Mark XBT

I support XBT. Secessio plebis.

[Mark XBT @UsuallyMark]

@secsovereign My math brain knew this and I still did 24 😂

[hodlonaut @hodlonaut]

CAPTURE Part 4: THE MACHINE

The fourth and final installment is out.

Bitcoin Magazine wasn’t just covering the fight over Bitcoin’s future. Its parent operated an Ordinals trading desk, invested in businesses tied to the ecosystem, and maintained editorial policies that exempted parts of that same business.
Then came an $80,000/month marketing contract, with an option for Nakamoto Inc. to buy BTC Inc at a valuation tied to its earnings, in a window that included the OP_RETURN fight. Nakamoto exercised the option.
Readers were not consistently told about these commercial relationships.
A documented investigation into the commercial interests and media infrastructure surrounding the Bitcoin Core controversy.
https://t.co/yJ7vBoYoVf

[Secure Sovereign 🚀₿🧡 @secsovereign]

hodlonaut's CAPTURE series is investigative journalism at its best, and the latest piece shows why it matters. In June 2025, Bitcoin Core merged a change lifting the default limit on OP_RETURN data over sustained objection from many node operators. A major Bitcoin publication covered that fight while its parent company's fund held stakes in businesses the change favored. The parent was also under a contract that tied its sale price to its earnings from those months and barred it from discussing the relationship with the press. The publication's disclosure page promised quarterly updates. The last one is dated March 2024.

Almost all of it was on the public record. Readers just never had it in front of them, and it took four articles to put it in one place, because nothing in the structure asks anyone to.

What he documents in practice, I have been documenting structurally at https://t.co/F536OjCpAz. Bitcoin's development runs through a handful of merge keys on one implementation, with no independent specification of its rules. Its funding is concentrated in a small number of funders. There are no binding rules for conflicts of interest and no consequence when one goes undisclosed. A record nobody is obligated to act on protects nobody, so outsiders end up catching each conflict by hand, after the fact, one at a time. His series shows what a single round of that costs.

None of this requires bad people, and these are not bad people. Good people inside that structure will keep producing what his series records.

Bitcoin Commons (@BtcCommons) goes past research and documentation. It is a full stack built to replace that structure, and it is not a toy node or a technical curiosity. The node is built from the Orange Paper, a formal specification of consensus that no single codebase owns. On funding, we are building @joinplebly, which is designed to open development funding to the people who run and depend on the software, so a few large donors are not deciding what gets built. A new coordination model for the codebase commons keeps power visible and accountable to the people who depend on it. And @DecodeBitcoin, an AI review layer built on seventeen years of Bitcoin's development record, acts as a neutral arbiter that judges every change on its merits and keeps getting sharper on Bitcoin over time.

Each piece targets a specific failure, the ones I have mapped in the structure and the ones hodlonaut keeps finding in practice. Bitcoin will always have stewards. Commons is built so they answer to the people running the network.

[Mark XBT @UsuallyMark]

@leousn @FmrRepMattGaetz Host your own and it takes on a whole different meaning.

[Peter Steinberger 🦞 @steipete]

said that last year, saying it again.
vibes coding is a slur.

[Mark XBT @UsuallyMark]

@americanhodl8 Everyone doesn’t fit layer 1 anyway.

[Mark XBT @UsuallyMark]

@MajorianBTC @TheOrangeLightr Just don’t make it easy.

[Mark XBT @UsuallyMark]

@DisrespectedThe @AerickLux2008 💯 I feel it in my nethers. The event is imminent.

[CONVOY @Convoy_Mining]

CONVOY is excited to officially re-launch our pool. Originally known as Eligius, and successor to OCEAN, CONVOY continues the decentralization mission.

DATUM Gateway, now under CONVOY's stewardship, has finally released 0.5.0beta, updating it for Bitcoin's new proof-of-work algorithm, and the many features that come with it. 🚀

DATUM is an open-source protocol that lets miners truly solo mine, building their own block templates, while still participating in pooled reward sharing. It’s crucial for mining decentralization, and used by most of the network today.

Download DATUM Gateway v0.5.0beta now in the links below!

[Mark XBT @UsuallyMark]

@Lisaunbothered Zero points for good intentions.

[Mark XBT @UsuallyMark]

@AAStack @EducatingBTC Fiat desperately wants Bitcoin to be only like gold and nothing more. In a shocking turn of events the largest asset manager in the world pays tribute to the fiat machine.

[Steak 'n Shake @SteaknShake]

Starting today, all Steak n Shake buns are officially seed-oil free. The buns are now unapologetically drenched in pure Grade AA Wisconsin butter.

The grass-fed, grass-finished Steakburger in a seed-oil-free bun is a new level of quality. Steak n Shake is breaking new ground with tastier, healthier options at affordable prices.

🇺🇸 MAHA 🇺🇸

[Mark XBT @UsuallyMark]

@SaltyBoomer777 @maria_leah385 @SamaHoole A life long condition cleared up in months will convince only those that went through it. It’s heresy to the lemmings.

[Mark XBT @UsuallyMark]

@PunterJeff I like the stock.

[Mark XBT @UsuallyMark]

Had to upgrade both of my Start9 nodes and sync again. Blake2b finished in 13 hours. Corp coin is at 90% and it’s almost 2 days. My hardware and internet connection are both premium. This gap is going to get stupid.

[Mark XBT @UsuallyMark]

@ReasonedMaxi369 💯

[Mark XBT @UsuallyMark]

ai is like upgrading your 4x4. You are going to get stuck further out.

[XBT Motorist @BitcoinMotorist]

@zndtoshi . . .and increase coinbase maturity requirements.

Have fun staying core