Understanding Multisig Wallets

• Multisig wallets have existed in Bitcoin since 2012 and offer an extra layer of security in self-custody practices.
• Online threats such as malware, hacks and phishing attacks are always present, putting funds at risk of being lost.
• Collaborative custody wallets involve the use of a third party to manage one of the private keys, while self-custody wallets involve managing the distribution of private keys on your own.

Benefits of Using Multisig Wallets

Multisig wallets offer a great security aid for digital asset holders by providing an extra layer of protection against online threats like malware, hacks and phishing attacks. In addition, DIY wallet options are available for those who prefer to build their own device that generates private keys without leaving any trace. This approach offers users from countries where conventional hardware wallets may not be available the opportunity to secure their funds with a low-cost solution.

Collaborative Custody Wallets

A collaborative multisig wallet is likely to provide 2-out-of-3 key management where one key is held by the user and two more are managed by the third party – an exchange or custodial company – with one held online and another offline in cold storage. This provides users with convenience but requires them to sacrifice privacy as KYC procedures may be necessary when using certain services. Furthermore, these types of wallets may also face geographical limitations depending on where they can be accessed globally.

Self-Custody Wallets

Self-custody wallets allow users to solely manage their private keys without relying on a third party service provider or exchange. This way users maintain full control over their funds at all times while still enjoying added security measures offered through multisig technology. However, this type of setup requires technical knowledge in order to properly set up and use it securely, making it more suitable for tech savvy individuals or those willing to learn how it works before taking advantage of its benefits.

Best Multisig Wallets Available

When choosing a multisig wallet it’s important to consider what level of security you require as well as whether you need collaborative or self-custody solutions depending on your specific needs. Some popular options include Casa which offers free basic wallet services with no KYC policy requirements; Gnosis Safe which provides smart contract support for multi signature transactions; BitGo which supports multiple blockchains; Blockstream Green which supports both Segwit and legacy addresses; Electrum Wallet which allows you store your coins securely without having to download the entire blockchain; and Cobo Vault Pro which offers advanced features such as dual chip architecture and airgap technologies for maximum protection against physical tampering attempts..

• Bitcoin is important for achieving financial sovereignty and self custody should be encouraged.
• A test was conducted in rural Zimbabwe to demonstrate the feasibility of using a non-custodial Lightning wallet.
• Educators must teach people about self custody, the risks of custodial services, and the pros and cons of different tools before they decide which route to take.

The Importance Of Financial Sovereignty

As a Bitcoin educator, my focus lies on helping people achieve financial sovereignty. This can only be achieved by holding bitcoin in self custody and using additional tools to reach a decent level of privacy. It is important to understand the difference between custodial and non-custodial services in order to make an informed decision when it comes to bitcoin usage.

Lightning Wallet Test In Rural Zimbabwe

To find out if it is possible to onboard people onto a non-custodial Lightning wallet even in difficult settings with low and erratic internet connectivity on mobile data, I set out to do a test in rural Zimbabwe. The results showed that this was indeed feasible despite these obstacles.

Resistance To Change Habits

People who are already used to custodial services are hard to convince that they should step up their game toward financial sovereignty and start using non-custodial tools instead. There is a big resistance to change habits as many believe that they never faced any problems with custodial wallets so there’s no need for them to switch set ups.

Educator’s Role

As an educator, it is my first duty to teach people about self custody, why it is important and make them aware of the risks associated with custodial services so they can make an informed decision on which route they want take when it comes to bitcoin usage.

Conclusion

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             In conclusion, educators have an important role play when teaching others about Bitcoin – making sure that newbies understand why financial sovereignty is essential when dealing with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin as well as arming them with knowledge about the differences between custodial and non-custodial wallets so they can make an informed decision on which route would be best for them when using digital assets such as Bitcoin.

• El Salvador is opening its second Bitcoin Embassy in Texas, with a meeting between the ambassador and representatives of the Texas State Government.
• The Texas Bitcoin Foundation hosted the Salvadoran delegation in Austin and discussed the expansion of commercial and economic exchange projects.
• El Salvador has made moves to make Bitcoin legal tender, issue bitcoin-backed sovereign debt bonds, host a successful conference and power many projects entirely with Bitcoin.

El Salvador Opens Second Bitcoin Embassy

El Salvador is continuing its embrace of Bitcoin by opening its second ever Bitcoin Embassy – this time in Texas. This move was made possible by a meeting between El Salvador’s Ambassador to the United States, Milena Mayorga, other representatives from El Salvador, and Deputy Secretary Joe Esparza from the Government of Texas.

Discussion About Expansion Projects

At this meeting they discussed the potential expansion of commercial and economic exchange projects between El Salvador and Texas. In 2022 alone there was already $1,244,636,983 worth of commercial exchange between these two places.

The Texas Bitcoin Foundation

The entire event was coordinated by the Texas Bitcoin Foundation – a public charity dedicated to research and education about cryptocurrency – who also hosted the delegation from El Salvador in Austin. The government of Texas has been quite publicly pro-Bitcoin as of late which makes sense given their involvement in hosting this embassy.

History Making Moves By El Salvador

El Salvadore had already made history when it became the first sovereign country to make bitcoin legal tender as well as issuing bitcoin-backed sovereign debt bonds and hosting a successful conference completely powered by crypto currency. All these efforts are paving way for more large scale adoption of blockchain technology worldwide.

Conclusion

            This new embassy marks an important milestone in both countries’ progress towards widespread acceptance of cryptocurrency technology – which could have major implications for global financial systems going forward!

Key Points

• Genesis has reached a restructuring agreement with key creditors.
• The plan involves the sale of Genesis Global Trading, debt restructurings and a second lien term loan facility.
• Gemini will contribute up to $100 million more for the recovery of Earn users.

Restructuring Agreement Reached

Genesis, a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, has reached a restructuring agreement with key creditors according to statements by Cleary Gottlieb attorney Sean O’Neal. It would see the sale of Genesis Global Trading, amongst other moves designed to “maximize the recoveries to the estate.” Also included in the deal will be restructurings of the debt that Digital Currency Group owes to Genesis Holdco. This debt includes a second lien term loan facility with an expiration date in June 2024. The terms also include two tranches – one denominated in U.S. dollars paying 11.5% interest, and another denominated in bitcoin paying 5% interest – as well as DCG issuing convertible preferred stock.

Background

The lending arm of Genesis was forced to halt withdrawals in November 2022 after FTX collapsed earlier that same month. The company filed for bankruptcy last month, with its lawyers expecting a deal with creditors by the end of January 2023. This led to withdrawal freezes for Gemini Earn users who received yield through arrangements with Genesis’ lending arm. Cameron Winklevoss expressed his displeasure at this situation through a letter posted on Twitter addressing these issues.

Gemini’s Involvement

During today’s hearing, Winklevoss tweeted that Gemini will contribute up to $100 million more for the recovery for Earn users who still do not have access to their funds.

Conclusion

This agreement between Genesis and its creditors is expected to bring about positive outcomes for all parties involved – allowing creditors recoveries as well as providing relief for Earns users who remain unable to withdraw their funds from Gemini due to complications arising from FTX’s collapse last year and subsequent restructuring proceedings initiated by Genesis Global Trading since then .

• Ordinals is a new project on the Bitcoin network, enabling on-chain NFTs.
• The protocol assigns individual satoshis a number and enables content to be inscribed in Bitcoin transactions.
• Debate has arisen surrounding the potential usage of block space and bandwidth necessary to run nodes as a result of inscriptions.

What is Ordinals?

Ordinals is a project launched on the Bitcoin blockchain, effectively enabling Bitcoin-native on-chain NFTs. Led by former Bitcoin Core contributor Casey Rodarmor, the protocol is a convention for numbering and transferring individual satoshis on the Bitcoin network.

What is Ord?

Ord, an implementation of Ordinals, is a wallet and explorer that allows tracking the location of specific satoshis and their ordinal numbers – assigned by the Ordinals protocol – as well viewing, creating, and transferring inscriptions, that is, individual satoshis inscribed with arbitrary content.

Benefits Of Inscriptions

The introduction of Ord and inscriptions brings NFTs to Bitcoin, allowing content such as images, videos and HTML to be included in a Bitcoin transaction and assigned to an individual satoshi. Inscriptions inherit the simplicity, immutability security and durability of Bitcoin itself.

Debate Around Block Space Usage

Since its release, there has been debate in regards to the impact of ordinals and inscriptions on Bitcoin regarding potential usage of block space and increase in bandwidth necessary to run nodes as a result of inscriptions. Supporters see it as net benefit for Bitcoin while critics express concern about censor resistance.

Ongoing Development Unphased

Regardless of debate around the project, “the Ordinals project continues unphased,” reads the press release,” with contributors continuing to add new features such as provenance collections composability and decentralized marketplace.”

• Arizona state Senator Wendy Rogers has introduced a set of bills to make bitcoin a legal tender and allow state agencies to accept it as payment.
• The bills define bitcoin as a “decentralized, peer-to-peer digital currency” and the acceptance bill allows payment of fines, taxes, fees and other financial obligations in cryptocurrency.
• El Salvador’s recent adoption of bitcoin as legal tender has encouraged more US states to explore its potential benefits.

Arizona State Seeks to Make Bitcoin Legal Tender

State Sen. Wendy Rogers (R-AZ) has introduced a set of bills aimed at making bitcoin legal tender in Arizona and allowing state agencies to accept it. The proposed legislation would recognize bitcoin as a form of currency that can be used for debts, taxes and other financial obligations, giving individuals and businesses the option to use it as they see fit.

Definition of Bitcoin

Specifically mentioning bitcoin alone, the legal tender bill defines bitcoin as “the decentralized, peer-to-peer digital currency in which a record of transactions is maintained on the Bitcoin blockchain and new units of currency are generated by the computational solution of mathematical problems and that operates independently of a central bank.”

Acceptance Bill

The acceptance bill states that “A state agency may enter into an agreement with a cryptocurrency issuer to provide a method to accept cryptocurrency as a payment method of fines, civil penalties or other penalties, rent, rates, taxes, fees, charges, revenue, financial obligations and special assessments to pay any amount due to that agency or this state.”

Previous Attempts

This is not the first time Sen. Rogers has tried introducing such legislation; she attempted something similar back in January 2022 but it was unsuccessful after its second reading. However recent actions taken by states like Texas have shown increasing interest in exploring the potential benefits offered by cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

Conclusion

It remains uncertain if these bills will pass this time around but El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin could act as an encouragement for more US states considering its potential benefits for growth and investment opportunities.

• This opinion editorial discusses the likely problems that may arise when Nostr, a decentralized messaging protocol, increases in adoption.
• Core to the system is the use of user public/private key pairs – creating a binding between users and their identities, but also introducing all of the problems of key management that private key holders face.
• There is a proposal from developer fiatjaf for an authentication scheme to manage key rotation in Nostr.

Introduction

This is an opinion editorial by Shinobi, a self-taught educator in the Bitcoin space and tech-oriented Bitcoin podcast host. Before reading this, it is suggested you read the prior article explaining what Nostr is and how it works at a high level.

Issues with Key Management

User public/private key pairs are integral to how Nostr works as a protocol. These keys create a tight binding between actual users and how they are identified by others, preventing any relay server from unbinding those two things i.e., giving someone’s identifier to another user. However, this creates all of the problems of key management that someone possessing a private key runs into; if keys are lost or compromised, users have no one to go to for assistance – just like with Bitcoin – making it difficult to verify new keys in such circumstances.

Proposed Authentication Scheme

Developer fiatjaf has proposed an authentication scheme to manage key rotation in Nostr which would involve rotating one’s identity without compromising security guarantees and without relying on centralized platforms or trusted attestations from other people who might not be sufficiently known to them. The scheme will involve proving events came from specific users (identity keys) so that all guarantees remain intact even after keys have been rotated.

Conclusion

As more people adopt Nostr as their platform for communication between people, it becomes increasingly important to address potential issues with managing keys effectively while still maintaining secure identity control over users’ own identities. The proposed authentication scheme provides one solution towards achieving this goal and could prove invaluable as the platform grows in usage over time.

Takeaway

Nostr needs an actual cryptographic scheme tying the rotation of one keypair to another that can maintain security guarantees even after keys have been changed or compromised – developer fiatjaf’s proposed authentication scheme provides one possible solution towards achieving this goal and could prove invaluable as usage increases over time.

• Fountain Podcasts has released their 0.6.0 update which includes features to help capture new value for value users.
• Through a partnership with MoonPay, users can now use a debit or credit card to purchase satoshis which arrive in the apps wallet.
• This update also includes the arrival of the activity page, UI changes, and the ability to reply to clips and comments, which creates a direct link between content creators and consumers.

Fountain Podcasts has just released their 0.6.0 update to their lightning-enabled podcast app, designed to facilitate value for value transactions. This update has many features that are intended to capture new users who will utilize the app’s value for value model.

The most prominent feature introduced with this update is the ability to fund your Fountain account through a partnership with Moonpay. Through this partnership, users are now able to use a debit card or credit card to purchase satoshis which arrive in the app’s wallet shortly thereafter.

In addition to this large update, the release also included several UI changes, such as a new content card design, the ability to reply to clips, and the display of clips and comments on the episode pages under Activity.

The most important addition to this update is the introduction of the activity page. This page allows users to see popular episodes and clips, and it serves as a way to use money as a signal for value.

Through the Fountain app, podcasters can receive sats for the content they provide, while listeners can receive sats for likes on their comments or clips. This streaming of sats on a minute-by-minute basis creates a direct link between the consumer and the content creator, which is a great way to empower these creators to receive payments without relying on external sources of funding. In many industries, external sources of funding can introduce conflicts of interest which can be harmful to consumers. By utilizing Fountain’s value for value model, consumers can directly support these podcasters while avoiding these potential conflicts.

Fountain’s 0.6.0 update is a major step towards creating a more direct relationship between content creators and consumers, and it is sure to help many podcasters receive the money they are due.

• Fedi, a technology company, is launching a Bitcoin hackathon with a prize of 2.1 BTC to celebrate Bitcoin’s 14th birthday.
• Developers are encouraged to build out a Fedimint module to bring real world benefits to users.
• Fedimint wallets have the potential to bring strong privacy to Bitcoin users with better security than third-party custody solutions and more ease of use than fully-fledged self-custody solutions.

Fedi, a technology company focused on building a Fedimint-based community custody platform, is launching a Bitcoin hackathon to celebrate Bitcoin’s 14th birthday. The hackathon will offer a prize of 2.1 BTC to the winner, with the goal of encouraging developers to build out a Fedimint module to bring real world benefits to users.

Fedimint is an open source custody platform that aims to improve the trust and security models of classic centralized third-party custody solutions. It is based on the concept of second-party custody, which involves trusting family members or friends with the custody of one’s bitcoin. Fedimint wallets leverage Federated Chaumian Ecash, which means users also gain privacy and can extend the functionality of their bitcoin with privacy, smart contracts, and more.

The bounty for the hackathon is open ended, meaning developers can code the functionality they want. Potential ideas include modules that would enable a communal savings pool to accumulate bitcoin for a large project, storing value in a local currency like dollars, receiving payments privately via static QR codes or links (similar to CLN’s BOLT 12 offers), or operating a communal vote based spending pool.

Obi Nwosu, Fedi CEO, said in a statement, “At Fedi, we believe that Fedimint will become the ideal open platform for the delivery of consensus-based applications on the internet. Bitcoin was created to provide an alternative to the traditional financial system and we believe Fedimint will be a great way to extend the privacy, security and trust that Bitcoin offers to everyday users.”

The hackathon is a great way to celebrate Bitcoin’s 14th birthday and to incentivize developers to create real world solutions that could benefit users. The deadline for the hackathon is yet to be announced, so developers interested in participating should keep an eye out for updates.

1. This guide demonstrates how to set up a Samourai Wallet on Android and secure the seed phrase in a stainless-steel backup called the Kiboruto.
2. It is important to secure the three key pieces of information associated with Samourai Wallet: seed words, passphrase, and PIN.
3. The Kiboruto is a robust backup solution for these pieces of information, providing secure and reliable storage of these key pieces.

When taking the radical responsibility of self custody over one’s bitcoin, it is important to make sure these funds are secure and safe from environmental hazards like fire and flood. Writing down one’s backup information in a notebook is a good start but at some point, the security of this form of storage may no longer feel satisfactory. That is why the Kiboruto, a stainless-steel backup solution made by @Crazyk_031 and @stackbitme, is the perfect tool for securely storing the key pieces of information associated with Samourai Wallet: the seed words, passphrase, and PIN.

To set up Samourai Wallet on an Android device, the first step is to download the app from the Google Play store. Once the app is installed, the user will be presented with a list of 12 words known as the “seed words,” sometimes also referred to as the “seed phrase” or “mnemonic phrase.” These 12 seed words are a key piece of information that allows the user to restore their Bitcoin wallet in the event that their phone is lost, stolen, or damaged beyond repair. It is essential that the seed words are saved in the same order that Samourai Wallet presents them, as even one word in the wrong order could render the bitcoin backup useless.

In addition to the seed words, Samourai Wallet also requires the user to set up a passphrase and a PIN. The passphrase is a unique string of characters that is used to encrypt the wallet’s payload. It is important to remember that the passphrase is not the same as the PIN, which is a numerical code used to unlock the wallet. Together, the seed words, passphrase, and PIN are the three key pieces of information used to secure Samourai Wallet, and therefore it is essential that these are stored in a secure, reliable manner.

The Kiboruto is a robust stainless-steel backup solution for these pieces of information, providing secure and reliable storage of these key elements. It is a tamper-proof, waterproof, fireproof, and corrosion-resistant storage device that is designed to be durable enough to outlast any environment. The Kiboruto is customizable and can be personalized with a logo, text, or image of your choice. It is also lightweight and portable, making it easy to store and transport.

The Kiboruto is the perfect tool for securely storing the key pieces of information associated with Samourai Wallet. With the Kiboruto, you can rest easy knowing that your bitcoin is safe and secure from environmental hazards. You can find the Kiboruto and more at crazyk3d.com.