Most of the third world still operates using cash and their PoS systems are manual and labor intensive. We're used to modern PoS systems which integrate inventory management and accounting reconciliation.
2/9
An upgrade to Lightning for most of these countries is a huge leap, but it can be so much more. Currently, most PoS systems essentially monetize user data.
3/9
LN has the potential to allow customers to get the data instead. This would make it much easier to manage personal inventory, for example. Data can flow from the merchant to the user.
4/9
In other words, LN has the potential to completely rethink Point-of-Sale systems to benefit the customer and not just the merchant.
5/9
Lightning @SimpleLightning explains Lightning Dust @sendlaisee brings LN to Chinese New Year Dono.at is a LN live-stream tipping mechanism
7/9
Econ, Etc @nic_carter shows how mining is misunderstood @StuntPope reflects on @GoFundMe/CBDCs @DigitalAssets explains BTC vs alts @OGBTC tells why @intel's move into ASICs is important
Dirty Bulb exposes celebrity NFTs @LNMarkets explains AOPP
8/9
These stories and much more on #Bitcoin Tech Talk #278
Running an airline is tough. The economics are not favorable and weather, security threats and public health emergencies make operating at a profit really hard.
1/9
So how is it that they're still operating? They're certainly not innovating and prices haven't increased that much. So what's going on?
2/9
Airlines today make most of their money on selling airline miles, which is really a way of selling future flights for revenue now. Since they can issue miles from nothing, they're really fiat banks.
3/9
I'm in El Zonte checking out Bitcoin Beach. El Salvadorians have been, until recently, embarassed by how they've been known internationally due to the murder rate, corruption and so on.
2/9
Now they're starting to be proud, because people from all over the world are coming to their country to check out their Bitcoin integration. Bitcoiners are being treated really well here and Bitcoin is now a part of the national identity.
3/9
Proof-of-stake has been bandied about as an alternative to proof-of-work, but from a CS perspective, it doesn't solve anything.
2/
The idea is that you get signers instead of computation to achieve consensus. The problem is that to get consensus in that environment, the signers have to know which is the "right" block to sign.
3/
@jack has pissed off a bunch of VCs by saying that Web3 is a scam. @a16z in particular tried very hard to convince him otherwise, but ended up frustrated that he held his ground.
2/10
VCs haven't gotten much criticism. Founders, Media and Gov't generally say positive things about them because they control the money.
Taproot gives us more tools against practical security threats and #Bitcoin news from the past week.
A thread. 1/8
As @lopp identifies, there are 5 primary security threat models against Bitcoin holders: Accidental loss, Digital theft, Government seizure, Physical theft and Inheritance planning. Taproot gives us tools against all of these. 2/8
Accidental loss - you can add recovery options for free, e.g. 2/5 of your friends' keys, none of whom know about each other.
Digital theft - because there are better recovery options with self-custody, people will self custody more and not leave them on exchanges. 3/8
The essay is about inflation's effect on culture, through the analysis of a short story set in Weimar Germany. I've selected some quotes and will comment.
2/ "With all points of reference gone, the only law...appears to be perpetual change."
When money changes, everything else anchored on money starts to change as well. Prices being the most obvious one, but crucially, not the only one.
3/ "...if we seek an explanation for the dissolution of authority in the world he is portraying, we should look to the monetary madness of the Weimar Republic."
The insanity and disorder of society, in other words, can be traced back to monetary policy.