sam
Sam Wouters

Director of Marketing at River

Public Key

npub1vwlazqm4rearynuef92ccxw5jwa6kgkupztxvz3lklj9ehqv9xpq8wr934

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsx8073qd63u73jf7v5j4vvr82f8watytwq39nxpglm0ezumsxznqspz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0ds22m63m

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1vwlazqm4rearynuef92ccxw5jwa6kgkupztxvz3lklj9ehqv9xpq8wr934

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Last Notes

2025-06-23 10:59:09 UTC

Running Hal Finney
https://blossom.primal.net/f6c402ba8eaa83d0fdddc5e5a30264a869caadf6638ec779ea50e1ba1c5d8acf.mp4

2025-02-28 07:34:55 UTC

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It seems like they locked the hacker out this time.
https://m.primal.net/POQI.jpg

2025-02-27 23:35:47 UTC

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Lyn I’m in contact with someone on their marketing team right now who is having a colleague investigate. https://x.com/aaronjacobxon

2025-02-27 23:21:11 UTC

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I managed to get in touch with someone on the marketing team (https://x.com/aaronjacobxon) who is getting a colleague to look into it now. Hopefully that helps.

2025-02-25 15:57:15 UTC

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A lot of the low value stuff people were experimenting with seems to have gone away, I don’t see that as an issue. One person could in theory do a million transactions just by themselves, doesn’t make it valuable to the network.

2025-02-25 15:53:06 UTC

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Yeah

2025-02-25 15:49:17 UTC

For years, Bitcoiners pushed exchanges to adopt Lightning.
And guess what? It worked. Public Lightning volume is up 266% in about a year.
A few interesting insights from our new @nprofile…qxwz report:
Our previous Lightning research in 2023 showed a 1212% increase in transactions.
Many of these were low value, as people experimented with new apps & business models.
Now, a new wave of bigger volume has come in, driven by exchanges.
We used the same methodology for our estimates as in 2023, but instead of having data on 52% of public capacity, we now got up to 79.4%
A massive thank you to Acinq, @nprofile…q7y6, Bitfinex, @nprofile…z585, C=, @nprofile…kpvj, Kraken, LQWD, NiceHash, OKX, Cyberdyne, Sunny Sarah, @nprofile…udgq, and @nprofile…0y44 for sharing data.
The Lightning industry continues to grow
We’ve updated our map, adding 46 new companies and removing 12.
We expect Lightning to continue growing:
- On-chain fees remain low, slowing adoption.
- USDT on Lightning may increase activity.
- Dozens of scaling proposals continue to build on Lightning.
More Lightning + Bitcoin adoption trends in our new report 👇
https://blog.river.com/bitcoin-adoption-2025/
https://m.primal.net/PKtu.png
https://m.primal.net/PKtv.jpg
https://m.primal.net/PKuJ.jpg

2025-02-06 14:44:44 UTC

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I used to live in a country where it looked like this all year, and then I got fed up with it and moved. I don’t mind rain, but the endless grey days are depressing!

2025-01-06 11:29:16 UTC

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My girlfriend is reallllyyyy into these so seeing more Bitcoiners hyped about them is a funny crossover for me.

2024-12-10 10:49:47 UTC

10 years ago on this day, I built up the courage to give my first presentation about Bitcoin.
It was quite the rollercoaster 😅 but more rewarding than almost anything I've done in my life.
Let me tell you 👇
Someone in my class asked if I'd be up for presenting at an innovation event for travel agency Thomas Cook.
I'd never given a public presentation before, but I reluctantly gave it a shot. My gut told me to just do it.
I spent days on my slides and rehearsing. The slides looked terrible, and presenting to ~25 people for an hour didn't go much better. They looked at me like I was an alien.
About 15 mins into my presentation, my laptop, which had been struggling for months, crashed. It took me another 10 mins to get it back up 😬
After the presentation, I got a bunch of questions and probably some sighs of relief that it was over.
But I felt exhilarated.
I had never felt the thrill of presenting before, and I loved it, despite being an introvert.
Even though I knew I did a poor job, I realized I could get way better.
Over the next years (2015-2018), I gave 100+ presentations about Bitcoin and the blockchain at all kinds of public events, in board rooms for private companies, etc. Zero nerves when I get on stage now, all excitement.
As a thank you from Thomas Cook I got a gift card for €200 to spend on their website.
I tried to trade the gift card for cash (student life), and the best I could get for it was €100.
Instead of putting it towards a new laptop, I put it into 0.13 BTC, worth $12669 today.
That's an amazing amount for a bad presentation, but it's nothing compared to how much Bitcoin and all of the people I've met in this space have enriched my life in so many ways.
https://m.primal.net/Mrwm.jpg

2024-09-18 14:24:51 UTC

Since first joining River 2 years ago, I was always hoping we’d do proof of reserves one day. Many Bitcoiners just aren’t ready to self-custody yet.
Super pumped to see it come to reality!
#note17sn…6kqf

2024-08-31 20:15:15 UTC

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Do you think you can get him to watch this 3 min video so that he can still disagree afterwards? https://primal.net/e/note1zscdtswek3ln0zmr9f787kd4v57n5z29gcalwe6lh789x0hwl24q545ucv

2024-08-29 06:54:06 UTC

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It has been given a brand problem by media in many places, so yeah you start from the negative side of the scale in many cases, which requires more patience, creativity, and experience to get through.

2024-08-28 14:12:41 UTC

I see many Bitcoiners give up on Bitcoin education and blame it on people being ignorant.
Consider the possibility that you have room for improvement, and get better 🫵
Below my talk at @npub1rwh…7avv
+ new article with practical tips on how to get people to listen to you.
https://blog.river.com/how-to-make-friends-and-family-listen-to-you-about-bitcoin/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBzfrnU4tfI

2024-08-17 11:30:11 UTC

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I think a lot of Bitcoiners aren’t effective at it, so in that sense yeah it often doesn’t help.

2024-08-17 10:10:12 UTC

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The comment section there is absolutely brutal. It’s a great reminder for all the Bitcoiners that if we don’t patiently educate people, they’re not going to come around to how things really work.
https://m.primal.net/KCHv.jpg

2024-08-16 16:50:32 UTC

Came across this lil’ bro today on a bike path. He was cray cray.
https://m.primal.net/KBeQ.jpg

2024-08-11 19:06:10 UTC

Made a new graph. It’s a nice graph. One of those rare moments to cover something other than Bitcoin. But this one’s good for Bitcoin.
Nature is healing.
https://m.primal.net/JwNU.jpg

2024-08-10 19:37:49 UTC

3 years ago, Bitcoin's market cap was ~$750B.
Same for all the crypto stuff w/o stablecoins.
Today, Bitcoin's market cap is up 53% ($1.15T)
And the other stuff? 0.58% (not adjusted for inflation)
It’s a good stat to mention to people who “diversify”.

2024-08-02 13:02:29 UTC

Bitcoiners are increasingly setting up their inheritance, but they often overlook this critical step.
https://m.primal.net/JlvT.jpg

2024-07-10 15:24:01 UTC

It’s been a busy year so I figured let’s take a break on a lake for my own sake.
Looking forward to all the content we’ll be releasing at @npub1xke…d0en in the next half 😄
https://m.primal.net/JMPt.jpg

2024-06-26 18:52:59 UTC

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How about some of this?
https://m.primal.net/IyuV.jpg

2024-06-04 17:11:52 UTC

We're hiring a Product Marketing Manager at @npub1xke…d0en to work with me on our go-to-market for new products, and our product marketing as a whole.
Because we build #Bitcoin products, we need a Bitcoiner for this role!
Come join our awesome team 🧡
Job description for Product Marketing Manager: https://boards.greenhouse.io/riverfinancial/jobs/5195403004
We're hiring for more roles, check them out: https://boards.greenhouse.io/riverfinancial https://image.nostr.build/26c334bfe41c44b163e9347728317a575ab475e52329570c2086ad64a823f744.jpg

2024-04-17 14:14:01 UTC

With the Bitcoin halving almost upon us, I made a fun little treat 😄
Here is how much miners/pools have been earning in USD over the past 4 Bitcoin epochs!
These are actually animated race charts across 15 years, but my Nostr client keeps crashing when I try to upload those, so I’ll just link to then here. https://twitter.com/SDWouters/status/1780594555429290311
https://twitter.com/SDWouters/status/1780594557853577610
Hope you enjoy, took a lot of time to make these 🙂 https://image.nostr.build/418c82857a694c192ab66768defbd078b110e1446e5a93e8cab126141be81bf8.png https://image.nostr.build/bb0ad85bcc70a88d6ff97f3624f03fbdd7bec840c279fd2ba6d0b1000bbcb161.png

2024-03-16 17:25:47 UTC

If Bitcoin was a country, it would rank somewhere between 10-20 in population size.
Something tells me we're going to enter the top 10 very soon 👀
If you're curious to learn more, you can find the analysis here https://river.com/learn/how-many-people-use-bitcoin/ https://image.nostr.build/02f3e76b1897b32f811e38aa210918a9a48f9ff9cf5191bbe7c1bc0f373789c4.jpg

2024-02-27 22:45:06 UTC

#Bitcoin has already reached all-time-high prices in 3 of the top 20 global currencies.
The rest will follow as governments continue to print money to cover for their deficit spending.
People are opting out of this madness around the world, and we get called crazy for it 🙋‍♂️ https://image.nostr.build/bc5d60545528a8b05f9c6492f07008058d6869d5cdd562fd8c3eefbac213e90b.png

2024-02-23 21:42:49 UTC

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I am a Bitcoiner, I know some of us are passionate about it, I also know the vast majority of people are not.
There is only so much information you can put into a graphic before it gets too crowded. People were also suggesting to subdivide by all kinds of things, but the data just isn’t available. Sometimes simplicity is better rather than everything having their own nuanced descriptions in small font sizes.
Based on your description I’m not sure you understand what a hot wallet is. It is a wallet that is on an internet connected device. Nothing about it being internet connected makes it not in your custody, it just means that there are more attack vectors to take it from you. Lightning nodes have hot wallets for example. The “cold” part of cold storage refers to not internet connected.

2024-02-23 21:33:35 UTC

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Satoshis dad. https://cointelegraph.com/news/mysterious-bitcoin-mining-pattern-solved-after-seven-years

2024-02-22 21:11:49 UTC

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Yes they are counted as individuals. They are the owners, it’s just that when they use middlemen, those middlemen can do something about that ownership. In a similar way, people own their house in a particular country, and that country can still do something about that ownership. In the case of Bitcoin, the exchange losing or gambling away your coins still makes you a creditor in their bankruptcy, which means even if you lose the money, there is some kind of ownership claim.
If a graphic shows 80% of all bitcoin is held by a handful of people, all it does is give ammo to people who don’t understand the nuances. We already see this happen with the tables of addresses per wealth bracket. This particular graphic focuses on how much different categories are invested in Bitcoin, which is what people are mostly interested in. Everyone already knows much is held at exchanges.
On your final note, cold storage is not a requirement for individual ownership. You can own bitcoin non-custodially in a hot wallet.

2024-02-22 16:03:33 UTC

I added a new section to @npub1xke…d0en's Lightning report on how much space the Lightning Network⚡️takes up on the #Bitcoin blockchain, and how many Lightning payments have been made with that space.
Key findings:
- Lightning's on-chain footprint was ~0.08% of all on-chain transactions in the past 7 years, or about 617k transactions.
- The average on-chain transaction has historically facilitated at least 50-53 routed Lightning payments, which can increase significantly. (168 in Aug 2023)
- In August 2023, Lightning increased Bitcoin's transaction throughput by at least 47.2% with just 0.06% of all on-chain transactions in that month.
I go deeper into the stats in a video on Twitter https://twitter.com/SDWouters/status/1760680060573675757 and what they mean in practice. These findings don't change Lightning's challenges or Bitcoin's UTXO challenges, but they may give some insights to developers.
You can find the full report below, the new part is on P29. https://river.com/learn/files/river-lightning-report-2023.pdf

2024-02-21 17:19:11 UTC

A while ago I had my last day at @npub1xke…d0en as a Bitcoin Research Analyst.
I had an amazing time creating reports that will hopefully continue to be useful to many people.
Management asked me to head up marketing; a big honor and responsibility, and a unique opportunity to help Bitcoin win!
This doesn't mean no more research from River. We'll be expanding the team with outstanding people and I'll keep diving into areas that deserve attention.
Thanks to everyone who has been supporting me! And thank you to our management for their faith in me. https://image.nostr.build/36c79e5999b366352e3a3b410390fa714489b52c53126959cde3dc8a1a1b4772.jpg

2024-02-11 20:28:19 UTC

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I guess the VC money helps us speedrun it.

2023-11-21 17:53:07 UTC

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That’s not what the bars refer to, if you look into the report you’ll see they’re for something else 🙂

2023-11-21 17:18:28 UTC

Is there a best time and day to DCA #Bitcoin ? Could you stack more sats by choosing carefully?
With @npub1xke…d0en's zero-fee recurring orders, we get these questions sometimes, now we also have answers!
Based on our research, we found that:
1. Historically, the daily high price happened within a 4-hour window 38.5% of the time, and the daily low price happened within that same 4-hour window 39.4% of the time. This pattern has shifted over time and the window has shrunk.
2. There is a one-hour window with over 3 times as many price bottoms than peaks in the past twelve months.
3. Mondays have historically had the highest odds of having the weekly low price relative to the weekly high price falling on this day.
4. The first and second days of each month have historically had the highest odds of having the lowest price relative to the monthly high price happening on those days.
5. Due to the variance of the exact moments when price peaks and bottoms happen, the achievable practical advantage on timing a recurring order is around 1.2%.
You can read more about this in the report here https://blog.river.com/best-time-and-day-to-dca-bitcoin/ https://image.nostr.build/4c135e85607e8c2e0678ebf2046f9570556c666518329708965d3a3a8d392166.jpg

2023-11-03 16:22:23 UTC

We’re hiring a Content Strategist at @npub1xke…d0en to work with me on leveling up our content.
It’s a fantastic company full of smart and awesome people 🧡
You can apply here if you have a portfolio of content https://boards.greenhouse.io/riverfinancial/jobs/5012722004 https://image.nostr.build/c548ca42ebb8d75ecd1df7c19580801ed77308dea318e64e00eae49c15839d5c.jpg

2023-10-31 12:21:46 UTC

What's more fun than doing #Bitcoin research? Sharing the results in person!
My deadline for the research on 1212% growth in Lightning activity was Bitcoin Amsterdam.
If you're not much of a reader, you can get a bunch of insights from the presentation.
https://youtu.be/BaL_wExuR3c?si=yiu4J-MXnTL-ByDE
It's been a wild ride. I hope the report continues to be a useful tool for people around the industry to show the activity that is happening and combat misinformation.

2023-10-12 08:40:43 UTC

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Yeah it has been fixed along with a bunch of others. I forgot to categorize a few wallets after first just listing all the others. Still need to upload the new version to the report but the map is already on socials.

2023-10-11 14:59:30 UTC

As part of the new Lightning research, I’ve attempted to map out and categorize all companies in the Lightning space.
179 companies across 28 categories 🤯
If you’re interested in the full research on how the Lightning Network has been growing, you can find it here https://blog.river.com/the-lightning-network-in-2023/ https://image.nostr.build/990203af5a8e22e79bfb28eeaedde3d8d240fec0be550c85a339858326f48ae7.png

2023-10-10 18:47:00 UTC

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My bad, I’ll make a note to fix this, thank you.

2023-10-10 15:07:24 UTC

“Nobody is using Lightning” should now be a dead meme.
Launching a new Bitcoin report from @npub1xke…d0en: How the Lightning Network grew by 1212% in 2 years ⚡
It’s time to pay attention to the incredible work of so many people in the space.
In this report:
- How many transactions on Lightning
- How much volume
- How many users
- Industry overview of 173 companies
- Funding overview
- River-specific insights
- Why are companies interested in Lightning
- Growth accelerators
And yes, an executive summary 😉
You can find the report here https://blog.river.com/the-lightning-network-in-2023/
It would mean a lot if you could share this post and/or the report 🧡
I'll be sharing this report at The Bitcoin Conference in Amsterdam in 2 days! https://image.nostr.build/bf9f3fb3e2404406284640a5861e0a510bfe3e08a3e3fa3db51c885cb8a12469.png

2023-10-04 19:28:28 UTC

We just hit 3 million Lightning transactions routed with @npub1xke…d0en‘s nodes, and September was another all-time monthly high!
Next week we have a report coming out with data across the entire network. Nostr is covered a bit in it too. https://image.nostr.build/26a9f88230cefbddcf019685618d6105bc32df8030705f993462076cb026ac22.png

2023-10-02 12:49:49 UTC

Got together with all of @npub1xke…d0en for 3 days. Such an amazing team 🧡 https://image.nostr.build/e355f2aa3046921c75ff9f844a155fe034815210cf36daeb897cb644a94da141.jpg

2023-08-28 20:18:44 UTC

Sneak peak of the upcoming Lightning research 👀 hopefully done in October.
And a heads up that River will be dropping its Lightning capacity again, doing more with less 🙂 https://cdn.nostr.build/i/c1e8d66458240c89c24381715c61338083e26c0c2f869f936e7ce112fdb99758.jpg

2023-08-11 10:35:13 UTC

I’ve started working on @npub1xke…d0en‘s Lightning report for this year.
Is there anything you would like to see covered in it?
I’ve already reached out to a dozen Lightning companies and large nodes, and about the same amount have reached out to me. The goal is to aggregate as much interesting data as possible, as we want to expand the scope of the report.
Last year’s report did great, definitely feeling the pressure to live up to it 😄

2023-06-28 13:14:38 UTC

“Sam how do you have so much conviction in #Bitcoin ?”
It’s because I pray at the altar of Satoshi each morning 🧎‍♂️
My girlfriend and I made this from dyed preserved moss as a nice background for calls 🤙 https://nostr.build/i/0e840df3e962a9b1c19d98627621430aa33ddc98993c8f4d9d4d88b9d0e4ca97.jpg

2023-06-22 20:03:06 UTC

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For context, this graph was made for the payments report. In that context it is relevant to understand what volume users actually intended to transact compared to how the system handles accounting.

2023-06-20 19:53:12 UTC

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Nope, just using many words to clarify what I dislike about it. I was perfectly calm typing that 😄 just wanted to articulate it. I suppose there is a difference between people who use it the way you do, and others who misinterpret it and think it applies to anyone who didn’t already buy.

2023-06-20 19:13:37 UTC

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I don’t buy into that principle at all. It’s a bit privileged to me/an in hindsight thing.
Many people were not raised or educated well, never intellectually encouraged to dive into things, or never became friends with people who would help them overcome those gaps. Do they only deserve to buy bitcoin later as a result? Is it their own fault that their environment since being a child shaped a world around them that didn’t help them see Bitcoin for what it is? I think intellectual people who choose to ignore Bitcoin may fit that description, but that’s a small % of the population.
As for your suggestion, I like it but then I’d want it to be data driven. That would be fascinating, but it would take a lot of user input.

2023-06-20 18:14:23 UTC

As a Bitcoin educator, I think about this model that I included in the payments report a lot.
Many Bitcoiners think in terms of quantity: the more people we push through this funnel, the more may stick around = more adoption.
But adoption is not something that can only grow without cost. Turning people off has future consequences, so we need quality from all of us, not just the writers and podcasters.
A key part of this model is that it also shows the negative side: the people actively working against adoption. Their impact is difficult to measure, as there is no Google Trends for “people who didn’t learn about Bitcoin because they read or heard too many hysterical headlines”.
Many people don’t make it through this funnel, or are even interested in the first place due to poor past experiences with negative media or overenthusiastic Bitcoiners that sounded crazy.
Here is how I view the 5 layers of the funnel:
1️⃣ The mindset of the person in the discovery phase is critical. If they are too prejudiced and not open to learning, it can massively delay the point at which they get into Bitcoin. Their decision to proceed is heavily influenced by their background and personal situation.
2️⃣ If people are open to learning more, perhaps the first content they consume is positive, but in their research, they may come across different information and opinions from personal relations that sway their perspective.
It is easy to blame media and misinformation for people not getting through this learning phase in a positive way, but introspection by the Bitcoin industry is also important. A Bitcoiner’s passion for the problems they believe it solves can also turn people off by going too deep on certain topics or overcomplicating their explanations.
3️⃣ After learning a bit, whether that is one or many content pieces, people will gain a certain perception of Bitcoin. This time, all of the above factors influence whether they will proceed and go deeper.
4️⃣ When it comes to usage, sometimes the journey from discovery to usage can be just a few minutes with the right person as a guide. Quickly letting people experience Bitcoin can be an effective tool to give people a wow moment, but it only works towards adoption if they commit to a learning phase after. “Private” usage is the highest ranked here, given that maintaining your privacy on Bitcoin requires significant knowledge. This is also the case for using Bitcoin as the standard money in your life.
5️⃣ After having used Bitcoin, some people decide to take a certain role in the space, either personally or professionally. Some become users of Bitcoin. Many go a step further to actively educate others around them, and some become builders who maintain and accelerate the movement. There are also critics and detractors who try to slow down Bitcoin adoption.
Because of how hard it is to make it through, and we all know this, I’m a strong believer in focusing on quality. On making sure as many educational interactions are high quality and delightful, rather than reaching as many people as quickly as possible. I’m going to spend a lot of time helping people who struggle to explain Bitcoin to people close to them in the coming years.
Would love to hear your thoughts on the model and if you’d make any changes! https://nostr.build/i/a72112407de58c41ea57a09202f17c15444649a9b8d37541d2e45235016c89c3.jpg

2023-06-15 15:18:19 UTC

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Your disrespect for anyone who isn’t (active) on Nostr is getting the best of you it seems to me. Lots of people have visited the report through Twitter and it is absolutely reaching many people there who may decide to join here down the line. I never said I’m doing everything by myself over there, so it’s probably best to stop lecturing me on twisting words and we just end the conversation. Have a great rest of your day.

2023-06-15 14:13:42 UTC

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That’s not the primary audience though, we’re not producing content primarily for Bitcoiners, but for everyone. The goal is to grow the pond, which is why I spend more time on Twitter. I’m not as active on Nostr until it grows far beyond Bitcoiners. Would I in an ideal world publish everything everywhere at the same time? Sure, but sometimes that’s not going to happen.

2023-06-15 13:51:26 UTC

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I find it strange to demand that I post here, I thought the whole idea was freedom. I had it on my to do list, along with many other things I didn’t get to yesterday.
I prefer people send their sats to a good cause instead, as I earn an income from the company. My last donation was to #[4] so feel free to send it their way 🙂

2023-06-15 13:37:17 UTC

I released #[1]‘s new report: #Bitcoin vs the $156 Trillion Global Payments Industry
Jam-packed with data, 30+ graphs and visuals, and yes, an executive summary 👇
Learn about:
- What's happening in the cross-border payments industry
- The under-discussed risks of CBDCs
- The number of Bitcoin users globally
- Who is using Bitcoin for payments
- How Bitcoin compares to other payment methods
- How to grow Bitcoin adoption
& More
You can find the report here, I would love to hear your thoughts. https://blog.river.com/bitcoin-vs-the-156-trillion-global-payments-industry/
We’re going to win, but it’ll take some work! https://nostr.build/i/ea0e543c91c1d0c672329624817cb47832ba0f5d496e34cf2aeea637142210d9.jpg

2023-03-15 19:52:06 UTC

Bitcoin may be getting the biggest breakthrough in self-custody since multisig. I would argue one of the best upgrades since Lightning.
Users will be able to intervene in case of a security breach!
Check out this simple explainer on OP_VAULT https://river.com/learn/what-is-op-vault-in-bitcoin/

2023-02-20 10:15:39 UTC

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When are we getting some pianostr?

2023-02-20 10:15:03 UTC

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Glad to Cross paths with you again good sir.

2023-02-19 21:13:31 UTC

Last year I wrote two Bitcoin reports:
1️⃣ Insights from the 4th largest lightning network node - https://river.com/learn/files/river-lightning-report.pdf
2️⃣ What could Bitcoin mining look like at one zettahash? - https://river.com/learn/files/river-bitcoin-mining-zettahash-report.pdf
I’m now working on a third report. The topic is a deep dive into Bitcoin & Cross-border Payments 🌍 Can it be the best tool? What needs to be done for more adoption?
If you want to discuss/collaborate/have input, let me know!