Central Pennsylvania Bitcoiners / Central Pennsylvania Bitcoiners is on Nostr

A #Bitcoin focused group located in the greater Central Pennsylvania area.
Stack Sats and Stay Humble.

EVENTS: https://www.meetup.com/central-pa-bitcoiners

Last Notes

2025-01-04 16:20:25

(Apologizes for Delayed Post)
Greetings Central PA Bitcoiners!
Happy Genesis Block Day!
https://bitcoin.holiday/2009-01-03-bitcoins-birthday
Sixteen years ago today, Satoshi mined the first bitcoin block, known as the genesis block.
https://mempool.space/block/000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f
When a miner finds a block, there's a small text field in which they can put whatever message in it they want. Modern mining pools usually use the name of their pool. Satoshi chose the following for block #0:
The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks
There are two reasons for this. By including that day's headline from a major newspaper (London's The Times), Satoshi timestamped the block that he cast. This proved that he/she/they hadn't been mining on their own, keeping the mined blocks a secret, and preventing others from competing to mine for those new bitcoin. The crux of this reason is that it shows that it was launched fairly and on the date that he broadcast it to the network. The second reason is more symbolic: the 2008 financial crisis, and the government bailout interventions that followed, represented a breach of trust and alienated many, including Satoshi:
"The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that’s required to make it work. The central bank must be trusted not to debase the currency, but the history of fiat currencies is full of breaches of that trust.”
The white paper laid out the framework for bitcoin: a new digital asset and decentralized payment network that doesn't rely on having to trust entities that have repeatedly proven themselves untrustworthy.
https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
Several years ago, bitcoin educator and podcaster Trace Mayer first proposed and promoted Proof of Keys Day, corresponding with the anniversary of the genesis block.
https://www.proofofkeys.com/
The idea is that whoever has bitcoin on exchanges should withdraw them on January 3rd every year, and in doing so, force exchanges who might be running a fractional reserve to be exposed.
IMHO, Proof of Keys Day is a great idea, and every bitcoiner should know the difference of what it means to hold their own wealth vs some exchange's IOU for bitcoin. However, bitcoiners who know this important distinction very likely don't keep sats on an exchange in the first place. If you do happen to have bitcoin on an exchange and want to celebrate Proof of Keys Day by making the exchange prove that they have the bitcoin they say they do, and you are comfortable and familiar with your self-custody setup, by all means please celebrate and withdraw! I do wonder about how many people realistically (1) have a bitcoin balance on an exchange, (2) are comfortable with self-custody and have software or hardware wallet, and (3) have Proof of Keys Day on their radar. Cheers nonetheless!
Remember, friends...treat bitcoin exchanges like you treat public bathrooms. Walk in, do your business, wash your hands, and walk right back out.
Our next monthly coffee meetup is at 1pm at Denim Coffee on Sunday, Jan 26th (1pm every fourth Sunday).
Happy Genesis Block Day and Happy Proof of Keys Day!
@nprofile…94tk
@nprofile…flyg

2024-12-14 15:41:42

- reply

Thank you, @nprofile…n6q3, for spreading the word!

2024-12-14 02:13:44

Greetings Central PA Bitcoiners!
Our next meetup is taking place at 1pm on Saturday, Dec 28th, at Denim Coffee in Mechanicsburg. Although our coffee meetups typically take place on the fourth Sunday of each month, end of year commitments necessitated we chose Saturday the 28th for this month. @nprofile…uef7 has graciously agreed to host on the 28th in my absence...I'll catch you at the Jan 26th meetup.
https://www.meetup.com/central-pa-bitcoiners/events/304817221/?eventOrigin=group_upcoming_events
2025 is looking bright for Central PA Bitcoiners! We're in the process of putting together coffee meetups on the fourth Sunday of each month, and then have our quarterly educational meetup in February or March.
Some news items:
Big milestones...BTCUSD finally broke $100k this month. Although its all-time high (ATH) had been breached in nominal terms in March, as written about in the October 31st newsletter, we were still a long way from attaining new highs when considering inflation-adjusted USD terms, gold terms, real estate terms, or in terms of the stock market (S&P 500). The exchange rate at 100k BTCUSD not only added another zero in our base-10 focused psychology around price levels, it surpassed its ATH when priced in assets harder than the dollar as well. Also, 100k BTCUSD corresponds to a market cap of $2T, another round number that garners attention. A word about unit bias: people can have a bias if things are framed a certain way. There are lots of people who think "well, I would like to invest in bitcoin, but I don't have $100k, so no dice...oh well", or "$100k is so expensive! Normal people aren't going to be able to get any." Anyone can buy $5 of bitcoin, which would net them about 5,000 sats. Making sats the standard is what some propose. Like there are 1,000 meters in one kilometer, there are 100 million sats in one whole bitcoin. $100k BTCUSD means you can get 1,000 sats for your dollar. I like to think of it in terms of global assets. There are $900T of global assets, and BTC now at $2T makes up 0.22% of that. Is it a stretch to think that it'll eventually be 0.5%, or 1%, or 2%? What sounds more expensive to you...gold's market cap, 2% of the world's assets, or $900k BTCUSD? They're all the same thing, however the framing of the last one makes it sound least realistic to most people's ears.
Putin declares "no one can ban Bitcoin." This is a big change of stance from what his words and actions said in the past. Bitcoin is strongest when there are many different participants, with different incentives, and that don't/won't coordinate with each other. The US has become a hub for development and mining activity in the past years, and other countries, especially ones that the US isn't on good terms with, bringing development and mining hash power to the table makes for the best network conditions possible. I'll paraphrase Jeff Booth, great thinker in the space and author of "The Price of Tomorrow". He was asked "what's the worst thing about bitcoin?", and his response was "the worst thing about bitcoin is that you have to be ok with the idea not only that your enemy can use it...your enemy being able to use it makes it stronger and better for yourself".
https://bitbo.io/news/putin-bitcoin-unstoppable
Microsoft shareholders reject bitcoin treasury proposal. Microsoft, the fourth largest company in the US by market cap, has $79B of cash on its books. A proposal was on the table to convert 5% of that into bitcoin. Michael Saylor gave a presentation at their board meeting making a great case for why keeping all of their treasury in dollars is doing their shareholders an injustice, as inflation eats away at it constantly. Even at 2% inflation, that's a $1.6B loss every year. Nevertheless, this proposal was rejected by the shareholders, as was expected by most apparently. More proof of how early we are, friends.
https://bitbo.io/news/microsoft-bitcoin-proposal-rejected/
ETHBTC drops to lowest level since March 2021. I view talking about altcoins, AKA shitcoins, as a frustrating waste of time generally. However, this article reminded me of something important about them: over the long run, they all trend to zero in bitcoin terms. Yo-yo coin and XYZcoin might draw attention for their short lived pumps here and there, but chart them against bitcoin on a timescale of months/years, and they're all headed the same direction...zero. Many people get drawn in to the hype, and have to touch the stove themselves to learn that they shouldn't. Take this bitcoiner's word for it...avoid the noise. Stay humble & stack sats.
https://bitbo.io/news/bitcoin-surges-to-97700/
That's all for now, folks. Remember, December coffee meetup is 1pm on Saturday the 28th at Denim Coffee in Mechanicsburg. Happy holidays!
@nprofile…94tk
Central PA Bitcoiners

2024-11-09 12:02:21

Meetup Today!
Come by and join us for this educational meetup at the Simpson Library in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania starting at 1PM.
#nevent1q…tfut
#Bitcoin

2024-11-07 20:34:18

Greetings Central PA Bitcoiners!
Next meetup is at 1pm this Saturday, Nov 9th, at the Simpson Library in Mechanicsburg. This educational meetup will be geared towards what steps one can take to improve their financial sovereignty. Beginners welcome!
Topics:
What does it mean to increase one's sovereignty?
What is the staircase of sovereignty?
What does it mean to get off zero?
The importance and significance of getting off zero
Approachable steps that incrementally increase sovereignty
What is a seed phrase? What makes them so powerful?
Ideas for leveling up your skills and setup
Thoughts on how to approach holiday conversations with family when you feel that itch to orange pill
Hope to see you there!
@nprofile…xnrn
Central PA Bitcoiners

2024-11-04 01:31:53

- reply

Our next Educational Meetup is this Saturday 1PM at the Simpson Library in Mechanicsburg. Feel free to stop by!

2024-10-31 19:29:29

Greetings Central PA Bitcoiners!
Two meetups lined up for November: an educational meetup on Saturday, Nov 9th, and our monthly coffee meetup on Sunday, Nov 24th. See below for a sneak peak of Nov 9th meetup.
After 6 months of chop, the exchange rate of bitcoin against the US Dollar is approaching its former ATH (all-time high). The ATH has already been breached when measured against other fiat currencies, and exceeded 100k Canadian Dollars yesterday. Keep in mind the shortcomings of these fiat measurement tools, though. Fiat currencies, due to constant debasement, AKA legal counterfeiting, bleed value continuously.
Imagine if other measurement tools that we rely on constantly changed in value! For example, say your height is 60" this year, and next year it's 63". This wasn't because you actually grew, though...it'd be because the length of an inch keeps insidiously getting smaller. Imagine if a carpenter were building you a house, and that when he showed up every morning to work on it, the length of each inch on his measuring tape decreased by some inconsistent amount overnight. How do you think that your house would turn out?
Value is subjective, and the fluctuating value of a thing can only be measured against the fluctuating value of another thing. Another way to measure bitcoin's value would be against assets scarcer than fiat currencies. Some examples are stocks (the S&P 500), precious metals (gold), or residential housing (the Case-Shiller Index). When measuring bitcoin's value against these scarcer assets, we've still got a bit to go before we eclipse the ATH, set for each of these in 2021. Compared to three years ago, we're still 24% under the ATH priced in stocks, 38% under the ATH priced in gold, and 16% under the ATH priced in houses.
Keep staying humble, and keep stacking sats.
-------------------------------------
The Nov 9th educational meetup will be geared towards what steps one can take to improve their financial sovereignty. Beginners welcome!
Topics:
What does it mean to increase one's sovereignty?
What is the staircase of sovereignty?
What does it mean to get off zero?
The importance and significance of getting off zero
Approachable steps that incrementally increase sovereignty
What is a seed phrase? Why are they so powerful?
Cold vs hot storage
Ideas for leveling up your skills and setup
Hope to see you there!
@nprofile…94tk
Central PA Bitcoiners

2024-08-25 22:21:43

Great meetup today!
Thank you to everyone who showed up!

2024-08-25 16:13:14

Next meetup today in less than an hour! Hope to see folks there!
#nevent1q…9ch7
#Bitcoin

2024-08-20 22:13:01

Check out @nprofile…uef7, @nprofile…pt3x, and @nprofile…mxur on #Nostr!
#GrowNostr

2024-07-30 23:25:31

August Meetup
August 25, 2024 1:00PM - 3:00PM EST
https://www.meetup.com/central-pa-bitcoiners/events/302242085/

2024-07-30 23:21:35

#Bitcoin #Pennsylvania
https://i.nostr.build/En62K.png