Defi Dan

Head of FinOps at a Fund somewhere by the sea.

dubito, ergo cogito, ergo sum

[Defi Dan @DefiDan164]

@GoingParabolic We out here.

Just another walk in the park

[Defi Dan @DefiDan164]

HAHAHA

[Defi Dan @DefiDan164]

The paper: "Optimized Point Addition Circuits for Elliptic Curve Discrete Logarithms" by André Schrottenloher (Inria, France), June 2026.

What it's actually about: How cheaply a future quantum computer could break elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) using Shor's algorithm, specifically targeting secp256k1, the exact curve Bitcoin and most crypto wallets use.

The story behind it:

Background: Shor's algorithm breaks RSA and ECC once a big enough quantum computer exists. Researchers keep refining how few qubits and gates the attack would need.

The trigger:

In early 2026, a Google-led team (Babbush et al.) published much-improved cost estimates for cracking ECC, and explicitly discussed the risk to crypto. But they refused to publish their actual circuits, citing concerns about enabling attacks. They proved their claims with a zero-knowledge proof instead.

This paper's move:

Schrottenloher independently reconstructs circuits that match Babbush's results, and publishes everything (full code, reproducible). It's partly a "science should be open" rebuttal.

The results

Matches Google's numbers: ~1.5% more qubits, but 6.5–10% fewer Toffoli gates (the expensive gate type).
Full attack on secp256k1: roughly 2^26 Toffoli gates with ~1,200–1,460 logical qubits.

That's about half the qubits and fewer gates than the prior 2023 benchmark (Litinski, ~200M gates).

The clever bits:

A smarter way to do the core math operation (modular multiplication) by splitting the Extended Euclidean Algorithm into two reversible pieces, which saves space.

Approximate circuits:

they let operations fail with tiny probability, since Shor's only needs to succeed often enough, which cuts cost.

They exploit the special mathematical form of secp256k1's prime number to simplify the arithmetic further.

[Defi Dan @DefiDan164]

@Kylechasse Jamie:

Why would YOU get yield on your money when I could get yield on your money.

What a Novel concept.

Watch them burn.

[Defi Dan @DefiDan164]

Tell me you’re bothered without telling me you’re bothered Jamie.

[Brendan Pedersen @BrendanPedersen]

Jamie Dimon, complaining about the Clarity Act and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong this AM: “He’s spending hundreds of millions of dollars in Washington in this thing.”

Maria: “He said he’s representing the whole —”

Dimon: “He’s full of shit.”

Maria: “…well.”

[Defi Dan @DefiDan164]

@elonmusk The silence in the room is deafening

[Defi Dan @DefiDan164]

@MarioNawfal Lots of good points but overarchingly the notion that AI can’t create something new is silly.

[Angela Rose @angelaroosee]

Ilhan Omar has to explain how a business who has no equipment, no location, no bottles, no stickers, appears to have no employee wages, no vineyard, no wine tasting room, no tours, no product, no shipping, no marketing, no lids, no boxes, no barrels, no license, no freight trucks… had $5M in expenses.

In her world the wine cardboard box at this postal place set as their mailing address, costs $5M…

Same goes for the consulting firm, $29.9M in expenses operating out of a WeWork, yet no physical office there??

With $30M you’d think they’d have a suite… how could they have spent $29.9M also with no marketing I’ve ever seen, no location, etc.

[Nick Sortor @nicksortor]

🚨 HOLY CRAP! Ilhan Omar’s fake “winery” has been legally DISSOLVED — just NINE DAYS within her “amended” financial disclosure being filed

The Somali fraud queen has been LASHING OUT over reporters asking about her bogus winery and wild swings in net worth.

Keep pressing! 🔥

h/t @MichaelH_MN

🎥 @alisonintheknow

[Defi Dan @DefiDan164]

"the fair value of the Fund's investments is uncertain and may be difficult to determine. Valuations are often based on good-faith fair value determinations that are subjective and may rely on limited or incomplete information; actual values realized may differ, potentially materially."

[Defi Dan @DefiDan164]

Liquidity — the biggest structural risk
This is where retail investors most commonly misread the product:

Shares are not listed on any exchange
No secondary trading market
Liquidity comes only through quarterly tender offers at the Board's discretion, limited to up to 5% of NAV per quarter
Tender offers are not guaranteed — the Board can decline, and when offered, they can be oversubscribed (meaning you may only get a prorated portion out)
In practice: if you and many other holders want out at the same time, you cannot all exit
A hypothetical: if 20% of holders want out in one quarter, and the Board offers a 5% tender, you'd get roughly 25% of your requested redemption. The rest stays locked until a future tender.

This is fundamentally an illiquid, long-duration product sold with retail-friendly packaging.

[Defi Dan @DefiDan164]

@DiscountedTr Cope harder

[Defi Dan @DefiDan164]

@ZssBecker @UziCryptoo the cope is so real.

33 no kids here.

Life’s pretty awesome. 😂 legitimately awesome.

[Defi Dan @DefiDan164]

@the_smart_ape Can you take this a step further and build a master prompt for claude to do all this itself. Or - even transferring this to those of us who just use claude through Cursor

[Defi Dan @DefiDan164]

@MartinShkreli The irony lol

[Defi Dan @DefiDan164]

@thewackytor @AugustusDelano Technically it’s weightless.

And we’ll see who’s still buying electricity when the dollar collapses and crypto Rallies.

But to each their own

[Defi Dan @DefiDan164]

@PathOfMen_ Gamify saying no to money spending events.

Save 20k as fast as you can and buy a mom and pop house converted to 2 rentals.

Protect your credit and pull a HELOC.

Repeat 1 house every year.

This is the path.

NO ALCOHOL OR DRUGS OR BABIES.

[U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission @SECGov]

TODAY 🚨: The Commission issued an interpretation that clarifies the application of federal securities laws to crypto assets.

This is a major step to provide greater clarity regarding the Commission’s treatment of crypto assets.

Read the release here: https://t.co/DDykVLHZQI