Was doing some research on global adoption and came across this article by Reuters on El Salvador in Feb 2024. The title itself already tells you a lot. Little to no data on the actual returns in fiat terms as of today. Mainly cherry picked anecdotes. Any limited data has no benchmarking against peers or past performance of the country. The worst part is knowing that most people will only read the title, and the word choices will successfully invoke all sorts of negative impressions about bitcoin on them. Obviously an intentional attack but gotta admit they played the emotion game well. We need to spread more positive and good as well. #ElSalvador #Bitcoin https://www.reuters.com/technology/short-cash-el-salvador-doubles-down-bitcoin-dream-2024-02-02/

Proof-of-work is meritocracy; proof-of-stake is aristocracy #Bitcoin #PoW

I know the institutions’ stacks doesn’t affect the protocol or network stability, but I can’t help but wonder if they could be planning some coordinated dumps-and-purchases to increase price volatility to shake off the weak hands and reduce confidence for the not-yet convinced. Those who are still early in the btc journey will still use the BTC/Fiat pair to determine its potential. But what if the institutions betray each other i.e. A, B and C agreed to sell together, but only C sold while A and B keep stacking. Another form of game theory? Or I’m just overthinking things. Fun thought though

Maybe a controversial take but my potential co-founder and I were having a discussion around jobs. We both agreed that a significant portion of jobs (especially white collar jobs) that currently exist are actually not necessary. They provide little to no value to the company or to society. I could relate from my previous job. The owner was basically running a private welfare company. Almost nobody gets fired (unless you commit some crime). So you get a bunch of C-players staying in the company. And we think its partly because the fiat system requires people to commit to these "dead end" jobs to make ends meet. Or because public companies need to grow at all cost to satisfy stakeholders. So we were wondering: what happens if we truly enter an age of abundance and more people were free from the 9-5 jobs? 1) Would most people go crazy and be completely unproductive like playing games all day long? 2) Or would most people find time to learn and discover themselves, maybe commit more to entrepreneurship and the likes; finding out what gives them meaning in life and get really good at doing those things? Of course its not a simple 2-case scenario, but thats the general direction we think things will go. Hopefully the latter scenario dominates.

I’m fairly convinced memes are the most effective way of sending your key messages across nowadays. Keep memeing ladies and gents. View quoted note →

What are your go to analogies/reasonings in explaining a deflationary world to friends & family? Feels like my explanation is still seems too "far fetched" for most people around me. Inspired by Grant's tweet

Any other cultures or practices that treat gold as "generational savings"? In Asia a big practice is to for the groom's parents to buy gold for the bride. And the mentality there is always "you can pawn it in the future if you need money". The gold my wife got is just sitting there collecting dust. Literally HODLing the gold. Imagine doing that but with bitcoin. With all the obvious benefits. Just needs consistent messaging and education. Looking to do something there for the Asian + Southeast Asia scene soon. We are usually 3-5 years behind.

Always wondered about the skepticism from critics or that “Bitcoin is a cult”. I mean, if taken to the extreme, it could be interpreted that way. But what’s more important to me is the underlying values of Bitcoin that community members stand for. Individual sovereignty? Check Financial sovereignty? Check Transparency and privacy? Check Aren’t countries or religions unifying people based on a set of values / principles as well?

I don't know a lot of senior people who play golf but goddamn Trump plays darn well for a man his age. Consistent drives, solid putts leading to solo birdie and eagle? Surprisingly entertaining video. Bryson a monster with the driver as usual.

Interesting article shared by @jimmysong

You probably don't need a hardware wallet

Some counter-arguments against the overly present HW wallets in bitcoin.

I mean, he's not wrong y'know? Arguably the most important aspect of secure storage is still your seed phrase

Seriously, what a great explanation of the importance of PoW. Great analogy using Zuck and papa Powell. Great one from @jack mallers and kudos to the organizers

Will eventually write an article on why I think Bitcoin is so hard to understand. Hard to comprehend a form of sound money that is decentralized yet more portable, divisible (and arguably immutable) than gold. Gold is a big thing in Asia so will tackle from that angle. I mean, it took me 7 years to be fully onboard Bitcoin. Went through the whole buying for numbers go up phase as a college student, trading & setting stop loss phase when I started working, before reaching the hodl phase today. Managed to orange pill my mom but its more because she is supporting my initiative to go completely into bitcoin, rather than her own understanding of bitcoin. One step at a time. Feedback and comments welcomed:

Kian Jer | Substack

I shed light on Bitcoin’s development and potential as a cornerstone of the future financial system through the lenses of energy, money, and tech...

Images taking forever to upload on Primal. Just me or?

Still can’t wrap my head around the internet and social media Humans have lived in enclosed tribes and countries for millennia. Over the last decade you’re suddenly connected to hundreds of millions if not billions of people. What does this do to the human brain? Reminds me of Kurzgesagt’s video on the internet is worse than ever and Huberman’s recent podcast with Haid on social media impact on kids. Crazy times we live in