Category: #Free Spirit

CBDC’s Tyranny Is Coming

How & Why You should Prepare

Or Not !!!
For the Future Generations sake…

Here are just a few examples of what that sort of total control may look like:

Government in total control

The government could not only withhold money whenever they deemed fit but they could also devalue the currency.

Lack of privacy

The government will be aware of all of your financial information, what you owe and to whom, what you are spending money on, and what assets you have.

The end of personal security

No longer can you “hide” savings under your mattress. The government will always know how much you have and will have access to it.

Tracking of purchases

The government will be able to track everything you purchase—and potentially stop you from buying it. Let’s say it is something the political party in charge disagrees with, such as legalized marijuana. They can track you and prevent you from purchasing it again.

Tracking pornography purchases, abortion payments, tax evasion, and more…

While you may not think this is a bad idea, what if it goes a step further? What if they think you need to eat less red meat?

Hacking and data breaches

My head spins just thinking of all the ways a CBDC could be attacked by hackers or cyber terrorists.

Educate Yourselves folks :

https://news.bitcoin.com/why-the-rise-of-the-cbdc-is-bad-for-your-privacy

https://edwardsnowden.substack.com/p/cbdcs

https://www.themainewire.com/2022/11/cbdc-bitcoin

https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/2022/11/06/a-central-bank-cryptocurrency-the-us-should-reject-it

https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/bitcoin-policy-institute-calls-on-u.s.-to-reject-its-central-bank-digital-currency

https://fee.org/articles/why-a-digital-dollar-is-a-really-bad-idea

https://theconversation.com/central-bank-digital-currencies-could-mean-the-end-of-democracy-187505

https://www.adamseconomics.com/post/the-potential-orwellian-horror-of-central-bank-digital-currencies

https://www.coindesk.com/layer2/2022/10/14/against-cbdcs-and-the-politicization-of-money

https://mises.org/wire/digital-currency-fed-moves-toward-monetary-totalitarianism

https://www.cato.org/blog/update-two-thirds-commenters-concerned-about-cbdc

https://www.coincenter.org/without-privacy-do-we-really-want-a-digital-dollar

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/digital-dollar-threat-civil-liberties

https://www.newsweek.com/cbdcs-will-end-american-freedom-opinion-1673676

https://beincrypto.com/problem-cbdcs-surrendering-total-surveillance-control

https://www.cato.org/working-paper/central-bank-digital-currency-assessing-risks-dispelling-myths

https://www.cato.org/briefing-paper/central-bank-digital-currency

https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/2022/11/06/a-central-bank-cryptocurrency-the-us-should-reject-it

https://www.theepochtimes.com/central-bank-digital-currency-tyranny-is-coming-how-to-prepare_5054210.html

https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-senator-ted-cruz-tries-again-with-new-bill-to-block-cbdc

https://tokenhell.com/congressmen-voice-concerns-over-the-features-of-the-us-cbdc

https://www.forbes.com/sites/norbertmichel/2022/04/12/central-bank-digital-currencies-are-about-control–they-should-be-stopped

https://www.forbes.com/sites/norbertmichel/2022/12/15/the-federal-reserve-should-drop-fednow-and-any-plans-to-launch-a-cbdc

https://pomp.substack.com/p/central-bank-digital-currencies-will

https://hackernoon.com/cbdcs-the-folly-of-digital-fiat

https://www.btcpolicy.org/articles/why-the-u-s-should-reject-central-bank-digital-currencies

Cbdc Initiatives

100 Based things

Here is a list of 100 of the best based things:

  • Writing clever, articulate and edgy raps – Based
  • Eating food with no care for nutrition – based
  • Making jokes at the expense of politcally correct people – based
  • Creating witty and inspired retorts – based
  • Refusing to conform to society’s expectations – based
  • Developing viral content – based
  • Dreaming without the boundaries of reality – based
  • Taking no sh*t from anyone – based
  • Standing up for what is right – based
  • Throwing away society’s conventions – based
  • Experimenting with new ideas – based
  • Making creative use of your skills – based
  • Celebrating all forms of success – based
  • Questioning the world around you – based
  • Expressing yourself through Art – based
  • Learning from your mistakes – based
  • Breaking the mold – based
  • Making bold statements – based
  • Improvising on the fly – based
  • Challenging the status quo – based
  • Working hard without complaining – based
  • Respecting others’ opinions – based
  • Venturing beyond your comfort zone – based
  • Befriending other outliers – based
  • Taking risks, but staying safe – based
  • Developing mental strength – based
  • Acknowledging the beauty of the world – based
  • Choosing courage over fear – based
  • Embracing your uniqueness – based
  • Worrying less, but achieving more – based
  • Being a loyal friend – based
  • Working to help others – based
  • Succeeding in your own way – based
  • Standing up for the weak – based
  • Being honest about your failures – based
  • Tackling the world with passion – based
  • Leading without authority – based
  • Accepting your flaws – based
  • Owning up to them – based
  • Motivating yourself to go further – based
  • Making informed decisions – based
  • Listening to and understanding others –based
  • Analyzing problems and finding solutions – based
  • Seeing the world differently – based
  • Working against money-grubbing corporations – based
  • Refusing to be controlled by social media – based
  • Taking responsibility for your actions – based
  • Rejecting the influence of peer pressure – based
  • Showing gratitude for what you have – based
  • Developing a thick skin – based
  • Not taking no for an answer – based
  • Embracing the joy of risk-taking – based
  • Winning without gloating – based
  • Taking time for yourself – based
  • Diversifying your investments – based
  • Helping others around you succeed – based
  • Avoiding useless debates – based
  • Refusing to give into oppression – based
  • Going against the grain – based
  • Moving through life with grace – based
  • Not caring about popular opinion – based
  • Not caving into herd mentality – based
  • Outwitting conventional wisdom – based
  • Standing your ground against bullies – based
  • Reclaiming lost ground – based
  • Detaching yourself from material possessions – based
  • Questioning authority – based
  • Resisting unjust power – based
  • Ignoring criticism – based
  • Seeing through deception – based
  • Overcoming adversity – based
  • Pursuing excellence – based
  • Living life without regrets – based
  • Becoming Unbreakable – based
  • Following your gut feeling – based
  • Slaying the dragon of Conformity – based
  • Crushing comfort zones – based
  • Exploring the unknown – based
  • Keeping a cool head in a crisis – based
  • Analyzing data intelligently – based
  • Not wasting time with gossip – based
  • Adopting a Zero-Tolerance policy – based
  • Connecting with likeminded people – based
  • Committing thought crimes – based
  • Spreading your message – based
  • Asserting your autonomy – based
  • Resolving conflicts quickly – based
  • Not conforming to gender roles – based
  • Refusing to settle for mediocrity – based
  • Not taking life too seriously – based
  • Living life to the fullest – based
  • Rewriting stories with your own pen – based
  • Expressing yourself without limits – based
  • Being You – based

Trust is not based, and relying on trust is unbased. It is foolish to ever trust someone, because the only way to truly ensure that what someone is saying is true is to verify it yourself.

Relying on trust to make important decisions is the same as not making decisions at all, which would be why wise people have always told each other to never trust anyone, ever.

Instead, one should always verify all information, or else make use of carefully-chosen massive liabilities and hedges, so as to eliminate the need to trust.

…

Btw, did I mentioned the list was made by a Non-Human, Red-Pilled Entity 😁😋🤣

I would love to hear thoughts, opinions and critics about this, from you all dear readers.

CypherPunk Movement

THE CYPHERPUNK MOVEMENT

Let’s make a journey back in time to see where blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies came from. It will take us back to the CypherPunk Movement starting in the 1970’s.

Cryptography for the People

Encryption was primarily used for military purposes before the 1970s. People at that time were living in an analog world. Few had computers and even fewer could imagine a technology that would connect almost every human being on the planet – the internet.

Two publications brought cryptography into the open, namely the “Data Encryption Standard” published by the US Government, and a paper called “New Directions in Cryptography” by Dr. Whitfield Diffie and Dr. Martin Hellman, published in 1976.

Dr. David Chaum started writing on topics such as anonymous digital cash and pseudonymous reputation systems in the 1980s, such as the ones described in “Security without Identification: Transaction Systems to make Big Brother Obsolete”. This was the first step toward the digital currencies we see today.

The Cypherpunks

We walk on shoulders of Giants!
Hughes, May, Back, Finney, Gilmore, Szabo

It wasn’t until 1992 that a group of cryptographers in the San Francisco Bay area started meeting up on a regular basis to discuss their work and related ideas. They built a basis for years of cryptographic research to come.

Besides their regular meetings, they also started the Cypherpunk mailing list in which they discussed many ideas including those which led to the birth of Bitcoin.

In late 1992 Eric Hughes, one of the first cypherpunks, wrote “A Cypherpunk’s Manifesto” laying out the ideals and vision of the movement.

Note: We encourage you to read A Cypherpunk’s Manifesto. The Manifesto is just as relevant today as it was in 1992. This short read takes only a few minutes of your time. It’s astonishing to see how much foresight the early members had when most people didn’t even think about computers yet.

A Cypherpunks’s Manifesto

An excerpt from the Manifesto:

“Privacy is necessary for an open society in the electronic age.

Privacy is not secrecy.

A private matter is something one doesn’t want the whole world to know, but a secret matter is something one doesn’t want anybody to know.

Privacy is the power to selectively reveal oneself to the world.”

“Privacy in an open society also requires cryptography.

If I say something, I want it heard only by those for whom I intend it.

If the content of my speech is available to the world, I have no privacy.

To encrypt is to indicate the desire for privacy, and to encrypt with weak cryptography is to indicate not too much desire for privacy.”

“We must defend our own privacy if we expect to have any.

We must come together and create systems which allow anonymous transactions to take place.

People have been defending their own privacy for centuries with whispers, darkness, envelopes, closed doors, secret handshakes, and couriers.

The technologies of the past did not allow for strong privacy, but electronic technologies do.”

“We the Cypherpunks are dedicated to building anonymous systems.

We are defending our privacy with cryptography, with anonymous mail forwarding systems, with digital signatures, and with electronic money.”

Electronic Cash

Although you might have just heard about this movement for the first time, you have most definitely benefitted from the efforts of some of their members in building Tor, BitTorrent, SSL, and PGP encryption. It should not surprise you that many concepts and ideas that originated from this group led to the emergence of cryptocurrencies.

In 1997, Dr. Adam Back created HashCash, which he proposed as a measure against spam. A little later, in 1998, Wei Dai published his idea for b-money and conceived the ideas of Proof-of-Work and Proof-of-Stake to achieve consensus across a distributed network. In 2005 Nick Szabo published a proposal for Bit Gold. There was no cap on the maximum supply but he introduced the idea to value each unit of Bit Gold by the amount of computational work that went into producing it. Although this is not how cryptocurrencies are valued, the price of production (comprised of hardware and electricity cost) plays a role in the pricing of these digital assets.

In 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto released the Bitcoin white paper, citing and building upon HashCash and b-money. Citations from his early communications and parts of his white paper, such as the following on privacy, suggest Nakamoto was close to the cypherpunk movement.

“The traditional banking model achieves a level of privacy by limiting access to information to the parties involved and the trusted third party. The necessity to announce all transactions publicly precludes this method, but privacy can still be maintained by breaking the flow of information in another place: by keeping public keys anonymous. The public can see that someone is sending an amount to someone else, but without information linking the transaction to anyone. This is similar to the level of information released by stock exchanges, where the time and size of individual trades, the ‘tape’, is made public, but without telling who the parties were.”

Technology did not enable strong privacy prior to the 20th century, but neither did it enable affordable mass surveillance. We believe in the human right to privacy and work towards enabling anyone who wishes to claim his or her privacy to do so. We see a cryptocurrency with selective privacy as a good step in the right direction of reclaiming our privacy.

Block 170 – First ever bitcoin transaction

2009-01-12 04:30
#1 bitcoin transaction

The first ever bitcoin transaction from one person to another, on 2009-01-12 at 04:30 used Pay-to-Public-Key (P2PK), when Satoshi Nakamoto sent coins to Hal Finney in Block 170.

P2PK is no longer used because it is a more expensive, less private, and less secure way of receiving bitcoin than other methods.

Pay-to-Public-Key (P2PK)
Quick facts
• Transaction:
 f4184fc596403b9d638783cf57adfe4c75c605f6356fbc91338530e9831e9e16

Timestamp: ‎

2009-01-12 04:30 (14 years ago)

Fee:	0 sat / $0.00

Fee rate: 0.00 sat/vB

• Details

Size	: 275 B

Virtual size: ‎275 vB

Weight: ‎1.1 kWU

Version	: 1

Locktime	: 0

Transaction hex:

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

• Inputs & Outputs

P2PK:	‎50.00000000 BTC

ScriptSig (ASM):

OP_PUSHBYTES_71 304402204e45e16932b8af514961a1d3a1a25fdf3f4f7732e9d624c6c61548ab5fb8cd410220181522ec8eca07de4860a4acdd12909d831cc56cbbac4622082221a8768d1d0901

ScriptSig (HEX):
	47304402204e45e16932b8af514961a1d3a1a25fdf3f4f7732e9d624c6c61548ab5fb8cd410220181522ec8eca07de4860a4acdd12909d831cc56cbbac4622082221a8768d1d0901

nSequence:	 0xffffffff

Previous output script:

OP_PUSHBYTES_65 0411db93e1dcdb8a016b49840f8c53bc1eb68a382e97b1482ecad7b148a6909a5cb2e0eaddfb84ccf9744464f82e160bfa9b8b64f9d4c03f999b8643f656b412a3
OP_CHECKSIG

Previous output type:	P2PK

P2PK: ‎10.00000000 BTC	

ScriptPubKey(ASM):

OP_PUSHBYTES_65 04ae1a62fe09c5f51b13905f07f06b99a2f7159b2225f374cd378d71302fa28414e7aab37397f554a7df5f142c21c1b7303b8a0626f1baded5c72a704f7e6cd84c
OP_CHECKSIG

ScriptPubKey (HEX):	

4104ae1a62fe09c5f51b13905f07f06b99a2f7159b2225f374cd378d71302fa28414e7aab37397f554a7df5f142c21c1b7303b8a0626f1baded5c72a704f7e6cd84cac

Type: P2PK

P2PK: ‎40.00000000 BTC

ScriptPubKey (ASM):

OP_PUSHBYTES_65 0411db93e1dcdb8a016b49840f8c53bc1eb68a382e97b1482ecad7b148a6909a5cb2e0eaddfb84ccf9744464f82e160bfa9b8b64f9d4c03f999b8643f656b412a3
OP_CHECKSIG

ScriptPubKey (HEX):
	410411db93e1dcdb8a016b49840f8c53bc1eb68a382e97b1482ecad7b148a6909a5cb2e0eaddfb84ccf9744464f82e160bfa9b8b64f9d4c03f999b8643f656b412a3ac

Type	: P2PK

50.00000000 BTC

• Details

Size: ‎275 B

Virtual size: ‎275 vB

Weight	: 1.1 kWU

Version: ‎1

Locktime: 0

Transaction hex:

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

Source: https://mempool.space/

The Art of War Quotes

The Art of War

The Art of War (Chinese: 孫子兵法; lit. ‘Sun Tzu’s Military Method’, pinyin: Sūnzi bīngfǎ) is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the Late Spring and Autumn Period (roughly 5th century BC).

The work, which is attributed to the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu (“Master Sun”), is composed of 13 chapters. Each one is devoted to a different set of skills or art related to warfare and how it applies to military strategy and tactics.

For almost 1,500 years it was the lead text in an anthology that was formalized as the Seven Military Classics by Emperor Shenzong of Song in 1080.

The Art of War remains the most influential strategy text in East Asian warfare and has influenced both East Asian and Western military theory and thinking and has found a variety of applications in a myriad of competitive non-military endeavors across the modern world including espionage, culture, politics, business, and sports.

When you start to read Sun Tzu’s words, you may realize that they have very real applications to modern life, especially if you are in a position of leadership or if you deal regularly with strategic questions.

These musings can be applied to practical problems you may be trying to solve, and they can also be good starting points for more theoretical reflection.

Topics that span from philosophy and wisdom to strategy and leadership, here are the most notable quotes from The Art of War.

Quotes on the Philosophy of War

  • “The art of war is of vital importance to the State. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin.”
  • “All warfare is based on deception.”
  • “It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war that can thoroughly understand the profitable way of carrying it on.”
  • “The skillful soldier does not raise a second levy, neither are his supply-wagons loaded more than twice.”
  • “To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.”
  • “He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.”
  • “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”
  • “What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease.”
  • “Making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty of victory, for it means conquering an enemy that is already defeated.”
  • “Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows; the soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing.”
  • “Success in warfare is gained by carefully accommodating ourselves to the enemy’s purpose.”
  • “Energy may be likened to the bending of a crossbow; decision, to the releasing of the trigger.”
  • “Anger may in time change to gladness; vexation may be succeeded by content. But a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life.”
  • “If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.”
  • “In war, practice dissimulation, and you will succeed.”
  • “If the enemy leaves a door open, you must rush in.”
  • “We cannot enter into alliances until we are acquainted with the designs of our neighbors.”
  • “The experienced soldier, once in motion, is never bewildered; once he has broken camp, he is never at a loss.”
  • “If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt.”

Quotes on War and Leadership

It is clear throughout The Art of War that victory is explicitly related to the strength of an army’s leader. Sun Tzu’s advice for generals and commanders applies to many kinds of leaders.

  • “The general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought. The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand.”
  • “The general who is skilled in defense hides in the most secret recesses of the earth; he who is skilled in attack flashes forth from the topmost heights of heaven.”
  • “The consummate leader cultivates the moral law, and strictly adheres to method and discipline; thus it is in his power to control success.”
  • “Simulated disorder postulates perfect discipline; simulated fear postulates courage; simulated weakness postulates strength.”
  • “Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted.”
  • “The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim.”
  • “All men can see the tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.”
  • “Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances.”
  • “He who can modify his tactics in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning, may be called a heaven-born captain.”
  • “The difficulty of tactical maneuvering consists in turning the devious into the direct, and misfortune into gain.”
  • “Maneuvering with an army is advantageous; with an undisciplined multitude, most dangerous.”
  • “We are not fit to lead an army on the march unless we are familiar with the face of the country—its mountains and forests, its pitfalls and precipices, its marshes and swamps.”
  • “Move not unless you see an advantage; use not your troops unless there is something to be gained; fight not unless the position is critical.”
  • “No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his own spleen; no general should fight a battle simply out of pique.”
  • “What enables the wise sovereign and the good general to strike and conquer, and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men, is foreknowledge.”
  • “When the general is weak and without authority; when his orders are not clear and distinct; when there are no fixed duties assigned to officers and men, and the ranks are formed in a slovenly haphazard manner, the result is utter disorganization.”
  • “If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight, even though the ruler forbid it; if fighting will not result in victory, then you must not fight even at the ruler’s bidding.”
  • “Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look upon them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death.”
  • “The general who advances without coveting fame and retreats without fearing disgrace, whose only thought is to protect his country and do good service for his sovereign, is the jewel of the kingdom.”
  • “A leader leads by example not by force.”

Quotes on War and Strategy

Sun Tzu’s strategic counsel can still be used in the 21st century. Whether you are creating a business strategy or devising steps to pursue a personal goal, these quotes from The Art of War may offer some valuable insights and guidance.

  • “Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.”
  • “If equally matched, we can offer battle; if slightly inferior in numbers, we can avoid the enemy; if quite unequal in every way, we can flee from him.”
  • “Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.”
  • “The control of a large force is the same principle as the control of a few men: it is merely a question of dividing up their numbers.”
  • “The clever combatant looks to the effect of combined energy, and does not require too much from individuals.”
  • “You can be sure of succeeding in your attacks if you only attack places which are undefended.”
  • “O divine art of subtlety and secrecy! Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible; and hence we can hold the enemy’s fate in our hands.”
  • “Numerical weakness comes from having to prepare against possible attacks; numerical strength, from compelling our adversary to make these preparations against us.”
  • “Knowing the place and the time of the coming battle, we may concentrate from the greatest distances in order to fight.”
  • “In making tactical dispositions, the highest pitch you can attain is to conceal them.”
  • “Carefully compare the opposing army with your own, so that you may know where strength is superabundant and where it is deficient.”
  • “To take a long and circuitous route, after enticing the enemy out of the way, and though starting after him, to contrive to reach the goal before him, shows knowledge of the artifice of deviation.”
  • “Let your rapidity be that of the wind, your compactness that of the forest.”
  • “In raiding and plundering be like fire, in immovability like a mountain.”
  • “Place your army in deadly peril, and it will survive; plunge it into desperate straits, and it will come off in safety.”
  • “Forestall your opponent by seizing what he holds dear, and subtly contrive to time his arrival on the ground.”
  • “Walk in the path defined by rule, and accommodate yourself to the enemy until you can fight a decisive battle.”
  • “At first, then, exhibit the coyness of a maiden, until the enemy gives you an opening; afterwards emulate the rapidity of a running hare, and it will be too late for the enemy to oppose you.”
  • “If it is to your advantage, make a forward move; if not, stay where you are.”
  • “If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt; if you know Heaven and know Earth, you may make your victory complete.”
  • “Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.”

What is Bretton Woods ?!?

Mount Washington Hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, where the 1944 postwar U.N. Monetary and Financial Conference established an international commercial and financial system.

The Bretton Woods Conference, formally known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, was the gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel, situated in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States (July 1–22, 1944) to regulate the international monetary and financial order after the conclusion of World War II.

Bretton Woods Conference
July 1 to 22, 1944

The conference was attended by experts noncommittally representing 44 states or governments, including the Soviet Union.

It drew up a project for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) to make long-term capital available to states urgently needing such foreign aid, and a project for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to finance short-term imbalances in international payments in order to stabilize exchange rates.

Although the conference recognized that exchange control and discriminatory tariffs would probably be necessary for some time after the war, it prescribed that such measures should be ended as soon as possible.

After governmental ratifications the IBRD was constituted late in 1945 and the IMF in 1946, to become operative, respectively, in the two following years.

This led to what was called the Bretton Woods system for international commercial and financial relations.

The Bretton Woods System

The Bretton Woods system of monetary management established the rules for commercial and financial relations among the United States, Canada, Western European countries, Australia, and Japan after the 1944 Bretton Woods Agreement.

The Bretton Woods system was the first example of a fully negotiated monetary order intended to govern monetary relations among independent states.

The Bretton Woods system required countries to guarantee convertibility of their currencies into U.S. dollar, with the dollar convertible to gold bullion for foreign governments and central banks at US$35 per troy ounce of fine gold (or 0.88867 gram fine gold per dollar).

It also envisioned greater cooperation among countries in order to prevent future competitive devaluations, and thus established the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to monitor exchange rates and lend reserve currencies to nations with balance of payments deficits.

The Price of Gold, as denominated in dollars, was steady until the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in the mid-1970s.

The delegates deliberated from 1 to 22 July 1944, and signed the Bretton Woods agreement on its final day. Setting up a system of rules, institutions, and procedures to regulate the international monetary system, these accords established the IMF and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), which today is part of the World Bank Group.

The United States, which controlled two-thirds of the world’s gold, insisted that the Bretton Woods system rest on both gold and the US dollar.

Soviet representatives attended the conference but later declined to ratify the final agreements, charging that the institutions they had created were “branches of Wall Street”.

These organizations became operational in 1945 after a sufficient number of countries had ratified the agreement. According to Barry Eichengreen, the Bretton Woods system operated successfully due to three factors: “low international capital mobility, tight financial regulation, and the dominant economic and financial position of the United States and the dollar.”

On 15 August 1971, the United States terminated convertibility of the US dollar to gold, effectively bringing the Bretton Woods system to an end and rendering the dollar a Fiat currency.

Shortly thereafter, many fixed currencies (such as the pound sterling) also became free-floating, and the subsequent era has been characterized by floating exchange rates.

The end of Bretton Woods was formally ratified by the Jamaica Accords in 1976.

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/
https://www.investopedia.com/
https://www.wikipedia.com/
With 🧡

Smart Contracts by Nick Szabo-1994

Nick Szabo

A smart contract is a computerized transaction protocol that executes the terms of a contract. The general objectives of smart contract design are to satisfy common contractual conditions (such as payment terms, liens, confidentiality, and even enforcement), minimize exceptions both malicious and accidental, and minimize the need for trusted intermediaries. Related economic goals include lowering fraud loss, arbitration and enforcement costs, and other transaction costs[1].

Some technologies that exist today can be considered as crude smart contracts, for example POS terminals and cards, EDI, and agoric allocation of public network bandwidth.

Digital cash protocols[2,3] are fine examples of smart contracts. They enable online payment while honoring the characteristics desired of paper cash: unforgeability, confidentiality, and divisibility.

When we take a second glance at digital cash protocols, considering them in the wider context of smart contract design, we see that these protocols can be used to implement a wide variety of electronic bearer securities, not just cash.

We also see that to implement a full customer-vendor transaction, we need more than just the digital cash protocol; we need a protocol that guarantees that product will be delivered if payment is made, and vice versa.

Current commercial systems use a wide variety of techniques to accomplish this, such as certified mail, face to face exchange, reliance on credit history and collection agencies to extend credit, etc.

Smart contracts have the potential to greatly reduce the fraud and enforcement costs of many commercial transactions. Digital cash protocols use several of the rich new building blocks coming out of the fields of cryptography and computer science.

Most of these components have not yet been widely exploited to facilitate contractual arrangements, but the potential is vast. These subprotocols include Byzantine agreement, symmetric and asymmetric encryption, digital signatures, blind signatures, cut & choose, bit commitment, multiparty secure computations, secret sharing, oblivious transfer, and multiparty secure computation. All of these except the first are described in [2,3].

The consequences of smart contract design on contract law and economics, and on strategic contract drafting, (and vice versa), have been little explored. As well, I suspect the possibilities for greatly reducing the transaction costs of executing some kinds of contracts, and the opportunities for creating new kinds of businesses and social institutions based on smart contracts, are vast but little explored.

The “cypherpunks”[4] have explored the political impact of some of the new protocol building blocks. The field of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), in which elements of traditional business transactions (invoices, receipts, etc.) are exchanged electronically, sometimes including encryption and digital signature capabilities, can be viewed as a primitive forerunner to smart contracts. Indeed those business forms can provide good starting points and channel markers for smart contract designers.

One important task of smart contracts, that has been largely overlooked by traditional EDI, is communicating the semantics of the transaction to the parties involved.

There is ample opportunity in smart contracts for “smart fine print”: actions taken by the software hidden from a party to the transaction.

For example, grocery store POS machines don’t tell customers whether or not their names are being linked to their purchases in a database. The clerks don’t even know, and they’ve processed thousands of such transactions under their noses.

Thus, via hidden action of the software, the customer is giving away information they might consider valuable or confidential, but the contract has been drafted, and transaction has been designed, in such a way as to hide those important parts of that transaction from the customer.

To communicate transaction semantics well, we need good visual metaphors for the elements of the contract. These would hide the details of the protocol without surrendering control over the knowledge and execution of contract terms.

A primitive but good example is provided by the SecureMosiac software from CommerceNet. Encryption is shown by putting the document in an envelope, and a digital signature by affixing a seal onto the document or envelope. On the other hand, Mosaic servers log connections, and sometimes even transactions, without warning users — classic hidden actions.

Another area that might be considered in smart contract terms is synthetic assets[5]. These new securities are formed by combining securities (such as bonds) and derivatives (options and futures) in a wide variety of ways.

Very complex term structures for payments (ie, what payments get made when, the rate of interest, etc.) can now be built into standardized contracts and traded with low transaction costs, due to computerized analysis of these complex term structures.

Synthetic assets allow us to arbitrage the different term structures desired by different customers, and they allow us to construct contracts that mimic other contracts, minus certain liabilities.

As an example of the latter, synthetic assets have been constructed that mimic the returns of stocks in German companies, without requiring payment of the tax foreigners must pay to the German government for capital gains in German stocks.

It’s important to note that these synthetics do _not_ confer voting rights as do the originals. It might be possible to add smart contract protocols to transfer voting rights to the synthetic.

Of course, these protocols might have to be quite secure to withstand attacks from the third party jurisdiction, whose transaction cost (the tax) is being arbitraged away by the synthetic asset.

Finally, we can extend the concept of smart contracts to property. Smart property might be created by embedding smart contracts in physical objects. These embedded protocols would automatically give control of the keys for operating the property to the agent who rightfully owns that property, based on the terms of the contract.

For example, a car might be rendered inoperable unless the proper challenge-response protocol is completed with its rightful owner, preventing theft. If a loan was taken out to buy that car, and the owner failed to make payments, the smart contract could automatically invoke a lien, which returns control of the car keys to the bank. This smart lien might be much cheaper and more effective than a repo man.

Also needed is a protocol to provably remove the lien when the loan has been paid off, as well as hardship and operational exceptions. For example, it would be rude to revoke operation of the car while it’s doing 75 down the freeway.

Smart property may be a ways off, but digital cash and synthetic assets are here today, and more smart contract mechanisms are being designed. So far the design criteria important for automating contract execution have come from disparate fields like economics and cryptography, with little cross-communication: little awareness of the technology on the one hand, and little awareness of its best business uses other.

The idea of smart contracts is to recognize that these efforts are striving after common objectives, which converge on the concept of smart contracts.

Copyright (c) 1994 by Nick Szabo
permission to redistribute without alteration hereby granted

Redistributed with respect & admiration from:

https://www.fon.hum.uva.nl/rob/Courses/InformationInSpeech/CDROM/Literature/LOTwinterschool2006/szabo.best.vwh.net/smart.contracts.html

Nick Szabo is so deeply ingrained in the modern digital currency landscape that 1/1000000000000th of an Ether is called a “szabo”.

20 Security Rules for bitcoin

Questions & Answers Chapter

20 Rules for Security in bitcoin

Here’s a short list of common sense Rules, to use and implement for a better Security while using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

In the hopes that they are quite self-explanatory Rules, please do try for your own good and your assets, to follow them…

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask in the comments.

  1. Keep your private keys safe and secure, and never share them with anyone.
  2. Use a hardware wallet to store your bitcoins offline and away from potential hackers.
  3. Use a strong and unique password for your wallet and any exchange account.
  4. Be wary of phishing attempts and never click on links from unknown sources.
  5. Use multi-factor authentication (MFA) whenever possible to secure your accounts.
  6. Use a different password for each account and change them frequently.
  7. Avoid using public Wi-Fi networks for sensitive transactions.
  8. Keep your computer and mobile devices secure with updated antivirus and anti-malware software.
  9. Use a separate address for each transaction, and avoid reusing addresses.
  10. Verify the authenticity of any website or service you use for Bitcoin transactions.
  11. Use a reputable and secure Bitcoin exchange or wallet service.
  12. Use a hardware token or other secure means of 2FA, avoid using SMS.
  13. Be mindful of social engineering and do not reveal personal information to unknown parties
  14. Use a unique email address and phone number for every exchange account.
  15. Keep a copy of your private key, Seed Phrase or wallet recovery phrase in a safe place.
  16. Be skeptical of unsolicited offers, promotions or services.
  17. Learn about the security features of your wallet and use them.
  18. Do not leave your funds on exchange for long time.
  19. Educate yourself about the risks of using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
  20. Regularly monitor your accounts and transactions for suspicious activity.
With 🧡

Running bitcoin – Hal Finney

Wonder In Peace Bright Mind

Join Honorary Chair Fran Finney and the Running Bitcoin Challenge Committee as we honor legendary cypher punk, Hal Finney.

This is THE EVENT that combines Hal Finney’s love of running and Bitcoin and is raising funds and awareness to help defeat ALS, which ultimately claimed his life in 2014.

You are challenged to run (or walk, roll, or hike) the equivalent of a half marathon — cumulatively or all at once — by the end of January 10, 2023.

From wherever you are, spread the word about Bitcoin, participate in a healthy activity, feel good about doing your part to defeat ALS, and start the year off right

Hal Finney, one of the earliest bitcoin contributors, died eight years ago from complications of nervous system disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

His spouse, Fran Finney, is now organizing a half marathon to raise funds for ALS research via bitcoin.

The “Running Bitcoin Challenge” is set to take place between Jan. 1 and Jan. 10. The timing of the occasion leads up to the anniversary of Hal Finney’s “Running bitcoin” tweet, in which Finney famously disclosed he was deploying a Bitcoin node.

There is no set location — participants can choose to join anywhere they wish. Players are encouraged to either run, walk, roll or hike the equivalent of a half marathon (Hal’s favorite distance) either in one go or over the entire 10-day period.

Donors contributing at least $100 will receive an official shirt with the half marathon’s logo, while the event’s top 25 fundraisers will get a Hal Finney collectible signed by his wife.

As of Wednesday morning, the event has already managed to secure nearly $10,000 in bitcoin donations.

An advocate of cryptography and digital privacy, Finney was the recipient of the first-ever bitcoin transfer from the network’s pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto.

The bitcoin community often suspected Finney was Nakamoto, a claim he consistently denied. He reportedly found out about his condition in 2009 and decided to move away from the project.

Hal’s name is high in the Bitcoin pantheon as one of the first people to voice support for Satoshi Nakamoto’s invention and for being the first person to receive a Bitcoin transaction from Satoshi.

He was, for a time, considered one of the top contenders on the list of potential Satoshis himself (many in blockchain who reject Dr. Craig Wright’s statements still falsely believe Finney to be Bitcoin’s real creator).

Hal, who referred to himself as a “cypherpunk,” was a cryptographic activist who went from developing video games to working on the Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) project in the 1990s. He described his PGP work as “dedicated to the goal of making Big Brother obsolete.”

PGP creator Phil Zimmerman hired Hal as his first employee when PGP became PGP Corporation in the early 2000s. He described Hal as a “gregarious man” who loved skiing and long-distance running.

Despite gradual paralysis that eventually forced him to stop working, Hal continued to code software and follow the Bitcoin project.

Almost as famous as his 2009 tweet is his “Bitcoin and me” post on BitcoinTalk.org in March 2013, the last he’d ever make.

It’s a long post, and Hal was “essentially paralyzed” at the time, using an eye tracker to type. Forum stats show the post has been read over 278,000 times.

“When Satoshi announced the first release of the software, I grabbed it right away,” he wrote. “I think I was the first person besides Satoshi to run bitcoin. I mined block 70-something, and I was the recipient of the first bitcoin transaction when Satoshi sent ten coins to me as a test.

I carried on an email conversation with Satoshi over the next few days, mostly me reporting bugs and him fixing them.”

Hal himself always denied being Satoshi Nakamoto, adding later that he’d sold most of the Bitcoins he mined (at pre-2014 prices) to pay for his treatments. He also mentioned putting some in a safe deposit box for his children.

“And, of course, the price gyrations of bitcoins are entertaining to me.

I have skin in the game.

But I came by my bitcoins through luck, with little credit to me.

I lived through the crash of 2011.

So I’ve seen it before.

Easy come, easy go.”

Hal Finney
www.runningbitcoin.us
Admiration and great Respect
With 🧡

Computer Dude Inc.

So – You want to be a Computer Dude?

The word / expression “Dude” is not a reference to being male, female, or whatever, it is a designation of “Skill Level.”

When we go surfing – anyone rated “Dude” just means they have the skill to surf safely, do stunts; and did not have to be watched by
the others for group safety.. :)Todd


This is what a “Computer Dude” needs to know to work with one of my companies.in 2023.

Dude Basic Skills – 2023

  • Can you setup a Single Board Computer (SBC), such as the Raspberry Pi 4B (RPI), to boot off USB 3.1 or faster?
  • Can you setup a RPI to run in 64 Bit Mode?
  • Can you setup a RAMDISK on the RPI to run the OS?
  • Can you setup a RPI as an Apache Web Host?
  • Can you setup an MySQL or other SQL database on a RPI?
  • Can you setup a basic HTML only Website?
  • Can you convert a CSV document to an SQL Database and back again?

Computer Dude Advanced Skills:

  • Can you cluster RPI’s?
  • Can you load VMware ESXi on a RPI, AMD or INTEL chipsets?
  • Can you P2V and run Linux Virtual Machines – Workstation and Server on a RPI VMware Sphere?

Computer Dudes Jedi level skills:

  • Can you identify the chipsets and overclock an RPI or change its functions?
  • Can you run Aircrack and John the Ripper on RPI? In cluster mode with RPI? Custom rules and Dictionary?
  • Can you virtualize Droid and Mac operating systems?
  • Can you setup an RPI as a Router or Virtual Router Cluster?
  • Can you encrypt data from an HTML or other Web Form before it leaves the workstation and before it enters the database?

Computer Dudes Yoda level skills:

  • Can you build and manage a large VMware Sphere with active routing and active scanning VMware bots and servers?
  • Can your servers automatically respond to an attack?
  • Can you create or work with encryption that is non-standard and to higher quality and security than a current computer encryption no matter what the OS?
  • Can you do all of the above on an Intel Chipset using Microsoft Virtualization and HyperV?
  • Can you plan and build a small data center?
  • Can you repair and reactivate a disaster damaged data center with no power?

These are the BASIC to JEDI / Yoda skill levels of a Computer Dude in 2023.

Your Friend and Founder of The Computer Dudes, Inc.- Since 1997.
Todd W. Byars
Computer Dudes

PS All of these skills can be Self Taught, learned in certification classes and from tech schools and colleges.

Source and all credit goes to:

The Computer Dudes Inc

http://www.thecomputerdudesinc.com

Our Motto is “Nothing is Impossible.”

Just ask us, we will build you anything. – Todd W. Byars, Founder