stephanlivera
Stephan Livera

stephanlivera.com

#Bitcoin Podcaster and head of education at Swan Bitcoin

Public Key

npub1r8l06leee9kjlam0slmky7h8j9zme9ca32erypgqtyu6t2gnhshs3jx5dk

NIP-05 Address

stephan@primal.net

NIP-57 Address

stephan@primal.net

Profile Code

nprofile1qqspnlha0uuujmf07ahc0amz0tnez3dujuwc4v3jq5q9jwd94yfmctcpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzvuhsz9thwden5te0wfjkccte9ejxzmt4wvhxjme0npr425

Publishing to

relay.nostr.bg

relay.damus.io

pyramid.fiatjaf.com

Author Public Key

npub1r8l06leee9kjlam0slmky7h8j9zme9ca32erypgqtyu6t2gnhshs3jx5dk

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Last Notes

2024-09-29 07:18:57

After a long and choppy bull-crab market, Dr. Ross notes that the bull market is here!
@npub1k7v…c04l founder, Vailshire Capital Management, joins me to discuss the ongoing sentiment in the markets, global liquidity, pitfalls and opportunities of this bull cycle, holistic living and more!
https://stephanlivera.com/episode/606/

2024-09-13 14:20:21

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infinity in nominal terms, sure 😂

2024-09-13 08:20:40

Bitcoin, real estate and fiat mining with @npub1hxw…40pf
https://m.primal.net/KoZp.mp4

2024-09-12 04:06:03

Statists excuse government failure by saying "they didn't have enough budget".
This image is a reflection of how the state spends money.
Without private property, market pricing, and facing a profit and loss test - of course it wastes money. https://m.primal.net/KnVz.jpg

2024-09-10 04:44:55

Left wing Australian govt looking to ban children from social media.
This is a classic case of "there oughta be a law". Yes there may be some harm from social media, but that is a role for parents to moderate and control for their children.
It should not be the role of the state to implement some ham fisted policy that also stops children using internet social media in healthy and beneficial ways.
It also represents an unethical imposition onto private companies and software developers who will effectively be coerced to do the state's bidding.
#note1ggq…pdyj

2024-09-06 09:52:30

It has become normalized to put down 8-20% for a mortgage downpayment.
I wonder how many people consider that they are effectively going leverage long property approx 5-12x?

2024-09-06 04:56:36

HODLing is a psychological battle with yourself. How much pain and scorn can you handle from the normie world? What is your pain tolerance for sustaining your HODLer conviction through big 50% or even 80% drawdowns?
Are you willing to think independently and ignore TradFi influencers who preach about being allocated to govt bonds or stock indexes or trying to be a property mogul?
If you do it correctly, you are richly rewarded for HODLing over time - both financially and mentally. If you do it poorly, you risk selling during the drawdowns or hard times.

2024-09-05 10:14:38

When it comes to nostr and getting attacked or censored by the state, surely the state would prefer to go after 'offending' freedom relays before they go for apps?
Maybe it'd end up like how the pirate bay kept resurrecting to different mirrors, servers and countries?

2024-09-05 09:53:57

HODLing and using Bitcoin can be a strange path to follow. At first, you want to try and 'save people'.
Then after a while, you realise you can't save them because lots of people don't want to be saved.
Help the people who are willing to listen, and be patient about it.

2024-09-05 09:29:14

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Congrats Alex!

2024-09-03 08:35:58

"Liquid is not that different than a fedimint or an ark. All of these solutions are trying to share the cost of a UTXO." - @npub1ey6…szvp from @npub1jug…fc28 explains some similarities and differences between Liquid, Fedimint and Ark
https://m.primal.net/KbtW.mp4

2024-09-02 06:00:38

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Just doing clips on nostr for now. Full show on nostr probably isn't the right call yet

2024-09-02 05:10:48

Why is the Full Reserve Banking vs Fractional Reserve Banking issue important? Philipp Bagus explains
https://m.primal.net/KZvj.mp4

2024-08-30 04:13:37

What are some of the most common ways people lose their Bitcoin?
@npub1su6…su60 and @npub1az9…m8y8 explain…
https://m.primal.net/KUdy.mp4

2024-08-29 15:31:57

58k gang will have the last laugh. Even after this coming cycle top, for all we know, 58k could be the bottom of the next bear cycle...
#note1lat…a0u3

2024-08-27 15:14:50

So don't the Zuckerberg censorship revelations mean the 2020 election was stolen?
Will Biden or Harris face any consequences for this?

2024-08-27 15:14:17

So don't the Zuckerberg censorship revelations mean the 2020 election was stolen?
Will Biden or Harris face any consequences for this?

2024-08-27 13:27:23

Thoughts on posting videos to nostr? is it clunky or works ok nowadays?

2024-07-10 12:08:23

My latest with @npub1dtg…up6m on his book, The Bushido of Bitcoin
https://stephanlivera.com/episode/590/

2024-06-29 05:35:00

Today: One Federal Reserve, ~20,000 fiat banks worldwide.
Future: 10 million+ Bitcoin/Lightning banks, with no central bank and no bitcoin bailouts.

2024-06-07 12:27:20

@npub1az9…m8y8 of @npub1wu4…3vw0 on Bitcoin Ossification and Changes SLP582 rejoins me to talk about attitudes on Bitcoin development and consensus changes. We discuss how “ossification” is commonly thrown around, but maybe there is a better term.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccu6Chk3Xbg

2024-06-06 16:59:11

HODLing Bitcoin is easy mode.
Profitably growing a business in bitcoin terms is hard mode.

2024-06-06 09:17:26

“They (Koreans) want to save, they want long term capital formation…the problem is, in a savings based culture with fiat money, you’re just stealing from everybody and that’s unfortunately what the govt here has done for a long time. I see Bitcoin fitting hand-in-glove with the culture that craves savings - there are so many people within Korea that want to save.” - @npub10vl…sp42
https://m.primal.net/IadM.mp4

2024-05-27 13:34:10

Silent Payments is a new approach to improving privacy and useability of Bitcoin. Imagine not needing to manually create new addresses? Josie and Ruben Somsen join me to discuss how it's possible.
Silent Payments overview
Contrast with other techniques such as BIP47
Light client support
Stopping address re-use
Base layer privacy discussion
https://stephanlivera.com/episode/579/

2024-05-24 12:57:04

HODLing Bitcoin can be a crazy ride, one day it can seem like the world is against you, and then other days it seems like everything is working out in favour of Bitcoin.
Don't make rash decisions. Do your best to be calm and long term focused.

2024-05-24 12:52:53

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FWIW I didn't notice any different dynamic in this interview to our prior interviews?
The more 'natural' the conversation flows between host and guest though, generally the easier it is for listeners to follow. So I'd say do what feels more natural to you.

2024-05-24 12:48:44

Skot joins me to talk about his project to bring affordable, energy efficient, open source mining to home miners. We discuss:
The current state of open source in bitcoin mining
Bitaxe overview
Why do people do this?
Price and how to set one up
Mining pools
Decentralisation
https://stephanlivera.com/episode/578/

2024-05-22 17:43:07

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At least listen to the podcast. This is more like adding back old OP codes that used to be in the protocol, but in a safe way.

2024-05-22 11:14:02

@npub179e…lz4s of @npub1jg5…6n8n rejoins me on the show to talk about a new idea for a bitcoin soft fork that hopefully avoids some of the ‘horse trading’ dynamic that existed amongst other proposals. Listen in to learn more about the different paradigm that Rusty introduces here, so that developers can build more functionality and efficiency in, hopefully so that more people can use Bitcoin in self-custody.
Bitcoin Script background
GSR overview
GSR benefits
What is varops
Contrast with APO or LNHANCE?
Will it enable shitcoins and spam?
https://stephanlivera.com/episode/577/

2024-05-21 11:44:09

@npub1yev…qrkl of PayJoin Dev Kit (sponsored by Spiral and Opensats) joins me to discuss how Bitcoin privacy could be improved with more PayJoin adoption. What’s more, it might also benefit users in consolidating their wallets or potentially even fee savings. We discuss how this could be integrated into more bitcoin wallets.
https://stephanlivera.com/episode/576/

2024-05-10 11:35:58

The recent BTC++ was a 'meeting of the minds’ for a lot of bitcoin developers, and Brandon Black aka reardencode rejoins me on the show to discuss. We talk about:
Various covenant proposals
What has shifted now in thinking
The promise of Great Script Restoration
Could it have bad side effects?
Doing good engineering
https://stephanlivera.com/episode/573/

2024-05-08 10:28:08

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signal has usernames now

2024-05-08 09:55:32

Interesting dynamic here with some users wanting to delete their answers off of StackOverflow but the site is keeping them.
In some ways nostr is the opposite, no? As long as relays have your content, you can't delete it.
But muh EU "right to be forgotten". Which funnily enough always seemed like a statist imposition.
For better or worse, the internet is forever.
https://m.primal.net/IEZU.png

2024-05-06 15:39:20

Normalize the term 'tax cattle'

2024-05-05 15:32:53

Peruvian Bull, a macro writer and commentator joins me to explain what’s happening with the Japanese economy and how it all ties in with the dollar end game. We discuss:
The impossible trinity for Japan
Japanese government debt
The global JPY carry trade
The impact on the US financial system
https://stephanlivera.com/episode/571/

2024-05-03 11:40:44

We should all do what we can, speak out for the cause of bitcoin self custody and financial sovereignty, build what you can and teach who you can.
But I think it's fair to draw the line at not expecting people to 'martyr' themselves at the hands of the state.
For e.g. when I see nym accounts attacking public name and real face people for not being perfectly non-KYC pure, it's just cringe.
You expect that guy to just 'go to jail for the cause'?
Come on now, just encourage people to play their role as best they can.

2024-04-29 17:45:32

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Did you listen to the episode though? Perhaps "Slow and Steady" is a better idea than straight up "ossification"

2024-04-29 13:51:48

A lot of people talk about Bitcoin Ossification. Today Steve Lee, Lead at Spiral rejoins me to expand on why this is the wrong idea. We also talk about the recent situation with bitcoin mining pool centralisation and what is driving it.
https://stephanlivera.com/episode/569/

2024-04-29 05:27:12

Use this one weird trick to know if you are a money transmitter!
Lots of people are so confused lately and unsure if they can operate in the US.
Here's the one simple trick they don't want to you know:
If the US government doesn't like you, you're a money transmitter!

2024-04-27 08:48:15

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Lots of people don't see it that way nowadays. Not sure if you've heard this ep of mine with Andrew Henderson, we talk a bit about how and why he renounced American citizenship in favour of life abroad. https://stephanlivera.com/episode/564/

2024-04-27 08:07:42

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Genuinely not hating, but I think a lot of Americans are super-America-centric in their worldview. They'd do well to travel and work/live overseas to see how it is in other countries.
Very different taxation, regulation, culture, lifestyle possibilities out there.

2024-04-27 06:57:41

The USA is influential but it's not the be all end all. It represents about 4.1% of global population.
Seeing some companies shut off US customers is sadly a reflection of a bureaucratic and regulatory superstate gone mad.
Builders will build for other jurisdictions.

2024-04-26 16:25:21

It's unfortunate that the US government is so tyrannical on financial services.
Lots of overseas banks don't even want US customers because of the regulation and bureaucratic headaches.
Sadly it looks like the parallel is happening in Bitcoin world too.

2024-04-26 15:51:21

Will Bitcoin company product offerings go like shitcoin casinos? They'll have an offshore offering with the best stuff, and then their nerfed US versions? ala Binance US or FTX US
Or perhaps they'll just totally exit the US altogether ala Bitfinex style
Just a guess at this point.

2024-04-26 15:41:51

Sad to see this. Perhaps this is the 'balkanisation' of bitcoin and lightning offerings for US vs non-USA customers.
It looks like the USG won't be comfortable with non-KYC LN apps for US users. But let's see how it pans out and if other apps follow suit.
https://m.primal.net/IAHz.png

2024-04-23 14:03:53

How do you think about investing as a bitcoiner? @npub1s5y…6q7z of TIP rejoins me on the show to talk about a range of related ideas:
HODL vs invest in companies
Microstrategy and other public companies
VC and early stage investment
Realistic investment hurdle rates
Technical realities as bitcoin grows
https://stephanlivera.com/episode/567/

2024-04-22 12:37:48

Dmitry Nedospasov is a PhD in Chip Security, also known for his hardware wallet exploits in 2018 with the wallet.fail talk. Dmitry joins me to talk about hardware security in the world of bitcoin and how it compares with hardware chip security in other domains
https://stephanlivera.com/episode/566/

2023-11-09 15:08:34

SLP524 Malcolm Collins - Natalism and Bitcoiners
Malcolm joins me to talk:
- Population Projections
- The Urban Monoculture
- Childless demographics
- Where Bitcoiner culture could change this
- How to motivate a large family
https://stephanlivera.com/episode/524/

2023-09-29 13:18:00

@npub1du6…yf3c of Zaprite rejoins me to talk about:
Merchant adoption and why it’s different this time
Improved custody
How Zaprite works
Accounting and integration
How adoption will be driven this time
Circular economy
The lie of 2% inflation
https://stephanlivera.com/episode/517/

2023-09-17 05:53:25

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oh i'm already using https://primal.net/stephan

2023-09-17 05:47:52

I'm now getting a nostr impersonator... scambots everywhere...
https://m.primal.net/HLUi.png

2023-08-27 15:54:35

A ‘paper computer’ for Bitcoin checksums and Shamir Secret Sharing may seem absurd, but that’s what we’re talking about in this episode! This project is a scheme to generate, encode, checksum, split and recover Bitcoin secret keys, using pencil, paper and lookup tables (alternately, volvelles). We discuss codex32 and the motivation behind it with Andrew Poelstra (Director of Research, Blockstream). Note this is the first of a two part episode. In this first part we discuss:
Bitcoin private keys today
Multi signature and Shamir Secret Sharing contrasted
Where to keep shards or keys
Error correction
Risks with Hardware wallets (even though you should still use them)
BIP39 vs codex32
Limitations of the paper computer (Volvelles)https://m.primal.net/HJzS.webp
https://stephanlivera.com/episode/506/

2023-07-26 18:28:16

"I’ve noticed a fascinating phenomenon in my thirty years of teaching: schools and schooling are increasingly irrelevant to the great enterprises of the planet. No one believes anymore that scientists are trained in science classes or politicians in civics classes or poets in English classes. The truth is that schools don’t really teach anything except how to obey orders. This is a great mystery to me because thousands of humane, caring people work in schools as teachers and aides and administrators, but the abstract logic of the institution overwhelms their individual contributions. Although teachers do care and do work very, very hard, the institution is psychopathic—it has no conscience." - John Taylor Gatto, Dumbing Us Down

2023-07-25 14:06:54

Reminder FATF and AML laws are a scam
https://stephanlivera.com/episode/424/

2023-07-25 12:23:02

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I think there are better alternate ways to get those things though - social activities, team sports, family events.
We have to imagine what could have otherwise been, like what if you had been homeschooled and went to music classes and befriended people from that, and they became your life-long friends instead?

2023-07-25 11:40:31

I'm a fan of homeschooling as a way to give kids a better chance at a fruitful and productive life, and play the long game. For so long, the state and the kinds of people who rise up in those systems have had too much power over the education system.
They rig it in favour of themselves, and the education bureaucrats couldn't care less about your child. They will teach all kinds of nonsense statist propaganda, and not teach useful life skills to your kid anyway.
Your child in statist school has a chance of facing bullying by other kids, and anti social behaviour generally in public schooling systems. 'Private schooling' doesn't even seem that much better because the curriculum and style still has to follow a lot of the public schooling methods.
Also remember with public schooling, your kid won't get the time to focus and properly learn things. Instead it's 50 minute classes where they don't want to be there, and the bell rings and it's time for the next class. The teachers have to teach at the pace of the slowest kid in class. No time to build up a deep focus on things. No time to really become creatively engaged in a project, and be a real self starter who sees a project to fruition.
I believe homeschooling and unschooling can change this dynamic. It's a perfect match for bitcoiners who are generally more freedom minded.
This became a lot more real to me recently, as I had a son this year and I intend to homeschool him + future kids our family has.

2023-07-24 14:55:38

Hannah Frankman of Rebel Educator joins me to talk about homeschooling and the problems of Public School:
Failures of public schooling vs homeschooling
Infantilization of people nowadays
Homeschooling vs unschooling
Social skills of homeschooled kids
Single income trade offs
Results of homeschooling
https://stephanlivera.com/episode/494/

2023-07-24 05:26:59

As Elon attempts a misguided rebranding of Twitter to X, I'm reminded of a saying, "Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake".

2023-07-23 15:44:48

For Bitcoin, the 'centre of the conversation' shifted over time.
It started in places like the Cryptography mailing list, IRC, then went to BitcoinTalk forums, then r/bitcoin, then Bitcoin Twitter around 2016/17.
How long until it becomes Nostr as THE place for bitcoin discussion?

2023-07-23 11:33:03

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eggs and fish are fine for vast majority of carnivores.
Though there is Mikhaila Peterson's "lion diet" which i think does exclude even those.

2023-07-23 11:16:35

One thing that keeps the network effect over on twitter (or 'X' as it might be called soon), is that the interactions are over there. So it's not just about cross posting things across platforms, it's also about who's interacting and in what ways are they interacting.
Of course i'm longer term bullish on nostr vs Twitter/X, but it'll take time.

2023-07-23 11:13:33

Something I've realised about carnivore diet is that some of the benefits come from actually being more strict about it e.g. cutting out zero-sugar/calorie flavoured soft drinks, coffee and other bits and pieces that end up in the diet.
It's more difficult but I'm giving it a go nowadays rather than 'looser' attempts in the past.
Still struggle with sticking to it while travelling or in social situations though.

2023-07-15 04:36:33

Cool to see sat denominated prices and a Block clock!
https://nostr.build/i/41718b84e244bd274733e22b540db2be40a348372915fc30b0151656d07ce8ca.jpg

2023-03-10 13:58:14

Thinking to play around with doing a companion free substack newsletter to go with my podcast. Curious if there'd be interest?
General idea would be to write up some podcast digests and occasional writing on bitcoin and austrian economics related stuff.

2023-02-19 13:06:31

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I have my lightning address in profile, isn't that all? Or am I missing something

2023-02-19 03:16:40

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You're listening to early shows? Nice

2023-02-19 03:12:43

My latest podcast with Mark Goodwin from bitcoin magazine. We chat about bitcoin and the dollar, and the strange relationship between the two
https://stephanlivera.com/episode/460/

2023-02-17 08:27:07

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Sadly Jordan Peterson is still going on his tirades against online anons

2023-02-16 06:23:37

Which non bitcoin communities do you believe will use nostr first?

2023-02-14 04:41:39

Noticing nostr is way faster now! Really cool to see how this is evolving