Greetings Bitcoiner,

Welcome to issue #101 of the Bitcoin Breakdown, where we're excited to introduce our exclusive Bitcoin-Only community, crafted to help you become a sovereign individual with the support of your peers.

By harnessing Bitcoin and Flag Theory, you’ll gain the tools and support needed to take optimal control of your freedom.

As a special offer, we're inviting and accepting only a select few to join as 'founding members' for FREE. Engaged subscribers to this newsletter are able to secure their lifetime access through this waitlist.

Connect with fellow Bitcoiners, educators, and experts, and dive into topics including OPSEC, self-hosting, self-reliance, geographical arbitrage, and more.

Spaces are extremely limited, so don’t miss this chance!

Happy readings! 👽️

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OPSEC FEATURE ARTICLE

Learn How To Torrent Safely Without a VPN

This week, we guide you through configuring your torrent client to mask your IP address without using a VPN, allowing you to bypass geo-restrictions and ISP blocks.

This method is perfect for those in regions where VPNs are blocked.

Learn more about this method in our exclusive feature article for Supporters only (30 days trial is still available here under the monthly option).

🏆 FEATURE STORIES

• Matt Hougan, CIO of Bitwise Invest, illuminates how Bitcoin has value without cash flows as it serves as the ultimate trustless storage of wealth without relying on a centralized intermediary (Aug 1 | 2 min read).

• Shinobi highlights conflicts between libertarian principles and progressive values within the Bitcoin community, as well as the ongoing challenge to ensure it remains a disintermediated financial system accessible to all (Aug 01 | 6 min read).

• Mark Goodwin and Whitney Webb analyze Trump’s speech at the Bitcoin 2024 conference, revealing his intention to integrate bitcoin and dollar stablecoins into US fiscal policy, expanding dollar dominance while raising concerns about financial surveillance and the potential for irresponsible monetary practices (Jul 29 | 20 min read).

• Eric Yakes, launches a VC fund focused on the Bitcoin ecosystem and writes a report on ‘Bitcoin Marginalism’, advocating for a comprehensive infrastructure around Bitcoin to transform it into a neutral global monetary system, rather than merely an asset like digital gold (Jul 31 | 5 min read).

• Cryptographic Alien writes about the Bitaxe project and its aims to decentralize Bitcoin mining by introducing affordable, compact ASIC miners for home use, allowing everyday users to contribute to network security and challenge the dominance of large mining pools like Foundry and Antpool (Aug 1 | 2 min read).

• Alex Bergeron writes for Bitcoin Magazine how the Bitcoin 2024 conference highlighted the rapid maturity of the Lightning Network, demonstrating its potential as a reliable settlement solution and enhancing user experiences with innovations like BOLT12 and the Nostr protocol (Jul 31 | 6 min read).

• Michal Novak explores for Braiins the emerging potential of Bitcoin's second layers, highlighting projects like the Lightning Network, Taproot Assets and BitVM (Jul 30 | 14 min read).

• Pete Rizzo aka The Bitcoin Historian writes a feature on renowned Bitcoin educator Andreas Antonopoulos who transformed the Bitcoin ecosystem by advocating for financial sovereignty, and standing firm against regulatory challenges while promoting Bitcoin’s revolutionary potential for the unbanked (Jul 31 | 2 min read).

• Jonas Nick, Kiara Bickers, and Tim Ruffing explore the implementation of FROST in multisig wallets, highlighting its benefits for privacy and efficiency over traditional multisig methods, while introducing the ChillDKG protocol to simplify the complex key generation process necessary for practical deployment (Aug 02 | 4 min read).

• Che Kohler, writing for The Bitcoin Manual, explains the ‘Bitcoin strategic reserve’ concept and how it involves governments or institutions accumulating Bitcoin as a digital asset to enhance economic stability and security (Aug 02 | 9 min read).

• Daniel Batten, author and ESG analyst, writes a primer on Bitcoin mining for journalists clarifying misconceptions about the industry, emphasizing the evolution of its energy sources, the decline of fossil fuel reliance, its potential environmental benefits, ultimately arguing for a more fact-based understanding of Bitcoin's impact (July 30 | 17 min read).

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• Bringin offers a secure platform for buying, selling, and converting Bitcoin to Euros, with direct transfers to bank accounts or virtual debit cards, featuring unique off-ramping options and preventing account freezes with dedicated IBANs for each user.

🛠️ TOOLS & PROJECTS

• Bringin now lets its users connect their Bringin IBAN to any Lightning wallet that is compatible with NWC.

• Boltz, a noncustodial Bitcoin bridge that connects different layers of Bitcoin, announces Taproot Swaps.

• Strike announces target orders, enabling you to buy or sell bitcoin only when it hits your chosen price.

• Super Testnet launches a website for tracking various statistics related to RoboSats, a P2P Lightning exchange.

• La Guerre des Blocs (The Blocksize War) is now available in French.

• Cake Pay now again supports the purchase of gift cards (and anonymous payment cards) with bitcoin.

• NymVPN is an anonymized mixnet that is supposed to be better and more modern than Tor.

• Sats2data lets you buy data plans for your phone using Lightning.

• Breez SDK Liquid, a nodeless Lightning integration built using the Liquid network, now allows users to buy Bitcoin via Moonpay.

• Ark investment fund announces that it will donate a fixed percentage of its revenue to open source contributors in perpetuity.

• Darthcoin, everybody’s favorite irreverent Bitcoin educator, introduces ‘The Telegram Bot Channel Recommender’ for Lightning node runners to help them find the best LN channel peers for their public nodes.

• Parman, another Bitcoin educator, launches Parmanode4win v0.1.0, a tool that helps people set up their own Bitcoin node and has automated installation for desktop computers, specifically for Windows users.

• ZapAdd is a tool that lets you advertise by zapping people on Nostr.

• SATO, a full-service bitcoin computing company, partners with Breez to integrate the Lightning network to its newly launched Club Mining app for bitcoin miners.

• Aqua wallet, the Lighting and Liquid-supporting Bitcoin wallet, releases v0.2.0, with various new features, integrations and bug fixes like RBF (Replace-by-fee), Taproot swaps, Direct Peg-In option for Layer 2 Bitcoin, and more. 

💥MEME BREAK

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Until our next transmission,

Naiw

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