Bitcoin Audible

"A volatile currency for volatile times" - Timour Azhari When the banks become the volatile alternative, when your rights and control over what's in "your" bank account are a fleeting daydream, when the banks abuse your trust, take your money, and then try to sell it back to you; a volatile, independent, decentralized digital money, becomes that very thing that "puts your mind at ease." Everything...

Microsoft has a history of funding and developing with open source systems, and has started a new project called ION, trying to make a universal, decentralized system secured by Bitcoin, for managing and proving identities available to the globe. What are the goals and mindset behind this project, and how is Microsoft planning for its future, and the future of the Bitcoin ecosystem? Find out in to...

Is the blockchain a critical tool that creates the power behind Bitcoin, or is it a wasteful and unavoidable byproduct, an exhaust, of the system that secures the most sound money in the world? This was a fascinating Twitter thread by Udi Wertheimer that explores what I find to be an interesting perspective on the role that "the blockchain" plays in the Bitcoin network. With added input and contra...

"If you ask me how much trust is right for the Lightning economy, the answer will always be less ." - Roy Sheinfeld Today we dig into the recently implemented reverse submarine swaps in the breez lightning service. One of the many tools we have for both mitigating, and also building trust in the new economy. How exactly do submarine swaps work, what's a HODL invoice, what might they mean for the f...

Today I get hyped with ck_SNARKs of BTCMedia and have the opportunity to pick his brain for all the exciting stuff happening at the Bitcoin2020 conference in San Fran! With only a month left its time to get serious about it. Stay to the end if you want to hear how you might save some sats on your tickets! Follow CK on Twitter so you don't miss the announcements and incredible things happening with...

"By design, Bitcoin exists beyond governments. […] The architecture of bitcoin is practically purpose-built to resist and immunize any attempts by governments to ban it." - @parkeralewis The next in the Gradually, Then Suddenly series not to be missed. Governments will not ban Bitcoin until it's apparent that it actually presents a threat to their own currencies, when that happens and under that p...

"Decentralization has […] been a vessel for achieving a concession from a centralized body it is protesting. Every decentralization play has followed a simple pattern: protest a market inefficiency, win that protest via a major concession, and then disappear back to fringes of society." - Brandon Arvanaghi What can we learn from the history of decentralized protocols and the huge battles of histor...

"Bitcoin is a movement founded on individual monetary sovereignty, transparency and peer-to-peer auditability enabled by a breakthrough in technology. […] The technology to provide auditability and transparency for bitcoin held in custody has been inherent to the protocol from its inception. However, the industry has been slow to incorporate" - Mauricio Di Bartolomeo Bitcoin, as a new asset class,...

I had an awesome time the other day with Daniel Prince on the new Once BITten Podcast. Diving into some of my own personal history with Bitcoin, what led me here, and the major changes I think we will see in the world over the next couple of decades. This was a really fun conversation and I think you guys will enjoy it. I was Once BITten, & here's my story. Don't forget to check out Daniel's new p...

"Unless you began your Austrian economic education at birth in some unknown Austrian paradise, on this planet at this particular time in human history, I think we can safely say we’re all Keynesians by default." - Brady Swenson @citizenbitcoin Today we read a great little piece on how our economic understandings have become so skewed, why the default has become one of centralized, top down control...

"The Lightning Network is best known for its fast and cheap payments. But the Layer 2 protocol could also offer more privacy than on-chain payments […] the developer thinks that “self-payments” could be an important part of the privacy puzzle." - Aaron Van Wirdum Despite its focus on payments and scaling the Bitcoin system, Lightning may have incredible potential for privacy opportunities and impr...

"Not everyone understands what a pyramid scheme actually is, what the warning signs may be, or why such schemes always fail […] The distinctions should be glaringly obvious, but because bitcoin is complex and the very idea of money is not well understood, it can easily be confused." - Parker Lewis Today we are diving back into the Gradually, Then Suddenly series from Unchained Capital with an exce...

Can you really own Bitcoins? Or do you merely have possession of keys that grant a high probability of exclusive control? A fun short read to close out the week, from the Bitcoin Rabbi on defining what it means to own or possess bitcoin. Check out the original article below on medium and drop some applause, and follow The Bitcoin Rabbi on Twitter! https://medium.com/@thebitcoinrabbi/of-course-you-...

"For the better part of the last decade, the combination of these two practices has given rise to an increasing number of SIM swap attacks ending in the theft of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies." - David Hollerith Another piece from BitcoinMagazine.com , this one by author and podcast host David Hollerith , that breaks down the risks and details of SIM swap attacks and how you may be vulnerable...

"we have nearly 11 years of empirical evidence that the network itself has been holding and transacting bitcoin, but instead of with private key signatures, it’s in exchange for hashed electricity." - Phil Geiger Framing the scarcity of Bitcoin at first seems obvious, but with a closer look, is far more difficult than it would seem. Does the supply actually inflate at all? Does the market price in...

An exciting development form the extraordinary team over at Zap and the Mallers Fam! The seed of the infrastructure inversion has landed, and its' called Strike! Don't miss the details on this incredible development and join the beta if you want to test out and provide feedback for this product over at strike.zaphq.io . This is a project to keep a very close eye on. Follow @jackmallers on Twitter...

"What’s noteworthy about this point is that, upon this particular halving, Bitcoin “inflating” at a roughly 1.8 percent rate annually will nominally — and by then, quite possibly in real terms — be “inflating” at a rate lower than both the Federal Reserve target of 2 percent per year and current, CPI-based estimates of real U.S. inflation of 1.9 percent annually." - Peter C Earle Another great pie...

"Money is an intersubjective problem, and a choice to opt into one monetary medium is an explicit opt out of the other, which in turn causes one network to gain value (and utility) at the direct expense of another." - Parker Lewis Skipping around a little bit in the "Gradually, Then Suddenly" series, we read the most recent (#12) published on the Unchained Capital Blog . No, Bitcoin isn't a startu...

As a follow up to Nic Carter's excellent breakdown of the efficient market hypothesis, and PlanB's piece addressing the market's evaluation of the risks in Bitcoin, I go through the reasons I feel the market both is very unwilling and unconfident about the consequences of the halving, and therefore sees it not as "known information," but more a blind gamble. For diving deeper into the many topics...

"A first reaction could be that it is a great investment opportunity. A better reaction (from an EMH and non arbitrage point of view) would be that it is too good to be true." - PlanB If the efficient market hypothesis requires that known events be priced in, then how could the S2F be a model for Bitcoin's price? When such an obvious and unchanging piece of information is available, shouldn't the...

"So is the halving “priced in” or will it be a catalyst for appreciation? […] I consider it patently absurd that a change in issuance would have been overlooked by the price-setting entities." - Nic Carter You are definitely gonna want to hear Nic's incredibly thorough argument as to why in this article! Breaking down the EMH, its origins, the many different iterations of the concept, & how best t...

"Because of their digital nature, many people still object to bitcoin, refuse to take it seriously or consider it altogether too scary. […] It’s the perfect combination of the advantages from the analog as well as the digital world." - Pascal Hugli Don't miss another great article from Bitcoin Magazine on the incredible change that the digital world is unleashing on our society and where we may fi...

"Not since the gunpowder revolution were ordinary men & women able to stand up to those who chose to oppress or rule them unjustly. Only this time, it can be done in a non-violent method, whereby one can peacefully opt out" - Aleks Svetski Today we read the epic conclusion to our walk through The Bitcoin Times Ed 2 with a piece from the founder, Aleks Svetski , "The Rise of the Individual." For th...

"Unlike Paypal, Venmo, or traditional payment processors, it cannot deplatform you for wrongthink, holding subversive political views, being a sex worker, or legally selling cannabis. Ours is the biggest possible tent. Don’t be distracted by the online discourse. Bitcoin is utterly indifferent to the political views of its users." - Nic Carter Getting close to finishing the amazing collection of a...

"It is therefore a universal truth that all work has a measurable cost of energy transformation due to the very nature of the universe, and the laws of thermodynamics. It is with these laws that we underpin Bitcoin’s Proof-of-Work." - Rory Highside Don't miss the next piece in The Bitcoin Times 2nd Ed about how the Bitcoin system is both constrained and forces cooperation by leveraging the fundame...