We’ve been on a side-quest, and we have good news from the other side! 40 million Kenyans now have a bitcoin Lightning Address! They didn’t need to sign up for one because they had it this entire time, attached to the phone number in their pocket!
Try it: send bitcoin to [email protected] (254 is optional). The BTC arrives as KES in their M-Pesa. ⚡ EVERY M-Pesa number works. All 40,000,000.
Wallets with LUD-09 support give you a nice clickable link to see your M-Pesa receipt. For example: https://t.co/OK0R62jNWt
Inspiring update from Gigi at @OpenSats
They've deployed nearly 40 billion sats to 400 grantees in 40+ countries: zero closed-source projects, zero altcoins
At a pivotal moment in time, they are helping turn the tide in the direction of open-source 💪
https://t.co/qqQFho6CeG
At the end of 2023 I met the person who ran GreenpeaceUSA's campaign against Bitcoin. I expected it to be tense.
But it wasn't.
He told me he'd read almost all of my responses to the posts they'd made on Twitter.
"I wish we'd engaged with you and people like you from the outset," he said.
Two months later he left Greenpeace.
A few months after that they ended the campaign entirely.
It was the most well-funded, yet the worst result in their history. I keep coming back to that phrase.
"People like you." Not me, but a whole group: Troy Cross, Margot Paez, Elliot David, Susie Violet Ward and many others.
We were working independently, with no budget and no coordination.
We just shared data and conviction. It is a great story of a decentralized response beating a multi-million dollar centralized campaign, by a combination of having the truth behind us, and expressing that truth in such a way that reasonable people could see.
That recipe has two parts, and it's like giving a glass of water to someone dying of thirst.
The first part is truth, there must be water in the glass.
The second part is the container, how you hold and deliver that truth matters just as much.
You can have perfect data and still lose people if the glass doesn't reach them, or if the energy behind it makes them flinch instead of drink.
We won because the data was right AND because enough people delivered it with the kind of energy that made opponents think rather than react.
And this recipe, we can use again and again throughout Bitcoin's adoption journey, and each time a Bitcoiner builds a new Bitcoin project that involves outreach to non-Bitcoiners.
@robin_linus Tando in Kenya
Pleb QR in Thailand
Bitcoin Jungle in Costa Rica
Moneybadger in South Africa
Square payments in USA
Bitrefill
Azteco
LnVPN
PayPerQ
Nostr zaps
HRF and OpenSats grants
Machankura
🇪🇺🇳🇱 DUTCH COURT OF AUDITS FINDS "NO UNDERSTANDING" OF EFFECTIVENESS FOR AML APPROACH
The Dutch Court of Audits has published a paper on Anti-Money Laundering (AML) in banking, finding that "there is no understanding of the effectiveness of the anti-money laundering approach."
The paper states that "it is not clear whether the increasing controls by banks actually contribute to the prevention and detection of money laundering," while highlighting the significant costs imposed on banks.
According to the court, AML measures are discriminatory particularly towards people with foreign surnames, stating that the lack of proven effectiveness of the measures "does not establish that this distinction is justified."
The court plans to put its research into EU perspective later this year.
Amnesty International has now joined the growing list of charities who have realized that Bitcoin is an essential tool to protecting human rights.
A single Bitcoiner with a vision was behind this. I cover his story in full in my latest newsletter which comes out tomorrow
Hi @googlenest@Google did you just deactivate Jeffrey Epstein's Nest Account, [email protected]?
It was working an hour ago.
Were you instructed to deactivate it? By whom?
🚨🇺🇸 “HEY GOOGLE” WAS OPTIONAL FOLKS... GOOGLE LISTENED ANYWAY
Turns out Google was also listening when you said nothing, thought nothing, and were just existing in your kitchen.
$68 million later, the official position is:
“We accidentally recorded private conversations. Accidentally shared them with advertisers. Super weird. Oops.”
Reminder that the smart speaker was never smart.
Source: @CBSNews
One year ago today, a prison guard banged on my cell door and said: YOU'RE FREE!!
After more than 11 years under a life sentence, I walked out of max security prison with Leaf Erikson, the plant I was growing in my cell.
Leaf and I are so grateful for our second chance at life.
Don't forget the Trump "silly thing" playbook:
1. Trump announces a silly thing
2. European Union says the silly thing is deeply concerning and it will consider its options
3. The Prime Minister of Japan calls Trump to discuss the silly thing and has a productive discussion about the silly thing , but is still concerned
4. UK Prime Minister would like to have a discussion with Trump to discuss the silly thing. Wants to position the UK in a moderate position halfway between the silly thing and normal things, to act as a bridge
5. Prime Minister of Israel calls Trump to discuss the silly thing and protect Israel from it
6. Rumours circulate that China will do a silly thing of its own
7. Russia stays quite, because Russia seems to benefit from the silly thing
8. Stocks crash and American business leaders want to speak to Trump to convince him that the silly thing is silly
9. Some say the silly thing is illegal and that it will go to the Supreme Court
10. Rumours circulate that Trump will cancel the silly thing
11. On @polymarket the implied probability that Trump will end the silly thing skyrockets
12. Trump denies that he will stop the silly thing, the price crashes. Stocks crash
13. Trump suddenly stops the silly thing. It was all a bluff! Art Of The Deal. Trump supporters say it was all 5D chess and somehow worked
While I've answered 100s (perhaps 1000s) of people spreading Bitcoin & Energy FUD, >90% of those misconceptions were recurring 9 claims
I lay them out here with their fact-based counters and suggested framing so that in 2026 we can help more people move beyond prior prejudice
Bitcoin mining balances grids, mitigates methane, prevents wasted energy and promotes sustainable energy as a byproduct of economic necessity
Once you grok how this works, you graduate to informed Bitcoin mining critic: you realize Bitcoin mining doesn't use enough energy
Last night, @RealRossU joined a Spaces with @keonne & had the following words of encouragement regarding the pardon petition. Every time the petition is signed & shared makes a difference:
https://t.co/jPoACjh3bt
Full Spaces Recording: https://t.co/CCx4uaUbvo
I received my designation from the Bureau of Prisons this morning
I will report to FPC Morgantown in West Virginia on December 19th
Thank you for all the noise you're making. Please continue sharing our story to get the attention of @realDonaldTrump so he may right this wrong
#pardonsamourai