‪In response to the linked x post.

X (formerly Twitter)

Zach Herbert 🇺🇸 (@zherbert) on X

I've been hesitating to post something like this at the risk of being canceled, but whatever, here it goes: Back in the earlier Bitcoin days (2013...

There was a proposal in *BIP 300, 301” I think on sidechains. This would allow for experiments, sub economies and data systems. They could use OP_RETURN to anchor to the time chain. The Bitcoin miners would secure the sidechains and benefit from Bitcoin use on those connected chains. Each sidechain is its own system that is decoupled from mainnet. Those sidechains could run these other usecases thereby isolating and protecting Bitcoin from technical and legal risk. The sidechains architecture really seems to be a good approach ‬

🧵0/12 Intro: Hayek’s “Road to Serfdom” warns that central planning distorts subjective values, leading to authoritarianism. In Bitcoin’s mempool debate, this parallels Core’s push for permissive defaults (e.g., expanding OP_RETURN to 100kB) while limiting user configs—essentially centralizing policy. Knots advocates counter with individual mempool sovereignty: Let nodes express personal values, aggregating into organic consensus for resilient, evolving decentralization. Freedom vs. control—let’s dive in. #Bitcoin #Hayek #Mempool 🧵1/12 Echoing Hayek’s “The Road to Serfdom”: Central planning fails because values aren’t a universal checklist—they’re subjective, locked in individual minds. No central authority can juggle the infinite complexities of society without distortion. Enter tyranny disguised as “progress.” #Hayek 2/12 Hayek’s mic drop: Planners pretend they can prioritize everyone’s needs into one tidy hierarchy. But values are personal chaos—your priority is my afterthought. Free markets let prices emerge from this mess. Impose top-down order? You stomp freedom, spark backlash, and slide into serfdom. 3/12 Now, Bitcoin’s mempool showdown: The mempool is your node’s tx waiting lounge, where fees compete for blockspace. Drama peaks with Ordinals/inscriptions spiking fees as “spam.” Bitcoin Core v30 removes old filters, balloons OP_RETURN from ~80 bytes to 100k+, and eyes axing individual node config options. Hayek vibes intensifying. 🚨 4/12 Core’s move: Shift network defaults to permissive, allowing massive data dumps. But here’s the twist—they’re also limiting personal choice by planning to strip away users’ ability to set custom mempool policies. It’s “neutrality” that forces conformity. Sounds like central planning, eh? 5/12 Enter Bitcoin Knots advocates: They champion individual sovereignty. Run Knots, tweak your mempool policy to reflect your values—filter spam, prioritize monetary txs, whatever. Your node, your rules. This is freedom of expression in code: Relay what aligns with you, ignore the noise. 6/12 Why individual mempools = freedom-preserving decentralization: Consensus emerges as the aggregate of all nodes’ policies. Network propagation strengthens for tx types the majority values organically. No dictator needed—evolution via participant selection. Usecases live or die by real demand, not decrees. 7/12 Central mempool planning (à la Core’s defaults + no configs)? That’s censorship wrapped in “efficiency.” Who defines “valid” beyond fees? Today, relax OP_RETURN for data blobs; tomorrow, throttle privacy tools or L2s? Authoritarian control creeps in, eroding Bitcoin’s uncensorable core. Hayek’s serfdom road, blockchain edition. 8/12 Arguments FOR individual sovereignty (Knots-style): • Adaptive resilience: Nodes vote with policies; spam surges? Fees + filters self-correct without hard forks. • True innovation: Organic selection rewards useful usecases (e.g., DeFi over junk data). • Decentralization max: Empowers small nodes—keep costs low by filtering bloat. • Hayek alignment: Disperses subjective values across the network, avoiding central failure. 9/12 More PROS: Natural evolution—tx types gain traction based on aggregate node support, not dev whims. Preserves Bitcoin as money first, data second. Users express values directly, fostering a robust, freedom-centric system. 10/12 Counter-arguments AGAINST (and rebuttals): • “Removing limits enables innovation; filters are censorship!” Rebut: True censorship is forcing defaults without config options. Knots enables choice; Core restricts it. Fees still govern—filters just amplify user voice. • “Neutrality means relay everything valid!” Rebut: Consensus allows it, but policy is local for a reason. Forcing permissiveness centralizes power in defaults, inviting bloat and higher node costs. Hayek: Neutrality without choice = planned chaos. • “Knots is single-maintainer risk!” Rebut: Better than Core’s groupthink. Community can fork/contribute; it’s open-source. Risk is mitigated by alignment with conservative values—proven over years. • “Data will happen anyway!” Rebut: Yes, but easy relay accelerates it. Keep barriers; let market truly decide via effort/cost. Don’t subsidize spam by default. 11/12 In a freedom-preserving decentralized system, mempool sovereignty mirrors Hayek’s market: Emergent order from individual choices trumps top-down tweaks. Core’s path invites serfdom—bloat, centralization, regulatory hooks. Knots? Liberty’s lifeline. Run a node, choose your policy. 12/12 TL;DR: Own your mempool, defend your freedom. Knots aggregates individual values into evolutionary consensus. Core’s “progress” = authoritarian defaults. Hayek would run Knots and HODL. Your move? #Bitcoin #Mempool #Knots #Hayek NOSTR/X crosspost. 🔑🚀

This OP_RETURN debate is taking a toll. The participants of the network are taking sides. Even legends that survived the Blocksize war are finding themselves on opposing sides. This is the network deciding what it will become. What you think matters. What you do matters. If you do t understand the issue, learn about it. Don’t be fooled about personalities and ad hominem attacks. Dig deep and decide what the vision of Bitcoin is for you. Is Bitcoin freedom tech and the most important defense for individual liberty and sovereignty? Do you believe Bitcoin is money? Is that enough? Or is Bitcoin just really cool tech, the first decentralized, censorship resistant network meant for general purpose storage? It openly supporting the storage of arbitrary data (including illegal data) how we want to use freedom tech? The fate of Bitcoin rests with us. We decide. Do we preserve what works, or expand unnecessarily?

Help please. I am building my first Noster app and I’m wondering if there is a good resource for creating and messages on a testnet. Or do I create a throwaway account?

Self custody isn’t just a choice. It’s *freedom*. Every satoshi you control outside of exchanges, wallets you own and keys you guard — that’s sovereignty. No middleman, no blackout risk, no third party that can freeze or confiscate your wealth. Bitcoin’s power flows from *you* holding your private keys. Don’t let someone else hold your life’s savings. The question isn’t “Why self custody?” — it’s “Why NOT?” Get your corn off exchanges #BeYourOwnBank #Bitcoin #SelfCustody #NoTrust #Sovereignty

Damn, sometimes days just feel blue. I remember, to be here is a miracle.

I’m finally being vocal in my skepticism when I hear a friend parroting naive, feel-good socialist talking points. Does it need to be called out or am I just wasting life force energy. I need to understand if I need to take a stand for my kids sake. Thoughts welcome.

Thanx @⚡₿itcoinTeddy⚡

Anyone who doesn’t understand Austrian economics is susceptible to being ideologically compromised by the magical thinking of socialism

I’m a full stack developer looking for opportunities in the bitcoin space. I have eight years experience in both big tech and startups and would like to spend my life for building bitcoin. Please reach out if interested.

It’s crazy to think that this was written almost 1000 years ago.

@Luke Dashjr I’m thinking of launching a shop to sell merch for Bitcoiners. One thought is to create a belt buckle to raise money for Bitcoin Knots development. All proceeds would directly to funding the project. I don’t have a shop yet but would be willing to build one if you are cool with the idea and I get feedback that there is interest. Please all, let me know what you think and if you’d be into this kind of merch. I’m going for subtle advocacy. Gear we can wear to be proud but not dox ourselves in public. Like “If you know, you know” Of course this concept art is a little more explicit. Other ideas are more stealthy and subtle.

🌍 New repo drop:

GitHub

GitHub - tibocin/groundswell

Contribute to tibocin/groundswell development by creating an account on GitHub.

Groundswell is an open-source Bitcoin advocacy project: ✉️ Letter-to-the-editor templates 🧠 Local-level persuasion 🛠️ Easy to edit, free to remix Write. Submit. Spark a shift. Then share your letter back. Your voice. Your paper. Our network. Let’s build the Groundswell. #bitcoin #NOSTR

Bitcoin is anti-fragile, it is a digital organism that has an immune response. The basis for its immunity are the guardians of the network, node operators, miners, developers, and users that enshrine and embody the ethos of freedom. The only way to attack Bitcoin is rot from within. Do not be fooled. The tolerance of spam and the removal of choice for node operators in what Bitcoin Core is doin is equivalent to an attack on the network from within. It is up to us to say “fuck you, take that nonsense somewhere else”. We do that by not running the malware and creating/using options that protect the integrity of the mission of Bitcoin. Thank you @Luke Dashjr @Samson Mow @Matthew Kratter and others being our champions in this matter

Let yourself rest in Awareness that you may never confuse the symbols for the Source, that which appears with that which is.

Spiritually, Bitcoin arises not as salvation, but as an outer echo of inner lawfulness: a symbolic projection of incorruptible self-governance—a kind of dharma in code.

Don’t let a shithole keep you from the Kingdom of God

“That one is blessed, and at peace who doesn’t hope, to whom desire makes no more loans. Nothing coming. Nothing owed” - lalla How might desire be a loan? Desire as a loan implies something borrowed—something not inherently ours, yet compelling us forward with the gravity of a debt. 1. Desire borrows from the future When we desire something, we often project ourselves into a future state—a better body, more freedom, a fulfilled relationship, a successful project. But we don’t own that future. Instead, we take out a sort of psychological loan: “I’ll suffer now, defer satisfaction, and pay interest in the form of anxiety, striving, or longing—because I believe this future payoff will be worth it.” The terms of the loan? Hope. Imagination. Dopamine. Sometimes delusion. 2. Desire borrows from others Many of our desires are inherited or suggested. From culture, advertising, parents, peers, Instagram. René Girard called this mimetic desire—we want what others want because we’ve seen it desired, not because it sprang from our true nature. We take out this loan on someone else’s terms, sometimes waking up one day asking, “Wait, whose life am I living?” 3. Desire requires collateral Every desire makes a demand: What are you willing to give? Time? Attention? Sanity? Like a loan, desire often requires collateral—sometimes even identity itself. You put your current self up as the cost of your becoming. If the desire is real and aligned, the return can be immense. If not, you risk bankruptcy of the soul. 4. What is the interest rate? If we’re unconscious about our desires, the interest can be crippling. We can live in a constant state of “not yet,” where fulfillment is always just out of reach. We pay with our presence. We accrue spiritual debt. This is the samsaric wheel—chasing the next hit. But if we become aware of our desires—really interrogate them—then we can renegotiate the terms. Choose only the loans worth taking. Or sometimes… live debt-free. Desire-less, not in numb detachment, but in presence. In the abundance of what is. 5. Sometimes the lender is Grace There’s another kind of desire, though—the sacred kind. The shakti rising. The kind that doesn’t borrow from the future but flows from the Now. That desire is not lack, but overflow. It’s not a loan but a gift. A signal from the soul, guiding us toward our becoming. The trick is discerning which is which. ⸻ So, desire can be a loan—but it doesn’t have to be. It can be a debt that keeps you running, or a current that lifts you home.

Dance Lalla, with nothing on but air. Sing Lalla, wearing the Sky. Look at this glowing day! What clothes could be beautiful, or as sacred. - Lalla