haldane
Matt Haldane

At a glance I can distinguish China from Arizona. Tech production editor for South China Morning Post covering Web3, censorship, digital trade and supply chains.

Public Key

npub1decs7fsdnh2ykdeycla9j9sxx74q4c0ce72jrkyu7faf4sqyydus0t9ggh

NIP-05 Address

_@matthaldane.com

NIP-57 Address

matt_haldane@strike.army

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsxuug0ycxem4ztxujv07jezcrr02s2u8uvl9fpmzw0y756cqzzx7gpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzvuqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0ds320ma6

Publishing to

relay.nostr.bg

nos.lol

relay.nvote.co

Author Public Key

npub1decs7fsdnh2ykdeycla9j9sxx74q4c0ce72jrkyu7faf4sqyydus0t9ggh

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Last Notes

2024-05-12 05:22:51

The Bitcoin Conference is already in talks to have Bitcoin Asia return to Hong Kong, ideally at the more centrally located Convention and Exhibition Centre next year. Tokyo and Singapore are also possible future locations, @npub16vr…p2va said.
https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3262235/bitcoin-asia-hong-kong-attracts-major-interest-mainland-attendees-look-top-market-where-crypto

2024-04-05 04:15:29

The CEO of Tether has a new project making what he calls "unstoppable apps", just like bitcoin is the "unstoppable money". But he sees anything using relays as flawed in this respect. He had some comments on Nostr that wound up on the cutting room floor, but may be of interest here:
> "The issue with Nostr, [which] has become popular, is it has relays. The relays are part of the equation. Without the relays, Nostr cannot work … There was [once] Kazaa, Nutella, Limewire – all had relays and all were shut down or all failed. The only peer-to-peer protocol that worked and could not be shut down was BitTorrent because it did not have any point of failure. So that's our benchmark. We could have taken many shortcuts to make it easier for us, but it took six or seven years to develop something that is truly resistant to the wrath of God."
The new company, called Holepunch, has developed a protocol called Pear Runtime that is solely P2P. Its first flagship app is a video conferencing and chat app called Keet, and it supports Lightning wallets. I suspect Nostr at least served as some inspiration.
https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3257878/stablecoin-giant-tether-backing-unstoppable-chat-app-crypto-take-big-tech

2023-11-04 16:38:46

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https://media.tenor.com/_7dnOT1DdvEAAAAM/sad-whine-cry.gif

2023-11-03 08:21:22

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Neal Stephenson was there!?

2023-10-25 00:54:59

Binance has largely stayed quiet about Hong Kong's crypto licensing scheme while rivals poured in. But it seems the company started its play to gain a foothold in the market 10 months ago.
https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3239020/binance-behind-hong-kong-crypto-exchange-hkvaex-which-seeking-licence-city-sources-say

2023-10-17 15:45:39

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This is an interesting advantage of an open protocol. An app like Substack is designed with the idea that everyone is a creator, but of course it also has to cater to people who are primarily consumers of content. But is there any precedent for this? The closest thing I can think of for a reader-focused app centered around an open format is an RSS reader. Is there enough demand for an app that caters only to Nostr readers?

2023-10-17 07:43:41

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As in: This Nostah protocol is wicked cool.

2023-10-15 15:24:46

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“It is only ideas gained from walking that have any worth.” –Friedrich Nietzsche

2023-10-15 14:49:14

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I think this is mostly right. I'm also on the record as saying that having to manage your own keys is a major hurdle for the average person: https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3236382/decentralised-social-media-super-app-elon-musks-dreams-already-exists-growing-interest-china
My point was more that having the code accessible is not necessarily a problem. It may be unsightly, but I don't think it's too confusing for people to understand. Many Nostr apps are visually fine. People who do not understand or care about the technical stuff can ignore it. But best design practice is to have all the technical stuff hidden until or unless it is intentionally shown.
Regarding Obsidian, the user base might be more diverse than you think. I suspect you're right that technically proficient users make up at least a plurality. But it does have a big following among writers. I see a lot of Obsidian-related content from academics, journalists and fiction writers, especially those involved in world-building. Pastors, too, seem to love the program for some reason, as do D&D players. I don't know what the exact demographic make-up is (and neither does the Obsidian team, apparently), but it does seem to bring together all types.

2023-10-15 12:05:52

I don't think tech needs to choose between being friendly towards average users and tinkerers. You can strike a happy medium. @npub180c…h6w6's post makes me think of the recent Fast Company article on Obsidian: https://www.fastcompany.com/90960653/why-people-are-obsessed-with-obsidian-the-indie-darling-of-notetaking-apps
The crux of the piece is basically that the note-taking app Obsidian has grown to 1 million users despite not being very user-friendly because it requires knowledge of Markdown. I don't think Markdown is the major barrier here. Most of the things a user might want to do with text notes (bullet points, bold and italics, headers) can be easily toggled with UI buttons in Obsidian. I think most digital natives have at least a passing familiarity with markup languages or can easily adapt.
Obsidian is actually good example of how software can be both user- and programmer-friendly. Nostr still has a lot of hurdles in the way of mass adoption, but being able to peek under the hood isn't one of them.
#note1hru…7ekx

2023-10-11 13:16:39

Another Nostr-adjacent piece I wrote recently for the Foreign Correspondents’ Club Hong Kong. This was written more for other journalists, but maybe some people here will appreciate it.
https://m.primal.net/HNNv.png

2023-10-10 09:22:40

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I think ActivityPub is pretty great at what it was designed for, which is connecting a bunch of smaller social networks where people can build niche communities around specific interests. Something like Nostr is better for that universal "town square" ideal that Twitter seemed to be striving for pre-Musk. BlueSky's AT Protocol seems to sit somewhere in the middle. In any case, I think there is room for a protocol that uses PKI and ActivityPub to co-exist, just as Facebook and Twitter have co-existed. They serve different purposes. I think bridges are cool, and probably useful in certain contexts, but I can't personally think of any reason why I'd want to access Mastodon content on Nostr or vice versa. These are very different networks.

2023-10-05 03:28:59

An enthusiastic group of pro bono programmers strewn across the globe, including in Hong Kong, are building the open source, crypto-focused super app of Elon Musk’s dreams – but without the app.
Featuring @npub1ejx…t3tv and @npub1myg…sn5p
https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3236382/decentralised-social-media-super-app-elon-musks-dreams-already-exists-growing-interest-china

2023-09-12 15:58:21

Young people in China are embracing lightning travel… but not Lightning travel
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Travel-Leisure/21-dishes-in-24-hours-China-s-youth-embrace-lightning-travel

2023-09-08 11:03:17

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It's already popular with certain segments of the crypto crowd and it's censorship resistent. Would seem like a natural fit.

2023-09-08 06:31:17

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I think Synology has something like that if you use their NAS, but I've never tried it. Also, this isn't self-hosted but it's fully encrypted: [CryptPad](https://cryptpad.fr/)

2023-09-08 05:42:40

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https://youtu.be/3I-D8Ozc4Oc?si=4HeZ5PrXnsLTpJr4

2023-09-08 05:03:36

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It should have read 8 million followers each. This is the story: https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3233703/china-crypto-crackdown-weibo-banishes-80-prominent-cryptocurrency-influencers

2023-09-06 11:03:45

80 Chinese crypto influencers with a combined 8 million followers were recently removed from Weibo. Have any of these people found Nostr yet?
https://image.nostr.build/1de05cefc158e1cffee1cc2dc8834572cc86e535ba59e5c23423ecf3b2e2a8cb.jpg

2023-09-03 13:49:58

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What phone did you go with?

2023-09-01 05:14:11

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How do you find new people to follow?

2023-08-31 10:27:56

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What's going on here? Lol
https://cdn.nostr.build/i/91cf763e3a3f9778b5ff5400c472ef3f82f2596569229529689949b86e9a8a38.jpg

2023-06-27 13:05:27

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👋 I'd like to RSVP

2023-04-10 10:11:41

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One significant challenge to overcome, though, is a lack of agreed standards for exchanging trade data on a blockchain and between blockchains. Shipping containers and electronic data interchange documents were only widely adopted after a push from standards bodies.
https://nostr.build/i/nostr.build_412c53b279177a4a2099b9a23b3a7712b6dbf0ff32588cc36cd9395ac374e7de.png

2023-04-10 10:10:58

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Why use blockchain at all when trade seems to work just fine without it? Advocates say it can help reduce some of the remaining barriers to digitization, like the fact that the bill of lading is still largely paper-based.
https://nostr.build/i/nostr.build_131ee40317ed3c31db28e37d6e904fd357fdaefa0107dbe6bebc0f945378917d.png

2023-04-10 10:09:53

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GSBN has eight major shipping and terminal operators as shareholders, each with equal voting rights in the governance of its blockchain. The nonprofit is out to prove blockchain has a future in supply chains, but the CEO admits it could take a while.
https://nostr.build/i/nostr.build_1ce20a1178c7d076bf7e1d48ce4dcaee16318e128136b1abb10582cfeb32b1e0.png

2023-04-10 10:08:06

Supply chain management was supposed to be a killer application of blockchain outside cryptocurrencies and NFTs. But the end of Maersk and IBM’s TradeLens last fall caused some to doubt the tech’s applicability – but not Hong Kong’s GSBN. https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3216365/blockchain-based-logistics-looks-increasingly-chinese-after-exit-maersk-hong-kongs-gsbn-has-global

2023-04-09 04:51:54

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I think IPFS has some big advantages over torrents. But for distributed collaboration, how does this compare with something like Radicle? https://radicle.xyz/

2023-03-03 11:49:23

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So we can expect an official HSBC Nostr account soon?

2023-02-20 14:51:57

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You can sign up for the waitlist here: https://bsky.app/

2023-02-20 14:25:19

Hong Kong's New crypto policy proposal shows its "commitment towards being the leading Web3 hub", but it also limits retail investors to big-cap coins and requires exchanges set up committees to regularly review tokens to determine if they should still be traded.
https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3210863/hong-kong-allow-retail-investors-buy-big-cap-crypto-tokens-boost-global-digital-asset-hub-ambitions

2023-02-20 06:11:47

Censorship in China has created a restrictive media environment that hampers the development of large language models.
https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3210754/chatgpt-has-grabbed-headlines-developing-chinese-competitor-will-face-censorship-cost-and-data

2023-02-12 07:11:27

> By attempting to cut China off from advanced semiconductors, America is incentivising China to focus on more mature forms of chip manufacturing, where the choke points are weaker and China already has a large share of the market. These sorts of chips are required in great numbers in electric cars and weapons. If artificial intelligence turns out to be less important than the American government thinks it is, incentivising Chinese firms to take greater control over commodity chips may end up looking like a mistake.
https://www.economist.com/united-states/2023/02/08/the-history-and-limits-of-americas-favourite-new-economic-weapon

2023-02-09 17:40:56

Still no cryptocurrency trading in mainland China, but The Ministry of Science and Technology is setting up the National Blockchain Technology Innovation Centre in Beijing.
> The centre will focus on areas of blockchain regarding fundamental theory, software and hardware, with the aim of developing related key technologies and industrial applications, the newspaper reported on Wednesday.
>
> The new centre will also focus on major use cases related to the national economy and personal livelihoods, making blockchain an important foundation for China’s new digital infrastructure, Beijing Daily said, offering scant details.
https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3209639/china-approves-blockchain-research-centre-beijing-aiming-make-breakthroughs-while-maintaining

2023-02-06 16:26:46

> Apple’s recent removal of Damus, a decentralised social media platform built on an open protocol backed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, from its China App Store for violating domestic cybersecurity laws came as no surprise at all, according to the developer behind the new app’s technology.
> “I think it was to be expected, although it didn’t occur to me because I wasn’t actively aware of the extent of the Great Firewall,” the creator of the internet open protocol Nostr, who goes by the handle “fiatjaf” on social media, said in an interview via Telegram.
https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3209265/apples-removal-damus-social-media-platform-china-app-store-was-expected-developers-amid-beijings