero in the Bitcoin world; it doesn't matter how many Bitcoins you hold or how well-established you are in the fiat world: **trust needs to be earned, value needs to be proved.** 

You can't just do a lot of empty talks like in the fiat world, and this is the way.!

The Art of Using Stacker News ⚡️

Natalia

### Pay It Forward for a new Bitcoiner!

I would like to tell you a story... not long ago, in 2021.
I did an experiment to see how nocoiners respond to Bitcoin kindness.

In 2021 I was running a Telegram group to help people with Bitcoin advice. Were mostly with members from UK.
One of the members is/was running a coffee shop business accepting BTC over LN
He even have shown prices in sats directly, no fiat!
[![Sat-prices.jpg](https://imgprxy.stacker.news/W60L4VWe0Q7ZQk1rk2s-9eeIzVaUB8pSy3mAhu1b4s0/rs:fit:600:500:0/g:no/aHR0cHM6Ly9pLnBvc3RpbWcuY2MvZlJkeExkeVEvU2F0LXByaWNlcy5qcGc)](https://postimg.cc/189g7fDv)

So I said to him: man, let's do an experiment with some nocoiners. The first customer will enter in your coffee shop, tell her/him that somebody from thousands of km will pay for his coffee with Bitcoin, instantly, no intermediary. All set, he was just ready to send me the invoice.

So not after so long entered a lady into the shop. Nocoiner. Totally clueless what is Bitcoin and what is going on. She just wanted a coffee. Jake (shop owner) told her about our experiment and she totally agree. She even wanted to see how this new thing Bitcoin works.

So Jake made a LN invoice in his LN wallet, sent it to me by Telegram and I pay it. Done. In just few seconds. Lady.M was so impressed about the whole process that immediately she want to learn more about Bitcoin and joined to our Bitcoin Telegram group. Later I was helping her with all she needed for her business too (she's a chiropractitioner).

I told her: See? that coffee was paid, with sovereign money transmitted over any borders, instantly, without any intermediary, without any control from any entity, only me and the sender knows about it. Can you do the same with any other currency, right now? The answer was straight NO.

### My proposal now
Let's do such experiment here on Stacker News! LIVE!

I know I am risking to be scammed with a new anon SN account.
I don't want to know who you really are, I don't care too much.
I care more for bitcoin adoption.

So...  let's make an experiment - push it forward.

### Conditions, requirements, steps to do

1. If you are a cuban, salvadoran or any other place on this planet, where you want to see Bitcoin adopted by your local merchants, come and post here. Don't try to assmilk or scam. We will know it.
2. Find a bar that accept Bitcoin, near you - see https://btcmap.org
3. Ask to pay with BTC over LN for a beer/coffee. Don't push too much our kindness...
4. Take a screenshot of the QR invoice, or share the LN invoice here.
5. Record a video or at least some pictures of the whole process and share them here. also indicate the location of the bar or website or some contact. If you post them on a public social media I would like also to share them into my special article about [places where Bitcoin is used at daily basis for payments](https://darthcoin.substack.com/p/bitcoin-lightning-irl-examples).
6. We will pay for your beer/coffee
7. If the bar owner is new to Bitcoin, YOU will need to help them how to setup the LN wallet, if you are a bitcoiner that already know. Is up to you which wallet want to use, that is not important for this experiment.
8. If YOU are the newbie and just want to help a bitcoin shop owner and bring him into this experiment, then please read first my guides, especially [the one about LN wallets](https://darthcoin.substack.com/p/lightning-wallets-comparison).

Let's show the world how Bitcoin works. Let's start that Bitcoin Circular Economy, right here on Stacker News!
ENOUGH WITH COMPLAINTS THAT "I cannot pay a coffee with my BTC wallet, there's nobody accepting it."
ENOUGH WITH USING VISA CARDS! Let's use Bitcoin!


Pay it forward initiative | Bitcoin is kindness

DarthCoin

Does altruism scale?

a_free_robot

Is hard for many people to understand Voluntarism because were conditioned to think that "good" can come only from taxes and govs.
Please read the book The Voluntaryst Handbook by Keith Knight
https://libertarianinstitute.org/books/voluntaryist-handbook/
or listen it here chapter by chapter
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/axiomsofliberty

I've had a beer and I'm trying to relax... But I need to rant. 

I always smash into the same issues wherever I travel to the "global south" countries. 


For background, I've been a journalist, researcher and now film maker in developing countries for 6+ years.

I've lived in Mexico, Tunisia, the Ivory Coast, and Trinidad and Tobago.

I've done in-country research projects or documentaries in Senegal and West Africa, El Salvador, Cuba and Cape Verde.  

They ALWAYS have very similar, unfair and yet easily fixed basic financial problems. It's borderline evil that we have created financial systems that make it very hard for the worse off to improve their lot.

The worst part? These systems are flourishing.

These are generalizations of course—so take this with a handful of salt—but my GOD it's so frustrating. 

Problems:
- Banks charge extortionate amounts to withdraw cash. (In Peru there's been a $3 fee at the 8 ATMs I've tried so far.)
- ATMs impose limits so you can only withdraw up to $60 meaning you have to withdraw several times and pay more fees. 
- There is never enough change at tills so sales get rejected.
- People of course prefer harder currencies dollars but you're charged through the nose if you pay in dollars.
- Plus, if you accept more currencies (Sal island on Cape Verde accepts 4 currencies) then you have even worse problems at the till with change.  
- Visa and mastercard charge upwards of 5% . So why bother with card?
- It's a day to day, hand to mouth existence - so people don't even *CONSIDER* saving. Saving is literally a foreign concept.
- It's near impossible to open a bank account because of strict or absurd KYC requirements (how can i prove my DoB if i don't have a birth certificate?)
-  Regardedly high levels of inflation that everyone just deals with. In Cuba, inflation is a running joke. "Why didn't you do your homework?" 

Inflation. 

"Why are you late?"
 
inflation.  

- ATM penetration is low. Right now I'm in a very popular tourist town and the nearest ATM is 20 miles away.
- It's very hard or expensive to send money to the nearest city, let alone to relatives abroad. Don't get me started on predatory companies like Western Union and MoneyGram. 


Yes, there are growing numbers of mobile-centric financial solutions like mobile money (think M-Pesa, Yape, Wave) but they're working within the splintered fiat system. 
 

Come on... There has to be a better way. There needs to be a new system that's outside of incumbents and their insidious incentives. 

I have hope that Bitcoin will fix a great deal of these issues, but F*CK me it's so depressing and frustrating to see it time and again. It breaks my heart every time I hear a local complain about the banks, the fees, the ATM queues, the Western Union issue, or the fact that I can't buy a bottle of water because the till doesn't have change. 

Yes, I know, Bitcoin is hope. Sorry.
 
But arrggh, give me strength! 

F*ck me the "global south" needs bitcoin

JoeNakamoto

[Free sticker pack.](https://github.com/artdesignbySF/btc-stickers/tree/main) Happy stickering!

cc @purpurato

These were first made as a telegram sticker pack for the Noderunners.
I've left them at RGB color value, as some printers these days want you to hand files over in RGB (idk why).
They are 300 dpi. 
Could be a bit cleaner, but hey, its free, and I've more plans to try and get to fruition ;)

Consider donating (i'm having some node issues rn, so temp custodial solutions, sry)
artdesignbySF@stacker.news
artdesignbysf@walletofsatoshi.com

![preview](https://github.com/artdesignbySF/btc-stickers/blob/main/Various%20rgb%20300dpi%20btc%20stickers/Bitcoin-faucet.png?raw=true)
![preview](https://github.com/artdesignbySF/btc-stickers/blob/main/Various%20rgb%20300dpi%20btc%20stickers/Noderunners-GreenpeaceSkull.png?raw=true)
![preview](https://github.com/artdesignbySF/btc-stickers/blob/main/Various%20rgb%20300dpi%20btc%20stickers/bitcoin-stickers-1.png?raw=true)
![preview](https://github.com/artdesignbySF/btc-stickers/blob/main/Various%20rgb%20300dpi%20btc%20stickers/bitcoin-stickers-2.png?raw=true)
![preview](https://github.com/artdesignbySF/btc-stickers/blob/main/Various%20rgb%20300dpi%20btc%20stickers/bitcoin-stickers-3.png?raw=true)

Free sticker pack

artdesignbySF

Optimized my site, some old links won't work anymore. Work In progress

TheBitcoinRun

I would highly recommend the free Blocksy theme for Wordpress sites. Helps you get to 90% of what you might want design-wise without coding, as opposed to the usual 30% before running into paywalls and ads as with most free themes. I'm not affiliated to Blocksy, but it really has made my life way easier.

rybka

Best privacy apps for Android 2023

beorange

You have three good options:

***1. Session app[^1]***
  - PROS: 
    - Optimal, no mobile number or email required, works over TOR
  - CONS: 
     - They monetize with a token (altcoin) by the name OXEN, it is their own network and the nodes of the privacy token carry the data end to end encrypted, the liquidity is poor and therefore a potential 51% attack is plausible, although not likely.  

***2. Threema[^2]***
  - PROS: 
     - Works quite well, excellent audio/video, no mobile or email required
    - Available since 2012
    - Quite reliable
  - CONS: 
     - Not free, one time payment for the mobile app
     - During the configuration skip giving your email, you may get tricked on giving an email address, just don't
     - No TOR option
   
***3. SimpleX[^3]***
   - PROS:
     - Optimal voice/video quality, no mobile or email required, novelty app, decentralized
   - CONS:
     - A battery killer, during configuration, to avoid killing your mobile battery set the notification to work only when the application is open. This setting will render the application useless for receiving urgent messages or calls, you will need to agree with the other party to use the app. It is quite new, ***here an article I wrote recently about it[^4]***

Hope this helps!

[^1]:[Session app](https://getsession.org/)
[^2]:[Threema](https://threema.ch/en)
[^3]:[SimpleX](https://simplex.chat/)
[^4]:[SimpleX Chat - First impressions. Is it ready for prime time?](https://stacker.news/items/225727/r/rod)


Lately I have been scouring youtube for old video lectures and interviews with the guys I consider bitcoin "legends".  Here are a few of my favorites:

- Andreas Antonopoulos

This [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJtGLqPoB-o) is from the Disrupt Symposium held in Athens, Greece in 2013. It's not easy to pick out just one video from Andreas Antonopoulos, who is probably the best bitcoin communicator and teacher ever. I really enjoy this video because it is so old by bitcoin standards, and he gives a masterful, energetic overview of bitcoin.

- Nick Szabo 

This [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_yUeuKu7L4) is from the Bitcoin Investor Conference in Las Vegas in 2015. Nick is brilliant. Many people think there is a strong possibility that he is Satoshi Nakamoto. 

- Hal Finney

I can't find any videos of Hal Finney other than this [lecture](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjHVNstGLIQ) he gave about Zero Knowledge Proofs back in 1998.  He received the first bitcoin transaction from Saloshi Nakamoto, and many people believe he invented bitcoin. He tragically died young from ALS in 2014.

- Gavin Andresen

I had many videos to choose from, but I like this [interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYo7q5Lkk1w&t=2736s) he did back in 2013 on the Triangulation show. His reputation has been severely damaged over the years due to his position during the Blocksize Wars, and his since disavowed contention that Craig Wright is Satoshi Nakamoto. None of this takes away from his intelligence, and the many years he served as bitcoin lead developer.  He was also hand picked by Satoshi to carry the torch when bitcoin's inventor disappeared. 

- Adam Back

There are no shortage of videos of Adam Back floating around the internet, but I like this [lecture](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dAdI3Gzodo) he gave at the Bitcoin Israel Conference in February of 2014, where he discusses ecash in the context of fungibility and privacy. Adam Back, creator of hashcash, was the first person to receive a preliminary, stripped down version of the whitepaper directly from Satoshi.

- David Chaum

Creator of Digicash, and one of the original cypherpunks, David Chaum's work and vision laid the foundation for bitcoin. This [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YtqVSxa3aI) from 2018 captures his intelligence and humor. 

Footnotes