gringokiwi
James Scaur ◉⚡️🥝

Full stack Bitcoin L2 engineer from New Zealand.

Helping people get paid with hard money at RiseWorks.io.

Prev: Satflow.com, EasyCrypto.com, Centrapay.com.

Feb 2025 bitcoin++ hackathon winner.

Latitud fellow (LF8).

Visited 25 countries — lived in 8.

✈️🇧🇷🇸🇻🇺🇸🇦🇺

Public Key

npub1fm4m0u86c234t6wcs33z5dvmx3fsrckwh72q8dkwhgplu7du9s5ssxw63a

NIP-05 Address

james@nostr.nz

NIP-57 Address

gringo@walletofsatoshi.com

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsya6ah7rav9g64a8vggc32xkdng5cput8tl9qrkm8t5ql70x7zc2gpzemhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzv9hxgq0vmqn

Publishing to

relay.nostr.band

Author Public Key

npub1fm4m0u86c234t6wcs33z5dvmx3fsrckwh72q8dkwhgplu7du9s5ssxw63a

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Last Notes

2025-05-16 02:19:22

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Great chat!

2025-03-05 08:54:50

7 things I learned from COVID:
1. Keeping a cool head and quietly sticking to your guns is as (or more) powerful than actively fighting for what’s right.
2. Cruelty, schadenfreude, and the desire to punish and feel superior are key parts of human nature. If given a free pass, many people will happily dehumanise and attack an out group (this applies to both pro- and anti-vaxxers, btw).
3. Money insulates us from crises. Lockdown was easier if you had a big house, aircon and a home gym. Private jets had less restrictions than public airlines. High-paid jobs had better security and an easy transition to WFH compared to low-paid “essential” jobs.
4. Conspiracy theories are overrated. COVID was more than likely a spontaneous event that was then used as an rationalisation for printing money, shutting down businesses, implementing digital ID, and similar measures.
Related: https://lukesmith.xyz/articles/conspiratorial-thinking-and-multiple-outs/
5. Being a NZ citizen isn’t as special as I thought. It didn’t stop my government locking me out for 2 years. I made several requests to return, since my grandfather was dying of cancer, and I had run out of emergency visa extensions. Denied each time. Meanwhile, exceptions were made for various bands and sports teams.
6. There is no scenario where critical thinking must be abandoned for “the greater good”. As a rule, it’s worth being extra skeptical when someone insists that a situation is too urgent and you need to act without thinking.
7. Placebo and nocebo are powerful. In the early days of COVID when I was very worried, I felt sick many times (even with COVID-specific symptoms like no smell) while testing negative. Later on, I tested positive several times with no symptoms. Then, after I got the vaccine, I started getting heart palpitations and chest pain — despite nothing showing in my cardiologist’s exams.
I regret a lot about how I reacted to COVID, but the silver lining is that I’m now a more critical thinker with a clearer moral compass.

2025-03-03 19:35:33

Excited to announce that I've just joined Rise as a senior engineer!
I'll be helping people get paid in the hardest money to ever exist (Bitcoin) as well as various fiat currencies.
Thanks Owen Healy for finding me such a great opportunity: https://linkedin.com/in/owenhealyblockchaintalent/
Check out Rise:
https://riseworks.io/

2025-03-01 18:03:16

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Crazy

2025-03-01 18:02:01

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Brazil too.

2025-03-01 18:01:38

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Well yeah but at least it’s a way of touching fiat less

2025-02-24 14:10:00

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Great to meet you @nprofile…mgxf !

2025-02-24 14:09:24

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Anyone who wants sats in exchange for their BRL

2025-02-22 19:59:49

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It’s back up
And we won @nprofile…5flv hackathon
https://x.com/gringokiwi/status/1893375343118967063

2025-02-22 19:57:49

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Sou @gringokiwi no telegram e discord e @gringokiwi.21 no signal, manda mensagem posso mostrar (sou o criador)
Tambem postei no x/twitter sobre o projeto: https://x.com/gringokiwi/status/1893375343118967063

2025-02-22 19:54:18

@nprofile…kca5 just won the first ever @nprofile…5flv hacking edition hackathon!
Thanks so much to @nprofile…5q8d @nprofile…dcxc @nprofile…ty6t and team for organising a great event
And to my teammates @nprofile…0rcy @nprofile…uyp4 and Octavio — wouldn’t have been able to do it without you
https://x.com/gringokiwi/status/1893375343118967063

2025-02-22 19:54:18

2025-02-22 13:26:06

Just paid for my uber to the @nprofile…5flv hackathon using lightning over @nprofile…kca5
https://x.com/gringokiwi/status/1893283850836431269?s=46

2025-02-22 13:26:06

Just paid for my uber to the @nprofile…5flv hackathon using lightning over @nprofile…kca5
https://x.com/gringokiwi/status/1893283850836431269?s=46

2025-02-22 02:03:06

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Back online https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1MnxnwqBazBKO

2025-02-22 00:53:38

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They're kicking us out, AFK ~1h

2025-02-21 20:57:41

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continued: https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1kvKpyDPLloGE

2025-02-21 16:24:31

Live-coding a Brazilian PIX payment service for the @nprofile…ntda hackathon using Lightning, @nprofile…0dzv, and @nprofile…akdl
https://nostrpix.carrd.co
@nprofile…q98p
@npub18yy…j50p
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1vAxRDoanvqGl

2025-02-20 22:24:03

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Team formed:
- @nprofile…0rcy
- npub18yyc9l68tk6zsq63wmnzf3862l3xfckds38tq44egwl5l4g0nqeszhj50p
- x.com/octavio_lucca
- @nprofile…p4hh
Pivoted idea:
Pay anyone in Brazil 🇧🇷 using sats ⚡️ via @nprofile…nh8t
Site:
NostrPIX.carrd.co
Devpost:
http://devpost.com/software/zapzappi
Follow us on Nostr: npub12pqnwgljl6jc7k7u3pq3dkhu5snyul2ltsxweptx8cw7mw6xymrq8ueuv6
https://m.primal.net/PEmr.jpg

2025-02-20 19:33:55

@nprofile…5flv hackathon kicks off!
@nprofile…dcxc @nprofile…ty6t
https://m.primal.net/PEdd.jpg

2025-02-19 18:36:10

Just arrived at @nprofile…5flv!
https://m.primal.net/PDJz.jpg

2025-02-18 07:40:52

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https://github.com/gringokiwi/bitcoin-address-checker

2025-02-18 04:01:52

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Going live now: https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1kvJpyNpmZbxE

2025-02-18 03:32:06

TIL macOS has built-in background sounds for focusing
Still prefer Brain.FM and Noisli.com though
https://image.nostr.build/4f375deacbb7685d40e629d856a4ad3d1581b83e096ef5ad09ced46ada82ed21.png

2025-02-17 20:55:58

My fav part of @nprofile…uynj 024 ft. @nprofile…yf3p and Casey Rodarmor is where @nprofile…eenn brings up everything he didn't like about Ordinals and how he made peace with them.
It was a big factor in making me reject the popular view that Ordinals were an attack on Bitcoin.
Some of his points:
- Blockspace should always be full
- Usage always scales to fill available space
- The original sin was segwit's 4x blocksize increase
- Witness discount can theoretically be applied to every btc tx so ordinals aren't a unique 'exploit'
- Sats remain fungible on the base layer
And most importantly:
- Much worse things happen on bitcoin than inscribing MS paint jpegs.
That was the biggest point for me.
How can I get upset about someone 'misusing' witness data for ordinals while there's people doing 'legit' txs for wash trading, ransomware, scams, etc.?
https://video.nostr.build/42c88433915401eb6466e00d4e785161c3cb2aab31328e3c6223c10282acce0e.mp4

2025-02-17 18:05:20

Who is coming to bitcoin++ by @nprofile…ejf3?
Flying down tomorrow.
It’ll be my first time.
Super excited!
🔗 btcpp.dev/conf/floripa
Some of the speakers:
@npub12a6…clwp
@npub19z2…fkd4
@npub1qqq…rfkq
@npub170d…chu7
@npub1zuu…c2uc
@npub1hxf…xw8z
@npub1py3…ke9h
@npub1e0z…0txy
@npub1lqn…yrp7
@npub1rqx…s548
@npub1kyg…ph68
@npub1m0s…gcru
@npub1nxy…lnxl
@npub1yxp…399s
@npub1m0s…qp5h

2025-02-17 14:41:52

Gonna live-code a tool to check for bitcoin/ordinals/runes balances on a bunch of addresses today.
Haven’t done it before but I think it’ll be a good chance to demonstrate various scraping tools, strategies for bypassing blocks, ETL tools…

2025-02-17 14:26:35

Man, I’m grateful I have good lactose tolerance.
Whole milk is fantastic.
Yes, it’s high fat and calorie dense.
So not the best for getting lean or before cardio or sedentary work.
But otherwise it’s great for:
Strength
Immunity
Hydration
Skin/hair
Recovery/sleep
Joint pain

2025-02-14 22:11:20

I've been telling everyone keen to get into software development for a while now that the game has completely changed.
You no longer need to know how to program or even understand the basics of computer science.
With tools like @nprofile…etsy , Replit.com, v0.dev, Bolt.new, Cursor.com, Builder.io, and Lovable.dev, you can already build better software than most engineers could three years ago.
Yesterday, I decided to prove this by live-coding an event management and ticketing web app with Bitcoin payments on X.
To make it more interesting, I built the frontend using only Carrd.co and vanilla JavaScript.
Check out the results here:
🔗 Live demo: https://events-app.carrd.co/
💻 Backend source code: https://github.com/gringokiwi/events-app
📷 Screenshots: https://imgur.com/a/rHcYay4
And the livestreams:
🎥 Part 1 (no audio whoops): https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1lDxLzdANvZGm
🎥 Part 2: https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1eaKbWdpyevGX
🎥 Part 3: https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1MYxNwrkVZzKw
https://m.primal.net/OwoE.mp4

2025-02-14 21:56:27

Asked ChatGPT for a joke bitcoin devs would enjoy.
Actually quite good!
https://image.nostr.build/f9c88d86b1af7f93d960e72a613c7280075cd4c59f2cbd75225181cde7b7e7db.png

2025-02-14 19:18:54

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Forgot to mention, I also ended up using:
Supabase.com for database
Mempool.space for price API
@nprofile…ctf0 for lightning service provider
Mailgun.com for email notifications

2025-02-14 19:15:51

Complete!
https://events-app.carrd.co
https://github.com/gringokiwi/events-app
Couldn't get Cline to work properly with @nprofile…8fya but I'm still a fan of the concept so I'll be trying again later.
Some screenshots:
https://image.nostr.build/4c79c5bc690aa1cee14737d92de7a31213cd29a99ba6ac6dc084aefbe394ba60.png
https://image.nostr.build/d3e727c89f669d0fec04319c386936ace339211a6ac8a4dfd7762ea27ba68771.png
https://image.nostr.build/a13716e8d0aa638d530ee798155b1dfc65fcdc9ae3163dc0147298d7897c71ae.jpg
https://image.nostr.build/b285c7f724c97e1d40124f545f39471ec767f93f753eebb544ffcac32ede77f4.jpg

2025-02-14 15:50:47

Yesterday I live-coded an events webapp using Carrd.co, Railway.app, Cursor.com, PPQ.ai, and Bitcoin. Putting the final touches on it today.
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1MYxNwrkVZzKw

2025-02-14 15:42:54

Just installed Cline.bot -- an open-source AI coding assistant. Excited to give it a spin.
h/t @nprofile…cwnz for the recommendation.

2025-02-14 03:18:32

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My bank put me on fraud investigation after I reported a glitch to them where they were marking various purchases on my card as credits (i.e. refunds) instead of debits.
After initially denying the glitch they realised something was wrong — yet somehow blamed me - the customer who reported the issue to them.
They froze all my accounts including unrelated business accounts.
After several weeks of investigation, they realised it was an internal glitch… but by that point the fraud team had ruled my account be permanently closed.
The most infuriating thing was the disrespect I was shown throughout the whole process.
Denial of the issue, sending me to FAQs on how a credit card works, making me wait hours on the phone… then after realising the glitch, assuming I was some reckless kid trying to steal money.
I can’t wait until I’m completely off fiat, I’m sick of using banks. Hell, I’m considering a move to the USA just to use @nprofile…jrgx …

2025-02-14 02:11:00

LaserEyes.Build looks awesome. Like Wagmi.sh but for Bitcoin.

2025-02-13 13:52:29

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The visible 'WeChat' or 'GrassCall' icon is actually an executable that when run, copies the .WeChat or .GrassCall file to a system directory -- ensuring the malware remains even on reboot.
https://image.nostr.build/cf8147e1cafbc8e0bce6ad9954abfbe4d145ea81254523389d3b205d6d7a99a6.png
https://image.nostr.build/833bfb223b0d8db6b4ac491205042f8b38d85e99884b987f0112951c82fccf3b.png
https://image.nostr.build/05cef3757fec581ef61df740069bb005c7a9aa21d1c18ac84712ee9cc9506f0e.png

2025-02-13 13:48:27

Just had another scam attempt—this time from a ‘community manager’ supposedly connected to legitimate Bitcoin projects like Ark and Joltz.
They use two sites, Grasscall[.]app and Call-WeChat[.]com, which operate the same way: they trick users into downloading a malicious installer that copies a hidden executable into a system folder.
Stay safe out there.
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1DXxyqgOvNZxM

2025-02-12 04:53:18

New Bisq scam.
Damn... it's a particularly nasty issue considering that PIX reveals full legal names and tax identification numbers (equivalent of SSNs) from both sender and receiver.
Makes it way easier to frame the victim -- and in many cases the banks automatically reverse funds.
https://image.nostr.build/8e3e4642813601ec437fc662694f076d76dc95717015544207d1f71279a6b993.jpg

2025-02-12 04:53:18

2025-02-11 15:38:38

A fake recruiter just tried to scam me. It's my first experience with this type of scam... fascinating, and really well executed.
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1yoKMovgavWJQ

2025-02-11 03:03:32

Thinking about reusing my old domain TxBatch.com for something new.
At the time, I built it as the first “batch search block explorer.”
Today, it could make more sense as something like a UTXO consolidation tool.

2025-02-10 21:42:07

Janus (x.com/januszg_) and Red (x.com/redvelvetzip) have done a great job with BitcoinLayers.org...
Comprehensive, with traffic-colour ratings 🚥 for all sorts of areas including custody, data transparency, node runner UX, finality guarantees, and reliance on an alternative token.

2025-02-10 15:26:40

Trying out GetFlamingo.org by @nprofile…qa6w.
Doesn't seem to work perfectly with Primal.net, but is great with Coracle.social.
Nice work Tristan -- also with Ordiscan.com which is my favourite Ordinals/Runes explorer.
https://image.nostr.build/08003c535c707ac118898cb3dc5236bb7210109dc49c54000dab4bee9ff16dc4.png

2025-02-07 21:56:34

This is a restaurant at a popular shopping mall in São Paulo (largest city in Latin America) advertising they accept Bitcoin over the Lightning Network.
Seeing this much more frequently in Brazil than I used to.
https://m.primal.net/OVQJ.jpg
https://m.primal.net/OVQK.jpg

2025-02-07 14:02:05

For years I thought my memory was broken.
I could swear I heard about Ethereum at the same time I started learning about Bitcoin.
But that seemed impossible because I got into Bitcoin in 2013/14 and Ethereum didn’t launch til 2015.
I had only just started learning to code and knew nothing about investment so there’s no chance I would have understood the whitepaper, let alone heard about the presale.
Yet I couldn’t shake the notion I heard about it at the same time.
Now (a decade later) ChatGPT has helped me figure it out.
I was a massive Tim Ferriss fan after reading the Four Hour Work Week.
It was the first book that made me realise that doing good at school, going to university and getting an office job wasn’t the only way to make a living. Or that it was possible to travel the world while working remotely.
Occasionally Tim would publish videos on his blog. This was before his podcast. And in May 2014 he posted a “Random Show” with Kevin Rose.
And right there in Random Show #24 Kevin mentions Ethereum.
He almost doesn’t bring it up or share the name. He describes it as “super geeky.”
But Tim eggs him on, and he gives a brief description, comparing it to JavaScript.
I’m sure that mention must have been the catalyst for me to look into what cryptocurrency really was.
Sure I had been using Bitcoin, but I thought it was a barter ‘mod’ for Minecraft multiplayer servers.
So if I’m right, thank you Tim & Kevin.
Most of the economy was closed to me at 13-15 years old. I couldn’t legally work, let alone open a business or accept/receive online payments. I had a bank account but could only do transfers and in-person card payments.
Learning how to use bitcoin and other cryptos completely changed the game.
No age or income requirement, no restrictions on where I could earn/spend my money. No need for parental permission or an ID.
That’s what allowed me to buy my first hosting/VPN subscriptions, start my first businesses, buy my first courses.
Eventually, I learned enough about crypto to be able to start working in it full-time without even finishing high school.
All because of one video.
https://m.primal.net/OUju.mov

2025-02-06 00:27:42

I spent half of 2023 and almost all of 2024 completely off social media. Even deleted my LinkedIn.
It was fantastic—massive productivity boost. I’d recommend it to anyone looking to increase their output.
I had a solid network of personal contacts, mostly in the Bitcoin/Web3 space, so I didn’t feel much FOMO about missing news, innovations, or opportunities.
Especially not after joining the Bitcoin startup @Satflow_—which, like any good startup, had plenty to work on.
But the tradeoffs are real.
IMO, working and talking about your work are basically inversely related. One comes at the expense of the other.
If you work a lot, you don’t have much time for socials. And if you post a lot, you don’t have much time for work.
The biggest tradeoff has been my ability to connect with new people.
Sure, I’ve had more time for thoughtful one-on-one interactions with people I’ve known for a while. But in many cases, we’re no longer into the same things.
People who were into "crypto" in 2018/19 have since split into subgroups—Bitcoin maxis, EVM devs, Solana memecoiners, pro-/anti-KYC, OTC/P2P traders, etc.
Meanwhile, I’ve drifted away from the general "crypto" scene to focus on Bitcoin—specifically mainnet, self-custody, privacy, and L2s like Ordinals/Runes.
So... I can’t learn from them or help them the same way I used to.
Which brings me to my reason for opening this account.
I want to connect with others interested in Bitcoin L2s—people who see the value in Bitcoin’s UTXO model, decentralization, security, and simplicity, but aren’t so maximalist that they dismiss every use case that isn’t just HODLing.
I want to share what I know (and am still learning) about different L2s—after all, one of the best ways to learn is to teach.
And hopefully, build some cool stuff along the way.
So, give me a follow if you want to learn more and keep me accountable. I’ll start tomorrow.