Australian Bitcoin Podcast

Discount link (get 6 months of bitcoin Auto-Send withdrawals for free): https://www.hardblock.com.au/join/ozbitcoinpod

- FTX History

- What caused the collapse

- Implications and lessons

FTX lessons by Adam Back - video mentioned in the show: https://youtu.be/1Izz1eB5eec

Discount link: https://www.hardblock.com.au/join/ozbitcoinpod - Use this link for 6 months free automated bitcoin withdrawals.

The Australian Bitcoin Podcast is focused on Australian bitcoin and  privacy content, including educational episodes, recent news, and guest  interviews.

Guest: @_Bosch_ Bitcoin designer and Spiral Grantee. 

In this episode we discuss how Bosch got into Bitcoin and his journey to being a Bitcoin designer to the Zeus Lightning wallet and contributing to the Bitcoin Design Guide.

Sponsored by HardBlock - Australia's oldest bitcoin-only exchange: https://www.hardblock.com.au

Discount link: https://www.hardblock.com.au/join/ozbitcoinpod - Use this link for 6 months free automated bitcoin withdrawals.

The Australian Bitcoin Podcast is focused on Australian bitcoin and  privacy content, including educational episodes, recent news, and guest  interviews.

Guest: Will from AnonAddy

In this episode we discuss Will's journey from the corporate world into open-source software and the incredible success he's had with very little marketing effort.

Sponsored by HardBlock - Australia's oldest bitcoin-only exchange: https://www.hardblock.com.au

Discount link: https://www.hardblock.com.au/join/ozbitcoinpod - Use this link for 6 months free automated bitcoin withdrawals.

The Australian Bitcoin Podcast is focused on Australian bitcoin and privacy content, including educational episodes, recent news, and guest interviews.    

Guest: Adam Ahmed from https://adamahmed.com.au/ 

In this episode we discuss whether Bitcoin is a foreign currency, Adam's case involving bitcoin, the future of lawyers and smart contracts and inheritance planning.

Sponsored by HardBlock - Australia's oldest bitcoin-only exchange: https://www.hardblock.com.au

Discount link (get 6 months of bitcoin Auto-Send withdrawals for free): https://www.hardblock.com.au/join/ozbitcoinpod

- iVPN's history and mission

- Australia becoming a surveillance state (eg, laws related to metadata retention, key disclosure, and intercept & disrupt police provisions)

- Benefits of using a VPN generally (eg, dragnet ISP surveillance, Man in the Middle attacks on public networks, and bypassing censorship and geo-restrictions)

- What doesn't a VPN protect you from?

- What's the definition of privacy versus anonymity? Note that VPNs won't make you anonymous!

- Be mindful of what can de-anonymise you online beyond your IP address (eg, entering personally identifying information into websites, tracking cookies, and browser fingerprinting)

- Generally speaking, Tor is designed more for anonymity and censorship-resistance, while a VPN is focused on privacy

- Be aware of your threat model and what (or who) you are trying to protect yourself from, otherwise your privacy journey will become overwhelming

- iVPN versus other VPN providers (i.e., how to choose a good VPN provider: who is on the team, open source, no logging or tracking policies, regular audits, privacy-friendly jurisdiction (and jurisdiction with good consumer protection), clear profit model, established history, warrant canary, honest advertising and helpful guides, device compatibility, do they install and maintain their own server infrastructure, etc)

- VPN providers worth considering: iVPN, Mullvad, Proton, TunnelBear, and Windscribe

- Dive down the NordVPN Lithuanian data mining rabbit hole if you want an example of why you shouldn't trust most mainstream-marketed VPN providers

- Privacy benefits of multi-hop VPNs (eg, to protect against data correlation attacks and to disburse your trust across jurisdictions), built-in anti-tracker features (eg, to bypass common online tracking methods), Mullvad's "system transparency" initiative, and new obfuscation techniques to protect against censorship and Deep Packet Inspection

- iVPN is looking for content writers to help update their VPN and online privacy educational guides (contact [email protected])

- What might bitcoiners use a VPN for? 

- Contact [email protected] if you'd like a free trial of their VPN service

https://www.ivpn.net/blog/why-you-dont-need-a-vpn/

https://www.ivpn.net/blog/privacy-issue-real-vpns-alone-cant-solve-it/

https://www.ivpn.net/privacy-guides/advanced-privacy-and-anonymity-part-1/

https://coveryourtracks.eff.org/

https://www.privacyguides.org/

Discount link: https://www.hardblock.com.au/join/ozbitcoinpod

- Importance of online privacy

- Tutanota's history and mission (and profit model)

- Benefits of using a private and secure email (ie, Tutanota) over 'traditional' offerings like Gmail (eg, end-to-end encryption, no device fingerprinting, mostly no IP logging, open source verifiable code, and personal customer service)

- Upcoming Tutanota features (eg, encrypted calendar, cloud storage, notes, and contacts, as well as quantum resistant encryption)

- CTemplar private email service closing down suddenly

- Benefits of using Tutanota specifically over other secure email options like ProtonMail (eg, encrypted email subject/title, German versus Swiss privacy culture and anti-surveillance laws)

- Accepting bitcoin payments for Tutanota sign-ups, bitcoin as a quantum alarm clock, and bitcoin as an anti-spam device

Discount link: https://www.hardblock.com.au/join/ozbitcoinpod

- Becoming a seaplane pilot in the Maldives to orange pill unsuspecting passengers

- What is a bitcoin node?

- Why run your own bitcoin node (better security and privacy)?

- What nodes have we experimented with (bitcoin core, electrum servers, MyNode, RoninDojo, and Umbrel / Citadel)?

- Should you run a node on a single-board computer or a desktop / laptop with more processing power?

- What is the electrum server stack (bitcoin core > electrum server > Sparrow wallet)?

- What are the pros and cons of running bitcoin core alone versus with an electrum server (personal, rust, or fulcrum)?

- Troubleshooting the initial indexing for fulcrum server (eg, using internal SSD, turning down fast sync and increasing swap space)

- BTCPay Server options (self-hosted node box versus virtual private server versus using a community node)

- What's the difference between BTCPay Server and other options (eg, SatSale)?

- Should you run your node on a dedicated device or your daily driver device?

- Should you run Tor or a VPN with your node?

- How can you use firewalls or virtual networks (or guest networks) to improve your node security?

- Take advantage of the bear market - it's time to be productive and to learn!

Ministry of Nodes website and Youtube channel:

https://www.ministryofnodes.com.au/

https://www.youtube.com/c/MinistryofNodes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaiTeZcRk_Q

Introduction to bitcoin nodes for (beginners including what is a bitcoin node, why run a node, and common node options):

https://learn.hardblock.com.au/bitcoin-nodes/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTJiQB06QNQ

Discount link: https://www.hardblock.com.au/join/ozbitcoinpod

How to self custody?

Instructions

- Intermediate and Advanced (and courageous Beginners):

1) Use an air-gapped hardware wallet, access it via a watch-only FOSS software wallet (eg, Sparrow or Electrum), connect your wallet software to your own node and index server (eg, Bitcoin Core + ElectrumRS or Fulcrum Server), and then spend using standard PSBT features within your chosen software and hardware wallet.

2) Generate an offline cold wallet using an air-gapped device (eg, using Ian Coleman's BIP39 calculator, Bitcoin QnA's Seed calculator, or generate an offline wallet in Sparrow or Electrum wallet); save the seed words, passphrase, derivation path, extended public key and/or any number of receiving addresses; then you can query individual receiving addresses over VPN and/or Tor on public blockchains (or ideally on your own node if it has a block explorer feature), or alternatively you can load the cold wallet's extended public key into an online but watch-only wallet (eg, Sparrow or Electrum) that's connected to your own node; and when you're ready to spend, you can do so after sweeping individual receiving addresses (using the associated private key) into a new online hot wallet dedicated to spending.

Discount link (get 6 months of bitcoin Auto-Send withdrawals for free): https://www.hardblock.com.au/join/ozbitcoinpod

Hosts: https://twitter.com/mission_bitcoin  &  https://twitter.com/jeremy_m16

Sponsored by HardBlock: https://www.hardblock.com.au

Notes

Why did we set up a Self-Managed Superannuation Fund (SMSF)?

- consolidating superannuation fund management fees

- investment fund managers have no "skin in the game" and their choices may be influenced by the "path of least resistance" (eg, government regulations, internal business policies, incentives they receive for certain investments, not wanting to take career risk on new asset classes, etc)

- ability to buy and self-custody bitcoin (and other assets), and to have overall autonomy and flexibility in terms of investment choices

- Step 1: Choosing a SMSF Administrator (or changing to a new one)

- Step 2: Establishing the fund (eg, choosing individual or corporate trustee setup, completing the right documentation, establishing a fund investment strategy)

- Step 3: Setting up a SMSF bank account (eg, using the SMSF name, tax file number, and Australian business number)

- Step 4: Setting up a SMSF HardBlock account (similar to the bank account step above)

- Step 5: How to roll-over existing superannuation into your new SMSF, or make fresh contributions to the SMSF

- Step 6: Deciding how / where to store your bitcoin (eg, self-custody vs exchange vs third-party custody service)

- Step 7: Buying bitcoin from the exchange (and keeping appropriate records)

- Step 8: Withdrawing bitcoin from the exchange to self-custody (and again, keeping appropriate records)

- Step 9: Completing the annual lodgement process (e.g., summarising buy, sell, and withdrawal records; proving ownership of the bitcoin; and passing the sole purpose test)

- saving in hard money (eg, bitcoin, gold) versus investing (ie, risk taking) in property, collectibles, stocks, or bonds versus holding currency (ie, dollars)

- learning how to value an investment (eg, if it's a stock, looking at the company's roadmap, leadership team, assets, liabilities, cash flow, and current market capitalisation)

- doing your own research or paying for a subscription to expert research (and you can use your SMSF to foot the bill!)

- ideally choose money or assets that: 1) are not currently overvalued, 2) have good long-term fundamentals, 3) have ample liquidity and ability to sell small portions, and 4) have low or no counterparty risk

- consider the contrarian mindset (ie, you might not want to be in "crowded investments")

- keep in mind risk management and the fact you cannot predict black swan events

- if you decide to primarily hold hard money, then keep in mind the properties of good money: scarcity, durability, immutability, portability, acceptability/recognisability, divisibility, and fungibility

Resources

https://www.hardblock.com.au/SMSF-bitcoin-investment 

https://youtu.be/MqQPbD9jQr8

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Australian_exchange-traded_funds

https://doomberg.substack.com/

https://www.grant-williams.com/

Discount link (get 6 months of free bitcoin Auto-Send withdrawals): https://www.hardblock.com.au/join/ozbitcoinpod

- Striking a balance between podcasting and privacy

- Hats' & Brendo's bitcoin journey (come for the money, stay for the financial revolution)

- Brendo and Justin's dads (almost) falling for bitcoin scams

- Scams in the bitcoin and broader cryptocurrency space being detrimental for bitcoin adoption

- Bitcoiner's being high on the personality construct "openness to experience", as well as believing in individual freedom and responsibility, and being comfortable having contrarian views

- Lamenting the ironic inefficiencies and corruption of large (especially government) institutions that aim to be efficient and fair

- How Hats and Brendo got into bitcoin podcasting

- The role of politicians is to manage the circus in the media, which is one reason why more or different politicians never solve the ongoing problems

- Starting https://bitcoin-first.com

- Podcaster self-doubts: Are we contributing anything? Is there anything still left to say?

- Having podcast partners and contributors helps to stay motivated

- Nic Carter self-destructing, and people's general inability to apologise or be wrong

- What would happen if Satoshi returned and claimed his bitcoin?

- Who was Satoshi? Hal Finney, Len Sassaman, Adam Back?

- The great shitcoin shake-out and bitcoin de-leveraging (eg, Celsius, BlockFi, Voyager, 3AC, etc): A net benefit for the ecosystem, but a tragedy for individuals caught up in scams, rug-pulls, and third-party custodian risk

- The best thing you can get is a punch (or slap or kick) in the face, because it helps you learn

- Anarchist and Minarchist hopes for smaller governments that compete as service providers for the betterment of their citizens

- Mental health problems are rooted in people living incongruously with their values

- Admiring the art of https://twitter.com/woodpixart

- Living a life of value and meaning is the hardest work you'll ever do, but it's worth it

- The benefits of toxic bitcoin maximalism, as long as it focuses on actions (rather than personalities)

- What's exciting in bitcoin right now? Lawrence Lepard getting into bitcoin, Lightning Network development, bitcoin mining, and understanding the engineering elegance of bitcoin

- What's an issue in bitcoin right now? Bitcoiner's aren't bullish enough, and bitcoin may continue to be bundled together with other cryptocurrencies