Greetings Bitcoiner,

Welcome to Issue #129 of the Bitcoin Breakdown, where we also appreciate Bitcoin’s Number Go Up technology but let's not lose sight of its true purpose: separating money and state by making the need for trust obsolete.

We basically all initially came for the speculation, but stayed for the revolution.

Awethu! 👽️

TOGETHER WITH CRYPTOSTEEL*

Introducing Cryptosteel’s Custom Seed12 Security Kit

Cryptosteel’s custom Seed12 Security Kit is the perfect gift idea to help you show appreciation to your partners, collaborators, and employees.

This high-precision metal backup solution is not only secure and reliable but also elegantly designed, making it an ideal way to say “thank you” with something meaningful.

The Seed12 Security Kit enables secure offline storage of 12-word seed phrases, PINs, master passwords, private keys, and other important alphanumeric data, up to 64 characters.

Setup requires no tools or complex instructions; it’s as easy as threading beads on a string, and the process takes only minutes. Crafted from premium stainless steel, the kit is fire- and corrosion-resistant and includes tamper-evident seals to ensure data remains uncompromised.

*You can also advertise with us here.

OPSEC FEATURE ARTICLE

Protect Your Digital Identity: How Cookie Hijacking Threatens Your Bitcoin Security

The FBI recently warned of an uptick in cybercriminals bypassing multifactor authentication by so-called cookie hijacking.

This week we cover this exploit which is the theft of session cookies granting unauthorized access to online accounts.

It is a significant threat that you need to be aware of and create strong security measures against.

Get instant access to this special feature by becoming a premium supporter here.

🏆 FEATURE STORIES

• L0la L33tz of The Rage explores how Trump's 2025 presidency could bring pro-crypto policies while imposing strict AML/KYC and sanctions regulations on Bitcoin miners, challenging the network's censorship resistance and privacy (Nov 6 | 2 min read).

• John Arnold of Bitcoin VC firm Ten 31 explores how President-elect Donald Trump's proposals, including a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and regulatory changes, could drive significant growth and adoption for bitcoin and its ecosystem in the coming years (Nov 8 | 6 min read).

• Bitcoin developers collaborating with StarkWare and Blockstream announce a potential breakthrough for adding 'covenants' to Bitcoin, offering advanced programmability without a soft fork, though the method requires significant optimization (Nov 4 | 117 min read).

• Lyn Alden and Steve Lee publishes a fantastic report on Bitcoin’s consensus mechanism with an exploration of the roles, powers, and incentives of key stakeholders and an examination of risks in protocol upgrades, including the impact of soft and hard forks on network stability (Nov 7 | 52 min read).

• Canterbury Consulting, an institutional investment advisor, publishes a whitepaper that provides investment consultants, advisors, and capital allocators with key insights into Bitcoin's role in diversified portfolios, its value proposition, and its potential as an asset class (Nov 7 | 16 min read).

• Charlie Spears, writing for Blockspace Media, covers the OP_NEXT Bitcoin scaling conference in Boston recently which revealed near-universal developer support for OP_CTV, ongoing debate about soft fork activation processes, and the seemingly inevitability of OP_CAT's implementation (with or without a soft fork) (Nov 12 | 4 min read).

• Micheal Tidwell, organiser of TABConf, posts a recap of the sixth edition of the conference in Georgia last month that featured workshops, hackathons, and award ceremonies, highlighting groundbreaking projects in cryptography, protocol development, and Bitcoin applications (Oct 30 | 4 min read).

• 028559d218, a Stacker News user, cautions that Bitcoinization, driven by factors like Trump's policies and increasing adoption by institutions, poses significant economic and political consequences, including capital flight, wealth inequality, and the rise of Bitcoin as a global reserve asset (Nov 6 | 8 min read).

• Luis Lopez of Bitcoin News argues that Bitcoin can foster global stability by enabling economic empowerment, reducing financial exclusion, and offering a decentralized, transparent system that promotes peace through financial independence, transparency, and individual autonomy (Nov 4 | 4 min read).

• Mark Mason of BTC Inc compares Satoshi Nakamoto to Robin Hood, arguing how Satoshi rewrote the rules of wealth redistribution without the tights or the crossbow, and gave power back to the people (Nov 7 | 4 min read).

• Trey Walsh, an advocate of progressivism and Bitcoin, argues that the Democratic Party must embrace Bitcoin to reconnect with working-class voters, counter Republican momentum, and establish a future in US politics focused on economic freedom and financial sovereignty (Nov 8 | 6 min read).

• Che Kohler analyzes Lightspark's Spark, a new Bitcoin Layer 2 solution leveraging Statechain technology to boost transaction throughput, reduce fees, enhance privacy, and improve interoperability while addressing Bitcoin’s scaling challenges (Nov 1 | 7 min read).

• Athena Alpha, another Bitcoin-only premium newsletter, analyzes Bitcoin maximalism, explaining why adherents believe Bitcoin is superior to other cryptocurrencies due to its fixed monetary policy, decentralization, security, and sovereignty (Nov 6 | 7 min read).

• Rhino Bitcoin, a Bitcoin financial services company, explains how Bitcoin loans work, highlighting their advantages, such as no credit checks and access to liquidity, while also addressing the risks related to Bitcoin’s volatility and platform security (Nov 6 | 5 min read).

• Massimo Musumeci, a Lightning developer and researcher, compares the privacy benefits and drawbacks of the Lightning Network versus Bitcoin's base layer, exploring off-chain transactions, onion routing, and centralization concerns (Nov 9 | 4 min read).

• Atlas21 details step-by-step instructions for creating a multisig wallet with Electrum using either seed phrases or hardware wallets to enhance Bitcoin security through multi-signature verification (Nov 7 | 6 min read).

• Teemuppleb, a reviewer of Bitcoin projects, reviews the Ark Protocol, which is an innovative approach to scaling Bitcoin by enabling users to share UTXOs through Virtual Transaction Outputs (VTXOs), reducing on-chain fees and complementing the Lightning Network for daily payments (Nov 7 | 6 min read).

• Kaká Furlan of Area Bitcoin explains Nostr clients and the way they connect users to the decentralized Nostr protocol, enabling secure, censorship-resistant communication and interaction with posts across various platforms (Nov 7 | 6 min read).

• Plunda, a pseudonymous Stacker News user, explores the complex monetary history of France before, during, and after the French Revolution, highlighting the evolution of coinage, the introduction of paper money, and the financial turmoil shaped by revolutionary events (Nov 8 | 7 min read).

• Matt Crosby of The Bitcoin Magazine analyzes Bitcoin's four-year cycle, exploring past price behavior, market patterns, investor sentiment, and global liquidity cycles to provide insights into future price movements and potential investment strategies (Nov 8 | 4 min read).

• Benny B, co-founder of the Bitcoin Bay Foundation, introduces dlcdevkit, a Rust-based application development kit that simplifies the creation, management, and execution of DLCs, enabling developers to focus on their ideas without delving into Bitcoin's internal complexities (Nov 6 | 5 min read).

• Tom Honzik of Unchained, explains how Segwit enhances Bitcoin custody by reducing transaction fees, improving transaction signing efficiency, and strengthening multisig security, making it a vital upgrade for self-custody wallets (Oct 30 | 6 min read).

• Pietralberto Mazza presents a streamlined method for Ark clients to collaborate with Ark Servers, enabling earlier liquidity unlocking by simplifying the VTXO tree signing process and reducing signing overhead (Nov 5 | 4 min read).

• ICYMI: Eugene Bulltime of Contribution Capital shows how the Lightning Network is quietly revolutionizing Bitcoin payments with organic growth, impressive transaction increases, user adoption, and profitability, despite limited visibility in traditional metrics (Oct 15 | 3 min read).

• ICYMI: Vlad Costea of The Bitcoin Takeover podcast examines Bitcoin's privacy limitations in a world of blockchain analysis, highlighting its inherent transparency as a public ledger and discussing various proposed solutions, including Dandelion++, MWEB, statechains, Drivechains, and covenant soft forks (Sept 23 | 22 min read).

POLL

OTHER NEWSLETTERS TO CHECK OUT:*

• Stacked Marketer is sent daily to 60,000+ marketers, delivering carefully curated digital marketing news, tech, trends, and actionable advice.

• The Early Bird is a 7:00 AM newsletter for those that feel like they're at an information disadvantage.

• TLDR gives you the most important tech, science, & coding news in 5 minutes. Read by 1,250,000+ software engineers and tech workers.

• TECHPRESSO keeps 100,000+ professionals up to date with AI & Tech in just 5 minutes a day through their free daily email delivering top tech news and insights.

• FryAI scours for the signal through 100+ AI news sources every week day for 20k+ email newsletter subscribers who work at NVIDIA, Tesla, and Google to name a few.

*You can find more here.

🛠️ TOOLS & PROJECTS

• Bitkey partners with Blockchain.com and Azteco, allowing users to buy Bitcoin directly through Blockchain.com and redeem Azteco Bitcoin vouchers within the Bitkey app.

• Tether launches their Wallet Development Kit, an open-source toolkit enabling developers to integrate non-custodial USDT and Bitcoin wallets into various applications.

• Thunder Funder, a platform for funding Bitcoin and related startups, lists Joltz, ‘the leading infrastructure provider accelerating hyperbitcoinization with Taproot Assets’.

• Joltz and Eulen to launch the first stablecoin on the Lightning Network using Taproot Assets.

• The LifPay Bolt Card offers a user-friendly, contactless Bitcoin payment solution using the Lightning Network, eliminating the need for apps or accounts and enabling zero-fee transactions.

• Strike introduces Bitcoin auto-withdrawals, allowing users to securely and automatically transfer BTC to self-custody for free within 24 hours.

• Boltz exchange enables support for Bolt12 offers while making submarine swaps on its service.

• Boltz  launches Rootstock <> Lightning bridge, enabling easy access to Rootstock's financial applications via the Lightning Network.

• SwapMarket announces a browser-based liquid BTC/USDT exchange, eliminating the need for third-party wallets or custodial services, using a novel approach that manages private keys within the web application itself.

• Camp Nakamoto announces its first-ever island Bitcoin retreat on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire featuring top speakers and activities from October 10-13, 2025.

💥 MEME BREAK

Thank you for reading!

If you received it from a friend and would like to subscribe, you can do so here:

Until our next transmission,

Naiw

P.S. Looking to start your own newsletter? Use this link to sign up for beehiiv and get a 30-day free trial plus a 20% discount.

Support independent Bitcoin content and consider leaving a Lightning tip:

[email protected]