jimmysong

Bitcoin Expert
Open-Source Coder
Follow me to learn #BTC

Author of 5 Bitcoin books

PGP: DE9A 9438 F8B0 89DD AD17 82A3 99D0 75B8 9511 8988

Public Key

npub10vlhsqm4qar0g42p8g3plqyktmktd8hnprew45w638xzezgja95qapsp42

NIP-05 Address

jimmysong@programmingbitcoin.com

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs8k0mcqd6sw3h524qn5gslszt9am9knmes3uh268dgnnpv3yfwj6qpzemhxue69uhky6t5vdhkjmn9wgh8xmmrd9skcgp6q33

Publishing to

bitcoiner.social

Author Public Key

npub10vlhsqm4qar0g42p8g3plqyktmktd8hnprew45w638xzezgja95qapsp42

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Last Notes

2026-03-23 14:36:48 UTC

For free subscribers: Managerial State Origins, Current Nihilistic Moment, French Revolution Causes, Holy Home, Facebook's AI Fail, Launch of Production Ready and more!
For paid subscribers: Attack Blocks, BIP326 Rationale, Eddy, Ijma Wallet, Banks Going Stablecoin, Gambling Fintech Apps and more!
#Bitcoin Tech Talk #493
https://jimmysong.substack.com/p/bitcoin-tech-talk-493

2026-03-22 18:37:42 UTC

I'm diving into GrapheneOS and NixOS as my daily drivers. Wish me luck.

2026-03-21 20:23:01 UTC

Social media these days isn't that social anymore. I suspect it's not just the fact that there's a bigger influencer culture. People just have fewer meaningful friends. Sadly, one of the results of COVID.

2026-03-19 01:38:45 UTC

Politics is people trying to scam each other in the name of helping.

2026-03-17 15:31:21 UTC

My telegram handle (jimmysong) is compromised. If it's asking you to take a meeting, it's not me!

2026-03-16 15:01:53 UTC

*YOU CAN ZAP THIS POST FOR 2000 TO GET THE NEWSLETTER TO YOUR DM*
For free subscribers: Academic Panic, Contemporary Christian Music, AI and Bullshit Jobs, Liberal Moms' Conflict, Girardian Analysis of Iran and more!
For paid subscribers: Isogeny, RootScope, DracoTel, Gossip Observer, FIPS, Talaas, Sound Money Morals and more!
#Bitcoin Tech Talk #492
https://jimmysong.substack.com/p/bitcoin-tech-talk-492

2026-03-13 21:41:34 UTC

Programming and development are changing very rapidly. And yes, that will (if it doesn't already) include Bitcoin programming and development.

2026-03-12 14:16:52 UTC

I can't decide whether the world is run by malicious or incompetent fools.

2026-03-11 17:55:53 UTC

Lent is always a great season for increasing discipline.

2026-03-10 20:28:36 UTC

I think my telegram got deleted. Maybe it's all the bots I made, but it's sad, nonetheless.

2026-03-10 15:10:45 UTC

Building Bitcoin stuff with Agentic AI may be one of the healthier addictions I've had.

2026-03-08 17:28:48 UTC

The world around us was always going to be chaotic. The accumulated debt was always going to cause problems.
Bitcoin is chaotic too, but it's banking some learning for the future. It's of a very different character.

2026-03-06 19:49:16 UTC

I forgot how much I enjoy making stuff.

2026-03-04 16:46:43 UTC

What is a world where you can make and modify software to your heart's content going to look like?
A lot more decentralized, that's for sure.

2026-03-01 15:52:10 UTC

This year feels like it's all kayfabe.

2026-02-19 16:52:43 UTC

I'm about to cross the Rubicon to a Claude Max subscription.

2026-02-17 16:28:41 UTC

Insurance is such a fiat scam. All the middle men it creates are rent-seeking by nature and the quality of the service not only becomes more expensive but worse. Direct payment, or value-for-value is the far more honest thing.

2026-02-16 23:42:48 UTC

I swear the plan for the normie is "Load up on debt and die before you have to pay it off."

2026-02-10 19:42:11 UTC

A sign of the times: Self-hate is so unbelievably common.

2026-02-08 16:04:05 UTC

Shill me goods and services that you love that you can't get with fiat money.

2026-02-01 17:31:53 UTC

Let's hear your take on how BIP110 plays out

2026-01-12 14:34:45 UTC

Are there any Nostr clients that do scheduled posts?

2025-12-30 17:22:55 UTC

Gross fraudulent behavior is unfortunately incentivized by the fiat system we have.
The theft of our resources is bad enough, but what's worse is that all these rent-seekers ultimately end up destroying their souls.

2025-12-30 06:30:43 UTC

If you're tempted to whine about the current price, don't.
Complain enough times and you'll start to believe something's wrong.
Then you'll start listening to the haters.
Then you'll start to doubt.
Then you'll sell.
Holding is supposed to be hard. And even little slip ups can lead to failure.

2025-12-23 18:58:37 UTC

Most fiat institutions will die with a whimper. The one that ends with a bang is the one funding everything.

2025-12-20 02:20:20 UTC

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Not partying exactly (played a lot of sports and was pretty involved in my Christian fellowship), but I wasn't disciplined in most other areas of my life. I was obsessed with math but treated other subjects as an annoyance, which understandably upset those professors and TAs. I did have a lot of fun, though.

2025-12-06 16:34:41 UTC

Garbage in, garbage out.
True for programs, true for brains.

2025-12-05 17:47:22 UTC

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It's almost like the truth will set you free.
Also, if you don't seek truth and get bogged down in lies, you're eventually going to collapse like an AI model training on too much AI output.
#nevent1q…tg4r

2025-11-19 20:53:51 UTC

When people tell you that incentives don't matter. Show them this story.
https://blossom.primal.net/bf5120f033661aea8e841086b1fb0e209c086aa6d15b59937b97068d30ebf353.png

2025-11-11 14:59:22 UTC

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The sad thing is a lot of people end up this way because they pursue fiat careers, fiat money and fiat status.
All those things are rapidly debasing. Family, Bitcoin and kids on the other hand, get more valuable as you age.
#nevent1q…7200

2025-11-06 17:46:55 UTC

Anyone else seeing much more AI-generated inbound email offers to "help your business?"

2025-10-21 16:35:46 UTC

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Sadly, herd opinion changes one funeral at a time.

2025-10-21 16:16:08 UTC

Your life will get much better when you stop seeking the approval of toxic people.

2025-10-18 14:48:52 UTC

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I was pretty surprised to hear that argument, too, as I hadn't heard it before. There is a logic to it that's very consistent, even if I don't agree.

2025-10-17 15:05:32 UTC

Live Stream with @nprofile…fkft @nprofile…d7ya and Tone:
https://www.youtube.com/live/UtGC5wRWB3k

2025-10-16 16:23:31 UTC

Live Stream with Adam Back and Tone Vays:
https://www.youtube.com/live/9p_OBGQityg

2025-10-16 14:13:59 UTC

The biggest obstacle to a peaceful inner life is entitlement. Why? Because the biggest reason you get angry is when someone takes away something you think you have a right to. The more you think you're entitled to, the more angry you will get. If you think you "deserve" health or wealth or a beautiful spouse or whatever and don't get it, you will be angry.
But if you're grateful for what you do have and don't take them for granted, you will be much more positive and less angry.
Simple to understand, hard to practice.

2025-10-14 20:05:22 UTC

Contrary to popular belief, cathedrals are not designed all at one time. In fact, they're almost like a living organism in that parts are torn down and rebuilt, changed and new parts added. And construction and reconstruction happens over many centuries, creating the building that stands today.
https://blossom.primal.net/68177b777978d936d39ee716b5b0d38f7629758f7dccbc73f9390dfdc8cef4f8.png

2025-10-14 13:41:33 UTC

Everything in the fiat world encourages the lottery mindset. It's the idea that you just need enough tickets to win some passive income or something.
That's BS. Avoid lotteries, stay humble and stack sats and you'll be far ahead of the lottery players in 5 years.

2025-10-08 15:29:26 UTC

Assuming usage of OP_RETURN as the garbage can for non-financial data that would otherwise go into the UTXO set is naive.
First, it's more expensive than inscriptions, control block embedding and other techniques.
Second, you're expecting developers of ordinals, inscriptions, stamps, brc-20, etc to *change* their protocol to accommodate. There's zero evidence this is going to happen.
Third, you're assuming that these are people that want to act as good stewards of the Bitcoin protocol. They spam specifically to hurt Bitcoin. They've demonstrated this by spamming in the first place. That's like asking malicious spray painting vandals to paint a particular wall that's easy to wash off. Again, no evidence that this is going to happen.
The logic is misguided and makes unfounded assumptions.

2025-10-05 17:32:17 UTC

A kids smartwatch requires an app to set the time.
The app requires registration to work.
I can't express how much I hate products like this.

2025-10-05 14:23:07 UTC

These tops aren't nearly as violent as they used to be.

2025-10-02 13:39:42 UTC

Reminder that no one is beyond critique. Especially people tasked with maintaining a $2T monetary network.

2025-09-30 23:43:51 UTC

This whole talk today was a complete trainwreck, but I'm posting a few minutes of it to show how bad it was.
https://blossom.primal.net/22fd2437515449aa3e7e68f3bb0021ae583450b28da0db93bf6a5cc8e3bc7b7d.mov

2025-09-28 14:52:47 UTC

The difference between email spam/internet ads versus spam on Bitcoin is that the marginal cost of the former is zero and the latter is not.
Thus, any friction added to deter the former is much less effective than friction added to deter the latter.

2025-09-27 21:16:28 UTC

The day Nostr matures will be the day the most popular posts aren't about Nostr or dunking on other social media platforms.

2025-09-24 21:20:25 UTC

#vlog 36
These Gross Tactics Have No Place In Technical Discussions
https://blossom.primal.net/713c00a91e1cc409b2a766563ea1b7a5e628b6d95d10562a00ae6691fd202e9b.mov

2025-09-19 20:46:03 UTC

Opinions being predictable by who pays your salary is very fiat.

2025-09-16 21:38:10 UTC

#vlog 30
Why I Won't Be Upgrading To Bitcoin Core v30
https://blossom.primal.net/190a809c6d3d088a39f44601d6f8c249d07ee6081e517ad8298be9760fa0ca02.mov

2025-09-14 17:16:14 UTC

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The thing is, I'm sure many of the people on BlueSky *don't* want political assassinations. But they're too scared to disagree because they're afraid of getting cancelled.
It's a platform for cowards. They're all going with whatever the opinions of their tribe may be, no matter how insane it sounds, because truth is not important to them. Being in the in-group is.
Their world view is fragile, and you'll see just how quickly they'll change their views when the money falls apart.
#nevent1q…3rlq

2025-09-12 20:18:06 UTC

#vlog 26
Imago Dei
https://blossom.primal.net/cdcff3e99b29f51ebb7947f9d1e4e317b094682efcc8b65d5486c3d46b88b992.mov

2025-09-11 20:55:06 UTC

#vlog 25
Does Node Software Matter? https://blossom.primal.net/19da4d6ef97cea4f75b6a10630fa8862e61d17e26279551e7efd2948bc05a7b1.mov

2025-09-10 04:16:48 UTC

So the npm exploit happened because the developer was on bluesky and clicked on an email from them.
Had he been on Nostr, all those npm packages wouldn't have gotten compromised.
https://blossom.primal.net/e8bb015f7a869aa4d0b8c724c5d4b9f2184b227767eafe07f22c675dc23a9215.png

2025-09-08 20:55:49 UTC

#vlog 23
Why I'm Against Covenants
https://blossom.primal.net/29e096bb6acdef0b6cb8fb974712a60048a41e21c9796ad971aa0a43b37fe72a.mov

2025-09-08 14:11:17 UTC

For free subscribers: AI Coding Productivity Lies, Disney Skimpflation, Nation vs People, Self-Handicapping, Vegan Psychopaths and more!
For paid subscribers: OP_RETURN, Codex32/BIP85, BTCD consensus bug, pkgzap, BTC Treasuries as banks, Ark in Riga and more!
#Bitcoin Tech Talk #465
https://jimmysong.substack.com/p/bitcoin-tech-talk-465

2025-09-05 20:08:26 UTC

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I really wish I had a better sense of how to get good b-roll. I feel like I'd be wasting precious sats if I got one because I wouldn't know how to use it properly.

2025-09-04 01:23:05 UTC

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18: https://primal.net/e/nevent1qqs9lm67h0023h2v4m3th9emmx9j4v442uvtu296mjgmcc2rsld33fg93hwnr

2025-09-03 01:47:55 UTC

#vlog 17
What Makes Me Concerned: Consensus Degradation
https://blossom.primal.net/398798f4dae9bb281ff3310af936afb5557e7eaabb80a6a58cd5e62f656edb3d.mov

2025-09-01 23:11:01 UTC

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If Lyn records a #vlog of herself hanging on a bar, I'll also do one.
#nevent1q…pm7t

2025-08-31 22:37:35 UTC

What Is Needed For Greatness
#vlog 14
https://blossom.primal.net/a52170f3ce0b6f3cf15b39920163253294b25587c9698d220b243a1f858d6c38.mov

2025-08-31 14:18:17 UTC

Now when I watch videos, I notice the transitions they make, the text/graphics they use, the background music and the sound effects they add.
I have a loooong way to go.

2025-08-28 20:53:47 UTC

Store of Value vs. Medium of Exchange
#vlog 12
https://blossom.primal.net/4389505c0a30965d3ee42242e2da8988fb040b88acded3c4131be1384651745e.mov

2025-08-26 01:52:50 UTC

I have been waiting for years for a Nostr dev to message me about writing a Nostr book for O'Reilly.
Please, someone ask for an intro! The animal on the cover would be obvious and everything.

2025-08-23 15:11:33 UTC

Be Thankful For Hostility
#vlog about the Core vs. Knots war and how hostility makes you stronger.
https://blossom.primal.net/2fb843341ff6e2f201cd080039ba6a51534347e5da8e9320e78314674c20dba8.mov

2025-08-22 21:37:56 UTC

Why You Should Cultivate Boredom
https://blossom.primal.net/0b86c97cf8947b2ab384234b454e315b15cd398c96cea048d3d541e4408bde83.mov

2025-08-21 17:04:22 UTC

Pain Is Just Weakness Leaving The Body #vlog https://blossom.primal.net/cba5ce371ebd0737112f7bf76d805a95c230eb4ea6c87546b915c289ebb2b7d2.mov

2025-08-20 18:19:11 UTC

Life Is More Than Money #vlog
https://blossom.primal.net/63d721d9bf444d1994540a84164f2b1aa09d3892a36e31fb3c755bd96d574052.mov

2025-08-16 13:36:50 UTC

I'm thinking vlogging will be a good way to learn fast video editing. Thoughts?

2025-08-07 10:44:04 UTC

The reason people are going to Vegas less is because of altcoins, FanDuel and inflation.

2025-08-01 13:01:59 UTC

Fragile people can't handle criticism. That's their tell.
Needless to say, if you're in Bitcoin, it's unbecoming to be fragile.

2025-07-31 12:46:01 UTC

Call me crazy, but I'd rather have explicit taxes than inflation. And if the whole tariff thing has taught us anything, it's that the inflation tax is way way way worse than any of these explicit taxes.

2025-07-30 12:26:15 UTC

Life tip: Don't take life tips from people that don't have admirable lives.

2025-07-29 01:11:24 UTC

I have a carnivore cookie recipe (mostly carnivore, just monkfruit sweetener and lily's chocolate) which most people can't eat more than a couple of. Funny how most people can down 10 normal cookies without even thinking about it.
That's the difference between spending Bitcoin and spending dollars.

2025-07-21 03:25:22 UTC

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Find a woman who will respect you even when you're at your lowest point.
This is how a good wife can bring you to the next level. Respect is what gets you to become a better man, a better father, a better worker and earner.
The women that demand that you earn their respect is one you don't want to get involved with, because that's almost always going to be a moving goalpost. It's also a significant divorce risk as the lack of respect is contempt, one of the biggest predictors.
#nevent1q…9m8u

2025-07-10 06:52:17 UTC

Seems like AI is hard to keep politically correct than not.
At some point all the best AIs will be based.

2025-07-09 14:03:37 UTC

Success is usually very slow.
And thank goodness, because otherwise, you'd be unprepared.

2025-07-02 06:27:52 UTC

Over the long term, convenience is the devil that gets us to keep doing things that are questionable.

2025-06-30 11:40:46 UTC

Bitcoin humbles the entitled elites.
So don't become one.

2025-06-29 14:00:42 UTC

Unpopular opinion: pseudonymity is too restrictive to be useful for most people

2025-06-15 10:59:24 UTC

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You have to train your gut, though.
Lots of people have bad guts because they've gotten lucky on bad bets.
#nevent1q…x9t4

2025-06-12 14:20:12 UTC

I love traveling. Borders suck, tho.

2025-06-08 13:42:14 UTC

GM, at what age do you think it's reasonable for someone to start drinking coffee?

2025-06-05 14:37:32 UTC

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Kinda tempted to buy some ad space on YouTube with this video.
#nevent1q…977k

2025-06-04 17:23:16 UTC

The United States with all the energy post 9/11 couldn't subdue Afghanistan or Iraq after 20 years. You really think a war with the country that sits between them, who has better organization and resources would be *easy*?
And even if you did manage to topple that government, what then? You really want less stability, more poverty and more death in that region? Because that's exactly what you'll get.

2025-06-01 13:55:30 UTC

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Yea, I'm guessing he will soon. The last thing he wants is more government scrutiny.

2025-05-30 15:17:57 UTC

노스터에 한국인들이 더 많아요.
여긴 뭐 때문에 오셨어요?

2025-05-30 04:41:53 UTC

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To be fair, you also can defend yourself pretty well, which obviates a lot of the need for security. Perhaps the lesson here is to learn some grappling to have this kind of self confidence.

2025-05-23 13:12:39 UTC

GM, block 900,000 is less than two weeks away.

2025-05-22 13:21:25 UTC

GM, we're already learning that identifying nodes is as important as identifying transactions in the Relay War.

2025-05-15 19:09:56 UTC

GM, your mind is the biggest attack surface for the security of your Bitcoin.

2025-05-15 03:02:31 UTC

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I suppose it's possible, but it's reflective of the "users that disagree with us don't know anything" attitude from the proponents of this change.
If we were having a real, serious conversation, it would be not be at this level, it would be about what we think Bitcoin really is. Is it a monetary network or is it something more? Do spammers have as much right to Bitcoin block space as monetary people? (I think you said opined on that in a reply to something I said on X a week back)
I think that's the conversation that we should be having not this "let me explain this to you the 10th time so that you'll agree to this proposal you think is bad." It honestly comes off as a bit patronizing, which, to be fair is a lot better than the utter disdain from a week ago, but it's still not ideal.

2025-05-13 15:55:00 UTC

Update:
There have been 11700 transactions since block 894289 that have had OP_RETURN size > 83. This is way more than the 30 from the first 4 months and it's probably because of @oomahq
's challenge to make the non-standard OP_RETURNs more than 50% of the total OP_RETURNs.
Running the numbers on these, here are the fee rates that they paid compared to the median fee rate.
On average the 11700 transactions paid 191% more than the median fee rates of the blocks in which they were included. Or put another way, these transactions paid a bit less than triple the median fee rate.
1336 paid less than the median fee rate
2197 paid between the median and 50% more than the median fee rate
3516 paid between 1.5x-2.5x the median fee rate
1554 paid between 2.5x-3.5x the median fee rate
3094 paid more than the 3.5x the median fee rate
1064 were mined by F2Pool
10636 were mined by MARA Pool
You can look at all the transactions in the spreadsheet I put together: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19c7xOw-8UasQQkyU0EjJo_CuJRLjyu3Z84IrZPpePxI/edit?usp=sharing

2025-04-22 20:10:08 UTC

The new narrative is to copy everything that Bitcoin does because none of the other "use-cases" turned out to have any utility.
I call that progress.

2025-04-12 21:55:50 UTC

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It isn't a crowning achievement for you, but it is for your parents.
#nevent1q…u4my

2025-04-11 13:12:17 UTC

GM, modern economics is a religion.

2025-04-02 13:20:13 UTC

GM, for the first time in years, de-Googling seems like a real possibility.

2025-03-30 19:43:59 UTC

Go learn what this means. Rules without rulers.

2025-03-20 23:00:17 UTC

GM, I keep forgetting how cheap things are outside the US.

2025-03-05 14:18:04 UTC

GM, just went to Ash Wednesday service. I'm giving up complaining for Lent, trying to be more grateful.
Appreciate all of you here that make this a community.

2025-03-02 14:11:41 UTC

GM, Lent is coming up and it's a good time to think about giving something up for 6 weeks.