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26 Dec, 5 tweets, 2 min read
BTC > NYT
Ledger of record > paper of record
Argument from cryptography > argument from authority

Oracles already provide more reliable price feeds than Bloomberg or Reuters.

Extend that. And replace declarations by media corporations with decentralized cryptographic truth.
An early use of decentralized cryptographic truth to knock down a declaration by a media corporation occurred in 2014, when the absence of a digital signature killed Newsweek’s cover story.

Oracles systematize this. They’re like an on-chain Reuters. genius.com/2900395
Decentralized cryptographic fact checking is also used by Wikileaks, as anyone can use DKIM to verify email authenticity. You trust the cryptography, not Wikileaks. blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2020/11/16/ok-…
As more of human life moves online and is recorded in feeds (news feeds, price feeds, IoT data, etc) all those feeds eventually go on-chain, with some encrypted.

Today you link to a tweet to prove they said that. Tomorrow you link to an on-chain event to prove they did that.
Why not just use Twitter? Well, API access isn’t open. Prominent accounts have been hacked. And it has also taken a heavy hand with editing/hiding tweets.

To ensure you have uninterrupted free access to an undeletable, cryptographically verifiable record, you need a blockchain.

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More from @balajis

balajis.com Profile picture
28 Dec
In the last Cold War, the non-aligned movement was the weakest faction.

In the coming Cold War, the decentralized movement may prove to be the strongest.
Everyone knows the last Cold War was US vs USSR.

But the third faction was the non-aligned movement, which included India and dozens of other countries that didn’t formally join either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. theconversation.com/explainer-the-… Image
Today there are many countries that do not want to pick sides in a second Cold War.

In the fullness of time, BTC and crypto offer a third way: a decentralized movement that doesn’t depend on either superpower. theguardian.com/world/2020/nov…
Read 4 tweets
balajis.com Profile picture
28 Dec
If just getting started, have someone like @DavidSacks, @shervin, or @rabois look at it.

If they invest, set up a sovereign fund for the city and co-invest. Model it on the Alaska Permanent Fund and pay out dividends to citizens in good standing.
Every politician in the world watching @FrancisSuarez is starting to realize that remote has changed their economics.

In a time when budgets are tight, cities can seek more revenue from present residents.

Or they can seek new residents who present more revenue.
You don’t need 50% of politicians worldwide to be like Suarez. You don’t even need 10%.

You need just 10, about 10 politicians worldwide recruiting on Twitter for their cities and countries to completely change the world.
Read 6 tweets
balajis.com Profile picture
26 Dec
Mayor Suarez has single handedly reformed politics Twitter.

First, politicians around the world now understand they can recruit constituents with their tweets.

Second, they now understand they can *lose* constituents with their tweets.
What @FrancisSuarez has done is being studied by cities and countries around the world.

After years where Twitter showed us the worst of politics, we have a glimpse of what it can be at its best.

With one tweet, he helped launch a new era of economic development.
Mayor Suarez shows a new path for a startup politician.

You can now make an international impact without waiting years to pay your dues & work your way up.

Just support technologically progressive policies & recruit talent online. Now you can build your city with every tweet.
Read 6 tweets
balajis.com Profile picture
24 Dec
Miami is already the Singapore of Latin America. And Latin Americans understand the need for sound money.

So: Miami should hold a conference connecting all the Latin American financiers with all the crypto & tech people to talk Bitcoin!
As Wences Casares has discussed, the idea that the state could default, hyperinflate, or go communist is not theoretical to Latin Americans.

Witness Argentina, Venezuela, Cuba respectively.

So the use case for Bitcoin as a way to protect human rights is instantly understood.
As @antoniogm has mentioned, Miami is already an important center for Latin American commerce and finance.

It’s a neutral zone with good banking where people from across the region can store their money and do deals.
Read 4 tweets
balajis.com Profile picture
24 Dec
Let’s be clear: these data dredging requests by Treasury will result in violent attacks on crypto users.

Why? Because Treasury got hacked and can’t secure their data. Lists of home addresses of crypto users will keep leaking, as they did with Ledger. And criminals will use them.
This is not a theoretical worry. @lopp has compiled a repository with many published physical attacks on Bitcoin users. github.com/jlopp/physical…
The hack of Treasury is not a theoretical worry either. It follows massive hacks of OPM, the State of Texas, and many other government organizations.

And these are just the reported attacks! politico.com/news/2020/12/2…
Read 5 tweets
balajis.com Profile picture
24 Dec
Migration > election
N-city system > two-party system
Exit > voice
Remote > commute
Rest of world > SF Bay Area
Decentralized > centralized
You don’t need to form a local political party to win elections in one city.

You need to form a global social network that can win over elected officials in N cities.
It’s not just about the sovereign individual, it’s about the sovereign collective.

The future is global, mobile social networks capable of collective bargaining with giant corporations and states alike.

A check on the power of both concentrated capital and political capitols.
Read 7 tweets

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