26.2k sats \ 1 reply \ @travis 19 Dec 2023 \ on: Meme Monday - Best Bitcoin Meme Gets 25,000 Sats Memes
I had a chat with a co-worker one time about Bitcoin. It was just the two of us in the office and talking/getting to know each other is completely acceptable at my work; There is a lot of down time at the job and moral is important. Also, Bitcoin does come up in the context of our work sometimes and he would probably benefit from knowing how it works anyways. So we are chatting and I am explaining the basics of Bitcoin to him. He seems interested.
I go to my work desktop and I show him one of those websites that generates a paper wallet for you. I generate a key pair and print a single piece of paper that has a QR code for the privk and a QR code for the address. I then use my personal phone and send about $10 worth of bitcoin to the address. I show him the transaction in a mempool explorer and use it to explain how Bitcoin works. I then hand him the paper wallet/piece of paper, telling him he can have it and that he is now "off zero" once the transaction confirms.
Overall, I didn't think anything of the conversation and I thought I had done a good job trying to orange pill someone. He seemed responsive to it all. Whole thing took maybe 20 minutes.
The following week, my supervisor calls me in to his office and I learn that the coworker made a complaint against me. The complaint was that I used office supplies and my work computer to buy bitcoin while at work. I told my supervisor what I had summarized above. I explained that I did print a single piece of paper and use my work computer to navigate to a website. (Also, while it didn't matter, but I sent bitcoin, I didn't buy it - wasn't he paying attention? lol.) I didn't get in trouble with my supervisor and the supervisor thought the complaint was strange. I told my supervisor that this complaint was petty and I was offended by it, especially since I had shared about a hobby/interest of mine.
This particular coworker had made complaints about me in the past (none that I have got in trouble for) and I always just kept on being friendly to the guy. It is hard for me to hold a grudge and even the coworker is very friendly to me in-person (I have been learning more and more from others that he is not friendly about me behind my back). This complaint was the last for me though. I just don't engage with the coworker now on a personal level, just strictly for business purposes. I just don't trust the guy anymore and I have to protect myself from the toxicity.
So, while talking about Bitcoin didn't really get me in trouble, it was a catalyst for a complaint against me.
And, if you are curious, about another week later, the paper wallet was left on my desk. I swept the sats to a hot wallet.
Not going down the rabbit hole when I first heard about Bitcoin. Took me a couple years to really take a serious look.
The channel rebalancing is annoying (when I even care about it). Other than that... I can't complain.
You should run a lightning node. You will learn things and you will be helping.
My inheritance plan currently is... "Hey, wife or mother, if I die suddenly, this is how you get access to my BTC."
If they die with me... then you are all welcome, your stashes are worth a bit more.
With multisig, timelock, and third parties, I am sure there are some clever solutions out there for a proper inheritance plan.
I listened to many podcasts and several were made by Bitcoin-only folks. I learned more and more about the differences between Bitcoin and everything else. The decision to be Bitcoin-only was easy once I learned enough.
As someone that is distrustful of the state, my interest in Bitcoin grew the more I learned about it. Bitcoin is a revolution that will change the world and challenge the current power systems. Crypto in general involves other stuff: centralization, trust, core teams, pre-mines, greed, scams, etc. I'm simply not interested in that.
In general, I wish being anonymous online was easier. Anonymity and privacy is a spectrum. Trying to be perfect is difficult, but there are some easy measures and tools out there that greatly increases one's privacy.
A lot of our systems were built without privacy in mind, or at least prioritized, though. A user of popular Internet sites and apps is going to compromise a lot of their privacy. A user of a common cell phone with a common cell plan will also lose a lot of privacy.
It seems a lot of Bitcoin projects are conscious of privacy and anonymity more so than others. This is a good sign and I am bullish on privacy in the Bitcoin space overall.
It is one thing to fight for your online privacy. Don't forget your other security measures. Find a good community, arm yourself and your loved ones, be a hard target, be ungovernable.
I think governments tend to grow until they get chopped down in one way or another. Bitcoin and Bitcoiners are certainly a threat to state control. Privacy will be important in the future, no matter what happens.
I think the article is good.
If someone values privacy and self-custody the most, then they are obviously going to advocate for financial privacy and the acquisition of KYC-free bitcoin.
Doing that right, or mostly-right, can take a lot of extra work though. It can be intimidating to folks new to Bitcoin or new to operating digitally.
As the article explains, custodial services do play a role in Bitcoin adoption, Wallet of Satoshi being a prime example. So if your priority is Bitcoin adoption (which is certainly a righteous cause), then you are probably going to utilize certain custodial or KYC'd services to help.
I use such services to help onboard people. The services/apps are usually convenient, with simple and clean UXs, and allow people to go the self-custody route when they are ready to.
I also talk shit about regulations, the government, central banks, and the USD to those people too. I hope they become passionate about their privacy and do more research. This is easier to do after being orange pilled in the first place.