... Today I was at the Bitcoin 2022 conference!  I'll summarize some of my experiences, I just got home. I woke up early and drove over since I had no idea how the parking situation (etc.) would be. At 7:15 in the morning, the parking garage across the street from the MB Convention Center was mostly vacant (they do have lots of conferences and conventions there). Doors opened at 8:00 AM, and the lines moved pretty quickly. They gave each of us a Swag Bag, one item in there (discussed below, second item) turned out to be a really nice gift. - I was mostly interested in hardware wallets, I picked up a BitBox02 (BTC Only Edition) and a Trezor Model T (Trezor tossed in a t-shirt). I went ahead and bought them there so I would not appear on any HACKED mailing lists...
- In the swag bag, it turned out that there was a FREE Arculus hardware wallet, although I did not note that at first. When I dropped by their booth, they told me that yes, it was free for the first 25,000 who had registered for the show. So, lucky me. I asked them about one doubt I had (3FA), as I have next-to-no fingerprints (which amused TSA to no end when I applied for "Trusted Traveler" airline status), and they told me that in Settings facial picture and fingerprints can be turned off.
- I also went by BitPay's booth to ask them some questions. They told me about their rollout of Lightning, but (maybe I didn't understand correctly) that it would be months to a year or so before it was ready for use. BitPay kindly gave me a 1 oz silver coin! It has the BTC logo and all, says .999 silver and in small writing along the rim mentions BitPay. I signed on with BitPay about Nov 2020 as they had just released a debit card which allowed me to sell some BTC should I want (but I joined Gemini in Jan 2021 to be able to sell moar). Hey! That silver coin is worth a bit over $24, so I think that was pretty decent of them...
- There were a LOT of financial this-and-that companies, which didn't interest me as I am not involved with any institutions, but there is a lot of activity in those sectors
- There were also a lot of mining-related companies including mining machines, Bitmain's new high-powered miners, also Bitmain has their own new technology using a [different] kind of cooling systems (not immersion) that allows 210 or so miners into their 20' container next to a similar sized cooling tower...
- I did not get a chance to go see any speakers, as I only had today, tomorrow we are traveling. Nor did I catch any of the "Announcements" so I don't know at the moment if anything important was, well, announced. Trezor has some kind of announcement tomorrow (maybe their upcoming chip?), but their man at their booth did not know what the announcement would be, or perhaps wouldn't say...
- Over at Bobby Lee's Ballet booth, they gave me a free book by him (The Promise of Bitcoin) which he graciously autographed for me, I believe Saifedean Ammous was signing his book as well, but the line was very long and I didn't have all that much time.
- I also visited Wasabi Wallet's booth, actually that was my first stop. The man (not nopara73) gave me some of their rationale re their decision not to accept "certain" UTXOs in their CoinJoin service. It sounded plausible, in that it looks like it will be for a very limited number of cases (announced thefts of BTC and so on). Plausible, I did not feel like grilling him.
Miami is just starting get warm in early April. It's probably worthwhile for many HODLers to find their way to one of these conferences (tickets are expensive, but there was a $300 discount for payment by BTC). They do have parties (and loud music outside) for all you young 'uns. I missed last year's show, but I had gone to a couple of BTC shows in Miami a few years ago. As you would expect, it's a much larger deal now. For those employed in BTC-related jobs, it's a must going. [edited] |
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... An easy way to play increasingly high prices are the below ETFs (exchange traded funds, buy & sell like stocks): Ticker DBA: Invesco DB Agriculture Fund (various ag commodities) Ticker CORN: Teucrium Corn Fund Ticker WEAT: Teucrium Wheat Fund "Paper Food". If you're OK with just betting on the price movements, the above are very easy assuming you already can buy stocks, and will work (I own some DBA). Take a look at DBA recent price movements: https://finviz.com/quote.ashx?t=DBA&ty=c&ta=1&p=d |
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... I have seen for the 5th (10th? 20th?) time BTC go up or down $1000 + in the time it takes me to run down & get gas, or eat a sandwich, etc. Yet I have been unable to find fast news about what happened. What news source has good & fast reporting why BTC price can move so quickly? CoinDesk and CoinTelegraph don't cover "Breaking News" like that... * * * For people who follow the BTC miners, I have noted over the past few months that Foundry USA has moved way ahead of AntPool (and the others). Some 6 months ago, Foundry was maybe the 7th largest mining pool. Now they are first, and some 30% (a mighty 10,000 PHz more) over No. 2 AntPool. btc.com on their home page shows the 15 top mining pools. |
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Negative thoughts have Negative consequences. If there's one thing I've learnt over the last 10 years is don't listen to negative reality people. I like to surround myself with positive people and a bucket of sand to put my head in when thing get too much . Working so far
One of the great secrets of life is that we all have much more control than most people realize over not only our thoughts but also our realities. |
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For all of you unfortunates who have neve spent real time in Texas, knowing about Pancho's all-you-can-eat buffets is about as proof positive as you can get that Bob is from the Lone Star State. Brings back memories of when I was a college student there on a budget.
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A very easy path for partial inflation protection for Americans, or those with access to US investments, would be the ETFs (all by Invesco) of commodities:
Ticker: DBA (an ETF of agricultural commodities)
Ticker: DBB (an ETF of base metals like copper and nickel)
Ticker: DBC (an ETF of many commodities including crude oil)
I have bought some DBA and DBC for my grandchildren as a partial hedge against inflation. Yes, these are "paper commodities", but they provide exposure to inflation hedges beyond the more well known precious metals.
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Anyone can also "dust him", for example can send very tiny amounts of Toxic Waste from a CoinJoin. |
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I just opened Wasabi (this afternoon), and there is a note at the bottom left of the window advising that there is a new version available. I had read earlier that a new version was coming, but it seemed further off in the future.
Has anyone checked out this "new version"? I will download it now and take a look. But I am not a programmer nor expert (nor etc.), so those of you who better know Wasabi might want to take a look as well. And post any comments!
* * *
Note that I too am unhappy about Wasabi's decision to censor some UTXOs from their CoinJoin feature. Another tool lost helping us gain privacy.
EDIT: The download went OK, but there seems to be no obvious differences in the new version (this one is version 1.1.13.1, I do not know what the version number of the "last one" was).
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But, I have found that even rudimentary blockchain analysis techniques can pick up the fact that you have used a mixer. And likely the chain analysis firms can track the country where the mixer operates. Also, there are clues that can be sussed-out from the mixers' websites and/or commentaries.
This might become, very soon perhaps, a problem for users of mixers.
What kind of problem user could face if they use mixer which operated from russia rather than another mixer (which operated from different country or unknown location)? Most centralized service already blacklist coin which comes from any kind of mixer/coinjoin. Well, it's precisely Russia (under massive sanctions nearly worldwide) that make me wonder. I already know that various mixers are from Russia, including at least one that I have used. There may be increasing pressure from Western governments to closely examine ANY transactions to/from Russian mixers. Yes, I understand that many centralized services do not want "tainted" BTC from mixers/coinjoins. |
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It's amazing what Intel did with this second generation Bitcoin miner and this would be much bigger news in different circumstances.
Now it's time for AMD to get in the race to try and make better chip for Bitcoin mining, this is how we can make much faster improvements.
It would be better for decentralization to have multiple sources of asic machines and chips, especially during chain supply issues.
Or Samsung... |
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Russia will never have a united people with Ukraine now. Instead they will have a permanent enemy. Ukraine has not forgotten (not close) their Holomodor, their disaster inflicted on them by Stalin. And now Putin comes in and kills hundreds (or thousands) so far, destroys much of the Ukraine, and has the nerve to call Ukraine "Nazis" (with a Jewish president). If Russia "wins", they will find a mad hornet's nest that will never go away once the Ukrainians learn to make IEDs. If Russia loses, I doubt they'll offer apologies or restitution. Russia will be a big loser there in the Ukraine. Perhaps some Russian general will put a 9mm into Putin's forehead and end this horror... |
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For various good reasons, mixing BTC is a good idea for many people. Breaking the link between acquisition of BTC and their subsequent "resting place" gives a measure of security.
But, I have found that even rudimentary blockchain analysis techniques can pick up the fact that you have used a mixer. And likely the chain analysis firms can track the country where the mixer operates. Also, there are clues that can be sussed-out from the mixers' websites and/or commentaries.
This might become, very soon perhaps, a problem for users of mixers.
I have decided that CoinJoins will work better for me for the time being.
I welcome discussion!
[edited]
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OT: https://twitter.com/OzraeliAvi/status/1495163814412951552Wow, so if a Canadian peaceful protester decides to just go home, the police will still hunt you down and persecute you without cause or justification? What a dystopian, Orwellian nightmare police state that Canada has now become. I hate to say it, but Canada is now making Commiefornia look like an ideal place to live. And I'm sure we won't be seeing any George Floyd style protests for this poor guy or any outrage from the MSM, probably because he miraculously lived.  https://youtu.be/7BoWKMmwloo?t=10
"We’re from the government and we’re here to keep you safe from Covid."At this stage the country is literally invaded. https://www.bitchute.com/video/2HUKXxbB7vB8/More Un troops on the way. These guys (preparing the USA convoy from California to DC in the next few days) have a way to contribute by BTC (some BTC 0.29 raised so far): thepeoplesconvoy.org Seems to be a good cause, it would be helpful to know if this is legit. |
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... BitBox is a sponsor at the Bitcoin 2022 Conference this April in Miami. I plan to go, and will take a look at their booth (and Bitbox02 as well I presume). Miami Ref: https://b.tc/conferenceHave any of you had the chance to use BitBox02 (whether the Bitcoin only version or the multi-currency one)? (I have used Trezor Model 2 and Ledger S, I prefer the Trezor) |
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Hah! Dude, I hope you're feeling better (I've been absent awhile from here). Still have that sense of humor, bigly... Looks like I didn't miss much on the price action while absent.... [edited] |
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... That's interesting that they chose that week in Miami for their Supermoon Camp. The big Bitcoin 2022 conference at Miami Beach is April 6th-9th. Ref: https://b.tc/conference |
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BTC investor here.
Recently my wife and I had a chance to experience some Virtual Reality (a 10 minute experience of flying around Machu Picchu, very well done and impressive). I also note that FaceBook has decided that the Metaverse looks like their future, hence their name change to Meta Platforms.
So the time may have arrived more me to look at dipping a toe into parts of the "Virtual Reality Universe".
I invite comments and discussion on two aspects of gamer projects Decentraland (MANA as their currency) and The Sandbox (SAND) as so:
1) Which of the playgrounds do you prefer? I have looked briefly at both, they seem pretty similar, but I am a n00b at this. I am looking at "player experieces", which do you like better and why? Especially for those who have explored both.
2) Which of the currencies (MANA or SAND) do you think would have the better future? Why?
I note that GUCCI recently purchased some terrain in The Sandbox.
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