Bitcoin Tech Talk #403
Interesting Stuff
AI Hype and Stupidity - This is such a great rant about AI and the companies that are not competent enough to execute on it. As he mentions most of these companies can't create a CRUD app, let alone something much more difficult like AI. The whole thing is driven by the rent-seeking political types who thrive in a fiat economy.
Fanfics - I really had no idea how big fanfiction was such a big thing, but apparently it is. In one sense, I like the whole concept as it's very much a meritocracy and not some gate-kept fiat thing. But at the same time, the self-absorbed nature of it that the article points out indulges something less than the best parts of us.
Growth in Government Jobs - The article is about how the growth in government jobs is a recession indicator, but it's really about more. The spending on the rent-seeking bureaucratic class is doubly negative, not just because of the theft from everyone, but also the inevitable blocking of real useful work. As these bureaucracies grow, they also bring inflation into the economy because the money used to pay them have to be printed.
Low-ranking tennis players - I've always thought there was a huge power law at play in a lot of these solo sports and it turns out that that this is true. As the article goes into the author was on the various tennis tours for a while and found it not just difficult, but lonely. What was fascinating for me was how everyone treated each other according to world rank. Status games are by nature zero-sum and you get zero-sum behavior as seen in the article.
What I'm up to
Roadx - I was on this podcast to talk about my concerns regarding developer arrests and pseudonymity. We talked about taking the moral high ground and how that's the key to giving developers freedom to work. We also talked about mining pools and nation state attacks that we can expect in the future.
TGFB - In a month, I'll be in Nashville to do this annual conference to discuss the intersection of God and Bitcoin. It's definitely not your typical conference and there's typically a lot of people not just from the Christian world and the Bitcoin world, but also the Austrian economics world.
Bitcoin 2024 - Right afterwards, I'll be attending this annual conference to sign my book and do some panels, possibly even a talk.
Nostr Note of the Week
What I’m Promoting
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Bitcoin
Brollup v2 - I wasn't even aware there was a v1 of this project, but it seems that layer two proposals are multiplying rapidly. It leverages BitVM to give you something like a lightning network, but with better properties like no revocation and less state per channel to keep track of. That said, there is far more global state to keep track of, which seems to be the main tradeoff.
Overview of OP_CAT - It's pretty crazy what one op code can do, but OP_CAT enables a lot of things. The post here goes into detail on exactly what the change would be and how it would enable different covenants and through that some form of layer two. It seems there are a lot of interested parties ready to create new software if it comes online, but as I've expressed in the past, I don't think this, or really any covenant proposal will get consensus.
GroupHug - Collaborative batching is here and of course, it's got one of the best names for a service. The idea is to reduce fees, essentially by joining transactions together. It's not coinjoin, exactly, since it's not difficult to do some math to figure out which inputs and outputs belong together. Depending on how big it gets, though, it could act in many ways like we hope CISA to be.
Lightning
ScanBack - The product is still only a demo, but the concept is intriguing. If you want Cashback for purchases, typically, you have to give up a lot of KYC info. Here, you upload a receipt and get cash back using Lightning. It's a nice balance between getting some benefit for spending and privacy.
Routing Profits - This is a post about making money as a Lightning router and it's one of the most detailed I've seen. It goes through all the tricks of the trade in advertising some of your liquidity at low rates to get started and rebalancing to make channels functional. There's a deep discussion on what will get you blacklisted as a channel and routing really does come off as a very competitive scene now.
Getting Networking Correct - Running a server is hard, and lightning nodes are no exception. This is a guide to making sure your network settings are correct from port listening, certificates and of course, macaroons. Part of why running servers is not popular are exactly problems like this which prevent servers from running optimally. I hope consumer level software will abstract this in an easier way going forward.
Economics, Engineering, Etc.
Assange Released - After 12 years and pleading guilty with credit for time served, this OG cypherpunk is back in Australia. It's really unconscionable that this actual journalist has been held in captivity for so long, essentially for embarrassing the establishment, but that's how the fiat system runs. Bitcoin was something he's championed since the early days and it can hopefully help him get back on his feet.
Robbery - The story is of a Florida gang that essentially executed a $5 wrench attack on an owner of cryptocurrencies. It's not entirely clear which cryptocurrencies were targeted, but they got $150,000 from just one robbery. As many things as Bitcoin fixes, this is one of the tradeoffs is that kidnappings and violence against individuals becomes more profitable in a Bitcoin dominated world, even against non-owners as the ransom can be demanded in Bitcoin. Something to think about as you set up your cold storage.
Bitcoin Treasury - Fidelity has an article on why certain corporations are keeping Bitcoin in their treasuries. The report is meant to be an explanation for those that are curious and points toward the fact that many corporations are looking at Bitcoin. I suspect that it'll be another bull market before they pile in, but the smoke is certainly there. Should we get the double whammy of dollar inflation and Bitcoin price increases, I'm sure articles like this will be a lot more read.
Quick Hits
Uganda Bitcoin Adoption - Happening not because of local currency inflation, but because of the National ID requirement needed for many transactions.
Denmark Banning Self-Custody? - Apparently, this is related to the MiCA (Market in Crypto Asset) regulation.
Solohash - If you're curious what your chances are solo-mining, this is a useful calculator based on the latest difficulty.
Mt Gox Coins Being Distributed - Mt Gox coins are finally getting dispersed starting next week.
Fiat delenda est.
My go-to non-hype knowledge based maxi source. Please keep up the going!