bitcoinerrorlog
John Carvalho

CEO at Synonym, creators of Pubky, Bitkit, and Blocktank.

Public Key

npub13ndpm2hm9hud4azsq5euhf5mv3d05r90wymwxsd7rdn29609hhvqp60svh

NIP-57 Address

bitcoinerrorlog@walletofsatoshi.com

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsgeksa4tajm7x673gq2v7t56dkgkh6pjhhzdhrgxlpke4za8jmmkqpz4mhxue69uhkg6t5w3hjuur4vghhyetvv9uszythwden5te0dehhxarjw4jjucm0d5e8qx60

Publishing to

ditto.pub/relay

nostrue.com

relay.nostr.band

Author Public Key

npub13ndpm2hm9hud4azsq5euhf5mv3d05r90wymwxsd7rdn29609hhvqp60svh

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Last Notes

2025-05-09 10:47:17

BIP 177 is really real now!
Last night the proposal draft was formally "merged" which means anyone visiting the BIPs will find BIP 177 in the list along with all the others now!
https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0177.mediawiki https://blossom.primal.net/9c8d83776700c6e5d9c1f4683acc45b8804fde23e15b7e66397b43a312fbde62.png

2025-05-07 14:02:24

im so excited about all the new bitcoin lending and banking products being launched
https://blossom.primal.net/595783bbcac1f93a7427d3818c7358e9e90ea4f46e0fc2551f18a5a9a91d12d9.png

2025-05-05 10:25:14

What's your favorite Bitcoin merch/clothing?

2025-05-03 08:00:06

You are the spam.

2025-05-01 14:47:37

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the rage of people passionately building somewhat useful things

2025-05-01 07:45:04

How to Think About Data on Bitcoin
https://bitcoinerrorlog.medium.com/how-to-think-about-data-on-bitcoin-a5a80442ef68

2025-04-29 11:37:57

If value is subjective, then the store of value is in your head.

2025-04-29 09:28:05

Wouldn't it be cool if you could use your public key as a domain name?

2025-04-25 16:17:26

It's still a minority, but a lot more people are becoming interested in the idea of calling the base units of Bitcoin bitcoins.

2025-04-24 10:20:48

#naddr1qv…qkrv

2025-04-24 09:54:29

I heard @npub180c…h6w6 approves.
https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/862f5488dfaca72c0bcecd596fbbf87ae392f46c/bip-0177.mediawiki

2025-04-15 15:58:52

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Smart people are welcome on Pubky!

2025-04-10 13:35:53

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I accept your defeat.

2025-04-10 10:49:10

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This is just cryptogymnastic bullshit. No one needs this and even if Pubky users did need this, they could just generate a secp key from their Pubky seed instead of an ed key... and then make the same claims about Pubky.
There is no magic or exclusivity here, sorry.

2025-04-09 14:37:44

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wut are you even talking about? atomic swaps across blockhains? which has nothing to do with nostr or pubky, right?

2025-04-09 14:33:46

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What are the fun things to do on Nostr that I cannot do elsewhere?

2025-04-09 14:32:49

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Bitcoin can't be a "uniquely special feature of Nostr" because it is not contained by Nostr, right?
Any platform anywhere can add Bitcoin features like Nostr apps do.
Zapping being only in Nostr-compatible apps is partly cultural and probably also partly a lack of demand or interest elsewhere.
No?

2025-04-06 18:14:10

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Does that mean you aren't coming?

2025-04-06 08:44:58

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=8aeGZpBLxK4&si=w7aGwSozUvlOBm5F

2025-04-06 07:23:53

GM
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=WGzkuptJEDQ&si=ezQhHiYk9dxY21oC

2025-04-05 12:28:13

The Lisbon Bitcoin Maximalists meet again!
This, week the Synonym team is meeting up in Lisbon, so I decided to try and combine that with a re-union of the LBM... for a MEGA MEETUP!
New location: Delirium Cafe
April 8, 6:30PM
RSVP here: https://m.primal.net/QFFX.png
https://www.meetup.com/lisbon-bitcoin-maximalists/events/307123239/

2025-04-05 09:39:01

Behold! Bitcoin payments at scale!
https://m.primal.net/QExL.png

2025-04-03 08:18:49

What's your hot nostr take?

2025-04-02 08:32:20

In an ocean of content, one ignorant post is enough to get blocked or muted.
Be the signal, or be forgotten.

2025-03-31 16:04:47

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While I agree that interop is usually a fake concept, I will say that we'd be happy to share any schemas openly, or use others' schemas that fit the bill.
I just don't know how to safely approach open schemas in the first place, other than subjective tagging being a decent basis...
Once you start defining narrower uses cases, like reputation, cataloging specialized things like movies, etc, you lose control and maybe may as well just use AI to parse and organize things...
Bridge all the things with AI?

2025-03-31 07:17:02

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Thank you for your concern, but again, the Pubky protocol is already open-sourced, so you are raising the alarm about one repo of unfinished code for a new app that isn't ready for use - AND all of its testing users have access to that code too if they want.
The PKARR aspect itself, one of the most novel aspects, has been open-sourced for a lot longer and has been proposed to Nostr devs for more than a year.
What makes Nostr people interested in other things is simply whether they were made by Nostr people for Nostr people - it isn't science, it's loyalty.

2025-03-30 19:01:28

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All of the protocol has been open source for months. Literally only one repo is not open source yet because it isnt safe to use yet, and we specifically offered all beta testers access to that repo as well.
You guys keep looking for excuses to avoid this instead of understand it.
I understand why, it is just disappointing.

2025-03-30 08:50:58

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Sorry to inform you, but there were key-based/decentralized web things before Nostr too!

2025-03-30 08:27:44

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You might like Pubky.

2025-03-29 13:57:42

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No, you just need an invite code :)

2025-03-29 12:28:40

Vibe check: How much do you actually care about zapping/tipping in your bitcoin-y/nostr-y apps these days?

2025-03-29 11:13:39

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Ratatat is also good 😃

2025-03-29 10:57:22

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I think you are mostly coming from a position of strictly trying to refute Pubky instead of actually considering it.
1. Impersonation - (I should first note that this is mostly an imaginary issue that isnt occurring in the wild, even on traditional web hosts. When people are censored, they notice, and are often directly informed! ...But your theory is sound, so let's discuss.)
Our Pubky app doesn’t sign everything, so yes, a homeserver could lie about tags or relationships. But you are ignoring a many things:
- You can run your own homeserver.
- You can sync your data locally, or on trusted servers.
- Despite everything in Nostr being signed, it still has some similar issues, because ALL hosts/relays/homeservers can decide which data to serve or not.
- With homeserver and indexer data being public, it is quite easy to detect any sort of inconsistency.
- Signing everything comes with problems of discovery that Pubky solves. How do people know exactly when your key was compromised or what your new key is? This is less likely to even happen to you in Pubky because your keys can be kept cold and separate from apps.
- There is nothing stopping anyone from building a Pubky app that does sign everything! This is not some sort of novel thing, but it does wreck usability and security for people, so we handle it differently in our app. If your way is better, build it and prove it. Nostr would certainly benefit from using pubkies instead!
2. Censorship - ALL HOSTS CAN CENSOR regardless of protocols. Just like Nostr relays can selectively censor or ban users, Pubky homeservers can too. The difference: Pubky gives you an actual credible exit default migration path (DHT), and anyone, including yourself, can easily mirror your data.
3. Ownership - You own your key, and your graph can follow you. But if you’re not self-hosting, you delegate trust—just like Nostr users trusting relays. Pubky users can tailor their redundancy however they like with backups, mirroring, self-hosting, alternate hosts, etc.
4. DHT scale/spam? Mainline DHT is literally the largest, most resilient, most decentralized network on Earth, and we took the time to prove it here: https://medium.com/pubky/mainline-dht-censorship-explained-b62763db39cb

2025-03-29 10:35:01

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=PQGjpR39Il0&si=CSVtxaO7ZoSMJAt1

2025-03-29 10:19:52

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Please consider deciding for yourself.

2025-03-29 09:32:14

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What happens if Dorsey turns off Nostr funding? What if fiatjaf burns out? You may be overestimating the design and resilience of this tech, sir.
Pubky is open source, MIT licensed, and available for anyone.
Synonym itself operates without any influence on its roadmap.
MOST IMPORTANTLY: The Pubky design allows for actual censorship resistance and continuity of your data and social graph, offering aspects that are strict upgrades to Nostr's design.
I am a systems designer, and sourced funding to build my design, same as Nostr devs do. I am doing my best to empower you, the individual user, whether you like it or not.

2025-03-29 09:26:46

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We are conducting a private beta test of the first app, before public launch in June.
Otherwise, the protocol is already open-sourced and MIT licensed at github.com/pubky

2025-03-27 18:20:03

https://x.com/BitcoinErrorLog/status/1905323411942887484

2025-03-27 11:13:10

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If we rename Pubky to Postr, then it will be cool?

2025-03-24 11:58:12

I wanna invite @nprofile…zj6n to the Pubky private beta, what's his email address?

2025-03-14 15:56:08

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We are planning to begin the public beta in June, along with open sourcing the rest of Pubky.

2025-03-14 09:17:01

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Is the source post gone for this? I can't see what youre replying to

2025-03-11 17:22:14

We're hiring Rust devs at Synonym!
https://bitcoinerjobs.com/job/1668497-rust-senior-engineer-synonym/

2025-02-26 16:37:45

Last weekend, I got together with Eric Voskuil and Vlad and we went in depth on Bitcoin topics for EIGHT HOURS.
Eric is one of the few Bitcoin devs I have deep respect for. If you truly want to understand Bitcoin, dig in here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mLey8XsMBg

2025-02-20 11:24:52

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Liar. If you watched the episode you would know I have been building with Lightning since the beginning.

2025-02-18 18:01:10

Live now!
https://zap.stream/naddr1qqjrqe3hve3xvv3c95ur2dr9956rxcmx95uxzcnr95cnvcnrxvenwwrxvv6rvqgwwaehxw309ahx7uewd3hkctcpr9mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuumwdae8gtnnda3kjctv9uq32amnwvaz7tmjv4kxz7fwv3sk6atn9e5k7tcpzamhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzv9hxgtcpz9mhxue69uhkummnw3ezumrpdejz7qg7waehxw309ahx7um5wgkhqatz9emk2mrvdaexgetj9ehx2ap0qyghwumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnhd9hx2tcpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzvuhsz9thwden5te0dehhxarj9ehhsarj9ejx2a30qgsv73dxhgfk8tt76gf6q788zrfyz9dwwgwfk3aar6l5gk82a76v9fgrqsqqqan8cny7re

2025-02-16 09:53:30

Ar entered Synonym as a frontend web dev and left as a next-web protocol rockstar.
Now, he knows more about the trends, people, and projects in P2P research than anyone.
He is a force to be reckoned with, and if you are strong enough to collaborate with such force, beautiful things can happen.
Pubky is the result of years of arguments and research to discover the very best solutions for digital freedom. Few people could have grinded through it all like we did at Synonym, with Ar.
I cherish the time we had working together, and all that we learned and designed together.
I doubt this is the end of our story, but for now, it must be.
#nevent1q…sks8

2025-02-13 07:20:56

Please stahp.
https://m.primal.net/Odeh.png

2025-02-10 09:59:02

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Yes, the tech only matters if it enables new opportunities for users, so we are paying a lot of attention to new features and capabilities that our designs unlock.
fwiw I think it is unlikely any of the "good devs" at Nostr would ever work on something else until their funding ran out. IMO there are fewer great ones here than people think, but in the end, all are welcome in Pubky because it is an open-source protocol!

2025-02-06 10:36:30

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Several, why? When the app is released, it will be open-sourced and you will be able to see how to interface with the indexer.

2025-02-05 11:45:35

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When the app is live and we have users.

2025-02-04 16:56:50

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Sometimes it's simply disappointing to see people respond with prejudice when they don't have any info, nor made any sincere effort to compare anything at all.
Those aren't the kind of people I want to please, so I guess it is a good heuristic at least...

2025-02-04 16:27:04

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It's so bad.

2025-02-04 12:59:09

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https://medium.com/pubky

2025-02-04 12:58:29

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Probably all of your questions are answered in our blog:
https://medium.com/pubky
I highly recommend reading each post that feels relevant to your questions.
Generally, we created "public key domains" that are censorship-resistant. You sign your DNS settings and place them into Mainline DHT (largest, most decentralized network in the world - it powers torrents).
Those DNS records can point to anything you want for the identity: a website, your posts, your files, your payment endpoints, etc.
Your key also allows you register sessions with one or more "homeservers" which can also be hosted, or self-hosted. This allows key delegation, and cold key storage.
If any of your DNS endpoints censors you, you can simply update the record to point to a new provider, or your own self-hosted server.

2025-02-04 12:43:35

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All our public code for it is here:
https://github.com/pubky/
You can get an overview on the code and how it works together here:
https://pubky.org
You can read about the overall vision of Pubky, and the app we are building for it, here:
https://medium.com/pubky/pubky-the-next-web-3287b35408f1
You can also find me on any recent podcast, or ask any questions you have to me, or in our chatroom here:
https://t.me/pubkycore

2025-02-04 12:31:06

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I think you have totally the wrong idea about how to sort a graph.

2025-02-04 12:24:46

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We already did build something better.

2025-02-04 12:14:51

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"people"

2025-02-04 12:02:38

Are any people on Nostr not tribal, not haters?

2025-02-04 12:01:56

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That is specific a demo for a specific repo, for PKARR, so you can understand what it does. That is not an app or "Pubky."

2025-02-04 12:00:13

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No need to be afraid or ignorant when all of our info is public.

2025-02-04 11:59:23

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Pubky is a strict upgrade to Nostr. Nostr can't adopt our changes without breaking everything and becoming Pubky-compatible.

2025-02-04 11:58:01

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This is incorrect. The graph is based on semantic metadata created by you and your peers.

2025-02-04 11:57:07

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We proposed our improvements to Nostr a year ago and they declined.

2025-02-04 11:56:33

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Why speak ignorantly about something relevant to you?
We use Mainline DHT, the most decentralized network on the planet,, as DND for Public Key Domains.
https://github.com/pubky/pkdns/

2025-02-04 11:54:32

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The app itself is still in private testing, but all of the other code is public on github already.

2025-02-04 11:53:09

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We have posted tons of info (and code) about it if you want to learn more:
https://medium.com/pubky/pubky-the-next-web-3287b35408f1
https://github.com/pubky
https://pubky.app

2025-02-04 11:49:48

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There is no public demo and Pubky Core code has only been public for 3 months.

2025-02-04 11:38:54

Odell supports BIP21Q!
https://github.com/BitcoinAndLightningLayerSpecs/balls/blob/main/BIP%2021Q.md
#nevent1q…7zqz

2025-01-30 13:18:42

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Hey, thanks for using Bitkit and for all the questions!
1. Not any time soon. We have discussed ways we could do it, but doing such things is tricky and we have lower hanging fruit.
2. The LDK node does enforce, but only while the app is open, so you need to be using it weekly to have a realistic chance of enforcing.
3. The wallet and channel state is encrypted on the client using the seed. We use AES/GCM which is pretty standard on mobile these days.
4. It’s trust-minimized. The invoice is a HODL invoice which is not claimed until the channel is opened.
5. No plans for BOLT-12, I believe changing payment protocols is disruptive and that it isn't a significant-enough change; we will reconsider if industry organically moves to it. We would love to support splicing, but LDK (Bitkit) and LND (Blocktank) still don't support it.
6. Yes, the backups include all channels, and should restore them in a new Bitkit wallet. However, you need to be very careful not to install the node on two live devices at the same time or it may corrupt the state. It should be noted that we cannot control what third-parties do, so it is possible that a migration could also result in some channel closures.
7. No plans to customize destination addresses for channel closures, but if it becomes something many users want we could revisit the idea.

2025-01-24 17:40:30

Bluesky culture is an absolute cesspool.

2025-01-24 17:36:41

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no u

2025-01-24 17:36:17

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You can't do micropayments without trust (centralization). Seems like a shitty venue for censorship resistance.

2025-01-24 17:33:55

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I would argue that the "pipe" changes depending on the use case.
You want semantics and weighting for any sort of curation, and you want settlement coordination for any sort of trade. If P2P you also need to incorporate graph distance.
Relate, match, interact.
Zaps are too abstract and gameable to be useful other than for some sort of tail optimization or niche use cases.

2025-01-24 17:28:36

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Algorithms arent the topic, Mr. Narrative Parrot.
Either you have an actual counterargument, or not.

2025-01-24 16:29:33

Tipping is not a revolutionary concept, nor is it a tool for empowering individuals.
In fact, any economy that embeds tipping ends up regretting it and using it as a way to exploit naive workers to pay them less.
In social media, tipping(zapping) provides a very low-value, noisy signal, and is not very useful to people or algorithms for curation.
So, calm down about zapping and try solving real problems.

2025-01-15 19:31:45

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We aren't shoving anything, a no users are confused. It is just a bitcoin symbol and a quantity that is easy to infer.
If you read the BIP you will learn that this display method is accurate to the protocol and how Bitcoin actually works.

2025-01-15 18:29:34

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But the app is okay the way it is, right?

2025-01-15 16:35:28

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I don't see Nostr as a pure "bazaar" either. It’s a nuanced network with both ad hoc innovation and strong adherence to foundational concepts. But my analogy is more about ethos and how it expresses—community-driven chaos vs. intentional, centralized coordination.
What holds nostr together is a culture, not a structure or plan or goal.
As for protocols, I’d argue Pubky is all about protocols. PKARR, Mainline DHT, homeservers—these are building blocks for networks, not just products. If that's unclear in our docs, it's because we need to evolve them, but, quite honestly, if I can understand it, you can too.
Things will be clearer and more tangible once Pubky App is in public.
What you call perfectionism I call design requirements. We are building an ecosystem and comprehensive vision, made of multiple moving parts. Perfectionism has nothing to do with it. We are trying to build a whole new web, not an app, and not a playground of hackathon projects. And we are trying to do it with as little complexity as possible.
Building decentralized systems is more like designing the internet than choosing VHS over Betamax, or Twitter over Primal. You don’t get many chances to fix foundational errors later. I’m not aiming for “perfect”, I am aiming for viable, empowering and useful.
The vision is for an alternative digital society, The Atomic Economy, and I am taking the opportunity to build it very seriously.

2025-01-15 16:20:52

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Bitkit has been this way for more than a year and you didn't notice. We don't use the term "sats" or "satoshis" and there is no sats symbol.

2024-12-30 13:01:28

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All of Pubky is our NIP, if you think about it.
For now, we have higher priorities than trying to persuade uninterested Nostr-aligned people to drop it for our vision.

2024-12-28 16:19:38

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1) Was a subtopic of generalizing how different platforms actually express and differentiate.
2) I/we didn't properly detail all of what Pubky is, but the main aspect we discussed is what makes it different, how we use PKARR & PKDNS to establish public-key-based domains, for actual censorship resistance and ability to manage your identity and sub-identities (or "sessions"). I encourage you to check out pubky.org and our code to learn more.
3) Nostr is disinclined to improve their identity situation to do what Pubky will do because it is a breaking change in the key type. So, they say other narratives to deflect from this strict improvement.

2024-12-28 16:14:54

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The people I actually spend time with are my family and my team. I feel blessed to have the opportunity that Tether and Fulgur Ventures have provided to us to build a new vision for digital society. I'm not sure what more I could ask for.
Sure, it'd be nice to not be so misunderstood by so many of my peers, but I never claimed to be amazing at persuasion. Being myself is the only thing that has never failed me, so things are what they are. I am always happy to see things improve, but I can't think of everything and improving at some things is more rewarding than others.
Specifically, I do think Marty and I jumped into some topics without proper setups, but the conversation was unstructured, so instead you got something more natural, I guess? haha, i dunno, we did a thing, I hope some people get something from it.

2024-12-28 15:31:09

Caught up with @npub1guh…6hjy and we covered BIP 21Q, Pubky, digital identity and a lot more, check it out!
(The headline is clickbait, this is not a finance interview, we just did some speculating about what the big sacrifice could be this cycle!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJwGthtPayI

2024-12-23 17:41:39

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Maybe I can also help you with your ignorance about the meaning of "ignorant" , which is not an insult, even if it makes you feel bad.
I do not respect people that say incorrect things then act as is if they know better.
https://m.primal.net/NEVB.png

2024-12-21 13:32:18

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Bitcoin units are not divisible. When someone says "fractions of a sat" they are lying or ignorant.

2024-12-21 13:31:20

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2024-12-20 15:51:36

It's time to admit it.
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/takes/bip-21qonly-2-1-quadrillion-bitcoins

2024-12-17 17:37:49

Pubky Public Dev Call
Wednesday (tomorrow)
1pm EST / 10am PT / 7pm CET
LIVE DEMOS!
1. Pubky TLS Support, with Ar
2. Public Key Domains (PKDNS), with Sev
3. Pubky Ring auth app, with Corey
…And more!
Google Meeting:
https://meet.google.com/xrv-ormm-kmt

2024-12-17 14:05:29

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Zzz

2024-12-17 14:03:56

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bitcoinerrorlog on telegram

2024-12-16 13:24:45

Synonym his hiring.
If you're an exceptional senior developer or senior professional with directly relevant experience in Bitcoin, P2P web tech, or the success of related applications & products, contact me directly.
Otherwise, we'll be posting a new specific role each month!

2024-12-12 18:59:49

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=F3BH51jpBUs&si=XBxHgBTgk70RUyOp

2024-12-11 10:59:18

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@npub1p23…rnl6 here's more of that DHT info I promised.
@npub185h…wrdp some counters to your DHT concerns from our conversation last Spring.

2024-12-10 17:47:20

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They cover this a bit in the interview, but generally Nostr devs don't like PKARR/Mainline because you can't use secp keys to do this.
Since we have to bootstrap it ourselves, it gives us the freedom to design things in a more elegant way, so we have our own homerservers (instead of relays), our own separated indexer and graph concepts, and soon, our own app to demonstrate most popular publishing and social use cases.

2024-12-10 17:33:27

You need to fall in love with Mainline DHT and Synonym is going to show you why & how.
Start with this article/research by Severin on DHT censorship-resistance and numbers.
https://medium.com/pubky/mainline-dht-censorship-explained-b62763db39cb/

2024-12-10 10:32:50

Check out this new interview with @npub1jvx…7yqz, a dedicated Synonym engineer responsible for Pubky Core.
He goes into lots of detail about the pragmatic thinking behind Pubky's design, and of course, Nostr comparisons.
I'm also very proud to see more of the team branching out and doing interviews.
The Synonym team is going to be turning heads in 2025!
https://fountain.fm/episode/HXQpcOdQU9Tnxa9BQO2v

2024-11-30 18:40:04

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So far, Nostr elders do not seem interested in bridging or breaking the key model, but yes, any platform or protocol could use the pkarr method, and it would almost certainly improve censorship resistance.
My guess is that, once you do something like that, people will just find it easier to use Pubky keys/apps/servers, as they will have all the tools needed to make it easy to maintain your dht records, swap servers when needed, etc, and bridging doesnt seem to usually be a popular feature to maintain.

2024-11-30 09:50:30

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This image depicts sample distribution of the millions of Mainline DHT nodes that are Pubky-compatible.
What do you think this map would look like for Nostr relays? What do you think it will look like in 5 years?
In the end, I recommend you to use the best tool for whatever problems you are trying to solve, and that can be different for everyone.
https://m.primal.net/MkoW.png