Marty's Bent A daily newsletter highlighting signal in Bitcoin. Marty's Ƀent Issue #592: Good piece on Schnorr + Taproot Learn how Schnorr signatures differ from ECDSA signatures, the current algorithm used to generate Bitcoin private-public key pairs. What a Merkelized Abstract Syntax Tree is and how Taproot's construction is different. Marty's Ƀent Issue #591: A call for a return to quality aesthetics Aesthetics in literature and art seem to be at an all time low as the masses become consumed by porn fiction like 50 Shades of Gray and a cycle of different iterations of the same superhero movies. Marty's Ƀent Issue #590: Another Lightning implementation appears in the wild The fact that a Python implementation now exists, again, means that there are now more potential people that can build on LN. Marty's Ƀent Issue #589: Surveillance creep, so hot right now We are witnessing the slow slide down the slippery slope towards the Chinese surveillance state. Be aware. Stay vigilant. Engage. Marty's Ƀent Issue #588: Well this is pretty dope We may be witnessing the nascent stages of reputation systems being built on top of Bitcoin/LN that could change the dynamic of commerce and account management in the Digital Age. Marty's Ƀent Issue #587: A lesson from history Liberty is something that must be fought for constantly. The forces of human nature are such that a few of us will be sociopathic and try to control others by taking away some of their liberties. Marty's Ƀent Issue #586: Bitcoin scary stories Take some time to learn about the bugs that have been found in the Bitcoin codebase over the years. Problems that, if exploited, did and/or could have led to node denial of service attacks, inflation bugs, and inevitable network splits. Marty's Ƀent Issue #585: Apathy + ignorance = Bitcoin killer? The lesser discussed Bitcoin killer, as Greg Maxwell points out, is the combination of apathy and ignorance that may lie ahead. Marty's Ƀent Issue #584: Let's all just walk away We can build better systems. We ARE building better systems. This is why we Bitcoin. The sooner more people realize this, the sooner we can escape the insanity. Marty's Ƀent Issue #583: An anonymous hosting service emerges I expect these types of services to become more popular in the future as the push by the politically correct tech elite to silence opposing opinions only gets stronger over time. Marty's Ƀent Issue #582: An attempt to measure real use Useful Tulips is here to help give this fundamental more coverage. The site currently has a robust set of LocalBitcoins data that will soon be joined by a robust set of data from Paxful, the second largest P2P exchange behind LocalBitcoins. Marty's Ƀent Issue #581: Continuing that thought While the G10 countries scramble to keep the facade of the dominant monetary system in tact as they simultaneously isolate more and more people from said system by the day, we believe that Bitcoin’s apolitical nature will shine and its digital essence will enable it to succeed where gold has failed. Marty's Ƀent Issue #580: Hoarding bitcoins is becoming part of the strategy Behind the scenes and under the radar, smaller countries with little to lose are slowly but surely incorporating Bitcoin into their play books. Preparing for a future with a distributed apolitical censorship-resistant sound digital currency. Marty's Ƀent Issue #579: Is the Venezuelan government hoarding bitcoins? At the end of the day, this is the uncomfortable reality of Bitcoin. It will be used by tyrants and refugees. The network has no idea who is sending messages within it. Marty's Ƀent Issue #578: Erlay may be on the way Erlay would be a huge level up for Bitcoin's P2P layer as it would help reduce bandwidth requirements by 40% (!!), increase network connectivity, and increase privacy. Marty's Ƀent Issue #577: Was there a hashrate crash yesterday? Yesterday's "hashrate crash" is probably more accurately described as "normal and expected interblock time variance". Marty's Ƀent Issue #576: A note on BTCPay Server I think a lot of people in "crypto" are missing the forrest for the trees by focusing on crazy "DeFi" schemes and novel applications of "blockchain technology". Marty's Ƀent Issue #575: Bitcoin's success in perspective The haters want to paint Bitcoin as some craze destined to collapse. They don't want you to see that the common man is participating in the greatest wealth transfer that humanity will ever see. Marty's Ƀent Issue #574: Olympus has risen I can see this particular feature being utilized by dedicated Bitcoin pubs looking to prove a use case, but also by companies and influencers who have been deplatformed by payments providers and need a way to monetize. Marty's Ƀent Issue #573: Recent hashrate surge in perspective Despite what some might say about Bitcoin's "shortcomings" and immaturity for the world stage, the Wiley entrepreneurs in the mining industry seem not to care one bit. Marty's Ƀent Issue #572: Signs of a liquidity crunch The Fed feels compelled to intervene within hours to a market hiccup and continue that accommodation into a second day. Essentially conducting QE without officially conducting QE. Marty's Ƀent Issue #571: Who's going to do it? Hey Bloomberg (I know you're reading), this is a win-win for you. If it works, you're making more money and driving more traffic to your writers. If it doesn't, you get to write another hit piece on how Bitcoin is bad. Marty's Ƀent Issue #570: Square grants BTCPayServer $100k Many do not realize it, but the emergence of Bitcoin has enabled a very similar explosion of free innovation that is going to change the landscape of our reality. Marty's Ƀent Issue #569: A monoculture of thought People can only take so much. It's only a matter of time before they begin to question the monoculture of thought in mainstream economics and politics. Marty's Ƀent Issue #568: How does Bitcoin retain value? To think that Bitcoin as a system acts in the same fashion as a Bernie Madoff run Ponzi scheme is asinine. It simply does not compute.
Marty's Ƀent Issue #592: Good piece on Schnorr + Taproot Learn how Schnorr signatures differ from ECDSA signatures, the current algorithm used to generate Bitcoin private-public key pairs. What a Merkelized Abstract Syntax Tree is and how Taproot's construction is different.
Marty's Ƀent Issue #591: A call for a return to quality aesthetics Aesthetics in literature and art seem to be at an all time low as the masses become consumed by porn fiction like 50 Shades of Gray and a cycle of different iterations of the same superhero movies.
Marty's Ƀent Issue #590: Another Lightning implementation appears in the wild The fact that a Python implementation now exists, again, means that there are now more potential people that can build on LN.
Marty's Ƀent Issue #589: Surveillance creep, so hot right now We are witnessing the slow slide down the slippery slope towards the Chinese surveillance state. Be aware. Stay vigilant. Engage.
Marty's Ƀent Issue #588: Well this is pretty dope We may be witnessing the nascent stages of reputation systems being built on top of Bitcoin/LN that could change the dynamic of commerce and account management in the Digital Age.
Marty's Ƀent Issue #587: A lesson from history Liberty is something that must be fought for constantly. The forces of human nature are such that a few of us will be sociopathic and try to control others by taking away some of their liberties.
Marty's Ƀent Issue #586: Bitcoin scary stories Take some time to learn about the bugs that have been found in the Bitcoin codebase over the years. Problems that, if exploited, did and/or could have led to node denial of service attacks, inflation bugs, and inevitable network splits.
Marty's Ƀent Issue #585: Apathy + ignorance = Bitcoin killer? The lesser discussed Bitcoin killer, as Greg Maxwell points out, is the combination of apathy and ignorance that may lie ahead.
Marty's Ƀent Issue #584: Let's all just walk away We can build better systems. We ARE building better systems. This is why we Bitcoin. The sooner more people realize this, the sooner we can escape the insanity.
Marty's Ƀent Issue #583: An anonymous hosting service emerges I expect these types of services to become more popular in the future as the push by the politically correct tech elite to silence opposing opinions only gets stronger over time.
Marty's Ƀent Issue #582: An attempt to measure real use Useful Tulips is here to help give this fundamental more coverage. The site currently has a robust set of LocalBitcoins data that will soon be joined by a robust set of data from Paxful, the second largest P2P exchange behind LocalBitcoins.
Marty's Ƀent Issue #581: Continuing that thought While the G10 countries scramble to keep the facade of the dominant monetary system in tact as they simultaneously isolate more and more people from said system by the day, we believe that Bitcoin’s apolitical nature will shine and its digital essence will enable it to succeed where gold has failed.
Marty's Ƀent Issue #580: Hoarding bitcoins is becoming part of the strategy Behind the scenes and under the radar, smaller countries with little to lose are slowly but surely incorporating Bitcoin into their play books. Preparing for a future with a distributed apolitical censorship-resistant sound digital currency.
Marty's Ƀent Issue #579: Is the Venezuelan government hoarding bitcoins? At the end of the day, this is the uncomfortable reality of Bitcoin. It will be used by tyrants and refugees. The network has no idea who is sending messages within it.
Marty's Ƀent Issue #578: Erlay may be on the way Erlay would be a huge level up for Bitcoin's P2P layer as it would help reduce bandwidth requirements by 40% (!!), increase network connectivity, and increase privacy.
Marty's Ƀent Issue #577: Was there a hashrate crash yesterday? Yesterday's "hashrate crash" is probably more accurately described as "normal and expected interblock time variance".
Marty's Ƀent Issue #576: A note on BTCPay Server I think a lot of people in "crypto" are missing the forrest for the trees by focusing on crazy "DeFi" schemes and novel applications of "blockchain technology".
Marty's Ƀent Issue #575: Bitcoin's success in perspective The haters want to paint Bitcoin as some craze destined to collapse. They don't want you to see that the common man is participating in the greatest wealth transfer that humanity will ever see.
Marty's Ƀent Issue #574: Olympus has risen I can see this particular feature being utilized by dedicated Bitcoin pubs looking to prove a use case, but also by companies and influencers who have been deplatformed by payments providers and need a way to monetize.
Marty's Ƀent Issue #573: Recent hashrate surge in perspective Despite what some might say about Bitcoin's "shortcomings" and immaturity for the world stage, the Wiley entrepreneurs in the mining industry seem not to care one bit.
Marty's Ƀent Issue #572: Signs of a liquidity crunch The Fed feels compelled to intervene within hours to a market hiccup and continue that accommodation into a second day. Essentially conducting QE without officially conducting QE.
Marty's Ƀent Issue #571: Who's going to do it? Hey Bloomberg (I know you're reading), this is a win-win for you. If it works, you're making more money and driving more traffic to your writers. If it doesn't, you get to write another hit piece on how Bitcoin is bad.
Marty's Ƀent Issue #570: Square grants BTCPayServer $100k Many do not realize it, but the emergence of Bitcoin has enabled a very similar explosion of free innovation that is going to change the landscape of our reality.
Marty's Ƀent Issue #569: A monoculture of thought People can only take so much. It's only a matter of time before they begin to question the monoculture of thought in mainstream economics and politics.
Marty's Ƀent Issue #568: How does Bitcoin retain value? To think that Bitcoin as a system acts in the same fashion as a Bernie Madoff run Ponzi scheme is asinine. It simply does not compute.
