Bitcoin Tech Talk #313
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What I've been working on
Dictator’s Handbook - I enjoyed this book as it was a masterclass in realpolitik and game theory of governance. The main message of the book is that you can’t get people to do the right thing just by beating them over the head with it. You have to ultimately incentivize them, either through increased power or increased wealth. The part that I don’t think the authors fully appreciated was fiat money’s role in enabling theft by dictators and democracies alike. Still, it’s well worth reading and it’ll give you an appreciation of how Bitcoin makes the depressingly destructive governance as described in the book obsolete.
Gold Wars - This was a book I started before Dictator’s Handbook and finished after and it’s got a lot of explosive allegations against how gold price is manipulated. The main lesson for me was that custodians can and do abuse the trust that’s given to them through rehypothecation, swaps and other financial games. Gold’s physicality is ultimately its downfall as securing it is so precarious and prone to error. The resulting centralization has meant that bankers have been able to manipulate the price in many different ways. Worth reading, even if the author seems completely ignorant of Bitcoin.
The Case for Children - The article should be dropping later today on Bitcoin Magazine where I make the case that there’s been a 100-year debasement of the family and specifically a devaluation of children. This one hits pretty close to home for me as I’ve seen the country of my birth go from a relatively high birth rate to below 1 per woman. Fiat money, as you would expect is to blame and I believe Bitcoin will help us properly value children.
What I'm up to
Italy - I’ve been in Rome, the eternal city, the place that had over a million residents two thousand years ago! I’m appreciating the ancient architecture, the genius art and the general European vibe of the city. I’ll be doing a little more travel visiting Naples and Florence in the coming weeks and I look forward to seeing those places as well. If you’re in any of these places and have recommendations, please feel free to email me by replying to this newsletter.
laBitConf - The Latin American Bitcoin Conference is up for its 10th edition in Buenos Aires! There’s nothing quite like this conference anywhere in the world and as usual, it’ll be a lot of fun. I also hear Buenos Aires is a wonderful city and I’m looking forward to seeing the place.
FROST - I’m studying this protocol as it’s got a lot of interesting properties. You can get rid of the interactivity requirement if you generate private keys in a particular way at the beginning. This is a very desirable property for advanced users as MuSig’s interactivity requirement makes creating the signature too expensive. I’ll be working on this in the buidl-python repository if you’re interested.
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What I’m Shilling
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