“Besides the advantage of near-instant payments, there can be privacy improvements to Lightning as well. Unfortunately, there are scenarios where Lightning is not great for privacy. I’d like to unearth some of these. Not as FUD about the network, but to keep people as informed as possible so they may privately use Lightning. Everything in…

This episode is because the previous read by Steve Barbour deserved a Guy’s Take. Before we change topics to privacy in the episode coming later this week, “The State vs Bitcoin” deserves a solid shake down. A Guy’s Take episode on Read 615. Link to the original article by Steve Barbour: https://sgbarbour.medium.com/the-state-vs-bitcoin-dbc044f23ea6 You can earn…

“As with freedom and oppression, Bitcoin and State money may exist in a perpetual tug of war between ideals. Where State money relies on compulsory participation, Bitcoin offers completely voluntary entry and exit and thus represents the antithesis of State money. In this essay I will explore the mechanisms in which Bitcoin may resist State…

“Much more to say. This is just a starting point, but I’m interested in Bitcoin for its potential to reorient civilization to an existence rooted in truth. If adoption comes at the cost of that, all the NGU euphoria means nothing and most of what gives Bitcoin value will be lost.” – SovrynMindset Michael brings…

“…This purpose flounders, however, if their own evangelists and the community at large fails to lay the groundwork and impetus to push ever deeper. As a community, we fail when, in chasing the mainstream, we lose sight of the original spirit in which Bitcoin was created and bootstrapped.” – Ariel Deschapell To kick off adversarial…

“On a medium-term basis, it is time to back up the John Deere excavator and scoop up as much gold and Bitcoin as you can afford. This is it, the start of a monetary regime change. Nothing lasts forever, and the days of Petro / Eurodollar supremacy are over. The phase shift will be chaotic,…

“Thus, given enough time and popularity, every movie, every song, and every document will be available to the general public for free. The nature of information does not allow for another outcome. Hence the saying: information wants to be free. Although trying to create something that can’t exist—information that can’t be copied—is paradoxical in itself,…

“In sum, the U.S. government has shown that — through the GFC, repo spike crisis in 2019 and pandemic crisis in 2020 — it is willing to do anything to keep interest rates down: start an experimental QE program to buy long-dated treasuries and subprime mortgages; nationalize the repo markets; and even nationalize the corporate…

“As detailed in Saifedean Ammous’s “The Fiat Standard,” in November 1914 the British government “issued the first war bond, aiming to raise 350 million pounds from private investors at an interest rate of 4.1% and a maturity of ten years. Surprisingly, the bond issue was undersubscribed, and the British public purchased less than a third…

“Aspiring Republican politicians and conservative opinionators love talking in darkened tones about the malevolence of elites. And yet, for all the fingers wagged and pixels rendered, conservatives have largely ignored the most economically significant way in which elites actually _have_ rigged the game in their favor. The widening gap between elites and the rest of…