Thread - Nostr Hypermedia

been reflecting on the bitcoin for signal campaign. i want to share why we designed it in the way we did. a lot of bitcoin projects try to get people to come to them. 'latest layer 2/ecash/ark/lightning/spark/liquid!' 'simple wallet!' 'frictionless onboarding!' i think that's not always the best approach.

instead of promoting a new app or asking people to meet us, we should try to meet people where they already are and then make the case for bitcoin. millions already use signal everyday so why ask them to go somewhere else for private payments? bring bitcoin to them instead. i want to see more projects try to integrate bitcoin where people already hangout. cashapp nailed this imo. they didn't build a bitcoin app and ask people to come. they integrated bitcoin into a space that people already use to send $ to friends. try to follow that playbook.

Replies (11)

florian florian@slidestr.net 3 months ago

With Signal there is a good match on freedom values. Not sure if a „Bitcoin for YouTube“ or „Bitcoin for Instagram“ campaign work that well.

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npub1050f...r5em 3 months ago

I think we ultimately need to get people used to using Bitcoin the network rather than the asset - fiat to fiat over the Bitcoin network, then fiat to Bitcoin and bitcoin to fiat, and ultimately Bitcoin - Bitcoin (whatever layer - this should be transparent). I think lightning wallets like @strike and seamless merchant integration like @Cash App are the way forward for normies to start using bitcoin without realising and for merchants to adopt due to saving fees. Bitcoin over Signal is great but I hardly have any friends and family on Signal, and hardly know any bitcoiners IRL (partly opsec) - the intersection of these two groups yields a single person in my social group (my brother who doesn’t really care about either all that much!). Maybe I am an outlier…

npub1zqsu...cqrs 3 months ago

what’s your suggestion for how signal could integrate bitcoin with the same privacy guarantees and ease of use?

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calle calle@cashu.me 3 months ago

I wouldn't say that using custodial bitcoin "isn't bitcoin" – I don't see any value in that argument. millions of people use bitcoin through cashapp for example.

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calle calle@cashu.me 3 months ago

or when rumble announces bitcoin tipping for their users but it's custodial, or when miners mine bitcoin but it's custodial. the argument is just to make a point but not to convey any meaningful information.

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calle calle@cashu.me 3 months ago

just custodial bitcoin

npub1zqsu...cqrs 3 months ago

yeah i know think integrating cashu into signal is a really bad idea, no one should build this. you’ve totally changed my mind on this. thank you.

calle calle@cashu.me 3 months ago

Scaling Bitcoin requires self custody IMO, that's a useful technical definition. Similarly, using cashu means using Bitcoin, same as using wallet of satoshi is using Bitcoin, or cashapp. Using a bank account is using Fiat. The bank account isn't fiat either. Same with credit cards. I'm ok if anyone disagreed with that though, since the disagreement has no practical implication. For me this is all sophistry. I don't like arguing about meanings of words with no productive outcome. Let the philosophers do it. As long as we agree on the technical properties of these things, we can find agreement on a deeper level IMO.

calle calle@cashu.me 3 months ago

Breaking the law? That stretches it a bit. Did you make a legal analysis? I know people who did and their lawyers would disagree with you on this.

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Rekit Nakkor d01abcb3eb@stacker.news 3 months ago

So, public cashu mints on bitcoin are providers of bearer tokens, they custody other people assets (after peg-in) and enables asset mixing and anonymous payments. Are you saying that this is legal and does need registration with some authority in the place you live?