pull down to refresh
1481 sats \ 3 replies \ @nullcount 11 May \ on: Lightning Network : our high-maintenance crazy-ex lightning
Why would someone invite competition to take a bite out of their cash cow? The incentive for successful operators is to downplay the profitability of LN routing.
If you aren't getting paid enough with routing, then your node isn't useful enough. Its not your fault. Its not LN's fault. It just maybe isn't a job for you and that's okay!
Also, your full node isn't a public service unless you forward ports and seed blocks. Even then, its not that useful because your residential internet connection is likely capped on bandwidth.
There is incentive already! Help people complete their payments, get rewarded! What you suggest is like a welfare subsidy for nodes that aren't helping anyone.
Protocol daemons are not apps!
Implementations should stay specialized in the core functions and leave opinionated UX decisions to app developers and service providers.
In conclusion, I agree with your case for more accessible redundancy options at the LN node level.
I think most issues with LN node unreliability stem from inexperienced sysadmins going too deep into a tech stack they don't understand, using hardware that's designed for controlling Christmas lights (Raspi) instead of a proper enterprise grade server that's made for critical payments infrastructure.
Additional thought: interesting to me that, with $330m on the line, the laundering happens through Monero.
Some people insist that Monero is worthless (discussion here], but this is a pretty giant fucking revealed preference re: actual utility in a high-stakes situation, as far as I'm concerned.
Especially given that it moved XMR price by 50%. The dude really wanted those funds in Monero.
Bitcoin Core 29.0 was released before the debate about OP_RETURN started. The change discussed in the pull request would be released with Bitcoin Core 30.0 in October at the earliest if it gets merged.
Wrt writing, here's my current struggle.
For the last three years I've done a story a week. Some of these have been really good. Some have been okay. Many, recently, have been shit, just awful. I can't seem to find anything to be excited about, and if you're not excited it shows.
And then I look at my daily logs, and there's so much that I'm excited about. Like, bursting with things. Without a moment's hesitation I'll toss off hundreds of words full of energy and life. Yet when I am purposefully framing the act as "It is time now to produce an interesting piece" what emerges is dead. Something about the intention drains the blood and joy from it.
The spirit of play seems important. The difference between work and play, even when the actions themselves are the same. I'm trying to figure this out. But it seems very easy to look in the wrong place, solve the wrong problem.
When I was a young lawyer I represented my dad on real estate deals. He had been going deaf for years, but refused to acknowledge it. Once we were at a closing when the party on the other side of the transaction took my dad aside and, in a low voice, asked for a concession my father would never grant. Rather than say "I can't hear you" , he smiled and said sure." I had to step in to correct the misunderstanding. It was embarrassing for him, but not embarrassing enough for him to get a hearing aid.
I hope I learned the lesson he never did.
Thanks for sharing this, very insightful. A few of the above ideas are being developed already and most of the above will implemented soon.
re: low hanging fruits
Close markets in real-time
Is being tested on daily h2h sports markets.
Multi-options will have auto-close shortly perhaps in the phase 2.
We will also implement auto-close for bitcoin markets in phase 2.
Round off shares:
Great advice - we will implement this
Set initial probabilities well
Its being developed, will be implemented soon.
Arbitrage (both self and external)
Great advise. Perhaps in the phase 2/3.
re: third party support
Ads
Not sure about sending our traffic to other website, but we'll give it thought.
Sponsorships
Yes, we've thinking about it. Hopefully the community can help us connect with other Bitcoin Business/apps
Charge for market creation
Coming in phase 2
Treasury strategy: Take out loans against the revenue generated from all of the above and buy bitcoin: NGU -> repay with a fraction of the bitcoin, NGD -> repay with site revenue.
Can you please help me understand this more. Thanks for all the valuable insight.
I am recently thinking a lot about this decline too specially because I'm seeing it in my own family with rapid decline and it is very sad to see. They don't realize. They make the usual jokes about age and such but I'm sure they are not very aware of the extent of the problem. Even simple problems become huge. And it reminds me that while I still feel great I have only a small number of good years left and that is counting that I would not get any other illness.
Make the most of your youth. It goes fast later.
On LN fees being derivative of on-chain fees
True, but LN fees are also derivative of the circularity of the lightning network. If there is enough circularity to the LN economy, it reduces on-chain fee pressure
On whether micropayments can be profitable
Again, with enough circularity I think they could be. I don't understand the
min-htlc stuff too well, but I assume it's related to channel congestion of some kind. Again, it seems like that could be resolved by smarter route-finding algorithms and a dense enough network of connections.Still, it's always good to hear negative opinions, that's the only way make improvements
Here's a thought: you'll be happier if you avoid snap judgements of both people and ideas.
Communications networks have become so advanced that we have the ability to understand each other on profoundly deeper levels than at any other time in history, yet they're also designed to increase inefficiency and promote shallow levels of engagement.
Something to think about.
Good ideas. Maybe liquidity bot just needs to be the best trader of all time. But some users might not like the idea of the site trading against them.
It would be very cool if each new law comes with
- a specific metric that it is trying to improve and a specific target ("by how much")
- an expiry date (if the metric doesn't hit the target by some date/year, the law is automatically revoked)
- a list of potential unintended consequences (anything that came up in the process)
First of all, I'm not a parent nor does my mom allow me having a girlfriend.
Secondly, Hackable safe? I don't think any retailer would provide you a "hackable" one which is contrary to its name but I do have a few tweaks in mind.
You can have Pwngotchi here that I use to practice WiFi sniffing and WPA cracking. This is a Raspberry Pi Zero W-based AI that learns WiFi hacking. My one looks like this
You could adapt a safe lock (servo + latch) controlled via a Pi running Pwnagotchi or similar firmware. You can find youtube tutorials and I can help you too.
On the other hand, I have an even better idea 😋, DIY!
The core idea: use a microcontroller or single-board computer to control a lock, and require some form of hack to unlock it.
Basic Materials:
- Raspberry Pi / Arduino / ESP32 (depending on complexity)
- Electromagnetic lock or servo lock
- Power supply or battery backup (like I said)
- Mini Safe / Ammo Box / Toolbox with a latch system (like I said too)
- WiFi dongle or Ethernet Optional: display panel or LEDs for feedback
You can setup demo challenges like a quest board:
-
Simple Bash Puzzle: A script with logic puzzles. Upon solving, writes
HIGHto GPIO to trigger servo unlock. -
SSH Access via Port Knocking: Requires knowledge of port sequences. Can be taught via online CTFs (HackTheBox)
-
WiFi Cracking (Ethical 😂): Set up a fake access point. He must capture the handshake and crack it to get the unlock code.
-
Puzzle-Driven API Challenge: Host a py Flask server that only returns the unlock code if queried right.
-
Hidden Messages in Images / Files (Steganography): Clue to unlock stored in a photo on a USB key in the house.
You can ask @ek for such security exploitation ideas, I can help you build the Pi circuit and simulate CTFs.
Hi Siggy! :-)
People who really sticked to Bitcoin and put in the work to educate themselves and others too, definitely have made huge personal progress. Either just by having a goal, something to work towards into the future or because their savings have grown. You can really see it as some of the people have gone physically bigger ;-) from thin to big, which is a sign of wealth. We have been working with more and more groups https://bffbtc.org/mission/impact/ - not all of them are on this page... and it has been great to see the changes over the last 5 years. In 2020 when I first was in Zimbabwe, I knew of 1 initiative on the whole continent. And now they are too much to know them all. And we were fortunate to support many of them from the start. Now they are totally self-reliant. Have received their own grants for educational projects. that was always our goal, to support during the "startup" phase and then let go.
When we choose what software implementation we run, we place our support behind a particular development team. This can influence a metric of success of that implementation - peers in the wild is probably the best we have - and affects the distribution of developer influence within the entirety of the ecosystem.
"Open source often naturally revolves around a meritocracy", per the
bitcoin/bitcoin contribution guidelines. Therefore it only makes sense to assign merit where we feel it belongs, by running the software that we individually feel serves us best. You have the freedom to choose your implementation, so choose.Here's an approximation of maintaining projects for active reachable nodes from the latest bitnodes api snapshot as of writing:
4 utreexod
5 bcoin
8 ckcoind
23 btcd
24 other
1821 Knots
19625 Core
It's only a rough approximation, for example I am not sure what futurebit and dojo change in the source, if anything, so i grouped them under core.
Now let's hypothesize that Knots grows further. It means more eyes and more effort spent on that repo and maybe even more funding if such a trend would persist. And although I personally don't like this hypothetical trend that's going on where sentiment over Core deteriorates and Knots grows because of the actions taken on Core, all is still good: feature, not bug.
Universities will die out without major change.
Thinking back on my time in college (graduated in 2023 from a public state school), it offered me little to no true value. I saw 3 large issues going through undergrad.
- The College's goals are misaligned with the customers (students)
-
Colleges only care about making money and making their school more exclusionary to create a facade of being an "elite University".
-
Students care about getting skills that translate to getting a job and making money. Most are too brainwashed to care about price... That is a whole different rabbit hole
- College doesn't teach you the skills you need for the workforce
-
I majored in finance and only saw the business school, but it was a mess...
-
The majority of my professors have never worked outside of academia and were hard to understand due to speaking broken English.
-
Want to learn how to actually use Excel, PowerPoint, Word, etc? You're going to have to figure that one out on your own.
-
Want to learn how to get a job? Going to the job fair with a resume in hand is not going to get you there. Yet again, you're on your own for that one.
- College brainwashes students into believing the slip of paper is "special"
-
In school, if you do the basics, you get a slip of paper and a mindset that you deserved it and deserve a great job because of it.
-
Get ready for the cruel reality of the world, but just showing up or doing the bare minimum does not guarantee success or money.
-
No company worth its salt wants to deal with a whiny little brat who has never gone above and beyond. There are a million other people with that same slip of paper.
TLDR: College needs major changes made. My time in undergrad offered little true value. Here are the top 3 issues I saw going through school.
I'm not exactly a UBI proponent, although I think it could be part of a reform plan.
The thinking on the scenario you describe is that productivity would have to be so heightened, to cause that degree of unemployment, that the real cost of living would be reduced to a tiny fraction of what it currently is. So, a UBI would not cost nearly as much in that world as it would in ours.
I think it's very unlikely that we'll see that kind of static unemployment, though. More likely, in my mind, is that we'll see people reduce their work hours on other margins: fewer hours per week, more time off between jobs, retiring earlier, etc.
While labor force participation may be much lower, it wouldn't be that there's a huge class of unemployable people. Rather, there would be more people between jobs and working parttime.
It's not like there was a UN, so finders keepers. And sometimes you may find something that you wanna shoot some cannonballs at before you keep it.
Truth be told though: I hang with islanders the moment I stop working every day since 6+ years now, and I feel a lot of sympathy for their thought on this: they're all foreign invaders and slave drivers. The original descendants of island people that inhabited the places before the Spanish took over in the 16th century are now mostly found on land, like Guyana, and perhaps some areas of Surinam and eastern Venezuela.
That said, I'm digging some into documentaries to get a broader perspective of what went on. I've seen some English and Dutch made works on how their dominance came to be, but since I've just found a translated Japanese documentary about the Dutch part, I think I can go way deeper and get a 3rd perspective on it all. Which would be cool.
I'll leave a post in the morning about this particular documentary because it actually went deeper on background than what I've seen on the Dutch ones, including an outside perspective on why Spain lost it's empire (and it's triggering!) I hope to find similar things for at least the Britain and Denmark side of this.
My brief thought is that yes, AI is going to take a fuck-ton of jobs, it's going to re-architect the modern world. It's like the central thing at my startup and I assume the rest of the world will be a few years behind, especially when you add in whatever economic apocalypse is forthcoming and people want a way to slash jobs without having to really think about wtf they're actually doing.
The bigger thing I wanted to say was that the second-to-last link was really something. I have a lot of thoughts knocking around in my head. It's worth a read.
Did you read the entire thread here? #971277
I thought the questions that were asked, and there were many, were extremely well answered and overall very neutral. Very professional. Great presentation. Great use of risk management on display.
No-one knows the future, and risk management is impossible to get 100% right... but honestly I find the appeals to emotion on the part of the 'filterers' to be less convincing.
Please see GMaxwell's comments here:
An excerpt:
@wizkid057 I've carefully read your messages as wells as the other messages from your colleagues at ocean and I have failed to find any clear explanation of the harm we could expect to experience from removing this limit.
It's all well and true that NFT/shitcoin stuff is bad, but there is no reason to expect that this should increase that activity: Anything that can be done with op_return can be done just as well (for the data embedder) with 'fake addresses'. And fake addresses are both far worse for Bitcoin due to bloating the utxo set and are essentially impossible to block. Moreover, parties that want to bypass this limit at scale and particularly for abusive purposes have an easy avenue to do so by directly handing large miners the transactions, which is now a reliable method for getting transactions mined that violate policy.
I've also found no counter to the benefits of removing the behavior: that at least some of the fake address traffic has indicated it will switch, that any discrepancy between what nodes relay and what miners mine hurts block propagation which advantages large miners at the expense of smaller miners, that direct-to-miner relationships also favor large operations over small, that an incomplete mempool reduces your ability to look at it and tell what price may will get your transactions in the next block, and that a fruitless game of wack-a-mole trying to block transactions creates a dangerously muddled message about the ability of Bitcoin participants to blacklist transactions/addresses such as those on state set blacklists. And of course, simpler code with fewer options and thus combinations of options to test.