So the ledger live is the beginning point that forces a firmware update when doing a transaction, if one does not want to update there are a couple of options,
1.)  Rollback and user earlier version of ledger live.
2.)  Use ledger with electrum
3.)  others

So in exploring #1 I found all previous versions of ledger live : https://www.ledger.com/ledger-live/lld-signatures

What I am wondering is if there is a way to know what is the proper version of ledger live to use with the current firmware on my ledger device?  Is there a way to figure this out?

Is there a good offline open source linux cli tool I can run to generate a key pair on air gapped computer?  (not sure where to post as is not hw wallet, but seeking offline method for key pair generation)

So is a ledger firmware update safe? 

Yet, the Ledger chief technology officer dismissed this concern, stating, “Using a wallet requires a minimal amount of trust. If your hypothesis is that your wallet provider is the attacker, you’re doomed.” He went on to say that the only way users can protect themselves against a dishonest wallet developer is to build their own computer, compiler, wallet stack, node and synchronizer, which the executive said is “a lifetime journey.”

source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/ledger-clarifies-how-its-firmware-works-after-deleted-tweet-controversy

Seems like the fear that the wallet provider is the attacker kind of goes away with open source projects, verify signature, etc. 

Is it possible to create a new wallet on electrum with a ledger seed?  Electrum runs on tails on an air gapped ubuntu box.  Is this a good guide?  https://coinguides.org/import-ledger-trezor-seed-electrum/  Things to watch out for?

I am a little confused about one point and how this works.  When I set up a 'air-gapped' offline wallet (running off tails for example), how does Electrum know about an incoming transaction?  So say I send the new air gapped .01 BTC, how would it see it to add it to the balance so I could later create a transaction to send it and then get it signed on the offline wallet?

I notice that ledger allows for a 24 word seed phrase, electrum uses a 12 word seed.  Also I see that a 24 word seed from ledger can be imported into electrum.  Is a 12 word seed generally viewed as a safe route from a security point of view? 

I know this is a different thing since the words were known, but it is interesting that the same technique would not work with a 24 word seed.
https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-advocate-cracks-known-12-word-seed-phrase-in-minutes

I am just trying to understand the general setup for Armory.  To use an offline air gapped wallet you need two different machines, a view only and the air gapped computer that will hold the private key, correct?  On the view only machine you must download the entire bitcoin blockchain, around 450gb, correct?  Can both be done on ubuntu? 

It is kind of strange, I have a new PC that was prebuilt, it is a Lenovo i7.  It has a number of existing USB ports and in addition I had a 7 port USB hub installed, it is a PCI-e card.  The hub can read and write fine, I have done a number of tests.  The hub can connect up to a Ledger Nano X, but not the Ledger Nano S, the preinstalled ports work fine.  I imagine it is some kind of driver problem, but it seems strange that the hub can effectively read/write files, can connect fine with the X, but can't see / connect with the S.  Any tips on what I can do to resolve the problem?  

The lightning network is extremely centralized, has several known security risks, no public ledger, not compatible with cold storage, requires trust in 3rd party (yeah seriously). It's everything crypto was designed to combat, just a narrative to keep btc prices going up.

from here: corrected link below
https://twitter.com/4stepstofluency/status/1404482153367412742?s=20

Just interesting, I was hearing about the lightning network and about how it was going to solve all the network, speed and cost problems with transactions, what are your thoughts?  Centralized and no good, centralized not an issue, or what?  For me I thought it was a great advancement until I read this....

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-seizes-23-million-cryptocurrency-paid-ransomware-extortionists-darkside

Any ideas how they would have retrieved the bitcoin,

We will continue to target the entire ransomware ecosystem

-- makes me curious how they would technically retrieve the coins unless they located the individual and got the device they were on.

https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2020/comp-pr2020-338.pdf

The SEC complaint against ripple XRP is really well written and basically an easier read than I thought it would be.  On page 28.  Only thing that might apply to BTC is this one section:

54. Both memos warned that XRP was unlikely to be considered “currency” under the
Exchange Act because, unlike “traditional currencies,” XRP was not backed by a central government
and was not legal tender.

Most of everything else applies to the company ripple promoting and selling the XRP which would obviously not apply to BTC or BCH since there is no company connection.

Thoughts? 

I wanted to back up my ledger prior to installing new firmware.  I wanted to check that I did indeed have the correct seed.  So I attempted to set up a electrum wallet to see all was good using the create from seed option.  Once you key in the 24 word seed you must check the BIP39 address option.  I was having some problems and googled it, seemed the main issue people were having was the derivation path.  The most important thing for me to get it working was to try the electrum various wallet types with the recommended derivation paths until I found the correct one.  For me it was selecting p2sh-segwit with the recommended derivation path of m/49'/0'/0'.  It depends on the type of wallet you have on the ledger. 

Getting it to work:
1.)  Create from Existing Seed
2.)  Once seed entered select BIP39 address type.
3.)  There will be options for wallet types; legacy, p2sh-segwit, native segwit.  Each wallet type selected will give a different suggested derivation path. 

For my wallet that I wanted to see it was p2sh-segwit with the suggested derivation of m/49'/0'/0'.  You may have a different wallet type.

You may have to try each wallet types until your electrum wallet syncs the bitcoin balance.  The problem I was having initially must have been not selecting the p2sh-segwit wallet type. 

On a laptop I have the program Gpg4win and am using GPA to manage the pgp keys.  Everything on the laptop is working OK.  Now, I want to move the setup off of the laptop.

I have installed the Gpg4win on another W10 system.  I found the .asc backup of my keys on the laptop.  I imported it into GPA on the new system.  Everything about the key imported in the new system seems correct.  I can view it and change the passphrase etc. 

Here is the problem I am having.  There is a site which requires two factor authentication and requires decrypting a PGP message to get a token.  When I do it on the original laptop and copy the PGP Message to the clipboard it Decrypts as you would expect and give me the token.  On the new system I get this message when I do the same thing '"Clipboard" contained no valid encrypted data.' 

It has got me stumped  , any clues greatly appreciated!

I am trying to create an anonymous wallet over the tor network as per the following:

https://darknetmarkets.org/a-simple-guide-to-safely-and-effectively-mixing-bitcoins/

I am confused how to find and create on on-line wallet on the tor network.  How would I find the wallet site and how would I know it is legit?

any tips appreciated.

I am a bitcoin newbie and am just experimenting with various things at this point.  One thing I am curious about is how a lot of the wallets (bitgo, blockchain.info etc) use two factor authentication -- what happens when you change your phone number?  I am going to be traveling in about a month and wonder how I would change to phone number.

Take bitgo for example, there is no help tab, no contact info except for sales.  In bitgo I don't see where I would change the phone number.  They have an app called yubikey, but that wants you to scan a barcode which I don't understand where the barcode comes from.

actually for blockchain.info it makes sense you can change the phone number in your account.