Ryan Lanman

Former PM for @bitkey at @block, taking a break to connect with family

[Ryan Lanman @ryanlanman1]

@moneyball Having explored other non-custodial lenders(Firefish, Lygos), this looks quite competitive. Seems like competitive rates on variable at least, and no KYC. Only tradeoff seems to be stablecoins only, which feels minor.

[Ryan Lanman @ryanlanman1]

@ErinEMalone @GhostofWhitman @milessuter @jack @CashApp Same, have been hunting, no luck yet. Excited to just use LN without confusing/ ticking off my local, excellent but vaguely BTC hostile barista folk.

[Jordan Schachtel @JordanSchachtel]

Data centers revitalize American manufacturing by driving massive demand and upgrading the power infrastructure in former industrial hubs.

Building American technological infrastructure is good for America.

[Ryan Lanman @ryanlanman1]

Tackling that UX can run up cultural challenges, too. Big issue we found trying to ‘normify’ key management at the hardware level building Bitkey was that there’s a chasm between established self-custody users and our target not-yet-onchain masses.

Tradeoffs to make owning keys simpler and safer (multisig collaborative custody, recovery methods independent of seed phrases) often rankled existing maxi types, who felt that everyone should have to go through the learning curve they did. Perfect becomes an enemy of good, and the casualty becomes more people dependent on custodial setups.

Maybe more of a bitcoin specific cultural problem, but one i doubt is entirely absent in EVM, either.

[Ryan Lanman @ryanlanman1]

@RickBacci_175 @Bitkey @max_guise @BEN0WHERE No, since it doesn’t migrate the key in the old HW (because the HW never lets it leave), it has to make a new one in the new device. Old one can be wiped clean, used by someone else, though.

[Ryan Lanman @ryanlanman1]

Just busted out my latest @Bitkey model, upgrade from one device to another, smooth as silk. Really nice touches in how the new screen and app work together. Beautiful work cc @max_guise @BEN0WHERE and team!

[Ryan Lanman @ryanlanman1]

@nvk Seeds can provide unilateral exit, but does unilateral exit require exporting a seed? And isn’t the exit part what matters most?

[Senator Bill Hagerty @SenatorHagerty]

Today I was proud to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. This legislation is vital to supercharging innovation and preparing our economy for the 21st century.

What the GENIUS Act is doing for the stablecoin ecosystem, CLARITY promises to do for all digital assets.

While today marks an important milestone, the legislative work continues.

[Bitkey @Bitkey]

A seed phrase on your desk isn’t a self-custody system.

Bitkey Product Manager Jonathan Pollack shares why real ownership includes recovery, inheritance, and protecting every critical change on-device.

That’s what Bitkey is built for.

[Ryan Lanman @ryanlanman1]

@udiWertheimer @david_seroy Am super skeptical of the sustainability of STRC over many years, but i think Udi is right here, as things stand.

[Ryan Lanman @ryanlanman1]

That’s fair - Bitkey could do that, as a fallback’s fallback. Reasonable people can disagree whether tradeoffs worth it - 1.) would need to expose wallet descriptors, which they just found a way to blind their server to 2.) would need to weaken the hardware security in allowing it to export it’s key. But maybe thats less risky now with a screen?

[Ryan Lanman @ryanlanman1]

@the_ecash @robin_linus @Bitkey Now’s a good chance to educate readers, it would seem. Related - if there’s a gap between what a concept ‘means’ and how people use it…you can probably guess which one wins out in the end?

[Ryan Lanman @ryanlanman1]

@the_ecash @robin_linus @Bitkey How so? You know you can’t safely backup a multisig wallet with just seed phrases, yea?

[Ryan Lanman @ryanlanman1]

@BTC_Onboard @robin_linus And pdf of the exit kit gets dropped into everyone’s cloud by default during setup, auto updated with key changes. APK is publicly available, don’t need the setup in advance of a problem - though admittedly finding a copy you trust if Bitkey *suddenly* became evil could be dicey.

[Ryan Lanman @ryanlanman1]

@BTC_Onboard @robin_linus It wouldn’t be as simple as a single seed phrase, though - multisig wallets need not just multiple seed phrases, but also the wallet descriptor, which doesn’t backup cleanly into a handful of english words. It’s an extra ugly/dangerous experience, not just team being obstinate.

[Ryan Lanman @ryanlanman1]

@the_ecash @robin_linus Multisig 2-of-3, where individual keys can afford to avoid creating/storing/protecting a seed phrase, because they have redundant protections, like the @Bitkey design. I wouldn’t claim it’s better for *everyone*, but imho it is for many.

[Ryan Lanman @ryanlanman1]

@bitcoin_eagle @robin_linus You can unilatterally exit all your BTC from a Bitkey without ongoing vendor support. Agreed vendor lock in is bad, but seems like Bitkey’s seedless design includes a (hacky) workaround for that risk?

[Ryan Lanman @ryanlanman1]

@BTC_Onboard @robin_linus Is it essential to get private keys exported specifically, or is it enough to be able to guarantee an exit BTC tx without ongoing vendor support? I wouldn’t wanna keep keys generated by the hardware of a vendor i didn’t trust anymore.

[Robin Linus @robin_linus]

«And rather than admit we as an industry have handed them the hardest part of the problem, we call it “personal responsibility”—as if it were a moral virtue, not a design failure. »

Excellent breakdown of why seed phrases are an anti-pattern.

[Phillip Muñoz @VPhillipMunoz]

Harvard, apparently, is about to adopt a new policy to combat grade inflation. I devised my own anti–grade inflation policy 25 years ago. I’ve shared it with provosts and deans, to no avail. Here it is:
The Muñoz Plan Against Grade Inflation
The plan has three key components: