Join me today for Episode 1057 of Bitcoin And . . .
Topics for today:
- Europe Woodshed's The Citizenry
- Minnesota's Bitcoin Bill
- Brazilian Salaries, Now in Bitcoin
- The HyperLiquid Whale
#Bitcoin #BitcoinAnd
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Articles:
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/politics/ecb-prepping-the-ground-for-digital-euro-launch
https://cointelegraph.com/news/minnesota-senator-miller-bitcoin-act-skeptic-to-believer
https://decrypt.co/310576/bitcoin-liquidity-drying-up-as-market-adjusts-to-sharp-correction
https://bitcoinnews.com/adoption/brazil-law-salary-in-bitcoin/
https://www.theblock.co/post/346979/infamous-hyperliquid-leverage-trader-closes-520-million-short-btc-position-netting-9-4-million-profit
- https://www.cnbc.com/futures-and-commodities/
- https://dashboard.clarkmoody.com/
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https://www.nobsbitcoin.com/key-dates-set-for-samourai-wallet-developers-pre-trial-motion-schedule/
https://lightning.news/direct-debit-nwc-bitcoin-payments/
https://atlas21.com/lightstack-self-custodial-lightning-nodes-with-phoenixd/
https://www.nobsbitcoin.com/opensats-announces-10th-wave-of-bitcoin-grants-support-for-developer-organizations/
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[00:00:02]
David Bennett:
It is 08:55AM Pacific Daylight Time. It's the March 2025. This is episode ten fifty six. No. Is it ten fifty six or ten fifty seven? Hold on here. I never can remember. It's ten fifty seven of Bitcoin and the ECB is about to woodshed itself. I've never seen I've never seen anybody so interested in killing their own credibility with their citizenry than the European Union. It is amazing. Ever since November 1993, the EU has been hell bent on making damn sure that nobody in their, you know, nobody is happy at the in the European Union. It's it's it's amazing, and we'll talk about why that's going to happen. Minnesota senator has proposed a Bitcoin act, so Minnesota is on deck. And then we've got some Bitcoin liquidity news.
And this is gonna be a little interesting because as I've been saying, there's not ever a problem with liquidity. And I just feel that it's necessary to bring you the other side of that story because I am I am not the only person that has an opinion on Bitcoin's liquidity. So I'm going to tell you from somebody else's viewpoint about Bitcoin liquidity. Brazil is definitely gonna be in the news. They've got, something on deck for themselves involving Bitcoin, and the hyper liquid bear successfully closed his trade. Yeah. That's what caused the problems over the last couple of days. And then we're going to talk about the samurai wallet developers pretrial and then some news enlightening concerning, Nostril WalletConnect and something called Lightstack.
Can't wait for that one. And then OpenSats announces their tenth. Count them one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. Waves of Bitcoin grants and support for developer organizations. But first, let's go over to the evil central bureau, the ECB, where they're prepping the ground for the digital euro launch. Efraat Fenigesen Fenigesen? Yeah. Fenigesen. Efraat Fenigesen is writing this one for Bitcoin magazine. The European Central Bank, the ECB, is laying the groundwork for the probable launch. The pro love it. The probable it's probably gonna happen, ladies and gentlemen. The probable launch of its wholesale and retail central bank digital currency, the CBDC, also known as the digital euro.
And Christine Lagarde, president of the ECB and felon in France, shared this update at their latest press conference, quote, president Lagarde stressed that the digital euro is more relevant than ever, the ECB tweeted. Lagarde emphasized that the digital euro, the EU's CBDC solution, is set to launch in October of this year, provided that it passes the legislative phase involving key stakeholders, including the European Commission, the parliament, and the council. Notably absent from this process is, you know, the public, the European public, despite the significant impact this initiative will have on their daily lives. Let me pause right there so that I I I can fully embrace what Efret is saying here.
There's there's no public comment on this for the European citizenry. They don't get a say. They don't get a chance to say, hey, you know, here's my my reservations about this digital euro thing. No. No. This is just gonna be foisted upon them by people they can't even really vote for at this point. The European Union needs to go away. It was an experiment that has spiraled out of control, and this this again, I'm gonna say it again. I I said it on Noster. I'm starting to really understand here that World War two, and this is probably goes back to World War one, but I'm just gonna say World War two, everybody hated Hitler.
And you're gonna go, oh god. He's gonna say that he's gonna start being a holocaust denier and and that Hitler was a good guy. No. No. I'm not. Hitler was not a good guy. Hitler was batshit insane, and he killed a whole bunch of people. No. That this is as far as I'm concerned, the holocaust did happen, and Hitler's not a good guy. Okay? But I'm having a feeling that the rest of Europe was labeling Hitler as the evil one because he beat them to the punch. He beat Spain to the punch. He beat France to the punch. He beat, you know, The UK to the punch. He beat the everybody that was in that's in Europe was jealous because he actually did the thing that all of them have been wanting to do. And the reason I say this is because I've been looking at what the European Union has been doing over the past.
Well, they really ramped up with COVID. But even before that, it was pretty bad. But, man, with COVID, under the fog of stupid, which is probably what I'll name this show, they just started wholesale destruction of their citizenry. And that leads me to believe that they've always had a bent of just mind numbing control over the population. But Hitler beat them to the punch. He is the one that rolled out the Panzer tanks first. He is the one that went into Czechoslovakia First. He is the one that actually did the fucking thing that all of the European nations actually wanted to do.
And this is why The United States probably needs to dump out of NATO so that Europe can just go back to war like they've always been doing. NATO has been basically just like a kindergarten teacher making sure that the children don't fight. All they've ever wanted to do was fight. And I think that they were saying, oh, Hitler's the bad guy because well, not because he was such a bad guy as much as they're all bad people, and none of them had the guts to actually move their tank and their forces and their armies across borders and commit to taking over Europe. All of them wanted to do it. You're seeing it with the ECB.
It's just that Hitler actually pulled the trigger first. And they were really pissed at him, and they were like, oh, he's trying to kill us all, and he was. But you would have done the same thing. Europe, you would have done the same thing. Your attitude looks exactly like that of Hitler at this point, and Christine Lagarde is point man on this entire new push for this crap going on in Europe. So why is the digital euro more relevant than ever? Well, because she wants to kill you. Anyway, could it be linked to Ursula von von der Leyen's recent rearm Europe announcement, which proposes the creation of a EU army, which isn't supposed to happen under NATO, but whatever.
The initiative requires an estimated €800,000,000,000 in funding, Money that the EU does not have. The options? Extracting it from EU member states and their citizenry or via printing fresh funds through the ECB. Either way, it's time to warm up the ECB's money printer. Money printer go brrr. Furthermore, the European Union has introduced the, quote, savings and investments union aiming to redirect €10,000,000,000,000. That's trillion with a t, not billion with a b or million with an m. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. €10,000,000,000,000 in unused savings from citizens to finance military growth and bolster Europe's defense industry. Let's pause again.
Can somebody do the math and add up all those zeros that it takes to get to 10,000,000,000,000 and then divide it by how many citizens are in the EU and come up with a number of how much savings is going to be taken away from them? And I will bet you, if you do that math, and I have not done the math, but I will bet you, if you do that math, you will find out that they are presuming that the amount of savings the EU citizenry has in their bank accounts is way larger than what it actually is. €10,000,000,000,000. And they want to steal it by calling it unused savings.
Jesus my god almighty. Quote, we're turning private savings into much needed investment, tweeted Vonderlion. If this hasn't shocked you already, I'll try to clarify. This is a clear violation of private property rights and an implicit confiscation of European citizens' wealth while bluntly using their funds in the e as the EU sees fit, including funding a military industrial complex without even asking them. If the EU is accelerating toward totalitarian collectivism, as this statement suggests in the CBDC would be a powerful tool, enabling tighter control over Europeans' money with features like an on off switch and programmable abilities.
Christine Lagarde recently campaigned at the European Parliament arguing that the digital euro is necessary to reduce the EU's dependence on foreign payment solutions. European banks must innovate payment methods, but the EU's primary concern isn't just reliance on tech giants like Google Pay or Apple Pay, it's the potential for widespread adoption of decentralized global protocols like Bitcoin. The ECB is observing geopolitical trends, noting that The United States is embracing crypto, Bitcoin, and stablecoins technologies that pose a risk to centralized control. Unsurprisingly, they are choosing a different path. According to Reuters, quote, Eurozone banks need a digital euro to respond to US president Donald Trump's push to promote stablecoins as part of a broader crypto strategy.
ECB board member, Piero Ciprione, reinforced this stance stating, quote, the solution further disintermediates banks as they lose fees, they lose clients. That's why we need a digital euro, end quote. Bottom line, Lagarde's and von der Leyen's recent agendas are aimed to drive more centralized control while strengthening the EU hierarchy, governance, and incentive structures that has always been their role. The ECB recently published findings from a survey on consumer attitudes towards retail CBDC conducted among 19,000 Europeans across 11 eurozone countries, and the key takeaways include, number one, lack of interest.
Most Europeans are not interested in the digital euro as existing payment methods already serve their needs well. Number two, the Europeans are open to propaganda. And while public interest is low, the survey found that Europeans are receptive to video based education and training. The ECB study suggests that CBDC related videos could drive widespread adoption by reshaping consumer beliefs. This is propaganda. This is the role of propaganda, ladies and gentlemen. The report states, quote, consumers who are shown a short video, providing concise and clear communication about the key features of the digital euro are substantially more likely to update their beliefs, which increase their immediate likelihood of adopting it, end quote.
No wonder the ECB has ramped up its digital euro video content since late twenty twenty four, and then she gives an example of such by posting a video to Twitter, and I'm not gonna play it. Number three, preference for existing payment methods. Quote, Europeans have a strong preference for existing payment methods and see no real benefit in a new type of payment system, end quote. While this finding sounds like a positive pushback, it can serve as a precursor to a tactic of technological integration's quote, if you can't beat them, join them tactic, similar to the Chinese eCNY retail CBDC.
A recent Euromoney article highlighted eCNY's integration, that's the e yuan or whatever they called it in China, integration with China's most popular apps like Didi, Minuchin, CTRIP, WeChat Pay, and Alipay, a move that facilitated its widespread adoption. Despite early struggles, eCNY now boasts a 80,000,000 personal wallet users and a cumulative transaction value of 1,000,000,000,000, that's trillion with a t, dollars. I recently explored this topic in-depth with Roger Huang recently on my podcast. On the wholesale CBDC front, the EU is experimenting with distributed ledger technology to interconnect financial institutions across Europe and beyond. This follows exploratory work conducted by the Eurosystem between May and November of twenty twenty four, their trials involve 64 participants including central banks, financial market players, the DLT platform operators conducting over 50 separate experiments.
Lagarde insists that the digital euro is a form of cash, gaslighting and misleading, uninformed Europeans about the risks of CBDCs. Permission based CBDCs such as the digital euro are prone to micro levels of control through expiry dates, geofencing, and programmability. If Europeans don't recognize these dangers, they won't resist the digital euro. By framing it as digital cash, the ECB ensures smoother public acceptance with little to no public fuss. To be clear, cash itself is fiat currency centrally controlled, easily debased, and prone to inflation. Every time the issuer expands the money supply, the citizens suffer from declining purchasing power, essentially being robbed by the state.
While ordinary citizens are bound by the rule of law, elites often evade consequences. A prime example is Christine Lagarde, who, if you did not know, was found guilty of negligence for approving a massive taxpayer funded payout to controversial French businessman Bernard Tappe. However, she avoided a jail sentence. The Guardian reported in 2016, a French court convicted the head of the International Monetary Fund, that's Christine Lagarde, and former government minister who had faced a €15,000 fine and up to one year in prison. But it decided she shouldn't be punished and that the conviction would not constitute a criminal record, and the IMF gave her its full support, end quote.
Wow. Despite public disinterest, the ECB and other central banks will push forward with their CBDCs to maintain an illusion of public involvement involvement that will conduct surveys and create engagement tools. But ultimately, the digital euro will be integrated into existing payment methods and consumer apps just as China did with the e c n y. This strategy will drive adoption even without direct public enthusiasm. We are, after all, playing the game of democracy. Right? Geopolitical analyst Alex Crainer recently tweeted in response to Lagarde and von der Leyen's acceleration of CBDC efforts, quote, this is excellent news. Christine Lagarde and Ursula von der Leyen never took on something they didn't completely mess up.
I hope they continue their excellent performance. Godspeed. Stay tuned as I continue to track central bank's moves towards CBDC implementation. Wow. Efrit really nailed it. I like her a lot. She's she's a great writer, but she pulls no punches in this. And this goes right back. If you if you didn't believe me before I started reading the the great guts and feathers of this article about the fact that Europe was pissed off at Germany, not because Hitler was evil, but because they beat him to the punch, then the rest of that article should at least make you pause and go, wait a minute. Maybe David's right.
Maybe there wasn't a clear cut format of evil and good, and the good was fighting against the evil. No. The evil that was already in Europe was fighting against itself because that particular evil didn't like the other evil and was really pissed off because the other evil pulled the trigger first. And that's why they came crawling on their belly like a reptile to The United States begging us to get into World War two. And if it hadn't have been for the Japanese bombing the fuck out of Pearl Harbor, we might not have done that. And I'm sure that there are some some of you out there that are like, no. We still would have done it, and here's why why why. I'm not going to disagree with you. I'm just saying that if I just look at it from pleb level history class in the eighth grade in a United States public school system, that's probably where I would go. There's a whole other raft of bullshit that goes all along with the Pearl Harbor thing and Japan attacking and all of that. The Pacific Theater is completely different than the European theater, and I'm not suggesting that chicanery didn't go on there either. I'm just trying to focus on what happened in Europe.
None of these people are good people is what I'm getting at. Spain wasn't like some goody goody two shoes, and France wasn't some goody goody two shoes. All the other European Unions or all the other European countries that were, you know, south and and slightly east of Germany. No. No. No. No. No. No. They weren't good. And germ and Germany wasn't evil. They were all evil. They were just pissed that Hitler pulled the trigger first. Now up down to Minnesota or up to Minnesota. Actually, for me, it's over to Minnesota. Minnesota center senator has proposed the Bitcoin act after going from a skeptic to a believer according to Syrian Lions out of Cointelegraph, Minnesota, state senator Jeremy Miller has introduced the Minnesota Bitcoin act, which he drafted after completely changing his mind on Bitcoin, quote, as I do more research on cryptocurrency and hear from more and more constituents, I've gone from being highly skeptical to learning more about it to believing in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
See, it's the same path over and over and over again. Anyway, Miller said that the bill aims to promote prosperity for Minnesotans by allowing the Minnesota State Board of Investment to invest state assets in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Several other US states have introduced similar Bitcoin buying bills. Under Miller's bill, Minnesota state employees would be able to add Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to their retirement accounts. I'm gonna say it again because that one's important. This is reaching down almost to retail. Minnesota state employees, like the woman that sits behind the desk at the Department of Motor Vehicles that pisses you off because she's being so slow getting your license to you. Yeah. She's going to be able to add Bitcoin and, of course, shitcoins to her retirement account.
That's a big deal. It would also give residents the options to pay state taxes and fees with Bitcoin. Not so much of a big deal. But Colorado and Utah already accept crypto for tax payments, and Louisiana allows it for state services. Investment gains from Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies would also be exempt from Minnesota state income tax. In The United States, up to $10,000 paid to the state can be deducted from federal taxes under the state and local tax deduction, but any amount beyond that is subject to both state and federal tax obligations. The increasing number of US states proposing Bitcoin reserve bill follows senator Cynthia Lummis' July strategic Bitcoin reserve act, which directs the federal government to buy 200,000 Bitcoin annually every year for five years totaling 1,000,000 Bitcoin.
And then let's see. They go on to talk about Lummus again. Yeah. And that's it. They just end up with they just end on Lummus. And this is really a story about Minnesota. And as I look at the Bitcoin laws map, there are now wow. Almost the entirety of The United States has some form, some form or fashion of a Bitcoin bill or Bitcoin and cryptocurrency bill sitting on their desk. This is amazing. It's like 39 states out of the 50. Yeah. 39 states. My god. That spread like a virus. Holy smokes. Now the circle p is open for business, and today it is Shishi.
That's right. Shishi. He's got comfrey for sale. And if you don't know what comfrey is, it's a plant. You want it in your garden. It's deep rooted. It mines minerals and brings it up to its leaves. You cut the leaves off. You can make medicine out of it. You can make salves out of it. It does all kinds of neat stuff. It's high in protein, so it makes a pretty good animal feed as long as you're feeding some other stuff to the animals. It it it does great. But what's really fabulous about this thing is its healing powers. That's one of the reasons why it was called Knit Bone. Now if you want to hear an entire episode of Bitcoin and talking only about ComFree, it's episode 726.
Seven hundred and 20 six. The URL to that particular episode will be in the show notes. You can get one full root of comfrey for $20. So what do you do with it? You shove it in the ground. You dig a hole. You plant the root. You cover it up, and you water it, and you wait. And eventually, you'll get a conferee plant. Make sure that conferee plant is where you want it because it is permanent. It comes up year after year. It is highly productive. And if you chop all the leaves off and, like, throw it into your compost pile or you can just drop it wherever it is and let it just become mulch, it'll will just kind of, like all those minerals that were mined out of the soil will just become part of the topsoil and be available for all the other plants. And then all of a sudden, the conferee plant will grow back a whole new set of leaves. We're talking, like, pounds pounds of leaves at a time.
I've cut conferee plants eight times in a single season, and I could have cut it 14 if I had wanted to, but I didn't. Anyway, so you can get one full root and we'll give you one plant for $20. You can get root cuttings, which are smaller roots, for a buck a piece or you can just buy the one full root for 20 and then cut it into 20 different pieces. Each piece, if you get a piece about the size of half of your thumb, that is enough root tissue to throw into a hole in the ground to create a brand new comfrey plant. You're gonna want comfrey in your soil. Reach out to Shishi.
You can get him at [email protected], or you can go and get his, in pub that will be also in the show notes. Make sure you tell him that you heard about his comfrey here on the Circle p in the Bitcoin and podcast because she she is one of the earliest vendors that I featured in the Circle p. If you're not selling your goods and services for Bitcoin, you're not in the Circle p. Let's move on to Bitcoin liquidity. It's drying up, apparently. Now like I said yesterday, Bitcoin liquidity doesn't ever have a problem. So let's see what Sebastian Sinclair is saying about the fact that Bitcoin liquidity seems to be drying up as markets adjust to a sharp correction.
This is out of Decrypt, by the way. Bitcoin's market liquidity is tightening as the cryptocurrency continues to consolidate following a steep correction from its February peak above 102,000. On chain data from Glassnode shows that capital inflows have slowed significantly with liquidity conditions deteriorating across both spot and futures markets. Exchange inflows, which is a key measure of market activity, have dropped more than 54% from the cycle peak, reflecting lower investor participation. And at the same time, open interest in Bitcoin futures has declined by 35%, falling from $57,000,000,000 at the market's all time high to 37,000,000,000, signaling a reduction in leverage and speculative activity.
Pausing to say, in my opinion, good. The asset is down 23% from its January 20 all time high near a hundred and 9,000 and a further 15% over the last thirty days to 82,800, CoinGecko data shows. Well, a major factor contributing to the liquidity crunch appears to be an unwinding of the cash and carry trade, a strategy which traders arbitrage Bitcoin's price premium in CME futures relative to spot prices. Another factor analysts point to is the shifting sentiment on macroeconomic developments abroad, a pivot from knee jerk responses earlier in the month to president Donald Trump's tariffs. Quote, in the absence of fresh tariff headlines, geopolitics has returned to the forefront, Singapore based digital asset trading firm QCP Capital wrote in a note on Tuesday.
Quote, Israel's renewed strikes on Gaza following a temporary truce have pushed gold soaring past $3,000 while Bitcoin continues to exhibit a negative correlation, it said. With the market shifting into a risk off mode, institutional players are scaling back those positions leading to ETF outflows and further, downside pressure on Bitcoin's spot price. The options market also reflects a growing preference for downside protection with put options carrying higher implied volatility premiums than equivalent calls. Meanwhile, short term huddlers are experiencing substantial unrealized losses promoting or prompting some to just flat out capitulate.
Despite the broader sell off, long term holders remain primarily inactive, Glassnode said, suggesting long term conviction of Bitcoin's value proposition remains intact. So what he's saying here is that there's not a whole lot of Bitcoin flowing onto exchanges. Guys, that's not what I mean when I say liquidity. You will always find a buyer. If you need to sell some Bitcoin, you will find somebody to buy that Bitcoin. If you need to buy some Bitcoin, you will always find somebody to sell you that Bitcoin. The liquidity that this person is talking about is trading liquidity.
And, yes, what I'm suggest what I just said is a form of trading liquidity, but you're not trading it because you have got, like, 12 Tom Collins, you know, up your snoot and decide to go down to the casino and gamble away your children's trust funds. You know? I mean, that's not what we're talking about here. Liquidity in Bitcoin has always been fine. Now if you're a trader and you want to, like, do, I don't know, $520,000,000 short bets on Bitcoin, yeah, you might have problems finding the liquidity. But that's not really useful, is it? Because that's just you being greedy and being stupid because you think a casino is some kind of bank account you can just go to because you've got a system.
Yeah. Screw your system, dude. Screw your system. Okay. So Brazil, down south from me, is exploring a law to allow salary payments in Bitcoin. This is out of Bitcoin news written by Alex Larry. Brazil is moving towards Bitcoin integration in its economy with a new bill proposed in the National Congress that allows workers to receive part of their salary in Bitcoin and other digital currencies. And if approved, the law will give employees the option to receive up to 50% of their wages in Bitcoin and the other 50% in the Brazilian real.
The bill was submitted by Luis Philippe of Orleans e Brancia, federal deputy from Sao Paulo. He believes that the proposal will modernize Brazil's financial system and encourage investments and give workers more flexibility. The proposed law titled, quote, regulation of the payment of salaries, remunerations, and labor benefits with the use of virtual assets, god, that is a long title, is being reviewed by the Chamber of Deputies, and if approved, it will go to the federal senate for discussion. Okay. So it's got a long way to go. So this is a bill that's, like, developed outside of all of their chambers of kings and queens or whatever they call their their senate, and then it goes to the senate, and then it goes to their committees, and then I guess it passes out of their committees and then gets voted on. It's got a long way to go. So the only thing that we can grin about here is that some dude that's got the ear of the government in Brazil is interested in Bitcoin. Just saying.
So everybody got sick because the puking that occurred in Bitcoin over the last few days. And you may be wondering, why? Why God? Why? Why me? Why is it just me when I wake up and I I start looking at the at the chart it automatically goes to the red. Yeah. I feel you pal. I feel you. I'm there. I'm right there with you. But it's not you. It's this asshole. Infamous hyper liquid leverage trader closes a $520,000,000 short BTC position, netting $9,400,000 in profit. Yeah. He didn't do anybody any good except for himself. And sometimes you win at the casino, sometimes you lose, and we'll learn more. Again, this is out of the block.
Danny Park is writing, on Tuesday, an infamous trader nicknamed the hyper liquid whale closed a leveraged short Bitcoin position of over half a billion dollars on the decentralized perpetual trading platform. I need to pause. When they say that he closed a leveraged short Bitcoin position, it means he won. What you wanted to hear was that I would rather the sentence read thusly. On Tuesday, an infamous trader nicknamed the hyper liquid whale got fucking liquidated on a leverage short Bitcoin position of over half a billion dollars. That's what I wanted to read, but that's not what happened.
Blockchain analytics platform SpotOnChain identified the trader's wallet add address as and they give the wallet. The wallet had a short position of 6,210 BTC or 520,000,000 with 40 x leverage. Wow. On Tuesday, the trader exited the position with over $9,400,000 in profit. The same person is believed to have previously built a long position in Ethereum, reaching over $300,000,000 last week. This position was later liquidated, that's what you wanna hear, leaving Hyper Liquid's HLP or the hyperliquidity provider Vault with $4,000,000 of losses.
And according to Hyperscan data, the wallet in question currently holds a five x long position on the Melania meme coin worth $3,300,000 Are you shitting me? Are really? See, this is the degeneracy in our society. Melania coin, you're gonna take a long position on Melania. At $3,300,000? The hell is wrong with these people? Meanwhile, blockchain sleuth Zach XBT claimed on x that this trader could be a cybercriminal. Quote, it's funny watching CT speculate on the hyper liquid whale when in reality, it's just a cyber cybercriminal gambling with stolen funds. He commented, he may be right. I I don't know. I I have I have no idea. All I have is what I'm giving you, and I hope it's helping you navigate what the hell is going on. Let's run the numbers.
Futures and commodities where Trump didn't say the word tariff, and I can tell because oil is up point 3% to $67 and 1, dime. Brent, North Sea up a third to $70.79. Natural gas bucking the trend here, 2.3% to the upside to $4.14 per thousand cubic feet. Gasoline is up a fifth of a point to $2.17 a gallon. Gold is doing well today. Another new all time high for gold, $3,044 and or $3,044.30 after a point 15% rise in price. However, silver is getting sold off 1.5% of the downside. Platinum is getting sold 1.3% of the downside. People buying copper 1.6% in the green, and palladium is down 1.25%.
Ag is mostly in the red. We do have a big winner today, though. Coffee is up 2%, and the biggest loser is going to be rough rice, which is down one and a third. Live cattle is up almost a full point. Lean hogs, oh god, got kicked in the nuts. Two and a third percent to the downside. Feeder cattle are up point 7%. The Dow is up two thirds of a point. So Legacy Financial is doing well today, I suppose. S and P is up three quarters of a point. Nasdaq is up a point, and the S and P Mini is up point 76%. Bitcoin's doing okay today. $84,610 gives us a 1,680,000,000,000 market cap, and we can get 27.5 ounces of shiny metal rocks with your one Bitcoin of which there are 19,838,854.08 of.
And there are very low fees, 0.03 BTC taken in fees on a per block basis. There are 50 blocks carrying 18,000 unconfirmed transactions waiting to clear at high priority rates of two. Satoshis per vByte. Low priority is gonna get you in at two. Satoshis per vByte. Mining is hash rate is down a little bit, but we're still over 800 to 802.2 exahashes per second. From yesterday's episode of Bitcoin and entitled the Bitcoin covenant, I got UNO with 7,777 sats. That's a full Petroboost. If you don't know who Petra was, look it up. He says, great show as always, my friend. I appreciate it.
Pies with a thousand says, Dave, you actually are the most pleb podcast out there. Y'all need to show this man some love. He has zero sponsors, this is true, and is constantly promoting pleb value for value, which is also true, l f g, and get y'all some soap from SoapMiner so Dave can earn some sats as well. This that's the way the circle p works. I just promote your product. Sometimes I use it, sometimes I don't. If I think that it's probably good value, I I don't have a problem putting you into the circle p. And if I make a sale for you, then you say, well, how much was that sale actually worth?
And then you cut me satoshis on the back end of it. And a lot of this is this is all trust. It's trust that the person that I told about the product actually tells you, the vendor, that I told you about the product so that you'll know where where you got the sale from. And then I gotta trust you to say that was that that had value to me. I made a sale because he just and I didn't contract him. I I'm not paying him $500 a month or however much advertising cost. He just did it did it because this is plebscape, man.
We're all living in the plebscape. We all gotta help each other. We don't have Wall Street money. We don't have, like, you know, big advertising agencies. We don't have marketing agencies that are trying to help us out. All we got is each other, and that's what the circle p is all about. Psyduck with five sixty seven says Psyduck. Turkey with five hundred says nothing. Perma nerd, $2.34 says, like soap miner soap, this podcast is clean. Buys with $4.20. Thank you, sir. Hashtag forty h p w. Yodle or Yodle with 300 says, Bitcoin and Bitcoin and what? Well, everything else, the world doesn't completely center around Bitcoin. Sometimes it centers around soap from SoapMiner. Get your soap from SoapMiner. Tell them you heard about it on circle b. God's death with two thirty seven says, thank you, sir. No. Thank you. God's death with another hundred says, again, thank you, sir. Well, again, thank you. Justin with a hundred says nothing. And God's death with another hundred says, again, thank you, sir. No. Thank you. And that's the weather report.
Welcome to part two of the news you can use where I am still wondering about €10,000,000,000,000 in, quote, unused savings being stolen from the European citizenry. Do they they don't even have $10,000,000,000,000 in savings. I guarantee you, that number is way high. We they no. And even if they did, you're just gonna take it and build an army? See, I'm telling you, man. This this whole World War two narrative and World War one narrative that we've been fed when we were in school is all bullshit. Something else happened. Anyway, let's get into it. Key dates have been set for samurai wallet developers pretrial motion schedule.
That doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but according to reports, samurai wallet developers, Keenan Rodriguez and William Longer and Hill appeared in good spirits for the first hearing in their case since September of twenty twenty four. At the hearing, the prosecution and defense agreed on the pretrial motion schedule as follows. On May 9, they will make the opening motion. On June 6, the prosecution's response to the motion. June 20, replies to the prosecution's response. July 15, expert disclosure by the prosecution. July 16, next in person pretrial hearing.
August, expert, disclosure by the defense, and November third of twenty twenty five, then the trial begins. They go through all this bullshit. I mean, how long are these guys gonna have to cool their freaking heels? Anyway, pray for the samurai wallet developers. This is all bullshit. It's just all crap. Now, Direct Debit meets lightning. NWC's game changing impact on Bitcoin payments. NWC better stand for Nostril Wallet Connect. This is out of Lightning News. You can get it at lightning.news, and it's written by James. In recent years, Bitcoin's ecosystem has seen significant advancements, particularly with the integration of Nostra Wallet Connect. Oh, thank god.
This innovation is transforming how payments are processed, excuse me, within the Bitcoin network offering decentralized identification and direct debit, d e b I t, functionalities. These developments are poised to enhance user experience and expand Bitcoin's accessibility. At the core of Bitcoin's layered ecosystem lies a complex network of transactional processing systems. The first layer, often referred to as layer one or the Bitcoin blockchain itself, handles approximately 19,000,000 transactions per month. While this layer is renowned for its security and decentralization, it is limited by slow transaction processing time and high fees.
The limitation is not a flaw, but rather a design choice that ensures the network security and integrity as the scarcity of block space is what drives the value and security of the blockchain. In contrast, a second layer known as the Lightning Network processes around 10,000,000 transactions monthly. This layer has experienced remarkable growth with a 1200% increase over the past two years. The Lightning Network offers faster and cheaper transactions, making it attractive. This rapid growth underscores the demand for scalable and cost effective payment solutions. So beyond these foundational layers, Nostra emerges as a third layer, often referred to as the social layer of Bitcoin.
With approximately 135,000 transactions per month, Nostra is focused on social and payment innovations. And one of the key features of Nostra is its ability to enable decentralized user identification through public keys. This capacity allows for a more secure and private form of identity management aligning with the broader principles of decentralization that underpin the Bitcoin network. The integration of Nostra Wallet Connect or NWC is particularly noteworthy for its potential to transform how payments are processed within the Bitcoin ecosystem. NWC introduces Direct Debit functionality, allowing app developers to manage transactions without requiring users to manually sign with their private keys.
This innovation significantly simplifies the payment process, making it more akin to traditional fiat payment systems while maintaining the security and decentralization that Bitcoin offers. In practice, NWC is already being utilized by platforms like Flash, which integrate Nostra Wallet Connect to enable tools such as payment buttons, paywalls, and video pay per view systems. These innovations are making it easier for businesses to monetize their content and services directly with the Bitcoin ecosystem. For instance, Flash allows users to connect their wallets directly to the platform, enabling seamless transactions without the need for any intermediaries.
This model not only reduces transaction costs but also enhances user privacy as well as security. For developers, NWC provides a streamlined integration progress process that requires only a single line of code to enable payments across multiple wallets. This simplicity is complemented by support for multiple programming languages and an open source development framework which fosters a collaborative environment for innovation. The open source nature of Nostra Wallet Connect encourages community involvement, allowing developers to contribute libraries and tools that expand its capabilities. One of the most significant advantages of Nostra Wallet Connect is its regulatory and security benefits. By operating without holding custody of any user funds, NWC reduces the regulatory risks associated with traditional payment processors.
This model also enhances user safety as funds are never held by a third party, thereby minimizing the risk of theft or loss. This approach aligns with the decentralized ethos of Bitcoin where control over the funds remains with the user at all times. The application of NWC are far reaching and innovative. For instance, it enables recurring subscriptions directly from wallets, a feature that has been challenging to implement in the Bitcoin space due to the lack of Direct Debit capabilities. This functionality opens up a new revenue model for businesses operating within the ecosystem allowing them to offer subscription based services in a manner similar to traditional fiat systems. However, unlike traditional systems, these subscriptions can be managed entirely within the Bitcoin network, eliminating the need for fiat intermediaries. And furthermore, NWC facilitates split payments, enabling revenue sharing among multiple parties.
This feature is particularly useful for businesses that need to distribute payments to various stakeholders such as content creators or affiliates. By allowing split payments, Nostra Wallet Connect introduces a level of flexibility in financial transactions that was previously unavailable in the Bitcoin ecosystem. The integration of NWC with platforms like streaming services is another area of significant potential. Traditional streaming platforms such as Twitch, excuse me, often act as intermediaries between creators and their audiences, taking a substantial portion of the revenue generated from subscriptions and donations.
Well, with NWC, it becomes possible for users to subscribe directly to creators with platforms taking their fees only after the creator has been paid. This model not only reduces the intermediaries control over fundage, but also provides creators with a more direct access to their earnings. In terms of future outlook, the adoption of Nostra Wallet Connect is expected to drive further growth in Bitcoin's ecosystem by making transactions more accessible and user friendly. As more wallets integrate with NWC, developers will have greater opportunities to build innovative payment solutions without the complexities of managing wallets or liquidity.
This shift could significantly expand Bitcoin's utility in mainstream commerce and digital services positioning it as a viable alternative to traditional payment systems. Moreover, the emphasis on decentralization and security inherent in NWC aligns with the broader goals of the Bitcoin community by maintaining control over the funds and reducing reliance on intermediaries users can enjoy a more secure and private financial experience. This alignment with Bitcoin's core principles is likely to foster greater trust and adoption among users who value decentralization and autonomy in their financial transactions.
The impact of NWC on the broader financial landscape is also noteworthy. Traditional payment systems often rely on intermediaries to facilitate transactions, which can lead to higher fees and slower processing times. In contrast, NWC offers a decentralized alternative that maintains speed, security, and cost efficiency. This could potentially disrupt traditional payment models by providing a more streamlined and user centric experience. Furthermore, the open source nature of NWC encourages collaboration and innovation within the developer community.
As more developers contribute to the platform, new features and applications are likely to emerge, further expanding the capabilities of Bitcoin's payment ecosystem. This collaborative environment is crucial for driving growth and adoption as it allows for the creation of tailored solutions that meet the diverse needs of users and businesses. And Nasr Wallet Connect is at the forefront of innovation in Bitcoin's payment ecosystem. As the financial landscape evolves, the role of NWC in shaping the future of cryptocurrency transactions will be pivotal.
Its potential to transform how payments are processed, managed, and innovated upon will undoubtedly have far reaching implications for both the Bitcoin community and the broader financial sector. So there you go. And one thing that bugs me about this is what's never what people are never saying about Nostra Wallet Connect. I use it every day. Lots of developers use it every day. They're like, I mean, Nostra Wallet Connect is is part of my GetAlBI experience. I mean, that that GetAlBI runs an entire section of my on of my Lightning Network facilitation.
What's not said about Nostra Wallet Connect is that it was developed by the guys at GetAlBI. They get almost no credit for Nostra Wallet Connect. They nobody ever talks about they just say, oh, Nostra Wallet Connect. Nostra Wallet Connect. But they don't ever say Nostra Wallet Connect, you know, that great thing that was developed by the dudes over there at GetAlbi. It's never said. So give the guys at GetAlbi some love today and tell them that you appreciate them developing Nostra Wallet Connect. Now Lightstack, and this may be the last one that I do today. I'm not sure. It depends on time.
Lightstack, a self custodial lightning node with Phoenix d or Phoenix daemon, I suppose, is what Phoenix d means. This is written by Massimo Musumeci. I am getting that right, and it's out of atlas21.com. Self custody represents one of the fundamental pillars of the Bitcoin ecosystem. When a user maintains direct control over their own money, they fully realize the principle, not your keys, not your coins, that distinguishes Bitcoin from traditional financial solutions. This characteristic, sometimes sacrificed for the ease of use, finds a new application thanks to tools like Lightstack. In traditional custody solutions, a third party holds the user funds, compromising the principle of trustlessness at the very foundation of Bitcoin itself.
Although custodial solutions may be tolerated for small amounts or to accommodate beginners, the natural evolution leads towards complete autonomy in managing one's Bitcoin. It's understandable that a beginner might start with a custodial wallet to become familiar with the technology. The priority goal remains increasing transaction volume outside traditional financial networks even at the cost of temporary compromises on custody. However, as volumes and experiences increase, adopting self custodial solutions becomes essential. In this context, tools emerge that facilitate the transaction to full autonomy.
Phoenix d, on demand node developed by Async LNbits a modular suite of lightning tools that integrate API and then Voltage more complex but customizable solutions The combination of Phoenix d and l n bits can be effectively orchestrated through Lightstack, a software available on GitHub, and then they give the GitHub, URL here. Lightstack allows you to create and manage self custodial lightning nodes in the cloud using a simple virtual private server or VPS. This approach guarantees users complete control over keys and access while automating the technical complexities of implementation.
When using Lightstack, an l n bits instance becomes immediately available on the node. The system automatically configures SSL certificates for all domains associated with Phoenix d endpoints and the LN bits interface including its API. So why choose LN bits in the first place? Well, it represents the true operational command center of the lightning node. Offering a platform on which to run numerous applications and plugins, developers can create custom applications using the powerful integrated APIs. A practical example is the sats dot mobi lightning suite, a solution I personally developed using the LNbits architecture.
This suite offers a wide range of lightning native services like vouchers, point of sale, LND hub interface, and support for or for I'm sorry. For NFC cards, thanks to integration with the Bolt service, it's also possible to implement swap functionality between different layers. So here are the main features of Lightstack. One, secure connectivity. Two, API accessibility. Three, complete autonomy. Four, integrated LN bits. Five, multi stack functionality. And six, a hybrid interface. Soon, a VPS service with the pre integrated system will be available, thanks to collaboration with Denali Pro, a Swiss Swiss, a Swiss Internet service provider with which I am professionally involved.
LNbits offers a wide range of immediately available features, like advanced accounting systems where you can balance protection through unique API keys for each wallet. There's an extensible platform. There's a development stack. There's complete support for the l n URL protocol. There's instant wallet. There's financial management tools, and it is also multi platform. There are no more excuses for not adopting a self custodial solution. With Lightstack, it's possible to immediately activate a self custodial Lightning node without worrying about channel balancing or liquidity management while maintaining an intuitive interface and full control over your funds.
Okay. So this sounds good, but here here's the issue, and many of you are just gonna straight up laugh at me. I don't know what the fuck to do with a GitHub thing. Yes. And you're gonna go, oh, god. He's that dumb. Yeah. Well, it's not that I'm dumb. It's just that I got a lot going on. And I actually do know pretty much what to do with something out of GitHub. And, you know, I gotta compile it. You know, I gotta do all this stuff. I don't wanna do that. And you know what else I don't wanna do? I don't wanna use Docker. You know, I mean, can is there any way that you could just, like, say, hey. Look. This compiles to an executable.
Here are my signing keys for this particular GitHub account. You can trust me. If you would do that, I'd be I'd probably try it out on, like, a laptop just to see what it looks like. But the amount of hoops that I gotta jump through to get something out of GitHub into something that I can actually use, it it seems a little daunting. I'm just gonna be straight up not gonna lie. It seems a little daunting. I've done it. I've never really liked it. I I don't like compiling shit. It's like something that I just that's why I'm not a computer scientist or one of the reasons. I just don't have the freaking patience to do all this crap. And yet everybody says, hey. Here's this brand new product, and it's on GitHub. Buy and, yes, you're you're absolutely right to say, well, you should probably put a little bit more effort into it. Yeah. You're right.
Find me the time, and I will put a little bit more effort into it. I'm just saying that if there's any way that these things, when people say, oh, here's the GitHub repository, if there's some way that I could be met halfway to the GitHub repository. I know. I know. I get it. You're a developer. You wanna move on to other things. Is there anything that we can do? Is there any way that I can interface with your brand new shiny kick ass sounding product with without going all the way to the GitHub repository. You know? I mean, that that's that's what I'm getting at. And I I don't mean to to, you know, beat a dead horse with it. I'm just saying, if what I'm saying resonates with you, then I a, I know I'm not alone, but b, maybe you come up with an idea or maybe somebody who is a developer that says, oh, god. I didn't realize that when I say go to GitHub, it causes a problem.
For some of us, it does. It kinda causes a problem. Just I'm just saying if there's any other way that we can work around that so I can test out your stuff. Like, have like, even like, you got it on on on, like, I don't know, on GitHub. Is there any way that you can get a website going that emulates what it does so I can see what an interface might look like so I can play around with it in a, you know, nonthreatening manner? I'm just saying, man. Alright. Let's end it up with OpenSats announcing their tenth wave of Bitcoin grants. The projects that are have been included in this wave include Bitcoin safe, stable channels, something called Way Wayee, w a y e. Apparently, it supports the well-being of open source developers to reduce burnout. Oh, nice. And enhance work sustainability.
Cool. OpenSats has also renewed three grants to past grantees, Floresta, CrUX, and something called CrUX installer, which I'm assuming is is probably part of Crux. And then they go on to say, one of the goals for this epoch is to encourage the creation of open Sats like organizations, whether to focus on specific domains, enable tax deductible donations in new jurisdictions, or just to provide regional and local support. As a first step towards that goal, we are delighted to announce support from multiple organizations that embody this vision. So they're supporting people and other organizations that do what OpenSats does as an organization.
This is like you know how I always say the vultures are eating themselves? In this particular case, the eagles seem to be feeding themselves. That's what this means. And these include twenty one forty, a European nonprofit focused on Bitcoin security and resilience based in Amsterdam. Open Cash, a Swiss nonprofit focused on researching and developing open source electronic cash systems. Bitshala, a grassroots initiative aimed at educating and training the next generation of open source Bitcoin and lightning developers in India. And then there's summer of Bitcoin, a global internship program that introduces university students to open source Bitcoin development and design.
There's Bitcoin Dev Launchpad, a forty week Ventium program that trains South American developers in Bitcoin open source development through a structured three phase approach. And finally, the Foundation Formation Kit, an open source justice foundation project that assist open source communities in establishing tax exempt foundations and tax exempt statuses like OpenSats itself. It's a five zero one c three. It's a nonprofit organization. It has tax exempt status as like an OpenSats Foundation. So their OpenSats is funding a a group of people that teach people how to open foundations and also get, like, stuff like five zero one three c, tax status in The United States. This is amazing.
There see, this is the ethos. This is one of the re it it's that kind of thing that made me think about doing the circle p, where I'm not charging people for advertising on my podcast. You know, I don't have the the biggest audience anyway, but still I have one. You know, other other people are buying like, yesterday, SoapMiner made a soap sale because because of the circle p. Right? But I I'm not like I I'm not invoicing SoapMiner for, you know, like, a a number of sats that he owes me because I made a sale for him. It's trust. It it we have to help each other in the plebscape.
We have to. We do not have we we do not have the tools. We certainly don't have the money. We we don't have the notoriety. We got bupkis except each other, and that's enough. That's enough. OpenSats helping other organizations to become an organization just like OpenSats themselves, you would think that they Open Sats would just wanna be the the only people that do it, but they don't. They don't. And people can get mad at Open Sats because your project didn't get funded and, bit I don't know. What whatever the bitch fest is. But I still love the idea of OpenSats and what they're doing over there. And the fact that they are now, like, self replicating by using funding that OpenSats has to pull the very wind out of their own sails is amazing to watch.
It's amazing to watch. If we do this right, we can change everything. Not just with OpenSats, not just with value for value advertising, not just with value for value content creation and podcasting two point o. We go on and on and on. We start balling all this up, and things get really bright. And I think I'm just gonna leave it there. I'll see you on the other side.
[01:04:42] Unknown:
This has been Bitcoin, and and I'm your host, David Bennett. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and hope to see you again real soon. Have a great day.
It is 08:55AM Pacific Daylight Time. It's the March 2025. This is episode ten fifty six. No. Is it ten fifty six or ten fifty seven? Hold on here. I never can remember. It's ten fifty seven of Bitcoin and the ECB is about to woodshed itself. I've never seen I've never seen anybody so interested in killing their own credibility with their citizenry than the European Union. It is amazing. Ever since November 1993, the EU has been hell bent on making damn sure that nobody in their, you know, nobody is happy at the in the European Union. It's it's it's amazing, and we'll talk about why that's going to happen. Minnesota senator has proposed a Bitcoin act, so Minnesota is on deck. And then we've got some Bitcoin liquidity news.
And this is gonna be a little interesting because as I've been saying, there's not ever a problem with liquidity. And I just feel that it's necessary to bring you the other side of that story because I am I am not the only person that has an opinion on Bitcoin's liquidity. So I'm going to tell you from somebody else's viewpoint about Bitcoin liquidity. Brazil is definitely gonna be in the news. They've got, something on deck for themselves involving Bitcoin, and the hyper liquid bear successfully closed his trade. Yeah. That's what caused the problems over the last couple of days. And then we're going to talk about the samurai wallet developers pretrial and then some news enlightening concerning, Nostril WalletConnect and something called Lightstack.
Can't wait for that one. And then OpenSats announces their tenth. Count them one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. Waves of Bitcoin grants and support for developer organizations. But first, let's go over to the evil central bureau, the ECB, where they're prepping the ground for the digital euro launch. Efraat Fenigesen Fenigesen? Yeah. Fenigesen. Efraat Fenigesen is writing this one for Bitcoin magazine. The European Central Bank, the ECB, is laying the groundwork for the probable launch. The pro love it. The probable it's probably gonna happen, ladies and gentlemen. The probable launch of its wholesale and retail central bank digital currency, the CBDC, also known as the digital euro.
And Christine Lagarde, president of the ECB and felon in France, shared this update at their latest press conference, quote, president Lagarde stressed that the digital euro is more relevant than ever, the ECB tweeted. Lagarde emphasized that the digital euro, the EU's CBDC solution, is set to launch in October of this year, provided that it passes the legislative phase involving key stakeholders, including the European Commission, the parliament, and the council. Notably absent from this process is, you know, the public, the European public, despite the significant impact this initiative will have on their daily lives. Let me pause right there so that I I I can fully embrace what Efret is saying here.
There's there's no public comment on this for the European citizenry. They don't get a say. They don't get a chance to say, hey, you know, here's my my reservations about this digital euro thing. No. No. This is just gonna be foisted upon them by people they can't even really vote for at this point. The European Union needs to go away. It was an experiment that has spiraled out of control, and this this again, I'm gonna say it again. I I said it on Noster. I'm starting to really understand here that World War two, and this is probably goes back to World War one, but I'm just gonna say World War two, everybody hated Hitler.
And you're gonna go, oh god. He's gonna say that he's gonna start being a holocaust denier and and that Hitler was a good guy. No. No. I'm not. Hitler was not a good guy. Hitler was batshit insane, and he killed a whole bunch of people. No. That this is as far as I'm concerned, the holocaust did happen, and Hitler's not a good guy. Okay? But I'm having a feeling that the rest of Europe was labeling Hitler as the evil one because he beat them to the punch. He beat Spain to the punch. He beat France to the punch. He beat, you know, The UK to the punch. He beat the everybody that was in that's in Europe was jealous because he actually did the thing that all of them have been wanting to do. And the reason I say this is because I've been looking at what the European Union has been doing over the past.
Well, they really ramped up with COVID. But even before that, it was pretty bad. But, man, with COVID, under the fog of stupid, which is probably what I'll name this show, they just started wholesale destruction of their citizenry. And that leads me to believe that they've always had a bent of just mind numbing control over the population. But Hitler beat them to the punch. He is the one that rolled out the Panzer tanks first. He is the one that went into Czechoslovakia First. He is the one that actually did the fucking thing that all of the European nations actually wanted to do.
And this is why The United States probably needs to dump out of NATO so that Europe can just go back to war like they've always been doing. NATO has been basically just like a kindergarten teacher making sure that the children don't fight. All they've ever wanted to do was fight. And I think that they were saying, oh, Hitler's the bad guy because well, not because he was such a bad guy as much as they're all bad people, and none of them had the guts to actually move their tank and their forces and their armies across borders and commit to taking over Europe. All of them wanted to do it. You're seeing it with the ECB.
It's just that Hitler actually pulled the trigger first. And they were really pissed at him, and they were like, oh, he's trying to kill us all, and he was. But you would have done the same thing. Europe, you would have done the same thing. Your attitude looks exactly like that of Hitler at this point, and Christine Lagarde is point man on this entire new push for this crap going on in Europe. So why is the digital euro more relevant than ever? Well, because she wants to kill you. Anyway, could it be linked to Ursula von von der Leyen's recent rearm Europe announcement, which proposes the creation of a EU army, which isn't supposed to happen under NATO, but whatever.
The initiative requires an estimated €800,000,000,000 in funding, Money that the EU does not have. The options? Extracting it from EU member states and their citizenry or via printing fresh funds through the ECB. Either way, it's time to warm up the ECB's money printer. Money printer go brrr. Furthermore, the European Union has introduced the, quote, savings and investments union aiming to redirect €10,000,000,000,000. That's trillion with a t, not billion with a b or million with an m. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. €10,000,000,000,000 in unused savings from citizens to finance military growth and bolster Europe's defense industry. Let's pause again.
Can somebody do the math and add up all those zeros that it takes to get to 10,000,000,000,000 and then divide it by how many citizens are in the EU and come up with a number of how much savings is going to be taken away from them? And I will bet you, if you do that math, and I have not done the math, but I will bet you, if you do that math, you will find out that they are presuming that the amount of savings the EU citizenry has in their bank accounts is way larger than what it actually is. €10,000,000,000,000. And they want to steal it by calling it unused savings.
Jesus my god almighty. Quote, we're turning private savings into much needed investment, tweeted Vonderlion. If this hasn't shocked you already, I'll try to clarify. This is a clear violation of private property rights and an implicit confiscation of European citizens' wealth while bluntly using their funds in the e as the EU sees fit, including funding a military industrial complex without even asking them. If the EU is accelerating toward totalitarian collectivism, as this statement suggests in the CBDC would be a powerful tool, enabling tighter control over Europeans' money with features like an on off switch and programmable abilities.
Christine Lagarde recently campaigned at the European Parliament arguing that the digital euro is necessary to reduce the EU's dependence on foreign payment solutions. European banks must innovate payment methods, but the EU's primary concern isn't just reliance on tech giants like Google Pay or Apple Pay, it's the potential for widespread adoption of decentralized global protocols like Bitcoin. The ECB is observing geopolitical trends, noting that The United States is embracing crypto, Bitcoin, and stablecoins technologies that pose a risk to centralized control. Unsurprisingly, they are choosing a different path. According to Reuters, quote, Eurozone banks need a digital euro to respond to US president Donald Trump's push to promote stablecoins as part of a broader crypto strategy.
ECB board member, Piero Ciprione, reinforced this stance stating, quote, the solution further disintermediates banks as they lose fees, they lose clients. That's why we need a digital euro, end quote. Bottom line, Lagarde's and von der Leyen's recent agendas are aimed to drive more centralized control while strengthening the EU hierarchy, governance, and incentive structures that has always been their role. The ECB recently published findings from a survey on consumer attitudes towards retail CBDC conducted among 19,000 Europeans across 11 eurozone countries, and the key takeaways include, number one, lack of interest.
Most Europeans are not interested in the digital euro as existing payment methods already serve their needs well. Number two, the Europeans are open to propaganda. And while public interest is low, the survey found that Europeans are receptive to video based education and training. The ECB study suggests that CBDC related videos could drive widespread adoption by reshaping consumer beliefs. This is propaganda. This is the role of propaganda, ladies and gentlemen. The report states, quote, consumers who are shown a short video, providing concise and clear communication about the key features of the digital euro are substantially more likely to update their beliefs, which increase their immediate likelihood of adopting it, end quote.
No wonder the ECB has ramped up its digital euro video content since late twenty twenty four, and then she gives an example of such by posting a video to Twitter, and I'm not gonna play it. Number three, preference for existing payment methods. Quote, Europeans have a strong preference for existing payment methods and see no real benefit in a new type of payment system, end quote. While this finding sounds like a positive pushback, it can serve as a precursor to a tactic of technological integration's quote, if you can't beat them, join them tactic, similar to the Chinese eCNY retail CBDC.
A recent Euromoney article highlighted eCNY's integration, that's the e yuan or whatever they called it in China, integration with China's most popular apps like Didi, Minuchin, CTRIP, WeChat Pay, and Alipay, a move that facilitated its widespread adoption. Despite early struggles, eCNY now boasts a 80,000,000 personal wallet users and a cumulative transaction value of 1,000,000,000,000, that's trillion with a t, dollars. I recently explored this topic in-depth with Roger Huang recently on my podcast. On the wholesale CBDC front, the EU is experimenting with distributed ledger technology to interconnect financial institutions across Europe and beyond. This follows exploratory work conducted by the Eurosystem between May and November of twenty twenty four, their trials involve 64 participants including central banks, financial market players, the DLT platform operators conducting over 50 separate experiments.
Lagarde insists that the digital euro is a form of cash, gaslighting and misleading, uninformed Europeans about the risks of CBDCs. Permission based CBDCs such as the digital euro are prone to micro levels of control through expiry dates, geofencing, and programmability. If Europeans don't recognize these dangers, they won't resist the digital euro. By framing it as digital cash, the ECB ensures smoother public acceptance with little to no public fuss. To be clear, cash itself is fiat currency centrally controlled, easily debased, and prone to inflation. Every time the issuer expands the money supply, the citizens suffer from declining purchasing power, essentially being robbed by the state.
While ordinary citizens are bound by the rule of law, elites often evade consequences. A prime example is Christine Lagarde, who, if you did not know, was found guilty of negligence for approving a massive taxpayer funded payout to controversial French businessman Bernard Tappe. However, she avoided a jail sentence. The Guardian reported in 2016, a French court convicted the head of the International Monetary Fund, that's Christine Lagarde, and former government minister who had faced a €15,000 fine and up to one year in prison. But it decided she shouldn't be punished and that the conviction would not constitute a criminal record, and the IMF gave her its full support, end quote.
Wow. Despite public disinterest, the ECB and other central banks will push forward with their CBDCs to maintain an illusion of public involvement involvement that will conduct surveys and create engagement tools. But ultimately, the digital euro will be integrated into existing payment methods and consumer apps just as China did with the e c n y. This strategy will drive adoption even without direct public enthusiasm. We are, after all, playing the game of democracy. Right? Geopolitical analyst Alex Crainer recently tweeted in response to Lagarde and von der Leyen's acceleration of CBDC efforts, quote, this is excellent news. Christine Lagarde and Ursula von der Leyen never took on something they didn't completely mess up.
I hope they continue their excellent performance. Godspeed. Stay tuned as I continue to track central bank's moves towards CBDC implementation. Wow. Efrit really nailed it. I like her a lot. She's she's a great writer, but she pulls no punches in this. And this goes right back. If you if you didn't believe me before I started reading the the great guts and feathers of this article about the fact that Europe was pissed off at Germany, not because Hitler was evil, but because they beat him to the punch, then the rest of that article should at least make you pause and go, wait a minute. Maybe David's right.
Maybe there wasn't a clear cut format of evil and good, and the good was fighting against the evil. No. The evil that was already in Europe was fighting against itself because that particular evil didn't like the other evil and was really pissed off because the other evil pulled the trigger first. And that's why they came crawling on their belly like a reptile to The United States begging us to get into World War two. And if it hadn't have been for the Japanese bombing the fuck out of Pearl Harbor, we might not have done that. And I'm sure that there are some some of you out there that are like, no. We still would have done it, and here's why why why. I'm not going to disagree with you. I'm just saying that if I just look at it from pleb level history class in the eighth grade in a United States public school system, that's probably where I would go. There's a whole other raft of bullshit that goes all along with the Pearl Harbor thing and Japan attacking and all of that. The Pacific Theater is completely different than the European theater, and I'm not suggesting that chicanery didn't go on there either. I'm just trying to focus on what happened in Europe.
None of these people are good people is what I'm getting at. Spain wasn't like some goody goody two shoes, and France wasn't some goody goody two shoes. All the other European Unions or all the other European countries that were, you know, south and and slightly east of Germany. No. No. No. No. No. No. They weren't good. And germ and Germany wasn't evil. They were all evil. They were just pissed that Hitler pulled the trigger first. Now up down to Minnesota or up to Minnesota. Actually, for me, it's over to Minnesota. Minnesota center senator has proposed the Bitcoin act after going from a skeptic to a believer according to Syrian Lions out of Cointelegraph, Minnesota, state senator Jeremy Miller has introduced the Minnesota Bitcoin act, which he drafted after completely changing his mind on Bitcoin, quote, as I do more research on cryptocurrency and hear from more and more constituents, I've gone from being highly skeptical to learning more about it to believing in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
See, it's the same path over and over and over again. Anyway, Miller said that the bill aims to promote prosperity for Minnesotans by allowing the Minnesota State Board of Investment to invest state assets in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Several other US states have introduced similar Bitcoin buying bills. Under Miller's bill, Minnesota state employees would be able to add Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to their retirement accounts. I'm gonna say it again because that one's important. This is reaching down almost to retail. Minnesota state employees, like the woman that sits behind the desk at the Department of Motor Vehicles that pisses you off because she's being so slow getting your license to you. Yeah. She's going to be able to add Bitcoin and, of course, shitcoins to her retirement account.
That's a big deal. It would also give residents the options to pay state taxes and fees with Bitcoin. Not so much of a big deal. But Colorado and Utah already accept crypto for tax payments, and Louisiana allows it for state services. Investment gains from Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies would also be exempt from Minnesota state income tax. In The United States, up to $10,000 paid to the state can be deducted from federal taxes under the state and local tax deduction, but any amount beyond that is subject to both state and federal tax obligations. The increasing number of US states proposing Bitcoin reserve bill follows senator Cynthia Lummis' July strategic Bitcoin reserve act, which directs the federal government to buy 200,000 Bitcoin annually every year for five years totaling 1,000,000 Bitcoin.
And then let's see. They go on to talk about Lummus again. Yeah. And that's it. They just end up with they just end on Lummus. And this is really a story about Minnesota. And as I look at the Bitcoin laws map, there are now wow. Almost the entirety of The United States has some form, some form or fashion of a Bitcoin bill or Bitcoin and cryptocurrency bill sitting on their desk. This is amazing. It's like 39 states out of the 50. Yeah. 39 states. My god. That spread like a virus. Holy smokes. Now the circle p is open for business, and today it is Shishi.
That's right. Shishi. He's got comfrey for sale. And if you don't know what comfrey is, it's a plant. You want it in your garden. It's deep rooted. It mines minerals and brings it up to its leaves. You cut the leaves off. You can make medicine out of it. You can make salves out of it. It does all kinds of neat stuff. It's high in protein, so it makes a pretty good animal feed as long as you're feeding some other stuff to the animals. It it it does great. But what's really fabulous about this thing is its healing powers. That's one of the reasons why it was called Knit Bone. Now if you want to hear an entire episode of Bitcoin and talking only about ComFree, it's episode 726.
Seven hundred and 20 six. The URL to that particular episode will be in the show notes. You can get one full root of comfrey for $20. So what do you do with it? You shove it in the ground. You dig a hole. You plant the root. You cover it up, and you water it, and you wait. And eventually, you'll get a conferee plant. Make sure that conferee plant is where you want it because it is permanent. It comes up year after year. It is highly productive. And if you chop all the leaves off and, like, throw it into your compost pile or you can just drop it wherever it is and let it just become mulch, it'll will just kind of, like all those minerals that were mined out of the soil will just become part of the topsoil and be available for all the other plants. And then all of a sudden, the conferee plant will grow back a whole new set of leaves. We're talking, like, pounds pounds of leaves at a time.
I've cut conferee plants eight times in a single season, and I could have cut it 14 if I had wanted to, but I didn't. Anyway, so you can get one full root and we'll give you one plant for $20. You can get root cuttings, which are smaller roots, for a buck a piece or you can just buy the one full root for 20 and then cut it into 20 different pieces. Each piece, if you get a piece about the size of half of your thumb, that is enough root tissue to throw into a hole in the ground to create a brand new comfrey plant. You're gonna want comfrey in your soil. Reach out to Shishi.
You can get him at [email protected], or you can go and get his, in pub that will be also in the show notes. Make sure you tell him that you heard about his comfrey here on the Circle p in the Bitcoin and podcast because she she is one of the earliest vendors that I featured in the Circle p. If you're not selling your goods and services for Bitcoin, you're not in the Circle p. Let's move on to Bitcoin liquidity. It's drying up, apparently. Now like I said yesterday, Bitcoin liquidity doesn't ever have a problem. So let's see what Sebastian Sinclair is saying about the fact that Bitcoin liquidity seems to be drying up as markets adjust to a sharp correction.
This is out of Decrypt, by the way. Bitcoin's market liquidity is tightening as the cryptocurrency continues to consolidate following a steep correction from its February peak above 102,000. On chain data from Glassnode shows that capital inflows have slowed significantly with liquidity conditions deteriorating across both spot and futures markets. Exchange inflows, which is a key measure of market activity, have dropped more than 54% from the cycle peak, reflecting lower investor participation. And at the same time, open interest in Bitcoin futures has declined by 35%, falling from $57,000,000,000 at the market's all time high to 37,000,000,000, signaling a reduction in leverage and speculative activity.
Pausing to say, in my opinion, good. The asset is down 23% from its January 20 all time high near a hundred and 9,000 and a further 15% over the last thirty days to 82,800, CoinGecko data shows. Well, a major factor contributing to the liquidity crunch appears to be an unwinding of the cash and carry trade, a strategy which traders arbitrage Bitcoin's price premium in CME futures relative to spot prices. Another factor analysts point to is the shifting sentiment on macroeconomic developments abroad, a pivot from knee jerk responses earlier in the month to president Donald Trump's tariffs. Quote, in the absence of fresh tariff headlines, geopolitics has returned to the forefront, Singapore based digital asset trading firm QCP Capital wrote in a note on Tuesday.
Quote, Israel's renewed strikes on Gaza following a temporary truce have pushed gold soaring past $3,000 while Bitcoin continues to exhibit a negative correlation, it said. With the market shifting into a risk off mode, institutional players are scaling back those positions leading to ETF outflows and further, downside pressure on Bitcoin's spot price. The options market also reflects a growing preference for downside protection with put options carrying higher implied volatility premiums than equivalent calls. Meanwhile, short term huddlers are experiencing substantial unrealized losses promoting or prompting some to just flat out capitulate.
Despite the broader sell off, long term holders remain primarily inactive, Glassnode said, suggesting long term conviction of Bitcoin's value proposition remains intact. So what he's saying here is that there's not a whole lot of Bitcoin flowing onto exchanges. Guys, that's not what I mean when I say liquidity. You will always find a buyer. If you need to sell some Bitcoin, you will find somebody to buy that Bitcoin. If you need to buy some Bitcoin, you will always find somebody to sell you that Bitcoin. The liquidity that this person is talking about is trading liquidity.
And, yes, what I'm suggest what I just said is a form of trading liquidity, but you're not trading it because you have got, like, 12 Tom Collins, you know, up your snoot and decide to go down to the casino and gamble away your children's trust funds. You know? I mean, that's not what we're talking about here. Liquidity in Bitcoin has always been fine. Now if you're a trader and you want to, like, do, I don't know, $520,000,000 short bets on Bitcoin, yeah, you might have problems finding the liquidity. But that's not really useful, is it? Because that's just you being greedy and being stupid because you think a casino is some kind of bank account you can just go to because you've got a system.
Yeah. Screw your system, dude. Screw your system. Okay. So Brazil, down south from me, is exploring a law to allow salary payments in Bitcoin. This is out of Bitcoin news written by Alex Larry. Brazil is moving towards Bitcoin integration in its economy with a new bill proposed in the National Congress that allows workers to receive part of their salary in Bitcoin and other digital currencies. And if approved, the law will give employees the option to receive up to 50% of their wages in Bitcoin and the other 50% in the Brazilian real.
The bill was submitted by Luis Philippe of Orleans e Brancia, federal deputy from Sao Paulo. He believes that the proposal will modernize Brazil's financial system and encourage investments and give workers more flexibility. The proposed law titled, quote, regulation of the payment of salaries, remunerations, and labor benefits with the use of virtual assets, god, that is a long title, is being reviewed by the Chamber of Deputies, and if approved, it will go to the federal senate for discussion. Okay. So it's got a long way to go. So this is a bill that's, like, developed outside of all of their chambers of kings and queens or whatever they call their their senate, and then it goes to the senate, and then it goes to their committees, and then I guess it passes out of their committees and then gets voted on. It's got a long way to go. So the only thing that we can grin about here is that some dude that's got the ear of the government in Brazil is interested in Bitcoin. Just saying.
So everybody got sick because the puking that occurred in Bitcoin over the last few days. And you may be wondering, why? Why God? Why? Why me? Why is it just me when I wake up and I I start looking at the at the chart it automatically goes to the red. Yeah. I feel you pal. I feel you. I'm there. I'm right there with you. But it's not you. It's this asshole. Infamous hyper liquid leverage trader closes a $520,000,000 short BTC position, netting $9,400,000 in profit. Yeah. He didn't do anybody any good except for himself. And sometimes you win at the casino, sometimes you lose, and we'll learn more. Again, this is out of the block.
Danny Park is writing, on Tuesday, an infamous trader nicknamed the hyper liquid whale closed a leveraged short Bitcoin position of over half a billion dollars on the decentralized perpetual trading platform. I need to pause. When they say that he closed a leveraged short Bitcoin position, it means he won. What you wanted to hear was that I would rather the sentence read thusly. On Tuesday, an infamous trader nicknamed the hyper liquid whale got fucking liquidated on a leverage short Bitcoin position of over half a billion dollars. That's what I wanted to read, but that's not what happened.
Blockchain analytics platform SpotOnChain identified the trader's wallet add address as and they give the wallet. The wallet had a short position of 6,210 BTC or 520,000,000 with 40 x leverage. Wow. On Tuesday, the trader exited the position with over $9,400,000 in profit. The same person is believed to have previously built a long position in Ethereum, reaching over $300,000,000 last week. This position was later liquidated, that's what you wanna hear, leaving Hyper Liquid's HLP or the hyperliquidity provider Vault with $4,000,000 of losses.
And according to Hyperscan data, the wallet in question currently holds a five x long position on the Melania meme coin worth $3,300,000 Are you shitting me? Are really? See, this is the degeneracy in our society. Melania coin, you're gonna take a long position on Melania. At $3,300,000? The hell is wrong with these people? Meanwhile, blockchain sleuth Zach XBT claimed on x that this trader could be a cybercriminal. Quote, it's funny watching CT speculate on the hyper liquid whale when in reality, it's just a cyber cybercriminal gambling with stolen funds. He commented, he may be right. I I don't know. I I have I have no idea. All I have is what I'm giving you, and I hope it's helping you navigate what the hell is going on. Let's run the numbers.
Futures and commodities where Trump didn't say the word tariff, and I can tell because oil is up point 3% to $67 and 1, dime. Brent, North Sea up a third to $70.79. Natural gas bucking the trend here, 2.3% to the upside to $4.14 per thousand cubic feet. Gasoline is up a fifth of a point to $2.17 a gallon. Gold is doing well today. Another new all time high for gold, $3,044 and or $3,044.30 after a point 15% rise in price. However, silver is getting sold off 1.5% of the downside. Platinum is getting sold 1.3% of the downside. People buying copper 1.6% in the green, and palladium is down 1.25%.
Ag is mostly in the red. We do have a big winner today, though. Coffee is up 2%, and the biggest loser is going to be rough rice, which is down one and a third. Live cattle is up almost a full point. Lean hogs, oh god, got kicked in the nuts. Two and a third percent to the downside. Feeder cattle are up point 7%. The Dow is up two thirds of a point. So Legacy Financial is doing well today, I suppose. S and P is up three quarters of a point. Nasdaq is up a point, and the S and P Mini is up point 76%. Bitcoin's doing okay today. $84,610 gives us a 1,680,000,000,000 market cap, and we can get 27.5 ounces of shiny metal rocks with your one Bitcoin of which there are 19,838,854.08 of.
And there are very low fees, 0.03 BTC taken in fees on a per block basis. There are 50 blocks carrying 18,000 unconfirmed transactions waiting to clear at high priority rates of two. Satoshis per vByte. Low priority is gonna get you in at two. Satoshis per vByte. Mining is hash rate is down a little bit, but we're still over 800 to 802.2 exahashes per second. From yesterday's episode of Bitcoin and entitled the Bitcoin covenant, I got UNO with 7,777 sats. That's a full Petroboost. If you don't know who Petra was, look it up. He says, great show as always, my friend. I appreciate it.
Pies with a thousand says, Dave, you actually are the most pleb podcast out there. Y'all need to show this man some love. He has zero sponsors, this is true, and is constantly promoting pleb value for value, which is also true, l f g, and get y'all some soap from SoapMiner so Dave can earn some sats as well. This that's the way the circle p works. I just promote your product. Sometimes I use it, sometimes I don't. If I think that it's probably good value, I I don't have a problem putting you into the circle p. And if I make a sale for you, then you say, well, how much was that sale actually worth?
And then you cut me satoshis on the back end of it. And a lot of this is this is all trust. It's trust that the person that I told about the product actually tells you, the vendor, that I told you about the product so that you'll know where where you got the sale from. And then I gotta trust you to say that was that that had value to me. I made a sale because he just and I didn't contract him. I I'm not paying him $500 a month or however much advertising cost. He just did it did it because this is plebscape, man.
We're all living in the plebscape. We all gotta help each other. We don't have Wall Street money. We don't have, like, you know, big advertising agencies. We don't have marketing agencies that are trying to help us out. All we got is each other, and that's what the circle p is all about. Psyduck with five sixty seven says Psyduck. Turkey with five hundred says nothing. Perma nerd, $2.34 says, like soap miner soap, this podcast is clean. Buys with $4.20. Thank you, sir. Hashtag forty h p w. Yodle or Yodle with 300 says, Bitcoin and Bitcoin and what? Well, everything else, the world doesn't completely center around Bitcoin. Sometimes it centers around soap from SoapMiner. Get your soap from SoapMiner. Tell them you heard about it on circle b. God's death with two thirty seven says, thank you, sir. No. Thank you. God's death with another hundred says, again, thank you, sir. Well, again, thank you. Justin with a hundred says nothing. And God's death with another hundred says, again, thank you, sir. No. Thank you. And that's the weather report.
Welcome to part two of the news you can use where I am still wondering about €10,000,000,000,000 in, quote, unused savings being stolen from the European citizenry. Do they they don't even have $10,000,000,000,000 in savings. I guarantee you, that number is way high. We they no. And even if they did, you're just gonna take it and build an army? See, I'm telling you, man. This this whole World War two narrative and World War one narrative that we've been fed when we were in school is all bullshit. Something else happened. Anyway, let's get into it. Key dates have been set for samurai wallet developers pretrial motion schedule.
That doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but according to reports, samurai wallet developers, Keenan Rodriguez and William Longer and Hill appeared in good spirits for the first hearing in their case since September of twenty twenty four. At the hearing, the prosecution and defense agreed on the pretrial motion schedule as follows. On May 9, they will make the opening motion. On June 6, the prosecution's response to the motion. June 20, replies to the prosecution's response. July 15, expert disclosure by the prosecution. July 16, next in person pretrial hearing.
August, expert, disclosure by the defense, and November third of twenty twenty five, then the trial begins. They go through all this bullshit. I mean, how long are these guys gonna have to cool their freaking heels? Anyway, pray for the samurai wallet developers. This is all bullshit. It's just all crap. Now, Direct Debit meets lightning. NWC's game changing impact on Bitcoin payments. NWC better stand for Nostril Wallet Connect. This is out of Lightning News. You can get it at lightning.news, and it's written by James. In recent years, Bitcoin's ecosystem has seen significant advancements, particularly with the integration of Nostra Wallet Connect. Oh, thank god.
This innovation is transforming how payments are processed, excuse me, within the Bitcoin network offering decentralized identification and direct debit, d e b I t, functionalities. These developments are poised to enhance user experience and expand Bitcoin's accessibility. At the core of Bitcoin's layered ecosystem lies a complex network of transactional processing systems. The first layer, often referred to as layer one or the Bitcoin blockchain itself, handles approximately 19,000,000 transactions per month. While this layer is renowned for its security and decentralization, it is limited by slow transaction processing time and high fees.
The limitation is not a flaw, but rather a design choice that ensures the network security and integrity as the scarcity of block space is what drives the value and security of the blockchain. In contrast, a second layer known as the Lightning Network processes around 10,000,000 transactions monthly. This layer has experienced remarkable growth with a 1200% increase over the past two years. The Lightning Network offers faster and cheaper transactions, making it attractive. This rapid growth underscores the demand for scalable and cost effective payment solutions. So beyond these foundational layers, Nostra emerges as a third layer, often referred to as the social layer of Bitcoin.
With approximately 135,000 transactions per month, Nostra is focused on social and payment innovations. And one of the key features of Nostra is its ability to enable decentralized user identification through public keys. This capacity allows for a more secure and private form of identity management aligning with the broader principles of decentralization that underpin the Bitcoin network. The integration of Nostra Wallet Connect or NWC is particularly noteworthy for its potential to transform how payments are processed within the Bitcoin ecosystem. NWC introduces Direct Debit functionality, allowing app developers to manage transactions without requiring users to manually sign with their private keys.
This innovation significantly simplifies the payment process, making it more akin to traditional fiat payment systems while maintaining the security and decentralization that Bitcoin offers. In practice, NWC is already being utilized by platforms like Flash, which integrate Nostra Wallet Connect to enable tools such as payment buttons, paywalls, and video pay per view systems. These innovations are making it easier for businesses to monetize their content and services directly with the Bitcoin ecosystem. For instance, Flash allows users to connect their wallets directly to the platform, enabling seamless transactions without the need for any intermediaries.
This model not only reduces transaction costs but also enhances user privacy as well as security. For developers, NWC provides a streamlined integration progress process that requires only a single line of code to enable payments across multiple wallets. This simplicity is complemented by support for multiple programming languages and an open source development framework which fosters a collaborative environment for innovation. The open source nature of Nostra Wallet Connect encourages community involvement, allowing developers to contribute libraries and tools that expand its capabilities. One of the most significant advantages of Nostra Wallet Connect is its regulatory and security benefits. By operating without holding custody of any user funds, NWC reduces the regulatory risks associated with traditional payment processors.
This model also enhances user safety as funds are never held by a third party, thereby minimizing the risk of theft or loss. This approach aligns with the decentralized ethos of Bitcoin where control over the funds remains with the user at all times. The application of NWC are far reaching and innovative. For instance, it enables recurring subscriptions directly from wallets, a feature that has been challenging to implement in the Bitcoin space due to the lack of Direct Debit capabilities. This functionality opens up a new revenue model for businesses operating within the ecosystem allowing them to offer subscription based services in a manner similar to traditional fiat systems. However, unlike traditional systems, these subscriptions can be managed entirely within the Bitcoin network, eliminating the need for fiat intermediaries. And furthermore, NWC facilitates split payments, enabling revenue sharing among multiple parties.
This feature is particularly useful for businesses that need to distribute payments to various stakeholders such as content creators or affiliates. By allowing split payments, Nostra Wallet Connect introduces a level of flexibility in financial transactions that was previously unavailable in the Bitcoin ecosystem. The integration of NWC with platforms like streaming services is another area of significant potential. Traditional streaming platforms such as Twitch, excuse me, often act as intermediaries between creators and their audiences, taking a substantial portion of the revenue generated from subscriptions and donations.
Well, with NWC, it becomes possible for users to subscribe directly to creators with platforms taking their fees only after the creator has been paid. This model not only reduces the intermediaries control over fundage, but also provides creators with a more direct access to their earnings. In terms of future outlook, the adoption of Nostra Wallet Connect is expected to drive further growth in Bitcoin's ecosystem by making transactions more accessible and user friendly. As more wallets integrate with NWC, developers will have greater opportunities to build innovative payment solutions without the complexities of managing wallets or liquidity.
This shift could significantly expand Bitcoin's utility in mainstream commerce and digital services positioning it as a viable alternative to traditional payment systems. Moreover, the emphasis on decentralization and security inherent in NWC aligns with the broader goals of the Bitcoin community by maintaining control over the funds and reducing reliance on intermediaries users can enjoy a more secure and private financial experience. This alignment with Bitcoin's core principles is likely to foster greater trust and adoption among users who value decentralization and autonomy in their financial transactions.
The impact of NWC on the broader financial landscape is also noteworthy. Traditional payment systems often rely on intermediaries to facilitate transactions, which can lead to higher fees and slower processing times. In contrast, NWC offers a decentralized alternative that maintains speed, security, and cost efficiency. This could potentially disrupt traditional payment models by providing a more streamlined and user centric experience. Furthermore, the open source nature of NWC encourages collaboration and innovation within the developer community.
As more developers contribute to the platform, new features and applications are likely to emerge, further expanding the capabilities of Bitcoin's payment ecosystem. This collaborative environment is crucial for driving growth and adoption as it allows for the creation of tailored solutions that meet the diverse needs of users and businesses. And Nasr Wallet Connect is at the forefront of innovation in Bitcoin's payment ecosystem. As the financial landscape evolves, the role of NWC in shaping the future of cryptocurrency transactions will be pivotal.
Its potential to transform how payments are processed, managed, and innovated upon will undoubtedly have far reaching implications for both the Bitcoin community and the broader financial sector. So there you go. And one thing that bugs me about this is what's never what people are never saying about Nostra Wallet Connect. I use it every day. Lots of developers use it every day. They're like, I mean, Nostra Wallet Connect is is part of my GetAlBI experience. I mean, that that GetAlBI runs an entire section of my on of my Lightning Network facilitation.
What's not said about Nostra Wallet Connect is that it was developed by the guys at GetAlBI. They get almost no credit for Nostra Wallet Connect. They nobody ever talks about they just say, oh, Nostra Wallet Connect. Nostra Wallet Connect. But they don't ever say Nostra Wallet Connect, you know, that great thing that was developed by the dudes over there at GetAlbi. It's never said. So give the guys at GetAlbi some love today and tell them that you appreciate them developing Nostra Wallet Connect. Now Lightstack, and this may be the last one that I do today. I'm not sure. It depends on time.
Lightstack, a self custodial lightning node with Phoenix d or Phoenix daemon, I suppose, is what Phoenix d means. This is written by Massimo Musumeci. I am getting that right, and it's out of atlas21.com. Self custody represents one of the fundamental pillars of the Bitcoin ecosystem. When a user maintains direct control over their own money, they fully realize the principle, not your keys, not your coins, that distinguishes Bitcoin from traditional financial solutions. This characteristic, sometimes sacrificed for the ease of use, finds a new application thanks to tools like Lightstack. In traditional custody solutions, a third party holds the user funds, compromising the principle of trustlessness at the very foundation of Bitcoin itself.
Although custodial solutions may be tolerated for small amounts or to accommodate beginners, the natural evolution leads towards complete autonomy in managing one's Bitcoin. It's understandable that a beginner might start with a custodial wallet to become familiar with the technology. The priority goal remains increasing transaction volume outside traditional financial networks even at the cost of temporary compromises on custody. However, as volumes and experiences increase, adopting self custodial solutions becomes essential. In this context, tools emerge that facilitate the transaction to full autonomy.
Phoenix d, on demand node developed by Async LNbits a modular suite of lightning tools that integrate API and then Voltage more complex but customizable solutions The combination of Phoenix d and l n bits can be effectively orchestrated through Lightstack, a software available on GitHub, and then they give the GitHub, URL here. Lightstack allows you to create and manage self custodial lightning nodes in the cloud using a simple virtual private server or VPS. This approach guarantees users complete control over keys and access while automating the technical complexities of implementation.
When using Lightstack, an l n bits instance becomes immediately available on the node. The system automatically configures SSL certificates for all domains associated with Phoenix d endpoints and the LN bits interface including its API. So why choose LN bits in the first place? Well, it represents the true operational command center of the lightning node. Offering a platform on which to run numerous applications and plugins, developers can create custom applications using the powerful integrated APIs. A practical example is the sats dot mobi lightning suite, a solution I personally developed using the LNbits architecture.
This suite offers a wide range of lightning native services like vouchers, point of sale, LND hub interface, and support for or for I'm sorry. For NFC cards, thanks to integration with the Bolt service, it's also possible to implement swap functionality between different layers. So here are the main features of Lightstack. One, secure connectivity. Two, API accessibility. Three, complete autonomy. Four, integrated LN bits. Five, multi stack functionality. And six, a hybrid interface. Soon, a VPS service with the pre integrated system will be available, thanks to collaboration with Denali Pro, a Swiss Swiss, a Swiss Internet service provider with which I am professionally involved.
LNbits offers a wide range of immediately available features, like advanced accounting systems where you can balance protection through unique API keys for each wallet. There's an extensible platform. There's a development stack. There's complete support for the l n URL protocol. There's instant wallet. There's financial management tools, and it is also multi platform. There are no more excuses for not adopting a self custodial solution. With Lightstack, it's possible to immediately activate a self custodial Lightning node without worrying about channel balancing or liquidity management while maintaining an intuitive interface and full control over your funds.
Okay. So this sounds good, but here here's the issue, and many of you are just gonna straight up laugh at me. I don't know what the fuck to do with a GitHub thing. Yes. And you're gonna go, oh, god. He's that dumb. Yeah. Well, it's not that I'm dumb. It's just that I got a lot going on. And I actually do know pretty much what to do with something out of GitHub. And, you know, I gotta compile it. You know, I gotta do all this stuff. I don't wanna do that. And you know what else I don't wanna do? I don't wanna use Docker. You know, I mean, can is there any way that you could just, like, say, hey. Look. This compiles to an executable.
Here are my signing keys for this particular GitHub account. You can trust me. If you would do that, I'd be I'd probably try it out on, like, a laptop just to see what it looks like. But the amount of hoops that I gotta jump through to get something out of GitHub into something that I can actually use, it it seems a little daunting. I'm just gonna be straight up not gonna lie. It seems a little daunting. I've done it. I've never really liked it. I I don't like compiling shit. It's like something that I just that's why I'm not a computer scientist or one of the reasons. I just don't have the freaking patience to do all this crap. And yet everybody says, hey. Here's this brand new product, and it's on GitHub. Buy and, yes, you're you're absolutely right to say, well, you should probably put a little bit more effort into it. Yeah. You're right.
Find me the time, and I will put a little bit more effort into it. I'm just saying that if there's any way that these things, when people say, oh, here's the GitHub repository, if there's some way that I could be met halfway to the GitHub repository. I know. I know. I get it. You're a developer. You wanna move on to other things. Is there anything that we can do? Is there any way that I can interface with your brand new shiny kick ass sounding product with without going all the way to the GitHub repository. You know? I mean, that that's that's what I'm getting at. And I I don't mean to to, you know, beat a dead horse with it. I'm just saying, if what I'm saying resonates with you, then I a, I know I'm not alone, but b, maybe you come up with an idea or maybe somebody who is a developer that says, oh, god. I didn't realize that when I say go to GitHub, it causes a problem.
For some of us, it does. It kinda causes a problem. Just I'm just saying if there's any other way that we can work around that so I can test out your stuff. Like, have like, even like, you got it on on on, like, I don't know, on GitHub. Is there any way that you can get a website going that emulates what it does so I can see what an interface might look like so I can play around with it in a, you know, nonthreatening manner? I'm just saying, man. Alright. Let's end it up with OpenSats announcing their tenth wave of Bitcoin grants. The projects that are have been included in this wave include Bitcoin safe, stable channels, something called Way Wayee, w a y e. Apparently, it supports the well-being of open source developers to reduce burnout. Oh, nice. And enhance work sustainability.
Cool. OpenSats has also renewed three grants to past grantees, Floresta, CrUX, and something called CrUX installer, which I'm assuming is is probably part of Crux. And then they go on to say, one of the goals for this epoch is to encourage the creation of open Sats like organizations, whether to focus on specific domains, enable tax deductible donations in new jurisdictions, or just to provide regional and local support. As a first step towards that goal, we are delighted to announce support from multiple organizations that embody this vision. So they're supporting people and other organizations that do what OpenSats does as an organization.
This is like you know how I always say the vultures are eating themselves? In this particular case, the eagles seem to be feeding themselves. That's what this means. And these include twenty one forty, a European nonprofit focused on Bitcoin security and resilience based in Amsterdam. Open Cash, a Swiss nonprofit focused on researching and developing open source electronic cash systems. Bitshala, a grassroots initiative aimed at educating and training the next generation of open source Bitcoin and lightning developers in India. And then there's summer of Bitcoin, a global internship program that introduces university students to open source Bitcoin development and design.
There's Bitcoin Dev Launchpad, a forty week Ventium program that trains South American developers in Bitcoin open source development through a structured three phase approach. And finally, the Foundation Formation Kit, an open source justice foundation project that assist open source communities in establishing tax exempt foundations and tax exempt statuses like OpenSats itself. It's a five zero one c three. It's a nonprofit organization. It has tax exempt status as like an OpenSats Foundation. So their OpenSats is funding a a group of people that teach people how to open foundations and also get, like, stuff like five zero one three c, tax status in The United States. This is amazing.
There see, this is the ethos. This is one of the re it it's that kind of thing that made me think about doing the circle p, where I'm not charging people for advertising on my podcast. You know, I don't have the the biggest audience anyway, but still I have one. You know, other other people are buying like, yesterday, SoapMiner made a soap sale because because of the circle p. Right? But I I'm not like I I'm not invoicing SoapMiner for, you know, like, a a number of sats that he owes me because I made a sale for him. It's trust. It it we have to help each other in the plebscape.
We have to. We do not have we we do not have the tools. We certainly don't have the money. We we don't have the notoriety. We got bupkis except each other, and that's enough. That's enough. OpenSats helping other organizations to become an organization just like OpenSats themselves, you would think that they Open Sats would just wanna be the the only people that do it, but they don't. They don't. And people can get mad at Open Sats because your project didn't get funded and, bit I don't know. What whatever the bitch fest is. But I still love the idea of OpenSats and what they're doing over there. And the fact that they are now, like, self replicating by using funding that OpenSats has to pull the very wind out of their own sails is amazing to watch.
It's amazing to watch. If we do this right, we can change everything. Not just with OpenSats, not just with value for value advertising, not just with value for value content creation and podcasting two point o. We go on and on and on. We start balling all this up, and things get really bright. And I think I'm just gonna leave it there. I'll see you on the other side.
[01:04:42] Unknown:
This has been Bitcoin, and and I'm your host, David Bennett. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and hope to see you again real soon. Have a great day.
Introduction and Episode Overview
Bitcoin Legislation and Liquidity News
