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John Dennehy
jdennehy@nostrplebs.com
npub1gaxa...985l
founder of My First Bitcoin / Based in El Salvador 2021-2026 / currently based in NY / independent, open-source Bitcoin education will change the world
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JohnDennehy 3 months ago
First trip of 2026! On my way to the first international meetup of @My First Bitcoin tonight in Medillin, Colombia then onto the Bitcoin Medillin Conference LFG! image
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JohnDennehy 3 months ago
2025 was full of change for me--both professional & personal One big one on the personal side, after more than two decades as a vegetarian, I ate meat again I become vegetarian as an act of protest against the factory farm system and those feelings have not changed. Something else did though. For most of the time I've been vegetarian I led a nomadic life, living in a variety of different cultures around the world. I met other vegetarians who told me they would occasionally eat meat while traveling because they saw it as a way to bond with new people in a new place. I always rejected that notion I understand the concept differently now I eat most of my meals with my son and we share everything. Well, for awhile we would share everything expect for meat Starting a few months ago, I decided that we would just share everything, no exceptions. Fatherhood is a wonderful journey that reprioritizes everything It also makes me appreciate my own parents so much more. My father became a vegetarian shortly after I did. When we would eat at restaurants we would often share plates. It's only through my own experience eating with my son that I realized that my father changed his diet, at least in part, to be closer with me
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JohnDennehy 3 months ago
Relaxing at the top of San Salvador volcano πŸŒ‹ image
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JohnDennehy 3 months ago
I have had the privilege to travel to much of the world, including places such as Venezuela & Iran It's such an important lesson to realize that people are nuanced for sure, but generally good, everywhere hate the govt, but love the people
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JohnDennehy 3 months ago
"Whenever a new theory challenges the dominant worldview, it's natural to seek to reestablish the original order.' From: Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned
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JohnDennehy 3 months ago
Venezuela in 2026 rhymes with Iraq in 2003 An unpopular dictator leading a nation with lots of oil is overthrown by the US military The US occupation in Iraq led to civil war, thousands of deaths and the rise of ISIS. It was an unmitigated disaster "The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting"
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JohnDennehy 3 months ago
In 2009 I took a boat from Barcelona, Venezuela to an island in the Caribbean. The beach looked back over the turquoise waters & onto the continent, where the Andes mountains began, seemingly rising right out of the sea It was beautiful Wishing for the best for Venezuela today
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JohnDennehy 3 months ago
'From El Salvador to the World' Earlier this month we closed the @My First Bitcoin office in El Salvador. This was one of the final steps in transitioning what had begun as a local project in El Salvador in 2021 into an international movement. It was bittersweet--the future shines as bright as it ever has for the project, but there were some great memories in that house We opened the house in May 2022 and since then it has served as a kind of everything house for us. The second floor hosted our node and important documents, but the main purpose was for living. At all times one or two people lived there permanently and visiting staff from the far corners of El Salvador then the world would often stay temporarily. Downstairs was an office, co-working space and a school, depending on the day. It was also a social space where plenty of students made their first bitcoin transactions, buying discounted food and drink with sats. My favorite space was the backyard. There was a waterfall into a self-sustaining pond full of life. It's also where we painted a mural of the world, coloring each new nation orange as our educators network expanded. I spent many long hours, the peaceful sound of the pond behind and the map of the world in front of me, thinking through our ambitious vision of reimagining human potential via bitcoin education. When the mural was first painted, in 2023, the world was almost entirely green. As time progressed it became ever more orange. The tagline at the bottom predicted the future years in advance: 'From El Salvador to the world' 2026 is going to be a hell of a year. LFG! image
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JohnDennehy 3 months ago
My earlist childhood mememory is discoving Santa isn't real and being enraged with my parents for lying to me I plan to never lie to my children about Santa. This was the last Christmas where they are too young to even ask (oldest is 2) Any parents with some fresh experience with this, this year that they can share some best practices from?
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JohnDennehy 3 months ago
Had a great time chatting with @npub1rxys...hnp8 The IMF was the enemy yesterday The IMF is the enemy today The IMF will be the enemy tomorrow Know your enemy
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JohnDennehy 3 months ago
The IMF loan to El Salvador is delayed The loan was scheduled to be disbursed over a 40 month period, with a review before each disbursement. This is the first official news of the delay, but this review and disbursement had been due months ago Lots of possible reasons, though this does clarify one pending question: Chivo has not yet been sold (the original deadline had been July 31, 2025). It's unlikely that alone would cause a delay though Presuming this is only a delay, it will also mean that the original 40 month period will be extended along with it's conditions image
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JohnDennehy 4 months ago
Huge gratitude to Smashtoshi and all of the 128 artists who contributed to the Bitcoin History art book It is truly a masterpiece And not only have they put in tremendous effort to document the history of bitcoin, they are also focused on preserving the future by making independent bitcoin education the beneficiary of the auction They are the heroes we need Just three hours left to bid!
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JohnDennehy 4 months ago
The Bitcoin History book auction, which ends in 6 hours and benefits independent bitcoin education, is incredibly important Why? Education is always captured by whoever funds it, this is a big part of why education as a whole is broken and teaches us what to think, rather than how to think (and why financial literacy is so low around the world) At @My First Bitcoin we are creating a proof-of-concept for a new way forward by rejecting all government and corporate money. We are funded by the community which currently manifests itself mostly via grants and individual donations but we need to continue to expand that and auctions such as this are showing us the way We need more auctions that benefit independent bitcoin education. We need more initiatives that shave off a percent of profit and funnel it into something the community both controls and benefits from (such as a bitcoin ETF fees to @OpenSats ) Introductory bitcoin education needs to create different funding models to create the right incentives. It's still early enough that we can entrench new norms--otherwise we risk falling into the same trap that fiat education has and thus blunting some of the revolutionary potential of bitcoin There's 6 hours left on this auction. Let's blow this up. Tell your friends, place a bid, share this Let's fucking go!
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JohnDennehy 4 months ago
throwback to a barefoot panel I did last month at @reclaiminghealthsv (it was about the connection between sound money & sound health, we all just happened to be barefoot) more barefoot panels at conferences! image
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JohnDennehy 4 months ago
In two days an incredible auction ends I have seen this book and its hard to overstate how special it is. Let me highlight one cool aspect--the book itself is covered in orange bull leather. BULL, not cow. The entire project is full of these incredible details The limited edition books will be extremely special and will retail for $4,600, but the real gem is the 1 of 1 first edition. That orange bull leather will be inside a case made out fossil oak wood that was already 3,000 years old when Jesus was born. Auctions are tough to predict, esp if art, but to say this is priceless would be an understandment. I'd expect it go for well over a bitcoin, but who knows, maybe someone gets a deal or maybe theres a bidding war (and independent bitcoin education gets a windfall). In any event, check out the page linked in the first comment to learn more image
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